Veteran professional services technology leader brings 25 years of business and IT transformation experience from LeClairRyan, Capital One, Deloitte and Monitor Consulting

LOS ANGELES – April 8, 2015 – Elevate Services, a Chambers-ranked, global legal service provider to law firms and corporate legal departments, today announced the appointment of Howard “Bud” Phillips as Chief Information Officer to strengthen information security systems and capabilities for the company and its clients.

This addition to the Elevate executive team was made as government agencies warn U.S. law firms that they are at an increased risk for cybercrime. According to cybersecurity firm Mandiant, at least 80 of the 100 biggest firms in the country have been hacked since 2011. Phillips’ responsibilities at Elevate will include developing programs to secure sensitive information for Elevate internally and for its law firm clients.

“As evidenced by the recent news that several large firms are forming a cybersecurity alliance, the legal industry has woken up to its responsibility to invest in information security systems,” said Phillips. “Law firms, which transfer and store extremely sensitive information on a regular basis, cannot afford to put their clients’ information at risk.”

Phillips has more than 25 years’ experience integrating technology, operations and strategy. Most recently, as CIO for Am Law firm LeClairRyan, he transformed the firm’s legacy IT architecture to a virtualized, secure and cost-efficient system, harnessing Infrastructure as a Service cloud computing technology to support the rapid firm growth. At Capital One, Phillips led the customer acquisition operations group, achieving significant gains in quality, capacity and cost-effectiveness by applying Agile and Lean leadership and management principles. Prior to that, as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting and Monitor Group, Phillips advised many large corporate clients on industry evolution, cost reduction, acquisition strategy, market positioning and competitive intelligence.

“Bud’s specific experience designing and executing the transformation of a law firm’s technology platform will be valuable to Elevate and our clients,” said Liam Brown, Founder and Chairman of Elevate Services. “He will help us to better scale and secure our own IT infrastructure, particularly for our cloud-based software products, and strengthen our IT information security practice for law firms.”

About Elevate Services, Inc.
Elevate is a next generation legal service provider helping law firms and corporate legal departments improve efficiency, quality and outcomes through consulting, managed services, technology and talent. With offices in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Philippines and Australia, Elevate supports clients across the world. For more information, visit elevate.law or follow Elevate Services on LinkedIn and Twitter.