Category: Legal Technology

#LMA17 Day 1 Morning Twitter Recap

LMA17 Twitter recapCheck out the National Law Review Twitter recap of the morning session at the Legal Marketing Association Annual conference. Click here for Twitter coverage of the Keynote Address from Zoë Chance of Yale School of Management.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Betsi Roach, Executive Marketing Association
Jill S. Weber, Stinson Leonard Street LLP

Paul S. Grabowski, Bracewell LLP
Cynthia P. Voth, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP

Keynote Presentation – See Our Full Recap of Zoë Chance’s Talk

From Mad Men to Math Men – Why the Rise of Digital Makes Data the New Imperative

Jeff J. Berardi, K&L Gates LLP
Erin Meszaros, Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP
David Brady, VutureGroup

 

Busting Silos: How to Turn the Concept of Cross-selling into Practice

Aleisha Gravit, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Jaime Sheldon, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Alternative Legal Service Providers: Threats or Opportunities

William Josten, Thomson Reuters

Artificial Intelligence: Changing the Practice and Marketing of Legal Services

Mark T. Greene, Market Intelligence LLC
Elonide Semmes, Right Hat LLC
Craig Courter, Baker & McKenzie LLP
Bob Beach, Nexlaw Partners
Ryan McClead, Neota Logic

Aligning Marketing and Business Development Resources for Law Firm Growth: Does Your Firm “Got Game”?

Nancy Furman Paul, Bloomberg BNA

Best-in-breed Bios

Anne Heathcock, Winston & Strawn LLP
Mary M. Trice, Winston & Strawn LLP

Litigation and Opportunity Spotting: Outfit Your Firm for Big Profit

Douglas Lancet, Winston & Strawn LLP
Amy Wisinski, Winston & Strawn LLP

The “B” Word: Living the Brand

Morgan MacLeod, Cubicle Fugitive

Anti-Spam Privacy Legislation – What U.S. Firms Need to Know About Anti-spam Legislation Around the World

Jeff Hemming, Tikit

Developing a Long-term Digital Strategy

Kalev Peekna, One North Interactive
Dan Times, Plante & Moran, PLLC

#LMA17: Twitter Recap of the Rise of the Legal Marketing Technologist

LMA17 Twitter recapThis year’s Legal Marketing Association Annual conference featured a new pre-conference program: Rise of the Legal Marketing Technologist.

The session is designed for looking at a lot of the big picture issues legal marketers face such as artificial intelligence, as well as provide practical advice and tools to help navigate today’s ever changing marketing technology landscape. Here is the National Law Review’s a recap of the Twitter commentary for the day:

The Future is Now: Scaling Expertise with Cognitive Computing

The Ethics of Data-Driven Legal Marketing

Marketing Automation: How to Build a Platform that Nurture Prospects and Clients

Design Thinking Workshop

Re-architecting Law Firms’ Data Sources

Stay tuned for more Twitter coverage from the 2017 LMA Annual Conference!

Technology as Opportunity for Law Firms

Business Technology Law FirmsTechnology is both a threat and an opportunity for law firms. On one end, technology has opened the door for market disruptors like LegalZoom and Rocketlawyer who provide some legal services faster and cheaper than law firms.  Some of the low-hanging fruit that law firms and attorneys used to be able to count on is disappearing–or long gone.  In a recent research study by Altman Weil, 21% of law firms surveyed said technology was a threat right now, and 53% of firms described technology as a future threat.  But in many ways, technology is an opportunity for law firms.  The proper technology can help law firms be better and faster, and it can provide law firms with the ability to provide clients with helpful information and analysis much faster than ever before. In our final installment of Re-Envisioning the Law Firm: How to Lead Change and Thrive in the Future, the survey from MPF Insight, the National Law Review will offer an overview of the recommendations surrounding technology in law firms offered in the survey.

