I am once again headed to sunny South Carolina for the holidays.
Happy Holidays to y'all (gotta practice my southern language) and I’ll be back with you January 5, 2004!
From Tom Mighell’s post: "If your true love is going to give you twelve days of Christmas gifts, this year it's going to cost him/her $65,264.28. Or $101,206.09, if you buy the items over the Internet -- shipping is expensive!
-- And since I won't have time to mention them all, check out this big page of Resources for Winter Holidays from the Waterboro Library."
Source: Inter-Alia, 24 December 2003
Operation Hero Miles - Official Website
From the site: “Many soldiers on R&R leave must purchase high-priced last minute airfares to connect to their hometowns once their military flights land at the airports in Baltimore, Dallas or Atlanta. Soldiers on “Emergency Leave” must still pay the full cost of their domestic travel when they are rushed home for the family death, birth, illness or other emergency. The military does not pay the cost of their travel in the United States, so your frequent flyer miles are a huge help.”
Rick adds and I agree: “This is a great idea, and is a simple, valuable way to help troops get home to their families. Check it out.”
Posted by Rick Klau at December 22, 2003 02:20 PM | TrackBack
Source: tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog, 22 December 2003
New Year's Celebrations From Around the World
From the e-newsletter: "A description of New Year's traditions from selected countries, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Vietnam. From Topics Online Magazine, "an online magazine [by and] for learners of English."
Source: lii.org: Librarians' Index to the Internet
NEW THIS WEEK for December 11, 2003
Copyright 2003 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org.
Subscribe
David Giacalone and others (Jerry Lawson, Carolyn Elefant, Steve Minor, Mike O'Sulllivan to name a few) discuss Google’s AdSense. Whether or not it is ethical, in good taste and, if you should you use it on your site or ignore it… read on!!! The article quite long, I did not include it so please follow the link below to the blog.
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2003/12/21#a395
From the blog: “Updates: In between holiday busyness, I'll be posting comments received by me directly from various weblawgers, as well as noting postings on the topic”.
· Update (12-22-03): You can insert your weblog URL here on Anders Jacobsen's Blog to see the kind of ads your site would generate using AdSense. [many thanks to Mike O'Sullivan for this most helpful clue]
· (12-21-03) Steve Minor of the SW Va Law Blog (with tongue in cheek, I think), says "Perhaps there could be some theory of liability for the endorsement of something defective - like suing Ted Williams for getting a bad fly rod from Sears." I'm sure he meant Ted's estate.
· (12-22-03) CorpLawBlog's Mike O'Sulllivan says its a fascinating technology, but "I doubt they pay much, they'll cheapen my site's appearance and I suspect the ads on my site will be from lawyers advertising for clients to sue my clients."
· (12-22-03) Carolyn Elefant of MyShingle.com left a very insightful, "practical" comment, here.
· (12-23-03) It's very difficult to disagree with anything Jerry Lawson says today in an insightful posting at NetLawBlog -- basically (my summary), the ads are tacky, won't bring in much money, and shouldn't be unethical unless we incorrectly consider consumers to be ignorant. Check it out.
· (12-23-03) Also, thanks to Denise Howell at Baby & Baggage for pointing her readers in this direction, noting aptly that the new technology "gives the age-old ethical question of lawyer advertising a digital era/third party twist."
· (12-23-03) Marcia Oddi of the (much more than) Indiana Law Blog, saw the e&h Holiday Greeting above, and threatens to get out her old Italian baby pictures (goat cart and all); as to the ads, she says:
"Now that I've seen samples of the ads, I realize I have seen them on other sites and have thought they were placed there by the site owner! So others might have the same impression if such ads were placed on my site. And why wouldn't they? They might think I am in business with this "Trace anyone" firm.
"And what would I get out of all this? A few pennies a click. Clearly not worth it for a trade of making one's site look cheap and confusing people. If it paid more would I consider it? Not likely it would, and not likely I would."
Source: ethicalEsq & haikuEsq... , 21 December 2003
Jerry Lawson posts: “A previous post entitled Practical Topics for Lawyer Blog? attracted some interesting comments and ties into a discussion in the Network-Lawyers group. Here are a few additional observations:
First, one of the attractions of working with blogs is that the phenomenon is so new that it's often hard to predict with confidence what will work and what won't. I think this is an example.
It's difficult to argue with the proposition that lawyers should not be spouting off opinions in areas in which they are ignorant. However, there is a subtle point that should not be overlooked: Lawyers can run a successful blog without necessarily being a world-class expert in a
particular area.
This is partly true because the very act of keeping a blog can be an educational process, compelling the lawyer to learn more about new areas. Stuart Levine of the Tax and Business Commentary blog will make this point in an interview in the January issue of Law Practice Management magazine.
There is another factor at work that may be even more important:
When speaking about blogs for marketing, especially here in the DC area, I compare it to the standard advice that consultants give politicians who are perceived to be weak in a particular area, like national defense or trade policy. The consultants tell them: "Talk more about that area." They don't necessarily tell them to learn more about the area, nor to come up with better policy positions, but just to talk more about it.
I think the same things that work for politicians can work for lawyer marketing. If you are out there consistently talking about a particular area of law, you will tend to be perceived as an expert on that area, with all the attendant marketing advantages. This is true even if you are not saying anything particularly profound.”
Source: NETLAWBLOG: Internet Tools for Lawyers, 23 December 2003
If you have been to our website and read the Intermediate Section of the January Info@ article for the Stark County Bar Journal, or if taxes are your field, this site may be of interest to you.
