Announcing ILTA’s 2010 Distinguished Peer Awards

Posted on April 19, 2010 by InsideLegal

 Ilta_awards10 ILTA (International Legal Technology Association) has announced a new awards program.  The ILTA 2010 Distinguished Peer Awards allows "ILTA's members to recognize their peers who have delivered great business value and transformational impact through their innovations and implementations or have been champions in specific areas of focus for their organizations. Likewise, ILTA vendors will be recognized for superior achievements in innovation."  The awards ceremony will be held at the ILTA Annual Conference at the Thursday night dinner.

There are two categories of vendor awards:

The deadline for entry is June 15, 2010, and the panel of judges will comprise ILTA members, volunteer leadership and ILTA staff.  In addition to the vendor awards, ILTA is offering awards for member organizations, region and individual members (full list below).

Organization Awards

  • Innovative Member of the Year 
  • Project of the Year
  • SharePoint Innovator of the Year

ILTA Region of the Year

Individual Peer Awards

  • ADERANT Champion 
  • Autonomy iManage Champion 
  • Infrastructure Technologies Champion 
  • Knowledge Management Champion 
  • Law Department Technology Champion 
  • Litigation Support Champion
  • Marketing Technology Champion 
  • Microsoft Champion 
  • Mobile, Remote and Wireless Champion 
  • Open Source Software Champion 
  • Open Text Champion 
  • Practice Management Champion 
  • Project Management Champion 
  • Records Management Champion 
  • Risk Management Champion 
  • Thomson Elite Champion 
  • User Support Champion 

Posted in ILTA, Industry Awards, Vendors | Leave a comment

“In Their Own Words” Legal Thought Leaders Spotlight: Paul Unger

Posted on April 19, 2010 by InsideLegal

Paul Unger Who are you?  What firm are you with?  What is your role?

Paul J. Unger, Esq., Partner with the Affinity Consulting Group. As a firm, we are focused on helping legal professionals implement technology solutions in all aspects of their business – practice management, time, billing and accounting, document management, litigation technology. Our goal is to get firms to the highest level of productivity and effectiveness possible.

What is your firms’ specialty/niche?  

Our focus is on bringing technology to the practice of law. We work with firms and legal departments of all sizes across the country. We not only help firms choose and implement technology solutions, but we also bring the expertise to teach firms how to use the technology so it is most helpful in their day to day business. We, ourselves, are lawyers and legal professionals so we know what technology really needs to do – and we know how to explain that in a way that avoids “techno-babble”. I focus on trial/litigation technology, document management, training, technology audits and CLE speaking.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the legal technology industry now and in the upcoming year?

The biggest challenge I think we’ll face is maximizing the use of technology in a down, but recovering, market.  Many law firms and legal departments have downsized.  They need to learn how to maximize productivity using technology tools they already own, and how to do more with less people.  It’s not enough to know what an email or document management tool can do, its learning how to use all of its features so that you aren’t stuck working day and night. 

What advice would you have for legal vendors trying to compete in this crowded marketplace? 

When we talk to potential technology partners, we’re most interested in companies that understand our clients’ needs and have a unique, robust, mature solution.  Focus on delivering superior client service at a competitive price.

What associations are you active in?

The ABA, Ohio State Bar Association, ACLEA, Ohio Association for Justice.

 What online resource (website, blog, etc.) is most useful to you (i.e., you use it everyday)? 

I follow Legal Talk Network, ABA TECHSHOW's blog, anything by Brett Burney, Jim Calloway, Tom Mighell, Kevin O'Keefe, Matt Homann, and Dennis Kennedy.  I also follow dozens of other fantastic tweeters.

What did you speak about at TECHSHOW?

In 2010, I spoke on two of my passions, courtroom technology and the paperless law office.  My sessions were entitled “PowerPoint Storyboarding in the Courtroom” and “Paperless Law Office Library, Research and Forms”.  I headed up the paperless office track, served as vice-chair of TECHSHOW, and presented in the “60 Tips in 60 Minutes” session.  I serve as chair of TECHSHOW 2011.

