Legal OnRamp
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Legal OnRamp (LOR) is a Web 2.0 Collaboration platform for lawyers, which enables attorneys, whether in-house counsel or private practitioners, to connect and share information virtually.[1] LOR allows members to share documents, ranging from published articles and conference presentations to white papers and forms, and utilize databases and automated tools for legal work.
Legal OnRamp, founded in 2007,[2] utilizes many features common to other social networking websites, including message boards, blogs, databases, group functions closed to non-group members, a calendar of upcoming professional events, and open forums for discussion and document sharing.[3][4] Law firms have the ability to create a presence around a center of excellence, in the fee-based LOR offering.[4] Membership is solely by invitation and is limited to lawyers [3] and third-party legal service providers.[5]
Legal OnRamp is the first Web 2.0 system to integrate a general "walled garden" community with discrete, privileged, secure legal department productivity platforms.[6]
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[edit] Site Creation
The site was created in part by Mark Chandler, General Counsel of Cisco Systems;[7] the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; and attorney Paul Lippe, currently the venture's CEO.[8] The Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy has been one of the biggest contributors of information to the site,[1] helping to strengthen the firm's position as one of the most innovative law firms.[9]
David Curle, the top legal industry analyst, recently cited LOR as one of the "Ten to Watch". http://www.outsellinc.com/legal_tax_regulatory/products/879
"Until recently, Legal OnRamp was simply one of a number of online professional networking platforms for lawyers. It has become the leading platform, however, on the basis of two factors. First, it is driven by the needs of a number of in-house corporate counsel who are its most active users and proponents. Active in-house lawyers are among those driving the legal industry forward and into new models. Some of them are using Legal OnRamp as a new platform for marketing, collaboration, and service delivery. Second, a recent partnership with Corporate Executive Board’s (CEB) General Counsel Roundtable has given Legal OnRamp some instant credibility. Other recent innovations include an Outsourcing Center provided by major global firm Latham & Watkins that includes interactive forms for automating part of the legal work in any outsourcing relationship. Corporate in-house lawyers are entering a phase of the legal services industry that will require them to re-think their relationships with each other, with their corporations, and with the firms they do business with. CEB content and services will be a key component of this new way of doing business, and Legal OnRamp’s fast-developing platform will give the community the Web 2.0 chops it needs. Worth watching as a nexus of some of the market forces that will reshape the relationship between corporations and the law firms that serve them."
[edit] Membership
Site membership is restricted to lawyers, primarily inhouse.[5] Membership is solely by invitation and access to the Legal OnRamp community is not accessible without membership. Geographically, the OnRamp has been most rapidly adopted in common law countries—the U.S., the UK, and Canada[10] -- but roughly 10% of members hail from Continental Europe and Asia. The site today boasts members, who refer to each other affectionately as "Rampers,"[11] from more than forty countries.[12]
LOR has sustained a recent surge in membership after the FutureFirm 1.0 competition on April 18–19, 2009, at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law in Bloomington.[13] The Ramp was represented by Lippe, who was one of the judges; most of the competition's participants have now become members.
