Law Firm Knowledge Management Awards Launched

We are pleased to introduce three new award categories as a way of recognising outstanding achievement in law firm Knowledge Management in the APAC region. All awards will be presented during an exclusive evening cocktail reception at L’Aqua at the conclusion of the Knowledge Management conference. The three new Janders Dean Law Firm Knowledge Management Award categories are as follows.

Knowledge Professional of the Year

This award will be presented to the individual Knowledge Professional who has demonstrated a clear commitment, innovative vision, strong leadership and valued delivery of service in the area of legal Knowledge Management across the course of the year.

Judges will be looking to identify those nominees who have brought personal initiative and commitment to take their firm’s Knowledge Management efforts beyond the assigned, expected or common level, and those who have gone beyond a specific project or task to deliver value.

The award is open to all levels of knowledge workers and is not aimed only at senior management personnel. The knowledge worker may be a representative of the firm’s professional support lawyer network, the firm’s library and research team, the central Knowledge Management or information management delivery team, or the firm’s management.

Nominations for this award should outline the activities undertaken by the individual which clearly provide knowledge value to colleagues and management.

Knowledge Team of the Year

This award will be presented to the team that can demonstrate both tangible and intangible results from a full programme of Knowledge Management initiatives.

The team’s activities must be able to clearly demonstrate innovation and value delivery, while also showing that the team can act as knowledge sharing advocates and catalysts for change.

Judges will be seeking to identify teams that have contributed to the broadening and strengthening of firm wide expertise and learning communities. Activities such as the creation of new knowledge, the capture, sharing and reuse of existing knowledge, and the provision of tools to enable others, should be shown to clearly contribute to increased lawyer efficiency, the reduction of firm risk, or cost avoidance.

Knowledge Management Project of the Year

This award will be presented to the team that can demonstrate both tangible and intangible results from a specific Knowledge Management initiative or implementation.

The initiative should be innovative and demonstrate the engagement of senior management as well as colleagues. The initiative should demonstrate a new or creative way of thinking, should have delivered savings in terms of employee productivity or cost-efficiencies, or alternatively should have delivered positive cultural change.

Nominations for this award should outline the actions taken to ensure engagement of colleagues and management, and should detail how the initiative was kept on time and to budget (or alternatively should indicate how any failings in the project were overcome to deliver a positive end outcome).


How to Nominate

Nominations for all awards are currently open to all Australian and New Zealand private practice law firms, and will close for all awards on 6th August 2010.

Entries are to be made by submitting an A4 page MS Word document/.pdf to the email address info@jandersdean.com addressing the above criteria. The statement may be supported by a maximum of 15 PowerPoint slides illustrating (visually where possible) the results attributable to the entrant’s actions and influence. Digital video attachments are also acceptable.

Submissions will not be shared, published or distributed outside of the awards team and judging panel without prior consent from the nominating organisation. Entry is only open to delegates attending the 3rd Annual Janders Dean Law Firm Knowledge Management Conference. Only entries received by 6th August 2010 can be put forward to the judging panel for consideration.

An independent judging panel consisting of a selection of corporate knowledge workers, in-house legal representatives, and industry analysts has been commissioned to assist with assessing individual award nominations. Neither Janders Dean nor the conference sponsors will be participating in the judging process.

Get in there!

(Finally) Confirmed: Blake Dawson Move to Elite 3E

As eluded to in early May this year (see here) news has finally hit the press regarding one of Janders Dean's clients Blake Dawson and their commitment to the Elite 3E platform.

The formal press release out today from Thomson Reuters states that Blake Dawson is "the largest firm in the region to partner with Elite to upgrade its technology platform and enhance internal processes".

That makes the score 1-1 when it comes to Keystone legacy swap outs at the very top end of the APAC market (Allen Arthur Robinson swapped their Keystone application out for the Aderant upgrade path).

“The level of flexibility and sophistication in 3E gave our entire team the confidence that we were making the right long-term decision and we look forward to successfully implementing the solution across our offices throughout Asia Pacific,” Helen McKenzie (Deputy Managing Partner) stated.

Kim Massana (interim president and general manager of Elite) chimes in to say that "we are pleased to welcome Blake Dawson to the Elite community in Asia Pacific. With the decision by Blake Dawson to select 3E in the region, Elite has clearly reinforced its position as the solution of choice for intelligent law firms everywhere.”

Full press release from the Elite team here.

Best wishes to Chrissy, Larry, Bernadette, and the team at Blake Dawson. We're looking forward to catching up with you all again in August on unrelated cocktail activities!

Legal Process Outsourcing - Smoke Clearing & Mirrors Cracking?

