InsideLegal

Thought Leaders ILTA Session Recommendations

Posted on August 28, 2012 by InsideLegal

ILTA Tuesday kicks-off with conference favorite Tom Koulopoulos (day 2 keynote) and 45 other sessions ranging from process automation to social CRM. While most have mapped out conference schedules and picked our 'go to' sessions, we asked some industry thought leaders what session they were looking forward to and would recommend. Here are a few of the responses…

Jeffrey Brandt – Editor, PinHawk Law Technology Daily Digest
Recommends “A Preparatory Guide to BYOD”
It's no surprise that consumerization and BYOD have found
their way into your business place, but have you prepared your infrastructure
for the change? Learn how to properly prepare your technology to support BYOD
and hear about the tools and strategies that can help you successfully manage
everything. Hashtag #TECH5
Tuesday 1:30-2:30pm Location: Maryland B

Andy Adkins – Chief Information Officer, Steptoe &
Johnson PLLC
Recommends "Lessons Learned from Time and Billing
System Implementations"
Failure to adequately plan a time and billing system
implementation typically leads to one thing: an unsuccessful project full of
costly mistakes. A panel of experts will share their implementation stories and
explain how to avoid the pitfalls they encountered. Hear how you can become the
firm's financial hero! Hashtag #FMPG1
Tuesday 11:00-12:30pm Location: Maryland D
Andy: "To quote Carrie Underwood "some pages
turned, some bridges burned, but there were lessons learned"… Well, you
can move on from an ex-boyfriend Carrie, but it's not as easy with a
multi-million dollar system implementation. I'm particularly interested in
hearing Randy Steere's contribution … I want his 'been there' T-shirt!"

Norm Thomas – Vice President of Business Development, Litera
Recommends "OneNote for All Your Notes: A Hands-On
Session"
Microsoft OneNote provides a multipurpose digital canvas on
which you can type or scribble text, create tables, insert media files and
build spreadsheets. Unlike traditional word processing programs that work in a
linear fashion, OneNote lets you start and pick back up wherever you choose,
work on multiple ideas at once and collect all your random data in one
organized, easy-to-access tool. In part one of this two part session, learn the
basics about OneNote system navigation and adding information, view Notebook
samples and create your own Notebook. Hashtag #HAND4
Tuesday 1:30-2:30pm Location: Annapolis 1,2,3

Debbie Foster – Partner, Affinity Consulting Group
Recommends "Collaborative Management of Legal Project
Management"
How are law firms managing their LPM programs? During this
roundtable, we’ll hear how three law firms successfully launched and
implemented LPM efforts and what they learned along the way. Attendees will
leave understanding how these firms balanced the needs of various internal
constituents and achieved buy-in from attorneys. Learn how KM, marketing,
finance and technology worked together to achieve common goals. We’ll also
provide a sneak peek into what’s ahead for LPM. Hashtag #ORG6
Wednesday 1:30-2:30pm Location: Nat'l Harbor 2

Jobst Elster – Head of Content, InsideLegal
Recommends "IT Metrics That Matter to Management"
Listen as C-level executives discuss IT metrics that are relevant to senior management. Learn which metrics can help you position IT to be perceived as partners with the business and which metrics help demonstrate IT’s potential value to the firm’s bottom line. Hashtag #ACT4
Wednesday 1:30-2:30pm Location: Maryland C

JoAnna Forshee – CEO, InsideLegal
Recommends "A Look at Emerging Technologies"
Join our superstar experts for a discussion on what we can
expect to see in the days ahead. We’ll predict the future of everything from
LAN/WAN and cloud solutions to how e-discovery and tablets will change the
landscape. Hashtag #ETPG6
Wednesday 1:30-2:30pm Location: Woodrow Wilson B

Posted in Future of Law Firm, ILTA, ILTA Exhibitor Resource, Thought Leadership, Vendors | Leave a comment

2012 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey Released

Posted on August 28, 2012 by InsideLegal

This afternoon, in conjunction with our annual International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) vendor education program, we presented the findings of the 7th annual ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey. The 2012 survey results include IT budgets, technology spending and purchasing, purchase influences,
IT challenges, and cloud & mobile computing trends for law firms.

