DEADLINE 8/31 TO NOMINATE VENDORS

Rust never sleeps: Just a reminder that you have until Monday to nominate your company for the 2009 LTN Vendor Awards  -- selected by the readers of Law Technology News!

To refresh your memory: Here’s how it works:

There are three  food groups: 1) Vendor Awards, 2) Law Firm & Legal Department Awards, and 3) a brand new category, Lifetime Achievement Award.

Law Technology News subscribers vote for the Vendor Awards; an independent jury of three members of LTN’s editorial advisory board select the LF/LD awards, and I will pick the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement accolade, who will be chosen from our wonderful legal technology community. 

To win a vendor or LF/LD award, the organization or person must be nominated. It’s a very, very, easy process — just download the form and return it to us — by 8/31/09 for vendor categories, and by 11/6/09 for LF/LD nominations.

You can also use the LF/LD form to nominate a candidate for the Lifetime Achievement award (limited to age 55+), but in that category, unlike the lottery, you can win even if you are not nominated. (I welcome all suggestions!) 

Got questions? Contact Kevin Iredell or Nabia Jenkins-Johnston or  visit our website www.lawtechnologynews.com/awards.

#ILTA09 TECH TURB PANELISTS ON LEGAL CURRENT

Kudos to Angie Schaffer and her team at West for a terrific job condensing the wisdom of Monday's speakers on our Tech Turbulence panel into a tight video.

Catch it here on West's Legal Current blog.

#ILTA09 TECH PURCHASING SURVEY

2009 ILTA Survey:  InsideLegal and ILTA have released the 2009 Technology Purchasing Survey, which targets law firms with more than 50 attorneys. Produced in cooperation with InsideLegal.com, the 40 question web-based survey was distributed to 730 firms, and yielded 115 responses, says JoAnna Forshee.

Among key results, the most popular tech implementations for 2008 were network and server upgrades. Budget cuts for 2009 were severe --  only 15% of survey participants spent more than 4% of total firm revenue on technology -- compared to 28% in 2008.

Virtualization -- virtual desktops and data center/backup virtualization -- is by far the hottest trend, the survey found.

And we were happy to see that both Law Technology News and The Common Scold blog continue to draw strong support from the ITLA crowd, with LTN coming in fourth in popularity behind ILTA's own publications (Peer to Peer quarterly magazine and ILTA white papers) and CIO magazine!
For more information visit www.insidelegal.com.

#ILTA09 WHY I LOVE IT LEADERS

So I'm chatting up a couple of my favorite CT Summation dudes, Tom Rump and Bob Hopen, and whining about how I could not believe that I fell asleep in the middle of Letterman and missed the Mark Texeira segment.

"Oh Monica, it's probably already on YouTube," they said.

Sure enough, it is!

#ILTA09 MORE FROM LESS

Monday morning, at the ILTA keynote address, Tom Koulpoulos of the Delphi Group started off the thinking with "Innovating More with Less," which was a bit long but very engaging. Koulpoulos argued that the three major constitutencies (Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y) approach technology through very different eyes. A key point: much innovation has occurred during tough economic news. That's good news, for sure!

Because I do a lot of public speaking, I always listen with two agendas -- one, to learn from the speaker about the subject matter; second to see if there are any kewl thangs I can steal adopt when I speak. I definitely robbed my "please turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself" tactic from a prior person at the podium (I think it was Keith Ferrazzi at Silvia Coulter's RainDance marketing event) but Koulpoulos took it to a new (and insulin-inducing) level when he insisted that we hug our neighbor. Waaaay too kumbaya for me, thank you very much. (Fortunately, I got to hug a very nice and handsome dude, so it wasn't all bad :)

Another thing I notice about speakers is whether or not they take the time to truly tailor their presentation to the audience. That means, at a minimum, going to the organization's website and learning a bit about them. I was so impressed a few years back when ILTA brought Jim Lovell (the Apollo 13 astronaut) and he did exactly that. Since his talk, I always follow one of the "take-aways" from his presentation -- I keep duct tape within close reach at all times. 

My attitude is if I walk away with 1 good idea from a speech it's worth the fidget time of sitting for an hour. Koulpoulos got a solid base hit. But he coulda hit a grand slam -- with just a bit more homework.

#ILTA09 IN TURBULENT TIMES

Numbers Count: ITLA executive director Randi Mayes kicked off the keynote address at ILTA at the Gaylord National Hotel near Washington, D.C., with the relatively-happy news that despite firm travel cuts about 850 members were at the five-day conference.

Later in the day, program manager Peggy Weschler, speaking to the vendors at the ILTA/InsideLegal vendor educational meeting, told the group that there were about 1,400 vendors and consultants in attendance -- which presents a dilemma for the ILTA management team, because they try to keep the members/vendors-consultants ratio at 50/50 to make sure the event maintains its character as a primarily educational event.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the first line item that firms will cut is travel for their support staff, no matter how superb the educational programs are, and how much bang for the buck they deliver. A short-sighted move, of course, but we won't go there.

Weschler firmly cautioned the vendors not to stalk members and pounce on them in efforts to sell their products, acknowledging that these difficult times are hard on the vendors as well as the firms. She predicted that next year, membership attendance would also be down, and sent a strong message that if the vendors abused the privilege of their ratio this year, that next year, the number of available booth slots would be cut back.

She also asked everyone to be cognizant that while a top agenda of ILTA is to provide peer-to-peer networking opptys, that it is the educational component to gets the law firms to approve the travel requests. Her message,  in essence, think twice before you post that picture of your favorite IT director networking after midnight with a glass in hand.

The vendor sessions also addressed the challenges faced by the providers, and included not only a media panel (thank you, JoAnna, for inviting me again), as well as a panel on how vendors can sell effectively to the ILTA crowd.

But just as theme of the keynote (see next post) was "Get More from Less," I personally found the reduced attendance had some unexpected positives (I think ILTA drew about 1,200 members last year, I don't remember Peggy's exact figure). This year, it  feels a little less crowded than Disneyland on a hot, humid Saturday July morning, and that's a good thing.

#ILTA09 HEADING TO D.C.

Heading to Washington, D.C. for #ILTA09, hope to see many of you there. Tomorrow (Monday) I'll be moderating a terrific panel on "tech turbulence" with George Rudoy (Shearman & Sterling), James McKenna, (Morrison & Foerster), and John Roman (Nixon Peabody). At 1 p.m., Woodrow Wilson Room B. We'll be discussing how IT leaders can help their firms survive and thrive in these difficult economic times, while at the same time protecting their teams, their careers -- and adopting "green" protocols.

Following that, I'll be participating in InsideLegal's media panel, organized by JoAnna Forshee and her team.

LTN's associate editor Theodora Blanchfield and I will attending seminars, doing media briefings (sorry, we are completely full and can't take any more reservations), and hope to have some time to wander the exhibit hall show floor. Hope to see you there!

SWEEP

Thursday: NYY 13, Bos 6

Friday: NYY 2, Bos 0
15 innings, 5 hours, 33 min. (I was there for every pitch.)

Saturday: NYY 5, Bos 0

Sunday: NYY 5, Bos 2

STRANGE TIMES: 2009 SOCHA GELBMANN REPORT

In their annual exclusive report for Law Technology News, consultants George Socha & Tom Gelbmann do away with their traditional vendor rankings and instead offer analysis of a turbulent e-discovery year.

Among their conclusions: a seemingly contradictory trend, the simultaneous constriction and expansion of e-discovery services; and a continuing shortfall in qualified EDD staff attorneys, paralegals and litigation support IT staff. 

Read it here.