Podcasts about digitory legal

This week, the College of Law Practice Management named Digitory Legal winner of its 2021 Innovation Award for a unique partnership with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan to drive diversity, equity and inclusion among its outside counsel by applying analytics to billing data to get a deeper understanding of the type and quality of work firms are assigning to diverse lawyers.  As our guest Catherine Krow, Digitory Legal's founder and CEO, explains, the company's primary mission is to bring predictability and transparency to legal billing and pricing. But the company also has a strong commitment to driving DEI in the legal industry. It has been using its analytics to help firms gain insights into whether diverse lawyers are getting the same career-advancing opportunities as the non-diverse lawyers, and to then apply those insights through what Krow calls “mindful staffing.” Krow left a partnership at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, one of the world's largest law firms, to start Digitory Legal, and has never looked back. In addition to this week's COLPM award, the company last year was named disruptor of the year by Litera's Changing Lawyer awards. Krow joins us today to share the story of her company and to talk about using data to drive DEI. Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out.  Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, and MerusCase, and e-payments platform Headnote. Woodpecker, legal document automation for solo and small firms.   A reminder that we are on Patreon. Subscribe to our page to be able to access show transcripts, or to submit a question for our guests.

Tune into this episode with Dan Linna and Catherine Krow as they discuss her company Digitory Legal, a cost analytics platform that brings data-driven pricing and cost prediction to law, and also explains why data is important for litigators to understand. Catherine breaks down how to predict costs, review data correctly, and acquire it for her practice. She also explains what law firms should do to provide the best quality value and services to their clients. She also discusses how data is being used to evaluate and improve diversity and inclusion efforts. She ends by letting our listeners know where she believes data will go in the legal industry and how those new developments will impact law firms and their clients. Catherine Krow is the founder of Digitory Legal. Thanks to Acumass for sponsoring this episode.

Tune into this episode with Dan Linna and Catherine Krow as they discuss her company Digitory Legal, a cost analytics platform that brings data-driven pricing and cost prediction to law, and also explains why data is important for litigators to understand. Catherine breaks down how to predict costs, review data correctly, and acquire it for her practice. She also explains what law firms should do to provide the best quality value and services to their clients. She also discusses how data is being used to evaluate and improve diversity and inclusion efforts. She ends by letting our listeners know where she believes data will go in the legal industry and how those new developments will impact law firms and their clients.   Catherine Krow is the founder of Digitory Legal.   Thanks to Acumass for sponsoring this episode.

While we may be in the middle of a crisis, there are certain processes and relationships we need to maintain in order to make sure we have those as we make our way out of the crisis. Aurelia Spivey from Digitory Legal and the host of the Pricing Matters Podcast discusses the need to maintain our community, be creative, and focus on the needs of our clients. These three C's will be determining factors on how well we perform both during and after the pandemic and economic troubles. Remember, we may all be In Seclusion, but we're in this together. Host: Greg Lambert (@glambert) Producer: Janice Anderson Artwork: Dean Lambert Music: Jerry David DeCicca Twitter: @InSeclusionPod --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/inseclusion/message

