ILTA Voices

Technologists Are Human Too! Training for IT Soft Skills

We don't usually think of a call to a help desk as a warm and fuzzy interaction. Tech teams seem to take the approach of "take the call, find the problem, fix the problem, take the next call." What about our tech teams' ability to build rapport and empathy with our user base? In this ILTA Radio session, some top IT leaders discuss teaching technical team members to acquire and use more soft skills in addition to their highly sought-after computer engineering skills.
Speakers:Stuart Cook is the Director of Information Systems at Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody in Austin, TX. He is directly or indirectly responsible for all computer operations, networking, voice and data infrastructure, software acquisition and updating, information security and training.
James McKenna is Fenwick & West LLP's Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for its information technology, security, development, audio visual and practice support. Previously, James was with Morrison & Foerster LLP for 17 years. He has directly managed all aspects of IT, practice support and information security, and is a Certified Information Security Systems Professional. James has written articles, won awards and sits on the ILTA Board of Directors.
Luke Schnoebelen is the Manager of Learning and Development at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, managing technical training and elearning development. He is solidifying a development process to improve the technology expertise for all firm employees, associates and partners. Luke also assists with all facets of in-house CLE, technology adoption and general promotion of process improvements.
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.
Recorded on 5-14-18

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

Expanding on the Microsoft Hybrid Cloud

As Microsoft continues to evolve their server platforms, there is an increased push toward integration with Office 365 and Azure. In this follow up to ILTACON 2018's "What's New in Microsoft Server Platforms," we move the discussion deeper into Microsoft's hybrid cloud with a focus on:
SharePoint integration
Security and compliance features
Authentication and federation
Hybrid search
Speakers:Nilesh Mehta, the founder and CEO of NGenious Solutions Inc., has nearly 20 years of experience working with enterprise organizations. An enterprise architect across various Microsoft technologies, he drives the company as a key motivator and mentor leading talented professionals. Well known in the industry for his experience in developing enterprise solutions using Microsoft technologies, Nilesh has been awarded the Microsoft P-TSP status for the past five years, is a V-TSP and is also the founder and Chairman of the New York SharePoint User Group. His focus on Microsoft technologies inspired him to co-author the book "SharePoint 2007: The Definitive Guide."
Lance N. Rea is the Chief Information Officer of Epstein Becker Green, based in the firm's New York office. He has approximately 20 years of experience working in the information technology field. Prior to joining Epstein Becker Green, Lance spent 10 years as the CIO of a full-service New York-based law firm.
Patrick Sklodowski, a Principal with Square10 Solutions, is a proven technology professional with over two decades of expertise. He works with clients to provide strategic and business direction while ensuring successful delivery of projects to a unique blend of large enterprises, mid- and small-sized firms. Patrick's areas of specialty include system architecture, delivery of cloud solutions, messaging, technical project management, disaster recovery, virtual desktop and complex migrations. He is regularly invited to present on such topics as technology trends, messaging and retention, storage, cloud computing, mobile and disaster recovery.

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.

Ediscovery Mergers and Acquisitions

Lately, legal tech news has been flooded with a number of ediscovery mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Just to name a few:
Epiq purchased by DTI investors
Clearwell acquired by Symantec
Equivio acquired by Microsoft
Content Analyst acquired by kCura
Recommind by OpenText
RAVN by iManage
Lighthouse and Discovia
In this ILTA Radio episode, we interview a panel of ILTA members from law firms and legal departments who share their insights, lessons learned and best practices for dealing with ediscovery M&A. We cover cases where one service provider is acquired by another provider and product acquisitions where a core application is acquired by another enterprise software provider, a product is acquired and remains available and when the product is abandoned.
Interviewer:Catherine McPherson - Litigation Management Consultant, Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP
Panelists:Dera Nevin - Director of eDiscovery, Proskauer Rose LLPDuane Lites - Director, Litigation Support, Jackson Walker L.L.P.Bonnie Boudreaux - Practice Support Coordinator, Jones Walker LLPDeanna Blomquist - Senior Manager - IT/eDiscovery, Dish Network

