Sookie Williams at the Daily Business Review has worked for the DBR for almost 39 years. Recently she was honored by History Miami as a "Legal Legend". Here's what the DBR's publisher, Chris Mobley, had to say about this honor: "Sookie Williams, the DBR's vice president of Miami-Dade legal & court relations, was named a Legal Legend by HistoryMiami's 11th Judicial Circuit Historical Society (see attached). In introducing Sookie, the MC said: "Our next honoree has graced the corridors of the Daily Business Review for let's just say quite some time. She created the newspaper's Court Pages, ensuring up-to-date court directories, emergency judge contact information and bench and bar notices are published daily. She serves as a liaison with the...
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This is National Celebrate Pro Bono Week, an opportunity for the legal profession to reflect on the work it does for those who cannot afford legal representation. For the past several years, lawyers around the country have taken the opportunity during this week to reflect on what Pro Bono has meant to them, and why efforts to support and expand Pro Bono programs are so important. This year, our own Fabio Bertoni contributed a piece to the effort, and I think it is well worth a read: "The Feeling Was Tremendous"....
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On Monday I sent out my annual note to the staff about Health Benefits for the coming year. It is, without any question, my least favorite note of the year -- it invariably involves cutbacks, changes and/or additional expense for staff members. And that was certainly true this year as our insurance provider, in this case Cigna, tried once again to foist outrageous cost increases on to the company and, in turn, on to our employees. As always, we pushed back and negotiated fiercely, but also made changes to the plans in order to keep both company and employee cost increases as low as possible. At a total cost of some $6 million per year (71% paid for by the...
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Colleen McGushin, editor-in-chief of Texas Lawyer, sends some good news: "Congratulations to Texas Lawyer Austin reporter Angela Morris who won a Dallas Bar Association Philbin Award today in the Electronic Media Category for her online article titled "E-mails Reveal Wrangling in TYLA Election." Way to go, Angela! ...
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Tomorrow our Chief European Correspondent, Chris Johnson, will depart from his home in London to begin a grueling 5-day bike ride from Switzerland to Italy and back again, most of it off-road. And a lot of it uphill. With 20 lbs. of gear on his back. And he's doing it for a charity called Self Help Africa, an organization that funds and implements long-term rural development projects throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This is not the first time that Chris has embarked on a great adventure in order to support a worthwhile charity. As he related recently in the AmLaw Daily, a few years ago he rapelled down the side of Hogan Lovells' London headquarters in order to benefit an organization that works to...
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I recently asked our CTO, Jeff Whittle, to summarize all the different changes he's been making in the structure of our Technology Department. Here's what he recently shared with the senior management team: The Technology organization has evolved from Digital Media and IT to four groups: Digital Media, Enterprise Systems, Customer Products, and Architecture / Infrastructure. The people leading these groups are: · Jill Windwer - VP, Digital Media Group · Jeff Whittle - acting lead, Customer Products · Gene Bishop - VP, Enterprise Systems · Shirley Chang - VP, Architecture / Infrastructure Jill's role is essentially unchanged but she has also picked up some projects that fit into Customer Products, such as CLE. She continues to lead the...
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A few weeks ago I noted three questions which could be asked of a CEO in trying to learn more about, and build a relationship with, a company. And then I decided to try and answer those questions for myself. The first two questions were answered in early postings...here was the third question: "What keeps you up at night?" First I'll tell you what doesn't keep me up at night -- our ability to create great content and use that content to create great products. I am more and more convinced of the quality of our content and its value in the marketplace. And I think we have come a very long way in our deployment of new technology...
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Cathy Christino, our VP/Marketing, has been reorganizing the Corporate Marketing Department in order to better manage the marketing for all those brands and products which her group supports. Yesterday she put out a memo explaining those changes and announcing several promotions. We're blessed to have a very talented group in the marketing department, and I hope you will join me in congratulating those mentioned below on their new assignments. Here's Cathy's memo: "In effort to streamline and better focus marketing functions and align specific marketers with brands, I am pleased to announce the following changes to the corporate marketing department:Lauren Weiner has been promoted to Senior Integrated Marketing Manager, National Brands. Lauren will be handling 360° ad sales marketing (print, digital, events)...
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In my last post, I shared three questions that a salesperson might ask a CEO if they were trying to get more information about a potential client and begin to build a relationship. And I provided my answer to the first of those questions. So that leaves me with two more to answer. The second question on my list was: "All CEOs are looking to transform their businesses in one way or another. In what ways do you expect your company to be transformed in the next 3-5 years?" ALM is in the midst of a transformation, from a traditional print-based media company to a digital provider of news and information solutions with significant growth coming from new products, tools and...
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A few days ago I received a note from a former sales rep now working for a software company. Part of his job involves calling on company CEOs in order to build a relationship for his company. He asked me for some questions he could ask CEOs which would both show his interest in their business plus gain him information which could be used in tailoring his sales approach. Here were my three suggestions: 1. What are your company's key strengths? 2. All CEOs are looking to transform their businesses in one way or another. In what ways do you expect your company to be transformed in the next 3-5 years? 3. What keeps you up at night? ...
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We received some terrific news last week on the Public Notice front -- the Daily Report in Atlanta was re-designated as the official legal organ for Fulton County, GA (the county in which Atlanta sits). Blair Matthews, the Daily Report's publisher, sent me a great summary of what re-designation means, why it is important, and the incredible process he and his staff followed in order to secure our selection. I thought others would enjoy reading it as well: As you know we recently received the news that we were selected as the legal organ for Fulton County. It is the strength of our brand, our outstanding service to legal notice customers, our relationships with the members of the Selection...
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Last week in my Staff Note about our organization structure, I noted a couple of open positions in the "Information Solutions" group that I was planning on filling. Today I'm pleased to report that Kevin Iredell, who many of you will remember, will be returning to ALM on August 22nd as our new Vice President, Research and Continuing Education Products. Prior to leaving us in the spring, Kevin had served for a short while as our VP, Marketing and prior to that led the development of ALM Legal Intelligence. He first came to ALM in 2006 from LexisNexis/Martindale-Hubbell, where he had been Director of Marketing and Client Development. In his new role, Kevin will oversee the expansion of our online...
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Jeff Whittle, our SVP, Chief Technology Officer, has announced several promotions and an important new hire in his group. Here's his note: I am pleased to announce three promotions and a new hire. Wayne Freinhar has been promoted from Business Analyst to Project Manager. Wayne started at ALM in 2009 working on Smart Litigator NY. He quickly learned the product and helped us track, test and go live with the product. Wayne also added valuable support to the License content delivery, Content Standardization, and Oracle-CRM initiatives. Wayne demonstrated the skills and got the training necessary to move to this position, and I expect to see Wayne further enhance his project management skills now that he is doing this roll...
