Page 5 - Partnership

Partnership | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 | S5

gorization and predictive coding, as well as dedicated professionals working together

the various methodologies underlying these intensively and cooperatively can arrive at
technologies.
new insights and effective strategies that
• They need to look beyond traditional might have otherwise eluded them. But it’s
approaches to e-discovery and explore other also important to emphasize the benefits of
technologies that can help them perform the collaboration in the context of the new global
kinds of tasks they were originally trained to economy. Today’s matters often require that
do as lawyers—particularly in the areas of legal teams work across geographic, cultural
case management and trial work.
and jurisdictional boundaries, and many of
We are pleased to announce the • If attorneys do not understand these today’s complex matters also require legal

promotion of the following attorneys:
issues, they need to associate themselves expertise in multiple practice areas.
with someone who does.
Truly collaborative legal work takes effort
The first two points are increasingly and commitment on the part of each indi-
Paul Dunbar
Michele C. Maman
well-understood in the legal community. No vidual involved. Team members must respect
serious lawyer serving corporate clients is and trust each other, and they must toler-
Partner Special Counsel unaware of the need to be prepared to defend ate a more fluid work environment where
Corporate Financial Restructuring the decision-making with regard to preserva- responsibilities and the decision-making
London
New York
tion, collection, and production of evidence, process frequently change according to the

Aly El Hamamsy
Jed Miller
or of the existence of powerful e-discovery specific demands of the work at hand. On the
technology platforms that can help legal other hand, while it’s true that structural and
Partner Special Counsel teams reduce and organize data that may interpersonal barriers can sometimes inhibit
Corporate Financial Services be relevant to a case or investigation. These collaboration, recent research has shown that
tools can be very effective at performing dis- effective collaboration, particularly when it
New York
New York
crete operations on massive stores of data, bridges different practices within a firm,
and in many cases they can be demonstra- can result in a number of lasting benefits,
Brian Foster
Bonnie A. Neuman
bly superior to human workers in terms of including:
Partner
Special Counsel speed, accuracy and efficiency. Indeed, for • Higher value and more sophisticated

Financial Services Real Estate many firms, the efficiencies these tools have work that is less likely to become commod-
New York
New York
created have already been largely achieved.
itized, and thus can command and justify
higher fees.
Karen McMaster
Greg Prindle
• Innovative outcomes that more closely
address the specific needs of individual cli-
Partner
Special Counsel Truly collaborative legal work ents, and produce more satisfied customers
Financial Restructuring Capital Markets takes effort and commitment and repeat business.
London
New York
• Reductions in professional turnover and
on the part of each individual a more positive culture that strengthens rela-
Jeffrey Nagle
William S. Schaaf
involved.
tionships, not only within the firm but also
Partner Special Counsel between the firm and its clients.2
Finance Private Client
Charlotte
New York
With regard to managing data as it is pushed Collaborative Workspaces
through the various phases of the e-discovery
Joshua Apfelroth
Adam Topping
process, we have come a long way in the Even among firms that understand the
last decade. For technology-savvy organiza- value of collaboration, there still can be sig-
Special Counsel Special Counsel tions that have made sound investments or nificant inefficiencies in the way the team
Corporate
Energy & Commodities
partnerships in e-discovery technology, there members interact with each other on indi-
New York
London
may be little room for additional cost-cutting vidual or related matters as they pore through
and staff reductions that don’t pose the risk key legal documents, exchange commentary
Gillian Groarke Burns
Christopher J. Updike
of undermining long-term value for clients and insights, and begin to outline a strategic
Special Counsel Special Counsel and associated revenues.
framework based on their collective under-
However, e-discovery and data manage- standing of the important legal issues. For
Litigation
Financial Restructuring ment platforms are not the only technologies example, team members may begin a pro-
New York
New York
available that can help law firms and their cli- cess of annotating documents and sharing
ents maximize the value of their work. While those annotations. They will likely work
Robert Cannon
Edward S. Wei
there are still relatively few sophisticated together to establish logical links between
Special Counsel Special Counsel tools in today’s marketplace to make it easier documents—and between individual pas-
Capital Markets Tax
for legal professionals to share thoughts and sages within and among documents—to
London
New York
interact as they learn the facts of a case and begin addressing specific legal issues and
develop strategies, that’s beginning to change. support promising lines of reasoning. Also,
Robert C. Foote III
Jessica Wong
New products have emerged that are designed many firms are now encouraging cross-office
specifically to allow attorneys and support collaboration, in part because they want to be
Special Counsel Special Counsel staff to communicate and collaborate more able to incorporate the best, most specialized,
Litigation
Real Estate efficiently as they perform the substantive most relevant expertise they have available
New York
New York
legal work that being an advocate demands: to address particular legal issues, regardless
A. Joseph Jay III
analyzing cases, identifying key issues and of geographic location.
themes, building arguments and preparing But with multiple team members on
Special Counsel for negotiations or trial.
diverse schedules working in a variety of
Litigation locations, and with hundreds or even thou-
Collaboration: Value and Challenges
sands of documents and annotations accumu-
Washington, D.C.
lating over time, communicating effectively
A key concept in this substantive legal and efficiently by solely relying on email or
2015
work is collaboration. Smart partners should conference calls is all but impossible. Lawyers
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP embrace collaboration, in spite of the difficul- find themselves constantly searching endless
www.cadwalader.com
ties and discomfort it may engender among email threads for the latest versions of docu-
individual attorneys. Why? For one thing, law ments, and meetings with clients or oppos-
firms focused on producing value for their ing counsel can quickly get bogged down as
clients over the long term understand that
attorneys and their assistants » Page S14