David Snow, ALM’s editorial director for technology, shared a great recap of Corporate Counsel magazine’s annual Survey of In-House Technology in- Small Surprises in the 2011 In-House Tech Survey.  He notes that in addition to providing insights on mobile security policies and cloud computing, the survey highlights variable success with requiring law firms to use e-billing systems selected by their clients to organize bills, reduce confusion or human error, and realize immediate savings.  It seems like a clear road toward greater efficiency, but Snow reports that only 35 percent of the companies surveyed require e-billing, citing law firm objections to paying vendor fees.

I had a second opportunity to speak with Jay Shepherd, the visionary founder of Prefix, LLC, while on the BigHand reinvention tour in June (our first interaction was in connection with this research report: The Evolution of the Legal Profession: A Conversation with the Legal Community’s Thought Leaders on the Front Lines of an Industry in Transition, sponsored by DiscoverReady).  He discusses the reinvention of billing in profession services below: