Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Neil Sahota, an IBM Master Inventor, an advisor to the United Nations, and the co-author of Own the A.I. Revolution: Unlock Your Artificial Intelligence Strategy to Disrupt Your Competition (McGraw-Hill Education, May 22, 2019). We discussed his inspiration for writing the book, how legal professionals can unlock their artificial intelligence strategy, ways to filter out the noise, and tips for maximizing its benefits.

I spoke with Josh Hass, the Head of eDiscovery and Information Governance at Charles River Associates, a global consulting firm focused on forensics. We discussed the first anniversary of the GDPR implementation date, how that regulation has changed the way organizations approach privacy and information governance, similar state-specific requirements, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, ways that the European restrictions compare to the various U.S. initiatives, the e-discovery advantages to an organization that proactively focuses on its portfolio of data, and where the intersection of e-discovery and data privacy is headed.

I spoke with Don Fuchs, the vice president of sales in North America for HighQ, a software platform that streamlines collaboration, legal service delivery, legal operations, and client engagement. In 2003, he co-founded Legal Anywhere, a provider of secure collaboration solutions for law firms, which HighQ acquired in the summer of 2018. We discussed the renewed interest and use of intranets within law firms, what they are trying to achieve with their intranets, and how law firms are using their intranets to add value to the employee and client experience.

I spoke with Ronny Loew, the National Sales Director for ProCirrus Technologies, a cloud-hosting provider of end-to-end IT services for law firms. We discussed why law firms are embracing the cloud, how they can ensure the safety of their client data during a migration, ways to evaluate cloud vendors, and where cloud adoption is headed.

I spoke with Travis Luther, the founder of Law Father, a legal technology and trial support firm, which is also the developer of trialline.net. We discussed the genesis of Law Father, the release of Trial Line, how technology has changed the way lawyers tell stories in the courtroom, ways that it has improved how they organize cases and develop strategies, and where case management technology is headed.

I spoke with Ryan Anderson, the founder and CEO of Filevine, a case management system for attorneys. We discussed the genesis of Filevine, how it differs from similar tools on the market, why a case management system matters, how client expectations have impacted the modern practice of law, ways that better technology can facilitate adoption, and advice for transitioning from a practicing attorney to the founder of a legal tech startup.

I spoke with Matthew Volm, the co-founder and CEO of Tali, a voice-enabled time capture software tool. We discussed the genesis of Tali, how it works, the company’s announcement that it would be closing on June 30th, what legal tech startups should know before getting into the sector, tips for sifting through the hype and maintaining focus, and what’s next for the Tali team.

I spoke with Josh Taylor, an attorney and the lead content strategist at Smokeball, a practice management software platform for small law firms. We discussed how technology can help a law firm increase efficiency and streamline communication, the biggest hurdle that legal professionals need to overcome in order to implement new technologies, the advantages that multi-national legal tech companies enjoy. and where the use of technology in solo practices and small law firms is headed.

I spoke with Crawford Appleby, a Los Angeles-based transportation accident and qui tam attorney with Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, PC by day and legal tech entrepreneur by night. He recently launched Rulings.law, a free, online database of tentative rulings written by California state court judges. We discussed his background, the genesis of Rulings.law, how attorneys can use the site, what the creation of Rulings.law indicates about the trends associated with predicting case outcomes, and advice for practicing lawyers interested in becoming legal tech innovators.

I spoke with Jodie Baker, the founder & CEO of Xakia Technologies, a matter management and legal data analytics software company for in-house legal teams. She is also the deputy chair of the Australian Legal Technology Association and co-chair of the Advisory Board to the Centre for Legal Innovation at The College of Law. We discussed the genesis of Xakia, how the use of tools like Xakia differ between small and large legal departments, ways that the growth of legal operations is changing corporate legal teams, and the trends driving the expansion of Australian legal tech.

I spoke with Kim Massana, the president and CEO for Neota Logic, a low-code application development platform used by a variety of organizations throughout the legal community. We discussed his new role at Neota Logic, the advantages of low-code application development, and key use cases for this technology.

I spoke with Omer Hayun, the founder of Bestpractix, an AI-powered productivity platform for contract drafting. We discussed the genesis of Bestpractix, how it differs from other tools on the market, how it incorporates machine learning, and where the market for similar tools is headed.

I spoke with Jonathan Reed, the co-founder and CEO of AdvoLogix, a cloud-based legal case and matter management solution for law firms and legal departments. We discussed the most pressing matter management challenges that law firms and corporate legal departments are facing today, best practices for overcoming them, the benefits that legal teams can expect from streamlining their matter management, and how it affects their overall business processes.

I spoke with Deborah Farone, a law firm marketing advisor who served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Debevoise & Plimpton. She is the author of "Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing" (Practising Law Institute, 2019), which is based on more than 60 interviews with leading law firm leaders and marketers, general counsel, and innovators in the profession. We discussed the genesis of "Best Practices in Law firm Business Development and Marketing," the interesting discussions in the book, the legal industry changes that law firm leaders and marketers need to address, how they are incorporating innovation, their strategic and practice planning mistakes, and how law firms can create a distinct brand in the current competitive climate.

I spoke with Andrew Mellett, the co-founder and CEO of Plexus, the maker of Legal Gateway, a legal operating system used by a wide range of in-house legal teams. We discussed the genesis of Plexus, how the team identified the need for a legal-specific operating system, trends that are impacting the provision of legal services, how legal challenges differ around the world, the impact of artificial intelligence having on the legal industry, and ways that the role of the general counsel is evolving.

I spoke with Jennifer Andres and Michael Gibeault, a Senior Review Manager and the Senior Director of Legal Services, respectively, at TCDI, a provider of litigation management and e-discovery software and services, which offers a Military Spouse Managed Review Program. We discussed the genesis of TCDI’s Military Spouse Managed Review Program, its impact, how this model of leveraging remote talent reflects the changing nature of legal services, the mechanics of participation, the response from clients, and other ways that corporate legal teams and law firms can collaborate with military spouses.

I spoke with Greg Garman, the co-founder of LAWCLERK, an online marketplace of freelance lawyers, and a founding partner with Garman Turner Gordon. We discussed the genesis of LAWCLERK, how Garman balances his LAWCLERK responsibilities with those of a practicing lawyer, the type of firms for which LAWCLERK’s freelancers are most appropriate, the projects that LAWCLERK’s freelancers can handle, the risks and advantages associated with hiring freelance attorneys over full-time associates, and how the freelance market for attorneys will impact the profession in 2019.

I spoke with Parkash Khatri and Cat Pray, the director of global discovery services and review manager, respectively, for Blackstone Discovery, an e-discovery solutions provider that covers the entire range of the EDRM. We discussed Blackstone’s focus on the pharmaceutical sector, how it manages document review teams, the litigation challenges that companies will face in 2019, ways they can overcome them, the application of predictive coding, and where e-discovery is headed.

I spoke with Jack Newton, the co-founder and CEO of Clio, a leading practice management software platform at Legaltech 2019. We discussed the genesis of Clio, its tenth anniversary, the launch of Clio Grow, how companies can simultaneously manage growth while maintaining a unique culture, how expectations of legal technology have changed over the past decade, and the future of legal technology.

I spoke with Joseph Escobio, the Chief Information Officer for Klinedinst, a West Coast-based law firm, where he oversees all IT, e-discovery, and data services for the firm’s five offices. We discussed his role at Klinedinst, the IT challenges that law firms and legal professionals likely to face in 2019, how they differ from what they’ve seen in the past, ways that technology leaders within law firms can structure change, how law firms can align their efforts with their outside providers, and where legal IT is headed.