Info5


Paul Unger (punger@affinityconsulting.com)
Affinity Consulting
Facebook: Affinity Consulting
Twitter: @PaulUnger

Posted in "In Their Own Words" Spotlights, ABA/ABA TECHSHOW, Consultants, People, Thought Leadership | Leave a comment

“In Their Own Words” Legal Thought Leaders Spotlight: Jeffrey Allen

Posted on April 7, 2010 by InsideLegal

Jeffrey Allen Who are you?  Who is your organization?  What is your role in the organization?
I'm Jeffrey Allen and I have a general practice in Oakland California with an emphasis on real estate and business matters. It is a small firm (2 lawyers), which I operate as a sole proprietorship. I also have an active ADR practice as both a mediator and arbitrator. I teach at California State University – East Bay campus and at the University of Phoenix. I also regularly present at CLE programs generally speaking on topics of evidence, trial skills or technology. 

I write columns and product reviews for several publications for attorneys including GPSolo, Technology eReport and Experience (all ABA publications); I also regularly write articles and product reviews for Technolawyer. I also write intermittently for other publications. I am the Special Issues Editor for the two Technology & Practice Guide issues of GPSolo each year and the Editor-In-Chief of the Technology eReport. I blog on the intersection of law and technology at www.jallenlawtekblog.com.

Where does your organization fit in the legal industry? 
My law firm is a part of the legal industry. My writing and editing serve the legal industry.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the legal industry now and in the upcoming year?
Dealing with the economic issues created by the Great Recession.

How can law firms work with you?
I am always looking for new authors and for new and interesting topics. I have, on occasion, agreed to serve as a technology consultant for law firms.

How can the legal vendor community work with you?
I can work with vendors in several ways. Vendors can add me to press release lists, they can provide me with products for consideration for review, I have done work as a beta tester and often receive inquiries from vendors asking me to look at their products and make recommendations for improvements. I can be hired for consulting and/or speaking engagements.

How can you help legal technology vendors be more successful?
By suggesting improvements to their products. By reviewing their products.

What associations are you active in?
American Bar Association, California Bar Association, Alameda County Bar Association

What online resource (website, blog, etc.) is most useful to you (i.e., you use it every day)?
I cannot identify the online resource that I would consider the most useful. There are numerous websites that I consult frequently for information. 

What have been your top “moments” in legal technology?

  • I was the subject of an article on mobility in the practice of law in 1983.
  • I pioneered the use of computers as litigation support tools, creating software to manage documents and deposition information in the early 1980's (written in dBase II). That work became the subject of a law review article I wrote in the mid 1980's.
  • I set up what is believed to be the first Mac law office in 1985.
  • I became the Editor In Chief of the Technology & Practice Guide (now a part of GPSolo) in 2000.
  • I started and became the Editor In Chief of the Technology eReport in 2001.



    • Info5


    Jeffrey Allen 
    Graves & Allen
    JAllenlawtek Blog: The Intersection of Law & Technology
    Email Jeffrey

    Posted in "In Their Own Words" Spotlights, Consultants, Law Firm Leaders, People, Thought Leadership | Leave a comment

    BigHand Acquires nFlow

    Posted on April 6, 2010 by InsideLegal

    Today, BigHand announced that it has wholly acquired nFlow, a digital dictation company.  Rob Lancashire, formerly nFlow's Managing Director, will become Managing Director of a newly formed BigHand UK Legal & Professional Services Division.  Read the official announcement here.

    Bighand            Nflow
     
     

     

    Posted in Legal Industry, M&A, Vendors | Leave a comment

    Altman Weil and Project Leadership Associates Form Strategic Alliance

    Posted on April 1, 2010 by InsideLegal

    Altman Weil, Inc. and Project Leadership Associates, Inc. (PLA) today signed a formal strategic alliance agreement. Both firms provide strategic advisory and consulting services to the global legal market. What's next? The two organizations have already undertaken shared projects with key law firm and corporate law department clients. A joint task force is developing new market offerings that leverage each firm’s expertise, including pricing strategies, project management and post-merger integration. The complete press release can be viewed here.

    Dan Safran, PLA Beyond the press release, here's an exclusive InsideLegal.com Q&A with Dan Safran (pictured), Project Leadership Associates' Executive Vice President, Legal Solutions:

    Why did you decide to align yourself with Altman Weil at this point in time?
    We are responding to what our clients have been asking of us. Key trends like alternative fee arrangements, project management, strategy development along with the right blend of process, organization and technology execution and sophisticated performance benchmarking are creating a need for legal organizations to integrate technology into their strategic operations. Our law firm and corporate legal clients are looking for integrated, strategic solutions, and together, Altman Weil and PLA are perfectly positioned to deliver.

