NOTHING GROWS FOREVER

The Am Law 100 Report is now online.

Says The American Lawyer's editor-in-chief Aric Press and Am Law Data Analyst John O'Connor:

For the first time since 1991, both average profits per partner and revenue per lawyer dipped last year among the Am Law 100 firms, the top-grossing firms in the nation. And, given the weakness in the market thus far in 2009, another decline seems likely this year.

Continues Law.com's Legal Blog Watch writer Carolyn Elefant: The news for 2008 wasn't entirely bleak, with overall gross revenue growing by 4.1 percent, to $67 billion, a new record. But because of growth in head count and a drop in demand, particularly in the corporate and finance sectors, profits per partner (PPP) fell by 4.3 percent, to an average of $1.26 million, and revenue per lawyer (RPL) dropped 1.2 percent, to $818,000.

HILTON / UAL PROMOTIONS: CAVEAT EMPTOR

Heads Up: If you are planning to use any Hilton Honors / United promotions — such as the current Hawaii promotion to earn double Mileage Plus miles, a 10,000 HHonors bonus, and receive a free bathrobe (see 411 here) — be sure your Hilton account is set up so that you are earning both UAL miles and points.

Despite numerous attempts to confirm that I had met all necessary requirements before we arrived in Hawaii  — and nightmare reservations problems bringing 11 members of my family to Honolulu for my father's memorial — Hilton has refused to process the UAL promotion miles — because they said I had not clicked on the "miles and points" option on my HHonors account. They did credit me with the Hilton bonus points, and I got lots of apologies, but they won't credit the UAL flight miles — and we're talking 10,062 miles here.

I brought 11 people to Hawaii for 5 days, and we spent a lot of money at the Honolulu Embassy Suites Beach Walk. I chose the hotel because of the promotion. No good deed goes unpunished.

I'm stunned — and furious. I did everything humanly possible to verify that I had complied with the fine print. I'm no naif when it comes to travel — after all, I'm the daughter of a United pilot and flight attendant -- and both a Diamond Hilton Honors member and Premier Executive member of UAL Mileage Plus! NOBODY at Hilton told me I had to have the account set up for both UAL miles and Hilton points to qualify. Nobody. I even made a point to check with the front desk to be sure I was properly signed up for the promotion.

Frankly, based on all my prior dealings with Hilton, I expected an easy, fast resolution. But no. I've now spent numerous hours appealing this —  talking to three different people, all the way up to the top customer service supervisor — with no luck. All I get is, "We're sorry, we can't change it. You didn't click on the points and miles option."  

I think what shocks me the most is that it's a 180 degree turn from Hilton's normally stellar customer service. I've been so happy with Hiltons, especially over the last couple years. The service at Hiltons has been reliably terrific, from reservations, to bell staff, to room service.

I've been an astoundingly loyal Hilton Honors member, and this makes me question whether I should bag that loyalty and go back to choosing Hyatt. That will be particularly difficult in Baltimore ...and Chicago ...and Anaheim ...and  Los Angeles ...and New York ...and New Orleans  ... well, you get the picture: I like Hiltons.  I suspect my non-stop raves about the Waikoloa Hilton (probably the best hotel on the planet for a multi-generation family event) have sent quite a few colleagues to the reservation phones.

I just don't understand this. It would take so little to remedy the situation. Why alienate your core constituency — your most loyal customers — when all it would take would be an e-mail to United to straighten it all out? 

I'm not done. I'm going to send the whole paper trail to Hilton's CEO, along with a copy of this blog post  -- and I'm going to appeal this directly to United, because they are co-sponsors of the promotion, and it's the double Mileage Plus miles that I'm so worked up about. Hopefully, UAL will say "of course" and credit me for the miles. I'll keep you posted. 

I didn't even get the dumb bathrobe. But I don't want clothes, I just want my United miles.

