At the chime of the midnight bell on April 1st, Valorem now has on office in Silicon Valley. We are so pleased to announce that David Bohrer has merged his Confluence Law Partners practice into Valorem. Dave’s addition gives us a powerful patent litigation presence on the West Coast as well as a disciple of… Continue Reading
Category Archives: People, Places and Blawgs
Subscribe to People, Places and Blawgs RSS FeedMaking the most of meetings–Bill Clinton style
Posted in Commentary, General, People, Places and BlawgsScott Curran, the Deputy General Counsel of The Clinton Foundation (yes, that Clinton Foundation), was this year’s first guest speaker at Valorem’s “Lunch With a Cool Person.” The mug presented to Scott confirms he is, in fact, a “Cool Person.” Scott was incredibly gracious with his time and his insights and ideas, and my… Continue Reading
Valorem’s Manotti Jenkins joins FlatFeeIP blog as Contributor
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsThe FlatFeeIP blog fits into Valorem’s wheelhouse: it addresses the importance of value fees in IP litigation, particularly patent litigation. That is what Valorem does–litigation for fixed fees–so it only made sense for our patent guys to team with Dave Bohrer, the blog’s publisher. Today is my partner Manotti Jenkins‘ innaugural post–Why Samsung Losing Its… Continue Reading
Transparent pricing: the future
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsIn many speeches, I have urged in-house counsel to pool their pricing information since doing so, and making it public, would create targets that competitive law firms would try to beat. I believe that price transparency, which clients have within their power, will have the single largest effect on lowering prices and increasing value. But… Continue Reading
Veteran IP Trial Lawyer Manotti Jenkins joins Valorem
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsValorem Law Groupis pleased to announce that Manotti Jenkins, a veteran IP attorney, has joined us as a partner. After spending the last year in solo practice, Manotti felt that Valorem provided the perfect platform for his practice, which focuses on patent and trademark litigation and counseling, as well as copyrights, trade secrets and… Continue Reading
Anthems: Against the Wind
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsBob Seger Against the wind I’m still runnin’ against the wind I’m older now but still runnin’ against the wind Well I’m older now and still runnin’ Against the wind
Sam Yagan, founder of OkCupid.com is definitely a “cool person”
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsAt Valorem, we periodically host “Lunch with a Coop Person.” Today’s “cool person” was Sam Yagan, founder and CEO of OkCupid.com. Sam is a serial entrepreneur, having started SparkNotes and eDonkey, among others. It was great hearing his views on the traits of an entrepreneur. One of the key traits he identified was a bias… Continue Reading
Some thoughts on “The Low Delta Firm”
Posted in Commentary, People, Places and BlawgsMy friend Pam Woldow of Edge International writes a fantastic blog, At the Intersection, “where General Counsel and Law Firms connect.” It is a must read, most recently shown by Pam’s post, The Low Delta Firm. Pam writes: Client demands for better efficiency, predictability, cost-effectiveness and communication are being translated into a new set of… Continue Reading
Valorem grows even more!
Posted in People, Places and Blawgs, UncategorizedOn the heels of announcing that patent litigator Marty Lefevour has joined our numbers, Valorem is happy to announce that Paul McDonald has joined our number, fresh off his stint as Senior Counsel at Kraft (Paul is 6th from the left in this photo). Before his tenure at Kraft, Paul was a senior associate at… Continue Reading
One great client
Posted in Commentary, People, Places and Blawgs, UncategorizedSome clients make you love working for them. They make you want to excel. They bring out the best you have to offer. DSW is one such client, and I just have to share the experience we had yesterday. In December, we won a trial for DSW. It was the company’s first trial–they want to… Continue Reading
Scoring client service–great idea from Matt Homann
Posted in Client Service, Commentary, People, Places and BlawgsI loved this post by Matt Homann suggesting lawyers score their client service on the quality of the client’s experience as well as the quality of the result. Matt’s “scorecard” is included at left. Matt’s suggestion is to ask your clients to show where you fit in the quality of experience/quality of result chart and… Continue Reading
New book on customer service
Posted in General, People, Places and Blawgs, UncategorizedComing February 7, Uncommon Service was featured today in the Daily Stat. Here is the write up on the book from the HBR store: Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance – for as long… Continue Reading
Patent Litigator Martin Lefevour joins Valorem Law Group
Posted in General, People, Places and Blawgs, UncategorizedMy partners and I are pleased to announce that patent litigator Marty Lefevour has joined our number (formal bio here). Marty has a wealth of experience, both as an inside lawyer and as a partner at Katten Muchin. The subject matter of the litigation has been quite diverse, including software and internet-based technologies, financial exchange… Continue Reading
Valorem’s Nicole Auerbach Receives Leadership Award
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsThe Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law is holding its Second Annual Leadership Forum this afternoon and evening. My partner, Nicole Auerbach,is receiving this year’s Coalition Leadership Award. It is richly deserved. My partners and colleagues join me in extending our congratulations to the heart and soul of Valorem. No one better exemplifies what it… Continue Reading
Latest Issue of Edge International Review Now Out!
