News

During the pandemic and while working from home, we have become dependent on video conferencing platforms, primarily Zoom and Teams. And although people are returning to the office, it seems...

Dynamic Software Solutions - DSS has acquired Softlog Systems Australia. DSS is the solutions division within the Dynamic Supplies Group, an integrated distribution, software and third-party logistics group of companies. DSS has...

The legal market continues to evolve with new and improved business practices, technology adoption and other innovative solutions. The primary reason in adopting such technologies is to improve efficiency, increase cost-savings, meet their...

It is advantageous that the legal sector understands the opportunities that present with the emergence of the Metaverse. The Metaverse will soon become a platform where everything will take place from conferences, meetings, businesses,...

Imagine a world without fire or fuel. What if the early man did not happen to rub stones to invent fire that helped us cook food and do much more....

For law firms, the decision to adopt cloud-based legal practice management software is complex. It involves change management, business disruption, and cost considerations. Also, finding that elusive “right time” to...

On 15 June 2022, the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rates by three-quarters of a point. This has been the most significant hike in three decades, signalling more rate...

Smokeball and FamilyProperty 2022 State of Family Law Conferences finish East Coast Tour  The enhanced role of registrars is being noted as the biggest benefit of the newly merged Family...

Technology is changing the world in the blink of an eye. All industries see tie-up with technology, and the legal industry is no exception. The sudden prominence of legal technology is...

McCarthy Tétrault LLP is a full-service Canadian national law firm with 700 attorneys spanning Canada and offices in New York City and London. The firm prides itself on being a...

In the lifecycle of a legal matter, little attention is typically paid to the intake process. In fact, many lawyers may be tempted to view intake as simply an administrative...

The world has been a crazy place the last couple of years, and everyone was forced to adapt to a new 'norm' whilst feeling a great amount of fear, confusion or...

The recent news of major law firms, Reed Smith launching an innovation lab and Norton Rose Fulbright launching a legal tech subsidiary, indicates how technology and innovation have and is...

David Woolstencroft catches up with Laura Keily, Founder and CEO of Immediation. Laura expresses her excitement with the recent announcements with Maxwell Chambers and Clio, further elevating their international market reach...

Australians are eager to see their workmates, but not for the whole week, according to a survey conducted by Emburse, a global leader in spend management solutions. The research aimed to...

Business development is a critical skill for lawyers, to win new clients while maintaining the relationships with existing clients in a highly competitive sector. We are therefore extremely grateful that we...

Amid the pandemic and the rise in the great resignation, a sizeable lawyer share has opined to keep working remote. Law firms are finding solutions to keep things in check - as arguably, the most important...

Technology law firm Scott & Scott, LLP has built an integration between its contract management solution and ConnectWise Sell, which is automated quote and proposal software for the IT services...

The day is coming – some say it already arrived – when artificial intelligence invents things that humans could not. It’s not surprising these days to see new inventions that...

Immediation recently announced the news that they have become the first and only end-to-end legal dispute resolution platform offered on Clio’s “App Store” for its users to access. Clio offers...

Firstly we would like to thank our long term sponsors for their ongoing support, we are very appreciative of their backing of LPI in delivering daily news to the profession....

Clients have a strong tendency to rely on lawyers' knowledge and actions. As a lawyer, we also aspire to keep our clients contented. Have we ever thought about what would happen...

To say that the pandemic shook up law firms and finance teams in a big way would be an understatement. The past couple of years completely changed how we work...

Credit Suisse's 2021 Global Health Report estimates the global wealth to be 418.3 trillion USD. Money has always fascinated the human race; we often use it as a medium to...

Information technology is integral to all enterprises, providing agility, security and competitive advantage. The future will undoubtedly rely heavily on cutting-edge technological innovations and information technology to reinforce the statement. Gartner's...

David Woolstencroft interviews Alan Fitzgerald, CTO of Practice Connections Advisory. With both having worked across the accounting and legal industries, they discuss what is happening in the sectors and point...

Apperio, a provider of legal spend analytics and matter tracking software, announced the availability of a new feature to streamline the process of reviewing and approving law firm invoices to...

