Peer to Peer Magazine

49 WWW.ILTANET.ORG IT professionals at law firms must protect not only their firms but also the firms' clients and their data. Otherwise the firms could be exposed to security threats, malpractice suits and other woes. Law firms must determine who is responsible for risk management, what threats are looming and how technology tools and strategies can best address them. Technology can be a formidable ally for legal IT in fighting these bales, but outdated, decentralized or limited soware can leave big gaps in protection and fail firms and their clients. During ILTACON 2017, American LegalNet conducted its third annual Risk Management Survey, polling ILTA members about the greatest risks to their firms and how prepared they felt to address them. The number of respondents in 2017 more than doubled the 2016 respondent pool, showing a surge of interest in the topic. Responses to the 2017 Survey While 44 percent identified as CIO/CTO/IT Director and IT Manager, the rest of respondents were distributed across diverse job areas like Risk and Compliance, Practice Support, Director-Legal and System Analyst. The "Other" write-in category garnered 38 percent, encompassing a wide variety of job titles. Compared to 2016's 72 percent IT professionals, those surveyed in 2017 were much more differentiated. This points to the possibility that ILTACON is aracting a more varied audience outside of legal IT. The 2017 survey respondents came from law firms of all sizes, with the largest majority coming from firms with 500+ aorneys (25 percent) and 101–250 aorneys (20 percent). In comparison with 2016, the 2017 responses from the largest 500+ aorney firms increased by 6 percent, firms with 101–250 aorneys decreased by 8 percent, and other aorney brackets stayed fairly consistent. Who Is In Charge and How Are We Doing? Insights from the 2017 Risk Management Survey FEATURES Whose Job is Risk Management Anyway? The 2017 survey made it clear that law firms are still struggling to determine who is primarily accountable for risk management. Two answer options were added for this question, including Governance Commiee and IT Director. The debut of the IT Director answer may partially explain the significant drop in the CIO/CTO answer from 2016 to 2017, but from 2015 onward we clearly see a downward trend. In 2016, 38 percent of respondents identified the firm's General Counsel as having overall risk management responsibility, but in 2017 less than half that number pointed to GCs. Note the surprisingly robust 29 percent who answered "Don't know." EREZ BUSTAN Erez Bustan is President and CEO of American LegalNet, which he founded in 1996. He has grown American LegalNet into the leading provider of legal software solutions that enhance workflow, minimize risk and reduce cost. Erez can be contacted at erez@alncorp.com. Risk management is now high on the priority lists of many legal IT professionals, and for good reason. In 2017 several breaches dominated headlines, including cyberattacks like WannaCry ransomware, Equifax's crippling data breach and continually breaking evidence of hacking and cyberinterference impacting major American elections. Debacles like these make it clear that the risks facing law firms and their clients are formidable and ever-changing. Job Title 2015 2016 2017 General Counsel 29% 38% 19% CIO/CTO 38% 21% 14% Head of Risk/Compliance 27% 17% 16% Other 5% 24% N/A Don't know N/A 11% 29% Governance Committee* N/A N/A 6% IT Director* N/A N/A 16% Who bears the overall responsibility for your firm's risk management function? * R E S P O N S E O P T I O N S N E W I N 2 0 1 7 , N O T A V A I L A B L E ( N / A ) I N 2 0 1 5 O R 2 0 1 6 .

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