1. technology and computing

VOLUME
10,
ISSUE
SPRING
3
2015
V O L U M E
1 0 ,
S P R I N G
In This Issue
4
6
8
10
President’s Message
What your Firm Needs to Consider When Implementing a Virtual
Desktop Solution
Business Partner Spotlight: Steven Kruza, Kruza Legal Search
Bragging Rights
11
Survey Finds Majority of Lawyers Still Skeptical of TAR Technology
13
January Board Retreat
14
Law Firm Renovations: The Top 3 Factors for a Successful Project
16
First State Chapter Business Partners
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2013
ALA National Newsletter Excellence Award
FIRST PLACE
First State Chapter Board
Sherry Perna, CLM, President
Telephone: 302-888-6966
E-mail: sperna@morrisjames.com
Julie Dubreuil, President-Elect
Telephone: 302-468-5627
E-mail: julie.dubreuil@dlapiper.com
Editorial Board
Shelly Daly
Julie Dubreuil
Lori Forsythe
Denise Frawley
Susan Holton
Deborah McKinney
Kellie Snyder-Roncace
Spring 2014 Issue Editor:
Susan Holton
Kellie Snyder-Roncace, Vice President
Telephone: 302-651-7522
E-mail: snyder-roncace@rlf.com
Lisa Pedicone, Treasurer
Telephone: 302-467-4442
E-mail: pedicone@lrclaw.com
Amy Kiefer, Past President
Telephone 302-429-1900
E-mail: akiefer@bglawde.com
Please forward all article submissions for future newsletters to:
Susan Holton, sholton@skjlaw.com
www.FirstStateALA.org
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4
President’s Message
A
predecessors.
s we start to get into
the new year of 2015,
we again start another year
of ALA’s First State Chapter
events, renewals, and Board
changes. It is hopeful that
this year, and years to come,
will continue to build upon
the solid foundation
established by our
As we were digging out of the snow these past
few months, our Chapter held its annual board
meeting to discuss how we can retain, build and
educate our Members and Business Partners,
commit to helping our community, provide
valuable relationships between Members and
Business Partners, and entertain everyone at the
same time! The meeting produced many ideas
that we hope to implement over this coming year.
We also held our annual election of officers at our
March monthly education meeting. This year,
effective April 1, 2015, our Executive Board
consists of the following members:
Sherry Perna, CLM – President
Julie Dubreuil – President-Elect
Kellie Snyder-Roncace – Vice President
Lisa Pedicone – Treasurer
Amy Kiefer – Past President
Our Secretary position is open at this time with
the Executive Board taking three month rotations
in the position until we can recruit a member to
join our team. I have faith in my board in handling
this additional responsibility in the interim. Thank
you all for stepping up to help lead the chapter
this year.
To start off the year, we are holding our Annual
Business Partner Orientation event March 23,
2015 to welcome back our returning Business
Partners and also to welcome new Business
Partners. None of this would be possible without
the relationships we have built with you in order
to keep our legal community running efficiently.
So, we thank you for your continued support of
the Chapter and its members.
We also will have our first community event, our
annual Easter Party at St. Michael’s School. If you
have not participated in this event in the past, it is
a well-deserved party for the kids in our
community. It is an enjoyable event, especially to
see the kids’ smiles and squeals when our
infamous Easter Bunny shows up!
As the weather is warming up, which will be a
welcoming change, we will be holding our annual
Legal Leadership Dinner in May with our leading
attorneys at our firms. Please come and join us
for a night of mingling, an educational presentation
on Cyber Security, and also to congratulate our
Volunteer of the Year, which is announced each
year at this event.
Don’t forget to join us in Nashville, TN at the
Annual Conference May 17 – 20, 2015. As always,
this event allows us to get educated and enjoy
some social time with fellow colleagues and friends
from different areas of the country. And who
could miss seeing Rick Springfield sing at the
Grand Finale Event!
