Please see following TOC & editorial for the latest edition of Law Librarians News
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Editorial
There was a period 2 to 3 years ago where it seemed that nothing would really change that much in the world of legal content and publishing The large publishers now and then funneled their money away from the taxman and into ?new? investments. But this was more for their benefit than that of their client base.
Yes at the time; there were new publishers and ?gurus? waxing lyrical about the future of law, law firms and the service industries supporting the industry. But somehow when one saw the revenue gains and proft margins going up quarterly in double digit %?s ?growth it was hard to believe that real change would come to the world of legal information any time soon
Even in 2009 it looked like the ?riding out the storm? option might be viable for some of the players.
We?ve not seen Q.1 figures from the publishers yet, but a gut feeling tells LLN that however massaged these figures are they won?t be able hide the essential truth that for the first time in a long time, companies like TR Westlaw, Lexis Nexis and Kluwer as well as the new players like Bloomberg are going to have a very hard time of it.
Law firms are entering a brave new world, investors are seeing returns dipping from the legal content providers and not a week goes by without some new company, organization, website or product appearing on the market to further chip away at the colossus.
A report from SemanticWeb.com published this past week analyses this bleak picture and doesn?t provide any solutions. ?
Instead they map out a pathway to inevitability which will have the management bods reaching for either a number of very strong Martini?s or the prozac.
The site writes:
Semantic Wave Hits Legal Publishing, Part 1: Current Cash Cows
In the introduction to this series, we described the 7 factor perfect storm hitting other markets. While the headline numbers may look great, each of these 7 factors is hitting legal publishing:
Factor 1: Digital economics. The publishers do not own the base data, which comes from court records. These can be replicated at close to zero cost. Semantic Web technology will make those mountains of data more accessible.??
Factor 2: Generational shift in habits. The generation of lawyers that grew up with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter will look for answers outside of the normal channels; particularly if a cost squeeze forces them to be creative.??
Factor ?3: Globalization of markets. Try selling content at US/UK prices when you are selling to BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China). ?
Factor 4: Globalization of competition. Lawyers and publishers in BRIC countries will bring price competition one way or another.??Factor # 5: Deleveraging. In this case the deleveraging is lawyers paying off student loans when they can no longer charge really high $ per hour rates. They simply won?t pay as much for information because they cannot pay.
Factor 6: Great Recession. Customers are pressing legal firms for lower prices. Big firms have gone smash and many have cut back. They will seek lower costs from publishers.?
Factor 7: Regulatory change. People in the industry are pushing for more AntiTrust action. The more radical option is Law.gov, which we will explore in the next post.
As they say .. Don?t say you haven?t been warned ! ?And as Rupert (Murdoch) has found out this week paid apps ain?t the pancea either.
Best wishes Sean Hocking ??LLN
Legal KM News
Article: Legal Video Network present results of survey amongst law firms
Article: Knowledge Management can change the way you do business (Pt1-The Challenge)
Article: Indiana U and U Hawaii Pursue Open Source Help Desk System
Article: Above & Beyond KM: Planning Fallacy and Bad Estimates
Article: The Slow Motion Riot - The Change Agenda for Legal Departments and Law Firms
Press Release: Clio cloud-based law practice management introduces ClioPad
Press Release: Alphaport?s Knowledge Management Services Reorganize to Help Organizations Sustain Their Businesses
New Issue Published: The Informed Librarian
Legal Publishing / Product & Market News
Semantic Web.com Publishes Article: Semantic Wave Hits Legal Publishing, Part 1: Current Cash Cows
Lexis Nexis Name New Media Agency
Wolters Kluwer Appoints Richard Flynn as CEO of Corporate Legal Services
Article- SLAW: The Heather Robertson Settlement and Legal Publishers
Article: Joe Hodnicki Law Librarian Blog Network: ?Your WestlawNext License Can Be Just Like Your Westlaw License. Part II: Downplaying the Ability to Block Out-of-Plan Resources for a Cross-Database Search Engine in WLN Marketing
Article: Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (BMY.LN) is looking to expand into legal publishing
Blog Post : Small Is Better Jones McClure Publishing Launches Experiment in Crowdsourcing a Print Title
Book Review: The Changing Role of Academic Law Librarianship: Leading Librarians on Teaching Legal Research Skills, Responding to Emerging Technologies, and Adapting to Changing Trends (Inside the Minds) (Paperback)
Linked In Discussion: WestlawNext: Has anyone been using the new version of WestLaw? Reviews say it has been "googlized" and a new version of Lexis out this year is going to go the same way.
