Your Honor Award Member Profile:
Cindy Bare, Director, Knowledge Management at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Winning Category:
Body of Knowledge, Technology Management: Orrick – Direct Lending Web Portal
Cindy fell into the legal world via human resources. Finding a niche in HR technology, she moved to the firm’s IT department and began working in development. As one of the firm’s (Shaw Pittman, the predecessor of Pillsbury) first developers, Cindy identified the need to build systems and the importance of creating efficient processes a decade before the phrase “Legal Project Management” was coined.
In doing so, Cindy found herself partnering with the firm’s marketing department regularly, and with success. Since joining Orrick, Cindy has been involved in updating the firm’s marketing technology platforms, including their experience database and CRM system. “I see as Knowledge Management and Marketing as two sides of the same coin.”
It is no surprise then, that Cindy was the person called upon to kick-off what would be the award-winning Direct Lending Portal. Several years ago, Orrick partner, B.J. Rosen saw the opportunity to be a thought leader in the emerging market of direct lending. He reached out to Cindy to share his ideas and get her thoughts on the practicality of producing a website that could house all the resources that lenders would need in the years to come. Because Orrick had historically offered complimentary materials to professionals (see their Total Access Tool Kit, providing free startup forms and term sheets for entrepreneurs), Cindy leveraged the tools that were already in place and marshalled the internal resources required to make Mr. Rosen’s vision a reality.
The home-grown cross collaboration effort has seen tremendous results: in the first three months, the site registered 2,021 sessions and 1,348 unique users and has helped put Orrick’s growing direct lending team on the map. Cindy shared that her proudest moment was getting to an emerging market first, and with resources that provide substantial value to clients.
There has been a lot of change within the legal market since Cindy began her legal career. But, for Cindy, many of these market changes have become routine. She knows the importance of creating custom solutions for clients and was among the first to do so. And, we know her good work is going to continue to benefit the entire legal community.
Congratulations to Cindy and the entire team at Orrick!
By Rebecca Edwards for the September/October 2017 LMA Mid-Atlantic Region Newsletter