By Charlie Platt, iDiscovery Solutions

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to meet with some senior in-house counsel from a Fortune 10 company. We were discussing data and the powerful ways analytics can be used in litigation. One of the attorneys appeared somewhat dismayed, saying that while analytics are amazing and she really wanted to make use of the technology, rarely did any of her cases contain anything other than emails and documents. One of her colleagues asked, “Aren’t you working on the <XYZ> matter?” She was. Her colleague replied, “I used to work in that division; have you considered the following?” and then proceeded to list about a dozen different data sources that were present – many of which were good candidates for analytics.Continue Reading The Ethical Hacker: Data, Disputes, Discovery and more…I Got 99 Problems, But No Data Ain’t One

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s 2016 Law Department Management Report has a bit of a good news-bad news flavor to it.

The good news is that law departments continue to gain “greater access to the inner sanctums where decisions are made,” as ACC puts it in its executive summary. The bad news is that their hard-won seat at the table derives, first and foremost, from the perception that a law department is cost-efficient.Continue Reading Backstory: Reconnect Redux

By Shamir Colloff, FRONTEO

When you are looking for a needle in a haystack, the addition of more hay does not alter your objective, only your approach. The same is true when searching for relevant information. Although we live in an era of exponentially increasing data volumes, the reality is that the material that matters most remains constant. This was true 10 years ago, when the FRCP changed to include electronically stored information as a codified information source, and it’s true today: Just because you have more documents doesn’t mean you have more relevant documents. Those with the tools to sort, compile, analyze and apply the details they gather, rather than simply review them, have a valuable competitive advantage.Continue Reading Distinguishing Data That Matters Most: Survey says: Users want easily accessible metrics

By Carolyn Casey, AccessData

Ninety-three percent of companies consider their general counsel a member of the executive management, up from 55 percent in 2010, according to Equilar’s General Counsel Pay Trends 2016. GCs have moved beyond solely advising on technical legal issues in large-scale organizations. GCs have long been at the table for strategic planning, compliance, risk management and cyber concerns. The more strategic influence of the chief legal officer is reflected in a median total direct compensation of $2.1 million at S&P 500 companies, per the Equilar 2016 study.Continue Reading Will 2017 Be the Year of the GC as Mega-Risk Officer?: As new threats loom, companies are more dependent than ever on the legal department’s risk oversight

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

There’s a new sheriff in lawsuit land.

Displacing California, ranked as the top Judicial Hellhole three of the last four years, is the city of St. Louis, Missouri, which topped the annual Judicial Hellholes report released last month by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF). The #1 ranking in the report, now in its 15th year, capped an amazing rise that saw the Missouri Supreme Court break into the ranking at #6 three years ago, the state of Missouri hit #4 the last year, and the Gateway City soar – or should we say sink – to the top slot in the 2016-17 report.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: Hail the New Litigation Hell

By Bill Sowinski, David Moran, Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions

Legal bill reviewers are specialists who can help in-house counsel keep a close eye on the bottom line without spending all day poring over detailed invoice line items. Below, two legal billing and technology veterans, David Moran and Bill Sowinski of ELM Solutions, discuss the obvious, and not so obvious, advantages of third-party legal bill review. Their remarks have been edited for length and style.Continue Reading It’s All About That Bill: Invoice review specialists explain why managing the bill improves relationships with providers

By Iohann Le Frapper, Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) recently elected a global board of directors, with Iohann Le Frapper, general counsel of industrial financing firm ChetWode, named chair. Le Frapper is a truly global in-house professional with stints in the EU, the Middle East and Asia across multiple industry sectors. He discusses below the ACC’s strategic priorities, global reach and educational and networking opportunities for in-house lawyers around the world. His responses have been edited for length and style.
Continue Reading ACC Global Chair Pursues Global Priorities: In-house group seeks cross-border perspective on legal issues

By Robert Max Crane, Peter G. Verniero, Beth S. Rose, Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.

Sills Cummis & Gross recently celebrated its 45th anniversary with a gala reception featuring political commentators David Axelrod and Michael Murphy as befits the firm’s commitment to government service and civic affairs. Sills Managing Partner, Max Crane, and two of its practice leaders, Peter G. Verniero and Beth S. Rose, recently spoke with MCC about the event, the firm’s roots and its future. Their remarks have been edited for length and style.
Continue Reading Sills Celebrates in Civic-Minded Fashion: Firm anniversary brings together law, business, government and policy

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

Median compensation for general counsel increased slightly between 2014 and 2015 at companies ranging from under $1 billion in revenue to more than $15 billion, according to “General Counsel Pay Trends 2016,” a new survey from Equilar, which collects information on 150,000 executives and board members of public companies. The healthcare sector delivered the highest median total direct compensation for GCs at $3 million, as compared to an average of $1.2 million for the S&P 500 as a whole.Continue Reading Backstory: GC Comp: Doing More with . . . a Little More

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

To hear him tell it, Christopher Bogart, co-founder and CEO of Burford Capital, the world’s largest publicly traded provider of litigation and specialty finance to the legal industry, fell into litigation funding. Look at his resume, however, and it seems inevitable.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: This Idea Makes Dollars & Sense