From the wiki: “The read/write Web pages here at TWiki.Tax are for the use of lawyers, accountants, professors and students of law, tax and accounting and other allied professionals.”
[No source, just happened across it]
Sentencing Guidelines Face Test Case
In the news: “A money laundering case in U.S. District Court in Miami is one of the first test cases of a new law that reduces federal judges' authority to individually tailor sentences. The controversy that has erupted over retroactive application of the sentencing provisions potentially affects federal circuits across the country, as sentencing issues dominate federal appeals court dockets. Out of 11,500 criminal appeals last year, nearly 9,800 involved sentencing issues.”
Source: Today’s Legal News, 24 December 2003
Robert Ambrogi posts: “The National Association of Securities Dealers' Web site reports that the NASD has asked the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission to approve amendments to its rules that would compensate securities arbitrators for last-minute adjournments. The change would require a party requesting an adjournment within three days of a scheduled hearing to pay each arbitrator a fee of $100 if the request is granted. The fee also would apply when the NASD is notified of a settlement within three days of a hearing.
Although the dollar amount is small, the move is welcome. Arbitrators reserve hearing dates months in advance and are not able to reschedule their time on short notice. Cancellation fees are common in other areas of arbitration, where the usual practice is to pay the arbitrator's full per diem for any cancellations within two weeks of the hearing.”
Source: Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, 23 December 2003
"North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks Santa’s trip around the world on Christmas Eve. The site provides tidbits of information about Santa Claus, a sampler of Christmas music (including two songs by Ringo Starr), and brief information about NORAD. The tracker goes live the morning of December 24. Available in six languages."
http://www.noradsanta.org/
Source: LII: Librarians' Index to the Internet
NEW THIS WEEK for December 18, 2003
Copyright 2003 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org.
Subscribe
Tom Mighell writes: “It's December [23rd]. There are still [2] days until Christmas. I know there are plenty of you out there thinking, "there's plenty of time to get my shopping done!" Well, it's certainly true online, where a lot of last-minute options are still available.
Here are two suggestions for gifts you can buy online in about five minutes. Does someone on your gift list have an iPod? A gift certificate to iTunes [http://www.apple.com/itunes/ ] allows him or her to download their favorite songs, without having to visit the music store. If that hard-to-buy-for person is a movie fanatic who also happens to own a DVD player, consider a gift subscription to Netflix.”
Source: Inter-Alia, 22 December 2003
In the news: “Death sentences are continuing their descent in the United States, according to a Washington, D.C.-based group that shows numbers falling by more than 50 percent over the last five years. The national trend is reflected in California, where James Anderson, chair of the California District Attorneys' Association's committee on the death penalty, says he has witnessed "creeping doubt" among jurors. One reason for juror unease: DNA exonerations.”
Source: Today’s Legal News, 23 December 2003
UK: "POSTMAN SUES CUSTOMER WHO SENT 'TOO MANY' LETTERS"
Walter Olson writes: "A postman is taking legal action claiming that he pulled a muscle because there were too many letters in a pillar box." Alan Pugh claims that George Chryssides, a religious studies lecturer at Wolverhampton University, owes him compensation for posting about 270 envelopes containing a magazine Chryssides publishes for members of the British Society for the Study of Religions, and weighing around 50 pounds in all. "The Communication Workers' Union is paying for the action and papers have been lodged with Birmingham County Court. Dr Chryssides said: 'Claims of this kind raise the question of whether people can post their Christmas mail without redress.'" (Nick Britten, Daily Telegraph, Dec. 20)”
Source: Overlawyered, 22 December 2003
Tom Mighell writes: “Jeff Beard has a great post on PalmSource's new expert guides, including a separate legal expert guide featuring Palm software geared specially towards lawyers. If you have a Palm, take the time to browse through these pages.”
Source: Inter-Alia, 23 December 2003
Jerry Lawson writes: “A friend requested advice on the best blogging platform. PC Magazine had a recent cover story on the topic. Here are some additional thoughts, based on personal experience:
The best blogging platform will depend on who you are and what you want. I think Movable Type is probably the best for people who are serious about blogging. A commercial license is $150, but it's free for personal use. Server installation will be a barrier for many. Pay the developers $40 to install it on your choice of server if you are not comfortable installing CGI scripts.
TypePad is a newer option from the same people that developed Movable Type. It has many, but not all of Movable Type features. Since it is hosted, it is more of a "turnkey"operation. It also seems to have better-looking default templates, so far as I can tell. I've been so pleased with Movable Type I've seen no need to experiment with TypePad.
I started out using Radio. It costs $40 per year. Though it has some powerful features, I no longer recommend it. For those who like to get "under the hood" & tinker with it, it could be a great choice, but it seems to be more difficult than other alternatives. My biggest rap against it was the difficulty in posting to your blog when you are on the road away from your main computer.
Blogger is the "people's choice." It is free and OK, but frankly, I think it's both harder to operate than Movable Type & less powerful (no built-in search engine or "trackback" feature, for example).
I haven't used pMachine, but some friends whose judgment I respect like it a lot.
Actions speak louder than words, right? Draw what lessons you will from these actions:
I started on Radio on Jan. 1, 2003. In August, I moved my Radio blog to
Movable Type (http://www.netlawblog.com). That worked so well, in September I started two new blogs in Movable Type: http://www.elawyerblog.org &
http://www.fedlawyerguy.org. Around October or so I took a static hobby site I've operated since 1996 or so and set it up with a Movable Type blog front end: http://www.chesslinks.org. I use Blogger for another hobby blog I operate, but I plan to move it into Movable Type with my other blogs that are already using that platform as soon as I get the time.”
