InsideLegal

ILTA INSIGHT Conference Opens Tomorrow in London - Don't Miss Out!

The theme for ILTA'S UK conference, INSIGHT 2012, is “Beyond the Traditional…Law Firm IT,” which "focuses on the importance of moving away from traditional thinking to explore new efficiencies and innovations." This year's conference is being chaired by Janet Day (IT Director at Berwin Leighton Paisner) and Gareth Ash (CIO at Allen Overy LLP) and has been extended to two days with an added exhibit hall. Unfortunately, this will be the first time in years that we won't be able to attend the conference, but we recommend that if you are in London and able to attend, check it out. Here is an overview of the event...

ILTA is known for its quality content and INSIGHT will be offering 18 sessions as well as a keynote both mornings. Day 1 keynote speaker will be Janet Williams QPM, Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police Service discussing Cyber Crime and day two's keynote "Economic Outlook 2012" will be presented by Vicky Pryce, Senior Managing Director of FTI Consulting Inc. In addition to the educational content, there will be a networking reception Tuesday night as well as breakfast and lunch networking both days.

Costs to Attend:  FREE to ILTA members (find out if you are an ILTA member here); £300 for non-ILTA law firm delegates and £1,500 for delegates who are not with a law firm or law department

To Register:  You can register onsite during the conference at the Central Hall Westminster

For Information on Sessions and Exhibitors:  View the complete programme guide here

Who is Speaking at INSIGHT:  Review the list of speakers here

Where:  Central Hall Westminster in London

When:  May 8 (9:30-6:30p) and May 9 (9:30-4:15p)

Don't Forget: If you are attending INSIGHT, make sure to download the Conference App

 

LegalTech New York 2012: Day Three Recap & Our LTNY Photo Album

InsideLegal's LTNY 2012 Album

LegalTech New York 2012 ... day three ... less meetings, less sessions, less time on the exhibit floor but not any less activity and the same high caliber of networking as earlier in the week. Wednesday started a bit slower with a lot less traffic in the Bridges Bar (8/8:30ish) surely due to late night vendor parties.

We kicked things off with a brief catch-up with Law Technology News technology editor Sean Doherty who seemed genuinely excited to be honing his focus on product reviews and 'under the hood' sort of tech reviews. Sean and his handful of freelancers are targeting an average of 1.5 reviews per week beyond the 'Testdrive' column which appears 6 times per year as part of LTN. While the reviews are a mixed bag, Sean mentioned looking at the vast array of practice management solutions as a next focus area.

Adriana Linares, our longtime friend and the most dynamic legal trainer we've seen, has announced the launch of the LawTech Training Center in Winter Park, FL (outside of  Orlando). Adriana has been working with law firms for more than 14 years and has created the LawTech Training Center to bring her services to law firms - from solos to large - in the Central Florida area. Part of Adriana's mission is to make people comfortable enough with their technology to let it work for them. As she says, "Training is the #1 reason for successful software implementations and the lack of it is the #1 reason for failure." If you are in need of training for yourself or your staff, don't hesitate to contact Adriana (who also offers webinar training) who covers Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Email & Domain Management, as well as many legal software programs. Adriana also hosts both the Law Practice Management Job Board and the Legal Technology Job Board. 

Andy Adkins was attending LegalTech NY this year in a new role in...well, a long time. Last year, Andy joined Steptoe & Johnson, a law firm with over 200 attorneys, as CIO. We chated with Andy about his new role as 'purse string holder' for the firm's tech spend which lead to a conversation about relating IT 'pains' to staff and partners. Case in point, Andy who has been looking at new email archiving solutions, first had to relate the stroage 'problem' to his folks in terms they would understand: "When we were discussing the volume of space that email backup takes I used the following comparison- the entire printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress is 10 terabytes, 1 Terabyte = 50,000 trees made into paper and printed, and our firm is currently at 2 terabytes and growing.

Prior to joining Steptoe, Andy's career spans more than two decades as a consultant, author and executive.  He was one of the first consultants in the country devoted solely to legal technology and specifically practice management solutions, helping law firms and governmental offices automate numerous processes. In 1997, Adkins established the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. 

Next, we met up with Ari Kaplan, legal speaker, author, and ghostwriter, who has spent the last year promoting this book, "Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace". Dubbed as the 'Tony Robbins' of legal, Kaplan excudes enthusiasm when discussing new business development for legal professionals, the relevance and use of social media as well as the value of personal interaction and follow-up. If you have not met Ari, check out his website or catch him at one of his many speaking gigs.

Coinciding with day 3 of LegalTech was the publication of KMWorld's February issue which included a feature on KM innovators in the legal field. We had a chance to chat with Bradford & Barthel's (B&B) Eric Hunter, one of three law firm leaders profiled, and past contributor to InsideLegal in the area of cloud computing, Google Apps deployment, and innovative KM via collaborative cloud deployments. We have been helping Eric and the firm publicize technology and change management innovations for the past few years and have seen interest in cloud and social media integration grow exponentially. What started as a legal 'interest' story has evolved into a business growth and client service story and caught the attention of non-legal publications such as KMWorld and others. This week, Eric was in New York to participate in ILTA's Advanced IT programming, co-presenting with several of his ILTA colleagues on 'Six Technologies You Should Know About'. 

