ILTA Voices
Episodes
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Pivoting: Career Transitions Within the Firm
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
In this podcast interview, the moderator talked with speakers who have both recently transitioned careers within the same firm. They will discuss how has their experience prepared them, why did they chose to stay within firm, what has been the overall key differences in the new role, challenges and successes experienced and more. Questions the moderator asked the speakers:-Tell us a little about your previous role(s) and what you do now-What are some of the key differences between your previous role(s) and current role?-What have been some of the biggest challenges that you have faced in making the transition?-What are some of the biggest factors in your success?-Do you have any advice for others looking to pivot?Moderator: @Harriet Joubert-Vaklyes - Senior Project Manager, Legal Operations, CBRESpeakers: @Tanya Pereira - Business Transformation Specialist, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP @Martina Udovicic - Account Manager, Legal Operations, Borden Ladner Gervais LLPRecorded on 10-26-2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Communicating Burnout to Leadership: Helpful Tips and Best Practices
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
In this podcast interview, the speakers had an important discussion about how to best successfully communicate a need for rest and recovery during burnout to leadership.Questions the moderator asked the speakers:-What are some best practices for legal professionals to recognize and identify burnout in themselves or their colleagues before it becomes a major issue?-Communication can be challenging when dealing with sensitive topics like burnout. Could you share some effective strategies for initiating a conversation about burnout with firm leadership?-Many legal professionals worry about the repercussions of discussing burnout. How can they navigate their conversation without jeopardizing their professional growth?-Can you highlight some success stories or examples where effective communication about burnout led to a positive change within a law firm?-Are there any specific tools or resources that legal professionals can utilize when discussing burnout with leadership, such as data, surveys, or industry benchmarks?Moderator:@Tanya Pereira - Business Transformation Specialist, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLPSpeakers:@Adam Wehler - Director of Practice Support, Robinson Bradshaw@Julie Wilson - Legal Resources & Innovation Lawyer, Gowling WLG
Recorded on 10-25-2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
How eDiscovery Can Support DSARs
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
In this session, the speaker discussed what are the differences between lit support and DSARs, the priorities for which DSAR work. In addition, they covered suggested processes, tips and tricks.
Questions the moderator asked the speaker:
• What is it about DSARs that makes them so tricky to respond to?
• What sort of approaches to the DSAR problem approaches have you seen organizations try to take? Do these work? (For example, printing and redacting hard copy, hiring dedicated teams)
• Why is eDiscovery technology is good solution for DSAR responses? (for example, searching, redacting, auditing, collaboration across teams)
• Is there a difference between using this technology for discovery and for DSARs? (For example, the way the review is structured, how the vendor needs to be instructed, use of different types of tools in the platform)
• Can you share some case studies about using eDiscovery technology to complete a DSAR / specific tasks within a DSAR response which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise?
Moderator: @Rachel McAdams - Senior Consultant, Sky Discovery
Speaker:
@Laura Herangi - Partner, Commercial Litigation, Mason Hayes & Curran LLP
Recorded on 10-19-2023
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Unlocking the Power of LinkedIn for Legal Professionals
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
For many, the past few years since the pandemic brought lots of continual change in the legal marketplace. In order to stay relevant with like-minded individuals and keep up with emerging trends in industry, many paid more attention and time to social media to stay connected.One social media platform which has remained very popular within Legal and other key industries is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a very effective professional development tool if utilized correctly and one that can help people achieve and/or grow their leadership skills.In this session, we will obtain important tips and tricks for unlocking the true potential of LinkedIn for legal professionals. Specifically, we will focus on how you can best share your own unique perspectives into the open for awareness, create a compelling profile, how you can easily identify networking and career opportunities and what you need to do to become a recognized 'thought leader' in the field and more.
Questions the moderator asked the speaker:
-What are 2-3 top tips for creating a compelling profile on LinkedIn? Any unique aspects to consider for legal
-Establishing yourself as a “thought leader” can feel daunting. What approaches do you recommend to someone wanting to leverage LinkedIn to enhance their persona as a thought leader? Any unique aspects to consider for legal?