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More results have come in from the annual competition hosted by the American Society of Business Publication Editors. The American Lawyer won three Gold Awards and two Silvers. Feature Article - Design Gold Award for "The New Normal". Joan Ferrell, Design Director, Jay Dea, Designer, Fredrik Broden, Photographer, Robin Sparkman, Editor, Claire Zillman, Author Feature Article - Design Silver Award for "The Am Law 100: A Periodic Table". Joan Ferrell, Design Director, Martin Refsal, Designer, Aric Press, Editor Opening Page/Spread - Computer Generated Gold Award for "Apocalypse Now". Joan Ferrell, Design Director, Jay Dea, Art Director, Paul Braverman, Editor, Sean McCabe, Illustrator Feature Article Silver Award for "Road Trip", Julie Triedman Feature...
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Last month I shared the long list of nominations received by our national publications in the annual awards given out by the American Society of Business Publication Editors (here). Some of those nominations are in ASBPE's national competition, while others were in the Northeast Regional category. The final results for the Northeast Region are starting to come in -- and so far, so good. Law Technology News has received its first ever award for digital reporting -- a Bronze Tabbi for Monica Bay's report from the "Green Matters" conference in New Orleans, which focused on the intersection of legal, government and corporate forces with regard to global warming. LTN also won two Silver awards -- one for the magazine's EDD Showcase (special...
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In a week when we are saying goodbye to two pillars of the ALM community, it's refreshing to see a beloved former staff member return to us. Yesterday we welcomed Amy Singer back to our NY newsroom. Amy was a 20-year reporter and editor with The American Lawyer who left us five years ago to explore other career options. During her time away, she has been an editor at Business Week, a professor at Columbia Journalism School and, most recently, a founding editor at Thomson Reuters' legal news initiative. I am delighted that she is back. Amy joins us in a new role, Director of Editorial Strategy and Development, reporting to Aric Press. We have asked Amy to focus on working across the...
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The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) has announced the finalists in its annual awards program, and ALM's national newsroom journalists have once again done magnificently. Here are our nominees, as reported by Aric Press: "In alphabetical order, Corporate Counsel was nominated for four awards, Law Technology News for three, The American Lawyer for seven and The National Law Journal for ten. Congratulations to all. The winners will be announced over the summer. Because nothing is simple, there are two contests here in which we competed: one national and one for the Northeast region. The nominees are broken down by category and contest. Here they are: Corporate Counsel: 1. Best Feature, regional contest, David Hechler's profile of...
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I just counted almost 40 open positions posted on ALM InHouse, covering most of our departments. And while most are NY-based positions, many are in our regional offices as well. Some are replacements for folks who have left, but a number are brand new jobs being created to support new products or departments which are expanding to meet our growing needs. For those looking for opportunities to grow your career with ALM -- here's your chance. And for those looking to earn a few bucks for helping us fill our openings by bringing in friends with talent -- go to it! Listings can be found here: http://inhouse.alm.com/upload/images/hr-benefits/hr/vacantjobsoninhouse.pdf...
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Hank Grezlak, editor-in-chief of our Pennsylvania and Delaware publications, wrote to tell me that his team has done well in this year's Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Keystone Press Awards. "The Legal took home two prizes. Leo Strupczewski, my co-writer on all the Luzerne investigative reporting, won first prize for beat reporting for his coverage of the state's courts and his investigative journalism. And the Legal Intelligencer won honorable mention for best niche publication, the first time we've won anything in that category. That one in particular was nice because it was really a staff award, and the issues we submitted were the Tuesday Legal Intelligencer/Pennsylvania Law Weekly combo issues, so it's a real reflection of how well that merger has gone from...
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Now that our new multi-year licensing deal with LexisNexis has been announced (it will take effect on May 1st), we need to collectively review what it means. Here are three quick thoughts: 1. Our content is extremely valuable. All of the companies who submitted bids on licensing some or all of our content, as well as those who didn't bid but expressed interest, made clear to us the value they saw in our content. Not just our regular news content and surveys -- although that certainly attracted a great deal of attention -- but also the substantive legal information we publish, including decision summaries, verdicts, expert practitioner columns in our newspapers and magazines, judicial profiles, treatise materials, expert witness resumes...
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This quarter our Core Values Awards recognize ten colleagues from around the country, people who are really delivering on behalf of our customers. I hope you will join me in congratulating and thanking each of our award recipients for the terrific work they are doing. 1. Derrick Barnes Art Assistant, Daily Report, Atlanta Derrick was nominated by his manager for demonstrating the core values during our ongoing transition into the digital world. In addition to Derrick's print responsibilities he has embraced numerous new digital responsibilities focusing on production, efficiency, and creativity. Derrick handles most of the advertising production, quality control and classifieds for the Daily Report. On top of his increased workload he now also creates almost all of...
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Just returned from the annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards Luncheon. We went in with 18 Finalists from across many of our publications and websites. We left with 5 Winners, and here they are: 1. The Editorial Staff of The National Law Journal -- in the category "Best Subject-Related Series of Articles" -- for "The Legal Fight Over Same-Sex Marriage". 2. The Recorder (Scott Graham, Greg Mitchell and Zusha Elinson) -- in the category "Best Profile" -- for "Gruff Around the Edges". 3. The Editorial Staff of americanlawyer.com -- in the category "Best Single Issue of a Magazine (Print or Digital)" -- for the October 2010 issue. 4. The Editorial Staff of Texas Lawyer -- in the category "Best...
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As if there wasn't enough going on last week with LegalTech, the launch of the upgraded NY Litigator, and the introduction of several new products around the company, we also received word of a record-breaking number of nominees for the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards. The Neals are our industry's most prestigious journalism awards, and represent a judgment about the quality and impact of the work being done by our reporters, editors and designers. In recent years there has been a real push to broaden the awards from traditional print journalism to websites and other e-media. This year ALM can boast 18 finalists in 9 editorial categories. Winners will be announced at a luncheon in NY City on...
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The other day I was sitting with the heads of a number of B2B media businesses, and we discovered that we are all having the same problem. Notwithstanding the country's 9%+ unemployment rate and all the talk about unemployed and underemployed professionals, we all have open jobs that have proven stubbornly difficult to fill. In the case of ALM, we routinely now have 25 open jobs at any given moment -- for reporters and editors, salespeople and marketers, technical positions, support staff and others. Many of our open jobs are based in the NY offices, but by no means all. They are good jobs offering both competitive pay and benefits. And while plenty of people apply, we still have trouble finding the right mix...
