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.

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.

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.

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.

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

In Hubbard One’s latest Insight episode, Tiffany Truffo, Director of Marketing at Haight, Brown & Bonesteel LLP discusses some of the organizational and branding challenges that exist within mid-sized firms, as well as the opportunities they present. 

“Without a solid foundation – that is marketing, that is the firm’s brand, the firm’s identity, who that firm is in the marketplace – you’re just not going to be as successful with your business development efforts,” Truffo says. “I think a lot of firms are realizing that.”

Watch Marketing for Mid-Sized Law Firms or check out some of the other episodes from Hubbard One’s Insight video series. 

That’s about 60 new regulatory announcements every working day, and up 16% from 2011.

The study says the problem will only grow worse in 2012.  Major portions of the Dodd-Frank Act take effect later this year.  And while the SEC and FSA get most of the attention, the major regulators in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Hong Kong combined accounted for just 20 percent of overall activity last year.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Online retailing is an increasingly popular way for consumers to do their shopping, and is expected to hit record levels this year.  But online shopping websites usually display detailed terms and conditions regarding subjects such as canceling orders, return of merchandise, resolving disputes and privacy protections for customer information.

According to the FindLaw.com survey, fifty-four percent of Americans say they only quickly read or skim, or completely ignore those legal agreements when they shop online.

To learn more, check out the full news release.

With the rapid growth surrounding LPOs in the legal industry, the panel addressed numerous topics and issues ranging from: how each company addresses the relationship with the LPO differently to the best way to get started and how to make it work; how LPOs keep their employees and motivate them; and that law firms will work with LPOs, but they need to be directed by the client. 

As LPOs have become an accepted solution to large and small corporate legal departments, the trends discussed focused on benchmarking the service, how the process works and if the service is right for you. 

In a video recap, Perla discusses the three main takeaways, current trends and what he wanted the audience to know.

A new report from Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance says the volume of M&A deals fell 10 percent globally in the third quarter.  Most of the drop was among high-value deals, reflecting uncertain and volatile financial markets.

The Thomson Reuters Accelus “M&A Hostility Index” has been rising over the past two quarters, suggesting that deals are becoming both more contentious and more legally complex.

The telecommunications sector had a particularly slow quarter, down 49 percent compared to last year’s volumes.  Deal volumes in manufacturing, real estate and technology have remained  mostly steady year-over-year.

Private equity deals declined in line with the overall market.

Globally, M&A volume activity has slowed in a number of countries, including the U.S., India and Spain, while China, Japan, Canada and Russia saw their deal volume activity increase over the last four quarters.

A copy of the full report can be downloaded here