Serengeti hosted the 2012 Serengeti Summit May 9-11, in an unseasonably warm and sunny Seattle. Eddie Pasatiempo, senior director of client services for Thomson Reuters, shared the shocking statistic that Seattle isn’t in the top 10 rainiest cities in the United States, based on total rainfall. (The city owns the top spot for the most number of rainy days in the year, experiencing at least 1/100th of an inch of rain on 153 days a year.) Those weren’t the only facts and figures shared during this year’s Summit, the theme of which was “Strength in Numbers.” Speaking of numbers, here’s my Top 10 of things seen, heard and observed during the summit:
10. Batter up! Who knew that baseball would be a central metaphor for this year’s Summit? Discussions about shrinking legal budgets and “doing more with less” led many speakers to evoke Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, a story about Billy Beane, the statistics-driven and unconventional general manager of the Oakland A’s, who built a competitive team on a fraction of the budget of other MLB teams. Very few legal departments have a New York Yankees-sized budget to spend on internal resources and outside counsel. But like Beane, Serengeti legal departments use statistics and benchmarks mined from Serengeti Tracker to obtain additional value and achieve better results.
9. Strength in Numbers. Speaking of data and statistics, did you know that the almost 500 Serengeti legal departments share industry benchmarks through the Serengeti Analytics functionality on Tracker? Want to know the average hourly rate of a 16-year partner doing patent work in Dallas? Ever wonder if you are paying too much for that litigation associate in Philadelphia? Can you validate the hourly rate you are currently paying your outside counsel? The Serengeti Index Rate, based on the billions of dollars of invoices submitted through Serengeti, can tell you. Even better? The more legal departments that join Serengeti, the richer the data pool for the entire Serengeti eco-system. That’s real strength in numbers.
8. That would “B” as in Billions. Eric Laughlin, managing director, Corporate Counsel for Thomson Reuters, shared this jaw-dropper of a statistic: since the company’s inception in 2002, Serengeti has saved more than $3 billion for legal departments through the audit and enforcement of billing guidelines through Tracker’s electronic billing functionality. And that number doesn’t even include savings realized through budgets and other Tracker functionality.
7. I paid for what?! So what’s behind the $3B in costs savings? Some of the Serengeti legal departments entertained each other with a few of their favorite charges found on invoices from outside counsel, including:
- Three movies rented by outside counsel during business trip (cost: $29)
- Stapling and delivering cases to Partner (cost: $240)
- Create .pdf of documents (cost: $190)
- Printing documents from XYZ system (cost: $1,900)
6. Something for everyone. The Summit offered tailored sessions for advanced, long term customers as well as more recent, newer users of Tracker. The 150 attendees included members of the legal teams hailing from Nike (on the system for almost a decade) and American Airlines Mexico, Caribbean and Latin America (MCLA) Division (on the system for a mere 2 weeks).
5. Why I went to law school: I was told that there would be no math. Thought-leader and former general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), Susan Hackett, opened her keynote address with the differences between the “Old Normal” and the “New Normal.” How to thrive in the New Normal? DATA. According to Susan, “Data drives demonstrable value.” It also drives continuous (and measurable) improvements, not to mention the power that data has to change behavior (both internal team members and outside counsel). Also discussed? How data and statistics can make lawyers, who are not known for their strong math skills, uncomfortable.
4. “Take small bites and breathe through your nose.” This was the advice that client relationship manager Derek Howell shared with attendees undertaking a global deployment of Serengeti during his session entitled “Rolling-Out Tracker Internationally: Don’t Go It Alone.” Other advice for going global? Build an “A-Team” comprised of representatives from the C-suite/executive team, corporate finance and IT. Maybe “A” in A-Team should stand for “Advocates”, which is especially important to have in a global deployment of Serengeti within a corporation.
3. Thomson Reuters debuts line of formal wear at Awards Dinners. This was the first year that Serengeti held its user summit since being acquired by Thomson Reuters in October 2010. Nothing embodied (literally) this “marriage” more than the tuxedo donned by long-time employee Drew Petty, the emcee of Thursday night’s “Golden Cheetah” Awards Dinner. And not just any tuxedo, but a bright ORANGE tuxedo. (Some might call it Thomson Reuters’ orange, but I’ll let our branding folks make the final judgment call.) The Golden Cheetah recognizes extraordinary achievements of Serengeti legal departments, like the lightening fast 12 day implementation of Sea World’s legal department onto Tracker. Who won first place at the Golden Cheetah? The legal department at Becton Dickinson, who was able to save an impressive $1 million before the first anniversary of their Serengeti implementation.