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Over the last few days our IT Department has moved this blog from a server in London (where it originated under the auspices of our friends at Incisive Media) to a server in NY. Although some tweaks have been made to the interface, I'm hoping you won't see much difference. The new address is: http://blogs.alm.com/billsblog/, though I am assured that the old address will redirect to the new site. If you use an RSS reader to let you know when something new has been posted, you may want to update this address. My thanks to Gene Bishop, Joseff Betancourt and Mendy Overmyer for working their magic and ensuring a smooth transition. If you see any bugs in the new site,...
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I was interviewed recently by a columnist at MIN Magazine for a column she was writing about the impact of the print-to-digital transformation on staffing. She wanted to know what kinds of positions we were creating and how the move to digital-first publishing was impacting current job descriptions. In a nutshell, what I told her was that I think our transformation will impact virtually every position in our company. How we do our work, what our priorities are, the kinds of skills that will be needed -- I can't think of very many positions that won't be impacted. For most people that transformation should be energizing, particularly the opportunity to look at how we do our work and learning how to use new...
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This week we welcomed another new member to our management team -- Nigel Holloway, our new VP Research. Here's Aric's announcement about Nigel's arrival: Folks, I am very pleased to announce the arrival of Nigel Holloway, ALM's new vice president of research. Nigel joins us from the Economist Intelligence Unit where he was Chief Editorial Strategist, Americas. Nigel will lead our newly combined research department, which brings together the very skillful editorial research and ALM Legal Intelligence teams. Nigel comes to us from one of the world's leading business research units. He will be taking the lead in developing our digital research products, extending our use of online information sources, and helping us integrate our data and newsgathering operations.Nigel...
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This week we welcome Jeff Whittle to ALM as our Senior Vice President/Chief Technology and Digital Products Officer. He is based at our 120 Broadway office on the 6th floor, and will be responsible for our IT and Digital Media Groups. More importantly, Jeff will be heavily engaged with the development of new digital products, which are such an important part of our future. Jeff brings a great deal of experience in the technology and new products realms. He spent several years at LexisNexis as SVP/Global Product Development and Global Product Officer, giving him a strong understanding of the legal information marketplace. He has also held senior technology positions at ShopperTrak and IMS Health, and was the chief information officer at The Boston Consulting Group. In...
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One of my New Year's resolutions is to work with our HR team to find ways to reduce our future healthcare insurance costs. For 2011, ALM's total healthcare insurance cost increase came in at 9%, which is right in line with what other companies of our size are experiencing, and better than many. But it is absurd to think that we can afford 9% cost increases at a time when our revenues are projected to rise by only 5 or 6%. And that 9% cost increase doesn't just impact the company's bottom-line -- it also effects every employee who joins our health plans and pays their share of the insurance through payroll deductions. One of the biggest drivers of our insurance...
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Last month Gartner Research analysts identified ten key ways in which the nature of work -- and how we all work together -- will be changing over the next several years. They focused on things like the importance of informal networks, the differences between the way "routine" work will be handled vs. "non-routine" work, and the shift toward "perpetual beta testing" vs. waiting to launch only fully complete products. The full list can be found here and I think it's worth a look: http://bit.ly/bQSU3J Yesterday I posted my thoughts on the nature of transformation at ALM -- the ways in which we are moving from a traditional print-based publisher to a digital-first media and information provider. It occurs to me...
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Lately I've been thinking alot about the transformation in ALM's business from an old-fashioned print publisher of newspapers, magazines, books, newsletters, etc., into a digitally-focused media company. We've been moving in that direction for several years, but as I look back at 2010, it seems to me that we may have reached the "tipping point" -- the place where the old business model began to more visibly give way to the new. Here's my list of ways in which ALM is being transformed -- and I'd love it if you could add more. 1. The Re-Invention of the Daily Newspaper -- First observed this past May when The Recorder in San Francisco switched from daily newspaper publication to weekly, with...
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Several of our executives are going to be taking on new assignments as of January 1st. Here's what we are doing and why. 1. The New York Law Journal is one of our largest divisions. It has thrived under George Dillehay's leadership over the last 11 years, moving beyond traditional print to encompass two important websites, numerous events, and extremely strong relationships with both the bench and the bar. Working with our inspirational editor-in-chief, Kris Fischer, George has strengthened the Law Journal's franchise and put us in a position to capitalize on its reputation for quality, enabling the launch of new products under the Law Journal's umbrella like the recently announced Smart Litigator. George has also taken on other responsibilities...
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1 Four staff members were awarded Core Values Awards for the Fall 2010 Awards. I hope you will join me in congratulating our four winners. 1. Robert Gross, Web Cast Producer, Events, New York Robert received two nominations for consistently demonstrating the Core Values. In particular he has demonstrated the Core Values of innovation and quality. His team launched a webinar product that required customers to deliver a long list of various ad materials and content, and to participate in a series of planning and execution conference calls. For most clients this had the potential of being an overwhelming process that could strain the business relationship. To address this issue Robert designed and compiled a "Webinar Handbook" that is customized...
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Pat France, our VP Marketing for the past 4+ years, informed me yesterday that she will be leaving ALM. I am sure that those who worked with Pat over these years will want to join me in wishing her well. Being in charge of marketing at ALM is not an easy job, and these past few years have been particularly tricky. For one thing, we went through not one but two rebranding efforts (from ALM to Incisive and then back to ALM), big projects with lots of details associated with them. More importantly, our traditional approach to corporate branding has been tricky - we put more weight behind our product/market-facing brands (e.g. NY Law Journal or The American Lawyer) than...
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There have been several announcements in recent days concerning changes in the way in which our national newsroom and research groups are organized. The press releases announcing those changes can be found here (you'll need to scroll down a bit to find those announcements). Here's my summary. Aric Press, who has been editor-in-chief of The American Lawyer for over 12 years, has been promoted to the newly created position of VP, Editor-in-Chief responsible for the creation of legal content throughout the company. In addition to overseeing the national newsroom, as he has been doing for many years, Aric will now assume responsibility for other kinds of content creation, especially research and surveys which have become an increasingly important part of our...
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This morning I had the powerful sense of new beginnings that comes at the traditional start of a new school year. Admittedly, it has been a long time since I experienced "back to school" days for myself -- but I still have that sense of promise and optimism that I have always felt at the start of a new year. The news I'm seeing about ALM and how we are doing certainly helps feed that sense of optimism. While we're still a very long way from our financial achievements in 2006 and 2007, there is definitely a sense of moving forward, slowly but surely. Reports from our advertising departments continue to show week-by-week improvement in almost all areas, with a decided...
