This past week members sought recommendations on tools for budgeting and reporting, remote access for non-exempt employees and more. Explore curated sources on these topics including some from ILTA’s treasure chest.
Make a Plan Before Shopping
Did anyone ever tell you not to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach? You bring home bags of what you want but not what you need. Chaos ensues in my home when we run out of milk, not cookies. Imagine the chaos when someone discovers an essential task cannot be completed on the fancy new budgeting software. When upgrading systems understand what you and others need in the tool, assess the processes while watching for waste and determine if other department use the current software. The ILTA webinar, “Map It Out! Seven Smart Ideas for Business/Systems Analysis” will jump start your plans of cross-department collaboration and planning. To develop the right road map for your firm review the webinar series, “Set the Foundation for Legal Process Management – A Road Map.” See Part I, Part II and Part III. For your systems to work productively with your client’s systems, listen to the corporate legal department perspective in the ILTACON 2015 session, “Implementing Business Practices That Foster Shared Interests” and the follow-up podcast series “Shared Practice Metrics for Law Firms and Legal Departments, Now and in 2020.” Hear from Jeff Schwarz, David Cunningham, and Connie Brenton.
Remote Access and the Non-Exempt Employee
As you transition to more portable devices when purchasing hardware, research the rules and regulations around non-exempt employees in your offices. In December 2015, Judge Schenkier of the Northern District of Illinois ruled in a case about Chicago Police Department officers’ compensation for off-duty work related to checking and responding to messages on their BlackBerrys. (Allen v. City of Chicago) The National Law Review also warned that “Non-Exempt Employees Who Check Emails Outside of Normal Hours Can Cause Payroll Nightmares.” Watch for new Federal regulations from the Department of Labor on overtime in addition to state specific regulations. Congress also issued a bill in response to the anticipated new overtime regulations, called the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act. To read more on this see the Society for Human Resource Management article, “Bill to Block Overtime Rule Introduced.”
SOMETHING EXTRA – Security Preventative Medicine, Another Week of Great content from ILTA Volunteers and Hail to the Chief or the IT Director?
Ed Grenberg of the security consulting firm, Security Management Partners, wants IT Directors, IT Managers, CIOs, CSOs and other IT leaders in the legal environment to focus on prevention. Read his list of pre-emptive measures to avoid a security breach in his article, “Ed We Have a Problem.” Also consider Greg Churilov’s warnings and advice in “Law Firm Cybersecurity: The 5 Dumbest Mistakes, 10 Cybersecurity Best Practices and the Bigger Picture in Risk Management.”
Again this week our ILTA volunteers point us to a diverse array of topics in the legal technology sphere. If you have not already, be certain to read Michael Morris’ second installment on adult learning discussing conceptual learners. Also discover all the great content in Patrice Fatiq’s blog, “Trial Support A-Z -Topic 1: Litigation Timelines.” She includes links to a general timeline document, a podcast on timelines and a case work plan and assessment checklist.
A member recently asked about C-suite titles in the legal technology field. See page 23 of ILTA’s 2015 Staffing Survey for the breakdown in titles for the head of IT or Technology Services. Even if your title is not yet director or CIO, you can still think like a leader. Get insight from the 2015 ILTACON session, “Strategy Isn’t Reserved for the C-Suite.”
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