Reinventing Professionals

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.

I spoke with Maya Markovich, the Chief Growth Officer at Nextlaw Labs, and one of ILTA’s five “Influential Women of Legal Tech” for 2020. We discussed the skills that future lawyers will need to succeed and how can they obtain them, how the entrepreneurial mindset aligns with how lawyers approach problem-solving, and ways that the pandemic has affected innovation in legal.

I spoke with Steven Walker, a managing director with Deloitte Legal Business Services, where he is responsible for legal management consulting, spend management, and legal operations services. We discussed the objective of the legal business services team, how the pandemic is reshaping the delivery of legal services, what legal teams can expect in 2021, and how the relationship between outside counsel and their clients is evolving.

I spoke with Brad Blickstein and Bea Seravello, the co-leaders of the New Law practice at Baretz+Brunelle, a strategic advisory communications firm. We discussed the genesis of the New Law practice group and its recent report: Home Court Advantage: The Am Law 100 Moves Into Alternative Legal Services. We also spoke about the mini-maturity model for captive ALSPs and the Blickstein Group’s Annual Law Department Operations Survey.

I spoke with Jackie Donner, the co-founder and CEO of Lawflex, an alternative legal services provider based in Israel, teaming experienced lawyers with law firms, financial institutions, and other corporations on a flexible basis. We discussed the genesis of Lawflex, how the pandemic has impacted the use of alternative legal services, and where she sees the greatest opportunity for growth.