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One of the reasons we have given in the past to those interested in working for ALM was that we were a growing a company, and that growth created opportunities for promotion and career development. And I think our record on that was pretty good. Unfortunately, during the past two years as we have tightened our belts and looked for ways to save money, job creation was not much on our radar. Meaning that promotional opportunities -- or even lateral moves which would enhance job skills -- have not been so available. So I've been pleased to see the recent expansion in the number of our businesses which are posting new job openings. By my count there are now almost 30 open positions in the...
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Congratulations to the editors and staff at The American Lawyer and Law Technology News who were winners in the American Society of Business Publication Editors annual national "Azbee" Awards of Excellence competition. And to those same editors/staffers plus those at Corporate Counsel, the National Law Journal and Focus Europe for being recognized in the Azbee Northeast Regional competition. Details on the awards can be found here: http://www.alm.com/pressroom/2010/08/04/alm%e2%80%99s-the-american-lawyer-law-technology-news-win-asbpe-national-azbee-awards-of-excellence/...
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This is day #2 of our annual Employee Appreciation Week in the New York offices. Similar events are scheduled to take place over the next few weeks in our other locations. We truly appreciate all of the hard work you do during the year and Employee Appreciation Week is intended to recognize everyone's efforts. The foundation of our company is the great people that we employ -- that's what sets us apart from others. It's all too easy for us to get bogged down in our day to day tasks without taking the time out to say thank you and express sincere appreciation to our coworkers. So please be sure to enjoy some of the activities that are planned...
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Even in this age of digital publishing and quick hit journalism, I find it impressive when people are able to devote time and energy to writing a book. It seems like such a daunting task, one which takes a good deal of discipline to pull off. And yet, when done well, there is no better way to immerse yourself in a big idea or explore new ground than through a compelling novel or work of non-fiction. So today I think we should celebrate Leigh Jones, our Digital Content Editor at The Daily Report in Atlanta, and co-author of the just published book "Infinite Monster". Leigh came to us by way of the Galveston County Daily News in Galveston, TX where, among other...
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Here's another shout out to one of our sales teams...our colleagues in ALM's Research Group. This is the time of year when they sell spreadsheets of the Amlaw 100 and 200 listings to law firms and others who are interested in access to the data. So far this year we have sold more copies of those lists than we sold last year or in 2008, and are closing in on the 2007 record. And overall sales of our research reports, databases and the other products sold by that group are also shaping up very well in 2010. As we look to expand our research business as one of our strategic objectives over the next few years, it's great to see...
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One of the benefits that came along with our switch to Cigna's health insurance plans earlier this year was access to their health assessment program. We all received a note from Felicia White in HR about this back in April -- which included the opportunity to be entered for a drawing for those who fill out the survey by the end of June ($750), end of September ($500) or end of December ($250). Last week I took my annual physical (covered by Cigna at 100% with no deductible) and earlier this morning I filled in my health assessment survey. Took about 15 minutes, including the quick registration process. And I got back a very nice and useful report -- nothing that the...
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It's time for a few Memorial Day Weekend Shout Outs to some of our sales teams for their incredible work during the past few months. I hope you'll join me in congratulating each for their accomplishments.First, our colleagues over at 4 MetroTech in the Reprints Group. What a great job they have done! With May now in the bag, the team has beaten its sales goal for five straight months! And they continue to show both perseverance and creativity in finding ways to meet the marketing needs of our clients. No doubt 2009 was a tough year for this group, but they have really come on strong in 2010.Another team you may not hear much about is our online CLE...
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This afternoon we will be announcing the appointment of Charles Siegel as the new non-executive chair of ALM's Board of Directors. Charlie's primary assignment will be to work with me and other members of senior management on strategic and long-term planning issues. In addition, he will act as a liaison between us and our investors. His involvement with ALM will be a few days per month, and his focus will be on key projects rather than our day-to-day operations. Charlie comes to this assignment having recently retired as the president of the Academic & Professional Publishing Group at Cengage Learning. He has held senior management positions in the past at Thomson Learning and Primedia. Charlie will bring to his ALM assignment...
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Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of Law Technology News, proudly announced this morning that the magazine has been awarded an American InHouse Design Award by Graphic Design USA for LTN's December 2009 cover. This is the 4th year in a row that LTN has received this honor. Much credit to Shane DeLeers, Design Director in the National Magazine Group, for this terrific honor!...
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It's that time of year when various national and regional groups recognize the work done by our journalists and designers. I like to pass those notices along as a reminder of the high quality work being done around the country. I hope you will join me in congratulating our finalists and winners. Here's the note I received recently from Scott Graham, Editor-in-Chief of The Recorder in San Francisico: "Everyone, I have some good news to share from the California Newspaper Publishers Association's Better Newspapers Contest. We've won two awards in this year's contest, and we were finalists for 10 others. Freelance photographer Shelley Eades won second place for news photo, with a shot (attached) that captured the City...
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I know that I've been AWOL from this blog for the past several weeks -- sorry about that. But I'm back to writing again, and pleased to start out with congratulations for our latest impressive group of Core Values Awards Winners. Here are the seven winners of the Spring 2010 Core Values Awards as presented by our Core Values Awards Committee: 1. Jared Easterday Web Production Project Manager, Law.com, New York Jared consistently demonstrates the ALM Core Values, in particular Quality, Innovation and Teamwork which were evident in a recent project he worked on. The company recently launched a revamped registration process for our Web sites. Jared stood out because had been lobbying to "fix" the registration...
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Unless you have been living under a rock, you are no doubt aware that the long-debated Healthcare Reform Bill was passed by Congress and signed by the President this week. It is, to say the least, a complicated piece of legislation. Like many of you, I have been trying to figure out what impact the new rules and regulations will have on ALM and on us as individuals. For the past dozen years we have utilized the services of a team of consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers to help us navigate our way through the health insurance maze. I asked the partner we work with there, Aron Minken, to give me PWC's early analysis of how the Healthcare Reform bill will impact us. In the...
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I know a lot of people here attend conferences and tradeshows during the course of the year. In some cases, we attend for the conference content and the educational value. But in many cases we attend for the networking -- the chance to meet people who might become our customers or our partners in one of our businesses. We know from our own experience as conference and tradeshow producers how powerful that mix of content and networking can be for those who register and attend our programs. Getting the most out of a conference takes a little work upfront, particularly the networking part. And I've often struggled with whether I was doing all the preparation I should be in order to...
