As we consider and look at the various forces impacting the legal industry today, we see several ongoing trends which are increasingly demanding more attention from both inside and outside counsel. These forces are:
How can legal firms respond?
The worlds of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and cross border litigation are volatile ones. Flaws in a data or content translation supply chain, and assistive technology, can impact a deal or case, pushing a merger or creating untenable footing for a legal counsel, and their clients, or in the court of law.
In 2012, the Rand Corporation found that an eye-watering 73% of e-discovery costs are attributed to document review alone. Identifying, collecting and processing data each have their own challenges, and the manual processes behind these tasks are equally daunting in any given case.
In the era of big data, where new sources of discoverable content appear daily, eDiscovery has its golden moment to marry up with technologies that take away the sheer time and cost involved in electronic discovery for legal proceedings.
The @CorpNet Partner Program helps streamline the business formation and compliance process for attorneys so they can focus on growing their firm. Learn more from @CorpNetNellie at booth #504
Our December News with Edge article outlined some basic principles of sales and marketing that have remained constant over time, despite modern advancements in how we reach our target markets. Knowing your audience, refining your message and using a multifaceted approach to reach the segments of your audience the way each of them wants to be reached are some of the core tenets seasoned marketers have followed for decades.
But in fact, there is much that is new in marketing today.
Legaltech News published an article on November 15, 2019, by Frank Ready, a reporter on the tech desk at ALM Media, titled “For Legal Tech Vendors, the First Impression is Everything.”
What I found most interesting is that I probably could have read the same article back when I started working in this space in 1996, because it turns out that, with all the technology and advancements in the channels used to reach this market over the past 20+ years, nothing has really changed with respect to basic principles of sales and marketing.
Ah the holidays… the most wonderful time of the year! How do PR professionals make it the most wonderful time to maximize PR opportunities? Here are some tips to keep in mind to capitalize on the last weeks of the year.
Minneapolis – November 1, 2019 – Edge Marketing, Inc., a Minneapolis-based public relations and marketing firm serving the needs of organizations in the legal and accounting industries, was recently honored with two prestigious 2019 MarCom Awards. The agency was named a Platinum Winner for a social media campaign in the Digital Media category and a Gold Winner for a public relations program in the Strategic Communications category. Submissions were for campaigns fully designed and executed by the agency on behalf of its clients.
The agency was also awarded Honorable Mention in two additional categories: Digital Media for a Business to Business website and Print Media for a Business to Business brochure.
MarCom Awards honor excellence in marketing and communication while recognizing the creativity, hard work and generosity of industry professionals. Since its inception in 2004, MarCom has evolved into one of the largest, most-respected creative competitions in the world. Each year about 6,000 print and digital entries are submitted from dozens of countries.
“We are thrilled Edge has once again been recognized as a top agency by MarCom. Our team has always believed that taking a strategic approach is the best way to exceed our clients’ expectations. As a Platinum and a Gold MarCom award winner, our agency has yet another proof point of the great results we have created with our services,” says Vicki LaBrosse, director of global public relations at Edge.
The Edge team’s past work has been recognized with MarCom Awards in 2015, 2016 and 2018, in Public Relations, Website, Logo Design, White Paper, eBook, Infographics and Social Media. The Edge Marketing team has also received a 2019 National Law Journal Award in Public Relations (Legal Marketing, Social Media).
Amy Juers, founder and CEO of Edge Marketing, states, “It is an honor being recognized alongside national and global brands like Cisco, Aflac, Dell, Hilton and IBM. Winning these awards should give our clients peace of mind that when they choose Edge, they will get the best-quality people and strategic services. While I know in my heart that we excel at what we do, having the affirmation of MarCom and the prestige of winning other industry awards will continue to energize and push us to new levels for our clients.”
