KMK Law, CIO: We Target Technology That Streamlines Processes

Richard E. Wills, CIO, KMK Law, tells David Hammond, Senior Account Executive, Parallel Technologies about how the law firm leverages technology to reduce hours of billable time for its clients and streamline processes.

A hotel management graduate with over a decade in the food and hospitality industry, Wills got into the IT industry a bit differently than most professionals in the space. He joined an IT consultant friend helping him pull cables and handle old DOS computers. One of his clients back then was KMK Law. Wills filled in for a vacancy in KMK’s IT team almost 24 years ago and has worked his way up.

He is now responsible for all the IT infrastructure, adopting technology, records management, and the management of all processes. Interestingly, KMK has adopted a one-office philosophy instead of opening multiple offices across cities. The firm was founded in 1954, and some of their clients were small business startups that have grown into multi-billion-dollar corporations, Willis shares.

He adds that the firm has always been an adopter of technology. When he started at KMK in 1998, there already was a network, a document management system — it was more than a just- -typewriter-and-dictation-machines environment. They have since tried to thoughtfully grow that technology so that it works for our attorneys and our legal assistants, providing applications and best of class technology for the practice of law.

Today, the firm serves clients in various practices, such as real estate, corporate litigation, employment law, and others.

“In many ways, we look at our practice areas as different groups in terms of the technology that they use. So, we try to target software, applications, and technology that streamline the process for those practice areas.”

He reveals that one of the firm’s arduous tasks is closing deals because it requires correlating all the signature pages, getting everything signed, and creating a closing binder.

“We've adopted a technology that has saved — particularly our associates — many, many hours and, thus, our clients many, many billable hours, on those deals. We deliver that closing binder to them within hours as opposed to weeks. Each attorney works in their own way, but we do have leadership within our practice areas that really try to work in the same way, deciding on the most efficient ways in which to complete their legal work,” Wills concludes.