Top 10 #BusinessofLaw Posts You Might Have Missed in August

August – a traditionally slow time of year – proved a pretty incredible month for the Business of Law Blog. In reviewing the data for this month’s Top 10 post, readership and engagement has spiked substantially – so thank you!

Several projects launched filled these pages with data, tips and stories including the latest Enterprise Legal Management Trends Report, a new survey of small law firm billing challenges, and updates and session summaries from the 2014 ILTA Conference in Nashville all drew interest.  Here are the most read blog posts for August 2014:

1. What are the Going Law Firm Rates by Practice Area?
Gleaning insights from more than $15 billion in U.S. legal spending, this post provides a complex (but data rich) chart on the going rates by practice area. It’s a useful benchmark for corporate legal departments and law firms alike to understand the going rates in order to stay competitive on both sides of the table.

2. Legal Tech: How Safe is it to Hit Send?
It seems there isn’t a day when IT security doesn’t make headlines. This post identifies six risks law firms should know and three ways to help protect a law firm. There’s also a link to a solid white paper on the topic.

3. Law Firm Billing Survey:  Collections Conversations Leave Lawyers Uncomfortable
Though this survey was published just prior to Labor Day weekend, it easily climbed to one of the most read posts before the month was done.  We observed there just isn’t a lot of data on small law billing practices and so that was one of the many reasons we conducted the survey.

4. ELM Trends:  Corporate Legal Continues Law Firm Consolidation
The was second in an ongoing benchmarking project on corporate legal spending stemming from big data running through the LexisNexis® CounselLink® system. It’s important to note this report and the data that drives is not the result of a survey or opinions, but the facts based on a sizable sample of law firm invoices that have been paid.

5. The Post #ILTA14 Guide to Stats, Facts, Quotes and Quips
An interesting collection of facts and figures published on the Twitter stream at the 2014 ILTA Conference.  And yes, we included a few quips for the sake of humor.

6. ILTA Keynote Summary:  Disruptive Technologies and Abundance
This post summarizes the first key note address given at ITLA 2014 – which was a remarkable address.  We did hear a few skeptical voices – that the material was grandiose and not realistic for an industry as conservative as legal – but overall it was well presented and well-received.

7. YouTube Friday:  LexisNexis takes the Ice Bucket Challenge
The ALS Ice Bucket challenge has simply been remarkable:  2.4 million videos on Facebook, 3.7 million on Instagram, 28 million engaged people and nearly $100 million raised according to the BBC. This was our contribution and here’s a video collection from law firms that participated, compiled by the Legal Times.

8. 9 Creative CRM Tips for Getting Lawyers to Share Data
CRM in law firms can be summed up in two words: user adoption.  Here’s a list of tips for driving user adoption from a cast of characters in the trenches – from the 2014 ILTA conference.

9. The New and Evolving Legal Department Operations Role
Good ideas never get far without execution and occasional author Mike Haysley dives into new operational roles for the corporate law department.

10. 4 Stories of Stealth: Getting Law Firm Projects Done
This post summarizes another ILTA conference session with a handful of vignettes on “selling” IT projects internally, standardizing vendor processes and making the most of change management.

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As we’ve closed all of these top 10 posts, we’re always on the lookout for ideas on legal technology, law firm management and the business of law.  If you’ve got a study, survey or strong point of view, please feel free to drop us an email.

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Top 10 #BusinessofLaw Posts You Might have Missed in July