Evan Shenkman

Quoted:
Evan Shenkman, chief knowledge and innovation officer for Fisher Phillips, told Law.com earlier this year that, “For many reasons, some valid and some invalid, law firms tend to be risk-averse, especially when it comes to legal technology.”

“So I see two keys to encouraging innovation in the legal industry: firms need to be willing to go out on a limb and be an early supporter of startups, and firms have to be willing to publicly evangelize their innovative… Show more

Quoted:
Evan Shenkman, chief knowledge and innovation officer for Fisher Phillips, told Law.com earlier this year that, “For many reasons, some valid and some invalid, law firms tend to be risk-averse, especially when it comes to legal technology.”

“So I see two keys to encouraging innovation in the legal industry: firms need to be willing to go out on a limb and be an early supporter of startups, and firms have to be willing to publicly evangelize their innovative technology.

“The first question many law firms ask innovative legal tech providers is, ‘Who else is using it?’, and unless the answer rattles off a list of Am Law luminary customers, they’ll pass. Moreover, if firms are actually willing to take a chance on a startup, most then still refuse to go on record and talk about it publicly. To encourage innovation in the legal industry, that needs to change,” Shenkman said. Show less

With one year of GenAI under our belts, law firms and law departments are still wrestling with the multitude of ramifications of this extraordinary new technology.
This Chatham House Rules roundtable, moderated by the first US firm to deploy GenAI (Fisher Phillips), and Darth Vaughn of Ford Motor Company (the first in-house counsel to deploy GenAI), will facilitate a frank and honest group conversation about the expectations law departments have about outside counsel’s use of this… Show more

With one year of GenAI under our belts, law firms and law departments are still wrestling with the multitude of ramifications of this extraordinary new technology.
This Chatham House Rules roundtable, moderated by the first US firm to deploy GenAI (Fisher Phillips), and Darth Vaughn of Ford Motor Company (the first in-house counsel to deploy GenAI), will facilitate a frank and honest group conversation about the expectations law departments have about outside counsel’s use of this technology, its impact on the legal pricing and staffing models, the ways in which legal departments and outside counsel can otherwise partner to establish mutually agreed-upon business goals and success metrics, the effect of external regulations and guidelines, and more. Show less

Are you struggling to convince attorneys at your firm to embrace cutting-edge legal tech (like GenAI)? Here are some handy tips to overcome that challenge, courtesy of Sara Miro, Alex Chiang, and me.

Demystified AI at the premier legal conference for the PEO, Staffing, and Gig Economy Industries.

“Continuing our conversation from earlier this week, we're back on with Evan Shenkman of Fisher Phillips who shares his perspective on the intersection of AI and law, and how his firm's clients are battening down the hatches to stay current and ahead of the wave.”

I presented on GenAI use cases in Labor and Employment law as the featured guest at the AELC's first Roundtable of 2024.

Jennifer and I discussed and demonstrated our AI & API-powered automated client alert system to the Strategic Knowledge & Innovation Legal Leaders’ Summit (SKILLS) audience.

The Fisher Phillips AI Workplace Forum is the nation’s preeminent space focusing on the intersection of AI and all things employment – the singular place where innovative business leaders will get the news on how AI will be impacting their operations.
Up for discussion this episode: What will 2024 hold when it comes to artificial intelligence in the workplace? We’ll review our key predictions and provide employers with some tips on staying ahead of the curve. Joining us this episode are Evan… Show more

The Fisher Phillips AI Workplace Forum is the nation’s preeminent space focusing on the intersection of AI and all things employment – the singular place where innovative business leaders will get the news on how AI will be impacting their operations.
Up for discussion this episode: What will 2024 hold when it comes to artificial intelligence in the workplace? We’ll review our key predictions and provide employers with some tips on staying ahead of the curve. Joining us this episode are Evan Shenkman, the firm’s Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer, and special guest Arturo Ferreira, Co-Founder of the largest AI news and education platform in the world.
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In this full-length article, John Roemer details how Fisher Phillips helped Casetext develop and deploy CoCounsel, and how our attorneys are using it today,

We had a deep dive debate on the financial pressures librarians face in the current economic environment, including how to build strong partnerships with law firm library vendors, and negotiation skills to ensure law firm cost efficiencies.

