Continuing my series on “quick and dirty” process improvement initiatives that don’t cost anything to implement:
Initiative # 5:  Automated Docket Clearance
Well, I might be stretching the definition of “quick and dirty” here, but I really think that one of the most transformational changes an IP practice can make is to leverage their IP Management system [...]

Continuing my series on “quick and dirty” process improvement initiatives that don’t cost anything to implement:
Initiative # 4:  Review your docket progressions
In my many years of working with IP docket groups, both in-house and in law firms, I’ve observed that there are as many approaches to managing docket progressions as there are IP practices.  Some [...]

 A few weeks back, I posted a commentary on the nature of Ocean Tomo’s IP auction business, and how, like to so many other “Age of Consumption” business models, it was flawed by unsecure underpinnings.  Well, yesterday Ocean Tomo announced the sale of it’s struggling auction business to British brokerage ICAP.  Most notable in The [...]

Continuing my series on “quick and dirty” process improvement initiatives that don’t cost anything to implement:
Initiative # 3:  Automated Correspondence
You might note by the fact that this is my third installment document assembly-based improvements that I think this is a major functional cornerstone for any process improvement initiative.  And again, if you’ve mostly kept up [...]

Continuing my series on “quick and dirty” process improvement initiatives that don’t cost anything to implement:
Initiative #2:  Get a handle on your Forms
Continuing our last discussion on document assembly, few tasks are more important than to review and “certify” all client-facing and official form document formats.  Most firms use a mish-mash of forms cobbled together [...]

Many of my clients have been worrying lately about how to continue to provide excellent customer service, even differentiate their services, in an economy that’s greatly restricted their abilities to embark on process improvement initiatives. I’ve long expressed that “knowledge management” starts in the trenches, and focuses on making small improvements to the daily work [...]

I think it’s time we silenced the self-anointed pundits who’ve been heralding the direction of the legal profession for so many unchallenged years.  For much of the nineties and the pre-recessionary years of this decade, I’ve listened to managing partners and management consultants talk about the inevitability of consolidation in the legal profession.  As the [...]

The current economic crisis has touched law firms more in broader terms than any other economic cycle in recent history.  In a profession noted for being largely immune to economic downtowns, it’s interesting to note that the large general practice firms, those ostensibly best positioned to weather a storm because of the diversified nature of [...]

Our friends at IP Law & Business recently posted about Ocean Tomo’s Spring Auction in San Francisco.  Ocean Tomo has created the market for IP auctions, and their past success raised both eyebrows and new questions about how we value ideas. More so for me, I’ve always felt that this new market challenged the notion [...]

The topic of IP file transfers has hit a fever pitch in many corners of our profession.  Every firm I talk to these days is struggling with the issue.  And make no mistake: the volume and complexity of IP file transfers has grown geometrically in just a couple of short years.  Perhaps we’ll tackle why [...]