Legal Advantage, LLC Establishes “Customer Bill of Rights”
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
BETHESDA, MD- Legal Advantage is pleased to announce it has formalized a “Customer Bill of Rights” designed to solidify Legal Advantage’s continued commitment to its clients and ensure an enhanced customer experience in all aspects of its business and services. Legal Advantage is the first company in the patent illustration, prior art search, document review, and legal research to memorialize a Customer Bill of Rights.
Legal Advantage, LLC appoints Louis A. Charest, Vice President, Document Review
Monday February 25, 2008
New Business Development Professional to Lead Legal Advantage’s Expansion of Document Review Service Offerings
Bethesda, MD- Legal Advantage, LLC announces the addition of Louis (“Lou”) A. Charest to its management team to focus on further developing document review services. In this senior business development role, Mr. Charest adds to Legal Advantage’s mission of providing timely and affordable document review services to law firms and corporations throughout the domestic and international markets.
Lou Charest is a nationally recognized sales executive with over 25 years of professional leadership experience in the legal support industry. Prior to joining Legal Advantage, he co-founded Recordtrak, a record retrieval company that pioneered a cost containment strategy for mass tort litigation and insurance record procurement, which generated in excess of $250 million in revenue. As Executive Vice President of Recordtrak, Lou executed sales agreements with Fortune 500 companies as well as the nation's top Am Law 100 firms. He oversaw Recordtrak's nationwide expansion into Texas and California that produced $10 million in sales revenue per annum. Most recently he served as a Senior Consultant for Medical Copy Service and Medical Research Consultants. His three decades of senior management experience, proven sales methodologies, and entrepreneurial vision have resulted in transformative growth for the legal support industry.
“I have had the great privilege of working with some of the leading law firms and corporations on large-scale litigation support projects including document review, document coding and other discovery services. My role with Legal Advantage is truly a great fit given the company’s commitment to providing the highest level of quality and value for document review services,” said Lou Charest.
“We were looking for a business development executive with world-class skills who can lead our accelerated growth in document review. Lou’s track record of success with almost every AmLaw100 firm for litigation support business gives us the senior leadership experience that we were seeking. We are pleased to welcome Lou to our growing team,” said Mirza Baig, CEO of Legal Advantage.
“We are uniquely situated to provide the highest level of quality legal support and with Lou’s addition we will be able to further emphasize that message with the rest of the industry. From the very beginning, we have focused on foundational level training of at least 500 plus hours for our legal associates, state-of–the-art facilities, secure and trusted delivery mechanisms, and a holistic approach to engagement management with local delivery capability. This has enabled us to distinguish ourselves on quality, effieciency, and service” said Ashar Akhtar, Managing Attorney of Operations.
Managed by experienced US-licensed attorneys, Legal Advantage maintains a staff over 35 permanent full-time professional legal associates with extensive experience in document review. Every legal associate undergoes an intensive training program on American jurisprudence and is continuously evaluated for advanced comprehension, accuracy, and productivity. With expertise in subject matter coding, substantive privilege coding, deposition summarization, and dedicated first- and second-level quality control teams, Legal Advantage provides comprehensive document review capabilities with unparalleled turnaround times. Currently Legal Advantage has about 150 full time employees with about 80 staff members devoted to intellectual property prior art search, patent design, and patent illustration services. Legal Advantage plans to add an additional 100 full time legal associates by the end of the year.
First of its Kind 48-Hour Guarantee for Patent Illustration Projects
Monday, January 28, 2008
Legal Advantage, LLC announces industry’s first 48 hour turn around for patent illustration projects.
BETHESDA, MD – Legal Advantage, LLC announced today the launch of the “48-Hour Guarantee,” a revolutionary assurance specifically engineered for the overworked and highly stressed intellectual property attorney. Designed for attorneys that constantly battle competition and deadlines, imposed by both clients and the US Patent Office, the 48-Hour Guarantee harnesses the power of Legal Advantage’s proprietary workflow tools and patent illustration design team to help inventors and their attorneys file faster and with greater accuracy. This 48-Hour Guarantee will initially be launched in Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee. After the initial rollout, it will be expanded every six weeks to include additional cities across the United States.
The 48-Hour Guarantee is a comprehensive assurance that Legal Advantage makes to its clients for the typical patent illustration project. Within 48 hours of receiving the full details of an illustration project during any business day, Legal Advantage will turnaround a complete project to its clients that has passed three quality control checks, or they receive the project for free.
“For more than five years, Legal Advantage has been committed to providing the highest quality illustration services within the least amount of time. The 48-Hour Guarantee is the latest extension of this commitment and we believe it has the potential to revolutionize how intellectual property attorneys prepare and file patent applications,” said Mirza Baig, Chief Executive Officer of Legal Advantage. “Two years ago we led the reduction in turnaround time for a typical patent illustration from three weeks to five business days. Today, we not only have the capability, but we also make the commitment to leapfrog that achievement with our 48-Hour Guarantee.”
