Legal Tech Pioneers & Visionaries

With a background as an academic law librarian, Sarah Glassmeyer has developed a deep appreciation for taxonomies and data management.  Now Senior Analyst at LegalTechnology Hub, Sarah joins this episode to delve into her nuanced view of Generative AI and its impact on legal and legal tech:  The preparatory work necessary to surmount challenges in implementing AI in legal contexts  How Generative AI democratizes access to legal information, improving access to justice.  Trends in law firms developing their own software products The role of standardized legal taxonomies, like SALI, in facilitating true collaboration 

Derek Lazzaro has a diverse background as an attorney turned AmLaw 100 CIO and now CISO at Defensive Networks, where he's passionate about the importance of cybersecurity in today's world and how it should be integrated into the foundation of any system. In this episode, Derek joins Bill to discuss: Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and the challenges of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) The evolving landscape of cyber threats Why compliance frameworks are essential but insufficient How going beyond compliance is the key to true cybersecurity Advice on evaluating vendor security measures and staying ahead in cybersecurity

Tom Baldwin discusses the legal industry's transformative journey of data integration and AI adoption, the evolution from gut instinct to data-driven decisions, the critical role of data governance, and how law firms are maturing their data practices: Firms want to break their data out of silos to see an integrated picture Demand for data-driven insights and improved productivity is climbing Firms are investing in data scientists, IT, and innovation groups as they realize the potential competitive pressures due to AI KM programs are critical for the effective utilization of AI Firms must strike the right balance between AI and traditional processes and technologies and acknowledge that AI adoption will take time and involve a gradual transition.  

Featured Guest: Damien Riehl, VP, Litigation Workflow and Analytics Content at vLEX As a lawyer and consumer of legal technology, Damien was frustrated by the lack of interoperability between vendors and their taxonomies. Damien is now part of the solution with the SALI Alliance. Data management is an under-appreciated prerequisite for leveraging generative AI. SALI tags allow vendors, law firms, and clients to easily standardize their data for better legal services classification and delivery. SALI enables vendors to speak to one another; think of this analogy: you're trying to communicate with someone across the globe, but your telephone doesn't talk to other telephones. Why not get the interoperable phone that talks to everyone's phone? That interoperable telephone is SALI.

Joy's done it all when it comes to legal - her beginnings working at a solo practitioners' office in Washington, D.C. transformed into working with attorneys and technology, and she's been that ever since. Now the CEO of the International Association Legal Technology (ILTA), Joy is the expert in all things ILTA, and joins Bill on this episode to discuss: The excitement of record-breaking attendance numbers for this year Exhibit Hall anticipation - what are well-established vendors doing and what will the 29 new startups do Exceptional educational sessions covering trending topics in legal: AI, hybrid work and the pendulum swing of how and when we work ILTA's growth in developing a dedicated Corporate Law segment to ILTACON, naming its first Board of Directors President from outside North America, and doing more for smaller law firms The wonderfully collaborative and sharing environment that is ILTACON and the volunteers, attendees and vendors that make it the annual event everyone looks forward to  

Damien's 15-year history as a ligation attorney in large law, combined with his love for coding, lends him a unique insight into:

Rebecca Sattin has experience working on both sides of the coin. Her background includes several years working within law firms in Southern California and over a decade in legal tech. In this episode of The Queue, she shares her expertise on how law firms of all sizes should manage their information governance, her transition from Worldox to NetDocuments, and what technology she's excited about. Go deeper with Rebecca and Bill on: Leveraging the entire discipline of your document management system, which starts with top-down adoption The competitive advantages of having an optimized DMS, particularly for smaller firms Meeting attorneys where they are: Outlook The rise of Teams and Office 365why larger firms have had a more extended transition adopting it

Mark Montgomery has been working in R&D on AI for 25 years. Mark is the CEO of KYield, a pioneer in AI, focused on precision governance with KOS, a distributed AI operating system.   OpenAI has inspired new possibilities for applications in legal, but not without some serious considerations, including: Copyright - enterprise decision-makers have to determine the risk AI poses to their industry, and then access how this technology will be used and managed internally. Liability - who is liable for false information that AI puts out? LLMs are difficult to control and spew out a lot of false information. Data management - disciplined data management is the key to maximize the value from LLMs.

