Here it comes again !? On to issue 202 now. Here’s the TOC and editorial
Editorial
The article to read in this issue is something we?ve referenced by Gary Rodrigues and published to SLAW this past week; entitled ?Staying Relevant in Legal Publishing
He introduces his piece by writing?
The two leading Canadian legal publishers, Carswell Thomson and LexisNexis Butterworths, have something in common ? both face a major challenge for continuing relevance in the Canadian market. Interestingly enough, the real challenge does not come from each other, but from free services and technological advances, and increasingly from small but nimble legal publishers committed to the delivery of high quality competitively priced products. How each of them responds to this challenge will determine their ultimate role as providers of legal information in the Canadian legal market.
Meeting the challenge has been made more difficult because of the unrealistic expectations for growth held by their parent companies and a misunderstanding of the role of the legal publisher in the practice of law. Legal publishers are not ?partners? in the practice of law but simply one of many types of service providers to the legal profession. Moreover, there really are limits on the amount a law firm or legal practitioner will pay for legal information and therefore limits on the revenue growth that can be achieved by the legal publishers.
For the third newsletter in a row we were going to mention how quiet the major legal publishers have been since around April and it?s something that we will also be touching on in a similar article that HOB will be contributing to SLAW in September.
The short of it is. Two to three years ago legal publishing was about the most profitable publishing venture out there.
But a perfect financial storm combined with legal publishers who should actually just be called database creation experts (rather than publishers), firms cutting costs and competition from the likes of Bloomberg & Google have brought the whole edifice down to the point that Rodrigues says he wouldn?t be surprised if ?Thompson & Lexis sold out their legal publishing businesses to the aforesaid competitors.
As I said we will touch on this in a more detailed piece for SLAW but we are sure there are some legal publishers out there turning in their grave. Over 100 years ?defining a section of the publishing industry ..within 15 years the database companies have run these expert legal publishers and their great brands into the ground. ??
We agree ?that the management of companies like Butterworths, the Law Book Company in Australia and many similar companies around the world weren?t forging their businesses into a brand new world ?at the time and they needed a shake up. But being purchased by database companies was obviously a shake up too far. These were people who knew (sort of) how to distribute the content far more efficiently to a much wider range of customers. But all the ?technology, marketing & sales development have done for the editorial and product development sides of each of the businesses and now it looks as though there?s a dearth of ideas.. especially the ?big new idea?.
?Best wishes Sean Hocking ??LLN
Legal KM News
Gurteen Knowledge-Letter: Issue 121 – July 2010
Contents
1 Introduction to the July 2010 Knowledge Letter
2 The Lazarus Effect
3 Don’t teach a man to fish, inspire him to fish his own way!
4 Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on Linkedin
5 Hot tweets: July 2010
6 Does willpower have its limits?
7 Do your employees think speaking up Is pointless?
8 KM Newsletter from the Institute for Knowledge and Innovation – South East Asia
9 KM Event Highlights
Article: The Link Between Knowledge Management and Profitability
Article: E-Business Library The Link Between Knowledge Management & Profitibility
Article: IT and the Access to Justice Crisis
Publishing / Product & Market News
Abstract: A Survey of Electronic Research Alternatives to Lexis and Westlaw in Law Firms A Survey of Electronic Research Alternatives to Lexis and Westlaw in Law Firms ?
Article / SLAW: Staying Relevant in Legal Publishing
Article: Thomson Reuters sees growth in second half
Blog Post / SLAW : Law Libraries Look Forward and Back
Blog Post: WESTLAW REFUSES TO CORRECT ERRORS IN OLD CASES
CLIG: AGM – London
Press Release: Thomson Reuters Leases Space from XO.
Press Release: LexisNexis Launches Corporate Affiliations Site
Deputy Blawg
Blog Post: 5 Ways To Jump Start Your Legal Blog Posts
Trawling
Abstract: The Law Librarian?s Role in the Scholarly Enterprise: Historical Development of the Librarian/Research Partnership in American Law Schools
Abstract: A Survey of Electronic Research Alternatives to Lexis and Westlaw in Law Firms
Article / SLAW: Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing ? Electronic Format Only
Article: Enterprise-Level Legal Search: Beyond Vendor-Dictated User Interfaces to the Multi-Vendor-Platforms Integrated UI
Blog Article / SLAW: Legal Deposit, Publisher Prices, and the Future of Print
Blog Article / SLAW: Legal Project Management
Blog Post: WestLaw and LexisNexis and the ?Porno Indians?
Blog Post: On WEXIS Making Corrections to Court Opinions Every Year
Blog Post: Westlaw Makes Clear That Its Policy Is to Correct Transcription Errors, Even for Old Cases
Blog Post / ResourceShelf: UK: New Online Database: Legislation.gov.uk (1267-Present)
Tweets & Twits
Law Librarians, Legal KM & Legal Publishing Jobs Board
AUSTRALIA
Lexis Nexis Australia: New Product Publishing Manager
CANADA
Manager, Legal Information & Knowledge Resources – RBC Law Group
UK / EUROPE
Legal Researcher / Librarian
Information Assistant, Kennedys, London
Library Assistant (Graduate Trainee) Withers
Books and Journals Sales Manager
Legal Global Knowledge Management Director
Knowledge Management Manager ? Jersey
Library Assistant / Sheffield – ?15K – ?17K pro rata
Know-How Officer
USA
Experienced Legal Professional – Research & Publishing Assistant (Santa Ana, CA)
Technical Services Librarian, Univ. of Akron School of Law
Director of Knowledge Management / Reed Smith
Intranet/Knowledge Management Librarian / STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP
Senior Reference Librarian, New York
TECHNICAL WRITER (W/WESTLAW EXP
Two Reference Librarians, Moritz Law Library, OSU
REFERENCE LIBRARIAN, LAW LIBRARY
Senior Developer for Legal Document and Knowledge Management
Philadelphia Legal Publishing Company ? Art Director
New Products & Publications
Kluwer
Justis
Conferences and Events
How to train legal personnel in legal research by Natalie Wieland, BLISS ?Consulting
Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession
Knowledge Management Masterclass with Chris Collison
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
Legal Technology Insider News
ALatest American Editon published + much more
Hitwise
Charon QC
Law Librarians, Legal KM & Legal Publishing Jobs Board
AUSTRALIA
Lexis Nexis Australia: New Product Publishing Manager
CANADA
Manager, Legal Information & Knowledge Resources – RBC Law Group
UK / EUROPE
Legal Researcher / Librarian
Information Assistant, Kennedys, London
Library Assistant (Graduate Trainee) Withers
Books and Journals Sales Manager
Legal Global Knowledge Management Director
Knowledge Management Manager ? Jersey
Library Assistant / Sheffield – ?15K – ?17K pro rata
Know-How Officer
USA
Experienced Legal Professional – Research & Publishing Assistant (Santa Ana, CA)
Technical Services Librarian, Univ. of Akron School of Law
Director of Knowledge Management / Reed Smith
Intranet/Knowledge Management Librarian / STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP
Senior Reference Librarian, New York
TECHNICAL WRITER (W/WESTLAW EXP
Two Reference Librarians, Moritz Law Library, OSU
REFERENCE LIBRARIAN, LAW LIBRARY
Senior Developer for Legal Document and Knowledge Management
Philadelphia Legal Publishing Company ? Art Director
New Products & Publications
Kluwer
Justis
Conferences and Events
How to train legal personnel in legal research by Natalie Wieland, BLISS ?Consulting
Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession
Knowledge Management Masterclass with Chris Collison
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
Legal Technology Insider News
Latest American Edition published + much more
Hitwise
Charon QC
