Technology

ILTA>ON Announcements Run Gamut From Tool For Combatting Racial Injustice To Long Expected Acquisition

Also some insights into the changing nature of tech training in the legal industry.

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The annual ILTACON experience just doesn’t feel the same without a blowout party to close the first day. There’s just something missing about a tech show where we can’t casually tour the exhibit hall and check out the fun (and sometimes not so fun) legal tech costume party. In an homage to the conference experience that COVID has stolen from us this year, I showed up 20 minutes late for the opening keynote.

Not that it mattered! The upshot of an all online conference is that I was able to go back and catch up easily. Jia Jiang provided an insightful lecture called “The Power of Rejection.” Jiang explained how people can learn to be rejection-proof and the basic principles of turning a no into yes. Obviously this was eye-opening for me to learn that there are people out there who aren’t universally beloved and preternaturally persuasive and therefore face the sting of rejection. Truly tragic.

Getting back on track with news, this morning, Rocket Lawyer unveiled a new mobile video feature for capturing discriminatory experiences and sharing them directly with a lawyer. The new offering, RocketEvidence, provides more avenues to get legal help to people who could otherwise go without, allowing:

  • Anyone to easily share video documentation of an incident with a Rocket Lawyer On Call® attorney, in confidence, and ask questions or engage the lawyer to represent them

  • Landlords or personal property owners to ask a lawyer a question and attach visual evidence—for example, in the event of property damage or a fender bender

  • Tenants or buyers to get a lawyer’s feedback on submitted documentation—for example, in the event of pre-existing property damage or negligence

  • Motorists to capture video and/or photographic evidence of traffic stops, traffic tickets, and citations, for a confidential and privileged attorney consultation

Rocket Lawyer CEO Charley Moore, who recently opened up about being racially profiled late last year while driving in Vermont, credits his legal know-how and decision to film his encounter with changing the officer’s whole approach. Drawing upon that experience, Moore’s company now has a product that can give those without that training the same advantages. Moore explained:

In line with our mission of making the law affordable and simple for everyone, we are scaling our platform to meet the growing demand for digital tools of justice. From supporting businesses and families through the pandemic with the COVID-19 Legal Center to enabling remote agreements and digital signatures with RocketSign, we remain committed to expanding access to justice for all. That’s why we built RocketEvidence–to help more people capture, share, and remedy incidents of discrimination and other injustice with the help of privileged and confidential legal counsel.

Beyond product launches, we also learned yesterday about a major acquisition, with iManage acquiring Closing Folders, the legal transaction management software provider. It’s a tie-up that makes a lot of sense with the closing process an obvious candidate for the document management world — not that we should still be thinking of iManage in such narrow terms. With Closing Folders joining the iManage family, the company eyes significant advantages for clients:

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  • A single source of truth for transaction documents that limits risk and streamlines processes

  • A single vendor solution that enhances security and governance, lowers cost of ownership, and delivers business agility

  • iManage RAVN’s artificial intelligence capabilities to enable in-depth analysis of transaction data and trends that drive actionable insights and smarter decisions

  • A global, integrated user engagement, training, and support network that extends expert resources across the full breadth of product offerings

  • Global availability as a cloud-based solution

That seems like an obvious marriage — indeed, it’s been foreshadowed in these pages before. I wasn’t able to check out a demo, but I’d be interested to see the RAVN feature in action because I can imagine some cool stuff there.

Remember when I said I miss the exhibit hall costume party? Well, not half as much as I’m going to miss the annual iManage party that usually comes later in the show.

I also got an opportunity to chat with Eli Nussbaum of Keno Kozie about the IT design and support industry in the age of COVID. “We’ve always been providing remote support and assistance to users not in office but the Help Desk has really shifted — it’s evolved from helping people 9 to 5 to facing potential morning and afternoon surges.” And quite the surge, Nussbaum reported 300 percent more volume in March and April.

If the work from home model changed whole concept of the help desk, it revolutionized the tech training effort. “Everything has to be redesigned… Focusing on the technical side of the job, how do you learn when you can’t ask your neighbor? So tech training has had to shift.”

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On that note, I also got a chance to catch up with Will Norton of SimplyAgree about the updates to their platform which will offer more flexibility while maintaining the philosophy of a straightforward, simple product designed to maximize adoption. When I talked to Norton about training, he explained that the necessity of adapting to COVID has changed the company’s worldview. “We’ve moved to one-on-one training since the pandemic. We used to do live, group trainings — that allowed us to read the audience and get some interaction, but one-on-one trainings with Zoom get the same effect and produce better adoption. We never would have put the time in otherwise but since we did, the value is worth it.”

There are going to be a lot of interesting lessons coming out of this period but the reconceptualization of training and adoption on the tech side is going to be one of the most interesting to see shake out.

Earlier: ILTACON Becomes ITLA>ON As Legal Technology Show Goes Remote

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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