In this roundup: insight into AmLaw 100 web sites, legal marketing moves offshore, the need for project management in e-discovery, and infrastructure: managing e-mail management and smart-cards for security.
Law Firm Marketing
Marketing expert Larry Bodine compares and analyzes two AmLaw 100 web sites in Online Marketing Challenge: Manatt vs. Pillsbury. This is a good article to understand key elements of law firm web sites.
Offshoring
Also from Larry Bodine, Offshoring Threatens Marketing Jobs, a report on law firms offshoring marketing work
E-Discovery
Applying Project Management Techniques to Litigation Discovery in LLRX.com (4/15/06) by Conrad Jacoby is a good explanation of the value of project management discipline in managing discovery projects.
Infrastructure
E-Mail Is Exhibit A in Information Week (May 8, 2006) provides a good overview of technology to manage the ever growing volume of e-mail. For an article in the tech trade press, it has a lot of discussion about records retention and discovery problems. The lead paragraph sets the tone for the article: “Before you click that ‘send’button, ask yourself these questions: Are you able to defend the statements made in that E-mail? Are you willing to do so under oath in court?”
Pentagon Sets the Stage for Advanced Smart-Card Use in eweek magazine (April 17, 2006) reports on the widespread use by the military of “smart cards” for physical and cyber-security. “Embedded in the smart card is technology from ActivIdentity, which formats and provisions the card, delivers PKI certificates, and maintains security. Personnel use the card to log on to their computers, and they can use it to add digital signatures to documents.” I know from my dot-com experience that managing the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is not trivial. With the military paving the way for this robust approach to security, private sector organizations concerned with security may follow suit.