Frank Gillman, lead vocal, songwriter
Principal, Vertex Advisors Group
Frank Gillman is a Principal at Vertex Advisors Group following successful and lengthy CIO/CISO and CTO stints at the Lewis Brisbois, Allen Matkins and Nossaman firms. Gillman is one of the founding members of the band and writes the majority of its songs. He handles the lead vocals and first became interested in the intersection of music and legal technology while accidentally disassembling his first amplifier into pieces when he was a young boy. His most significant musical influences include Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and Harry Chapin.
Born in Washington DC, he came to Los Angeles in 1985 after graduating from Boston University to pursue a career as a musical artist and fronted two significant LA based bands in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s – “Postage Due” and “The Finding.” While playing and touring Gillman worked during the regular week in HR and as a systems administrator first on Wang systems and later on more traditional client server systems with an emphasis on Exchange. The exciting lure of IT executive management became Gillman’s full time pursuit in 1990. Despite the intense demands of such a job he did find time to release a solo album titled “The Watcher” in early 1995 - a year after the birth of his eldest daughter.
Gillman lives with his awesome/beautiful wife Joy and their amazing three children in Los Angeles, CA. He loves the burgundy and gold of the horribly named D.C. football team almost as much as he loves music.
Judi Flournoy, guitar, vocals
CIO, Kelley Drye
Judi Flournoy is the Chief Information Officer for Kelley Drye & Warren LLP having returned to KDW in late 2012 following a successful nine-year stint at Loeb & Loeb LLP. Flournoy had heard that Frank Gilman was putting together a band comprised solely of legal technology professionals and quickly volunteered to join as a rhythm guitarist. Flournoy picked up her first guitar at age 12 after realizing a violin was not meant to be strapped across one’s shoulders. Playing with friends at parties, the park or the beach early musical influences were Crosby Stills Nash & Young, George Harrison, The Moody Blues, and Led Zeppelin.
Born in Torrance, California, Flournoy attributes her love of music to her father William and mother Florence both of whom were musicians. William played jazz trumpet with small combos during the forties and fifties, while Florence could belt a good rendition of "I Get a Kick out Of You." The home Flournoy grew up in was often filled with the sound of her father playing piano and her mother singing.
Flournoy lives with her amazing and talented wife Teri in Austin, TX. When not otherwise occupied, you can find Flournoy riding her Harley Davidson Heritage Softail.
Rachelle Rennagel, vocals
Special Counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Rachelle Rennagel is Special Counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She has spent 18 glorious years in legal technology, first as a practicing lawyer and then as a legal technologist. She is an active speaker and participant in various legal think-tanks and conferences, and served as the chair of the International Legal Technology Association’s (ILTA) 2015 LegalSEC Summit and as the Co-Chair of the 2012 and 2013 Annual ILTA Conference.
Always the pragmatist, Rachelle briefly considered a professional music career but opted for the more practical, and admittedly, less glamorous path of law and technology. However, music has always been a prominent part of her life, beginning with early choral appearances in Belgium, her childhood home. After moving to the United States at 8, she continued her musical pursuits by being involved in just about every musical opportunity afforded to her and this has continued until present day.
While formally trained as a coloratura soprano and participating in many vocal ensembles, Rachelle’s range of pursuits have been broad - she was the lead vocalist for a Boston-based rock band aptly named “One Shot Deal” for a few years, before focusing on jazz, choral and acapella performances. Juggling the demands of a NYC fast-paced career, an energetic five year old son, and two dogs have made it difficult to maintain musical pursuits (other than in the car or shower) and Rachelle is delighted and honored to be a LegalByt-ian since 2012.
Rachelle lives in New Jersey with her incredibly supportive (and handsome) husband, awesome son and two misfit dogs. An ardent Red Sox fan, she is coming to grips with the fact that her son is fast becoming a Yankee devotee.
Jay Dover, lead guitar, piano, mandolin, arranger
IT Director, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
Jay has enjoyed a long career as IT Director for Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, California's leading public sector employment and labor law, law firm. He joined LCW as it's "creative person" designing graphic and PowerPoint presentations for the firm's employment law training workshops and editing it's prestigious newsletter. As luck would have it, Jay was hired days before the firm installed it's first computer network (Novell) and soon became it's "computer guy." After that, it was a quick hop, skip and a jump to IT Director several years later.
Jay grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, listening to the big band swing records of his father and his mother's fondness for all things Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. He's played in lots of bands and recorded two original albums. He's a country musician at heart, loves every song Hank Williams wrote, with a nod to Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline and Ray Price. He is also a playwright and screenwriter in Los Angeles. His best bud is a terrier he rescued from the WLA County Shelter. His name is Cleveland and yes, he rocks and is a whiz at SQL.
Scott Preston, drums
Legal Technology Consultant
Scott Preston is currently a legal technology consultant working with law firms to streamline processes and deliver innovative technology solutions aimed at the legal market. He had a long career as the Chief Information Officer of Fulbright & Jaworski. Preston has been playing drums with the Legal Bytes Band since 2012 and includes everybody from the Beatles to Frank Zappa as influences.