    Are you offering any short term joint events/webinars/ seminars/tutorials to show BigLaw how you can help them?
    Altman Weil and PLA serve large, mid-size and small law firms and law departments across strategy, operations, software applications and technology based infrastructure.  While events are but one method to communicate with us – our web sites, industry forums, newsletters and special events will be leveraged to help our clients to understand our joint solutions and capabilities.  The easiest way to learn more is to write or call one or both of our organizations – as we can help understand specific issues and tailor even pre-defined solutions to each situation. 

    Is there anything else the InsideLegal readership should know about or might find helpful as it relates to this announcement?
    Yes, this alignment is already in motion – and together Altman Weil and PLA represent the best of the best consulting providers in the legal industry – and now we are working together.  The combination of Altman Weil’s distinguished strategy and M&A expertise, coupled with PLA’s execution skills –provides an option to law firm and corporate clients to define the future and achieve it. 

    Posted in Consultants, Legal Industry, M&A, Vendors | Leave a comment

    ABA TECHSHOW 2010 Recap

    Posted on March 31, 2010 by InsideLegal

    [InsideLegal's Photos from TECHSHOW]

    Vendor Education Program

    Wednesday, March 24th, the day before the official ABA TECHSHOW kick-off, was super busy; the Practice Management Advisors (PMAs) had a retreat off-site at ABA HQ, exhibitor set-up was in full effect, and the vendor education program – 2 hours of sessions designed to help vendors work with legal Working With the Legal Media Panelmedia and understand social networking – was in session. For the second year, InsideLegal.com produced this program courtesy of the ABA Law Practice Management staff and board offering 2 sessions - "Working with the Legal Media" and "Utilizing Social Media to Market Your Company". 

    The "Working with the Legal Media" session included the following panelists … 

    The session gave an overview of each publication; each editor's preference for receiving vendor news; publications' rules for content; and their social media involvement.

    The next session, "Utilizing Social Media to Market Your Company", included:

    • JoAnna Forshee – CEO of InsideLegal (@InsideLegal) and social media expert  [Moderator]
    • Tim Baran – uMCLE-Mandatory CLE Unplugged! (@umcle)
    • Larry Port – Rocket Matter (@rocketmatter)

    The discussion covered the basics of social media, setting up Twitter accounts and tips for vendors on determining their social media strategy.  We'd like to thank all the panelists as well as the vendors who took time from their exhibit setup to join us.

    Later Wednesday, InsideLegal produced (with Matt Homann of LexThink) the Ignite Law event (see previous post).

    Thursday was the beginning of our many briefings during the show.  We would like to extend a special thank you to all of the TECHSHOW board members, faculty and technologists, consultants and bloggers we met with (easily more than 40 of you) during TECHSHOW. In particular, we really appreciated having quality “sit down and meet” time with Jeff Allen (of GPSOLO and ABA Technology eReport fame), Dennis Kennedy (of the widely popular DennisKennedy.com blog), Laura Calloway (The Alabama Bar’s practice management advisor), Tom Mighell (successful legal blogger and TECHSHOW board member), Brett Burney (of Burney Consultants), Debbie Foster (2010 TECHSHOW Chair and MC) and Andy Adkins (legal case and practice management guru and Director of University of Florida’s Legal Technology Institute). When we weren't in meetings, we were roaming the exhibit hall…

    Exhibit Hall

    Friday was reserved for a visit to the exhibit hall to see what the vendors were were up to. Here is a sampling of a few of the folks we spoke with:

    Rocket Matter: Founding Partner Larry Port was a busy guy this week, first participating in InsideLegal's TECHSHOW social media panel, then presenting his Ignite Law talk on Wednesday evening, and in addition, talking up Rocket Matter's new legal trust accounting functionality.

    Digital Direction: Chicago-based, this provider of outsourced telecom management services (i.e., will handle all of your telecommunications services from contract negotiations thru billing), exhibited at TECHSHOW at the urging of one of it's law firm clients (now that's commitment). According to the DD folks, law firms can save upward of 25% on outsourced telecom management services. 

    Omega Legal: Every legal technology show we cover, we usually run into the happy-go-lucky Omega Legal crew – TECHSHOW was no exception. Steve Bentley and Kelly Gall reported consistently strong demand for their integrated financial and practice management system and mentioned that Chicago in particular showed lots of promise with firms actively replacing existing systems and upgrading to newer versions.

