Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Michael Potters, the CEO of the Glenmont Group, an executive search firm in the legal and information governance sectors, on site at the 2017 New York City Masters Conference. We discussed the current job market, areas of opportunity, and the art of executive search in the legal community.

I spoke with Robert Ventura, a partner with the TCF Law Group and a former general counsel, who provides outside GC services to companies of various sizes. We discussed e-discovery budgeting pitfalls that in-house legal teams should avoid, vendor management, and the focus of his panel discussion at the Masters Conference hosted by ClariLegal – Practical Technology Evaluations: A Framework for Considering Vendors and Technology.

I spoke with Barry Ader, the vice president of product management and marketing for Wolters Kluwer’s Enterprise Legal Management Solutions division, which helps corporate legal departments and insurance claims divisions with their legal technology needs. We discussed the recent release by Wolters Kluwer’s ELM Solutions division of LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer to support billing guideline compliance and cost management, how it differs from similar applications on the market, and ways that it impacts the attorney/client relationship.

I spoke with Cash Butler, the founder and CEO of ClariLegal, a legal vendor management and marketplace platform that minimizes the complexity of managing litigation vendor services. We discussed the genesis of ClariLegal, the benefits of legal vendor management, how ClariLegal’s software reflects the evolution of legal services, and the panel discussions he is moderating at the 2017 New York Masters Conference on July 25th.

I spoke with Tariq Hafeez, the co-founder and president of LegalEase Solutions, a legal support firm for corporate legal teams and law firms. We discussed the genesis of LegalEase, the problems the company solves, the types of matters that law firms and corporate legal departments outsource, how the company differs from competing legal support firms, and where the practice of law is headed.

I spoke with Nehal Madhani, the founder and CEO of Alt Legal, an intellectual property docketing software company. Prior to pursuing this venture, he spent four years as an associate with Kirkland & Ellis in New York. We discussed the evolution of Alt Legal from its initial mission upon which Madhani founded the company in 2013 and the power of a pivot, how the company’s customer base has expanded over the past four years, its recent collaboration with Wolters Kluwer, ways that Alt Legal’s technology applies across jurisdictions, and advice for hopeful legal tech entrepreneurs.

I spoke with Chelsey Lambert, the founder of Lex Tech Review, an online resource center for legal professionals. We discussed the genesis of Lex Tech Review, how the site selects companies about which it writes, ways that technology can suit a user’s personality, and the benefits of software reviews for solo and small firm lawyers, among other topics.

I spoke with Matt Miller, the founder & CEO of Embroker, a tech-enabled commercial insurance broker that provides insurance to legal and professional services firms. We discussed the genesis of Embroker, how it differs from a traditional insurance brokerage firm, the benefits that technology provides in the process of purchasing or managing insurance, and how this business will impact the overall market for professional services insurance.

I spoke with Rob Lancashire, the CEO of Essencient, which offers patented natural language processing technology to provide metadata that enables insight and profitable action from natural language text. We discussed the genesis of Essencient, how the technology works, its common applications, and how natural language processing is impacting the current market.

I spoke with Haresh Bhungalia and David Carns, the CEO and Executive Vice President, respectively of Casepoint, an e-discovery technology and services provider. We discussed the genesis of Casepoint and its rebranding, how it marries proprietary technology with services, the impact of artificial intelligence on e-discovery, key litigation challenges that clients are facing in the current environment, and where the e-discovery market is headed.

I spoke with Stacey McConnell, an attorney and the co-founder of the Adept Legal Talent Group, a legal placement firm. We discussed the genesis of the Adept Legal Talent Group, what makes the firm unique, the background and levels of experience the firm is seeking, its target clients, and tips that employers should consider when engaging in the talent acquisition process.

I spoke with Brian McManus, the CEO of Lighthouse eDiscovery, a provider of technology-enabled ediscovery and consulting services, which recently merged with Discovia, a company that provides complementary technology and services. We discussed the merger of Lighthouse eDiscovery with Discovia, the advantages of that combination to clients of the unified entity, ways that changes in the legal industry have increased the demand for dynamic consulting, how the association of the two companies reflects the changing nature of consolidation, and techniques for ensuring seamless cultural alignment.

I spoke with Keri Norris, the senior vice president for regulatory affairs and chief legal officer at LegalShield, a provider of pre-paid legal services. We discussed the chief legal officer’s role at LegalShield, the benefits of pre-paid legal services, the organization’s Elevate by LegalShield conference (July 6-8, 2017), and how the company is adapting to the changing legal market.

I spoke with Zach Abramowitz, the founder of ReplyAll, which he describes as a new way to create conversations online. Zach is also a speaker and writer on innovation, as well as a former stand-up comedian, producer at ESPN radio, and corporate lawyer. His columns and conversations on legal disruption appear in Above the Law, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch. We discussed the genesis of ReplyAll, how it works, the challenges associated with creating a technology start-up, how stand-up comedy fueled his work, the connection between ReplyAll and legal tech, and available opportunities for disruption in the legal field.

I spoke with Elisa Cooper, the vice president of marketing for Lecorpio, a provider of intellectual property management and analytics software solutions for corporate IP departments. We discussed the results of the Second Annual Lecorpio Trademark Management Study, highlights ranging from budgeting for trademark registrations to trademark policing strategies, the primary theme of the research, and what the results indicate about where the market is headed.

I spoke with Steven Sinofsky, a board partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he serves as an advisor to various companies, including as a board member of the e-discovery software provider, Everlaw. We discussed why law-related software is so attractive right now, whether a VC firm calculates the valuation of an e-discovery company differently from a prospect in any other industry, how long it takes to evaluate a company for an investment, ways that a board member supports the strategy of a portfolio company, and what the appeal of legal technology says about where the market is headed.

I spoke with Jeff Pfeifer, the vice president of product management at LexisNexis, where he is responsible for product development strategy for the company’s electronic solutions portfolio. We discussed how the exponential growth in data is presenting new challenges in legal research, what is necessary to empower the data driven lawyer of the future, ways that machine learning and artificial intelligence are impacting the legal field, and how the evolution of analytics is influencing the predictability of trial outcomes, among other topics.

I spoke with Justin Hectus, the CIO and CISO of Keesal Young & Logan, a Pacific rim-based law firm with a nationwide litigation practice. We discussed the law firm’s partnership with Privva to collaboratively implement the EDRM’s new Security Audit Questionnaire, why law firms should apply the questionnaire to their vendor risk management programs, other standards and regulations driving change in law firm security audits and controls, and how this type of collaboration is impacting the legal industry.

I spoke with Catherine Krow, the founder of Digitory Legal, a legal budgeting and resource management system for lawyers and corporate law departments. Before starting Digitory Legal, Catherine practiced for 17 years and was a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. We discussed the genesis of Digitory Legal, why legal budgeting and resource management are important issues for law firms and their clients, how the Digitory Legal system works, key trends, and advice for lawyers practicing in today’s legal market.

I spoke with Max Rosenthal, an in-house labor and employment attorney with a large media company, who is also the author of The Bridge: How to Launch Your Career Through a Legal Internship. We discussed his interest in writing the book, what law students and newer lawyers should be focusing on in the current market, strategies for finding an internship or a mentor, the greatest challenges ahead for law students and new practitioners, and what employers are looking for when hiring a legal intern or a junior attorney.