Just because someone is a really good lawyer, doesn't necessarily mean they are ready for the leadership positions of a large law firm. Marcie Borgal Shunk, President and Founder of The Tilt Institute Inc., talks with us this week about how she helps partners and others in law firms understand the leadership roles they take on. Whether it is a seasoned equity partner, or a newly christened associate just starting out, everyone should have a strong understanding of what it means to lead others. A good succession plan can help ease people into the role, rather than thrusting everything on them when they take over. Marcie discusses what it means to be a leader, and how she helps train them to take on that responsibility.

Emily Feltren, Director of Government Relations for the American Association of Law Libraries, joins us for her monthly update on government actions on legal information. Emily gives us a year in review report of the wins, losses, and draws of the 115th Congress and the upcoming changes she sees in the 116th... besides investigations. There will be some old friends leaving at the end of 2018. Luckily, Emily is working to make new friends in 2019 so that access to justice and access to government information expands. 

Information Inspirations:

Marlene Gebauer reviews the first article in the new ILTA KM White Paper. Taking on the article of "What Legal KM Professionals Can Learn from KM in the Big Four," from Cindy Thurston Bare of Foundation Software, and Vishal Agnihotri of Hinshaw and Culbertson. The article discusses the KM  streams that the Big Four accounting firms use, and how those parallel to the legal KM structure. In this day and age of alternative legal providers, it helps to understand how the competition is looking to gain a competitive edge over how you work. Cindy and Vishal give a good outline of some of the processes that are happening in the Big Four, so that you do not fall behind the curve.

Greg remembers back when the Internet was newish, there was a thought that as copyrighted material fell into the public domain, the Internet was going to be an ocean of open access materials. Well... the Digital Millennium Copyright Act put a twenty year hiatus on items falling into the public domain. That comes to an end at the end of this year. Items from 1923 will become public domain materials come January 1st. Granted, we're twenty years behind (and Google Books may have taken a bite out of the DMCA), but the flow of information begins again come the first of the year. 

Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes or Google (or where ever you listen to your podcasts) so that you automatically get the latest episodes. Comments can be sent to @glambert or @gebauerm. Also, if you like our new theme music, check out Jerry David DeCicca’s new album on Spotify, or iTunes. </