NEW YORK (October 25, 2010) –Corporate Counsel magazine’s “Social Media: Risks and Rewards” conference speakers will address the latest threats and increasing legal perils associated with the rapid growth and evolution of social media. Featured speakers include in-house legal counsel from American Express, GE Capital, General Mills, TripAdvisor and Google. The conference will take place on Wednesday, November 3rd, at the Harvard Club of New York.

Anthony Paonita editor-in-chief at Corporate Counsel commented, “Social media has blurred the lines completely between work and private life. Among other things, it’s made legal departments totally re-evaluate what is important in terms of discovery in the employment sphere.”

Last year, over 100 in-house counsel met at The Harvard Club of NYC for the first event in this series. This year, the updated program focuses on best practice[s] for fundamentals like legally binding social media policies and significant emerging issues such as e-Discovery, the shifting relationship between companies and consumers, and the efficacy of Terms of Use [policies].

The conference sessions topics will include:
•    Privacy and security in social media.
•    How to protect against exposure risks generated by social media.
•    The lawyer’s new nightmare: e-Discovery and social media.
•    Crafting and legally enforcing a uniform social media policy across a corporation.
•    Brand protection, promotion and social media.

Complete conference agenda and registration details are available at www.corpcounsel.com/socialmedia.

Program attendees are eligible for up to 8 CLE credits, including one CLE Ethics credit in New York.

For additional conference information, please contact Judy Kelly at jkelly@alm.com.  To register, please contact customer service at (212) 457-7905 or visit www.corpcounsel.com/socialmedia.

The conference is presented by Corporate Counsel, in conjunction with ALM Events, a leading producer of educational and networking events for legal and business professionals.

About ALM

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

ALM, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum are trademarks or registered trademarks of ALM Media Properties, LLC or affiliated entities.
Contact:
Jenny Hall

Phone: (212) 457-9535

E-mail: jhall@alm.com

NEW YORK (October 22, 2010) –The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel Litigation 2010 special report looks at the thorny issues of e-discovery and electronic data, including recent and inconsistent e-discovery rulings, an account of the Qualcomm lawyers who failed to discover 200,000 electronic pages, and emerging law firm strategies for delivering combined technical and legal expertise. Copies of Litigation 2010 will be available with the November issue of Corporate Counsel, (October 18, 2010) and The American Lawyer (November 1, 2010) and online at www.law.com/jsp/tal/litigation_supplement_fall_2010.jsp.

“Fatal Discovery,” tracks the fate of six Qualcomm lawyers sanctioned for an egregious discovery lapse during the Qualcomm-Broadcom patent fight, after a post-trial search yielded over 200,000 elusive electronic pages. Joseph Rosenblum examines the events leading up to their sanction and final exoneration.

“Should You Friend the Judge?” by Terry Baynes looks at the obstacles of social media in discovery battles, and one judge’s innovative solution when the Federal Stored Communications Act barred a civil subpoena of Facebook. The judge offered to friend the witnesses.

In “Developments,” reporter Victor Li examines the split between federal district judges Shira Scheindlin and Lee Rosenthal, the godmothers of e-discovery. The judges have been shaping the ground rules for e-discovery but are deeply divided when it comes to putting these rules into practice. Scheindlin takes a much tougher line on lawyers who fail to meet e-discovery obligations, while Rosenthal holds that the judicial response to loss of documents should be commensurate with the impact of the loss and whether attorneys acted in bad faith.

In “Who You Gonna Call?” assistant editor Irene Plagianos, looks at the different strategies adopted by law firms to build capacity in an emerging, highly competitive practice area.

The rest of the Litigation supplement looks beyond e-Discovery.  “Cases to Watch,” are the cases litigators think will make the news or move the dial in developing areas of law. “Tales of the Other Justice League,” takes a look at the super-hero battles beyond the comic book. When Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel for $4 billion, the stakes were raised in the mysterious and opaque world of comic book creation and IP ownership. Senior reporter Drew Combs investigates.

The American Lawyer www.americanlawyer.com and Corporate Counsel www.corpcounsel.com are published in print and online by ALM.

