VOLUME 10, ISSUE SPRING 3 2015 V O L U M E 1 0 , S P R I N G In This Issue 4 6 8 10 President’s Message What your Firm Needs to Consider When Implementing a Virtual Desktop Solution Business Partner Spotlight: Steven Kruza, Kruza Legal Search Bragging Rights 11 Survey Finds Majority of Lawyers Still Skeptical of TAR Technology 13 January Board Retreat 14 Law Firm Renovations: The Top 3 Factors for a Successful Project 16 First State Chapter Business Partners BLUE HEN NEWS I S S U E 2 0 1 5 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE 2013 ALA National Newsletter Excellence Award FIRST PLACE First State Chapter Board Sherry Perna, CLM, President Telephone: 302-888-6966 E-mail: [email protected] Julie Dubreuil, President-Elect Telephone: 302-468-5627 E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Board Shelly Daly Julie Dubreuil Lori Forsythe Denise Frawley Susan Holton Deborah McKinney Kellie Snyder-Roncace Spring 2014 Issue Editor: Susan Holton Kellie Snyder-Roncace, Vice President Telephone: 302-651-7522 E-mail: [email protected] Lisa Pedicone, Treasurer Telephone: 302-467-4442 E-mail: [email protected] Amy Kiefer, Past President Telephone 302-429-1900 E-mail: [email protected] Please forward all article submissions for future newsletters to: Susan Holton, [email protected] www.FirstStateALA.org BLUE HEN NEWS 3 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE 4 President’s Message A predecessors. s we start to get into the new year of 2015, we again start another year of ALA’s First State Chapter events, renewals, and Board changes. It is hopeful that this year, and years to come, will continue to build upon the solid foundation established by our As we were digging out of the snow these past few months, our Chapter held its annual board meeting to discuss how we can retain, build and educate our Members and Business Partners, commit to helping our community, provide valuable relationships between Members and Business Partners, and entertain everyone at the same time! The meeting produced many ideas that we hope to implement over this coming year. We also held our annual election of officers at our March monthly education meeting. This year, effective April 1, 2015, our Executive Board consists of the following members: Sherry Perna, CLM – President Julie Dubreuil – President-Elect Kellie Snyder-Roncace – Vice President Lisa Pedicone – Treasurer Amy Kiefer – Past President Our Secretary position is open at this time with the Executive Board taking three month rotations in the position until we can recruit a member to join our team. I have faith in my board in handling this additional responsibility in the interim. Thank you all for stepping up to help lead the chapter this year. To start off the year, we are holding our Annual Business Partner Orientation event March 23, 2015 to welcome back our returning Business Partners and also to welcome new Business Partners. None of this would be possible without the relationships we have built with you in order to keep our legal community running efficiently. So, we thank you for your continued support of the Chapter and its members. We also will have our first community event, our annual Easter Party at St. Michael’s School. If you have not participated in this event in the past, it is a well-deserved party for the kids in our community. It is an enjoyable event, especially to see the kids’ smiles and squeals when our infamous Easter Bunny shows up! As the weather is warming up, which will be a welcoming change, we will be holding our annual Legal Leadership Dinner in May with our leading attorneys at our firms. Please come and join us for a night of mingling, an educational presentation on Cyber Security, and also to congratulate our Volunteer of the Year, which is announced each year at this event. Don’t forget to join us in Nashville, TN at the Annual Conference May 17 – 20, 2015. As always, this event allows us to get educated and enjoy some social time with fellow colleagues and friends from different areas of the country. And who could miss seeing Rick Springfield sing at the Grand Finale Event! To round out the first half of 2015, we will have our Annual Business Partner Event in June. We are diligently working on something fun and exciting for this event and look forward to keeping our Members and Business Partners engaged. UPCOMING EVENTS April 14, 2015 12:00 p.m.—1:30 p.m Legal Records Moving from Paper to Electronic Storage DLA Piper May 12, 2015 12:00 p.m.—1:30 p.m. Bullying in the Workplace Morris Nichols I also want to thank all of our Committee Chairs, as we could not pull off all of the things that go on Please don’t forget to visit our website at May 17-20, 2015 throughout the year without them. They are: www.firststateala.org. We have been making ALA Annual updates with new and existing Business Partners, Conference and membership data, and have added a new section Denise Frawley – Business Partner Committee for Board Position Job Descriptions. We hope Kellie Snyder-Roncace – Social Committee Exposition this will help anyone who would like to step up to Lori Forsythe – Communications Committee Music City a Board position but is unsure of the time Rachel Nuzzi – Membership Committee Nashville, TN Elizabeth Danforth – Education Committee (Continued on page 5) BLUE HEN NEWS VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE (Continued from page 4) commitment and responsibility of the positions. I have been active within the committees and board for about seven years now and can assure you that it is well worth the time spent. I have learned so much and have grown so much in these past years from being involved and working with my fellow members and colleagues, I could never thank them enough. The support and education of the legal field has been invaluable to me in my role at Morris James