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Anthony Paonita

Corporate Counsel

10-01-2012

We launched the daily version of corpcounsel.com some three years ago. It was a big leap for us magazine people. From a slightly monastic, contemplative monthly existence, we plunged head first into daily reporting. A couple of us, like senior reporter Sue Reisinger, were old hands at this. She leaped right into the adventure, tapping into her skills learned in previous jobs on the business desks of newspapers in Florida and Ohio. For the rest of us, it was a learning experience.

Luckily, we had a full array of Web production people and others at our sibling publications who helped us along, gave us advice and production tips, and commiserated with us when the technology would hit the occasional wall. And we had a very energetic Web editor who edited other daily news sites and seemed to run on pure adrenaline (not to mention an array of sugary, caffeinated drinks).

What we didn't have was a lot of time to think about the design. We were on a tight launch schedule, and, not knowing how it would all pan out, we adopted one of the in-house design templates that looked like it would suit our needs.

But the site has grown since then, and we like to think it's the go-to site for news about the corporate legal department community. Some prominent general counsel have told me as much. And one of them, who shall remain anonymous, dropped by one fine morning and critiqued the site with me. Then he offered suggestions for improving it, and I'm grateful for the input. (You know who you are.)

All of this is a long way of saying, welcome to CorpCounsel 2.0 (it launches about the same day this magazine should be in your hands). It's cleaner, more modern, easier to read. It doesn't hide the content. And it's better adapted to how you read news today, on a number of devices, at different times of the day.

In particular, mobile surfing has taken off big-time since the site went live, and we've found that a lot of our readers access our content on smartphones and tablets. So we've optimized the site to look good on your iPhone or Android phone.

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the redesign. My colleagues David Hechler and Brian Glaser worked tirelessly on ideas to improve the site. Our art director Morris Stubbs made sure that the look is consistent with the Corporate Counsel brand. And behind the scenes, a platoon of coders and testers made sure that what we content producers produce would turn up on the Web pages you can see by pointing your browsers to CorpCounsel.com. Thanks, all.

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I normally take this space to write about issues discussed in the cover story. But I wrote the main part of the cover story, so there isn't much to add here.

Okay, just a question: In the essay, I write that there was no revolution in the client–law firm relationship. The crisis accelerated some changes already under way, and put pressure on firms. But in the end, our corner of the world carries on. Evolved, but not fundamentally different from those halcyon days of, say, early 2007.

What's your take? There's certainly a lot of talk at conferences, in chat rooms, even in our LinkedIn forums about the changes, or lack of them, in the profession and how you work with outside counsel. Write me at apaonita@alm.com.