Hubbard One announces Excellence in Legal Marketing winners

This is a guest post from Chris Cartrett, director of global sales for Hubbard One.

Every year, the anticipation builds as Hubbard One prepares to unveil the winners of our annual marketing awards program. Between the economy and the rapid pace of change occurring with Web 2.0, law firm marketing professionals have big challenges and opportunities ahead of them.

What you’ll see from the stories of the winners this year is that they are anything but status quo. Using new technologies, such as podcasts, this year’s winners exemplify the best practices in legal marketing, and they are changing the way business is done in our industry.

Happy birthday to WestBlog

One year ago we hit “Publish” on our first post here on WestBlog.net.

Today as we mark this blog’s “birthday”, 189 posts later, we’ve assembled what we hope is an informative collection of insights on the trends in legal technology, the practice of law, and the work within the legal businesses of Thomson Reuters.

One of the main highlights of WestBlog’s first year, for us, is when we took our show on the road. 

We debuted WestBlog at LegalTech New York 2008, and we’ll be at the 2009 show throughout the next few days. Trade shows and conferences give us a great chance to meet attendees and presenters at those events and, in turn, put some highlights from those conversations on WestBlog through text, video, audio and photos.

WestBlog also provides a great way for us to showcase the content we focus on in our Westcast podcasts, and the video clips we produce for our YouTube channel.

So, as we mark one year of getting our “blog legs” underneath us. We want to thank you for reading WestBlog and commenting on our posts. And, thanks for subscribing to our updates, either by RSS or e-mail.

We welcome your suggestions for what you want us to focus on as we continue to use this blog to provide a compelling platform for news and information about the legal industry and the businesses within Thomson Reuters.

And, watch this space in the coming months for news about where we’re taking WestBlog next.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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2009 Tax Center

Tax time will be here before you know it, so to help consumers and small businesses FindLaw.com has launched its 2009 Tax Center.

The site features a host of resources for filing 2009 (tax year 2008) income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and with state tax agencies. The information includes:

• Expert content from FindLaw.com legal editors and answers to common tax questions, including topics such as audits and tax extensions.

• Links to additional credible resources, such as government and non-profit assistance, for those who need help filling out their taxes or who can’t afford a tax professional.

• Information about taxpayer laws and penalties, including 2009 changes to the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations, deduction changes and key dates for 2009.

• Helpful tax information for small businesses.

• Federal income tax and IRS resources, including a step-by-step guide to filing your federal taxes; Federal income tax laws and regulations; Income tax laws: state-by-state, and daily tax tips for 2009 from the IRS.

• State-by-state tax information.

A news release from FindLaw has more information.

Posted by Angelique Schaffer, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters  

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409A and executive compensation

Ask attorney Garth Gartrell what keeps him up at night – when it comes to thinking about executive compensation, that is – and you’re likely to hear about Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.

Created by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the wake of the Enron scandal, 409A regulates the tax treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation, which includes supplemental executive retirement plans and supplemental defined contribution plans (such as those that wrap-around and supplement qualified 401(k) plans), whether paid to executives or any other employees.

“409A dominates the field of executive compensation right now, particularly in severance agreements but also in many aspects of compensation in a merger,” says Gartrell, shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

Gartrell says Enron changed everything for executive compensation.

“Enron drove these fundamental changes that we’re going to have to be dealing with that are going to be changing the landscape of executive compensation for years to come,” Gartrell says. Hear more from Gartrell about Enron’s impact on executive compensation (1:54).

In addition to 409A, Gartrell monitors the IRS for other developments in executive compensation.

“I’m paying attention to anything that the IRS might have to say especially with the executive compensation wrinkles that have arisen out of the banking rescue plans,” Gartrell says.

Gartrell says executive compensation remains a varied and challenging area of the law. “The field touches so many complex areas, like securities, corporate law, tax, and accounting rules,” says Gartrell.

Gartrell is the co-author of Executive Compensation for Emerging Growth Companies, 3d, with Steven Lapidus, the founder and co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Global Benefits and Compensation group.

Their book, published by West, has a special emphasis on annotated forms that Gartrell and Lapidus have developed over many years of practicing in the field, including many ideas and forms since the first edition was published.

Executive Compensation for Emerging Growth Companies, 3d is available on the West Web site.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Lawyers and leadership

Leadership, in any career field, can be difficult to demonstrate and define.

But in the practice of law, how does an attorney at any phase in his or her career develop the skill sets, traits and characteristics that are common among the most successful leaders?

