Corporate vs Legal IT

Pamela Cottier

Tracey Schreiner

Lawnet 2001

DuPont Legal ITHistory

• Corporate IT group was unable to effectively support the legal niche.

• Applications could not be leveraged– Matter management, litigation support apps,

patent systems.

• Staffing flexibility could not be managed.– Limited short-term resources

History (cont.)• Aggressive rollout schedules were unachievable

– WAN to 35 converged law firms time est. at 11.5 to 17 years.

• Corporate IT challenged Legal to achieve better results and Legal jumped!!

• Corporate IT proceeded to outsource network management, help desk, and IT consulting. Legal decided to retain separate IT organization

Organizational Development

• First yr, entered into an insource/outsource arrangement for the provision of IT services with outside consulting firm.– Temporary solution to define structure and

determine best practice for future.

• Full management converted to dedicated Legal IT staff in 1996.

Organizational Structure

• Determined IT required three components:– Network/Architecture– PC Desktop/Help Desk– Applications/Projects

• Developed Strategic Staffing Structure:– Management/Technical/Project Leadership in-

house– Technical staffing out-sourced.

DuPont Legal IT Organization

DuPont employees

Contract employees

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Internal Process• Budget managed by IT Manager

• Technical decisions made internally by IT

• New system implementations usually brought to IT via Six Sigma or strategic leadership decision.

• Smaller projects brought to IT by Legal users

• Project team manages all aspects of implementation.

The Application Universe

LitigationSmartCounselTymetrixKnowledgeBaseAccounts Payable interfaces

Litigation SupportVirtual PartnerTeam CalendarsCase Databases

PatentsMIS-PatentsMIS-TrademarksMIS-ContractsMIS-Invoices

OtherRecords ManagementCorporate SecretaryGroup databasesZixMailWeb services

Segregation of DutiesCorporate IT

• Telecom Services (incl Internet connectivity)

• Corporate Infrastructure• Off the shelf software

guidelines/license negotiations.

• PC Specifications• Mainframe• Sourcing/Purchasing• Lotus Notes Management

Legal IT

• Help Desk

• Desktop implementation/support

• Network administration

• VPN implementation and support

• Project/application management and implementation

• Training

• Lotus Notes administration

• Proprietary systems development

Benefits• Flexibility

– Accelerated implementation schedules– Freedom to deviate from Corporately guidelined software.– Able to rapidly adopt new technologies (VPN, Web-based

services)

• Responsiveness– Team of on-site desktop support personnel.– Develop solutions for small and large user groups.– Rapid adjustments to network design to meet changing

requirements. (USPTO, VPN, ASP solutions).

Benefits (cont.)• Responsiveness (cont.)

– “SWAT” teams can organize quickly around problems or litigation-driven requirements (EDD, System failures/anomalies).

• Cost– Desktop support = 60% of those in similar functions

within DuPont while providing increase services.– Management of network backups saves

approximately $600,000 per year.

Benefits (cont.)

• Cost (cont.)– Project/implementations are 60% dedicated to

Six Sigma solutions resulting in hard cost savings to the Legal function.

Challenges• Communication

– Difficulty staying “tapped in” to Corporate initiatives.

• Leveragability– Corporate IT does not consider Legal in

development of leveraged applications.

• External Problem Resolution– Problems/issues at the interface have increased

complexity

Challenges (cont.)• User Perception

– Perceived as “only” IT organization accountable.– Difficult to communicate when problem

resolution is outside our control.– “Raised the bar”- Users expectations increase

beyond Corporate standards and budgetary limitations.

– High level of user dependence.

Benchmarking Learnings

• Surveyed Corporate Listserv.

• Received 10 valid responses.

• Correlated Level of Reliance on Corporate IT with benefits and challenges.

Findings

• Unexpected Results:

Benefits and Challenges are similar regardless of structure!

Reliance on Corporate IT

Low

High

ABCDEFGHIJ

Reliance onCorporate IT

Flexibility

Low

High

High

How would you rate Legal IT’s level of flexibility? Example: Flexibility in system implementations, deviation from Corporate guidelines, ability to adopt new technologies.

Reliance onCorporate IT

ResponsivenessLow

High

High

How would you rate Legal IT’s level of responsiveness? Example: Ability to quickly perform onsite desktop support, to respond/develop solutions for small and large groups of users, to adapt networks to changing Legal requirements/systems.

Reliance onCorporate IT

Cost

Low

High

High

How would you rate Legal IT’s cost? Example: Cost of desktop support, network and projects.

Reliance onCorporate IT

Communication

Low

High

High

How would you rate Legal IT quality of communication with Corporate IT?Example: Ability to be informed of Corporate IT initiatives/communicate Legal requirements.

Reliance onCorporate IT

Leveragability

Low

High

High

How would you rate Legal IT’s level of systems leveragability? Example: Ability to influence Corporate-wide system selection and to leverage Legal applications across the Corporation.

Reliance onCorporate IT

Problem ResolutionLow

High

High

How would you rate Legal IT’s ability to resolve IT problems outside of Legal’scontrol?

Example: Access to decision makers/problem solvers in Corporate IT.

Reliance onCorporate IT

User SatisfactionLow

High

High

How would you rate the level of user satisfaction?

Questions?