Blogs

This week in the e-groups, discussions included merger checklists, learning management systems, metadata cleaning and more. Explore curated sources on these topics including some from ILTA’s treasure chest.

A Merger Checklist (a.k.a. Bigfoot)

A complete merger checklist surely exists. Perhaps Bigfoot has it or the Loch Ness Monster swallowed it because I haven’t seen it. The complete merger checklist likely never gets created or shared because those with the experience are too overwhelmed and exhausted to create it. For now, we can grab suggestions on some aspects of legal technology in a merger from Inside Counsel’s “A Records Management Checklist for Mergers and Acquisitions” and the ILTA webinar “Handling Lateral Lawyers and Matter Transfers in a World of Mergers and Movement.” The Peer to Peer article “A Compass for Connections: Charting Your Firm’s Course Post-Merger” by Erik Schmidt reminds us that mergers present challenges we can transform into opportunities. Schmidt offers suggestions on managing and improving connectivity. If you belong to the General Membership e-group in the Connected Community, you can find Trevor Anderson’s list of questions for small firms involved in a merger. He later shared with me that having a Change Management Consultant greatly assisted in smoother mergers. Thank you for sharing this, Trevor!

If you have been involved in a merger and could contribute to creating an ILTA merger checklist, contact me. Many hands make light work.

Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) can provide a “one-stop-shop” for planning, training and documentation. Used in the education field and corporations for some time, law firms began using LMS more recently. In the 2014 ILTA Legal Technology Survey on pages 88 and 89, 28% of respondents reported using an LMS. Most came from the largest law firms and used products including UniversitySite, viDesktop’s viLMS, TutorPro, SharePoint, and some developed in-house. According to the survey, LMS usage has increased by 8% in law firms since 2012. To effectively use an LMS law firms can apply the training practices recommended to corporations in The Atlantic’s, “Employee Training Isn’t What It Used to Be,” including using an LMS in departments beyond IT. Be ready for changes and improvements in learning management systems soon—in “Video Killed the Radio Star. Will It Do the Same for Learning Management Systems?” Janine Milne pushes LMS vendors to prepare and respond to the “YouTube generation” wanting customization and integration between work and life training needs.

Server-Based Metadata Cleaning

A member recently asked about fellow ILTA colleagues’ experiences with implementing server-based metadata cleaning tools. “Are You Secure? Server-Side Metadata Removal Tools” covers this issue in a past ILTA conference. If you are an ALM Legaltech News subscriber, consider reviewing “More to Metadata Management Than Cleaning” by Dean Sappey to learn the importance of developing a “unified approach” to not only clean metadata but to manage all data. He advises we heed the, “…statement by the courts that an electronic document cannot be separated from its metadata.” Then to get started on this “unified approach” look to the ILTACON session, “Using Enterprise Data Classification Schemas to Avoid Risk and Manage Content.”

Something Extra –Standing Desks and Business Development Trends

Has the business development focus shifted in your organization? Lexis Nexis recently completed a survey on business development trends in 400 U.S. law firms. Frank Strong of Lexis wrote a summary of the survey, “New Study: Emerging Story of Law Firm Business Development.”

Based on a recent discussion thread in the General Membership e-group, standing desks are well liked by ILTA members. For inspiration see Lifehacker’s “Five Best Standing Desks” and Lynda.com contributor, Morten Rand-Hendriksen’s instructions for a DIY standing desk. Have you created a DIY standing desk? Submit a photo and information on total cost and assembly time by October 30^th to be considered for ILTA’s First DIY Standing Desk Contest. Send submissions or interest in judging the desks to joanne@iltanet.org with “DIY Standing Desk” in the subject line.