“Our workforce now includes a significantly greater number of industrial designers, talented graphic artists, and engineers. This has allowed us to become subject matter experts on almost every type of patent drawing and illustration project,” said Hal Pieroway, Legal Advantage Director of Account Services.
Workflow Patterns and Technology Decrease Patent Application Filing Turnaround Times
The 48-Hour Guarantee is built on the success of Legal Advantage’s new Web portal, the most widely used patent illustration tool for managing projects and internal resources. The portal provides services to over 2,000 intellectual property attorneys and patent agents across the United States.
Features and Pricing of the 48-Hour Guarantee::
• No additional rush charges; standard industry practice is to charge additional fees for rush projects that typically involve a 48- or 72-hour turnaround time.
• Online access to unique and powerful search tools that instantly determine the status of a project by attorney, complexity, matter number, and/or keyword.
• The 48-Hour Guarantee applies to all standard utility projects expected to require seven individual illustrations or less; larger projects will still be delivered within the five-day standard turnaround time.
Legal Advantage, LLC appoints Ashar Akhtar Managing Attorney-Operations
Monday, December 10, 2007
New Managing Attorney Enhances Legal Advantage’s Role in Document Review Service Offerings
Bethesda, MD-Legal Advantage, LLC announces the promotion of Ashar Akhtar to Managing Attorney—Operations. In this expanded role, Mr. Akhtar will continue Legal Advantage’s mission of providing timely and affordable document review services to Law Firms and Corporations throughout the United States and abroad.
With over seven years of experience as an attorney in metropolitan Washington DC area, Mr. Akhtar understands the intricacies of large-scale document review and legal research.
He previously held a number of positions at both private law firms and large federal government contractors. Additionally, he has contracted at several Am Law 100 law firms as well as Fortune 500 corporations and has worked on large scale document reviews for a number of federal agencies and corporate clients representing varied industries, including, investment banking, public health, and financial regulation.
“During my time in private practice, as well as my time contracting with large law firms and corporations, I was fortunate to be able to work at organizations that genuinely cared about providing quality legal advice. These days, the emphasis seems to be so much more so on quantity, whether it is the number of large clients, or the amount of billing hours an attorney accumulates. This is especially true in the document review part of the e-Discovery process, where diligence and thoroughness is often compromised for speed. In this sense, making the step to Legal Advantage was perfect. I was able to find an organization whose corporate culture emphasized excellence in litigation support services. It sounds cliché, but it really is nice to find a company that promotes quality over quantity. The unique thing about Legal Advantage is that we have the facilities and manpower already in place to deliver large-scale document review, and that makes the ability to focus on superior service that much easier. With this promotion, I am very much looking forward to continuing with the professional and ethical value system in which I am comfortable.”
Mr. Akhtar graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia in 1997 with a B.S. in Commerce/Finance and then earned his J.D. from the College of William & Mary School of Law. He is currently enrolled in an M.A. program for Library & Information Science at the University of South Florida and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association.
Mirza Baig, CEO of Legal Advantage, LLC, stated “This well deserved promotion is a result of Ashar’s extreme dedication and success within our organization. He has been quickly recognized by his co-workers and our clients as an expert in managing large and complex document review projects.”
About Legal Advantage
Legal Advantage, LLC is a leading provider of cost-effective legal support services. Our document review, patent illustration, trial graphics/animation, patent proofreading and immigration application processing service offerings enable law firms and corporations to work more efficiently and effectively. To date, we have successfully completed over 15,000 projects for law firms and corporations throughout the United States and abroad.
Legal Advantage, LLC Appoints Regional Sales Director – Los Angeles, CA
November 11, 2007
Bethesda, MD, – Legal Advantage, LLC, a premier provider of legal support services to clients throughout the United States and abroad, announced today the appointment of Brian McLaughlin as Regional Sales Director for its Los Angeles office. With more than 8 years of experience in executive sales roles, Mr. McLaughlin is ideally suited to lead Legal Advantage’s efforts in the Los Angeles legal marketplace, as well as directly contribute to the company’s overall growth in the Southern California region.
“In our search for another member of our sales team, we were seeking a sales professional with a solid understanding of the legal marketplace who could accelerate the growth of our core patent illustration services and further expand our document review service offering. We are confident that Brian’s consistent track record of success in sales will help us to realize our aggressive expansion plans in Southern California. We are pleased to welcome Brian as the newest addition to our nationwide team of sales professionals” stated James Eglin, VP of Sales and Marketing in making this announcement.
Mr. McLaughlin has held senior sales positions at a number of legal and employer service companies, including Bowne & Co, IKON Inc, and ADP.
“Over the years, I have been fortunate to work with a number of industry leaders that are renowned for the quality of their service and their ability to save clients a considerable amount of money from their current legal spend. With increased pressure on organizations to reduce the costs pertaining to large and complex litigations, our legal support and document review service offerings will be very favorably received by the market. With our technology, experience, staff and optimized processes, we are uniquely positioned in our industry and I’m excited to be part of the team,” said Brian McLaughlin.
