The National Law Review Names IMS 2020 “Go-To Thought Leader” Award Winner

NLR recognizes IMS for extensive and exceptional thought leadership work on COVID-19 topics relevant to litigators and the broader legal industry ecosystem

Pensacola, Fla.  |   The National Law Review (NLR) has named IMS ExpertServices a winner in the 2020 “Go-To Thought Leader” Awards. This recognition marks the third consecutive year NLR has recognized the firm’s thought leadership in the coveted award series, which recognizes the top of less than 1% of the publication’s contributing authors.

Seventy-two national winners of the annual “Go-To Thought Leader” Awards were selected through a careful editorial review of a pool of more than 20,000 legal news articles published in 2020 through NLR, which has been serving readers in the legal community since 1888.

This year’s “Go-To Thought Leader” Awards mark the third year NLR has recognized exceptional thought leaders from across dozens of legal practice areas ranging from Antitrust to Intellectual Property. The 2020 period reviewed by NLR’s editorial team when selecting this year’s winners was marked by a voracious appetite from across the legal industry for news and information, with 4.3 million pageviews from March and April of 2020, at the height of the early rise in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and the first rounds of court closures and delays.

In its announcement of the 2020 “Go-To Thought Leader” Award winners, NLR noted that IMS was selected for the firm’s “extensive analysis and research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on insurance coverage and on the insurance industry as a whole. The IMS team and various industry experts through videos, podcasts, and thought leadership addressed topics ranging from: jurors’ views on insurance policy interpretation during the pandemic; civil authority and reinsurance; what’s considered an ‘occurrence’ in the context of COVID-19; to how other catastrophic events interplay with the Coronavirus in the insurance industry. The breadth of COVID-19 issues addressed along with the regularity of IMS ExpertServices’ contributions provides NLR readers with an unparalleled analysis of the pandemic’s impact on the insurance industry.”

“We are always led by our core values. In a time where there was so much uncertainty and such a need to make sense of complexity, our first instinct is always to serve,” remarked James Crane, Chief Revenue Officer of IMS. “We knew our clients and our entire industry would benefit from pulling together those in our community to provide insight and expertise.”

“It’s a given that juror attitudes have changed in recent times,” observed IMS Trial Consulting Advisor, Jeremy Young, who coordinated much of the research efforts underpinning a special COVID-19 Research Insights Series and has collaborated with trial teams on more than 300 matters over the last nineteen years. Mr. Young underscored the importance of translating the findings around juror attitude shifts into practical applications. “Our focus on this research series has been illustrating not only how they have changed but also, and more importantly, what trial lawyers can do to adjust their trial strategies.”

Mr. Crane observed, “Our team and partners in our network saw the pandemic’s unique impact on the courts, law firms, and the clients they serve. We mobilized resources to find a way to help and provide value. Recognizing this need for qualified perspective and expertise, we focused significant research and efforts on helping our clients and industry make sense of the pandemic’s impact. Our trial strategy advisors, jury consultants, expert witness community, and thought leadership research teams worked diligently and carefully to unearth and deliver insights on important topics such as how COVID-19 was influencing the worldview of jurors and decision-makers, disruptions among AmLaw 200 litigation practices amid the pandemic and related effects on practitioner wellness, the increasing emergence of remote trial and arbitration events, and how the pandemic would likely impact practices and cases. It is an honor to see our clients gain value from the thought leadership we deliver, especially throughout such a challenging and transformational moment for our industry and community.”

Since launching in 2019, the firm’s IMS Insights thought leadership platform and IMS Insights Podcast have gained national recognition for featuring discussions with leading experts on hot topics in litigation and areas where developments, innovation, and disruption could affect key practice areas, including antitrust, intellectual property, commercial insurance, and complex commercial litigation. IMS Insights guests and contributors discuss trends in trial preparation and expert witness services, as well as their fields and practice areas of expertise, ranging from electric vehicles, 5G, aerospace engineering, fintech, and emerging fields of practice.

“We are fortunate to have deep relationships with the world’s top experts and practitioners across complex and pioneering practice areas and fields of technology, innovation, business, and policy,” remarked Teresa Barber. “Especially amid the uncertainties and turbulence surrounding COVID-19, it’s been deeply fulfilling to see our IMS thought leadership community pulling together to deliver context and perspective in a meaningful way for our clients and audience.”

The IMS Insights Podcast and IMS Insights thought leadership series continues in its third year in 2021, with fresh discussions on pandemic-related issues for litigators, along with research findings and discussions on topics including shifts in juror attitudes, big data and antitrust, social science findings relevant to trial and litigation, the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement on juries and cases, wellness and diversity in practice at Big Law firms, and the adoption of artificial intelligence across industries.

More about NLR’s 2020 “Go-To Thought Leader” Awards can be accessed through the publication’s press release announcing this year’s awards.

Readers can access the firm’s latest IMS Insights thought leadership pieces on the IMS Insights content hub, where they also can subscribe to the podcast.

About IMS ExpertServices

IMS ExpertServices delivers consultative trial and expert services for the most influential global firms. Over nearly three decades and through more than 20,000 cases and well over 1,000 trials, clients have trusted IMS to equip them with the perspective and tools they need to help their clients succeed. With offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, Pensacola, and New York, the company provides trial strategy consulting, jury consulting, trial graphics consulting, trial presentation consulting, and expert witness recruitment and management. IMS has earned nine consecutive rankings on the Inc. 5000 list, won recognition by The National Law Journal in six categories of its “Best of 2020” awards, by Corporate Counsel Magazine as a winner in eight categories of its “Best of 2019” awards, and as “Go-To Thought Leader” for three consecutive years by The National Law Review. More at ExpertServices.com.