2005 “InnovAction” Awards

My friend Patrick McKenna, of Edge
International, sent me a press
release announcing the two winners
of this year’s "InnovAction
Awards," a contest held annually to identify
firms that significantly stand out for initiatives in: (a) client
service; (b) knowledge management; (c) market leadership; or (d)
professional experience of their own lawyers.  It is open to
firms of all sizes and types, worldwide.

The awards are co-sponsored by Edge and the College
of Law Practice Management, and evidently their standards
are rigorous insofar as there were no awards for client
service, KM or "professional experience"
despite "a good number of submissions, from four different
countries."  But
the killer was "there was nothing particularly unique about
many of them."  (No snide remarks, you in the back, about
law firms’ record of innovation.)

The winners:

• The familiar DLA Piper Rudnick for
  a service I wish had existed when I was CEO of a dot-com:  Their
  "Venture Pipeline" initiative, launched in 2002 as a separate
  business unit and run by experienced entrepreneurs, to help early
  stage companies.  (Using DLA Piper for your IPO is not a
  condition of getting help.)
• The unfamiliar (my loss) Simpson
  Grierson of New Zealand for a comprehensive, all-hands market
  positioning campaign communicating the firm’s radical make-over.

Innovation is devoutly to be wished; congratulations to the recipients.
  And for those of you with stalled or still-born initiatives
on your desk, let those blocking your road know about these awards—why
shouldn’t you be in Vancouver next September accepting one?