This article is the fourth and final in a series focusing on the major themes that emerged from the recent ILTACON conference. Read Parts 1, 2, and 3.
On the final day of ILTACON, a keynote session summarizing the G100 and G200 meetings - separate invitation-only meetings of law firm CIOs – said a lot about today’s law firms’ security and infrastructure needs. While their colleagues were discussing the wonders of today’s legal tech tools and new ways to leverage data in legal operations, the CIOs participating in the G100 and G200 meetings were laser-focused on the security issues facing law firms and on the challenges that remote and hybrid work have entailed for firm infrastructure.
An interesting segment of the session focused on the firms’ collective approach to collaboration platforms. They had invited representatives from the three big collaboration platforms - Zoom, Microsoft (Teams), and Cisco (Webex). As one G100 leader put it, they then “beat them up” over compatibility. In an industry that thrives on personal relationships with clients and among lawyers, the inter-compatibility of these services is essential to the smooth operation of a law firm. “A firm can’t just be a Zoom shop” and expect clients, courts, and others to be available there, as one panelist put it. The group also focused on equity and parity issues – how to use these platforms to ensure that a meeting includes everyone involved, remote or in-person. The G100 has become an important voice in advising the collaboration space and has an advisory council for the collaboration providers as other industries do.
But the bulk of the G100/G200 discussion focused on the security challenges of simply protecting firm data and operating in the Cloud, which is being fully adopted by G200 and G100 firms. The panel showed survey data indicating a significant movement to the Cloud, led by document management, email security, and CRM.
The keynote panel had a robust discussion on the best practices that firms are adopting around security and the prevention of data breaches. Many of those efforts focus on user behaviors and the prevention of phishing, ransomware attacks, and other types of breaches. The security issues are so important that ILTA will be convening an entire conference, LegalSEC, around the issues in October 2022.
Legal tech is a big tent. There are practice-oriented solutions, and there are solutions that support the business side of law firms. This session reminded listeners that, in addition to all the innovation going on in those areas, simply keeping the lights on and protecting a firm’s assets are also a complex and critical part of the legal technology world.
ILTACON will return to the Disney Swan and Dolphin resorts in Orlando, Florida, in August, 2023.
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