Once again apologies to anyone who has just been resent another copy of the January 2008 edition of the Insider – this is our ongoing struggle with our ex-ISP and content they have stuck in cache on their server. The next REAL edition of the Insider will be out tomorrow – and it will clearly be marked September edition.
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Tuesday, September 23
Phantom menace returns - no, NOT another Star Wars story
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 23 Sep 2008 07:54 BST
Monday, September 22
Have you ever wondered
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 22 Sep 2008 13:48 BST
Have you ever wondered why some of these banks and insurance companies – that are currently being rescued around the world – get themselves into such scrapes in the first place? Have you ever wondered why reports take so long to produce? And have you ever wondered whether your business continuity plans are really necessary?
Credit crunch hits takeover market
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 22 Sep 2008 10:48 BST
The attempts by the Informa media group – best know in the UK as owners of the Legal IT Islington, Legal IT Forum and By Legal For Legal events – to find someone to buy the business, have ground to a halt. A consortium including Providence Equity, Carlyle and Blackstone have just walked away after Informa rejected their £1.9 billion takeover proposal. Informa says it is no longer in talks with any other parties and the company's chief executive Peter Rigby told shareholders "The board recognises that recent events in the credit markets have made it highly challenging to fund any offer." Rigby had set a 26 September deadline for the consortium's decision.
Informa will no doubt carry on regardless but a rather more pertinent question is how will other deals – both in the media and software arenas – that have gone through fare if their investors start feeling the pinch and need to liquidate some of their assets? Friday, September 19
Asia-Pacific news... Interaction rival forms HK partnership UPDATE
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 19 Sep 2008 15:46 BST
Here's an update on a story we filed earlier this week...
Next month sees the official launch of a Microsoft CRM package called CRM4Legal, developed for law firms by Microsoft gold partner Client Profiles and distributed locally by Tectura Hong Kong Limited. According to Paul Lee, Dynamics Business Lead, SMS&P for Microsoft Hong Kong, CRM4Legal is “the first CRM system for law firms that provides an integrated platform that leverages Microsoft's Performance Point Server, SQL Server Reporting Services, SharePoint 2007 and Microsoft Office to really optimise a firm's assets and improve practice performance”. CRM4Legal also supports Microsoft's Unified Communication Vision working with Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange 2007. CRM4Legal provides quick and easy access to all matters, people, and companies from within Microsoft Outlook to let lawyers and staff use a system that connects the benefits of marketing to a law firm’s usually deep knowledge of its clients. Whit McIsaac, President and CEO Client Profiles, said the system addresses the rapidly changing legal services marketplace. “A Microsoft product that specifically targets CRM for the legal market illustrates comprehensively that law firms really do need to start taking this area seriously,” he said. “Competitive pressures, consolidations, mergers and specialisations make it essential that law firms get closer to clients to maximise opportunity to generate new work – particularly in cross marketing and client referrals. Law firms need to be proactive in reviewing CRM for their businesses.” There is also the issue of risk management – the ability to effectively manage the lawyer/client relationship through the stages of client/case screening, engagement/non-engagement, disengagement – also systems and trails that support effective lawyer/client communication. Integration with social networking sites – Facebook, LinkedIn etc – is also becoming a requirement. Client Profiles’ Director of Global CRM Strategy, Michael White, believes that an enormous surge in demand for CRM applications in the Asia-Pacific legal industry has made it important for Client Profiles to develop a strategic group of joint-venture partners throughout the region. “When we looked at the Hong Kong market, we were delighted to see that Tectura Hong Kong had already identified the legal market as one of their strategic growth initiatives. We could not be more happy to have Tectura as our teammate for delivering solutions to the Hong Kong legal marketplace. With our own new office in Sydney, led by local Director David Blumentals, Client Profiles is well positioned to support Tectura in sales and support throughout the region.” “Tectura Hong Kong continues to demonstrate its commitment to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the legal community and the advancement of legal technology, this time by delivering a legal vertical CRM solution that lawyers will actually want to use,” said Eric Fung, Executive Vice President, Tectura North Asia. “There is a strong demand for Microsoft Dynamics CRM worldwide. Combined with Client Profiles' law firm experience and credibility, this software release in Hong Kong represents a certain win for the legal services marketplace.” For more information: David Blumentals, Director, CRM Strategy, Asia Pacific Operations Client Profiles, Inc +61 (0)409 245 354 DBlumentals@CRM4Legal.com www.crm4legal.com www.tectura.com Original posting... Client Profiles, the company behind the CRM4Legal product – the only serious competitor to LexisNexis Interaction in the legal CRM space – has followed up its recent link-up with Alphawest in Australia by entering into a partnership with the Hong Kong office of Tectura Limited. The deal gives Client Profiles the alliance gives them a partner with experience in the Asia-Pacific region and extensive knowledge of the Microsoft Dynamics suite. • We will still be reporting on Client Profiles' activities in the UK & European market in next week's Insider newsletter.