    Scrible: With a tagline of "Scrible does for research what gmail did for email", you are bound to get some raised eyebrows. Add to that, free "booth-side" champagne and fresh, energetic faces of a new company in a new market at their first official trade show and you have Scrible, an affordable (it's free for now!) online research review alternative enabling fast and easy collaboration. One of the most lively guys, Scrible co-founder & CEO Victor Karkar, shared that Scribble was designed with small firms & solos, and their resource and technology challenges, in mind. Currently, Scrible is in beta and offering free accounts.  

    Element55: We also caught up with Element55's sales director Tim Norton who tells us business for his company and other automatic time capture solutions (think IntApp, TimeKM, Smart Time) is good and getting better every day. On a side note, the Massachusetts-based company, one of the early entrants (launched in 2002) in this niche, is one of several TECHSHOW "first timers" we talked to.

    CCC Technologies: This local converged communications company promotes moving all of a firm's communications – voice and data - to a single network, thus, supporting existing systems and infrastructure. While we haven't seen CCC at other legal tech shows, it was good to see another local provider try out TECHSHOW. 

    Business Integrity: We first met BI at the vendor education session on Wednesday (Anatoly Sofer thanks for joining us for the media panel) and briefly caught up with them Friday to learn more about Contractexpress.com, their cloud-based document assembly solution.

    P1040310 FastCase: We chatted with Ed Walters, CEO, mostly about Ignite Law (which he attended) and how refreshing the rapid fire talk format was compared to traditional hour long presentations. FastCase provides online legal research (first to develop a iPhone free research app!) to 380,000 lawyers and 17 bar associations and their members.

    Clio: Undoubtedly, CEO Jack Newton was still buzzing from his "Zappos model for legal" Ignite Law talk which received great feedback and is still picking up steam on YouTube.  Clio announced a newly enhanced Clio Calendar, e-mail integration and an overhauled billing system within Clio, its cloud-based SaaS practice management product for solo attorneys and small law firms. 

    Beer for Bloggers

    Beer for Bloggers - Tom Mighell, JoAnna Forshee, Dennis Kennedy Friday evening was kicked off with the Beer for Bloggers event in the lobby bar of the Hilton. The event was hosted by Kevin O'Keefe's LexBlog and the ABA Journal and was attended by the who's who of legal bloggers and consultants including Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell, Dave Bilinsky, Jim Calloway, Dan Pinnington and Ernie Svenson. 

    60 Sites in 60 Minutes Panel "60 Sites in 60 Minutes" Session

    In TECHSHOW tradition, the popular "60 Sites in 60 Minutes" session wrapped up the show Saturday to a packed room. The expert panel consisted of Debbie Foster, Adriana Linares, Toby Brown and Ernie Svenson and they shared some of the most valuable websites and services they have come across.  Take a minute to view the list of their recommendations as well as the recommended 60 Sites from TECHSHOW years past.

    Paul J. Unger (Vice Chair), Reid Trautz, Britt Lorish Knuttgen, Judge Herbert Dixon, Debbie Niesen Foster (Chair), Dominic Jaar, Browning Marean, Brett Burney, Ben Schorr.

    We'd like to thank the TECHSHOW Board, and Chair Debbie Foster in particular, as this was the best TECHSHOW to date.  We look forward to ABA TECHSHOW 2011, April 11-13, under the supervision of the new incoming Chair, Paul Unger.

    Posted in ABA/ABA TECHSHOW, Consultants, Events, InsideLegal Courses, Legal Industry, Media, People, Publications, Social Media, Thought Leadership, Vendors | Leave a comment

    Ignite Law 2010: The Future of Law in 6 Minute Presentations

    Posted on March 29, 2010 by InsideLegal

    Ignitelawheader

    Matt Homann with LexThink LLC, a legal innovation consultancy, and JoAnna Forshee with InsideLegal.com, the insider’s guide to doing
    business in legal technology, produced Ignite
    Law    , an interactive and thought-provoking mind-sharing event focused on the future of
    law practice. Ignite Law featured 16 six-minute presentations given by the legal industry’s
    leading minds and innovators.  

    Ignite Law was inspired by the Ignite event format; a fast-paced,
    high-energy evening of five-minute talks by people who have an idea. While
    Ignite events are now being hosted globally and focused on building local city-wide
    connections, Ignite Law is specific to the legal community hence the six minute presentation time, reflecting the way lawyers bill (in 1/10 hour increments).

    Below is more information on the first Ignite Law, 2010.

