Category «Legal Marketing»

Remote Work Proves the Firm Library Is More Than a Physical Space

Marshall Voizard is a law firm reference supervisor. He shares significant insights into the profession in the time of COVID. Voizard states that the past 18 months have accelerated positive changes, illustrating to all that the library is no longer primarily a physical place, but rather an entire ecosystem of electronic legal information resources. Our expert guidance is needed more than ever.

Subjects: Business Research, Competitive Intelligence, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Marketing, Library Marketing, Online Legal Research Services, Technology Trends

Listening to the Client

In over 30 years of working with law firms on improving productivity and profitability Heather Gray-Grant has seen countless marketplace surveys on the incredible value of client feedback mechanisms. In many instances it’s been labelled as one of the fastest and most effective ways to boost firm revenue. So, you’d think that law firms would be all over this business practice as a standard operating procedure. But…not so much. Gray-Grant discusses how to effectively execute client surveys and audits that will benefit firms as well as customers.

Subjects: Communications, Data Mining, KM, Legal Marketing, Legal Profession, Management

How Data Analytics Can Change the Way Law Firms Do Business

Lisa M. (Bradford) Mayo, Director of Data and Analytics at Ballard Spahr LLP identifies how and why data and analytics are on the forefront of much of the firm’s modern technology offerings. Unlike many firms, Ballard’s data and analytics function sits inside their Client Value and Innovation department, where they have some latitude with a research and development budget and the directive to “fail fast” if they determine a proof-of-concept did not meet our needs. The firm’s data management mission statement says in part that we “contribute to the firm’s strategic goals by using innovative technologies, a variety of flexible and adaptive data sources, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and ongoing data literacy education to help redefine the Firm’s internal performance objectives and accountability drivers and transform how the Firm delivers legal services to its clients.” Just 48 words but loaded with meaning and purpose, both for now and in the foreseeable future.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Case Management, Competitive Intelligence, Ethics, Information Architecture, Information Mapping, KM, Leadership, Legal Marketing, Technology Trends

Is Remote Work a Thing Now?

Heather Gray-Grant is a business strategist, marketing expert and executive coach who works primarily with small to medium sized law firms. In her article she shares lessons learned on how to effectively manage remote working by law firm attorneys and staff along with the significant implications respective to marketing, HR, technology, firm strategy and administration.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Profession, Recruiting, Telecommuting

Handling Questions: A Presenter’s Guide

OK, you have gotten through the body of your presentation satisfactorily. Time to relax, right? Nope. There is one hurdle left: The question and answer period. This is when some presenters wilt and others shine. With a few tips, some experience and a modicum of intestinal fortitude, you can shine every time. Jerry Lawson’s extensive experience as a speaker is put to good use in this article as he provides best practice advice for each stage of your presentation.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, Presentation Skills, Training

Robots are coming for the lawyers – which may be bad for tomorrow’s attorneys but great for anyone in need of cheap legal assistance

Imagine what a lawyer does on a given day: researching cases, drafting briefs, advising clients. While technology has been nibbling around the edges of the legal profession for some time, it’s hard to imagine those complex tasks being done by a robot. And it is those complicated, personalized tasks that have led technologists to include lawyers in a broader category of jobs that are considered pretty safe from a future of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence. As Professors Elizabeth C. Tippett and Charlotte Alexander discovered in a recent research collaboration to analyze legal briefs using a branch of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, lawyers’ jobs are a lot less safe than we thought. It turns out that you don’t need to completely automate a job to fundamentally change it. All you need to do is automate part of it.

Subjects: AI, Courts & Technology, KM, Legal Marketing

It’s not just bad behavior – why social media design makes it hard to have constructive disagreements online

Good-faith disagreements are a normal part of society and building strong relationships. Yet it’s difficult to engage in good-faith disagreements on the internet, and people reach less common ground online compared with face-to-face disagreements. There’s no shortage of research about the psychology of arguing online, from text versus voice to how anyone can become a troll and advice about how to argue well. But there’s another factor that’s often overlooked: the design of social media itself. Amanda Baughan and her colleagues investigated how the design of social media affects online disagreements and how to design for constructive arguments.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, Social Media

Client Portals: A Must-Have Service for Today’s Law Firms

Jim Calloway is Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program and co-author of the ABA books “How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times” and “Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour: Strategies That Work.” In this article he explains how beyond secure document sharing, client portals for law firms can serve as a “virtual lobby” for clients and potential clients.

Subjects: Communications, Cybersecurity, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Marketing, Legal Profession, Legal Technology

The Post-Pandemic Law Practice: What Lawyers Need to Know

Nicole L. Black’s third article in a series discusses the value of an expansive new report from the ABA, Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward: Results and Best Practices from a Nationwide Survey of the Legal Profession. The results cover a broad overview of topics ranging from the impact of the pandemic on the legal profession to post-pandemic expectations and recommendations for both legal employers and individual lawyers.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Healthcare, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Profession, Management