Over lunch we met with Randi Mayes, Peggy Wechsler and TJ Johnson of ILTA. Their next event is ILTA INSIGHT UK that will take place in London, May 8-9. There is no registration cost for delegates from ILTA member law firms and law departments. This year's show is being expanded from one day to two and will be featuring a full exhibit hall being managed by LegalTech. Also, they are expanding their SharePoint Symposium, being held June 12-13, to have an exhibit hall as well (exhibit info here). This event will feature two days full of educational and networking opportunities for professionals working with SharePoint in their firms or law departments. 

We ended our afternoon once again roaming the vendor floor and chatting up several exhibitors. While the overall consensus was that traffic and technology interest was up this year, the inability to know precisely how many attendees make their way to LegalTech events has resulted in frustrated vendors and marketing executives. When exhibitors are paying a base price of $6,450 per booth - not to mention the thousands of dollars in event costs, travel and staffing - they have a right to know how many people are attending and most every other show discloses that information. This frustration beckons the question when (if ever) legal conference organizers will be held accountable for attendance numbers and other demographic statistics via a show audit.

Speaking of audits and accountability, InsideLegal has launched the 2012 Legal Vendor Marketing Survey aimed at providing legal marketing and spending benchmarks that are commonplace in other industries but that don't exist within the legal community. Knowing what vendors are spending on marketing and getting a better feel for what marketing strategies work and why is vital in developing a sound marketing effort. Our original survey (in 2008) received responses from 92 legal vendors and we'd love to exceed that this year. Everyone that completes the survey will receive the final results report as well as the results from the 2008 survey.

As we survive another Groundhog Day, we hope lots can be learned from the 31st LegalTech Conference. LegalTech NY 2013 will be held January 28-30. On to our event Ignite Law 2012 (now called LexThink.1) and ABA TECHSHOW 2012 ... 

Check out InsideLegal's other LegalTech NY 2012 posts:

LT NY preview (incl. exhibitor landscape)

LT NY Day 1 recap (incl. ILTA Advanced IT track coverage)

LT NY Day 2 recap (incl. ALM Blogger Brekafast 'blog role')

       

LegalTech New York 2012: Day One Recap

LegalTech was off to a great start today. We spent most of the day reconnecting with various legal editors and technologists and discussing the continued growth of eDiscovery vendors and sessions as well as looking to answer the oft posed 'what's new this year' question. At first glance, the iPad as the centerpiece of a growing trend of firm 'BYOD' strategies is definitely gaining momentum. Based on attendance and buzz during the morning's 'iLove for the iPad: Tips, Tricks and Apps' Session, demand for more apps and more best practices is extremely high. Brett Burney, one of the session's presenters, 'Macs in Law' blog owner, and frequent iPad trainer and CLE presenter, mentioned that he has been scrambling lately to work with local bar associations to keep up with requests for iPad training.

While we spent most of the day in meetings, we did visit/run into a few folks on the exhibit floor: 

Aderant - As you can imagine, the last few months have been quite an adventure for Aderant with the acquisitions of CompuLaw, Deadlines.com, Client Profiles and RainMaker. Here at the show they were unveiling the new look and branding of Aderant as well as the release of Aderant 8.0, the first major release of the company's flagship practice and financial management system since 2007.

MyCase - We ran into the guys from MyCase who were working the show from the crowd this year after launching as an exhibitor at LegalTech NY 2011. They are looking to make a big splash at ABA TECHSHOW and if history is any indicator of future results they won't disappoint.  

Legal IT Professionals - We caught up with Rob Ameerun, the founder of the popular Legal IT Professionals website, to discuss the growth of the site and the popularity of his recurring and guest columns. Rob operates out of the Netherlands so it's always nice to see him make the trip stateside, especially during the New York winter months.

 

Day one wrapped up with another star studded ILTA Advanced IT track spotlighting "Six New Technologies You Should Know About." Presented in 10 minute segments, five ILTA firm IT Directors/CIOs and Kraft Kennedy's CTO discussed technologies and concepts that law firms of varying size and complexity can put to use. Scott Christensen, Director of IT, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, introduced the idea of business recovery 'as-a-service' as a cost effective and immediate means to meet DR/BC goals. Cloud based disaster recovery solutions can provide on-demand self service, increased scalability amounting to savings and ROI figures around 60%. Scott concluded with a vivid and a propos analogy: "Cloud computing can be compared to water from the tap instead of pumping your water from your own well; you can use it when you need it, save resources, energy and money by turning it off when you don't need it."

