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International Edition

Ahead of the game

A quick glance at a recent job advert for a director of knowledge at a large London firm succinctly demonstrates the main elements of the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and training: "The successful candidate will be expected to develop a comprehensive know-how and training strategy; and to support practice team lawyers through training, know-how and systems for leveraging knowledge." Put another way, the job description envisages an interdependence between the firm's knowledge strategy and its provision of learning and development if both (or either) are to be effective. Indeed, an overarching knowledge strategy can provide the context in which learning and development programmes are designed and run, while training is an essential part of the rollout of knowledge management improvements if they are to be understood and put into practice by fee earners as planned.
8 minute read

International Edition

Hold on to your talent

The 'battle for talent', irrespective of the industry sector, has never been greater. Employers and partnerships want to keep hold of their best people…
7 minute read

International Edition

The document minefield

Streamlining business processes and increasing productivity are fundamental challenges for law firms. Much of lawyer's work is document focused and the effective management of documents improves a firm's profitability. Constant pressure to invoice more hours has reduced cycle times for the processing of documents and many firms are now using electronic document management to make the classification, storage and retrieval of documents more efficient. Additionally, email has become a primary method of communication that needs to be managed alongside other documentation. Globally, stringent anti-money laundering legislation and financial reporting requirements are making regulatory compliance increasingly complex and demanding for organisations. Coupled with this trend of tightening regulatory environment is the drive for greater transparency which is compelling organisations to take a more strategic approach to both content and document management. These trends are increasing the pressure on legal practices to become more organised with their client's data. Effective electronic document management is recognised as a critical part of compliance with regulatory requirements from both a records management perspective and from a security and traceability standpoint.
8 minute read

International Edition

The art of retention

The day Walfrido Martinez joined Hunton & Williams to open the firm's Miami office in 1999, all he had to do was show up and start working. The firm had in place a receptionist, a head of office services and secretaries ready for him and the four colleagues who moved with him from Holland & Knight. A group of associates had already been flown in from other Hunton offices to work on their matters. The prep work paid off. In his first month Martinez billed 200 hours. "You can't do that if you don't have the resources in line," says Martinez. He hasn't forgotten that early lesson. Now Hunton's firm-wide managing partner, Martinez has tried to continue-and extend Hunton's lateral integration programme. So far, it seems to be working. Of the 28 lateral partners the firm hired in 2005, 25 are still there.
12 minute read

International Edition

The directory of the future

Although the scramble for top rankings in legal directories is on again, the majority of the UK's legal practices have little to worry about. Being of lesser significance to the legal landscape than their higher-tiered counterparts enables them to escape the grading process of the likes of the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. However, are smaller firms blessed or burdened by the lack of interest from the top legal directories? And, if directories are relevant to the success of legal business per se, can smaller practices ever expect to share in such benefits?
5 minute read

International Edition

Data to remember

The big corporate scandals at Enron and WorldCom have left a legacy that affects virtually every business in the developed world. In the wake of the two cases, the US Government rushed through new legislation in the shape of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (otherwise known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act 2002), which placed strict rules on companies to manage their information in a much more accountable way. And, for the first time, it made senior board members personally responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the figures they reported.
6 minute read

International Edition

Avoid the lull

The last few weeks have seen the global credit crunch bite hard. The volume of M&A and property deals had already fallen during the last quarter of 2007, but now capital for leveraged deals has all but disappeared. The dreaded 'R-Word' is now on everyone's lips. Although most commentators believe that the UK economy is better placed than most, and that this should lead to a 'soft landing', the market for legal services is likely to suffer a downturn in 2008. The amount of litigation may increase, but this is unlikely to offset the fall in deal-related work.So, how should firms respond from a marketing perspective, and what should they be doing to minimise the impact of the predicted economic downturn? The following 10-point plan should provide some of the answers.
7 minute read

International Edition

The great fees debate

Late last year, members of the Commerce and Industry (C&I) Group of leading in-house lawyers spelled out their feelings on legal services billing in a report produced in conjunction with accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward. The report raises some important points. As its title 'Stop the Clock' implies, large numbers of in-house lawyers expressed dissatisfaction with the traditional way that law firms charge for their services - by the hour. Some eight in 10 of the in-house lawyers surveyed said time-based billing provided no incentive for law firms to be quick and efficient and the major perceived problem with this system, says the report, is that billing based on time spent fails to reflect the real value of the work involved, usually to the advantage of the law firm. Consequently, the report claims, the cost of legal services has been rising exponentially at a time when general counsel are under internal pressure to keep their budgets under control.
5 minute read

International Edition

The long return

Cast your mind back a few weeks, if you will, to 2 January, 2008 - the day many of you will have returned to work after the Christmas break.
7 minute read

International Edition

The next level

Technology, as IT guru Richard Susskind and others have been telling us for years, has the capacity to transform the way law firms do business, making them leaner, meaner organisations that are better able to respond to client needs and provide the working experience that their employees demand. Yet while efficiency gains have been achieved, many of the fundamentals of legal practice remain much as they have ever been and legal technology has, so far, been deployed primarily to make traditional methods of doing things quicker. After so many false dawns, it is perhaps unsurprising that the combination of the words 'legal' and 'IT' have a glazing effect on the eyes of many law firm managers.
7 minute read

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