In this episode, we speak with Diversity Lab’s Chief Intelligence & Knowledge Sharing Officer, Lisa Kirby, and Lelia Hock, Director, Legal Department Partnerships & Inclusion Initiatives to find out how Pricing, Innovation, Client Value, and Legal Project Management teams can help to prevent the potential negative impact of the current crisis on all the advances that have been made in diversity in the legal industry. Lisa Kirby, Chief Intelligence & Knowledge Sharing Officer at Diversity Lab. Lisa brings 20 years of experience in the legal profession to Diversity Lab. She has served as a practicing attorney, talent management professional, and law firm consultant. Lisa began her career as a litigator, practicing at two large law firms. She then spent several years as a professional development manager at Goodwin Procter LLP, where her contributions included helping to launch and lead the firm’s Women’s Initiative and developing a new parent coaching program. As a consultant with Edge International, Lisa advised a wide range of domestic and international law firms on strategic and talent management issues. At Diversity Lab, among many other duties, Lisa has led the creation and implementation of the needle-moving Mansfield Rule, now in its second certification year. She is a sought-after speaker who has been featured as a keynote speaker, presenter, and panelist on a variety of topics related to diversity & inclusion in the legal profession. Lisa also is a prolific author, having contributed articles on innovative ideas in diversity and professional development to publications like The American Lawyer, Law Practice, and Professional Development Quarterly.Leila Hock, Director, Legal Department Partnerships & Inclusion Initiatives, Diversity Lab. Leila joined Diversity Lab with over 10 years of experience in the legal field, as a law firm associate, in-house counsel, and coach and consultant to law firms and associates. Leila began her career in the corporate practice at Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. She then spent three years practicing in the in-house legal department at Kraft Foods, supporting the global contracting needs of Kraft’s procurement and outsourcing teams. When the call of the mountains hit, Leila took a role as the first and only US in-house counsel for a global oil field services company in Denver, supporting all of the company’s US legal needs. Throughout her legal career, Leila supported a diverse legal workforce by creating and managing internship programs for diverse candidates and taking an active role in affinity groups for women and diverse counsel.In 2015, Leila completed her professional coaching certification with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and began a successful private coaching practice. Leila worked with several law firms and legal groups to develop professional development curricula geared toward business development and enhancing the “softer” skills required to advance in today’s professional world. KEY TAKEAWAYSClients are doubling down on Diversity. Legal Departments are being more deliberate in the diversity data and metrics that they require from their legal service providers.Spotlight on Work Allocation. Ensure that diverse lawyers are doing career-advancing work and that during this crisis cutting edge work is spread evenly across the firmYou Can Make a Difference: From scoping, staffing to matter management you can keep diversity front of mind and play a role in advancing diversity in your firm or legal department.To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Stephanie Corey is a co-founder of UpLevel Ops, a consulting firm specializing in providing services for in-house legal departments and law firms. UpLevel Ops provides a complete range of Legal Operations support, including IT solutions, Finance and Budget guidance, Talent Management and Development, Benchmarking, Best Practices and Metrics, and Outside Counsel Selection and Management.Stephanie also founded and is a former executive member of the leading legal operations trade organization CLOC, Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. She is a widely respected veteran in the Legal Ops field.Most recently, Stephanie has served as the Chief of Staff and Senior Director of Legal Operations at Flex, the second largest manufacturing company in the world. She has spent the better part of her career providing value-added services to Legal Departments, including building and deploying critical infrastructure to enable them to meet their business priorities. Her areas of expertise include Information Technology, System Implementations, Process Analysis and Improvements, Finance, Communications, and Administration.Stephanie Corey is a co-founder of UpLevel Ops, a consulting firm specializing in providing services for in-house legal departments and law firms. UpLevel Ops provides a complete range of Legal Operations support, including IT solutions, Finance and Budget guidance, Talent Management and Development, Benchmarking, Best Practices and Metrics, and Outside Counsel Selection and Management.Stephanie also founded and is a former executive member of the leading legal operations trade organization CLOC, Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. She is a widely respected veteran in the Legal Ops field.Most recently, Stephanie has served as the Chief of Staff and Senior Director of Legal Operations at Flex, the second largest manufacturing company in the world. She has spent the better part of her career providing value-added services to Legal Departments, including building and deploying critical infrastructure to enable them to meet their business priorities. Her areas of expertise include Information Technology, System Implementations, Process Analysis and Improvements, Finance, Communications, and Administration.Stephanie began her career at Merrill Lynch in Pennsylvania, and after relocating to California, she worked at Bailard, Biehl and Kaiser, an investment firm in Foster City. Once she decided to move into Corporate Finance, Stephanie took a position under the CFO, managing the Finance and Accounting Department at Provident Funding Mortgage Bank.She later moved to Hewlett-Packard, where she was employed for eleven years as the head Legal Operations Manager, running a large IT and Finance Department. Her most recent role at HP was Chief of Staff to the General Counsel, responsible for managing the daily operations of the Legal Department, working closely with the General Counsel and his reports to develop the strategy for the delivery of technology, finance, and administrative solutions. Stephanie holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Lehigh University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Wilkes University.KEY TAKEAWAYSGet the Data in Place. You need to understand what you are spending to be able to make educated pricing decisions. Adopt a programmatic approach to outside counsel spend. Set your goals upfront and collaborate with your procurement team to help drive the process.Billing guidelines are a tool for conversation. Don’t take an adversarial approach rather use the guidelines as an opportunity to partner with your law firms. To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Michael Katz is the Pricing & Data Analytics Director at Holland & Knight, where he pioneered the pricing function over four years. Key elements of the pricing program are partner education, matter budgeting, and tracking, RFP/pitch support, and one-on-one consulting on alternative fees and profit improvement.His prior legal industry positions include Treasurer at Orrick, FP&A manager at WilmerHale, and Advisor at SB2 Consultants. Prior to working in the legal industry, Michael held a series of financial management positions at McGraw-Hill, where he supported senior management of the information technology function and several publishing units.Michael has an MBA in Finance, Rutgers University BA and an MAT, Binghamton University.KEY TAKEAWAYSFind a good solution, as there is seldom a best solution! When creating fee proposals keep it simple and remain flexible.Wear your Marketing Hat! Ask open-ended questions, find out who else is bidding on the work and create pricing proposals that will help win the business. Showcase Best Practice. Clients are asking for more information about law firm technology and legal process management. Use this as an opportunity to highlight how specific practices are differentiating their legal service delivery.To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Frederick J. Esposito, Jr, MBA, CLM, Chief Operating Officer of the regional law firm Rivkin Radler LLP, has more than 25 years of law and accounting firm experience and has been a Certified Legal Manager (CLM)SM since 2006. Fred specializes in financial and organizational management and has managed and worked in a consulting capacity with several law firms, both international and domestic. Fred brings considerable “real world” experience to his role as a speaker and educator. Also, he is a senior member of the faculty and a consultant for the Legal Lean Sigma Institute LLC. In May 2018, Fred earned a Yellow Belt Certification in Legal Lean Sigma® and Project Management and is working toward his Green Belt Certification. With more than 25 years of law and accounting firm experience, Fred is a thought-leader, frequent speaker, and author of articles on a wide-range of topics and best practices. He has been published on topics such as billing and collections, profitability, attorney compensation systems, alternative fee arrangements, process improvement, project management, and strategic planning by Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute blog, Law Practice Magazine, Law Practice Today and Attorney at Work, among others. Fred is a highly-rated, frequent author and speaker for the ABA, ALA, BNA/Bloomberg, Lexis/Nexis, and Thomson Reuters. In the Fall of 2016, he became a Faculty Advisor and Presenter for the Nassau County Bar Association Academy of Law and in June 2013, he was inducted into the National Speakers Association. In 2012 he received the Association of Legal Administrator’s Outstanding Association Volunteer Award for his service as a leader and national speaker and was also named CFO of the Year by Long Island Business News. Fred was the first CLM on Long Island and from May 2013 – May 2016, was the Chair of ALA’s Certification Committee. TOP THREE TAKEAWAYSLegal Lean Sigma. Employing the principles adds a whole new dimension to achieving efficiency, client focus and value. Telling the story with data. Identifying the obstacles and constraints in your process will help you understand what data you need to use to support your business case. 2020 will bring a renewed focus on alternative fees that go beyond rates. Firms that focus on process improvement and project management will differentiate themselves in the next decade.To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Jessica Gichner is the Senior Director of Pricing & LPM Solutions at Pillsbury. She leads a team responsible for matter budgeting and monitoring, process improvement, legal project management, knowledge management, and technology solutions. She regularly collaborates with the firm's attorneys to develop solutions that are tailored to meet individual client needs, as well as provide transparency and predictability.Jessica also has experience in matter management, business development coaching, marketing strategy, associate development, attorney staffing, and law firm women’s initiatives.Prior to working in pricing and legal project management, Jessica worked as a practicing attorney at Waller Lansden Dortch& Davis LLP, where she focused on finance transactions, both as borrower’s counsel and lender’s counsel.TOP THREE TAKEAWAYSAs work becomes more commoditized, you need to consider how your firm can change the way the work is being done with processes or technology to match the price that the client and market will pay. Share data with your clients. This enables clients to be part of the pricing discussion, evaluate pricing models and get a better understanding of the work you are doing for them.The most successful creative fee arrangements are simple, tailored and reflect the client's needs. To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Jenny Brown is the Senior Manager of Strategic Pricing Husch Blackwell LLP. Jenny has over 20 years of experience in law firm accounting, including Strategic Pricing, Partner Compensation, and Financial Reporting and Analysis. While currently managing Strategic Pricing efforts, Jenny and her team also partner with Legal Project Management to develop optimal client service plans.Jenny leads the annual rate-setting process, participates in developing creative pricing arrangements for clients, and is a consistent participant in client pitches and RFP responses. Prior to her current role, Jenny served as Controller at Welsh & Katz, Ltd. in Chicago.TOP THREE TAKEAWAYSInternal marketing increases lawyer engagement: Continued education and communication of success stories to your lawyers are central to your internal marketing efforts. The evolving role of legal project management. Matter management is a key differentiator in keeping budgets on track and communicating changes with the client.Collaboration is key. Professionals in pricing, proposals and business development are working together with lawyers to scope and create deliver value pricing for clients. To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Jim Foley is the Pricing and Legal Project Management Director at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, where he oversees the pricing, legal project management, matter analytics, business intake and conflicts areas.He has extensive experience in alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), legal project management (LPM), matter budgeting, law firm financial management and financial analysis, and is a catalyst for change within the firm.Jim joined the firm in 1995. Prior to his role as pricing and legal project management director, Jim was the firm’s controller and a senior business manager. Previously he held roles as controller, accounting manager and analyst at various manufacturing companies.Jim was recently Mayor for the town of Ashland, Virginia. He is also very involved with many local community groups and has coached a number of youth basketball and softball teams.TOP THREE TAKEAWAYSIncorporating profitability into the compensation system. Helps to create accountability and transparency for client matter profitability across the firm. Becoming multilingual. There is a huge benefit to the firm when pricing, project management and analytics professionals understand each other’s language. Alternative fees may be leveling off. The growth in AFAs has slowed and appears to be plateauing around a third of all work. To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

