It used to be that Legal IT and the Lawyers stood on opposite sides of the fence when it came to running a law firm.  That is no longer the case.  Gone is the Us and Them mentality that has overrun the law environment for too many years.  Certainly, the smartest corporations realized long ago the importance of including IT in decision making.  They created the C level for IT, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) position so that executives could have a techy who has a business background so they can be on the same page when they attempt to accomplish certain projects.  Still, most law firms man never add IT to board meetings/partner/shareholder meetings (to their detriment), but you will see IT and lawyers working together more and more. 

E-Discovery is fueling this trend of comraderie.  The best lawyers realize the huge edge that technology gives them in the courtroom, in preparation for trial, and even in the acquisition of clients.  It helps them make it Rain, save time and legal resources when working a case, and often will tip the scales of justice in their favor when they overwhelm opposing counsel.

The Meet and Confer

Right from the beginning of a case, lawyers quickly realize the importance of having a Technology guru to speak the technicals of load files, metadata, quantities of data, load timeframes and so much more.  When they meet with opposing counsel it is often dominated by coming to some agreement on how to handle many gigabytes of data that must be produced by each party.  The meet and confer is not only commonplace, it is mandated by the court.

The increase of data is exponential and this means that IT resources could easily be tapped.  IT budgets and time resources have to be considered or else a lawyer could face serious sanctions or worse.  No attorney wants to lose.  So, IT is becoming a significant part of the legal team.

Budgeting a case

Legal productions are both time consuming and costly.  Law firms realize quickly if a case costs are outstripping their initial budget thoughts.  However it isn’t easy to get out of a case you have devoted millions of actual out of pocket dollars to.  Many times IT personnel can help with analyzing costs or creating budgetary research that can help attorneys select what cases they want to take before they find themselves treading water in an endless ocean of data and ediscovery expenditures.

Speaking the Language

Just as lawyers have their own legaleze that takes years to acquire, Legal IT staff understand the tech language that can help them communicate issues with databases, load files, corruption, coding, storage space, bandwidth and more with counsel, and vendors.  Forensics is also a hot item when it comes to the proper extraction of data from the source.  Technology professionals understand how to find data where it may be hidden, and ask the questions that can uncover nuggets of value that may lead to a digital version of a “smoking gun”.  By involving IT right from the beginning, lawyers have a better chance at getting the data they want, and being realistic with timeframes and costs so they can set proper expectations with their clients.  Legal IT can also help attorneys understand highly technical information and be able to translate that into common discourse that can be effective in court.

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Posted in General Technology by Chris Cardillo No Comments Yet