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Conference speakers

Melissa Bowden - Bournemouth University

Value for Money: making the most of e-solutions at BU

Parallel Session 3B: Friday  11.30 - 12.30

Melissa Bowden has been the law librarian at Bournemouth University since 2004, supporting students in the Business School, and combines this role with library project work. She is currently working with colleagues on developing the library's virtual enquiry services and is co-authoring an article on this subject.

Melissa became a chartered librarian in 2008. In 2009, library staff at Bournemouth University were proud to win the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management award for ‘outstanding library team'. Melissa has recently become a member of the BIALL web committee.

Prior to this, Melissa was the Lawpaths Project Officer at the University of Kent from 2002-2004. In this role, Melissa co-authored two journal articles with the project manager, Sarah Carter, published in Legal Information Management and the Law Teacher. Melissa delivered a parallel session on the Lawpaths project with Sarah Carter at the BIALL Conference in 2004 and attended JISC Information Environment conferences to promote Lawpaths in 2002 and 2003.

Session Outline

In 2009, Bournemouth University won the inaugural Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award for ‘Outstanding Library Team'. The Library has a low proportion of expenditure on library staff relative to overall library expenditure (45%, and in the lowest quartile for ‘new' universities), coupled with a high proportion of expenditure on information provision (44%, and in the highest quartile for new universities). This session will focus on two areas of library practice - firstly, resource procurement and delivery and secondly, user support - where ‘e' has enabled cost-effective, quality solutions.

The use of e-solutions at Bournemouth University Library has delivered numerous benefits: the reduction of staff time spent processing resources; the increased availability of resources for a digital generation of students expecting ‘anytime anywhere' access and enhanced user support. However, there are ongoing challenges such as the reluctance of most legal publishers to engage with ‘e' and the relative conservatism of the legal profession.

Chris Bull, Integreon

Emerging alternative models for managing information resources in law firms: Outsourcing, Co-sourcing, Offshoring

Plenary Session 4: Friday 10.15-11.00

Chris Bull, Chief Operating Officer of Integreon Europe and Americas will co-present the case studies with other key managers from the Integreon Knowledge service teams, many of whom transferred to the company from law firm IS functions.

Integreon is recognised as the leading Knowledge Process Outsourcing provider, with a focus on law firms, corporate legal departments and investment banks. Integreon has invested in developing Library and Information Services for law firms in the UK and US and has worked with a number of top 100 UK firms in taking on the management of their information services. 

Chris is responsible for the direction and performance of Integreon delivery centers and operational teams based in the US and UK and for the future growth of operations across Europe and the Americas.  Chris joined Integreon from the law firm Osborne Clarke early in 2009 and is a member of the 5-member Corporate Management Team of Integreon.

Chris has over twelve years of experience managing professional service firms and financial institutions. He was previously COO and on the Partnership Board at a top 30 UK law firm, where he had overall responsibility for the firm's business service functions, including HR, IT, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Infrastructure, Knowledge & Development and Quality & Risk. Under Chris' operating leadership, Osborne Clarke grew eight-fold and opened many international offices. Prior to joining Osborne Clarke in 1996, Chris was a management consultant at Ernst & Young, a financial controller at National Westminster Bank, and a Manager at Price Waterhouse. Chris is a well-known speaker on law firm management in the US and Europe.

Session Outline

Catalysed by the highly stressed economic climate, the last year has seen a number of law firms adopt new models for managing their information resources. Whilst many of these have centred on largely internal responses - reduced budgets, staff losses, cross-skilling between various internal functions - a growing number have looked beyond the boundaries of the law firm.

Utilising expert research and knowledge process service businesses, some law firms in the UK and US markets have begun to follow the example of other professional and financial service businesses in outsourcing elements of the information management needs. In some cases the entire existing Information Services function is being managed by a third party.

This development is still relatively recent and solid information and a detailed understanding of how the new model works is at a premium amongst legal information professionals. The changes, challenges, threats and, perhaps particularly, opportunities are not yet well communicated. This session will use a series of case studies to examine the detailed progress of some of these projects, including:

  • Law firm decision making process
  • Communication to IS staff, Partners, the firm
  • Process changes
  • Shared service Enquiries Service
  • Management of hard copy resource
  • Handling sensitive and confidential data
  • Blend of offshore and onshore resources
  • Scope of business analytics and research work
  • Impact on staff and transfer/migration process
  • Financial and budgetary impact

Femi Cadmus, Yale Law School

The recession mounts the ivory tower: how the Yale Law Library has met the challenges posed by a declining economy

Parallel Session 4B: Friday 14.30 - 15.30 

Femi Cadmus is the Associate Director for Administration and Lecturer in Legal Research at the Lillian Goldman Law Library at the Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut. Ms. Cadmus has worked in academic and law firm libraries, and has taught web based legal research to law students, attorneys and paralegals. She received her LL.B. degree from the University of Jos, Nigeria, LL.M. degree from the University of Warwick, England and her M.L.I.S. degree from the University of Oklahoma. Ms. Cadmus is a member of the New York Bar and belongs to several professional associations including the American Bar Association, the American Association of Law Libraries and Law Librarians of New England.  She has presented on topics ranging from legal research to library management at library conferences including the American Association of Law Libraries and the Virginia Library Association.  Her most recent articles on "Making the leap to management: Tips for the aspiring and new manager" and "The AALL Biennial Salary Survey: The law librarian's tool for fair compensation in the best of times and the worst of times" will be published in the October issue of Trends in Law Library Management and Technology, and the November issue of AALL Spectrum respectively.

Session Outline

A survey conducted by AALL in March 2009 revealed at the time that 60 percent of the responding law libraries in the United States had experienced some form of budget cuts translating into staff reductions, hiring freezes and furloughs.  Academic law libraries have not been immune to the effects of the global recession.  While some academic law libraries rely on government funding and tuition revenue, private law schools (including ivy league institutions) traditionally depend on endowments and donor support, and have been harder hit by the declining economy.  At Yale, a premier law school known for its small student body and greater reliance on endowed funding, this has particularly rung true.

 This session examines how the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School, with its first class unique library collections, outstanding service to law students and faculty, and progressive and innovative approach to library services, boldly faced the challenges of a declining economy and reduced budget.  In the fall of 2008, the library received the stunning news that its personnel, collections, and general operating expenses had to be reduced significantly and almost immediately.  The Law Librarian and members of the library's executive committee immediately started the process of identifying how to accomplish this formidable task without sacrificing the core values and mission of the law library.   The step by step process of identifying which parts of the library's services were modifiable or altogether disposable will be analyzed. 

Harriet Creamer, Outer Circle

Knowledge management refocused

Parallel Session 4: Friday 14.30 - 15.30

Harriet Creamer read law at Cambridge and qualified as a solicitor at Freshfields.  In 1986 she became a professional support lawyer there - said to be the first in the City.  In 1991 she became a partner at the firm, with responsibility for knowledge management and learning and development across its international network.  She resigned as a partner in 2000, but continued to work part time at Freshfields as a consultant on a range of knowledge management, business development and general management related issues.  She left Freshfields in 2008 to set up Outer Circle with another ex-Freshfields colleague.  Outer Circle provides practice management, knowledge management and learning and development advice to professional services firms.

Session Outline

KM needs to shape up to survive - and thrive - in the post-recession world.  Many will be living with stretched resources, in an environment where every cost must be justified.  I will argue that by reprioritising and refocusing its efforts KM can - and should - greatly increase its contribution to profitability.

When the professional support concept first emerged, its focus was on collecting and sharing knowledge.  But a bigger vision was always there:  that its main priority should be constantly to review and improve transaction processes with a view to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the firm's services - and its profitability.  It was also intended that the firm should take advantage of its KM lawyers' experience and across the board involvement by using them to develop cutting edge thinking to help drive its business forward.

How many firms have really taken this vision on board?  In many firms - and for many reasons - the vision of the KM function as the efficiency engine of the firm, constantly streamlining working practices and driving forward proprietary knowhow, has become blurred.  Now is the time to clarify it.

How should this be done?  There is a whole range of steps firms - and their KM staff - should be taking, from auditing working practices, outsourcing "commoditised" tasks or buying in expert external support to developing new practical and technology based tools.  But at every stage the motivation must be to improve processes and produce efficiencies.  We should be looking for:

  • More imaginative and effective ways of charging for work done
  • Freeing up lawyers to move from less profitable to more profitable work
  • Better and more profitable staffing of transactions
  • Better risk management
  • Reducing head count
  • More focussed and effective business development
  • Re-enforced culture and better integration

The KM function needs to be bolder about the importance of its role in achieving those goals.   

 

 

John Duffy, Bar Council of Ireland Law Library, Dublin

When Free and Easy Isn't An Option:Intranet 2.0 at the Bar Council of Ireland Law Library

Parallel Session 1A: Thursday 14.00 - 15.00 

Session Outline

The Bar Council of Ireland represents some 2,500 practising barristers around the country all of whom are served by the Council's Library & Information Service. The Service has always been primarily based in Dublin, in close proximity to the country's major courts.

In times past, all barristers worked from desks located within the Library and derived important knowledge-sharing benefits from their professional-social interaction. As the Bar has grown and diversified, its members have become increasingly removed from the physical library and also from their peers. While the Library & Information Service has a long history of making legal materials available online to members who are away from the premises, there is a keenly felt need to preserve the social collegiality which is seen as central to the Bar's aim of providing top-quality legal expertise and advocacy to clients.

Beginning from the model of the Law Library of yesteryear, the Library & Information Service is developing an online environment which recreates as much as possible the highly-valued collegiality and interactivity which was once an intrinsic feature of life at the Bar but has been somewhat eroded as the Bar has grown. The aim of the Barrister's Desktop project is to make use of already-familiar social networking technologies - profiles, blogs, tagging, etc - and incorporate them into a user-centred one-stop-shop website with seamless click-through access to legal databases, both in-house and external, as well as access to all other services provided through the Bar Council organisation. The application is hosted entirely on the Law Library's secure private network yet is accessible on a completely equitable basis, anywhere in the world, and at no extra cost to the user.

This paper will present a brief walking tour of Barrister's Desktop with an explanation of the principles behind its various features. It will explore the challenges of initiating, designing and implementing the service, and getting value for money from the technology partners. Emphasis will be placed on the value-adding aspects of the service and how it is used to enhance the standing of the Bar Council organisation, and the Library & Information Service in particular, among the fee-paying members. Practical pointers on the applicability of Web 2.0 technologies will be offered, with special attention to libraries who do not have the option of using services freely available on the open web.

Janice Edwards, Maclay, Murray & Spens and Lesley Robinson, Lesley Robinson Consultancy Services

The Art of Communication

Plenary Session 2: Thursday 12.15 - 13.00

Janice Edwards has been Librarian at Maclay Murray & Spens for 18 years.  Her responsibilities, aside from running four Libraries in separate locations, include online legal training for fee earners, and trainee research training.  She has worked as a librarian for 27 years, with a break for a foray into community theatre.

She has contributed five articles for Legal Information Management since 2005, the latest is "The Scottish legal system" with Stuart Reid in Issue 1 of 2009.

Her previous speaking engagements include:

Publicity and Public Relations Group Conference 2006 - plenary session "Promoting library services in a Law Firm"BIALL Conference Dublin 2008 - plenary session "Web 2.0: Fool's gold or Yellow Brick Road?"and she formerly presented the SLLG Scottish legal materials course.

Lesley Robinson set up Lesley Robinson Consultancy Services in 1999, specialising in advising companies on information, knowledge and records management strategies, the marketing and development of information services and the coaching and development of information teams. Projects have included reviewing an information service within a major law firm and developing an information strategy, assisting a not-for-profit organisation with its knowledge management strategy and working with a medium sized law firm to train their staff in customer service skills.

Lesley speaks regularly at conferences and is Chair of the 2010 Information Professionals Learning Conference organised by Perfect Information.  She was also the opening speaker at the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians conference in Dublin in June 2008, and has also run workshop sessions at various BIALL Study Weekends over the past 6 years.

Lesley runs in-house training courses for clients on topics such as making a business case for information services, communication and networking skills. She recently delivered a one-day course for the Scottish Law Librarians Group called "Train the Trainer". Lesley is also on the Executive Committee for the Online Information Conference, helping to develop the conference programme.

Session Outline

The aim of the session is to examine some practical interpersonal and communication skills, including non-verbal communication, to enable delegates to handle all types of work situations, whether that is dealing with staff, peers or the most senior management team.

We are often in situations where we need to persuade others about our ideas, win someone over to get a project underway, sell our services to our internal customers or make ourselves heard in large meetings.  All of these situations require different skills and without feedback, it can be difficult to assess the impact you have on other people.

The leaders of this session will demonstrate how to make an impact on others by being aware of the visual, vocal and verbal signals we unknowingly adopt. They will look at good and bad scenarios so that the audience can see how small changes can have a dramatic impact on the outcome of any situation.

Developing this level of awareness will help delegates to build strong and effective working relationships as well as increase their confidence and self-assurance.

Fiona Fogden, Baker Tilly

Negotiation of contracts - planning for the unknown with boilerplate clauses and other tips

Parallel Session 3C: Thursday 11.30 - 12.30

Parallel Session 5C: Friday 16.00 - 17.00 (repeat session)

Fiona Fogden is the National Information Services Manager for Baker Tilly, a major firm of Accountants. She has specific responsibility for online resources for 28 offices in the UK, including budgeting, evaluation and utilisation. From 1996 to 6th June 2008 she was Manager of the Library & Information Centre at Baker & McKenzie, a City Law Firm where she was known as Fiona Durrant. Before that Fiona was at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Fiona wrote an article on Negotiating Online Contracts for Legal Information Management, April 2003 and has held a webcast with the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians on the topic in July 2003. In 2006 Facet Publishing published her book: Negotiating Licences for Digital Resources, using the name Fiona Durrant. Her half-day workshops run in conjunction with Aslib on Negotiating Online Subscriptions remain popular.

Session Outline

The session will provide a quick overview of key tactics in negotiation of online subscriptions, followed by a focus on tactics to mitigate liabilities to your Firm when there is so much uncertainty about. We will look at key options to include in the wording of the contract (boilerplate clauses), ranging from take-down clauses to substantial changes in business model clauses. We will then have a top ten ‘dos' and ‘don'ts' in negotiation. The emphasis will be on building a sustainable model of negotiation, and not one resulting in broken relationships with the suppliers. Whilst aimed at all librarians who deal with suppliers in all sectors, the suppliers amongst the BIALL membership may be interested too! If you are not involved in negotiations at present but your line-manager is responsible, it may be a session good for your career development, especially as negotiation can be a team effort.

Keri Gray, Weekes Gray Recruitment

You're Hired! Practical Tips and Techniques for the Confident Interview

Parallel Session 1C: Thursday 14.00 - 15.00

With over 12 years recruitment experience Keri has been recruiting to the knowledge and information market for the past 9 years and has successfully assisted over a thousand candidates to secure work from Assistant to Director level in both the public and private sectors.

A Managing Partner in Weekes Gray Recruitment she launched the company in April 2007, and in response to demand now also offers interview and CV coaching.  Keri is currently studying towards the Institute of Leadership and Management - Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring and NLP Diploma.

A well respected professional in her field, Keri is an active member of a number of knowledge, information and records management networking groups, both in the North of England and London and regularly facilitates industry workshops and discussion groups.

Outside of recruitment she is a qualified yoga instructor having spent time in California living in an ashram environment and currently teaches yoga, meditation and relaxation classes.

Keri is particularly interested in the promotion of professional and personal development and volunteers with The Women's Ambassador Programme organised by the North West Development Agency. A team of women entrepreneurs who work in local communities, encouraging and mentoring young women and those who may be returning to work to set up businesses. 

Session Outline

Increased competition for fewer jobs in the current marketplace means that being right for the role on paper, isn't enough on its own.  You have to make sure, that from the very first" hello" to the last handshake "goodbye" you stand out as the clients preferred candidate.

That's why you need to make sure your interview skills are the best they can be. Being impressive at interview is a skill and may be one that you haven't had to practise too often in the past.

However the interview is structured, the key to success lies in being prepared. The time to start thinking about the potential employer, your aspirations and questions you may wish to ask, is not when you are sitting in reception immediately before the interview.

With an awareness of new trends and developments in recruitment, this paper will explore useful and practical tips and techniques to make the most of you, before and during your interview.

Using methods appropriate for all levels of industry professionals, whether you are a new graduate looking for your first professional role, are facing a redundancy situation or looking to develop in your current organisation. 

Sharing my expertise of the Knowledge and Information Management and Legal industries we will cover the following:

  • Interview preparation
  • Overcoming confidence issues
  • How to manage stress
  • Image and body language
  • Understanding what employers are looking for
  • Overview of interview styles
  • Building rapport
  • Competency based interview questions
  • Handling difficult questions

This session will equip you with the confidence and techniques to prepare for and to set achievable goals, to reach your full potential at interview stage.

David Gurteen, Gurteen Knowledge

People 2.0: Working in a 2.0 World

Keynote address: Thursday 10.15 - 11.15

David has over 30 years' experience working in high technology industries. Today, he works as an independent knowledge management advisor, facilitator and speaker, helping people to innovate and to work more effectively together.

He is the founder of the Gurteen Knowledge Community - a global learning network of over 16,000 people in 154 countries.  Community members receive his free monthly Knowledge Letter that is now in its 10th year.

David publishes the Gurteen Knowledge Website - a resource website that contains book reviews, articles, people profiles, event calendars, inspirational quotations, an integral weblog and more on subjects that include knowledge management, learning, creativity and innovation

He is a frequent speaker and facilitator and presents on various aspects of knowledge management and social learning. He is well known for his Gurteen Knowledge Cafés that he runs regularly in London and in other cities around the world. He also facilitates Knowledge Cafés and workshops for organizations and conference organizers.

For most of his career David was a professional software development manager and in the late 80s worked for Lotus Development as "International Czar" where he was responsible for ensuring that Lotus products were designed for the global marketplace. 

Session Outline

KM and the world of work is on the brink of a profound transformation. Driven by new technology, increasingly, we are no longer consumers: of goods, services or education - we are prosumers - we can now both produce and consume. We have the potential to be participants in everything and not the "victims". The emerging 2.0 work place will reflect this and be a fundamentally participatory world.

We are moving from an organizational world where we were told to do things; where things were structured and planned for us to a world where managers and staff work more closely together to decide what to do and how to do it.

This has deep implications for KM and already we see a move towards Social KM or KM 2.0 where new social tools such as blogs and wikis put the power and responsibility for knowledge sharing in the hands of the individual.

But the real challenge is in people's mindsets - both managers and individuals. Managers need to stop trying to manipulate people and doing things to them and to take a more participatory approach. On the other hand, individuals need to open up and grasp the potential that the new tools and mindset offers them - to be more proactive; to take responsibility for their work; to innovative and to work in new ways. It's about a change of mindset, attitudes and behaviors.

If the central question asked by managers in the KM 1.0 world was "How do we make people share?" the question of the KM 2.0 era is "How do we get things done by better sharing, learning and working together?" And is asked by everyone!

In his talk, David will look at some of the changes that he feels are needed in the mindsets of all of us.

Linda Jones, University of Portsmouth

Eating the elephant: one bite at a time: A strategy for reducing stress and increasing job satisfaction

Parallel session 1B: Thursday 14.00 - 15.00

Linda Jones has been Law and Criminology Librarian at the University of Portsmouth since 2003, combining this with a University wide watching brief on Library services to Distance Learners and an active role in Library staff development.  She has been the recipient of two University of Portsmouth Teaching and Learning Awards for work in law and referencing. As a chartered librarian she is an active proponent of information literacy and has been involved in para-professional and professional staff development for many years. Currently she is a CILIP mentor, regional mentor co-ordinator and a NVQ assessor and an internal verifier for the Health Libraries Network.

Linda was a founding member of the team behind Referencing@Portsmouth and has been involved in Findit@Portsmouth and the creation of an internal staff wiki. She presented on creative staff development strategies at the last LILAC Conference. This Destination Information session helped launch a craze for origami in libraries around Europe. This year she has helped develop a pilot project for helping distance learners find there way into e-resources called "The Body in the Library."

In the current climate academic law librarians are often faced with increasing responsibilities but no more time or resources to meet them. As a librarian under pressure with a number of balls to juggle this isan opportunity to share what has been a successful strategy concentrated on trying to minimise routine grind and increase the impact of the truly essential principles of information literacy. This session uses examples from two projects one well established (Referencing@Portsmouth) and the other a new internal pilot this year (Body in the Library) looking at the way that creative partnerships with other stakeholders can generate worthwhile solutions to problems. By concentrating some effort on the more mundane and routine areas of work it has proved possible to clear time for real discussion and the development of understanding of some core values.  Both projects addressed major log- jams in terms of student enquiries in specific areas (referencing and access to materials), where basic mechanics often push out higher learning objectives.

 Session Outline

The session will cover:-

  • Identifying a problem specifically
  • Setting manageable goals
  • Not reinventing the wheel
  • Working with stakeholders
  • Building in flexibility
  • Packaging the solution appealingly
  • Adding extra value
  • Using the time gained constructively
  • Unexpected consequences positive and negative for both the library and the user
  • Maintenance issues
  • Where next?

It will include practical examples including user feedback, demonstrating success in making a busy job less stressed, more enjoyable and ultimately more rewarding.

Catherine Kenwright, Irwin Mitchell and Anthony Davies, Lexis Nexis

Delivering Change.  Changing perceptions

Plenary Session 3: Friday 9.30-10. 15

Catherine Kenwright graduated in 1990 and following further postgraduate study, began her career in law librarianship as a member of the Inner Temple library team before moving to the commercial sector when she joined Norton Rose in 1994.  She moved to Irwin Mitchell Solicitors in 1996 as their Library Manager.  Her current role at Irwin Mitchell is Head of Learning and Knowledge Management with responsibilities for Firm wide Learning and Development, KM and Business Improvement, Records Management and Library Services.   Her remit is to work in tandem with others in the business to bring together the information and knowledge resources around the practice to derive value, improve operational effectiveness, deliver quality client services, and help grow the business.

Tony began his career with 5 years at Pitney Bowes Management Services as a business development manager working with Law Firms and Investment Banks. This was followed by a move to Williams Lea where he was ultimately appointed Business Development Director for Legal Markets.

Following the successful acquisition of document outsourcing and consulting contracts with Firms including Simmons & Simmons, Allen & Overy and BDO Stoy Hayward, Tony joined LexisNexis as Account Director within the legal platinum team. 2010 saw Tony move to his current role as ‘Head of Sales' for UK based Commercial law firms.

Tony gained a BSC (Hons) in Materials Science & Business Studies from LoughboroughUniversity in 1997, where he also represented Wales at athletics.

Session Outline

 In 2008 Irwin Mitchell and Lexis Nexis embarked on a firm wide initiative to deliver a comprehensive integrated knowledge solution into the Firm, which has since won IT Project of the Year at the Know List Awards 2010.  Initiated by Catherine Kenwright and Sarah Healey at Lexis Nexis, the project demonstrated the depth and breadth of KM and information across the whole business and has delivered tangible results which have not only added value to the business but has been instrumental in raising the profile and skills of the KM team.  Catherine and Tony will take us through the project stages, outline the project itself, and overview its outcomes from both perspectives, lessons learned and value derived.

Rory Kingan, Priory Solutions

Manage Online Library Spend and Increase Value of the Library with Electronic Resource Management Systems

Plenary session 5: Saturday 10.00-10.45

Session Outline

In this session Rory will discuss ways in which ERM systems are being used by firms to:

  • Identify unused or under-used online resources where subscriptions can be cut.
  • Empower contract and renewal negotiations with accurate and detailed information.
  • Efficiently recover costs of online resources.
  • Communicate to the wider organisation about online resource usage.
  • Provide additional value to the firm by:
    • Providing a password-free environment for all online resource
    • Targeting training on resources to increase effective use

Tom Laidlaw, Lexis Nexis 

Legal Research in Practice; Transition from Law School to the Work Place and Beyond

Plenary session 6: Saturday 10.45-11.40

Tom Laidlaw is Head of Academic Development for LexisNexis in the UK. He is responsible for ensuring that the voice of the UK academic market is heard in any product or solution developments that LexisNexis creates to support the various professional services markets it serves, including law and tax. He has over 10 years of experience working in the UK academic legal market. He spent 4 years commissioning textbooks for the Butterworths academic booklist before moving to a more strategic role in academic market planning. He has worked in academic strategy since 2003 and moved into his current role as Head of Development in 2006. He is a graduate of Nottingham University, where he studied law.

Session Outline

Over the last couple of years, LexisNexis has been receiving comments from law firm librarians and information managers about the legal research abilities of trainee solicitors and junior lawyers to the effect that they are unable to deliver properly structured research to their principals. This is putting pressure back on the firm information managers to both do the research and then advise trainees how to present it to senior lawyers. Further, the senior lawyers are complaining directly to the information managers that their trainees are not properly equipped for the workplace.

However, academic legal education at both undergraduate and vocational stages is very concerned with imparting the correct legal skills in students to help them in their immediate studies and their future careers. This presentation seeks to identify changes in law student research behaviour and the drivers behind those changes. It will also discuss the areas where the profession believes trainees and junior lawyers demonstrate a lack of necessary skills. The presentation will then suggest some reasons why it is in the interests of educators, the profession and information providers such as LexisNexis to address these concerns before moving on to some examples of the ways in which LexisNexis is supporting law students throughout their studies and then in the transition from education to practice and from junior to senior roles within an organisation.

  

Michael Martin, CILIP

Continuing Professional Development – the Opportunity of a Lifetime 

Parallel Session 2A: Thursday 15.30 - 14.30

My career in libraries began twenty years ago at Middlesex Polytechnic (now Middlesex University). After qualifying at Thames Valley University and then Chartering I became subject librarian and then campus librarian also at Middlesex. In 1999, I took the opportunity to become the information manager for careers at the Library Association (later CILIP).

When a new framework of qualifications was introduced by CILIP I became adviser for qualifications and professional development, since when I have been involved in supporting candidates make their Chartership applications through advice and workshops, working closely with CILIP's Career Development Group.

Having encouraged Members to engage in their professional development, I Revalidated my Chartership and continue to look out for CPD opportunities which benefit my performance and inform the advice I give CILIP members. I write the CILIP Qualifications Blog and contributed to Margaret Watson's book, Building your CILIP portfolio.  Both of which aid my own reflection and evaluation, key attributes for CILIP members.

 Session Outline

Among librarians and information professionals, maintaining professional development is a given. It's what we do. This presentation will look at why it's important to take time to measure development, to reflect on what you have learned and achieved and see how it will feed in to your future plans. By measuring professional development we enhance the value of learning because reflection makes learning explicit ensuring you get the credit you deserve in your workplace and your profession.

The presentation will also look at the differences between Input and Output methods of measuring professional development and which work best for the candidate and their professional body. CILIP's Framework of Qualifications will be placed in the context of continuing professional development.

 

Amanda Mckenzie, Olswang

Legal Services Act: what it means for legal and information professionals

Plenary Session 7: Saturday 12.00-12.45

Amanda Mckenzie is currently Information Services Manager at Olswang and is head of the Information Centre team who deliver information services to over 500 users. She has been there for over 10 years and was previously at Herbert Smith within the Know How team for 2 years. Amanda completed her law degree and law society finals before joining Herbert Smith. She was previously vice-chair of BIALL's Legal Information Group (LIG) and was LIG's representative on CILIP's copyright committee LACA for two years. She has acquired knowledge of copyright and data protection laws' through her legal training and information career and has written articles on the subjects for Managing Information and written a chapter on data protection in ASLIB's Handbook of Information Management. She also has a keen interest in Knowledge Management and presented a talk on how to deliver information to fee-earners at the 2004 Managing Partner's conference, Knowledge Management for the Legal Profession and at Ark's 2009 Knowledge Management Conference. She also spoke at the 'Managing the evolution of legal librarians and information services' conference on the evolving hybrid role of information professionals in 2009 and at the 2007 BIALL conference on current awareness within law firms.

Session Outline

The Legal Services Act 2007 (hereinafter "the Act") is the biggest thing to happen to the legal profession for a very long time. The Act was already beginning to impact on law firms, with the big law firms thinking ahead on how to become more competitive, but the onset of the worst global recession since the Great Depression meant that for many law firms it was not just a matter of how to become more competitive and meet the challenges that could be presented by the Act but on how to survive. For many law firms efficiency, effectiveness and client service has jumped up the agenda and for some preparations are already being made on seeking external investment even before the full implementation of the Act. This paper will examine why the reforms were deemed necessary, what the main features are, what they mean for the legal professional and implementation dates. There is of course also the huge regulatory impact and the presentation will examine in detail what those are. The presentation will also aim to explore the challenges for information professionals and explore the opportunities that may arise.

This presentation will be focusing on law firms therefore would suit a parallel session.

David Palferman, Health and Safety Executive

Managing Conflict and Stress In the Workplace

Parallel Session 2C: Thursday 15.30-16.30

David is a senior psychologist within the HSE Human Factors group for which he has worked for the past six years. His main responsibilities are concerned with providing technical support and training for HSE inspectors, policy colleagues and duty holders on stress, violence and bullying at work. David's current work activity is focused on writing a series of journal articles and book chapters, with colleagues, to document, and reflect on, the learning the HSE has gained from intervention programmes designed to tackle the causes of stress in the workplace. 

Session Outline

Defining stress is a tedious exercise that enables the sceptical to have a field day, voicing their superiority in being macho, decisive, thrusting, and proving themselves to others as being hopelessly misguided (Mowbray, 2009). This quotation highlights one of the many challenges that arise when discussing stress in the workplace, the term itself is pejorative and not very helpful. Therefore, the current approach is to take a much more positive view of work and what "good work" can offer employees in terms of their health and well-being. One model of the individual at work that provides a useful framework for understanding how individuals and groups interact with each other and their work is the bio-psychosocial model. As the name suggests, it considers the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors to help us explain and understand our behaviour at work. This presentation will use the bio-psychosocial model as a framework to discuss "conflict and stress in the workplace". This will not be a passive session for delegates: questions will be asked and a response expected! 


Anneli Sarkanen and James Mullan, Field Fisher Waterhouse


Using wikis as cost saving tools at FFW

Parallel Session 5A: Friday 16.00 - 17.00

Anneli Sarkanen began her career in law librarianship after completing her degree in Animal and Plant Biology at the University of Sheffield and a short stint as office ju

nior and self appointed archivist at a small local firm of solicitors in Liverpool. She worked as a graduate trainee for a year in Macfarlanes before she returned to Sheffield to complete her MA in Librarianship in 2005. During the final stages of writing her dissertation, she moved to London to start her post as Information Officer at Eversheds LLP.

Since January 2008, Anneli has been an Information Officer at Field Fisher Waterhouse with responsibility of supporting the Dispute Resolution and Employment and Pensions teams. There she became interested in using wikis both socially and professionally.

 Anneli is a member of BIALL's PR Committee and is part of the team responsible for maintaining the BIALL How Do I wiki. She is also a member of the City Legal Information Group (CLIG) and maintains a wiki on cheese and wine, which she shares with friends.

James is the KM Systems Manager at Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW). James is responsible for FFW's Intranet, enterprise search, wikis (using Confluence) and other knowledge systems.

Before joining Field Fisher Waterhouse James worked at CMS Cameron McKenna, where he was responsible for the development of Web 2.0 tools within the Knowledge & Information Services Team and was responsible for several other Knowledge Projects. James maintains his own blog (The Running Librarian). As well as a regular column in the BIALL Newsletter on Web 2.0, James has contributed to several books on the use of Web 2.0 within Library Services.

 James is a BIALL Council Member and was part of the project team that redesigned the BIALL Website. James has previously spoken at the BIALL Conference in 2006 and 2008. In addition James has delivered seminars on the use of Web 2.0 by Law Librarians for both the City Legal Information Group (CLIG) the Scottish Law Librarians Group (SLLG) and the Solos Librarian Group.

Session Outline

In a stretched legal market where information professionals are being asked to add value and innovate with no additional funding, can wikis and other social media tools add value and save time and money?

 This session will look at how Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has incorporated wikis into the firms' communication and knowledge sharing processes. Before this, the firm did not have anything comparable; the intranet is used for firm wide communication, news and more static information, whereas the wiki is used for project spaces and allows others to contribute more changeable information.

 Anneli and James will talk about why FFW chose Confluence to create wikis, including:

  • How the wiki was initially developed
  • How the pilot wiki spaces worked
  • Examples of how the wikis are being used both in fee earning departments and business services
  • The benefits, including time and cost savings
  • The problems and pitfalls associated with using wikis and other social media

Alissa Sputore - University of Melbourne

A Blue Chip Investment: Law Research Services to Support Academic Research

Parallel Session 2B: Thursday 15.30 - 16.30

Alissa Sputore joined the University of Melbourne in 2009 as Law Research Service Manager. Alissa previously held the position of Associate Business and Law Librarian at the University of Western Australia. In addition to her academic law library experience, Alissa has been Library Services Manager at the Perth office of law firm Blake Dawson. She has also worked overseas at The British Library, and for Deloitte in Canada.  Alissa holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Information Studies) with distinction from Curtin University of Technology and a Graduate Certificate in Law from Murdoch University.

 In her current position, Alissa is responsible for the Law Research Service, which was awarded Law Librarian of the Year by the Australian Law Librarians' Association in 2009. This service, the first of its kind in an Australian law school, delivers pro-active research assistance to support publication and knowledge transfer at Melbourne Law School. Alissa has previously presented day-long workshops on Legal Research for Information Professionals for the CAVAL training group and chaired sessions at Australian Law Librarians' Association Conferences.

Session Outline

Research productivity and quality enhancement are major priorities for higher education in the current environment, and faculties are looking to leverage all possible sources of research funding. A key challenge for academic law libraries, therefore, is to align the library closely to the research of the faculty. In particular, how can law libraries add value to the research process?

 In response to this challenge, in 2009 Melbourne Law School launched the Law Research Service, the first of its kind in Australian law schools.  The Law Research Service offers support to Melbourne Law School academic staff by undertaking discrete research tasks and facilitating access to information for the purposes of research. Research assistants are drawn from the law student body and supervised by Law Librarians to undertake sophisticated legal and interdisciplinary research, provide detailed research memos and relevant materials. The Law Research Service aims to free academic staff time to think and write, thereby contributing to the quality, quantity and impact of faculty publications.

 This model of academic support maximises use of the law library's collection, and creates efficiencies for the faculty and for library services. The model is scalable and flexible for different sized law faculties, and is cost effective to implement and maintain. The effect of this support on research productivity can be measured to justify the investment. Investing in research infrastructure enables the law library to contribute to the research culture in the faculty, through participation in activities such as grant applications, customised research training and research assessment exercises.

Supporting ‘traditional' academic research needs such as literature searches,  a Law Research Service is also ideally positioned to support the faculty's foray into the new digital research environment, such as providing assistance with digital publishing,  and the use of new research tools.

Alissa will demonstrate that a proactive academic research support service can deliver high returns for the law library, including engagement in closer relationships with faculty, targeted and relevant collection development, career opportunities for law students, and alignment to the ambitions of the broader institution.

James Treloar, Foot Anstey

Lexcel – A Framework for Effective Information Management 

Parallel Session 3A: Friday 11.30 - 12.30

James Treloar joined the Foot Anstey in 2007 as the firm's Business Excellence Officer. His role is to deliver continual business improvement and ensure our practice and risk management processes and procedures underpin and drive our business.  A key aspect to this is detailed work around quality assurance, conducting audits, identifying areas for improvement and delivering solutions.  James is a key part of our Client Services Team ensuring that the emphasis is always on our client service delivery.

Prior to this, James had 10 years of experience working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), where he focused on client service and delivering process and efficiency improvement for The Pension Service, The Child Support Agency and corporately for DWP.

James is a qualified Lexcel consultant, a qualified PRINCE 2 Practitioner and a member of the national Lexcel Panel. He leads our Lexcel programme and presented at the Law Society's Lexcel Quality Forum in 2008.

Session Outline

As a member of the Law Society's Lexcel Panel I will be attending the conference to outline the Lexcel standard, it's benefits and how it can provide a framework for effective information management. 

Lexcel is the Law Society's practice management standard. It is a scheme for any type of practice to certify that certain standards have been met following independent assessment. The Lexcel practice management standard is only awarded to solicitors who meet the highest management and customer care standards. Lexcel accredited practices undergo rigorous independent assessment every year to ensure they meet required standards of excellence in areas such as client care, case management and risk management.  

There are a number of benefits experienced internally, to clients and key stakeholders such as: 

  • Enhanced client service leading to increased client retention
  • Lower insurance premiums or favourable treatment from insurers
  • Improved marketability and competitive advantage
  • Increased success in tenders, beauty parades and panel reviews
  • Helping to demonstrate best value compliance for local authority instructions
  • Consistency of service from all solicitors and practice groups
  • A framework to meet new legislative requirements such as the Money Laundering Regulations 2007
  • Help with new practice rules
  • Increased profitability
 

This session will focus on how Lexcel supports effective information management. This includes the requirements for information management policies and procedures, the requirement to have a legal research policy and the framework for effective management information regarding experts and barristers. 

I will outline how the Lexcel standard ca help legal information professional achieve this effective information management and assist how their practices information and "know-how" is managed in an efficient and effective manner.

Suzanne Wheatley, Sue Hill Recruitment

Making the Right Investment - Recruitment and Selection 

Parallel session 4C: Friday 2.30-3.30

Suzanne Wheatley is Recruitment Manager at Sue Hill Recruitment and has been working in specialist information recruitment for over 7 years. Her most recent article was published in Legal Information Management Volume 9 No 2 2009 on the topic of Coping with Redundancy. Suzanne writes regularly on the SHR blog and has previously been published in the trade press, including Cilip Gazette. She has presented and delivered workshops on topics ranging from CV writing to Successful Networking across the UK for many professional groups and universities including City Information Group, Career Development Group, AUKML, ARLIS, CPD25 and CILIP's regional branches. Suzanne presented to an audience of over 100 delegates at the Library and Information Show in 2007.

Session Outline

If your biggest expense is your staff, are you spending your money wisely? Recruiting the right person is vital. Get that wrong and you may struggle with more than inaccurate work...

In my experience, not all managers are trained in recruitment. This creates not only an impression on the prospective employee but doesn't help the manager in their quest to build their service. There is a lot of emphasis on interview training for jobseekers but I feel that employers could benefit from similar help and with training being one of the first victims of reduced budgets, this would be timely and useful.

Giving a recruiting manager the toolkit to recruit successfully is vital in order to attract and retain good staff. By using our unique place in the recruiting process, Sue Hill Recruitment is able to offer impartial advice and reflect on what does and does not work when hiring staff.

I propose a practical workshop session for delegates, aimed not only at those who are new to recruiting staff but also to managers with recruitment experience. The most informative workshops stem from lively discussions amongst participants and my aim in speaking and presenting is always to facilitate the creation of networks.

Through discussion and exercises, we will look at:

  • Building good foundations: the job description
  • Your relationship with HR
  • How to be an effective interviewer
  • Post-interview candidate management

There is a wealth of knowledge and experience in the BIALL community and I feel it can be harnessed to great effect.