1.  Best Profile Article -- Texas Lawyer for Miriam Rozen's article "The Blue Period:  Lisa Blue-Baron Carries On Legacy of Her Late Husband".

2.  Best Single Issue of a Tabloid/Newspaper -- Texas Lawyer for its issue of October 19th, 2009.

3.  Best Subject Related Series of Articles -- The Legal Intelligencer for "The New Firm Order"

4.  Best Single Article -- The American Lawyer for Susan Beck's piece "Saving Anthony Harris".

5.  Best Integrated Package (Print and Web) -- Corporate Counsel Magazine for "Was He Listening" by Sue Reisinger.

Congratulations to all of our Finalists and Winners!

Update:  Here's a list from ABM of all Finalists and Winners:

 http://www.americanbusinessmedia.com/abm/2010_Neal_Award_WinnersFinalists.asp

I've been thinking all day about the changes in the company since I joined.  The office moves, the new product launches, and the move from almost entirely print to a mix of print, online, events and data.  The company is quite a bit bigger today than it was 12 years ago -- financially, by staff count, and certainly by the number of products we produce and markets we serve.  And I'll admit that I take a lot of pride in those accomplishments.

But really what I've been thinking about all day are the people I've worked with at American Lawyer Media/Incisive/ALM over the past dozen years.  Uniformly smart and committed, it has been the people at this company who have kept me engaged and energized during these years.  Journalists who have been committed to improving the practice of law and access to justice.  Business folks, equally committed to serving our customers and finding ways to ensure our success in the marketplace.  And yes, even a kaleidoscope of investors who, in their own way, cared about how best to move this company forward and constantly pushed us to better performance.  All of those people -- many still with us, some not -- have made coming to work here for 12 years highly worthwhile and a real learning experience.

So, to all of my colleagues past and present, thanks for all you have taught me over these dozen years.  I'm looking forward to all you have to teach me over the next dozen.

Also this week, our web production team introduced an improved Website Registration offering.  Although a bit "behind the scenes", this improvement has been a long-time coming and is a critical part of our overall web strategy.  We have found an improved way to capture registration information about our website users, which will be valuable to our advertisers.  And, at the same time, we have made the process of moving from site-to-site easier for those of our subscribers who move across our network to access multiple information sources.  Congratulations to Jill Windwer, Ann Jackley and our web production team, plus Shane Molloy and Mike Bennett in the Audience Development group, and Matt Perkins in IT.  Great work! 

One big change I have noticed from my prior visits to Hong Kong has been the fact that we now have a reporter -- Tony Lin -- based here and covering the region.  Law firms, in particular, seem to take us more seriously because they perceive that we are investing in the region and taking them more seriously.  And Tony, despite having been here for only one year, has really insinuated himself within the legal world, becoming well known both for his reporting and his gourmet appetite.  If you find yourself in the area and want to know where to find the hole-in-the-wall restaurant with absolutely the best and most authentic Chinese food in the city, apparently Tony's your guy.

Given the respect that Tony has garnered among lawyers here, our discussions about launching a daily email product offering law firm and important legal news from the region has been well received.  The people we've met with like the idea of a more serious offering that would interest firm and in-house lawyers in Asia as well as those in the US who are engaged with the region.  The field will be crowded, as there are plenty of other publications covering legal news from China and elsewhere.  But we definitely have the sense that something written at The American Lawyer level of sophistication would be a welcome addition.  And, importantly, a good way for firms, recruiters and others to advertise their services and become better known among potential clients and customers. 

Finally, last night at dinner with a very friendly recruiter, I continued my policy of always allowing the local to do the ordering.  That invariably means I will end up sampling dishes that I would never order for myself.  Last night's new addition to my culinary experience was pigeon, served with vegetables and rice -- delicious and, yes, it did taste a bit like chicken.  Alas, now I won't be able to walk in Central Park without feeling a little guilty. 

What do you get when you mix dense fog with heavy pollution?  Winter in Hong Kong. 

Arrived here on Sunday evening to spend the week with Danny Collins from our London office, calling on law firms, recruiters and others who have an interest in advertising with us.  Good thing I didn't come to see the view of Hong Kong harbor--it is barely visible through the haze. (The picture above isn't mine...comes from a tourist brochure, so you can see what the harbor looks like when the night is relatively clear).

A few quick observations after one day of meetings.

1.  Apparently there was a recession that had a big impact on some parts of the world.  But you'd never know it listening to people in Hong Kong talk about the economy in China and the surrounding region.  Yes, there was a little belt-tightening last spring and summer, but not much.  And the signs in early 2010 have been pointing toward double-digit growth in the economy and lots of work for lawyers.

2.  To get a job in this part of the world, fluency in Mandarin is now required.  Used to be that you could be a great english-speaking lawyer and still come out here and get a job with a great firm.  No more.  Recruiters told us that if Mandarin fluency isn't on your resume, they won't even show it to potential employers.

