This past week members discussed the increase in audits and new policies from outside counsel. Explore curated sources on these topics including some from ILTA’s treasure chest.
Outside Counsel Policies
Last week many members sought input on how others manage the increasing and varied outside counsel policies. A recent webinar, “Client Mandates: Manage Your De Facto Regulations,” provides guidance. To further a positive relationship between the law firm and outside counsel consider the podcast series, “Shared Practice Metrics for Law Firms and Law Departments Now and in 2020” and the ILTACON 2015 session of the same name. The Legal Innovation & Tech Fest held in Australia in May addressed firms working compatibly with clients and vice versa in Berys Amors’ session “Creating a Truly Client Centric, Externally Focused, Technology Team” and Michele Gossmeyer’s session “Risk Management & Information Governance: Opportunities to Build Invaluable Client-Services Relationships.” You can access both recordings on the Legal Innovation & Tech Fest Audio Recordings page.
Those extranets created for clients also must conform to the guidelines set by the clients. Another member recently asked about extranets. See the case study in the Summer 2015 Peer to Peer on WilmerHale’s extranet, “WilmerHale ClientCommons: A One-Stop Shop Client Extranet.” The 2016 ILTA SharePoint || Office 365 Symposium session “Is Office 365 Right for My Firm?” shares tactics for how and when to integrate Office 365 tools including extranets, adoption of the tools for firms and law departments, security and privacy and compliance concerns.
Embracing Change at ILTACON 2016
Casey Flaherty recently wrote about change in “Managing Partners on Change: Clients Don’t Ask, Partners Resist.” He cited statistics on change from the Altman Weil survey, “2016 Law Firms in Transition.” Many partners see legal trends becoming permanent ways of doing business in the legal industry. Don’t fear change, be an innovator. ILTA’s recent Peer to Peer: Future Focused has articles by John Alber and Jay Hull on design thinking. Many sessions at ILTACON 2016 encourage us to embrace change. Use the session search and type in the keyword “change.” You will find sessions like “Riding the Wave of Change,” “Face Your Fears: Embracing Change in the Legal Environment” and “A Field Guide for Agents of Change.” The keynote speakers, Mike Walsh and Dan Katz, will ask us to re-imagine legal technology for the 21st century and work to solve the legal profession’s biggest problems. Change is here and ILTA peers embrace it!
SOMETHING EXTRA – Intellectual Property is Special
Does it ever seem like everyone is telling you they are special? In many ways, its’ true. This is the International Legal Technology Association. Even within legal, the unique needs of some practice groups pose support challenges. Kimberly Giertz recommends how IT departments can best support an intellectual property practice group in “IP Law Technology Essentials.” You will also learn why IP is special.
As ILTA’s content curator, I’m always monitoring the discussion forums to discover what topics are top-of-mind among the members. Each week, I focus on a few areas that spark your interest, and I provide some curated resources to assist your own information-gathering on the topics. If there are specific topics you would like assistance exploring, please contact me at joanne@iltanet.org