Blame it on Target. Or Edward Snowden. But in case you haven't noticed, legal technology conversations lately aren't exactly obsessed with predictive coding right now. Instead, firms—and everyday citizens—are more likely to be discussing data breaches, cybercrimes, and concerns about confidential client information.
But according to a new survey by LexisNexis' Legal & Professional division, while law firms may be talking—they aren't doing very much about it. The company reports that 89 percent of the 300 legal professionals in 40 states and in 15 practice areas who were recently polled said their firms send confidential information to clients via unencrypted email—relying on a disclaimer at the bottom of the correspondence to serve as protection.
So what are the ramifications? How are law firms, corporate counsel and vendors responding to these sometimes contradictory technology challenges? We can get some clues from last week's Computer and Enterprise Investigations Conference, annually presented by Guidance Software.
For starters, the company has always thrown a broad cloth around its offerings. Founded in 1997, Guidance has targeted both electronic data discovery and other "digital investigations," and today offers a line of seven software under the "EnCase" brand (and a line of Tableau forensics products). The company says its EnCase Enterprise platform "is used by more than half of the Fortune 500," by the likes of Allstate, Ford, General Electric, Pfizer and Viacom, to name a few.
It's easy to see that Guidance, and its CEIC conference, covers a wide range of disciplines, including digital forensics, cybersecurity, e-discovery and litigation support, compliance and risk management, information and law enforcement.
Guidance President and CEO Victor Limongelli kicked off the 2014 four-day CEIC event with the opening keynote on May 19, explaining how the company has decided to transition to a "platform" approach for its EnCase suite of products. The concept is to move from a "closed" (self-contained) system to a more collaborative environment, where third parties can plug applications into the EnCase platform and, in effect, customize the operation to meet the specific needs of their organizations.
Perhaps Guidance is also reacting to yet another strong legal industry trend: bring your own devices. About a year ago, Guidance launched its EnCase App Central store (think Apple Inc.'s App Store). It offers apps from third-party developers that can be integrated into the EnCase platform, Limongelli explained. To date, more than 30,000 downloads from the EnCase App Central store, he told the audience.
"It's all about apps," observed San Francisco's Albert Barsocchini, director of strategic consulting at Minnesota-based NightOwl Discovery. He served as an associate general counsel at Guidance for eight years (2003-11). "EnCase is no longer closed," he said. Now, EnCase products are a foundation, and organizations can build systems on top of that foundation, said Barsocchini.
But don't think the company is throwing out its babies with the bath water. "With recent attention on data breaches, including Target Corp. and the controversy about Edward Snowden's disclosure of government documents, I expected to see cybersecurity take center stage," observed Boston's David Horrigan, an analyst and counsel at 451 Research.
Guidance has traditionally had three focus areas—forensics, cybersecurity and e-discovery," he said. "What surprised me was Limongelli’s strong focus on e-discovery, said Horrigan. "The keynote highlighted Guidance's new e-discovery offerings, including Linked Review, which we expect to be Guidance's answer to predictive coding," Horrigan noted.
I am on my way to Houston to meet with another eDiscovery / forensics / legal consulting Firm. We are going to be working with them on a few things that we have some experience with.
I am looking forward to meeting with Robin and Sharon for dinner tonight!
I am excited and honored to be working with a new law firm client. Legal business consulting is very interesting and challenging to me. As someone who has practiced law as a trial lawyer and a corporate attorney, I truly enjoy and understand how to work with lawyers and law firms. I understand their needs and their points of view. I understand the deficiencies and strengths of lawyers and law firms as business people and businesses. I enjoy assisting with business strategy, HR, streamlining costs, finding ways to improve revenue, assisting with technology solutions for running the business, marketing campaigns, advertising, managing dockets, client and lead acquisition, setting up case management systems for large volume cases such as mass torts and conducting ediscovery. I also am certified as a trial and jury consultant and as such, I enjoy assisting on litigation strategy and jury selection. In most instances, my Firm is able to offer a comprehensive strategic solution to almost any need a law firm has.
I look forward to attacking the challenges placed before me and working with my client to find the correct solutions.
We just returned from spending the week on the Beach for Spring Break! It was a well-deserved break and was a great chance to reconnect with the family. I spent the two weeks prior traveling and working with new clients. It has been a productive and rewarding last few weeks. Here are some pics of our trip:
The Whole Crew:
The Boys:
Kung Fu Fighting!
Me and the kids:
Football:
Softball:
Digging:
Campfires and Scary Stories!
Muscle Beach:
Campfires!
We had an amazing time together! I absolutely adore my family.
