How are law firms and in-house legal departments collaborating to deliver results?

“I think legal departments now are really focused on how do they narrow the funnel of work as much as possible to their own department, and that is through self-service or bots,” said Brenda Hansen, senior legal operations consultant at UpLevel Ops, an advisory firm for in-house legal departments. Through her lens, Hansen noted that legal departments are increasingly using technology to give their internal clients the best information they can before letting them go off on their own, and also outsourcing to alternative legal service providers.

Colin Miller, managing director at FTI Consulting added that teams are collecting and organizing data differently.

“The question has become ‘what do I do with this new form of data, and how do I transform it, and how do I enrich it in a way that allows me to do the things I used to do to make those legal decisions?’ so it has become more advisory in that regard,” said Miller. The change in data is forcing people to innovate very quickly, Miller added.

Collaboration is critical when it comes to cybersecurity so the team at Fasken have developed a collaborative privacy protection program for their clients.

“The Fasken Edge site helps

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL

Mary Mancusi wins 2022 Smith-Doheny Legal Ethics Writing Competition | News | The Law School

Mary Mancusi wins 2022 Smith-Doheny Legal Ethics Writing Competition | News | The Law School

Mary Mancusi wins 2022 Smith-Doheny Legal Ethics Writing Competition | News | The Law School

Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Ethics, Compliance & Inclusion has announced that rising third-year student Marilyn “Mary” Mancusi is the winner of the 2022 Smith-Doheny Legal Ethics Writing Competition.

Mancusi’s paper, “Attorneys, E-Discovery, and the Case for 37(g),” addresses the concern that federal courts do not have a reliable and uniform system that allows them to impose sanctions on attorneys who violate e-discovery obligations.

Addressing the fact that much more evidence and information is now found through various electronic forms, and that attorneys play such a major role in the discovery process, Mancusi’s paper proposes a new rule be added to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The rule defines a uniform, reliable system for federal courts to impose sanctions on attorneys who participate in e-discovery misconduct. 

Her paper also discusses the rise of e-discovery as digital technology became more prevalent, the ethical and common-law expectations that attorneys currently have in e-discovery, and the ways that federal courts have previously sanctioned attorneys for their role in e-discovery abuse.

Professor Veronica Root Martinez, director of the Law School’s Program on Ethics, Compliance & Inclusion, said, “Mary’s submission stood out for its timely topic, analytical rigor, and reasoned proposal. I am

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL

The Golden Age of the Knowledge Management Lawyer

The COVID pandemic heralded massive changes in the legal profession but perhaps none more than a renewed respect for the knowledge management lawyers who were pivotal in the transformation to the all-remote practice. Some may even say the last two years have been the golden age for unsung knowledge management lawyers.

“What was incredibly significant is how our profile and how people’s need for our services … just shot through the roof,” said Ginevra Saylor, the director of innovation and knowledge programs at Gowling WLG in Toronto.

“I think that COVID has demonstrated that focusing on core KM will stand you in good stead if you have to pivot at any given time,” said Adriana De Marco, Stikeman Elliott’s senior director of knowledge management, education, and innovation.

Stikeman Elliott had a “mature” knowledge management program, said De Marco, but during COVID they took many of their library and electronic resources and “repackaged them to make them more accessible for lawyers because we knew that that would be an evolving need.”

Sukesh Kamra, the chief knowledge and innovation officer at Torys, a Canadian Global 200 firm, said the need for knowledge management lawyers was “heightened” during the pandemic. Previously a law

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June 21, 2022 by LAW

4th Florida property insurance company has gone bankrupt

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Nearly 80,000 Florida homeowners will have to find new insurance, after Southern Fidelity declared bankruptcy. The Tallahassee based company is the fourth insurer to declare insolvency since February.

Southern Fidelity’s bankruptcy filing is concerning because, according to insurance agents, a large portion of those dropped customers will likely have to reinsure their homes using Citizens Property Insurance — the state-owned property insurance company. Insurance agents say Citizens has ballooned as a private company, and just one hurricane could detrimentally affect homeowners across the state.

Southern Fidelity’s shutdown comes less than a month after state lawmakers held a special session to stabilize what’s been described as an industry in crisis. The company announced in early June, that it won’t be able to purchase reinsurance in time for the 2022 Hurricane season.

According to state insurance records: Lighthouse Property Insurance Corporation, Avatar Property and Casualty Insurance and St. Johns Insurance Company shut their doors over the past four months. Local insurance owner and agent, Sean Way, tells News4JAX, finding some of these homeowners affordable new policies can be challenging.

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“Especially for those that are on fixed incomes, they have now retired,” Way said. “And they

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June 21, 2022 by INSURANCE

Love Your Dog, but Beware of Your Homeowners’ Insurance

“We’ll say, ‘He is strong, but he’s sweet. He walks well on a leash,’” Nancy Haynes, the shelter’s behavioral expert said of the animated Louie, a mixed breed who stood to her shoulders as he awaited a treat. “It’s not about the breed. It’s about what we know about him. What we’ve seen.”

Pit bulls, mastiffs, Rottweilers, King Corsos, Dobermans, German shepherds and Chow Chows are surrendered more frequently, and stay longer, than the poodles and retrievers, the shelter staff said. The breeds’ prevalence in low-income households is a factor, particularly as many dog owners lost jobs during the pandemic. Their reputation as dangerous fighting dogs also makes them less adoptable.

“Unfortunately, these bully mixes aren’t the dogs everyone is looking for because of this myth that they are aggressive. Then, when pet owners need to surrender an animal, we don’t have space,” said Ashley Jeffrey Bouck, chief executive of the shelter, which euthanizes animals only with debilitating and painful medical conditions. “When people do want to open their homes to our dogs, insurance can be a reason not to.”

More than a decade ago, Karen and James Porpeglia, of Schenectady County, adopted Cole and Duke,

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June 21, 2022 by INSURANCE
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