1-Oct-07 6:00 PM CST

Law Firm Business and Technology Needs Converge at ILTA '07

For a few days in August, Orlando was the epicenter of legal technology, playing host to the 2007 International Legal Technology Association’s (ILTA) conference. Rafte & Company was well represented. I was honored to speak on two panels on business strategy while others in the firm participated in the various professional development sessions.

The amount of information at ILTA ’07 was staggering, but we’ll do our best to offer a synopsis and expand on some of these issues in subsequent articles.

Overall, I found it refreshing because the focus of the discussion was on strategic issues related to the success of the law firm. We’ve come a long way far the days when the responsibility of a law firm’s information technology (IT) personnel was primarily break/fix and making sure that the system stays up.

I heard a lot of creative thoughts about what firms are doing to better differentiate themselves, what they could do to make it easier for their clients to do business with them and what they could do to drive efficiencies in order to deliver their work products faster and cheaper. I left with the clear impression that legal IT is not what it used to be.

That said, the general buzz in most of the sessions wasn’t particularly surprising, but it was enlightening in terms of where the technology brain trusts of America’s law firm are focused. Many of those in attendance described similar interests: how best to manage the tremendous volume of data, the obstacles related to user education and training, and leveraging IT investments to accelerate firm growth.

Larger Law Firms Modeling IT on Fortune 500

Rafte & Company works primarily with smaller and mid-size law firms, a number of which are aggressively investing in technologies that can improve the way their work. The idea is to leave antiquated business processes behind and implement systems that enable the firm to operate at a higher level. The chatter from the larger firms at ILTA ’07 made clear that we are on the right track. America’s large law firms are modeling their operations and business processes on the practices, methodologies and structures commonly associated with Fortune 500 companies.

Unlike many smaller and mid-size firms that may not see IT as a business leveraging tool, technology is woven into the fabric of America’s larger firms. One of the panels in which I participated was, “Getting a Seat at the Table,” which discussed what a firm’s IT leadership needs to do to be seen as a strategic player. The mere fact that the firms are having that discussion points to the chasm that exists between practice group leadership and the use of innovative technologies to better serve the client base. But it also points to a desire among the smaller firms to cross the chasm, which leads us to our next point.

Smaller Firms Catching Up

One of the major takeaways from ILTA ’07 was that smaller firms are beginning to close the gap with larger firms in terms of integrating various technology tools into the fabric of their operations to increase productivity, improve efficiencies and enhance profitability. In fact, an ILTA survey conducted earlier in the summer indicated that smaller firms are ramping up the pace of their technology investments just as larger firms are beginning to ease off their technology spending.

We presume other smaller firms share the desire of our clients to increasingly integrate technologies into their business processes in order to realize the advantages the larger firms have enjoyed for much of the past decade.

Automation Presents Opportunities

Automating certain functions that firms would normally bill for on an hourly basis is becoming an emphasis of some of the more sophisticated firms. Firms that are doing this successfully may be charging less, but they are creating an annuity stream of revenue with no or very low associated costs to the firm. One example is a firm that used to provide training programs on various labor law topics for their clients. By repackaging the information and offering the classes online, the firm makes delivery of the information more convenient and cost effective for their clients while significantly reducing costs to the firm.

This creative thinking is helping innovative firms repurpose their core asset – their knowledge – to establish new lines of products and services that clients are excited about. They strengthen their client relationships while boosting profits. What could be better?

Virtualization Reduces Costs

In years past, servers proliferated at an astounding rate. Every new IT project seems to require new hardware. Of course, this also means more hardware support issues, more real estate consumed, and higher data center costs for electricity and cooling. Many firms have instead chosen to adopt virtualization, leveraging one host to run multiple servers. This trend has become more prevalent, and is enabling the deployment of new IT initiatives at a lower cost and, in some cases, in an accelerated timeline. It also has positive implications for disaster recovery and high availability.

This has been an exciting development in technology, and one we expect to continue to develop in the future, as virtualization pushes out from the data center and begins to migrate to the desktop.

Interwoven Addresses Training Dilemma

As usual, the companies that make the various software and hardware solutions used by law firms were out in force. The Rafte team paid particular attention to what Interwoven was saying, recognizing the leading role they play in helping law firms improve their business processes. In the midst of all the hoopla about new products, they had some wisdom to share regarding one of the key obstacles that stands in the way of successful technology roll-outs: getting attorneys trained. Recognizing that it’s not realistic to expect most attorneys to go to the classroom willingly – let along pay attention if you get them there – Interwoven is moving more of their training online so attorneys can ramp up whenever and wherever is convenient.

Interwoven and others also had a lot to say about litigation preparedness. There is an overwhelming amount of work being done to design and deploy tools intended to help law firms and their clients proactively manage the risks associated with being sued.

There is a lot more that we would like to share and we will do that in upcoming articles here on the site. Please make it a point to check for updates, or subscribe to our RSS feed so you are alerted when an update is posted.

Of course, we also welcome comments and feedback below.