ALN Risk Management Survey at ILTACON 2016

© American LegalNet 2016

ILTACON 2016Risk Management Survey Results

American LegalNet, Inc.Erez Bustan – President and CEO


Number of Attorneys in Your Firm


What Best Describes Your Title?


Respondents by title

Comparatively, this year we heard from fewer partners or general counsels.

Comparatively, we heard from more CIOs, heads of compliance and support staff. 2015 2016

Partner/ED 5.39% 2.56%General Counsel 0.60% 0.00%

CIO/CTO 17.96% 24.36%Head of

Risk/Compliance 0.00% 2.56%Member,

Risk/Compliance 2.99% 1.28%Compliance Off. Legal

Pract. 0.00% 0.00%Practice Support 3.59% 6.41%

IT 53.29% 47.44%Other 16.17% 15.38%


Who Bears the Responsibility foryour Firm’s Risk Management Function?


Who’s accountable?

Comparatively, this year fewer people saw the CIO/CTO or the head of compliance as responsible for risk management.

Comparatively, this year more people saw accountability for risk management fall on general counsel and other roles.

2015 2016General Counsel 29.22% 38.16%

CIO/CTO 38.31% 21.05%Head of

Risk/Compliance 27.27% 17.11%Other 5.19% 23.69%


What is the Single Biggest Risk ManagementChallenge your Firm Faces Over the Next 12 Months?


What’s the biggest risk management challenge?

With two major hacks all over the headlines this year (the Panama Papers, the DNC hack), it makes sense that respondents would be anxious about cyber threats.

Mergers & acquisitions were a huge subject in the news and the blogs in 2015 – much less so in 2016. Which is congruent with a much lesser perception of risk in that area reflected in this survey.

Mobile is shown here as a lesser threat as well.

2015 2016Pace of Technology 24.68% 22.06%

Cyberthreats 40.91% 55.88%Mobile 22.73% 10.29%M & A 5.19% 1.47%Other 6.49% 10.29%


How Would You Rate Your Firm’s Overall Capability to Address and Mitigate Risk?


How capable is your firm to handle risk?

Comparatively, there’s a small decrease in confidence in their firm’s ability to handle risk.

We saw a considerable drop in “more than capable” and a rise of just “capable.”

We also saw a rise in “We have work to do” and “Minimal.”

2015 2016Minimal 0.69% 5.00%

We have work to do 9.72% 13.33%Capable 40.28% 55.00%

More than capable 39.58% 18.33%Extremely capable 9.72% 8.33%


In the Next 12 Months, Do You Expect Your Firm to Increase its Level of Investment in Risk Management?


Will your firm invest this year?

Comparatively, respondents this year seem to be more willing to see the need for a better infrastructure, but are facing budgeting constraints.

2015 2016Yes 55.19% 46.67%

No (budgeting challenges) 20.78% 38.33%

No - done investing 24.03% 15.00%


“The risk of legal malpractice suitshas gone up significantly in recent years.”


What are the Biggest Underlying Causesof Professional Malpractice Claims Against Your Firm?


What’s the biggest cause of malpractice suits?

This year more respondents were willing to attribute blame for malpractice suits to human error factors such as negligence, and place less blame on their processes.

There was also a large number of respondents who seem to believe legal malpractice suits are not a tangible risk for their firm. 2015 2016

Missed Notifications 12.41% 8.82%Calendaring Errors 13.10% 11.76%Conflicts of Interest 28.97% 22.06%

Negligence 17.93% 23.53%Other/Don't know 27.59% 33.82%


“A decentralized or outdated docketing system creates significant risk for my firm.”


Does Your Firm Have a Centralized Docketing/Calendaring solution?


“My current docketing solutionis built on the latest technology”


How Important are the Following Features, as theyRelate to a Calendaring Risk-Management Solution?


Which features are important?

The responses year-over-year remain consistent.Integrated court rules matter. EM/ECF matters. (A possible reason why NY and IL matter less is that we’re sampling nationwide, and people from other regions might not find this relevant.)


Contact Us: www.ALNCorp.com

American LegalNet, Inc.Erez Bustan – President and CEO

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ALN Risk Management Survey at ILTACON 2016