Jim McCue, IS Manager, Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, discussed the expansion of video conferencing beyond the conference room and unto popular mobile platforms and devices. Citing recent ILTA Technology Survey statistics revealing 41% of firms with 50-149 attorneys are not leveraging video conferencing, McCue pointed to trends such as the consumerization of IT; client restrictions on travel and portability options as reasons adoption should spike. His main tip when looking to leverage portable VC options via iPhone, iPad, and Androids was to choose the best possible bandwidth (aka, wifi when remote) option and control the video endpoint if possible. Other topics included next generation VPNs; Riverbed data consolidation and cloud strategies; Kraft Kennedy's deployment of Microsoft Lync 2010 as a single interface that unites voice communications, IM, and audio, video, and Web conferencing; and last but not least, Eric Hunter's vision of moving the law firm, in his case California-based Bradford & Barthel, to 100% web through the deployment of Chrome OS and leveraging the single log-in intranet desktop.

We'll be sure to provide more insight and highlights from day two. Talk soon. 

ILTA Hosting the Advanced IT Track of LegalTech New York - Free to ILTA Members!

Once again, ILTA will be hosting the Advanced IT Track on the Monday of LegalTech New York and it is free for all ILTA members to attend. Here is the schedule for January 30th...

10:30 am - 11:45 am     iLove for the iPad: Tips, Tricks & Apps
The iPad has become an incredible mobile tool for lawyers, but it can often be a challenge for IT departments. But there's no denying the fact that the iPad is becoming part of the contemporary legal technology tool belt. In the first part of this session, we'll explore how the iPad can be integrated into a law practice and discuss security, infrastructure, and compatibility. In the second part of this session, we'll go into "app-overload" and cover legal apps, note-taking apps, signature apps, PDF apps, office apps, and even some fun apps. This session is for everyone that needs to learn more about how the iPad can benefit legal professionals.
Speakers: Brett Burney-Burney Consultants & David Neesen-CIO, Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP

2:00 pm - 3:15 pm    Talking Technology to Lawyers
Attend this session to understand how the most successful technology leaders communicate with lawyers about technology strategy.   Hear how these CIOs have been able to innovate with technology by gaining firm management support and engaging lawyers in the value technology brings to their practice.
Speakers: Gina Buser-CEO of Traveling Coaches; Bob Dolinsky-CIO, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; Terry Pressley-CIO, Leonard, Street and Deinard; C. Kirk Scruggs-CIO, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

3:45 pm - 5:00 pm     Six New Technologies You Should Know About 
In this interactive session, IT leaders and technologists present a rapid-fire discussion and answer audience questions about six new technologies important for law firm IT operations. Topics include "The Role of the Cloud in Your DR/BC Planning", "Expansion of Video Conferencing Beyond the Conference Room", "Next Generation VPNs", "Riverbed Data Consolidation and Cloud Strategies" and "Lync 2010 Experiences".
Speakers: Marcus Bluestein-Kraft & Kennedy, Inc.; Scott Christensen-Director of Information Technology, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP; Jim McCue-IS Manager, Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A.; Mark Brophy-Director of Information Technology, Rogers Townsend & Thomas, PC; David Michel-Chief Information Officer, Burr & Forman; Eric Hunter-Director of KM, Bradford & Barthel, LLP

ILTA members wanting to attend the entire conference can also receive a 15 percent discount. To register for the entire LegalTech New York 2012 conference, make sure you select the *Discounted MasterPass option to receive the ILTA  discount. We'll see you in New York...

ILTA 2011 Photo Album

A picture is worth a thousand words so no need to spend too many column inches describing our truly diverse ILTA 2011 photo gallery (and there are captions...).

ILTA 2011 Conference Album August 21-25, 2011

 

In case you missed it, here is our previously posted album of the awards event held Thursday night...

ILTA Distinguished Peer Awards August 25, 2011

10 Reasons ILTA may well be "the Best Legal Tech Event in the Known Universe"

Another year, another ILTA Conference - this makes #13 for us. The quote in our blog title above is from a tweet from our friend and legal technology editor extraordinaire, Charles Christian of The Orange Rag and American Legal Technology Insider. We have been partners with ILTA for many years now and have always been impressed with the time and care they put into every factor of the conference planning. To put it clearly, they care about the experience that everyone at the conference has - all 2,654 attendees (including members, vendors, consultants, press, etc.). We took some time to reflect on what makes ILTA possibly "the Best Legal Tech Event in the Known Universe" and here is our top 10...

1.  Bang for your buck: Attending a conference these days is not cheap and justifying the value and necessity of going to your boss, spouse, or colleague stuck with your work is often even harder. While these are the facts and conferences continue to take the ‘economy is bad so we must slash professional development and travel costs’ hit, ILTA deserves a round of applause for making annual ILTA conference attendance not only affordable but worthwhile. While ILTA member conference registration in 2011 totaled $1,025, we took a closer look at what this bought you: 200+ sessions (realistically attendees could pack in 16 of these, 4 each day); 4 notable keynote presentations; 2 meals each day (included!) plus numerous networking opportunities; and access to the vendor exhibit hall with 170+ legal technology and service providers who take this conference seriously and always have their management folks and C-levels on hand as well. While it is widely understood that this impressive ‘value proposition’ for attendees would not be possible without substantial vendor support, it is also a known fact that vendors realize tangible and measurable conference ROI as evidenced by the sold out exhibit hall each year. EVERY vendor we chatted with onsite called this the best ‘trafficked’ conference in years. Also, social media is still buzzing with post conference learnings, tips, tricks and attendee collaboration; conference materials including presentations and audio recordings are already available online for free for members, including folks who couldn’t make it to Nashville. 