3.  Marketing folks listen politely while we talk about our magazines and newspapers.  But what gets them excited is our digital offerings, particularly webinars.  One major UK-based firm told us that 80% of their advertising spend will be in digital formats this year, with only 20% in print.  Personally, I think that's a mistake, particularly for branding campaigns.  But the client is always right, right?

4.  There's nothing better than Chinese food in this part of the world.  The trick is to let the people who live here do the ordering for you.  And then try not to ask too many questions about whatever it is you are eating.  Makes for a much more enjoyable meal.

Day #2 coming up -- 7 appointments, capped off by dinner with a couple of legal recruiters.  Just need to power through the jet lag (the 13 hour time change is very dis-orienting).  And I'll keep listening for other nuggets of information from this part of the world.  

And yet those of us who long for spring but have lived in this region for awhile know that winter has a habit of hanging around longer than we might like.  It almost always snows at some point in March, and the temperatures can certainly still go well below freezing.  The change from winter to spring is not always a smooth, straight line -- there have even been snow squalls in late April long after the flowers have begun to bloom. 

Recessions are a lot like winter.  We want the down economy to end and look hopefully for any sign of recovery.  Aren 't book sales tracking favorably compared to last year?  Wasn't the buzz at LegalTech overwhelmingly positive? And renewal rates for our newspapers and magazines seem to be stabilizing, right?  All true and all good signs. 

And yet Old Man Recession refuses to let go.  The legal industry is notorious for coming out of economic downturns later than the rest of the economy, and that looks to be holding true this time around as well.  And while the commercial real estate industry seems to have stabilized, it remains a very troubled sector and has a long way to go in order to return to normal. 

We see the continued weak economy at work primarily in display and law firm advertising in our legal magazines and newspapers. Both of those revenue lines are off to a slower-than-expected start to the year.  Some of that appears to be timing and will correct itself in future months. But most of that slow start can be traced to advertisers who are holding back, waiting for confidence that the market has returned and will be receptive to buying whatever they are selling. 

And, I should note, that some of that slow start has nothing to do with recession and everything to do with advertisers moving their spending out of print advertising into other forms of marketing.  That trend won't come to an end when the recession does -- it will be the story of media for the next several years at least.

But while the newspaper/magazine advertising market waits for spring, we aren't standing still.  We continue to invest in building new products on the substantive law side of our business (i.e. books and research products), and building up those areas -- like custom publishing -- where we have identified advertising clients with a hunger to reach our audience.  We remain focused on improving the technology that supports our business, from upgrades to our websites and the content management system that supports them, to our content tagging project, as well as the workflow tools we are developing for those who rely on us for court information.  All are critical to our future success.

Meanwhile, just as we continue to wear our winter coats even while we long to put on lighter weight clothing, we must continue to watch our expenses carefully until more positive economic signs are evident.  With a few exceptions, our staffing remains tight and will continue that way for the foreseeable future.  We have been hiring selectively, focused primarily on filling gaps in the IT and web production departments, and in vital sales areas where we see potential gains, but otherwise we are not adding to our headcount.  Other expense lines continue to be managed with an eye toward improving efficiency, negotiating more favorable contracts, and figuring out new approaches that will save us money with minimal impact on our customers.  We succeeded with that approach last year, and I'm sure we can do it again in 2010.

Spring is coming.  Maybe not as quickly as we would all like, but it is on the way.  And when it gets here, we'll be ready for it.

http://bit.ly/bIU7Gh

Also, you might want to check out the Social Media B2B blog at http://socialmediab2b.com/.  That blog has several hosts who have been posting lots of good ideas for using social media in the B2B environment. 

We're at a stage where we need to be actively looking for examples of how others use social media, and not feel like we have to invent these best practices ourselves.  And that includes how reporters and editors can use social media to build their print and online following, source story ideas, find experts and build community around content.  If you have examples to share, please do so.

The point is not, "here's the future".  The point is, if you are involved in editing, writing for, designing, selling, marketing or producing magazines and newspapers, then this is an exciting time.  The genre is being reinvented right in front of us.  We just need to figure out what would work best for the audiences we serve.

Anyway, here's how Wired sees the future:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1813626064?bctid=66775419001

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/feb/10/bbc-news-social-media

I asked in a previous post how we could do a better job incorporating social media into our reporting and editing, to build closer ties to our audience and promote our brands.  It's a discussion going on all over the journalism world.  But I think the trend is becoming clearer.

***

I am very pleased to let you know that the art department has won several awards in three competitions in the past few months. This week we were notified that The American Lawyer has won two awards in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and has been listed as a finalist for an additional four pieces. This is a national competition with over 7000 entries in eight categories. There were over 1500 entries in the Editorial category, with approximately 300 finalists and only 80 winners. The winners will be published in the CA Annual, coming out in May 2010.

Winners:

The Global Issue: Field Reports (gatefold), October 2009. Series of illustrations by Kristian Olson.

