InsideLegal

Am Law 100 Overview for 2012

The Am Law 100 2012, the annual law firm ranking of America's top 100 revenue grossing law firms compiled by ALM, has been released. Below is an overview and some key findings taken from this year's report at The American Lawyer website. For the full story, view ALM's coverage and/or purchase the entire report from ALM Legal Intelligence for $499.

"This year Baker & McKenzie tops our chart and DLA Piper, another verein, comes in second, knocking Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom out of that position. Latham & Watkins comes in fourth, with revenues topping $2 billion." 

Am Law 100 1-10 from The American Lawyer

 

• 13 firms made more than $1 billion last year. 
• Eighty firms reported gains in revenue, with the biggest gainer, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, posting 31.4 percent growth.
• Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz had the steepest decline at 4.8 percent, with Fulbright & Jaworski close behind, falling 4.5 percent. 
• Gross revenue, revenue per lawyer (RPL), and profits per partner (PPP) for The Am Law 100 rose by single digits last year.
• Eighty-three firms posted revenue gains—25 more than in the previous year.
• The terrifying days of mass layoffs seemed to be over: Firms reversed course and added to their head count.
• Equity partners grew their ranks on average after two years of flat or negative growth. 
• Both The Am Law 50 and The Am Law 51–100 reported 6 percent increases in gross, to totals of $50.9 billion and $20.1 billion, respectively.
• The Am Law 50 posted average profits per partner of $1.6 million last year—a 4.8 percent jump—versus The Am Law 51–100's 1.4 percent PPP rise, to $1.1 million.
• Gross revenue for the Am Law 100 rose 5.3 percent last year, to an average of $709,725,589. Firms continued to raise rates slightly, push work upward to partners, and see growth in their litigation, energy, and regulatory practices.
• Three of the five firms with the largest gain in gross revenue are:
  • SNR Denton (formerly Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and Denton Wilde Sapte) (58% growth)
  • Squire Sanders (previously Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and Hammonds) (43% growth)
  • Edwards Wildman Palmer (née Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge and Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon) (18% growth)
• The Am Law 100 employed 86,272 attorneys in 2011, a 3.3 percent increase from 2010.
• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan had the biggest head count jump of a firm that was not involved in a major merger or verein combination. The Los Angeles firm added 190 lawyers—a 42 percent increase—and opened offices in Washington, D.C., and Moscow, while boosting its PPP 15 percent. The litigation powerhouse also reported the highest profit margin on our chart—64 percent.
• Mayer Brown and Hunton & Williams both showed double-digit RPL gains, too. These came on the heels of shrinking head counts—each firm shed more than 100 lawyers—a decline of 7.4 percent at Mayer Brown and 12 percent at Hunton.
• The Am Law 100 showed on average growth of 3 percent last year in profits per partner with Arnold & Porter and Alston & Bird posting PPP increases of 25 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
• Cutting into profits were technology upgrades, spring bonuses, and real estate–related expenses, according to firm leaders.
• There are four firms that are new to the list this year:
  • Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith (new to the list)
  • Barnes & Thornburg (new to the list)
  • Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton (result of a merger)
  • Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker (up from the Am Law 200 last year)
• There are four firms that were on the list last year, but not included this year:
  • Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo
  • Bracewell & Giuliani
  • McKenna Long & Aldridge 
  • Husch Blackwell

Related Links:

