InsideLegal

Total Attorneys Acquires Virtual Law Office Technology

Total Attorneys, Inc. has announced the acquisition of Virtual Law Office Technology, LLC. 

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Total Attorneys, Inc., a managed-services provider that helps small law firms and solo practitioners, announced today its acquisition of Virtual Law Office Technology, LLC (VLOTech). Based in Wilmington, N.C., VLOTech provides a secure, web-based interface that streamlines the delivery of legal services to consumers and businesses.

“Combining with VLOTech furthers our mission to improve the quality and delivery of legal services for consumers and attorneys,” said Kevin Chern, President of Total Attorneys. “The addition of VLOTech to our product portfolio is yet another way we’re making it convenient and affordable for lawyers and their clients to work together.”

Read the rest of the official press release. 

XMLaw acquired by Thomson Reuters

This week, XMLaw has announced that they have been acquired by Thomson Reuters.  According to Rob Saccone, XMLaw's President and CEO, "We will be aligned with Hubbard One, the premier client development product and services provider. "  You can read more from XMLaw's announcement here and Hubbards One's announcement here.

Legal Technology Vendor Marketing Manager Position

A legal vendor is shopping for a Marketing Manager to coordinate marketing activities here in the US and in Canada. Details are below. If you are interested in this position, please send your resume/experience to jobs@insidelegal.com and we'll forward on. All requests are kept completely confidential. No phone calls, please!

Marketing Manager – US & Canada
Global legal technology vendor with 900+ clients worldwide is seeking a ‘Marketing Manager – US & Canada’ to continue to drive dynamic growth into the North American professional services markets. Based out of Chicago but liaising closely with international HQ, the Marketing Manager will be responsible for marketing planning & budgeting, PR agency liaison, telemarketing management, press release/case study drafting, devising sales campaigns & promos, partner marketing, social media, and all aspects of lead generation (events & trade shows, direct mails, webinars, etc). The Marketing Manager will also recruit a full time Marketing Assistant once on board and has gained a feel for requirements. Salary $60k to $65k, depending on experience. Minimum of 5 years applicable marketing experience. Additional experience of Mobile App marketing or B2B marketing across other sectors, not just legal, preferable but not essential. This role is suited to a highly driven self starter, used to working with a team of regional sales managers, who can demonstrate they have made a clear commercial impact through buzz marketing and lead generation in previous roles.

ILTA Vendor Education/Media Program - Produced by InsideLegal.com

For the sixth year, we at InsideLegal.com will be producing the Vendor Education/Media Program at the Annual ILTA Conference (August 23-27).  If you will be attending ILTA and have not already signed up to attend, please do so.  Again, we want to thank ILTA for making it possible to provide additional valuable education for vendors onsite Monday, August 24th in meeting rooms Potomac 1&2...

ILTA Vendor Business Meeting & ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey Results – 2:00-2:30 p.m.
This session will include an opportunity to meet the ILTA staff, to receive updates on conference activities, find out about future conference locations and get an update on general ILTA programs.  We will also be doing a short presentation on the findings of the 2009 ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey.  Take a look at the 2008 ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey to get an idea of the information we'll be covering and stay tuned to InsideLegal.com for more information.

ILTA Vendor Education Program – 2:30-4:30 p.m.
We are offering 4 sessions, with each panel consisting of 3-4 faculty - ILTA staff, ILTA officers and recognized industry experts.  Once again, one of our goals this year is to make sure the program is applicable to established vendors who may have attended all past events as well as new vendor attendees.  To participate, please RSVP for each attendee with their name, company, title and email address to JoAnna Forshee.

The 4 panels will cover the following topics:
• Working with ILTA (outside of the Annual Conference)
• Advice for Selling to Law Firms in this Economy (Economic Impact & Doing More with Less Marketing Budget )
• Utilizing Social Media to Maximize Your Company’s Message
• Working with Media

ILTA Vendor Reception – 4:30-5:00 p.m.
Join us following the program for an in-room networking reception affording vendors the opportunity to mingle with other attendees, participating media, and the panelists. 

Again, please make sure to RSVP for each attendee with their name, company, title and email address to JoAnna Forshee.  Thanks again to Peggy and ILTA!

Ten Rules for Conference Vendors from Matt Homann

Just in time for ILTA, below is a list of ten rules for conference vendors from LexThink's Matt Homann.  How many of the rules does your company break? 

1.  If the only way you can sell your value proposition is with a white paper, you don't have a value proposition.

2.  You do not earn my attention by giving me a pen. You earn it by solving a problem I can't solve without you.

3.  The more your booth looks like everyone else's the more I think your product does what everyone else’s does, too.

4.  Don’t get offended if I don’t believe your product will do what you promise.  I’ve been burned before by people who sounded and looked a lot like you.