To round out the first half of 2015, we will have
our Annual Business Partner Event in June. We
are diligently working on something fun and
exciting for this event and look forward to keeping
our Members and Business Partners engaged.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
 April 14, 2015
12:00 p.m.—1:30 p.m
Legal Records Moving from Paper
to Electronic Storage
DLA Piper
 May 12, 2015
12:00 p.m.—1:30 p.m.
Bullying in the
Workplace
Morris Nichols
I also want to thank all of our Committee Chairs,
as we could not pull off all of the things that go on Please don’t forget to visit our website at
 May 17-20, 2015
throughout the year without them. They are:
www.firststateala.org. We have been making
ALA Annual
updates with new and existing Business Partners,
Conference and
membership data, and have added a new section
Denise Frawley – Business Partner Committee
for Board Position Job Descriptions. We hope
Kellie Snyder-Roncace – Social Committee
Exposition
this will help anyone who would like to step up to
Lori Forsythe – Communications Committee
Music City
a Board position but is unsure of the time
Rachel Nuzzi – Membership Committee
Nashville, TN
Elizabeth Danforth – Education Committee
(Continued on page 5)
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commitment and responsibility of the positions. I
have been active within the committees and board
for about seven years now and can assure you
that it is well worth the time spent. I have learned
so much and have grown so much in these past
years from being involved and working with my
fellow members and colleagues, I could never
thank them enough. The support and education
of the legal field has been invaluable to me in my
role at Morris James LLP.
may have. We encourage participation at every
level.
Thank you again for everyone’s support and
involvement in the Chapter.
Sherry A. Perna, CLM
ALA First State Chapter President
Controller, Morris James LLP
Please feel free to contact myself or another
Board member with any ideas or questions you
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Please enjoy this issue of the Blue Hen News.
Here is to a great year!
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What Your Firm Needs to Consider When
Implementing a Virtual Desktop Solution
In recent years we have seen a surge of
smartphones acting as laptops and laptops
acting as desktops as today’s workers continue
to spend more time outside of the office rather
than at their desks. As this trend of accessing
information from anywhere at all hours
continues to spread, it is becoming more
important that businesses across all verticals,
including legal, consider adopting technology
solutions like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
(VDI). In the legal industry, VDI can be a “case
winning” solution, as it is an Internet-based
hosted desktop service that allows employees,
using appropriate
security precautions,
to access and save
their information away
from their desktop or
laptop systems. Much
of lawyers’ work is
done while traveling, at
home after hours, or in
the court room
between
proceedings—i.e.
locations that have
traditionally made
remote work more difficult due to clunky
interfaces and limited access. Having secured,
on-the-go access to their work environments
and assets can prove a vital tool to increase
effectiveness and streamline their work,
regardless of where they’re working.
traditional desktop currently offers my firm?”
VDIs do, of course, provide a simplified
architecture that delivers mobility, remote
access and consistency. However, there are
many design components to consider before
deciding to take advantage of VDI’s benefits. A
simplified architecture also requires an
appropriate staff to maintain it and ensure
increased simplicity does not mean decreased
security or functionality, even as your VDI
environment grows and changes. Ask yourself:
Do you have someone in-house who can
oversee the management of this system? Can
you use a third party
service provider like
mindSHIFT—who can
oversee the management
of the VDI? For long
term success, it is
important to have a
process plan in place
before making the
decision to switch from
traditional desktop to
virtual.
Next, consider the cost
and overall performance you’re looking
for….