The Future of IT Staffing

For everyone except Doctor Who, time marches on. How is that future impacting the skill sets that law firm technologists need to have? Listen to a conversation on current and future skill sets and how people, process and *new* technology is impacting the delivery of legal services.
Speakers:Jeffrey Brandt is the Chief Information Officer at the law firm of Jackson Kelly PLLC and has over 30 years of experience in the field of legal automation. Jeffrey is also editor of the popular PinHawk Law Technology Daily Digest, a respected thought leader in the legal technology community and a frequent educational speaker at industry conferences.
Mitch Owens is the CTO at Gilbert + Tobin and leads the firm’s technology function. He has held senior roles in the global banking and professional services industries for many years. With a background that is predominately outside legal Mitch is able to provide a different, and interesting, slant on technology challenges that face legal firms today. The focus for Mitch, and his team, is clients - internal or external. He is constantly evaluating against the expected and looking to give them advantages. He has a diverse understanding of business functions and processes allowing for creative technology solutions.
Luke Schnoebelen manages technical training and e-learning development for his firm. He is solidifying a development process to improve the technology expertise for all firm employees, associates and partners. Luke also assists with all facets of in-house CLE, technology adoption and general promotion of process improvements.

Learning Management System Deep Dive Series - Reporting

Reporting is one of the most important and sometimes frustrating features of a LMS. Because firms have different needs, it can sometimes be difficult to get exactly what you need. Even with the data in hand, it may require skilled Excel manipulation. In this podcast, your ILTA panelists share great ideas and insights on how they are using reporting and getting at the data they need. We even touch on connecting the dots between your LMS data and actual performance data.
Moderator: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.
Speakers:Sean McGinty is the Senior Learning and Development Engineer at Carlton Fields, where his focus is on instructional design, audio/video production, LMS management and instructor lead training. He has worked in legal for over nine years and has over 20 years of experience in learning and development, spanning multiple industry groups. Sean holds several certifications in instructional systems design and learning and development software packages.
Claire Morris is an IT Training Manager for a leading international law firm. An accomplished professional with over 15 years of legal technology experience, she is passionate about developing the technical skills of all staff members. Claire creates new and innovative learning programs to deliver essential skills and make the best use of firm technology. She understands the unique culture of a law firm and that providing a full variety of learning methods is key to creating an environment where all can learn.
Lida Pinkham has over 20 years of experience leading technology learning in industries including higher education, libraries, banking and law firms. Since joining Ice Miller in 2014, she has led the technology training team to expand technology learning to a variety of formats, partnered with HR to develop a learning and assessment program for secretaries, and increased usage of learning materials and the LMS by over 200 percent, developing a culture where all are empowered to learn and develop. A Microsoft Office Certified Specialist with a Master of Education, Lida is involved in the Association for Talent Development, organizes a monthly legal technology trainer lunch and is a member of the Midwest Legal Technology Trainers steering committee.
Recorded on 2-27-17

Physical Security: Is It an Afterthought?

We discuss how physical security tends to be overlooked while we focus so much time and energy on the technology side of security. Keeping your firm’s people and assets safe can rely on good physical security planning and design.Speakers:Heath Stanley is the SVP of Information Security. He holds the CISA, CISSP and C|CISO certifications. Heath has managed technology governance consulting for Traveling Coaches Inc. since 2006. His previous experience includes residential lending and process improvement, and he is a subject matter expert in Information Security Governance and Vendor Management.David Tremont.  With 32 years of experience in Networking and Security, Mr. Tremont started his career as a Cryptologist Technician in the U.S. Navy in 1974.  Responsible for intercepting and decrypting Chinese and Russian radio transmissions for Fleet Commanders. Mr. Tremont has consulted with many corporate entities as well as law firms in designing and testing networks on a global scale, ensuring security protocols and standards were key factors in their implementation.  He has also participated as a consultant in assisting public companies to ensure compliance in Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA and has been involved in achieving ISO 9000 and ISO 27000 certifications for Oil & Gas Service companies.Currently Mr. Tremont serves on the Technology Committee and Security Committee for Bracewell LLP assisting Senior Management to ensure compliance in Cyber and Physical security initiatives and is responsible for the monitoring and incident response of day to day security and network operations for the firm. Recorded on 1-26-17

