Demand for legal services at the largest law firms grew in the first quarter, even while overall demand for law firm services slumped, according to the Q1 2018 Peer Monitor report. The segment of the market made up of the largest firms – the Am Law 100 – had a strong quarter, with demand growing …
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Combatting Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession, Part Two
This is part two of a three-piece series on substance abuse in the legal profession. Click here to read part one. Stay tuned to Legal Current in the coming weeks for posts two and three. Recognizing, preventing and resolving problem behaviors Firms must know how to identify addiction and mental health disorders, and should have …
- May 10, 2018
- Alex Cook
ABA TIPS 2018 Panel – Law Firms at Risk: The Ethical Duty to Protect Client Data in the New Breach Environment
Last week, the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) met for its annual conference in Los Angeles. Featured among the three days’ worth of programs and panels was a discussion on law firms and the ongoing challenge of protecting client data. “Law Firms at Risk: The Ethical Duty to Protect Client Data in …
- May 9, 2018
- Alex Cook
Combatting Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession, Part One
This is part one of a three-piece series on substance abuse in the legal profession. Stay tuned to Legal Current in the coming weeks for posts two and three. The legal community has been harboring an open secret for decades: substance abuse among practicing lawyers is rampant. In 2016 the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and …
- May 8, 2018
- Alex Cook
The Internet of Tomatoes on the Blockchain
While much of the legal industry has been overwhelmed by the hype surrounding blockchain, a lot of the attention has focused on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). But at Thomson Reuters innovation lab in Boston last week, a farmer and the co-creator of a local food partnership spoke about how the Internet of Things …
- May 3, 2018
- Alex Cook
Antitrust Under Trump
Developments this week in two mega-mergers are raising questions about the Trump administration’s approach to corporate mergers. T-Mobile and Sprint announced plans to merge after similar plans were benched in 2014 over concerns the Obama administration would oppose the merger. And closing arguments were held in the Justice Department’s antitrust trial seeking to block the …
- May 2, 2018
- Leonard Lee
USTR’s 2018 Special 301 Report: Combating International Trade in Fakes
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued the 2018 “Special 301 Report” on April 27, which identified 36 countries whose intellectual property (IP) systems present the greatest challenges to U.S. interests and deserve a higher degree of bilateral engagement. The report further identified 19 countries that must take steps to improve their customs agencies’ IP enforcement …
- May 1, 2018
- Alex Cook
#CLOC2018: A Conversation with Cisco Systems’ Mark Chandler
The 2018 Annual CLOC Institute recently concluded and there were many takeaways and conversations over the course of four days. I was fortunate to co-moderate, along with Susan Lambreth, principal at Law Vision, an engaging conversation with Mark Chandler, general counsel for Cisco Systems. The session opened with CLOC Board Member Jeff Franke detailing the …
- April 30, 2018
- Alex Cook
#CLOC2018: Building a Mature Legal Operations Function
The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) states that legal operations is a multi-disciplinary function that optimizes legal services delivery to a business or government entity by focusing on core competencies, which are broken into three levels: foundational, advanced and mature. Regardless of where your legal department stands in relation to these competencies, the session titled …
- April 26, 2018
- Jeff McCoy
CLOC 2018: Leveraging Data and Insights to Drive High Performance
The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, maybe better known as CLOC, has developed a list of Legal Operations Core Competencies. At the 2018 Annual Corporate Legal Operations Institute, a workshop focused on three of those core competencies: financial management; vendor management; and data analytics. The workshop, Legal Ops Dashboard Workshop: Leveraging Data and Insights to Drive …
- April 24, 2018
- Leonard Lee