Lots of CVs coming out of Leeds
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 19 Sep 2008 11:08 BST
Bit of a mystery here but a well known legal IT recruitment consultant has been in touch to say that if you are looking for people with Solcase or Visualfiles skills, he could have just the right people for you as, apparently, he has a 'massive influx of LexisNexis Visualfiles candidates at the moment for some strange reason?' What can he mean?
Thursday, September 18
Another Elite 3E site goes live
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 18 Sep 2008 11:40 BST
United Arab Emirates corporate law firm Al Tamimi & Co – one of the largest firms in the Middle East – has gone live with Elite 3E.
The firm's general manager Kevin Hall said the decision to implement Elite 3E was a key component in a major upgrade of the firm's MIS systems to support rapid regional and international expansion, which over the last few years has doubled its number of fee-earners. The firm's practice development manager, Ted Glendening, says the implementation brings all departments onto a single business management platform that offers rich functionality for all staff. "Our legacy system was used largely by our finance department. 3E changes that model by providing an integrated practice and financial management system that offers to simplify and automate a range of procedures for not only finance, but fee-earners, secretaries and administration staff alike. We are looking to unify the firm’s day-to-day work practices around the functionality provided by the system." Al Tamimi & Co is currently rolling out in-depth training to all users. In the near future it plans to hire additional expertise to capitalise on the financial capabilities of the system and to augment its technical team to further fine-tune the system's integration. • Al Tamimi & Co, originally established in 1989, is today one of the leading law firms in the Arabian Gulf region. It is the largest local, non-affiliated law firm in the United Arab Emirates with offices in the Emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as well as offices in Riyadh, Amman, Baghdad and an associated office in Doha. Wednesday, September 17
Does online due diligence increase bidder numbers?
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 17 Sep 2008 11:54 BST
We've had some data in from Merrill DataSite (no relation to Merrill Lynch) on the impact virtual data rooms have had on the due diligence stage of M&A transactions. Admittedly Merrill DataSite have a vested interest in this, as they are a provider of virtual data rooms but the survey results are still interesting...
Two-thirds of European dealmakers believe that the number of parties conducting due diligence on M&A transactions has increased by an average of 24% due to the emergence of virtual data rooms (VDRs) in Europe, according to new research from mergermarket, commissioned by Merrill DataSite. Merrill's own research also shows that the average number of bidders at due diligence stage on a European M&A transaction now stands at six, collectively spending over 2,316 hours studying documentation. According to the research, conducted amongst executives in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands from the financial, legal, corporate and private equity spheres, almost a fifth (19%) said that they had seen the number of bidders increase by up to 50% compared to the number involved when due diligence is carried out through a traditional, physical data room. Moreover, the study also shows that due diligence is having a more significant impact on deal outcomes with one in five (21%) deals now failing because of issues arising during the due diligence process. Executives believe that adverse market conditions are creating obstacles to successfully closing deals and are looking for ways to address this problem. For example, nearly three-quarters (73%) of executives believe that the credit crunch has resulted in more extensive analysis and longer due diligence cycles – causing critical delays in deal time. The significance of virtual data rooms in deal making has therefore increased, as they provide the means to not only attract multiple bidders to conduct parallel due diligence efforts, but also minimise the elapsed time for the process to take place. Of those people surveyed who had used virtual data rooms before, half thought that using one reduced the time required for due diligence by more than 30%, and one in ten thought it compressed the time by more than 50%. Besides saving time, virtual data rooms enable the hosting party to actively monitor the bidders’ viewing activities such as which documents are being accessed, how frequently and for how long. As a result, the host is able to see which parties are committed to the deal compared to those who are just testing the water. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents said that they had found the virtual data rooms useful or very useful for assessing this aspect of the deal. Tuesday, September 16
Legal Technology Insider FAQs
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 16 Sep 2008 16:00 BST
We've been getting a few questions coming into the Insider office over the past few weeks – they basically boil down to queries about the same two points, so here they are as FAQs...