Update: 4/29/09: Well, it took only two people at United to diffuse my fury: First, a very nice Premier Exec customer service rep, Janice Border, and then an equally nice and very smart supervisor, Pam Baumberger. Turns out the double Mileage Plus points were NOT for the flights, but for the money spent at the hotel. Ms. Baumberger figured that out -- how come nobody at Hilton caught that out during my appeals? 

So while I'm still very annoyed at Hilton, that certainly takes the sting out of the situation. And because Hilton did throw in an extra 2,000 Hilton points, it's close to a wash, so I'll stop complaining.

But the bottom line remains the same: If you are going to do a Hilton promotion, be sure that you have checked the correct box (Hilton points & United miles) on your profile. And carefully review all the fine print of any promotion.

And Hilton: You came very, very close to losing one of your most loyal customers. There were a lot of problems with this entire experience that you might want to re-examine. I hope, at a minimum, that you will:

1) Make promotions terms and conditions more explicit.
2) Improve the clunky reservations process for families.
3) Better educate staff at facilities that are O&O'd by third parties (e.g., Outrigger).

O.K. I'm done. Chapter closed. Lesson learned.

BACK ON THE PAYROLL

Good news from both Babs Deacon and Mark Reichenbach, who both got pink slip'd a few months back.

Deacon has landed a new gig with Integreon, (which recently acquired Onsite3) as director of consulting. New e-mail here.

Reichenbach is the new veep for client and industry development, with Capital Legal Solutions. 411 here.

Both will join us at the "Greening Your Career" job seekers' networking breakfast, June 25 at LegalTech West Coast.

Congrats!!

DREAM YOUR DREAM

My friend Linda Lake just sent me this, and wow oh wow, you simply must check it out.

Susan Boyle offers an astounding reminder about why we should never, ever, ever underestimate or judge someone just because he or she is "plain." 

From Britains Got Talent (Never mind the bad punctuation.) And yes, that's Simon Cowell on the judges' panel.

Update: The response to Boyle has been positively stunning. As of Thursday morning, the YouTubepost has had more than 17 million hits. Here's a very clever tribute to Ms. Boyle (a "speed drawing) by Cleveland's Jan LeCompte. And here's a news update from U.K.'s Channel Five. See #Susan_Boyle on Twitter.

Terrific article from The Guardian by Tanya Gold. Hat tip to @sumares.

Further updates: Boyle ain't a one-note wonder, she's still in the contest. Her handlers have done a very nice job with makeup and good choice of outfit, too:

GREEN YOUR CAREER: A NETWORKING BREAKFAST

This erratic economy has been tough on everybody, but none more so than the members of our legal technology community who have lost their jobs. It's difficult, scary, and challenging for even the most self-confident professionals.

Our Incisive gang wants to help -- so we decided to team up at LegalTech West Coast and offer a simple, heartfelt gesture: On day 2 (Thursday June 25) we will host a very informal, free "Green Your Career" networking breakfast, from 7:45--8:45 a.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

It will be co-hosted by Law Technology News and law.jobs, with the support of the LegalTech crew, and has a straightforward format:  We're inviting job seekers -- as well as vendors and law firm leaders (even if you do not currently have an available opening).

For the first half-hour, we'll just schmooze together, and enjoy coffee, tea, danish, etc. — i.e., a chance to "work the room."  Then we'll gather at round tables, where at each table a leader of our community will talk about how he or she survived/thrived thru a career transition. Among the scheduled speakers are:

• John Tredennick, who was a litigator partner at Holland & Hart when he spun off Catalyst Respository Systems.
• Tom Collins, former owner of Juris Inc., who survived cancer and now is a murder mystery novelist!
• J. Craig Williams, who shuttered his small firm and joined Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold.
• Mary Mack, renowned counsel at Fios Inc.
• Brad Blickstein, who opened his own consultancy to help businesses serve corporate legal departments, after working in magazine publishing.
• Babs Deacon, who was one of the SPi folks who lost jobs last winter, who is the new director of consulting at Integreon, based in New York.
• Mark Reichenbach, who just joined Capital Legal Solutions after losing his gig at i365.
• John Lipsey, who left law practice to work for legal technology vendors, and now works for Martindale Hubbell Connected. 

