Westlaw Business announces new UK Securities Centre

Thomson Reuters just rolled out a major expansion of its global Westlaw Business platform, that now included the Securities-UK Centre.

The new center provides lawyers in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States with keen insights on UK disclosure requirements.

It has fully searchable listings from the Financial Services Authority and relevant legislation and guidance. In addition to Securities UK, Westlaw Business features specialized work centers including Restructuring, Securities-U.S and Securities-Canada, M & A, Private Equity and LIVEDGAR.

In the news release announcing the expanded service, Thomson Reuters, Legal CEO Peter Warwick said, “The launch of Westlaw Business as a true global platform for business law professionals all over the world is a cornerstone for our efforts and our commitment to support legal practitioners on a global basis.”

Joe Jaksha, vice president of new product development, describes the global platform in this brief video.

Additional information on Westlaw Business is available on the Westlaw Business Web site.

Posted by Gretchen DeSutter, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Hubbard One wants your feedback at LMA

Do you have something to say about LMA or the legal marketing industry? Throughout the LMA Conference this week, Hubbard One is conducting a Marketing Snapshot Survey in its booth.

Jeff Johnson, a marketing manager at Hubbard One, talks about the survey in this video:

Visit the Hubbard One blog for more information.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Welcome to the 2009 LMA Conference

The 23rd Annual Legal Marketing Association Conference gets underway tomorrow in National Harbor, Maryland, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on the Potomac. The theme is “Change… Now What?”

We’re at the Gaylord, tracking LMA Conference activities and events for attendees, as well as what our colleagues from Hubbard One will be doing.

We’re interested in hearing the perspectives of attendees on their legal marketing efforts and how they are going about their work within the current economic, regulatory and legal industry landscapes.

For more on what Hubbard One will be up to, check out this post on the Hubbard One blog, featuring details on daily surveys in the company’s booth (#232-#236), as well as the conference sessions Hubbard One will be participating in.

Preston McKenzie, vice president and general manager of Client Development at Thomson Reuters, has more information on how you can follow developments from the LMA Conference, plus perspectives on the climate for legal marketers, in this welcome video message:

For more information on the LMA Conference go to its Web site.

Remember to follow us here on WestBlog, and check out the Hubbard One blog too. We’ll also both be providing periodic updates on Twitter (@westlaw and @hubbardone).

The LMA Conference runs through Friday.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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See Scalia in a free CLE

Editor’s note: This CLE is no longer available. The podcast excerpt, however, remains on YouTube for viewing.

Part of a continuing legal education event (CLE) featuring United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner, is now available on West LegalEdcenter.

For free.

The unique CLE course from LawProse was based on the book Scalia and Garner co-authored, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” published by West.

They teamed up for the CLE on July 25, 2008 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Kennedy Center has granted West permission to post one hour of the five hour event online.

The CLE excerpt provides a glimpse into how Scalia and Garner presented the points in their book about legal reasoning and argument, brief-writing and oral argument to the live audience.

It’s informative and often entertaining, with several memorable quotes from both men. All profits from the event went to Legal Aid of Washington, D.C.

In addition to the excerpt on West LegalEdcenter, highlights from the CLE – featuring clips from Scalia and Garner’s entire event – also are included in this three minute Westcast video podcast, along with an interview with Garner:

FindLaw’s version of “24″

The character of Jack Bauer on Fox’s “24″ has nothing on a team of 10 FindLaw employees.

At least in terms of the know-how and expertise for Web site design and deployment.

The group representing FindLaw was one of 12 teams that was selected to participate in Sierra Bravo’s Overnight Website Challenge, Feb. 28-March 1, in St. Paul.

The teams were assigned to overhaul the Web sites of 12 non-profit organizations, who had been chosen by Sierra Bravo. FindLaw was paired with Global Citizens Network (GCN).

We chronicled the FindLaw effort over the course of the 24-hour competition in this Westcast video podcast (on YouTube or Vimeo):

By the way, here’s GCN’s old site:

And, here’s a mockup of their new home page designed by FindLaw:

Collin Gravalin was team leader for the FindLaw group.