A Discussion on Advancing Legal Project Management

Description: What is all the talk about legal project management? This discussion, Q&A style, dives in to the ins and outs of project management (PM) and legal project management(LPM) from the beginning phase of looking to implement it in your business or law firm. Why is legal project management important for every organization to take stock in and implement to increase productivity? How can LPM help you and your business become more efficient in your daily workflows and produce greater work product?
Speakers:Jinni Zieleniewski is a Litigation Support Specialist with the ediscovery andlitigation support group at KMK. Her responsibilities include managing discovery evidence throughout the litigation life cycle, providing electronic document review management and designing and generating electronic document production deliverables in a cost-effective and value-added manner. A member of the information technology group working exclusively in litigation and the ediscovery task force, Jinni bridges the gap between counsel and IT by helping litigation attorneys educate clients about proactive, compliant and cost-effective ediscovery.
Michael T. Clear is a Partner at Wiggin and Dana LLP, where his practice is focused on estate planning, estate and trust administration, probate litigation and business succession planning. Michael serves on the firm's client service delivery task force, which is leading the implementation of legal project management at the firm. He is a co-chair of the Probate and Estates Section of the Fairfield County Bar Association and is a member of the board of directors of the Connecticut Chapter of the Exit Planning Exchange (CT XPX).
Recorded on 1-10-17

Learning Management System Deep Dive Series - Course Scheduling

Description: Because it is one of the main functions of an LMS, we're looking at course scheduling this month. In this podcast, we'll touch on everything from developing a strategy on how much and when to offer classes, as well as the challenges with scheduling training virtually or across multiple offices. Do you segregate classes by role and what challenges or benefits has that presented with scheduling? Are other departments in your firm using the LMS for scheduling? Finally, how do you promote or communicate your class schedule?
Moderator: 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. Contact Michelle at michelle@legallearningnetwork.com.
Participants:Sean McGinty is the Senior Learning and Development Engineer at Carlton Fields, where his focus is on instructional design, audio/video production, LMS management and instructor lead training. He has worked in legal for over nine years and has over 20 years of experience in learning and development, spanning multiple industry groups. Sean holds several certifications in instructional systems design and learning and development software packages.
Claire Morris is an IT Training Manager for a leading international law firm. An accomplished professional with over 15 years of legal technology experience, she is passionate about developing the technical skills of all staff members. Claire creates new and innovative learning programs to deliver essential skills and make the best use of firm technology. She understands the unique culture of a law firm and that providing a full variety of learning methods is key to creating an environment where all can learn.
Lida Pinkham has over 20 years of experience leading technology learning in industries including higher education, libraries, banking and law firms. Since joining Ice Miller in 2014, she has led the technology training team to expand technology learning to a variety of formats, partnered with HR to develop a learning and assessment program for secretaries, and increased usage of learning materials and the LMS by over 200 percent, developing a culture where all are empowered to learn and develop. A Microsoft Office Certified Specialist with a Master of Education, Lida is involved in the Association for Talent Development, organizes a monthly legal technology trainer lunch and is a member of the Midwest Legal Technology Trainers steering committee.
Recorded on 12-19-16

ILTA Radio - Ask the Expert: The Ins and Outs of Professional Development and Leadership - Scott Christensen

As we enter and rise through the ranks of our organizations, we face the opportunities and challenges afforded by two separate yet interlaced aspects of employment: professional development, bettering ourselves and accomplishing goals, and leadership, the responsibility of finding ways to best serve those whom we manage and help them accomplish their goals.
 
To explore this further, we asked three of your ILTA peers to share their experiences, advice and tips. Read the article that summarizes all three perspectives in the Winter 2016 Peer to Peer. 
Featured in this episode: Scott Christensen, Senior Associate at Olenick & Associates, speaks about professional development.