There’s been a lot of action this week! Among the organizations announcing upgrades, partnerships, events and other news are Microsoft Corp.; MIT and commonaccord; In The House; and CLOC and LTC4.

• Microsoft has launched Office 365 E5.  Kirt Koenigsbauer, corporate vice-president for Microsoft Office, in a post, says the new Office 365 communications services are “designed to modernize voice, video, and meeting experiences, while saving companies substantial costs in their communication infrastructure.” The new tools are built on Skype for Business experience, and integrated within Office 365,” he said.

New services include PSTN conferencing; Skype Meeting Broadcast; Cloud PBX; and PSTN Calling. Koenigsbauer also announced new security and analytics capabilities.  (Art: Microsoft.)

• “In The House,” a New York City-based private network for in-house counsel, has announced enhanced services. ITH will be adding a private online forum, where “members can freely exchange ideas, best practices and conduct career-focused discussions in a confidential and secure environment.”

Attorney Chris Colvin, founder, CEO and General Counsel, launched the network in 2011.  ITH “strives to meet our members’ evolving needs by providing career development tools, law department best practices and opportunities to develop strategic relationships with other in-house counsel,”he said.  Also in the works: a new website and enhanced resource center (www.inthehouse.org).

• “MIT Connection Science” and commonaccord are holding a two-day “Digital Contracts, Identities and Blockchains” conference, May 23-24 at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Ma. Organizers: Thomas Hardjono and James Hazard. Host: Alex “Sandy” Pentland. More information here.

• Partnership: The Legal Technology Core Competencies Certification Coalition ( LTC4 ) and the Corportate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) have announced a partnership. The main objective is to provide “helpful, relevant resources to benefit their memberships and legal professionals in general,” said LTC4 chair Bonnie Beuth and CLOC founder Connie Brenton. Initial plans include sharing “best practices” guest posts and articles and collaboration on events.

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist and analyst. She is a member of the California bar. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu.
Twitter: @MonicaBay.

If you have news of interest to the CodeX community, email mbay@codex.stanford.edu.

Cover image: Clipart.com