Susan Hackett, CEO and CLO of Legal Executive Leadership, and featured speaker at the recent Serengeti Summit, presented on “The Past, Present & Future of Legal Department Concerns & Drivers.” Hackett is often referred to as “the voice of the in-house bar,” and served as the senior vice president and general counsel for the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for 22 years.
During her presentation, Hackett discussed the importance of data, various methods of providing value and using resources available to improve efficiency.
In the first of a three-part interview, Hackett shares her thoughts about the critical tools and language that lawyers are going to need to succeed in the future.
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Serengeti is hosting the Serengeti Summit this week, May 9-11, in Seattle. The summit provides an opportunity for those already using the highest-rated legal e-billing and matter management system, Serengeti Tracker, to drive workflow efficiencies and uncover insights to improve the overall performance of their law department. Attendees have been learning how to further maximize results and deliver even greater benefits to the organization. The summit also provides customers the opportunity to visit with each other and discuss best practices.
Eddie Pasatiempo, senior director, Customer Experience, Serengeti, shares some of the key advantages of attending the summit and discusses additional resources Serengeti provides to their customers such as the newly created Serengeti Professional Services program.
Check back with Legal Current for new posts from the Serengeti Summit.
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Corporate CFOs have increasingly become concerned about controlling costs – including costs in the legal department, which can capture a non-trivial portion of an organization’s budget. This can create challenges for legal departments that are seeking to improve their technology systems and efficiency.
Catherine Dunn of Corporate Counsel recently spoke with Rob Thomas, vice president, Market Development for Thomson Reuters, about general counsel and the CFO working together to improve efficiency, as well as track and reduce legal spending.
Their conversation, stemming from a white paper authored by Thomas and available for download at Serengeti Law, focused on the challenges GCs can face when trying to justify improving their technology to track and analyze legal spend, as well as the benefits to the company when these services are implemented.
Serengeti Law recently unveiled a redesigned website that allows easier access for customers to learn about its offerings, request demonstrations and work with Serengeti Professional Services.
Serengeti Law is part of Thomson Reuters and provider of Serengeti TrackerTM, the legal profession’s most widely used and highest rated e-billing and matter management platform.
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Emerging trends, such as mobile computing, are enabling attorneys to improve time management and deliver better service to their clients, ultimately making them more competitive in today’s economy.
Houston-based attorney Tim Johnson, a technology enthusiast, uses mobile solutions to improve his work efficiency while on the go and, his clients are seeing the results. Johnson, among other legal professionals, believes that mobile technology offers efficiencies that benefit both the client and the firm.
Read how Johnson employs technology here.
How do you use mobile technology to improve efficiencies in your practice?
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Serengeti Law, part of Thomson Reuters and provider of Serengeti TrackerTM – the legal profession’s most widely used and highest rated e-billing and matter management platform – announced the creation of two customer-focused programs to extend and enhance current support and service offerings: Serengeti Professional Services and the Serengeti Services & Solutions Partner Program.
Serengeti Professional Services bring increased visibility, efficiency and cost savings to the legal department. Serengeti’s team of seasoned attorneys and advisors offer additional services when extra resources are needed and enhance the experience of using Serengeti Tracker to its full potential. Resources, skills and unique program knowledge empower and enhance legal departments with a set of tools, best practices and templates to assist in improving operations.
Continuing its efforts to help legal departments perform at their highest level, Serengeti developed the Serengeti Services & Solutions Partner Program to broaden its reach while offering expanded resources through unique relationships. Mosaic Consulting is the first organization to join the program and will help deepen and strengthen Serengeti’s services and support capabilities through its consulting expertise.
To learn more about each of the programs, click here.
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Law firms are being increasingly challenged to adapt and innovate to meet their clients’ expectations. Being able to succeed in this changing environment, firms must offer more value to their clients.
An area that can increase a firm’s value, lower their legal costs and improve their competitive advantage to clients is through legal research. A legal research tool that offers substantial benefits and resources to a firm can create numerous advantages.
Lydia Flocchini recently spoke with Tom Dwyer of Dwyer/Partners, LLP a firm based in Boston, about how the legal delivery services model is changing, the benefits of a high-quality legal research tool and how technology can provide a competitive advantage in today’s market.
You can read the full interview here.
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Scott McCleskey, global head of financial services regulation, Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance, served as the moderator for a panel at the 2012 Global Ethics Summit, held March 15-16 in New York, discussing heavily regulated industries. The panel featured Mitchell Avnet, senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer, Lincoln Financial Group, and Tom Wyatt, chief ethics and compliance officer and securities counsel, American Water.
The panel opened discussing the different types of regulations their respective industries face and how they implement those regulations. Avnet, discussing the recent amount of regulations created in the financial industry stated, “The last four years were the hardest 10 years of my life.”
