We were tweeting about it yesterday but in case you missed it, here is the link to the Daily Telegraph report that kicked off the whole Microsoft or Oracle to buy Autonomy rumour earlier in the week. Given it is a slow week for news, we suspect it is just that: rumours.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/marketreport/7976048/Takeover-gossip-helps-FTSE-100-leap-2.7pc.html
Still, if it were true... if Microsoft takes them, that acquisition would be purely about search – Microsoft have no intent of carrying forward a DMS solution side by side with SharePoint. And, if it is Oracle? Well, if you look at how well Oracle integrated Stellent, the outlook would be bleak for the iManage business.
Still on the subject of rumours, we're also hearing another hoary old chestnut: that the Tikit Group is about to be bought by either LexisNexis or Thomson Reuters (where it would become the European arm of the Hildebrandt Baker Robbins business). We don't believe this one either – well not this year – however we look forward to Tikit's interim results next Thursday 9th September.
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Friday, September 3
Those Autonomy rumours again
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 03 Sep 2010 10:04 BST
Thursday, September 2
Public Service Announcement: work now started on September American Insider
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 02 Sep 2010 14:00 BST
Good morning New York: work has now started on the September issue on the American Legal Technology Insider (ALTi) newsletter – we'll be publishing on Thursday 9th September.
At the risk of spoiling your Labor Day long weekend, the drop-dead deadline is close of business (PST) on next Tuesday 7 September. Also, as part of a realignment of our news coverage, from the September issue ALTi will also be carrying global legal IT news from the rest of the world* including Australian & Asia-Pacific news. * With the exception of UK & EMEA news which will continue to be the brief of the 'classic' Insider newsletter.
Head of IT wanted for SFO
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 02 Sep 2010 11:02 BST
We don't normally run job vaccancies on the blog but here's one that vanished into a hole in cyberspace went it was first submitted to Chateau Orange...
G6 Head of Information Assurance & Technology Serious Fraud Office, London, WC1X 0BJ £61,077 to £72,907 per annum Closing date for applications: Thursday 9 September 2010, 5.00pm We are looking for an experienced IT professional to lead a team of staff and manage the outsourced IT service provider in delivering a premium IT service to the SFO. In addition to this the postholder will play a key role in supporting business continuity and ensuring regulatory compliance across the Office. This high profile position is key to the delivery of the SFO’s strategic aims. The role is deemed business critical and presents a much sought-after opportunity to join the UK Civil Service. For further details of the position, and of how to apply, please visit www.sfo.gov.uk/careers/current-vacancies.aspx Wednesday, September 1
APAC news: another win for Aderant in Australia
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 01 Sep 2010 21:00 BST
Aderant announced that Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, with offices
in Canberra, Sydney, Parramatta and Wollongong, has selected
Aderant Expert. The firm will implement the comprehensive practice management
suite of integrated applications in all five of its Australian offices. Comment: In light of the battle for market supremacy currently taking place between Elite and Aderant in the APAC market (which both vendors claim they are winning, as well as trouncing the competition) Aderant say 70% – or 21 – of the top 30 firms across Australia and New Zealand now run their software. Aderant also claims to represent half of Australia's ten fastest growing firms and several major firms in Singapore, as recently published by ALB. Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers is the seventh firm to select Aderant Expert Release 7.5 in Australasia since December 2009.
The Workshare Empire Strikes Back
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 01 Sep 2010 10:46 BST
Workshare has just announced they have successfully won back German law firm Gleiss Lutz, with the firm deploying the latest version of Workshare Professional.
Marc Geiger, Head of Operations & IT said “Workshare Professional is a leading document comparison program – not only with law firms but also with their clients. For Gleiss Lutz it was important to use the same platform as our clients so when Workshare released the latest version we had to try it out. We were really impressed with the level of quality. We didn't encounter any problems during testing and its accuracy and ease of use made our decision to use Workshare again very easy.” With more than 260 lawyers in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Brussels, Gleiss Lutz advises domestic and foreign companies and corporate groups from a wide variety of sectors, as well as public corporations and institutions. Workshare’s Vice President EMEA Frank Boening said “We are delighted to have Gleiss Lutz return as a customer. We’ve put in a huge amount of work to make the quality of our products the highest it’s ever been. We believe Workshare provides the best user experience available for comparison and this latest validation makes us very proud.” Comment: Workshare are not permitted to disclose the identity of the swapout however from the Legal Technology Insider archive we can report that in January 2009 Gleiss Lutz defected from Workshare to the DocsCorp pdfDocs suite. The latest switch-back is clearly a set back for David Woolstencroft at the Redlining Rebel Alliance as the Workshare Empire strikes back. Although if we take this analogy to its logical conclusion, David Woolstencroft must be Frank Boening's son. (If you've never seen the original StarWars movie trilogy, these comments will be meaningless.) Tuesday, August 31
Webinar today on social media & ediscovey
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 31 Aug 2010 11:00 BST
Digital Reef is hosting a webinar later today exploring best practices for managing new social media information sources in preparation for mandated ediscovery requests. The webinar is the first installment of the company’s series of discussions on ediscovery preparation and compliance, and will focus on this issue from the perspective of general counsel.
