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Wednesday, March 21
Plus 3,000 Legal Firms To Go Bust?
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 21 Mar 2007 19:40 GMT
Headline this evening in The Lawyer “Firms to go bust will top 3,000, says Mayson”.
TAKE NOTE.
Mayson is Professor Stepen Mayson, director of the College of Law’s new Legal Services Policy Institute, who is giving his inaugral speech tonight.
This warning echoes similar warnings made by Professor Mayson at a Law Society presentation I attended back in mid February on Alternative Business Structures under the Legal Services Act. That night, he began his address by saying he was alarmed at the general “complacency” and “ignorance” within the profession about its future, based on his experience of talking to firms up and down the land. His talk then still resonates. So will his speech tonight. more »
Thursday, March 15
UK Legal Big Bang Delayed till 2010
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 15 Mar 2007 12:30 GMT
When I collected my real world post this morning, I almost fell over when I read the main headline in Legal Week "Big Bang put on hold as Legal Services Bill delayed till 2010". I was lost for words. The implications of the delay will take time to consider, especially as many organisations have been gearing up for the earlier change.
Quoting briefly from the article, Bircham Dyson Bell public law partner Nick Brown told Legal Week: “I am surprised there is a delay. I cannot see it is necessary to take so long as there has been a lot of preparation for this legislation.”
One can only imagine the forces at work behind the scene.
The arrival of this story this morning on the timing of change in the legal world contrasts markedly with the constant theme of thousands of blog posts I have read in the last few weeks, which is the exponential change currently taking place in the world of new media and social tools.
The "Did You Know?" video from 2006 will be very different from the 2008 version and certainly very different from the 2010 version. A change of UK government may also have something to say on the subject.
more »
Friday, March 9
KM Activities in Global Law Firm 20 Examples of “Upside Down Thinking” (1998)
by
Tim Travers
on Fri 09 Mar 2007 13:19 GMT
On Tuesday this week in Manchester, Tom Peters and Charles Handy, appeared together on the same stage for the first time in "Transforming Life, Work and Organisations". I would love to have been there. As a poor substitute, I have read through all 184 slides of Tom's presentation, which he has made available for download on his website, and together with other materials from the day on his new UK business website, the future shape of the winner. Even in the absence of the spoken work, these are inspirational, and I commend them to you if you have not already read them via your own RSS feeds.
I have not yet been able to locate any copies of Charles Handy's presentation to link here, but seeing the two names in print together reminded me to dust down a single A4 sheet I prepared nearly 10 years ago. I called it "KM Activities in Global Law Firm / 20 Examples of “Upside Down Thinking”".
I created the following list in August 1998 as part of my preliminary work in making a career change from private practice into consultancy to be independent to develop my ideas on changing law firm working practices through process change and technology. The list was inspired by reading Charles Handy’s “The Age of Unreason”. I used it as part of my portfolio of thinking and value proposition that I might be able to offer the first consulting clients I targeted.
"1. PowerPoint SlideShow Presentation/CD Rom for Client Instruction Letter, summarising the deal and the steps.
2. CD Rom flyers to make presentations.
3. Correspondence File replicated on screen with advanced search functions.
4. Competitor Documents scanned on screen with your usual amendments to them blacklined.
5. Productivity incentives/penalties for bible production/file closing.
6. Incentives for extracting and codifying valuable knowledge from completed deals.
7. Retailers’ Bar Codes used for documentation assembly.
8. Retailers’ Loyalty Schemes for clients and employees.
9. Dedicated Research & Development teams in place to spot future trends and maximise the firm’s local and firmwide objectives.
10. Stopwatch facilities available to collate accurate data on how long standard pre-defined tasks and processes take / should take.
11. Centralised delivery service among the world’s leading law firms.
12. Separately financed and stand alone Secretarial School of Excellence.
13. Creation of Distribution Centres in low cost locations.
14. New Year and Summer Sales of certain products.
15. Specialist IT team to interface with outside consultants to progress Internet Services.
16. Video Conference Facilities at your screen – to facilitate inter office communication.
17. More holiday time for increased productivity.
18. Buddy/penpal system across two offices to promote integration and innovation.
19. Global sport and other recreational competitions with finalists playing in a foreign country – does not have to be fully subsidised, only partly.
20. Human Resources’ influence to promote alternative careers with XYZ Law Firm clients, where necessary – plus maintain strong Alumni Association."
