Posts By: Kevin Clem

It was wonderful to see old friends and meet new ones at the recent Corporate Legal Operations (CLOC) Institute in Las Vegas, and to participate in the knowledge-sharing that is the event’s hallmark.

I had a clear message to deliver to those in attendance when I took the stage at this year’s International Legal Technology Conference (ILTACON): law departments are gathering, centralizing and sharing more data than ever, and many law firms are lagging behind. During the presentation, “Data Gathering and Sharing by GCs,” I was joined by Ron Katcher, director and senior corporate counsel at Qlik Technologies, and Paul Nicandri, chief service delivery officer at DLA Piper. We took a deep dive into how law departments and law firms are (or are not) using analytics, highlighted the disparities between law departments and law firms, and offered some suggestions to law firms about making better use of data analytics to bolster their relationships with clients. Here are some key takeaways from our session.

HBR Consulting had the privilege of hosting an interactive workshop at the 2018 Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Institute that challenged participants to take their law department operations up a notch. This is the first in a three-part blog series that will share some of the highlights of the CLOC session, including practical insights that can be implemented by corporate law department professionals.

Last month, I had the pleasure of moderating an excellent panel at the Consero Legal Operations Forum entitled “Dashboards & Portals: Leveraging Existing Operational Investments for Greater Returns,” in Pasadena, CA.  My esteemed panelists included Scott Fuller from Applied Materials, Brian Pomeroy from Discover Financial Services, Elizabeth Miller from Dolby Laboratories, Julie Cremeans from Fair, and Emelita Hernandez-Bravo from Fitbit.  Each panelist brought a fresh perspective on how to best leverage data and analytics in a sophisticated law department. The audience consisted of the vast majority of the conference’s attendees and included legal operations professionals and practicing lawyers from approximately 80 different companies.

Last month, nearly a thousand members of the legal ecosystem from around the world came together at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas for the second annual Corporate Legal Operations Consortium’s (CLOC) Institute. This year’s four-day conference attracted nearly twice the number of attendees as last year’s conference, and once again featured content-rich sessions and numerous networking opportunities.

With the 2017 Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Institute just around the corner, leaders in legal operations are gearing up to spend three days sharpening their legal swords and networking among industry thought leaders. HBR is proud to be a Platinum sponsor and I look forward to seeing many of our clients, partners and friends there.

Bobbi Basile recently participated on a distinguished webcast panel exploring how standardizing e-discovery processes supported by metrics, role clarity and technology can protect a company's brand while also reducing its legal spend.  According to Exterro's 2015 Federal Judges Survey on E-Discovery Best Practices and Trends, many legal professionals need significant improvement in the area of e-discovery. Not only do many legal teams lack the knowledge to adequately advise on e-discovery issues, they open up their clients or organizations to unnecessary risks, increased legal spend and reputational harm. To prevent mistakes from being made, legal directors and inside counsel need a strategy for aligning the various stakeholders (clerks, paralegals, attorneys, service providers and law firms) and putting in place the right checks and balances to mitigate e-discovery dangers.