By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Scott Rothschild saw a need.

As a senior account manager for Ikon Office Solutions, Rothschild works closely with law firms in the preparation and management of electronic documents. Like many of his colleagues, he was aware of the ever-changing demands of the job, and saw a need for a networking and educational organization to bring the Buffalo legal-support community together.

"It occurred to me that there wasn't really an organization that was focused on litigation support professionals," he said.

Rothschild came across a Chicago-based organization, the Association of Litigation Support Professionals, and worked to bring the organization to Buffalo, forming the Buffalo chapter of the group in January.

"My thinking was to create a platform for people to network, to continue their education and to bring their skills to the next level so they can bring value to their firms," Rothschild said.

Though the Buffalo chapter of the ALSP is still in the early stages of development, Rothschild said he has had a strong response from the legal community. The chapter has 20 members - mostly from the 25 largest law firms in the area - but he expects that once the word gets out, that number will grow.

Annette Worthington, a paralegal with Hodgson Russ LLP, has been part of the Buffalo ALSP chapter since its inception. She sees great value in bringing everyone together in a formal monthly setting.

"I have always been a big part of the litigation support side of litigation," she said. "I have a technical background, so it was an easy fit."

Worthington, a member and past president of the Western New York Paralegal Association, said she wasn't sure what to expect when she joined the ALSP, but has been pleasantly surprised. "I realized right away the importance of this organization and the benefits we could get from the collaboration with what we do here as well as what other people are doing around the country," she said.

Deborah Westwood agrees. As the director of e-discovery and legal technology services for Canadian-based InTechGration, Westwood has been a member of the ALSP-Buffalo steering committee since the chapter's inception. Given the economy and the unsteady job market, she says, the pressure on paralegals and other support professionals is amplified, making an organization such as the ALSP even more valuable.

"The people that are on the cutting edge, the paralegals, they need to be ahead of the game," she said. "Working with a support group like this, strengthening their skills, amounts to job security."

That's a philosophy, Rothschild said, that the chapter is built around.

"More than ever now, when you are dealing with these huge volumes of electronic data, there need to be people within each firm that know how to cull it down and efficiently sweep through it all for the information they need," he said, saying that the ability to efficiently sort through volumes of electronic information can result in "astronomical savings" for the firm's clients.

Rothschild said he envisions the chapter growing in the coming year.

"Hopefully, in a couple of years, we'll have 100, 150 people," he said. "Maybe that's being optimistic, but I'm an optimist by trade, and I am excited about growing this group."

For more information about the chapter, contact Rothschild at 843-8800 or srothschild@ikon.com.