Ari Kaplan lately spoke with Lynn Tubalinal, the director of litigation assist at Dykema, and Julia Voss, the director of litigation assist and e-discovery at UB Greensfelder.
Each are among the many business leaders who contributed to the lately printed report Advancing Litigation Support to Fuel Growth in a Changing Legal Market, supported by Opus 2.
They mentioned the impact of the rising quantity and number of information, how a staff is aware of that it’s time to improve its know-how, profitable methods for driving adoption, and efficient generative synthetic intelligence use instances.
Ari Kaplan: Inform us about your background and your present function.
Lynn Tubalinal: I began my profession as a paralegal and leveraged my technical background right into a litigation assist function. I started to guide groups at Sidley Austin, the place I spent eight years, and three and a half years in the past, I moved to Dykema.
Julia Voss: I’m an antitrust litigator turned e-discovery skilled. Twenty years in the past, I had one of many extra vital instances within the agency, whereas the Federal Guidelines of Civil Process have been altering. I used to be tasked with figuring it out after which began instructing my friends about these developments. So in 2014, when the agency determined {that a} lawyer ought to lead litigation assist, they requested me to maneuver into that function. I’ve been the director of litigation assist and e-discovery for 11 years.
Ari Kaplan: Did something within the Advancing Litigation Help to Gas Progress in a Altering Authorized Market report shock you?
Lynn Tubalinal: What is actually stunning to me, and it’s not essentially associated to the content material total, is that we’re all going by means of the identical points and figuring this out as we go. In these roles, you are likely to really feel such as you’re on an island and don’t hear about what everybody else is experiencing till you start speaking to them. On this fast-paced business, we don’t at all times get to talk to at least one one other and join. By means of these stories, I might relate to the views of my friends and establish methods that might work for us internally and as an business.
Ari Kaplan: One theme within the report was the rising quantity and number of information. What impact do you anticipate this pattern to have?
Julia Voss: The rising information volumes are driving extra litigators to understand they want a technical resolution to handle their dockets. Once they had small instances with just a few hundred paperwork, they might handle, however that’s not attainable. The number of information is probably the most complicated difficulty right now as a result of many alternative information sources can be found. Every single day it appears as if there’s a brand new app or an replace to the telephone or Microsoft. Litigation assist professionals are continually chasing updates and creating new strategies for amassing information. There was a time once we felt like we knew e-discovery as a result of we might successfully acquire emails. Then Groups got here alongside, adopted by Slack after which WhatsApp, and now, it looks like a unending cycle of chasing the most recent app.
Ari Kaplan: What recommendation would you provide to others who’re managing these modifications?
Lynn Tubalinal: Don’t get overwhelmed. We’re all going by means of this on the similar time. Determine what works finest in your staff. Meet together with your friends, and talk about particular points, like processing distinctive information sorts and study which options you possibly can provide to the case staff. It’s sometimes not a single resolution. You could want completely different purposes for some cases, resembling these with fashionable attachments. We deal with understanding the case staff’s challenges to assist develop a holistic technique, somewhat than solely present technical assist. They’re our inner shoppers, and we have to assist them talk extra successfully with the agency’s exterior shoppers. It might probably actually be simple to get overwhelmed as a result of there are a lot of completely different information sorts, and you’ll not be the knowledgeable on all the things, however depend on those that are the specialists and get data from them.
Ari Kaplan: Outdated know-how, particularly case administration, was one other theme within the Advancing Litigation Help to Gas Progress in a Altering Authorized Market report. How have you learnt when it’s time to discover a brand new resolution, and what are your suggestions for others as they choose new purposes?
Julia Voss: You begin to notice it is perhaps time to have a look at a brand new resolution when individuals aren’t utilizing the one you might have or there’s higher know-how that may present extra assist. Give attention to listening to the individuals round you to grasp their evolving wants higher. The toughest a part of exploring a brand new resolution is discovering individuals with time to check the choices and assist decide one of the best ways to maneuver ahead, particularly with all of the know-how out there resulting from developments in generative AI. With many issues altering directly, you want a gaggle of people that perceive what your know-how is doing and what a brand new product might enhance.
Ari Kaplan: Does outdated know-how contribute to an absence of adoption?
Lynn Tubalinal: Litigation assist groups should at all times steadiness using outdated know-how with the price of shifting to a more recent, sooner and higher resolution. Getting groups to purchase into that improve could be a problem. As technologists, we’re obsessed with bettering our instruments, however value, adoption and different variables issue into the final word resolution to alter.
Ari Kaplan: What methods have been profitable in encouraging adoption in your agency?
Julia Voss: Presenting the attorneys with the advantages as a substitute of highlighting options alone is crucial. The best technique is to start with a small staff that pilots the applying and presents the outcomes to affect adoption. As soon as customers see outcomes, they’re extra prone to make the most of the brand new instrument.
Ari Kaplan: Generative AI has been and can proceed to be a scorching subject. How are you utilizing AI in your agency, and what have you ever realized out of your experiences up to now?
Lynn Tubalinal: There are various kinds of AI, not simply generative AI, and we’ve got been using extra conventional AI in our workflows for years. We simply bought a generative AI part for our e-discovery doc assessment platform and are excited to deploy it. I’m attempting to establish my champions, who can use it of their issues and supply trustworthy suggestions. Most legal professionals need to see outcomes, somewhat than the nuts and bolts of how the know-how works. Based mostly on the impressions of generative AI that I’ve heard, all people’s ready to see what others are doing. No one desires to be behind the curve, and we need to undertake it, however we’re cautiously treading into the world.
Julia Voss: We have now additionally been utilizing completely different sorts of AI for a very long time, however generative AI is the plain new shiny toy. We had been testing generative AI in our doc assessment platform for just a few months and are beginning to develop entry to develop adoption. For assets and coaching, we have to persuade the professionals on our staff to allocate the time to replace their expertise utilizing generative AI merchandise, in order that the good individuals we’ve got can proceed to assist the authorized groups transfer ahead.
Ari Kaplan: What’s your staff doing in 2025 to keep up its aggressive edge?
Lynn Tubalinal: Making certain that the expertise that we’ve got can make the most of our full suite of instruments and be our champions. Schooling and advertising are paramount. I spent a lot of 2024 advertising my staff as a result of not everybody absolutely understands what we do. My staff is simply attempting to get the work accomplished however might not essentially know tips on how to market the staff whereas they’re supporting others. I’ve been engaged on that internally by encouraging extra direct assist, resembling a telephone name over an e mail or Groups chat. We’re shifting again to fundamentals to higher showcase our expertise and capabilities.
Julia Voss: What didn’t shock me about this report is that we’re all attempting to do among the similar issues. We’re internally rebranding our group as the information intelligence staff. We’re showcasing the talents of our technologists and e-discovery counsel to boost their profile and spotlight the place they will present assist, so the trial groups can deal with the deserves of their instances.
Hearken to the entire interview at Reinventing Professionals.
Ari Kaplan repeatedly interviews leaders within the authorized business and within the broader skilled companies group to share perspective, spotlight transformative change and introduce new know-how at his blog and on iTunes.
This column displays the opinions of the creator and never essentially the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Affiliation.