We discuss the potential of APIs for enhanced legal processes, the ptimal utilization of APIs and cutting-edge technology in legal workflows, and how to incorporate the best practices of API integration and leverage the latest technology advancements in the legal sector.

We discussed persuasive techniques to overcome attorneys' resistance to change, effective strategies for influencing and motivating new and seasoned attorneys, and creative roll-out strategies that really work.

We discussed how KM and innovation can serve as key differentiators in competitive legal markets, and provided case studies of KM and tech-driven tools that improved internal processes and provided value-added services to clients that enhanced engagement, satisfaction, and ultimately, firm revenue.

I had the pleasure of presenting at Fisher Phillips' first AI Strategies at Work conference in D.C. last week, by kicking off the conference with a panel seeking to demystify #GenAI.

Interviewed on the June 23rd, 2023 episode of NPR's Marketplace about "the AI chatbots that lawyers are already using."

Discussed and debated the viability, adoption, adaptation, and disruption of GenAI and LLMs as it pertains to traditional modes of law practice.

We discussed practical uses in legal for GPT-4-powered generative AI.

Presented on AI, Digitization, and Data Analytics

I chatted with Pablo Arredondo, Evan Shenkman, and Darth Vaughn, about the ways that law firms, and corporate law departments, are incorporating AI into their law practices.

"The term "AI fatigue" has already entered the lexicon of mainstream culture as innovation in generative software seems to move at breakneck speed, but many legal professionals focused on technology for their firms, like Evan J. Shenkman, don't see it that way. In fact, Shenkman, chief knowledge and information officer at Fisher Phillips, told Law360 Pulse that he is excited about the future prospects of AI, short for artificial intelligence.

"I think I'm feeling more exhilarated than… Show more

"The term "AI fatigue" has already entered the lexicon of mainstream culture as innovation in generative software seems to move at breakneck speed, but many legal professionals focused on technology for their firms, like Evan J. Shenkman, don't see it that way. In fact, Shenkman, chief knowledge and information officer at Fisher Phillips, told Law360 Pulse that he is excited about the future prospects of AI, short for artificial intelligence.

"I think I'm feeling more exhilarated than exhausted," Shenkman said. "Legal tech has had years of being on the cusp of something extraordinary, and all of a sudden it is not only here, but much [more] powerful and versatile than we thought it would be." Show less

We discussed the seismic shift in the definition of Knowledge Management, KM initiatives with surprising ROI, why the KM tech stack is an overrated stat, and more.

In this roundtable discussion, Patrick DiDomenico, Wendy Merrill, and I explored the role of Legal Knowledge and KM in Law firm strategy formulation, business performance improvement and as a means of achieving strategic advantage.

Panel Discussion regarding best practices for vetting, piloting, contracting with, and partnering with legal tech vendors to ensure a successful outcome. Joined by Kate Cain (Fenwick), Lauren May (Sidley Austin), and Eleanor White (Shearman & Sterling)

Panel discussion on the risks and rewards of with a start-up legal tech company. We discussed how to vet a start-up, what you should look for in a start-up partner, how to give feedback, and when and why they are worth the risk.
Joined by Amir Reshef (CEO of DealCloser), Ari Treuhaft (COO of Litify), Christian Lang (COO of Reynen Court), Matt Rotenberg (CEO of Dashboard Legal), and Vishal Agnihotri (Alston & Bird)