In the May of 2009, I stood 5'9 and weighed 209 lbs. I was bloated and well there is no nice way to say it: I was fat. I took control of my health, my eating, my body. I told myself that if I could control my eating, my exercise, my general overall fitness, then I could control anything. I set out to do just that. I adopted an eating plan that I came up with after doing some research. I eliminated 5 things from my diet: 1. bread, 2. sodas, 3. sugar, 4. fried foods and 5. red meat. The weight loss was almost instant. Not only was I controlling what I ate but I began to exercise 5-7 days per week. I would do 100+ pushups, 200+ situps and briskly walk 2 miles every day. I was down to 172 lbs in November of 2009, just 6 months later. I then began doing Crossfit exercises and began adding muscle to my physique as well as improving my overall general fitness. I began doing Crossfit workouts in January of 2010 and have done them approximately 3x per week since. I am at an all time fitness level and feel better than ever before. But almost better than the physical payoff has been the mental payoff. I now know after losing 40lbs of fat and adding more muscle to my frame than ever before in the span of approximately 10 months that I am capable of doing anything I set mind to do. That I am able to accomplish whatever I want. That if I can reverse a decade of eating poorly and exercising infrequently in a matter of months, then I can accomplish anything in my personal or professional life. The discipline I imposed on my eating and exercise routines has carried over to every other part of my life. It has been huge for me. It has paid dividends in every facet of my life.
I am now dedicated to this lifestyle of discipline, healthy eating and fitness. I am wearing size 30 jeans for the first time in over a decade! I have a full 6 pack and have 12% body fat. I am determined to lower that to 10% and to add even more muscle. I am committed to me. And through that discipline and dedication, I know I can accomplish anything I commit myself to. I owe my life, my health, my happiness to my new eating and exercise plans. It was a lot of work but I deserved it.
Set your goals, commit yourself to them and be disciplined in the way you go about each task.
I had a wonderful birthday! I woke up to breakfast in bed prepared by my beautiful wife and 5 wonderful children. I then got up and did my Crossfit workout, went on a 2 mile walk and then took my Bullmastiff to the dogpark! He had a great time playing with a black Great Dane and a Labradoodle! I then played basketball with my two oldest sons. We played 21 and had a great time! They are really good!
We went back home, relaxed and then I took my oldest son to his Lacrosse assessment. He owned it!
We returned home, cooked beef fajitas, chicken wings, queso and chips and got ready for the birthday party and the Super Bowl!
My wife and kids made a great cake for me (red velvet with cream cheese icing) and sweetly sang happy birthday to me. It was great just watching their faces as they sang to me. I loved spending the whole day with them! We also had chocolate ice cream!
We then watched the Super Bowl and cheered for the Packers to beat the dreaded Steelers! We had fun watching the Black Eyed Peas perform at half time and laughing at all the silly commercials! The Darth Vader one reminded me of my youngest son!
All in all it was one of my favorite birthdays ever! My family did a great job of making me feel special. I love them dearly. I am truly the luckiest man alive.
I am looking forward to working with some new clients this week on finance-banking matters. I absolutely love the challenges presented by designing, negotiating and closing deals.
Make it a GREAT day by making the right decisions when you have the opportunity!
Mistakes. They happen. To all of us. There is not a single person on this planet that has not made a mistake. There is not a single person who has not experienced failure as a result of a mistake they made. It is not a question of if we are going to make a mistake but instead when and how many. That said, it seems strange to say that making mistakes is not really a problem or issue. It happens so frequently and is so common that it is simply a part of life. No, the problem I see too often is how people respond to making mistakes. Some people are able to easily forget and move on. While others have a particularly difficult time in forgetting, or more precisely, forgiving themselves. As a result, these people will harm themselves, hold themselves back because they cannot forgive themselves for making a mistake.
I see it in executives, lawyers, doctors, moms, dads, brothers and sisters. I see it in several of my clients, friends and family. You HAVE to forgive yourself. You deserve it. You deserve to have good things in life. You do not deserve failure and ruin just because you made a mistake.
Believe in you. Believe in your good qualities. Truly successful people are not people who have not failed. No, they are people who refused to give up after they failed. They are people who refused to let a mistake define them, to characterize them or to stop them. They learn from it and move on.
Refuse to be defined by your failures. Instead, define yourself by your successes, by your ability to overcome your mistakes and to forge ahead despite past mistakes. MAKE YOUR FUTURE. Do not let others, or worse, YOURSELF, define your future by your mistakes. MAKE IT ABOUT THE GOOD PART OF YOU. Find that part of you. Build from it. Make it who you are.
NYC and MERRY CHRISTMAS! I love taking my wife to NYC for the weekend. It is the most magical place around the Christmas holidays. It is when NYC shines the most!
I recently returned from Abu Dhabi and Dubai where I was working with two different clients. I helped negotiate and close two deals in excess of $10 million dollars. It was a business development trip. It is one of my strengths and one of the areas of consulting I love the most. I love the challenge of being brought in to close a deal.
