In my estimation, Cisco’s law department is one of the most advanced, both with respect to management generally and to technology specifically. As the company adopts the “DuPont convergence model” in Europe, use of technology and processes will play a big role.
In Cisco poised for move to DuPont legal model, TheLawyer.com reports that Cisco will consolidate much of its routine UK legal work in one firm, following in the footsteps of a similar effort in Italy. Cisco reportedly wants to pay a single, fixed fee and “other key criteria are international capability and innovative use of technology and process engineering to increase efficiency and reduce costs. ”
I have heard Cisco GC Mark Chandler speak about technology in his law department and am impressed. I suspect Cisco will be rather demanding on the tech front. If other big corporate clients take the same approach, it will inevitably cause law firms to increase the attention they pay to technology and to best practices. It is this type of client pressure that will most likely drive future changes in how law firms think about and use tech. It will be interesting to see if there are future reports about the outcome here, especially since the UK firms are, for the most part, ahead of US firms in thinking about tech and process.