InsideLegal

Inaugural InsideLegal Thought Leaders Digest Spotlights College of Law Practice Management

As those familiar with InsideLegal know, we have always had a 'soft spot' for thought leadership ... Especially within the last three years, we have stepped up efforts to advocate and promote legal thought leadership with programs such as Ignite Law, the “In Their Own Words” law firm leaders series, and the introduction of thought leadership-themed panel discussions as part of ILTA's vendor education program at the annual conference and the ABA TECHSHOW. InsideLegal’s Thought Leaders Digest is the latest effort. The Digest is a digital publication consisting of concise articles, essays, ‘ask the experts’ Q&As and commentary addressing law practice-specific and legal profession spanning topics and themes. 

The inaugural Digest is focused on organization we have the upmost respect for but have always felt does not get the recognition and awareness it deserves - The College of Law Practice Management. Specifically, the COLPM issue spotlights members’ (COLPM Fellows) legal expertise and knowledge of the profession while introducing COLPM to a wider, international legal audience. The COLPM Fellows are the ‘who’s who’ of law practice management and as an organization recognize innovation and ingenuity via the InnovAction award and foster collaboration and education through its annual Futures Conference.

It’s time to “share the wealth” so to speak and the COLPM-themed InsideLegal Thought Leaders Digest does just that with a series of thoughtful essays and ‘ask the Fellows’ questions addressing law practice futures; legal education; workplace diversity; KM; alternative business structures; legal technology; marketing; and pricing. The Digest includes critical essays by Jordan Furlong, Marc Lauritsen, Ron Staudt, Ron Friedmann, Kendal Tyre, Tony Williams, Ed Poll, Ida Abbott, Marcia Wasserman, Burkey Belser, and Caren Ulrich Stacy. An ‘Ask the Fellows’ series includes questions by Richard Susskind, Matt Homann, Toby Brown, Jobst Elster and JoAnna Forshee with corresponding answers by dozens of COLPM Fellows.

The 24-page InsideLegal Thought Leaders Digest, COLPM issue, can be dowloaded at http://bit.ly/ILDigest1 and will be distributed at the COLPM annual Futures Conference, October 28-29, Chicago-Kent School of Law in Chicago.

COLPM Futures Conference Heading to Chicago

The College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) is hosting their annual Futures Conference next week (October 28-29) at the Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago. The Futures Conference includes an interactive program featuring thought-provoking leaders who present on or facilitate discussions on the future of the legal profession and the resulting challenges to law firm leadership and management. The 2011 Futures Conference is co-chaired by COLPM Fellows Ron Staudt and David Hambourger and themed "Challenging the Law Practice Management Model". The conference is specifically designed to offer ideas that are meaningful to firms of all sizes, across all legal disciplines - "best practices in law firm management can be both universal and scalable."

Although InsideLegal has been a sponsor of the COLPM's InnovAction Awards for a few years now, we first attended the Futures Conference last year (an incredible event). We were the most impressed with the attendee list consisting of the 'who's who' of legal exchanging ideas about the future of the business of law globally. This conference is for law firm leaders, managing partners, executive directors, chief marketing officers, directors of professional development and law school deans and is open to non-COLPM members to attend. [I believe they still have a couple of spots left if you are interested in attending you can register here with InsideLegal rate of $395.]

The 2011 Futures Conference sessions include:

What is the Future of Price: Defining Value in Value Billing: The future demands that law firms and their clients put a value on the services lawyers provide. The great recession and its law profession aftermath are driving more and more clients to demand fixed fee arrangements to ensure certainty and reduce legal costs. Law firms and their clients struggle to find solid principles that define that value. Hear how clients define value when hiring a law firm and how firms define value. Help identify universal concepts that can measure value across boundaries. Help invent the language of value for law practice. Expect an interesting, lively and spirited exchange. Moderator: Ronald Staudt, Chicago-Kent College of Law; Toby Brown, Vinson & Elkins; Paul Lippe, Legal OnRamp, and Ellen Rosenthal, Pfizer