As for the UAE, it is an exciting world over there. There is such excitement and optimism in the air. The clients are eager and willing. It is a wonderful nation and an admirable people. I enjoyed my time in the UAE, my flights on Etihad and the stops in NYC! Etihad is an amazing airline. If you are looking for a carrier to take you to the UAE, I give them my highest recommendation.
Here are some pictures of my trip:
The plane:
My seat for the trip:
My hotel:
Me hard at work in the lounge on the plane during the flight:
view outside from the hotel during breakfast:
some sort of bird's nest monument on the beach:
Doing business over a traditional Arab meal:
The mall and Palace in Abu Dhabi:
I am scheduled to return at the beginning of next year. I look forward to it.
It is painful to change. There I said it. Part of it is actually learning how to act a different way or how to do something new but the other part is the most difficult about it. When you change something, yourself, your habits, the way you do something, you are, in effect, admitting failure. You are admitting that the way you did something was wrong. You are acknowledging that all the time you invested in how you were doing it was wasted. It can be a difficult thing to come to grips with. It can be humbling. It can also be difficult to comprehend.
I will give you an example. Mack Brown is the head coach of the Texas Longhorns Football team. He has had an unparalleled run of success. He has won more games over the last ten years than any other coach. But this past season he lost 7 games while only winning 5. He had a losing record for the first time in over 20 years and the first time ever during his tenure at Texas. The problem that led to the losing season was pinned by many on his offensive coordinator. This wasnt the first time. People had complained for years that the OC was holding back Mack's teams and if he would only remove his friend and hire a competent OC then the Horns would win conference championship after championship. Mack refused. He had already spent greater than 10 years coaching with his friend and they had experienced a lot of success. He then went on to win a National Championship with his friend at OC. He felt validated for all the criticism that has been previously levied against him and his friend. Unfortunately for Mack and his friend, the team suffered through sluggish offensive performances for 4 out of the next 5 seasons. The calls for Mack's friend to be terminated grew louder and louder. They made it back to the National Championship game but lost. Mack felt validated again. Then this season happened and the offense was the worst it had ever been. Mack had no choice. He HAD to change. He fired his friend.
Why did it take Mack so long to see his friend was the problem? That his friend was not the great OC Mack believed him to be. To do so required Mack to admit that he was wrong, that all that he had invested over the last 20 years was wrong, that the people who had been calling for his friend's head were right. It was too difficult for Mack. He was blinded by his refusal to admit his own mistake, that he had been mistaken all this time and that change needed to be made. He refused to see it until he could no longer turn a blind eye to it. He had to see it this time. There was no choice. The pain of staying the same had finally outweighed the pain of the change. And that is why Mack finally made the decision to let his friend go. It was more painful to keep him than to move in a new direction. Mack could not stand to see his team suffer through another season like this. If another season like that happened again without change, Mack would be looking for a new job too. No, Mack had no choice. His desire to win finally overtook his desire to be right. He made the correct change.
Dont wait until you are in a crisis to affect change in your life or organization. Evaluate yourself. Invest in winning not being right. Invest in doing the right thing not your thing. Do it now before you experience crisis. Make the changes that are necessary to win, to be successful.
My motto is I want to actually be right, not just think I am right. I want to actually win, not just think I am winning. I do not fear change. I embrace it. I am not invested in being "right" I am invested in winning. I want to win. I want to do whatever it takes to make it happen. I am not stubborn about how something gets done, I am stubborn about getting it done.
Sometimes it is so difficult to take that next step. To find the strength to try something you are afraid of. To try something you are afraid to fail at. Some people are so afraid of failing, they never even try. They think it is better to never try so they never fail.
What kind of sense does that make? If this applies to you, stop and think about it. Is it really better to never fail and never get to play? to never try? to never get in the game of life? to never live? Because that is what you are choosing. You are so afraid to fail, you cease living life. While you may not experience failure, you will never experience winning. Is it really worth that? To give up any chance of success to avoid the possibility of failure, no matter how remote? to not ever have success, joy, triumph, so you can avoid one instance of failure?
The reality is success or failure are irrelevant. They are nothing more than a product of your efforts. The focus should always be on the process, your efforts, and doing your best. Because in the end, you cant control success or failure but you can control your effort, how hard you work and how much of yourself you give to the task. The reality is if you do your best, work your hardest, you will succeed most of the time. But once again, success or failure is irrelevant in life. It is the attempt, the trying, the living with your all, your soul, your being, that counts. That is where you make your mark and demonstrate what you are worth. It is how to live life and to experience the best part of life: trying, being involved, playing the game.
Do not be one of those cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. One of the critics who sits on the sidelines and points out how the doer of deeds could have done them better. Be one of those people on the field of play. Who spends himself in a worthy cause, regardless of victory or defeat. Be one of those people who knows the great joys of triumph and the great sorrows of defeat. But knows that by investing himself in such an endeavor, regardless of outcome, that he has lived life on this earth and he has dared to make a difference, dared to be great.
