Well, it's been an exciting year here at <i>Marketing the Law Firm</i>. As with past practice, this month's issue will be a look back at the year that was. In this issue we will present February (the January issue recaps part of 2004) through July.

Features

After a rigorous search, which involved input from key firm personnel including our IT director, paralegals, attorneys, senior managing partners, and the Chief Operating Officer, we selected Client Profiles as our case management solution. Since the selection, we have been able to revolutionize the way our users access, share and update information related to all cases and matters; have seen firm-wide adoption of 100%, and are realizing numerous technology-related cost savings and productivity enhancements.

During a recent assignment, we were asked to assist a client in evaluating potential litigation involving conspiracy and fraud claims arising out of a complex multi-party transaction. For the task, the client arranged for us to have access to approximately 35 gigabytes of e-mail data restored from a critical time period. With the equivalent of approximately 2 million pages needing review, we immediately faced two contradictory challenges. First, how to effectively review a large body of data in a short time while keeping staffing tight and costs down. Second, and equally important, how to leverage our existing knowledge of the issues to identify and drill down deep into significant documents, test our legal theories and strengthen the strategic recommendation our client was seeking.

For many firms there are significant advantages to increased scale. Broader geographical coverage and increased expertise enable firms to provide a more complete offering to their large clients, who operate in an increasingly global world. Given the sometimes difficult task of opening new offices and the competition amongst firms for partners, many firms choose to grow through merging.

Features

The term "3G" proclaims the next revolution in wireless technology. It refers to the much-ballyhooed third generation cellular network services, currently available in the United States from Verizon, Sprint and Cingular. But after all the hype, is 3G living up to its broadband promise?

In an important win for plaintiffs in ERISA cases, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the "doctrine of ratification" cannot be used to justify retroactive application of a change to a pension plan if it would have the effect of reducing a worker's accrued benefits.

In Part One, the author provided an overview of what lawyers (and their firms) were doing about retirement planning, including a discussion on firms that do not use unfunded obligations ' The First Camp. Part Two examines firms that use unfunded retirement obligations, and the current trends in partner retirement planning.

Features

I suggest, for the purpose of this brief column, that law firm leaders begin with the end in mind. Once we know where we want to go as leaders, then we can begin to chart a course that may lead us and others to that legacy destination or to one that exceeds our expectations and takes us into uncharted territory.