ACC announced its inaugural legal operations awardees: The Tools & Technology Interest Group, Julie Richer, Chantelle Pruter, and Alan Bryan.
WASHINGTON (June 20, 2018) -- The 2018 ACC Legal Operations Conference included the presentation of four inaugural awards. ACC honored:
- Interest Group of the Year: Tools & Technology
- Member of the Year: Julie Richer
- Legal Operations Professional of the Year (large law): Alan Bryan
- Legal Operations Professional of the Year (small law): Chantelle Pruter
Interest Group of the Year: The Tools & Technology Interest Group, led by Kedric Chamberlin of Abbott and Lisa Ripley of Oracle, is one of the most active within the ACC Legal Operations membership. Its meetings featured robust agendas and strong attendance. The group produced several webcasts and developed a "Who's Using What" directory to point legal operations professionals towards well-tested, peer-loved technology solutions.
Member of the Year: AEP Legal Operations & Discovery Manager Julie Richer chairs the ACC Legal Operations Information Governance & eDiscovery Interest Group. She contributed to conference planning, was a lead in the development of the Maturity Model Toolkit, and assisted her peers with best ways to use the Model. Other legal operations professionals have deemed her a "cheerleader, instigator, and ambassador for all things legal ops."
Legal Operations Professional of the Year (large law): Walmart Senior Associate General Counsel Alan Bryan is best known for his high-profile work championing diversity, but his accomplishments span the legal operations spectrum. He standardized legal procurement at Walmart and designed an RFP protocol, including reverse auctions. In collaboration with colleagues at Walmart, Bryan also spearheaded the use of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, and created a technology roadmap, implementing e-signatures, and intake/triage overhaul for the Walmart Legal Department. His leadership has contributed to huge time and cost savings for the mega retailer.
Legal Operations Professional of the Year (small law): Tivity Health Senior Manager – Legal Operations Chantelle Pruter determined how to do more with less for her company, saving $400,000 annually. She entirely re-engineered the contracting protocol, building self-serve templates and cutting process steps by one-third (and counting). She implemented e-signature ability and Salesforce and reduced cycle times down to 10 days from 54.
About ACC: The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is a global legal association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel who work for corporations, associations and other organizations through information, education, networking, and advocacy. With more than 43,000 members in 85 countries employed by over 10,000 organizations, ACC connects its members to the people and resources necessary for both personal and professional growth. By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel.® For more information, visit www.acc.com and follow ACC on Twitter: @ACCinhouse.