“FindLaw is so big on promoting giving back to the community,” Gravalin told us at the end of the challenge. “They even let you take a paid volunteer day and this is one of those things that we all wanted to do. We all wanted to be here and I think the end result, the end product, is something to be proud of.”

“GCN is very lucky to be working with this amazing team. They’re brilliant! Everything we asked for, they’re making it happen,” said Linda Stuart, executive director of GCN. “It’s like a dream come true.”

“Our team tackled many challenges that we’ve never seen before or rarely see in our daily work at FindLaw,” said Gravalin. “When everything is done, Global Citizens Network will have a main Web site with more than 80 custom written and optimized pages. They’ll also have a separate blog and a separate client forum. GCN is essentially getting three Web sites.”

In addition to Gravalin, the members of the FindLaw team included Matt Biersdorf, Clay Chelmo, Derrick Gall, Nathan Hein, Patrick Noonan, Jessica Skrebes, Ryan Tvenge, Susan Staupe and Nate Weber.

Besides our video podcast about the FindLaw team, Sierra Bravo also posted some great videos from throughout the day and night on their Inside the Nerdery blog, including this one.

You also can read the news release from Sierra Bravo for a recap of the event.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Eagan TV coverage on the Web

The Star Tribune recently highlighted the Thomson Reuters partnership with Eagan (Minn.) Community Television.

We first mentioned the arrangement in a previous post (“Broadcasting from our basement”) here on WestBlog.

The partnership with the city has resulted in a broadcast studio within the headquarters of our legal businesses in Eagan. The studio also received coverage last week in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

(Photo: David Brewster, Star Tribune)

E-TV also has gotten coverage in the community newspapers that serve Eagan, including an article and video in This Week Eagan and a story and video on YouTube from the Eagan Sun-Current.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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What’s in a name?

If you’re an attorney researching a witness or doing any type of investigative research, you probably are familiar with the myriad resources for public records information.

It’s all out there … you might spend a few hours checking different sources, in the end compiling a report customized with the information you need.

West recently launched Westlaw PeopleMap – a new tool that will change how lawyers are doing public records research. According to Brian Knudsen, senior director of Marketing for West, “Westlaw PeopleMap is one of the biggest products we’re launching in 2009. It’s built on significant data architecture changes that make public records research more accurate and comprehensive for the researcher.”

We talked with Brian and Kevin Appold, senior director of Product Development. See them discuss the development of Westlaw PeopleMap and how it’s different from other public records research tools in this video:

You can get a glimpse at how Westlaw PeopleMap works, and a peek at the graphical display in a recorded demo.

Posted by Angelique Schaffer, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Broadcasting from our basement

The city of Eagan, Minn.’s community access television studio, E-TV, has a new home on the Eagan campus of Thomson Reuters.

When word spread that the city needed a new location for its community access television studio, Thomson Reuters opened its doors – making this a first-of-its-kind public/corporate partnership in the country.

A grand opening launch took place on Feb. 25 featuring a live broadcast with Peter Warwick, president and CEO of the legal businesses of Thomson Reuters and Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire. (Watch a video interview with Maguire)

Warwick believes this partnership promises benefits both to Thomson Reuters and the city of Eagan. (Watch a video interview with Warwick)

Tom Garrison, communications director for the city, was quick to recognize the potential of this unique partnership. “We’ll be able to provide the professional, reliable public access television coverage the community has come to depend on while working collaboratively with Thomson Reuters.” (Watch a video interview with Garrison)

In addition to giving community members access to world-class video and editing equipment, Eagan Community Television develops a broad range of programming including community, government and school news across six channels. The E-TV studio is now open to the public.

Posted by Nicole Hansen, communications coordinator, Thomson Reuters

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Videos from LegalTech sessions

Incisive Media has just posted video replays of some of the sessions at LegalTech New York 2009. It’s a great chance to catch up on some of the content presented there if you were not able to make it to the show.

The “LegalTech On Demand” clips are free following registration. Some are eligible for continuing legal education (CLE) credit.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Legal industry investing in future

While legal industry advisor David Baker thinks there are a lot of “heads down, get it done” efforts underway by law firms of all sizes, he sees some taking steps to take advantage of potential opportunities on the other side of the economic downturn.

