Last week, the winners were revealed! The College of Law Practice Management’s 2016 InnovAction Awards will be presented to Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP on Sept. 16 during the college’s annual Futures Conference.
The InnovAction Awards recognize lawyers, law firms and other deliverers of legal services for unprecedented business activity. The program, now in its 12th year, seeks to highlight “what can be created when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, are determined to make a difference.”
About the InnovAction Award Winners
This year’s winners are two big firms focused on providing greater predictability, transparency and control to their clients via technology and process management.
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Ogletree Deakins Advantage is a unique service delivery model that leverages technology to streamline the handling of day-to-day legal issues. Initially challenged by an RFP competition, Ogletree responded with a new process — Advantage — that used proprietary technology tools to reduce the average time to resolve a routine legal issue for that particular client from seven to 10 days to less than one hour.
That system is now applicable to other clients. Throughout each engagement, a dedicated Ogletree LPM analyst coordinates the relationship, maintaining responsibility for plans and budgets, status reports, status meetings and an annual review.
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. This global law firm touts more than 7,000 people worldwide, of which more than 3,800 are lawyers and legal staff, in 50-plus offices. Seeking to differentiate themselves by “making life easier for in-house counsel” and adding value using technology, the firm creates custom “Client Innovation Portals.” These portals provide tailored cloud-based access to:
- Custom legal apps
- Legal training, such as an Electronic Compliance Training Program that uses flipbook technology
- Library services offerings, including business intelligence, case law and legislation tracking
- Customized data capture for due diligence and document tracking
- A secure “General Counsel Office” feature to view highly confidential documents in easy-to-read charts
The portals successfully allow law departments to conduct more efficient due diligence data analysis, provide electronic compliance training to their personnel and business partners, and gain better insight into legal fees on an ongoing basis.
Who Says?
The 2016 InnovAction Award judges are Ida Abbott, of Ida Abbott Consulting; Tom Clay, of Altman Weil; Patrick Lamb, of Valorem Law Group; Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, of Astin Tarlton and Attorney at Work; and Tony Williams, of Jomati Consultants LLP.
In addition to these 2016 winners, you can check the InnovAction Awards “Hall of Fame” to read about past winners like Riverview Law, Michigan State’s Reinvent Law Lab, Axiom, Mallesons, Littler Mendelson, Pro Bono Net, Novus Law and DLA.
Attorney at Work is a sponsor of the College of Law Practice Management’s Futures Conference and InnovAction Awards.