About ALM

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

ALM, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum are trademarks or registered trademarks of ALM Media Properties, LLC or affiliated entities.

Contact:
Jenny Hall

Phone: (212) 457-9535

E-mail: jhall@alm.com

MIAMI (October 13, 2010) –The Florida-based Daily Business Review today announced the launch of its revamped website, DailyBusinessReview.com, providing expanded news, analysis and business information for legal, real estate and financial professionals. The improved site organizes information by content category and offers access to a deep database of information and multimedia content, delivering improved navigation and expanded archive and search access. The updated DBR site also introduces Court Central, which provides links to a wide variety of vital information for litigators. For additional information, visit DailyBusinessReview.com.

Court Central includes judicial profiles of federal and state court judges, motion calendars, court directories, daily listings of emergency judges, alternate judges, court holidays, emergency matters, court notices, case opinions, verdicts and settlements, and the results of judicial practices surveys about how judges for the 11th, 15th, and 17th Judicial Circuits run their courtrooms.

Features of the improved website include:
•    Continuously updated news, business intelligence and exclusive DBR research.
•    Easy-to-navigate hub pages dedicated to the DBR’s most read features, including Verdicts & Settlements, On Real Estate, Dealmakers, After Hours and Business of Law.
•    A new opinions section with local and national commentary as well as articles from DBR’s Board of Contributors.
•    An integrated search function providing access to archived DBR content and results from across all of ALM’s award-winning brands, including The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal and Law.com.
•    Summarized and full text opinions from Florida’s District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
•    Expanded multimedia pages with dbrTV videos, audio clips and After Hours slide shows.
•    Live home page postings from the DBR’s “Inside Track” blog, Web poll results and Twitter feeds.

“We’ve delivered a high-utility website, giving professionals rapid access to the latest court verdicts and opinions, law firm moves, real estate deals, financial transactions and regulatory trends,” said David Lyons, editor-in-chief of the Daily Business Review.  “The site offers a rich trove of local business knowledge and court information, as well as video of the key newsmakers.  We are also inviting more reader feedback and debate through our opinions section, and our Facebook and Twitter pages.”

The new design offers marketers increased ability to target messages adjacent to specific online content.  For information on interactive marketing opportunities, contact Stephanie Hemmerich, director of client development, at shemmerich@alm.com or at 1-800-777-7300, ext. 6623.

Three levels of access to the site are available. Complete website access is available to all DBR print subscribers. Online-only subscriptions are also available.  Additionally, free content is available with and without registration. Free content includes select stories, videos, public notices and blogs. To subscribe or register, visit DailyBusinessReview.com/subscribe or call 1-877-256-2472.

There will be no log-on changes for currently registered website subscribers.  Print subscribers who have not yet established online access can do so by visiting DailyBusinessReview.com or calling 1-877-256-2472.

Daily Business Review:
The Daily Business Review is the primary tool, information source and communication forum for South Florida lawyers and business professionals who routinely engage in deal making, client development and business negotiations. The DBR publish legal, real estate and financial information for the top lawyers and business executives daily in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

ALM:
ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors.  ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum.  Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997.  For more information, visit www.alm.com.
                                                 # # #
ALM, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, Daily Business Review, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum are trademarks or registered trademarks of ALM Media Properties, LLC.

Contact:
Jenny Hall

Phone: (212) 457-9535

E-mail: jhall@alm.com

NEW YORK (October 5, 2010) –ALM’s Law Journal Press, a leading publisher of books for legal professionals, today announced the publication of “Regulation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers” by Chilton Davis Varner and Andrew T. Bayman. This multidisciplinary guide examines legal and practical considerations involved in handling pharmaceutical law issues, whether civil or criminal. The guide covers includes clinical trials, marketing practices, disclosure of drug side effects, manufacturing problems and litigation. A detailed table of contents, as well as ordering information on this and other Law Journal Press books, is available at www.lawcatalog.com.

