Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Darrell Mervau, the president of FileTrail, and David Worth, the chief information officer at Nelson Mullins. We discussed how the role of the CIO and most technology leaders has evolved in law firms, the increased interest in information governance, what to expect from an IG solution, and where the sector is headed.

I spoke with Rakesh Madhava, the founder and CEO of Nextpoint, a company that develops e-discovery and trial prep software. We discussed the genesis of Nextpoint, how the pandemic has changed e-discovery, and where e-discovery is headed.

One of the initiatives that Ari Kaplan Advisors launched in 2020 was a periodic CEO Roundtable to address trends, challenges, and objectives with market leaders. During the fifth and final conversation of the year, I discussed lessons learned, silver linings, and the road ahead with: Haresh Bhungalia, CEO, Casepoint; Kiwi Camara, CEO, DISCO; Ian Campbell, CEO, iCONECT; Craig Carpenter, CEO, X1; Dana Denis-Smith, CEO, Obelisk Support; Steve Fredette, CEO, The BARBRI Group; Keith Laska, CEO, Hanzo; Kim Massana, CEO, Neota Logic; Soumya Nettimi, CEO, ASG Legal Tech; Tim Pullan, CEO, ThoughtRiver; and, Chris Stock, CEO, PCLaw | Time Matters.

I spoke with George Socha, the Senior Vice President of Brand Awareness for Reveal, an e-discovery software company, and a member of the advisory board for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists. He is also the co-founder of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model. We discussed his new role, the role of AI in e-discovery, the eDiscovery Leaders weekly video program on the ACEDS network, the value of a CEDS certification, and how the pandemic is changing e-discovery.

I spoke with Scott Wallingford, the Vice President and General Manager of LexisNexis’ Law Firm Software Solutions business unit. We discussed the new LexisNexis Interaction business development initiative, how law firms can identify new strategies and tactics in their 2021 business plans, and the most effective business development techniques for the New Year.

I spoke with Pieter van der Hoeven, the co-founder and CEO of Clocktimizer, a business intelligence platform designed to help law firms make data-driven decisions related to matter management, budgeting, and pricing. We discussed the current challenges for law firm leaders, pricing managers, and legal project management professionals, why firms need to analyze their data in the current climate, and how legal professionals can distinguish themselves in 2021.

I spoke with Jeff Catanzaro, the executive vice president of contracts, compliance, and commercial services at Integreon, a global managed services provider, and Ajay Agrawal the co-founder and chairman of SirionLabs, a provider of artificial intelligence-powered contract lifecycle management technology. We discussed the partnership between Integreon and SirionLabs, why the contract lifecycle management sector has become so popular, how the pandemic has impacted the growth of contract lifecycle management, and whether corporate legal departments are taking a greater interest in leveraging technology to solve business problems.

I spoke with Victoria Blake, the senior director of product at Zapproved, a cloud-based software company that builds e-discovery tools for corporate legal, from legal holds through processing and review. We discussed the E-Discovery Unfiltered report, how the pandemic has impacted the way legal teams manage litigation, what litigants should understand about e-discovery, why the appetite for the cloud is so strong, and how e-discovery will evolve in 2021.

I spoke with Zolo Mundur, the CEO of Codelex, a Mongolia-based developer of legal technology and the creator of a lawyer-to-lawyer legal document marketplace called Lexub. We discussed the genesis of Lexub, how the legal document marketplace is evolving, and where legal tech in Mongolia is headed.

I spoke with Megan O’Flynn, the assistant general counsel at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), and Doug Donahue, a partner in the finance practice at Linklaters in New York City. We discussed ISDA Create, a collaboration between the association and Linklaters, how developing tools with outside counsel can impact client expectations, and ways that projects of this type can influence the attorney/client relationship.