Tagged: technology

The data center industry has been undergoing a major transformation over the recent years with new providers offering broader portfolios of robust co-location facilities with mature cloud services at competitive price points. Even in the midst of the industry’s shift, firms continue to recognize data centers as integral components of their overall IT environments.

I recently participated in a podcast series to offer insight into how corporate legal departments can better manage their litigation spending by restructuring their e-discovery strategy. Aiming to alleviate some of the pain associated with e-discovery, the panel and I discussed the use of analytics in cutting costs and the value of approaching e-discovery as a business process. Our discussion included three important areas: review of the current landscape, existing cost drivers, and tips for a successful e-discovery strategy.

With most of us are wrapping up our second favorite time of year (next to income tax season), we can enjoy a brief lull before the chaos of year-end sets in. What joyous time am I referring to? Budgeting Season of course! Year after year we go through the same process and yet somehow it still seems to sneak up on us, leaving us all scrambling until the very last deadline.

On July 21, iManage finalized a buyout of their core business from HP to become iManage, Inc. The announcement brings with it a certain sense of electricity and excitement that has been missing for some time. Past mergers required some thought around how the core business of iManage would integrate into the overall strategy of the larger corporate entities, and what affect that would have on their clients. With this announcement however, everything just feels right.

One of the most challenging vendor invoice sets for IT and A/P (Accounts Payable) functions to review, validate and approve on a monthly basis are telecommunications invoices.  The invoices arrive in varying formats, are often hundreds or thousands of pages deep and yet surprisingly shallow with information about the service being invoiced.

Results of HBR’s Law Firm e-Discovery Strategy Survey

A law firm’s capability to provide electronic discovery (“e-discovery”) services has gone from a novelty to a business necessity. Historically, firms have struggled to find the optimal business model to meet increasing client and business demands.

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.

A legal hold is the term used to describe the actions an organization must take in order to preserve all forms of relevant information when a legal obligation arises; it is the first critical step in an effective electronic discovery program. While much has been written about the legal requirements and the pitfalls of failing to effectively implement legal holds, for today’s purposes I will address the processes and decisions that should be considered when developing a Legal Hold Playbook.

Law firm libraries provide essential business services that are often overlooked by leaders of their organizations. While it may be tempting to assume that firm leadership is to blame for the oversight, the issue often lies in communication gaps that exist between law libraries and firm stakeholders. Historically, senior administrative leaders were partners that directly experienced the value of the library. However, over the past decade, there has been a shift to non-lawyer leadership and as a result the library’s value is no longer apparent to firm leaders.

The majority of companies report that Law Department e-Discovery operations are still in the adolescence stage of maturity.