Category Archives for "Resources"

One of the largest law firms goes sole-provider. Does this foretell the Wexis monopoly demise in the largest segment?

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

Today, over 50% of large law firms retain only Lexis or only Westlaw. Within large law, 21% of firms with over 500 attorneys have gone this route. However, recently White & Case shared their success with one provider for their legal information research. Does this change your view on considering the option? How does this shape your legal information strategy?

How should you proceed?

2) Whether or not your firm or organization has favorable pricing, this alone does not predetermine whether you should keep both vendors. It is worthwhile to assess the viability of sole-provider option. Develop a business case. If needed, check out this resource, the Sole Provider Viability Decision Guide.

3) Execute and implement. Consider hiring a consultant if you decide to make a change.

Regardless of the outcome, exploring the sole-provider option is a healthy step in revising your legal information strategy and can provide intelligence to enhance your tactics for upcoming negotiation. If you choose to do it alone, these resources are an advantage to legal information decision-makers toward which steps and considerations to include in the process.

Don’t Be a Hostage to Your Vendor

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Sole Provider , White Papers

Perhaps your firm or organization has always operated with both Lexis and Westlaw. The option of eliminating may seem foreign. For other firms or companies, perhaps the idea of eliminating a vendor came up to close to negotiation deadline.

There are options! You don’t need to be a hostage to your vendor if you have enough time to evaluate the options. The evaluation process in itself can prove fruitful, sharing pertinent information that can be used in the negotiation process.

There are a great number of elements to examine, from contracts to content, not to mention the strong reactions of users to fundamental system changes. Lexis and Westlaw have both successfully infiltrated law firms’ cultures and infrastructures over their many years of service.

Budgeting to Maximize ROI

By Michael Feit | Budgeting , Modern Law Library , Resources

Will you play it safe or take a risk for greater returns?  

The Modern Library requires individuals to change their mindset from maintaining the status quo and becoming open to new ways of doing things. Budget season is here. Now is the time to consider how you will shape your budget with new solutions to your organization’s anticipated changes in 2018.

• ERM (Electronic Resource management system): If your firm doesn’t already have an ERM, it may be time. Read more here.
• Content Aggregators: Influencing the firm’s bottom line with current awareness on clients and potential business.
• Library Membership Fees: Save on subscription costs, fill content gaps at a lesser cost, access to archival and historical collections and just-in-time document delivery.
• New Software: Consider software that offers newer efficiencies, extensive analysis and taming big data.
• Outside Services: Budgeting for value-added insights on those special projects, allocating funds for consultancy services or to purchase resources that will provide critical insights on pricing, creating efficiencies and library modernization to name a few. Tap into Feit Consulting’s white papers or other consultants’ resources.
• Conferences and Events: Be smart in which topic class or conference you decide to attend. Think about who may also attend as networking is as valuable as the content offered. Specialized topics covered by ILTA or the Ark Group offer valuable takeaways on timely topics that will affect your bottom line. Discounts available for multiple attendees from your organization.
• Staffing: Do your foresee a need to add staffing capacity? Will it be a short-term need or long-term? Hiring temporary or permanent staff is one option as well as outsourcing depending on how each option delivers return on the expense.

Don’t Jump Back Into Your Everyday Routine: Transform Knowledge Into Power

By Michael Feit | Associations , Events , Librarians

At the core, librarians utilize knowledge and resources to answer questions and solve problems. We possess a multitude of skills, and have much value to offer our organizations, beyond performing legal research. The American Association of Law Libraries’ (AALL) conference this month reminded us of our abilities, and more so the importance of transitioning from guardian of books to ‘linchpin librarians’. In short, we as librarians need to showcase the true value we possess and can offer our organizations. The question now is, “How will you transform the knowledge and empowerment gained at AALL into action steps at your firm or organization?”

Checklist for transitioning knowledge into action:
– Brainstorm what new step(s) you can take to build high-level collaboration and interdepartmental support at your firm or organization.
– Determine the best avenues to grow your visibility within your organization.
– Ask yourself, “How can I change my habits? What can I do differently that offers value to my organization?”
– Plan a lunch or phone call with colleagues inside and outside your organization to brainstorm what cutting-edge solutions you can bring to your organization or firm.
– Reach out to your new networking contacts. Choose one each week with whom to connect.
– Develop a Conference Recap to show management the value of attending; highlight program sessions and vendor products that support current and potential organization/firm initiatives.
– Include conference benefits in the library’s annual report to Management.
– Take Feit Consulting’s Library Modernization Survey.