Robert A. Young[1] Former Chair, ABA Law Practice Division:

Technology has been increasingly important for today’s law firm with many experts predicting that it will soon surpass rent as your firm’s #2 expense after salaries.  The time has come for managing partners to take a stronger and more proactive role in learning more about this vitally important area.

Having a plan for how technology fits in with your firm’s practice is a crucial part of any leadership strategy.  Additionally, having an effective and robust cybersecurity policy in place is essential in today’s data-driven world.

Law Firms are investing more in technology.  In 2016, firms surveyed increased law firms increased investment in the following areas by the following percentages:

  • Cybersecurity, 23% of respondents increased investment
  • Website, Internet & Digital marketing, 20% of respondents increased investment
  • Case Management Software, 12% of respondents increased investment
  • CRM & Database, 10% of respondents increased investment
  • Competitive Intelligence, 5% of respondents increased investment
  • Legal Research, 2% of respondents increased investment

Circle Graph Law Firm Technology SpendingFor obvious reasons, Cybersecurity is the top area for new investment with law firms. In fact, a Chase Cost Management survey report released in 2015 showed that AMLaw 200 firms spend an average of $8,000 per full-time equivalent on information security.  As a major concern for law firms and their clients it is imperative that firms have all employees trained and all client data safely secured.  Having cybersecurity as a living breathing part of your technology plan can help you reap the benefits of technology safely, and your firm and your clients will benefit.  However, good cybersecurity isn’t simply changing your password every six weeks; it is a vital skill set that must be understood from the top down.

Sharon Nelson[2],  president of a digital forensics, information technology and information security firm says:

If your management mindset isn’t there, you are stuck in technological obsolescence.  Good cybersecurity is good risk management, and better yet, a marketing tool to use with clients.  Don’t just delegate this, that does not work.  Learn it yourself, as much as you can-and lead by being knowledgeable–that’s how you ensure the future of your firm.

Website, Internet and Digital marketing is another area of growth in terms of law firm investment.  Digital marketing tools can help a firm better target their marketing activities.  Re-envisioning says, “The reach is as big or as small as you want it to be and the subject matter can be much more focused, speaking directly to industries and communities through email and social media channels.”  By using the technology and data-gathering tools available, law firms can maximize their digital footprint and reach many more potential clients.

A final recommendation from the survey, “Don’t be held hostage by your technology vendors.”  By embracing open-sourced Customer Management services and web development platforms, your firm can create a product that works seamlessly into your processes.  The time and effort put in up front will pay off with the flexibility available in the end.

Technology is not going away, and the negative elements of technology are already happening.   In order to enjoy the benefits technology has to offer, Law firm leadership needs to find the ways that technology can benefit their firms, their attorneys, and their clients.

ARTICLE BY Eilene Spear
Copyright ©2017 National Law Forum, LLC

This is the sixth article in this series.  Please find the earlier articles below:

Time for a Change in Law Firm Leadership: A Preview of Re-Envisioning the Law Firm

Innovation, Change and Accountability: A Way Forward for Law Firm Leadership

Strategic Planning in Law Firms: Essential Steps for Success

Marketing Legal Services: It’s Everybody’s Job

Recruitment, Retention and Problematic Partners in Law Firms

[1] Former Chair, ABA Law Practice Division and Former Managing Partner of English, Lucas Priest & Owsley

[2] President, State Bar of Virginia and Sensei Enterprises

March 8th in Detroit: Using Readership Analytics to Strengthen Your Firm’s Thought Leadership