A comprehensive report to date on the impacts of working from home (WFH) has been released. It revealed WFH has unlocked a $5.5bn reduction in travel time costs (from a pre-Covid $10.3bn)....

CoreLogic has released its latest market update for May, summarised below.  Currently, there has been a decrease in the volume of auctions in most capital cities in Australia with 2,088 auctions...

Unlike any other professionals, lawyers are also super 'humans' – saving lives and delivering justice. Although lawyers do not undertake the hippocratic oath, their lives are dedicated to securing their client’s...

For the last two years, we have realized the power of technology; everyone was Zoomed-In to their workstation. Be it office work, professional networking, learning events or even family functions...

Fortunately, there has been more acknowledgement and higher respect towards legal support personnel that manage essential day-to-day tasks to keep law firms and businesses running. People are becoming more aware of the...

Leanne Hexter from Taylor Splatt & Partners in Carrum Downs has taken the title of Smokeball’s National Secretary of 2022 in a nationwide competition organised by legal practice management software...

International law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) will redesign how work is allocated across its litigation practice in North America, supported by resource management specialists BigHand. The decision comes...

You’ve no doubt heard about the so-called “Great Resignation.” Employees, burnt out in their current roles and empowered by a hot job market, are quitting in droves. The most recent...

After a decade or so, history might be re-written and segregated into pre-pandemic and post-pandemic eras. While the pre-pandemic period would comprise World Wars, global treaties, historical developments, etc. The...

Caroline Hill, Gregor Pryor, Dan Jasnow and David Woolstencroft come together to discuss the metaverse and decentraland. So, what exactly is the metaverse? Many people have different views on the...

Technology companies are progressively expanding their capabilities and reach into the legal sector. Earlier this year, Nikec Solutions had extended its service offerings and tapped into the cybersecurity world, to better assist international...

As workplace ideologies evolve, it is now imperative for legal operations professionals to evolve as well. According to the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium’s (CLOC) 2021 State of the Industry Report,...

Despite the recent merger of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court of Australia (FCFCOA) promising to deliver justice more efficiently and cost effectively, only four per cent of Australian...

David Woolstencroft interviews Natasha Blycha, Managing Director and Founding Partner and James Myint, Managing Partner of Stirling & Rose. They have been recognised as the 2021 Innovative Lawyer of the Year...

Virtually all of us now have super and for most Australians it’s our second-largest financial asset. At the same time, Australians are living longer meaning our super will need to...

Financial services regulatory and compliance teams are facing work overload, stress and anxiety as they grapple with onerous new compliance and reporting rules, a ground-breaking new report has found.  With...

The pandemic brought along deep uncertainties, causing many businesses to struggle from working the previous ways. Naturally, Work from Home (WFH) became the new norm. Now, that the workforce has...

Great news for anyone working in legal across the world. The first stand-alone LTC4 Core Competency Learning Plan content has been delivered by legal IT training specialists, iTrain Legal and...

Leading Australian law firm Hall Payne Lawyers has transformed collaboration and achieved firm-wide visibility of support tasks to facilitate flexible, hybrid working that is fundamental to recruitment and retention in a competitive...

Earlier this month, global law firm Clyde & Co launched its newly established APAC Cyber Risk Advisory practice, in a move that further strengthens the firm’s cyber incident response and digital...

Jason Hennessey, an internationally recognised SEO expert, author and speaker, shares his understanding of how law firms could effectively target clients and nurture meaningful relationships through the power of law...

World Economic Forum (WEF) has rightly put the technology revolution as the fourth industrial revolution, which led the whole generation on the cusp of shift with the introduction of new technology....

Elias Recruitment has released the Legal Jobs Index Report for the latest quarter, which has been summarised for you below. The legal jobs market is still buoyant, signified by the...

The search for the nation’s best unsung legal hero is underway with the launch of Smokeball’s second National Secretary Day competition, celebrating the paralegals, PAs, legal secretaries, and receptionists who...

