Peer to Peer Magazine

MEMBER RESOURCES Gentlemen, please give a brief overview of your years of volunteer service to ILTA and the roles you’ve had. Scott, you first. Scott: I got hooked on the association fairly early in my legal IT career when I spoke on a panel at conference and witnessed the extreme passion of everyone there! When the Midwest Region was created, I became the RVP in charge of educational programming for five years. The logical next step was to continue my volunteer service at a higher level, and I was encouraged to do so by others, so I ran for a seat on the Board. That’s one of the things I love about ILTA: fellow members and officers are so free with encouragement and support. I was privileged to be elected by our membership, and for two years I served as Secretary. In my third and fourth years I was a Peer Group Liaison, overseeing 17 peer groups and their VPs. Now, in my final term, I’m honored to be serving as ILTA’s President. How about you, Jim? Jim: I started in 1998 when we were a much smaller group. My first conference was at the Arizona Biltmore, and after that, I hosted local meetings, which led to my volunteering to be RVP. I served in that role for five years, collaborating with other RVPs and networking extensively with the membership. In 2005, with the encouragement of several members, I ran for the Board and was fortunate enough to be elected, and I served my first two-year term as Treasurer. In 2007, I was re-elected to the Board and served as RVP Liaison, and in 2009, my final term, I was elected and now serve as the Executive VP. I’ve served on various committees and task forces along the way, too. In my years with ILTA, I’ve seen that volunteer roles often “give” more than they “take,” providing folks with opportunities for personal and professional growth. Has this been your experience? Scott: Yes, again and again! As Secretary, I led or participated in many task forces, which gave me a deeper understanding of leadership at both the organizational and strategic levels. That experience has really helped me in my job as a Director of IT. The thoughtful and deliberate strategic direction of ILTA’s organizational leaders has given me better tools to grow personally and professionally. Jim: Albuquerque is a small town with only a few small firms, so getting industry information and referrals can be a challenge. ILTA has given me and my firm access to a huge community of really smart people with an inexhaustible amount of legal IT knowledge and experience they’re always willing to share. Can you think of examples of leadership skills acquired as a volunteer that you’ve shared with your own staff in mentoring and bringing them into higher responsibilities in your firm? Scott: Managing volunteers is a bit different from doing so with a paid internal staff, but there are certainly parallels. I’ve seen any number of volunteer-comprised task forces obtain input from the membership on various topics before proceeding with certain strategies, as well as develop changes to strategy on behalf of the organization. Such initiatives as our name change to ILTA, our increasing international focus, our conference in London, and even the city rep program are examples of such strategic thinking. The ability to participate in different types of strategic thinking and planning has certainly given me ideas and skills that have helped me analyze ways to approach strategy in my job as IT Director. As we move into a new decade, many believe the leadership model in law firms will be changing, specifically in the CIO arena, and that increasingly we’ll be looking for firm leaders with business and marketing chops. Are you seeing that at your own firms? If so, how are you preparing for it? Scott: I’m certainly seeing that — it’s the next logical step in what we’ve traditionally called aligning IT to the business strategy. Undoubtedly, there’s a trend for increased use of technology, if not direct oversight, with various areas of law firms that have been traditionally considered back office or other functional areas. Many CIOs now have regular interaction, if not direct responsibility, for departments such as records management, knowledge management and library/research services. This trend is related to technology changes as well as competitive pressure and increased concern about risks and security, and there’s an increasing need for the CIO to be not just a technology leader, but also a business leader. There’s a parallel back to ILTA, which has always impressed me for our relentless focus on being the premier peer networking organization in the industry. Our core focus of service to our members hasn’t changed, but we’re always exploring new ways to better serve our membership. As CIOs and IT directors, we must do the same thing on both the technology and business fronts for our organizations. Jim: Frankly, I’m still working on what we’re doing in 2010! But seriously, I agree that CIO and IT manager responsibilities are rapidly increasing, making them more business managers than technology managers. My perspective from working in a smaller firm is probably a little different from that in a much larger firm. I used to be in IT, but now I handle things like phones, cost recovery, finance and marketing. Keeping all those things in Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 81

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