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 |
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When it comes to paperwork, the court system definitely has its hands full. Each case generates voluminous amounts of data that often must be shared with other courts, law enforcement, state agencies and other parts of the judicial system. The State of Indiana is in the midst of an ambitious project to equip all state trial courts with a uniform case management system.
Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr. recently spoke on our Eagan campus on the importance of automating judicial case management, particularly in a time of limited state resources. Justice Sullivan chairs the Court’s Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC), which focuses on improving technology for Indiana courts, clerks and law enforcement. In a presentation to Thomson Reuters employees, Justice Sullivan discussed the technology initiatives as well as JTAC’s experiences implementing them.
Posted by Jessica Leibrock in:
Audio / Video | In Practice | Technology and innovation | Video |
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Everyone was talking about “The Game” (in the Oscar-nominated Inception sort of way) at the recent 2011 Hubbard One Excellence in Legal Marketing Awards gathering. Yes, marketers were duly thrilled for Jeffrey J. Berardi, chief marketing officer, K& L Gates LLP, who was named Marketing Professional of the Year, and they were delighted for Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP who received the Marketing Initiative Award for their Gold Medal Initiative for the 2010 Winter Olympics. But it was the Best Use of Technology to Support Marketing Efforts award recipient, Houthoff Buruma, which left the marketing community wondering if “The Game” was part of their first-, second- or third-level dream marketing campaign.
Houthoff Buruma, in conjunction with Ranj Serious Games, developed an interactive, multimedia game specifically for law firm recruitment. The realistic, serious game is based on a fictive take-over deal of a Dutch family company by a Chinese state owned giant, and the players represent the Chinese company. Throughout, players are faced with video and text chats, film clips, emails, CNN new flashes, websites and more than 100 fictional documents to inform their counsel.
To explain the specifics of development and rollout is the following post by Jaap Bosman, Head of Marketing at Houthoff Buruma. While this post is a bit longer than our norm, hold fast because you will want to learn every detail about “The Game.” (more…)
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Audio / Video | In Practice | Technology and innovation | Video |
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My first LegalTech experience has started off well. Arrived at the Hilton with plenty of time to get lost in the sea of vendor booths (never, of course, being able to find the one I wanted). Yep, that was me looking lost, confused, and trying desperately to hide my fear behind my Blackberry.
I stopped in the middle of the exhibit lobby (again, pretending to be very busy and important) when I looked up to see a sign that said something to the effect of “Download the Mobile LegalTech App.”
So I did. And it worked.
Wouldn’t ya know, this handy little app helped me find exactly what I was looking for (for all of you wondering what that was, it was the Westlaw Business booth).
So, for all of you other first timers, I highly recommend downloading Mobile LegalTech. For those of you who don’t, I’ll spot you in the lobby, hiding behind your mobile devices trying to not look lost, and offer you the opportunity to use my Blackberry to find your way.
P.S. Anyone going to the LPO session at 1 p.m.? If so, I’ll see you there (if not, watch for a recap here on Legal Current)
Posted by Nicole Hansen in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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I recently read the book Empowered, co-authored by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler of Forrester Research. It deals with the rise of social media and its impact on how companies are using social tools to connect with customers.
But it also explores how companies benefit from employees who are passionate about researching and implementing new ways to use social technologies within their companies, for both internal and external purposes.
Empowered argues that businesses should encourage a culture where employees feel confident to bring innovative ideas to their managers and that they should have some freedom to use work time – with some organization and oversight – to test new ideas.
I took those themes to Rick King, chief technology officer for the Professional Division of Thomson Reuters. He offered his thoughts on creating a culture of innovation.
Employees have regular duties every day. How do you give them time to innovate? (more…)
Posted by Kevin Hunt in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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It might be safe to say no one is more excited about the new Mexican Legal Dictionary app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch than Jorge Vargas, editor of the dictionary and a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.
You can hear it in his voice in this excerpt from an interview I did with him.
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“I think this is going to contribute both to the prestigious reputation and ability of American attorneys to apply Mexican law, and also for judges to become more familiar with this interesting aspects of Mexican law,” said Vargas.
The Mexican Legal Dictionary app from Thomson Reuters includes 2,300 legal terms, providing a quick reference guide for judges, government agencies and legal professionals with clients with business in Mexico, as well as law students and faculty studying Mexican law.
The app also features English and Spanish audio pronunciations and convenient search functionality, which builds search results as terms are entered that match the dictionary’s database of English to Spanish and Spanish to English terms.
The Mexican Legal Dictionary app is available for $29.99 from Apple’s App Store.
Posted by Kevin Hunt in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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Economic growth for a country, state or organization requires many factors to fall into place. A good deal of strategy and planning is at the heart of the matter.
Rick King, chief technology officer for the Professional Division of Thomson Reuters, is featured in an article published in several regional newspapers about the global economy and the economic growth potential for Minnesota in particular – where our headquarters for Thomson Reuters, Legal is located.
In the article, King says Minnesota’s economic future at the government level is tied to three key strategies: (more…)
Posted by Kevin Hunt in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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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” [...]