Source: NETLAWBLOG, 21 December 2003
[BTW, the Stark County Law library Blawg started out as SCLLA Blawg on Blogger, but quickly changed to Movable Type also.]
Seth Finkelstein writes: “Perhaps I'm wasting an A-list notice, but Lawrence Lessig has a very nice post where he says:
I missed that Seth has a blog. He's been right about many things, but I think he's wrong about one thing: blogs are not just for talkers, for talkers have no time for links. The best blogs synthesize, and reflect. Not just news, but a way to triangulate, as Dave describes it. I hope he rethinks.
What I'm focusing on, is the issues of why people write, and trying to go past the basic point that some people write as a hobby. That is, we know some people enjoy writing, even if there is nobody reading. Which is fine. Just like some people like to spot the trains roll by, or watch birds, or be spectators for several hours while a few guys kick a ball around. There's nothing wrong with any of it, in my view.
But I think the conflation of writing a diary, which is for yourself and immediate circle, with reporting and commentary, which is primarily writing for other people, has been very confusing for the stock discussion of "What Is Blogging, And WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?"
Diary entries, press-releases, reporting, analysis - these all share an empirical characteristic of being frequent writing. But they don't all have the same functionality in terms of reasons to do them. That is, the motivation or reason to write a daily diary entry is not the same as a daily journalistic news roundup or analysis, even if both are "blog posts".
People who are in a writing business - that is, authors, journalists, lawyers, lobbyists, public-relations (I'm terming "talkers") - can benefit personally from doing a constant stream of writing. Even if the writing is given away, free, it can drum up business, get one's name out there, and so on. It's very rare to make money directly from a blog. But it's often useful to think of it as a form of personal advertising.
But I am not in a writing business. I'm not a "talker". By profession, I'm a programmer. After a while, it seems to make sense to ask "Is my writing of commentary, read by almost nobody, worthwhile"? What is this for?
Synthesizing takes time, effort. Can I ever, objectively, say "This isn't working" (for me)? Ever? Or as long as there is one other reader in the entire world, is that the standard of "working"? Note for diary writing, one might say that the definition is purely internal, and it doesn't matter if there are zero other readers. But again, I'm uninterested in keeping up a purely personal online diary.
So maybe writing frequent free barely-read commentary/analysis, just isn't for me. The easy answer is of course to say, yes, keep spending the time, keep putting in the effort, nose to grindstone, shoulder to wheel, etc. But this is not useful. Of course if there's one interested reader in the world, that reader is going to say they're happy to read it, it's almost tautological. An answer which isn't a platitude has to consider that it's not costless to do this. This connects in a deep way to the idea that "Punditry is not democracy". We aren't all going to be reporters/commentators, even if only simply because we all can't afford it.
Cake tastes great. But not everyone is eating cake, more like bread crumbs.”
Source: Infothought, 22 December 2003
[P.S. Be sure to read all the interesting commentary at the end of the post!]
From the blog: “If you ever wondered where sugarplums came from, this page on the origins of Christmas food may be able to shed some light on the subject.”
Source: Inter-Alia, 22 December 2003
From the blog: “Kevin O'Keefe' has come a long way in a short time with his new blog, Real Lawyers :: Tell People. One post gives reasons why lawyer use of blogs for marketing is a no-brainer:
Blogs build reputations quickly
Blogs deliver high search engine results overnight
Blogs deliver content to your targeted audience through syndication
Blogs keep you front of current & past clients
Blogs attract potential clients
Blogs are easy to ease for publishing to the Internet
Blogs are inexpensive”
Source: eLawyer.blog, 21 December 2003
From the blog: “Given this decision, I'm glad my kids aren't teenagers any more. If you have teenagers, read on. You'll want to know who your kids travel with now more than ever.
The U.S. Supreme Court just decided the case of Maryland v. Pringle and ruled that police officers can arrest everyone in a car if no one admits to ownership of contraband (drugs, guns, use your imagination) found in the car. Great.
Chief Justice Warren Rehnquist wrote, "We think it an entirely reasonable inference from these facts that any or all three of the occupants had knowledge of, and exercised dominion and control over, the cocaine. Thus, a reasonable officer could conclude that there was probable cause to believe Pringle committed the crime of possession of cocaine, either solely or jointly."
So, if your son or daughter piles into a car, gets pulled over and the police officers find marijuana, get out the bail money. You'll probably need it.
In this much anticipated ruling, the Christian Science Monitor has been doing its best to warn parents. Get to your your children's friends and acquaintances. It's not enough to rely on others anymore.
DARE may be changing, but the law's pretty well set. If you have children, you may want to educate them.
Flex Your Rights recommends that you (and your kids) refuse police searches if they ask. There may be a way out of the wrong place at the wrong time.
It's 11:00 p.m., do you know where your kids are? Let's hope they're not in jail.”
Source: May It Please the Court, 20 December 2003
Carolyn Elefant writes: “This article from the ABA Journal, Raise the Roof: Quality Clients Rarely Balk When Legal Fees Increase, (12/19/03) gives some quick pointers on when and how to raise rates. The article suggests that an overload of business or frequent remarks from clients on reasonableness of fees may mean that it's time to raise rates (incidentally, I don't agree with the latter reason - what's wrong with offering reasonable fees - isn't that what the Ethics Code requires? I'd assume ethicalesq? will back me up here.) As for how to raise rates, most lawyers recommend an incremental approach, upping fees by $15-$25/hour (sounds small until you realize that many of our clients don't earn much more than that per hour) until they reach the desired rate.”
