Professional Development

Evolving KM Episode 3: A Veteran Perspective - From Tech Law to Tech and Law

Welcome to another episode of Evolving KM, a podcast where we discuss how knowledge management is progressing and the impact that's having on KM professionals. In each episode, we interview people who have worked in or on the periphery of knowledge management and get their perspectives on how the profession is evolving to meet the shifting demands of legal service delivery. Be sure to follow the knowledge management category on ILTA Radio so you don't miss a thing, and contact us if you'd like to be interviewed for a future episode!
Our guest in this episode is Sukesh Kamra, the National Director of Knowledge Management at Norton Rose Fulbright in Toronto. Beginning his career as a technology law lawyer, his interest in technology led him to a master's program in Law and Technology and, from there, almost accidentally into knowledge management. Now with 14 years in the field, Sukesh has experienced the evolution of KM firsthand, from precedents and search, to a greater focus on process and technology. We talk about the skill sets needed for different roles in a KM team, such as supporting traditional KM functions, engaging with the business of law and applying AI and other advanced technologies. We also discuss the change going on in the legal industry, which Sukesh frames as a cultural shift. You won't want to miss his great suggestions for staying current on KM!
Hosts:Gwyn McAlpine oversees the knowledge management program at Perkins Coie LLP, an international law firm with 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices. Gwyn's focus is on creating value for clients by enabling attorneys to practice law more efficiently and collaboratively. In addition to more traditional KM initiatives, KM at Perkins Coie includes library and research services, internal and external collaboration, and AI and expert systems. Gwyn practiced corporate law for 10 years before fully transitioning to knowledge management.
Amy Monaghan is the Practice Innovations Manager in the knowledge management group at Perkins Coie LLP. She works side-by-side with practice groups to further KM initiatives, particularly those involving artificial intelligence systems and other advanced technologies, such as document assembly, logic systems, workflow tools and contract analysis tools. Previously, Amy was in a similar role at Chapman and Cutler LLP.
Recorded on 8-10-18

Evolving KM Episode 2: A Veteran Perspective - The Prophet of Profit

Welcome to another episode of Evolving KM, a podcast where we discuss how knowledge management is progressing and the impact that's having on KM professionals. In each episode, we interview people who have worked in or on the periphery of knowledge management and get their perspectives on how the profession is evolving to meet the shifting demands of legal service delivery. Be sure to follow the knowledge management category on ILTA Radio so you don't miss a thing, and contact us if you'd like to be interviewed for a future episode!
Our guest in this episode is Toby Brown, the Chief Practice Management Officer at Perkins Coie LLP. He parlayed an earlier KM role into a new pricing function, which opened the door to practice innovation, legal project management and process improvement. Listen as this "Prophet of Profit" discuss how KM and practice innovation drive (and are empowered by) a focus on profitability. Toby also talks about his work with the SALI (Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry) Alliance, which is a developing a standard taxonomy of matter types to facilitate improvements in budgeting and innovation.
Hosts:Gwyn McAlpine oversees the knowledge management program at Perkins Coie LLP, an international law firm with 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices. Gwyn's focus is on creating value for clients by enabling attorneys to practice law more efficiently and collaboratively. In addition to more traditional KM initiatives, KM at Perkins Coie includes library and research services, internal and external collaboration, and AI and expert systems. Gwyn practiced corporate law for 10 years before fully transitioning to knowledge management.
Amy Monaghan is the Practice Innovations Manager in the knowledge management group at Perkins Coie LLP. She works side-by-side with practice groups to further KM initiatives, particularly those involving artificial intelligence systems and other advanced technologies, such as document assembly, logic systems, workflow tools and contract analysis tools. Previously, Amy was in a similar role at Chapman and Cutler LLP.
Guest:Toby Brown is an active member and leader in organizations devoted to legal knowledge management, and he speaks to national audiences on legal pricing, alternative fee arrangements and other law firm financial management issues. He is the founder of the Legal Marketing Association's annual P3 Conference, which brings together over 400 pricing, project management and process improvement experts in the legal profession. Toby also co-founded the "3 Geeks and a Law" blog and co-authored the book, Law Firm Pricing: Strategies, Roles and Responsibilities. He is active on Twitter as @gnawledge and can be found on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/tobinbrown.