Information/Background on the Am Law 100 Survey

Survey Methodology

ABA TECHSHOW 2012: What Went Down - Trends & Photo Album

ABA TECHSHOW 2012  Click for Photo Album

ABA TECHSHOW is one of our favorite shows of the year, if not our favorite. We've been attending for 13 years and it keeps getting better. This year's TECHSHOW kicked off last Wednesday evening with Reid Trautz, 2012 ABA TECHSHOW Chair, welcoming hundreds of conference attendees gathered to partake in a couple of 'eve of' events. First, the ABA LPM section and marquee sponsor RocketLawyer hosted a 90-minute interactive session focused on entrepreneurship ... specifically how lawyers would go about starting a business, in this case, building and marketing a food truck. The idea was novel and the session format very unique -- RocketLawyer MCs asked the crowd to split up into break-out groups and design their own food trucks with the help of a professional artist who captured group ideas via colorful sketches. Based on fairly sparse crowd participation and post crowd feedback of 'what did this have to do with technology', the session may not have been a huge hit, but definitely 'A for effort' on RocketLawyer's part for trying to engage TECHSHOW goers in a new creative way. An unfortunate lesson that you can never compete with a bar in the same room! LexThink.1, our 3rd 'future of law practice in 6 minutes' event, followed to wrap up the evening's programs.

Content is King

A 'tale-of-the-tape' of the 2012 TECHSHOW conference education program revealed 60 highly qualified faculty speakers covering 13 separate tracks (ranging from advanced IT, cloud computing, Mac sessions, paperless, solo and small firm basics) and 72 sessions. Financial support was provided by 24 sponsors and 25 state bar associations were listed as event promoters. Based on feedback we received from some consultants, technologists and attendees, the new 'wars' sessions offered in the mobile/smartphone tracks were a huge hit and everything Mac was standing room only. One session that we missed that we really wish we had been in was the Plenary Session "The Future of Law Practice" led by legal tech guru, Jim Calloway. We heard it was one of the best sessions. Of course, one of the most popular sessions each year is the finale '60 Sites in 60 Minutes' session, which this year was hosted by Natalie Kelly, Dan Pinnington, Catherine Sanders Reach and Reid Trautz. We'll be posting some of the 'best of' from the session soon.

Exhibit Floor Impressions

We created a separate TECHSHOW Guide file with just the exhibitor listings. One of the many refreshing facts about TECHSHOW is that it remains a tradeshow focused on technology, not merely eDiscovery or litigation support. In fact, per the official show guide, only 14 of the 107 exhibiting vendors spanning an abundance of technologies and software touted eDiscovery or litigation support solutions. That's an exhibit representation of 13% of eDiscovery versus 45% eDiscovery at LegalTech NY 2012.

On the flip-side, the cloud and 'web-based' providers dominated the Hilton's show floor this week with approximately 40% of all vendors advertising cloud and web products and services (compared to 14% cloud representation at LegalTech NY). One product launch enjoying a 'home field' advantage was Law Bulletin Publishing's soft launch (generally available in a few months) of JuraLaw, their new web-based case, calendar & docket management product. Leading the show in terms of new news and super busy booths was the smattering of cloud-based practice management systems including Advologix, Clio, HoudiniESQ, MyCase, RocketMatter and Total Attorneys.

APIs In the House

The application program interface was all the rage in Chicago with all the major cloud-based practice management players announced the availability of APIs thus giving third party developers an open platform to integrate products and develop new ones within the technology framework of the existing systems. In fact, API mania was running so wild, that Law Technology News technology editor Sean Doherty joked he'd be doing API reviews during the week as opposed to his usual 'under the hood' product inspections.

A Little of This, a Little of That...

We were asked by quite a few people what the trend of the exhibit hall this year was and my very non-technical answer was "a little of this, a little of that." We've been attending and analyzing the industry and its events since 1999, but this how was a true example of participation by a lot of different technologies that would be useful in a law firm. We saw all types of technologies - electronic signature; cloud-enabled Wi-Fi, smart file trackers; collaboration tools; credit card processing systems; backup systems; web archivers; virtual receptionists; and email encryption services.