In this episode, we speak with Toby Brown, Perkins Coie’s Chief Practice Management Officer. Toby leads the firm’s revenue management and efficiency programs, legal project management, pricing, process improvement, practice innovation, alternative staffing, and new partner integration. Toby has more than a decade of experience in practice management and pricing with Am Law firms and is the former director of the Utah State Bar. TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODEOpportunities for more pricing roles. Every firm needs this role and if your firm doesn’t have it raise your hand!Profitability Evangelism. The biggest impact pricing teams have in law firms is shifting the transparency and awareness around profitability. Resourcing. Many pricing teams are overwhelmed. When asking for more resources focus on how your team’s work directly impacts the revenue and margin of the firm. To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Kevin Vaarsi is the Director of Pricing at Fenwick & West, where he leads a team focusing on the development and execution of the Firm's pricing strategy. The team works closely with attorneys, professional staff and clients on creating value-based pricing arrangements and delivering transparency and predictability through legal project management.TOP THREE TAKEAWAYSData Analytics: Historical data analysis play a key role in creating task-based budgets and enabling constructive scoping discussions.Alternative Fees. When scoping alternative fee arrangements, you need to understand and align with your clients on the gap between what is certain, what is predictable and what is unknown.No Surprises! Accurate budgets from the outset and robust matter management infrastructure focused on communicating accurate information to the lawyers and the clients help avoid surprises and keep matters on track. To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

