D. Casey Flaherty

Free guide on introducing structured dialogue into the law department/firm dynamic in order to weave continuous improvement into the fabric of the relationship and drive value by leveraging legal expertise through process and technology.

Part one of an article discussing the need for structured dialogue between law departments and law firms. We recommended an ongoing conversation about identifiable improvements in how legal services are delivered. With people and pricing in place, process will drive continuous improvement. Collaboration can deepen relationships between law departments and law firms.

Where the base of comparison is one set of outstanding lawyers versus another, velocity of timekeeping can have a considerable impact at the margins.

Legal Tech Audit launched this month and is already drawing interest from dozens of Fortune 500 companies and large law firms.

Overview of my system for triaging email.

Responding to LTA critics.

On real-time matter tracking.

On e-signatures.

The inaugural Tech Toolbox column.

Casey Flaherty partners with Suffolk University Law School to expand the tech audit to the legal community.

A point-by-point response to some comments on the audit.

Proper technology, process, and training could have saved Baker & McKenzie clients $150 million last year. That is my utterly unfair and possibly inaccurate alternative headline to the fantastic Law Technolgy News' article from Stuart Kay, Baker's director of global systems, about his firmwide rollout of Office 2010.

Register (free), login, and go to Auditorium where you can watch my presentation on demand.

Pen and paper is an inferior option for executing legally binding agreements. Electronic signatures are an idea whose time has long since come.

The cartoonish villainy of the DLA fiasco should not completely overshadow the fact that we are reading emails written by lawyers who assumed their words would remain privileged for all eternity. How many of us operate under a similar assumption? How many us act as if the cloak of privilege is impenetrable?

The DLA story provides so much fodder. Beyond the cartoonish breaches of fiduciary duty, there is the comedy of a major law firm being brought low by e-discovery. And there is the related wonderment of witnessing a $2.44 billion legal behemoth self-inflict substantial brand damage in the voluntary pursuit of less than $700,000 in unpaid bills from a bankrupt client from whose case it was disqualified due to conflicts.

I could easily picture myself getting sanctioned under similar circumstances.

Testing outside counsel's document filing procedure.

One recent decision has commentators warning us not to pass to the buck to our ediscovery vendor. Another raises questions of how much outside counsel can rely on their client when certifying discovery responses.

Despite very real experience and expertise in handling particular types of engagements, many firms do a poor job of supplying budgets – even after they’ve been retained (i.e., it’s more than just a sales pitch). My pet theory is that their budgeting performance is largely attributable to an insufficient respect for data. Instead of looking at the huge volumes of pertinent, empirical evidence they have compiled, these lawyers prefer to base their budgets on their own impressions of their own… Show more

Despite very real experience and expertise in handling particular types of engagements, many firms do a poor job of supplying budgets – even after they’ve been retained (i.e., it’s more than just a sales pitch). My pet theory is that their budgeting performance is largely attributable to an insufficient respect for data. Instead of looking at the huge volumes of pertinent, empirical evidence they have compiled, these lawyers prefer to base their budgets on their own impressions of their own experience. Limited quantification skills then combine with all sorts of inherent biases – e.g., planning fallacy, anchoring, motivated reasoning, etc. – to the detriment of both client and counsel. Show less

Firms lose credibility if they can't offer a reasonably predictable budget

It is easy to tell a cynical story. Technological proficiency requires the investment of dollars and time. Yet, the resulting savings accrue to the clients, not the law firm. In other words, inefficiency equals profit. There is, however, no need to rely on cynicism or theories of motivated reasoning to explain the status quo.

This is part two of a two-part follow-up to "Tech Drive," which reported on Kia Motors America audits to assess the technology skills of its outside counsel.

As former and current colleagues will attest, I am an odd duck. I was never able to reconcile myself to some of my former firm's standard operating procedures.I believe that we regularly charged clients for unnecessary busywork....Fortunately for me, dumb luck and a benevolent GC brought me in-house where reducing billable hours is a marketable skill rather than career suicide. I am now in a position to do more than just complain (though I continue to do that, too). I fashioned my audit based… Show more

As former and current colleagues will attest, I am an odd duck. I was never able to reconcile myself to some of my former firm's standard operating procedures.I believe that we regularly charged clients for unnecessary busywork....Fortunately for me, dumb luck and a benevolent GC brought me in-house where reducing billable hours is a marketable skill rather than career suicide. I am now in a position to do more than just complain (though I continue to do that, too). I fashioned my audit based on my own observations and experiences as outside counsel. Show less

This is part one of a two-part follow-up to "Tech Drive," which reported on Kia Motors America audits to assess the technology skills of its outside counsel.

When hiring or retaining counsel, associates are audited on how effectively they use technology.

My official company website. I keep a running a list of all my writing.

Templates, document automation, and knowledge management.

On the importance of Microsoft Excel.

On why it matters that IBM's Watson can recognize the execrable play on words in the article's title.

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