Dennis Kennedy, in an article published February 27, 2008 on llrx.com, writes of eight trends in technology that will impact  the legal industry this year.  Although he predicts a "sleepy year for legal technology", Kennedy believes "[f]irms that are good at technology will take advantage of opportunities to widen their technology advantage over their competitors and position themselves well for the time when economic recovery comes."

The trends for 2008:

Making Better Use of What You Already Own.
Expect budgets to tighten and firms to look at what is on the shelf and spend more effort in making what they already have work better for them.

Lawyers Win Round 1 in the E-discovery Battle . . . by a Wide Margin.
E-discovery isn’t going to be nearly as big a hit inside law firms as it is inside of tech shows in 2008.  "Electronic discovery remains a trickle rather than a flood in today's litigation world."

Security Begins to Matter . . . Really.
Kennedy expects clients, particularly in healthcare and finance, to press firms on security. He notes the lax policies at law firms related to sensitive data (something I too have observed).  Hot topics include drive and folder encryption, remote access, and more stringent password policies.  Email encryption is notably absent from this list.  Speaking of email . . .

The Death Throes for Email?
Email has proven an unreliable mechanism for communication, says Kennedy. Because of the problems inherent with email (spam for example), communication tools like instant messaging and file transfer protocols will increase and use of email for quick communication and file transfer will decrease.  In my opinion, the same security concerns are present in other online communication protocols, not just email.  I am not betting on widespread adoption of more secure standards in the legal community in 2008, however.

Going Mobile.
For those who haven’t already moved to blackberry devices and other mobile devices, Kennedy predicts the productivity gains by those who already use the technology will lead others to adopt them.  He also notes the widespread use of tools such as remote access that many attorneys now take for granted.  I will add that I believe more and more firms will demand web-based applications to expand their mobile workplace.

Opening Audio and Video Channels.
In addition to the increased use of blogs and RSS feeds, Kennedy predicts a higher use of podcasts and streaming video by law firms in 2008.  Several companies that cater to the legal market, including Martindale Hubbell, are implementing use of social networking tools such as this into their offerings.  I think it is still a few years away before more widespread adoption by law firms, but it will certainly be something to watch.

Dancing with a Recession.
Sometimes you can talk yourself into a recession.  Enough has been said about it (though the media has been curiously silent lately) and the indicators are still pointing downward.  Kennedy predicts that firms will want to delay large investments and will look into ways to meet their needs without costly hardware upgrades.  Kennedy expects Software as a Service (SaaS) and Open Source software use to increase in 2008 as cost effective ways to upgrade their technology.

Smart Ways to Work Together – Collaboration Tools.
When it comes to productivity tools, Kennedy writes, “2008 will see the growth of ways for lawyers to use technology to work together with clients, colleagues, courts, opposing counsel and others.”  Kennedy, along with Tom Mighell, co-authored a soon-to-be published book called The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together.  The book can be pre-ordered by clicking here.

Read the entire article by clicking here.

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877/377-3740, e-mail info@juris.com or go to www.Juris.com. 

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Perhaps no one is more respected in the blogging community than Dennis Kennedy, especially when it comes to legal technology trends. Dennis is a fellow member of Citytech’s Top 100 Global Tech Leaders.

 

Dennis has posted a five-part series on technology trends on DennisKennedy.com. For those in a hurry, he separately posted a short version.  Here are the links to his full five-part series (the category titles are my own):

 

Part 1: Widening the Digital Divide in Law

Part 2: Microsoft and Electronic Discovery

Part 3: Making Sound Technology Decisions

Part 4: Mobility and the Internet

Part 5: Collaboration

 

Dennis concludes his series with the following comment:

 

“2007 will be a year of slow, but significant, changes that will begin to restructure the practice of law. Uncertainty and confusion over new Microsoft versions and electronic discovery will create a bit of a lull. Some firms will take advantage of that lull to re-evaluate and refocus making solid business decisions, but many firms will not. More than any other factor, this will lead to a growing digital divide between the technology-forward firms and the technology-backward firms, with fewer and fewer firms left in the middle, which probably will not be a great place to be over the long term. Security and portability will be important watchwords. However, the place to watch is the Internet and the tools to consider carefully are the collaboration tools. It might be a slow year, but it should not be a dull year. There will be a lot of opportunity for firms wanting to increase their competitive advantage.”

 

From morepartnerincome's view of things, early surveys indicate that law firms plan on increasing technology spending in 2007, but not on staff or hardware.  Most of the anticipated increases involve software with emphasis on business intelligence and workflow improvements. And for a final word, I should add that we always overestimate the speed of things and underestimate their eventual impact.  Falling behind the technology curve will inevitably have dire consequences.

