Where there’s a will…

While the benefits and advantages of having a will and taking steps to protect your estate are well-documented, many Americans are apparently missing the message.

FindLaw just got back the results of a survey it put into the field and found that 58% of American adults have not written a will. However, more than half of people age 50 and older said they do have a will.

Seems we start thinking about that as we get older. Only about 25% or people ages 25-34 have a will, according to the survey.

We did a Westcast podcast about wills and estate planning that provides some general information for consumers but also for attorneys involved in helping people make tough decisions about their estate.

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Scalia and Charlie Rose

Charlie Rose’s interview with United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia aired last Friday night. You can watch their discussion online.

Rose asked Scalia about his book published by West, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” co-written by Bryan Garner, who edits Black’s Law Dictionary for West.

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FindLaw posts Heller case

It was the most anticipated United States Supreme Court ruling of the 2007-2008 term remaining to be announced and today the decision came in.

You can read the documents in the Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller on FindLaw. There’s also coverage and links to analysis on FindLaw’s Common Law blog.

The court ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense in a home, striking down a D.C. ban on handgun possession.

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Hooray for Hollywood

We’re wrapping up our WestBlog coverage from the 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference in Hollywood, Florida with this post. It’s been a busy three days. The conference officially ends tomorrow.

A lunch program just finished up, as attendees heard presentations from Dan Tacone, senior vice president at Elite; and from Steve Buege, president and CEO.

We hope you enjoyed our coverage from the conference and got a better understanding of what Elite and ProLaw put into it to provide information and networking opportunities for the people who made the trip from all over the world.

Thanks for following our posts!

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Long way from home

Elite customer Michelle Yong may have traveled more miles to get to the 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference than anyone else here in Hollywood, Florida.

Yong is from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in Hong Kong.

We talked to her a few minutes ago to find out how the conference is going for her.

Here’s part of our interview:

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Peer Monitor Economic Index

The concept of competitive business intelligence is key to today’s law firms. Knowing how businesses are performing, and why, makes a big difference for a firm’s profitability. One of the sessions at the 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference tackled this topic and the metrics used by Peer Monitor’s Economic Index, from West.

Mark Medice (above) and Jane Heino, from West, showed attendees at their “Benchmarking 2.0″ session how Peer Monitor can be utilized.

Medice sums up the feedback he’s heard from firms, in this video interview we did with him after his session.

For more information about Peer Monitor, including a white paper and an informative flash video, go to the Peer Monitor Web site.

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More conference photos: Gala dinner and more

We’ve posted a few more photos from the 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference to our page on Flickr, including last night’s “Whisky a Go-Go” gala dinner and from some of the conference sessions and tutorials.

You can also watch a slideshow of all the images from the conference that we’ve posted there so far.

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Law firms and a slowing economy

It’s no secret the current United States economy is affecting businesses in many industries. At a time when revenues and profits have slowed, law firms are changing their business strategies as well to respond to the changing ecomonics. What trends are emerging in this area, this year?

Blane Prescott, senior vice president with Hildebrandt International, led a session yesterday at the 2008 Elite User Conference titled “Global Trends: How Law Firms Are Responding to a Slowing Economy” so we talked with him about the topic in this Westcast video podcast:

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Interview with a ProLaw customer

The Thomson Elite User Conference is about connecting clients of Elite and ProLaw to the experts who support and enhance those services.

Diane Overstreet is a ProLaw customer from Hillsboro, Oregon. She works for the Office of the Washington County Counsel. We asked her a few minutes ago why the conference is important to her, as a ProLaw client.

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Interview with Elite’s president and CEO

Steve Buege is the president and CEO of Thomson Elite. We caught up with him at the 2008 Elite User Conference this morning to see how he thought things were going and what he enjoys most about the conference.

Before joining Elite in 2006, Buege spent several years in executive leadership at West.

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Photos from the first day in Hollywood

We’ve added a few more photos from the first day of the 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

You can watch them in this slideshow or check them out individually on our Flickr page.

Look for more photos over the next two days.

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Keynote speaker challenges conference

As the leader of the first American Women’s Everest Expedition – and a polar adventurer too – Alison Levine has an inspiring story to tell.

She shared her exploits this morning with the attendees at the 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Levine made her historic climb up Everest in 2002, following years of seeking out adventure in some of the most challenging climbs and conditions. She’s also built a successful career working in technology and finance and now runs her own consulting firm.

Before her presentation, we asked her about the message and motivation she would provide to the attendees at the User Conference, in this video clip:

Alison Levine’s most recent adventure was to ski 600 miles across Antarctica to the South Pole.

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2008 Thomson Elite User Conference underway

The 2008 Thomson Elite User Conference has officially opened. We’re in Hollywood, Florida on behalf of WestBlog.net to provide a few highlights through text, video and photos.

Here’s our location – The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.

We’ve posted some more photos from the conference this morning on our Flickr page, with more to follow.

Every year, the Elite User Conference brings together Elite and ProLaw clients for three days of seminars, demos and discussions with the people inside those business who develop and support the practice and billing management tools that the companies offer.

There are numerous sessions, tutorials and networking opportunities built into the conference schedule.

Over the next three days, we’ll bring you coverage of some of the happenings here to provide you with a glimpse at what is going on.

See what we’re up to by checking back at WestBlog.net or click the link below to subscribe to our feed in your RSS reader.

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Video interview with Thomson Reuters CEO

Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer talked about West at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference .

The D conference’s Kara Swisher interviewed Glocer on a variety of topics involving Thomson Reuters during one of the sessions at the conference (Video (5 min.)/ Blog coverage) two weeks ago near San Diego.

Glocer mentioned his background as a lawyer. He also touched on the mission of Thomson Reuters to provide the content that professionals in law, and other fields, demand to do their work in efficient ways.

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Interactive innovation

Innovation is at the core of West and the legal businesses of Thomson Reuters. The people behind the products and services many of you use take great pride in thinking big and making things happen.

Denis Hauptly is one of those people.

He’s a vice president of Technology Strategy in Thomson Reuters Global Resources and has been with the company for more than 12 years. He’s also held a variety of positions in the federal courts and the United States Department of Justice. He has written four books and numerous articles on history and law. Hauptly’s latest book is “Something Really New” which focuses on building a culture of innovation.

We’ve asked Denis to contribute to WestBlog from time to time over the coming months and we’re pleased to kick off that conversation with some of his thoughts on creating an innovative workplace:

A long, long time ago (1954) in a galaxy far, far away (New Jersey) I watched Walt Disney (who, unlike Betty Crocker, was a real person) throw a ping pong ball into a room filled with mousetraps – each of which had a ping pong ball resting on it.

The first ping pong ball set off one of the mousetraps, which released a second ping pong ball which meant that two ping pong balls were loose and would soon hit two more mousetraps… and so on.

It was marvelous to see.