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INFORMATION & COLLABORATION

"How do we make information actionable?" The information management landscape is changing; new technologies and capabilities are fostering a growing opportunity for information professionals to contribute more directly and significantly to the success of their firms through:

  • Increased inter-departmental collaboration
  • Taking on greater strategic roles
  • Identifying opportunities to create competitive advantage
  • Making information more real-time and accessible

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INFORMATION EVOLUTION - April 25th

How will emerging information technology and processes be affecting the day-to-day of law firms and information professionals moving forward?

On April 25, 2013, this one-day conference will bring together legal information professionals from Research Services, Knowledge Management, Marketing, Information Technology, and Administrative Management to focus on the practical application of emerging information technologies, processes, and practices through case studies, industry overviews, and first-hand success stories.

Join us for an innovative new conference designed to help you make immediate, practical improvements based on what is working today. The conference will provide you with checklists, best practices, immediate opportunities, and reference materials to support getting started in the future of information management.

Our first Annual Information Management Evolution Conference will be held Thursday, April 25, 2013 at Convene (formerly Sentry Centers – 810 Seventh Ave) in New York City, 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM.

***Register Now To Avoid The Waiting List***

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MITIGATING ECONOMIC RISK

Over the past 5-10 years the legal industry, especially in the US, has seen a 3-5% decrease in revenue on a regular recurring basis. When revenues do pick up, collection rates are still decreasing.*

*Note the chart above: this is the 2013 Report on the State of the Legal Market from Georgetown Law.

Despite the fact that this ACTUAL risk is regularly occurring, rather than proactively investing in mitigation strategies the way we do for Business Continuity Plans and Disaster Recovery, law firms largely seem to take a reactive approach such as investing more in business development or after-the-fact project management training. We can chalk this up to Risk Bias:

So how do you prepare an economic risk mitigation plan in the face of these challenges?

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ABA TECHSHOW RECAP: April 4-6

Missed last week's ABA TechShow? Not to worry!

Catch up on key topics and highlights in the posts below:

Read the complete list of Robert Ambrogi's ABA TechShow links here.

BUILDING YOUR COLLABORATION MODEL

In their post, David Bilinsky and Garry J. Wise take a look at the importance of collaboration in a law firm environment and caution inaction. They note:

“There is no doubt that the world is changing to more of a collaborative model. We are facing the fact that we have to change or the world will change without us.”

John Chambers  Cisco CEO and Chairman, perhaps said it best:

“I believe that companies and leaders who do not change will be left behind. And so I had to move from being a command and control leader. You have to learn that you make better decisions through collaboration.”

Bilinksy and Wise approach the successes to be achieved in adopting a collaborative model and outline some steps to take towards creating such a model; to integrate collaboration into law firm business practices (and to move away from “just talking about collaboration”). A summary of their outlined steps to follows this methodology:

  • Start with compliance: everyone on the team complies with the need to do something, but there is very little discussion or coordination between the team members.
  • Next is cooperation: now everyone is still drawing their own plans, but at least now they are sharing what they are doing with the group. But the overall characterization is still on individual action.
  • Lastly is true collaboration: here all the team members not only share their plans but they brainstorm together on generating new ideas of how to achieve the joint goals that transcend individual action.  And by working together, they can achieve outstanding results.

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