Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Yavor Gradinarov, the Sales Manager at the Hotel Sahrai in Fez, Morocco about the return of leisure travel, ideas for exploring the city of Fez, and the key elements of client service.

I spoke with Debbie Foster, the managing partner of Affinity Consulting, a company focused on optimizing law firm performance. We discussed why efficiency, productivity, and profitability have become a focal point for leaders in legal, the technology applications that have the greatest impact on a law firm’s success, and the Lemonade virtual conference.

I spoke with Vishal Sunak, the co-founder and CEO of LinkSquares, the developer of an AI-powered contracting platform for legal teams. We discussed how LinkSquares distinguishes its approach in the contract software market, how the company is deploying its $100M Series C round of funding, and the ways that it attracts and retains top talent in today’s climate.

I spoke with Todd Corham, the Chief Information Officer at Saul Ewing and a member of the International Legal Technology Association‘s survey committee. We discussed the results of ILTA’s 2022 Technology Survey, how law firm leaders can incorporate the findings to make improvements, and how law firm technology is evolving.

I spoke with Paul Giedraitis, a principal at Axiom Consulting Partners, and the founder and president of Orgaimi, a client intelligence platform for law and accounting firms. We discussed how law firms are leveraging client intelligence, the sources of data that are most valuable for law firms and legal professionals, how Orgaimi uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, and ways that law firms can begin to harness the power of their data.

I spoke with Tom Lambotte, the founder and CEO of two companies, GlobalMac IT, a managed services provider focused on supporting lawyers nationwide who use Apple products, and BobaGuard, a suite of turnkey cybersecurity solutions built for solo practitioners and small law firms. We discussed the most common IT challenges that solo and small law firms in the legal community face, best practices for safeguarding client data, and risks to which solo and small law firms are vulnerable.

I spoke with Peter Krakaur, the Global Law Innovation & Technology Leader for Ernst & Young. We discussed how corporate legal teams are moving beyond a focus on legal technology and more towards enterprise applications, the personnel and process changes impacted by enterprise technology, and the change management challenges, or opportunities, in evolving corporate legal departments.

I spoke with Jamie Wodetzki, the chief product officer at Catylex, a developer of contract AI applications. We discussed contract AI, the connection between contract AI and contract lifecycle management, the most common challenges legal teams face in organizing their data to optimize their use of CLM, the tipping point for true AI adoption in the legal profession, and the skills necessary for legal professionals to thrive in a more tech-enabled environment.

I spoke with Amy Sellars, Senior Legal Counsel for eDiscovery and Operations at CBRE, and one of the founders, along with Christine Payne, Stacy Sampeck, Kevin Brady, Logan Cornett, Chad Riley, and Mary Kostick, of the Mind-Budget Connection™ which is a new organization that is studying the mental health of e-discovery professionals. We discussed the mission of the organization, how the pandemic has impacted the work of those focused on e-discovery, best practices for managing a litigation support workload, and the importance of well-being in this sector.

I spoke with Dr. Gavin Manes, the founder and CEO of Avansic, a provider of e-discovery and digital forensics services, about the primary activities and technologies incorporated into e-discovery projects, where are litigants facing the most challenging e-discovery issues, how legal teams are approaching self-service e-discovery, and the role of forensics in modern discovery.