The buzzword in a lot of firms these days is “efficiency”. Firms are under pressures from client to demonstrate greater value in the services they provide. That often means achieving greater efficiency in how the firm manages cases.
The result is often higher productivity for the firm, and lower costs for the client, creating a win-win situation that strengthens the firm-client relationship and can result in more business for the firm.
In a recent post on the ABA’s Legal Rebels blog, Allison Guidette, senior vp and general manager, Large Law Firm Segment, discusses how technology can help firms achieve greater efficiency.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
Industry trends | Law firm business | Technology and innovation |
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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?
Posted by Jeff McCoy in:
In Business | In Practice |
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The Hildebrandt Institute’s Peer Monitor Index (PMI) rebounded 6 points to 55 in the first quarter – reversing two consecutive quarterly declines. Demand growth was back on a positive track. However, the good news was dampened by expense growth, which continues to accelerate, reducing firm profitability.
After a weak finish to 2011, demand for legal services was up 1.5% in the first quarter. Litigation, IP-related practices, and labor and employment continue to be positive, while transactional practices were largely flat-to-slightly down.
The current outlook remains cautious. Demand and rate growth, while positive, are still weak. And although the balance between demand and capacity is showing signs of improving, at the moment it remains a drag on law firm market performance.
A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
Law firm business |
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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.
Posted by Jeff McCoy in:
In Business |
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While the words “project management” may make many of us cringe, legal project management is becoming an increasing buzzword in legal circles. With many firms still struggling to gain momentum amidst sluggish demand and client pricing pressures, firms are exploring many new avenues to re-examine, and if need be, re-invent some of their processes.
Firms are looking for any means they can to improve efficiency, boost productivity, and deliver greater value to their clients.
A recent post on the ABA’s “Legal Rebels” blog from Lydia Flocchini, director of WestlawNext Marketing, discusses how legal research can improve legal project management. In addition, Tom Scrivo, Managing Partner of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP’s Newark office offers some examples of how this applies at this firm.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
Law firm business |
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Baker & McKenzie announced in recently that highly regarded ERISA litigator, James Baker joined its North American Compensation & Employment Law Practice as a partner in the San Francisco/Palo Alto office. Baker’s practice focuses on ERISA litigation and the counseling of employers on ERISA, employee benefit and executive compensation issues. Among Baker’s most notable cases, he was the lead attorney in five ERISA stock drop class action cases resulting in consecutive client victories using five different legal theories. He also regularly represents clients in federal district and appellate courts across the country.
“We are very pleased that Jim has joined Baker & McKenzie,” said Rick Hammett, Chair of the Firm’s North American Compensation and Employment Law Practice Group. “Jim is widely regarded as one of the top ERISA litigators in the US, and he joins a strong ERISA litigation practice at our firm. I know our clients will value his significant experience and insight, particularly in ‘stock drop’ cases, which continue to be an issue for many companies.”
Baker has frequently been cited as one of the top employment law and ERISA litigation lawyers in the US. Of these honors, he was named as one of the nation’s top 40 best ERISA attorney’s by the National Law Journal, and listed as a leading attorney nationally for ERISA litigation in Northern California Super Lawyers (2005-2011). For more information about James Baker joining Baker & McKenzie and further details about Baker & McKenzie’s employment law practice, click here.
Posted by Laura Folland in:
Client development | Company Current | In Business | In the News | Law firm business |
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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.
Posted by Jeff McCoy in:
Industry trends |
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The trends towards industry consolidation continues.
The Hildebrandt Institute’s MergerWatch Report showed 20 completed law firm mergers that involved U.S. firms in the first quarter of 2012. That represents a 43 percent increase over the first quarter of 2011, which saw only 14 completed mergers and is in stark contrast to the four completed mergers in the first quarter of 2010.
Merger activity so far in 2012 appears to build off of the increased merger activity in 2011 when the Hildebrandt Institute tracked 45 completed mergers, a substantial jump from 2010, which saw only 27 mergers. It appears that law firm merger activity has been encouraged by signs of economic recovery.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
Industry trends |
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Program Director of Hildebrandt Institute’s Peer Monitor, Mark Medice, recently contributed a post to the ABA Journal blog, Legal Rebels, highlighting new approaches and trends seen in law firm management. Today, law firms are pressed to find ways to deliver legal services to their clients more efficiently in an effort to better position themselves in a challenging and volatile market both now and in the future.
In Medice’s post, he discusses areas where firms are focusing their efforts to tackle market challenges including, new approaches to expense management, experimenting with new business models and expanding merger and lateral activity.
Posted by admin in:
Company Current | In Business | In the News | Industry trends | Law firm business |
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Compliance teams are being stretched to the limit as they try to keep up with the growing demands of global regulation, according to a new survey by Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance.
The survey of more than 500 compliance professionals at financial services companies around the world found that:
- 84 percent of compliance professionals expect to handle more regulatory information in 2012
- More than a third of respondents spend an entire working day each week staying up-to-date with regulatory changes
- 70 percent of respondents expect the cost of senior compliance staff to be higher this year
- Only 11 percent of companies expect a significant increase in their budget for compliance this year
A complete copy of the report can be downloaded here
Posted by Jeff McCoy in:
Industry trends |
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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” [...]
