Welcome to the latest issue of the Legal IT Insider newsletter (July/August 2015 #285)
• You can download the digital edition (it is a 2.7 Mb PDF file) FREE of charge HERE
TOP STORIES INCLUDE:
• Something looks different?
Yes, the newsletter does look a little different this time, we’re in the middle of a redesign and a change of production methods but don’t worry, the Rag’s orange colour is sacrosanct!
• Coca-Cola tech transformation plan
Coke’s European inhouse legal team has drawn up an ambitious 5-year IT strategy in conjunction with Jomati consultants to allow the team to do more for less.
• DLA Piper rolls out “Twitter for Enterprise”
We look at DLA’s plans for its Grapevine collaborative platform that could be a successor to email – and we look at some of the alternatives, including Slack, HipChat and ThreadKM.
• The Boys are Back in Town – iManage completes its MBO
It’s been a long time but Team iManage are once more independent after spending the last decade as parts of, first Interwoven, then Autonomy, and finally HP. We report on their plans – and the industry’s enthusiastic reception.
• Howard Kennedy unveils new roadmap
With Clive Knott now heading up IT and Maria Allo-Fernandez as business project manager, Caroline Hill reports on the firm’s 3-year technology roadmap, including its plans for Elite Mattersphere and continued commitment to Elite Enterprise.
• Shifting Sands: What it takes to be a successful IT director in a changing legal world
We have a summary of our major feature on the changing face of legal IT leadership within modern law firms with comments by Matt Peers at Linklaters, Andrew Pollick at DLA Piper, Colin Smith at Pinsent Masons, Nathan Hayes at Osborne Clarke among others plus plenty of war stories that leave you wondering how some law firms ever progressed past typewriters. You can read the full feature HERE
• Flurry of consolidation & investment in Legal Tech sector
It is not just iManage that has been active in the financial sector this month, we have a run-down of all the other deals, including Chrome River securing $100 million in Series D funding.
• Elite bounces back
This is the month Elite bounces back with an order for 3E from “Magic Circle” firm Freshfields + Cooper Grace Ward in Australia upgrading from Enterprise to 3E + the first Mattersphere win Canada + a Lexis Axxia swapout in the UK with Morton Fraser switching to 3E.
• Who’s in and Who’s out
And of course we have all the latest wins and deals from around the UK, American, APAC and EMEA legal markets, including swings and roundabouts for LexisNexis in the UK as Peppermint takes another Lexis Axxia site but VWV switches from its legacy software to the new LexisOne system.
• People & Places
We’ve got Wilson Legal opening a new office in Florida and the UK’s DPS opening in Sri Lanka; we’ve got Andrea Foot moving into a new role with Tikit in Australia, Mike Sussong moving in to an NYC tech PR agency, and digital forensics expert Paul Slater joining Nuix, plus much more.
• And finally… a War Story
This month’s best war story comes from now retired Linklaters CIO Sue Hall who recalls her time as IT director at Baker & McKenzie and attempting to persuade one local managing partner to spend £300 on a fire safe to protect the firm’s tapes just after he had blown his budget by spending £17,000 on a new table for the conference room.
Our next issue will be out on Wednesday 30 September 2015.
Click here to subscribe and see the full archive