The colloquial definition of 'talent' is natural skill or ability. Forbes’ news piece, 'What Is Digital Legal Talent?' asserts that the term 'talent' lacks conventional meaning, which like the other digital...

Patrick J. McKenna, an internationally recognized author, lecturer, strategist and advisor shares how firms could plan for success by turning strategic intentions into actions, taking you closer to your strategic goal. ...

Women of the Australian Legal Technology Association (WALTA) have officially launched their mission to empower and inspire women in legal technology through a collective spirit of collegiality, collaboration and community....

The UK-based global law firm, Hogan Lovells announced the launch of 'DriveChain', which enhances transaction efficiencies for clients across all industries, through its blockchain-powered document and contract management software. DriveChain solves a...

As a General Counsel, I’ve sat in some good, bad and painful sales pitches. Regardless, it’s never bothered me having salespeople reach out to me and try to win my...

The existence of the term 'arbitration' is unknown. In layman’s language, we can define arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. It can be traced back to the early civilization where...

InfoTrack has been honoured with the prestigious Partner Growth Award at the inaugural DocuSign APAC Customer and Partner Awards. The ceremony held on Tuesday the 5th of April is the...

AnyLaw, the free and friendly legal research platform, announced today that has partnered with Legal Practice Intelligence (LPI) to bring LPI’s proprietary legal news, opinion, analysis and other resources directly...

Great to see the return of LawTech after two years of Covid lockdowns, the world of conferences has returned. I have been fortunate enough to have had a long association...

While trust is the key to sustaining relationships in the real world, in technology, Zero-Trust is the key.  Law firms and legal tech vendors that are exposed to highly confidential and...

“As a junior lawyer, I keep suggesting different ideas to the partners I work for. And they are ignored. How can I change this?”   This is a question I’m asked...

The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia's latest press release announcing the additional government funding dedicated to mitigate family violence, has been summarised for you below. The substantial funding of $63.75...

Large corporates spend billions of dollars developing more sustainable and path-breaking technology to improve processes. Unlike other industries where the emphasis is laid on technological development and innovation, the legal industry is...

Fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce not only guarantees higher revenue growth, but most importantly, it attracts candidates and increases the retention rate by 5.4 times according to Matt Bush the former...

AXEL, a leading software company that provides privacy and security solutions, announce that its AXEL Go app will be available through Clio, a leading legal practice management company. This allows users to...

Law firms have traditionally been conservative with their approach to marketing and for good reason considering the reputational risk aspects. One very essential reason for law firms to seek new marketing opportunities...

ProDoc Systems has purchased the assets of go5plus to further build the go5plus business and global offerings around document automation, production and business management.  Matt Breen has been instrumental in...

Today, more than ever, prospects are searching for subject matter experts and trusted advisors to help solve their problems. To be successful, it takes focus, specialization, recognition and authority to...

The past year (2021), a series of global lockdowns had subsequent effects on the economies globally. Most of the industries saw a decline in demand and hindering from further growth. Various factors...

CoreLogic recently released its latest national market preview report which has been summarised below.  Despite the quiet auction week last week, perhaps due to the long weekend across four of the eight...

According to a new survey by global data, analytics and technology company Equifax, there is a prediction of a 61.5% rise in the volume of rental applications and related workload this...

We are delighted to present the on-demand New Law CLE's free CPD webinars, to you!  Due to the amount of positive feedback we have received from our subscribers that have accessed the...

You may have recently read the e-book, 'For Format's Sake! A Guide For Lawyers Who Produce Their Own Documents' by Bluebird that provides you tips and tricks on how to produce...

Innovation and the legal industry, at first sight, do not seem to go hand in hand. Legal professionals are known to be risk-averse when it comes to the adoption of...

matteroTM recently launched their Premium package. While maintaining mattero’s ethos of simplicity, the Premium package is rich in advanced features that are intuitive and easy to use. Many of the features consist...

Native Document and Email Management and the Microsoft Outlook integration are the first of several releases slated in 2022 for leading Australian legal technology company Lawcadia. The enriched Outlook integration...

