ILTA Voices

The importance of a strong professional network cannot be overstated. The people to whom you connect, with whom you collaborate and for whom you serve as a trusted resource are enormous assets for career development and expansion, advice, support and friendship. We spoke some true experts on networking within the ILTA community, and their advice is worth heeding as you grow and define your network. Here is out interview with Natalie Alesi, Senior Project Manager at Kraft & Kennedy, Inc. Other interviewees: Mary Abraham and Tim Golden

The importance of a strong professional network cannot be overstated. The people to whom you connect, with whom you collaborate and for whom you serve as a trusted resource are enormous assets for career development and expansion, advice, support and friendship. We spoke some true experts on networking within the ILTA community, and their advice is worth heeding as you grow and define your network. Here is out interview with Tim Golden, Manager of Enterprise Architecture & IT Governance at McGuireWoods LLP. Other interviewees: Mary Abraham and Natalie Alesi

Law firms are constantly trying to reduce their budgets while demanding more from our technology, marketing and other crucial support staff professionals.  Shirley Crow, CIO at Farella Braun & Martel, offers some practical advice on how to keep and upgrade your talent without busting the budget.

Most professionals will tell you that some of the greatest lessons they’ve learned in their careers were the result of a failure of some sort. How can managers in today’s law firms create an environment where these valuable lessons can be learned, while balancing the need to justify expenses, headcount, and return on investment?” Moderator:Kelly Harbour is the Associate Director of Client Relations at Goulston & Storrs PC and a member of ILTA’s Professional Services steering committee. She has more than a dozen years of experience in innovation, strategic planning, process improvement, and project execution in Marketing, Technology, and Administrative Operations in the professional services industry.  Speaker:Paul Obernuefemann is the Director of Information Systems at Lewis, Rice & Fingersh, L.C. Paul has managed Information Technology in the legal,  financial and engineering verticals for over 18 years. He has been involved in numerous large-scale projects and is presently working on migrating client server applications to browser based technology leveraging a private cloud platform.

Join us for a very brief run down on the latest trending vulnerability, Poodle. Also, a friendly reminder of a busy October patch month from all the major vendors. Speakers:Jamie Herman has more than 15 years of experience in information security, risk management and information technology. Currently the Manager of Information Security for Ropes & Gray LLP, Jamie's expertise covers a diverse range of areas, including implementing information security programs, data privacy, digital forensics, access control, leading innovation initiatives and leading a global team. His passion for assisting law firms improve their security posture in all facets of business has been a key to his success. Having led vulnerability management plan efforts, security strategy and policy design initiatives, Jamie collaborates with a wide network of public and private industry information security experts to deliver forward-thinking security thought leadership to the legal information security industries. Jamie sits on the LegalSec steering committee and has presented at numerous ARMA, ILTA and information security industry events. Contact him at jamie.herman@ropesgray.com.  Bill Kyrouz, Senior Manager, Information Security & Governance at Bingham McCutchen LLP, has worked in information technology for over 15 years -- 12 of them in the legal community. While leading Bingham's information security efforts he has implemented multiple programs, including mandatory firmwide awareness, incident response and vulnerability management. Actively working with peers to raise the information security bar across the legal industry, Bill is a member of the LegalSec Steering Committee and LegalSec Summit Planning Committee. A GSEC, he has previously spoken at local and national events on information security, business continuity and network management. Bill can be contacted at wkyrouz@bingham.com or followed on Twitter @Kyrouz.