Calendaring/Court Rules

What we found interesting this year was the evident focus on calendaring and court rules/calculation services which often, despite their mission critical nature, are overlooked by firms looking for new technology. Case in point, long established online legal deadline calculation service Deadlines.com (owned by Aderant and based on CompuLaw's comprehensive court rule calculations), announced a simpler pricing model that will provide law firms with the ability to generate unlimited events for cases, a more cost effective pricing option. JuraLaw and HoudiniESQ touted calendar and court rule integrations and LawToolBox.com came out of virtually nowhere (never heard of them before) to offer cloud-based court-rule sets. How the calendaring/court rules landscape will shake out is anyone's guess, but as we noted while chatting with lawyer and legal thought leader Bob Ambrogi, not all court rules are created equal, and the true test will be in how comprehensive offered deadline calculations are and how many lawyers are actually dedicated internally to consistently update rules.

Wrapping up our product impressions, the 'welcome back to legal' award goes to Roe Frazer and his TECHSHOW debut of the Barrister App, a firm-branded app giving firms the ability to give clients direct access to their pertinent contact information, attorney bios, areas of expertise and messaging capabilities. Roe, former CEO and Founder of CaseLogistix, and now managing director at digital marketing and creative agency Digome, celebrated his re-entry into legal with the Barrister launch and his web 2.0-themed LexThink.1 talk on Wednesday night. 

Finally, the most non-traditional vendor nod goes to TLO and its TLOxp^® tool used by global corporations and law enforcement agencies to investigate and research people, locations, companies and their interrelationships for due diligence, risk assessment and identity authentication. An interesting side note -- One of TLO's founders is John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted TV show and long-time proponent for new legislation to protect children from predatory crimes.

'Beer for Blawggers'

Thanks to Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog and the ABA Journal for hosting the '5th Annual Beer for Blawggers' get together celebrating law blogging and law bloggers Friday evening. We enjoy this event every year as it is a great way for us to connect with every one before the end of TECHSHOW. Special thanks to Molly McDonough, deputy managing editor of the ABA Journal for coordinating the event.

As always, we had a tremendous time this week catching up with many of our consultant, vendor and technologists friends. Good luck to the future Chair of TECHSHOW 2013, Britt Lorish of Affinity Consulting Group and make plans to attend April 4-6, 2013. We'll see you there!

ABA TECHSHOW: LexThink.1 Kicks Off TECHSHOW 2012

Produced by InsideLegal.com

Last week we were in Chicago for LexThink.1 and the ABA TECHSHOW. This was our 3rd year producing LexThink.1 (aka Ignite Law) with Matt Homann and our 13th year attending TECHSHOW. The events kicked off Wednesday night with a reception hosted by ABA TECHSHOW and RocketLawyer (we'll cover in our TECHSHOW post) and then moved into the evening's main event - LexThink.1 - which again played to a sold-out audience of 250 legal professionals, thought leaders, innovators and commentators. This year we featured 11 speakers with 6 minutes each to share their vision of law practice futures, specifically the future of law firm client service. 2012 saw 9 new presenters, Jay Shepherd repeating his 2011 debut, and the ABA's Will Hornsby as the only 3-time presenter. If 2011 was the year of the JDs (9 presenters were lawyers), 2012 was the year of the CEOs with 5 of the 11 carrying the chief exec title. Three of this year's presenters were at TECHSHOW for the first time (it was nice to have some fresh perspectives also) and 5 of the 11 are currently authoring books. One thing never changes -- when asked the difficulty of the Ignite presentation on a scale of 1 to 10, the average was 8 out of 10. Within the month, we will have the videos ready for release, but in the meantime, let's look at the presentations...

 

Mark Britton

Avvo's CEO Mark Britton kicked-off LexThink .1 2012 with 'Back to the Future' - his vision of how lawyers can embrace the web and their web communities in a permanent way. He shared 8 'to dos': set objectives; identify your target audience; identify your target time; establish a core web presence; stand out; don't report, commentate; monitor and measure; and understand mobile. "We went from offline to online and now we are moving from online to mobile."

 

Richard Granat

Richard Granat focused on legal industry startups and clients' desire for transparency, convenience and better technology. He noted that startups eliminate friction and offer unbundled legal services in the form of legal advice startups; document automation startups; web advisor startups; and walled garden startups. "Clients want fixed pricing and they know technology is all around. They want you to use technology to reduce their costs." He warned that "LegalZoom is going to eat the business of solos and smart firms for lunch."