Q.1 - Is it true that the Ark Group (Managing Partner mag & all that) has acquired or somehow taken over the Insider ? A. - NO (sound of Insider staff falling on floor laughing) We've heard this one before – apparently being spread by mischievous monkeyboys within the industry. We think the explanation is this: we did experiment with a commission sales deal with Ark earlier this year, whereby Ark sales staff sold space on the Insider website for a commission. However the arrangement was not to our satisfaction so we terminated it with effect from 31st August. And that's it. Insider editor Charles Christian has also devised, formulated and authored a couple of special reports for Ark as one-off projects. However at no time has the Insider been involved in any acquisition talks with Ark. In fact it is the Insider's policy to remain independent, unattached, footloose and fancy free, so we can continue doing what we are doing without the risk of some pimply herbert in an advertising department trying to dictate our editorial policy. We never have done and never will do advertorial. Q.2 - Is it true the Insider is embarking upon some kind of world domination bid? A. - YES (sound of Insider staff reving up their tanks) Following the recent (and highly successful) launch of our American edition we are now rationalising our global news coverage of legal IT developments. The classic Legal Technology Insider newsletter (print & PDF) will now focus on the UK and EMEA (Europe, Middle-East & Africa) markets. American Legal Technology Insider (PDF) will focus on the US and Canadian markets with coverage, when relevant, of the Latin America market. And we are also planning a more regular, structured coverage of the Asian and Australia/New Zealand markets - this will also be a purely digital coverage. In between issues, The Orange Rag blog will continue to cover breaking news and feature stories we would otherwise not be able to carry in the Insiders. End of lecture.
Legal Technology Awards open for business
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 16 Sep 2008 09:30 BST
The Legal Technology Awards are back for another year and have opened the process leading up to the awards ceremony in London on January 2009. Here are the details...
The 2009 Legal Technology Awards will be announced on 29th January 2009. There will be 'Dragon's Den' style presentations and a Gala Awards Dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Nominations have opened and close on 24th October. The Legal Technology Awards are dedicated to the strategic implementation of technology within law firms, recognising the success of the firms and suppliers who are at the cutting edge of this continuously developing area of law firm practice management. There are 26 categories for law firms, teams, individuals and suppliers. For more details, bookings and nomination forms see www.legaltechnologyawards.co.uk/ • For the records, the Legal Technology Awards are not part of the Legal Technology Insider group of businesses. And, 'no' we don't know who the compere will be – but if previous events are anything to go by, he'll probably be Irish, not very funny and be heckled outrageously by Neil Cameron. Monday, September 15
Simmons & Simmons goes live with Recommind
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 15 Sep 2008 15:25 BST
Recommind reports that Simmons & Simmons has completed the deployment of Recommind’s flagship MindServer enterprise search platform across its 20 offices worldwide. The firm’s 2000 employees are now able to quickly locate the most relevant answers to search requests regardless of data source.
Recommind’s enterprise search solution is providing Simmons & Simmons’ network of lawyers with a single search interface for core knowhow and information sources, meaning they no longer need to run separate searches across each application. With MindServer, all relevant results, from both internal and external data sources, are displayed on the same page and lawyers can then effectively narrow down the information using the system’s Smart Filtering capabilities – making it possible to locate the right document in just a few mouse clicks. Sources covered include the firm’s Interwoven WorkSite document management system, its bespoke knowledge management solution, the Heritage library management system, the firm’s online legal resource for clients at elexica.com and PLC (Practical Law Company). This first phase of the global deployment covering core knowhow and document sources was completed in August 2008. A second phase, integrating the global data centres will be delivered by the autumn. The final stage of the project, the deployment of MindServer’s Matters & Expertise module which will offer enhanced search functionality by providing Simmons & Simmons’ lawyers with relevant subject matter expertise location throughout the firm’s international offices, will be completed in the winter. |
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