Legal Operations

News

Worried About the GDPR? Some Say It's the Y2K of Data Privacy

Dan Clark | May 25, 2018

Attorneys who work on data and privacy matters say it's unlikely most companies need to worry about multimillion-dollar fines and close probes by regulators just yet.

Analysis

4 Ways to Leverage E-Discovery Workflows and Technology for GDPR Compliance

Joe Mulenex, Exterro | May 25, 2018

E-discovery professionals may not realize that they’re in a position to assist with GDPR compliance by leveraging processes and technology already in place

News

LinkedIn Finds Its New General Counsel in Blake Lawit

Caroline Spiezio | May 24, 2018

Lawit, who has been working for the professional networking platform for eight years, has an impressive new title to add to his own LinkedIn profile.

Analysis

The 5 Secrets to Setting up a Legal Operations Function

Monica Zent, ZentLaw and Foxwordy | May 24, 2018

If you don’t already have a legal ops function, odds are that you’re looking into it. You should be; there are many benefits of a well-constructed legal ops function.

News

Facebook Names GDPR-Mandated Data Protection Officer Before Deadline

Caroline Spiezio | May 23, 2018

Stephen Deadman will be stepping in as data protection officer for Facebook at a time when the company's data practices are under more scrutiny than ever.

News

NetDocuments Gets Chatty with ndThread Integrated Communication Tool

Zach Warren | May 23, 2018

A result of netDocuments’ ThreadKM acquisition, ndThread allows for messaging that integrates directly with preexisting document matter files.

News

85 Percent of Companies Not Fully Ready for the GDPR, Survey Says

Sue Reisinger | May 21, 2018

The Capgemini report added that 63 percent of U.S. respondents stated they will be largely or completely compliant, with 'a mixed picture across Europe.'

Analysis

Are U.S. Records Retention Requirements on a Collision Course with the GDPR’s ‘Right to Erasure?’

Stacey Garrett, Keesal, Young & Logan | May 18, 2018

U.S. laws require companies to retain records for years, and sometimes forever, and violating U.S. records retention laws can result in domestic fines and penalties. But this could be an issue with the upcoming GDPR.

Commentary

Should Law Firms Embrace Artificial Intelligence and R&D Labs?

Ioana Good and Kathryn B. Whitaker | May 18, 2018

There is a puzzle in the legal business. Our economic landscape is filling up with innovative organizations who have embraced the convergence of technology and business to meet new market demands, yet the legal market remains conservative.

News

Survey Says Millennial Era Is Here, With Increased Speed and Tech Changes

Meghan Tribe | May 18, 2018

The Cushman & Wakefield report says as more and more millennials assume partnership positions, their preferences will start to reshape the legal industry.

News

GDPR Could Be a 'Spark for New Business Models,' IBM Survey Says

Dan Clark | May 16, 2018

59 percent say the GDPR is a chance 'for transformation or a spark for new data-led business models.'

Q&A

Corporate Law 2.0: What It Means to Be a 'Chief Legal Innovation Counsel'

Rhys Dipshan | May 16, 2018

Former GE executive counsel Farrah Pepper discusses her move to Marsh & McLennan as its new chief legal innovation counsel, where she says her primary job is to make things "click."

Analysis

Budgeting for E-discovery: It Doesn’t Have to Be a Myth

Chris Esposito, The MCS Group | May 16, 2018

By understanding the various charges and all the steps of the process, you’ll be well on your way toward predicting costs that previously seemed unpredictable.

News

Billable Hours for Promoting Legal Tech and Operations? That's Reed Smith's Plan

Dan Packel | May 15, 2018

The newly adopted 'Innovation Hours' program initiative gives attorneys up to 50 hours of billable hour credits for putting time in new innovations.

Analysis

The Emergence of Blockchain and Its Impact on E-discovery

Aaron Vick, Cicayda | May 15, 2018

Don’t assume that you’re absolved from the risk of litigation discovery even if your corporate policies are updated to include newly introduced technology such as a blockchain.

Analysis

The Future of Law: How In-House Counsel Will Hire Outside Counsel

Frank Ramos, Clarke Silverglate | May 08, 2018

Analytics will play a major role in hiring moving forward, forcing many law firms to adjust their strategies.

News

Prosperoware Launches Cloud-Based Management System for Your Other Cloud-Based Management Systems

Gabrielle Orum Hernández | May 07, 2018

Prosperoware's new integration system CAM, and its components CAM Provisioning and CAM ContentMirror, lets users work across multiple cloud-based systems.

