This past week members discussed improving workflow, double-duty as a trainer and user support and more. Jump to the “Something Extra” section for information state data breach laws. Explore curated sources on these topics including some from ILTA’s treasure chest.
Law Firm Profitability
In today’s law firm environment, considering efficiency and profitability is an imperative. Rebecca Holdredge takes us deeper into the finance and profitability models in law firms in her must-read blog series “How is Law Firm Profitability Measured? Part I: Background,” “Part II: Cost Allocation” and “Part III: Allocation.” Besides understanding profitability, it helps to regularly seek areas for improved efficiencies. Legal Workspace recently shared tips on becoming more productive and efficient in “Workflow on Your Workspace.” They offer five guidelines to determine where and how you can apply automation. Several articles in the Fall 2016 Peer to Peer offer best practices and case studies for implementing efficiencies in workflow. Read “Steps to Streamline Your Processes,” “Rewriting the Playbook: Cut Costs and Increase User Adoption in Firmwide Technology Deployments” and “The Power of Design for Legal Innovation.” In March 2017, Aderant wrote a report on the Agile Law Firm to define the agile organization, explore why the agile approach can work for law firms, share reasons for adopting an agile culture and more.
The Trainer and User Support Specialist – Wearing Two Hats or More
A member asked about trainers doubling as user support specialists. An ILTA Radio series just kicked off on “Trends in Training.” Part one, “Trends in Training: 2014 – Revisited in 2017,” discusses the modern trainer, performance support and more. What will training and all IT staffing look like in the near future? ILTA Radio also recently produced the discussion “The Future of IT Staffing.”
SOMETHING EXTRA – Data Breach Notification Laws
Our organizations don’t want to experience a data breach but we should still prepare. Sharon Nelson of Ride the Lightening recently addressed the trickiness of data breach notification laws in “Lawyers Need to Know About State Data Breach Notification Laws.” Legal technologists must know about these laws too. In the United States, data breach laws vary from state to state. Fortunately many firms make updated charts of these state laws available. Two examples include Mintz Levin’s State Data Security Breach Notification Laws and Baker Hostetler’s Data Breach Charts. The National Conference of State Legislatures also provides a chart of Security Breach Notification Laws. Canada has data breach notification laws in its 2015 Digital Privacy Act as outlined by the Canadian Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Don’t forget GDPR! ILTA recently published a white paper article on GDPR, “A Worldwide Law: The EU, GDPR and You.”
As ILTA’s content curator, I’m always monitoring the discussion forums to discover what topics are top-of-mind among the members. Each week, I focus on a few areas that spark your interest, and I provide some curated resources to assist your own information-gathering on the topics. If there are specific topics you would like assistance exploring, please contact me at joanne@iltanet.org
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