Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Chris Vorderer, Managing Director of Firm Intelligence at Litera, a software company that provides meaningful intelligence to the legal profession, and Pieter van der Hoeven, the co-founder and CEO at Clocktimizer, a business intelligence platform designed to help law firms make data-driven decisions related to matter management, budgeting, and pricing, which Litera recently acquired. We discussed the acquisition, why business intelligence has become so important in the legal sector, and the enhanced opportunities for legal tech companies in a remote environment.

I spoke with Ian Nolan, the co-founder and CEO of Brightflag, a legal spend and matter management software platform for corporate legal departments. We discussed the value of legal spend management for in-house teams, how law departments can apply artificial intelligence to optimize their operations, and how legal departments are transforming their operations as they return to a central office.

I spoke with Dan Binstock, a legal recruiter and co-owner of Garrison & Sisson, a leading attorney search firm. He is also the creator of the Virtual Piano Party. We discussed the state of the legal job market, the genesis of the Virtual Piano Party, and the secret to engaging attendees on Zoom events.

I spoke with Grover Cleveland, the author of Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks: The Essential Guide to Thriving as a New Lawyer, who provides practical skills webinars for associates and summer associates. We discussed how firms navigated summer associate programming in 2020 and how they will do so in 2021, his playbook for virtual summer programs, and how legal professionals can develop better habits in showcasing their talent and ability.

I spoke with Jason Boehmig, the co-founder and CEO of Ironclad, a digital contracting platform used by companies around the world. We discussed the genesis of Ironclad, the transition from large firm lawyer to legal tech entrepreneur, the popularity of the CLM sector, the emergence of digital contracting, and the alignment between CLM and the growth of legal operations.

I spoke with Andrew King, the New Zealand-based founder of Legal Innovate, E-Discovery Consulting, and the LegalTechHub, as well as the producer of the LawFest conference. We discussed how he navigated the uncertainty in the planning process for LawFest, surprises from the event, what conference organizers should know when planning events in a post-COVID era, and how legal events will evolve.

I spoke with Margaret Burke, the managing director at Kolibri Law Support Solutions, a subscription-based suite of legal management and business services for law firms with a focus on helping them improve profitability by reducing overhead and enhancing operational efficiency. We discussed how the needs of law firms have changed in the pandemic, the advantages of outsourcing, and building trust with external resources.

I spoke with Michael McIlwrath, an attorney, who spent more than two decades leading international litigation for General Electric’s oil and gas division, and until March of 2021, for Baker Hughes Company. He is the co-author of a new book for lawyers working internationally called Negotiating International Commercial Contracts: Practical Exercises. We discussed his inspiration for the book, the value of the practical exercises included in the book, the impact of unintentional negotiating, how the pandemic has impacted international arbitration, and how it will evolve.

I spoke with Debbie Foster, the managing partner of Affinity Consulting, a company focused on optimizing law firm performance. We discussed how successful law firms have maintained their operations in the pandemic, ways that they have automated and digitized their workflows, whether working remotely will remain a permanent component of legal practice, and best practices for firms that are returning to a central office.

I spoke with Jackie Schafer, the founder of Clearbrief, a platform that uses AI to improve the accuracy of legal writing and the experience of the reader. We discussed how Clearbrief works, the technology behind Clearbrief, how this software is impacting the legal profession, and how this technology could change the way law schools teach legal writing.

I spoke with Nicolas Leroux, the founder and CEO of Kalexius, an alternative legal services provider. We discussed the genesis of Kalexius, the difference between an ALSP and a legal technology company, how in-house legal teams can incorporate an ALSP into their portfolio of service providers, and ways that law department leaders can persuade other stakeholders to adopt their approach.

I spoke with Ram Vasudevan, the founder and CEO of QuisLex, a provider of alternative legal services. We discussed the genesis of QuisLex, how the company has enhanced client service in the remote environment, managing the return to in-person activities, and where the ALSP market is headed.

I spoke with Jim Leipold, the executive director of NALP, the National Association for Law Placement, which is an organization focused on career counseling and planning, recruitment and retention, and the professional development of law students, lawyers, and its members. We discussed how the organization’s mission has changed over the past half-century as it celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2021, ways that law firms have adapted their approach to recruiting and training during the pandemic, and how the next generation of lawyers can thrive.

I spoke with Tobias Heining, the Berlin-based director of business, clients, and strategy for Osborne Clarke Germany. We discussed new ways that professionals are approaching business and client development, best practices for engaging with clients and prospects remotely, changes that law firms have made that will remain permanent when legal professionals return full-time to their central offices, and how technology has helped lawyers engage during the pandemic.

I am speaking today with Andrea Cannavina, the founder of LegalTypist, a virtual assistant service focused on the legal profession that is celebrating its 20th anniversary. We discussed the genesis of LegalTypist, the increasing levels of self-sufficiency among lawyers during the pandemic, projects that are best-suited to a virtual assistant, and advice for those interested in building a business that serves the legal profession.

I spoke with Jerry Ting, the founder and CEO of Evisort, an AI-powered CLM software platform. We discussed the difference between an AI-powered CLM platform and CLM, how Evisort will leverage its recent investment, the need for legal tech companies to prove their claims in this climate, and how the expectations of clients have changed in the remote environment.

I spoke with Janet Falk, the founder of Falk Communications and Research, which provides public relations and marketing communications guidance to solo practitioners and small law firms, as well as to business executives and consultants. We discussed the value of media relations for attorneys, how they can introduce themselves to reporters as authoritative sources, what legal professionals can do to be more quotable, and the types of articles professionals should publish.

I spoke with Patricia LeBel-Lasse, a litigation paralegal and litigation support professional with Pullman & Comley, a law firm with offices in Connecticut and Massachusetts. She is a member of the global advisory board for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists. We discussed the advantages for paralegals who become adept in e-discovery, why paralegals are best-suited to translate between legal and IT, and how the training of a traditional paralegal sets the foundation for more advanced litigation support.

I spoke with Tony Donofrio, the chief technology officer for Veritext Legal Solutions, a company that provides deposition and litigation support solutions. We discussed pre-pandemic impressions of remote depositions, challenges that legal professionals needed to overcome when conducting remote depositions early in the pandemic, the experience between remote and in-person proceedings, and where the sector is headed.

I spoke with Kenya Parrish-Dixon, the general counsel and chief operating officer for Empire Technologies Risk Management Group, a cybersecurity, information governance, e-discovery, and managed review consulting company. She is also a member of the global advisory board for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists. We discussed how the pandemic has impacted the perception of cybersecurity, information governance, and e-discovery, and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s new Data Steward Program.