LLP. may have. We encourage participation at every level. Thank you again for everyone’s support and involvement in the Chapter. Sherry A. Perna, CLM ALA First State Chapter President Controller, Morris James LLP Please feel free to contact myself or another Board member with any ideas or questions you BLUE HEN NEWS Please enjoy this issue of the Blue Hen News. Here is to a great year! 5 VOLUME 10, ISSUE PAGE 3 What Your Firm Needs to Consider When Implementing a Virtual Desktop Solution In recent years we have seen a surge of smartphones acting as laptops and laptops acting as desktops as today’s workers continue to spend more time outside of the office rather than at their desks. As this trend of accessing information from anywhere at all hours continues to spread, it is becoming more important that businesses across all verticals, including legal, consider adopting technology solutions like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). In the legal industry, VDI can be a “case winning” solution, as it is an Internet-based hosted desktop service that allows employees, using appropriate security precautions, to access and save their information away from their desktop or laptop systems. Much of lawyers’ work is done while traveling, at home after hours, or in the court room between proceedings—i.e. locations that have traditionally made remote work more difficult due to clunky interfaces and limited access. Having secured, on-the-go access to their work environments and assets can prove a vital tool to increase effectiveness and streamline their work, regardless of where they’re working. traditional desktop currently offers my firm?” VDIs do, of course, provide a simplified architecture that delivers mobility, remote access and consistency. However, there are many design components to consider before deciding to take advantage of VDI’s benefits. A simplified architecture also requires an appropriate staff to maintain it and ensure increased simplicity does not mean decreased security or functionality, even as your VDI environment grows and changes. Ask yourself: Do you have someone in-house who can oversee the management of this system? Can you use a third party service provider like mindSHIFT—who can oversee the management of the VDI? For long term success, it is important to have a process plan in place before making the decision to switch from traditional desktop to virtual. Next, consider the cost and overall performance you’re looking for…. Cloud-based virtual desktop services can provide savings by reducing or eliminating capital costs, especially for firms without an inhouse IT staff. Consider your existing VDI affords your firm many new possibilities, enterprise and its benefits before deciding offering the flexibility to adjust firm resources whether or not to implement a VDI. Much of based on the users’ needs. Of course, the cost of a virtual desktop environment is in centralized desktop and application the backend equipment purchase (a capital management and on-the-go efficiency sound like expense) and the day-to-day operation of the dreams come true—and they often are. But servers and storage equipment (an operating how do you know if your firm is ready for VDI? expense). Much of the savings involved come in the form of soft costs recouped through First, consider the architecture and productivity and reduced maintenance of complexity of an individual environment…. desktop PCs, so while they might not be obvious, they are discernible if you look in the It’s not out of the ordinary for decision makers right place. Unlike traditional environments, a to ask the question, “Will a VDI wind up virtual desktop user or administrator can easily offering all of the necessary benefits that a (Continued on page 7) BLUE HEN NEWS 6 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE change, instead of needing to have a specific tool at hand exactly where and when you need it, or change the hardware profile based on the user’s manually updating every piece of hardware used for current needs and how conditions – including work – as you do in some of the older hardware – have changed. The productivity gains of environments – you can go in and make the change virtual desktop operation – increased portability from your central controls, and those changes can and efficiency, as discussed above – can be then be pushed out to everyone. And as they say, significant, while also adding directly to your it’s done in a snap. bottom line. (Continued from page 6) Lastly, consider the management needs of a VDI system…. Will bringing an in-house IT professional or a thirdparty IT services provider provide your firm with ROI, and which option is more suited to your resources? There are many specialized skill sets needed to maintain a VDI in an ever-changing law environment, but one of the many perks of VDI is that the act of managing itself is quite easy, as the controls are all centralized. If you need to make a BLUE HEN NEWS For more information about mindSHIFT Technologies and our IT services for law firms, visit www.mindSHIFT.com, or connect one-on-one with a local mindSHIFT legal IT solution specialist: Tim Alvarez ([email protected]; 571-6437154) or Michael Ubaldini ([email protected]; 267-852-3274). 7 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE Business Partner Spotlight: Steven Kruza, Kruza Legal Search Please provide some biographical highlights about yourself: title, primary responsibilities, number of years at Kruza Legal Search and positions you have held there, what you did prior to working there, education, any other organizations you belong to or relevant industry affiliations. I have served as President and CEO of Kruza Legal Search for the past 10 years. In 2001 I joined KLS and launched the firm’s attorney search division. I have broad experience recruiting associate, of counsel, and partner candidates throughout the Northeast Corridor and nationally. Prior to joining KLS, I was a recruiter for a firm based in New York that focused on a wide range of industries including financial services, software development and e-commerce. I received my B.S. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Please tell us a little about Kruza Legal Search and the services you provide and how you think you stand out from the competition. KLS has been serving the legal community for over 30 years and has established an outstanding track record of successful placements with many of the most prestigious law firms and corporate legal departments in the country. When servicing clients, our approach is to employ creative recruiting strategies and solutions. We listen to our clients and focus on their strategic growth objectives. Our goal has always been to provide clients access to hiring opportunities that are not available elsewhere. We concentrate on adding value to our clients’ growing practices by developing strong relationships with our clients and the candidates we introduce. Describe the accomplishment in which you take the most pride, with relation to your role in your company. I am most proud of navigating my business through the economic down-turn. Many of our competitors closed-up shop and we were fortunate to be able to continue to service our clients during a very difficult period. I think that speaks to our relationships and reputation in the legal community. Our clients still had growth areas and we were there to work with them on their hiring needs. These challenges proved to make us even better at what we do. What trends, areas of focus or challenges do you foresee as most important to your customers? Our law firm clients will continue to face a more competitive environment for legal talent due to a shrinking population of associates at law firms. The firms that are able to stand out and connect with millennials will have the most success. Working with law firms requires a unique approach which differs from that of other corporations - how has your experience been working with law firms as opposed to non-law firm clients and traditional corporations? Law firms tend to hire lawyers on a much faster time-table than corporations mainly due to the unpredictable nature of staffing law firm projects. Therefore, we have always focused our value on efficiency and creativity for our law firm clients. In house lawyer hiring tends to be a more deliberate process. The life-cycle for an in house lawyer search will often take several months with many more steps to the process and much more rigorous candidate evaluation. How has your industry been impacted by the financial crisis, and how has your company responded? The financial crisis has caused many of our clients to more carefully evaluate the costs of using professional search firms. We’ve responded by not (Continued on page 9) BLUE HEN NEWS 8 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE (Continued from page 8) only focusing on introducing candidates to be placed but also on providing value through each step of the recruiting process. Our goal is to partner with our clients through every step of the hiring process. Why do you support the ALA? We support the ALA because we feel it’s critical to maintain an organization that addresses the BLUE HEN NEWS ever changing challenges for law firm leadership and management. 9 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE Bragging Rights In our “Bragging Rights” feature, we list recent member news such as awards, degrees, personal and professional accomplishments and everything else they’d like the world to know! If you have an item you’d like to contribute to a future column, please send it to Susan Holton at [email protected] Tom Ralston’s son Matt recently presented and defended his Master’s thesis (in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology) at UD. The title of his work is Assembling Improved Gene Annotations in Clostridium Acetobutylicum with RNA Sequencing. For the next couple months Matt will continue working on projects at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute while distilling his thesis into a couple journal articles and looking for a job. Matt (and Tom) can see the finish line! Ipro Tech, LLC announced that the Executive Office for the United States Attorneys has entered into a new contract with Ipro, expanding its use of Ipro to include the Eclipse SE Suite throughout their 94 districts nationwide. Elizabeth Danforth’s dog Emma “graduated” from therapy dog training with www.PawsForPeople.org in January! Elizabeth and Emma are now able to visit designated hospitals, nursing homes, etc. They visit the VA Medical Center in Wilmington every Carol Travia, Joann Winterle and Jean Chaney Sunday afternoon and love to meet the nation’s attained the new SHRM-SCP (SHRM Senior heroes. Certified Professional) competency-based certification last month. Well done ladies! Congratulations Emma! *For office supplies, breakroom, furniture, janitorial and printing* BLUE HEN NEWS 10 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE Survey Finds Majority of Lawyers Still Skeptical of TAR Technology A survey completed by Ipro Tech shows 67% believe attorneys will continue to view Technology Assisted Review (TAR) with skepticism in 2015. The survey, conducted by lpro at the 2015 LegalTech New York conference, included just under 100 trade show participants. more about its uses and benefits, and see it being used in publicized cases, they'll gain more of an understanding of the technology while becoming more comfortable with it. What's interesting is despite the lack of transparency, data collected and reviewed using The question is why, after years of TAR being in TAR is actually widely accepted in courtroom