JAMES SEIDL
President
Legal Research Center
James Seidl co-founded Minneapolis-based Legal Research Center, Inc., in 1978 and has served as President since 1987. Legal Research Center (www.lrci.com) provides legal research and writing, research management, and regulatory compliance services to attorneys in corporate and private practice throughout the world. Mr. Seidl’s primary responsibilities are in the areas of business, product and service development; he is also responsible for new business planning and corporate strategic partnering.
In 2008, Mr. Seidl co-produced and published the Legal Transformation Study: Your 2020 Vision of the Future (www.legaltransformation.com). The Study identifies key global trends and uncertainties shaping the future of the legal industry and creates a set of four detailed planning scenarios from these forces. The scenarios challenge current service models within the legal industry, answer key strategic questions, and enable corporate law departments and law firms to proactively identify decision-making strategies to ensure their future business success.
Mr. Seidl serves on the Board of Managers of NovusLaw (www.novuslaw.com), a global legal services outsourcing company in which LRC is a strategic and financial partner. Mr. Seidl serves on the Board of the Open Legal Standards Initiative (www.openlegalstandards.org), whose mission is to establish standards for quality and efficient legal services through the development of business process and metrics classification systems. Mr. Seidl serves as business development advisor to Strategic Radar (www.strategicradar.com) and Miller/Davis (www.millerdavis.com), in which LRC is a strategic and financial partner. Mr. Seidl also serves on the Advisory Board and Executive Leadership Committee of the Law Department Purchasing Consortium (www.lawdepartmentconsortium.com); the Board of Directors of The Priyanka Foundation (www.thepriyankafoundation.org); and the Board of Directors of Friends of Flicka (www.flickasfriends.org), of which he is a co-founder. Mr. Seidl previously served on the board of directors of Law & Politics Media, Inc., publisher of SuperLawyers™ and the monthly Minnesota Law & Politics and Washington Law & Politics magazines. In mid-1990, he co-developed TheLawOffice.com on the Microsoft Network and Internet. In early 1980, Mr. Seidl co-founded Templeton & Associates: Legal Assistant Services.
In 2003, Mr. Seidl co-produced the PricewaterhouseCoopers & Legal Research Center Knowledge Management Study: An In-Depth Look Into the Current Use and Future Trends of KM in the Legal Profession, in collaboration with PwC and the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. With Vance Opperman, former President and CEO of West Publishing; Edward Friedland, General Counsel of The Thomson Corporation; Richard Weise, former General Counsel of Motorola; and Stacey Supina, LRC Director of Research, Mr. Seidl co-authored the Legal Research Management chapter in the 2002-08 ACCA/West publication Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel. He also co-authored the Legal Research chapter in the 2003 ATLA/West publication entitled Litigating Tort Cases, and was a contributing author to the Legal E-Business Guide (John Kelly, ed., Assoc. of Legal Administrators 2002). In 2000, Mr. Seidl was the co-editor of Strategic Partnering for Legal Services: New Rules, New Roles, Leaps of Faith and Spectacular Results for In-House and Outside Counsel at Heller Financial, authored by Mark Ohringer and Debra Snider. Mr. Seidl has been interviewed for articles in a variety of local and national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Law Journal, New York Times, Trial Magazine, ACCA Docket, Inside Counsel, Legal Information Alert, Minnesota Law & Politics, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Mr. Seidl’s law-related lobbying activities include formal presentations to the Department of Justice, the National Press Club, and Op Ed articles in the New York Times.
Mr. Seidl frequently speaks before major trade associations and conferences on issues in the legal industry. In 1998, Mr. Seidl produced an educational program for the American Corporate Counsel Association entitled The Art of Appellate Brief Writing – The Corporate Practitioner’s Perspective. In 1999, Mr. Seidl produced an educational program entitled Best Practices In Corporate Research Management for ACCA’s Annual Meeting. In 1999 and 2000, in conjunction with DuPont, ACCA, CLA and West Group, Mr. Seidl co-produced a series of legal forums entitled Partnering & Convergence: Successful Strategies for Controlling Legal Costs. In 2000, Mr. Seidl co-produced Partnering 2000: Profiting From Client Collaboration with Heller Financial, Spherion, Merrill and West Group. Also in 2000, Mr. Seidl was a featured speaker at the Wisconsin ACCA National Chapter presentation Technology Innovations In Legal Knowledge Management and at the ACCA E-Lawyer 2000 presentation Internet Best Practices For The Small Law Department. Mr. Seidl was co-chair of the 2001 LawPartnering Forum: Powering-Up Partnering Relationships; the 2002 LawPartnering Forum: Team Empowerment Through Financial Rewards and Technology Solutions; and the 2003 LawPartnering Forum: Partnering Pay-Off—Measuring Returns on Partnering Initiatives. From 1987 through 1992, Mr. Seidl chaired the Practice Development Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association, and produced legal education seminars on a variety of ethical, client relations, practice development and legal service marketing subjects.
Mr. Seidl received his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law and his undergraduate degree from Bethel College. He can be reached at 1.800.776.9377, or by email at jseidl@lrci.com.