Legal Firm

Legal Networks

Globalization and international trade have transformed the delivery of transnational legal services worldwide. Law firms face market competition through a variety of strategies, ranging from expansion in size, specialization of services, international alliances or creation of networks. Transnational legal firm networks have emerged as one of those alternatives, but they face a number of organizational challenges: cross-referral of cases, knowledge management strategies, exchange of information, etc.

Netcase Project

The Netcase project aims at addressing those major challenges by proposing an intelligent system of automatic case forwarding within Transnational legal firm networks. Netcase was able to analyze incoming cases and assign them to the most appropriate law firms and lawyers. The selection is based on law firm specialties, availability of resources, and lawyers’ skills. The model resulted in a central market where lawyers and law firms are skill producers, law firms are also skill containers, and legal cases are goods that need skills to be solved.

Resources

Further Reading

• McBarnet, D.: Transnational Transactions: Legal Work, Cross-border Commerce and Global Regulation. In: Likosky, M. (ed.) Transnational Legal Processes, Butterworths Lexis-Nexis, London (2002) 98-113
• Galanter, M., Palay, T.: Why the Big Get Bigger: The Promotion-to-Partner Tournament and the Growth of Large Law Firms, Virginia Law Review 76 (1990) 747-811
• Galanter, M., Palay, T.: The Many Futures of the Big Law Firm, South Carolina Law Review 45 (1994) 905-928
• Thomas, R. S., Schwab, S. J., Hansen, R. H.: Megafirms, North Carolina Law Review 80 (2001) 115-198
• Galanter, M., Palay, T.: A Little Jousting about the Big Law Firm Tournament, Virginia Law Review 84 (1998) 1683-1693
• Garth, B., Silver, C.: The MDP Challenge in the Context of Globalization, Case Western Reserve Law Review 52 (2002) 903-942
• Adams, E. S.; Albert, S.: Law Redesigns Law: Legal Principles as Principles of Law Firm Organization”, Rutgers Law Review 51 (1999) 1133-1206
• Silver, C.: Globalization and the U.S. Market in Legal Services: Shifting Identities, Law & Policy International Business 31 (2000) 1093-1150
• Daly, M.: Monopolist, Aristocrat, Or Entrepreneur?: A Comparative Perspective on the Future of Multidisciplinary Partnerships in the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom after the Disintegration of Andersen Legal,” Washington University Law Quarterly 80 (2002) 589-648
• Pfeifer, M., Drolshammer, J.: Introduction: On the Way to a Globalized Practice of Law?!, European Journal of Law Reform 2 (2000) 391-403
• Rabinovich-Einy, O.: The Ford-Firestones of the Future: Resolving Offline Disputes in an Online Society. In A. R. Lodder et al. (eds.): Essays on Legal and Technical Aspects of Online Dispute Resolution, Papers from the ICAIL 2003 ODR Workshop, June 28, 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Amsterdam: CEDIRE: 37-50
• Holmes, J.: The Technological Revolution for Legal Services Organizations May Change your Practice, Texas Bar Journal 65 (2002) 496-498
• Silver, C.: Regulatory Mismatch in the International Market for Legal Services, Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business 23 (2003) 487-550
• Maney, M., et al.: How Lawyers and Firms Are Positioning Themselves to Serve International Clients in Today’s Environment. In: Delivery of International Legal Services in the Coming Decade, Annual Meeting of the International Law and Practice Section of the NYSBA, International Law Practicum 15 (2002) 67-100
• Zulack, J. F.: The Niche Model.
• Anduri, C.: The Association Model.
• GRES-UAB unpublished research on transnational legal networks (2001)