efficiency – Page 18 – Reinventing Professional Services by Ari Kaplan

July 23, 2013

Implementing and Managing Change for Professional Services Firms

I spoke with Vincent Bell, the former Director of Administration for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s New York office, who recently founded the Upstream Consulting Group to provide financial and operational support for law firms nationwide.

We discussed the genesis and mission of Upstream Consulting, how the legal field has changed over the past three decades, and the evolving role of legal administrators, among other topics. Bell offers ideas for optimizing billing and collection, strategies for implementing operational modifications, and key advice for managing partners.

Listen to our interview below:

July 19, 2013

Disruptive Technology and the Evolutionary Road for Legal

I spoke with Jordan Furlong, an Ottawa-based lawyer, writer, and legal industry analyst, who is a partner with Edge International Consulting. Jordan is also the author of Evolutionary Road: A Strategic Guide to Your Law Firm’s Future, an e-book published by Attorney at Work.

We discussed his background and the focus of his work at Edge, as well as what inspired him to write Evolutionary Road. He shared his thoughts on the distinction between sustaining innovation vs. disruptive technology, and the impact of each on the legal market. “Disruptive technology will open new doors for us,” he predicts.

Furlong cautions that “This is not a period of incremental adjustment; it is a period of significant change.” He suggests that law firm leaders engage in two exercises to help their management teams consider key steps to take to accelerate their progress:

Imagine that you are starting a law firm from scratch – how would you design it knowing that you have none of the constraints of the traditional paradigm?
If your largest competitor or rival hired you away from your firm with the mission of destroying your former employer, what steps would you take?

He concludes that “Firms must recognize that the way in which they have done business in the past is not the way they will do business n the future.”

Listen to our interview below:

April 29, 2013

The Secret For Avoiding Suicide Pricing

I spoke with Dr. Jim Hassett, the founder of LegalBizDev, which helps law firms increase client satisfaction and profitability by improving project management and business development. Dr. Hassett is the author of 11 books, including his most recent: Legal Project Management, Pricing, and Alternative Fee Arrangements (Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2013).

He highlighted that large and mid-sized law firms are dealing with three key pricing concerns:

How to price high enough to make an acceptable profit, but low enough to get the work [aka Suicide Pricing].
When are alternative fees the best arrangement for the client and the firm?
How to manage the profit once the work commences.

Dr. Hassett suggested that although robust legal project management is helping professionals address these concerns, few firms are making meaningful progress. “There is a gap between what people are saying for PR and what is really going on,” he advises, predicting a drop in overall pricing, a rise in alternative fees, and improved project management.

His advice for lawyers interested in gaining a competitive advantage in a changing marketplace:

Don’t over-analyze; just do it.
Take chances and be more like an entrepreneur.

Listen to our interview below:

March 28, 2013

Reinventing Cloud-Based Collaboration

I spoke with Eric Hunter, the Director of Knowledge, Innovation & Technology Strategies at California-based Bradford & Barthel, as well as the Executive Director of Spherical Models, a business model innovation consultancy.

We discussed his firm’s transformation to a completely Google Apps environment and his team’s efforts to create a social media-like atmosphere the leveraged internal champions to motivate this shift by 100 lawyers and over 250 users. He recommends developing a clear workflow and to give users time to adapt. Hunter also discussed how his success at Bradford & Barthel fueled the creation of Spherical Models.

Listen to our interview below:

February 6, 2013

E-Mail Archiving and the Virtualization Movement

I spoke with Rich Turner, the vice president of business development and strategic marketing for C2C Systems, an e-mail archiving and information management software company. We discussed the most significant e-mail archiving trends, the information management challenges companies will be facing this year, how they can address them, and his predictions for the next 12 months.

He noted that while there is still no one-size-fits-all solution, many processes are being virtualized.

Listen to our interview below:

February 1, 2013

What to Expect When You’re Expecting E-Discovery

I spoke with Jon Resnick, the managing director and head of global sales for Huron Legal, about key operational issues that law departments and law firms will need to address in 2013.

Resnick noted that globalization is a growing concern as businesses become more internationally integrated. He also predicted that increased governmental scrutiny and information management challenges will prompt organizations to centralize responsibility for these concerns with the chief compliance officer. Finally, Resnick expects the emergence of more robust enterprise-wide technology solutions, including matter management, e-discovery, and data recovery, among others.

Listen to our interview below:

January 29, 2013

Defensible Deletion Will Be a High Priority in the New Year

I spoke with Allison Walton, the e-discovery counsel for Symantec, the maker of Enterprise Vault, Clearwell, and other data loss prevention solutions. We discussed trends for 2013 and her expectations for Legal Tech New York.

Walton predicts the emergency of a new level of information strategist that helps corporations understand how they are managing information. She also noted that defensible deletion will be a key focus because organizations are developing data control strategies. Walton and her team will be discussing “E-discovery in 3-D,” among other topics at Legal Tech New York.

Listen to our interview below:

January 28, 2013

E-Discovery for Everyone and the Generational Shift in Technology

I spoke with Megan Miller, the vice president of marketing for GGO, a legal services provider and the developer of Digital WarRoom about 2013 trends and ways that professionals can address them.

She noted, among other items, that law firms want to enhance the quality of the counsel they are providing to their clients and are increasingly leveraging technology to build efficiency. This effort gives law firms and corporate counsel more control while aligning their interests.

Listen to our interview below:

January 25, 2013

2013: The Year of Analytics?

I spoke with Sanjay Manocha, the Director of Discovery Analytics and Review for RVM, a provider of end-to-end legal technology consulting services. We discussed analytics and other key trends, the challenges that legal teams are likely to face in 2013, and his predictions for the use of predictive coding by practicing attorneys over the next twelve months.

He noted that “This will be an exciting period for practitioners” and expects service providers to harmonize around key best practices.

Listen to our interview below:

December 5, 2012

Will 2013 Be the Year of the Cloud?

As we approach the new year, there are various topics that capture the imagination of the professional services markets, with cloud computing often leading the list. I spoke with Ron Collins, the President and founder of Toronto-based Gavel & Gown Software, the developers of the popular practice management tool Amicus Attorney, about the company’s recent release of Amicus Cloud.

We discussed Gavel & Gown’s motivation to introduce a cloud offering, how it differs from the desktop version, its unique features, and customer reactions, among other topics. Listen to Collins share his views on the adoption rate of cloud-based products in 2013:

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