Varner and Bayman are partners in King & Spalding in Atlanta.  Varner has 30 years of courtroom experience as a trial lawyer defending some of the country’s largest, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in mass tort litigation, class actions and multidistrict litigation.  Bayman is the leader of King & Spalding‘s Tort Litigation and Environmental Practice Group. It is one of the largest practice groups of its kind and has been recognized by The American Lawyer as one of the top three product liability practices in the country.

“Regulation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers” examines current state and federal law and regulation, as well as the latest enforcement actions, and civil and criminal settlements.  Topics covered include:  FDA regulation of clinical trials; regulation of controlled substances and listed chemicals; intellectual property law protection of pharmaceutical research; pharmaceutical company mergers; insurance law issues; parent company liability for acts of a subsidiary or for prior acts of an acquired company; off-label promotion, kickbacks and illegal marketing practices; whistleblower suits; product liability issues; tort claims by third party payors and defenses; securities law disclosure; and class actions.

The book highlights key areas where pharmaceutical manufacturers must ensure compliance and is designed to help pharmaceutical lawyers advise clients on all legal aspects of pharmaceutical manufacturing and marketing, avoiding litigation when possible and building the strongest defense when necessary.  

Law Journal Press, a division of ALM, publishes more than 130 books on a broad range of legal and business topics. Written by leading lawyers and experts and updated regularly, Law Journal Press treatises offer definitive and timely information, insightful analysis and practitioner-oriented guidance for the legal profession.

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

Contact:
Jenny Hall

Phone: (212) 457-9535

E-mail: jhall@alm.com

NEW YORK (October 4, 2010) –The National Law Journal will present the 2010 “Law Firm Leadership and Economic Forum” October 13-14 at The Harvard Club in New York City. The two-day conference will be co-chaired by Marianna G. Dyson, chair, Miller & Chevalier Chartered and David Brown, editor in chief of The National Law Journal and will focus on issues, management and leadership strategies for firms of up to 300 attorneys. The complete conference agenda and details are available at www.americanlawyer.com/leadership.

Conference topics will include:

•    “Effective Strategy: Establishing and Implementing the Right Vision for Your Mid-Size Firm”
•    “The Changing Role of the Managing Partner”
•    “Talent Management for the Mid-Size Firm”
•    “Law Firm Economics and Profitability”
•    “Group Therapy for Law Firm Leaders”
•    “Competitive Advantage, Creative Solutions and Extraordinary Client Service”
•    “Building a Management Structure”
•    “Ethics and Leadership”

“This program is the first of its kind and offers a truly unique opportunity for leaders of mid-sized firms,” said Marianna Dyson, Chair of Miller & Chevalier. “It not only features critical topics, but provides a forum for sharing ideas and insights and expanding our own valuable network of colleagues whom we can call upon in the future.”

Moderators, panelists and speakers will include:

•    Fred H. Bartlit, Jr., founding partner, Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP
•    Martin D. Beirne, managing partner, Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, L.L.P.
•    Pamela L. Bernstein, executive director, Miller & Chevalier Chartered
•    Scott Bravi, chief information officer, Arnold & Porter LLP
•    Amiram Elwork, director, law-psychology (J.D./Psy.D.), Widener University and  president, Vorkell Group; author of “Stress Management for Lawyers”
•    Louise Firestone, senior vice president and general counsel, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc.
•    Kevin Iredell, vice president, ALM Legal Intelligence
•    Adam P. Kahn, co-managing partner, Foley Hoag LLP
•    Judith A. Lockhart, managing partner, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP
•    Mashenka Lundberg, partner, Holme Roberts & Owen LLP
•    Steven Nataupsky , managing partner, Knobbe Martens
•    James M. Neis, partner, Winston & Strawn LLP
•    Timothy J. Ochsenhirt , chairman, CEO, Roetzel & Andress LPA
•    Gloria A. Pinza, managing partner, Pierce Atwood LLP
•    Aric Press, vice president and editor in chief, ALM
•    Harold (Kip) Reader, managing partner, Ulmer & Berne
•    Norm Rubenstein, partner, Zeughauser Group
•    Arthur J. Shartsis, founding partner, Shartsis Friese LLP
•    Ronald H. Shechtman, managing partner, Pryor Cashman LLP
•    Francis H. Sheppard, managing partner, Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell
•    Robin Sparkman, editor in chief, ALM
•    Dave Urbanik, COO, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter
•    Mike Walsh, president and CEO, U.S. Legal Markets, LexisNexis Group
•    Benjamin F. Wilson, managing principal, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.