Like any writer, one has ... more »
Monday, March 5
Video Search Technology Marvel More IBM Social Tools
by
Tim Travers
on Mon 05 Mar 2007 13:28 GMT
Hot on the heels of my Social Tools Conference posts yesterday, at which two IBMers spoke, there is yet more evidence today of the influence of Big Blue’s social tools armoury.
Last week the BBC was announcing its deal with YouTube for YouTube to provide various BBC content on its platform. Today the BBC announces that it is partnering with IBM to use IBM’s new video search techology, Marvel, to search across its vast content catalogue. The idea is to move away from manual tagging and use much more powerful automated tagging to “to unlock huge latent value in [BBC’s] long tail of content”.
Last week also saw IBM announce that it was offering another of its social tools, corporate 'Jamming', to to help organisations keep in touch with large and dispersed workforces through online brainstorming sessions.
The message to business is clear. Social tools are changing the way we have conversations, collaborate and participate in our workplace. more »
Sunday, March 4
Social Tools Conference - Part 8 Web 3.0
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:55 GMT
This is the eighth of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
Nick Kings, BT concluded the two-day conference with a view of the future through the semantic web. Nick explained how Web 3.0 will be about trying to do more things automatically and that Web 3.0 required an ontology. No need for more notes from me, other to say that Nick brought an end two days of excellent speakers and opened our minds yet more to the future.
Nick has a nice little summary of what Web 2.0 means in a video video clip on Dave Gurteen.
A personal thanks from me to Dave Gurteen and his caste of speakers for providing a rich learning experience for all involved. Each speaker is formally listed and attributed in Part 1 of this Social Tools Conference post. more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 7 The Legal Angle
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:07 GMT
This is the seventh of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
By Justin Patten, Human Law. A fuller version of much of what Justin spoke eloquently about is contained on his Human Law blog.
In short what hit me particularly about this talk was:
(a) the power of Google search results negatively to affect a brand, or even destroy it; and
(b) the advantage to a corporation of having its own Blog space in place, so as to be ready to conduct a PR campaign in the online world in response to negative publicity, as part of an overall campaign using all relevant media. more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 6 Virtual Worlds
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:06 GMT
This is the sixth of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
Roo Reynolds has written up a full summary of his presentation on his own Blog.
Apart from the obvious wow factor of Roo’s excellent presentation, what hit me most about the possibility of living a second, third or other virtual world life is that people might, and probably will, learn things in their virtual lives that make them lead better real lives, whether in personal real life or business real life. I certainly think I would. I also understood Roo to be saying that IBM have had success stories from what they are doing in Second Life which they have used in the real IBM to good effect. more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 5 Social Tools Toolkit
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:05 GMT
This is the fifth of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
Phil Bradley listed all sorts of interesting tools in his talk and why you might wish to use them in your business. I cannot do better than point you to Phil at Phil Bradley, where he provides links and a brief explanation to all manner of tools.
Ian McNairn, IBM, described various components of the IBM suite of in-house tools, many of which are or will be packaged up for sale to external customers, such as its corporate ‘X - Jamming’ service, which the FT and others announced within a few days of the conference. Ian was extremely enlightening. I sensed the general audience was somewhat in awe of the toolkit which IBM has assembled internally. I was.
Ian has a nice little summary of what Web 2.0 means in a video clip on Dave Gurteen.
more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 4 Social tools in law firm Allen & Overy
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:04 GMT
This is the fourth of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
By Ruth Ward, Allen & Overy
The focus of Ruth Ward’s presentation was on simplicity and practicality.
Very interestingly, Ruth mentioned that her first experience of social tools was in the business context of the knowledge management project about which she had been invited to talk.
She described Blogs in the context of a place for “Latest Discussions” within a particular practice group.
The template for each Blog was very simple.
Search within each group Blog is by Category, Theme or Date.
Categories are set by the principal owners of the Blog.
Themes are set by the individual contributors to the Blog, but the Blog owners can go in and add additional Themes.
Wikis as a term was not initially used by the law firm, for fear of scaring users off. Instead the simple term Group Space was used.
Wikis are used for various purposes, not only in the Wikipedia sense, but also, for example, project management, questionnaires, surveys and training sessions.
In Ruth's opinion, this project (which is still continuing) has been ... more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 3 Adoption of social tools in business
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:03 GMT
This is the third of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
Suw Charman suggested a simple five steps approach to the adoption of social tools in business. Also, in her introduction, she was at pains to stress that users are not just users, but people like you and I and they need to be treated as such. Don’t ignore psychology was her overriding message.
Step 1 Identify key user groups. Find inefficient behaviours and replace them with efficient behaviours.
Step 2 Talk with them. Find weak spots and turn them into personal benefits.