5.  Everyone working your booth should have a 7 word answer to the question “What do you do?”  The first three words of that answer should be “We help you…”

6.  The number of words on your booth is inversely proportional to the likelihood I’ll read any of them.

7.  These five words should NEVER appear on your booth: Trusted, Leading, Innovative, Premier, and Unique.  If they do, you probably aren’t.

8.  Dump the booth babes.  If I can’t trust you to make good decisions about your marketing, how can I trust you to make good decisions about serving me?

9.  Your product’s benefits are not as different from your competitors’ as you believe them to be.  Instead of selling me “unique” features, sell me outstanding service.

10.  Capture my attention before you capture my contact information.  A one-dollar USB drive in exchange for a year of emails and telephone calls is not a fair trade.

You can view the rest of Matt's "10 Rules" Posts here.

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.”

Building Law Firm Relationships

InsideLegal's own Jobst Elster is the author of one of Legal Management's (ALA's member magazine) May features entitled "Positive Partnerships: Cultivating Strong Business Relationships with Legal Vendors". The article discusses how law firm administrators can build value through their firms’ relationships with legal vendors.  Here is a preview and a link to the complete article ...

"With the economy reeling and law firms being squeezed from all sides, the reality of 'doing more with less' greatly depends on your ability to rely on vendor partners that will go the extra mile for you. The value gained from pursuing true partnerships with your legal product and service vendors can be tremendous and, more often than not, quite manageable to attain and cultivate. Relying on best practices from past partnerships is critical to success in this regard, as well as your willingness to tap into a rich pool of external resources, including members of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA)...."

To view the rest of the article, Download ALA/InsideLegal Vendors Relationships Article.

ALA Conference & Expo: May 18-21 in New Orleans

Next week (May 18-21) is the Annual Association of Legal Administrators Conference & Expo in New Orleans.  The conference will have over 200 exhibitors and includes 100 educational sessions designed for law firm administrators.  The conference has some great educational tracks and exhibitors are allowed to attend all the sessions (space permitting) except for the idea exchanges.  This is a great way for vendors to get even more out of their exhibiting experience and allow for better networking with the attendees. 

On Tuesday, ALA is hosting a vendor eduation workshop entitled, "A Peek Behind the Curtain: Business Partner Survival Strategies".  The panel discussion will offer tips and suggestions to help business partners weather this difficult economic climate.

"Panelists will respond to issues raised by our Vendor Relations Committee and Vendor Advisory Panel members such as predicted changes in buying habits over the near term, ranking what influences decisions about vendor selection, ranking the more effective marketing materials and techniques, describing the legal landscape 18 to 24 months from now, and suggestions for better ways to gain access to large firm administrators.

Time has been allocated for the panelists to respond to questions from the business partners attending the session. There will also be time for the informal exchange of ideas, business relationship building, and a prize drawing following the presentation." 

The session will be Tuesday, May 19, 2:15–3:45 p.m. in NOMCC Rooms 283/284/285.

In addition to the general and vendor session, exhibitors are encourged to attend the social events including Welcome Reception Sunday and Finale Party Wednesday night.  The Finale Party will be held at Mardi Gras World, that houses the most awesome floats ever built, illuminated with tens of thousands of fiber optic lights, thousands of sensational sculptures, breathtaking giant figures, and an ALA Parade.  Tickets to these events are available onsite.

InsideLegal will be onsite and we look forward to seeing you there!

Pamela Towan-deForce Joins The Davidson Group

Pamela Towan-deForce has joined The Davidson Group as Senior Director of Legal Services.  The Davidson Group is a "full service executive recruiting firm established in 2003 to assist the legal and information communities with their staffing needs".  Pamela has almost 20 years in the legal industry including over 6 years with CT Summation.

Outside Insights for Legal Exhibitors

Often, vendors spend more effort preparing for a trade show and talking about maximizing their efforts there, than they do actually "working" the show.  Tim Corcoran of Altman Weil wrote an article about this topic that has some great points to think about when exhibiting (and when interfacing with prospects/external audiences in general) ... How does your team work the booth?  Are they engaging but not intimidating?  Can you succinctly articulate what makes you/your product or service unique? Do you and your staff make the most of the show and maximize your investment by participating in the networking events?

Sticking with the theme of "vendors trade show/general business preparedness",  here are some "tweets" uber-consultant/blogger Matt Homann composed while walking the exhibit hall at the ABA TECHSHOW recently in Chicago...

• "Vendors: If the only way you can "sell" your value proposition is with a white paper, you don't have a value proposition."

• "Vendors, the more your booth looks like everyone else's the more I think your product is too."

• "Vendors: You do not earn my attention by giving me a pen. You earn it by solving a problem I can't solve without you."