Thought leadership is a time honored method for attorneys to demonstrate their expertise and to keep their profiles out in the public sphere –but how do you create readership goals, measure its effectiveness and manage attorney’s expectations? When confronted with billable hour pressures – how do you convince your lawyers that producing quality content is a critical and measurable endeavor? Show them evidence that you can define success using data and that you have the tools you need to help their content be successful
Managing Director of the National Law Review, Jennifer Schaller, will discuss strategies for optimizing your firm’s content based on the latest information available for 2017. Jennifer will provide brief case studies of content that reached different types of audiences, analyzing the promotion, reach and SEO structure of various articles. Along the way, various tips on formatting, writing titles, and promoting via social media will be provided to maximize the reach of your firm’s thought leadership efforts.
Nicole Minnis, lead publications manager at the National Law Review will show you how to use data from Google Analytics (and other readership information) to convince your attorneys that thought leadership is a critical and worthy endeavor. She will cover what core metrics you can extract from readership analytics that will be compelling to attorneys, where you can find them, and why they are important.Location:
Howard & Howard
450 W. Fourth Street
Royal Oak, Michigan 48067

Parking:
Parking is available in the attached parking garage (first 2 hours free).

Lunch will be provided.

$25 LMA Members
$35 Non-Members and any registrations after March 6th
Note: You must be logged in to the LMA website to receive the member rate.

March 2nd in St. Louis: Using Readership Analytics to Strengthen Your Firm’s Thought Leadership

LMA St. Louis Thought Leadership

Thought leadership is a time honored method for attorneys to demonstrate their expertise and to keep their profiles out in the public sphere –but how do you create readership goals, measure its effectiveness and manage attorney’s expectations? When confronted with billable hour pressures – how do you convince your lawyers that producing quality content is a critical and measurable endeavor? Show them evidence that you can define success using data and that you have the tools you need to help their content be successful.
Managing Director of the National Law Review, Jennifer Schaller, will discuss strategies for optimizing your firm’s content based on the latest information available for 2017. Jennifer will provide brief case studies of content that reached different types of audiences, analyzing the promotion, reach and SEO structure of various articles. Along the way, various tips on formatting, writing titles, and promoting via social media will be provided to maximize the reach of your firm’s thought leadership efforts.

Nicole Minnis, lead publications manager at the National Law Review will show you how to use data from Google Analytics (and other readership information) to convince your attorneys that thought leadership is a critical and worthy endeavor. She will cover what core metrics you can extract from readership analytics that will be compelling to attorneys, where you can find them, and why they are important.Location:
Thompson Coburn
One US Bank Plaza
St. Louis, Missouri 63101

Parking:
Validated parking is available in the 7th Street garage, located on 7th Street between Locust & Washington Avenue. Upon arrival, take the skywalk to the US Bank building and take the elevator from the bank on your right to the 35th floor.

Lunch will be provided.

$25 LMA Members
$35 Non-Members and any registrations after February 24th

How to Develop an Effective Law Firm SEO Action Plan for 2017 [WEBINAR]

What used to work in SEO just a few years ago won’t work today.12-must-do-action-steps.png Learn how to make this year your most profitable ever by getting consistent leads from SEO and positioning your firm as thought leaders.

Webinar Hosted By McDougall Interactive & The National Law Review
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 – 3:00pm EST

Join John McDougall from McDougall Interactive and Nicole Minnis, Esq. from The National Law Review for a free 60-minute digital marketing webinar, where you will learn:

  • Step-by-step actions you should take in the next 12 months to substantially increase your revenues.
  • Powerful strategies that are based on the 10,000 keyword study from Searchmetrics, including the latest Google ranking factors including Content, Social Signals, Technical Factors, Backlinks, User Signals, and User Experience
  • Highlights from the Orbit Media study of 1,000 bloggers and what they do to stand out.

Some examples of cutting-edge topics we’ll be discussing (this is way more than just “add keywords” and “add more content”):

  • Why click-through-rate, time-on-site, and bounce rate are more important than ever
  • Why merely having keywords in your meta tags and copy is not nearly enough
  • How the length of your content can affect your search rankings
  • How video and podcasts can enhance your thought leadership and improve your mobile user experience and search rankings at the same time
  • Why links are still significant, especially deep links to inner pages
  • The extremely high correlation between social signals and ranking position
  • How your website load time can directly affect your search rankings, especially on mobile devices

Click here to register now.

