Ask the Experts, Technology

The ATL Tech Interrogatories: 7 Questions With Jon Resnick From Huron Legal

Jon Resnick of Huron Legal tackles 7 questions about the legal tech space.

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Ed. note: This is the first installment of the ATL Tech Interrogatories. This recurring feature will give notable tech leaders an opportunity to share insights and experiences about the legal technology industry.

Jon Resnick, Managing Director at Huron Legal, is an accomplished senior sales and field operations leader with more than 15 years’ experience running successful sales, marketing and consulting organizations in the legal services arena. As Managing Director and Global Sales Leader for Huron Legal, Jon’s focus is on expanding the business, establishing consistent sales methodologies across the organization and bringing new operational sales disciplines to the growing business development group. In addition, Jon serves as a member of Huron Legal’s executive team and works closely with those leaders to ensure the sales organization is aligned in strategy with the multitude of services Huron Legal provides.

1. What is the greatest technological challenge to the legal industry over the next 5 years?

The speed at which data volumes are increasing. At some point it will become impossible to manage the discovery process as it’s currently being done; however I believe we are still 7-10 years away from that.

2. What has been the biggest positive change in legal technology since the start of your career?

The biggest overall positive change has been the integration of technology within law departments, within organizations, and especially between inside and outside counsel. Also, it has been very rewarding that the legal industry has embraced the idea that business process experts like Huron Legal can drive significant value as part of the legal process. It’s great to work with people that appreciate your contribution to the substance and bottom line of their most important legal matters.

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3. What has been the biggest negative change in legal technology since the start of your career?

With respect to discovery, the massive speed at which information is now generated has created a log jam in the process that has forced companies to settle litigations they would normally take to trial. The ease with which technology has allowed the creation and storing of this information has been both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because we have available the information with which to make informed decisions, a curse because of the potential problems with retrieval and the adverse impact on the cost of discovery. This emphasizes the need for strong, enterprise-wide information governance and the legal industry needs to be driving that push. I see these challenges as just additional business process issues we need to solve. We have accomplished so much with technology already and finding ways to make the discovery process less cost prohibitive and more effective will continue to be refined.

4. What do you think would help firms become earlier adopters of new technologies?

First and foremost, pressure from their clients. The firms that will lead the next generation of lawyers are those that look at their practices from a business perspective. Professionals with a business mindset are always looking for opportunities to drive efficiency in their businesses and technology has been a primary driver of efficiency for the last 100 years. Firms that adopt new innovative ways to leverage work product and client knowledge will be uniquely positioned to capitalize on clients thirst for metrics-driven fixed fee relationships with significant value-add components.

5. What is the biggest cybersecurity blunder you’ve seen in working with lawyers and law firms?

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There have been many more cybersecurity blunders than we even read about in the news. However, what’s more important is the publicity that the high profile incidents are now receiving and what the legal industry has learned from them. No one wants to be the next front page article. Failing to prepare, not only in terms of having the right technology solutions to protect your data, but also having strong policies and processes in place with checks and balances, as well as an advance plan for how to handle breaches when they occur is paramount to avoiding that issue.

6. What do you think the future holds for legal technology?

It’s possible that business communication may have a complete overhaul because the volume of email being sent and received is becoming difficult to manage for many businesses. That said the magic will be in developing artificial intelligence that is able to truly understand the context of privilege and legal issues. We are a ways off from that, so the immediate future will continue to be in developing workflows and leveraging existing technology to minimize cost and maximize returns on investment.

7. PC or Mac?

Both! PC for work and Macs at home.

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