 

Roe Frazer

Web 2.0 and the 'thank you economy' was the focus of entrepreneur (and developer of the Barrister App) Roe Frazer's talk. He stressed the importance of a firm social media plan with the focus being the firm website. He encouraged to get involved in the conversation, whether that's via Twitter, Facebook or tumblr or seek out the likes of Quora.com for crowd sourced advice from legal professionals. "3/4 of worlds' internet users now use social media to find answer in addition to search engines." One key takeaway - "If you have a blog, put it on Tumbler. Google indexes it highly."

 

Will Hornsby

ABA ethics guru Will Hornsby shared a plethora of ridiculous state ethics rules that for one reason or another are still in effect to this day. One example, "Hawaii has a rule that attorneys can't use email to solicit clients. A conspiracy by Obama to save the USPS?" His appeal - "If you have a 21st century practice, you deserve 21st century policies. Get involved."   VOTED FAVORITE SPEAKER!

Ruth Carter

Young attorney and marketer Ruth Carter shared her passion for participating in and organizing flash mobs and touched on the many related legal gotchas to be aware of. For example: "If you invite people by Facebook, that can be solicitation." Ruth warns that ideally a Flash Mob involves an attorney from the beginning.

 

 

Jason Dyer

Eggplanter CEO Jason Dyer offered some reflection ... how can all of us, in this case with the use of technology, better serve our clients? "Is our technology really going to focus on our users or just give up?" He urged attorneys to pay attention to how you treat clients, "think about every single interaction and avoid turning our clients into commodities". His call-to-action: "Don't forget you can't replace skill with technology. Within the next week, formulate one sentence that captures how you can increase client interactions."

 

Eric Hunter

Eric Hunter, director of KM of Bradford & Barthel, focused on how integrating consumer driven social media, intranets, extranets and client portals into a 100% web approach can and will drive organizational & behavioral change. "All the innovators (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, etc.) are working on ways that change the way people think." We have known Eric for a while and he puts his money where his mouth is - he has moved his 275 user California law firm to a 100% cloud and now Google+ firm.

 

Jay Shepherd

Jay Shepherd presents the one word that can change how you do business - Simplicity. "If complexity is the problem, simplicity is the solution". Focus on the result triangle -- clarify the goal, show you care and address the fear. It's fear that keeps people from doing what you want them to do. His example, Southwest simplifies everything (boarding, no bag fees, etc.) because it allows them to spend 30% more time in the air which is where airlines make money. 

 

Matt Spiegel

Matt Spiegel, MyCase CEO, made the case: "If the #1 complaint submitted to all bar associations is lack of communication, why don't we make more of an effort to improve it?" He argued how lawyers can to get away from traditional lines of communication and give clients the attention that they deserve through technology. "Whether we like it or not, consumers have grown to expect a high level of attention in all areas of life, including representation by a lawyer. Lawyers need to get with it and increase customer service via better more streamlined and consistent communication." 

 

James Ring

James Ring, CEO of Fair Outcomes, focused on ending cheap talk in legal bargaining and how game theories can take lawyers, who often get in the way, out of the process resulting in quicker more agreeable resolutions. Most cases don't settle until the eve of trial because they are about to lose the opportunity. "Trafficking in small talk is a dirty business."

 

Steve Best

Affinity Consulting Group's Steve Best found a lot of resonance with his Ignite presentation focused on passion. "Passion is the cornerstone of innovation. Innovation is the cornerstone of technology." Find what you are passionate about and embrace it. Once you've embraced it, share it. Once you've shared it, encourage others to find theirs. Often times your passion in other areas, like music or art, can spill over to a passion for serving your clients better. "Do we as lawyers show passion when we talk to our clients?" 

