ILTACON 2021: Hot takes on asking your CFO for a legal tech budget and cybersecurity’s worst practices

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LAS VEGAS – The ILTACON conference, the annual soiree presented by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), opened this week as a hybrid event, both virtual and in person, amid concerns and precautions about the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

It was the first high-level face-to-face meeting of legal tech professionals in nearly two years, and as such, it didn’t miss the technical awkwardness of someone holding a microphone to an iPad like Joy Heath Rush, ILTA’s CEO to join remotely.

Still, the event brought together a wide variety of legal tech gurus (as the kids say) to discuss some of the hottest topics in the legal space, including how to get your company’s CFO to invest in legal tech projects and how to do it the Worst Cyber ​​Security Practices to Avoid.

Arguments for legal technology investments

Kenneth Jones, Chief Technologist at Tanenbaum Keale (and the occasional blog writer), joined two CFOs – Daniel Lasman of Fish & Richardson and Ed Aguero of Cole, Scott & Kissane – to present a panel on how legal technologists work in a Organization Working can best be committed to the budget and resources required to make better use of Legal Tech to transform and improve their organization.

The panel, titled Advocating for Legal Tech Budget by Speaking the Language of the Modern Legal Chief Financial Officer, focused on providing the CFO with the reasons why such technology investments are necessary within the company.

Kenneth Jones

Jones said they loosely modeled the presentation as a “Shark Tank” episode in which he put forward three project proposals – moving a document management system (DMS) to the cloud; Building an overall security program; and upgrade the financial system – to the other two CFOs who hope to elicit comments from their point of view on the proposals.

“I found the session unique in that ILTA generally does not have much knowledge or financial management perspectives for the non-technical C-Suite law firm on the scope and approval of technical projects,” said Jones. “I think it was really good content for legal tech experts.”

The panel outlined some clear pieces of what the CFO needs to hear from the technologist if the CFO is expected to fund proposed legal tech projects, including:

      • What is the project doing and why is it important for the company?
      • How does the project improve efficiency, reduce or help control costs?
      • How does the project fit the organization’s current and future priorities?
      • And perhaps most importantly, what is the implementation plan, including a list of the required resources in money and human resources?

“Legal technicians must try to define the financial benefits to the business in terms of return on investment (ROI), annual cash flows, and defined savings,” said Jones, adding that it is also crucial for a permanent technologist to make suggestions with to cooperate with senior management of the law firm and be ready to adjust if necessary, particularly in terms of scope, schedule and budget. “It is also important to speak ‘different languages’, so to speak, for different members, such as colleagues from the technical department versus those on the business side of the organization.”

Preventing the Worst in Cyber ​​Security

Another well-received panel at ILTACON was the discussion titled Common Security Worst Practices, in which panelists such as Mel Gates, Senior Legal Editor in Privacy & Data Security at Thomson Reuters, highlighted a top 10 list of the worst cybersecurity practices and common challenges organizations face when trying to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses. (You can read a full interview with Mel Gates about her ILTACON presentation on Thomson Reuters Legal Current here.)

Some of these worst cybersecurity practices are:

Mel Gates

Failure to understand and consistently manage cyber vulnerabilities – This includes not creating required patches in a timely manner or not maintaining the company’s IT asset inventory. Panellists suggested creating a patching policy and prioritizing remedial action based on risk.

Failure to destroy data when necessary – Failure to delete old, unnecessary data or not support a formal data retention policy can cause problems. Organizations should train their users in data retention and set up backup protocols with tools and automation.

Believing that you can outsource your risk management and accountability – companies should understand the need for due diligence and ongoing management of their service providers and suppliers. Security officers within an organization should assume their role as protectors of the company and customers

As the panel made clear, organizations should recognize that firefighters racing down the street with sirens are comforting, but a community without a fire is a much better place to live, work, and do business.

The opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which are committed to integrity, independence and bias under the trust principles. The Thomson Reuters Institute is owned by Thomson Reuters and operates independently from Reuters News.

Thomson Institute

The Thomson Reuters Institute brings together people from the legal, corporate, tax, accounting and government communities to stimulate conversation and debate, understand the latest events and trends, and provide essential guidance on the opportunities and challenges facing their world today faces.

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