2.  Shooting fish in a barrel, but in a good way: From a vendor perspective, where can you network with and sell to an audience that is 90+% involved in decision making (signs the checks) when it comes to legal technology purchases? On top of that, who can guarantee simultaneous access to IT leaders from the majority of Am Law 200 firms? Some legal technology events are a true exercise in booth qualifying and trying to find the few right prospects out of the entire group of attendees. From a firm IT perspective, where can you go to test-drive and demo any and every new legal technology innovation and have direct access to legal vendor leadership and decision makers? The bottom line - if legal IT is your target audience, then there is no more valuable, targeted event for legal technology suppliers than ILTA’s annual conference.

3.  Reaping the benefits of volunteerism: We’ve been going to conference for 13 years and I’m always been impressed with how ILTA puts on such a massive event with a small(ish) staff, some of which don’t make the annual trek to conference? The answer is volunteers. Not only countless folks from local ILTA member firms and regions, but also many spouses, friends and family show up every year to help man the registration desks and work to make sure all conference goers get their money’s worth. The spirit of volunteerism runs deep and wide; ILTA was created by a group of volunteers, is led by volunteers, and still holds as its singular mission addressing the specific educational needs of its members through the voices of volunteer leadership. We tend to forget that all ILTA officers, regional vice presidents, city reps, peer group VPs, and others are volunteers who have day jobs, running law firm IT departments no less. If you have benefited from any of this ILTA volunteerism before, return the favor and give back via education, resources (human, technical or financial) or perhaps in a mentoring capacity.

4.  Vendor sponsors…so much more than cash cows: We sometimes hear complaints that vendors' financial support is the only reason conferences including ILTA’s exist, and that on top of that, nobody appreciates exhibiting vendors, and basically treats them like second class citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth with ILTA. Yes, exhibiting at and sponsoring conference is not cheap, but there is so much value-add vendor sponsors can gain by getting involved. First off, beyond conference, ILTA support provides access to members and countless educational and networking opportunities throughout the year. Specific to conference, ILTA is one of the only (if not sole) legal technology event that urges vendors to:

• Speak: While roughly 70% of all 300+ 2011 conference speakers are ILTA members, the other 30% are comprised of legal technology vendors and consultants. ILTA recognizes vendor subject matter expertise and thought leadership and as such allows vendors to lead educational sessions and partner with ILTA members to present topics at conference. This ‘if you have something smart to say, we’ll consider you, regardless of title’ approach is refreshing and a far cry from the other legal events that have declared vendors can't speak, but oh wait, you can pay to speak. The only person that wins in that scenario is the event producers that are making the money off of it. 
• Learn: ILTA is all about education and peer networking so it is no surprise that vendors are equally encouraged to attend conference sessions and educational tracks. After all, is there a better way to know what pains a CIO then to hear them, along with 3 other firm CIOs, directly address you.
• Author: Similar to speaking, ILTA encourages vendors to contribute content to various member publications, some specific to conference but many available throughout the year.
• Get recognition: ILTA’s Distinguished Peer Awards program honors the achievements of those ILTA members and vendor partners who are making technology work for the legal profession. The program recognizes those (including vendors) who have delivered great business value and transformational impact through their innovations and implementations or have been champions in specific areas of focus for their organizations. In 2011, vendors were eligible for 4 distinct awards including vendor thought leadership (awarded to Intelliteach's Lance Waagner); Consultant of the Year (awarded to Howard Russell at RBRO Solutions); Innovative Vendor (awarded to Handshake Software) and Vendor Implementation (awarded to Hubbard One).

5.  Front row seats to breaking legal IT news: It’s been a while since so many high profile legal/tech-related announcements collided at one time, and we can’t think of a more appropriate venue than ILTA’s conference. As we recently mentioned in Attorney at Work’s Friday Five, recent legal market moves include Microsoft’s early August decision to shutter its legal market vertical division despite a major sponsorship and speaking line-up at ILTA 2011; HP’s $10 Billion acquisition of Autonomy; ADERANT’s acquisition of popular legal technology brands CompuLaw and Client Profiles; Apple-god Steve Job’s decision to resign as CEO; and Workshare’s patent infringement lawsuit of Litéra.