The event is FREE -- and all attendees will be invited to stick around and visit our exhibit hall and the Day 2 Keynote Address (immediately following the breakfast) on us.

Job seekers will be encouraged to post their resumes on lawjobs.com, and all firms/vendors who attend will get free access to lawjobs.com (for a limited period, of course).

Again, just a simple concept:  let's provide an hour of inspiration, nurturing, contacts, and networking. 

Please come, whether you need a job, or just want to offer encouragement. And if you are coming to show support, please bring along a gift card (you can pick them up at most supermarkets or drug stores), so we can give a day brightener "party favor" to each job seeker. It can be just a few dollars (or more if you can tithe a bit more generously) -- to a national "chain" such as Starbucks, Target, Macy's, Chevron, Von's, movies, SuperCuts -- you get the picture. Something practical and upbeat that will lift spirits!

(If you can't attend and want to send a gift card, mail them to us c/o Law Technology News, 120 Broadway, 5th floor, NYC 10271.)

Job seekers: Come for warmth, support and new contacts! If you e-mail us at lawtech@incisivemedia.com, we'll have a badge ready for you (and that will help us make sure we have enough coffee and danish). But you can also just show up.

Firms/vendors: If you do have a spot open, what a better place to find great talent? And even if you don't, you might tomorrow -- so bring lots of business cards.

And as an added incentive for technology vendors: We will raffle off a wonderful lunch or dinner with moi (you can even use the word "solution" and I will promise to try not to cringe) where you can tell me about your company's plans, products and services and get a great meal on LTN!

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!  Visit www.legaltechshow for details, or e-mail LTN at lawtech@incisivemedia.com.

LAST but not least: Please help spread the word!  Twitter this! Blog this! Reprint this post freely! Let's get viral! The permalink is http://tinyurl.com/LTWCbkf. Twitter hash: #LTWC.

Update: Great news! The Los Angeles County Bar Association (which offers career resources on its website, has joined us as a co-sponsor of the breakfast!!

WATCH THE DOOR

With all the layoffs and corporate restructuring, sometimes legal holds can get lost in the shuffle. As computers and workloads get reassigned, sometimes key data can evaporate.

In LTN's April cover story, "Watch the Door," John Jablonski, a partner at Buffalo's Goldberg Segalla, offers a check list for folks in IT, risk management and HR, to help preserve proper legal holds.

Visit www.lawtechnologynow.com (or www.legaltalknetwork, or iTunes) to hear Jablonski talk with me about these issues -- and his upcoming Defense Research Institute conference. 

NEW IS OLD AGAIN

Sorry, Baltimore, we got Tex & we ain't givin' him back. Even if he got jussssst a little bit  spooked by the "welcome" booooos he got on opening day at Camden.

Now usually when the Yanks meet up with the O's in Maryland, there's about 65% Yankee fans in the stands
(I suspect most from New Jersey because it's so easy to get to from the Garden State, and Camden is so economical and family friendly.)

But not on Opening Day. It was more like 10%. To be honest, it's the first time I've felt juuuuussst a little intimidated in the friendly confines of Camden. The hostility to our newbie Tex rivaled that of the pissed off Yankee fans chanting "Who's Your Daddy" to Pedro Martinez in 2004 postgames, the noise level so intense that the Stadium literally shook.

But anyway..... it was big fun, even tho we got clobbered. My colleague Jai Wallace and I are sending huge thanks to our guests, the delightful Mary Ellen Belusci, Yankees fan Joe Zanta, and Scott Bogash of Needles; and Yvonne Dornic  of eSentio Technologies and her finace Jim Rhodes,  and Red Sox fan David Horrigan of Covington & Burling. Yvonne and Jim helped me recover from the trauma with a nightcap at their amazing restaurant, Ze Mean Bean in Fells Point.