The 2012 Survey, focused on feedback from ILTA
member law firms with 50 or more attorneys, includes detailed technology budget
data; updated information on firms’ social media and publication preferences;
an in-depth analysis of cloud computing and mobile trends; and expansive
sections on current and future legal technology purchases.

2012
Survey highlights include:

Overall firm technology spending – as a percentage of firm revenue and
based on per attorney spend – is still down from pre-2009 economic downturn
figures.
63% of all responding firms spend between 2-4% of total firm revenue on
technology establishing a new law firm technology budget ‘normal’.
52% of surveyed respondents cited increased technology budgets in 2012,
up 2% from 2011.
46% spend $8K-$17K on technology per attorney. Firms spending $26K or
more per attorney is up to 9% from 6% in 2011.
The top purchases within the last 12 months included desktop/hardware;
laptops/notebooks; network/server upgrades; and storage area networks.
Popular technology purchases based on survey write-ins include
desktops/laptops/notebooks, Microsoft Office upgrades, wireless devices, remote
access, VoIP and Operating System upgrades.
81% of surveyed law firms use outside technology consultants. Of those,
90% hire a third party to assist with implementations.
Six of the top 10 favorite publications mentioned by respondents are
non-legal, general technology publications.
32% indicated they are currently using or implementing a cloud solution.
Beyond security, primary cloud computing concerns include service
reliability, control of data, performance/speed, cost and vendor longevity.
61% of surveyed firms provide IT support for employees that
purchase/bring their own tablet devices.
49% indicated buying BlackBerry devices; 48% Apple iPhones; and 10%
Android.
66% of all respondents indicated purchasing Apple iPads.
74% of law firm IT departments provide support for employees’ tablet use
whether purchased by the firm or via ‘BYOD’ policy.
35% of firms have a formal tablet security policy in place.
61% of firms do not reimburse apps for tablets purchased by its employees.

The
37 question web-based survey was distributed to approximately 697 law firms,
ranging from 50 to 4,200 attorneys, and yielded 114 unique firm responses. 88%
of all participating firms came from the U.S., with the remaining 12%
originating from Canada, the UK and the rest of Europe, and Brazil. 85% of all
survey respondents are director-level or C-Level executives, and 89% have
direct purchasing or purchasing committee responsibility.

The complete survey can be
downloaded here. For more information on the survey results, methodology and other legal market
research initiatives, contact Jobst Elster at elster@InsideLegal.com.

Posted in ILTA, ILTA Exhibitor Resource, Law Firm Leaders, Market Research, Surveys, Thought Leadership | Leave a comment

Vendors Creative Approaches to ILTA

Posted on August 23, 2012 by InsideLegal

We are readying for the 2012 ILTA Conference and, if you've attended ILTA before (this will be our 14th!) you know that it is nothing like a 'typical' trade show. ILTA is all about community, peers sharing ideas, meeting new people, networking, and above all, the education. With that said, if you are a vendor or consultant pass holder you shouldn't take a 'trade show' approach to your participation there. Before we get into some great vendor marketing and conference participation examples, here are a couple of 'differences' about the annual ILTA educational conference.

Educational Sessions – Everyone is invited to attend the educational sessions. Most other conferences don't allow vendors to attend the sessions and so ILTA is refreshing in that they don't only allow it – they encourage it. Not only is it great to take advantage of the incredible education, it is also a great way to network with ILTA members. Just remember, if you are in a session, don't approach a member like they are at your booth. If you make a connection, there is a much greater chance they will come by your booth later.

Social Networking – The social events provide an opportunity to network and meet the ILTA members – and your vendor peers – in a social setting versus standing across from each other in a booth. The legal marketplace is unique in that most people may change positions or firms/companies, but they don't leave the industry often. With that longevity, it's even more important to have a solid foundation to your relationships. Again, it goes without saying that you shouldn't whip out an iPad to do a quick demo in the middle of a reception! I know that sounds crazy, but trust me, it happens. We've heard the stories from the ILTA members to prove it.