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This past Saturday night Rob Steinbaum, publisher extraordinaire of The New Jersey Law Journal since 1987, was honored by the New Jersey Ballet for his contributions to Newark and the Arts. The honor was bestowed as the ballet company celebrated its 51st year at a gala performance and black tie dinner attended by many of Rob's friends and colleagues. Among those was Rob's long-time friend Justice Samuel Alito of the US Supreme Court, pictured with Rob below, who returned to Newark specifically to be a part of the celebration. As many of us know, Rob is the creator and producer of the Celebration of Lawyers in the Arts, which has become a biannual event at the New Jersey Performing Arts...
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Tuesday was my 12th anniversary working for ALM. Twelve years ago--on March 9, 1998--I started working for what was then known as American Lawyer Media. It was about two months after the merger of the former American Lawyer Group with the NY Law Publishing Company, and just before the acquisitions of LegalTech and the Pennsylvania Legal Media Group. So I came on board at just the point where our company began to take shape as the leading publisher in the US of current news and information for the legal profession. I've been thinking all day about the changes in the company since I joined. The office moves, the new product launches, and the move from almost entirely print to a...
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Joan Farrell, the National Magazine Group's Design Director, just sent out this note about awards won for art, design and photography in recent months. Kudos to Joan and all the winners! *** I am very pleased to let you know that the art department has won several awards in three competitions in the past few months. This week we were notified that The American Lawyer has won two awards in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and has been listed as a finalist for an additional four pieces. This is a national competition with over 7000 entries in eight categories. There were over 1500 entries in the Editorial category, with approximately 300 finalists and only 80 winners. The winners will be...
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This morning American Business Media announced the finalists in its annual Neal Awards competition, which recognizes the best in business journalism. Our publications garnered 12 finalists from 6 of our publications, a terrific showing. As Aric Press noted this morning, what makes our 12 finalists noteworthy is that they are spread among six ALM titles and across our print and online platforms. "Even in a difficult year, or perhaps especially in a difficult year, it's heartening to see recognition of the excellent work that's done daily, weekly and monthly in our newsrooms". Neal Awards finalists can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ygvy7oy Winners will be announced at an awards luncheon in New York on March 11th. Congratulations to all of our finalists! ...
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Wishing everyone at ALM a joyful Holiday Season and very Happy and Healthy New Year! May you have time to spend with family and friends, to read a good book and relax, and reflect on all that is good in your lives. Best Wishes to All, Bill...
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Our Marketing Department has released this year's corporate holiday e-card for us to send to our clients, contacts, business partners, or whoever else would be appropriate to receive it. It can be found here: http://alm.com/09/happyholidays.html Congratulations to Pat France, our Creative Director George LePera and his team of creative wizards for this very clever execution....
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On Tuesday I spent much of the day in an ALM board meeting reviewing our current performance with the board, sharing with them a presentation on our strategic plan, and then giving an overview of our 2010 budget. All of those are important topics, which I will cover in future posts. But first, it seems to me that you might want to know who's on our new Board of Directors. Just to review, ALM has two primary investors--Apax Partners, a private equity firm, which has the controlling interest in the company, and Royal Bank of Scotland, which holds a minority share. Under the various agreements signed back in August, Apax is entitled to two regular board seats plus can appoint...
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By now you should have received my note concerning Open Enrollment for our benefits plans, which will begin next week. As I've said in previous postings, this was a particularly difficult year to be negotiating over benefits costs, and I think our Benefits team really did a terrific job with favorable results. Obviously, the change from one health insurer to another can be disruptive, but we have done a great deal to minimize the inconvenience for the vast majority of our staff. And the change from one provider to another was literally worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings, so well worth the challenge. We also listened to staff needs. A number of people posted comments on this blog...
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We do a lot of terrific work at ALM. But today one of our staff members at 120 Broadway apparently reached his limit on one particular topic and shared his concerns with our friends at Gawker. No, not about our financial performance or our recent spin-out from Incisive. His concerns were about a much more fundamental topic: men's room cleanliness. You can read our anonymous bathroom critic's comments here: http://tinyurl.com/yz97qn4 Okay, I feel suitably shamed. So keep reading those newspapers--but let's clean up after ourselves so our anonymous critic can focus on more important things. ...
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We're in the final stage of our discussions with our consultants and health insurance providers, and will wrap up our 2010 benefits planning in the next two weeks. That will give us time to prepare for the annual Open Enrollment period in November. As I suspected when the process started back in August, our terrific HR/Benefits team of Felicia White and Tom Kiley--with a great assist from our consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers--have done a great job in the negotiations. In the process, I've learned a few things about health insurance that I thought I would pass along. 1. There is absolutely no question that competition in the insurance industry is a good thing and keeps prices down. As I listen to the discussions in...
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Bruce Wasserstein passed away yesterday at the age of 61. He was the Chairman of our Board of Directors from 1997 until we were sold to Incisive in 2007. Although he was best known as an investment banker and master dealmaker, he had spent several years practicing law and had a genuine interest in journalism and the arts. No doubt his primary reason for acquiring American Lawyer Media was to make money for himself and his investors, but there was more to it than that--he was genuinely interested in the quality and sophistication of our news content. Many of his good friends were partners at major law firms, and he cared deeply about how well we served their needs and reported on...
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I was pleased to see that almost 40% of you took the time to respond to the training survey we sent out last month. Your feedback will be very helpful as we select training courses in the future. And the strong response reinforces my belief that despite budget limitations we need to find ways to continue offering our employees meaningful training and development opportunities. The results also reminded me that our assumptions about what our employees need and want aren't always correct. For example, when I reviewed the responses I wasn't surprised to learn that many of you wanted to learn more about Social Media Best Practices but I certainly wouldn't have predicted that a course about the Company and...
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Congratulations to our colleagues in Philadelphia for garnering three Schnader Print Media Awards, given by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. That's a record one-year haul for our staff! Kudos to Senior Staff Reporter Gina Passarella who won first place for Beat Reporting in the daily newspaper category; News Editor Peter Hall who won first place for Beat Reporting in the weekly newspaper category; and Editor-in-Chief Hank Grezlak who won second place in the Editorial/Commentary competition. Keep up the good work!...
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Rob Steinbaum wears many hats in our company. He is the long-time publisher of the New Jersey Law Journal, the Group Publisher responsible as well for the Connecticut Law Tribune, and our overall senior publisher among all of our newspapers. Through his work with the New Jersey Law Journal, he has also become one of Newark's most ardent boosters both internally and externally. And every other year, Rob dons his tuxedo and becomes the impresario of a major fundraiser for the nonprofit New Jersey Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. This year the talented lawyers of the Garden State put on a production of "Bye Bye Birdie" at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. We always tell our publishers...
