This morning I had the opportunity to sit in on the session titled Talking Technology to Attorneys at ILTA 2011. The session was very well attended, indicating how top of mind this topic is for today’s legal technology leaders.
The panelists were Judith Flournoy from Loeb & Loeb LLP, Martin Metz from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, and Curtis Meltzer from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, and the panel was moderated by Angel Garcia-Manso from Hubbard One.
The focus for the session was how to communicate with lawyers about technology strategy. The panelists shared some insightful information about how best to talk technology strategy with attorneys and build consensus for new technology initiatives.
Metz highlighted that the most important aspect in communicating with attorneys about technology is to have a strategic plan in place. By having a strategy and a framework in place, law firm leaders can establish creditability with attorneys. Metz suggested five questions that should guide a strategic plan:
1) What’s the current situation?
2) What kind of firm do you want to be?
3) What’s our guiding philosophy?
4) What are the IT costs?
5) What projects do we want to tackle next year?
The panelists also highlighted building relationships and rapport as another important factor in successfully discussing technology with attorneys. Flournoy suggested seeking out targeted groups of attorneys to use as sounding boards for new technology initiatives and projects. Building rapport with attorneys and making them part of the process helps build consensus and support for new initiatives. However, Flournoy reminded the audience that law firm leaders can only build their reputation and relationships by delivering on their commitments.
Posted by Callie Hodge in:
Technology and innovation |
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Information Technology (IT) plays a critical role in today’s law firm, being increasingly entwined in the day-to-day workflow of attorneys.
But IT groups often find themselves planning their projects in a “silo”; that is, they find themselves preparing for the IT future of the firm without the input of key stakeholders within their organization. This lack of communications can lead to a variety of problems within a firm, ranging from end user frustration to competitive disadvantage in the market for the firm as a whole.
In their ILTA 2011 session, “Expanding the Technology Strategic Planning Process,” Robert Craig, from Baker Hostetler, Janet Day, from Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, and John Alber, from Bryan Cave LLP, spoke about ways to connect the right stakeholders into their planning processes.
Each shared their organizational experiences and challenges with implementing large-scale IT projects within law firms. Though their individual approaches differed, they all had experience with so-called “silo” IT planning.
They shared some warning signs to look for at firms which might suffer from similar problems, as well as steps firms can take to make their IT departments a key center of innovation and competitive advantage:
Read more… (more…)
Posted by Andrew McLennan-Murray in:
Technology and innovation |
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Developed from feedback received at last year’s session, Michael Mills from Kraft & Kennedy, Inc., Gerard Neiditsch from Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Jeffery S. Rovner from O’Melveny & Myers LLP, and Ron Friedmann from Integreon led a lively panel discussion on the major trends impacting information management, technology and more.
These days the only thing changing faster than technology is client expectations. Boundaries between firms and the outside world are dissolving, and lawyers are facing a loss of control as clients demand more transparency and have access to information, such as fee structures, that had previously been kept under lock and key.
Another hot topic was the increasing need for mobility among the work force, and a glance at all of the iPads around the room definitely helped reinforce the case that lawyers are demanding these type of changes like never fore. Not only does IT need to provide ways for attorneys to be able to fully function outside of the office but they need to make it simple.
Overall, it’s clear that there’s not going to be one simple answer on how to prepare your law firm for the future. An ending comment from a panelist pretty much summed it up when he said that if you have partners that want something fool-proof, you won’t be able to future proof your firm.
We want to hear from you, what do you think future proofing your law firm looks like?
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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Whether it’s the tablet shootout, learning how to future-proof your law firm or speculating on Law2020, this year’s International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) conference in Nashville, Tennessee promises to have it all, including us.
Several of our flagship businesses and brands will also be out at the conference and hosting several sessions on the latest products and technology news from Hubbard One, Elite and Engage. There are also two sessions highlighting WestSearch and the WestlawNext mobile.
Throughout the conference we will be vigorously tweeting, blogging and bringing you video highlights from many of the great sessions so stay tuned to Legal Current for all the latest ILTA news.
And don’t forget to keep up with us on Twitter, its @legalcurrent and the conference hashtag is #ILTA11.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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In March, The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) announced that it had named WestlawNext as its New Product of the Year for 2011. And last night AALL Annual Meeting & Conference attendees formally recognized WestlawNext during the association’s awards program held during a reception in the Exhibit Hall.
Mike Dahn, sr. vp, WestlawNext Marketing & New Initiative Development, and Anne Ellis, senior director, Librarian Relations accepted the award.
Earlier this year, Legal Current caught up with Dahn and his team to talk about the award in this short video interview.