The Company's Lawyers (Bar Talk lead story), October 2009. Illustration by Jean-Francois Martin.

Finalists:

The Global Issue: The Great Game, October 2009. Two illustrations (Cover and inside) by The Heads of State.

The Change Agenda: Testing the Waters, December 2009. Two illustrations by Shout.

The Boy Wonder, June 2009. Illustration by John Ritter.

A Way Forward: Counterterrorism Policy in America, September 2009. Illustration by Aleks Sennwald.



We also won four awards in the Creativity Annual Awards in December, two for editorial photography and two for illustration:

Gold Award: Pro Bono, July 2008. Series of five illustrations by Mick Wiggins.

Silver Award: Saving Anthony Harris, March 2008. Photograph by Max Gerber.

Honorable Mention: Nice Work, January 2009. Photography by Siddharth Siva.

Honorable Mention: 20 Days That Shook the World, November 2008. Illustration by David Plunkert.

The winners will be published in the 39th Creativity Annual coming out this month.


And finally, we were awarded the gold Ozzie award at the Folio Show for editorial photography:

Gold Award: Saving Anthony Harris, March 2008. Photograph by Max Gerber.


Congratulations to everyone on the team for this well deserved recognition of hard work in an extremely competitive field. We should all be very pleased and proud of this impressive showing.

//   Joan

Neal Awards finalists can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/ygvy7oy

Winners will be announced at an awards luncheon in New York on March 11th.  Congratulations to all of our finalists!

And we've all seen Westlaw's incredible launch of its upgraded research site.  I doubt any exhibitor has ever poured so much marketing muscle into supporting a product launch at LegalTech.  They even put WestLawNext signs on the hot dog and coffee carts on the streets that surround the NY Hilton!

Most importantly, by the end of the day exhibitors were happy to report customers in a mood to buy.  Not just window-shopping or only kicking the tires, but apparently asking in-depth questions and showing that they are ready and willing to upgrade existing systems and invest in new ones.  That's a great sign for our exhibitors, and a great sign for LegalTech and ALM.

And while I know that LegalTech benefits the legal technology community, it is also a great chance to reconnect with ALMers from around the country.  Many of our publishers, ad directors and display sales reps are here to connect with as many new clients as they can, and I know that  lot of sales meetings are being held.  Good hunting!

We have two more days to go.  May the aisles be crowded, the conference attendees fascinated by what they learn, and the exhibitors/sponsors happy with their results.

(Update: Here's a blog post from InsideLegal with their review and photos from Day 1 at LegalTech...also, very positive.   http://insidelegal.typepad.com/files/2010/02/legal.html)

I pulled this photo off Twitter to show what the crowded aisles look like (credit to @bowtielaw).

My concern is that we are still largely missing the point of what these social media platforms really offer us -- the chance for our readers and customers to build individual relationships with ALM staff members and one another, around subject areas where we can help guide and moderate.  Social media is not just another platform to spew out headlines and promote our goods and services, important though that may be.  It is, instead, a means to deepen our relationships -- to move away from "I write, you read" media to a more collaborative, back-and-forth process.

Frankly, most of our social media initiatives lack a beating heart and any semblance of personality.  We post too often in the names of our products -- headlines or product sales announcements.  But in a world of too many impersonal corporations and "brands", people want to get closer to the person behind the byline -- and, yes, for what it's worth I think most of our social media initiatives need to be driven by the newsroom not the marketing staff.  Sure, marketers have a role to play and can be of great help in organizing our social media initiatives, moderating discussion groups, ensuring appropriate levels of promotion for our goods.  But no reader ever said, "Gee, I wish I could get to know the marketing manager of my newspaper better".  (Sorry, marketers, but it's true).  The front line for us in social media should be our reporters and editors, in their own names with their own individual pictures, posting primarily around the topics in which they have expertise.  Of course I want those postings to include links to their stories -- we all want the traffic back to our websites. But a dose of personality would be nice as well.

I also would like us to see social media as a means of covering a story, rather than just the way we promote a link to it once written and posted.  Some of our staff members are using Twitter and Facebook to source stories and look for ideas -- I sense we could be doing a lot more than that.  Some of our reporters have used Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute reporting, as Dan Levine at The Recorder is currently doing at the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco.  You can see the result of his great work on his Twitter page (www.twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie). When you go to his page, note that some 1,600 people are following Dan's tweets, a goodly number.  Those followers are getting to know him and, by extension, The Recorder through these postings.  That's undoubtedly good for Dan -- it builds his reputation and his value as a journalist -- but I also think it's good for The Recorder and ALM.   

I'd be happy to speak with any reporter, editor, marketer or publisher about how they can make better use of the social media platforms within the context of their overall strategy.  We all want to encourage more reader engagement, and a well thought out plan for using social media is one way to do that.  

http://www.bonnier.com/en/content/digital-magazines-bonnier-mag-prototype