the public eye, being accepted in courts, and being proceedings and case studies have shown that TAR used by high-profile legal teams, are the majority of saves time and money. The United States lawyers still skeptical about the technology? Department of Justice has a set of TAR guidelines According to U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge in place, which shows that the technology is not as Elizabeth Laporte, the answer is because lawyers "unknown" as many lawyers fear. are historically late adopters when it comes to technology. Fear #2 - Too Difficult to Use: One of the biggest hurdles for technology adoption in any industry is Just a decade ago people were asking the same the learning curve. Recent examples include hybrid question about scanning technology as lawyers cars and smartphones. Despite both of those refused to let go of their warehouses full of technologies having obvious benefits for documents. Today, just like when scanning consumers, it took time to gain acceptance technology finally gained mass acceptance, the key because initial designs were clunky and features to integration of TAR technology is a more weren't always easy to use. thorough education by both the lawyers themselves and the TAR software developers to As the technology evolved into a simpler alleviate the most common fears. automation with user-friendly features, acceptance and use skyrocketed. Fear #1 - Lack of Transparency: It is human nature to be skeptical of something you don't TAR technology is going through a similar curve. understand. As EDRM's George Socha said during While it is the responsibility of lawyers to dip their a tweet chat at LegalTech, lawyers that are not toes into understanding TAR software, it's on the traditionally educated in computer programming, shoulders of the developers to design simple advanced mathematics or coding will feel interfaces and process flow automation that every intimidated by the power and capabilities of TAR. lawyer can not just understand, but use on day one. Sarai Guerra, lpro's VP of lpro Client Services, says that many legal experts are skeptical because they Fear #3 - Too Expensive: Cost has always been don't know how it works, even though it works and will always be a concern for lawyers and similar to popular and accepted technologies like clients. However, several case studies have proven Pandora or Amazon. conclusively that even when factoring the costs of collection and storage, TAR is abundantly able to "The more they see it and the more that it works, reduce costs by doing review faster and with they will be comfortable enough to trust it," said fewer people. This conclusion is backed up by the Guerra. She added, "TAR is a challenge for American Bar Association writing: attorneys. We need to tell a story that can hold up when others try to take it apart." Guerra believes While some lawyers still think that linear (i.e. manual) that as lawyers learn about TAR advances, read (Continued on page 12) BLUE HEN NEWS 11 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE (Continued from page 11) judicially-approved for use in appropriate cases." review is the gold standard, "statistics clearly show that computerized searches are at least as accurate, if not more so, than manual review." Moreover, Grossman-Cormack's seminal article noted that "technology-assisted reviews require, on average, human review of only 1.9% of the documents, a fifty -fold savings over manual review," thus establishing significant cost savings with TAR over manual review. Granted not all litigators are as technologically fluent as Judge Peck, but his ruling and countless cases have proven TAR both efficient and defensible in court. It doesn't stop in the courtroom either. Fear #4 - Unable to Defend Technology in Court: Lawyers are instinctively conservative towards technology because they want to avoid anything that might pose a problem in court. Since all lawyers have experience and success with human review procedures, they are reluctant to update methods out of fears it will harm a client's case. However, back in 2011 the judicial system gave lawyers the green light to utilize TAR technology, with Judge Andrew Peck writing: TAR skepticism will continue to be a factor for 2015 and likely years to come due to the industry's history of slow acceptance in technology and reluctance to replace proven, but outdated, methods. As judges, lawyers and software developers continue to educate the industry about the advantages of TAR and dispel myths about TAR usage, the skepticism will lessen, just as it did before with scanning technology. Legal technology companies have the obligation to produce software that prioritizes, predicts and reports the methodology of responsive While the burden is on lawyers to recognize the documents with the click of a mouse, so cost savings in TAR, it's also on software attorneys can focus on building their case providers to make their products affordable for strategy, not how the technology works or its wider adoption; whether that's by including defensibility. Lawyers won't fully accept TAR analytics at no additional cost or by including software unless that duty is met. more automated workflows that reduce review time. Conclusion "What the Bar should take away from this Opinion is that computer assisted review is an available tool and should be seriously considered for use in largedata-volume cases where it may save the producing party (or both parties) significant amounts of legal fees in document review. Counsel no longer have to worry about being the "first" or "guinea pig" for judicial acceptance of computer-assisted review. Computer assisted review now can be considered BLUE HEN NEWS 12 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE January Board Retreat Andy Logan, Amy Kiefer, Sherry Perna, Rachel Nuzzi, Linda Flaherty and Julie Dubreuil Each January the First State ALA Board gets together to discuss their plans for the Chapter. This year’s retreat was at Krazy Kat’s. Wouldn’t you like to join them next year? There is currently an opening on the Board for the position of Secretary. Please contact Sherry Perna if you are interested. Linda Flaherty, Amy Kiefer, Julie Dubreuil, Andy Logan, Kelly Snyder‐Roncace, Sherry Perna and Rachel Nuzzi. BLUE HEN NEWS 13 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE Law Firm Renovations: The Top 3 Factors for a Successful Project By Martha White, LEED AP, EDiS Company Operations Manager process stay on schedule. 