 

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc.  For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

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I have made my annual pilgrimage to LegalTech New York.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that two thirds of the 2007 exhibiting vendors are touting e-discovery systems and services.  It reminds me of the dot com hay days. You can bet that many of the e-discovery vendors will suffer the same fate of those dot com companies that didn’t make it.  Somewhere among them are a handful of companies that will be the survivors.

 

Attendance through the exhibit hall had approached 12,000 by the end of the second day of the conference.  Fewer people take advantage of the conference education sessions.  David Thomas’ key note presentation on day one was a shocking wake up call.  Cyber crime is big and getting bigger.  For Eastern Europe entrepreneurs it is a growth industry.  Beyond our borders, the U.S. sense of right and wrong does not always apply.  Those involved consider cyber crime fair play.  They operate openly often in localities where there are no laws covering criminal actives via computer or over the internet.  They trade with each other.  They network with each other.  They train each other.  You can find more about Thomas’ presentation on The Common Scold and on LawBiz Blog.

 

LegalTech New York is the unquestioned premier legal technology expo in the U.S.  There is concern that vendor sponsorship of the educational tracks reduces the session contents to paid commercials.  For example when addressing the attendees the moderator of the opening session of the Thomson Elite sponsor track said, “I assume all of you have Elite.”  The session title was Analysis Software:  Is it Imperative for Your Firm?  I wondered why Redwood Analytics or other BI vendors were not on the panel.  In fairness to the Thomson folks, the speaker line-up for the remaining sessions in the Thomson Elite sponsored track was well balanced.  The track on Firm Management sponsored by Client Profiles was lightly attended.  Whit McIssac, President of Client Profiles, moderated all of the track sessions but clearly took care to avoid commercializing the sessions.  Of course, I’m biased since Client Profiles is a Juris Alliance Partner and the law firm on McIssac’s panel uses Juris.

 

It is only logical that a company sponsoring a track will want to control or influence it.  And, to date, the conference does not appear to have suffered in terms of attendance as a result of vendor sponsorship of its educational content. 

 

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc.  For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

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Does anyone really have their finger on the pulse?  JoAnna Forshee at Envision Agency asked a group of media folks for their take on 2007.  The answers were all over the place.  Monica Bay of Law Technology News was so taken by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth that she now sees green at every turn.  “Green law (use of technology to reduce facilities costs while being environmentally responsible) will screech to the front of the line, as more and more folks realize that we MUST pay attention to global warming — with a lovely byproduct that installing appropriate technology will actually reduce costs,” Monica wishfully explained.  On the other hand, London’s Karen Jones of Citytech explained that firms are suffering from implementation fatigue and 2007 will be a year of small projects.

 

Of course electronic discovery will be important in 2007 as firms continue to figure out this brave new world and the bean counters have their sights on Business Process Management (BPM) systems.

 

My take on 2007 is based on the responses to the Juris® Law Firm Economic Survey and on the feedback I’m getting from face time with managing partners across the county.  They want technology to help them manage the law firm.  Their appetite has been whetted by a growing awareness of emerging alternatives to voluminous reports that are days, weeks, and even months old. In many cases, these new tools do not require disruptive implementation. 

 

On the business intelligence side, managing partners tell me they want less, not more, and they want information about now and the future rather than the past. To put that in terms of buzz words, they want situational awareness—where are we right this minute and, unless we do something about it, where are we headed. They also want targeted information that is relevant to their area of responsibility.  They want it in an instantly digestible form.  It needs to be actionable information.  Its need to be navigable-—you should be able to drill down or explode the information to obtain all you need to take action or make a decision.  What are the technologies that deliver on those requirements?

 

• Automatic information presentation technology that monitors activity and targets who gets what and when

• .Net technology that collects information about activity and transactions occurring well beyond the traditional accounting input points

• Dashboard technology that replaces yesterday’s reports with graphic and visual presentation of information usually against targets or standards

• Drill-down and analytical technologies that provide fast access to underlying information as well as search and manipulation to refine that information.

 

Managing partners and law firm leaders have had a growing feeling of being chased by events rather than leading the firm toward planned targets and goals.  Why? Because of an information glut—an increasing volume of information that has been declining in value, increasing less relevant to current events and the pending future.  In short, they have been knocked out of the driver’s seat by systems that leave them drowning in information.

 

On the competitive intelligence side, automatic peer group benchmarking services like those from Redwood Analytics, Thomson’s PeerMonitor and the Juris Insight service can give managing partners a more timely picture, comparing their own performance metrics against those of relevant peers.  The new services eliminate the duel job of responding to surveys and then trying to match survey results against those of the law firm.  The new services extract law firm metrics directly from the information systems of the participating firms, eliminating the puffery and wishful thinking that contaminates traditional surveys.  Another important advantage of the new automatic services is that they are more timely, giving the manager a current picture of the landscape.  Traditional surveys are often 12 to 18 months behind the curve.

