Reinventing Professionals

Reimagining Professional Development for Lawyers

I spoke with Drew Amoroso, the founder of Move Associates, a company that focuses on professional development for lawyers. Prior to founding Move Associates, Drew was both a senior associate at a global law firm and a solo practitioner focusing on the fitness and health and wellness industries. We discussed the genesis of Move Associates, the programs it offers, how its approach reflects the changing nature of law firm training, whether students are embracing professional development in the same way that lawyers have, and how training and development is evolving in the legal community?

The Evolution of Translation in Legal Matters

I spoke with Mark Ettinger, a vice president at Linguistic Systems, a language translation company. We discussed how his team performs translations, the technology it uses, its Relativity plug-in, whether neural translation technology can replace human editors, how clients are combining the two, and the challenges of remaining current with digital developments.

Funding Your Legal Tech Initiative Through a Coin Offering

I spoke with Stevie Ghiassi, the co-founder and CEO of Legaler, an Australian legal technology company focused on advancing the delivery of legal services and expanding access to justice through blockchain technology. He is also the host of the LegalMeets podcast and president of the Australian Legal Technology Association. We discussed the genesis of Legaler, the state of legal technology in Australia, how Legaler is influencing access to justice, and the company’s token initiative.

Aligning Legal Education with the Business of Law

I spoke with Anthony Crowell, the dean and president of New York Law School, which recently launched a Business of Law Institute and released a market research report called – The Business of Law: A Market Research Study to Explore Opportunities for New York Law School Students – which helped to support the new initiative. [Disclosure: New York Law School engaged Ari Kaplan Advisors to produce this new report.] We discussed the genesis of the Business of Law Institute, why it was important for the study to combine qualitative interviews, quantitative analytics, and student focus groups, the report’s key findings, its surprises, and how the law school’s new initiative reflects the trajectory of legal education and the profession.

Taking the Robotic Tasks From Humans with CLM

I spoke with Rebecca Yoder, the director of legal technology for SpringCM, a contract lifecycle management software provider. We discussed her role at SpringCM, the adoption level of contract lifecycle management in legal, how SpringCM helps the CLM efforts of in-house legal teams, the distinction in CLM usage in buy-side and sell-side of contracts, and her advice for professionals interested in CLM.

The Rise of Legal Management Consulting

I spoke with Stacie Neeter and Jim Mitchell, the co-leaders of the legal management consulting group at Stout, an independent advisory firm. We discussed the focus of the legal management consulting group, why legal management consulting has become so important, how technology is impacting modern law departments, ways that corporate legal teams are evolving, and the most significant trends that are driving change in the legal industry.

Masters Conference Feature: Building Rock Star Teams and the Changing Nature of Legal Recruiting

I spoke with Zelda Owens, the managing director of Attorney Placements for the Glenmont Group, a leading legal industry recruiting firm. She has served as director of Women in eDiscovery’s New York City chapter and as the chairperson of The Masters Conference, which just held an event in Manhattan. We discussed her role at the Glenmont Group, how the recruiting process has changed, how employment candidates can distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market, the areas in which technology is displacing human talent, ways that law firms and law departments can build successful teams, and where legal recruiting is headed.

The Small Country Making a Big Impact on Blockchain Adoption

I spoke with Ian Gauci, a founding partner with GTG Advocates, a law firm of 22 professionals in Malta. He serves on Malta’s National Blockchain Task Force and is one of the drafters of a new law on smart contracts, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies, and advises the government and financial institutions on fintech and blockchain matters. We discussed why distributed ledger technology like blockchain has become so popular in Malta, the unique characteristics of the Maltese legal community that fuel adoption of new technology thrive, how lawyers can take advantage of blockchain and other DLT tools, the risks of doing so, and where this sector is headed in Europe.

GDPR and the Value of Cyber Clarity

I spoke with Imran Jaswal, a managing director at Duff and Phelps who serves as the commercial lead for the company’s new CyberClarity360 solution. We discussed the genesis of CyberClarity360, factors that impact an organization’s cyber risk profile, how CyberClarity360 helps third-party vendors improve their cybersecurity, and ways that it is being used to navigate GDPR.

Auto-classification, Artificial Intelligence, and Legal Tech in Belgium

I spoke with Yves Lefere, the commercial director at Knowliah, a Belgium-based provider of a new digital workplace platform for corporate legal departments in Europe. We discussed what Knowliah offers the legal market, how its technology has evolved since it was founded two decades ago, the overall appetite for legal technology in Belgium, the challenges European corporate legal departments are trying to overcome with legal technology, and where the European legal tech market is headed in the next year.