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Twelve law schools were originally part of the OnRamp partnership.<ref>[http://www.adamsmithesq.com/2014/04/an-apprenticeship-to-practice-that-works/3/ Bruce MacEwen, "An Apprenticeship to Practice – That Works," Adamsmithesq.com (April 27, 2014).]</ref> Law schools with which OnRamp has partnered include:<ref>https://www.legalonramp.com/index.php/partners</ref>
Twelve law schools were originally part of the OnRamp partnership.<ref>[http://www.adamsmithesq.com/2014/04/an-apprenticeship-to-practice-that-works/3/ Bruce MacEwen, "An Apprenticeship to Practice – That Works," Adamsmithesq.com (April 27, 2014).]</ref> Law schools with which OnRamp has partnered include:<ref>https://www.legalonramp.com/index.php/partners</ref>


::[[Boston College]]
::[[Boston College Law School|Boston College]]
::Boston University
::Boston University
::Emory University
::Emory University

Revision as of 18:07, 20 March 2015

Overview

OnRamp Systems is a legal technology company that specializes in applying people, process, and technology in support of corporate legal departments. OnRamp System’s collaborative platform, Legal OnRamp, has been cited by Harvard Law School as one of the first to combine law and technology.[1]

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]

Site Creation

The site was created in part by Mark Chandler, General Counsel of Cisco Systems;[6] the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; and attorney Paul Lippe, currently the venture's CEO.[7] The Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy has been one of the biggest contributors of information to the site,[8] 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."

OnRamp and Legal Innovation

Led by its CEO Paul Lippe, Legal OnRamp is identified with innovation in the legal industry.[10] Specifically, Legal OnRamp has been noted for unconventional approaches to large-scale legal projects,[11] attorney training, [12] and legal work product.[13] In addition, Lippe writes for the American Bar Association Legal Rebels blog “the New Normal,” which discusses “how the practice of law is being remade.”[14]

Development of Products and Services

Following the success of the Legal OnRamp collaboration platform, OnRamp Systems launched a number of private, enterprise-scale, collaboration platform projects.[15] The OnRamp Exchange (ORX) system allows attorneys to collaborate with large teams as well as store and manage documents.[16] The focus of these projects is on managing legal complexity at the systems and data level, instead of relying on complex reasoning.[17]

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[18]—but roughly 10% of members hail from Continental Europe and Asia. The site today boasts members, who refer to each other affectionately as "Rampers,"[19] from more than forty countries.[20]

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.[21] 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.[22]

Online Community

In 2007, OnRamp Systems founded a free collaboration platform called Legal OnRamp, for in-house counsel and private practitioners to connect and share information virtually. [23] Legal OnRamp featured many elements common to social networking websites, including message boards, blogs, databases, open and closed groups, calendars of professional events, and open forums for discussion and document sharing. [24] Membership was by invitation and limited to attorneys and third-party legal service providers. [25]

In 2014, Legal OnRamp re-launched its online platform updating some elements of the earlier site and incorporating more recently developed collaborative tools. [26]

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"[27]
  • LOR was the subject of an article in the Legal Technology column of Law.com.[20] 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."[20] 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."[20]
  • In March 2008, Legal Transformation Study endorsed LOR[28] and Richard Susskind has written favorably about the trends driving LOR.[29]
  • 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.[31]
  • LOR was named as an example of a legal social networking site in Robert W. Denney's 2009 overview of law practice trends.[32]
  • LOR was cited as one of the 60 "latest and greatest sites on the Internet" for lawyers, at the 2009 ABA TECHSHOW.[33]
  • LOR was mentioned by name as an example of a legal online community/social network in the 2009 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report.[34]

Industry Support and Alliances

Mark Chandler, General Counsel for CISCO Systems, encouraged Lippe to build the collaborative platform aimed at negotiating proper value for work.[35] OnRamp has also garnered support from Allen & Overy, one of the UK’s “Magic Circle” firms.[36] In 2009, The Corporate Executive Board Company began a strategic collaboration with OnRamp as part of an initiative to bring new resources to law department members of the General Counsel Roundtable.[37] In 2010, the global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP increased its investment in Legal OnRamp.[38]