Step 3 Turn plain users into evangelists. Take advantage of the loads of unofficial networks within organisations to spread success stories.
Step 4 Turn evangelists into trainers. Keep the training a simple process.
Step 5 Support emergent behaviour. Allow small talk as it encourages people to use the system and make it better through doing things they like doing (e.g. “place your orders for the Starbucks run on the Team Wiki, I’m leaving in 15 minutes”).
Managers need to be seen ... more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 2 What are social tools and why are they relevant?
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:02 GMT
This is the second of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
1. What are social tools and why are they relevant?
Social tools is short for social networking tools.
Social tools is the term used to describe a group of emerging technologies which people in their millions are using to communicate with each other over the Web.
The statistics which several speakers produced are scary, especially for those in firms which are not currently in the “technology forward” category (see recent posts by Dennis Kennedy suggesting the gap between technology forward and technology backward law firms is going to get wider).
Social tools are primarily about conversations, collaboration and participation.
2. What are examples of social tools? This is my simple, but unexhaustive, list and in keeping with the overall theme of the conference, which was about a back to basics approach to the Web.
IM (Instant Messaging) (e.g. MSN Messenger, Skype Chat)
RSS Feeds (e.g. all the main news media sites, etc)
Blogs (e.g. the 26,000 blogs in IBM alone among its global 310,000 workforce)
Wikis (e.g. Wikipedia)
Podcasting (e.g. all ... more »
Social Tools Conference - Part 1 Introduction
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 04 Mar 2007 16:01 GMT
This is the first of eight posts on the recent Unicom conference “Social Tools for Business Use: Web 2.0 and the new participatory cultures”.
Somewhat belatedly after this conference in London on 21 and 22 February, I am writing up some of my notes from the conference, together with a few further thoughts, in a series of eight posts for the benefit of those in professional services firms, who may be wanting to find out more about this subject.
I really enjoyed the two days I spent in London last week, where the delegates were entertained by a great caste of speakers, who are listed at the foot of this post by way of attribution.
February was month 3 of my first Blog and my least productive in terms of published Blogs, although my most productive in terms of half-written but as yet unfinished posts! On reflection, I think I was just learning too much new stuff every day, as I started to read a broader range of material, and ran out of time each day to distil my thoughts into published posts.
This conference on social tools was one of my highlights of new learning, ... more »
Monday, February 26
Is the Land Registry website closed on Sundays?
by
Tim Travers
on Mon 26 Feb 2007 09:51 GMT
Take a look at Phil Bradley’s Weblog for a very amusing start to a Monday morning. Phil cannot quite believe what he has seen inThe Land Registry doesn't get the Internet. more »
Wednesday, February 14
Nationwide fined £1m over theft of employee’s laptop containing sensitive customer data
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 14 Feb 2007 17:35 GMT
If ever a professional services firm needed reminding of the business risks it is running by having ineffective security systems and controls in place, here is a high profile story to re-focus the mind. I first caught the story on BBC TV during lunch. There is a useful report on ZDNet.
Any lessons drawn from this story or any other similar high-profile corporate bad news story, to the extent actioned, may also support one of Dennis Kennedy’s technology trends (see my Blog yesterday on the UK perspective to his Seven Legal Technology Trends for 2007 - Widening the Digital Divide in Law Practice a couple of days ago) under Portability with his sub-trend that “encryption [of data] arrives”.
Good practice security is not easy to achieve, but one of the morals of the Nationwide story is to raise an organisation’s general awareness of where it is in need of improvement. In closing, I am reminded of the risk management and information security expert who first introduced me to this subject, whose overriding mantra is that, for risk to be managed effectively, it must be managed from “boardroom to storeroom”.
In passing, and to ... more »
Land Registry Secondary Legislation for e-Conveyancing Part 1
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 14 Feb 2007 09:09 GMT
On Tuesday this week, the UK’s Land Registry launched its latest consultation paper on e-Conveyancing. This consultation invites comments on the proposed Network Access Rules, part of the Secondary Legislation required for e-Conveyancing.
For anyone involved in real estate, this paper is essential reading. It is also of significance to a wider business and consumer audience interested in the further development of e-working, e-communications and e-signatures and, more generally, business transformation of professional services. As the Land Registry itself states:
“E-conveyancing will transform the way Land Registry delivers its current services and will introduce new services to new customer groups. However, it will do more than this; it will transform the conveyancing process and change forever the way conveyancers provide conveyancing services to their clients.”
