From the President

We are honored to be on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies again.

Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000 list is their “most complete portrait of the universe of growing private companies ever assembled” and we are grateful to have been twice recognized.

More importantly, however, is that we recognize you, our clients, as being the reason for our continued success. We know that you have a choice and we are very appreciative to you for allowing us to serve you.

Since our inception over two decades ago, we have been constantly vigilant about providing what you need and on a daily basis continue to search for ways to improve our service to you.

As always, I invite your suggestions on how we can better serve you and welcome submissions on content matter for this e-newsletter.

Best regards,
Sheila Atkinson-Baker

Videoconferencing: Making a Strong Comeback in a Weak Economy

By Barbara Lynch,
Staff Writer

During the discovery process, when people can’t be in the same location at the same time, videoconferencing is a very convenient way of communicating while still being able to observe facial expressions, mannerisms, and body language.

According to an article last month in Portland’s Oregoniannewspaper, big businesses like Cisco and Hewlett Packard have reduced their travel budgets immensely with Cisco saving $5 million annually and HP slicing 30% off their travel expenses because of, for the most part, videoconferencing technology.

In the article, John Boudreau comments on how big businesses are crediting videoconferencing as the reason they can cut back so much on their outgoing travel expenses.

“Just a few years ago, Advanced Micro Devices executive Linda Starr racked up a million air miles a year in business travel. Now she logs a mere 100,000 miles per year, thanks to sophisticated videoconferencing technology,” he wrote.

“In a trend that could transform the way companies do business, Cisco Systems has slashed its annual travel budget by two-thirds – from $750 million to $240 million – by using similar conferencing technology to replace air travel and hotel bills for its vast work force.”

Focusing on cutting travel expenses and saving traveling time isn’t new to businesses, but it has become more commonplace over the last few years. This trend isn’t just prevalent in big Fortune 500 companies, but the legal industry and law firms of all sizes are also looking at ways to trim their own budgets in this way and are doing so successfully.

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Something for Nothing? Not Really

By Cassie B. Hanson
Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility

Depositions with us are a gas – get a $25 gas card for every depo!

Sir Roy Harrod, the English economist, once famously opined, “The most basic law of economics is that one cannot get something for nothing.”

The principle that nothing comes for free may be a fundamental tenet of economics, but marketing wizards know that “freebies” are one of the most widespread and effective marketing tools for business solicitation, including businesses providing services to the legal profession.

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of gift giving or reward programs offered to attorneys and their staff for scheduling depositions with a particular court reporting agency. The gifts clearly are made in order to influence the selection of court reporting agencies when scheduling depositions.

Recently, the following scenario was brought to the attention of the Director’s Office: A court reporting agency sent a $25 debit gift card to a secretary who had scheduled a recent deposition with the agency. The lawyer was unaware of the secretary’s participation in the court reporting agency’s reward program.

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