Law Factories vs. “Bet the Farm” Firms: Will law firms of the future need to segment clients in new ways? Might some firms focus on “industrialized” practices: hyper-efficient work using automation and low cost resources? Might others focus on “bet the farm” cases using mainly top legal talent? If the market does segment, will it do so by practice, by firm, by matter type or along some other dimension? Many factors could either drive or support this. Join us as we explore alternative business structures in the UK and beyond. Moderator: Ron Friedmann, Integreon and Toby Brown, Vinson & Elkins

Disruptive Technologies/Innovative Thinking: Theorists like Clayton Christensen and Richard Susskind remind us that technologies themselves are rarely disruptive; it’s the business innovations they enable. Yet it’s clear that aspects of today’s transformations in the legal services delivery system are being driven by the dramatic economies of advanced new technologies. What’s going on? What should we expect? Moderator: Marc Lauritsen, Capstone Practice Systems; Richard S. Granat, SmartLegalForms, Inc., and DirectLaw, Inc.; Maura R. Grossman, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and Kingsley Martin, KIIAC LLC

Law Practice Without Borders: The American legal market is by far the largest in the world, about $260 billion annually. But the future legal marketplace will be truly multinational, following the lead of an increasingly globalized economy. Already, the most innovative and dynamic developments in the legal sphere are taking place outside U.S. borders. This session explores the latest trends in key legal markets worldwide, including the UK, India and China. Moderator: Jordan Furlong, Edge International; Simon Chester, Heenan Blaikie, LLP; BieBie Que, Leximetrics, LLC; and Pamela Woldow, Edge International

Future View: Do You See What I See?: Where should we focus our attention? What have we already missed? How can we best prepare for “what’s next?” This panel will offer provocative prognostications on the law practice management landscape from a number of perspectives and market segments. Moderator: Sally Fiona King, SNR Denton; Ross Fishman, Ross Fishman Marketing; Dave Hambourger, Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Chris Murray, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. and Chris Petrini-Poli, HBR Consulting

Innovation, With Velocity: The pace of change in the legal marketplace during the last several years has been unprecedented. This session explores what innovation is and is not. What are the barriers to innovation in law firms and how can we overcome them? Learn how your firm can install a sustainable, systemic innovation initiative. Session leaders: Tom Clay, Altman Weil, Inc. and Raymond Bayley, Novus Law

Serving the Profession Today and Tomorrow: The College has an action agenda to “…make a difference, and use the talent, skill and experience of the Fellows to improve the profession.” Since 2009, the College has partnered with the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to participate in regular program performance visits designed to observe and improve the operations of legal aid organizations it funds. Over lunch Fellows who have volunteered their consulting expertise to this effort will describe their experiences. LSC executives will map out the state of the need and identify opportunities for College efforts to meet some of the need. All Fellows are encouraged to offer opinions and ideas on how the College could improve the future of the delivery of justice. 

The Legal Vendor Acquisitions Continue...ADERANT Announces Another Purchase

At the ILTA conference a little over a month ago, financial practice management provider ADERANT made quite a stir with their acquisition news, purchasing both CompuLaw LLC, (calendaring and court rule automation) and Client Profiles ('end-to-end' case management software for small to medium law firms) including their CRM4Legal product.

 

Then, on October 3, Elite announced that they acquired FWBS, developers of MatterCentre and MatterSphere tools with a strong presence in the APAC and EMEA regions.

 

Well, the legal technology vendors remain on an M&A roll ... As of this morning, ADERANT has announced the acquisition of RainMaker Software, financial and practice management software for mid to large sized law firms.

The M&A 'arms' race used to be limited to West (now Thomson Reuters) vs. Lexis, with the occasional eDiscovery vendor thrown in, so this recent trend definitely mixes things up. Add to that, record M&As on the law firm side (Altman Weil just reported a 78% increase from 2010), and this might just be the best time to own a business card and stationary printing business.