Legal Advantage, LLC Appoints New Director of Sales – Boston, MA
October 26, 2007
Bethesda, MD, October 26, 2007 – Legal Advantage, LLC, a premier provider of legal support and patent illustration services to clients throughout the United States and abroad, announced today the appointment of Ned Murphy as Regional Sales Director for its new Boston office. With more than 20 years of experience in executive leadership and sales roles, Mr. Murphy is ideally suited to lead Legal Advantage’s efforts to serve the Boston legal marketplace, as well as directly contribute to the company’s overall growth in the metro Boston region.
“To meet our continued expansion goals, we were seeking a seasoned professional with excellent sales and marketing skills who could expand our core patent illustration business revenue, as well as quickly penetrate the market by offering our patent proofreading, document review and trial graphics and animation service offerings. With Ned’s consistent track record of success in sales, we are confident he will have a quick and meaningful impact in this territory. We are pleased to welcome Ned to our quickly growing team of sales and operations professionals who are focused on providing the industry’s highest quality legal support services” stated James Eglin, VP of Sales and Marketing in making this announcement.
Ned is originally from Arlington, MA and spent the early years of his career in technical sales at 3M, Uniroyal Construction Products and National Starch and Chemical. The vast majority of his career was at 3M where his largest clients were in military and civil aviation production and refurbishment in which he more than doubled sales revenue within his assigned territory.
Over twenty-two years were spent with Nynex Information Services\Bell Atlantic\Verizon\Idearc Media where he successfully developed print and web-based advertising programs for businesses ranging from law and medical practices to the automotive and building industries. He was the recipient of numerous achievement awards for his sales efforts. From 1996 to 2001, he was a team member of a Sales Force Automation development project that set user requirements, design input, roll-out and training logistics. The resultant software suite won two industry awards and was well accepted by a sales force of over five hundred. During that period Ned also managed a sales collateral database project.
Ned has a B.S. in Business from American International College with continued studies at the University of Massachusetts in Information Technology and Emerson College in Advertising.
“Legal Advantage’s reputation as a recognized leader in patent design services is what first appealed to me. Our surging company’s expanded service offerings to the Intellectual Property community has me truly excited for what we can bring to the Greater Boston market! My professional background has been with companies whose hallmark always has been class-leading quality and service. This continues with Legal Advantage. We are the Gold Standard in Legal Support Services. Our capabilities, turnaround times, quality and fees are among the very best in the industry. I’m proud to be part of a company that will provide such cost-effective solutions for our current and future clients” stated Ned Murphy.
Legal Advantage, LLC Appoints New Director of Sales – Washington, DC
October 17, 2007
Bethesda, MD, October 17, 2007 – Legal Advantage, LLC, a premier provider of legal support services to clients throughout the United States and abroad, announced today the appointment of David Hemperly as Regional Sales Director for its Washington DC office. With more than 15 years of experience in executive leadership and sales roles, Mr. Hemperly is ideally suited to lead Legal Advantage’s efforts to continue to serve the DC legal marketplace, as well as directly contribute to the company’s overall growth in the metro DC region.
“In our search for another Sales Director, we were looking for a sales professional with high customer-serviced selling experience who could accelerate the growth of our core patent illustration services and win the rapport of law firms and corporate counsel. We are confident that David’s consistent track record of success in sales will help us to realize our aggressive expansion plans. We are pleased to welcome David to our quickly growing team of professionals whom are focused on providing the industry’s highest quality legal support services” stated James Eglin, VP of Sales and Marketing in making this announcement.
Mr. Hemperly has held senior sales positions at a number of legal and marketing service companies, including Peer-Web, Inc., Active Interest Media, Neopost, Inc., and Yellow Book USA. As National Accounts Manager/Sales Manager of Peer-Web, Inc., Mr. Hemperly led successful client accumulation with 200% growth in revenue, and helped the company secure numerous marketing Fortune 1000 customers. In addition, Mr. Hemperly held several Account Manager positions at Neopost, Inc., a leading supplier of mailing and document handling products company to law firms, where he grew revenue 120% in less than 15 months and was promoted to Regional Specialist Account Manager. While at Active Interest Media and Yellow Book USA, Mr. Hemperly won several industry awards and revenue grew 146% across the first year, and coordinated regional sales of web-based advertising increasing revenue by 140%, respectively.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been blessed to work with companies that delivered a very high quality of service, where they were well positioned in rapidly emerging growth areas. With the continued financial pressure on law firms to stick to their core legal services while exploring other options for their administrative tasks, our legal support services, patent illustration, document review, and trial graphics offerings are poised for record growth. With Legal Advantage’s [technology, team of people, and processes/resources,] Legal Advantage is ideally positioned to participate and gain market share in this growth and I’m excited to be part of the team,” said David Hemperly. “I’m confident that the strong management team of Legal Advantage, along with my skills will help us position ourselves as the recognized leader in this legal support services space.”