In the news: “The U.S. Supreme Court today will hear arguments over whether Title IX, the 1972 federal law prohibiting sex discrimination by educational institutions and programs receiving federal funds, also prohibits retaliation, not only against victims of discrimination who speak out, but against third parties, such as coaches, who complain on behalf of their students. Although Title IX is at the heart of the challenge, the case has potentially broad ramifications for other civil rights statutes.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire,
30 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
From the blog: "Want to check on an expert's history before you retain him? Many of you may aleady know about the extensive database of judicial decisions on expert testimony, available at reasonable prices, via the "Daubert Tracker" at mdexonline.com. Now we've learned of a new online service -- CrossExam.com -- that wants to be the place you go when you need to review an expert's deposition transcripts from prior litigation. Of course, there's always TrialSmith, but to use TrialSmith, you have to be a plaintiffs' lawyer, and there's a nontrivial subscription fee.
The key to any service like this, naturally, is the database, and the folks at CrossExam.com have developed an interesting strategy for building theirs. Right now, the site lists about 300 transcripts available for download. The list is searchable by case name or expert name, and also browsable by expert field. You can download a transcript by paying a fee of about $2.50 a page. Or you can become a registered user and earn credits toward downloads by uploading expert transcripts of your own. But that's not their most ingenious idea. The service is also encouraging court reporters to upload transcripts, even old ones, for $2.00 a page.
One way or another, the time is surely approaching when someone will do for expert testimony what Lexis and Westlaw have done for the corpus of decisional law. The savvy expert will recognize that fact now, and will assume that any testimony he offers may be preserved, syllable by syllable, for the ages -- in readily accessible form."
Source: Blog 702, 25 November 2004
Jerry Lawson posts: “Is marketing via blog a fad? An examination of Tom Mighell's article Marketing Blogs from the November issue of Law Practice Today would seem to indicate no. The article is a bibliography of blogs about marketing via blogs.”
Source: eLawyer Blog, November 28, 2004
Jerry Lawson posts: “Ron Friedmann discusses some new examples of outsourcing cited in an American Lawyer article:
· Lawyers in India are performing substantive document review (i.e., responsiveness and privilege determinations).
· Dallas-based law firm Bickel & Brewer has opened a facility in India with several hundred lawyers and non-lawyers who scan, code, index, and abstract documents. The firm has spun-off this operation into a separate company (details here).
· QuisLex provides various services (e.g., research), including to small law firms.
· “250-lawyer Louisville, Ky.-based Stites & Harbison… has outsourced legal research and pieces of M&A transaction and is currently considering forming an alliance with outsourcing vendors and Indian firms.”
Ron concludes:
On the one hand, these examples suggest and increasing move to offshoring legal work. On the other hand, there appears to be a market for domestic outsourcing. I recently became aware of a domestic legal outsourcing operation, cbfgroup, at a conference. Now I see an ad in the November 8th issue of Legal Times for this company. It stresses that is “US owned and US based… and employs US citizens.”
The great thing about a free market is that it provides options. My take is that the legal outsourcing trend is growing and the market will decide what will go offshore and what will stay domestic."
Source: eLawyer Blog, 28 November 2004
From the e-newsletter: “Columbia law professor Michael Dorf brings realism to the hyperbole by asking in all seriousness the question many have posed in jest: Under the U.S. Constitution, could the blue states -- or the red states -- choose to secede? Dorf examines the Constitution and Lincoln's arguments on secession with respect to the Civil War, and concludes that unilateral secession is unconstitutional -- but secession with mutual consent may be constitutional. But he also notes the issues "mutual consent" secession would raise.”
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Source: FindLaw's WRIT Legal Commentary
November 22 - November 26, 2004
Issue #224
Copyright (c) 2004 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved
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Ernie posts: "Whenever I get the chance, I tell people that RSS feeds are the research tool of the future -- just set the feed, and the news will come to you when it's ready. But Steve Nipper raises a good point -- that if you use RSS to notify you of certain legal-type items (for example, patent searches), you may raise a notice issue.
Source: Ernie the Attorney, 29 November 2004
Sabrina posts: "As a follow-up to this posting, State Department documents obtained through a FOIA request, details of which are publicized in this ACLU white paper, provide broader insight into the privacy and ID theft issues implicit as a result of the new passports' implementation of Contactless Integrated Circuits.
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
29 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Sabrina posts: "The pioneering open source encyclopedia, Wikipedia, run by a non-profit foundation with global reach and impact, has launched a free demo news resource, called Wikinews. The site states, "Our mission is to create a world where citizen journalists report the news on a wide variety of current events." The permanent link for the site will be en.wikinews.org. Please see this Wired article for background."
Source: beSpacific- Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
29 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Genie Tyburski posts: “Wired summarizes the debate on public access to information in the United States. It illustrates differing viewpoints with examples from Minnesota and Florida that involve court documents. Privacy advocates claim too much personal information is available in public records. Public access advocates caution that limiting access could in effect hide necessary information.”