2. Planning Renovations can be a daunting task, especially when you have a law firm to keep operational With good communication, a plan can be set that during the construction process. Recently, we best meets the exact needs of the firm. The have seen an increase in firms seeking to change optimal hours for construction and the strategies their office layout to maximize the use of their to minimize disruption and provide safety to the current space. For instance, as research, filing and non-construction areas are solidified, and so on. other work is now mostly technology-based, law The stage is set for the most successful outcome firms are trending to smaller libraries. Many firms before any work begins. are renovating that unused square footage into meeting rooms, computer training areas and other In addition, construction permitting plays an functional space. Some important role in planning. larger firms have even Often the permitting process is modified their space to influenced by building allow for subletting to ownership. If a firm does not smaller, out of town own their space, the permitting The goal of law office renovation firms for trials. and construction process must work is to successfully complete jobs be coordinated with the quickly, safely and with minimal disThe goal of law office building owner or manager. ruption to employees and clients. renovation work is to And, the plan review itself can successfully complete add time to the schedule. Our jobs quickly, safely and clients get the benefit of our with minimal disruption to employees and clients. years of interaction with the different permitting With proper communication, planning and good entities to provide reliable information on safety measures, the construction team gets in and permitting timetables and how they can affect a out while firms stay focused on their business. schedule. 1. Communication Case Study: In the case of a firm in Wilmington, Communication is paramount to thorough and Delaware, the project team had to work thoughtful schedule planning. And, because time is within a short, four-month period to money, the longer the renovation schedule, the complete 9,300 square feet of phased longer the firm pays for the associated costs of renovations. The project’s deadline was construction and the related impact on non-negotiable due to a large, previously operations. scheduled firm board meeting. The construction team had to look ahead at Before the project begins, good communication each phase of construction to ensure the between the construction team and the firm firm was still able to be fully functional covering the needs of the project from the very and without disruption. The project was beginning to the very end - ensures the project completed by working many off-hours to will stay on schedule. Frequent communication to finish the work in time and to avoid acknowledge what important events will occur disturbance to the firm’s workflow. during construction and what spaces need to maintain functionality helps the construction (Continued on page 15) BLUE HEN NEWS 14 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE (Continued from page 14) 3. Safety Clients and employees are in and out of law offices at varying times of the day. During renovation work, safety for all is a major concern that must be coordinated. Again, through frequent communication and good upfront planning, safety can be maintained while the job progresses. Case Study: On another recent renovation project at a Wilmington-based firm, the project team constructed a monumental staircase between two floors of the firm’s office space. This staircase connects the main lobby reception area to a new conference center. Considering the firm was operating under normal office hours during construction and construction occurred in an area of heavy traffic, the project team built temporary walls to divert foot traffic and limit access to the areas of construction. This kept everyone safe and also minimized noise and disruption. As law offices continue to evolve, the need to renovate space to meet business needs becomes a high priority. For a successful experience, it is imperative to work with an experienced construction team and think ahead. Good communication coupled with thorough planning is the answer to safely completing renovation projects on time and on budget. The cover picture for this edition was provided by Carol Strouth, CLM, Ward & Taylor. Carol took the photo in her yard last March. Carol also provided us with this photo … Let’s hope we don’t see snow this Easter! BLUE HEN NEWS 15 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE 16 First State Chapter Business Partners Caesar Rodney Level Brandywine Level Blue Hen Level BLUE HEN NEWS VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 PAGE M First State Chapter Business Partners Andrew Logan President-Elect Administrator, Pepper Hamilton LLP Christiana Level Last BLUE HEN NEWS The Blue Hen News and the First State Chapter support Green initiatives and this is an electronic newsletter. Please do not print this newsletter unless it is absolutely necessary. 17
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