Tuesday, January 30, 2007 7:44 AM
The legal industry sometimes seems not to be at the forefront of industries being transformed by technology. Mark Chandler is our SVP and General Counsel and today in San Diego, CA he gave a luncheon speech at the Northwestern School of Law's 34th Annual Securities Regulation Institute. The conference brings together national leaders in securities law, accounting and government. The keynote address was from SEC Chairman Chris Cox.
All of us at Cisco are tasked with using technology to make us more productive and more efficient and the legal group is no different. Among his chief legal officer duties, Chandler is tasked with utilizing technology to streamline legal processes and embed technology into the legal systems and processes that he implements. Clearly, there are legal hurdles as well as technological ones with this approach. In his speech today, Chandler talked about some of the challenges and opportunities utilizing technology in the law.
The above paragaphs, taken from a post, Cisco General Counsel on State of Technology in the Law, last week were a lead in for the posted text of Mr. Chandler's actual speech. It is one of those speeches that is definitely worth reading. Here is a taste:
Today I hope to offer some thoughts on the effect that changes in technology will have on the practice of law.
I offer you three questions for our discussion today.
First, how is technology driving change in knowledge-based industries?
Second, what are the key areas of vulnerability in the legal services business to these technological changes?
And third, what will it take to succeed in this changed environment?
You can find this speech in its entirety at the post linked above and here: Cisco General Counsel on State of Technology in the Law