Cloud-based virtual desktop services can
provide savings by reducing or eliminating
capital costs, especially for firms without an inhouse IT staff. Consider your existing
VDI affords your firm many new possibilities,
enterprise and its benefits before deciding
offering the flexibility to adjust firm resources
whether or not to implement a VDI. Much of
based on the users’ needs. Of course,
the cost of a virtual desktop environment is in
centralized desktop and application
the backend equipment purchase (a capital
management and on-the-go efficiency sound like expense) and the day-to-day operation of the
dreams come true—and they often are. But
servers and storage equipment (an operating
how do you know if your firm is ready for VDI? expense). Much of the savings involved come in
the form of soft costs recouped through
First, consider the architecture and
productivity and reduced maintenance of
complexity of an individual environment…. desktop PCs, so while they might not be
obvious, they are discernible if you look in the
It’s not out of the ordinary for decision makers right place. Unlike traditional environments, a
to ask the question, “Will a VDI wind up
virtual desktop user or administrator can easily
offering all of the necessary benefits that a
(Continued on page 7)
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change, instead of needing to have a specific tool at
hand exactly where and when you need it, or
change the hardware profile based on the user’s
manually updating every piece of hardware used for
current needs and how conditions – including
work – as you do in some of the older
hardware – have changed. The productivity gains of environments – you can go in and make the change
virtual desktop operation – increased portability
from your central controls, and those changes can
and efficiency, as discussed above – can be
then be pushed out to everyone. And as they say,
significant, while also adding directly to your
it’s done in a snap. 
bottom line.
(Continued from page 6)
Lastly, consider the management needs of a
VDI system….
Will bringing an in-house IT professional or a thirdparty IT services provider provide your firm with
ROI, and which option is more suited to your
resources? There are many specialized skill sets
needed to maintain a VDI in an ever-changing law
environment, but one of the many perks of VDI is
that the act of managing itself is quite easy, as the
controls are all centralized. If you need to make a
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For more information about mindSHIFT Technologies and our IT services for law
firms, visit www.mindSHIFT.com, or connect one-on-one with a local mindSHIFT
legal IT solution specialist: Tim Alvarez (Tim.Alvarez@mindSHIFT.com; 571-6437154) or Michael Ubaldini (Michael.Ubaldini@mindSHIFT.com; 267-852-3274).
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Business Partner Spotlight: Steven Kruza, Kruza Legal Search
Please provide some
biographical
highlights about
yourself: title, primary
responsibilities,
number of years at
Kruza Legal Search
and positions you
have held there,
what you did prior to
working there,
education, any other
organizations you
belong to or relevant
industry affiliations.
I have served as President and CEO of Kruza Legal
Search for the past 10 years. In 2001 I joined KLS
and launched the firm’s attorney search division. I
have broad experience recruiting associate, of
counsel, and partner candidates throughout the
Northeast Corridor and nationally. Prior to joining
KLS, I was a recruiter for a firm based in New
York that focused on a wide range of industries
including financial services, software development
and e-commerce. I received my B.S. from the
Wharton School of Business at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Please tell us a little about Kruza Legal Search and the
services you provide and how you think you stand out
from the competition.
KLS has been serving the legal community for over
30 years and has established an outstanding track
record of successful placements with many of the
most prestigious law firms and corporate legal
departments in the country. When servicing
clients, our approach is to employ creative
recruiting strategies and solutions. We listen to
our clients and focus on their strategic growth
objectives. Our goal has always been to provide
clients access to hiring opportunities that are not
available elsewhere. We concentrate on adding
value to our clients’ growing practices by
developing strong relationships with our clients and
the candidates we introduce.
Describe the accomplishment in which you take the
most pride, with relation to your role in your company.
I am most proud of navigating my business through
the economic down-turn. Many of our
competitors closed-up shop and we were fortunate
to be able to continue to service our clients during
a very difficult period. I think that speaks to our
relationships and reputation in the legal
community. Our clients still had growth areas and
we were there to work with them on their hiring
needs. These challenges proved to make us even
better at what we do.
What trends, areas of focus or challenges do you
foresee as most important to your customers?
Our law firm clients will continue to face a more
competitive environment for legal talent due to a
shrinking population of associates at law firms. The
firms that are able to stand out and connect with
millennials will have the most success.
Working with law firms requires a unique approach
which differs from that of other corporations - how has
your experience been working with law firms as
opposed to non-law firm clients and traditional
corporations?
Law firms tend to hire lawyers on a much faster
time-table than corporations mainly due to the
unpredictable nature of staffing law firm
projects. Therefore, we have always focused our
value on efficiency and creativity for our law firm
clients. In house lawyer hiring tends to be a more
deliberate process. The life-cycle for an in house
lawyer search will often take several months with
many more steps to the process and much more
rigorous candidate evaluation.