This webinar will leave you with 12 must-do action steps for success, based on data from industry leaders, as well as a list of ridiculously great tools you can use to speed up your process and spy on competitors.

In today’s hyper-competitive legal SEO landscape, your either need to do SEO deeply or don’t waste time doing it at all.

Law Firm SEO Action Plan
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

How to Develop an Effective Law Firm SEO Action Plan for 2017 [WEBINAR]

What used to work in SEO just a few years ago won’t work today.12-must-do-action-steps.png Learn how to make this year your most profitable ever by getting consistent leads from SEO and positioning your firm as thought leaders.

Webinar Hosted By McDougall Interactive & The National Law Review
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 – 3:00pm EST

Join John McDougall from McDougall Interactive and Nicole Minnis, Esq. from The National Law Review for a free 60-minute digital marketing webinar, where you will learn:

  • Step-by-step actions you should take in the next 12 months to substantially increase your revenues.
  • Powerful strategies that are based on the 10,000 keyword study from Searchmetrics, including the latest Google ranking factors including Content, Social Signals, Technical Factors, Backlinks, User Signals, and User Experience
  • Highlights from the Orbit Media study of 1,000 bloggers and what they do to stand out.

Some examples of cutting-edge topics we’ll be discussing (this is way more than just “add keywords” and “add more content”):

  • Why click-through-rate, time-on-site, and bounce rate are more important than ever
  • Why merely having keywords in your meta tags and copy is not nearly enough
  • How the length of your content can affect your search rankings
  • How video and podcasts can enhance your thought leadership and improve your mobile user experience and search rankings at the same time
  • Why links are still significant, especially deep links to inner pages
  • The extremely high correlation between social signals and ranking position
  • How your website load time can directly affect your search rankings, especially on mobile devices

Click here to register now.

This webinar will leave you with 12 must-do action steps for success, based on data from industry leaders, as well as a list of ridiculously great tools you can use to speed up your process and spy on competitors.

In today’s hyper-competitive legal SEO landscape, your either need to do SEO deeply or don’t waste time doing it at all.

Law Firm SEO Action Plan
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

 

Law Firm Data Breaches: Big Law, Big Data, Big Problem

law firm data breachesThe Year of the Breach

2016 was the year that law firm data breaches landed and stayed squarely in both the national and international headlines. There have been numerous law firm data breaches involving incidents ranging from lost or stolen laptops and other portable media to deep intrusions exposing everything in the law firm’s network. In March, the FBI issued a warning that a cybercrime insider-trading scheme was targeting international law firms to gain non-public information to be used for financial gain. In April, perhaps the largest volume data breach of all time involved law firm Mossack Fonesca in Panama. Millions of documents and terabytes of leaked data aired the (dirty) laundry of dozens of companies, celebrities and global leaders. Finally, Chicago law firm, Johnson & Bell Ltd., was in the news in December when a proposed class action accusing them of failing to protect client data was unsealed.

A Duty to Safeguard

Law firms are warehouses of client information and how that information is protected is being increasingly regulated and scrutinized. The legal ethics rules require attorneys to take competent and reasonable measures to safeguard information relating to client. (ABA Model Rules 1.1, 1.6 and Comments). Attorneys also have contractual and regulatory obligations to protect information relating to clients and other personally identifiable information, financial and health, for example.

American Bar Association’s 2016 TechReport

Annually, the ABA conducts a Legal Technology Survey (Survey) to gauge the state of our industry vis-à-vis technology and data security. The Survey revealed that the largest firms (500 or more attorneys) reported experiencing the most security breaches, with 26% of respondents admitting they had experienced some type of breach. This is a generally upward trend from past years and analysts expect this number only to rise. This is likely because larger firms have more people, more technology and more data so there is a greater exposure surface and many more risk touch-points.