Attendees will be eligible for up to 13.5 CLE credits, including 2 ethics credits.  For additional conference information, or to register, contact Carl Seering at 212-457-7905, e-mail cseering@alm.com or visit www.americanlawyer.com/leadership.

The conference is presented by The National Law Journal, in conjunction with ALM Events, a leading producer of educational and networking events for legal and business professionals.

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

Contact:

Jenny Hall

Phone: (212) 457-9535

E-mail: jhall@alm.com

NEW YORK (October 1, 2010) – ALM’s U. S. law firms Baker & McKenzie and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom regained the number one and two revenue spots respectively, as The American Lawyer unveiled its 2010 Global 100 rankings of the world’s largest law firms based on gross revenues, headcount and profits per partner for their most recent fiscal year. The U.K.’s Magic Circle law firms, hit by the fallout of the global recession and currency devaluation, dropped significantly on this year’s list, with last year’s leaders, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, dropping to the fourth and sixth spots, respectively. Six of the top ten largest firms on this year’s rankings were based in the U.S. For these and other stories, as well as Global 100 charts, visit www.americanlawyer.com.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz again gained the top ranking in profits per equity partner and also reported the highest revenue per lawyer.  Baker & McKenzie again led the headcount rankings.

“The recession was an equal-opportunity destroyer of revenue at most of the global 100 firms, but our data showed that, thanks to rigorous cost-cutting, many firms handled it well,” said Robin Sparkman, editor in chief of The American Lawyer.

With five Yankee newcomers—Jenner & Block, Littler Mendelson, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, Troutman Sanders, and Venable—the revenue list from top to bottom has a decidedly more American accent. Some 79 of The Global 100 are U.S.–headquartered.

Second-tier London firms fared especially badly. Eversheds and Ashurst tumbled nine and 12 spots on our chart in a year, respectively, and Simmons & Simmons dropped 25 spots.  Third-tier British firms performed even more poorly.  Five of 17 U.K. firms on The Global 100 have vanished from the list since fiscal year 2007.  (Some U.K. firms, however, remain in the top 100 by head count.)

Even controlling for currency effects (by comparing pound results to pound results), on average those British firms on both this and 2008’s lists saw a 7 percent compound annual decline in profits per partner from 2007 to 2009, versus a comparable decline of 2 percent for the U.S. firms on the list.

In addition to drops in the value of the pound, at least two other factors account for the transatlantic discrepancy in performance.  First, the U.K. firms have smaller litigation practices than the U.S. firms, typically 15–20 percent of firm revenues, rather than 40–60 percent. While litigation has not fully counterbalanced the transactional falloff during this recession, it has provided some measure of stability for American firms.

Secondly, law firm layoffs are about three times more expensive outside the United States because of longer notice and severance requirements. With six months’ severance and often longer required for associates and other staff, layoffs in 2008–09 will make a British firm’s numbers look uglier on 2010’s charts.

The American Lawyer’s Global 100 rankings are compiled in conjunction with London’s Legal Week.  Detailed ranking charts will be available on the Web to registered subscribers at www.americanlawyer.com/global100.

Follow The American Lawyer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AmLawDaily. To subscribe or request back copies of The American Lawyer, please call (800) 755-2773 or (212) 545-5990 outside the U.S.  A digital edition of the magazine can also be purchased online.  The American Lawyer is published in print and online by ALM.

