The “Strategic Unity” theme of ILTA 2010 is all about uniting the business side with the practice side of the law. The theme is running strong through several of the meetings and an entire track of sessions that relate to the “Law 2020” initiative.
We talked with Randi Mayes, executive director of ILTA, about her thoughts on the conference so far:
Randi also oversees ILTA’s award-winning Peer to Peer publication and white papers.
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Several times in the last few years we’ve heard someone say “the billable hour is dead.” While this certainly isn’t true in today’s law firm – yet – firms continue to feel pressure from clients to change their ways. The billable hour might not completely go away, but it is no longer the pristine measure of valuable lawyer work it once was.
In an ILTA session Tuesday echoing the “Law Firm 2020” theme, Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of Law Technology News, moderated a discussion on “Supporting an Alternative Staffing Model.” Joining her were Maureen Atta, managing director at Huron Consulting Group; Barbara Schane Jackson, founder of Schane Jackson & Associates; and Gareth Evans, partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Bay opened the discussion by pointing out that law firms are facing tremendous economic, regulatory and client pressures to transition from operating like a private club to being more transparent and treating associates like valued contributors.
The panelists discussed the staffing challenges firms face, particularly with roles blurring between the business side and the practice side of the firm. Today’s lawyers have to be smart business people and technologists, and new positions are being created to account for greater needs in project management and e-discovery.
In this video clip, Bay recaps the key points of the session and expands on her thoughts about the growing roles for attorneys in the law firm of the future:
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Things aren’t necessarily looking up for law firm technology spend in 2010, but they aren’t declining, either. More firms are citing technology budget increases in 2010, and a good number have reported that their firms are back to normal after the 2009 crash, according to the 2010 ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey, published jointly by ILTA and Inside Legal.
Firms are allocating tech dollars to cost recovery systems and operating system upgrades, and are exploring new technology trends, such as implementing a cloud strategy, mobile technology and virtual lawyering.
We talked with Jobst Elster from Inside Legal about what firms spent their money on in 2009 and what they are now spending on – or planning to – in this video clip:
You can hear more about the survey from Elster, and from Inside Legal’s JoAnna Forshee, in this Legal Current podcast.
The 2010 ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey is conducted in partnership with ILTA every year, and is distributed to its membership. Eighteen percent of ILTA’s qualifying member firms participated in this year’s survey.
You can find the complete survey here.
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Time is everything to an attorney or litigation support team, especially when managing and analyzing cases.
Today, West announced West Case Notebook 2.0, the latest version of West’s case analysis and management software. The new version includes integration with WestlawNext and many other new features to help litigators organize, analyze and share essential case information.
In this video, Allison Guidette, vice president and general manager of Litigation at West, explains that Case Notebook 2.0 is part of the Westlaw Litigator set of integrated tools, services and content, which helps attorneys and staff be more productive:
We also did a short Legal Current interview edition audio podcast with Allison, in which she expands on trends in litigation, the benefits and features of Westlaw Litigator and recent and planned developments as customers’ needs evolve:
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Finding the most legally relevant documents in a case is critical to case preparation. Morris, Nichols, Arsht and Tunnell LLP, a major law firm specializing in business law and corporate litigation, recently integrated West km with the firm’s intranet portal and document management system to create a unified information search system, providing better, faster, more thorough search.
Wade Goldt, director of information technology for Morris Nichols explains:
“The key is providing people with information in the same manner in which they’re accustomed to seeing it. Integrating West km search with our document management system provides several advantages. It pulls West km information into their existing workflow through an interface with which our attorneys and staff are already accustomed and comfortable using. This makes it easier for users to find the most legally relevant documents.”
“It’s been a huge timesaver in finding information,” Goldt says. “For example, if an attorney is working on a case and wants to see if the firm has any documents from similar cases, they can set up filters by author, file type, document type, practice group, client or other attributes. This way, they can pre-filter their results, rather than starting with a broad search that may produce thousands of documents that aren’t relevant. By applying only the criteria needed, it filters the search down from four million documents to perhaps two dozen highly relevant documents in a matter of minutes.”