Press Release : New Site Launches Offering Legal Information and Legal Forms for Everyone
Press Release: EBSCO Publishing Announces New How-To Databases for Public Library Patrons
Press Release: ALM Names Farrell McManus as Associate Publisher of the New York Law Journal
Press Release: BVR Launches BVLaw ? New Service for Law Firms and Business Appraisers
Deputy Blawg
Blog: ?Indonesia Law Reporter Blog
Blog Post ? You Tube: New video page launches for all users
New Blog: McKenna Long & Aldridge (USA) Launches New Blog to Provide Labor Law Analysis
Podcast: SEOLawFirm.com Law Firm Marketing Podcast
Press Release: How SEO Blogs Can Help Law Firm Websites
Pr ?eess Release: Feedblitz ?- Greater language control for international sites
iPad ?Read About i Pads Till You Go Blue in the Face
Article: Is the iPad Setting the Stage for the Wider Adoption of the Touch-Screen Interface?
Article: Looking at the iPad From Two Angles
Post: Apple Sold More Than 300,000 iPads On Day 1; Users Downloaded 1 Million Apps, 250,000 E-Books
Post: Pricey iPad Not A Must-Have Dedicated E-Reader; Kindle App Outperforms Apple?s iBook
Post: Why The iPad Actually Strengthens Amazon?s Position
Trawling
Article ? SLAW : Nomus: A New Canadian Caselaw Search Engine
Article / Press Release: Over half of consumers expect good law firms to offer legal services online
Article: Top 50 Law School Libraries In The USA
Article / Wired Magazine: April 2, 1973: Lexis Launches Computerized Legal Searching
Article: Generation Y trainees to shake up Legal and Legal IT
Blog Article SLAW: The Cost of Free Google Searches
Blog Article- Resource Shelf: Packaging Info Sources For Sale: WSJ + Factiva = WSJ Pro. Blog Post : Proving the Value of the Special Library
Blog Post: Best Practices to Demonstrate the Value of Your Law Librar
Blog Post: The role of the law librarian in the pre-publishing phase of legal scholarship
Video: LexisNexis' Mike Mintz and USLM CEO Mike Walsh at LegalTech NY 2010
Tweets & Twits
Blog Post: Twitter Quietly Rolls Out ?Most Popular Tweets?
Blog Post: PR Lawyer - Tweets Heard 'Round the World
Blog Post: Twitter Toolkits: Tweet Like the Experts Do
Law Librarians, Legal KM & Legal Publishing Jobs Board
AUSTRALIA
The High Court Library has 2 vacancies for Library Officers.
eLearning Content Manager at Blake Dawson
UK / EUROPE
Legal Counsel EBRD ? London ( Need Legal KM Skills)
Legal Global Knowledge Management Director
Sales Executive - Legal Publishing - ?40k ote
USA
ADMIN ASSISTANT IV - Law Librarian
Research/Faculty Services Law Librarian
PUBLISHING PROJECT MANAGER (LEGAL PRINT) - EAGAN, MN
Knowledge Management Content Coordinator
Law Librarian in New Jersey for Department of Justice
Reference Librarian OSU Moritz Law Library
Corporate Law Librarian MetLife
Legal Professional - Research & Publishing Assistant (Santa Ana, CA)
Law Library Directory, Univ. of Kentucky Law
Publishing Project Manager (Legal Print)
Sr. Director, Westlaw Deposition Services- San Francisco, CA or Eagan, MN
Account Executive ?Westlaw Court Express ?- New York
New Products & Publications
Kluwer Law International
Hein
Conferences and Events
BIALL
CLIG
IALL ( Bursary Information)
Leading Conference & Workshop Providers
Ark
2010 Law Librarians Associations Conference Dateline
Features / Vendor Articles
In our new section vendor articles/features we will feature pieces written by employees at legal publishing, legal technology, legal KM ?and ?legal web 2.0 companies. If articles have been paid for we will always let you know
No Article This Issue
Legal Technology Insider News
Guest article: The New Regime on Data Loss
Hitwise
Top 10 Business and Finance - Legal websites ranked by Visits - Month of March, 2010
Source: Experian Hitwise
Charon QC
Illegal migrant found guilty of conning law chief Baroness Scotland over job
A selection of negative comments for your delectation and delight?
Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI
