ALMResearchBlog

2008 AALL/Thomson West Excellence in Marketing Awards

Submissions are now being taken for the 2008 AALL/Thomson West excellence in Marketing Awards and thanks for the Law Librarian Blog for their announcement. The contest is open to any individual, group, library, Consortium, SIS, Caucus, Chapter, or any other group affiliated with AALL.  Award categories include: Best Brochure, Best Newsletter, Best Campaign, Best PR Tool Kit, Best Use of Technology. The deadline for entries is February 1, 2008.

Technology: Too Much?

A report of a recent survey of 115 lawyers at “multinational firms” and their uses of technology appeared recently on the Inhouse Blog, noting that the majority (56.1%) of respondents reported that technology led to longer working hours, but 46.5% said “technology made their working life more satisfying despite the longer hours, ad many were allowed to work from home.” The survey was conducted by law firm Kemp Little and the PLC Law Department magazine.

On a related note, the results of the Legal Technology Market Assessment Study, conducted by Cogent Research  and published by ALM Research are now available by topic—case management, document management, CRM, electronic discovery, and online research. The “LTMAS” Survey measured user satisfaction and brand loyalty to a variety of products within each product genre. The full report also covers budget and purchase plans for the coming year. For more information about this survey and the various reports, contact Chuck Lowry, director of client relations at [email protected].

New E-Discovery Blog

As announced by Robert Ambrogi, a new blog, EDD Update, was recently launched by “an esteemed group of e-discovery and legal technology experts,” which is a joint project of ALM’s own Law Technology News and Law.com Legal Technology. Ambrogi cites LTN editor Monica Bay and Law.com Technology editor Sean Doherty in their welcome message: "Our concept of this blog is to provide a venue where we can post breaking news, key verdicts and judicial rulings, articles from Law.com and LTN, vendor press releases, and more -- and most importantly, where our expert authors will offer their fine-honed analysis and comments." Check it out

ALM Research E-Newsletter: Tech Focus

The October/November issue of the ALM Research e-newsletter, NewsLine, went out today. The focus of this issue is Technology. Technology surveys, technology studies, technology reports. Ratings of products, rankings of law firms, products law firms and legal departments are using, trends in budgets and salaries, trends in purchasing.

If you're not already a subscriber to the newsletter, you can access the current NewsLine by clicking here and you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here.

Three Recent Legal Technology Surveys

Editor in chief of Law Technology News Monica Bay has given our recently-published Legal Technology Market Assessment Study a great review on her blog, The Common Scold, though she chastised us for using a passé euphemism for legal technology (“solutions”). We promise not to do that again.

The “LTMAS” Survey was joint project of ALM Research and Cogent Research. Editor Bay terms the results showing that many lawyers are still without the technologies they need “breathtaking.” As the survey found, only 52% of responding attorneys have access to case management software; even fewer - 32% - have access to document management tools, a mere 12% have access to EDD products, and very few - 9% - have access to CRM software. She exhorts vendors to “wake up” and "do a better job of reaching and educating your potential customers.” For a look at the table of contents and information about how to purchase a copy of the “LTMAS” Survey, click here. For information about two more recent surveys about legal technology solutions tools, continue reading below the fold.

Commentary on Survey of Law Firm Librarians

Several web sites have posted commentary about the report of the  2007 Law Librarian Survey, published recently in Law Firm Inc. Joe Hodnicki, on the Law Librarian Blog focused on the issues of budget cuts, vendors, and knowledge management, and referenced another post which focused on the fact that “librarians are spending more time on rainmaking by performing marketing and competitive intelligence research which increases their prominence and influence with the lawyers who employ them.” The feature article accompanying the survey report in LFI focused on the fact that Librarians Like Their Jobs But Are Displeased With Vendors.

The survey results are available from the ALM Research Online Store in searchable spreadsheet format and includes data from both the 2007 and 2006 surveys for comparing trends. For a direct link to the product, click here.

Just released: The 2007 Legal Technology Market Assessment Study

ALM Research has just released the 2007 Legal Technology Market Assessment Study (LTMAS). This landmark study, conducted by Cogent Research and ALM Research, is based on the survey responses of nearly 1,400 attorneys, and measures user satisfaction, market penetration and brand loyalty. Specific products are rated and reviewed in five key areas: Case Management; Document Management; Client Development; Electronic Discovery; Online Research.  See which brands earned the highest marks from their customers. Find out what is driving technology purchases and preferences, and defining trends in law firm technology budgets. Order your copy of the 2007 LTMAS Report from the ALM Research Store.

Nominations Due: Tech Vendors and Marketing Depts

Law Technology News is now taking nominations for the annual LTN Vendor Awards and the Law firm/Law Dept. Technology awards, which are awarded at the LTN Technology Awards Dinner (Feb 5th, 2008) during Legal Tech New York. The process this year involves self-nomination. To find out how, click here. Forms are due by October 31st.

ALM’s Law Journal Newsletter, Marketing The Law Firm is now taking self-nominations for the third annual “MLF 50” list, the Top 50 Law Firms in Marketing. Deadline for submissions is Sept 17thFor more information about the submissions procedure and guidelines, click here. Last year’s list is available through the ALM Research Store ($15 for non-subscribers) or by clicking on this link: 2006 Top 50 Law Firms in Marketing and Communications.

Pictures, as Well as Numbers and Words

Thanks to our Manager of Product & Business Development, Kate Daisley, we now have a nifty new feature on the blog—Snap Shots. You’ll notice that now, when you scroll over a link, a picture of where the link takes you pops up, giving you a small snap shot of the web page. Kate had installed Snap Shots on her personal blog, Amid the Noise and Haste, and then installed it on the ALM Research Blog. As she notes on her site, this tool gives you the opportunity to “look ahead” before deciding whether you want to follow the link or not. And, if you decide this pop-up pictures are not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.  If you decide you want to get this for your own web site or blog, go to the Snap Shot site for instructions. Kate swears it takes only “seconds” to install.

Privacy Rankings for Internet Service Companies

As described by Joe Hodnicki on The Law Librarian Blog, Privacy International's Privacy Rankings of Internet Service Companies show that Google Inc.'s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations. Seven of the Internet companies and Web sites included in Privacy International's analysis received the second lowest grade of "substantial and comprehensive privacy threats." This group included: Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Apple Inc., Facebook.com, Hi5.com, Reunion.com, Microsoft's Windows Live Space and Yahoo. Click on the link above for more details.