ATLANTA – January 31, 2022 – Ogletree Deakins, one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management, is the exclusive winner of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Distinguished Peer Awards in the Transformative Project of the Year category. This prestigious award recognizes a project that generates systemic change within an organization that could be used as a model for the legal industry. In a highly contested category, Ogletree Deakins won for its cloud-based ODConnect 2.0 platform. Upon receiving the award during the exciting ILTA Distinguished Peer Awards ceremony, Ogletree Deakins’ Chief Knowledge Officer, Dave Boland, graciously accepted the award citing the firm’s dedication to its Client Pledge that “emphasizes the foundational way in which our firm is obsessed with servicing our clients. The new ODConnect project, our cloud strategy, and the innovations that will result from it are in direct relation to us providing a platform for greater client service in the years to come.”
The ODConnect 2.0 intranet platform is a major milestone in advancing Ogletree Deakins’ digital transformation strategy. The scope of the ODConnect 2.0 project is transformational and innovative not only for Ogletree Deakins but for the legal industry. Strategically, the effort seeded the firm’s digital transformation strategy by providing a mobile-first experience founded on secure cloud technology that leverages the firm’s experiential and matter data. The platform removes common barriers to accessing information online, enabling Ogletree Deakins’ employees to quickly and efficiently access mobile-ready content for enhanced responsiveness, agility, and productivity.
“With our migration to SharePoint Online, we have leveraged the firm’s investment in Microsoft 365 to maximize productivity and foster collaboration firm wide,” said Boland. “Having our intranet in the cloud empowers us to scale and accelerate the pace of innovation through rapid iteration, development, and deployment of new knowledge products and solutions.”
As the primary engagement channel for the firm, ODConnect 2.0 incorporates a new natural-language processing enterprise search and an upgraded version of the firm’s knowledge chatbot, KARLOS, which earned Ogletree Deakins the ILTA Transformative Project of the Year Award in 2019.
“Investing in an enterprise search and chatbot with underlying AI capabilities is a critical aspect of Ogletree Deakins’ digital transformation strategy,” said Susan Sommers, Director of Knowledge Management (KM) Innovation and Solutions. “We’ve built a tool that easily adapts and personalizes information for our attorneys and professional staff and positions the firm to provide targeted content that learns as users engage with search.”
“The project was also transformational in that we leveraged an iterative, agile approach to developing and delivering features,” said Meghan Sullivan, Senior Manager of KM Firm Solutions and ODConnect Product Owner. “This approach is part of our ongoing product management strategy in which we develop and deliver features with the input of our users, while leveraging analytics to inform feature prioritization. This process enables us to quickly release new features and drive product innovation.”
The firm would like to thank ILTA and the award judges for their dedication to excellence in connecting members to colleagues, exceptional programming, and resources across the legal industry. A complete list of Distinguished Peer Awards winners is now available on ILTA’s website.
About International Legal Technology Association (ILTA)
ILTA is a volunteer-led, staff-managed association with a focus on premiership. We aim to educate you and connect you with your peers to support your work in the legal sector. While we have a strong focus on technology, our offerings support professionals of every stripe in law firms and corporate/government legal operations. Visit ILTA online at http://www.iltanet.org/home.
About Ogletree Deakins
Ogletree Deakins is one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. Premier client service, as outlined in the firm’s Client Pledge, is one of the firm’s top priorities and a cornerstone of its core values. U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” has named Ogletree Deakins a “Law Firm of the Year” for 11 consecutive years. In 2022, the publication named Ogletree Deakins its “Law Firm of the Year” in the Employment Law – Management category. Ogletree Deakins has more than 900 attorneys located in 53 offices across the United States and in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. The firm represents a diverse range of clients, including many of the Fortune 50 companies in the U.S. www.ogletree.com