Or, is a leader born, not made?

“The overwhelming research in this area really does show that leadership is a set of skills that can be learned, developed and improved upon,” says Robert Cullen, who developed one of the nation’s first ever Leadership for Lawyers courses, which he teaches at Santa Clara University Law School.

I interviewed Cullen for a Westcast podcast about his new book, The Leading Lawyer, A Guide to Practicing Law and Leadership, published by West.

“Leadership skills are identifiable and learnable,” Cullen says. “You can improve your effectiveness as a lawyer for the benefit of your client, your firm, your community and, just as importantly, for yourself.”

In his book, Cullen couples expert research and keen insight from 10 influential attorneys including Rudy Giuliani and Leon Panetta to show practical examples of how leadership combines “legal expertise with exceptional leadership skills.”

It’s a break from traditional thinking in many ways. “It takes creativity, persuasion and inspiration to be effective, successful and admired,” says Cullen.

“We are fine advocates, great analysts, and the profession is full of outstanding problem-solvers,” writes Cullen. “Leadership is our direction, our future, our calling… After this project, I am far more optimistic about the direction of the legal profession and even more proud to be a part of it.”

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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New risks lead to changes in insurance coverage

As insurance law changes to address the issues of privacy, intellectual property and technology, lawyers face new challenges and the rise of new liabilities and policies.

“The law really hasn’t developed to cover a lot of these things and providing advice with regards to those types of activities is a challenge,” says Christopher Keegan, senior vice president and national resource for Errors and Omissions insurance coverage for Willis of New York, Inc.

“I think keeping up with the intellectual property risks themselves is probably the biggest challenge,” says Keegan. ”We in the insurance industry are following those developments and trying to pinpoint what the risks might be.” He cites social networking as one of the areas where assessing IP risks is difficult.

I interviewed Keegan, Robert Chesler, and Tod Zuckerman for a Westcast podcast about their book from West, Assets and Finance: Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property and Cyber Claims, the 2008-2009 edition.

Chesler, chair of the Lowenstein Sandler Insurance Practice Group, explains some of the history in this area. 

“Over the past decade, creative forces within the insurance industry designed new types of policies to protect from claims of intellectual property infringment, invasion of privacy, loss of data and system disruptions,” Chesler says. “We’re really now in a period of the creation of an entirely new insurance paradigm. One that’s designed to address the risks that corporate America now faces.”

Since the early 2000s, there’s been a specific exclusion for intellectual property risks that eliminates coverage for most, but not all of these, according to Tod Zuckerman, a solo practitioner in San Francisco. “It’s a moving target for the practicing attorney who represents policyholders.”

You can hear from Chesler, Keegan and Zuckerman in this Westcast podcast. 

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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West employee volunteers on the ice

When you grow up in Minnesota, hockey is a mainstay – at least it is for Matt Magnuson, a production coordinator at West.

Two of Matt’s children were born with Leukodystrophy, a rare disease that makes walking, let alone skating, impossible. Not willing to miss the opportunity to share his love of hockey with his kids, Matt learned about a coaching opportunity with the Minnesota Sled Hockey Association and discovered a creative way for his kids to get involved.

Sled hockey allows players with physical and cognitive disabilities to play ice hockey using specialized equipment. Players sit in sleds that are mounted on two hockey skate blades. The players use specially designed sticks to propel themselves across the ice. Those who are unable are moved by volunteers, or “pushers,” who skate with them during the game.

Catch a glimpse of the Minnesota Sled Hockey team’s game during televised programming on Fox Sports Net North during Hockey Day in Minnesota, Saturday, Jan. 17. Magnuson’s team’s game is scheduled at noon on Lake Phalen in St. Paul.

Hockey Day in Minnesota is sponsored by the Minnesota Wild and Fox Sports North, and features Minnesota high school hockey, and Minnesota Gopher and Minnesota Wild games.

Posted by Nicole Hansen, communications coordinator, Thomson Reuters

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Videos provide insight into China’s legal market

The global launch of Westlaw China has given legal practitioners in the U.S. and U.K. greater access to Chinese legal information and accurate translation.

We now have some new video clips available that explain the current demands for Chinese legal research and the law in China. They feature Stephen Yao, president and chief executive officer of Westlaw China, and are posted on the West Web site and our YouTube channel.