With the basics covered, here are some examples of creative approaches vendors have taken to maximize their ILTA conference marketing and 'buzz' efforts:

Make it Easy For Your Clients…and Prospects

With all that goes on during those four days, a great idea is to create a page on your website that lists all your ILTA activities – sessions, parties, etc. Aderant has a great example of this and their page includes information on their sessions, demo room presentations and allows for participants to register to attend from that page. This is helpful to not only their clients in search of training, but prospects as well.

Have Fun

Me w/Ozzy Osbourne '11 (aka Donna Payne)

One constant crowd favorite at the ILTA Conference each year is Donna Payne with Payne Consulting. Even considering she is one of the top industry thought leaders, she knows how to have fun as well. Another incredible example of this is ILTA itself. ILTA works hard and is serious about the Conference, but they believe in playing hard too! As long as you know when to be serious, being playful can allow you to better form true relationships with ILTA members and industry peers that will last longer than a stiff greeting from the back of an exhibit booth.

Scholarship Contest

For the fourth year, Workshare offered a scholarship program to pay the way for 2 ILTA members to attend the annual ILTA conference (including registration fees, lodging and airfare). To enter, they asked that you follow Workshare on Twitter and then tweet 1 of 4 messages they crafted about their product announcement at ILTA (up to 3x a day). Although I prefer a contest or poll over requiring participants to post canned promotional tweets about your product, this is a great idea and a very popular program that not only garners good will among the membership, but allows for a good deal of publicity. Kudos!

Email Signature

The more you can do before hand to draw attention and invite people to your demos, the better. I received an email from Lavar James, Account Executive for PGi Soundpath and saw that he had included a note in his email signature with a link for people to pre-register for demos of their new products.

Creativity and ingenuity know no limits so we are bound to encounter many more examples of memorable marketing efforts from this year's ILTA vendors.

Posted in ILTA, ILTA Exhibitor Resource, Marketing, Vendors | Leave a comment

The ILTA Conference App … a Must Have for Attendees

Posted on August 18, 2012 by InsideLegal

(iPad screenshot – click to enlarge)

If you have attended the annual ILTA Conference, you know navigating the 'chock-full' schedule can be quite daunting not to speak of keeping track of all the educational and networking opportunities the conference provides. Again this year, ILTA has furnished a free mobile app to help you with this organization & planning challenge. The 2012 edition is available for Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Android, BlackBerry and a mobile web version. The app provides access to the conference agenda, speaker details, the attendee list, conference Twitter feed, Gaylord Resort info, new product announcements, latest ILTA news and more. Remember: The reliability of the data relies on the user accepting the constant updates from ILTA, so when you open the app, if it asks if you would like to update the data, select OK. It usually takes 5-10 seconds.

As with everything ILTA, it takes a village, but the majority of this project falls on the shoulders of ILTA's IT Director/guru Clay Gibney and he's created an amazing product. The ILTA Conference App serves as a great example for all other events to emulate. Here are some of our favorite features:

New Product Announcements – There is a link to a section called "New Product Announcements". Vendors can submit their announcements (along with a $300 fee) which will appear in a separate area within the app and stand out from all the other 'noise'. This should be a helpful tool for members to use when trying to figure out what is truly new at the show.
Twitter Feed – Even if you don't use Twitter or aren't sure how to, the app includes a Twitter feed for the conference that includes all the buzz that is happening. If you do use Twitter, you can setup your account information and tweet directly from the app.
Session Evals – Your feedback matters and now instead of handing in a sheet of paper with your rating of each session, you can submit it through the app. You can submit it later in the day if you don't have time immediately after the session.
Now Showing – Find yourself with an unexpected free minute during ILTA? You can visit the "Now Showing" tab on the app and it will give you the details for everything that is happening at a given moment in time so you can decide what to attend.
Your Agenda – If you are a member, you can login to the My Agenda tab and save sessions you want to attend, and have them added to your schedule. If you are a vendor, there isn't a login to this section, but you can review the agenda online and each session has the option to "Add to your calendar" there. This was the result of a last minute feature the members requested that relied on them having a login so it was too late to add logins for non-members this year. Hopefully this will be addressed for 2013.

Last year, we covered the ILTA Conference App in our post-ILTA article, "A Tech Conference That Utilizes Technology – Brilliant!" and included the stats on the installations from 2011. It will be interesting to see how those numbers will measure up in 2012.