6.  A technology conference using (shocker) technology: Is it too much to assume a base level of technological sophistication when attending a technology trade show or event (in our case, legal technology event)? Judging by what we have seen across various conferences over the years, the answer, sadly, seems to be yes. At past ILTA Conferences, this has not been an issue, but this year's ILTA raised the bar well above the basics (which often aren't covered). It was particularly refreshing to have access to the handy ILTA 2011 Mobile App which did everything we expected and much more. ILTA, which went paperless with its conference 3 or 4 years ago, provided the free app to all conference goers wanting to schedule sessions, navigate the vast Gaylord conference facility, connect with colleagues, clients and friends via twitter, check out new products and much more. Also, in contrast to other conference apps, this one is a true iTunes/Apple-approved app (not just a mobile website) and works very well on multiple devices. The ILTA Mobile App was installed an incredible 2,909 times - 1,024 iPad; 984 iPhone; 540 Blackberry; 361 Android - and 300+ unique visitors used the mobile website. In addition, the Mobile App enabled attendees to complete session evaluations (over 3,740 session evaluations submitted via the app) and to participate in session polls with 2,300 submissions. In addition to the nifty app (I wonder if it made it into the ’60 Apps in 60 minutes’ deck), ILTA set up an iPad rental program onsite at the Gaylord Opryland, enabling interested in a ‘test drive’ do so for a $50 week-long conference rental fee.

7.  Evolving the wheel, not re-inventing it: New session formats: When you are offering 200 educational sessions and trying to somehow coordinate 300+ speakers (herding cats might be easier!) your best bet would be to keep things simple, stick to tried and true session formats, provide the same speaker tips, etc. Right? That's not what ILTA does. Led by TJ Johnson, Program Manager for ILTA Conferences, the 2011 event offered a variety of session formats all designed to educate, engage, and inform conference goers. As the Co-Producers (with Matt Homann) of Ignite Law (event with 6 minute, future-focused presentations) each year at ABA TECHSHOW, we were particularly pleased to count more than 5 different presentation formats including ILTA member case studies; panel discussions with multiple expert speakers; crowd-sourced content that came from attendees before and during the sessions; BarCamps that produce unstructured, attendee-driven content; and a few TED-style rapid fire presentations. We ourselves veered away from tradition and relied heavily on Twitter to share tips and advice ahead of our ‘Generating Media Exposure for IT Leadership’ panel discussion as well as include advice from industry editors not able to attend the conference as part of our session.

8.  Law2020: It’s relatively easy to come up with a fancy marketing name or slogan for something and then just as easy to quickly abandon it once it has served its purpose or not caught on like the creative brain trust thought. Well, ILTA’s Law2020 initiative (launched in early 2010) is anything but that. What began with a forward-thinking future-themed issue of Peer to Peer in June 2010, has turned into a truly multi-platform (webinars, conference sessions, lunch and learns, publications) initiative with the goal of preparing the legal technology community for what is to come down the road. The Law2020 theme was integrated into the conference content including 9 sessions as well as daily keynotes covering specific aspects of the future of law practice and technology.

9.  No "Scarlet Vs’: Anyone who follows InsideLegal or has talked with Jobst or me before, knows about our ongoing crusade in defense of vendors as subject matter experts and thought leaders. But, because of their status as software or service vendors they are more or less marked with what we refer to as the "Scarlet V’ for Vendor. For the last few years, we have focused on thought leadership and have  been surprised how vendors are usually not included in that group. While there are definitely some vendors that we either wouldn’t consider thought leaders or wouldn’t trust to speak or write without promoting themselves, there absolutely are vendor experts that are unfairly excluded from opportunities just based on the 'Scarlet V’. This is becoming more and more prevalent with major industry publications and events denying vendors the chance to speak and/or write. ILTA is an absolute exception and we have spent many years collaborating with them on educational programs and content to reiterate this fact. ILTA not only realizes vendors are experts in their field but, as evidenced by publication and whitepaper content, and now a vendor thought leadership award, they are thought leaders. We applaud ILTA for embracing the complete legal community that includes vendors, firms, corporate, consultants, media and the like and hope that spreads within the community.

10.  Community with a Capital ‘C’: For the past 8 years, InsideLegal has planned and orchestrated ILTA’s vendor education program, a 4 hour series of sessions and panels aimed to help vendors work more effectively with ILTA and ILTA member firms; better understand the legal trade media; and get the latest market research on large law firm technology purchasing patterns and trends. Every year, we seek out ILTA members and staff as well as legal vendors, consultants, and media to help us assemble the best sessions possible and every year the who’s who and subject matter expert crème de la crème steps forward to pitch in and pull off this mini-conference before the conference. What started with Program Director Peggy Wechsler’s mission to give back to the vendor community with valuable information and education has evolved into an invaluable tutorial for seasoned vendors and first-timers alike. Especially within the last 3 years, ILTA board members such as Joy Heath-Rush, past ILTA President, and outgoing President Scott Christensen have gone above and beyond to give vendors valuable tips on how best to sell to law firms and IT leaders. At the end of this years' program, incoming and now President, Michele Gossmeyer came up to us and said that she would love to be a part of the program and to help support the vendor partners. Just like your local community, the ILTA extended family just keeps expanding, welcoming those new to the profession and conference while acknowledging icons like Randi Mayes who have been on board since conference #1, 34 years ago.

Thanks to the ILTA Gang (pictured below) and the ILTA conference committee for all your hard work on 2011 and the fact that they are already working on 2012's conference. We'll next be at ILTA's European event, INSIGHT that will take place in London in May 2012. If you haven't attended INSIGHT yet, we recommend you try it out. See you back at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, MD for the 35th Annual ILTA Conference, August 26–30, 2012.

