A tale of two soft cost recoveries: A lack of trust leads to a lack of returns
Why 50 percent of soft costs are being lost
Rob Mattern, InsideCounsel
As someone who has been sitting by the side of some of the nation’s largest law firms for the past 15 years assisting them with developing an effective soft cost recovery strategy, it is refreshing to be authoring a three part series on how inside counsel can work with their law firm partners to create a soft cost recovery policy that is fair to both parties. (read the post)
HotDocs Corporation Surpasses the 1-Million User Mark
Legal IT Professionals
HotDocs Corporation today announced that it currently has over 1 million users and is doing business in 29 different countries, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Singapore. The million-user milestone was achieved late last year as a flurry of large deals was finalized. (read the post)
Microsoft Updates SharePoint Online, Remains Cagey on Office for iPad
Evan Koblentz, Law Technology News
SharePoint Online received its second update since the wider Office 365 launch in June 2011. Office 365 is the online version of the Office busines applications, intended to rival Google Docs and similar services. Its SharePoint component is commonly used not just for content management but also for company web sites, making it a prime target for collection during electronic data discovery. (read the article)
From the Experts: Cloud Computing’s Hidden Export Regulation Risks
How to avoid violating U.S. trade controls when storing data in the cloud.
Chad Breckinridge, CorporateCounsel
Thousands of Americans export data overseas every day without U.S. government authorizations and don’t even know it. How? By using cloud-computing services, ranging from personal services like Gmail to large-scale enterprise data storage solutions. While cloud-based services have become a valuable tool for improving efficiency, outdated government regulation leaves cloud users exposed. (read the article)
Are Outside Counsel Using SEO and Social Media to Reach GCs?
Shannon Green, CorporateCounsel
And the lawyers’ failures to be digitally current can mean losing business with law departments, says Alexander. “If in-house counsel are going to LinkedIn to try to find attorneys, they’re only seeing about a third of the market that’s available to them,” he says. (read the article)
Perceptions by law departments of law firms’ obstacles to AFAs; gaps between rankings
Rees Morrison, Law Department Management
Respondents to last year’s ALM metrics survey ranked seven possible internal obstacles for law firms to fully implementing alternative pricing strategies. The leading reason was “Law firms are more comfortable with the billable hour” (2.2 average ranking where 1 is most important). (read the post)
7 tips for starting information governance projects
There will never be a “right” time to start, so don’t wait too long
Mark Diamond, InsideCounsel
One general counsel recently told me he would rather change a tire in the rain than work on a records management project. I can understand his reluctance. Considering the tar pit of corporate compliance, records management, litigation readiness, data privacy, e-mail retention and other information governance projects have a tendency to get stuck.
Follow these tips to avoid getting caught in the muck:
1. Don’t get stuck before you start: (read the article)
Security Tips from CIO.com Used by a Free Android App
Christine Torralba, AndroidAuthority.com
With the open source nature of Android, it is recommended that each smartphone and tablet user should be a little wary about the security of their device as well as the stored information on the device. Especially with the huge number of hackers and other individuals who have fraudulent motives, it is important to safeguard personal information on mobile devices. (read the post)
ACC Brings the Future to its Members or The ACC KIIAC System Goes Live Toby Brown, 3 Geeks and a Law Blog
Starting today, members will have access to ten document templates, which are contracts and agreements that in-house counsel would use on a regular basis. Kingsley has taken volumes of sample documents for each document type, analyzed them and made standardized versions available. Not only that, members can view alternative clauses within each document, enabling them to custom build documents, utilizing any clause components they chose. Finally, members can take documents they have received and compare them against the standard document types to see if any clauses are missing or highly variable from the standard. (read the post)
GettingLegalDone, another ACC partner, a contract management tool for small law departments, has the Kiiac interface built-in.
Turn to a law firm to analyze your spending data and perhaps combine it with similar data from other companies
Rees Morrison, Law Department Management
An innovative law firm with reach in a defined area of representation could amass data, hone analytic and presentation skills, and develop an offering for the market with formidable competitive advantages. Meanwhile, law departments who make their information available will approach alternative fee arrangements and budgets more confidently. (read the post)