Source: MyShingle, 20 December 2003
From the e-newsletter article by Larry Bodine: “One of the most important points of information that a law firm can put on its Web site is a list of industries it serves. Industry experience is one of the first things that corporate executives and in-house counsel look for. They want to know if your lawyers are familiar with the trends affecting their business, and smart law firms put this information right up front.”
Lawyer Marketing Resources
Source: TOOLS OF THE TRADE: A FindLaw Monthly Law And Technology Resource, December 2003
Copyright (c) 2002 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved
Subscribe
In the news: “Famed securities fraud litigator William Lerach, who agreed to lead giant pension fund CalPERS into federal court in Manhattan to wage war against the New York Stock Exchange, will have his first skirmish with partners at the East Coast operation of his own firm, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach. With Milberg in the process of splitting in two, it's likely the firm's two offices will battle each other for the lucrative role of lead counsel.”
Source: Today’s Legal News, 22 December 2003
From the e-newsletter: “Hopefully, you're all familiar with using the terms "And," "Or," "But Not," and others to limit the scope of your search query. A recent study from Penn State University finds that using these terms does not return more relevant results than simple, dressed-down submissions. This study seems to come into conflict with the current debate about whether Boolean searching should still be taught -- Genie at the Virtual Chase has a terrific collection of everyone's comments on the subject.”
Source: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY by Tom Mighell
December 21, 2003, Issue #138
Subscribe
From Glenn K. Garnes: “The folks over at Westlaw [password required] have arranged for us to demo their latest product, Westlaw Litigator on a continuing basis. We will begin this lastest test drive after the first of the year, so stay tuned. In the meantime, feel free to take a look at what the service offers.”
Source: ESQlawtech, 19 December 2003
© 2002-2003 ESQlawtech, Ltd. All rights reserved.
If you are traveling out of state over the holidays, today’s “Holiday Site of the Day” is MUST reading!
Adventures Travel Service - State Information
The site gives clear and concise information on road conditions, i.e. “right lane wet” and “left lane snow covered and icy” for all major highways in the US.
Thanks to G. Baker for the great e-mail!!
Sabrina posts: "From the Washington Post, Online Financial Crime Headed From Bad to Worse. Worms, viruses and browser flaws will all continue to pose security risks for enterprise wide networks and home users alike in 2004.
· There are numerous web resources on these topics, and here are several to keep you current on the latest threats: Internet Storm Center, Symantec Security Response, the McAfee Security Virus Calender, and the CERT Coordination Center."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
December 18, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
Subscribe
Great Advise from the Tourbus!
"Audience: Every PC user who uses Microsoft Internet Explorer, Outlook
Express, or Outlook
If you use Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook Express, or Microsoft Outlook, you're vulnerable to something called "URL Spoofing." Is this earth-shattering? No. Should you lose sleep over it? No. Should you at least know a little about it in order to protect your personal information should something strange happen? ABSOLUTELY!
According to Microsoft, a malicious user could create a link to a deceptive (spoofed) Web site that displays the address, or URL, to a legitimate Web site in the Status bar, Address bar, and Title bar.
Why is this a bad thing? Well, InformationWeek warns that This flaw would make it appear to Internet users that they're visiting a banking Web site, for example, when that site is actually a front for fraudsters attempting to collect sensitive financial information...
How can you tell if you're vulnerable? Just hop on over to
and click on the microsoft.com link on that page. If Microsoft's website loads in your web browser, move along. There's nothing to see here.
However, if the page that loads isn't Microsoft's but rather eBay's, you're completely vulnerable. And remember, this vulnerabilitydoesn't just affect Internet Explorer, it also affects your copies of Microsoft Outlook and/or Outlook Express.
Now for the REALLY bad news: There's no way to fix this problem. Yet.
Should you panic? As I said, no! But, until Microsoft finds a fix, you should take the following precautions:
1. DON'T TRUST HYPERLINKS IN HTML-FORMATTED EMAIL MESSAGES
(emails that display images and hyperlinks and look very much like web pages) even if those email messages are from your friends or family. This is especially true for hyperlinks in email messages from Amazon, AOL, eBay, PayPal, your bank, your credit card company, or any other company you normally do business with. If any web site, financial company, or commercial entity sends you an email asking you to click on a hyperlink in that email to update your account information, DO NOT CLICK ON THAT LINK. Because of Internet Explorer's URL spoofing vulnerability, you simply cannot trust hyperlinks in HTML-formatted emails to point to the correct URL.
2. BE SUSPICIOUS OF HYPERLINKS ON WEB PAGES YOU HAVE NEVER
VISITED BEFORE. To be completely honest, the chance of you running into a spoofed URL on a web page is pretty slim, and the chance is all but zero on the big .com sites you visit every day. More likely than not, the criminals will be spoofing URLs in email messages, not on Web pages. But, if you are at a web page you have never visited before, exercise a little caution. If something feels
wrong, leave.
3. THE BEST WAY TO AVOID BEING HIJACKED BY A SPOOFED URL IS TO MANUALLY TYPE THE URL USING INTERNET EXPLORER'S ADDRESS BAR.
Remember, the spoof only affects hyperlinks in email messages and web pages, not addresses you manually key in to your Internet Explorer address bar. So, to be really safe, if you need to access your account information at Amazon, AOL, eBay,PayPal, your bank or financial institution, your credit card company, or any other company you normally do business with, manually enter the URL.
