Year: 2009
Beyond collaboration
In his groundbreaking book The End of Lawyers?, law professor and futurist Richard Susskind discusses ten types of “disruptive legal technologies” that will shred the existing business models of most law practices. One of those forces is “closed client communities” that draw upon their members’ collective wisdom in legal matters to produce a knowledge database […]
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CaseCheck sans borders
CaseCheck is a Web 2.0 service providing an extensive collection of case summaries. Initially focussed on Scots law, it has now substantially expanded its coverage and extended its borders with the addition of over 4,000 case summaries from England, Wales and the EU from the archives of Law Brief Update. Law Brief Update is a […]
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Why should lawyers blog?
One of the most marked developments heralded in by Web 2.0 technology has been the rapid blossoming in popularity of the blog – the abbreviation of weblog, a web-based journal – as a means of communication. You’ll no doubt be familiar with the concept and you may well have a few among your bookmarks, but […]
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Words fit for purpose
The question of the fitness for purpose of words is especially important in the communications of professional firms. In this article, I will be outlining how to make sure the words you use are fit for purpose. The first question to ask is, “What exactly are we trying to achieve?” Being clear about that is […]
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Planning an email campaign
In the last issue we looked at how to go about building up a database of email addresses, how to capture suitable contact details from existing clients and contacts, and what external email lists can be purchased. We also covered the basic rules for who you can and cannot email. In this article, we look […]
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Inksters innovations
Inksters is based in Glasgow but carries out legal work throughout Scotland and in particular in Shetland where I come from. I am a sole practitioner with an associate, a trainee solicitor (with another about to join us) and three support staff. Although a small practice, we have embraced web-based technology with enthusiasm. The Telegraph […]
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Sweet & Maxwell’s new web presence
As the first part of the process of redesigning our new-look website (www.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk) we embarked on a customer research and usability study to understand exactly what our customers wanted from our site as a channel for purchasing publications (books, journals, looseleafs and CDs), sourcing useful information about these (eg checklists and filing instructions) and finding […]
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Voice recognition in practice
I had first thought about getting voice recognition software as long ago as 1996, and while I had been impressed by the wizardry, I had not been impressed by the functionality. Having kept an eye on the reviews since then, particularly those that appeared in PC Pro (in my experience it provides a balanced and […]
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Getting to grips with digital dictation
Digital dictation technology has been with us for nearly 15 years and we have seen a steady progression from cassette-based recorders to MP3 devices. It is surprising, however, that the uptake of the technology was so slow in the early years. Indeed, even now, dictation equipment suppliers say that there is a significant proportion of […]
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E-marketing for barristers – Part 2
The first part of our practical guide to e-marketing for the Bar, in the January/February issue, explained how to breathe new life into your website and underlined the importance of regularly updated news content. Suggestions were made for maximising the effectiveness of marketing e-mails, e-zines and bulletins. However, a chambers’ e-marketing should extend far beyond […]
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How to build an effective email list
Many firms are already convinced of the benefits of email marketing but they struggle to get the programme off the ground due to lack of email data. The aim should be to build a database of clients, contacts and prospects that genuinely welcome hearing from us. With anyone else we are wasting time and money, […]
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SaaS for lawyers
Software as a Service (SaaS) has been with us for several years with hosted applications that deliver information to lawyers. In the examples below, we show how much further this has moved, with law firms using a variety of software services via the internet from simple applications to the whole of their IT systems. Adoption […]
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