Topics covered in the consultation are:
The Land Registration (Network Access) Rules, which will define who will be entitled to a Network Access Agreement, allowing access to the electronic communications network that the registrar is setting up under section 92 Land Registration Act 2003.
The Land Registration (Electronic Communications) Order, made under Sections 8 and 9 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000, which will provide for ... more »
Tuesday, February 13
UK Perspective by Tim Travers on Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Trends for 2007 (Short Version)
by
Tim Travers
on Tue 13 Feb 2007 18:38 GMT
This a short version response to Dennis Kennedy's short version of his great article yesterday.
In Seven Legal Technology Trends for 2007 - Widening the Digital Divide in Law Practice, your expressions “technology-forward lawyers” and “technology-backward lawyers” are absolutely apposite and apply equally in the UK. The current backdrop is simply the Legal Services Act once enacted later in 2007. Which firms will embrace the opportunities for change and progress, and which will bury their heads in the sand?
Only last night, I attended a major event at The Law Society in London on “Alternative Business Structures” under the Act. Professor Stephen Mayson, Director of the Legal Services Policy Institute, began his address by saying he was alarmed at the general “complacency” and “ignorance” within the profession about its future, based on his experience of talking to firms up and down the land.
If a law business is not using IT to gain at least some competitive advantage, it does beg the question what is the real purpose of having IT? Technology in a law practice is surely more than just a simple utility like water and electricity?
1. Reacting ... more »
Tuesday, February 6
Law Firms, Future Gazing and Internal Think Tanks
by
Tim Travers
on Tue 06 Feb 2007 23:58 GMT
Having got going with my Blog during December and January by publishing my own content, in the last week or so, I have begun the process of trying to get into the discipline of commenting on the content of others. This to me seems only fair. As I will be delighted if my reflections are read by others, so it seems only fitting to give feedback in return for their interest in you. The trick I now wish to learn is getting words from mind to page quickly and coherently as I read my news aggregator and while the thoughts are fresh in my head. So here goes.
One of many great posts this week was Future Gazing from Rob Millard’s The Adventure of Strategy. While the following may seem a little far-fetched, as Rob himself acknowledges, it does serve to challenge how existing law firms might get from where they are today to a point in the future where they are still in business and still doing well. With the Clementi changes that the UK’s new Legal Services Act will bring when it come into force, all bets about the future are off, save ... more »
Wednesday, January 31
Celebrity Chef does KM / Learn from Gordon Ramsay
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 31 Jan 2007 12:16 GMT
A punchy little gem of a Thought Leader in Inside Knowledge today by Richard Cross, who is an independent consultant specialising in organisational change.
I shall simply quote in full the opening sentences and leave you to read the rest:
“Some people can write almost as naturally as they breathe – regardless of their profession – and some people cannot. Likewise, some people simply ‘do’ knowledge management (KM) as if it were an integral part of the way they work. It’s simply the way they are.
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is one such person.”
Translating this to professional services firms, an interesting qualitative measurement, either by firm, by office, by role or by department / practice area, would simply be this:
“For how many of our lawyers and support staff is 'doing' KM an integral part of the way they work?”
“What would they score between 0 and 10?” more »
Friday, January 26
Speech recognition revisited - a lovely human story from an MS sufferer
by
Tim Travers
on Fri 26 Jan 2007 11:23 GMT
I blogged about speech recognition a couple of days ago and am moved to do so again by the inspiration of Alistair Hignall, the former England rugby player, who also played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and is now a BBC Sport radio commentator. Alistair gives a moving account today... more »
The ROI of Blogging
by
Tim Travers
on Fri 26 Jan 2007 10:25 GMT
Found via Techmeme, I today read Charlene Li of Forrester, who yesterday in her corporate blog
references two reports on the ROI of Blogging, although if you not a Forrester client, you will need to purchase them.
“The ROI Of Blogging: The “Why” And “How” Of External ... more »
Wednesday, January 24
Speech Recognition and Mind Maps
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 24 Jan 2007 21:42 GMT
 2 Attachments
Tuesday, January 23
Calling for more emotional intelligence – intellectual intelligence only is not enough
by
Tim Travers
on Tue 23 Jan 2007 13:40 GMT
A pointed example of the increasing importance of emotional intelligence in the modern workplace comes from some NHS research into what makes doctors “go bad”.
According to a small article in The Times today headed “Why some doctors are rubbish”, this research examined what makes some ... more »
Monday, January 22
Making sense of social tools
by
Tim Travers
on Mon 22 Jan 2007 19:40 GMT
Every day for me in my new world of Blogosphere is another chapter in trying to make some more sense ... more »
Saturday, January 20
Managing up
by
Tim Travers
on Sat 20 Jan 2007 21:05 GMT
David Maister in his Passion, People and Principles yesterday re-visited the difficult art of “Managing up”.