Some will also argue that this URL spoofing vulnerability is a perfect reason to abandon Windows/Internet Explorer/eating with utensils.That’s for you to decide. However, since my email inbox will explode if I don’t say this, the smarter and better looking people long ago abandoned Internet Explorer in favor of Mozilla, Safari, and Opera (among others.) These smarter and better looking people look upon Internet Explorer users with abject contempt, but they will happily welcome you back into the smart and pretty club once you regain your senses and adopt a different web browser and/or operating system.
By the way, does this URL spoof actually affect Mac and *nix users? Yes and no. If you click on the Microsoft link on http://www.netsquirrel.com/, you'll most likely be taken to eBay but the URL in your address bar will look funky. That’s good. It’s supposed to look funky. What’s different in Internet Explorer is that the spoofed URL *DOESN’T* look funky at all. And that’s bad.
Finally, Broadband Reports has done the best job of covering this vulnerability. You can find their latest update at
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/36402
My guess is that Microsoft will patch this vulnerability when they release their next batch of critical updates on January 14th. But I could be wrong. Until the patch is released, exercise a little caution and you should be fine."
Source: TOURBUS
Volume 9, Number 28 -- 19 Dec 2003
Copyright 1995-2003, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
Subscribe
From Tom Mighell’s blog: “AScribe raises a good point: after we spend time searching for that important website, we still have trouble keeping track of the information we find. Sure, we can always "Add to Favorites," but a Favorites folder can become unwieldy very quickly. Plus, there's always the danger that the site you find may disappear or become unavailable soon after you bookmark it.
I use a program called Net Snippets to organize my research. It allows me to save an entire web page, or even a small selection, to my hard drive. I can annotate the site with notes or other information, and I can organize the research into separate folders. It also saves PDF files. Only problem is, it's a bit pricey -- $79.95 -- but well worth it, in my opinion. Check out the 30-day free trial!"
Source: Inter-Alia, 19 December 2003
From Robert Ambrogi's blog: "Over at Network-Lawyers, Jerry Lawson posts a comment [Click through the ads!] about the legitimization of blogs, noting that the most recent issues of inbox, the newsletter of Jaffe Associates, endorses blogs as one of the hottest trends of the coming year.
"If there is an 'establishment' when it comes to law firm marketing," Lawson writes, "Jaffe Associates would have to be included." Kevin O'Keefe follows with the comment, "Jaffe is saying that blogs are a good tool for large firm lawyers to share their expertise and presumably build their reputations."
Having joined Jaffe last August as vice president of editorial services, and director of its WritersForLawyers, I have two comments on this:
1. While Jaffe may be an "establishment" firm in terms of its longevity, it is anything but in terms of its energy and creativity.
2. If anyone needs proof of the value of blogging to lawyers in larger firms, just look at Howard Bashman, a partner at 350-lawyer Buchanan Ingersoll.
Lawson, of course, knows this well, as he made clear through his great article, Web Logs For Lawyers: Lessons from Ernie the Attorney. And O'Keefe just today posted a thoughtful piece on blogs as reputation builders.
At Jaffe, we have made blogs a standard element of our consulting with larger law firms on their Web sites. We build blogs for law firms and even help them plan and execute the editorial content. Clearly, there are many lawyers in larger law firms who have not even heard of blogs, but the people at law firms who are responsible for marketing are intensely interested in them."
Source: Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, December 18, 2003
Post by Ted Frank: “CNSNews.com reports that an American Trial Lawyers Association publication, "ATLA's Litigating Tort Cases," an $800 manual advertised as "the inside track to establishing and maintaining a successful tort practice," recommends quizzing jurors on their religious beliefs during the "voir dire" procedure meant to exclude biased jurors.
The chapter classifies certain individuals as "personal responsibility" jurors. "The personal responsibility jurors tend to espouse traditional family values." Often, "these jurors have strong religious beliefs." Because "personal responsibility jurors" hold values such as "People should be self-reliant, responsible, and self-disciplined. When people act irresponsibly and are not self-disciplined, there are consequences. People must be accountable for their conduct," they may not be sufficiently sympathetic to the plaintiffs.
Thus, "the only solution is to identify these jurors during voir dire and exclude them from the jury."
A spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State objects: "'Certainly a good lawyer will try to ferret out any evidence of prejudice, whether it's religious prejudice or racial prejudice, prejudice against women, whatever, that's legitimate,' [Rob] Boston said. 'But, for a lawyer to simply assume that certain religious beliefs will dictate certain behaviors is naive and I think it does a disservice to our legal system.'" (Jeff Johnson, "Trial Lawyers Question Jurors' 'Strong Religious Beliefs'", CNSNews.com, Dec. 18).
Alas, the article uncomfortably and unnecessarily singles out the Judaism of the author of the chapter in question. But the identification of the strategy in such bald terms provides interesting insight.
Plaintiffs' lawyers are fond of accusing tort reformers of attempting to remove certain decisions from "the people". But under the current tort system, jurors in many cases are not so much "the people" as a hand-picked group selected to favor a certain result. When one combines this biased sampling with random variation, and then combine that with the possibility of jackpot damages awards, it takes only a small minority of "the people" to create a jury pool that creates dramatic shifts in wealth to lawyers from the rest of society."
Source: Overlawyered, 19 December 2003
From the site: This page presents Francis Pharcellus Church’s classic editorial reply, published in The New York Sun, September 21, 1897, in response to 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon’s question: “Is There a Santa Claus?” From the History Channel.
Source: LII: Librarians' Index to the Internet
New This Week for December 18, 2003
Copyright © 2003, Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org.
