IT Pros Climb Out of the Basement

We all know the stereotype of the basement-office, introverted information technology worker. But some large law firms are exploding that cliche by having more and more of their IT professionals work directly -- even full-time -- with clients.

Of course, many large firms have litigation support teams that sometimes work directly with clients on discovery issues.

Wisconsin-based Foley & Lardner is one firm that takes it a step further. There, technology consultant Charlotte Logullo's time is largely devoted to working with clients to set up secure online Web sites, or extranets. In addition to housing vast amounts of data, they also allow for things like conference calls -- complete with idea "white-boarding." These days, extranets are created for all kinds of legal work.

Electronic Data Discovery is Hot Business

In 1987, there was one business dedicated solely to providing electronic data discovery (EDD) services. In 1992, there were about five more. In 2000, there were about 40. Today, there are over 600 offerings, or purporting to offer, these services. They range in size from very large enterprises, to one or two people.
So say George Socha and Thomas Gelbmann, two St. Paul-based law technology consultants who have studied the wildfire expansion of the EDD industry for the past five years.