-What advice do you have for a “newbie” wanting to start engaging or posting more regularly on LinkedIn? Any unique aspects to consider for legal?
-What are some proven strategies for successful networking on LinkedIn? What are the no-no’s to avoid in LinkedIn networking? Any unique aspects to consider for legal?Moderator:@Brendan Miller - Legal Innovation Consultant Speaker:@Stefanie Marrone - Fractional Marketing Director/Social Media, Marketing and Business Development Strategist, Stefanie Marrone Consulting/The Social Media Butterfly
Recorded on 10-5-2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Doing the Right IT Projects… Then Doing IT Projects Right
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
“Doing the Right IT Projects” sounds simple. It should be how you to start your project lifecycle and quality methodology: Setting criteria for how IT projects are selected, prioritized and planned, and how the appropriate level of project management, quality assurance and resources are assigned.
There are buckets/workstreams for large/complex IT projects and for simple projects that need only project and testing checklists. Once the right projects are in the queue, then you move on to “Doing IT Projects Right”, the initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, transition to operate and maintain, and of course, adoption.
IT is then supporting business service demands and strategic goals across all IT projects in the organization. This podcast session provides a takeaway in the form of a framework for anyone who is responsible for how technologies are implemented or has to manage IT projects, or really manage any projects in a legal organization.
Moderator:@Mark Manoukian - IT Director, Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter
Speakers:@TJ Johnson - AVP, Legal Sector Strategist · Qualitest@Parita Kanevskiy - Leader of Project Management Office (PMO), Eversheds Sutherland
Recorded on 08-17-2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Risk Management: Data Analytics & Intelligence > AI Adoption
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
How are firms adopting Artificial Intelligence in the Risk Management space? Given the fast-paced and highly publicized technology trends involving AI, what are the biggest challenges organizations face today with adopting AI technologies and in particular maintaining security and compliance around client, firm, and personnel data.Questions the moderator will ask the speakers:
Where do AI capabilities exist in the Risk Space? Reporting, Terms of Engagement, Conflicts Searching, Data Analytics, Records, etc.
Data captured at client/matter inception is used throughout an organization, would you tell me what key factors join teams together and how organizations maintain consistency especially with AI “running in the background”?
How do firms control the information and the learning?
How or when does an organization begin to trust its AI?
What are the fears/blocks an organization will address prior to deciding to implement AI technology?
As the industry patterns dictate and pressure increases, how can organizations assess security concerns in a timely and thorough manner?
How do an organizations’ client(s) fit into the mix? If an organization’s client(s) oppose the use of AI technologies with their data, how does the firm comply?
What are the specific steps an organization can take to ensure a successful adoption of AI technologies?Confirmed Moderator:
Elizabeth Suehr, Director of Legal Risk Systems and Strategy, Jenner & Block Confirmed Speakers:-Aaron Rangel, Director of Product Management, iManage
-Bennett Borden, Partner, DLA Piper
Recorded on 08-16-2023
Thursday Aug 10, 2023
Thursday Aug 10, 2023
Given the complex nature of AI and the fact that these models are not transparent, the speaker shared best tips on what do you need to know about your AI model, who built it and what is it based on?
Questions the moderator asked the speaker:1) What is and what is not AI?2) What are AI models?3) If you are using a pre-generated AI model what are some questions to ask:
- what is it based on?- do you know how the model was trained?- is there any data in the model that may cause the model to provide you with unexpected results?
etc4) How can AI help with managing your data?
IE: it can be a tool to help move redundant copies of docs from your data universe; it can summarize info in a document and know where to ‘file’ it or categorize it (info gov idea here)5) Is generative AI useful in a legal document review setting? Discuss6) Is this technology going to be similar to how blockchain never really caught on in legal?7) Can natural language processing help uncover information in your data set that would be missed by pure keyword searches? (which some lawyers believe is the gold standard of search)8) What about emotional intelligence / sentiment analysis?