In July 2009, Corporate Executive Board, USA, the Arlington, Virginia-based consulting group, formed a partnership with LOR. Corporate Executive Board, USA invested an undisclosed sum in OnRamp Systems Inc., which manages LOR.[14]
[edit] Publicity
- LOR was mentioned in a white paper released by Jaffe Associates, a PR and marketing consultancy for law firms: "By now, everyone has heard of public online social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace. There is also a wide range of more specific public and private social networks like Legal OnRamp for the legal industry"[15]
- LOR was the subject of an article in the Legal Technology column of Law.com.[12] Joseph Weinstein, chair of the corporate practice at Davis Wright Tremaine, described the need for innovative solutions like LOR as follows: "The model for the delivery of legal services is broken. Finding inventive solutions is becoming increasingly important."[12] Discussing the prospects of success for the site, Weinstein added, "I'm confident that five years from now, this will all seem like old news."[12]
- In March 2008, Legal Transformation Study endorsed LOR[16] and Richard Susskind has written favorably about the trends driving LOR.[17]
- FMC Technologies has initiated its Value Challenge RFP on LOR. http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/05/fmc-goes-the-social-networking-route-to-find-firms.html ;[18]
- In December 2008, G.M. Filisko identified LOR as a "big name" and a "standout site" among legal online networks in an ABA Journal article on legal social media.[19]
- LOR was named as an example of a legal social networking site in Robert W. Denney's 2009 overview of law practice trends.[20]
- LOR was cited as one of the 60 "latest and greatest sites on the Internet" for lawyers, at the 2009 ABA TECHSHOW.[21]
- LOR was mentioned by name as an example of a legal online community/social network in the 2009 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report.[22]
[edit] Enterprise 2.0
LOR is considered an example of an Enterprise 2.0 system, and has been cited by Enterprise 2.0 Pioneer Don Tapscott.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Kenneth Rivlin, "Collaboration with Legal OnRamp Strengthens Our Position as Most Innovative Law Firm," Allenovery.com (Jan. 15, 2008).
- ^ Anna Oberthur, "Virtual Connections: Lawyer-only Sites Help Boost Online Networking," California Lawyer (last visited April 21, 2009).
- ^ a b Michelle Madsen, "Corporate Counsel: The New Tools of the Trade?", Legalweek.com (July 2, 2008).
- ^ a b "60 Sites: Latest and Greatest Internet Hits from ABA Techshow 2009," Law Practice (June 2009).
- ^ a b Erik Sherman, "Someone Just Like You: Online Communities Tailored to the In-House Bar Offer Advice Lawyers Can Use," Corporate Counsel (June 2009).
- ^ http://legalonramp.com/index.php/CT-TyMetrix-and-Legal-OnRamp-Partner-to-Accelerate-Legal-Transformation-Through-Networking-and-Spend-Data.html
- ^ "Lex Mundi, Leading Global Legal Network, Leads in Creation of Legal OnRamp, Worldwide...", Reuters.com (March 3, 2008).
- ^ "Startup Connects In-house Attorneys to Law Firms' Advice," San Francisco Business Times (September 21, 2007).
- ^ "Innovative Lawyers 2008: FT Law 50," FT.com (showing A&O as #1 in 2007 and #2 in 2008).
- ^ Bev Cline, "Driving up the OnRamp," Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Printemps (Spring 2008).
- ^ See, e.g., Northwestern Law Students & Sports Law thread (where Paul Lippe asks the OnRamp community their thoughts on young lawyers' contributions to the site).
- ^ a b c d Susan Beck, "Legal OnRamp Founder Sells Its Virtues," The American Lawyer (December 31, 2008).
- ^ Aric Press, "The Future Comes to Bloomington," The AmLaw Daily (April 20, 2009).
- ^ Cynthia Cotts, Corporate Executive Board Joins With Lawyer Networking ‘OnRamp’ Bloomberg
- ^ "A White Paper: Web 2.0 and PR 2.0 -- The Way Jaffe Looks At the Present," Jaffeassociates.com (July 16, 2008).
- ^ The Legal Transformation Study
- ^ "No One Has a Vision for the Next Generation of Lawyers," Times Online (Nov. 19, 2007) (excerpt from Susskind's The End of Lawyers?).
- ^ Amy Miller, "A Web-Savvy Approach to the Outside Counsel Search," National Law Journal, August 10, 2009.
- ^ G.M. Filisko, "Social Promotion: Social Network Sites Work for You, But Only If You Work at Them," ABA Journal (December 2008).
- ^ Robert W. Denney, "Trends Report: What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession," Law Practice (January/February 2009).
- ^ "60 Sites: Latest and Greatest Internet Hits from ABA TECHSHOW 2009," Law Practice (June 2009).
- ^ Reginald Davis, "Getting Personal: Social Networks Appeal, But Not to the Firm," ABA Journal (August 2009).