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]

Industry Collaborations

Riverview Law

Riverview Law, a fixed-priced legal services business, provides Legal Advisory Outsourcing (LAO) services for OnRamp in the UK and partners with OnRamp Systems to provide services for global enterprises.[39] Specifically, Riverview and OnRamp have partnered on projects relating to the regulatory requirements of Dodd-Frank related Recovery and Resolution Plans (RRP).[40]

IBM Watson

IBM is pairing the Jeopardy-winning Watson system with Legal OnRamp to assist large banking institutions in complying with Dodd-Frank’s mandate for RRPs.[41] The goal of this partnership is to help harness Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities much in the way Watson has assisted Memorial Sloan Kettering in using it’s capacity to assist doctors in patient treatment plans.[42]

Bridge to Practice

OnRamp’s model includes services, and some are supported by their "Bridge to Practice" for new lawyers.[43] Partnering directly with law schools, OnRamp offers an alternative to traditional legal career development paths by using large-scale legal projects as a legal training ground.[44]

Twelve law schools were originally part of the OnRamp partnership.[45] Law schools with which OnRamp has partnered include:[46]

Boston College
Boston University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Michigan State University
New York University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
UC Hastings College of the Law
University of Colorado
University of Denver
University of Southern California
University of the Pacific
Vanderbilt University