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Carolyn Elefant has been blogging for law.com's Legal Blog Watch for the past three-and-a-half years. She's decided to give it up and move on to other things--like her legal practice. But before leaving, she posted this final note and I thought it was worth passing along. In it, she says some wonderful things about our values as a company and about the people at Incisive/ALM with whom she has worked. It's exactly what I would want a freelance journalist to say about us, and I'm pleased that she did so. We wish Carolyn all the best for the future. Here's her final post: http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/09/my-last-day-at-legal-blogwatch.html...
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As I mentioned in my post the other day about our Exit Interviews, one area of needed improvement within the company is in the training and development arena. On the training side, our challenge has always been to figure out what kinds of programs would be of most value to staff members. That's why its important for everyone to fill out the survey which Felicia White distributed this morning--that will give us a good picture of what people think their own training priorities might be. And, for those who are managers, the survey will tell us what skills improvement programs you think your team would benefit from most. The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mBYfb6hl5PAX70Dqaq_2fY2g_3d_3d Please take a few minutes...
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Our HR Department interviews all those who leave jobs at ALM. And every quarter they compile the results of those exit interviews and provide me with a summary. In general, the results don't change much from quarter-to-quarter, but some of the findings are worth noting: 1. Not surprisingly, there has been a dramatic drop-off in the number of those voluntarily leaving positions at ALM. Given the state of the economy during the first half of the year, with new jobs tougher to find, that makes sense to me. 2. Those who leave have generally positive things to say about ALM. Almost 90% of those who left would recommend ALM to their friends as a good place to work. And over...
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Our colleagues in the San Francisco office will be moving to new quarters this weekend and we wish them much success in their new space. For those keeping track, the new office can be found at: 1035 Market Street, Suite 500 San Francisco, CA 94103 This will be the third office we've had in SF since I joined the company. When I started, The Recorder (and only The Recorder--I don't think law.com was with us at the time) was in an older building that featured a cooking school next door. The smells in the office were terrific. And I was told that, from time-to-time, our staff got to sample some of the chef's delights that had been created (though I...
Continue reading "I Left My Heart In..." »
As noted in a recent posting, we are now beginning our negotiations with United HealthCare over our insurance rates for 2010. The opening salvo from UHC was pretty discouraging, but I suspected that our terrific Benefits team would be able to bring some sanity to the discussion. And I'm pleased that already we're seeing positive results, with the latest quoted rate increases now in the 15-18% range -- still outrageously high and unaffordable, but better than where we started. This is a lengthy process and we still have a long way to go. One result of these discussions is that UHC has provided us with the background information they use to determine what our premiums will be. The most important...
Continue reading "More on the Health Insurance Challenge" »
Last week our New York offices celebrated what has become an annual Summer Community Outreach Day. Around 30 of our colleagues participated, spending time cleaning up Fort Greene Park, helping out at two animal shelters, and serving dinner at the Community Kitchen in upper Manhattan. As Felicia White said in summing up the day, "the activities may have only lasted a few hours but the positive impact of everyone’s efforts will last far longer." My thanks to everyone who participated. I know we do similar Community Outreach Days in our other offices--when you do so, please drop me a note and let me know about them. And photos are always welcome. Speaking of photos, here are a few from last...
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For those interested in a more indepth look at what has gone wrong with our Health Insurance System, I highly recommend this article from the August issue of "The Atlantic Monthly" by David Goldhill called "How American Health Care Killed My Father". Notwithstanding the title, it is a really good explanation for how our system of health insurance has gone off the rails. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care Pay particular attention to the section which explains the difference between Comprehensive Health Insurance and Catastrophic Health Insurance. Most members of our staff have signed up for the former type of insurance, which we offer as either "Core Plus" or the "IN Plan". We also offer a Catastrophic Plan, called "CMP", which costs considerably less in...
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I’m sure I’m not the only person on our staff trying to follow the healthcare policy debate going on in Washington and around the country. I know it’s important and I want to try and understand the various options and plans. But I can’t help feeling, as I listen to the talking heads scream at each other on CNN, Fox and MSNBC, that they’re all kind of missing the point. This is the time of year when we begin our negotiations over the cost of next year’s health insurance. The process involves going to our current health insurance provider (United Healthcare) as well as the others with whom they compete, providing stats on our employee population, claims experience and the...
Continue reading "The Real Healthcare Crisis" »
Here's a great story from Kris Fischer, editor-in-chief of the NY Law Journal, that illustrates the value of our relationships with news sources and those who help us access them. "On Thursday during the Senate’s vote on Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation, Mark Hamblett (our courthouse reporter) called to say the judge was with a crowd in the courthouse in the 8th floor conference room, and that Rick Kopstein (our staff photographer) might want to try to get a shot. Rick hustled up there and because the court officers know him, allowed him into the party. He was the only reporter to get shots of her immediately after the confirmation. We used our favorite and then released a bunch of photos to...
Continue reading "Relationships and Scoops" »
As we begin to plan for 2010 and beyond, we have two strategic priorities. On the one hand, this is likely to remain a challenging advertising sales environment, particularly as it relates to law firm and display advertising. While we expect that traditional print advertising will continue to be an important part of our revenue mix, online and events will undoubtedly represent a growing proportion of the total. As advertisers become more sophisticated in their own use of the web, including social networking, video, search advertising and various forms of lead generation, we need to enhance our offerings to the advertising/marketing community. And we need to find ways to economically reach out to a broader group of advertisers—at small and...
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Robert Carr is GlobeSt.com's bureau chief based in Chicago. For the last six months, Robert has been in Kabul, Afghanistan where he has been deployed as part of his Naval Reserve unit. I recently sent him a note asking if he would provide an update on what he is doing and how the world looks from where he is based. I also couldn't help asking if he had anything to report about commercial real estate in Kabul for the benefit of his GlobeSt colleagues. Here's his response: Bill- I’m a public affairs officer at the International Security Assistance Force (read: NATO) Headquarters base in Kabul, Afghanistan. My main job is working in the secret NORAD-esque operations building to cover...
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This posting is for those in our organization who find themselves involved with recruiting and hiring new talent, particularly entry-level reporters, sales people, marketers, etc. It can be difficult to assess entry-level talent, and to know how someone will grow in our organization. Sure, they may be qualified for the job you are filling right now--but will they be able to step up to work on higher level projects or to take on a leading role for something we may do in the future? For those who like sports metaphors, here's a blog post by a fellow named Brian Grey comparing the challenges of recruiting in business to those faced by talent scouts in Major League Baseball. It turns out...
