The power of convergence: Harnessing AI and IG for legal excellence – Part II
Chris Giles
Welcome to Part II of our exploration into the intersection of Information Governance (IG) and Artif(...)
The Power of Convergence: Harnessing AI and IG for Legal Excellence – Part I
Chris Giles
Our technological landscape is changing. The combination of information governance (IG) and artifici(...)
A good lawyer helps you see around the bend. In my experience over the years as a client, I have found that each time my attorney points out something in a contract or business decision that I had not anticipated, I ignore the next bill when it comes in and I pay it gladly. When I feel that my attorney is simply a contract factory, I look at each bill closely and start to wonder if there is a better way.
I recently had this experience with my company's attorney and, as has become my custom, I did not pay any attention to the forthcoming invoice. I did, however, stop to think about how my company, as a legal technology provider, could facilitate more such interactions for our customers and their clients.
For the better part of 25 years, I have worked with businesses of all shapes and sizes and in particular law firms on their technology and IT challenges. A majority of that time has been devoted to the world of DMS, in particular iManage WorkSite and most recently cloud based NetDocuments. My exposure spans DMS systems design, design of infrastructure, implementation, migration, integration and technical training.
I figured this worth mentioning since this article purports to discuss DMS migration best practices and what to be mindful of when taking the leap, either as part of a DMS upgrade exercise or a complete system switch-out. We have been actively involved in many of the latter so will largely focus on that approach.
When buying Adobe licenses, one is presented with multiple options that fall under the category of either subscription-based licenses or perpetual software licenses. Kraft Kennedy's Erica Chiu explains how to make the right choice.
Value Incentive Plan (VIP), or the subscription-based license, is offered for clients who would like a year-to-year purchase. The VIP provides clients with resource flexibility as well as the availability of the latest available product.
Smartphones and tablets are everywhere, and the discussion about the need to embrace mobile is similarly ubiquitous. However, in our experience, law firms are still in the early stages of embracing mobile devices as an essential work device. There are many reasons to stay away from mobile devices – the security risks inherent in a device that is easily lost or stolen; the conflation of personal and corporate data on a single device; and, perhaps most damningly, the feeling that the mobile device is out of IT’s control. However, it would be a mistake to miss the forest through the trees.
On September 1, 2017, the Dutch court system began requiring law firms to submit documents in PDF/A format in two districts: Gelderland and Midden Nederland. PDF/A is different from a standard PDF format in that it requires the PDF to be fully self-sufficient which includes embedding all fonts, disabling the inclusion of attachments created by other software applications, and removing any programming scripts in Java Script. This is important so that the PDF can be opened again in 50 years by any computer in use at that time and the document will be fully readable.
Legal professionals work with varying types of documents ranging from case records, writs, pleadings, patents, contracts and mandate files. Most of these originate as paper and scanned to digital, but a growing number are being born digital. In response, legal IT professionals have incorporated PDF software to quickly transform documents to become court-ready. However, obstacles still exist that are draining efficiency and productivity, such as non-searchable scans, PDFs with sensitive and often hidden client information, and inability to edit some PDFs. A tool that can equally support both digitally-born PDFs and scanned paper documents is needed.
Business intelligence, or BI for short, has existed in various forms of corporate life over a number of years from marketing teams using information such as click-through rates to gauge the success or otherwise of campaigns, through to sales teams assessing the impact of individual people or promotions on takings. Essentially Business Intelligence refers to analysis of an organisation’s data to influence decision making so that the business can internally operate more efficiently and externally gain competitive advantage over business rivals.
Digital transformation is now widespread – Amazon, Airbnb, online banking apps and even the move to autonomous cars are prime examples. Fundamentally, it is fuelled by client demand for a user experience that enables individuals to access and consume services/information, the way they want it, when they want it and from the device they want to use at any point in time. This is achieved by automating paper and other ad hoc business processes, thereby creating business efficiency and enhancing service to clients.
Time recording has always been a core process in the business of law. And, almost as long as there has been timekeeping technology, there have been predictions about the ‘death of billable hours and the need for time recording.’ With more firm clients demanding creative and especially predictive pricing strategies from their outside counsel, you might be quick to believe the hype that timekeeping technology is stale, antiquated and oh so passé.
Early in my career, I worked for a major insurer who faced legislative challenges in regards to the use of credit scoring in determining auto insurance rates. I was tasked to find software that would allow insurance brokers to contact their respective state legislators with messages that would influence the legislation. The project was intense; I had to search for software vendors, issue an RFP, evaluate responses, and arrange for demonstrations. Once a vendor was selected I knew we needed to negotiate a price, but what I did not expect was the internal request to build a business case to measure the return of investment of the technology. I scrambled to try to measure the benefits of the software, had to revise the business case multiple times, and although the technology purchase was eventually approved, that process of proving value extended the purchasing process by months.
For about 15 years it has been a standard practice among law firms to skip iterations of Desktop Operating Systems—go to Windows 7 from XP, for example, or from Windows 7 to 10. As a result, desktop deployments used to be projects slated for every few years. This model, however, is no longer sustainable. With a new update schedule and a less than forgiving end-of-support timeline, skipping versions will leave firms scrambling to test, pilot, and deploy updated builds in uncomfortably small windows.
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