Here are the 2011 installation numbers…

1,024 iPad installations
984 iPhone installations
540 Blackberry installations
361 Android installations
300+ unique visitors to mobile web version

In addition to the 2,909 installed apps getting the attendees where they need to be, the mobile app also enabled attendees to complete session evaluations (over 3,740 session evaluations submitted via the app) and to participate in session polls with 2,300 submissions.

For more information on the ILTA 2012 Conference App, visit the conference website.

Posted in Cool Tools & Tips, Events, ILTA, ILTA Exhibitor Resource | Leave a comment

“In Their Own Words”: Kris Satkunas of LexisNexis CounselLink

Posted on August 16, 2012 by InsideLegal

InsideLegal has long been showcasing legal thought leaders with our “ITOW” series. This edition is focused on Kris Satkunas and her LexisNexis CounselLink team’s newest mission…helping corporate legal departments improve the predictability of their legal costs (via AFAs), manage their budgets with more certainty and derive greater value from their work with outside counsel. Our Q&A is focused on a recent LexisNexis-sponsored AFA survey and key findings as well as their recently launched CounselLink Analytics’ role in helping legal departments navigate their ‘value’ challenge.

IL: A recent ALM Intelligence Survey “Alternative Fee Arrangements for Law Firms and Legal Departments”, sponsored by LexisNexis, shows the billable hour remains dominant with much slower than predicted adoption of alternative fee arrangements. While nearly all the law firms surveyed have adopted AFAs and most respondents expect increased adoption, growth is slow, with AFAs accounting for less than a quarter of most law firms’ work. The same trend is evident on the corporate legal end. Kris, can you please provide InsideLegal with a top level recap of the findings?

KS: The biggest take-away to me is that AFAs are broadly used (by 99.5% of law firms and 82.6% of legal departments surveyed) but not deeply utilized. Both inside and outside counsel clearly see the importance of AFAs. Yet for many reasons, most are using AFAs sparingly. And both sides point to internal and external reasons for the lack of adoption. In other words, in house counsel fault law firms with resisting AFAs while few GCs have the expertise needed to leverage their own data to identify and propose alternative fee structures that might be amenable to outside counsel. The bottom line is that expanding the use of AFAs is proving to be a struggle for both inside and outside counsel.

IL: Do these findings surprise you?

KS: The findings don’t surprise me. I’ve had conversations with many corporate counsel who have expressed that they want to use AFAs more, but don’t really know where to start. A lot of them also suffer from the “my matters are all unique” syndrome, which is just another internal form of resistance to trying something new. What is a bit surprising to me is the high percentage of both inside and outside counsel who say they don’t have the data to determine appropriate AFAs. Most large corporate legal departments have e-billing and/or matter management systems and law firms have time and billing systems. All these systems contain a wealth of data. The problem is that gathering useful data is only the first step. That’s where CounselLink Analytics comes in. This service bridges the gap between raw data and decision making through delivery of specific recommendations on AFAs and on broader cost management strategies.

IL: Based on your understanding and knowledge, and as cited in the survey, why are AFAs not as widespread as expected or at least as publicized? Do you think corporate counsel’s cost predictability argument pro AFAs will spill over to the firm side?

KS: This is an industry that is slow to adopt change. We’re talking about a fundamental shift in a law firm’s operating model, and I believe that is going to take time to happen. We’ve seen AFAs increase a bit every year. Companies using CounselLink used AFAs for 17% of their matters in 2011, and that percentage has slowly increased each year. As to the cost predictability component, that may be a side-benefit to law firms, but what is really going to drive them to use materially more AFAs is their interest in retaining clients and winning new business.

IL: As you have mentioned, most legal departments have reams of data but aren’t sure how to analyze and interpret that data to identify inefficiencies and to quantify for corporate leadership, the value being generated by the company’s legal department. Please explain how CounselLink Analytics will help address this challenge and what other resources exist to help quantify value.

KS: Legal departments create value by among other things, managing risk, communicating clearly with internal clients, and by helping their organizations to avoid, minimize and manage legal challenges in the most cost effective manner possible. The goals of legal departments vary, but the adage about needing to measure in order to manage applies regardless of those goals. One of the ways CounselLink Analytics helps legal departments is by helping them identify and leverage specific metrics they can use to quantify the value they are creating. We also set up electronic dashboards or scorecards to effectively track, display and share that information with senior management. In addition, our services provide a framework, or methodology, to efficiently answer questions that arise as the metrics are distributed.