Note: All of the presenter pics remind us of Steve Best's example of drawing his inspiration from a symphony conductoer and how he, without words, leads and inspires an entire symphony.

I'd like to thank our co-Producer Matt Homann and everyone that helped make LexThink.1 happen - from Andrea (administrative assistance) to Jobst (handling media relations). We'd like to especially thank Reid Trautz (2012 ABA TECHSHOW Chair) and Cindy Galvan from the ABA TECHSHOW and Jack Newton from Platinum Sponsor Clio - who has sponsored Ignite all three years.

                       

ABA TECHSHOW: What You Need to Know

In less than a week, the industry will converge on Chicago to take part in both our Ignite event, now called LexThink.1, and the ABA TECHSHOW that will be underway at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue. This will be our 13th year attending TECHSHOW and it is by far one of our favorites, mostly due to the team of thought leaders that volunteer their time to make it happen each year. This year, the show is being led by Chair Reid Trautz, the director of the Practice & Professionalism Center for American Immigration Lawyers Association. To keep up with the event, follow us at @InsideLegal or #abatechshow.

Obviously two standouts of ABA TECHSHOW are the educational sessions and the Expo Hall. I can say that we've already received some releases on product launches and upgrades that will be worth hearing about. Stay tuned for more information. If you haven't already registered to attend ABA TECHSHOW, you can print this form to register onsite. In the meantime, here is a look at this year's festivities...

Ignite Law - now called LexThink.1

This will be the third year that we have produced, along with Matt Homann of LexThink, this unique event where industry thought leaders have 6 minutes and 20 slides to present on their topic submitted earlier this year. All speakers submitted a topic and we opened up for online voting from the industry to determine which presentations they wanted to hear. Thanks to our Platinum sponsor, Clio, the event is free to attend, but you must register here. As of now, we are sold out, but if you are interested in attending, register to get added to the waitlist as we are attempting to add seats now. You can review the agenda here.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago, Continental Ballroom, Wednesday, March 28th, 7:30-10pm, Follow on Twitter - #IgniteLaw

ABA TECHSHOW/RocketLawyer Reception

Wednesday night festivities will begin with the ABA TECHSHOW/RocketLawyer reception directly before Ignite Law beginning at 6pm. In addition to some networking, RocketLawyer will be leading "an interactive event for entrepreneurial lawyers" as explained further on their Facebook page.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago, Continental Ballroom, Wednesday, March 28th, 6-7:30pm 

ABA TECHSHOW App

Planning for ABA TECHSHOW can now be done entirely from your mobile device or tablet with the ABA TECHSHOW Conference App. It's available for download on an iPhone/iPad, Android or BlackBerry device, and allows you to carry all of ABA TECHSHOW conveniently. Full Conference attendees have been assigned unique codes to access a secure Attendee Schedule that enables you to bookmark sessions so you know where you want to be and when. During the session, view the Conference materials within the Conference App so you can follow along with the speakers as they share their knowledge of legal technology. Once you make your way into the EXPO Hall, use the complete listing of exhibitors to find your way around and decide who has the product/service your firm needs. 

Welcome Reception in Exhibit Hall

Another event back by popular demand is the Welcome Reception being held in the Expo Hall. Join your colleagues and friends to discuss the programming from day one of ABA TECHSHOW during the Welcome Reception on Thursday. Experience exceptional cuisine and tasty beverages at the Hilton Chicago and maybe you'll make a few new friends while you're there.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago, Southeast Hall, Thursday, March 29th, 5:30-7pm 

5th Annual Beer for Bloggers

For the fifth year, the ABA Journal and Kevin O'Keefe with LexBlog are hosting their Beer (and wine) for Bloggers event this Friday evening. Everyone is invited, blogger or not, lawyer or not, attending TECHSHOW or not. It’s been a great event for those in the legal profession and those serving the profession to get together.
The Skinny: Hilton Chicago Lakeside Green Lounge in lobby, Friday, March 30th, 5:30-7pm 

