In this piece from Corporate Counsel Business Journal, Todd Purdy, VP of Epiq, discusses “myth-busting” data points derived from his experience with e-discovery review teams in the U.S. and India. “When you approach a vendor for managed review of documents for litigation or an investigation, every single one will tell you they have the best people,” Purdy says. “But if everyone has the best people, how do you know what sets service providers apart for you, your firm or company, and your specific need?” From there he trots out four myth busters to use in evaluating a landscape populated by what are, by and large, temp workers: 
 

  • Career Growth. “A Managed Review vendor who is sensitive to the needs of the rank-and-file reviewers will have a program in place for training reviewers for higher level tasks and management skills. More importantly, it will have ongoing
    • … Continue Reading The Humanity of the Managed Review Temp

    In this piece from Corporate Counsel Business Journal, Herman Raspé, a partner at Patterson Bellknap and chair of the World Services Group Board of Directors, discusses a wide range of topics, including the “technologization” of the legal profession. One hurdle he sees is money. “When I look at how law firm budgets have evolved over time, budgets tend to be based on: What did we do in the past? How did we cover our expenses, fixed, variable, etc.? While technology was certainly increasingly a large line item, I think it will need to be a much more significant line item,” Raspé says. The second challenge I have observed—within my firm, within WSG and in my personal life – is the more we get used to technology, the less patience we have it. It has to work immediately. It has to work all the time.” There is, however, a path forward: “Embrace it! Technologization of the profession is a wonderful thing,” he continues. “Daunting at times, but wonderful. I have enjoyed looking and experiencing and experimenting with new, technology-enhanced ways of building relationships with clients, building relationships within the WSG network, with other lawyers, and with other firms. Legal communication does…

    Continue Reading Embrace Technologization 

    During the pandemic, corporate law departments, forced to change, gathered, to varying degrees, forward thrust. “The most successful law departments will be those that leverage the momentum of the past two years to actively embrace transformative change, in how they integrate and operate both within their organization and in utilizing outside legal expertise,” says the recently released report from Thomson Reuters Institute, State of Corporate Law Departments, subtitled “law department performance in a post-pandemic world.” The report notes that law department priorities saw a subtle but important shift in emphasis. “While the enduring purpose of an organization’s legal function is to safeguard the business,” the report says, “a slightly higher number of respondents in our survey cited efficiency as a stronger priority for the department.” And that shift dictates the focus of this report on twin priorities – efficiency and effectiveness – that support the omnipresent function of safeguarding the business. The report, based on extensive benchmarking, reveals a consistent set of themes relevant for all law departments: rapidly evolving legal technology and digitization are trends that are happening now, and departments that lag behind risk perpetually playing catch-up; the need to focus on the right metrics to monitor performance…

    Continue Reading Efficiency Emerges as Top Law Department Priority

    In the latest edition of Harvard Business Review, the leaders of McKinsey’s technology practice get down to the tricky but serious business of “separating real innovation from hot air.” That’s the difference between a big win and a costly flop. Klemens Hjartar, a senior McKinsey partner who co-chairs the tech practice globally, believes game-changers such as AI, 5G and cloud are hitting mass adoption tipping points. At the risk of missing the boat, he writes, corporate boards need to prioritize budgets for upgrading IT. “These aren’t the sexiest investments, but automating processes, investing in data foundations, cleaning up tech debt, and continually renewing the IT architecture are needed for the business to have a chance of taking full advantage of the new technologies coming online,” he writes.  William Forrest, global lead for McKinsey’s cloud practice, sees this as a ripe time to make bold bets. “Right now,” he writes, “companies have a can’t-miss opportunity to ramp up their cloud ambitions: as tech companies limit head-count and eliminate programs, top talent — not just the bottom 20% performers —are coming on the job market, While many of them are being snapped up quickly, companies should think through how to move quickly…

    Continue Reading Whither Tech?

    According to the 2023 edition of the biennial report on Alternative Legal Services Providers published by Thomson Reuters Institute, the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law, and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, the ALSP market has “grown exponentially” and made “great in-roads” with corporate legal departments and law firms. “The market for alternative legal services providers is showing itself to be a highly dynamic part of the overall legal ecosystem and one that is growing at an increasing rate as it forges new paths to serving both traditional law firms and corporate law departments,” says the report, which is based on an online survey of decision-makers at law firms and corporate law departments in the U.S., UK, Canada, the EU and Australia. The maturing ALSP sector now accounts for a whopping $20.6 billion segment of the legal market, and the growth path is accelerating – to a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% from 2019 to 2021 from its already robust 15% CAGR between 2017 and 2019. “Both law firms and in-house counsel are increasingly seeing the value of alternative legal services providers,” says lead report author James W. Jones, a…

    Continue Reading ALSPs: Zooming into Hyperdrive