Small firms are using data tools for analysis, too

You probably think of big data as the province of big firms. Those are the firms more likely to represent the large corporations that amass big data, advising about its retention, management and discovery. Large firms even use big data themselves for internal benchmarking and competitive intelligence. Big, it would seem, wields big.

Feb 1, 2015 6:25 AM CST

Young lawyers take flight after incubator programs

Like the incubators that help launch high-tech startups, law schools have been using the concept to jump-start the careers of young lawyers going into solo or small practices. It seems to be working. The country’s first law school incubator, based at the City University of New York School of Law,…

Feb 1, 2015 2:00 AM CST

82 law firm mergers got the green light in 2014

Graphics by Jamie Gannon This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of the ABA Journal with this headline: “Merging Traffic: 82 law firm mergers got the green light in 2014.”

Feb 1, 2015 1:50 AM CST

Courts and judges embrace predictive coding, but is it really fixing discovery?

The Obama White House staff will have generated about a billion emails by the time a new president is ready to be sworn in. Given the inevitable litigation and public records requests related to these documents, almost all of the messages will need to be searched, reviewed and (possibly) produced…

Feb 1, 2015 1:40 AM CST

Sedgwick ex-chair writes about what he knows in new novel

Former Sedgwick chairman Kevin Dunne is coy about how much of his debut novel, The Chairman, is autobiographical. Case in point: The main character’s name is Boxer Tate, a former bouncer who beats up a patron one night, gets locked up, becomes a lawyer and works his way up to…

Feb 1, 2015 1:30 AM CST

Which apps are must-haves? It depends on your practice

People downloaded more than 100 billion mobile apps in 2014. More than a million apps are available on each of the iOS and Android platforms. Yet most users rely on a core set of roughly two dozen apps. Are there essential apps every lawyer should be using? The answer is…

Feb 1, 2015 1:10 AM CST

Firm spends millions on marketing

The Los Angeles-based Kavinoky Law Firm is better known by its other, catchier monicker: NoCuffs. Darren Kavinoky has already invested millions of dollars in advertising to increase his market share and further his legal business, which focuses heavily on DUI defense. He registered the domain name NoCuffs.com in 2001 and acquired the phone number 1-800-NO-CUFFS in 2008.

Jan 1, 2015 6:05 AM CST

Jury consultants are changing with the times 20 years after the OJ verdict

The nearly 20 years since a jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of murder have left numerous marks on the national psyche and the legal profession. And for at least one area of legal services—jury consultation—that mark is a measurement of rapid growth.

Jan 1, 2015 6:00 AM CST

Bridging this generation gap takes time, talking

All people are different, but the millennial generation can sometimes seem like a whole different animal. Millennials are as accustomed to texting as talking, and they rely on the Internet for research. They are less motivated by money than by keeping their personal time. And though they know technology, they…

Jan 1, 2015 1:50 AM CST

The UK's alternative firms are reshaping legal services

Jan 1, 2015 1:40 AM CST

What's working for lawyers seeking better search engine results

Staying current about what Google Search is favoring—and adjusting the design and content of your website—can be critical for getting your name at the top of search engine returns. (Not an easy task, since the search goliath often changes its algorithm to combat those who try to game its system.)…

Jan 1, 2015 1:30 AM CST

Lawyers, students use marketing tactics they can deploy from their desks

Raise your hand if you have great ideas (or skills) to promote, but just haven’t found the time to get them off the ground. “One of the biggest problems lawyers have, whether it’s with marketing or succession planning, is implementation,” says John Olmstead, president of Olmstead and Associates, a legal…

Jan 1, 2015 1:20 AM CST

Corporations are adding to their in-house legal departments, cutting outside expenditures

Large corporations worldwide switched their 2013 legal spending from outside law firms to in-house law departments, according to HBR Consulting’s 2014 Law Department Survey.

Dec 1, 2014 5:00 AM CST

Rightscorp fights Internet piracy by ‘ticketing’ copyright infringers

Internet piracy of copyrighted works may no longer be novel, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less prevalent. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, since peer-to-peer file-sharing emerged in 1999, music sales in the U.S. have dropped 53 percent—from $14.6 billion to $7 billion in 2013. And the…

Dec 1, 2014 1:50 AM CST

Creator of the DuPont model makes an inside move

After spending his entire 37-year career with DuPont, Tom Sager admits it’s going to take a while before he feels comfortable in his new role as a partner at Ballard Spahr. Sager’s departure from DuPont was no surprise. At 64, he was one year away from DuPont’s mandatory retirement age…

Dec 1, 2014 1:40 AM CST