How has your industry been impacted by the financial
crisis, and how has your company responded?
The financial crisis has caused many of our clients
to more carefully evaluate the costs of using
professional search firms. We’ve responded by not
(Continued on page 9)
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(Continued from page 8)
only focusing on introducing candidates to be
placed but also on providing value through each
step of the recruiting process. Our goal is to
partner with our clients through every step of
the hiring process.
Why do you support the ALA?
We support the ALA because we feel it’s critical
to maintain an organization that addresses the
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ever changing challenges for law firm leadership
and management.
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Bragging Rights
In our “Bragging Rights”
feature, we list recent
member news such as
awards, degrees, personal
and professional
accomplishments and
everything else they’d like
the world to know! If you
have an item you’d like to
contribute to a future
column, please send it to Susan Holton at
sholton@skjlaw.com
Tom Ralston’s son Matt recently presented and
defended his Master’s thesis (in Bioinformatics and
Computational Biology) at UD. The title of his
work is Assembling Improved Gene Annotations in
Clostridium Acetobutylicum with RNA Sequencing. For
the next couple months Matt will continue working
on projects at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute
while distilling his thesis into a couple journal
articles and looking for a job. Matt (and Tom) can
see the finish line!
Ipro Tech, LLC announced that the Executive
Office for the United States Attorneys has entered
into a new contract with Ipro, expanding its use of
Ipro to include the Eclipse SE Suite throughout
their 94 districts nationwide.
Elizabeth Danforth’s dog Emma “graduated” from
therapy dog training with www.PawsForPeople.org
in January! Elizabeth and Emma are now able to
visit designated hospitals, nursing homes, etc. They
visit the VA Medical Center in Wilmington every
Carol Travia, Joann Winterle and Jean Chaney
Sunday afternoon and love to meet the nation’s
attained the new SHRM-SCP (SHRM Senior
heroes.
Certified Professional) competency-based
certification last month. Well done ladies! 
Congratulations Emma!
*For office supplies, breakroom, furniture, janitorial
and printing*
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Survey Finds Majority of Lawyers Still
Skeptical of TAR Technology
A survey completed by Ipro Tech shows 67%
believe attorneys will continue to view Technology
Assisted Review (TAR) with skepticism in 2015.
The survey, conducted by lpro at the 2015
LegalTech New York conference, included just
under 100 trade show participants.
more about its uses and benefits, and see it being
used in publicized cases, they'll gain more of an
understanding of the technology while becoming
more comfortable with it.
What's interesting is despite the lack of
transparency, data collected and reviewed using
The question is why, after years of TAR being in
TAR is actually widely accepted in courtroom
the public eye, being accepted in courts, and being proceedings and case studies have shown that TAR
used by high-profile legal teams, are the majority of saves time and money. The United States
lawyers still skeptical about the technology?
Department of Justice has a set of TAR guidelines
According to U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge in place, which shows that the technology is not as
Elizabeth Laporte, the answer is because lawyers
"unknown" as many lawyers fear.
are historically late adopters when it comes to
technology.
Fear #2 - Too Difficult to Use: One of the biggest
hurdles for technology adoption in any industry is
Just a decade ago people were asking the same
the learning curve. Recent examples include hybrid
question about scanning technology as lawyers
cars and smartphones. Despite both of those
refused to let go of their warehouses full of
technologies having obvious benefits for
documents. Today, just like when scanning
consumers, it took time to gain acceptance
technology finally gained mass acceptance, the key because initial designs were clunky and features
to integration of TAR technology is a more
weren't always easy to use.
thorough education by both the lawyers
themselves and the TAR software developers to
As the technology evolved into a simpler
alleviate the most common fears.
automation with user-friendly features, acceptance
and use skyrocketed.
