Peer to Peer Magazine

June 2012

The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association

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inside ILTA LexThink.1 2012: Sparking Creativity and Innovation Ideas for the Future of Legal Client Service … Six Minutes at a Time by JoAnna Forshee of InsideLegal.com The "future of client service" was the theme for the third annual LexThink.1 (formerly Ignite Law) event about the future of legal practice that InsideLegal produces each year with LexThink.1 brainchild Matt Homann. The event now serves as the opening act of the ABA TECHSHOW, taking place the night before the conference kicks off and hosted by the ABA Law Practice Management Section. Each year we invite members of the legal community to submit a topic about which they would like to speak. The submissions are compiled and posted online, and then the legal community votes to determine the agenda. The selected speakers are then charged with preparing a six-minute, rapid-fire presentation to share with a sold-out audience. In 2012, there were nine new presenters, including Eric Hunter of Bradford & Barthel who joined Joy Heath Rush on the growing list of ILTA alumni speakers. If 2011 was the year of the JDs (nine presenters were lawyers), 2012 was the year of the CEOs with five of the 11 carrying the "chief executive" title. Throughout the 11 presentations, a few primary themes prevailed … Web 2.0 Is Upon Us Avvo's CEO, Mark Britton, kicked off LexThink.1 with "Back to the Future" — his vision of how lawyers can embrace the Web and their Web communities in a permanent way. He shared eight distinctive to-dos that are critical to a successful Web 2.0 existence, stressing the importance of law firms establishing a core Web presence and lawyers, IT, administrators and law firm leadership really grasping mobile access — how it has and will continue to change the way we provide client services in an instantaneous, no excuses manner. Web 2.0 and Gary Vaynerchuk's "Thank You Economy" were the focuses of legal entrepreneur Roe Frazer's talk. He explained that firms should have a social media plan with, again, a focal point on a firm's Web presence. In order to encourage client communication and provide better service, he suggested getting involved in the online conversation, whether that's via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr or other tools. And, seek out the likes of Quora.com for crowdsourced advice from legal professionals. With 75 percent of the world's Internet users turning to social media vehicles and social networks to find answers and seek solutions, it is not a question of whether to embrace social media, but when. A Change Is Gonna Come According to Richard Granat, President and CEO of DirectLaw, Inc., change is already here; and if you look at legal industry startups forcing the hand of the stodgy legal establishment, change is not about to slow down. While companies like LegalZoom are not only automating but commoditizing routine legal work, traditional law firms need to look within to identify ways to differentiate and compete in a technology-driven environment. Along the lines of changing, ABA ethics guru Will Hornsby pointed out how many state ethics rules have not changed for decades, and how antiquated rules don't jive with running a modern law practice. He cited one ridiculous example: "Hawaii has a rule that attorneys can't use email to solicit clients." Will's appeal was "If you have a 21st- century practice, you deserve 21st-century policies. Get involved." 120 Peer to Peer

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