& THE WINNERS ARE....

Congratulations to the winners of the 2007 Law Technology News Law Firm & Law Department Awards, announced today!

Winners will be honored at the Jan. 29 LTN Awards Dinner, at the NY Hilton & Towers, during LegalTech New York. Register here.

It's not too late to get your table or ticket for the LTN Awards Dinner! Details here.

Winners include:

Most innovative use of technology in a law firm: Morrison & Foerster’s Jo Haraf, chief information officer, Oz Benamram, knowledge management counsel from the New York office and James McKenna, firmwide litigation technology manager from the San Francisco office.

Haraf, Benamram and their team developed AnswerBase, an intelligent knowledge management system that allows users to find answers about documents, people, and matters from across a rich array of MoFo data sources. McKenna created a user-friendly vendor database for the firm’s litigation department, accessible from any of the firm’s multinational offices.

The judges also awarded an Honorable Mention in this category to Dianna Case, senior trial consulting manager for Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, for her work in the design and technology build-out of the firm’s Trial Practice Center.

Most innovative use of technology in a law dept: John Theriault, vice president, and Mary Ann Sarao, director, global security of Pfizer Inc. They conceived and developed an anti-piracy system. Their global security application improves communication and information sharing, helps bring criminals to justice, safeguards corporate revenues, protects consumer health, and helps ensure that pharmaceutical companies continue to invest in research and development for future cures.

Most innovative use of technology in a trial: Pen Volkmann, director of graphics and video services of Holland & Hart. He lead a team that used technology from Hollywood to translate complex testimony into artistically appealing visuals that persuaded a Miami jury to award $110 million in damages to the firm’s clients. His team helped to present complex science and accounting data in a way that was understandable and engaging for a jury that ranged from eighth-grade graduates to professionals with advanced degrees.

Most innovative use of technology for a pro bono project: Chip Goodman, IT director, Cheryl Garrett, senior programmer/analyst and the IT Department of Winston & Strawn. Over the course of the last three years, the IT department created a powerful in-house pro bono recruiting tool that allowed the national firm of nearly 900 attorneys to continually increase its pro bono capacity from nearly 26,000 hours in 2002 to nearly 40,000 hours in 2006.

Champion of Technology: John J. Kruse, director of records, imaging and conflicts at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. He lead the firm through many successful and innovative technology projects over the course of more than 30 years.  His contributions have included assisting early adopters of technology, working with the team that eventually created LegalKEY, as well as creating a more user-friendly environment for integrating the firm’s information management environment for document management, e-mail, and client relationship management.
 
IT Director of the Year: The judges chose Judith Flournoy, Chief Information Officer, of Loeb & Loeb, as the recipient of this year’s "IT Director" award.  She was recognized for her leadership in development of the firm’s Dynamic Document Drafting, or “D3," program, allowing attorneys and staff to re-use the same content multiple times without document corruption.  When a firm client depends on a form specific to their industry, the D3 user can harvest the document format directly into the D3 system for repeated use.

Full press release here:

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