 

[L-R] Peggy Wechsler; Judy Couvillion; Clay Gibney; Gaynor Senyszyn; Kristy Costello; Cristin Gaffney; Kristy Cole; TJ Johnson; Jeanne Martinez; Deb Himsel; Randi Mayes.  {We'd also like to mention Ken Hansen who was unable to attend this year, but is always a huge part of conference!}

ILTA Members Listed 103 Vendors as Giving Exceptional Customer Support

 

As part of our 6th annual "2011 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey", which was distributed to ILTA member firms with 50+ attorneys, we asked what legal vendors provided ILTA members with exceptional customer support. The vendors with the most unsolicited mentions for providing exceptional customer support include (in alphabetical order):

Adaptive Solutions BigHand CDW Dell LexisNexis

Microsystems mindSHIFT OpenText Traveling Coaches

Other vendors receiving a mention include (in alphabetical order):

ADERANT agile360 Alexander Open Systems AppRiver Arraya CaseLogistix Cisco Communications Strategies Copitrak CORETECH Leasing Crowther Consulting Corporation CT Summation Cypress Communications D4 Discovery Data Fusion Technologies Deloitte DocuSource Education Partners EIM International Element55 EMC Equitrac Esquire Innovations EVault Evidox Geller Data Solutions Google Handshake Software Heavy Water Hildebrandt Baker Robbins HP Hubbard One/XMLAW iEnvision Technologies Information Architects  Inherent Innovative Computing Systems Insight Investments IntApp Intelliteach Interwoven Ion Resources IPM IPRO Tech iQuest Analytics Juris Keno Kozie Associates King Herpel & Associate

Kraft Kennedy KwikTag LightPath Technologies Litera Maxis Networks MicroMenders Microsoft Mimecast NetDocuments NetFusion Omega Onward Technologies Optimum Orion Law Management Systems PAETEC PayneGroup PensEra Project Leadership Associates PROLAN Network services ProtectPoint QUiVX Electronic Discovery RBRO Solutions Sage Solutions Sayers Technologies Secuit360 Sharp SoftChoice Softmart Symantec TecCon Thomson Reuters (MTS) Tikit Trinogy Systems VentureNet Verdatum VLCM VMWare WAMS Waveguide Consulting West West KM William Ives Consulting Winscribe Workshare World Software Corporation Younts Consulting Zones

A Tech Conference That Utilizes Technology - Brilliant!

Is it too much to assume a base level of technological sophistication when attending a technology trade show or event (in our case, legal technology event)? Judging by what we have seen across various conferences over the years, the answer, sadly, seems to be yes. Accordingly, we have lowered our expectations when it comes to conference technology access and the use of technology to better the user experience and reluctantly fought with non-existent or unreliable onsite internet access, pitiful bandwidth, and spotty cell phone coverage in key conference areas… Although ILTA has always been on top of these items, the 2011 ILTA Conference provided the basic technology needed and raised the bar to show us just how technology can be used to greatly enhance the attendees’ experience.

Internet Access - Ahh...the Little Things

It may sound ridiculous at this day and age to start with wireless internet access, but let's be honest. That is NOT always, or even usually, something that is available at legal technology shows. If you are even lucky enough to have access to wireless at a conference, it usually isn't free. If it is free, you have to join the underground network to get the code - even though you are using it to promote their show. Neither the availability nor the cost were an issue at ILTA this year. ILTA sent out an email with the internet access information and codes the Friday before the conference to avoid any confusion onsite. Not only were there networks available from anywhere on the property, they also had a separate network for attendees to connect to from their wireless devices.

ILTA Mobile App - One of My Favorite Tools!

With the basics solidly covered, ILTA also raised the stakes on their conference Mobile App which debuted last year. Last year, I had the iPhone app installed and it was helpful. It was one of the first apps for a legal technology show that we had seen that wasn't just a link to a mobile webpage. This year, however, the ILTA Mobile App reached a whole new level. The mobile App provided access to the conference agenda, speaker details, attendee list, exhibitor info, exhibit hall map, Gaylord Resort info, Twitter integration, personalized agenda setup, latest ILTA News and more. It was made available on Apple iPhone/iPad, Android and Blackberry smartphones and a mobile website was offered for anyone not covered under that list. We were curious to see how many people utilized this tool and so we reached out to Clay Gibney, ILTA's IT Director who spearheaded this program. Here are the installation numbers...

• 1,024 iPad installations
• 984 iPhone installations
• 540 Blackberry installations
• 361 Android installations
• 300+ unique visitors to mobile web version

In addition to the 2,909 installed apps getting the attendees where they need to be, the mobile apps also enabled attendees to complete session evaluations (over 3,740 session evaluations submitted via the app) and to participate in session polls with 2,300 submissions. 

