Intelligence Research Credit: SFIO CRACHO/Shutterstock.com

 

The Annual National Docketing Association (NDA) Conference held last week in Denver—the group's most well-attended event since its inception eight years ago—drew 200 attendees who gathered to learn about best practices in technology and see first hand some of the innovation taking place in this sector. With 962 active members (and 172 added just since last year), the NDA is made up of seven chapters nationally, and the group has sponsored over 50 events in 2019 so far including cyber socials, networking events, and education via monthly webinars.

The conference focus is to educate professionals in the latest best practices in technology, training, case management and policy and procedure to assist them in performing their jobs. This year's event covered some key areas of technology adoption including risk and change management. And from conference feedback, this growth could continue and the much overlooked but important aspect of the legal process continue to gain traction.

Here's what we learned.

Aaron Lukken, this year's keynote speaker, underscored the value of docketing professionals who are a necessary but often overlooked component in the litigation process. As the "chief sherpa" at Viking Advocates, Lukken works with a network of attorneys and agents to assist lawyers and law firms across North America navigate cross-border litigation.

"They make us all better at what we do," Lukken said. "Docketing pros are 'force multipliers.' Think of litigators as the leader of a mountain-climbing expedition and the sherpa are who get the expedition leaders to the top of the mountain."

In his session, "Developing a Docketing Policy," Randy Curato, vice president, senior loss prevention counsel, at ALAS, Inc., a risk retention group that insures lawyers in the U.S. and abroad, discussed the importance of missed deadlines.

"Missed deadlines are the leading cause of malpractice suits," said Curato. "The very definition of docketing is that it's a system for lawyers and law firms to verify, record, remind responsible lawyers of, and comply with, upcoming deadlines or the other dates requiring action."

He offered some "must haves" for law firms to follow when developing internal systems for docketing that would reduce risk, including centralized systems; easy-to-use UI; user inclusivity so everyone can use it; redundant calculation for setting court dates; redundant recording to assure that dates are not only set, but removed from a calendar; and ongoing reminders.

Curato also emphasized that the full process needs to be written down or accounted for in a way that everyone can participate. Implementing a new policy isn't something that one individual should be trusted with. Data from a pre-show survey found that only 51 percent of all law firms have a written policy.

A transparent process allows teams to not just meet the process, but also beat the process for added time in the event of error, he added. "If the docketing policy isn't written down, it's probably not getting done properly."

In the session "Motivating Change" session, Tara Kim Eberhart, director of paralegal service and docketing at Dentons US, discussed change management. She said to stimulate change in organizations, whether adopting a new workflow or new technology, or integrating with a new acquisition, it will require change management skills. Her experience in discussing this topic of change management and adopting new technology comes from overseeing the 150-plus member program in addition to the national general/litigation and intellectual property docketing teams and integrating a number of acquisitions through her firm.

"Organizations don't change, people do," said Eberhart. "It's difficult to get people to want to change, so how do we create a culture of change? Everyone has a theory, but better organizations have a process making it easier to rinse and repeat change."

In her talk, Eberhart focuses on creating and updating their docketing standard operating procedures regardless of technology, whether navigating an alliance, merger, or acquisition.

"Work hard and be nice to people when affecting change," Eberhart added. "You can't control change. You can only control your reaction to it."

Technology Innovation  

We found that of the 15 vendor sponsors who were present, only American LegalNet (ALN) had a new product to announce. The new solution looks to lower both costs and time taken to file with local courts, as well as reduce the risk of a filing being rejected.

While ALN's new e-Filing Portal was the sole product announcement at the three-day event, a number of other companies there recently had seen some product additions, growth, acquisitions, and partnerships. PacerPro recently announced that its technology is now in 40 percent of the Am Law 100. LawToolBox has been working on integration with Microsoft Office 365 and some of their newer work platforms including Microsoft Teams.

In all, the education, from working like a sherpa, to managing risk through documented process, and handling change through preparation and process, along with the growing technology offerings—and the growth of the NDA itself—all point to enhanced understanding of new technology and growth finding their way into this much-needed category.