     

    Photos from Ignite Law 2010 

    Ignite Law 2010: The Future of Law in 6 minute Presentations – Act 1 of 2

    Ignite Law 2010: The Future of Law in 6 minute Presentations – Act 2 of 2

    Ignite Law 2010 All-Star Cast of Speakers

    Ignite Law 2010 Sponsors

     

    Ignite Law 2010 Videos

    Ignite Law: Matthew Homann6:41

    Matt Homann – Opening

     

    Ignite Law: Larry Port7:24

    Larry Port – Agile Legal Management: What Law Firms Can Learn from the Software Industry

     

    Ignite Law: Ed Adams7:16

    Ed Adams – 50 Lawyers, 1,000 Miles and 2,000 Tweets: The Future of Legal Journalism

     

    Ignite Law: Joy Heath Rush6:44

    Joy Heath Rush – Law Firm 2020

     

    Ignite Law: Marc Lauritsen6:59

    Marc Lauritsen – Choiceboxing

     

    Ignite Law: Kevin Chern6:49

    Kevin Chern – The New Ethics of Legal Marketing

     

    Ignite Law: Tom Mighell7:16

    Tom Mighell – No Lawyer Left Behind: A Realistic Approach to Practice Management Education

     

    Ignite Law: Carolyn Elefant6:51

    Carolyn Elefant- The Biglaw-Solo Partnership: Outsourcing Innovation and the Lessons of Tommy Supreme

     

    Ignite Law: Ari Kaplan7:18

    Ari Kaplan – What I Learned About the Future of Legal Marketing From Playing Wii Bowling with a 4 1/2 Year Old

     

    Ignite Law: Jack Newton7:58

    Jack Newton – What a Law Firm Can Learn From Zappos. Hint: It isn’t About Selling Shoes

     

    Ignite Law: Will Hornsby6:55

    Will Hornsby – Lawyer Advertising, From Here to Eternity

     

    Ignite Law: Teresa Rosado7:00

    Teresa Rosado – Self-service, Full Access Society: Technology and Social Media Implications for the Jury Box

     

    Ignite Law: Rebeka Stafford7:22

    Rebeka Stafford – Necessity is the Mother of Innovation:  the Legal Profession in a New Economy

     

    Ignite Law: Steve Newsom6:17

    Steve Newsom – Can Legal Research be Free?

     

    Ignite Law: Niki Black7:11

    Niki Black – Boldly Go Where No Lawyer Has Gone Before

     

    Ignite Law: Doug Sorocco7:04

    Doug Sorocco – Slaying the Beast:  Using Small Firm Thinking to Beat Big Firms Every Time

     

    Ignite Law: Ernie Svenson7:16

    Ernie Svenson – Information Processing for Lawyers

     

    Ignite Law: Closing Thank-You's7:22

    Closing Thank Yous

     

    Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Ignite Law 2010: The Future of Law in 6 Minute Presentations

    Ignite Law: The Future of Law in 6 minute Presentations – Act 2 & Video and Photo Links

    Posted on March 29, 2010 by InsideLegal

    Jack Newton with ClioLast week's Ignite Law event, presented by LexThink and InsideLegal.com on the eve of ABA TECHSHOW 2010, started with a bang. In our previous Ignite Law post, we spotlighted the first 8 speakers and their 6 minute contributions to the future of law practice. Act 2 "igniters" included 5 lawyers, a trial consultant, cloud software provider, and legal research vendor. Jack Newton with Clio kicked-off post break providing a very insightful synopsis of Zappos' customer service focus and how extraordinary service can elevate a commodity product company to a specialized service provider (who happens to sell shoes).  Jack referenced Richard Susskind and how an extreme service focus could catapult lawyers to stardom.

    Will Hornsby's musings on lawyer advertising and the ethics of it all was next up. While Will discussed the ability or inability of the legal profession to regulate the modern incarnation of lawyer advertising- web 3.0 and portable avatars, the crux of the argument focused on the content of ads and promos not the vehicles. 

    Teresa Rosado, a seasoned trial consultant, spotlighted our self-service, full access society and the implications technology and social media have had on juries. Her 6 minutes focused on how the jury box has changed since web 2.0 and what litigators (and judges) can do to limit outside juror influence.  

    Axiom Law's Rebekah Stafford spent her 6 minutes speaking about the evolution of the legal model and how corporate counsel can make sense of changes such as alternate fee arrangements and performance-based compensation to select the best services available to them. The key mantra of her talk: impart "value, predictability and trust" when introducing alternative law firm business models to your clients.