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We are getting close to the time of year when we have traditionally conducted our Performance Reviews. Typically, we send out forms and guidelines by the middle of May and ask that the reviews be completed by July 1st. This year will be no different. Every employee is entitled to honest feedback about how they are doing, where they have shown great strength and what they can do to improve in areas of weakness. And every employee is also entitled to let their manager know how they would like their career to develop, so there can be a discussion about skills development and career growth opportunities. Ideally, those Performance Review discussions would be accompanied by a salary review, so we...
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We're at the start of journalism awards season, and our colleagues in Philadelphia have reported our first big wins of the year. For starters, The Legal Intelligencer has won the John V. R. Bull Freedom of Information Award for Shannon Duffy’s articles and editor-in-chief Hank Grezlak's columns on the 3rd Circuit’s practice of having secret dockets…a practice they stopped as a result of The Legal's coverage. According to Hank, "What’s cool about the FOI award is that, unlike most of the awards, it is not broken down by division and is a competition against every newspaper in the state. Most of the specialty awards went to the Philly or Pittsburgh papers. We’ve never won a specialty award in the Keystone...
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Last Wednesday our colleagues at The Legal Intelligencer in Philadelphia were honored by the Philadelphia VIP (Volunteers for the Indigent Program) for their exemplary commitment to pro bono legal services. This is not a journalism award, but a recognition of the support that the entire Legal Intelligencer team has given to one of Philadelphia's primary providers of pro bono legal support. At a time when more people than ever need legal assistance--because their home has been foreclosed on, other debts need to be negotiated, or due to the loss of a job or other circumstances--it is great to see our publications doing their part to enhance access to justice. Serving our community is an important part of our core values,...
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This intriguing photo was sent to me by the irrepressible Mischelle Grant (center of photo), our Advertising Director at The Daily Report in Atlanta. She and her troops have launched "Operation Needmo" which Mischelle describes as "an organized effort to train and motivate the Atlanta sales team to bring in more revenue NOW". The military garb signifies the team's respect for our Armed Forces and the hope that they can "adopt the principles of discipline, determination and teamwork" to achieve their goals. "Operation Needmo" will run for two months, and early results look promising. The team has already booked $10,000 in new business for February, and look to be over budget in the display category for the month--no mean...
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Yesterday there were two personnel announcements about which I wanted to make note. First, Pat France announced that Christian Georgeou, Marketing Assistant in the Corporate Marketing Department, has been promoted to Marketing Manager in the Interactive Marketing Group. He'll be working with Matt McGowan and Angela Mann on our ClickZ/SEW/SES businesses. Christian has been my comrade-in-arms with this blog and, in particular, has been looking at usage statistics to let me know which of my posts are widely read and which ones, alas, are not. Congrats to Christian on his terrific promotion! Second, we announced yesterday that John Mason, our VP-Operations for the last two years, will be leaving Incisive at the end of April. As many of you know,...
Continue reading "Sweet and Sour" »
I don't believe in purely "objective" journalism. I believe that as a media company our duty to our readers and users is more than just to report the facts. I think we have an obligation to use our publications for the public good--to promote values that we believe in. Those values include encouraging lawyers and law firms to set aside time for pro bono work, to improve access to justice for those in our society who cannot afford it. And those values also include promoting a more diverse workplace, so that there are no glass ceilings preventing anyone of ability from getting ahead. But there's no question that requiring firms to provide us with their pro bono or diversity statistics--and...
Continue reading "Diversity at Incisive North America" »
Anyone who has been reading this blog over the last few months knows that I am a believer in the growing importance of social media--Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others. Lately I have become especially bullish on Twitter as both an editorial and business tool--more on that in a future post. I also know that growing numbers of us are using these tools not just for business purposes--for instance to promote our publications, drive traffic to our websites, or provide added value to our conferences--but also for personal reasons. A number of media organizations have recognized that there can be a potential conflict between business and personal use of these new tools, and have begun to set ground rules. So, for...
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This morning American Business Media released the list of finalists for the 2008 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards. I am so pleased to see that four of our publications--ClickZ, Legal Times, Texas Lawyer and The American Lawyer--have been recognized for the high quality of their work. The winners will be announced at a luncheon on March 19th. As far as I'm concerned, all of our finalists are winners and I hope you will join me in congratulating them. Here's the press release we put out this morning with more details about our finalists: INCISIVE MEDIA’S CLICKZ, LEGAL TIMES, TEXAS LAWYER AND THE AMERICAN LAWYER NAMED AS FINALISTS IN NEAL JOURNALISM AWARD COMPETITION NEW YORK (February 3, 2009) –...
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It was great to be away in South Africa and Namibia, watching the wild animals, seeing the extraordinary scenery and meeting some incredible people. My family and I had a wonderful time. I highly recommend a visit to that part of the world if you get the opportunity. Thought you might like to see at least one picture from our trip. The leopard (above) was in the Mala Mala Game Preserve. No symbolism to the picture, I promise...my daughter took it and I thought it was a good shot. And I was pretty good--though not perfect--about staying away from computers and email. Harder to do than you might think. I'm still getting back up-to-speed about how our businesses have...
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I've always liked the first week in January, and rarely more so than I'm enjoying this one. Having made it through all the calamities of 2008, it feels like a fresh start, a clean slate, and a new beginning. Maybe it has something to do with the inauguration of a new, young President in a few weeks, or the fact that the stock market made it through the first couple of days of the new year without doing anything crazy. Or maybe it's that there are so many terrifically interesting news stories to cover, starting with the Madoff saga but including important issues impacting the future of the law firms many of us cover and the continuing ups and downs...
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Here's my final post of 2008. I've enjoyed keeping this blog and hope it has improved our transparency as an organization, allowed those who don't know me well to get to know me better, while providing a forum for idea-sharing on a variety of topics. I'm looking forward to 2009, with its challenges and its opportunities, and I'm sure plenty to write about. As you look back on the past year and plan for the next one, here's a quote from Jim Collins, author of "Good to Great" that you might want to keep in mind. He was asked to identify a longtime belief about which he had changed his view: "I used to believe that the critical questions in...
Continue reading "First Who, Then What" »
I know that quite a few people at Incisive will be heading out on vacation beginning today, so I want to take the chance to wish everyone a very happy and healthy holiday. With many of us soon to confront the task of making our New Year's resolutions, I thought the following story--forwarded to me by a friend--might provide some inspiration: Big Rocks: Are you taking care of the ‘big rocks’ in your life? A time management expert was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an unforgettable illustration. He stood in front of this group of high-powered overachievers and said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason...
