Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Mark Noel the Managing Director of Professional Services for Catalyst, a provider of litigation support software and services. Before joining Catalyst, Mark co-founded an e-discovery software start-up and was an intellectual property litigator with Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC.

I spoke with with Joe Borstein, the global director of the law firm division at Pangea3, a legal process outsourcer. Borstein is also the co-author of the bimonthly alt.legal column for Above The Law. We discussed his role at Pangea3, a Thomson Reuters business, and the growing popularity of alternative managed legal solutions, which the company's extensive network of full-time attorneys provides to a range of firms, from small offices to the AmLaw 100, and many of the Fortune 1000. Borstein highlighted examples of the "not-so-new normal" trends that have transformed the legal industry, including collaborative content creation, dynamic legal technology, and the array of available outsourcing options. He also provided recommendations for how legal professionals can leverage alternative legal services.

In one of the most fascinating interviews I have had, I spoke with Lawrence Cunningham, a leading authority on corporate governance and culture, professor of corporate law at GW Law School (my alma mater), and the author of many business books, including his newest:

I spoke with Richard Spies, the president and CEO of Lucid IQ, the maker of CaseManagerPro, which is a case and matter management system used by law firms and corporate legal departments nationwide. We discussed the genesis of CaseManagerPro, how firms and corporate law departments are systematizing their approach to complex matters, and the need for readily available information to increase performance.

I spoke with Jason Parkman, the CEO of Mitratech, an enterprise legal management software provider that helps corporate legal teams reduce their costs, collaborate, and increase their visibility. He noted that, “We are in the middle of a shift in how legal departments see themselves,” and we discussed the top three best practices they should implement today to position themselves for success in the future. They include:

I spoke with Dominick Esposito, a co-founder and the executive director of eLaw, a leading docketing and calendaring software tool. He is a frequent guest speaker on computers and the law for the New York and New Jersey Trial Lawyers associations.

I spoke with Ian Campbell, the president of iCONECT Development, the maker of the XERA® hosted review platform. He is responsible for sales, business development, product lifecycle development, and legal service provider and partner relations.

I spoke with Bruce Berman, the founder of Brody Berman Associates, a management consulting and communications firm that supports intellectual property rights holders and service providers, who is also the author of five books, including The Intangible Investor – Profiting from Intellectual Property: Companies’ Most Elusive Assets (CloseUp Media, 2014).

I spoke with BJ Schaknowski, the Vice President of Sales and Professional Services at LexisNexis, where he is responsible for all sales and consulting for software solutions sold to law firms and corporate legal departments.

I spoke with Doug Horton, the President and CEO of Handshake Software, a leading provider of SharePoint products and services in the legal community. We discussed Handshake’s mission, the impact of its recent acquisition of the Thomson Reuters OneView portal, the impact of SharePoint 2013 on the legal community, and his views on the SharePoint as a DMS debate, among other topics.