    CaseMaker's Steve Newsom pondered the viability of offering free online legal research in the future, an interesting proposition considering his company currently charges for its online research solution, and along with the likes of Thomson and Lexis, competes for legal research dollars. Along the lines of free, Newsom offered current examples including Google Scholar free searching and FastCase's wildely popular free iPhone app. His parting shot-free online legal research is a very viable option for future law practice.

    Nikki Black tackled the topic of lawyers and change and how adopting change is critical to the alternative of facing extinction. Black's view of change in legal comes in the form of web based technologies, mobile applications, social media and cloud computing. Her appeal to lawyers: boldly go "where no lawyer has gone before" and take a leadership role in embracing such tech-influenced change.

    Doug SoroccoIgnite Law saved the best for last with the final two presenters. Doug Sorocco (photo on right), an Oklahoma based IP and technology lawyer, focused his insights on how small firms and small firm thinking can slay the large firm beast. He encouraged the Ignite audience to fight dirty, explore some dirty places, be fearless and most notably "grow a pair" when it comes to standing toe to toe with large firm competitors. "You'll fail, get over it and move on".

    Ernie SvensonErnie Svenson (aka Ernie the Attorney) placed the Ignite Law cherry on top of with his information processing for lawyers talk. Ernie pointed out that since over 80% of all communication is electronic, there's absolutely no need to create more paper especially when it comes to taking emails and printing them out- that's just crazy he stated.  Ernie is a New Orleans lawyer with a passion for the paperless office and commonsense efficiencies powered by technology.

    We want to thank our sponsors –  ABA TECHSHOW, ABA LPM, ABA Journal, Peach New Media, Clio, JD Supra, CaseMaker, RocketMatter.  We'd also liked to thank Kristin Bakota with the ABA LPM and Andrea Cannavina for all their help.

    Ignite Law was conceived on the premise of "build it and they will come", and we built it and they came, and survived for 6 minutes X 16, and left with the future of law squarely in the present.

    Event Links

    Posted in ABA/ABA TECHSHOW, Consultants, Events, InsideLegal Courses, InsideLegal Events, Law Firm Leaders, People, Social Media, Thought Leadership | Leave a comment

    Ignite Law: The Future of Law in 6 minute Presentations – Act 1 of 2

    Posted on March 26, 2010 by InsideLegal

    Ignite Law Thanks to plenty of pre-show twitter and blog buzz, the inaugural innovation that is Ignite Law did not go unnoticed among legal professionals and legal industry thought leaders, all convened in Chicago for this year’s ABA TECHSHOW. The Ignite Law premise was a simple one: maximize ideas and innovation around “the future of law practice”, and minimize traditional long-winded speeches and presentations without promise.

    IgniteLaw10 (6) Hype leading up to Ignite Law was substantial and, thanks to twitter and plenty of word-of-mouth, the 150 tickets were snapped up well in advance of Wednesday’s evening gala.  Speaking of hype, the Texas State Bar Computer & Tech blog referred to Ignite Law as the “TECSHOW pre-game” and compared it to the buzz surrounding the Superbowl. Before diving into some presentation highlights, we tabulated some speaker and attendee stats worth sharing:

    • Ignite Law featured 16 speakers including a legal journalist, legal technology vendors, BigLaw, SmallLaw, trial consultant, technologists and bloggers.
    • 10 out of the 16 presenters have law degrees, but only ½ are actively practicing.
    • 11 are active tweeters with a grand total of 18,486 followers (probably many more after Ignite Law) and nearly 30,000 tweets.
    • Of the 150+ that showed up to celebrate Ignite Law and the future of law practice, 47 represented law firms ranging from 1 to 3,500 lawyers, including 26 solos. 
    • 9 media showed representing ABA LPM, ABA Journal, Law Bulletin Publishing, and the Association of Legal Administrators. 
    • Legal association support including ABA (12 attendees), ILTA, ALA and numerous state bars. 
    • 32 vendor guests representing over 15 companies and 30 consultants showed.

    The Ignite Law sessions varied in topic scope, breadth and relevance and kicked off with co-producer Matt Homann’s mantra of “clients are relevant again” and plea for all attendees to think, learn, share, and do, not only during TECSHOW but once they leave as well. 

