Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Steven Walker, a managing director with Deloitte Legal Business Services, where he is responsible for legal management consulting, spend management, and legal operations services. We discussed the objective of the legal business services team, how the pandemic is reshaping the delivery of legal services, what legal teams can expect in 2021, and how the relationship between outside counsel and their clients is evolving.

I spoke with Brad Blickstein and Bea Seravello, the co-leaders of the New Law practice at Baretz+Brunelle, a strategic advisory communications firm. We discussed the genesis of the New Law practice group and its recent report: Home Court Advantage: The Am Law 100 Moves Into Alternative Legal Services. We also spoke about the mini-maturity model for captive ALSPs and the Blickstein Group’s Annual Law Department Operations Survey.

I spoke with Jackie Donner, the co-founder and CEO of Lawflex, an alternative legal services provider based in Israel, teaming experienced lawyers with law firms, financial institutions, and other corporations on a flexible basis. We discussed the genesis of Lawflex, how the pandemic has impacted the use of alternative legal services, and where she sees the greatest opportunity for growth.

I spoke with Chris Stock, the CEO of PCLaw | Time Matters and a member of LEAP’s board of directors as he is the former CEO of LEAP USA. We discussed the key challenges that law firms are facing today, how law firms are adapting to the pandemic, advice for law firms that are struggling now, how the pandemic has affected legal technology generally, and the changes to the profession that will outlast the pandemic.

I spoke with Dean Sappey, the president and co-founder of DocsCorp, a software company that develops a range of document productivity and security tools for law firms. We discussed how the pandemic has impacted technology preferences in legal, which changes will remain permanent, DocsCorp’s acquisition of Verowave Technologies, and ways that productivity is shifting as a result of the virtual/work-from-home climate.

I spoke with Scott Mozarsky, a managing director with JEGI, a middle-market investment bank, who is leading the firm’s legal and compliance practice. We discussed the strength of the legal market, the enthusiasm for legal technology, what investors are looking for in legal, and where legal is headed.

I spoke with Robert Gray, the CEO of Legality Software, a subsidiary of Matters in Motion and a provider of custom-development solutions and other technology for legal professionals. We discussed the genesis of Legality Software, how the challenges of running a law firm changed, ways that the pandemic has forced the legal marketplace to change, and the benefits of the One Step Workspace.

I am speaking today with Rob Feigenbaum, the co-founder and CEO of Prevail Legal, a testimony management platform. We discussed the genesis of Prevail Legal, the appeal of the court reporting sector, the difference between using a trained court reporter and a testimony management platform to capture the record, and the impact of the pandemic on how professionals view remote reporting.

I spoke with Matt Mahon, the National Manager for Information Governance and eDiscovery Sales at Ricoh. We discussed the workplace communications challenges that e-discovery and information governance practitioners are facing, whether professional communication has become more casual in this remote and work-from-home environment, and the challenges associated with interpreting emojis.

I spoke with Katherine Porter, an executive coach for female attorneys and the founder of the Transition Navigator. We discussed how design thinking can enhance a professional’s work, its relationship to the practice of law, the advantages of incorporating a designer’s mindset to client service in legal, ways to overcome the barriers to using design thinking to improve law firm operations, and how it can help law firms through this period of uncertainty.

I spoke with Adrian Camara, the CEO of Athennian, a developer of legal entity management software. We discussed who uses legal entity management software, what the focus on legal entity management indicates about the changing nature of legal services, and the challenges associated with raising capital in the current environment.

I spoke with Soumya Nettimi and Sarah Schaaf, the CEO and general manager of payments, respectively, for ASG LegalTech, a platform of legal SaaS products including PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase, and now following its recent acquisition, Headnote, of which Sarah is a co-founder and the former CEO. We discussed the alignment of Headnote with ASG LegalTech’s suite of products, how the future of payments in legal is evolving, and what the appetite for a suite of technology tools indicates about the shift in the business of law.

I spoke with Johannes Stiehler, the CEO of ayfie Group, an Oslo-based company that provides technology for collecting and processing data from different silos using linguistic technology. We discussed the company’s mission, how the appeal of linguistic technology at law firms and corporate legal departments has evolved, and ayfie’s listing on the Merkur Market in Oslo in July of 2020.

I spoke with Phil Anthony, Ph.D., division president at DecisionQuest, a U.S. Legal Support company. We discussed how the pandemic has changed trial consulting, ways to adapt in-person litigation to a virtual environment, how legal professionals are approaching virtual depositions and trials, and reactions from jurors to COVID-19.

I spoke with Evan Shenkman, the senior director of knowledge management at Fisher Phillips, a labor and employment law firm. We discussed how knowledge management has changed over the past few months, the firm’s recent alliance with LegalMation and Thomson Reuters, how it will benefit clients and practitioners, and what the heightened focus on automation means for the future of the practice of law.

I spoke with Jared Correia, the founder and CEO at Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, and the co-founder of Gideon Software, a website chatbot and automatic scheduling tool built exclusively for law firms. We discussed the challenges that Gideon helps law firms address, ways that the pandemic impacts how lawyers approach and use technology, and advice for launching a consulting practice and a legal tech startup.

I spoke with Amy Osteen, the founder of Outside CLO, a service for corporations that need an outsourced chief legal officer. We discussed why a company would outsource its in-house counsel needs, how that work differs from outside counsel at a law firm, and how the pandemic has impacted the appeal of outsourced in-house counsel services.

I spoke with Carolyn Elefant, an attorney, who focuses her practice on energy and environmental matters. She is also the author of several books, including the popular, Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be, and has been blogging at MyShingle for almost 18 years. She is producing a virtual conference called the Lawyer Mom Owner Summit for lawyers who are moms that own or want to start a law firm. We discussed the Summit, what its attendees can expect, and how the practice of law has changed.

I spoke with Eric Laughlin, the CEO of Agiloft, a provider of contract and commercial lifecycle management software. We discussed his new role at Agiloft, how the pandemic has impacted the way companies leverage CLM, the overall market changes he is seeing, and the challenges associated with raising capital in the current environment.

I spoke with Ray Biederman, a partner with Mattingly Burke Cohen & Biederman in Indianapolis and the co-founder and CEO of Proteus Discovery Group and DiscoveryMaster. We discussed whether attorneys with large firm backgrounds should take the leap and start their own firms, the trend of attorneys and law firms to develop related businesses, and the most common misconceptions or frustrations about e-discovery.