Five ... more »
Friday, January 19
Lawyers continuing their professional development through MBAs
by
Tim Travers
on Fri 19 Jan 2007 08:06 GMT
Global law firm, Lovells, had a story yesterday in the Telegraph on executive education and their joining forces with Cass Business School "to launch the world's first MBA for lawyers" (see also their press release on this programme last October).
Suzanne Fine, Lovells training manager, is "delighted at what she ... more »
Thursday, January 18
Law Firm Alternative Business Structures / it is only a question of time
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 18 Jan 2007 12:30 GMT
Legal Week headlines on its front page today with “Prowling banks move to take legal top 50 to stock market”.
This cannot come as any surprise. Whatever lawyers may say officially if pressed to give their opinion, this was always going to happen. Adopting a ... more »
Wednesday, January 17
Adapting the Baker Recommendations for any Law Firm System or Project
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 17 Jan 2007 13:55 GMT
When I read in my newspaper today the Baker recommendations from the report into the BP Texas refinery disaster, I could not help but think that, in virtually an identical form, but adapted to the relevant system / project / area of business, they provide a valuable, yet succinct, checklist on ... more »
Tuesday, January 16
Skype founders launch Joost to combine the best of TV and the best of the Web
by
Tim Travers
on Tue 16 Jan 2007 19:14 GMT
I mentioned Skype in my 2007 Predictions article for SCL. As an avid Skype user, where their name is associated with something new, I like to find out more.
Joost’s Press Release today offers another taste of the future that awaits all of us. Another piece ... more »
Thursday, January 11
Filling leadership roles and maintaining performance
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 11 Jan 2007 19:30 GMT
Being a big cricket fan, and English, has been a painful experience of late, given the recent Ashes whitewash. ... more »
Thursday, January 4
Good advocacy - raising standards at the Bar
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 04 Jan 2007 13:15 GMT
In today's Law section of The Daily Telegraph, Legal Editor, Joshua Rosenberg, interviews new chairman of the English and Welsh ... more »
Monday, January 1
Happy New Year - wishing everyone a daily dose of inspiration
by
Tim Travers
on Mon 01 Jan 2007 00:00 GMT
I don't know about you, but I like to hear great orators. People who have a strong personality and ... more »
Sunday, December 31
England’s sports teams can win in 2007
by
Tim Travers
on Sun 31 Dec 2006 11:59 GMT
Humphrey Walters is a motivational management guru and was part of former England Rugby union head coach Clive Woodward's back-room ... more »
Saturday, December 30
Learning debating skills delivers confidence
by
Tim Travers
on Sat 30 Dec 2006 17:45 GMT
In today's Weekend section of The Daily Telegraph, I was taken on a trip down Memory Lane to something ... more »
Every point made in writing or conversation needs an example
by
Tim Travers
on Sat 30 Dec 2006 11:00 GMT
Earlier this month, my former school, Wimbledon College, lost one of its most treasured icons. Today's Obituaries in ... more »
Thursday, December 28
Happy Birthday - my first since truly discovering Blogs, Wikis and RSS Feeds
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 28 Dec 2006 11:28 GMT
44 today. I feel as if I have learnt more about what is going on around me in the ... more »
Thursday, December 14
Re-thinking Knowledge Management and KM 2.0
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 14 Dec 2006 20:30 GMT
Wednesday, December 13
Skype 3.0 for Windows launched today
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 13 Dec 2006 17:28 GMT
Skype 3.0 for Windows is now out of beta and the official version from today. Looking forward to trying ... more »
Thursday, December 7
Kerma Partners / launch of new management consultancy for professional services firms
by
Tim Travers
on Thu 07 Dec 2006 17:00 GMT
Today, a small item in The Lawyer’s Breaking News made me sit up and take note. A new management ... more »
Wednesday, December 6
Legal Week e-Symposium Series / Strategic Technology 2006
by
Tim Travers
on Wed 06 Dec 2006 23:01 GMT
Only yesterday did I sign up for Legal Week’s free online conference on Strategic Technology for law firms, but ... more »
Monday, December 4
The Vancouver Law Librarian’s Top 10 Uses of RSS for Law Firms
by
Tim Travers
on Mon 04 Dec 2006 13:45 GMT
As I start out on my first week of blogging, and in the spirit of true international collaboration, I must ... more »
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