Opportunity Knocks Blog

As the 4th of July holiday begins this afternoon for many of us and we are thinking more about being social than about how social media collection impacts our careers, The Cowen Group has put together a snapshot from our Q2 Critical Trends survey for some light poolside reading. Is Technology Assisted Review as hot a topic as was predicted at LegalTech New York in January (or as hot as the weather on the East Coast)? How are corporate eDiscovery professionals addressing growing data volumes and case workloads while controlling staffing and technology spend?

The Cowen Group's Q2 2012 Critical Trends Snapshots for Law Firms and Corporations features information on the industry's latest evolving trends including Predictive Coding, Information Governance and Social Media.

In reviewing the aggregate responses from our 89 participants, one prominent theme is how investments in new technology resources are affecting hiring decisions. We have been hearing a lot of this in our conversations with the market as well. With increasingly widespread adoption of technology assisted review solutions, eDiscovery executives are looking for an updated set of core competencies and skill sets for their teams. Organizations need professionals who not only can help develop consistent, optimal workflows, but who also understand how discovery fits into the downstream and upstream process of a litigation matter.

The ability to be a problem solver rather than an order taker is critical not only for project managers, but for specialists and analysts as well. One of the most common dis-synergies we have heard this month, is the inability of current staff to understand how their task/project fits into the case strategy and litigation timeline overall. This is an important gap, especially when utilization of new technologies, education of case teams, and controlling/reducing costs were highlighted as three of the largest challenges organizations face this year, according to our respondents.

We are in a unique position in our industry to bridge the gap between legal and technology, between optimal information management practices and law, and to bring the "fireworks" to our own organizations. Identifying yourself as a communicator, reaching out across the table to understand your colleagues' perspectives, and investing in your ability to manage up, out, and down are all critical components of developing yourself as a professional, and key to managing and maintaining your career. As executives take a closer look at their bottom line and how to "do more with less," they will be looking for those professionals with improved core competencies and the ability to reach outside the boundaries of their current job descriptions.

Continue to stay posted to this blog and The Cowen Group's New New Leaders Group, where we will continue to unwrap what those core competencies are and how to acquire them for your own career.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!