InsideLegal

Legal Tech Industry - People on the Move

• Jordan Furlong has left his position as the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Bar Associations' member publication, National to join both global advisory firm Edge International (as a partner) and Stem Legal (as Senior Consultant and Principal of Stem's new Legal Media Strategy service).  Congrats Jordan!

• The College of Law Practice Management has announced its 2009 list of Industed "Fellows" for outstanding contributions to the law practice management profession over a period of not less than ten years. Full coverage from InsideLegal as well as a complete list of the inductees can be found here.

• Ross Kodner has been awarded the first annual John Lederer Solo and Small Firm Service Award  by the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Bar Association. The award will be presented to Ross at the Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference on Oct. 30. Well deserved Ross!

• Jenn Steele has left her role as IT Director of Morrison Mahoney LLP to join HubSpot as Inbound Marketing Consultant.  We're not exactly sure what that means, but we wish her luck!  Jenn has also joined Legal IT Professionals as a columnist.

• Christopher Junker has taken the role as CEO of Fios.  Junker, who previously held the role of GM of the Manage product under Autonomy, replaces former FIOS CEO Gerald Massey.

• Connie Moser has joined American LegalNet as Director of Marketing. Prior, she had served as Sr. Director of Marketing Communications at Thompson Elite.

• Allison Shields has joined The Lawyerist as a contributor.

• Jeffrey Brandt has joined Legal IT Professionals as a columnist.

If you have news on a legal industry M&A or staff move, send to news@InsideLegal.com.

College of Law Practice Management 2009 Inductees

 

The College of Law Practice Management (COLPM), announced that the following individuals were inducted as Fellows at the 2009 Futures Conference and College Annual Meeting in September. 

• Robert Ambrogi - Law Practice Management Consultant and author on legal technology
• Laura Calloway - Director of Service Programs, Alabama State Bar Association
• Ronald Collins - Founder and CEO, Gavel & Gown Software, Inc.
• Richard Ferguson - Partner with Lynass, Ferguson & Shoctor
• Bruce MacEwen - Publisher of Adam Smith Esq.
• Karen Mackay - President of Phoenix Legal, Inc.
• Catherine Alman MacDonagh - President of Legal Sales and Service Organization (LSSO)
• Stephen Nelson - Managing Principal, Law & Government Affairs Practice Group with The McCormick Group
• Cherie Olland - Global Director of Business Development & Communications with Jones Day
• Alan Rich - President, Chrome River Technologies
• Kendal Tyre - Partner, Nixon Peabody
• Marcia Wasserman - Chief Operating Officer, Nossaman LLP

Commenting on the induction, COLPM President Ed Flitton said, “The College is genuinely pleased to welcome these individuals as new Fellows and to recognize their sustained and extensive contributions to the field of law practice management.”

Fellowship in the COLPM is the highest honor bestowed upon individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the law practice management profession over a period of not less than ten years.

The COLPM is an international professional, educational, and honorary association that honors and recognizes distinguished law practice management professionals who are qualified for membership in an effort to set standards of achievement for others in the profession.  Its members are lawyers, judges, law professors, administrators, consultants, officers of the government, and others who are dedicated to improving the practice management process and to enhancing the professional quality of and public respect for the practice of law.  Formed in 1993, the College comprises nearly 200 Fellows and Honorary Fellows internationally.

2009 InnovAction Award Winners Announced

For the fifth straight year, the InnovAction Awards have recognized outstanding innovation in the delivery of legal services, demonstrating to the legal community what can happen when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, resolve to create effective change.  The InnovAction Awards were initiated in 2004 by the College of Law Practice Management, an organization formed to honor and recognize distinguished law practice management professionals.

The receipient of the award was The New Family Organization which was selected for its Family, Justice and Law initiative. "Advocate Irit Rosenblum broke fresh ground defending a universal right to family as intrinsic to the practice of law. Rosenblum pioneered a new sphere of legal rights surrounding the family based on the conviction that the rights to marry, divorce, have children, bequeath and inherit assets, and conduct family life are human rights and must be attainable to all regardless of faith, nationality, sexual orientation or status. She founded New Family to fill a critical gap in the practice of law in Israel: to attain the right of every individual to establish a family and to exercise equal rights within it. For the two million people in Israel who are subject to discrimination due to family status, New Family’s achievements have been invaluable."