Innovative Forward Thinking Indispensable to Your Organization: You Just May Be A Linchpin Librarian

By Michael Feit | Associations , Events , Librarians

How exactly are you viewed in your organization? Are you seen as the gatekeeper of knowledge or guardian of books? The image of the stereotypical librarian is ingrained in our society. In movies and the media, the librarian is often portrayed as the figure that makes patrons tremble in fear with their disciplinarian approach of keeping people quiet while maintaining order in their domain. Those perceptions die hard. On the final day of the American Association of Law Libraries’ (AALL) conference, two programs took a serious look at this issue and provided insight on what must be done to dispel the stereotypes if we are to thrive in our organizations and as a profession.

At an organizational level, “The Linchpin Librarian: Becoming an Indispensable and Integrated Resource in Your Organization” summed it up nicely: See a need, fill a need. Librarians have relevant skill sets to help their organizations. We are organizers and planners. We know how to analyze data and recognize relevant patterns. We are front-facing, customer-service-oriented with good communication skills. So instead of guardians of books, let’s become information brokers. Whether embedded in a practice group to support an attorney team or partnering with client development to support business development and increase revenue streams, we need to assume the linchpin mindset. High-level collaboration and interdepartmental support will break down librarian stereotypes as we work on building relationships within our organizations. Step outside your comfort zone. Give change a try, and while it may seem uncomfortable at first, you can flourish as an indispensable resource within your organization.

Taking this mantra even further, one of the initiatives of the Private Law Librarian & Information Professional (PLLIP) Special Interest Section was to establish the Elevation Task Force as a means to further the profession. During the program entitled: “Elevate! Lifting an Innovative Profession into the Light”, the panel discussed their plans to identify forward-thinking, innovative standards that will give the stakeholders in our organizations a better understanding of our value and capabilities. This group wants to focus on how the law librarian is portrayed in the media and create a tool kit to manage the law librarian professional image. They are working to dispel negative and outdated perceptions that pigeon-hole us as mere researchers, diminishing our vast array of talents and making us targets of outsourcing.

We need to take a hard look at our future, be proactive in thought and action, and demonstrate to the C-Suite that we are willing and capable of sharing a seat at the table. Embracing change will greatly diminish our chances of being left behind.

Follow Monice’s AALL insights on Feit Consulting’s LinkedIn page here.

Helping Our Librarian Clients To Forgo The Status Quo

By Michael Feit | Associations , Events , Librarians

The theme of this year’s 110th AALL Annual Meeting and Conference Forgo the Status Quo strikes a chord with what we are hearing from clients in the legal market. We are seeing a paradigm shift as law librarians look for ways to reinvent themselves and the value they bring to their organizations. The future for information professionals is full of possibilities and many of those lie in the area of knowledge management. Who better than librarians to manage institutional knowledge, making sure the right information gets to the right people at the right time?

This was the message of the session entitled “Knowledge Management for the 21st Century Information Professional”. If you think about it, isn’t this what librarians have always done through the creation of online catalogs, legal research and curated taxonomy? Librarians might benefit by broadening their view and looking at the big picture to identify KM-related roles they may take on in their organization. Law librarians know what attorneys need and understand attorney workflow. We are often seen as trusted advisers when it comes to providing and organizing their information needs. We already have a user base, let’s consider re-branding ourselves as thought leaders in Knowledge Management and expand the level of support we provide through KM solutions.

Moving beyond the status quo was further highlighted in the session titled “The Law Firm Librarian’s Role in New Business Intake”. Good loss prevention and risk management begins at intake, when client conflicts are identified during the development of the scope in the engagement letter. Who better than the librarian to perform due diligence on potential clients? With access to necessary databases to perform the research, coupled with the organizational skills to establish systems and checklists to further the Conflicts process, we are able to infuse valuable information into a critical process and demonstrate the value of the library. This is just one way to showcase our research and organizational skills to the rainmakers of the firm, who are responsible for bringing in business but may not currently be utilizing their library for traditional research services.

If you have the bandwidth in your library to take on this function, it can prove to be a quick win for showcasing your value. The only expense is staff time and a bit of training, since the resources required to support this function are already in place in the library. Knowing what business is coming into the firm will provide the library with intelligence to make sure that subject experts and resources are in place to support traditional research requests for these new clients.

Follow Monice’s AALL insights on Feit Consulting’s LinkedIn page here.