InsideLegal

Legal Media Profile: Anne Flippin, ILTA's Managing Editor

Recently, InsideLegal had a chance to catch up with Anne Flippin, Managing Editor of ILTA’s Peer to Peer magazine and whitepaper series, and get the inside scoop about her first 3+ months on the job. Here’s a roundup of our conversation:

Background: Pre-ILTA, Anne worked as a journalist for 15 years with her last job serving as the tourism edition editor for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Describe a day in the life: While Anne admits there’s been a steep learning curve for all things legal IT, she is very much encouraged by the open line of communications she’s encountered, not only from ILTA members but from vendors as well. Most of her day is spent working on various editing projects, talking with members about future content and fielding calls from vendors about editorial guidelines and pitch opportunities. In her spare time, she does a lot of self-educating by reading popular tech reads such as CIO Digest and Computer World.

Biggest eye-opener: Her biggest ‘wow’ moment has been realizing how intelligent, trend setting and innovative many of her ILTA colleagues and members are.

Advice for vendors/authors/content contributors: Have a clear vision of the issue(s) you are writing about, and have an organized way of presenting your argument or article. Based on their line of work (e.g., exposure to sales), vendors are better at talking about the issues, while ILTA members are motivated to write, but don't know necessarily what to write about. This is where Anne can help guide a certain train of thought or help organize ideas to provide a content blueprint.

What’s next with ILTA publications? Based on the success of the digital versions of Peer to Peer magazine and especially the whitepaper series (which is now exclusively provided in PDF format and online), the publication group is working on creative ways of incorporating rich media (video and audio) into these. Anne mentioned a few examples of this already, but is very open to hearing about more innovative ways to make the member publications more interactive and engaging.

You can reach Anne at anne@iltanet.org or (512) 795-4675.

LegalTech New York - Incisive Media Editors Breakfast

On Tuesday morning at 8:00 am, Incisive Media held their annual Editors Breakfast at the Hilton.  The event began with time to mingle and enjoy a lite breakfast. Shortly after, the Incisive editors in attendance (see picture below) introduced themselves and their publications. Post introductions, the feeding frenzy began with all the attendees racing to meet particular editors of interest (which usually means Ms. Monica Bay of LTN for this crowd!). New editor faces for 2009 included Leigh Jones with National Law Journal and Anthony Paonita of Corporate Counsel.

(L to R - Craig Ball, Steve Salkin, Safia Maharaj, Bob Ambrogi, Monica Bay, Robin Sparkman, Adam Schlagman, John Bringardner, Michael Moline, Leigh Jones, Anthony Paonita, David Snow, Aric Press)

(Bill Pollak, CEO of Incisive Media North America)

Editors in attendance included...

• Bill Pollak, CEO, Incisive Media North America
• Aric Press - Editor-in-Chief, The American Lawyer
• David Snow - Executive Editor, Law.com
• Anthony Paonita - Editor-in-Chief, Corporate Counsel
• Leigh Jones - Associate Editor, National Law Journal
• Michael Moline - Assistant Managing Editor, National Law Journal
• John Bringardner - News Editor, Law.com
• Adam Schlagman - Editor-in-Chief, LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter
• Robin Sparkman - Executive Editor, The American Lawyer
• Safia Maharaj - Administrative Assistant, Law Technology News
• Steve Salkin - Managing Editor, LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter
• Bob Ambrogi - Web watch for Law Technology News, writes for Legal Blog Watch
• Craig Ball - EDD Update Blog, "Ball in your court" column for "Law Technology News" 
• Monica Bay - Editor-in-Chief, Law Technology News
• Sean Doherty - Technology Editor, Law.com (not in photo)

Here is a complete list of all of Incisive Media's legal products.

Legal Assistant Today Acquired by Conexion International Media

According to a press release we received today, the publishers of Litigation Support Today have acquired Legal Assistant Today magazine from James Publishing (who used to publish the very popular Law Office Computing).  We could not find the announcement on either website to link to, so below is the press release content.

"The leading magazine for the paralegal profession, Legal Assistant Today, has been acquired by Conexion International Media, Inc., publishers of Litigation Support Today, from James Publishing, Inc. Legal Assistant Today is the only independent national trade magazine written exclusively for paralegals. It has been published continuously for more than 25 years and it is the established authority in the paralegal field. The acquisition provides legal marketers with a new combination of' 'sister' magazines for more efficient advertising to both the litigation support field and the paralegal field, the two most influential target audiences in today's complex and rapidly growing legal marketplace. Special combination rates are available for 2009 advertisers, including print ads, conference activity, and online opportunities allowing marketers to make the most of the synergism between the paralegal profession and the litigation support profession. 
 
The new owners have stated that their vision for the development of Legal Assistant Today is to sustain the excellent editorial quality and usefulness of the magazine while introducing new enhancements and techniques that will expand readership and attract more advertisers. Charles Buckwalter, VP of Conexion International Media, says 'The reader loyalty that this great magazine commands is outstanding, with 91% of subscribers reporting that they keep their back issues and share them firm-wide. Subscription renewals are also very high. We intend to build on LAT's strong, legitimate base of paid subscribers and expand circulation to better serve the information needs of the paralegal profession and to give advertisers greater penetration into this escalating marketplace.'  The U.S. Department of Labor reports there are 220,000 paralegals/legal assistants today and the profession is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2010.
 
The dizzying impact of e-discovery and other high-technology demands on every aspect of the legal practice has caused many vendors to be uncertain which professional audience and which media are best suited for their tight advertising budgets in the fierce competitive months ahead. The publishing amalgamation of Legal Assistant Today and Litigation Support Today, both solid leaders in their own niche yet parallel markets, now provides the optimum media combination for efficient reach to the primary influences and users in each of the two key segments that are on the leading edge of the market's expansion."

New Associate Editor at Law Technology News

According to Monica Bay's post on The Common Scold...

"As we wave goodbye to the lovely Katie Montgomery, as she heads west to Iowa City to begin her Ph.D program, we say hello and welcome to Nabia Jenkins-Johnston, as LTN's new associate editor. Nabia (pronounced knob-ee-ya) joins us as a recent honors grad of Rutgers. She previously worked with our colleague Jessica Reed on a general counsel project, and we're thrilled she has joined us. As soon as I can grab my camera, I'll post her picture. And a big congrats to Shane DeLeers, who recently rec'd his MFA from NYU -- and just got a promotion from us! Shane is now LTN's Art Director! Safia Maharaj, Shane & Nabia are the best team any editor could hope for! I'm so blessed! If you haven't already heard, we're retiring ALM as our corporate brand, and introducing Incisive Media. And changing our e-mail protocols. So heads up to all the PR folks, our new address for LTN is lawtech@incisivemedia.com. Cheers! "

Welcome Nabia!

ILTA Welcomes New Managing Editor - Monica Williams

Monica Williams has joined the ILTA staff as Managing Editor of Publications, and will be responsible for the production of Peer to Peer magazine as well as ILTA white papers and surveys. Monica joins ILTA with 15 years of experience in communications, including five years contributing to and producing association publications for the Austin Bar Association, Texas Medical Association and American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition to her print experience, she also has significant experience creating online content, having been an editor and copywriter for drkoop.com and Prodigy Internet Service Provider. Most recently, Monica worked for NextScreen, Inc. managing the creation, production and distribution of digital magazines and their respective websites.

Monica, a native Texan who lives in Austin with her husband and two children, has contributed to more than 20 publications and Web sites as both a freelance and on-staff writer, and in that time has covered a variety of topics including magnetic levitation, entrepreneurship, diabetes and project management. And, has been fortunate enough to expereience many of her stories "first hand". Ask her about these sometime ... She will make her ILTA show debut at Conference, but is already soaking up the ILTA culture in the Austin HQ.       

The ever popular and previous editor Ken Hansen assumes the role of Vendor Coordinator in charge of ILTA publication ad sales (as before) and other vendor programs including the Vendor Product Briefing webinar sessions. Ken continues to transition from his previous editing duties (wrapping up ILTA Peer to Peer issue and a few whitepapers) and will be manning the vendor registration desk at conference.