    Rocket Matter’s Larry Port discussed agile software development and its relevance in law firms. He detailed his company’s daily “standup” routine consisting of short, standing-only meetings for all staff answering “what I did yesterday? what I did today? and what’s in my way” as a way to address daily obstacles and constantly track progress and accomplishments.

    ABA Journal’s publisher and editor-in-chief Ed Adams discussed the future of legal journalism and shared his Legal Rebel’s 3,000 mile roadtrip and their quest to connect with our country’s legal super heroes, the men and women who are remaking the practice of law. 

    Sidley Austin’s Joy Heath Rush introduced ILTA’s Law Firm 2020 initiative and that firms need to figure out how to give attorneys access to clients and information no matter where they are.

    Marc Lauritsen talked about choiceboxing being the future of decision making.

    Kevin Chern discussed the ethics of new legal marketing.

    According to almost everyone we spoke to, the hands-down star of Ignite Law “Act 1” was Tom Mighell and his fast paced 6 minute plea for better practice management education starting at the law firm level. With only 61 out of 195 accredited universities offering PMS courses, the gap of tech savvy lawyers versus those in denial about understanding and utilizing tech is widening. 

    Carolyn Elefant honed in on how outsourcing innovation can help large firms cultivate new ways of doing business with minimal risk while at the same time, offering enormous opportunities to savvy solos and displaced junior associates. 

    Ari Kaplan, reminiscent of the legal reincarnation of Tony Robbins, literally bounced around the Ignite Law stage with analogies of how bowling on the Wii with his daughter resembles law firm marketing. Kaplan, TECHSHOW’s 2010 keynoter, encouraged to play together, change your perspective, avoid distractions, but at the same time make mistakes. 

    That ended ‘Act 1’ of Ignite Law.  We’ll post on ‘Act 2’ tomorrow and also post our pictures.  To be continued…

    Posted in ABA/ABA TECHSHOW, Consultants, Events, Law Firm Leaders, Legal Industry, People, Thought Leadership | Leave a comment

    “In Their Own Words” Legal Thought Leaders Spotlight: Debbie Foster (ABA TECHSHOW Board Chair)

    Posted on March 26, 2010 by InsideLegal

    DebbieFoster Who are you? What firm are you with? What is your role?
    Debbie Foster, Partner with the Affinity Consulting Group.  We work with law firms around the country helping them implement technology solutions and bring a new level of efficiency and productivity to their firms.

    What is your firms’ specialty/niche?  
    We work with about 15 different software vendors to help our clients choose the best solution that fits their culture and meets their needs.  From a technology perspective, we implement practice management, time/billing/accounting and document management software and we help firms automate their practices with document assembly.

    What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the legal technology industry now and in the upcoming year?
    Overcoming the challenges the economy continues to bring is the first one, and I think the second challenge is finding good attorneys and staff to serve their clients.

    How can the legal vendor community work with you best?
    Educate us about their products, and ask us for our input.  It is easy for vendor to try to assess what law firms need from what I call the “ivory tower of software development”, but we really know.  We walk the hallways of firms every day all day and regularly hear the frustrations of the end users. I can’t understand why every software company serving lawyers do not have a group of the consultants that implement their product in a room all together once a year or so asking for this type of feedback.

    What advice would you have for legal vendors trying to compete in this crowded marketplace?
    Take care of your clients.  Make your support the very best it can be.  Bad support kills a product.  

    What associations are you active in?
    The ABA, the ALA, many State Bar Associations and Local Bar Associations, as well as Local ALA groups.

    What online resource (website, blog, etc.) is most useful to you (i.e., you use it everyday)? 

    Facebook    !  Honestly, Facebook is a Godsend.  Personally, it lets me keep in touch with people I would not otherwise hear from. But professionally,I have a lot of clients that are friends, and I love learning more about them and what makes them tick. I also love being a fan of their firm pages so I get updates on what is going on in their practice. I wish more of them would post regularly. I am not the first one to say that Facebook is here to stay and people better find a way to use it to their advantage!

    What are you speaking about at TECHSHOW?
    I have the honor of being the Chair of TECHSHOW this year, so my only “speaking obligation” is 60 sites in 60 minutes, which is the “grand finale” of TECHSHOW (Saturday 11-12pm).  I am very excited about the program – it is always an attendee favorite!

    Info5Debbie Foster (dfoster@affinityconsulting.com) 
    Affinity Consulting
    Facebook 'Affinity Consulting' Page 
    Twitter @debbiefoster

    Techshow2010color  Speaker Series Spotlight

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