I'm hoping tonight's game has a much happier ending for the New Yorkers. Should be interesting, as my O's rep Matt Dougherty notes: It's the Far East match-up, with Taiwan's Chien Ming Wang facing the O's new addition, Koji Uehara -- former ace of the Yomiuri Giants-- in his major league debut. And Thursday I get the pleasure of spending time with Cataphora's fascinating Susannah Smith, and Kelly Klyn, litigation technology specialist for Goodwin Procter. Can't wait!

I'm also LOVING the brand new Baltimore Hilton -- Check out the view from my room! It is literally yards from Camden, and gorgeous. But I must admit has a kinda odd color palette -- but it works: tangerine, gold, cobalt blue and lime green. So much better than 2008's obsession with chocolate and aqua (Yes, yes, yes, I watch way too much HGTV.)

Tuesday was an off day so we headed down to DC to visit with Robert Erich Jr. of Select Associates. We had a terrific conversation about how the economy is affecting the time/billing/acctg vendors -- Erich noted that his company's star* collect  product has seen quite a spike in sales in recent months. Select Associates, says Erich, specializes in a variety of add-on software that integrates with Elite, Aderant, and other T&B/A software that targets the top AmLaw firms, he explained, including data warehousing and business intelligence tools. One of the newest offerings star* targetCash which helps firms project cash flow.

I suspect that interest in these types of products will most definitely continue to jump as purse strings tighten throughout the legal industry.

Tuesday night, we had the pleasure of joining Sally Gonzalez (Baker Robbins & Co.) and Stan Wasylyk (Michael Farrell Group) for a boisterous dinner at the Hard Times Cafe in Alexandria. Years and years ago, when I was vice-chair of the ABA's Law Student Division, we had a ton of meetings in D.C. and made regular pilgrimages to the HTC. It's a lot of fun, and it was great to return, although I probably ate more carbs in one sitting than I normally eat in a month.

Sally and I can bore anyone to death when you get us talking about our adventures on United Airlines. Sally's in the coveted rareified air of Global Services -- so elite that they don't even publicize it or tell you what the membership requirements are -- but it pretty much boils down to flying overseas a lot. Sally was based in London for a long stint, and also frequently visits clients in Switzerland, so she has that elusive BLACK Mileage Plus card that the rest of us mere mortals drool over. I hope we didn't drive our companions toooo nuts but we sure had a good time comparing road warrior stories.

(Btw: this could be a very interesting year for road warriors because so many of us will probably drop at last one level in the elite tiers because so many firms/companies are reducing travel.)

So... two more days in the wonderful Inner Harbor before I head back to NYC. Of course I save the best for last.... thanks to a dear friend who is a Cubs season ticket holder I actually got tix for last Saturday's Cubs/Yanks Exhibition game at the New Stadium.

OMG, it totally takes your breath away. It's just magnificent. But the strangest thing about it is that once you are inside, in your seats, it's almost Twilight Zone Deja Vu -- because it FEELS like the old Stadium. Even the FTI ad is in its proper place. The new video screen is awesome, and the Batter's Eye is now a restaurant, but the subway still screams right by the Short Porch, the Bleacher Creatures still do roll call, and it just feels great. Only the courthouse is missing from the tableau, because of the slight change in real estate.

And making the day even more touching: the first pitch was thrown out by Captain Sully, and the USAir 1549 skyboat crew! (He was joined by the first officer Jeff Skiles and chief flight attendant Doreen Welsh.)

Saturday, Cano christened the Stadium with its first home run,  and Tex got back-to-back homers! (Jeter got the Stadium's first hit Friday night.) Joining me at the day game was the fabulous consultant Brad Blickstein, of Chicago's The Blickstein Group (above left), who took most of the photos on this page, and two terrific marketing dudes from Deloitte: Alan Numsuwan and Michael Rachlin. (We had a great conversation about off-shoring e-discovery and the impact of the economy on outsourcing.)