IL: Before joining CounselLink, you led the Redwood Analytics Think Tank to help improve law firm performance via the use of analytics and best practices. Please elaborate on this initiative and share with us any specific best practices and metrics that the think tank developed and/or published.

KS: The Redwood Think Tank was an independent research group founded by Redwood Analytics in 2006. The Think Tank conducted quantitative studies, developed and tested hypotheses, and suggested solutions to tough management issues. Members of the Think Tank were law firm leaders with a progressive outlook on firm management issues. One big topic we studied was client attrition. This study had a definite impact on how many firms thought about relationship management. We identified the factors most correlated with whether a client would continue to provide work to a law firm. There were 4 factors that we found to be the most critical, and believe or not, rate discounts were not among the top four!

Posted in "In Their Own Words" Spotlights, Market Research, Surveys, Thought Leadership, Vendors | Leave a comment

ILTA Conference Vendor Education Program

Posted on August 15, 2012 by InsideLegal

Again this year, we are partnering with ILTA to produce the annual Vendor Educational Program at the 2012 ILTA Conference. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to JoAnna Forshee with name, title, company and email address for each participant. Below is information on the program.

What: ILTA/InsideLegal Vendor Education Program
When: Monday, August 27th 2-5:30pm
(breakout below – attend the entire program or any portion)
Where: Potomac 1 & 2, Gaylord National Harbor

2-2:30p ILTA Vendor Business Meeting
This session will include an opportunity to meet the ILTA staff and Board, receive an update on conference activities, and learn how to work with ILTA throughout the year.
Faculty: Peggy Wechsler – ILTA Program Director; ILTA staff and Board

2:30-3:15p How to Work with ILTA
Everything from advice to selling to ILTA member firms to conference newcomer tips. If you are new to the ILTA conference, this session is a must!
Faculty: Cheryl Proctor – LPM Director – Litigation Support, Baker Donelson & Mike Proctor – Client Services Director, CaseLogistix

3:15-5p Legal Market(ing) Flash Series
We know firsthand how valuable your onsite time is at ILTA, so this rapid fire session format (think speed dating!) packs in as much priceless industry and legal marketing information as possible. Walk away with dozens of tips, tricks and legal resources you can use immediately.

legal industry statistics
the one thing EVERY legal vendor should do…and it's free
how do you compare to other legal vendors – marketing budget benchmarks
social media – how to use it to your advantage (even if you don't participate)
tips for working with industry consultants
where to get market research and what to do with it
tips for working with the legal media
Last but not least – results of the 2012 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey (Hot off the Press – attendees will receive a hardcopy report) [View the 2011 Survey here]

Faculty: JoAnna Forshee – CEO of InsideLegal & Jobst Elster – Head of Content for InsideLegal

5-5:30 Networking Reception
Stick around to network with the ILTA Board & Conference Committee, ILTA staff, your peers, legal media and influencers.

Posted in Events, ILTA, ILTA Exhibitor Resource, InsideLegal Courses, Market Research, Marketing, Surveys, Thought Leadership, Vendors | Leave a comment

Legal Events Calendar

Posted on July 30, 2012 by InsideLegal

We've updated our legal events calendar for the remainder of 2012 and are beginning on 2013's calendar. If you would like us to consider an event to be added to the current calendar, please email us with the following information – dates, event name, owner of event, location, and website. Please only submit events that are a full day or more – we don't include lunch seminars or webinars.

Link to InsideLegal Master Legal Events Calendar

Posted in Events, Legal Industry | Leave a comment

“In Their Own Words”: SharePoint Evangelist Richard Harbridge

Posted on July 9, 2012 by InsideLegal

In our last post, we covered our experience at the ILTA SharePoint Symposium held a couple of weeks ago. One of the highlights for us was the day one keynote, 'Future-Proofing Your SharePoint Strategy', delivered by Richard Harbridge, Senior SharePoint Evangelist with Allin Consulting. After the keynote, InsideLegal's Jobst Elster had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Richard and get his take on SharePoint for Legal and what major trends to look out for in the forseeable future. The 7 minute clip includes a summary of Richard's keynote, the challlenge of increasing SharePoint user adoption, and a keen focus on SharePoint trends including hiring top talent; leveraging the cloud; mobility and social media.