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Pictures courtesy of Rick Kopstein of the New York Law Journal:...
Continue reading "Pictures from the NY Holiday Party" »
Most of the time, I love the fact that we work for a company with offices all over North America plus London and Hong Kong. But this is one of those times when I find it a little frustrating that I can't personally go around to everyone at Incisive North America to personally wish you a Happy Holiday and extend my thanks for all you have done for our company. Last night was the Holiday Party for the New York offices (now down to just two, with the Real Estate group's move this past weekend to 120 Broadway). I think we finally found the perfect party venue--a beautiful space, plenty of room for standing, sitting or dancing, and terrific food....
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In my staff note on Friday, I listed as one of our initiatives creating a program so that staff members could take up to an additional week of vacation on an unpaid basis. That would save the company up to one week of salary for each volunteer, while allowing those with an interest in supplemental time off a way to get it. The HR Department will shortly circulate a note explaining how to take advantage of this new program. A number of people have subsequently asked me about adjustments to work schedules--working 10 hours per day for four days, or working five days but with one at home. To be clear, those are not money-saving ideas for the company and...
Continue reading "Vacation Time and Work Schedules" »
As you know, we've just completed our annual Open Enrollment process for next year's benefits. Not much has changed. The IN Program remains our most popular health insurance option, with 460 employees signing up for it, up slightly from this year's 441. Core Plus is second, with 240 of our staff electing it, down a bit from this year's 248. And the CMP plan remains a distant third, with 38 of our employees enrolling in that plan, up from 31 in 2008. Over the longer term, we believe that the Core Plus plan will become prohibitively expensive and will continue to decline in popularity. On the other hand, we think that changes in regulations concerning the CMP plan--and particularly the...
Continue reading "Open Enrollment Results" »
Here's a note sent out this morning by James Hanbury, CEO of Incisive UK and Asia. It is a reminder that we work for a global company, and what happens in one corner of the world can impact us in unexpected ways....
Continue reading "Terrorist Attack in Mumbai" »
The headline says it all. We have much in this world to be thankful for and I hope you will take the time in the coming days to reflect on all of those gifts. Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. Bill...
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The media trade magazines are saying nice things about the work we are doing. Last week Ad Age published its list of the Top Media and Marketing Blogs--the Power 150. http://adage.com/power150/index.php?start=0&sort=total&order=desc&kwd Two of ours made the list: Search Engine Watch Blog and ClickZ Blog. Congratulations to the editorial teams in our Interactive Marketing group who manage those powerful blogs! And this morning at a breakfast hosted by Min Magazine, I was identified as one of min's "21 Most Intriguing People in Media". http://www.minonline.com/news/9195.html Now, let's be honest, "intriguing" is not a word that would normally be used to describe me. Even my mother, who normally says nice things about me in public, would not use the word "intriguing" to describe...
Continue reading "Awards and Recognition" »
We recently awarded five of our staff members with Core Value Recognition Awards, and I wanted to share their accomplishment with everyone. I'm proud of the way each of these individuals went above-and-beyond to meet the needs of our customers. And, as with all those who have received Core Value Recognition Awards, I love the fact that their nominations were endorsed not just by their supervisors but by their peers as well. So here's to our latest crop of Core Value Award winners: Andrea Boden, Art Director, Connecticut Law Tribune John Bringardner, News Editor--Legal, Law.com Shannon Green, Reporter, VerdictSearch Alyson Palmer, Reporter, Fulton County Daily Report Geneva Ware, Business Office Supervisor, New Jersey Law Journal Congratulations and Thanks!...
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I posted a comment yesterday in answer to a question on one of my other posts. But because it's buried at the bottom of several comments, I realize it might not be noticed. And the topic--our 401K retirement plans--is an important one so I thought it was worth repeating. Kelly Lindner at Texas Lawyer asked whether our company "should abandon the requirement of paying into a 401K during this time or make it voluntary for a period of time?" I don't know about other companies, but Incisive has no such 401K participation requirement. We do initially enroll all new employees in the 401K because we strongly believe that everyone should be saving for their retirement. But any employee--new or otherwise--can...
Continue reading "Saving for Retirement" »
We're getting close to the annual Open Enrollment period for our health benefits. A note describing our plans and the process for signing up will be distributed shortly, and then Felicia White and Tom Kiley from HR will be making themselves available over the next few weeks to help everyone through the process. For those who have heard me discuss the health insurance fiasco in this country, you'll know that this is not my favorite time of year. As in the past, our health insurance provider came at us with another completely outrageous price increase proposal. Through a lot of work by Felicia, Tom, Allison Hoffman and our insurance consultants, we were able to knock that down to an increase...
Continue reading "Health Insurance Blues" »
On Wednesday evening I joined 530 tuxedoed and evening gowned Washington lawyers--many abuzz about the Congressional debate on the Wall Street bailout that was then in full swing--for the 30th Anniversary celebration for Legal Times. David Brown, Editor and Publisher, led the gala in a celebration of the 90 DC lawyers who have made a real difference in the life of the city and the nation over those 30 years. There were videos, some brief speeches, and a lot of pride. Here's how the Blog of Legal Times covered the event: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/09/legal-times-30t.html Congratulations to David and his entire team on a fabulous evening!...
Continue reading "Legal Times 30th Anniversary Dinner" »
I was struck by a quote I read from Professor Mary Quigley, a professor of journalism at NYU: “Nowadays it’s essential for journalists to blog." We have quite a few journalists on our staff. I know that some of them blog, either on their own or as contributors to group blogs. But I don't think that all of our journalists blog, and I don't think that mandatory blogging is part of our job description for reporters and editors. So here's a question for the journalists: Is blogging essential? Should we require new hires to demonstrate blogging skills before they can become our reporters and editors?...
Continue reading "A Question For Our Journalists" »
Yesterday's NY Times had a story about airlines beginning to offer internet connectivity. And, yes, that's our Kevin Vermeulen (SVP of our Event and Tradeshow Divison) featured alongside his son (also named Kevin) right there illustrating the story. Kevin reports that he was flying from New York to Los Angeles so he could attend LegalTech at the end of June, and then take a family vacation. Little did he know that his flight would be the first to feature internet service--for free, at least on that flight. They seem to be intently studying the computer screen...no doubt reading a particularly interesting story on law.com!...
Continue reading "Kevin Vermeulen in The Times" »
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