Purvi Sanghvi is the Director of Strategic Pricing at Paul Hastings, which has been ranked one of the five most innovative law firms by The Financial Times. She is responsible for creating the platform upon which pricing strategies are implemented across the firm globally. Her team oversees pricing management, develops and analyzes alternative fee arrangements, and creates budgets for complex client matters. She is responsible for pricing strategies for the firm’s top clients, often interacting with them directly as another face of the relationship. In all these responsibilities, she works closely with firm clients and partners to develop innovative, efficient, and results-oriented solutions. TOP THREE TAKEAWAYSDealing with Data: Simplify your data. You need to tell the story of the numbers. It’s important to understand the intersection between data, analysis and the client relationship and pulling this together to help move the business process forward.Alternative Fees: Invest time upfront in scoping and transparency discussions with clients so that all parties clearly understand the goals and expectations so that when things change (and they always do) its much easier to have that scope change conversation.Pick up The Phone! The connection that you make and the intention of what you are trying to do comes across more clearly. This makes email conversations that you have afterward so much more productive.To find out more about Digitory Legal please visit our website at www.digitorylegal.com.

In our latest episode, we chat with Catherine Krow, CEO of Digitory Legal. Digitory Legal is working to improve the accuracy and simplicity of legal budgets. Clients will receive a solid forecast of what can be expected and lawyers will have a guideline for client expectations. The user interface is excellent!