Download keynote presentation & SharePoint resources from Richard here

Posted in "In Their Own Words" Spotlights, Consultants, People, Thought Leadership | Tagged ILTA, insidelegal, jobst elster, Richard Harbridge, sharepoint, Technology | Leave a comment

ILTA SharePoint Symposium 2012: Hot Topics & Impactful Trends

Posted on June 29, 2012 by InsideLegal

Recently, InsideLegal attended the 6th annual ILTA SharePoint Symposium, an intense two day educational forum featuring 2 keynote sessions and 14 unique SharePoint-specific sessions, all with a focus on better understanding, utilizing and planning for Microsoft SharePoint in the law firm and corporate legal departments. The target audience: C-level strategists, operational managers and developers – anyone who deals with SharePoint or needs to plan around SharePoint in the law firm or law department. The conference was free for ILTA members to attend and non-ILTA members were invited and were charged a registration fee.

According to symposium committee chair Kara Portwood, practice area solutions consultant with Armstrong Teasdale LLP, the 2012 SharePoint event included several firsts. This year's conference welcomed the largest and most diverse crowd spanning 225 legal technology professionals from 30 states and 10 different countries. ILTA specifically assembled a 8-person volunteer committee to present a diverse educational program that reflects the interest levels of members involved with SharePoint, both on the law firm and corporate legal side. The symposium features a blend of technical 'how-tos', open forum collaborative sessions, practical case studies and several ILTA member-vendor perspective sessions, designed to help attendees understand how they can better leverage SharePoint. Portwood also noted that the interest level in SharePoint has increased considerably among non law firm IT functions including records management, marketing and KM.

We were equally impressed with the vendor turnout and support for the event which included 31 companies that provide SharePoint consulting services, enhancements and solution add-ons to the legal community. We were particularly happy to see former Microsoft 'crowd favorite' Norm Thomas still in legal with his new company Litera and attended his session - SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010…Better Together, co-presented with Jennifer Beaudette of Fish & Richardson, which turned out to be one of our favorite sessions [view their PPT here]. When glancing in the exhibit area, we noticed many SharePoint 'early adopter' vendors including Handshake, SydneyPlus, Project Leadership Associates and Hubbard One were all present and ready to engage symposium attendees.

While the expression 'save the best for last' is often used, it did not apply to the educational content offered at the symposium. In fact, we believe the most applicable and relevant session of the ones that we attended was the first day keynote delivered by SharePoint evangelist and recent ILTA 'convert', Richard Harbridge. Harbridge, a Boston-based SharePoint consultant with Allin Consulting, frequent speaker and author, has spent the past 7 years working extensively with SharePoint as an end user, developer, administrator, architect, business analyst, and consultant.

Having architected and implemented hundreds of SharePoint solutions across various verticals and business sizes, his keynote topic 'Future-Proofing your SharePoint Strategy' focused on key tenants and considerations involved with rolling out SharePoint, enhancing its usability within the firm or taking a step back and planning it's long term viability. According to Harbridge, future-proofing any SharePoint strategy involves at least two critical components; having a clear strategy to begin with, and an eye on the future and what future challenges can be addressed by a SharePoint solution. This may be over simplifying it a bit, but he cited many examples of companies being too short sighted and exclusionary when it came to articulating long term, shared SharePoint-focused objectives. Harbridge went on to identify and define the following strategies that any SharePoint project should be focused on:

Business strategy: Why do you want/need SharePoint? Be as specific and focused as possible when describing why, what and how it will benefit end users.
Governance strategy: Rules and regulations have to be established to help guide your overall strategy. Harbridge likens a governance-free approach to a football team with no rules and responsibilities.
Performance strategy: How will you measure success and performance gains? For example, if your goal is to reduce loading web page time by 2 seconds, you can measure this in terms of billable time based on seconds, minutes and hours.
Support strategy: How will you provide proper training and user support and be able to identify support bottlenecks and training issues?
Security strategy: Whether you plan to use SharePoint as an intranet or client extranet, how will you provide a secure environment for proprietary documents and content?
Development strategy: Your business objectives will provide insight into what needs to be developed but how will you allocate the proper resources, find the right SharePoint expertise, and deliver in a reasonable time frame.
Integration strategy: The cited example included SharePoint and Microsoft Office 2012 and the many workflow compatibilities that exist between the two. How do you chose what to integrate with and how does it get done?
Adoption strategy: The key to any SharePoint project is user buy-in and adoption. Find out what your users want and deliver it by keeping things simple. To make his point, Harbridge shared the Betty Crocker cake mix product launch example. When initially introduced, Betty Crocker hardly sold any of the ready to bake cake mixes and after talking to homemakers and bakers they discovered that it was too simple and they felt that they were cheating. By requiring eggs to be added in with the mix, the customers felt more like they were baking and it increased adoption. The rest is history…
Mobile strategy: How will your SharePoint plan cater to the increasingly mobile lawyer and workforce?
Search strategy: How can the firm minimize user and client time wasted looking for and finding content within the SharePoint environment? How will others find you? Do you have a SEO plan?
Social strategy: Along with mobile, this a central future SharePoint-specific trend. How will things be integrated to include social networks and media tools?
Cloud strategy: We are slowly but surely moving to a cloud-based environment so what does your firm need to know when it comes to SharePoint in the cloud?

The keynote was a great start to the conference. Stay tuned to InsideLegal for our interview with the ILTA SharePoint Symposium keynote speaker, Richard Harbridge, who will list his top 4 SharePoint trends. Below are some resources from Richard…

Download the keynote presentation

130+ SharePoint Standards

50+ Effective User Adoption Activities

More resources…

Posted in Events, ILTA, Law Firm Leaders, Thought Leadership | Leave a comment

InnovAction Awards for Legal Innovation – Deadline for Entries June 15th

Posted on June 13, 2012 by InsideLegal

The College of Law Practice Management (COLPM), an organization that recognizes excellence in law practice management, is calling for entries for the 2012 InnovAction Awards. This is a world-wide search for lawyers, law firms, law departments and others in the legal services field that have invented or successfully applied new business practices to the delivery of legal services. In its first six years, the InnovAction program has awarded entities from six countries around the world. You can view the winners at the Hall of Fame.

2012 InnovAction Award nominations are due by June 15 and winners will be encouraged to receive their InnovAction Awards in person at the 2012 Futures Conference held in conjunction with the College's Annual Meeting in October in Washington, DC. Winners will be invited to make a presentation regarding their innovations as part of the conference.

This year, the InnovAction Awards welcome a new Chair, Tim Corcoran, who is taking over from past Chair, Jordan Furlong. You can contact Tim with questions or interest in the awards. We recently caught up with Tim who shared some more insights about the 2012 InnovAction Award program and his roles as award chair.

About his new role: "As award chair I am always on the lookout for innovative ideas and practices in use in the legal marketplace and encouraging innovative thinkers to submit their idea for recognition. I am not a judge myself, but I feel no guilt flooding the judges' in boxes with a steady stream of innovative practices!"

About the 2012 award: There are a number of prestigious awards in the legal marketplace, in the US and UK and elsewhere, and the winners of these often contain some element of innovation as a differentiator. However, the InnovAction awards are unique in that the primary selection criteria are innovation and impact. The objective is to highlight novel approaches to law practice that improve client satisfaction, create efficiencies, save money, and improve quality of the services. There are many good ideas out there, but we like to honor those that have been successfully implemented and that have made a measurable positive impact.

About 2012 submission trends: A number of the submissions we've seen this year continue the trend of adapting tools and processes from outside the legal profession. No question one can't merely drop in some business approach that works in a completely unrelated field, but law firms and service providers have become quite adept at tweaking successful approaches for the unique culture of law practice. That said, many clients — even in-house counsel — define themselves as businesspeople first, so they welcome modern business practices and tools.

The submission deadline for a 2012 InnovAction Award entry is June 15th so there are still a couple of days remaining to demonstrate how you innovate law practice.

Posted in COLPM, Industry Awards | Leave a comment