 

For 2007, no single technology emphasis will dominate.

• Litigators will be concerned with litigation-related technology

• Administrators will be interested in technology to improve processes

• Law firm leaders and managing partners want back in the driver’s seat

• Those behind the infrastructure curve will be trying to catch up

• Monica Bay will be trying to get all of us to go green

 

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc.  For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.

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The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) recently released their 2006 survey of e-mail practices in law firms.

Only 24 percent of law firms with less than 50 attorneys are using mobile devices like BlackBerrys® to access e-mail remotely. That compares to 42 percent of firms with 50 to 199 attorneys and to BigLaw's 45 percent. What is also striking is that only five percent of those with mobile capabilities have implemented time tracking. Less than one percent are capturing expenses using their mobile devices.

The findings are surprising when you consider the extraordinary return of the investment. In the hands of attorneys, PDAs like the BlackBerry are moneymakers. They convert downtime into productive time, improve responsiveness to clients, and make capturing billable time easier and faster. Ipsos-Reid, one of the top 10 research firms in the world, reported that surveyed firms averaged 53 minutes per day of recovered productive time using mobile devices like the BlackBerry–almost an hour per day per fee earner!

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
 

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Workflow is one of the hot new buzz words driving technology investments in the AML 200 circles and among the global 100. In a recent article in The National Law Journal, Kevin Berry wrote “One of the fastest-growing trends in the legal technology is the business-process management. Known in wider technology circles as BPM, this approach is more commonly called ‘workflow’ in the legal market.”

Unfortunately in many cases workflow investments are in reality little more than jerry-rigging to make legacy or poorly designed functions work in harmony with the flow of work. I was talking with a Juris specialist the other day who was telling me about her recent visit with a 100+ attorney law firm. The law firm had paid their existing business software vendor (a Juris competitor) for an automated client input form. Why? It turns out that setting up a new client or a new matter in the software was so cumbersome and required so many different steps that it interfered with the logical flow of work.

Before you invest in workflow software, broaden your view and look at replacing your business system. Workflow investments that are overcoming weaknesses of your exiting system can be the wrong move—one that prevents you from taking advantages to current and future advances in technology. You are likely to find that updating your business system will eliminate the need for the layering on an additional workflow system and, while you are at it, gaining important performance increasing benefits that have become available through newer technology.

The value of that new technology came home when I read the comments of the Juris CEO in a recent e-mail to Monica Bay. Monica is the editor-in-chief of Law Technology News and had requested his comments regarding an article appearing soon.

Why move to a newer business system rather than pour money into projects that keep the firm dependent on its older systems? That question is partially answered by some of Stephen Collins’ e-mailed comments:

“With today’s advances in software and communications capability, managing partner and working attorneys can take advantage of dashboard technology for continuous situational awareness over their area of responsibility. Today’s systems can track activity and events automatically alerting the appropriate individual when their attention is required. Rather than digging through traditional reports, busy attorneys can now receive just the actionable information they need in instantly digestible forms. Today’s mobile attorney has a lot more capability than just e-mail, contacts and time entries. Ipsos-Reid, one of the top 10 research firms in the world, reported that surveyed firms averaged 53 minutes per day of recovered productive time using mobile devices like the BlackBerry™—almost an hour per day per fee earner! For an attorney that is billable time—previous downtime that is recovered because of the anytime/anywhere convenience of going mobile with calls, e-mails, appointments, time tracking, etc. Fifty-three minutes, almost an hour, per day is big money.”

The message is clear. Taking advantage of current technology business systems can increase partner income and client satisfaction. Look carefully at workflow investment proposals. If its purpose is to overcome weaknesses in you current system, look first at moving to a more modern business system. Making a move can put money in partner pockets rather than take it out.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
 

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Exhibiting vendors at the Orlando Annual Educational Conference of ILTA, International Legal Technology Association, received a private briefing from the association. Representatives from Envision Agency reviewed results from the 2006 Technology Purchasing Survey conducted on behalf of ILTA.

There are some pretty remarkable insights. First, it is important to note that the survey respondents are members of ILTA. Thus, for the most part, those responding are non-attorney technology heads of their firm—CTOs, CIOs, and technology managers and directors.

What do these law firm technology leaders think are the most exciting technology or trends?

• Microsoft® SharePoint®
• VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
• VM ware (Virtual Machines)
• KM (Knowledge Management)
• Portals
• Wireless
• Matter Centricity

Besides hardware (workstations, notebooks, etc.), what tops the buying wish list for 2006? 

• Disaster recovery-related programs
• Document and record management
• E-mail management
• Scanning
• Litigation support
• Internet/intranet/extranet
• Microsoft® upgrades
• Workflow automation
• Phone system—VoIP

One notable item is a significant decline in the number of firms looking to implement wireless technology and devices. The decline reflects a universe where wireless technology is now widely implemented by law firms. In short, if you are not wireless, you are now behind the curve.

