Below is a roundup of recent legal technology news, from e-Discovery updates to innovative ideas by lawyers working in this space:
• New Jersey lawmakers and the Attorney General’s office continued to quarrel over the cost of legal fees and e-Discovery services related to the Bridgegate scandal.
Acting Attorney General John Jay Hoffman this week defended the cost of services from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg. He said the charges did not violate state guidelines for outside counsel. Hoffman responded to demands from Assembly Deputy Speaker John S. Wisniewski (D) and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) that Gibson Dunn and Stroz repay $2.8 million out of a total of $10.3 million in fees. Both firms provided their services at discounted rates, and no refund is warranted, Hoffman told Wisniewski and Weinberg.
But Hoffman’s response did not assuage the legislators.
“[I]t is disingenuous that your office continues to assert that the guidelines were followed,” Weinberg responded to Hoffman in a letter of her own. She called on Hoffman to provide a copy of the retainer agreement with Stroz. Weinberg also called for specific information on Stroz’s digital forensics services to be produced “within the next five (5) business days,” including the names of individuals whose phones, emails or computers were examined, and the manner in which the records were preserved.
Like the scandal itself, the debate over Bridgegate’s legal fees doesn’t seem to be going away soon.
• Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has been helping startup technology companies create flexible stock options attractive to employees.
Orrick has advised several new technology companies interested in agreements that extend the time employees have to exercise stock options. It’s “not a huge fee generator,” for the firm, Christine McCarthy, partner in Orrick’s Technology Companies Group told Big Law Business. But she said companies have lots of questions, many philosophical, about the right way to structure benefits.
The trend started in the technology sector and “is picking up momentum,” McCarthy said. But she added that she hasn’t seen as much interest in flexible options outside the tech industry.
The firm recently worked with Triplebyte to create incentive stock options (ISOs) that give employees as much as 10 years to exercise their shares. Triplebyte helps to recruit programmers and engineers to Y Combinator – funded startup companies.
Employees typically have 90 days after they leave a company to exercise the option on vested ISOs or lose them. This can “handcuff” employees who may not have the ability to cash in on costly shares, McCarthy said.
“Lots of people in this area have lost equity” when they have had to leave a company due to a family emergency or a spouse transferring jobs, McCarthy said. Extended options can be an attractive way for new companies to lure talent and compete with more established companies like Google, she said.
• Taylor Wessing added venture capital lawyer Angus Miln to bolster its corporate technology practice.
Miln specializes in venture capital and private equity transactions within the technology, life sciences and clean tech sectors. The English-trained solicitor also advises on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate restructurings. Miln previously was a partner with Bird & Bird, where he founded and led the firm’s venture capital practice.
• Tikit, a legal and accounting technology solutions provider, added a legal IT professional to its North American operations.
Ryan Steadman joined Tikit North America as director of business development, coming from Tikit’s London office. Steadman will help to introduce to the North American market products and partners already in use in Europe.
“Ryan’s experience and extensive knowledge of the legal sector will be beneficial to Tikit and our clients in the delivery of our expanded portfolio of products and services to the North American legal market,” Tikit North America President Peter Zver said.
E-Discovery
• E-Discovery and its more in-depth sibling digital forensics could become a nearly $5 billion industry by 2020, according to report from IndustryARC.
The biggest user of digital forensics will be the federal sector. IndustryARC projects U.S. federal sector spending to nearly double from $1.1 billion in 2015 to $2.06 billion by the end of the decade. In total, spending on digital forensics will reach $4.8 billion by 2020, according to the market research firm.
Digital forensics tools are used to maintain the integrity and admissibility of evidence uncovered or interpreted from mobile devices, personal computers and shared networks or databases. The tools are used in multiple industries, fueled by huge growth in the volume of digital data and the devices that store the information, IndustryARC said.
• Kroll Ontrack, a Minneapolis-based data recovery and information management company, released an interactive guide on emerging global e-Discovery trends.
The Ediscovery Goes Global: 2016 Trends report discusses data privacy requirements, cyber-security issues and digital forensics advances in countries across Europe, Asia and in the United States. The report includes an interactive map that lets users click on an individual country to learn about specific digital discovery developments.
“Even for countries with legal frameworks that don’t require parties to disclose electronic documents, global e-discovery is emerging as a critical component of business and corporate governance,” the Minnesota company said.
Software/Infastructure
• Silicon Valley-based Seal Software upgraded its contract management and analysis tool to boost both speed and ease of use. Seal Software released version 4.1 of its contract discovery and analytics solution adding processing speed and “trainability” to its platform for sorting, reviewing and comparing contracts.
• Cognitive computing company RAVN received TechWorld’s 2016 Techie Award for Best Enterprise Start-Up. The U.K. company’s artificial intelligence platform, or RAVN ACE, is designed to review and interpret documents and summarize their information. London-based Berwin Leighton Paisner, which received The British Legal Award for Best Use of Technology in 2015, integrated RAVN’s A.I. system last fall.
• TimeSolv released a new tool designed to help legal timekeepers review individual billing and compare it to billable hour goals.
“This information allows timekeepers to monitor their personal progress towards practice goals and motivates them to produce billable hours that are in line with the firm’s annual objectives,” the billing software company announced.
The dashboard incorporates the number of working days in each month and allows managers to compare hours billed and revenue collected on a monthly or annual basis.
Mobile Apps
• Software company Prosperoware is going mobile with its Umbria business and financial intelligence platform, the company announced, releasing a new Umbria app for Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems.
The mobile Umbria dashboard allows users to monitor clients’ financial performance, view statistics and review key performance indicators from their mobile devices, the company said. Prosperoware provides legal process management services for law firms, general counsel and other professional service companies.
“Umbria plays a critical role in enabling firms to competitively price and manage their matters,” Prosperoware President Keith Lipman said. “[P]roviding mobile access to this vital information is the next logical step.”
• Baker & McKenzie launched a global version of its Asia Pacific MapApp for health care clients.
The application provides country-by-country comparison of healthcare regulatory policies as well as contact details for Baker’s healthcare specialists, the firm said. Baker launched the Asia Pacific MapApp in 2014. The success of the regional tool, prompted the firm to expand the tool and provide a global version.