Subscribe
Offices Celebrate the Season by Giving
From the e-newsletter: "Many of the needy families who enroll in one of the three Adopt-A-Family programs in town - at St. Vincent de Paul, the AWARE shelter or the Salvation Army - are adopted for the holidays by offices or businesses.. . Co-workers who pool their resources can make more of an impact on the community, said Becky Weimer, a legal assistant with Faulkner Banfield. She helped organize the 16 employees of the law firm to buy holiday presents for a family of six. Employees of Faulkner Banfield choose which family member they'd like to buy presents for. Weimer creates a spreadsheet to make sure every family member is taken care of, then collects the wrapped presents.
Hats Off To This Alaskan Firm That Gives Back To Its Community!"
Source: THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
December 17, 2003, Issue # 164
Copyright (c) 2003 FindLaw, Inc.
Subscribe
From the e-newsletter: "The end of a year is a natural time for wrapping up loose ends from the year past and positioning yourself--- and your PC--- for a smooth entry to the new year. In fact, taking a few minutes now to focus on some basic, at-least-annual upkeep for your desktop hardware and software can pay off, big time, for months to come.
For example, it's a great time to perform a complete system tune up: All it takes is a little pointing and clicking--- with no deep skill or knowledge required--- to ensure that your hard drive is error-free, clear of viruses and other threats, cleaned of junk files, and defragged.
Once that's done, visit the "update" sites for your OS (e.g. http://www.windowsupdate.com) and for your major applications and utilities; and the support pages on your PC vendor's web site. Make sure you have all current security patches, important updates, and any new drivers appropriate for your system, and then make a special "keep forever" backup or disk image
(http://langa.com/backups/backups.htm) of the newly updated system, so you can rapidly restore your PC to this known-good, fully updated state should you ever need to in the future.
But getting your system up to snuff is just one of the three important year-end tasks I recommend. For the full scoop on all the recommended steps, please click on over to http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16700516.
There, in a full-length article, we'll run through the complete end-of-year process for *any* PC.
We'll also present a special section just for those who are still running Win98, letting you find exactly what will happen on January 16th; and showing you the steps you can take now--- while full support is still available--- to get your system running right. We'll also show you how to preserve your Win98 setup so you can repair and restore it, even after Microsoft pulls the plug.
But no matter what OS you're running, the information at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16700516 can help your system end the year running right--- and set up for smooth sailing into the new year.
Click on over!"
Source: The LangaList Standard Edition
SPECIAL EXPANDED HOLIDAY ISSUE, 18 December 2003
Copyright © 2003 Fred Langa / Langa Consulting LLC.
Subscribe
Surfwax Launches Free Version of LawKT Service
From the e-newsletter: "Surfwax has launched a free version of their LawKT service. The free service allows a user to search an index of over 60,000 law firm publications from over 280 law firms. There's also a legal news section that aggregates news on over 1,000 law-related topics. The site is accessible at http://law.surfwax.com.
On the front page, you'll see TONS of topics, starting with Abandoned Property and going all the way to Wrongful Termination. Click on a topic and you'll get articles and pages relevant to that topic with what looks like machine-extracted excerpts; most of the excerpts are good but there's the occasional JavaScript and misc code.
There's also a search box at the top of the page. A search for Mold brought a page of fifty results, with page title, date (for most of them) and the source. Clicking on the article title takes you directly to the article; clicking on the magnifying glass is supposed to take you to a SurfWax "site snap" but it didn't work when I tried it in Opera. (I got some data but I don't think I got a full site snap.)"
Source: ResearchBuzz #262 -- December 18, 2003
ResearchBuzz is copyright 2003 Tara Calishain.
Subscribe
Google Introduces Book Search Feature Beta
From the blog: "Google Print (BETA) FAQ:
· "During this trial, publishers' content is hosted by Google and is ranked in our search results according to the same technology we use to evaluate websites. On Google Print pages, we provide links to some popular book sellers that may offer the full versions of these publications for sale. Book seller links are not paid for by those sites, nor does Google benefit if you make a purchase from one of these retailers." [Google Weblog] A number of searches for fiction titles published in the past five years yielded links to Amazon, but not to Google Print.
· More Google news: Their product search service, Froogle, is now a link on the main page, timed for holiday shopping. See this netimperative article for more info, as well as this FAQ."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
December 17, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
Subscribe
From the blog: "InformationWeek conducted a Cyberloafing Study to determine the level of personal use of the web on the job by a group comprising 225 business-technology professionals. Survey says: 91% admit to personal use of the web on the job. Most were using the web to access their personal email and to "search for items of personal interest."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
December 17, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
Subscribe
From the site - "Investopedia.com Dictionary: This portion of the larger Investopedia Web site provides a searchable dictionary of more than 4,000 financial terms and acronyms. Definitions include related terms, if relevant. You can also browse the dictionary alphabetically. A free site, researchers should expect to encounter slightly distracting, pop-up or blinking advertisements."
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
18 December 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
Subscribe
From the blog: “We should always remember those less fortunate at this time of year, and set some aside for charitable giving. With that in mind, check out this Holiday Giving Guide from Charity Navigator.”
Source: Inter-Alia, 17 December 2003
Bad Doctors Do Keep on Practicing
In the news: “Only one in three doctors who repeatedly commit malpractice lose their license and doctors are rarely banned from practicing, even when they kill people, according to a study of New Jersey's Board of Medical Examiners. In fact, the study says, doctors who repeatedly commit malpractice or engage in behavior that could harm patients are about twice as likely to be allowed to continue practicing than to be banned.”
Source: Today’s Legal News, 17 December 2003
Copyright 2003 ALM Properties, Inc.
