Two Conversant Group Employees Named Young Professionals to Watch in the ILTA 2023 Distinguished Peer Awards

Michael Williams and Leland Smith honored for their experience, professional dedication and
commitment to ILTA's mission

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Conversant Group, an innovative provider of "Secure First" infrastructure and cybersecurity services, today announced that their Director of Demand Generation, Michael Williams, and Assessments and Innovation Manager, Leland Smith, have been honored by the International Legal Technology Association as Young Professionals to Watch in the Distinguished Peer Awards Program, taking up two of the 27 winner slots.

Williams has been a highly valued employee of Conversant Group for over six years and has been instrumental in fostering and growing relationships with the company's customers as well as the growing community at ILTA. He is the first contact customers will have with Conversant, setting a positive tone for these long-term relationships. He is also the company's primary point of management and support for ILTA and has been critical in deepening project collaboration and sponsorship.

"I am extremely honored to be one of the recipients of ILTA's Distinguished Peer Awards for 2023, and especially the recognition as a Young Professional to Watch," Williams said. "ILTA's commitment to the legal profession and its vision of providing unprecedented legal technology education and thought leadership is incredibly important to the industry, and I'm thrilled to play a role."

Smith came to Conversant in 2019 with over 10 years of IT and legal experience and quickly became a crucial component of the company's industry-facing business development and education efforts. He is a key player across the board and has been the lead in developing upcoming industry-wide research, which assesses hundreds of law firms. As a two-time member of the ILTACON planning committee and current member of the LegalSEC planning committee, he is a dedicated and powerful advocate for improving infrastructure and security within law firms.

"It's always humbling to be recognized for an award, and even more so when it comes from peers and colleagues," Smith said. "Having both myself and Michael on the list representing Conversant is a huge honor and testament to the work our organization is doing."

Each year the International Legal Technology Association recognizes members who have demonstrated unprecedented accomplishments and leadership within their organizations as part of the Distinguished Peers Awards. The program recognizes premiership and provides a forum for peer-nominated, peer-judged innovations in technology. 

The Young Professionals to Watch Award is intended to recognize rising young professionals (under 40) in the legal technology industry, including members, ILTA staff, press, partners and academics. In the 14th year of the annual awards program, ILTA was pleased with the number and diversity of nominees across several categories.

For more information about the Distinguished Peer Award program, please visit: https://awards.iltanet.org/awards/theawards/individual

About ILTA

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) serves the professional needs of more than 25,000 international legal technology professionals and their organizations. Since its founding in 1980, the association's focus is to achieve results for our membership and the legal technology profession at large. Much of the value we provide as an association occurs through the coordinated efforts with our global volunteer membership teams.

About Conversant Group

Conversant Group is changing the IT services paradigm with our relentless focus on "Secure First" managed services, IT infrastructure and consulting. Conversant has been a thought leader for over 12 years helping over 500 customers and entire industries get answers to the security questions they may not even know to ask. We are the world's first civilian cybersecurity force, with three time-tested battalions:

Fenix24 / Ransomware rapid response, remediation and recovery
Athena7 / IT security assessments, strategy and planning
Grypho5 / Ongoing, security-based management

Learn more at ConversantGroup.com.

SOURCE Conversant Group