Reinventing Professionals

The Rise of Natural Language Processing

I spoke with Rob Lancashire, the CEO of Essencient, which offers patented natural language processing technology to provide metadata that enables insight and profitable action from natural language text. We discussed the genesis of Essencient, how the technology works, its common applications, and how natural language processing is impacting the current market.

Why You Cannot Just Throw Technology at an E-Discovery Problem

I spoke with Haresh Bhungalia and David Carns, the CEO and Executive Vice President, respectively of Casepoint, an e-discovery technology and services provider. We discussed the genesis of Casepoint and its rebranding, how it marries proprietary technology with services, the impact of artificial intelligence on e-discovery, key litigation challenges that clients are facing in the current environment, and where the e-discovery market is headed.

Reinventing the Search for Legal Talent

I spoke with Stacey McConnell, an attorney and the co-founder of the Adept Legal Talent Group, a legal placement firm. We discussed the genesis of the Adept Legal Talent Group, what makes the firm unique, the background and levels of experience the firm is seeking, its target clients, and tips that employers should consider when engaging in the talent acquisition process.

Achieving Seamless Cultural Alignment After a Legal Tech Merger

I spoke with Brian McManus, the CEO of Lighthouse eDiscovery, a provider of technology-enabled ediscovery and consulting services, which recently merged with Discovia, a company that provides complementary technology and services. We discussed the merger of Lighthouse eDiscovery with Discovia, the advantages of that combination to clients of the unified entity, ways that changes in the legal industry have increased the demand for dynamic consulting, how the association of the two companies reflects the changing nature of consolidation, and techniques for ensuring seamless cultural alignment.

Reinventing Pre-Paid Legal Services and Elevating the Law

I spoke with Keri Norris, the senior vice president for regulatory affairs and chief legal officer at LegalShield, a provider of pre-paid legal services. We discussed the chief legal officer’s role at LegalShield, the benefits of pre-paid legal services, the organization’s Elevate by LegalShield conference (July 6-8, 2017), and how the company is adapting to the changing legal market.

Conversation Connections, Stand-Up Comedy, and Legal Tech Start-Ups

I spoke with Zach Abramowitz, the founder of ReplyAll, which he describes as a new way to create conversations online. Zach is also a speaker and writer on innovation, as well as a former stand-up comedian, producer at ESPN radio, and corporate lawyer. His columns and conversations on legal disruption appear in Above the Law, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch. We discussed the genesis of ReplyAll, how it works, the challenges associated with creating a technology start-up, how stand-up comedy fueled his work, the connection between ReplyAll and legal tech, and available opportunities for disruption in the legal field.

A View From the Board of Directors By an Investor in Legal Tech

I spoke with Steven Sinofsky, a board partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he serves as an advisor to various companies, including as a board member of the e-discovery software provider, Everlaw. We discussed why law-related software is so attractive right now, whether a VC firm calculates the valuation of an e-discovery company differently from a prospect in any other industry, how long it takes to evaluate a company for an investment, ways that a board member supports the strategy of a portfolio company, and what the appeal of legal technology says about where the market is headed.

Empowering the Data Driven Lawyer of the Future

I spoke with Jeff Pfeifer, the vice president of product management at LexisNexis, where he is responsible for product development strategy for the company’s electronic solutions portfolio. We discussed how the exponential growth in data is presenting new challenges in legal research, what is necessary to empower the data driven lawyer of the future, ways that machine learning and artificial intelligence are impacting the legal field, and how the evolution of analytics is influencing the predictability of trial outcomes, among other topics.

Collaborating to Reduce Risk Associated With Technology

I spoke with Justin Hectus, the CIO and CISO of Keesal Young & Logan, a Pacific rim-based law firm with a nationwide litigation practice. We discussed the law firm’s partnership with Privva to collaboratively implement the EDRM’s new Security Audit Questionnaire, why law firms should apply the questionnaire to their vendor risk management programs, other standards and regulations driving change in law firm security audits and controls, and how this type of collaboration is impacting the legal industry.

Addressing the Sea Change in Legal Budgeting and Cost Management

I spoke with Catherine Krow, the founder of Digitory Legal, a legal budgeting and resource management system for lawyers and corporate law departments. Before starting Digitory Legal, Catherine practiced for 17 years and was a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. We discussed the genesis of Digitory Legal, why legal budgeting and resource management are important issues for law firms and their clients, how the Digitory Legal system works, key trends, and advice for lawyers practicing in today’s legal market.