Conference iPad Rentals

Another program we were really impressed with, although not as widely utilized, was their iPad rental program. This allowed attendees to rent Wi-Fi iPad 2 tablets for the duration of the conference for only $50. In addition to providing a valuable conference tool, this was also a great way for anyone on the fence about really wanting an iPad to take it for a test-drive.

Photos from the ILTA Peer Awards Event

ILTA recently announced the winners of the 2011 ILTA Distinguished Peer Awards Event (we have posted the winners announcement here). ILTA will be releasing the photos from the awards event, but in the meantime, we thought we'd post the photos we took to hold you over. The quality of our photos is not the best in all the shots, but you get the idea... Thanks to ILTA for putting on such a top quality event!

 

ILTA Distinguished Peer Awards August 25, 2011

2011 ILTA Distinguished Peer Award Winners Announced

On Thursday evening, ILTA hosted it's 2nd annual Distinguished Peer Awards to honor the achievements of those ILTA members and vendors who are making technology work for the legal profession. The Peer Awards, which included 23 categories across individuals, vendors and regions, peers and organizations, was announced at the annual awards dinner as part of ILTA’s 2011 annual educational conference.

All of the short-list nominees were impressive and you can find the complete list here. Below is a list of winners and their award entries. We will have a complete ILTA photo album (check out the award pictures) online shortly. And the winners are:

PEER AWARDS

Communications Technologies Award

Joy Heath Rush, Director of Enterprise Multimedia Services at Sidley Austin LLP, has played a pivotal role over the past 15 months in successfully delivering nearly 35 state-of-the-art conference rooms, including five optimized high-definition videoconferencing spaces, a completely self-hosted and self-managed video bridging infrastructure, a fully functional desktop videoconferencing solution, as well as the people and processes to support them.

Desktop and Application Services Award

Kara Portwood, Practice Area Solutions Consultant at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, continuously brings value to the firm’s clients by facilitating desktop technology best practices. She often works with clients to help with collaboration, solve technology issues and contribute to building successful business relationships.

Emerging Technologies Award

Bill Caraher, Chief Information Officer at von Briesen & Roper, s.c., realized the vision of his managing partner and created a modular, social intranet like iGoogle. Using the latest in emerging and Open Source technology, Bill and his team created a graphically stunning, user-customizable intranet with easily editable portals. The intranet links to DMS documents, has external RSS content and hosts its own internal “social” platform with a Twitter-like microblog, a Craigslist forum and Facebook\Twitter iGoogle gadgets.

Enterprise Content Management Award

Ben Weinberger, currently with Bond Pearce LLP, while serving as Chief Information Officer at Lathrop & Gage LLP, was responsible for migrating the firm to a more robust matter-centric content management system. Consolidating 10 separate databases into a single DB and offering improved collaboration and workflow capabilities, the project achieved 100 % ROI in less than two years.

Financial Management Award

Tanielle Huff, Financial Systems Administrator at K&L Gates LLP, was responsible for upgrading the cost recovery systems while integrating a mix of systems and processes left over from a series of mergers and acquisitions. This project involved the firmwide implementation of a standardized cost recovery platform, including servers, software and databases, as well as all hardware attached to copiers, fax machines and phone switches, and it was successfully completed in five weeks.

Knowledge Management Award

Scott Rechtschaffen, Chief Knowledge Officer at Littler Mendelson P.C., consistently leverages his keen understanding of law firm business and legal practice to deliver innovative, cost-effective, high-quality knowledge management solutions for internal and client-facing use. Scott founded the firm’s knowledge management department and has developed it to become the largest KM department of any U.S. law firm. He was also one of the first to create client-facing knowledge management systems to help support the needs of clients.

Law Department Award   {TIE}

Larry Gianneschi, Legal Information and Technology Manager at Colgate-Palmolive Company, was responsible for the successful implementation of a third-party hosted solution combining off-the-shelf and customized platforms from multiple vendors to provide matter management, e-billing, document management, records management and IP management in a totally integrated solution across Colgate's global legal organization.

Mike Russell, Strategic Legal Technologist and Director of Business Systems Projects at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, pioneered the effort to drive financial savings and process efficiency by partnering enterprise legal services with corporate IT to design, develop and implement a technology solution for distributed paper-capture, document management workflow and VoIP communications. This enabled geographically aligned "hub" units of centralized paralegals and staff to support legal tasks for attorneys. During the first four months in operation, this project contributed to a $1.5 million expense run-rate reduction.

Litigation and Practice Support Award

Julie Brown, Litigation Technology Manager at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, championed litigation and practice support by re-engineering e-discovery workflows to streamline processes, reduce client costs and ensure that processes are repeatable and defensible. She implemented in-house analytics tools, a workflow-based project management system and creative methods for educating attorneys and paralegals in electronic discovery. Julie is also a public speaker and author on the topic of litigation and practice support, and an active participant in EDRM and ILTA.

Professional Services Award

Kim Craig, Director of Project Management Office at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, was responsible for developing and leading the transformation and innovative implementation of legal project management within her firm. Kim's team of certified project management professionals work on client-facing, revenue-generating matters with attorneys. She has led her team in the convergence of legal project management, process improvement and Lean Six Sigma, knowledge management and practice management with innovative and creative technologies.