From TechnoLawyer’s TechnoRelease Tuesday: “The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the average U.S. executive wastes six weeks per year searching messy desks and files for misplaced information. That's five hours per week, or one hour per day. At $65,000.00 per year in salaries, that's nearly $8,125.00 per year in wasted time on the job.
A study by US News and World Report found the average American spends one year of their life looking for lost or misplaced items in the office. The average disorganized office manager has more than 3,000 documents just "lying around." The cost due to chaos -- late fees, paying last-minute, premium prices, etc. -- can be 15 to 20% of your budget.
And can you believe this: 80% of what you file is never looked at again?!
If you're like most attorneys -- surrounded by piles and stacks of paper, afraid even to look into your file cabinets - you're probably wondering what you can do to cure office clutter. If you feel you're holding onto more things than you really need, remember:
1. Date Your Files, Don't Marry Them
According to Iron Mountain, a national records management company, approximately 5% of a company's records need to be kept indefinitely. The remaining 95% of your files can either be tossed immediately or kept for a defined period of time, then discarded. How long should you retain files? Barbara Hemphill outlines the following simple file management guidelines in her book, Taming the Office Tiger:
-- Keep indefinitely: annual financial statements, corporate documents (including corporate charter, deeds and easements, stock, minutes of board of directors' meetings, labor contracts, trademark and registration applications), and income tax paperwork and payment checks.
-- Keep for 6 years: bank statements, voided checks, purchase records (purchase orders, payment vouchers, vendor invoices), and sales records (invoices, monthly statements, shipping papers and customers' purchase orders).
-- Keep for 4 years: personnel and payroll records.
-- Keep for 3 years: monthly financial statements.
2. Squash Your "To Read" Pile
The paper littering your desk and files is stuff you're meaning to read -- but may never get to. Adopt a system for throwing stuff out. Try putting non-urgent "to read" items in a large file folder. Make them broad categories. As you receive new items, place them in the front of the folder. When the folder gets too full, take the back handful and toss it without looking at it because it's the oldest. That way you always have current stuff (dating back, say, just a month or two) that you can pull out if you have time to read.
3. Think, Then Print
Next time you find a really cool article on Google, stop and think before you hit the "print" button. Will that information be available in the future? Most likely.
The point is: Don't download and print out lots of stuff from the Web that you don't have time to read. Instead of printing, bookmark any interesting pages that you find. Or print just one article a day.
4. Technology Is Your Friend
Technology good. Paper clutter bad.
If you have documents that you need to keep, but you don't use everyday or don't have the room to store, use a scanner to create an electronic copy on your hard drive or disk. Got case and client information, business cards, post-it notes with due dates scribbled on them, or other information strewn across your desk or office? Let me tell you about a dandy practice management system designed to help small law firms like yours. Nervous about discarding confidential documents? Run anything sensitive through a shredder before it hits the recycle bin.
5. Paper, Peaches -- Same Thing
Once your office is cured, you'll want to keep it fresh and clutter-free. To prevent future paper accumulation, treat the paper in your office as if it's perishable. Don't keep it around for too long. You wouldn't try that with a peach, would you?
CONCLUSION
Make decisions on the paper immediately! Keep filtering, filing, and tossing -- and you'll keep enjoying a clutter-free environment.”
Source: TechnoLawyer’s TechnoRelease Tuesday, 16 December 2003
Copyright © 2003 PeerViews Inc.
Subscribe at the site homepage at http://www.technolawyer.com/member/index.asp
From the blog: “Does the so-far successful Howard Dean campaign have lessons for law firms?
"A recent Washington Post article asked of the Dean campaign: What Will Happen When A National Political Machine Can Fit On A Laptop?
Back in 1937, an economist named Ronald Coase realized something that helped explain the rise of modern corporations -- and which just might explain the coming decline of the American two-party political system.
Coase's insight was this: The cost of gathering information determines the size of organizations.
It sounds abstract, but in the past it meant that complex tasks undertaken on vast scales required organizational behemoths. This was as true for the Democratic and Republican parties as it was for General Motors. Choosing and marketing candidates isn't so different from designing, manufacturing and selling automobiles.
But the Internet has changed all that in one crucial respect that wouldn't surprise Coase one bit. To an economist, the "trick" of the Internet is that it drives the cost of information down to virtually zero. So according to Coase's theory, smaller information-gathering costs mean smaller organizations. And that's why the Internet has made it easier for small folks, whether small firms or dark-horse candidates such as Howard Dean, to take on the big ones.
How do these ideas apply to law firms?”
Read more about Virtual Organizations at http://www.elawyerblog.org/archives/000444.html
Source: eLawyer Blog, 16 December 2003
Posted by Jerry Lawson
From the blog: “They come up with something new at Google, don't they? Now, it's airport conditions. Just type in an airport code and the word "airport" -- for example, dfw airport -- and the first result is a link to current conditions at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.” (Via Internet News)
Source: Inter-Alia, 17 December 2003
ANTHONY SEBOK The SAFETY Act of 2002: Does Its Decision to Protect
Antiterrorism Technologies From Tort Lawsuits Make Sense?
From the e-news alert: "Congress has made a promise to the makers of gas masks, emergency radios, and other anti-terrorist devices. The promise is this: If such products fail during a terrorist attack, their manufacturers will be protected from American plaintiffs' lawyers, who could otherwise bring products liability suits on behalf of those include. That promise is contained in the "Support Antiterrorism by Fostering EffectiveTechnologies Act of 2002" ("SAFETY Act"), which is part of the Homeland Security Act. Does the SAFETY Act sound to you like another special interest giveaway in the guise of patriotism?"