Consequences of Breach

The most serious consequence of a law firm security breach is loss or unauthorized access to sensitive client data. However, the Survey shows there was a low incidence of this, only about 2% of breaches overall resulted in loss of client data. Other concerning consequences of the breaches are significant though. 37% reported business downtime/loss of billable hours, 28% reported hefty fees for correction including consulting fees, 22% reported costs associated with having to replace hardware/software, and 14% reported loss of important files and information.

Employing & Increasing Safeguards Commonly Used in other Industries

The 2016 Survey shows that while many law firms are employing some safeguards and generally increasing and diversifying their use of those safeguards, our industry may not be using common security measures that other industries employ.

1. Programs and Policies. The first step of any organization in protecting its data is establishing a comprehensive data security program. Security programs should include measures to prevent breaches (like policies that regulate the use of technology) and measures to identify, protect, detect, respond to and recover from data breaches and security incidents. Any program should designate an individual, like a full-time privacy officer or information security director, who is responsible for coordinating security. However, the numbers show that the legal industry may not be up to speed on this basic need. Survey respondents reported their firms had the following documented policies:

Document or records management and retention policy: 56%

Email use policy: 49%

Internet use/computer use policy: 41%

Social media use: 34%

2. Assessments. Using security assessments conducted by independent third parties has been a growing security practice for other industries; however, law firms have been slow to adopt this security tool, with only 18% of law firms overall reporting that they had a full assessment.

3. Standards/Frameworks. Other industries use security standards and frameworks, like those published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to provide approaches to information security programs or to seek formal security certification from one of these bodies. Overall, only 5% of law firms reported that they have received such a certification.

4. Encryption. Security professionals view encryption as a basic safeguard that should be widely deployed and it is increasingly being required by law for any personal information; however only 38% of overall respondents reported use of file encryption and only 15% use drive encryption. Email encryption has become inexpensive for businesses and easier to use with commercial email services yet overall only 26% of respondents reported using email encryption with confidential/privileged communications or documents sent to clients.

5. Cybersecurity Insurance. Many general liability and malpractice polices do not cover security incidents or data breaches, thus there is an increasing need for business to supplement their coverage with cybersecurity insurance. Unfortunately, only 17% of attorneys reported that they have cyber coverage.

Conclusion

It is important to note that the figures revealed by the 2016 Survey, while dismaying, may also be extremely conservative as law firms have a vested interest in keeping a breach of their client’s data as quiet as possible. There is also the very real possibility that many firms don’t yet know that they have been breached. The 2016 Survey demonstrates that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the privacy and data security space for law firms. As law firms continue to make the news for these types of incidents it is likely that improvement will come sooner rather than later.

ARTICLE BY Kathryn T. Allen of Polsinelli PC
© Polsinelli PC, Polsinelli LLP in California

Register Today for Next Week’s LMA Legal Marketing Tech Conference West – October 5 & 6, 2016

The Legal Marketing Technology Conference is the largest conference dedicated to technologies that law firm professionals use to identify, attract and support clients.

Legal Marketing Technology Conference LMA tech west

Register today!

Join us for the full day conference on October 6, and the half day pre-conferences on October 5. Our pre-conferences include: Technology Workshops and a Lead Marketers’ Summit.

Agenda highlights:

  • Leading Law Firms through a Competitive Revolution (Keynote: Roland Vogl, CodeEx: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics)
  • How CLOC is Changing Legal Service Delivery Models
  • How Law Firms Can Use Video to Reach New Clients
  • Data Visualization for Law Firms
  • Bringing your CRM Data, Legal Expertise and Pricing Data Together: The Future of Effective Legal Sales
  • Creating Efficiencies Through Marketing Automation: Principles & Practices
  • Dynamic Content via Deep Personalization – the next stage in email marketing
  • Using Livestreaming Video to Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Attract Clients
  • Blockchain ID and The Changing Face of Digital Identity

Spearheading Technological Change and Innovation: The Role of the Legal Marketer

Technology is changing the landscape of the legal worldLaw firm technology client service, and making it possible for law firms to achieve new heights in terms of client service, transparency, and making smart, data driven choices.  Roland Vogl, Executive Director of Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology (LST), will be the keynote speaker at the LMA Technology Conference in San Francisco in October.