We talked with Baker at LegalTech New York. He is the chairman and co-founder of Baker Robbins & Company, part of Thomson Reuters. Baker specializes in strategic technology planning for law firms and lawyers.

We interviewed him about the impact of the economy on technology spend, the fate of e-discovery vendors and also got his take on the attendance at LegalTech 2009:

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Outsource e-discovery?

One of the trends that Adam Schlagman, editor of LJN’s Legal Tech Newsletter, will be paying attention to this year concerns e-discovery.

We caught up with Schlagman at LegalTech New York 2009, and he told us what the e-discovery decision comes down to, for the average firm:

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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When words simply aren’t enough

Most litigators find the written word just isn’t enough when it comes to really understanding what transpires in the courtroom.

How the expert witness physically responds to a question – do they look anxious, upset, or uncomfortable while providing their testimony – is the difference between an honest expert and someone who is being paid to support the case to the watchful eyes of a jury.

In an interview with Tim Nixon, director of Litigation Content Operations at West, part of Thomson Reuters, we discussed how the new capability of viewing court transcripts – via the on-demand streaming video through Westlaw Court Transcripts – is a critical step in preparing for court.

Watch a portion of our interview with Nixon to better understand how Westlaw Court Transcripts works:

“The words can all be spot on, but if a witness’s body says I’m really uncomfortable with my position, the expert can immediately undermine a case,” says Nixon.

The video features on Westlaw Court Transcripts can be the difference between success and failure when used as a vetting tool for selecting witnesses, and it can also serve as a critical learning tool for new litigators.

It is also important to see how the courtroom is handled – how the judge enables the litigators to present their case, or if he or she possibly impedes the normal flow of the courtroom, Nixon says.

Is the judge one who is sitting forward and truly engaged or sitting back and viewing the case? Does the tone of their voice or facial expression lend you to believe they are upset with an approach or comfortable with the way the case is presented?

These are key to understanding the courtroom dynamic and determining a best approach for a specific judge.

“Seeing the court transcript fully synched and side-by-side with video, where you can click on the court transcript and immediately see what is transcribed, is really critical from both a vetting and a time-and-billing perspective,” says Nixon.

Westlaw subscribers can see the latest courtroom video additions, here.

Posted by Gretchen DeSutter, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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Videos from Incisive Media at LegalTech

The host of LegalTech, Incisive Media, compiled video interviews from the show. They are interesting conversations with a variety of people about technology and the practice and business of law.

Two of the interviews feature connections to the legal businesses of Thomson Reuters:

Mark Medice, Peer Monitor
(Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4)

Kurt Engelmeier, director, West

You can see all of Incisive Media’s video interviews on their YouTube channel.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters 

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Monica Bay on legal technology in 2009

Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of Law Technology News and the authority on all things LegalTech, spent some time with us catching up after her Tuesday panel, “What I Hate About Technology.”

Here are three things the panel hates (and loves) about technology:

Hates

• Everyone thinks they’re an expert (which usually leads to someone who doesn’t want to listen)
• It never works in the manner it’s supposed to work in order to get my stuff done
• “I’ve never seen that problem before.”

Loves

• Technology makes painful tasks painless
• It saves time so I can focus my attention on things other than technology
• I can connect from anywhere; it allows us to be better at our jobs and more efficient.

We’ve learned that technology is important, indeed. But in the context of the current economic state, Monica stresses the importance of a law firm’s adaptability. The latest issue of Law Technology News features several stories that offer advice to legal professionals on how to stay strong and adaptable in these tough times, including “Can Technology Thrive in a Bad Economy?” by Michelle Mahoney and George Rudoy; and “Five Tips for IT to Survive the Plunge” by Ross Kodner.

Monica outlines her compelling case for how law firms can and should ride out the storm in this video interview for WestBlog:

Posted by Angelique Schaffer, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Lawyers and mobile technology

We talked with Neil Squillante, the publisher of TechnoLawyer, Tuesday night at about the items crossing his desk this year. And, in addition to his Five 2009 Legal Industry Predictions recently published on TechnoLawyer’s blog, he tells us what he thinks will be particularly useful to lawyers this year, mobile technology:

Posted by Angelique Schaffer, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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