Source: FindLaw's WRIT Legal Commentary
December 10 - December 14, 2003, Issue #178
Copyright (c) 2003 FindLaw, Inc.
Subscribe
From his blog: "Check out the NPR Holidays 2003 page -- you'll find links to streaming audio stories on the Grinch, holiday books, gift ideas, movies, food, and more."
Source: Inter-Alia, 15 December 2003
Tom Mighell advises: Don't take your passwords to the grave
"I talk quite a bit here on the issue of security, and keeping your PC and its contents safe from invasion. Strong passwords are a big part of that security picture. But what if something happens to you, and your loved ones need access to your computer files? (registration required)
If you have information on your PC that others will need to find when you are gone, make arrangements to have those passwords available. One (albeit archaic) way is to keep a list of all your passwords in a safe-deposit box. Another is an interesting Internet service mentioned in the article, My Last E-Mail, which will deliver stored e-mails to the people of your choice after you have gone. Creepy, I know -- but there might be a value to this service."
Source: Inter-Alia, 15 December 2003
From Franco Castalone: “I will add another practical piece of non-technology-related advice of my own - just in case. Sometime after the first of the year, after all of the parties are done and the holidays have wound down, sit down and make a list containing a complete listing of the following items, with all account numbers, contact names, addresses, phone numbers and other information, and current balances:
· bank accounts
· stock portfolios
· life insurance policies
· disability insurance policies
· IRAs, 401(k) accounts, other retirement vehicles
· real estate ownership
· any other assets or holdings
· all current loans
· all credit card accounts
· location of wills, trust documents, etc.
Seal the document in an envelope and put it in a safe place at home. Seal another copy in another envelope and put it in your office desk. Let your secretary know it's there, if that is appropriate.
If you are run over by a bus and killed, or suffer an incapacitating heart attack and are seriously and permanently disabled, this is stuff that your husband or wife will have to try to ferret out. Yet he/she will not have his/her heart in it at the time. Make his/her job a little easier in a time of need.
This is practical advice from a lawyer who has counseled a number of families where this information was an utter mystery after the catastrophe occurred, and had to be painstakingly reconstructed. In many cases we were sure we had only a partial picture.”
Source: The LitiGator, 15 December 2003
© Copyright 2003 Franco Castalone.
From the e-news: “Vivisimo and Grokker use different technologies to enhance search results, but they achieve a similar outcome. Vivisimo clusters results while Grokker provides a graphical visualization. Both services, however, show relationships among matching Web pages."
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase, 16 December 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews &
Ingersoll, LLP.
Subscribe
From the blog: "The 2003 Chief Legal Officer Survey, conducted annually by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Altman Weil, Inc., has just been released.
A few eye-openers:"59% of Chief Legal Officers surveyed indicated they have fired or were considering firing at least one of their outside law firms in 2003, up 4.2% from 2002 and over 50% for the fourth year running."
"The number one reason given for terminating a relationship was ‘cost management issues,’ followed by ‘lack of responsiveness’ and ‘overworking projects.’"
"When asked about the most innovative practice proposed or instituted by outside counsel this year, CLOs ranked fee arrangements number one — although only 22.6% of respondents were able to identify any innovation at all."
“The current economic pressures on corporations are reverberating in law departments,“ notes Altman Weil principal, Daniel J. DiLucchio. “If law firms don’t show some flexibility and imagination in working with clients on managing costs, they risk losing those clients to a firm that will.”
"When asked about the most important law department management issue they face, CLOs named cost control/budgets three times more often than any other issue."
A PDF copy of the survey may be found at www.acca.com/Surveys/closurvey/2003.pdf.
Source: DennisKennedy.blog, 12 December 2003
In the news: "The Association of the Bar of the City of New York has established a full-time Office of Diversity as part of a push to increase the presence of minorities in the New York corporate bar, particularly at senior levels. The office will collect diversity statistics from the 73 law firms and corporate legal departments that have signed on to the initiative as part of an ongoing program designed to identify best practices."
Source: Today’s Legal News, 16 December 2003
Copyright 2003 ALM Properties, Inc.
From the news alert: "Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, who is chairman of the House Administration Committee, explains the committee's limited access policy to Congressional Research Reports. Not all members of Congress agree with the policy. In addition to the Web sites of Senators and Representatives, which offer select reports in accordance with the policy, you will find collections in the following locations:
· The Federation of American Scientists maintains collections on several topics, including intelligence, secrecy and security, special weapons, military and national security and civil space.
· National Council for Science and the Environment
· U.S. Department of State
. Law Librarians' Society of Washington
· The Memory Hole
· Penny Hill Press (sells select CRS Reports)
Several databases on Westlaw (e.g., FTX-CRS, NCRA-CRS)"
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase, 16 December 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews &
Ingersoll, LLP.
Subscribe
From the news alert: "1st Amendment Online: The University of Minnesota Law School sponsors this site on the First Amendment. It makes available various primary and secondary sources of information, including U.S. Supreme Court opinions, select appellate court opinions, copies of original sources discussed in classic U.S. Supreme Court decisions, relevant historical documents and public opinion research results. Many of the documents are available in PDF format. There is no search feature."
And
"Free Expression Policy Project: The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP) provides commentary, briefs, news, reports and white papers on many issues related to the First Amendment. Topics include art censorship, censorship history, copyright, censorship of youth, media violence, and others. Researchers will find an abundance of material here. In addition to meaningful navigational links, the site