For the first time in 2009, there was also an InnovAction Honorable Mention which was awarded to Practical Law Company, Inc. for creating efficiency for business lawyers.  "Practical Law Company (PLC) is changing the way business lawyers work. It employs attorneys with significant experience practicing with the world’s leading law firms and legal departments (e.g., Davis Polk, Skadden, Sullivan & Cromwell, Pfizer) to provide practical, up-to-date resources that help business lawyers practice more efficiently and provide greater value to clients. PLC provides the practical, generic level of information needed by all business lawyers that allows them to get up to speed quickly, stop reinventing the wheel, and focus on client- and firm-specific work. It launched its first US services in December 2008 to wide market acceptance. PLC began in the UK in 1990."

The awards will be presented on Saturday, September 26, at a special session during the 2009 Futures Conference held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the College of Law Practice Management in Denver, Colorado.  For additional information on the 2009 award recipients and the nomination process, visit InnovAction's site.

InsideLegal.com is a Friend of InnovAction.

Legal Technology vendor Client Profiles named Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year

Established legal technology company Client Profiles has been named 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Professional Services Partner of the Year. The company, which was chosen out of an international field of Microsoft partners including 2,000 award entrants worldwide, was recognized this week at the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. In addition to being this year’s only legal-specific Microsoft partner award recipient, Client Profiles has been recognized for partnering with Microsoft to bring a legal specific version of the popular Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution to market.

Since the official launch in August 2006, CRM4Legal (Client Profile’s legal CRM product based on MS Dynamics) has been installed by more than 7,000 law firm users across five countries including the US, UK, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. According to David Smith, General Manager, U.S. Microsoft Dynamics Partners, Microsoft Corp: “Client Profiles has delivered critically important business intelligence information to their clients through their CRM4Legal technology, allowing them to identify where new business opportunities exist, what type of cross selling opportunities are available with existing clients, and where to focus marketing and business development efforts.”

InnovAction Awards for Legal Innovation - Deadline for Entry June 1st

Reminder...The deadline for the InnovAction Awards is June 1st. 

The InnovAction Awards is a worldwide search for lawyers, law firms, and other deliverers of legal services who are currently engaged in some extraordinarily innovative efforts. The goal is to demonstrate to the legal community what can be created when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, are determined to make a difference. Each year, the College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) presents the coveted InnovAction Awards to those unsung heroes and rising stars within the legal profession who dare to think differently and succeed by doing so.  The COLPM is an organization that was "founded to recognize distinguished law practice management professionals, to set standards of achievement for others in the profession, and to fund and assist projects that enhance the highest quality of law practice management."

Information on InnovAction Awards, Judging Criteria & Entry Guidelines

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InnovAction Awards for Legal Innovation

The InnovAction Awards is a worldwide search for lawyers, law firms, and other deliverers of legal services who are currently engaged in some extraordinarily innovative efforts. The goal is to demonstrate to the legal community what can be created when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, are determined to make a difference. Each year, the College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) presents the coveted InnovAction Awards to those unsung heroes and rising stars within the legal profession who dare to think differently and succeed by doing so.  The COLPM is an organization that was "founded to recognize distinguished law practice management professionals, to set standards of achievement for others in the profession, and to fund and assist projects that enhance the highest quality of law practice management."

Entry Information
Applications for the 2009 InnovAction Awards are now available.  All entries must be received by June 1, 2009 accompanied by a $325 US entry fee. Unless you are submitting electronically, please submit six copies of your entry. Submissions can be made by hard copy, video, CD or on a thumb drive. Electronic submissions must be sent in a PDF format to colpm@comcast.net.

Judging Criteria
Entries will be reviewed and selections made by the Award Selection Committee. The InnovAction Award entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Absence of precedent (never been done, or done quite this way before)
• Evidence of action (the innovation idea was transformed into action and not merely reflective of best intentions)
• Effectiveness of innovation (there is some measurable outcome that indicates that the innovation is accomplishing what it was intended to do)
• Action must have taken place within no more than three years prior to this entry

Winners will be notified on or about July 15, 2009 – and the winners’ names will also be posted on the InnovAction Awards web site.

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