Digital Reef Webinar: Tuesday, August 31, 1:00pm EDT/6:00pm UK time Social media within the corporate network: Discussion & best practices with legal counsel in the Fortune 500 Legal counsel from CISCO Systems, and Mayer Brown, will be joined by Landmark Ventures’ chief information security officer to have an interactive discussion on the growing risks enterprises face as they increasingly integrate social media into their communications pipeline. Panelists will share their insights on how organizations can best protect themselves within the unfamiliar area of new information streams infiltrating the corporate network, and how to navigate and manage these streams for purposes of ediscovery. The one hour webinar will provide participants with ways to better manage related content on Social Media and Social Networking sites, along with Personal Messaging Repositories, in anticipation of discovery requests. Panelists will offer their advice on preventative measures organizations can implement to avoid being liable for unapproved content existing in an information stream that may be undiscovered. Panelists include: · Michael Lackey (Partner, Mayer Brown) · Van Dang (Vice President, Law & Deputy General Counsel, CISCO Systems) · Robert Gallucci (CISO, Landmark Ventures) To register for the webinar go to www.digitalreefinc.com/resources/webinars/social-media/
High levels of litigation risk reported
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 31 Aug 2010 09:06 BST
According to the results of research released by ZyLAB (www.zylab.co.uk) today, 88% of FTSE 100 companies are at risk of litigation due to their susceptibility to a number of risk factors, including a history of litigation, operating in litigation-heavy areas, and being directly consumer-facing, with almost a quarter (24%) found to be ‘high risk’ across industries including energy, travel and pharmaceutical.
The research assessed each FTSE 100 company’s vulnerability to ten key risk factors, a mix of industry and company-specific considerations previously known to heighten the chance of litigation, and then each company was given a score out of ten. (Companies that scored 1-3 were identified as ‘low risk’, 4-6 as ‘medium risk’ and 7-10 as ‘high risk’.) Key drivers for assessing this risk and preparing effectively include the ability to prevent legal and accounting fees which have cost companies like Siemens £850m (see report http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0607/companies-payoffs-washington-extortion-mendelsohn-bribery-racket_2.html) in a bid to determine whether it had violated anti-corruption regulations. Other key findings from the research include: • Energy companies in the FTSE 100 scored the highest risk rating, averaging 7.75 out of 10, closely followed by travel (7.5) and pharmaceutical companies (7.5), partly driven by the heightened risk of providing consumer services and products and operating in an environmentally sensitive area, which was only recently demonstrated by BP being sued £3bn for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Finance companies also scored highly (7), which could be down to increased market volatility and heavy regulation, following the recent banking crisis. • Almost two thirds (62%) of the FTSE 100 have previously been sued or initiated legal action, highlighting the increasingly litigious environment, and with 65% of the FTSE 100 having US offices and 88% global operations, this inclination to sue could get worse in line with the highly litigious nature of the US and complexities of international legal requirements. • 92% of the FTSE 100 were found to have disparate information channels across the business eg twitter, email and paper, and with the growing use of non-searchable multimedia platforms like YouTube and technologies which move data outside the organisation, such as cloud computing, organisations could be storing up a huge problem if requested to provide information to meet legal requirements. • Almost a quarter (21%) of FTSE 100 companies have a lower share price today than they did a year ago, indicating increased pressure from shareholders to improve the financial position of the company. In line with Fulbright’s 2009 Litigation Trends Report which revealed that “repercussions from the economic downturn are chief among the reasons for expecting more litigation”, increased financial pressure could imply these FTSE 100 companies are more inclined to take out legal action for cases that otherwise might be more easily resolved. • Only 12% of FTSE 100 companies were judged to be ‘low risk’, with real estate and retail companies amongst the lucky few. With international budget cuts affecting revenue opportunities and diminishing consumer spending power, these organisations could however find themselves rapidly moving into higher risk categories. Monday, August 30
Westlaw Next - now on the iPad
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 30 Aug 2010 10:51 BST
Thomson Reuters has optimized its new legal research system WestlawNext, specifically for iPad users. The new iPad app is available at the App Store free of charge to all current subscribers of WestlawNext. Westlaw say iPad users will experience all the power, performance and ease of use of WestlawNext, just as if they were at their desktops or laptops, and the app has been designed to take advantage of the iPad’s large display and Multi-Touch screen.
