Strategic Legal Technology 
In this Roundup: new alternatives to BigLaw, inhouse perspectives, social media challenges, LPO articles, and BigLaw blogging.
Managing Legal Costs: Focus on Process, Not Price
Jordan Furlong, in Decoupling price from cost in legal services, provides examples of the growing alternatives to BigLaw. He also expands on an idea I recently raised, the need to focus more on how lawyers do their work and less on the pricing structure.
The New Inhouse Perspective from Lawyer-Blogger Doug Cornelius
Lawyer-blogger Doug Cornelius recently left BigLaw for an inhouse compliance position. He now offers interesting posts from his new inhouse perspective. One reports on the benefits of Legal Onramp ; the other examines how law firms can better manage newsletters as a way to stay close to clients and prospects.
Challenges of Social Networking
Lawyer-blogger Mary Abraham writes in Sending Out an SOS about the challenges of keeping up with Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. I share this concern and wonder where we will be with social media in 3 years. Right now, SM is an add-on for me that consumes more time. Maybe others have been able to weave it into their daily lives so that it adds value without consuming more time. [The post title presumably refers to the Police song, but is it the sense of loneliness or the 100 billion messages??]
Legal Process Outsourcing
An Outpost In India Serving DuPont Legal (The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Nov 2008) reports on DuPont’s use of legal offshoring.
Separately, With Times Tight, Even Lawyers Get Outsourced (Wall Street Journal, 26 Nov 2008) reports on the growth of legal process outsourcing in India: “As the ailing U.S. economy prompts companies to cut costs, it also has spawned legal problems. As a result, clients are pressuring the law firms they hire to trim fees. That means more routine work like legal research, due diligence and document review is being done in India at roughly half the cost as in the U.S., outsourcers say.”
WilmerHale Launches Four Career / Recruiting Blogs
I’ve frequently extolled the virtues of large law firm blogs for marketing (i.e., establishing expertise). WilmerHale is now using blogs for recruiting, with four associates blogging at WilmerHaleCareers. (Hat tip to KM Space.)
Ron -
You caught me! I was trying to sneak in yet another entry in my music and KM series. Yes, I was referring to the Police song and, yes, it’s the billion messages I’m focused on. Who has time to be lonely?
Seriously, as more applications emerge that allow us to manage and update all our social media expression from one place, I suspect we’ll begin to understand more deeply how each platform works best and can start tailoring our participation appropriately. In the meantime, it feels like we’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something sticks.
- Mary
Comment by Mary Abraham 12/2/2008 @ 5:45 am