Monday, February 3, 2020

Workshop A – AI Bootcamp 2.0

AI has been and will continue to be used globally but what are the standards and guidelines we should be utilizing when deploying AI technology? While there are commonalities in the way AI is used, at present we don’t see a harmonized set of standards that can be used globally. So, what might a uniformed set of global guidelines look like?
 
Key takeaways:
  • Reviewing current guidelines set out by various countries to help find commonalities
  • Understanding the best set of policies that should be introduced and tangible steps to create the right actions.
  • Discussing the direction of future guidelines and how it will impact AI usage
Group Exercise: Audience will separate into groups and each group will consider a practice of law (litigation, M&A etc) and the guidelines they would suggest for each practice..
 
 
Speakers:
Kevin Fumai, Assistant General Counsel, Oracle America, Inc.
Huu Nguyen, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
Bert Kaminski, Chief Counsel, ServiceMax, Inc
Ignatius Grande, Director, Berkeley Research Group, LLC
Natalie Pierce, Shareholder & Co-Chair, Robotics, AI and Automation Practice Group, Littler Mendelson P.C
As we continue to ride the AI wave, we consistently hear talk about the automation of jobs and administrative tasks made increasingly simple with very little human involvement. However, is this really the truth and how much manual labor is really required to keep AI working seamlessly? While we may not be able to see the humans behind AI technology they do possess a very important role in curating the data, which is so critical to the functioning of the algorithms.
 
Key takeaways:
  • Exploring the balance between manual labor and AI’s own intelligent abilities to help truly understand how is AI coming to life.  It’s widely perceived that computers do it on their own once they are fed data. However, how is AI trained and how much manual supervision is actually required?
  • Considering whether AI will eventually truly independent and how the relationship between humans and AI will evolve over time.
 
Speakers:
Daniel Broderick, CEO, BlackBoiler LLC
Ryan Steadman, Chief Revenue Officer, ZERØ
James Michalowicz, Senior Manager – Legal Operations Business Performance, TE
As AI technology continues to grow and increasingly become part of our everyday lives, businesses and legal system; the lack of safeguards and morality within AI has seen a rise in unconscious bias leading to injustices.
 
Key takeaways:
  • An overview of recent examples of unconscious bias within AI technology to help understand how the risk of unconscious bias.
  • Identifying specific areas in which safeguards and process must be implemented to eliminate biases.
  • Exploring how unconscious bias may impact the future of law and the legal system.
Group Exercise: Audience will separate into groups and discuss procedures/safeguards they would suggest to help prevent future cases of unconscious bias.
Speakers:
Kim Nayyer, Edward Cornell Law Librarian & Associate Dean for Library Services, Cornell Law School
Kush Varshney, Principal Research Staff Member and Manager, IBM Research AI
Miriam Vogel, Executive Director, EqualAI
Dean Harvey, Partner and Co-Chair, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Robotics, Perkins Coie LLP

Workshop B – Cloud Systems

As efficiency and greater accessibility continue to take priority, the legal industry is increasing their cloud usage. However with growing pressure to reduce costs and adhere to client needs, is moving to the cloud the right move for you and which model works the best for your organization?
 
Key Takeaways:
  • Examining the risks and benefits of moving major enterprises to the cloud
  • Considering the hybrid model and how this approach can allow firms to cater better to client needs
  • Anticipating trends within cloud adoption and implementation models to help identify the future relationship between the cloud and the legal industry
Speakers:
Scott Wallingford, Vice President and General Manager of LexisNexis’ Law Firm Software Solutions business, LexisNexis
David Carns, Chief Evangelist, Casepoint
Robert Unterberger, Legal Solutions Leader, Tata Consultancy Services
Cloud computing is becoming more widely used than ever mainly because of the flexibility and lower cost such technology affords. Yet concerns over security and data control have prevented wider adoption of cloud technology.
 
Key Takeaways:
  • Addressing security and data access challenges associated with cloud technology Identifying strategies legal departments and law firms can incorporate to help mitigate risk and ease client fears surround data access
  • Pinpointing key safety measures cloud service provides can include in the future to help calm legal department and law firm fears
Speakers:
David Hansen, Vice President of Compliance, NetDocuments
Rena Verma, Senior Managing Director, Technology, FTI Consulting
Tomas Suros, Global Product Marketing Director - Legal, AbacusNext
Daria Schuster, Executive Consultant, Cloud Security, IBM
This interactive session will highlight the key terms every legal department and law firm must include, as they navigate cloud contract negotiations. Whether its data privacy terms or business continuity terms, join our experts as they showcase best practices when trying to negotiate terms that work for your organization and clients.
 
Speakers:
Praseeda Nambiar, Managing Director, DLA Piper
Ward Classen, Senior Counsel, Discovery Education
Bert Kaminski, Chief Counsel, ServiceMax, Inc
Patrick Basinski, Counsel, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Workshop C – Legal Project Management & Matter Management

Lean is a collection of tools and methodologies directed at improving process efficiencies and reducing waste to deliver value. Law is a service, whether lawyers provide it in a firm or in-house. Like all services, opportunities for waste abound. Lean helps tackle those inefficient processes.
 
Key Takeaways:
  • Provide a basic overview of Lean, its key concepts, tools and goals
  • Make the business case for using Lean in the practice of law
  • Conduct a table-top exercise: We will create teams, assign roles and present them with an inefficient legal process. Each team will conduct a flash Kaizen event to come up with a future state process map aimed at removing waste from the defective process
 
Speakers:
Lourdes Fuentes-Slater, Founder & CEO, Karta Legal LLC
A critical aspect of ensuring you remain within budget throughout your project is understanding the scope of work and how it relates to the budget available. Acknowledging that some tasks may take longer or cost more and being aware of other risks are crucial while monitoring costs during a project.
 
Key takeaways:
  • Highlighting the key phases and tasks of the project to help understand the full scope of work.
  • Outlining the tools and systems for budgeting and project planning
  • Addressing the importance of post project debriefs and how incorporating data analytics can improve future projects.
 
Speakers:
Melissa Prince, Chief Client Value and Innovation Officer, Ballard Spahr LLP
Elizabeth Satterfield, Innovation & Practice Solutions Officer, Proskauer Rose LLP
Jim Boyer, Director of Matter Management & Efficiency, Ballard Spahr LLP
Steven Smith, Director, Matter Management Services, WilmerHale
Typically the success of a project is pinpointed into four key metrics, these being; scope, time, cost, and quality. However as legal departments and project management has evolved, the success of projects are also measured by considering project objectives. Unfortunately, this does raise a few red flags, especially as the client or law firm may differ in their idea of success.
 
Key takeaways:
  • Considering the key metrics teams must consider in order to determine the success and failures of each project
  • Establishing a strong relationship with your client and defining measurable project objectives early on in the process
  • Evaluating how technologies such as AI can help.
  • identify new data points for measuring the success of legal projects
Speakers:
Aileen Leventon, Senior Advisor & Consultant, LegalShift
Michael Quartararo, President, ACEDS & Professional Development
George Rudoy, National Leader & Managing Director of Legal Management Consulting, BDO