The Westlaw say the app transforms the iPad into a powerful tool for the legal profession. Offering comprehensive features and legal content, the WestlawNext iPad app always reflects the current status of the law and is the only app for legal research that synchronizes with a customer’s desktop and any smartphone. “With the WestlawNext iPad app, attorneys can tap into their research from anywhere and all of their research is synchronized across Web-enabled devices,” said James Jarvis, senior director of Westlaw Product Design. “Whether an attorney is now working on a BlackBerry, an iPhone, a laptop or an iPad, they can continue to build on the research they’ve already started.” The functionality and increased screen size of the iPad allows users to perform a range of easier tasks such as finding, viewing and sending documents, which many mobile users can perform with smartphones, as well as more complex tasks that have been built into WestlawNext, such as organizing research into folders and conducting advanced searches. Researchers also can use the touch screen to scroll through search results, reorganize their folders and highlight text in documents relevant to their research. “When we talk with lawyers, most say they wouldn’t do more than five minutes of research on their smartphone,” said Andy Martens, senior vice president of New Product Development for Thomson Reuters, Legal. “The iPad is a device where we can see attorneys comfortably doing an hour or more of comprehensive research.” The introduction of WestlawNext for iPad is another addition to an entire mobile ecosystem that Thomson Reuters Legal is creating for WestlawNext subscribers. “The WestlawNext iPad app is the latest example of an ongoing commitment to enhance the capabilities of WestlawNext and fundamentally improve the research experience for legal professionals,” Martens adds. “Today, we are providing our customers the research tools they need to create a more desirable research experience, increase their productivity and provide the confidence that their research is as complete and thorough as it can possibly be.” http://west.thomson.com/westlawnext/useit/mobile/ipad.aspx Friday, August 27
Something for the weekend - technology is the pits
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 27 Aug 2010 13:40 BST
In the words of the Bjork song "It's so quiet" with the long weekend approaching. In fact the only sounds to be heard are the groans and whimpers of jet-lagged and hungover visitors to ILTA returning home after a hard week's partying in Las Vegas. Sorry, that should read 'a hard week's working and networking in Las Vegas'.
However we do have news of one stunning piece of technology innovation to report from Odegon (see what they have done there - odour gone - get it?) namely iron-on patches that will help fight under-arm body odour – which we guess is probably more convenient than hanging an air-wick there. Actually we think Odegon are missing a trick here and should sell self-adhesive patches so you can slap them onto someone else whose BO is wifting unchecked. Would be ideal when attending crowded conferences, stuck on long-haul flights or in a crowded awards ceremony, where you also have to contend with the mothball smell of hired dinner jackets. www.odegon.com Anyway, here is an animated GIF of penguin bashing – makes us laugh (tho that's not surprising as we've just been described as a malicious red-top – red? orange surely – by a subsidiary of a recruitment consultancy).  And CaseCentral has sent us another cartoon revealing the questions worrying litigation lawyers in the coming weeks.  Have a good weekend. Thursday, August 26
Harper Macleod report success with Pilgrim auto-billing
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 26 Aug 2010 12:42 BST
Scottish commercial law firm Harper Macleod has recently overhauled its billing system by significantly increasing the use of Pilgrim LawSoft Auto Billing. Bills are now generated automatically by LawSoft, which provides a seamless, consistent and transparent process that allows clients to receive their documentation faster. By removing the manual steps in the billing process, the margin for human error is also removed, meaning communications with clients are always accurate.
Gary Sorley, Information Systems Director, comments “Harper Macleod has always been known as a law firm with a business mind and that’s why we’re continually investing in our technology and systems. LawSoft is another integral part of our vision to better serve our clients and improve efficiencies.” Nicola White, Harper Macleod’s Operations Director, adds “By introducing LawSoft Auto Billing, we’ve made substantial time savings. Less time spent on billing administration is more time spent serving our clients – which is the most important goal for us. It is suitably flexible to be applied to a range of different clients and different departments with confidence. We aim to achieve near 100% auto billing in the coming year.” |
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