Monday 31st Oct 2011
The Peer Monitor Economic Index (PMI) dropped six points to 56 in Q3. The Hildebrandt Institute report showed that demand for law firm services weakened slightly, while expenses rose, reducing law firm productivity and profitability. Although demand for litigation services rose 1.5 percent in the third quarter, demand for transactional services such as M&A fell, due largely ...
Monday 17th Oct 2011
Global merger and acquisition activity is off to a slower-than-usual start in the second half of 2011, but that does not necessarily mean less work for M&A lawyers. 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 ...
Tuesday 11th Oct 2011
I recently read a great story about Hennelly & Grossfeld, and one of their clients, Fidelity National Title Group (FNTG), and how they are strategically leveraging technology to reduce costs, be more efficient and collaborate and remain competitive. Hennelly & Grossfeld partners Susan Clary and Tom Case use WestlawNext as a cost savings tool, as well as a ...
Wednesday 5th Oct 2011
Jason Wilson, legal blogger and vice president, Jones McClure Publishing, discusses WestlawNext vs. Westlaw Classic search models in Part II of his interview with Mike Dahn, senior vice president, WestlawNext Marketing and New Initiative Development at Thomson Reuters. Wilson asks Dahn to respond to questions raised in recent articles and online posts. For instance, they ...
Monday 3rd Oct 2011
In Part I of this two-part interview, Jason Wilson, legal blogger and vice president, Jones McClure Publishing, asks Mike Dahn, senior vice president, WestlawNextMarketing & New Initiative Development at Thomson Reuters, to discuss common misconceptions about WestlawNext, including “crowdsourcing” as it relates to the WestlawNext search algorithm. So does Thomson Reuters “crowdsource” for WestlawNext development? Dahn ...
Thursday 29th Sep 2011
Here at Thomson Reuters, developing new ways to listen to customers has become an ongoing trend throughout the year. Recently, Hubbard One designed an impressive way to hear from customers through its new Insight video series. The videos connect Hubbard One’s clients to the most innovative ideas and trends in legal marketing, business development and practice management through interviews ...
Wednesday 21st Sep 2011
A new survey of major corporations found significant security gaps that leave sensitive board-level information open to information theft and hacking. Those are among the findings of a new survey of board members of UK and global corporations conducted by Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance. Most corporations surveyed have one or more of the following potential security ...
Thursday 25th Aug 2011
Three firm representatives discussed coaching programs and their experiences implementing these programs: Sharon Ford of Sidley Austin LLP, Jan Huber of Baker & Daniels, and Julia Montgomery of Arent Fox LLP. The speakers differentiated coaching from training. Training was described as a traditional classroom or virtual classroom environment with one teacher and more than one ...
Wednesday 24th Aug 2011
In the ILTA 2011 session on Open Source Gurus, self-proclaimed geeks gathered to share their experiences of using open source software in the law firm environment. Topics of discussion varied, from challenges in implementing open source software to cost savings realized from going with an open source solution versus a commercial one. Panelists included: Nathan ...
Tuesday 23rd Aug 2011
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 ...
Monday 22nd Aug 2011
Thomson Reuters announced today at the ILTA 2011 conference that West Case Notebook, West’s case analysis software, now integrates with Worldox® Document Management System (DMS) software Worldox is one of the world’s top document management systems, with an installed base of 4000+ law firms, and installations in 41 countries. With the new integration, users can ...
Monday 22nd Aug 2011
As we talk with customers here at ILTA 2011, it’s clear that the unrelenting economic pressures continue to impact law firms. Firms are being challenged to run more like businesses, retain clients, grow intelligently, compete globally and focus on driving efficiencies. We’re seeing the functional areas within firms begin to collaborate more closely in an ...
Monday 22nd Aug 2011
Chris Trimble, author, researcher and adjunct professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, kicked off the ILTA 2011 conference with a thought-provoking keynote session focused on innovation. He started out by defining innovation as any project that is new to you and has an uncertain outcome. With this definition in mind, he ...