Two things da Yankees gotta do: 1) Get Sweet Lou (who got a standing ovation from the crowd during the Saturday game) to give us another one of  his bats to sit on top of the center field flag pole, so we can see the wind direction (Mattingly took the original from the old stadium) and 2) they HAVE to install those nylon rope bank-line things to control the concessions line from blocking traffic all the way across the huge broad concourse.

But no complaints. It's wonderful.  It's awesome. Even the birds are already finding their niches. And yes, no question about it, Aura & Mystique and the other ghosts have cheerfully crossed the street. Welcome home. 

CONNECTING BUSINESS & PLEASURE

Marc Osborn and the gang over at LexisNexis' Martindale Hubbell have now officially launched Martindale Hubbell Connect, which has been in beta for a while. Bob Ambrogi raved about it in his Web Watch column last September in Law Technology News.

As part of the launch celebrations, MHC invited six bloggers to do a mini-carnival from March 30-April 6. MHC asked us to pontificate on social networking for lawyers, and MHC is posting links to each of our blogs. I'm honored to be invited, and happy to participate — especially in such good company: LexisNexis' Kathleen Delaney started it all Monday; Rees Morrison (Law Dept. Management)  had day 2; Law.com's tech editor Sean Doherty tackled April Fool's Day; Bob Ambrogi drew the straw for Thursday;  I have the reins today, and then Larry Bodine closes it all out on Opening Day. 

Speaking of Ambrogi, he's always hipper-than-hip, and I count on him to point the way to new, kewl tech stuff. In fact, Ambrogi and Incisive Media's CEO Bill Pollak (@wpollak) can be mildly annoying to this tech editor, because they always seem find the latest greatest tech tool (or toy)  just slightly faster than I do — which I generally attribute to the fact that both of them are parents of young adults. I'm parent only to a dog and cat who somehow have not mastered the computer keyboard (give them time), but one of these days I'm determined to find something kewl before these two dudes. :)

Anyway, all three of us are now pretty damned obsessed with Twitter. Bob (@bobambrogi)  has written two great columns in the last year:  Tweet Sixteen -- in December, where he talked about 16 reasons why lawyers should take Twitter seriously, and  Let Twitter Sing, in March, where he ID'd numerous 3rd-party tools to help addicts become efficient power-users. 

Indeed, many Incisive folks have contracted Twitter fever, and others are at least testing the water. One of the latest folks to dive in is Aric Press (@aricpress), the editor-in-chief of The American Lawyer. And Incisive "entity" IDs are popping up like Spring daffodils: @AmLawDaily; @LegalTechShow; @LawTechNews; @EDDUpdate, so on and so forth.

Sean Doherty (@legaltechtrek) and I (@commonscold) are both on board, but the winner for first early adopter within Incisive is probably LTN's new associate editor, Theodora Blanchfield (@tblanchfield) -- who was twittering LONG before the I.M. Baby Boomers got wind of it -- she was singing a full year ago. 

Anyway.... for me, at first, Twitter didn't make a whole lot of sense. I thought it was fun and interesting and arguably more productive than playing BubbleBreaker on my Samsung Saga when I needed a quick break from editing. But my Eureka moment came when a story crashed, and I needed a last minute replacement. I tweeted that I was looking for a security story. Within an hour,  Vivian Tero pinged me expressing interest, and wrote an absolutely terrific article, "Dangerous Shadows," about why it's important to be careful when social networking because seemingly innocuous personal information can come back to haunt you.