Host Ian Connett (@QuantumJurist) brings a series of episodes from this year's Legal Geek Conference. Today, he talks to Catherine Krow, CEO of Digitory Legal, Former Orrick partner, and one of the Top 10 Women Entrepreneur in Cloud Innovation. Listen in to get first-hand details of her amazing career and her experience at the event.    For the latest topics, trends and tech in the legal industry, subscribe to Evolve the Law Podcast: A Catalyst for Legal Innovation. Listen as legal experts and leaders share insights about the legal industry. For more information, questions, or suggestions about our podcast feel free to email us at evolve@abovethelaw.com     Links and Resources from this Episode For additional information go to https://abovethelaw.com/legal-innovation-center  https://www.legalgeek.co/  https://twitter.com/wearelegalgeek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/company/legalgeek https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1IkQltBaQ5RTpgo8B12rIA  https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-krow https://twitter.com/cmkrow http://www.digitorylegal.com/ support@digitorylegal.com      Show Notes Who is Catherine Krow? - 0:30 What is Digitory Legal? - 0:48 Focussing on legal services - 1:16 Giving clients what they need - 2:20 Two years in the industry - 2:40 Transitioning from a big Law Firm to becoming an entrepreneur - 3:23 Lawyer and entrepreneur - 5:04 Digitory Legal website and how to get in touch with them - 5:46  Her favorite customer success story - 6:33 Focused on litigation - 7:59   Review and Subscribe If you like what you hear please leave a review by clicking here   Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite player to get the latest episodes. Subscribe with Apple Podcasts Follow on Spotify Subscribe with Stitcher      

Women helping women advance in legal technology – from Global Legal Hackathon 2019 in New York City, Laurence Colletti hosts Glynna Christian and Catherine Krow, both part of the GROWL initiative. They discuss their roles as GROWL mentors and talk about the initiative’s worldwide involvement in this year’s GLH. Glynna Christian is co-head of Orrick’s Global Technology Transactions practice. Catherine Krow is the Founder of Digitory Legal, an award-winning data analytics and cost management platform that helps customers understand and predict legal costs.

I spoke with Catherine Krow, the founder of Digitory Legal, a legal budgeting and resource management system for lawyers and corporate law departments. Before starting Digitory Legal, Catherine practiced for 17 years and was a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. We discussed the genesis of Digitory Legal, why legal budgeting and resource management are important issues for law firms and their clients, how the Digitory Legal system works, key trends, and advice for lawyers practicing in today's legal market.

I spoke with Catherine Krow, the founder of Digitory Legal, a legal budgeting and resource management system for lawyers and corporate law departments. Before starting Digitory Legal, Catherine practiced for 17 years and was a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. We discussed the genesis of Digitory Legal, why legal budgeting and resource management are important issues for law firms and their clients, how the Digitory Legal system works, key trends, and advice for lawyers practicing in today’s legal market.

I spoke with Catherine Krow, the founder of Digitory Legal, a legal budgeting and resource management system for lawyers and corporate law departments. Before starting Digitory Legal, Catherine practiced for 17 years and was a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. We discussed the genesis of Digitory Legal, why legal budgeting and resource management are important issues for law firms and their clients, how the Digitory Legal system works, key trends, and advice for lawyers practicing in today’s legal market.

Summary: Welcome to the sixty third episode of the Evolve Law Podcast. Today our host, Mary Juetten, sits down to talk with Catherine Krow of Digitory Legal. Digitory Legal is a budgeting and resource management platform for lawyers and for clients. For the latest topics, trends and tech in the legal industry, subscribe to Evolve Law Podcast: A Catalyst for Legal Innovation. Listen as legal experts and leaders share insights about the legal industry. For more information, questions, or suggestions about our podcast feel free to email us at info@evolvelawnow.com   Show Notes: 00:00 Intro 00:16 Introducing Catherine Krow, Founder of Digitory Legal 01:45 How did you discover this legal tech problem? 03:55 Who are your main customers and how long have you been in the marketplace? 05:21 How did you create the tech for Digitory Legal? 07:00 Do you have any feedback and case studies you would like to share? 09:26 Are there any other metrics you would like to share? 10:47 Outro