References

  1. ^ "The Pragmatic Innovator", The Practice, Harvard Law School
  2. ^ Anna Oberthur, "Virtual Connections: Lawyer-only Sites Help Boost Online Networking," California Lawyer (last visited April 21, 2009).
  3. ^ a b Michelle Madsen, "Corporate Counsel: The New Tools of the Trade?", Legalweek.com (July 2, 2008).
  4. ^ a b "60 Sites: Latest and Greatest Internet Hits from ABA Techshow 2009," Law Practice (June 2009).
  5. ^ 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).
  6. ^ "Lex Mundi, Leading Global Legal Network, Leads in Creation of Legal OnRamp, Worldwide...", Reuters.com (March 3, 2008).
  7. ^ "Startup Connects In-house Attorneys to Law Firms' Advice," San Francisco Business Times (September 21, 2007).
  8. ^ Kenneth Rivlin, "Collaboration with Legal OnRamp Strengthens Our Position as Most Innovative Law Firm," Allenovery.com (Jan. 15, 2008).
  9. ^ "Innovative Lawyers 2008: FT Law 50," FT.com (showing A&O as #1 in 2007 and #2 in 2008).
  10. ^ "The Pragmatic Innovator", The Practice, Harvard Law School
  11. ^ David J. Parnell, "Paul Lippe Of Legal OnRamp: Every Legal Department Will Seek To "Cisco-ify" Themselves," Forbes (April 21, 2014); Deborah Feldman, "Oh The Places You'll Go: Northeastern Graduates Pave the Way with Legal OnRamp," Northeastern Law (Summer 2014)
  12. ^ Deborah Feldman, "Oh The Places You'll Go: Northeastern Graduates Pave the Way with Legal OnRamp," Northeastern Law (Summer 2014); Paul Lippe, "ApprenticeRamp Engages Law Schools and Clients," Vol. 45, No. 2, American Bar Association (Winter 2013-2014)
  13. ^ Daniel Martin Katz, "Paul Lippe - Legal By Design," Computational Legal Studies (April 5, 2014)
  14. ^ Blog: "The New Normal"
  15. ^ David J. Parnell, "Paul Lippe Of Legal OnRamp: Every Legal Department Will Seek To "Cisco-ify" Themselves," Forbes (April 21, 2014)
  16. ^ "The Pragmatic Innovator", The Practice, Harvard Law School
  17. ^ Deborah Feldman, "Oh The Places You'll Go: Northeastern Graduates Pave the Way with Legal OnRamp," Northeastern Law (Summer 2014)
  18. ^ Bev Cline, "Driving up the OnRamp," Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Printemps (Spring 2008).
  19. ^ 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).
  20. ^ a b c d Susan Beck, "Legal OnRamp Founder Sells Its Virtues," The American Lawyer (December 31, 2008).
  21. ^ Aric Press, "The Future Comes to Bloomington," The AmLaw Daily (April 20, 2009).
  22. ^ Cynthia Cotts, Corporate Executive Board Joins With Lawyer Networking ‘OnRamp’ Bloomberg
  23. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/company/onramp-systems-inc.
  24. ^ Bruce MacEwen, "Legal OnRamp: 'Law Firm 2.0'," Adamsmithesq.com (April 3, 2007).
  25. ^ Larry Bodine, "Legal OnRamp to Add 14,000 In-House Lawyers as Members," LawMarketing Blog (September 9, 2009).
  26. ^ https://www.legalonramp.com/
  27. ^ "A White Paper: Web 2.0 and PR 2.0 -- The Way Jaffe Looks At the Present," Jaffeassociates.com (July 16, 2008).
  28. ^ The Legal Transformation Study
  29. ^ "No One Has a Vision for the Next Generation of Lawyers," Times Online (Nov. 19, 2007) (excerpt from Susskind's The End of Lawyers?).
  30. ^ Amy Miller, "A Web-Savvy Approach to the Outside Counsel Search," National Law Journal, August 10, 2009.
  31. ^ G.M. Filisko, "Social Promotion: Social Network Sites Work for You, But Only If You Work at Them," ABA Journal (December 2008).
  32. ^ Robert W. Denney, "Trends Report: What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession," Law Practice (January/February 2009).
  33. ^ "60 Sites: Latest and Greatest Internet Hits from ABA TECHSHOW 2009," Law Practice (June 2009).
  34. ^ Reginald Davis, "Getting Personal: Social Networks Appeal, But Not to the Firm," ABA Journal (August 2009).
  35. ^ Terry Carter, "New Routes Into the Corporate Door," ABA Journal (August 2007).
  36. ^ David J. Parnell, "Paul Lippe of Legal OnRamp: Every Legal Department Will Seek To 'Cisco-ify' Themselves," Forbes.com (April 21, 2014).
  37. ^ "Corporate Executive Board Joins Forces with Legal OnRamp, Legal Web 2.0 Collaboration Leader," Bloomberg.com (July 16, 2009).
  38. ^ "Orrick Makes Further Investment in Leading Collaboration Platform Legal OnRamp," Reuters.com (April 27, 2010).
  39. ^ "Riverview Law partners with US tech pioneer Legal OnRamp to deliver ground-breaking services to global banks," Riverviewlaw.com (January 6, 2014); https://www.legalonramp.com/index.php/partners
  40. ^ Manju Manglani, "Riverview Law and Legal OnRamp create 'legal-by-design' service," Managingpartner.com (January 9, 2014).
  41. ^ Bruce MacEwen, "Watson, I Presume?," Adamsmithesq.com (October 8, 2014).
  42. ^ Paul Lippe and Daniel Martin Katz, "10 predictions about how IBM's Watson will impact the legal profession," ABAjournal.com/legalrebels (October 2, 2014).
  43. ^ Deborah Feldman, "Oh, The Places You’ll Go: Northeastern graduates pave the way with Legal OnRamp," Northeastern Law Magazine (Summer 2014); Paul Lippe, "ApprenticeRamp Engages Law Schools and Clients," Syllabus (Winter 2013-2014); https://www.legalonramp.com/index.php/bridge-to-practice; "BC Law Partners on Innovative Apprenticeship Pilot Program with LegalOnRamp," Boston College Law 2014 News Archive (March 20, 2014).
  44. ^ Paul Lippe, "ApprenticeRamp Engages Law Schools and Clients," Syllabus (Winter 2013-2014); Bruce MacEwen, "From Across the Desk: An Apprenticeship to Practice – That Works," Abovethelaw.com (May 15, 2014); Karen Sloan, "They’re Learning the Law Through Apprenticeships," National Law Journal (February 24, 2014).
  45. ^ Bruce MacEwen, "An Apprenticeship to Practice – That Works," Adamsmithesq.com (April 27, 2014).
  46. ^ https://www.legalonramp.com/index.php/partners

External links

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