More information and demos of West km are available at the West booth at the 2010 ILTA conference, under way this week in Las Vegas.
Next week, we’ll provide a link to a detailed case study on how Morris Nichols integrated West km search with their document management system through Microsoft SharePoint.
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A well-attended CLE session Thursday morning at the ABA Annual Meeting explored “the impact of technology and globalization on ethics for the 21st century lawyer.”
Judith A. Miller, member of the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 and former general counsel of the Bechtel Group, moderated a panel discussion about the ethical challenges today’s lawyers and law firms must deal with. Panelists included:
The Commission on Ethics 20/20 was created in 2009 to evaluate the ABA’s guidelines around professional conduct, as well as regulation in the United States around technology and global law practices. Miller tells us about the goals and mission of the Commission in this short video clip:
Conversation in yesterday’s panel touched on many ethical issues today’s attorneys face, including challenges in managing a virtual law practice and cloud computing; practice issues involving foreign lawyers and law firm outsourcing; and different approaches to regulation. In this video clip, Miller recaps the session and talks about some of the key issues the Commission is considering:
The Commission on Ethics 20/20 is seeking input from attorneys across all practice types. More information can be found on the Commission’s website.
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The 2010 American Bar Association (ABA) Annual Meeting kicked off today in San Francisco. Attorneys from across the United States attend the yearly conference to network with their colleagues and peers, and for professional development and continuing legal education programming. Thomson Reuters has a longstanding partnership with the ABA and sponsors various activities during the show.
We caught up with Joe Kubes, director of Strategic Relations for Thomson Reuters, who says, “We’re here to support the attorneys who are here to ultimately improve how the law is applied and how the practice of law takes place.”
Kubes talks more about the importance of the company’s relationship with the ABA, and what we’re doing to support the association during this year’s meeting, in this short video clip:
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The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) published its Case Matter/Management White Paper recently, featuring an article penned by Thomson Reuters own Allison Guidette, vice president of Litigation for our U.S. Core Legal business.
The article, “Enhancing Productivity in Litigation,” appears on pages 28-33. Guidette references insight from James Jones, senior vice president at Hildebrandt Baker Robbins, while exploring the new ways law firms are seeking growth, the difference between productivity and efficiency, and the various methods and tools firms are using to gain productivity.
The digital version of the article features an audio podcast discussion with Jones about productivity challenges for law firms.
You also can access the podcast here:
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If you’ve been to AALL for the past three years, it’s likely that you know Bob Azman. Bob is the senior vice president of Customer Experience & Education for Thomson Reuters, Legal. Each year, he can be found at the front check-in desk at the Thomson Reuters booth, which affords him the chance to talk face-to-face with the thousands of customers that will come through during the show.
In this video, Bob tells us why it’s so important for him to be here:
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The Thomson Reuters tradeshow booth at AALL offers a breath of fresh air for law librarian attendees. And a big grassy area to rest your legs and check out some of the new products and services from the legal businesses.
The theme this year at Thomson Reuters is “Field of Innovation,” to celebrate both the scenic surroundings in Denver and a handful of truly inventive new product offerings.
Kathy Granger, director of Exhibition Marketing tells us about all of the things going on in the tradeshow booth, including a $5 donation to the National Audubon Society for each booth visitor, and cool new technology being used at each station. All furniture being used in the booth will be donated to Families First of Colorado.
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Thomson Reuters, Legal, President & CEO Peter Warwick offered his perspective on the company’s approach to the current economic reality in a panel discussion, “Adapting and Thriving in a Challenging Economy”, at the Minnesota Venture & Finance Conference.
The launch of WestlawNext brings a significant advancement in the way professional legal research is done.
A discussion about online privacy and “The End of Forgetting,” with law professor Jeffrey Rosen.
