With ILTACON
less than six weeks away, I wanted to share some thoughts about the fantastic
roster of Business and Legal Process Improvement sessions available for you
this year. With 60(!) sessions tagged as
Business and Legal Process Improvement sessions, deciding which sessions to
attend will be a delightful challenge. Hopefully
this post will help you navigate the session agenda and anchor your calendar
with a few must-do sessions that are not to be missed. As with every conference, you will
periodically find yourself torn between different sessions at the same time, so
please make sure to check the ILTACON site after the conference for session
materials like PowerPoints and audio recordings.
1.
Title:
Award Nominees Present! Come
Vote for Firm-Facing Project of the Year #ILTA010
Description: “And the
nominees are...Fish & Richardson, Stikeman Elliott LLP and von Briesen
& Roper. Watch as the short list of nominees for ILTA's 2016 Distringuished
Peer Award for Innovative Firm-Facing Project of the Year present their
innovations. Attendees at this session will vote for their favorite, and the
winner will be announced on Tuesday evening at the Awards Dinner. This
session will NOT be recorded.”
This first session after the
Monday morning keynote is at 11am and is a great way to learn about projects
other firms are tackling and how they are addressing usability and
adoption. The award sessions are always
among my favorites and your vote counts in selecting which firm will receive an
award.
2.
Title:
From the Front Lines: Actual Jobs in "New
Law" #ILTA006
Description: “Many futurists
have predicted shifts in the makeup of personnel in the future of law. The
future is now, and many law firms are creating new positions faster than they
can throw out their law books. From piecework attorneys to matter management
and pricing support to product creators, law firms and law departments are
asking individuals to assume a cornucopia of new roles and responsibilities as
everyone attempts to adapt to changing times. What positions are here to stay,
and what skill sets are needed to deliver legal services in the "new
law"? A diverse panel will discuss real new jobs in new law.”
This is another Monday
morning 11am session choice. Given that
business and legal process improvement has only existed for a couple of years,
the jobs discussed could be your current or future job. This session is particularly interesting in
that could help develop career paths for the audience.
3.
Title: Data Analytics You Can Do Now in Legal #ILTA032
Description: “Many have said
that big data does not exist in law. However, many modern data analytics
techniques can apply to comparatively smaller data sets. We'll identify
baseline analytics every law firm and law department can perform today.”
This session is on Monday at
2:30pm. Interest in data analytics is
growing in leaps and bounds at law firms and law departments alike. Lawyers are desperate for actionable
information and not reinventing the wheel constantly. This session promises to deliver ideas that
should be applicable to most firms.
4.
Title: Bigger and Shinier: Legal Technology Innovation and
Its Effect on the Profession
#ILTA051
Description: “Coming back for
a third year, this popular panel discussion will explore what is on the
frontier of legal technology innovation. Our thought leaders will also share
what is not changing, with special attention to developments since ILTACON 2015.”
This session is on Tuesday
morning at 11am. Focused on leading edge
and future technologies, the session can offer a vision forward and help
participants think about where they might steer their firms over the next
couple of years.
5.
Title: Implementing Software-Based Workflows #ILTA083
Description: “See how firms of all sizes have built workflow solutions that
go beyond new business intake to automate sophisticated administrative and
client-facing processes. Listen to firsthand experience of implementing
off-the-shelf and custom-built programs to create solutions to both common and
unique legal business problems.”
This session, Tuesday at
3:30pm, is particularly interesting as this type of legal process improvement
can enable law firms to perform profitable work and simultaneously reduce the
costs to the law department.
6.
Title: Finding a Needle in a Haystack with 21st-Century
Expertise Systems #ILTA178
Description: “Expertise
location systems are ubiquitous at law firms of all sizes and are key solutions
that help with everything from responding to client proposals to finding the
right attorney to help with a particular matter. An effective expertise
location tool can be a differentiator for law firms, yet they are tricky because
of the need to pull together multiple sources of information while providing
clear answers. People from the trenches will share their experiences of
implementing various solutions and tips and tricks to keep in mind when you're
evaluating a new solution.”
This session, offered on
Wednesday at 9:30am, offers insight into new techniques for solving a perennial
issue at large law firms: what is our
expertise, how can we find someone with particular expertise, and how do we get
our lawyers to contribute to the system?
7.
Title: Effectively Managing Outside Counsel Guidelines #ILTA179
Description: “Clients have
become more sophisticated in how they manage their law firms, and this is reflected
in their detailed outside counsel guidelines. These guidelines can effect all
areas of law firm administration and matter management, and law firms are
struggling to effectively meet the dizzying array of client demands. We'll
explore best practices and tools for managing outside counsel guidelines
throughout your firm.”
This session, offered on
Wednesday at 3:30pm, addresses a critical issue at most law firms: how do we manage to the varied expectations our
clients have of us? As the number of
clients with differing outside counsel guidelines continues to grow, it is
imperative that law firms have systems, tools, or processes to address
them. The panel will help identify a
path forward on this issue.
8.
Title: How To Effectuate a Better Legal Services Delivery Model #ILTA126
Description: “Representatives of in-house law departments and
outside counsel will discuss how they have worked with their counterparts to
improve the delivery of legal services using different approaches to pricing,
project management disciplines, new technology tools, process improvement and
data analytics.”
This session, also offered
on Wednesday at 3:30pm, offers the refreshing perspective of collaborative
process improvements involving both the law firm and the client. This approach offers a deeper view into more
holistic solutions that solve real business problems and enable the client to
meet their many objectives, including reductions in legal spend.
9.
Title: Innovating Together: Building Partnerships Between
Law Firms, Clients and Vendors
#ILTA145
Description: “Instead of
going it alone, many firms have found eager partners in clients and legal
technology vendors to develop new and innovative products and services. Our
panel of innovators will explore strategies and opportunities for cultivating
those partnerships, dividing the work, sharing the costs, and their solutions.
Through a series of SPARK (short, provocative, action-oriented, realistic and
knowledgeable) talks, followed by a Q-and-A discussion, panelists will draw on
their personal experiences to present bold ideas for maximizing the value of
these partnerships.”
This session, offered on Thursday
at 11:00am, continues the prior theme of collaboration and expands to include
the role of vendors in legal process improvement.
10.
Title: A New Approach To Aligning the Objectives of Outside
Counsel, In-House Legal and Corporate Business #ILTA173
Description: “The past few
years has brought a lot of discussion about how to better align the interests
of law departments and their outside counsel through alternative fee
arrangements, but the discussions generally end there. What if there was an
approach that aligned outside counsel and legal departments in their pursuit of
better business outcomes that extended beyond pricing? How can the strength of
that relationship help demonstrate the value that the legal department brings
to the organization as a whole? Come hear a case study exploring how one legal
department and its panel of law firms have partnered differently and how their
holistic approach to solving legal problems has the power to transform the way
the department delivers value to the business.”
The final recommended
session, offered on Thursday at 2:45pm, displays a third type of collaboration,
between client and multiple law firms, where the parties are working together
to improve legal and operational processes.
I hope you
found these suggestions valuable and I look forward to seeing you at ILTACON
2016!
Best regard,
Chris