The discussion progressed to using and implementing technology in an effort to help the process of monitoring, organizing and prioritizing the information, as well as tools to help manage the regulatory structure within their organization.
McCleskey recaps the session and highlights his takeaways.
In case you missed them, check out our other blog posts from the Global Ethics Summit including commentary on the evolving role of the Chief Ethical and Compiance Officer as well as Thomson Reuters being named to the World’s Most Ethical Companies list.
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Ethisphere Institute, a leading business ethics think-tank, announced their sixth annual World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies list, and Thomson Reuters was recognized as one of the 2012 WMEs for the fourth consecutive year. The WME honorees were honored at an awards dinner on March 15 in New York where former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright served as the keynote speaker.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. Credit: Billy Hunt
“Our Trust Principles are an integral part of the way we do business,” said Deirdre Stanley, executive vice president and general counsel, Thomson Reuters. “Being named one of Ethisphere’s 2012 World’s Most Ethical Companies for the fourth consecutive year shows that we consistently strive to make a positive impact on society and we are honored to be included.”
“A strong ethical foundation is a competitive advantage, and Thomson Reuters recognizes the important role corporate responsibility plays in improving its bottom line,” said Alex Brigham, executive director of the Ethisphere Institute. “As more and more organizations strive for this honor each year, the inclusion of Thomson Reuters as a World’s Most Ethical Company for 2012 demonstrates its industry-leading commitment to ethics and dedication to integrity.”
Out of a record number of nominations for the award, Thomson Reuters secured a hard-earned spot on the list by implementing and maintaining upright business practices and initiatives that are instrumental to the company’s success, benefit the community and raise the bar for ethical standards within the industry.
Read about the methodology and view the complete list of the 2012 World’s Most Ethical Companies and view the announcement of Thomson Reuters being named a WME.
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During the 2012 Global Ethics Summit, Scott McCleskey, global head of financial services regulation, Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance, served as the moderator for a panel discussing the evolution of the chief ethics and compliance officer.
The panel featured a group covering multiple industries and years of experience, including: Elliott Fisch, director-internal audit and chief compliance officer, Easton-Bell Sports; Laura Merten, chief compliance officer, Walgreen Co.; Kimberly Strong, vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer, Consolidated Edison of New York; and Alan Yuspeh, senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer, Hospital Corporation of America.
The session began focusing on how the role has evolved over the last 20 years, emphasizing that the position has become a profession in its own right and covers a broader range of responsibilities, and that generally the level of resources has risen to meet these broader responsibilities.
Following the initial discussion of the evolution of the position, the conversation turned to the authority and independence required in the role, and how vital those elements are for the position to be successful within the organization.
McCleskey highlights the topics discussed during the session.
The Global Ethics Summit, held March 15-16 in New York, included numerous panel discussions that featured CEOs, board chairs, executive leaders, and government and regulatory officials offering in-depth analysis and best practices surrounding ethics and compliance. Each of these panels, including the Evolution of the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, is available via video on westlegaledcenter.com.
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Chrystia Freeland, editor, Thomson Reuters Digital, moderated a session at the recent Global Ethics Summit in New York. The panel, Tone from the Top, a Conversation with Chief Executive Officers, featured Jack Domme, chief executive officer, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), and Jules Kroll, chairman and chief executive officer, Kroll Bond Ratings, Inc.
The conversation began by focusing on how ethics and compliance have an impact on an organization’s bottom line. The panel highlighted that the behavior of the chief executive officer sets the tone, encouraging how members of the organization operate and behave, how they deal with and set expectations for their partners and suppliers, and what they are or are not willing to do as a business.
As more organizations continue to grow and conduct business on a global scale, the discussion led to cultural differences internationally and how that can impact business. Continuing to focus on global growth, the panel agreed that the areas where they have the most issues are where they are growing the fastest, as well as how the rules of the game vary and are different in emerging markets.
Freeland briefly discusses her take-aways from the panel.
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The U.S. Constitution is one of the most powerful and impactful documents in existence. It literally touches every American’s life, and has since its creation in 1787. Recently, I had the opportunity to view the document first-hand as part of a new exhibit, “We the People: The First Official Printing of the U.S. Constitution,” sponsored [...]
Earlier this week, we released our 2011 Annual Report in an interactive format available online at thomsonreuters.com. Along with information on the company’s financial performance as well as business unit overviews, this year’s annual report contains a variety of dynamic content including interviews with our new business leaders as well as stories of how we [...]
We’ve got a great episode for you this month, kicking off with our “Chaos in the Courts” segment that, believe it or not, is yet another story about the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas. Since our March podcast, another person has fallen victim to the establishment’s trademark bypass burger.
Then in our “On the Blawgs” [...]
