Overview
Mike Ertel is a Practice Innovation & Knowledge Attorney based in the firm’s New York office.
Mr. Ertel leads the Innovation and Knowledge programs for the Intellectual Property and the Life Sciences and Healthcare groups where he works closely with practice group leadership, attorneys, and other professionals to identify their innovation needs and implement bespoke solutions. Mr. Ertel employs design thinking, empathy, and change management principles when running pilots, implementing tools, and encouraging user adoption. Mr. Ertel also works on high level knowledge initiatives where he assesses internal knowledge needs and identifies, collects, organizes, and delivers internal knowledge to attorneys that help them deliver better and more efficient work product.
Prior to joining the firm’s Practice Innovation and Legal Solutions department, Mr. Ertel was a partner at a New York firm with 15 years of experience in general and intellectual property litigation. Mr. Ertel has taught science and analytical skills classes at two universities and lectures, writes, and is active in the Legaltech community.
Recognitions
- New York City Knowledge Management and Innovation Network (Board Member)
- International Legal Technology Association (Practice Management Content Coordinating Team)
- IDEO’s Foundations in Design Thinking (Certificate)
- ILTA Transformative Project of the Year Finalist 2020 (Internally-created website scraper and keyword relevancy tool)
- ILTA Highest of High Fives Award (2021 Recipient)
Education
St. John’s University School of Law
- Juris Doctor, June 2001
- St. John’s Law Review, Executive Articles Editor
- Admiralty Law Practicum, Associate Editor
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award
Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
- Masters of Arts in Biology, with distinction, August 1999
- Bachelor of Science in Biology, May 1996
Engagement & Publications
- ILTACON 2022 (Speaker): Presenting a session entitled "Improving Workflows by Leveraging Technologies You Already Own."
- ARK Group’s Law Firm Innovation Summit, November 2021 (Speaker): Presented a case study on challenges, benefits, and rewards of breaking down law firm silos based upon an initiative I spearheaded at Paul Hastings.
- ILTACON 2020 (Speaker): Led a session entitled: "Help Me Help You! Getting Attorneys to Participate - Solution Room."
- ILTACON 2019 (Speaker): Presented on "Preparing Today’s Attorneys for Tomorrow’s Technology" focusing on implementing solutions using change management and empathetic design thinking.
- "Breaking Down Organizational Silos to Increase Efficiencies" ILTA Roundtable 4/14/2022
- "Beyond Zoom and Microsoft Teams: Have Virtual Hearings Altered the Fabric of Dispute Resolution?" ILTA Podcast 11/9/2021
- "What Does the Future Hold? Do Distributed Law Firms Offer the Law Firm Model of the Future?" ILTA Podcast 3/1/2022
- "Empathetic Human-Centered Design Overlay on Design Thinking Post COVID-19" ILTA Publication 4/21/2020
- "Change Management Can Increase Adoption of New Legal Tools" ILTA Publication 1/09/2020
- "Be Selfish! Break Down a Silo--or At Least Start Melting One Down a Bit" ILTA Publication 2/20/2021
- "What’s Your Problem? Don’t Solutionize!" ILTA Publication 7/26/2021
- "Using Too Many Productivity Apps May Actually Decrease Productivity!" ILTA Publication 3/11/2021
- "Working From Home—Best Practices and Suggestions" ILTA Publication 3/11/2020
- "Thinking About Working From Home? So Is Everyone Else…" ILTA Publication 10/9/2020
- "Practice Management: What are the Practical Benefits?" ILTA Publication 1/28/2022
- "Practice Management: What Is It and Why Do You Need It?" ILTA Publication 12/17/2021
- "How to Implement an Embedded Practice Management Program." ILTA Publication 4/27/2022