Fear #1 - Lack of Transparency: It is human
nature to be skeptical of something you don't
TAR technology is going through a similar curve.
understand. As EDRM's George Socha said during While it is the responsibility of lawyers to dip their
a tweet chat at LegalTech, lawyers that are not
toes into understanding TAR software, it's on the
traditionally educated in computer programming,
shoulders of the developers to design simple
advanced mathematics or coding will feel
interfaces and process flow automation that every
intimidated by the power and capabilities of TAR. lawyer can not just understand, but use on day
one.
Sarai Guerra, lpro's VP of lpro Client Services, says
that many legal experts are skeptical because they Fear #3 - Too Expensive: Cost has always been
don't know how it works, even though it works
and will always be a concern for lawyers and
similar to popular and accepted technologies like
clients. However, several case studies have proven
Pandora or Amazon.
conclusively that even when factoring the costs of
collection and storage, TAR is abundantly able to
"The more they see it and the more that it works, reduce costs by doing review faster and with
they will be comfortable enough to trust it," said
fewer people. This conclusion is backed up by the
Guerra. She added, "TAR is a challenge for
American Bar Association writing:
attorneys. We need to tell a story that can hold up
when others try to take it apart." Guerra believes While some lawyers still think that linear (i.e. manual)
that as lawyers learn about TAR advances, read
(Continued on page 12)
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(Continued from page 11)
judicially-approved for use in appropriate cases."
review is the gold standard, "statistics clearly show
that computerized searches are at least as accurate,
if not more so, than manual review." Moreover,
Grossman-Cormack's seminal article noted that
"technology-assisted reviews require, on average,
human review of only 1.9% of the documents, a fifty
-fold savings over manual review," thus establishing
significant cost savings with TAR over manual review.
Granted not all litigators are as technologically
fluent as Judge Peck, but his ruling and countless
cases have proven TAR both efficient and
defensible in court. It doesn't stop in the
courtroom either.
Fear #4 - Unable to Defend Technology in
Court: Lawyers are instinctively conservative
towards technology because they want to avoid
anything that might pose a problem in court.
Since all lawyers have experience and success
with human review procedures, they are
reluctant to update methods out of fears it will
harm a client's case. However, back in 2011 the
judicial system gave lawyers the green light to
utilize TAR technology, with Judge Andrew Peck
writing:
TAR skepticism will continue to be a factor for
2015 and likely years to come due to the
industry's history of slow acceptance in
technology and reluctance to replace proven, but
outdated, methods. As judges, lawyers and
software developers continue to educate the
industry about the advantages of TAR and dispel
myths about TAR usage, the skepticism will
lessen, just as it did before with scanning
technology.
Legal technology companies have the obligation
to produce software that prioritizes, predicts
and reports the methodology of responsive
While the burden is on lawyers to recognize the documents with the click of a mouse, so
cost savings in TAR, it's also on software
attorneys can focus on building their case
providers to make their products affordable for strategy, not how the technology works or its
wider adoption; whether that's by including
defensibility. Lawyers won't fully accept TAR
analytics at no additional cost or by including
software unless that duty is met.
more automated workflows that reduce review
time.
Conclusion
"What the Bar should take away from this Opinion is
that computer assisted review is an available tool
and should be seriously considered for use in largedata-volume cases where it may save the producing
party (or both parties) significant amounts of legal
fees in document review. Counsel no longer have to
worry about being the "first" or "guinea pig" for
judicial acceptance of computer-assisted review.
Computer­ assisted review now can be considered
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
January Board Retreat
Andy Logan, Amy Kiefer, Sherry Perna, Rachel Nuzzi, Linda Flaherty and Julie Dubreuil Each January the First State ALA Board gets together to
discuss their plans for the Chapter. This year’s retreat
was at Krazy Kat’s. Wouldn’t you like to join them next
year? There is currently an opening on the Board for
the position of Secretary. Please contact Sherry Perna if
you are interested. 
Linda Flaherty, Amy Kiefer, Julie Dubreuil, Andy Logan, Kelly Snyder‐Roncace, Sherry Perna and Rachel Nuzzi. BLUE
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Law Firm Renovations: The Top 3 Factors
for a Successful Project
By Martha White, LEED AP,
EDiS Company Operations Manager
process stay on schedule.