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

Contact:

Lee Feldman, Peters & Feldman for ALM

Phone: (203) 341-8922

E-mail: lfeldman@alm.com

NEW YORK (September 29, 2010) –The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Western Pennsylvania’s leading news source, and The Legal Intelligencer, the nation’s oldest daily legal newspaper, today announced a new content partnership that will expand coverage of legal news for the region’s business community. The Post-Gazette will launch a new print and online weekly legal news section on October 4, published in the newspaper every Monday and featuring bylined news and analysis from both publications.

The weekly section will run in the Post-Gazette’s business section and will include an original “Intelligencer” column, written by the editors and senior reporters of The Legal Intelligencer, as well as other news content from the legal newspaper, selected by the editors of the Post-Gazette. The section will also be available free online to readers at www.post-gazette.com, the region’s most visited website, with links to www.thelegalintelligencer.com.

Coverage will focus on state and regional legal, court, legislative and law firm news of interest to business readers.  Print and online advertising will be sold by both organizations.

“We believe that this new section will be of great interest to the three out of four legal professionals in Allegheny County who read the Post-Gazette in print or online each week. We are proud to have partnered with The Legal Intelligencer, a true leader and expert in covering the legal community,” said Christopher H. Chamberlain, president of the Post-Gazette.

“We’re thrilled to be working with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the latest step in our continuing commitment to the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania legal market,” said Hank
Grezlak, editor in chief of The Legal Intelligencer.  “Partnering with the Post-Gazette will allow us to provide even deeper and more analytical content to that market and to a broader regional audience.”

“We believe this represents a unique partnership between a respected, large metro daily and a targeted vertical publication such as our own, which can serve as a model for other markets,” added Hal Cohen, publisher of TLI. “Legal developments and court decisions today have a broad impact on all aspects of business and hold strong interest for these readers.  We look forward to expanding our relationship with the Post-Gazette in the future to include new digital initiatives and events.”

The Post-Gazette is the successor to all of Pittsburgh’s predecessor newspapers and remains the dominant brand for print and online news.  It has served the Pittsburgh community, its readers and advertisers as the region’s indispensable source of news, advertising and information for more than two centuries. Reaching one million people every week, the Post-Gazette is Western Pennsylvania’s largest newspaper and post-gazette.com is the region’s most visited website.

The Legal Intelligencer (www.thelegalintelligencer.com) is Pennsylvania’s leading resource for legal news and information, and official publication for all Philadelphia County legal notices.  It is part of ALM’s Pennsylvania Newspaper Group, whose award-winning legal publications, related Web sites, reference texts and directories serve the Pennsylvania, Delaware and Southern New Jersey regions. ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors.

Contact:

Lee Feldman, Peters & Feldman for ALM

Phone: (203) 341-8922

E-mail: lfeldman@alm.com

Tracey DeAngelo for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Phone:  (412) 263-1460

E-mail: tdeangelo@post-gazette.com

NEW YORK (September 29, 2010) – ALM’s Corporate Counsel today announced plans for its 4th Annual Hedge Fund General Counsel Summit. The one-day conference will take place October 4 at The Harvard Club in New York City. The Summit will address impending regulatory changes affecting the hedge fund industry and offer concrete guidance on how firms can ensure compliance and attract investor capital. Designed for hedge fund general counsel, by hedge fund general counsel, the event can help industry participants fully understand the legal risks and challenges facing the market today. Participants will include hedge fund general counsel, chief legal officers, chief compliance officers, law firms, hedge fund executives, and regulators and government officials. The complete conference agenda and details are available at www.corpcounsel.com/hedgegc.

Session topics to be covered at this year’s event include:

•    “Duties of the Hedge Fund General Counsel in the World of Financial Reform”
•    “Investors Needs, Fears and Protection”
•    “New Laws, New Rules and New Risks: Risk Assessment & Mitigation”
•    “Counterparty Risk and Lessons Learned from the Crisis”
•    “Changing Supervisory and Regulatory Landscape”
•    “Preparing For An SEC Investigation”
•    “The Chief Compliance Officer and the General Counsel”

Panelists and speakers will include:

•    Daniel Bradford, general counsel, Weiss Asset Management
•    Lisa Conrad, deputy general counsel & chief compliance officer, Angelo, Gordon & Co., LP
•    Jennifer Duggins, chief compliance officer, Chilton Investment Company
•    Robert D. Ellis, chief legal officer, Plural Investments, LLC
•    William Ferrell, president and CIO, Ferrell Capital Management Inc.
•    Peter Greene, vice chair, investment management group; member corporate department, Lowenstein Sandler PC
•    Brian Guzman, general counsel and partner, Indus Capital Partners, LLC
•    Joyce Heinzerling, principal, Meridian Fund Advisers
•    Roberta S. Karmel, Centennial Professor of Law & co-director of the Center for the Study of   International Business Law, Brooklyn Law School
•    Leslie Kelleher, member, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered
•    Simon Lorne, vice chairman and chief legal officer, Millennium Management LLC
•    Dianne Mattioli, chief compliance officer, EIM Management (USA) Inc.
•    Derek Meisner, general counsel, Regiment Capital Advisors, L.P.
•    Christopher S. Rizek, member, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered
•    Robert Saperstein, chief compliance officer & associate general counsel, Caxton Associates LP
•    John Scannell, chief operating officer, Hildene Capital Management
•    Scott Sherman, managing director, Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, Inc.
•    Trevor W. Swett, member, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered

Attendees will be eligible for up to 8 CLE credits.  For additional conference information, or to register, contact Carl Seering at 212-457-7905 or e-mail cseering@alm.com or visit www.corpcounsel.com/hedgegc.

The conference is presented by Corporate Counsel, in conjunction with ALM Events, a leading producer of educational and networking events for legal and business professionals.
ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

Contact:

Lee Feldman, Peters & Feldman for ALM

Phone: (203) 341-8922

E-mail: lfeldman@alm.com

NEW YORK (September 28, 2010) – A significant number of in-house law departments continue to face shrinking staffs and budgets, while reporting increased workloads, according to Corporate Counsel’s 2010 Law Department Metrics Benchmarking Survey. Almost one-third reported that budgets were cut last year, while 25 percent reported reductions in the size of their law departments. While these percentages have dropped since last year’s study, they reflect the ongoing impact of the recession on in-house corporate law groups across the country. The study was conducted by ALM Legal Intelligence, a leading source of business intelligence for the legal profession. For further information, or to purchase a copy of the survey, visit www.almlegalintelligence.com.

“Law departments have faced increased workloads during past downturns, but this recession is clearly different,” said Anthony Paonita, editor in chief of Corporate Counsel.  “Our latest survey demonstrates that in-house counsel, and their outside firms, are not immune to the ongoing, company-wide budget cuts the current economy has forced on virtually all corporations across the country.”

Other findings of the survey included the following:

•    23 percent of the law departments implementing budget cuts reported cuts of more than 15 percent.
•    80 percent of respondents reported increased workloads in the past 12 months for their in-house staff, up from 70 percent last year.
•    73 percent of fees paid in 2009 to outside counsel were based on billing arrangements other than standard hourly rates or the billable hour, up from 66 percent reported in last year’s survey.
•    Total law department expenses increased from last year’s median of 0.29 percent of annual revenues to 0.33 percent, but still below the 0.37 percent reported in 2008.
•    A ranking of the top three criteria in selecting outside counsel remains the same as last year—firm specialization (32 percent), cost (20 percent), and responsiveness (18 percent)
•    The top three most serious relationship mistakes reported this year as being made by outside counsel were over-billing (18 percent), lack of responsiveness (18 percent), and over-lawyering (16 percent)

Corporate Counsel and ALM Legal Intelligence have monitored trends in in-house legal performance through 21 surveys conducted from 1972 through 2010.  The Law Department Metrics Benchmarking Survey, 2010 Edition, contains data from 114 companies in the spring of 2010.  Data is reported by sales revenue, number of corporate employees, industry type and law department size.  Almost 65 percent of participating organizations had more than $1 billion in revenue and 49 percent served organizations with more than 5,000 employees.

Additional information can be obtained by e-mailing almlegalintel@alm.com or calling 1-(888) 770-5647.