Technology is constantly evolving, and it’s up to every company to stay relevant and competitive in their field by adopting technology to improve their practice. Lawyers are knowledge workers, and their valuable knowledge, from knowing local rules and precedents, to partner capabilities and judge preferences, must be recorded to be readily usable and make litigation more affordable and accessible to clients. Knowledge management expert and former litigator Evan Shenkman sheds light on how tech… Show more

Technology is constantly evolving, and it’s up to every company to stay relevant and competitive in their field by adopting technology to improve their practice. Lawyers are knowledge workers, and their valuable knowledge, from knowing local rules and precedents, to partner capabilities and judge preferences, must be recorded to be readily usable and make litigation more affordable and accessible to clients. Knowledge management expert and former litigator Evan Shenkman sheds light on how tech has propelled legal knowledge management to new heights, to the point it has become a necessity to attract and retain clients. Show less

Speakers:
Jennifer Leonard, Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Future of the Profession Initiative, The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
John R. Fernandez, Global Chief Innovation Officer, Dentons
Evan Shenkman, Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer, Fisher & Phillips LLP
Lizzy McLellan, Senior Editor, Business of Law, ALM

Breakthroughs in application of neural nets to language have created enormous opportunities for legal professionals. In this presentation I showcase our firm's experience with WeSearch, the first artificial neural network application for law.

My colleague Jen and I provide an overview of the history of AI and Data Analytics in legal, and some opportunities for law firms looking to get in the game.

Joe Borstein talks with Evan Shenkman about innovation in the legal industry, which has seen an explosion of talent and start-ups in recent years. Tremendous advances are being made, for example, in leveraging parallel search to find similar concepts in cases rather than using keywords. This is a huge help to litigators. Closer to home, Fisher Phillips’ COVID-19 Employment Litigation Tracker is the go-to resource for information on the uptick of claims across the US.

The global pandemic forced legal professionals and judicial officers to innovate at an unprecedented rate. On this panel, I joined Joe Borstein (Co-Founder and CEO of LexFusion), Jennifer Leonard (Chief Innovation Officer Executive Director, Future of the Profession Initiative at Penn Law), and Rachel Dooley (Interim Managing Counsel for McKinsey) to examine the role of technology in this ongoing experiment.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our KM and Innovation department had a good idea: We presumed that employers would be interested in tracking COVID-19 related employment lawsuits, so we spent a few days and built a COVID-19 litigation tracker and uploaded it to our website. It tracked lawsuits by claim type, by employer size, by industry, and by region. The tracker almost immediately went viral, became the top hit on Google, and was featured in Forbes, Newsweek, CNN, among other media… Show more

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our KM and Innovation department had a good idea: We presumed that employers would be interested in tracking COVID-19 related employment lawsuits, so we spent a few days and built a COVID-19 litigation tracker and uploaded it to our website. It tracked lawsuits by claim type, by employer size, by industry, and by region. The tracker almost immediately went viral, became the top hit on Google, and was featured in Forbes, Newsweek, CNN, among other media sources. It provided the general public with key information to help employers stay afloat, and it also brought our firm a considerable amount of new business and enhanced credibility. Yet it cost our firm almost nothing to build. At this conference I discussed the history of our tracker, and takeaways for firms looking for similar opportunities. Show less

Interviewed by Law360 Pulse about how I developed Fisher Phillips' customized data analytics plan.

In this episode, ILTA's Beth Anne Stuebe chats with Evan about how you can/should trust, love, and welcome legal tech Startups to your firm.

Discussed the proactive strategic role of firms and how to build an innovation strategy to capture more business; the impact of COVID-19 on the acceleration of BI initiatives and identify new growth opportunities; and advanced analytics, the shift towards prescriptive analytics and budget friendly ways to implement change.

Get tips for making a pitch for new technology and what it takes to justify the firm’s investment of new technology in this environment.
Hear case studies about two exciting AI initiatives, one aiming to predict court outcomes with a 90% accuracy rate, and another aiming to predict legal fees based upon case criteria.
Discover how the KM Innovation and library functions can raise the reputation of a firm leading to more business and better client relationships.