Building Legal Ops From the Ground Up: A Q&A With Mike Russell of Ingersoll-Rand

Dan Clark | May 07, 2018

Mike Russell of Ingersoll-Rand spoke about artificial intelligence, building an operations function and where legal department outsourcing may be heading next.

Analysis

You Want a Hole, Not a Drill: Finding the Right Technology Solution at Law Firms

Eric Wangler, BigHand | May 03, 2018

Firms typically end up blaming the technology for not working, when the blame often lies with the failure to properly define the problem, choose the right solution and then implement it.

Commentary

Be Sure to Play 'Show and Tell' With Your Law Firm's Online Newsroom

Wayne Pollock | May 03, 2018

Online newsrooms are powerful and versatile marketing tools for law firms. They are powerful because lawyers can use their firms’ newsrooms to build their authority and credibility with website visitors simply by talking about themselves and the work they’ve done for their clients.

Event

Breaking Down Silos: SoLI’s Pitch for How to Join In Legal Change

Christy Burke, Burke & Co. | May 02, 2018

Experts from law schools, law firms, corporate legal departments and legal tech companies descended upon Vanderbilt Law School to discuss what the future of law looks like—together.

Event News Video

What Football’s Music City Miracle Teaches Us About Firm Operations

Zach Warren | May 01, 2018

No JD should be no problem if you're looking for true innovation, say law firm operations leaders at a Vanderbilt Law School conference.

Analysis

Where's My Data? 5 Important Places to Look for Starters

Seth Noble, Data Expedition, Inc. | May 01, 2018

Even when data is being handled by well-regarded service providers, poor planning or a lack of user awareness can lead to serious breaches from seemingly secure systems.

Analysis

As Legal Holds Go International, Legal Tech Adapts

Rhys Dipshan | April 30, 2018

Developing legal hold software to account for a variety of languages can seem like a simple process. But several challenges may arise along the way.

Analysis

Cyber Risk Assessments are a Critical Component of All Cybersecurity Programs

Collin J. Hite, Markel Service | April 30, 2018

Cybersecurity is an information security issue, and it must be treated as such. Failure to recognize this concept almost ensures a weak cybersecurity program that remains highly vulnerable to breaches.

News

How Ogletree Deakins Overcame Legal AI Burnout

Roy Strom | April 27, 2018

The labor and employment shop has become the first law firm to publicly license document-drafting technology from LegalMation, which earlier this month signed up Walmart Inc. as its first legal department client.

News

'I Hope This Is the Start of Something Bigger': Barclays UK GC Pagni on 'Turbo-Charging' Technology in Law

Anna Ward | April 27, 2018

Barclays U.K. GC Stephanie Pagni discusses the bank's launch of a law-tech hub and what she expects from partner law firms.

News

Top In-House Lawyers from Cisco, NetApp and HPE Say Legal Ops Rise Has Been Game Changer

Caroline Spiezio | April 26, 2018

At the final panel discussion at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium's 2018 institute, in-house leaders got thoughtful about ops and how it's affected their lives.

Q&A

Women of Legal Tech: Getting Deals Done While Overcoming Unconscious Bias

Monica Bay | April 26, 2018

Doxly CEO and founder Haley Altman discusses her definition for "managing up," why she picked law over medicine, and more.

News

Trying to Tame Outside Counsel Spend? Look Inside the Data

Gabrielle Orum Hernández | April 25, 2018

The new Exigent product thinks that predictive technology can give in-house teams the tools they need to control outside counsel spend.

Event News

How Mature Is Your Legal Department? A Journey in 12 Steps

Zach Warren | April 25, 2018

Legal operations experts broke down the difference between a foundational, advanced and mature legal department at the 2018 CLOC Conference.

News

For Better Outside Counsel Relationships, Tell Firms How They're Being Measured

Caroline Spiezio | April 25, 2018

"It feels like the law firms are going to do what we ask them to do, but oftentimes, we’re not telling them what we want," said one in-house ops leader at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium's annual institute.

News

Zero to Hero: Legal Ops Leaders Discuss How to Start an Operations Program From Scratch

Caroline Spiezio | April 24, 2018

At CLOC's annual conference in Las Vegas this week, Mike Haven of The Gap and Steve Harmon of Cisco Systems gave some pointers on how to build an ops function where there wasn't one before. "It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon," Haven said.

