Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Bruce Berman, the founder of Brody Berman Associates, a management consulting and communications firm that supports intellectual property rights holders and service providers, who is also the author of five books, including The Intangible Investor – Profiting from Intellectual Property: Companies’ Most Elusive Assets (CloseUp Media, 2014).

I spoke with BJ Schaknowski, the Vice President of Sales and Professional Services at LexisNexis, where he is responsible for all sales and consulting for software solutions sold to law firms and corporate legal departments.

I spoke with Doug Horton, the President and CEO of Handshake Software, a leading provider of SharePoint products and services in the legal community. We discussed Handshake’s mission, the impact of its recent acquisition of the Thomson Reuters OneView portal, the impact of SharePoint 2013 on the legal community, and his views on the SharePoint as a DMS debate, among other topics.

I spoke with Larry Port, the founder and CEO of RocketMatter, a total law firm management system in the cloud.

I spoke with Gadi Aharoni, the CEO of ARX, a global provider of digital signature solutions. We discussed the mission of ARX, the key differences between electronic and digital signatures, how they relate to productivity and information governance, and critical trends that are transforming the field.

I spoke with Chere Estrin, the president & co-founding member of the Organization of Legal Professionals, which recently launched a new certification exam focused on litigation support. We discussed the need for litigation support certification, the psychometrics used to design the test and associated prep course, and the range of topics the exam covers.

I spoke with Mark Britton, the founder and CEO of Avvo, which he describes as “the largest legal marketplace directory and Q&A forum on the web,” about the company’s recently completed $37.5 million round of financing, as well as its upcoming Lawyernomics conference. We discussed Avvo’s plans for expansion, the keys to its success, and why the legal industry is attracting so much interest from investors. In addition, Britton provides key highlights of Lawyernomics, including descriptions of its marquee speakers Peter Shankman (who will be delivering the keynote address) and Above the Law’s David Lat, among others.

I spoke to David Horrigan, an analyst and counsel at 451 Research, a New York-based global analyst research firm. David covers law and technology, has served as a staff reporter and assistant editor at The National Law Journal, and is a contributing writer at Law Technology News.

I had the privilege of meeting with many of the most respected leaders in the legal technology community at LegalTech New York last week. Below are impressions from Carolyn Betts, Director of Marketing for Nuix, and John Shaughnessy, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Thomson

I spoke with Rajitha Boer, the Founder & Director of Yerra Solutions, a Basel, Switzerland-based boutique consulting firm for global law departments. We discussed the genesis of Yerra, the transparency challenges that corporate legal departments are facing, and Yerra’s inaugural in-house counsel conference in London called: “Empowering General Counsel to Lead and Succeed,” which featured speakers from AIG, Nestlé, Barclays, and various large international law firms.