How to Build Your Brand in Litigation Support in Your Organization and Industry

Every day you build your brand without even knowing it! Through day-to-day conversations, social media presence, published articles and participation at conferences and industry events, you put yourself out there and leave impressions. These impressions organically build your brand. This lively conversation explores practical tips on building your brand. We discuss why your personal brand is important, how it can help open doors to new opportunities and simple ways to put yourself out there successfully.
Speakers: Carolyn Anger is the Manager of Litigation Support and eDiscovery at Stikeman Elliott LLP. With over 15 years of experience in practice support, technology and discovery management, she has extensive technological and legal knowledge of ediscovery processes, from identification and preservation through document production and document presentation at trial and beyond. She champions the use of technology and project management to provide cost effective, efficient and defensible solutions to clients. Carolyn has a passion for developing electronic protocols and procedures in the courts to assist modernizing them for the future.
Adi Elliott leads software strategy for Epiq's global ediscovery business. He joined the company via the acquisition of Iris Data Services where he led product management, marketing and sales operations. Prior to Iris, Adi led Relativity's marketing and enterprise sales teams, guiding the creation and definition of the company's brand, as well as overseeing its growth with law firms, corporations and government agencies. He previously held a variety of product and marketing positions in the U.S. and Israel. Adi has been a speaker on the topics of future-looking trends in technology, the business of ediscovery, advanced ediscovery technologies, B2B marketing, and hiring and training top talent.

Next-Gen IT Management: The Evolving Role of IT Staffing

In the constantly evolving world of information technology, the way managers think about staffing for key roles must also evolve. In this podcast, we discuss methods for identifying key candidates, thoughts around job descriptions and their impact on filling roles, and building relationships with in-house recruiters and staffing firms that will aid in finding the newest member of your team. Additionally, we discuss the evolution of positions in your organization that can make it difficult to replace key team members when it becomes necessary, as well as managing teams that include vendors and consultants.
Speakers:Brandi Hester, PMP is the Applications Development Manager at Andrews Kurth Kenyon, and an ILTA Member Liaison for Houston. A new face in the legal space, she has been managing teams of developers and database administrators for many years and has developed a passion for building collaborative teams that include IT and the business and practice areas. Brandi works as a liaison between IT and other departments to translate technology concepts and business needs.
Broadus Pettiford, PMP is the Director of Information Technology at the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. He also serves as an ILTA Member Liaison for the Richmond, VA area. Broadus has over 16 years of information technology experience and a newfound focus on developing technical leaders, organizing their efforts to advance the businesses they support.
Luke Schnoebelen is the Manager of Learning and Development at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. An ILTA volunteer for the past six years, he is a Member Liaison for Kansas City and received ILTA's Young Professional of the Year award in 2017. Luke is always open to talking about all things technology, training and soccer.
Recorded on 12-21-17

Think Like a Product Designer: How HR Can Apply Design Thinking to Organizational Processes

In this ILTA Radio leadership podcast, representatives from kCura/Relativity speak about the use of design thinking to improve business processes, why design thinking is especially relevant for today's times, specific examples of how they've used the process at Relativity and why feedback is integral to the successful implementation of design thinking.
Speakers:Dorie Blesoff is the Chief People Officer at Relativity, and ediscovery company helping corporations, law firms and government agencies manage and analyze electronic data during litigation and investigations. Based in Chicago with an increasingly global presence, the company has seen rapid growth during Dorie's tenure, and continues to exhibit a dynamic and sustainable culture while demonstrating excellent business results. Driven by the principle "grow your people to grow your business," Relativity has been laser focused on cultivating the culture of continuous learning reflected in highly effective initiatives such as monthly performance coaching, robust training programs and career mapping.
Constantine Pappas, the Relativity Solutions Manager, is a licensed attorney barred in Wisconsin, Virginia and Washington, D.C. He has over 15 years of legal experience and has served as in-house counsel in both the medical equipment and airline industries. In addition, he has managed both paper and electronic discovery efforts for several large-scale civil lawsuits and government investigations. Constantine is a member of Relativity's advice team, where he provides workflow consultation to clients wishing to enhance their experience with Relativity. His special emphasis lies in text analytics, particularly on Relativity Assisted Review.
Recorded on 8-29-17

The Importance of Education in Leadership

In this ILTA Radio episode, we discuss the importance of education in the context of communication and leadership. We provide pragmatic approaches to how and when it plays out in the legal industry by talking through real-world scenarios from both the law firm and service provider perspectives.
Speakers:Ricky Brooman is a Litigation Support Project Manager at Saul Ewing LLP. He consults to internal and external clients on best practices for ediscovery and information governance, and manages all phases of the EDRM for litigation matters. Ricky is also a member of ILTA's Business Management Content Coordinating Team and mentoring program.
Kris Wasserman is a Senior Consultant and Vice President with D4, overseeing a team of discovery engineers specializing in advisory and workflow solutions for corporate legal, risk and compliance departments on litigation readiness and discovery workflow planning. Kris has over a decade of hands-on experience in the ediscovery space and has been involved in the launch of several technology startup service providers. He consults corporate clients on proactive measures they can take by leveraging cloud solutions to reduce spend when managing data that may be used as evidence in internal investigations.