Taste of ABA TECHSHOW Dinners

Don't miss out on these dinners. It's a great way to either meet with a group of pople to discuss a certain technology or meet a specific group of people. Here's how it works... Pick a technology; pick a Chicago restaurant; or pick a host. No matter what you pick, the choice is yours with the Taste of ABA TECHSHOW. Registrants have the opportunity to participate in this Dutch-treat event where we make dinner reservations throughout the city of Chicago and each dinner is based on a technology topic with a host in the field. Most of the Dinners are sold out, but there still are a couple open. 
The Skinny: Thursday and Friday night, Review & register here  

Ben Stein Keynote

It will be hard to top their keynote of last year - Harvard's Larry Lessig, but Ben Stein definitely one not to miss! Ben's career accomplishments include working at the Federal Trade Commission, lawyer and speech writer for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and now, ABA TECHSHOW Keynote Speaker. 
The Skinny: Friday, 12:45-1:45pm 

LexThink .1 Final Agenda Announced -- Steven J. Best Added to Speak

Here we are, one week pre-LexThink.1 and the excitement and anticipation continues to build. As of yesterday, we are sold out. We will be able to add some seats, so you can still sign up for tickets, and reserve your space on the waitlist. The agenda/speaking roster is listed below and we are very pleased to welcome Steven J. Best, a new addition, and final speaker on board.

Steve, the managing partner of Affinity Consulting Group's Atlanta office, was in 13th place with votes on our talk submission list, will replace Niki Black. This week, Niki joined MyCase, and therefore had to withdraw her speaking slot since our event rules limit one speaker per company (MyCase CEO Matt Spiegel is already speaking).

With an educational background in law, accounting and economics, Steve, an attorney turned technologist, consults with law firms throughout the United States on law office software as well as sophisticated practice management issues. At LexThink .1, he will be speaking about passion and how it can help firms of all sizes and complexities better sever clients. Here is his full talk submission:

"PASSION: Identifying and then nourishing your passion will make you a more content person, drive confidence and help you serve your clients better. Find your passions and then encourage others around you to follow theirs.  Passion also leads to innovation which is the cornerstone of technology.  Technology, in turn, when properly implemented and when enthusiastically embraced will help free your schedule to give you time to follow your passion."

Along with Steve, we are excited to welcome the other 10 speakers who have been working hard on their final presentations. For more details on the final event agenda including the schedule with speakers and and topics, click here. 

LexThink.1 Agenda & Speakers

• Mark Britton:  Back to the Future
• Richard Granat  Legal Industry Startups: An Overview
• Roe Frazer:  Being a Web 2.0 Lawyer in the “Thank You Economy”
• Will Hornsby:  Ignite This! Five Ethics Rules That Should Be Incinerated
• Ruth Carter:  Flash Mob Law
• Jason E. Dyer:  Where Canasta and Counsel Collide
• Eric Hunter:  Moving Towards 100% Web
• Jay Shepherd:  One Word That Will Reinvent How You Serve Clients
• Matt Spiegel:  Don’t Just Communicate …
• James F. Ring:  Ending Cheap Talk in Legal Bargaining
• Steve Best:  Passion

Guidance Software to Acquire CaseCentral

Guidance Software, Inc. has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held CaseCentral, Inc., a leader in the electronic discovery (e-discovery) market for Cloud-based review and production software.

   

According to the press release:

"This acquisition will extend Guidance Software's market leadership by delivering a complete e-discovery platform addressing the e-discovery needs of corporations and government agencies. The combined product portfolio will deliver to customers increased efficiency and automation, as well as lower risk for e-discovery activities. The integrated solution will span from legal hold to identification, collection, preservation, processing, first pass review, and, now with CaseCentral's market leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, best-in-class early case assessment (ECA), review and production capabilities.