Do not be afraid to fail. Do not even give it second thought. Focus on the process. Focus on stepping to the free throw line, left foot, right foot, bounce the ball three times, spin the ball in your hands, catch it, stick out your tongue, snap your wrist.....the ball will take care of the rest.
Have you ever felt like life wasnt real? Like you were sleepwalking through life? Perpetually in a daze, a haze almost. Fighting against the realities of life and not embracing the choices in front of you. What to do now?
FLUSH IT! Flush it all. Forget about it. Dont focus on it. Dont fret about it. Dont regret it. Dont waste another single moment. GET ON WITH LIVING YOUR LIFE! Do it now. Embrace everything in your life. Find joy in your life. Realize how fortunate you are. Do not dwell on the past. It no longer exists. It is gone. Learn from it and make sure it never happens again. Fight for your life. CONNECT! Plug into the world. Get involved. Make a difference! Make the world a better place. FIND JOY and HOPE in everything you do. It is never too late. Get out of the fog and plug into the world. Do it. Do not delay. It seems scary. It seems like it is hard to do. But it is just a choice. A choice to change your life for the better.
Get back in the game and out of the stands. Stop watching the world pass you by. A lot of people today preoccupy themselves by surfing the internet over and over again, washing themselves away with the sweet, warm glow of the internet. It is addictive and numbing. It is America's new addiction. UNPLUG YOURSELF from Facebook, TMZ, etc and PLUG yourself back into the real world! Do not let yourself sink!!!
I have never told this story to anyone. This past summer, I went swimming in a lake with my daughter. She wanted me to help her swim out to an island. I thought better of it but I saw another Dad do it and figured I could do it too. I put her on my back and began swimming across the roughly 40-50 feet of deep water. I was doing the breast stroke. Her weight was pushing me down. I kept coming up after each stroke to get air. About half way across, I started to tire. I was not getting enough air. I started swimming faster. I had to get my daughter to the other side. I could not allow her to get hurt, to die. She was starting to get scared. I started going under. I started pulling her hands off my neck. She grabbed tighter. She said "Daddy Im getting scared." I pulled her from my neck, took one last gasp of air, shouted to her in a desperate but firm and deep voice "SWIM TO SHORE" and pushed her toward the island as hard as I could. I had to make sure she was ok. My arms were exhausted. I had swallowed water. I was going under. But I HAD to make sure she was ok. I pushed her as hard as I could. She started swimming. I went under. I thought to myself. It is amazing that it is exactly like they say...drowning is quieter than you would expect...and I started sinking...thoughts of my other children on the shore, my wife with them, my mom back at her house all went through my head, and I decided I was not going to let myself sink. I could not do that to them. I would not let myself die in this lake. I began to thrash about and claw myself back up to the top. It was hard. My arms and legs were exhausted. I did not have enough air in my body. I had water in my lungs. The world was blacking out. But I could not stand the thought of not making it, of letting my family down. I refused to just let myself sink. I REFUSED TO LET MYSELF SINK. I reached the top. I saw my daughter climb out of the water onto the shore. I swam as hard and as fast as I could. I reached shore. I could not stand up. I was beyond exhausted. I looked at my daughter and realized I should have died. That I should not be seeing her again. It was like I was born again. That I had been given a second chance at life. That the glimpse was over and that my new life was starting. I hugged her. We cried together. I told her how much I loved her and that I would die for her to make sure she was ok. It was very emotional. It was an awakening. I found out in that moment what we all wonder about ourselves: would i be brave enough to make it? YES! would i sacrifice myself to save my child? YES! would i let myself sink? NO! or would i refuse and climb back to the top? YES!!! I know for certain now that I will not sink again. I will climb to the top. I will take care of my children. I will fight for my life.
Do it now. FIGHT! Scratch, claw, thrash, whatever you have to do. Get back to the top. Do not let yourself sink.
Another successful week comes to a close. I had a very rewarding week working with my clients and spending quality time with my family. I am ready to kick off the Christmas Holiday season this weekend and spend time with my wife and kids.
I am looking forward to taking my wife out on a date tonight, doing a little shopping tomorrow and taking my two oldest sons to the Lake Travis football playoff game tomorrow!
I will also be volunteering for Goodwill on Sunday as part of my commitment to giving back this year!
Speaking of things I love, I love my career. I love helping my clients and am blessed to work with such successful and forward looking executives. I am working with a longtime client today on some issues relating to property management. I have found that I am often able to spot employee issues that the client is blind to due to my distance and perspective on the situation. A company has to be efficient in this economy and more often than not, there is dead weight that is bringing down productivity and hurting the bottom line. Hopefully we can identify what to do for this client and find an acceptable solution that will make the client more profitable and all the employees at the company more productive.