Former Managing Director for Innovation and Knowledge at Paul Hastings, Nikki Shaver, and Jeroen Plink, former CEO of Clifford Chance Applied Solutions discuss the inception of their platform, LegalTech Hub, and how their experiences shaped the solutions to particular problems they identified in searching and sourcing technology for law firms: Having a centralized place for law firms and corporate legal to perform searches on digital tools and knowledge management How to implement, advocate, and educate attorneys and legal professionals on legal tech - both new and existing The value of integration for efficiency and ROI on existing technology investments

Co-founder and CEO of Blue J, Benjamin Alaire joins host Bill Bice to discuss the ‘why' behind Blue J, a predictive tax law software company, and what is driving the future of technology for law:   Law is fundamentally about predication; technology intersects at the point of prediction to allow for automation and machine learning  How can we leverage technology to make predictions about how tax situations will be treated?  We'll see rapid development in the practice of law because of advances in legal tech  The future of legal disputes will rely on an AI to give a prediction of its outcome 

Startup co-founder and CEO of ECFX, Dan O'Day, joins host Bill Bice on why he created a new legal tech company and forecasting what kinds of technology law firms are going to require in the next 5-10 years: The larger trend of attorneys that want to put technology to work at their firm Talent expectations around digital tools and hybrid operations 'Humps' in embracing newer technologies like AI contract analysis vs. 'practical' technologies that solve core problems in workflow Increased automation adoption and creation around manual, mundane, repetitive processes The uncharted frontier for legal tech: applying technology to the practice of law, not just the workflows that support it

Technology expert Doug Caddell, CIO at Mayer Brown, talks with host Bill Bice on the new age of collaboration and workflow in the era of hybrid operations:  Thanks to the pandemic, attorneys are taking more initiative with technology, resulting in long-term culture changes.   Doug talks about the move to Teams, not just video, but cross-collaboration with clients.  What does the roadmap look like for a conservative firm to move to the cloud?  Branding IT inside the firm, fostering innovation.  Workplace of the future driven by workflow and collaboration in hybrid operations.  Hybrid is much more challenging than going remote. 

Guest Jeffrey Brandt, CIO for Jackson Kelly and Editor of PinHawk Legal Technology Digest, joins Bill to discuss technology solutions for the business and practice of law. Jeff's extensive experience working as an a legal technologist gives him keen insight into what it takes to see deep ROI from your technology investments.

Bill talks with long-time friend and colleague Ray Zwiefelhofer about what's next for document management for legal tech and how mobility and the cloud are driving technology development. According to Ray, this is simply the next evolution for DMS, which has seen the advent of scan, email, and now: hybrid operations.

Bill talks with old friend and legal tech pioneer Michael Kraft of Kraft Kennedy about the novelty of first seeing the impact of technology in legal in the 90's to the present environment of everything being powered by cloud, integration, and automation.

We turn the tables and Rick Hellers interviews Bill Bice on his foray back into legal technology. Founder of ProLaw Software (acquired by Thomson Reuters), West km (used by 70% of the top 1000 law firms worldwide), and Exemplify (acquired by Bloomberg Law), Bill discusses the challenge law firms face today around integrating multiple systems to create a cohesive solution.

In the first episode of the Legal Technology Pioneers and Visionaries podcast, Bill Bice talks with Rick Hellers about his long career in legal technology and how the same issues that plague law professionals today, i.e., workflows and processes, were present when he first started in the industry in the 80s. The difference? The tools we have available today and the power of automation in the evolution of powering legal workflows.