News

In-House Leaders at Starbucks, Northwestern Mutual Share Diversity & Inclusion Tips

Caroline Spiezio | April 24, 2018

Lisa Kremer Brown of Starbucks, Lisa Brzycki of Northwestern Mutual and other legal department decision-makers shared their best diversity strategies at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium's annual institute.

Event News

Maybe AI Can’t Do Everything, but Corporate Legal’s Still Trying to Adopt

Zach Warren | April 24, 2018

Legal operations directors from Walmart and Nationwide gave their artificial intelligence adoption strategies at the 2018 CLOC Conference.

Best Practices Event

5 Steps for Beginners to Implement a Knowledge Management System

Zach Warren | April 24, 2018

Knowledge management experts from Baker McKenzie and Cisco ran KM newcomers through their tips for starting a system at the 2018 CLOC Conference.

Reed Smith Enters the Legal Technology Market With GravityStack Subsidiary

Rhys Dipshan | April 24, 2018

The firm’s new U.S. subsidiary will incubate and license legal technology, as well as offer tech counseling and managed services to law firm and legal department clients.

Event News

Contracts Are More Than a Document: Finding the Value in Your Data

Zach Warren | April 23, 2018

A 2018 CLOC panel explored how to use data like contracts and intellectual property to drive company value outside of common legal work.

News

Mitratech Acquires ThinkSmart to Expand Legal Operations Offering

Gabrielle Orum Hernández | April 23, 2018

The in-house technology company hopes that the new workflow automation tool can help organizations scale their legal operations management.

News

#MeToo Comes to CLOC, as Female In-House Leaders Share Their Stories of Workplace Sexism

Caroline Spiezio | April 23, 2018

On its opening day, the CLOC Institute featured a frank discussion between female in-house leaders about gender and the very real problems they've faced in their careers just because they are women.

Event News

Standardized Legal Security Assessment Should Be Reality, Says CLOC

Zach Warren | April 22, 2018

An opening-day session from the 2018 CLOC Conference explored the potential for a streamlined cybersecurity questionnaire from the corporate legal department and law firm perspective.

Analysis

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: You Can’t Master What You Don’t Measure

Eyal Iffergan, Hyperion Global Partners | April 18, 2018

Attorneys are finding that a quality data stream and audience-specific data models are essential to coping with the realities of the modern legal marketplace.

Global In-House: How to Make Your Case for Legal Operations Support

E. Leigh Dance | April 17, 2018

Corporate Legal Operations Consortium’s annual gig kicks off in Vegas next week, with more than double last year’s big crowd. This global in-house column explores why the legal ops role makes sense for companies headquartered worldwide, with bonus tips from the pros on how you can make it happen.

Analysis

Secure Remote Review: Leveraging the ‘E’ in E-Discovery

Jim Burke, Advanced Discovery | April 17, 2018

E-discovery has access to proven technology tools and can get the right documents in front of the right expert resources securely regardless of their location.

News

With GDPR Fast Approaching, How Should Companies Fill the Data Protection Officer Role?

Caroline Spiezio | April 13, 2018

Many companies will need to hire or appoint a data protection officer under GDPR. But who should they go for?

Analysis

What to Expect from Your Mass Notification System

Brett Andrew, AlertMedia | April 11, 2018

Technology can help keep people safe, informed and connected during an emergency. Here are 10 characteristics of modern notification systems.

News

This Legal Ops Veteran Wants In-House and Outside Counsel to Be Friends

Gabrielle Orum Hernández | April 05, 2018

With both law firm and law department experience under his belt, Christopher Sweet wants to see in-house counsel and law firms find new ways to relate.

Analysis

Federal Judges Give 5 Key Areas of E-discovery Competency

Jon Kerry-Tyerman, Everlaw | April 03, 2018

Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim and District Judge Xavier Rodriguez say they regularly see a high percentage of parties appear before them ill-equipped to succeed on e-discovery challenges.

Conversation

How Evolving Media Types and Cybersecurity Concerns Impact E-Discovery

Adam Schlagman, Cybersecurity Law & Strategy | April 02, 2018

A roundtable discussion that explores the impact of the internet of things and AI, what the GDPR changes, the unknown future of data and more.

News

After MyFitnessPal Breach, In-House Counsel Should Consider Segregating Sensitive Data

Caroline Spiezio | March 30, 2018

This week's hack holds a simple but important lesson for legal departments about how to handle data storage.