Blogs

Blogs

Managing Microsoft Edge

By Jay Parekh
On January 15th, 2020, Microsoft released the new Microsoft Edge browser based on the Chromium platform. I wrote a blog early January describing this change which can be found here . There are few ways to manage the configuration of Edge settings to enforce security as well as control the updates to Edge. The two most common methods available to the legal community are via Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. Using Group Policies Download the latest Administrative template files at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download Drop the ADMX and ADML files in the PolicyDefinition folder on a local PC for testing in your Central Store. ...
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Ripped From the Headlines: Addressing The Well-Being of Lawyers and Administrative Professionals - Summary

By Krista Larson
Please enjoy this summary authored by Krista Larson, Director of Employee Well-Being, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. The title of "well-being director" seems to be very new. What education/skills go into that role? It looks a little different for all of us. Some legal well-being professionals are more clinical in focus, others come from the coaching world, and yet others are human resources professionals. My background is in Positive Psychology and leadership program design and delivery. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this role. Different organizations take different approaches depending on what works best for them as the unique organization ...
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COVID-19 Question of the Day #8 - Security

By ILTA Membership
We recently introduced an initiative called the COVID-19 Question of the Day (QoD). These questions were developed based on content covered in our COVID-19 Global Roundtable and harvested from our eGroups. To provide you with quick access to all of the answers received on our QoD postings, we have aggregated the answers to each question into a blog post. We will also post summary documents in the Resource Library for the Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity and Open Public Forum Communities of Interest. Also, please look for a notification about our next virtual roundtable where we will continue to explore each of the QoDs in more detail!  What new ...
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Making Good, Important Work

By Marlene Gebauer
A friend of my directed me to the Houston Art Interview Project , where oral histories of artists who have made significant contributions to Houston art are complied.  I watched Malinda Beeman’s interview and was struck by how she found needs and opportunities in her environment and applied her creativity to address them.  Her move to Marfa, TX (if you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it) showcases her innovative capabilities.  Malinda was an established artist in watercolor, printing and ceramics when she moved to Marfa.  And while it is an art hub now, it was nothing like that in the 1990s. She had little in common with the locals at the time.  And ...
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Security – Has Your Vendor Been Tested?

By Brenda Ferraro
We recently sat down with Brenda Ferraro , the VP of third-party risk at Prevalent , and asked her about the state of vendor security. Brenda is an expert in this space, having built and managed third-party risk management programs at companies such as Aetna, PayPal and Charles Schwab. As well, Brenda is the executive sponsor of the Legal Vendor Network , the legal industry’s preferred third-party risk management platform, which is hosted by Prevalent. What follows is a summary of that conversation, but please be sure listen to the full podcast for all of Brenda’s expert insights (especially the “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha” bit – you won’t want to miss that!). ...
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Lease and Finance Options are Helping Firms Acquire Technology and Equipment They Need

By Scott McFetters
Law firms are rising to the challenges laid upon them and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by swiftly managing business continuity and shifting operations to remote working.  Each law firm will be in their own place in responding to the challenges of moving to a remote working environment and will move forward with regards to the same – but one principal is clear:  all of this was unexpected. Even firms with robust disaster planning are challenged by the scope and rapidity of the COVID-19 crisis.  Increasingly we see law firms actively responding to work from home (WFH) adjustments by acquiring desktops, laptops, and additional server capacity. Expenses ...
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Métricas de rendimiento de proveedores de legales externos al Departamento de Legales

By Matias Avila Nores
Please enjoy the Spanish verison of the blog below authored by Matías Avila Nores, Founder and Managing Partner, OneLegem. Es un hecho fuera de discusión que el objetivo del departamento o área de legales es asesorar a las unidades de negocios, al management y guiarlos en todos los temas legales que hubiera para lograr sus objetivos de negocios, minimizando los riesgos. Los departamentos de legales modernos, sin embargo, se han visto presionados en tiempos recientes a prestar un servicio de mayor calidad. Sea que provean servicios directamente a cualquiera de las áreas de negocios de una compañía o que el servicio sea prestado indirectamente mediante ...
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Outside Counsel Performance Metrics

By Matias Avila Nores
Please enjoy this blog post authored by Matías Avila Nores, Founder and Managing Partner, OneLegem. It is an undisputed fact that a legal department’s goal is to provide legal advice to both business units and management, and shepherd these on all legal matters to achieve their business goals while minimizing risk. Modern legal departments, however, have been increasingly pressed in recent years to provide a higher-quality legal support. Either if they are providing direct legal advice to any of the company’s unit or indirectly retaining an outside legal provider, delivery on time and within budget is key. So, in addition to the knowledge of the law applicable ...
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How Can I Use the New "Cool" Technologies Introduced by IT While Maintaining Requirements for Legal?

By Joshua Johns
Please enjoy this co-authored blog from Joshua Johns, Manager of Information Governance, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and Tamara Tureson, Compliance, Conflicts and Records Manager, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. If asked, our children would share any electronic file with anyone instantly! So why is it SOO hard for me to send something to Bob down the street?”  Unlike our children, we are bound by a whole string of “doing business” process, protocols and legalities that are in place to protect us, the company and our clients.  I suspect that given where you are reading this, you are well aware of said “legalities” and I don’t have to go ...
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COVID-19 Question of the Day #7 - Leadership

By ILTA Membership
We recently introduced an initiative called the COVID-19 Question of the Day ( QoD ). These questions were developed based on content covered in our COVID-19 Global Roundtable and harvested from our eGroups. To provide you with quick access to all of the answers received on our QoD postings, we have aggregated the answers to each question into a blog post. We will also post summary documents in the Resource Library for the Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity and Open Public Forum Communities of Interest. Also, please note that there is a second virtual roundtable on Thursday, April 2 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) where we explore each ...
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COVID-19 Question of the Day #6 - WFHWK (Working from Home with Kids)

By ILTA Membership
We recently introduced an initiative called the COVID-19 Question of the Day ( QoD ). These questions were developed based on content covered in our COVID-19 Global Roundtable and harvested from our eGroups. To provide you with quick access to  all of  the answers received on our  QoD  postings, we have aggregated the answers to each question into a blog post. We will also post summary documents in the Resource Library for the Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity and Open Public Forum Communities of Interest. Also, please note that there is a  second virtual roundtable  on Thursday, April 2 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) where we explore each ...
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COVID-19 Question of the Day #5 - HR Policies

By ILTA Membership
Dear  ILTAns !   We recently introduced an initiative called the COVID-19 Question of the Day ( QoD ). These questions were developed based on content covered in our COVID-19 Global Roundtable and harvested from our eGroups. To provide you with quick access to  all of  the answers received on our  QoD  postings, we have aggregated the answers to each question into a blog post. We will also post summary documents in the Resource Library for the Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity and Open Public Forum Communities of Interest. Also, please note that there is a second virtual roundtable on Thursday, April 2 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) ...
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Think Global, Act Local: Part One

By Jack Thompson
Challenges in managing a global law department: Law Departments, which function as business units for global organizations (i.e. function globally as well as operationally in more than one country), are wrought with challenges arising from international laws, local laws, support differentials locally versus company wide, and limitations imposed due to geographic/political/social business environments.  Examples of key challenges law departments face: The concept of privacy rules on a per country basis as well as continental basis where laws are favorable for protection but not for legal priority (i.e. GDPR and processing of data in litigation or ...
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Legal KM in a Time of Coronavirus: Back to Basics

By Holly Hanna
Please enjoy this blog co-authored by Holly Hanna, KM Firm Solutions Manager, Perkins Coie and Adam Dedynski, KM - Project Manager, Reed Smith LLP. In recent years, legal knowledge management has evolved and matured, with an increased focus on how to leverage advanced technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence, and bots. However, the basic pillars of KM remain relevant, as has become increasingly apparent during the current coronavirus pandemic. Some key takeaways from this experience include: Document Sets Still Matter A foundation of legal KM is the gathering of forms, precedents, and other useful documents into a single location ...
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Trial Presentation Skills Self-Assessment

By Shannon Bales
Legal team members who decide to take on trial presentation duties often have embarrassing failures in the courtroom. Why does this happen? Failure rarely comes from unfamiliarity with trial software. Failure typically comes from everything else associated with presenting electronically at trial from basic tech skills like connecting multiple monitors together, not having the right equipment or firm support. If you don’t have the right skillset, equipment or firm support for basic competency in trial presentation it is hard stop – don’t do it – a trial is not your learning environment . In today’s post I’m going to explain how to test yourself ...
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Jackie Nagtegaal - 2020 Influential Women in Legal Technology

By ILTA Membership
In celebration of 2020 Women’s History Month, ILTA was pleased to  announce a list of Influential Women in Legal Technology . Each Tuesday in March, readers will learn more about the women who were selected. Jackie Nagtegaal Futurist & Managing Director,  Law for All Cape Town, South Africa Jackie runs Law for All, the leading Alternative Legal Service provider on the continent of Africa, which resolves approximately 100,000 cases annually on a subscription basis. Not only are they using technology to ease the way people interact and access the law, they're championing women in legal tech by having 78% of the employees be women. She ...
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Tip of the Week - Re-Open a Closed Internet tab

By ILTA Tips
Good morning! Here’s a tip to help us all on the internet while we’re home! You accidentally closed a tab on the Internet. What to do? Simply press Ctrl + Shift + T to reopen the most recently closed tab and get back to what you were doing. On Macs, it is Cmd + Shift + T
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COVID-19 Question of the Day #4 - Supporting a Remote Workforce

By ILTA Membership
Dear  ILTAns !   Last week, we introduced an initiative called the COVID-19 Question of the Day ( QoD ). These questions were developed based on content covered in our COVID-19 Global Roundtable and harvested from our eGroups. To provide you with quick access to  all of  the answers received on our  QoD  postings, we have aggregated the answers to each question into a blog post. We will also post summary documents in the Resource Library for the Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity and Open Public Forum Communities of Interest. Also, there is a COVID QoTD Virtual Roundtable today (3/26/2020) where we wil explore each of the  QoDs  in ...
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Eyes on the Prize, People!

By Marlene Gebauer
Disasters always bring out the best and the worst in people. The hoarders of toilet paper and the caregivers risking their lives to help others. I have a couple observations about this, and they center around focus.  The self-focus and the selfless focus.  Are you trying to make things better for others or are you just worried about your own ass (literally)?  Focus on the real problem (and address it). We have a more than adequate supply chain of toilet paper.  We don’t, however, have inexhaustible supply of caregivers, masks and medical facilities to treat potentially exposed people.  Under normal conditions, neither of these examples would pose much of ...
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Innovation in the Time of the Corona

By Marlene Gebauer
Hello from my bunker in Texas. Like most of you I am “WFH,” which I consistently confuse with “WTH,” which makes for some initial seconds of confusion on my part.  Some examples completely made up but inspired by real life.  Feel free to add your own in the comments. “The WFH initiative will be implemented on Monday. All necessary technology and instructions are in place and everyone is ready.” “She was on a conference call and her kids were running up and down the stairs. WFH, right?” “WFH. How to connect with you clients in a really, REALLY remote environment.” But this WFH thing has a lot of us doing things differently.  A lot of us.  Even the ...
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