If you’ve been following the launch of MH’s "Connected" network this post at Binary Law is well worth a read..
Nick Holmes writes
In developing MH Connected, LexisNexis seems to have interpreted the findings that less than 10 per cent of lawyers polled said they can rely on their current network to help them work more efficiently and that 40 per cent said they wanted a trusted, private, authenticated network as showing the need for a closed, lawyers-only network. But as Kevin, Doug Cornelius and other commentators have pointed out, non-lawyers should not have been excluded and useful feedback will come mainly from early adopters.
See his full article here: http://www.binarylaw.co.uk/index.php/2009/04/03/martindale-hubbell-opens-the-doors-just-a-crack/
What’s especially interesting though is that we actually have a non sanctioned comment from one of the team working on the product addressed to Holmes.
It’s very rare that we read anything from a Lexis employee that hasn’t been through the marketing dept . Have they clearly communicated that they will open up the network to non lawyer legal professionals in the summer? Not to us they haven’t and we, sadly, follow the minutae of LN on a daily basis; so if anybody should know it’d be us.
Here’s the comment posted by Ohad Reshef of the MH Team
Nick,
I wish you checked the facts before writing this. Martindale-Hubbell Connected is a legal professional network and as such is built around lawyers. We have over 3,000 beta members, the majority of which are lawyers (as one would expect, these are early adopters) but some are non lawyers (law school deans, a handful of HR, marketers, procurement etc.) We do not think that opening up the network to everyone on day 1 would have been the right decision. We have used the past 9 months to add many new features and improve certain things. The network, although launched, is still in Beta. We have clearly communicated that we will open the network to non lawyer legal prfessionals in the summer.
Regards,
Ohad Reshef
MH Team
P.S. When quoting Kevin O’Keefe, full disclosure needs to mention that he’s a former Martindale-Hubbell employee