Moderator:
@Monique Sever - Litigation Support and eDiscovery Supervisor, Harper Grey LLP
Speaker:
@Jay Leib - Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Reveal Brainspace
Recorded on 08-10-2023
#LitigationSupportoreDiscovery#PracticeManagementandPracticeSupport#FutureandEmergingTechnologies
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
5 Tips for Recognizing, Planning for and Handling Moments of Friction for Learners
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
Identifying "Moments of Friction" -- workers' pain points with technology, processes and adoption is critical. In this session, the speaker discussed how to identify whether a MOF is a result of technology or psychology; highlight pain points; adoption; needs analysis; dig into the why and learning how to get to the root/core of the issue and user frustration.
Questions the moderator will ask the speaker: -Why don’t you tell us a bit about the framework you like to use when thinking about the needs around training, and how those give way to the moments of friction that arise?-This question is why I refer to change management as equal parts comms and therapy: how can we make sure users feel as though their needs were taken into account?-We’re all aware that most people don’t exactly love change. What are some ways to tell whether workers’ friction with new tech or processes is due to that, or if there’s something bigger at play?-I think most people overlook frequent and useful communication as a tool to help along adoption: what are some ways you’ve best decreased friction in the past?-Final (tricky) question: what do you do when people bring you in after things have already gone off the rails?
Moderator:@Harriet Joubert-Vaklyes - Senior Project Manager - Legal Operations, CBRE Group
Speaker:@Carolyn Humpherys - Learning & Change Management Consultant, Traveling Coaches
Recorded on 07-19-2023
Thursday Jul 13, 2023
Aligning Taxonomies for Marketing and KM
Thursday Jul 13, 2023
Thursday Jul 13, 2023
Common vocabularies are a core requirement if firms want to fully utilize the knowledge created by their attorneys. Organizing those vocabularies into a taxonomy makes it easier to share knowledge across tools and practices. However, many firms don’t create or maintain common taxonomies, resulting in knowledge gaps and a lack of findability.
A common vocabulary, whether it’s something that’s specific to your firm or leveraging existing taxonomies like SALI, is an investment of both time and money, but putting in the effort allows attorneys to quickly find colleagues who have specific skills, experience, or backgrounds.
Questions the moderator asked the speaker:
1.Is there one thing in particular that made you realize that this was a problem, and one that needed to be solved?
2.Talking about taxonomies tends to make people tune out. How did you get buy in from other groups?
3.How do you maintain your taxonomies? Is it a group effort? If so, which groups should be involved?
4.What would be your recommendations for firms that are just starting to engage with this issue?
Moderator:
@Holly Hanna - KM Firm Solutions Manager, Perkins Coie
Speaker:
@Rachel Shields Williams - Director, Knowledge Management, Sidley Austin LLP
Recorded on 07-13-2023
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Applying Design Thinking to Lit Support
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Innovation in the legal industry is big news, but its often hard to know where to start. Changing the way we think about our work can help find new ways to approach challenges, and the framework of design thinking has proven success in the legal industry for finding innovative solutions to problems. But what is design thinking, and how can we use its principles and ideas to transform our work in litigation support?
Questions the moderator will ask the speaker:
What is Design Thinking? Where are we seeing its application the most?
How can we apply design thinking to legal and how can it help us practice law more effectively?
Can you give an example of where design thinking has helped solve a legal workflow problem?
How can we identify areas in our litigation support work where design thinking might be helpful?
Moderator:@Rachel McAdams - Senior Consultant, Sky Discovery
Speaker:@Ginevra Saylor - Director, Innovation and Knowledge Programs, Gowling WLG
Recorded on 06-30-2023
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
Keeping Up with Hands-Off Communication with Hands Off Teams
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
In this podcast session, the moderator will discuss with an attorney the best communications strategies and practices they have encountered with Litigation Support and Legal Staff.
Questions the moderator will ask the speaker:
-What are some steps you take to keep communication consistent in your remote team?-What are some pitfalls about purely remote work that some managers or team members might not consider?-Do you find that your communication style changes between individual team members or is it more consistent due to remote work?-How often do you think you need to stay in contact with team members to maintain consistent communication?-Do you have any advice for remote managers to follow for best practices?Moderator:@Ryan Gerlach - Legal Analyst, State of California Office of the Attorney General, DOJSpeaker:@Ann Halkett - Director, SOLVED eDiscovery Services, a division of AHBL MLPRecorded on 06-29-2023