Reinventing Professionals

I spoke today with Dean Kuhlmann, the vice president of business development for Lateral Data, a Xerox Company, which makes the Viewpoint e-discovery software platform. We discussed his expectations for 2013, how his team is addressing those expectations, and the top trends that he expects to take hold in the new year.

I spoke with Ian Campbell, the chief business development officer and co-founder of iCONECT.

I spoke with Mark Britton, founder and CEO of Avvo, and Sachin Bhatia, the company’s Vice President of Product, about Avvo Ignite and the antidote to what Britton describes as traditional “gum and paper” legal marketing.

Lawyers and other professionals who offer free initial consultations have a new way to reinvent their practices thanks to Brendan Ludwick and Claudio Dunkelman, the founders of LawZam, a free online video conference service which connects lawyers and consumers. Learn more about their service in the video below, and listen to our interview during which we discuss the genesis of the company, what makes it unique, and how it facilitates more seamless communication.

The rise of big data is on the minds of many of those responsible information governance and I spoke with Doug Stewart, Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Daegis, a provider of eDiscovery solutions, which has just updated its eDiscovery Platform with Acumen, its Technology Assisted Review tool. We discussed the genesis of Acumen, the adoption rate of similar tools, the challenges, and its impact on the big data trend.

“Learning inspires change,” says David Schnurman, the president and CEO of Lawline.com, a leading provider of online continuing legal education that is transforming the way professionals educate themselves on the web. In a discussion about the company’s new Lawline 2.0 initiative, which is making the site’s entire archive of over a thousand hours of programming free, Schnurman notes that “Lawline’s mission has always been to change the way people learn and since we are transitioning from a service-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, we are helping our audience make that change more seamlessly.” In addition to providing CLE accreditation services in 43 states (including for this course), Lawline.com also offers CFP programs for those in financial services, and CPE courses for those in accounting, among other fields. A self-described “lifelong learner,” Schnurman wanted to give others the opportunity to actively engage with technology to enhance the learning experience. Lawline 2.0 allows viewers to take “smart” notes that automatically form reference-like outlines, record five-minute course summaries for future use, and dynamically share their newly acquired expertise.

I will be speaking at the Avvocating Conference in Seattle on May 4th and had the chance to speak with Avvo‘s CEO and Founder, Mark Britton. We discussed the genesis of the event and what attendees can expect.

I spoke today with Robert Hilson, the editorial director for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists, which is hosting its 2012 Annual Conference next week (April 2-4) at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida. We discussed the organization’s growth, its impact on the legal community, and his expectations for the upcoming event.

I speak and write often about collaboration. My research has also shown that successful rainmakers work in tandem – they attend events together, participate in masterminding groups, and find ways to create opportunity for one another. A variety of firms in different industries across the globe connect with one another by developing a formal partnership. I spoke with Simon Truskett, a Sydney-based senior partner at Clayton Utz in the firm’s Corporate Advisory / M&A group, who is the new chair of Lex Mundi, a global association of independent law firms, with 160 member firms in 102 countries.

At Legal Tech NY 2012, I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Hammond, the Vice President for Global Marketing at Aderant about the company’s recent acquisitions and the cohesion of its various brands. He noted that the new company has a wider footprint in legal, financial, and practice management systems with Client Profiles; is fully integrating Compulaw for a seamless integration; and has a larger market share with CRM for business development used by firms all around the world. He described it as “one company with multiple products” that is focusing on providing high value to its clients.