Develop a Focus on Self-Awareness and Self-Management

Did you know that how you deal with your emotions and the emotions of others might be the secret sauce to success in leadership? In this ILTA Radio installment, we answer common questions about emotional intelligence (EI).
Speaker:Brian Donato is the CIO at Vorys, where he has handled a variety of leadership challenges over his 20-year career. Follow Brian on Twitter @bjdonato.
Recorded on 8-7-17

Trends in Training: 2014 - Revisited in 2017

In April 2014, members of ILTA's user support volunteer team recorded a podcast on some common trends in training at that time. These topics continue to be widely discussed, so we take another look to see how (or if) our thoughts have changed since then. We cover:
The modern trainer
Performance support
Ways to support informal learning
Mobile learning
Gamification
In the next couple of months, we'll be recording a 2017 Trends in Training podcast to tackle several new topics, so be on the lookout for that, too.
Speakers:Denise Ash is the Training Manager at Jackson Kelly PLLC, where she has worked since 2011. Previously, she worked as a user support specialist at Robinson & McElwee PLLC. An active ILTA volunteer, she is a member of the Apps and Desktop Content Committee and a member liaison for Charleston, West Virginia. In 2010, Denise won ILTA's User Support Champion award.
Jeanne Marie Boswell is the Director of Technology Training for Paul Hastings LLP. For the past 17 years, she has overseen the evolution of the training role from one that teaches technology to one that innovates and facilitates change. Name a 21st century legal learning topic, and she and her team have probably flipped it, filmed it, webcast it, gamefied it or set it to music. Jeanne Marie is a past-president of the New York Professional Legal Trainers Group, served on the ILTA User Support Steering Committee and is an active member of ATD.
Marsha Kuhn has been a Training & Computer Support Specialist with Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC for almost 19 years. She is responsible for the technology training at the firm, and provides end-user support as needed. Marsha was a member of the ILTA user support group, and has been a computer application instructor at the Community College of Vermont for over 20 years.
Michelle Spencer's skills reside at the intersection of people, processes, technology and learning. She can translate technology for non-technical people and manage projects by getting groups connected and communicating, enabling them to work effectively towards their end goal. Michelle is adept at managing learning and IT projects from both the technical and human perspectives. She uses her knowledge -- gained from three decades spent on both legal and IT project teams -- to help your team.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

At some point in everyone’s career, the question arises, should I stay, or is it time to go. Hear from our panelists on what motivated them to recently make a career change.
Panelists:Donna Payne is CEO and founder of PayneGroup. PayneGroup went from 0 to 4 million users of their software worldwide since inception. Donna is an author of 13 books. She is a frequent speaker at conferences, and has addressed Congress and Senate committees on the subject of metadata and privacy. She is recipient of Thought Leader of the Year (ILTA), and Lifetime Achievement (ABA awards). Payne is member of the Monica Bay STEM Leadership committee. Before starting PayneGroup, Donna worked in government, Fortune 500 and even did a stint as a rock and roll singer.
Tammy Bearden has been a research professional for over 20 years, managing competitive intelligence and research projects for attorneys, investment bankers, marketers, product managers, and executives. She is currently the Research Manager for the Kansas City office of Stinson Leonard Street. Prior to joining the firm, Tammy spent nearly 16 years in a variety of leadership roles at Hallmark Cards. Along with her research, she enjoyed being involved in technology enablement projects, innovation workshops, governance, SharePoint/portal design, and opportunity identification.
Rebecca Sattin joined World Software in 2015 as its CIO from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, a premier mid-sized law firm with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC, where she was Director of Information Technology. She joined the firm in 1997 and has 25 years of experience in the area of law firm technology. Rebecca is a thought leader in legal technology and is a frequent speaker at many legal conferences and events including LegalTech, and International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) roadshows and conferences. Rebecca is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.