2. It does take a village. The summit concluded with a panel discussion of Serengeti legal departments, including Nike, Intuit and Albemarle. Each legal department represented a common pain point experienced by Serengeti users: a decade-old implementation didn’t reflect the new realities of the legal department; lack of resources to deploy Serengeti to all practice groups within the department; and reports still being produced in a time-consuming, manual process. The answer to all of these problems: Serengeti’s new professional services team. Each legal department on the panel took advantage of expert advisors who were deployed onsite to optimize the department’s use of Tracker. The new conundrum for these Tracker users: now that Serengeti is optimized, what are they going to do with all the extra time on their hands?
1. Stay connected to the village. Want to learn more Serengeti-related news, events and best practices? You can visit Serengeti’s recently re-launched website. Alternatively, boost the number of participants on the active Serengeti Law User Group on LinkedIn, or like Serengeti on Facebook or follow the company on Twitter (@SerengetiLaw).
These are just a few of the newsworthy numbers, data points and anecdotes shared at the 2012 summit. Will you be at the next user summit? Stay connected to see when the next summit will be held.
Posted by Bernadette Bulacan in:
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Happy Friday! Get your legal news headlines from Thomson Reuters News & Insight:
New York judge with cancer makes case for marijuana
Gustin Reichbach has become an unlikely voice in support of legalizing the use of medical marijuana with the admission that he smokes pot to ease the side-effects of his treatments.
MF Global clients bash fat fees, seek quick wind-down
A customer group plans to ask that the brokerage’s bankruptcy case be streamlined so that estate trustee Louis Freeh and his team receive less and customers receive more.
Mississippi high court declines to rehear pardon case
The state Supreme Court rejected a motion to reconsider its approval of 10 pardons issued in January by then Governor Haley Barbour.
Alabama lawmakers added a year to Jeffco bankruptcy, lawyer says
The state’s House of Representatives skipped a vote on a bill that would have restored an occupational tax worth $60 million annually to debt-ridden Jefferson County.
Appeals court revives POM lawsuit versus Coca-Cola
POM initially sued Coca-Cola, saying that it misled consumers to believe that their drink consists primarily of pomegranate and blueberry juices. The 9th Circuit returned it to a lower court.
‘Neither admit nor deny’ unlikely to be changed by Congress
Officials from four agencies told lawmakers that requiring admissions of misconduct would hurt regulators’ ability to bring cases and would soak up limited resources.
For more legal news, check out Thomson Reuters News & Insight.
Posted by Morgan Smith in:
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Here at Westlaw, we know that customers are at the heart of everything we do, which is why at this year’s New Jersey State Bar Annual Meeting on May 16-18 in Atlantic City we are making an extra effort to listen to you.
We’re Listening @ WestlawSmallLaw is our program to inspire this conversation. We want to hear what you like about our products, what we need to improve, and also what new products and solutions you’d like to see us create to help your firm work better and smarter.
Please look for our team at the We’re Listening @ WestlawSmallLaw booth #209 in the exhibit hall– you can’t miss it. While you’re there, don’t forget to pick up your free “ear buds.”
You will have the opportunity to provide your feedback directly to our team, as well as on one of our many other channels. So tell us what you think! We’ve made it easy:
Write it.
Post feedback on the message board at our booth.
Say it.
Talk directly with our booth representatives or make a video recording at our booth.
Tweet it.
Use Twitter® hashtag #NJSBAAC and follow us @WestlawSmallLaw throughout the conference to join in the live discussion and tweet your questions, comments, and feedback.
We’re looking forward to hearing you there!
-The Westlaw Small Law Team
Posted by Heather Grabowski in:
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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.
Posted by Jeff McCoy in:
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One of the most important tasks when launching a brand, be it an entire company or a product line within, is to make sure that someone else hasn’t beat you to the punch on one of the most basic elements – the name.
That’s where Thomson CompuMark comes in. You’ve always been able to count on us to provide screening services to make sure your trademark isn’t already registered by someone else, but soon we’ll be expanding this and providing you with the most global coverage, period.
Over the past few months and over the coming few months, Thomson CompuMark is performing the Herculean task of more than tripling the number of our trademark screening registers. This summer, the number of registers covered by Thomson CompuMark will reach an impressive 186, making it the largest collection of trademark screening information available anywhere.
The upcoming expanded coverage will include markets unavailable from any other online source. We’re starting that process now with 40 new databases released this week, including strategically important countries like Taiwan, Kosovo and Malaysia.
So, with Thomson CompuMark, you get your brand off to the right start by screening the world with a single search, thanks to SAEGIS® on SERION®.
Find out more about this expansion of coverage, and stay tuned for more SAEGIS databases coming in the weeks ahead.
Posted by Erin Capellman in:
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Thomson Reuters has launched Westlaw NZ, the latest development in online research for legal professionals in New Zealand.
Westlaw NZ offers unrivaled content from case law and journals, legislation and commentary to precedents and news, as well as tax information. The technology behind the intuitive search capability within Westlaw NZ helps direct users to precise points of law and extends a new level of confidence that information is authoritative, current and the results are comprehensive.