2. Planning
Renovations can be a daunting task, especially
when you have a law firm to keep operational
With good communication, a plan can be set that
during the construction process. Recently, we
best meets the exact needs of the firm. The
have seen an increase in firms seeking to change
optimal hours for construction and the strategies
their office layout to maximize the use of their
to minimize disruption and provide safety to the
current space. For instance, as research, filing and non-construction areas are solidified, and so on.
other work is now mostly technology-based, law The stage is set for the most successful outcome
firms are trending to smaller libraries. Many firms before any work begins.
are renovating that unused square footage into
meeting rooms, computer training areas and other In addition, construction permitting plays an
functional space. Some
important role in planning.
larger firms have even
Often the permitting process is
modified their space to
influenced by building
allow for subletting to
ownership. If a firm does not
smaller, out of town
own their space, the permitting
The goal of law office renovation
firms for trials.
and construction process must
work is to successfully complete jobs
be coordinated with the
quickly, safely and with minimal disThe goal of law office
building owner or manager.
ruption to employees and clients.
renovation work is to
And, the plan review itself can
successfully complete
add time to the schedule. Our
jobs quickly, safely and
clients get the benefit of our
with minimal disruption to employees and clients. years of interaction with the different permitting
With proper communication, planning and good
entities to provide reliable information on
safety measures, the construction team gets in and permitting timetables and how they can affect a
out while firms stay focused on their business.
schedule.
1. Communication
Case Study:
In the case of a firm in Wilmington,
Communication is paramount to thorough and
Delaware, the project team had to work
thoughtful schedule planning. And, because time is
within a short, four-month period to
money, the longer the renovation schedule, the
complete 9,300 square feet of phased
longer the firm pays for the associated costs of
renovations. The project’s deadline was
construction and the related impact on
non-negotiable due to a large, previously
operations.
scheduled firm board meeting. The
construction team had to look ahead at
Before the project begins, good communication
each phase of construction to ensure the
between the construction team and the firm firm was still able to be fully functional
covering the needs of the project from the very
and without disruption. The project was
beginning to the very end - ensures the project
completed by working many off-hours to
will stay on schedule. Frequent communication to
finish the work in time and to avoid
acknowledge what important events will occur
disturbance to the firm’s workflow.
during construction and what spaces need to
maintain functionality helps the construction
(Continued on page 15)
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(Continued from page 14)
3. Safety
Clients and employees are in and out of law offices
at varying times of the day. During renovation
work, safety for all is a major concern that must be
coordinated. Again, through frequent
communication and good upfront planning, safety
can be maintained while the job progresses.
Case Study:
On another recent renovation project at
a Wilmington-based firm, the project
team constructed a monumental staircase
between two floors of the firm’s office
space. This staircase connects the main
lobby reception area to a new conference
center. Considering the firm was
operating under normal office hours
during construction and construction
occurred in an area of heavy traffic, the
project team built temporary walls to
divert foot traffic and limit access to the
areas of construction. This kept everyone
safe and also minimized noise and
disruption.
As law offices continue to evolve, the need to
renovate space to meet business needs becomes a
high priority. For a successful experience, it is
imperative to work with an experienced
construction team and think ahead. Good
communication coupled with thorough planning is
the answer to safely completing renovation
projects on time and on budget.
The cover picture for this edition was provided by Carol Strouth, CLM, Ward & Taylor.
Carol took the photo in her yard last March. Carol also provided us with this photo … Let’s
hope we don’t see snow this Easter!
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16
First State Chapter Business Partners
Caesar
Rodney
Level
Brandywine
Level
Blue Hen
Level
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M
First
State Chapter Business Partners
Andrew Logan
President-Elect
Administrator, Pepper Hamilton LLP
Christiana
Level
Last
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The Blue Hen News and the First State Chapter support Green initiatives and this is an electronic newsletter.
Please do not print this newsletter unless it is absolutely necessary.
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