Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Law Firm Partnership & Benefits ReportKickerFeaturesTopicsLaw Firm ManagementSectionsNewsLJN Newsletters

The Maturation of Competitive Intelligence in Law Firms

By Rod Osborne
August 01, 2016

When I was a young lawyer ' and all I ever was as a lawyer was young , having run screaming from the practice, if not the profession, as a fifth-year associate ' I was given a project that didn't have a proper name at the time, but today would fall under the loose heading of “competitive intelligence.” This was many years before that term was commonly used in the legal industry, way back before the Internet came along and kicked over all the tables. I was asked by a partner I often worked for to find out all I could about a client's rival company, which was then represented by a rival law firm in town, one with which we had somewhat friendly but also highly competitive relations. That both our client and the target of my inquiry were greyhound dog racing tracks, populated by Runyonesque characters who proudly referred to themselves as “Dog Men,” probably says more than I'd like to admit about how I was tracking as an associate at a firm that otherwise specialized in corporate tax and mutual fund work.

In any event, I set off to find out all I could about that rival dog track. God knows what I dug out of the law library ' maybe racing commission filings and whatever I could glean from available dog track trade publications, if such a source even existed. Lexis-Nexis did exist in some primitive form at the time, so maybe I found something buried in there. I really don't recall any specifics, except that my cloak-and-dagger investigation came to very little and the project was promptly shelved.

This premium content is locked for LJN Newsletters subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.

The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs Image

The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.

Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations Image

This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.

Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Compliance Officers: Recent Regulatory Guidance and Enforcement Actions and Mitigating the Risk of Personal Liability Image

This article explores legal developments over the past year that may impact compliance officer personal liability.