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsThe latest issue of Edge International Review, authored by the principals of Edge International, is now out. Terrific articles by Pam Woldow and Doug Richardson onCreating a "communication engine" through legal project management; Ed Wesemann on What reputation really means (Hint: It’s not brand); and Jordan Furlong and Gerry Riskin on 7 business development tactics… Continue Reading
Be inspired.
Posted in People, Places and Blawgs1955-2011
Great Advice–are you following?
Posted in Commentary, People, Places and BlawgsDan Hull blogs at What About Paris?, occasionally known at What About Clients? WAP?/WAC? is an eclectic mix of things, many offbeat and many thought-provoking. But what separates WAP?/WAC? from many other blogs is Dan’s occasional free advice. It is always worth its weight in gold. For example, in a recent post, Dan discussed the… Continue Reading
Nicole Auerbach will be speaking on ACI’s Reducing Legal Costs forum in October
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsMy inestimable partner, Nicole Auerbach, will be speaking at ACI’s 6th Annual Forum on Reducing Legal Costs, being held on October 20-21 at the Union League Club in Philadelphia. Joining Nicole to discuss practical guidance from those who have led the way on cost reduction initiatives are Ward Classen of CSC, my friend Susan Hackett… Continue Reading
Susan Hackett is going to Broadway!
Posted in Commentary, People, Places and BlawgsWhen we opened Valorem on January 1, 2008, my partners and I began discussing who we needed to visit to get guidance and counseling on everything from operational issues to getting word out to the marketplace. The person at the top of my list was Susan Hackett. We went to lunch. Susan did not disappoint. She… Continue Reading
The Power of Why
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsWhy does Apple, which was once just a computer company, succeed when it branches out into MP3 players, phones and other products, while Microsoft fails? Why do some poorly funded upstarts thrive while other better funded ones don’t? Why do some firms "connect" with clients while others don’t? You can get an answer in 18… Continue Reading
New Series on Client-Law Firm Value Collaboration
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsMy partner Nicole Auerbach and Karen Klein, the General Counsel of our client, Kayak.com, began blogging today as part of the Association of Corporate Counsel Client-Firm Value Series. You can find the first post here. Aside from my obvious delight in having Valorem and Kayak featured in the ACC offering, I think one of the… Continue Reading
Latest Issue of Edge International Review Now Availble–A Must Read
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsMy friends at Edge International, in my view the leading international legal consultancy have released the latest Edge International Review. The entire issue qualifies as a "must read", at least in my view. The issue contains an article by Pam Woldow on project management and a related article by Doug Richardson on how to get… Continue Reading
Honored to be member of the lastest inductees as Fellows in College Of Law Practice Management
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsWhat is the College of Law Practice Management? Here is its mission: The College of Law Practice Management was formed in 1994 to honor and recognize distinguished law practice management professionals, to set standards of achievement for others in the profession, and to fund and assist projects that enhance the highest quality of law practice… Continue Reading
Simon Tupman’s New Book is released
Posted in People, Places and BlawgsNoted author Simon Tupman, whose previous works include Why Lawyers Should Eat Bananas, has just released his latest book, Legal Eagles. The book is described this way: Simon Tupman’s latest book Legal Eagles profiles sixteen visionary lawyers from around the globe who are changing people’s lives and making a difference in the world. Interviewed by… Continue Reading