After two years of hype, press releases, and marketing materials based around the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) trends hitting international firms, are we now seeing real cracks in the revolution appear (backing up some of those who doubted the industry's ability to embrace such a change with any real commitment)?

The Lawyer Magazine in London has this week run with three news pieces which indicate that all is not necessarily wonderful in the land of the LPO.

The first is an overview of Integreon's (the leading vendor in this space) projected 26% losses in the UK. The cause of these losses is thought to be a reluctance on the part of law firms to actually send work offshore. Full story here. According to Margaret Taylor of The Lawyer, Integreon's operation in Bristol keeps the bulk of its work (90%) on-site rather than sending it to lower-cost offices in Asia or Africa. It also currently pays out the bulk of its revenues in salaries.

While Taylor notes that Integreon have refused to discuss financial figures with The Lawyer, a related research article in the same edition of the magazine states that in the five months from January to May this year the 17 members of staff working in the Bristol professional document services team generated revenues of $217,733 (£141,624) and were paid $267,772. Similarly, the 58 staff members working in the business solutions team, which focuses on services such as IT and procurement, generated revenues of $1.2m and received salaries of $1.1m.

The second piece is a detailed analysis of the current state of the LPO market in the UK with specific coverage of offshore versus onshore. The article states that "according to data from outsourcing consultancy Fronterion, 44 per cent of legal process outsourcing (LPO) vendors were aiming to increase the number of onshore personnel and lawyers they employ, with law firms indicating that they were more comfortable outsourcing locally than internationally. This was despite the fact that cost ­savings from sending work to offshore centres such as India or South Africa are typically twice as great".

The third is an overview of the financial pros and cons which is also worth reviewing.

There were always going to be cracks in the LPO model based on the change profile of the legal industry, and there will always be the buzz around the potential cost savings of LPO thanks to the marketing budgets of those in the market. The real impacts will only be known once clients fully understand and adopt, and then subsequently force their firms to behave differently (or the same).

Additional Delegate Passes Released - Janders Dean Law Firm Knowledge Management Conference

*** As a result of gaining additional conference space, Janders Dean has 15 remaining delegate passes for allocation to law firms and in-house legal departments. Please contact us at info@jandersdean.com to secure one of these passes. These will be allocated on a first come basis, and no further passes can be released due to venue restrictions ***

After an amazing response to the initial allocation of delegate passes for the 3rd Annual Janders Dean Law Firm Knowledge Management Conference in Sydney (12th August 2010), and subsequent negotiations with the crowd at L'Aqua, we have managed to secure an additional space for the upcoming conference.

We are pleased to announce that we now have 70 delegates representing organisations including Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Minter Ellison, Allen Arthur Robinson, Blake Dawson, Westpac, Austrade, Freehills, Maurice Blackburn, Gilbert+Tobin, DLA Phillips Fox, Corrs, Baker & McKenzie, Norton Rose, Allen & Overy, Simpson Grierson, Chapman Tripp, Sparke Helmore, TressCox, Hall & Wilcox and a number of other firms from across Australia and New Zealand.

With numerous speakers joining us from London, New Zealand and Australia, the full day conference agenda sessions will include topics such as:

* Knowledge Management Challenges in a Global Environment: Mark Andrews (Baker & McKenzie).

* The Evolution of Enterprise Search: Still a Knowledge Tool? - Felicity Badcock (Mallesons Stephen Jaques).

* Working Together: Business Development & Knowledge Management - a panel session involving representatives from DLA Phillips Fox, Gilbert+Tobin and Allens Arthur Robinson.

* The UK Magic Circle: Innovators, Disruptors or Just Different? - Stuart Barr (HighQ Solutions London)

* Government & Law: Knowledge Management Comparisons - Gail McGuckin Senior Global Practice Adviser (AUSTRADE)

* Can SharePoint be Knowledge Management's New Killer App - a panel session involving representatives from MacroView, Gilbert+Tobin, and Michael Sampson (Industry Analyst and Global SharePoint expert)

* The Practitioner's Perspective: David Kemp (Autonomy, Previous Legal & Compliance Manager at ABN AMRO/RBS)

* Developing a Knowledge Specific Technology Business Case: Dave Carson (Phoenix Business Solutions)

* In-House Knowledge Management Challenges - a panel session involving representatives from Westpac and ABN AMRO

* The Importance of Personal Communication, Assertiveness & Behaviour in Law - Peggy Forell (Advocality London)

The day's educational content will be followed by the opening of a unique vendor exhibit area where champagne will be served for the hour courtesy of FWBS. This will then be followed by a formal Cocktail Reception (Proudly Sponsored by Autonomy) and the presentation of the inaugural Janders Dean Australian Legal Knowledge Management Awards.