Under the terms of the agreement, Guidance Software will acquire CaseCentral for upfront consideration of approximately $17.1 million, consisting of $8.3 million in cash, $8.3 million in Guidance Software common stock, and the assumption of $0.5 million of debt, net of cash. Depending on CaseCentral’s SaaS revenue growth, Guidance Software may pay up to an additional $33 million in cash over the next three years. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2012. Guidance Software expects the transaction to add approximately $10 million in SaaS revenue in 2012, and to be slightly dilutive to slightly accretive to 2012 non-GAAP EPS and accretive to 2013 non-GAAP EPS."

You can read the letter to their clients from Guidance President & CEO, Victor Limongelli here.

What percentage of revenue do legal vendors spend on marketing? 2012 InsideLegal Vendor Marketing Survey Now Open

What percent of total revenue do legal vendors spend on marketing? What about your competitors? How does your budget compare?

You can read the results to that question from our 2008 legal vendor survey here, but better yet, you can complete the 2012 InsideLegal Vendor Marketing Survey (takes approx. 10 minutes) to find out how your marketing budget compares to other vendors, what your competitors spend on marketing, where they advertise, what market research they value, etc. In exchange for participating, you'll be the first to receive the full results report upon survey completion (for free) and we'll also immediately email you the complete 2008 survey report with data from 97 legal vendors to review in the meantime. Here are the details...

Since joining legal in 1999, we had searched for industry marketing and spending benchmarks that are commonplace in other industries that don't exist within the legal community. Knowing what your peers are spending on marketing and getting a better feel for what marketing strategies work and why is essential. For that reason, in 2008 InsideLegal conducted its inaugural Legal Vendor Marketing Survey that covered marketing budgets, the marketing mix, public relations, market research and the relevance of specific legal technology events and it yielded 97 unbiased and independent responses. We now feel the vendor community is ready for a follow-up survey - especially considering the major economic downturn we experienced. We encourage all vendors interested in getting better data surrounding their marketing and PR efforts to complete the survey and get engaged in the ensuing conversation. 

With that said, we are currently inviting legal technology vendors (CEOs, VPs, directors, marketers, managers and anyone with keen insight and understanding of their corporate marketing strategy and plan) to complete our 2012 InsideLegal Vendor Marketing Survey. We received 97 responses to our 2008 survey and we'd love to exceed that. The 42 questions will take participants 10-13 minutes to complete and all respondents (with completed surveys) will receive the final results. All results are kept completely confidential. In addition, upon completion of the survey, we will immediately send you the results report from the 2008 InsideLegal Vendor Marketing Survey. Take the time and complete the survey now and you'll have that information before LegalTech New York next week. The 2008 survey included the following, and much more, from a wide mix of legal vendor respondents:

• % of revenue spent on marketing
• what publications they advertised in
• reviews on the top legal conferences
• top categories of marketing spend
• market research recommendations

Here is a glance at the 2012 InsideLegal Vendor Marketing Survey questions:

• Marketing Budgets: How much are you spending on marketing efforts and how does this compare to other vendors?
• Marketing strategy: Who do you market to? What are your key marketing objectives?  What aspects of your marketing program have you outsourced?
• Marketing Events: How do you rank/rate the big legal events such as LegalTech and ILTA? Does your company host a User Conference? 
• Advertising: Where do you advertise? What is the mix of print vs. online?
• Public Relations: What is your media relations approach?  What is included in your (and your competitor's) PR plan? 
• Market Research: Who uses research to support marketing and sales efforts? What type of research proves most effective? What industry surveys do you and your competitors follow?

 

InsideLegal Master Legal Events Calendar Updated for 2012

Since 2001, we have been compiling the InsideLegal Master Legal Events Calendar, the most comprehensive international legal events calendar (on this site and printed in various legal publications) and we have just completed the update for the remainder of 2012. For 2012, you’ll find over 110 events spanning more than 250 days of legal conferences spanning all facets of law management - technology, security, marketing, eDiscovery, business development, law practice management, financial, knowledge management, global business, training, legal education, risk management - as well as vendor user conferences and events geared towards corporate counsel, legal administrators, paralegals, trial lawyers, law libarians, etc.