While Business Intelligence Software and Customer Relationship Management software (BI and CRM) are not at the top of the list, they still appear to be priorities. Likewise, business systems (accounting, bill auditing, and budgeting) viewed collectively would make the top of the list. Business systems like Juris® are also crossing over into business intelligence, which would place plans for new investments in law firm business software even higher on the list.

If you are wondering what to read to keep up with law firm technology, the most popular legal/technology publications among ILTA members were:

Peer to Peer (The association’s publication)

Law Technology News

Law Office Computing

Law Firm, Inc.

eWeek

The American Lawyer

Interestingly, technology leaders do not appear to be big blog readers. Here is the list of Blogs that showed up on their “Yes, I read” list:

Adam Smith

Between Lawyers

The Common Scold

Dennis Kennedy

Law.com

Morepartnerincome

TechnoLawyer

CIO

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When it comes to law firm technology, The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), is the group to belong to.

I flew to Orlando this weekend for ILTA06, this year’s annual education conference. You do not see a lot a technology partners at an ILTA conference (at least, not yet). That doesn’t make it any less important for the firm to be a member of ILTA. This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to law firm technology. This conference is about the nuts and bolts of law firm technology. This is really the only place where your key IT executives, directors, and managers can stay abreast of the ever-changing technical, strategic, and management issues related to the use of technology in law firms. To see firsthand the depth of the curriculum, review the sessions scheduled for this year’s conference.

Over 800 law firms are members of ILTA. Membership is firm wide and dues range from $500 to $900 per firm, depending on size.

For more about this year’s conference, visit the conference web site. You can find out more about the Association and apply for firm membership by going to http://www.iltanet.org.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
 

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I would be remiss if I didn’t add my drum beat to Dennis Kennedy's post Lawyers Continue to Move Toward the “Papermore” office. Dennis notes the following comment from the ABA: “According to the 2006 Legal Technology Survey Report, 61% of attorneys save email related to a case or client matter by printing out a hard copy."

When you start digging into it, you will find law firms keep paper copies of bills even when their accounting system automatically archives those bills electronically. States mandate the retention of paper copies of trust ledgers. Not only do most law firms keep documents in their original paper form, some actually take the time to convert electronic documents into paper for “retention” purposes.

This fetish for paper runs against technology and business trends. It places law firms and clients at an unnecessary risk. Paper was yesterday’s precedent, but that is changing. It is not the most efficient mode of communication, and it is no longer the most secure method of retaining information. As I noted in a prior post discussing the lessons learned by law firms in Katrina’s eye and in the post about the fire that destroyed 170,000 files, you cannot protect paper! You can replace office space, equipment, phones, etc., but without your “client and case stuff,” you are out of business.

The only way to protect the contents of paper is to convert it to electronic digits and images. Once you have done that, you have the ability to apply the same safeguards available to you to secure your computer records.

In his post, Dennis credited Ross Kodner for championing the cause of the "Paper LESS" for years. There has been progress. Unfortunately, rather than becoming less dependent on insecure paper, many appear to be going in the opposite direction, converting electronic content into paper document.

Old ways die hard!

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
 

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Getting ready for the holidays for me has always meant cleaning up things. That includes my pending file and C drawer. I’ll tell you more about my C drawer in a subsequent post.

 

In doing so, I came across an e-mail from an associate pointing out the following quote that appeared in the September 29, 2005 issue of Legal Technology Online.

 

“Technological prowess is such a key factor in corporate clients' hiring and retention of outside law firms, 35 percent of legal departments say they require electronic billing. Some have even fired law firms for lacking technical ability. On a positive note, clients like e-billing's streamlined invoice review and firms enjoy the faster payment turnaround. When it comes to billing, being "old school" is not a way to save money - it's a way to lose business.”

 

The quote first appeared in a National Law Journal article by James Evangelista, Teresa Strange and Kelley Johnston.

 

The more I discuss corporate mandated electronic billing with law firms, the clearer becomes a picture of two different spheres. In one sphere you have the firm's corporate clients. While these clients are motivated by a desire to lower legal cost, they don’t necessarily want to do it on the backs of law firms. They want law firms to become more efficient. They prefer predictability over lower cost and fewer hours over lower rates. They do give something back for the extra cost and effort law firms incur to comply with their electronic requirements. They do pay faster as promised.

 

The second sphere involves insurance companies. This group appears to chase the lowest hourly rate and gives little or nothing back. Firms report that electronic billing has not speeded up payments and, in fact, insurance companies slowed the entire process down by shifting to quarterly billing in many cases.

 

There seems to be give and take in the corporate sphere and all take in the insurance sphere.

 

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