Getting a handle on a newly introduced vulnerability impacted millions of devices worldwide is difficult! So join us for a quick walk through of what the Bash vulnerability is all about, what systems are affected, and how to deal with this widespread problem. Our goal is to give you some clear cut takeaways to help identify, remediate, and manage this problem in your organization. Speakers: Jamie Herman has more than 15 years of experience in information security, risk management and information technology. Currently the Manager of Information Security for Ropes & Gray LLP, Jamie's expertise covers a diverse range of areas, including implementing information security programs, data privacy, digital forensics, access control, leading innovation initiatives and leading a global team. His passion for assisting law firms improve their security posture in all facets of business has been a key to his success. Having led vulnerability management plan efforts, security strategy and policy design initiatives, Jamie collaborates with a wide network of public and private industry information security experts to deliver forward-thinking security thought leadership to the legal information security industries. Jamie sits on the LegalSec steering committee and has presented at numerous ARMA, ILTA and information security industry events. Contact him at jamie.herman@ropesgray.com. Bill Kyrouz, Senior Manager, Information Security & Governance at Bingham McCutchen LLP, has worked in information technology for over 15 years -- 12 of them in the legal community. While leading Bingham's information security efforts he has implemented multiple programs, including mandatory firmwide awareness, incident response and vulnerability management. Actively working with peers to raise the information security bar across the legal industry, Bill is a member of the LegalSec Steering Committee and LegalSec Summit Planning Committee. A GSEC, he has previously spoken at local and national events on information security, business continuity and network management. Bill can be contacted at wkyrouz@bingham.com or followed on Twitter @Kyrouz.

The following is a podcast which provides a high-level overview of the ISO 27002 domains and some of the key controls within those domains.  The LegalSec Steering Committee simply wanted to provide an overview of these domains and highlight some of the controls that a Firm may want to consider in moving towards an ISO like security program.  Speaker:Joe Daw has more than 15 years in providing successful information security leadership, infrastructure management, regulatory compliance and risk management in various industries.  Joe has built and successfully managed an Information Security Program from the ground up for several Firms within industries including banking, insurance, health and legal.  Joe deals effectively with customers, executives, and stockholders on a regular basis. All of these achievements are critical to firms, that must compete in today's difficult economy and maintain information security  and compliance through appropriate risk management.  Joe is also a member of ILTA's LegalSEC Steering Committee.

How do you encrypt and transfer data to support your organization’s needs?  This is a timely discussion with peer firm’s that are addressing the encryption process for data that his transferred to or from your organization.  The discussion covers a few key considerations including:  Why do we need to move data?  It is  important to identify your needs. How do you remain in control of the data at each step?  Choosing a encryption solution that meets the needs of the client, vendor, firm, and/or government agency. Cost of deployment. Speed and efficiency considerations. Speakers: Stephen Dooley is the Senior Manager of Electronic Discovery and Litigation Support at Sullivan & Cromwell which is about an 800 attorney international firm.  Stephen is a member of the ILTA Litigation and Practice Support Steering Committee. Scott Rolf is the CIO at Tucker Ellis LLP, a 185 attorney firm based in Cleveland, Ohio.  Scott is a the Technical Operations Team Coordinator for the 2014 ILTA Conference in Nashville. Vern Cole is the Security Architect for Perkins Coie, a 900 attorney firm based primarily in the US with some Asia presence. Vern is a member of the LegalSEC Steering Committee. 

Conventional networks have been around for decades, proprietary protocols, interoperability issues have plagued network engineers to utilize multi-vendor architectures.  ASIC based network switches and routers have come a long way but are reaching speed and compatibility constraints.  Software Defined Networking looks to be the network architecture of the future and is being driven by customers.  Moderator:  David Tremont, Director of Infrastructure, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP Speaker:  Jarrod Mills, Data Center Principal Consultant at Accudata Systems Jarrod’s focus is designing, implementing, and troubleshooting Data Center and Cloud networks. He has a strong background in implementation, design, and configuration of large enterprise networks. Jarrod has been working with Cisco and Juniper Systems routing and switching products for 15 years and has been working in the IT industry for more than 18 years. He has an in-depth understanding of multi-vendor converged infrastructure designs and products. He is a CCIE in 4 areas of practice; Data Center, Security, Route Switch and Service Provider.  Jarrod also earned his JD at Texas Tech School of Law Additional Resources: https://www.opennetworking.org/sdn-resources/onf-specifications/openflow

Listen in as members of ILTA’s Profession Services Steering Committee interview CIOs and IT directors about their experiences, advice and strategies for success in their new roles or new firms.