We welcome any links to the calendar and if you have an event that you would like considered for addition, email us the details. Please send:

• Dates
• Event name
• Event host/producer
• City, state 
• URL

 

Ignite Law 2012 Announced!

For the past two years, we at InsideLegal have partnered with Matt Homann of LexThink to produce Ignite Law, an interactive and thought-provoking mind-sharing event focused on the future of law practice and technology. We are back for 2012, but with a new name "LexThink .1 Law" -  a name which reflects not only the way lawyers bill (in 1/10 hour increments), but also the six minutes each presenter is given to speak - and a new focus - "serving the client better" in the twenty first century. The event will be held on March 28th, the eve of the ABA TECHSHOW, in the Hilton Chicago. The ABA Law Practice Management section will return as a marquee sponsor.

As always, anyone interested in speaking at LexThink .1 can submit their ideas and topics for consideration. Speaking proposals must be submitted via the LexThink .1 Law site between January 30 and February 10 and voting on the topics by the legal community takes place February 13-24. Anyone interested in submissions, voting or other details regarding the 2012 event, should visit PointOneLaw.com or follow the associated twitter handle and hashtags ….@Point1Law #Point1Law #IgniteLaw.

We look forward to your submissions and to seeing you in Chicago!

Read the complete press release here.

ILTA Hosting the Advanced IT Track of LegalTech New York - Free to ILTA Members!

Once again, ILTA will be hosting the Advanced IT Track on the Monday of LegalTech New York and it is free for all ILTA members to attend. Here is the schedule for January 30th...

10:30 am - 11:45 am     iLove for the iPad: Tips, Tricks & Apps
The iPad has become an incredible mobile tool for lawyers, but it can often be a challenge for IT departments. But there's no denying the fact that the iPad is becoming part of the contemporary legal technology tool belt. In the first part of this session, we'll explore how the iPad can be integrated into a law practice and discuss security, infrastructure, and compatibility. In the second part of this session, we'll go into "app-overload" and cover legal apps, note-taking apps, signature apps, PDF apps, office apps, and even some fun apps. This session is for everyone that needs to learn more about how the iPad can benefit legal professionals.
Speakers: Brett Burney-Burney Consultants & David Neesen-CIO, Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP

2:00 pm - 3:15 pm    Talking Technology to Lawyers
Attend this session to understand how the most successful technology leaders communicate with lawyers about technology strategy.   Hear how these CIOs have been able to innovate with technology by gaining firm management support and engaging lawyers in the value technology brings to their practice.
Speakers: Gina Buser-CEO of Traveling Coaches; Bob Dolinsky-CIO, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; Terry Pressley-CIO, Leonard, Street and Deinard; C. Kirk Scruggs-CIO, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

3:45 pm - 5:00 pm     Six New Technologies You Should Know About 
In this interactive session, IT leaders and technologists present a rapid-fire discussion and answer audience questions about six new technologies important for law firm IT operations. Topics include "The Role of the Cloud in Your DR/BC Planning", "Expansion of Video Conferencing Beyond the Conference Room", "Next Generation VPNs", "Riverbed Data Consolidation and Cloud Strategies" and "Lync 2010 Experiences".
Speakers: Marcus Bluestein-Kraft & Kennedy, Inc.; Scott Christensen-Director of Information Technology, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP; Jim McCue-IS Manager, Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A.; Mark Brophy-Director of Information Technology, Rogers Townsend & Thomas, PC; David Michel-Chief Information Officer, Burr & Forman; Eric Hunter-Director of KM, Bradford & Barthel, LLP

ILTA members wanting to attend the entire conference can also receive a 15 percent discount. To register for the entire LegalTech New York 2012 conference, make sure you select the *Discounted MasterPass option to receive the ILTA  discount. We'll see you in New York...