The nation’s leading publication for general counsel and in-house attorneys, the award-winning Corporate Counsel is published by ALM and is available on the Web at www.corpcounsel.com.

ALM Legal Intelligence offers detailed business information for and about the legal industry, focused on the top U.S. and international law firms. The division’s online research Web service, www.almlegalintel.com, provides subscribers with direct, on-demand access to ALI’s extensive database of surveys, rankings and lists related to law firms and the legal industry. The site also includes an online store where non-subscribers can, on an individual basis, purchase and download preformatted individual law firm reports, research reports and selected current-year survey data.  ALM Legal Intelligence is a division of ALM.

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

Contact:

Lee Feldman, Peters & Feldman for ALM

Phone: (203) 341-8922

E-mail: lfeldman@alm.com

NEW YORK (September 27, 2010) –Corporate Counsel will host its first Virtual Corporate Counsel Forum, featuring a full day of free Webcasts and CLE-accredited seminars with inhouse counsel and legal industry experts on September 30. The event’s virtual exhibit hall, offering presentations and demonstrations from leading industry vendors, will also be available to attendees from their desktops. For a complete conference agenda and to register, visit www.virtualcorporatecounselforum.com.

The Virtual Corporate Counsel Forum provides powerful online educational and networking opportunities for inhouse counsel and showcases the latest hardware, software, tools and services for the legal industry. The fully interactive virtual environment enables inhouse counsel to attend presentations and panel discussions, talk with vendors, view product demonstrations, collect information and network with colleagues.

The educational program for September includes seven interactive sessions with panels composed of corporate counsel, litigators, law firm technology experts, litigation technology specialists and leading industry consultants.  The program topics include:

•    “Social Media: Privacy & Security” (CLE Eligible)
•    “Effective Information Management Improves Corporate Litigation Readiness ” (CLE eligible)
•    “The Real Rate Report: Understanding the True Drivers of Legal Costs” (CLE Eligible)
•    “Management, Measurement and More – Best Practices for Maximizing Your Legal Spend”
•    “Selecting the Right Fee Arrangement” (CLE Eligible)
•    “Social Media Policies: Crafting a Uniform Policy Across your Organization and Enforcing It” (CLE Eligible)
•    “Driving Risk Out of the eDiscovery Process” (CLE Eligible)

Speakers and panelists will include:
•    Mary Clark. vice president of law, LexisNexis
•    Jake Frazier, managing director, Huron Consulting Group
•    Charles R. Macedo, Partner, Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein; Author, “The Corporate Insider’s Guide to US Patent Practice,” published by Oxford University Press
•    Craig Raeburn, vice president of product management, CT TyMetrix
•    Patrick Ryan, director of administration, City of Chicago Department of Law
•    Robin Sangston, vice president, legal affairs and chief compliance officer, Cox Communications, Inc.
•    William F. Savarino, partner, Cohen Mohr LLP
•    Ursala Talley, vice president, marketing, StoredIQ
•    Keith Zoellner, Chief Technology Officer, StoredIQ

Conference attendees are eligible for up to 6 CLE Credits (NY, CA, IL, and FL only.)  For a conference agenda, exhibitor list and other details, visit www.virtualcorporatecounselforum.com.  For additional information, or to register, please contact customer service at (212) 457-7905, e-mail jkelly@alm.com or visit the website.   Show information is also available through LinkedIn and Twitter.

The Virtual Corporate Counsel Forum is presented by Corporate Counsel in conjunction with ALM Conferences and Trade Shows, a leading producer of educational and networking events for business leaders and professionals.  Other ALM events include LegalTech and LegalTech West Coast, ALM Legal Conferences, Insight Information Conferences and the RealShare Conference series.

ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal and commercial real estate sectors. ALM’s market-leading brands include The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.

ALM, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum are trademarks or registered trademarks of ALM Media Properties, LLC or affiliated entities.

Contact:

Lee Feldman, Peters & Feldman for ALM

Phone: (203) 341-8922

E-mail: lfeldman@alm.com