What is the Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals?
The Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals was founded in 1994 as a result of a labor strike at a Washington, D.C., law firm. The firm, on the eve of the strike, attempted to divest itself of the costs and responsibility by offering their contracted personnel to other law firms in the area. In response, a group of these terminated staff banded together and began a membership network to protect persons similarly displaced . PAI was incorporated in Washington, D.C., in 1995 and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting legal support professionals in finding alternative employment through the maintenance of an employment network. The board of directors for PAI – an all volunteer group – is composed of officers who have served in critical positions in legal service firms and corporate in-house departments.
Purpose and Goals
The fundamental mission of the Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals is to support the interests and development of legal professionals in the legal community. Our objectives are to candidly share information, experiences, and practices that have had an impact, positive or negative, on our profession and the public we serve. We are a loose association of professionals who are dedicated to improving the justice system through the sharing of our unique expertise. We make a specific effort to separate the activities and goals of the Coalition from those of any particular supplier or service provider.
We provide a platform upon which any member may post comments and articles of interest to the group. Some contribute ideas and potential publications for posting; others simply monitor the blog. In addition, we use an electronic email group to discuss issues arising in the practice of law or areas in which our members have a specific expertise.
Another important goal of the Coalition is to assist clients, the national legal community, and those who govern our industry in identifying and resolving the problems or issues they may be experiencing.
Activities and Projects
The Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals has developed a robust suite of programs and initiatives. It is especially known for its workshops, including the "How to Find a Needle in a Haystack" and "The Proactive Paralegal" workshops. The "How to Find a Needle in a Haystack" workshop is unique in that it teaches how to "reverse engineer" complex legal matters. Liz Blanchard of Legal Link LLC, often collaborated with the coalition to bring this workshop into firms that were struggling to find themselves in modern practice. By focusing on the issues at hand, while looking at the matter backwards, it allowed the paralegals within the firm to reassess their workflows, and not only become more efficient, but help the firm as a whole to be more efficient.
Another one of their flagship workshops is "The Proactive Paralegal." In this workshop, participants wear disguises in the persona of lawyers and paralegals. They flip through 400 pages of highly redacted documents, and they need to find patterns in those documents related to legal issues. Participants then present these newly discovered patterns to the document review team, where they help determine the relevance of these documents to the case. The purpose behind the workshop is to expose participants to the other side of the production process, which allows them to better understand the importance of what they are doing, and how their work can a) impact the end user and b) improve their own workflow and working relationship with both their peers and their superiours.
Each year, the Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals holds the Information Governance Conference, a collaborative conference that includes sessions on various topics related to law and information management. Since its inception in 2013, the conference has expanded its capacity in both attendance and programming. Other collaborative work includes local meetups with the Girl Geeks Dinner, and regular workshops directed toward certifications by organizations such as the International ParaLEGAL Management Association (IPMA).
Successes and Contributions
The Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals has made a significant impact on various levels, from shaping policies that affect the legal environment to advocating for the adoption of legal reforms. For example, the coalition was instrumental in passing State Bill 1442 (POLLARD) in California. The bill enhanced the privacy rights of individuals and professionals and has become a notable piece of legislation. The coalition has also had a positive impact on various legal professionals and entities. In 2006, for example, the coalition helped a large corporation in a lawsuit against a rival company engaged in unfair competition. As a direct result, the company won their case and was awarded $4,300,000. The coalition recently campaigned against State Bill 418, an ill-conceived mandate for automatic disposition of private documents that would have resulted in overbroad and impermissible auto-deletion of private data by information systems under the jurisdiction of California law. The coalition also made sure that the bill did not make it to a vote by the California Assembly. The Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals also played a role in persuading the United States Congress to pass Resolution 4502, which urged the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to convene public forums to discuss issues such as the potential risks and benefits of the use of software code and algorithms to facilitate judicial legal proceedings. It is through the concerted and collaborative efforts of various legal professionals that have enabled the coalition to achieve its now seven recognized objectives. The coalition currently has a petition pending with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) calling for the UNHRC to order a Global Moratorium on Cybersurveillance and Private Data Mining until there is a global consensus about the issues and approaches to address them.
Joining the Coalition
Membership is open to any member of the legal community, including attorneys, information professionals, service providers, and educators. Associate membership is also available for those who are involved in legal support services, including vendors and consultants. Members of the Coalition represent many disciplines of legal practice, such as litigation, private practice, public interest law, corporate counsel, regulatory compliance, banking, and real estate . Members are encouraged to work within their respective jurisdictions and areas of expertise, and share best practices in the pursuit of lowering discovery costs and increasing compensation for legal professionals. The Coalition website provides a forum for posting of documents, industry alerts, blog topics, and forum discussions. Members are invited to submit content on these areas for dissemination through the website and other Coalition Forums.
The Coalition and the Bigger Picture of Legal Advocacy
The Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals is just one advocacy group in a legal and regulatory landscape marked by the presence of many others. Among these, the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Rules (OHADU) is the sole group dealing with the intersection of international cross-border conflict of laws and information technology (ICT). However, this scope remains far narrower than the broad conflict of laws focal points of the Coalition, potentially limiting both OHADU’s appeal and effectiveness. The Coalition likewise advocates on a broader level, facilitating technical policy for the larger Transatlantic Tech Council, as joint demonstrable progress between the EU and U.S. on numerous ICT issues. This entry point into discussing the Coalition’s place among other advocacy groups introduces how the coalition stands apart from others in the field, most notably through its focus on conflicts of laws (CoL).
Similar to the Coalition, the Silk Road Project hosted at the Stanford Law School, focuses on conflicts of laws, albeit primarily as it impacts blockchain technologies. Notably, this contrasts to the Coalition’s broader approach, in which CoL issues are just one of many conference topics.
Unlike the Coalition’s three co-founders, the Silk Road Project does not hold any direct government contracts, nor does it actively promote its agenda with policymakers. Accordingly, the project likely misses out on the "inside scoop" that the Coalition has access to through its founders, all of whom are (or have been) government officials or legislative aides. One important note, the Silk Road Project does directly collaborate with the Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals, yet another example of the interconnectedness among various legal advocacy groups, despite their differing focuses.
Speaking of policy-oriented organizations with an international outlook, the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) is another valuable coalition. GPEN takes a much narrower focus on privacy enforcement, yet maintains broad goals within the scope of this topic. This is in contrast to the Coalition’s focus on broader CoL issues. Further, the Coalition unlike GPEN is active in promoting its agenda, participating in international conferences and seeking to educate lawmakers on CoL issues. Similar to the Coalition, GPEN frequently interacts with European policymakers.
Upcoming Plans and Growth
A comprehensive program of meetings and forums is now planned for the participants in this Coalition. The monthly teleconferences are being supplemented by regional meetings and, with the COFAM/DATA meetings in Chicago in February and in Hawaii in March, include the first two "Joint Meetings" to be held for the two groups. As the months go by, additional meetings are planned for both groups. Opportunities to discuss and consider issues in greater depth with a greater diversity of participants will offer a place for the kind of consensus used when the LEXIS/NEXIS guide was prepared.
In addition , the educational programs of regional vendors are being supplemented and expanded to offer the participants the enhancement of their knowledge and skills. The CLEA itself is now offering an annual Institute with tracks for different participants. (The first one, at the University of Baltimore, was held in August.) And a joint Institute of the two groups is planned for next spring.