Calling All CIO's

As I've mentioned, I'll be teaching the core/required course, "Strategic Technology & Innovation" at SUNY/Stony Brook's MBA program for law firm leaders.  The program starts the last week of April—in just a few weeks—but my course doesn't start until late August.  

The course will be presented from a strategic as opposed to an operational or technical perspective, with an emphasis on how technology can support the fundamental activities sophisticated law firms engage in, both: (a) to make the work the firm must perform more efficient, productive, and cost-effective; and (b) to provide a competitive distinction for the firm in the eyes of its attorneys, its clients, and other pertinent audiences (such as potential clients and recruits).

The course proceeds from the philosophy that technology is essentially a tool, albeit a complex one, and is aimed at law firm executives outside the IT department itself.   The students are expected to be predominantly in positions such as Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, etc.—and are not expected to be managing partners or lawyer/members of the executive committee of their firm.

I'm in the process of developing a syllabus for the course, and also fleshing out its actual content.  So far, the topics I plan to address include:

• A brief overview of the history of IT in law firms, and the current state of the art:  extranets, "deal rooms," 24/7 connectivity, security, and internal collaborative tools.
• "Client-facing" systems including CRM.
• Knowledge Management: (a) approaches, techniques, why and how KM is an essential strategic resource and capability for a law firm, as well as (b) why KM is an immense cultural challenge.
• Business intelligence, competitive intelligence, and profitability analysis:  staffing, billing, and project management issues.
• Leadership and management issues for CIO's and other senior IT personnel:  justifying costs, translating IT-speak into lawyer-speak, "getting a seat at the table," managing expectations, etc.   And lastly
• The Future:  automated document production, intelligent search; off-shoring; blogs, wikis, and RSS.

 Here's my request:  To all CIO's and others with opinions about these issues, please contact me with suggestions for ways to approach this material, suggestions for entirely different/other topics to cover, reading material for the syllabus, and whatever horror stories, revealing anecdotes, or seat-of-the-pants guidance you're in a position to give.

I thank you in advance for your thoughts.