Kickoff Speaker on Cowen Cafe Panel, along with Amy Segeren (Legal Technology Manager, Chevron) and Sharon Morrison (Chief of Staff, Citrix).

Webcast, with Lex Machina CEO Karl Harris, and DLA Piper Partner Eric Falkenberrt, about the impact of legal data analytics in 2021.

Today’s Guest: Evan Shenkman, Senior Director of Knowledge Management at Fisher Phillips and TCL Awards 2020 Legal Innovator of the Year

“I spoke with Evan Shenkman, the senior director of knowledge management at Fisher Phillips, a labor and employment law firm. We discussed how knowledge management has changed over the past few months, the firm’s recent alliance with LegalMation and Thomson Reuters, how it will benefit clients and practitioners, and what the heightened focus on automation means for the future of the practice of law.”

Discusses how Fisher Phillips has partnered with Blue J Legal Inc. to bring the Toronto legal tech company’s AI-powered technology, which predicts court outcomes in the employment law arena, to the United States.

Featured in article in both The American Lawyer and Law.com about Fisher Phillips' alliance with A.I. / Data Analytics company LegalMation, and Research company Thomson Reuters, to develop an innovative system to draw predictions from Fisher Phillips' internal data and integrate it with data collected from public sources in order to reach a “360-degree view” of the likely outcomes of litigation.

The Panel discussed ways AI, Machine Learning, and Advanced Analytics can drive impact in Big Law, with panelists Evan Shenkman, Nicola Shaver, Anna McGrane, Svetlana Reznik, Joshua Fireman, and Jeff Saper.

Provided my thoughts on the future of KM in legal, alongside fellow KM practitioners Kate Cain (Sidley Austin), Alicia Ryan (Fenwick & West), and Martha Breil (McGuire Woods).

Authored the first article in a series of articles in the AALL Spectrum on the transformation of the law firm.

Discussed ways that law firms can use KM to bring in meaningful firm business - both at the pitch stage, and as a revenue-generator with KM client-facing service offerings.

On this podcast, I discussed how I got into KM, and how to evaluate legal AI technology, and what I see as the “holy grail” of legal technology.

Panelist (with Patrick DiDomenico and Jennifer Mendez) discussing how Ogletree Deakins brought its Library services into its KM Department.

A deep dive into the Evolving Role of the PSL: featuring contributions from current PSLs, it provides up-to-the-minute intelligence from an insider’s perspective on common issues and the solutions to tackle them. Advice from experts, ranging from knowledge management specialists to PSL recruiters, and compelling case studies that provide a crucial insight into real-world industry and career experience.

Co-presented Meredith Williams, Chief Knowledge Management officer at Baker Donelson, about best practices in assessing cutting-edge legal technology.

Panelist (along with Cindy Thurston Bare, Director of Knowledge Management at Orrick; and Ginevra Saylor, who develops Denton Canada's knowledge management and innovation strategy) in roundtable discussion about starting and optimizing KM programs in law firms.

Presented on panel of industry leaders and law firm search experts discussing the importance of an effective search experience, what an ideal search looks like from the perspectives of different stakeholders and best practices you can use regardless of which technology solution you've implemented.

Presented on a panel of three law firm professionals and three vendors discussing enterprise search solutions, how to vet the products, the use cases that enterprise search addresses, what makes a successful solution, and how can you take your solution to the next level (without a high price tag).

Presented on a panel (with Michael Mills, President & Chief Strategy Officer of Neota Logic;
Oz Benamram, Chief Knowledge Officer, White & Case; and Kingsley Martin, President & CEO, KMStandards) addressing the disconnect between what law firms think they know about Enterprise Search—and what’s actually happening.

Can legal KM initiatives actually increase attorney carelessness and risk-taking? Tips for dealing with risk compensation.