About Edge Marketing
Edge Marketing delivers marketing and public relations expertise to clients in the legal and accounting markets. The company helps B2B organizations promote and sell their products and services to audience segments within each industry, including corporate legal departments, law firms, federal and state courts and legal associations, accounting firms and organizations supporting the accounting market. As a full-service agency, Edge provides strategic planning, public relations, marketing and e-marketing action plans, alliance building, website development, market research and advertising (concept and media plans). To learn more visit www.edgelegalmarketing.com or www.accountingedgemarketing.com.
Try catching a mosquito from the bed of a pickup truck that’s bumping over soccer ball-size rocks. To many, nailing this is easier than addressing today’s cybersecurity challenges.
How can organizations defend against or even stave off digital threats?
In honor of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I (virtually) sat down with the following five technology experts, who shared advice on how best to protect organizations:
Denver CO, October 16, 2019—John Tredennick, longtime trial lawyer and former CEO and founder of award-winning Catalyst Repository Systems, today announced the formation of the Merlin Legal Open Source Foundation. The Merlin Foundation is a nonprofit corporation in the process of registering as a 501(c)(3). Its simple mission is to improve access to justice and make legal and regulatory compliance more efficient through the use of open source software.
The Mission: Promoting Open Source for Legal
“Open source has revolutionized the way software is developed worldwide,” explained Foundation Director John Tredennick. “It represents a new and powerful alternative to proprietary software and has great applications in legal. Teams of developers and legal professionals worldwide are collaborating to make software that improves access to justice for clients and makes legal and regulatory compliance less costly,” he continued.
“At its heart, open source is about collaboration. What makes it so powerful is that people can come together worldwide to develop and release free, fully featured software tailored to legal needs,” said Mary Mack, the former Director of ACEDS and now embarking on a new venture. “I am excited to support and be a part of this great new venture.”
The Merlin Foundation plans to achieve its mission by:
The goal is to develop a central repository of active legal open source projects and provide a home for legal technologists to collaborate on great software that will benefit both the legal profession and those who need legal services at an affordable price.
“An Open Source Foundation like this has been needed for the legal profession for years,” stated Bob Ambrogi, an award-winning legal reporter, writer and podcaster who will serve on the Merlin Advisory Board. “Open source has been opening doors for efficiency and cost savings in just about every other part of the world. Legal is ripe for open source collaboration efforts. In fact, we are already seeing open source projects springing up across the globe,” he added.
Industry veteran Lew Visscher will act as Chief Financial Officer for the Foundation. Lew is a well known financial and accounting professional who served for more than a decade as Catalyst’s CFO. Before that he worked with a number of foundations and technology companies, beginning his career as a CPA with PriceWaterhouse. “As a nonprofit, Merlin has to be above reproach with respect to its financials and donations. My job will be to make sure the organization is in sound financial shape and to report on our books to the public,” Lew stated.
Starting fast out of the gate, the Merlin Foundation has already lined up a number of leading professionals to serve on its Advisory Board. “We are going to hold back until we have the board fully established,” explained Tredennick. “But we already have top names from major law firms, legal departments and open source technologists in the U.S and the EU. We hope to recruit in Asia Pacific and Australasia as well in the next few months,” he added. “We are actively looking for great people to join our cause.”
Increasing Complexity and Regulatory Demands
As worldwide legal and regulatory requirements increase in both scope and complexity, there is a pressing need for technology that helps legal departments and law firms meet their obligations. Open source collaboration allows legal teams from different organizations to work together to build software that they can all use for compliance processes. It can also help us reach out to consumers worldwide, helping them navigate these difficult waters.
About the Merlin Legal Open Source Foundation
The Merlin Legal Open Source Foundation is dedicated to improving access to justice and making legal and regulatory compliance more efficient through the use of open source software. A worldwide, non-profit organization, the Merlin Foundation strives to foster worldwide education about the benefits of open source software; provide a central platform for legal professionals to collaborate on open source development projects; and distribute open source software under free license to individuals and organizations around the world to improve access to justice and for legal and regulatory compliance.
The Merlin Foundation is a non-profit corporation in the process of registering as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.
For more information about the Merlin Foundation, go to www.MerlinFoundation.org.