Preston grew up in Racine, WI and moved to Los Angeles in 1982 to pursue a career in music after graduating from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He spends his free time playing live and in the studio with various artist. He got into legal IT as a way to make ends meet in 1993, where he started by sending faxes and quickly moved on to network administration and programming.
Preston just relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville with his beautiful wife Donna and is a die-hard Packers fan.
Steven Shock, bass
Managing Director, Conversant Group
Steven Shock is a Managing Director of Conversant Group following long stints as the former CTO of both Hueston Hennigan LLP and Irell & Manella. Steven began his IT career thanks to music. Steven grew up in a musical family in Dallas Texas and gravitated to the bass at an early age after starting as a drummer. He played in multiple bands throughout his school years and eventually ended up in a touring band named "Mirror Mirror". After extensive time on the road, Steven packed up and moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to expand his chances of success. Steven played in many bands in Los Angeles, notably with the hard rock trio "fogmachine", releasing a studio album and touring the nation. Due to the busy schedule of the band, Steven quit his job as a restaurant manager and took a "day job" in 1991 at Irell which landed him in the IT department. Though his career in technology ultimately became his focus, music has continued to be an important part of Steven's life. When Frank Gillman approached Steven concerning the chance to play bass with the Legal Bytes Band, it was considered a no brainer. The creative outlet and chance to work with a collection of talented and forward thinking individuals was an immediate yes.
Steven currently enjoys life with his beautiful wife and three kids in Venice Beach, California. Ever the closet Rockstar and avid life long Dallas Cowboys fan.
Scott Christensen, guitar
Vice President, Qualitest
Scott Christensen is a Vice President at Chicago-based Qualitest and has worked in legal technology for over 25 years. He has experience leading the technology and business needs of several global law firms. Scott has also served in numerous industry volunteer roles including six years on the Board of Directors for the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), and two years as ILTA’s President. Scott is a frequent speaker at technology and legal conferences including ILTA, ARMA and ALA on the topics of information technology, information security, information governance, risk management, leadership, and hiring/retaining staff.
Scott is honored to have been in every iteration of the Legal Bytes Band since its inception in 2008, playing at ILTA’s annual technology conference in their “once a year” gig. Aside from his intense passion for the intersection of technology and the legal profession, he has a great passion for jazz music, having played guitar and numerous brass instruments in concert and jazz bands early in his career. Scott has a B.A. in Computer Science and Business Administration and an M.S. in Information Systems.
Legal Bytes Alumni:
Lawrence Gianneschi, saxophone
Director, Legal Technology, Colgate-Palmolive (Retired)
Larry was Director, Legal Technology for Colgate-Palmolive’s 110-attorney, 33 office Global Legal Organization headquartered in New York City. Larry has worked in the legal technology field since 1987 for firms such as Kennedy Covington, Winston & Strawn, NYLife Insurance Company and Bowne Business Solutions (as IT Director for Brown & Wood). Larry was also a member of the ILTA ’07 and ’08 Conference Committees, a past Charlotte City Representative and present NYC Regional Member Liaison for ILTA.
Born in Chicago, Larry received his B.S. in Music Education from the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) in 1981. While at the U of I, he played in and conducted a band in the big band jazz program. In the 70’s and 80’s Larry played with jazz bands (big and small), The Temptations, The Spinners, Bob Hope, Rich Little, Ice Capades, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and others throughout the Midwest. Larry’s most significant musical influences include Cannonball Adderly, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Carmen McCrae, Stan Kenton, Charlie Parker. Manhattan Transfer, Tony Bennett and Earth Wind & Fire.
Larry lives with his beautiful wife Sandy in Irvington, New York and enjoys gourmet cooking, wine pairing and tending to his herb garden.
Fran Lawler, keyboard
Leadership Management Consultant for Legal IT
Fran hails from Norristown, PA. He has had three jobs in a 39-year legal IT career: legal software developer, IT Director at Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell in Delaware and CIO at Dilworth in Philadelphia. He served as the ILTA Philadelphia city rep for a number of years.
Lawler started piano lessons at age 7 and continued into college. His keyboard playing has led him from recitals to Philadelphia-area musical theater, cathedrals in New York and Washington DC, post-Hummingbird jam sessions at ILTA and piano bars at the Jersey shore. It was at one of these piano bars where his musical life morphed into the technical life. A well-fueled contractor for WANG Laboratories offered Fran a job in 1976 and the very next day, the 88 ivories were traded in for a QWERTY keyboard.
Musical influences: John, Paul, George, Ringo, Frank and Dean. Fran was fortunate to play a one-shot, one-song TV gig with Tommy James and the Shondells. The rookie is happy to join the LegalBytes band as it continues upward and onward.
Lawler and his long-suffering wife Carol live outside Philadelphia with their 3 kids and 3 grandkids, both local and in Texas.