We know how important CPD training is for lawyers. With the aforementioned in mind, we are delighted in providing access to great training resources for your continuing professional development. We will reveal a...

In celebration of International Women’s Day two days ago, it allowed us to put a lens on women in legal tech and the underrepresentation that still exists. Looking at the statistics,...

“In business, organization is an absolute necessity, not an alternative.” ~ Larry Burkett The word “alternative” is frequently used in law. There was little trade in the legal media and...

How many times have you spent longer than you should on creating and updating documents? And wonder if you could bring back all the hours you have invested in fixing legal documents in...

Work culture across the globe has seen a tremendous shift from the pandemic and to the great resignation. It opened ways of working that were unthinkable just a few years...

Outback Imaging, a privately held Australian-owned company and the home of EzeScan is simplifying record keeping with a decentralised capture solution and has extended its footprint in the legal industry...

Global technology company Dye & Durham is offering support to legal and conveyancing businesses that have been affected by the flooding in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Chief Customer...

The Australian legal market is well served by document automation software. Our 2021/22 Legal Technology Survey shows that the following products – HotDocs, Contract Express, IdealDocs and Docassist - are...

Australian wealth accounting technology business, Class Limited, has announced it is launching an on-demand client legal review service on its legal documentation platform, NowInfinity. Currently launched as beta, NowInfinity’s client...

David Woolstencroft interviews Ben Wightwick the Chief Customer Officer of Autologyx and leading authority of law firm digital transformation.  The pandemic has changed the way lawyers work, how they solve problems and communicate...

iManage, the company dedicated to Making Knowledge WorkTM, recently announced a global strategic partnership with Microsoft that will harness cloud technology with the industry’s premier document and email management platform to...

If you are an in-house lawyer or a law firm partner spending most of your time on non-revenue generating, repetitive, time-consuming activities, this is for you … As businesses face...

NetDocuments, a leading cloud content and productivity platform that provides document management, email management, and collaboration & productivity solutions for legal professionals, announced an unprecedented growth in 2021. Legal professionals...

Full-service U.S. firm BB&K prioritised its digital transformation to enhance efficiencies for clients and empower staff to embrace new, hybrid and flexible working practices. Digitisation efforts have accelerated rapidly over...

Data breaches and hacker stories have made most organisations aware of their IT vulnerabilities, leading many to implement strict controls related to data privacy. Despite receiving less media attention, law...

New research from BigHand and Iridium (recently acquired by BigHand) has revealed the full extent of law firm profit leakage and firms lack of long-term cash flow process and real-time...

David Woolstencroft interviews Roger Gregg, the Co-Founder of Lightyear. Lightyear is a cloud-based procurement and accounts payable automation solution that looks after inbound bills and relationships with suppliers across various...

David Woolstencroft interviews Daniel, Linda and Erika from The Legal Forecast (TLF). They talk about how TLF emerged from conversations in a pub to a national organisation across Australia, altogether challenging...

As we are opening up again and returning back to the norm, this means it is time for lawyers and other professionals to brush-up their networking skills.  Building a professional network is crucial in the...

Whether you are using the computer for the first time or just looking at a pulley, everyone is fascinated by how easy life became with technology. All industries and humans now...

The full potential of a Merger or Acquisition (M&A) is realised when the integration is not delayed. Integration is not just limited to stakeholders, employees or customers, but should extend...

David interviews Nick Abrahams, the global co-leader of the digital transformation practice of Norton Rose Fulbright and the Co-founder of LawPath. They talk about the blockchain, NFTs, crypto and the...

InfoTrack employees drove to their nearest Bunnings carpark to collect a personal gift for achieving a new growth milestone. InfoTrack CEO and Bunning’s enthusiast, John Ahern, said “We wanted to...

The legal industry is well known for its conservative approach to tech adoption, from the implementation of calendaring, customer relationship management (CRM) tool, e-signing, and even e-filing, among others. Pre-pandemic it was difficult for legal...

BigHand, a leading provider of operational and financial products for law firms, announces it has acquired Iridium Technology. BigHand extend their offering with Iridium's complementary products and now collectively offer powerful insight...

For the majority of us, automation is the process to add transparency and enable effective, error-free data representation and reports in a jiffy. However, automation is more than just reports...

The world is shrinking, as a result of technological advancements closing the gap between countries across the world. The traditional model of communicating, working, or connecting has evolved with the...

David Woolstencroft catches up with Jason Elias from Elias Recruitment. They discuss the key skills that are in demand right now as the way we practice law is evolving at...

David Woolstencroft interviews John Duckett the Director of InPlace Solutions. John talks about the two major research on the impact of COVID and a comprehensive legal tech survey with over...

Ascertus Limited, a leading document and information lifecycle management specialist announced a 30% revenue growth in 2021, outperforming the previous years, 2020 and even 2019 despite the pandemic.  The expansion and increased...

Smokeball is placed first on G2's 'The Top 20 Legal Case Management Software', for both 'Highest Rated' and 'Easiest To Use' software. A global tech marketplace, G2 offers a platform that...

Mitratech a leading legal, compliance and risk management solution for corporate legal departments, announces its acquisition of Quovant, the legal spend management solution for in-house legal teams. Despite having acquired 5...

FileTrail, the enterprise information governance suite for highly regulated markets, acquires Teravine, a modern software solutions provider including quality assurance, desktop and mobile app development, asset management, conflict analysis, data warehousing...

Litera, a global AI-powered workflow management solution provider announced the acquisition of Prosperoware to enhance team collaboration, security and increase efficiency for legal professionals, which further enhances client relationships, develop businesses and deliver matters in the...

Elevate business through humanity | Elevate humanity through business As we welcome in 2022 and as many of us have returned to the fold, we have shared links to leadership articles...

"The Great Resignation" has received a lot of press.  There is no doubt that this phenomenon has hit the US, in particular.  According to PricewaterhouseCoopers US Pulse survey in August...

Are you looking for new, exciting career opportunities at some of the most progressive law firms in Australia? Novum Global and Legal Practice Intelligence have created a list of the top law firms all across Australia...

There is much debate regarding the The Great Resignation that we have shifted the focus to "What does the lawyer of the future look like?" Novum Learning assembled an exceptional cast of legal...

Legal technology company Lawcadia and technology partner FYB announce a deep integration with Micro Focus Content Manager (formerly TRIM) in response to high demand by Government legal teams for streamlined, connected solutions...

General Counsel who are proactively seeking to reduce costs and increase their team’s efficiency now have an industry-first practical toolkit to help them. LegalVision developed a General Counsel Toolkit, which...

I am writing this just coming out of 107 days of lockdown in Sydney so how the potential new outbreak affects business confidence is an unknown. Most lawyers I am...

Xakia Technologies Pty Ltd today announced its entry into the Japanese legal technology market with the launch of Xakia, its dedicated In-House Legal Hub, in the Legal Department at JERA...

Legal technology company Lawcadia and legal operations consultancy LEx360 partner to reduce waste, risk, complexity, and uncertainty for corporate counsel. The modern legal department remains a function plagued by inefficient,...

By Jodie Baker of Xakia, “Doing more with less” has long been a core competency of Legal Departments, but recent trends suggest the status quo may soon be unsustainable.  Indeed, according...

So you’ve made it through to the interview stage you are in the 5% - 10% of candidates … Over the last 18 months, the employment process has changed more,...

Key points from Macquarie Group 1. Before Covid: strong growth in house prices – particularly Sydney and Melbourne 2. After Covid: listing numbers fell sharply but now back to average...

When borders finally open up, will travel starved lawyers reconsider their career choices? With international travel a possibility in 2022, how will law firms retain and attract lawyers that want...

This is the second article of a series of career pieces, contributed by Jason Elias, CEO of Elias Recruitment. The first article "Careers: Is a change on the horizon?" can...

Considerations for the professional Before you take the leap, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions: Am I being challenged in my current role? Am I still learning?...

Associate level employee job advertisements have jumped by 44% in the June 2021 quarter compared to the previous March 2021 quarter. This is according to research conducted by specialist legal...