College of Law Practice Management Announces 2012 InnovAction Award Winners

PARKER, Colo., Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The College of Law Practice Management, an international organization that recognizes excellence in law practice management, today announced the recipients of the 2012 InnovAction Awards. The global law firms of Littler Mendelson, PC and Seyfarth Shaw LLP are the two recipients of the coveted 2012 InnovAction Awards.

For the eighth straight year, the InnovAction Awards have recognized outstanding innovation in the delivery of legal services, demonstrating to the legal community what can happen when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, resolve to create effective change.

"The InnovAction judges were greatly impressed by the groundbreaking submissions from law firms and companies," said Timothy B. Corcoran, Principal of Corcoran Consulting Group and chair of the 2012 awards program. "The winning entries exemplify not only innovation, but the practical necessity for bold ideas to benefit multiple stakeholders. This year's winners reflect an admirable clients-first approach."

Here are the 2012 InnovAction Award-winning entries:

• Littler was selected for Littler CaseSmart™. In response to a client challenge, Littler Mendelson developed Littler CaseSmart™, a solution that combines a re-engineered legal process (deployed in a client-dedicated, team-based model) that is built on a technology platform that allows for the strategic management of a high volume of administrative agency charges (such as federal, state, and local charges of discrimination), at a fixed, per-charge fee. Littler CaseSmart™ provides transparent, privileged, and real-time online access to the status of the client's legal matters, as well as a dashboard of key performance indicators, visual graphics, and reports. The Littler CaseSmart™ approach completely re-engineers the way in which matters are handled, maximizing the use of technology to anticipate attorney needs as they conduct research, prepare responsive documentation and perform legal and risk analysis in order to enhance efficiency while maintaining firm profitability.
• Seyfarth Shaw was selected for its SeyfarthLean program. Well before the fall of the financial markets, Seyfarth leadership anticipated the need for better ways for a law firm to meet its clients' rapidly evolving needs for value, efficiency and continued high quality of legal services. Based on that simple goal, we have become the only large law firm to build a distinctive client service model – called SeyfarthLean – that combines the core principles of Lean Six Sigma with robust technology, knowledge management, process management techniques, alternative fee structures and practical tools. The broad, systemic use of such a model across multiple practice areas is unique to the legal profession and reflects a fundamentally different way of thinking about how to deliver legal services.

"Future survival of a vital and contributing legal profession now depends on the innovative, unstuffy thinking of a few individuals and organizations around the world. It is the mission of The College of Law Practice Management to shine a spotlight on extraordinary thinking and impressive implementation to illustrate what can be accomplished when firms dare to take a risk," said InnovAction judge Thomas S. Clay, consultant, Altman Weil, Inc.

In addition to Mr. Clay, the other InnovAction award judges included Ida Abbott, principal, Ida Abbott Consulting; Patrick Lamb, The Valorem Law Group, Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, principal of Astin Tarlton and co-publisher of Attorney at Work; and Tony Williams, principal, Jomati Consultants LLP.

The awards will be presented on Friday, October 26, at a special session during the 2012 Futures Conference, held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the College of Law Practice Management in Washington, DC.

About COLPM

The College of Law Practice Management (the College) is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1994 to honor and recognize distinguished law practice management professionals, to set standards of achievement for others in the profession, and to fund and assist projects that enhance the highest quality of law practice management. The College and its Fellows inspire excellence and innovation in law practice management by:

• Honoring extraordinary achievement
• Developing, exchanging and disseminating knowledge
• Stimulating innovation in the delivery of legal services

About 2012 InnovAction Awards

The College continues its global search for ingenuity in law practice management. Designed to inspire creative thinking in a field known for its over-reliance on precedent, the InnovAction Awards are intended not only to identify effective innovation but also to inspire it through international recognition.

About 2012 InnovAction Sponsors

Platinum:
Attorney at Work
Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Practical Law Company

Gold:
ABA Law Practice Management Section
Canadian Bar Association
International Legal Technology Association (ILTA)
Thomson Reuters
Ricoh Legal

Silver:
Alexander Open Systems (AOS)
Altman Weil, Inc.
Association of Legal Administrators
Legal Marketing Association

SOURCE The College of Law Practice Management