Built upon state-of-the-art Westlaw technology, Westlaw NZ was developed specifically for New Zealand customers and modeled after Thomson Reuters online legal information services in the United Kingdom, United States, Asia, India and South America.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
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Recently, the Girl Scouts of U.S.A. celebrated their 100th anniversary. This organization was designed to help girls reach their full potential. At the event, Sharon Sayles Belton, Vice President of Community Relations and Government Affairs for Thomson Reuters, former mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and former Girl Scout was honored with the Trailblazer award.
Sharon is the first African American and the first female mayor of Minneapolis and a strong advocate for race equality; community development; public policy and women’s, family and children’s issues. Sharon received the Trailblazer award for demonstrating to girls how one person can make a big impact on their community.
Posted by Morgan Smith in:
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It’s Friday and we’ve got your legal news headlines from Thomson Reuters News & Insight:
Fat guarantees helped weaken Dewey & LeBoeuf
As the firm bleeds partners and clients on an almost-hourly basis, compensation guarantees — pay promises issued regardless of performance — are being blamed for the firm’s unraveling.
BP wins delay of Gulf spill trial until January 2013
The decision is a setback for the federal government, which will have to wait until after the November elections for the high-profile case to begin.
N.Y. bar exam results good news for 44 percent
Some 4,011 prospective lawyers sat for the two-day exam and of those, 1,749 passed, according to the New York State Board of Law Examiners. Here’s a full list of those who passed.
No rubber stamp for Lehman executives’ settlement
With a nod to country singer Kenny Rogers, a federal judge has refused allow insurers for Lehman Brothers to pay $90 mln to settle a fraud lawsuit brought by investors.
Google, authors go head to head over digital books
In a long-running legal dispute over its plans to create a digital library, Google argued that associations of authors and photographers should not be allowed to sue the company as a group.
Key Dewey & LeBoeuf partner defects to rival
The departure of vice-chairman and M&A lawyer Morton Pierce to White & Case is a major blow for the firm, which has lost nearly a third of its partners since January.
Auditor watchdog in China talks: spokeswoman
The PCAOB and SEC have been stepping up efforts to come to an agreement after a rash of accounting scandals at China-based companies that list shares in the United States.
For more legal news, check out Thomson Reuters News & Insight.
Posted by Morgan Smith in:
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Walk into any Thomson Reuters office, world-wide, and you will see concerted efforts and initiatives to thoughtfully incorporate environmental sustainability in the way we operate and conduct our business. Last week, employees from the Thomson Reuters Global Resources office in Baar, Switzerland, spent a day creating a new habitat for wildlife in their community by planting more than 1200 native trees and shrubs.
The project echoes Thomson Reuters commitment to corporate sustainability, and was initiated by longtime employee, Tim Nixon, director of Legal Content in Switzerland. Part of Tim’s role at Thomson Reuters is to help make transparent corporate sustainability efforts to determine what that data says about a business and how the information can be useful to investors. Prior to moving to Switzerland, Tim led the Green Team at the company’s Eagan, Minn., campus and was responsible for a number of initiatives to strengthen biodiversity there, including re-introducing native prairie to a large parcel on the campus and installing bluebird, wood duck and chimney swift houses.
To learn more about the project in Baar, click on the video clip below:
Posted by Laura Folland in:
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It’s Friday and we’ve got your legal news headlines from Thomson Reuters News & Insight:
U.S. adds muscle to fraud investigations
An Obama administration task force probing misconduct that fueled the financial crisis is increasing its ranks, adding five financial analysts and 10 new federal prosecutors.
ACLU sues over Border Patrol stops in U.S. Pacific Northwest
The ACLU says the U.S. Border Patrol is unjustifiably stopping people based on their skin color in Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, just across the water from Canada.
As Supreme Court mulls healthcare, rumors fly
This week the nation’s top court wrapped up the last oral arguments of its current term. Now comes the nationwide angst of waiting – as long as two months – for decisions.
AMR labor needs shifted after bankruptcy: exec
AMR Corp’s labor relations chief said that the company tried to “limp along” by negotiating burdensome short-term labor deals before deciding to file for Chapter 11 protection.
Smartphone trial features dueling ex-Sun execs
A pair of former CEOs for what was once a Silicon Valley darling told two different versions of how they viewed their company’s legal rights in the trial between Oracle and Google.
Former chief administrative judge to be deposed in ‘Law & Order’ lawsuit
Ann Pfau will be ordered to answer questions from lawyer Ravi Batra, who has pursued defamation claims against NBC over an episode he says featured an unflattering doppelganger.
Interview: SEC Enforcement Division Director Robert Khuzami
Being violation-free alone does not guarantee that a public company will not face the wrath of the SEC, its enforcer told Thomson Reuters.
For more legal news, check out Thomson Reuters News & Insight.
Posted by Morgan Smith in:
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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” [...]