I knew I was officially drinking the Kool-Aid when I moderated a panel at LegalTech New York, featuring Kevin O'Keefe (@kevinokeefe), Chris Winfield (@chriswinfield), and Matt Homann (@matthoman) -- with a cameo from Bob Ambrogi. They were awesome, and outlined even more ways to effectively use Twitter. The best takeaway was their instructions on how to use Twitter's search functions (www.search.twitter.com). My skills grew logarithmically after Guy Kawasaki's (@guykawasaki)  intoxicating keynote at our Search Engine Strategies conference in March. (See Kawasaki's link for a huge list of 3rd-party apps).

One of Kawasaki's points was that companies can use Twitter to monitor complaints and accolades, and immediately respond to customers. Sure enough, I soon experienced that first-hand.  After being stuck in Manhattan for three weeks with the Nor-eastern flu from hell, I ran into a leeeetle problem when my car battery died while I was loading up the aforementioned dog and cat to go to my upstate cottage. Of COURSE I was illegally parked (this is Manhattan!) and I went into a cold panic. I called AAA and they rescued me in 20-minutes with a battery boost, and offered such amazingly good service (they even called me back to be sure I was OK) that I tweeted about it. Sure enough, within minutes of my rave, I got a thank-you tweet from @AAAauto saying they were happy I was happy. Good customer service? You betcha. 

So what's next?  We're going to reprise the LTNY Twitter panel at LegalTech West Coast, June 25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, at 2:15 p.m. Kevin O'Keefe and Matt Homann will be returning, joined by solo Denise Howell (@dhowell) and Baker & Hostetler associate Nina Goldberg (@Ninakat). Do join us. We've already set up a "hash tag"* for the LA show - #LTWC. (The New York panel #LTNY was widely live-Tweeted.)

Well, enough. Gotta go Twitter. I'm still looking for tix to the April 16 home opener at Yankee Stadium, and hoping that my Tweets and Facebook posts will help me find someone who wants to sell 2 tix for under $250. (No bleachers please). Sellers can reach me at monica.bay@incisivemedia.com.

Bodine's watching the store on Monday. I'll be at Camden Yards -- It's Opening Day 2009!!!

Go Yankees!

* a code so others can easily find tweets related to the topic.

KEEPING WOMEN IN BIGLAW

Another good step towards addressing the unacceptable gender pay and promotion gaps in the legal profession that I have been ranting about since the Census figures came out last fall: Our colleagues at The National Law Journal report that 8 law firm leaders and 7 corporate GC met recently to address how both can better support flex-time and part-time policies to advance women at firms. Women make up only 17% of law firm partners, despite graduating from law school in equal numbers, studies show.

Reports Lynne Marek:

[E]ight top firm partners at the March 27 meeting in Chicago suggested that general counsel focus on flex- and part-time policies when hiring firms and deliver praise when they're satisfied with the programs, according to participants.

The seven general counsel want firms to be more transparent in using the programs and less reluctant to implement them, they said. Although attorneys from both sides support the policies, they have misperceptions and differing positions about what's stymieing more use of the programs, said lawyers who attended the meeting.

Corporate clients need to "state openly that it's important," and that will give firm leaders more backing to do the same, said Dickstein Shapiro Chairman Michael Nannes.

The Project for Attorney Retention, an effort started by a pair of women lawyers who contend that the flex- and part-time policies help retain and advance women at firms, initiated the meeting with lawyers they consider leaders in the area. The project, which is funded by its law firm and corporate members, will bring the lawyers together again in June before issuing a best practices report.

Full story here.

Hat tip to the AmLawDaily.

Update: See also this April 4  NLJ story about diversity progress.

IT'S APRIL FOOLS DAY

Kurt Leafstrand and his colleagues at Clearwell had JUST a little bit too much time on their hands yesterday: check out this "launch."   I see Mr. Ball also caught this (below).

Ditto for Google, with "CADIE." Hat tip to Sally Gonzalez.

And Klingon & Porcine Latin review capabilities  have been added to Orange Legal Technologies' portfolio.

And we hear that a BigLaw firm just got Kindle 2s for everybody.