Vogl says, “Currently, technology is coming to the law from all sides.  It’s making the law more efficient for all stakeholders, it’s giving lawyers a better understanding of what’s relevant for a particular case, and they can use new technologies to be more empirical and data-driven about their decision making.  It gives lawyers a way to make internal processes more efficient, and deliver their services to their clients more efficiently.”  There is a lot of potential with technology in the law, however, the road is not sunshine and roses.  Significant challenges must be faced down to reap the rewards of technology in law firms, and Vogl believes legal marketing professionals are uniquely positioned to advocate and strategize for the appropriate technologies for their law firms.

He elaborates, “It’s challenging for law firms to figure out what technologies to embrace. Firms need to determine what they need, what their clients need, and how to use technology to add value in the most efficient way.”  Many attorneys are not interested in solving this problem, as Vogl points out: “Lawyers don’t really want to run businesses, they want to practice law. The best way to package or bundle or make their legal expertise available and accessible to create a data informed work product is not a lawyer’s priority.”

Vogl thinks that Legal Marketers are the ones who can help bring firms up to date technologically. Legal marketers, according to Vogl, are the “internal evangelizers of the firm.”  He says, “The legal marketer works as a liaison between the client and the law firm, and knows what the client expects.  Legal marketers can help identify which technologies law firms should use based on their knowledge of  what clients want.”  Additionally, legal marketers can serve as “tech scouts” in order to keep the lawyers in the firm aware of how the industry is changing.  Vogl says, “Marketers can keep the lawyers in the firm informed about how the practice is changing and how technology is driving that change, and what the law firm can do, adjustments the law firm can make to try and modernize their practice.”  Finally, part of the job of a legal marketer is to differentiate the firm from other firms.  One way firms can define themselves is on how they use technology.  Vogl says, “a way to differentiate to the outside world is whether a firm is a modern firm that uses modern project management tools.”

Making these changes can be an intense process, because in many instances firms are not only adopting new technologies, but also new work procedures.  Vogl says, “The partnership structure makes it very hard to embrace new technologies and new business models and work processes.”

In some ways, creating the environment that’s conducive to change is like nurturing a grassroots movement; it can take time to win hearts and minds in the notoriously conservative law firm environment.  To take on this challenge Vogl suggests a team committed to change.  He says, “It’s important to create a task force, a group of lawyers who see the importance of change–working in conjunction with the marketers–to create a catalyst for change and facilitate conversations within the firm.”  In many ways, the need for change is a constant conversation where early adopters need to campaign and get other members of the firm to see the wisdom of their view.  Vogl says, “you have to bring other lawyers along to get critical mass to push the changes through.”

Another way to pursue change, once the firm leadership is on board, is to use the firm’s structure by practice group as an advantage.  Vogl suggests having individual practice groups adopt new technologies and procedures first to demonstrate their benefits. Firm-wide change is difficult, so starting with one practice group can make the change more palatable. Vogl says, “To create firm-wide change, you need to market the change internally to the firm.  Do events, create materials, educate the rest of the firm about how it works, and how it has worked for early adopters, and celebrate successes.”  A final piece of the puzzle for the marketer comes after the change has been implemented.  Once the firm has made the changes and is delivering what the client wants, Vogl suggests the marketer “project those changes to the outside world to make a compelling story for other, prospective clients.”

Even though the road towards embracing technology is convoluted, and there are many challenges ahead, the potential is exciting.  Vogl suggests firms and marketers “Think big, but start small” as they advocate for change in their law firms.

ARTICLE BY Eilene Spear of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

Copyright ©2016 National Law Forum, LLC