The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 24 provided or problems solved. It's more than a smile and a positive attitude. While we should strive to deliver all these things, we must realize the roots of superior customer service lie in a deep understanding and support of the vision and mission of our clients. As our firms work to develop and execute programming that will raise the technical competence of our lawyers, we should also be educating our technology professionals about the business of law. Lawyers don't have to become IT professionals any more than we need to become lawyers, but increasing competence in both directions will lead to transformative change. Consider just a few questions: • Do you understand your firm's marketing practices? Do you know how they bring in new business, how they pitch and what sells your firm in a highly competitive market? • Who are your firm's rainmakers? • Do you understand how law firms operate financially? Do you know what What this means for our attorneys is that they have to be technically competent today, and that competence needs to be sustained as technology continues to advance. That's a pretty tall order. It's important, however, because this competency factors heavily into the attorneys' ability to deliver excellent client service. What this means for technology professionals is that we must understand, and be aligned with, our business and its strategic objectives. Every initiative we touch is first and foremost a business initiative. Technology is simply the medium we leverage to execute the objectives. We must know the business of law. We need to walk the talk. UNDERSTAND THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT Can you coach a sports team without substantial knowledge about the sport? Of course not. You also cannot support a law firm without understanding the business. Technology professionals must go way beyond a break/fix role and truly deliver customer service. Exemplary service is far more than satisfaction ratings, response times, solutions Looking around my office, I am surrounded by technology, including dual monitors, a webcam, a docking station, a Nexus tablet, a Microsoft Surface, power cables and my iPhone. A few short years ago, this setup would have screamed "IT geek" for anyone passing by. This is far from true today. In fact, there is almost nothing different technologically between my office and my neighbor's, and she is a lawyer. We all know that technology advances at lightning speeds. We have seen our lawyers become more tech savvy over time, along with everyone else — our world requires it. In addition to that organic evolution, recent changes to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct drive home the reality that this evolution is not optional. Lawyers, by law, must assume the responsibility of being technically competent. Some might have displayed an agnostic reaction initially, but that mentality quickly died when Kia Motors decided to test their potential outside counsel on basic technical skills (all of them initially failed, by the way), and the results became front page news. Today there is an irrefutable merger between practicing law and practicing technology. This merger is not a one-way street. SMART MOVES About the Author Jennifer Beaudette, Manager of IT Business Analysis, Applications & Development at Fish & Richardson P.C., leads a national team of IT business analysts and solutions architects in process- and technology-based improvement efforts. The team partners with firm leadership to ensure technology and process engineering efforts meet current and anticipated strategic business goals. Jennifer focuses on business unit alignment and leads project management and analytic efforts on cross- functional and enterprise-level projects.Contact her at beaudette@fr.com. Walk the Talk As I sat down to write this article, I received a thank you note from someone in my organization that was on a piece of stationery that read "Walk the Talk" across the top. The phrase is incredibly fitting since it epitomizes the delivery of true client service.