Two sets of legal technology awards were announced during the recent ILTACON, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association — ILTA’s own Distinguished Peer Awards and The Changing Lawyer Awards sponsored by Litera Microsystems.
Distinguished Peer Awards
ILTA’s Distinguished Peer Awards recognize those who have delivered great business value and transformational impact through their innovations and implementations or who have been champions in specific areas of focus for their organizations.
For the first time this year, the honors included a Lifetime Achievement Award. That went to Donna Payne, CEO of PayneGroup, a technology development, consulting and training company. Two others had been nominated: Gina Buser, CEO and founder of Traveling Coaches, and Alvin Tedjamulia, cofounder and chief technology officer of NetDocuments.
In other categories, winners were:
- Business Partner of the Year: Traveling Coaches.
- Leadership Award: Andrew Powell, CIO, Macfarlanes.
- Thought Leader of the Year: Katherine Lowry, director of practice services, Baker Hostetler.
- Transformation Project of the Year (Organizations of Any Size): Flyn Flesher, knowledge management counsel supervisor, Ogletree Deakins, for development of a system to reduce the time and money spent answering common questions and performing routine tasks.
- Transformation Project of the Year (Organizations of 100 Attorneys or Less): Justin Hectus, CIO/CSO, Keesal Young & Logan, for development of global workflow and process-automation systems.
ILTA’s awards also recognized a number of “young professionals to watch,” rising young professionals under 40 in the legal technology industry. They are:
- Al Hounsell, Senior Knowledge Manager, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP.
- Amy Monaghan, Practice Innovations Manager, Perkins Coie.
- Basha Rubin, CEO, Priori Legal.
- Brent Goff, Director of IT Operations, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
- Brownie Davis, Senior Manager, Software and Applications Development, Fish & Richardson.
- Chip Delany, Strategist, NEXLP.
- Dan Hauck, VP, Product & User Experience, NetDocuments.
- Danette Shaifer, Director of Learning and Development, Greenberg Traurig.
- Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, Head of Finance, ILTA.
- Flyn Lee Flesher, Knowledge Management Counsel Supervisor, Ogletree Deakins.
- Jasmin Chua, Workflow Developer/Analyst, Hall & Wilcox.
- Jennifer Roberts, Manager Strategic Research, Intapp.
- Mercedes Brown, UK Community Engagement Manager, ILTA.
- Michael JS Moran, Knowledge Management Attorney, Shearman & Sterling.
- Nicole Martinez, Program Manager, Education and Content, ILTA.
- Olivia Martinez, Consultant, Source Consulting Group.
- Rachel Shields Williams, Senior Manager, Experience Management, Sidley Austin LLP.
- Sarat Muddu, Director, Information Security, Kelley Drye.
- Serena Granger, Knowledge Management Attorney, Paul Hastings.
- Stephanie Clerkin, Director of Litigation Support, Korein Tillery.
ILTA has posted a document that provides more information on all the winners.
The Changing Lawyer Awards
This is the second year of The Changing Lawyer Awards, which recognize individuals, firms and companies in the legal industry for their role in embracing and driving change, whether through new technology, service models or behavior. The awards are sponsored by Litera Microsystems and winners are selected by a panel of judges, of which I was one.
This year’s winners are:
- Legal Innovator of the Year, which is presented to the individual who has driven the most significant change within their firm or legal department: Michael Caplan, COO for Goodwin.
- Law Firm of the Year, which is presented to the law firm that has most successfully reimagined the way it serves its clients: Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
- Disruptor of the Year, which is presented to the alternative legal service provider or legal tech supplier that has most successfully disrupted the broader legal profession: Lex Machina.
- The Lifetime Achievement Award, which is independently nominated and judged by the panel and honors a visionary in the legal technology space: Janet Day, longtime director of technology and infrastructure services at Berwin Leighton Paisner in London.
This year, the judging panel was composed of:
- Caroline Hill, editor-in-chief, Legal IT Insider.
- Jeffrey Brandt, editor, Pinhawk Law Technology Daily Digest.
- Joy Heath Rush, CEO, ILTA.
- Avaneesh Marwaha, CEO, Litera.
- Me.
Congratulations to all the winners.