Here’s the first clip, An Overview of the Chinese Legal System and Structure:

The other three videos featuring Yao are:

China’s Booming Legal Activity

Pain Points in Chinese Legal History

What Makes Westlaw China Different

In addition to those clips, this short video interview with Yao we posted to our YouTube channel in October features his thoughts on the demand for information on Chinese law among lawyers in the United States.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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Sutherland law book has a notable history

This is a guest post to WestBlog from Greg Bell, principal attorney editor at Thomson Reuters in Rochester, New York:

My team at West is responsible for working with authors to produce and update a number of treatises and other titles focused on litigation practice.

WestBlog’s editors have asked us to check in occasionally about a title, author, or new development in litigation. So, in this post, I wanted to highlight a treatise I work on, Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction, which combines bedrock principles of legal analysis with practical tools.

As a lawyer and attorney editor at West, I’ve been a student of the choice of words and how they are put together. A few months ago, I became the editor on Sutherland.

During my ten years with West, I’ve had a chance to work on some of our flagship titles, but not one with so long and rich a history as Sutherland. Written by Jabez Gridley Sutherland and originally published in 1891 by Callaghan & Company (acquired in 1979 by Thomson), Sutherland is now going into its Seventh Edition and has grown to eight volumes.

Law School Exchange connects law profs

Law School Exchange , a new online networking and content sharing site from West and Foundation Press, takes the term “knowledge sharing” to a new level for law school faculty in the United States.

With its debut this week, professors now can use Law School Exchange to publish and distribute articles, books and other materials for research, teaching and scholarly purposes – and also search and download the work of their colleagues – across campuses.

We talked about it in this Westcast podcast with Steve Nickles, C.C. Hope Chair in Law and Management, Wake Forest School of Law. “For law faculty around the country, you might think of Law School Exchange as a combination of Facebook, the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) and Amazon.com. There’s really nothing like it generally or specifically out there in any market,” says Nickles, who helped develop the ideas within Law School Exchange. “It creates an entirely new relationship between faculty, authors and publishers.”

Material on Law School Exchange includes text, PDFs, photos, PowerPoint presentations, links to videos and more. Professors also can pull content from selected West Academic Publishing and Foundation Press books, teacher’s manuals and supplements.

Registration and use of Law School Exchange is free.

Beyond the unique ease of publishing and online collaboration that it provides for professors, Nickles says Law School Exchange will enhance the education of law students in the long run.

“The purpose of this in the end is to make better legal education and faculty will be able to find materials on Law School Exchange that they can then adopt and make available to their students in several ways, including through TWEN (The West Education Network),” says Nickles (who also helped West develop TWEN).

“Law School Exchange will allow professors to really mix and match not only materials coming from West and from Foundation Press but those and all kinds of other materials for the subject that you’re teaching that have been added by law faculty across the country. It’s going to allow us to have the richest set of teaching materials that have ever been available for legal education.”

Nickles invites faculty who are interested in learning more about Law School Exchange to e-mail him at snickles@wfu.edu. Or, send an e-mail to west.lawschoolexchange@thomsonreuters.com or call 1-800-486-4876. You also can read the news release for more information.

Again, there’s also a Westcast podcast with Nickles explaining the development of Law School Exchange and its benefits.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Continued law market weakness, says latest Peer Monitor Index

Law firms continue to struggle with weak demand and productivity as a result of the economic slowdown. 

The Peer Monitor Economic Index (PMI) from West fell two points in the third quarter of 2008 despite a rebound in demand late in the quarter. PMI is a composite index of law firm market performance using real-time data drawn from major law firms in the U.S. and key international markets.

As the economy slows, PMI has been trending lower, dropping in five of the last seven quarters.

The complete PMI analysis for the third quarter can be downloaded here.

You also can listen to a Westcast podcast discussing the Q3 PMI results.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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What issues will dominate consumer law in 2009?

We recently highlighted the top 10 legal issues for consumers in 2008.

Now FindLaw.com has 10 predictions for what consumers will be searching for information about in 2009.

The predictions were compiled by FindLaw in-house legal experts based on historical and 2008 top search terms entered on FindLaw.com.  

Here’s the list:

• Urban Living

• Employment & Employee Rights

• Debt & Collection

• Green Law

• The Internet, Social Media and Personal Identity

• Military Rights

• Driving and Gadgets

• Child Custody, Support and Alimony

• Marriage and Domestic Partnership

• Small Business

Click here for more information about FindLaw’s predictions for the top legal issues for consumers in 2009.  To address these predictions, FindLaw.com plans to provide specialized audiences resources on the site.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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