Posted by Megan Gustafson in:
Technology and innovation |
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On Saturday night, right after the exhibit hall ribbon cutting kicked off this year’s AALL conference, we had a kickoff of our own, as Dan Bennett, senior director, Mobile Technology Strategy, showed the new Thomson Reuters ProView eReader application. As attendees looked on, Bennett ran the new app through its paces, showing how it allows researchers to view, annotate and search texts anywhere, anytime.
Thomson Reuters ProView is the first professional-grade eReader software application, with advanced features such as Boolean full-text search based on the familiar Westlaw search, links to WestlawNext content and automatic content updating.
Thomson Reuters is showing ProView at AALL to get feedback and input from the librarian community. Thomson Reuters ProView will be a free downloadable software application for the iPad and web browsers. It will be available first through our Carswell business in Canada next month, and available to U.S. customers later this year.
Posted by Megan Gustafson in:
Industry trends | Products | Technology and innovation |
Comments (1) |
In response to the global catastrophic events of the past decade – including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, 2011 Japan earthquake and nuclear meltdown and cyber-terrorism – The American Bar Association (ABA) Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), in partnership with Thomson Reuters, announced the launch of a year-long (2011-2012) series of programs dedicated to disaster preparedness and response.
The series will confront the issues of preparedness, risk management, recovery, liability, insurance, claims and litigation. The official launch of the disaster series will be on September 6, 2011, commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. In addition to several high-profile speakers, the disaster series will include a ten-part series of podcasts and four conferences in Seattle; Charleston, S.C.; New Orleans; and Chicago, featuring legislative, judicial and business leaders to address disaster readiness and response.
In the pilot podcast, “Disaster Response Awareness: What the ABA is Doing,” you’ll hear from ABA President Steve Zack and TIPS Chair-Elect Randy J. Aliment. Listen in to learn from Steve why the ABA selected disaster preparedness as a main goal and which disasters can affect the organization. Randy will speak about his collaboration with Steve and the TIPS initiative. You can also learn more about an essay competition involving law schools and law students.
For more information or to register for the series, check out the ABA TIPS blog or the West LegalEdcenter website. And stay tuned to Legal Current for more coverage of this series including interviews with some of the key presenters.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Audio | Audio / Video | Education | In Practice |
Comments (2) |
Strict governmental standards for brand names have forced the global pharmaceutical industry to adapt by rapidly increasing the number of trademarks it files for every new drug, according to a new report published by Thomson CompuMark.
These additional efforts to secure a trademark are an attempt to combat the increasing rate of rejection from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) as those organizations try to prevent look-alike/sound-alike pharmaceutical brand names. Combined, the FDA and EMA are now rejecting 40-50 percent of pharmaceutical trademarks each year.
The special report, compiled using Thomson CompuMark data to identify trends in pharmaceutical trademark applications and top filers by company and country, also showed that China was most prolific filer in 2010 with a total of 36,105 pharmaceutical trademarks filed. In addition, emerging markets like Vietnam, Venezuela and others are among the top 10 countries filing the most drug trademarks in 2010.
The report also covers the FDA’s pilot program designed to improve consumer safety, streamline the review process and make regulatory decisions more transparent, which has led to the development of several best practices that will contribute to the standardization of the trademark process.
For a copy of the full special report, click here.
Posted by Erin Capellman in:
In Practice | Intellectual Property |
Comments (1) |
Announced in today’s news release, more than 1,200 donated legal texts have arrived in Lusaka, Zambia, showcasing the tangible benefits of the partnership between Thomson Reuters and the U.S.-based nonprofit organization Books For Africa. These legal texts will be the cornerstone of law libraries serving the nation’s law schools and governing institutions.
This donation is part of a $1.2 million partnership between Thomson Reuters and Books For Africa’s Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative, which was established last fall, and will include shipment of up to 15 law libraries to Africa over the next several years.
Posted by Megan Gustafson in:
In Practice | Rule of law |
Comments (1) |
The WestlawNext Tip of the Week is a weekly email that provides quick, practical research tips on using WestlawNext. Each tip contains valuable knowledge to help maximize efficiency and give users a competitive edge in delivering better answers, faster.
Now anyone can take advantage of this free service by subscribing to the Tip of the Week at westlawnext.com/tipoftheweek. After signing up, subscribers will receive a weekly research tip that answers a common question, demonstrates how to use a specific feature, or provides updates on new enhancements.
Past tips are also easily accessible by browsing the archive by topic or date. For more information, check out the Tip of the Week website.
Posted by Kim Ellenberg in:
Education | In Practice |
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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” [...]