Risk and Records Management Award

Gillian Glass, Practice Support and Records Manager at Farella Braun + Martel LLP, implemented a successful records destruction procedure that matches the firm’s retention schedule. The result of this project has saved the firm thousands of dollars in offsite storage costs. She also managed the conversion of the firm's records management system, implementing software that will enable parallel management of the firm’s electronic and paper records.

Server Operations and Security Award

Sean Power, Manager of Enterprise Infrastructure and Security at Lathrop & Gage LLP, achieved a significant upgrade and consolidation of the firm’s network and security infrastructure to develop a highly available computer and network environment with high visibility into performance and operations. This project was completed in an 18-month period.

User Support Services Award

Justin Hectus, Director of Information at Keesal, Young & Logan, is charged with delivering the right information to the right people at the right time to support good business decisions. Over the past year, Justin has led the development of a learning environment that measures end-user skill levels across all applications and job functions and provides personalized training opportunities and credit for participation via a custom-built Web-based system.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Young Professional Award

Meredith Williams, Chief Knowledge Management Officer at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, is a 34-year-old who is passionate about KM. Meredith started the knowledge management department at her firm over 10 years ago and has grown it into a world-renowned program.

Leadership Award

Loretta Auer, Chief Information Officer at Fish & Richardson P.C., has championed initiatives to improve firmwide administrative systems and staff productivity through best practices. Loretta has mentored and developed an IT and information management staff that has accomplished projects using the best examples of emerging technologies and development platforms in the legal industry, including .Net-based reporting applications, SharePoint, Windows 7, Office 2010 and e-discovery.

VENDOR AWARDS

Consultant Award

Howard Russell, Co-Chief Executive Officer at RBRO Solutions Inc., founded the company to enable law firms to maximize organizational and employee efficiency by utilizing document management solutions. He is committed to providing his clients with the best technology solutions and the highest level of end-to-end services, integrated software products and customized software solutions.

Vendor Thought-Leader Award

Lance Waagner, President and Chief Executive Officer at Intelliteach, Inc., has spent the last 20+ years championing ILTA and providing exemplary user support services. Within the last 12 months, Lance developed the "Guru Guide to User Support" project, including a legal industry-exclusive helpdesk metrics report, a 30+ city ILTA roadshow, a dedicated Guru website with free resources and downloads, several articles for ILTA publications and a presentation (and follow-up webinar) as part of the 2010 ILTA conference.

Vendor Implementation Award

Founded in 1997, Hubbard One is part of Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. Our innovative set of software and solutions include Web communications, contact and relationship management, experience and pitch management, competitive intelligence and intranets and extranets. Hubbard One’s team of experts also offers a wide range of creative, technology and consulting services.

Innovative Vendor Award

Handshake Software is the leader in providing products and services to enhance SharePoint for intranets, extranets, search, document and email management and mobile access. Some of the world's largest law firms use Handshake products for SharePoint page personalization; out-of-the box integration with applications like Elite/Aderant; to extend SharePoint document management functionality to provide a complete law firm system; to allow non-programmers to quickly create or modify SharePoint Web Parts; and deliver information to mobile devices.

REGIONAL AWARDS

City Rep Champion

Stacie Oste, Training Coordinator at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, is the Charlotte, North Carolina City Rep.

Region of the Year Award   {TIE}

South Pacific: Exceeding Your Expectations. Inspired by ILTA members and driven by their commitment, the South Pacific Region sets the highest standard for knowledge-sharing, peer-networking and client service among legal technology professionals. Teamwork and team spirit, camaraderie, generosity, excellence, distinction, achievement, collaboration and creativity reign.

Middle Atlantic: Delivering a Large Daily Dose of ILTA. The Middle Atlantic Region’s strong commitment to ILTA’s core values, focus on quality programming and legion of volunteers are hallmarks of the region. They’re proud of their growth, expansion and collaboration with sister organizations, their innovative meeting formats and the large pool of volunteers who contribute their time and knowledge in many different ways, including service as a director or officer, speaking and authoring.

ORGANIZATIONAL AWARDS

Project of the Year Award

Littler Mendelson P.C. has developed Littler CaseSmart™, a case-management solution that combines a Littler-developed proprietary technology platform, rigorous quality assurance measures and an alternative attorney staffing model. This solution streamlines the way that cases are managed and is designed to increase efficiency, productivity and accountability, while providing clients greater confidence that work is being managed with the highest possible quality standards.

SharePoint Innovator of the Year Award

Bingham McCutchen LLP has designed internal dashboards to promote efficiency and improved communication across the firm. The dashboards' improved delivery of real-time intelligence about clients on a firmwide level; provided lawyers with instant access to their internal financial metrics; and gave both lawyers and staff a comprehensive view of their individual HR information.

Innovative Member of the Year Award

Bryan Cave LLP has taken a structural approach to innovation that mirrors the research and development functions found in the best global companies. As a result, it has been able to develop innovative solutions on a broad front and bring many more such innovations to market than is typical in large global law firms.