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
23 November 2004
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. All rights reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: "I frequently mention in seminars that the Internet Archive, otherwise known as the Wayback Machine, could be useful in litigation for pointing out web pages as they existed in the past. And an Illinois magistrate judge agrees.
The Judge held that archived copies of websites are not hearsay, in a trademark case. One interesting item from the story; the party offering the pages from the Archive also included an affidavit from an Internet Archive employee, to authenticate the documents. If you're going to use pages from the IA, make sure they can be properly authenticated."
http://www.archive.org/
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/packets/vol_2_no_3/002728.shtml
Source: Internet Legal Research Weekly
Volume 5, Issue 33
28 November 2004
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Sabrina posts: "A trio of PowerPoint presentations providing resources on the following timely issues:
· Corporate Blogging - Sabrina I. Pacifici documents and illustrates how the development and implementation of blogs within your organization can serve as a key application to facilitate research services, knowledge management, marketing, training, and communications within groups, departments, and enterprise wide.
· Got Competitive Intelligence? Tips, tools and techniques for the savvy marketer - Donna F. Cavallini and Sabrina I. Pacifici detail how to use a wide range of reliable free and fee-based sites and services to find and profile companies and people, for client/prospect monitoring, to follow market trends, and to track law firms and the legal industry.
· Spam, Phishing and Fraud on the Net - Barbara Fullerton and Sabrina I. Pacifici's guide highlights federal, state, association, advocacy, corporate, commercial and news related resources providing reliable data that addresses the issues of spam, fraudulent website claims and offers, and attempts to obtain personal information to perpetrate ID theft."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
29 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: “Medline is such a great resource. And these interactive tutorials make it easy to get quick information about various medical conditions and issues.
You must have the Macromedia Flash plug-in to run the tutorials -- if you
don't have it, you'll be prompted to download a free copy before you start.
Once you're ready, review tutorials on diseases and conditions from
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms to Warts, Test & Diagnostic Procedures, Surgery
and Treatment Procedures, and Prevention and Wellness. You can also print
out the tutorials for later reference.”
Source: Internet Legal Research Weekly
Volume 5, Issue 33
November 28, 2004
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Ernie posts: "Law.com has finally grasped the importance of law-related weblogs, in a big way -- the Law.com Blog Network is monitoring a whole passel of blawgers, and commenting on them every workday."
Source: Inter Alia, 29 November 2004
Sabrina posts: "Some anti-spyware companies use confusing ads, and our tests show their $20-$60 products are less effective than free competitors." [Link]
· See also my posting from yesterday on a spyware review from Ars Technica that concluded Ad-Aware, which is free, is the program to use."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
24 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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"From Justin Pfister, this new site "Converts News.Google to RSS."
Create a search query, indicate the number of entries to return (from 5-100) and see if it works for you."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
23 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: "If you've been injured on the job, you may have questions about the workers' compensation system. If so, the Workers' Compensation section of FindLaw's Accident and Injury Center provides information and resources on workers' compensation -- including tips on what to do after your injury, an in-depth look at the workers' compensation claims procedure, and special considerations for railroad employees and construction workers who have been injured on the job. Click on the link below to get started."
http://injury.findlaw.com/workers-compensation/
Employee Rights: Wages & Benefits
"As an employee, what are your rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act? Is your employer obligated to provide health benefits to employees? Are all employees eligible for Social Security disability? Get answers to these questions and much more in the Wages & Benefits section of FindLaw's Employee Rights Center. Learn more:"
http://employment.findlaw.com/employment/employment-employee-wages-
benefits.html
Employee Rights: Get Help Now
http://employment.findlaw.com/employment/employment-employee-help.html
Source: FindLaw's PUBLIC ADVISOR
A Weekly FindLaw Newsletter Providing News and Resources for the Public
November 24, 2004, Issue # 60
Copyright (c) 2004 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: “The idea for many attorneys that they must now become some kind of Hollywood Producer to keep up with modern litigation techniques may invoke images of an ever-daunting future: a coming legal atmosphere, where cases are decided not just on matter of law and undisputed facts but on their production value as well. Now, more than ever, people prefer visual media for communication and learning. This includes judges, jury members, and even, the opposing side. Litigation Media is developing much the same way that Hollywood studios began, by retaining production in-house. However, with today's micro-sized media technology, small firms can level the playing field. Here's how:
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Find Litigation Graphics Vendors Near You”
Source: TOOLS OF THE TRADE
A FindLaw Monthly Law And Technology Resource
November 2004
Copyright © 2002 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved
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John Carey posts: “I have been a lawyer for 17 years now and, believe it or not, I still enjoy being a lawyer. However, based upon informal conversations I have had with a wide array of lawyers from all over the country (i.e., plaintiff’s lawyers, defense lawyers, small firm lawyers, and large law firm lawyers), it is becoming painfully obvious that I am part of a small minority of persons in our profession who actually likes being a lawyer. Which brings up the question, why are lawyers so unhappy?
I attribute lawyer unhappiness primarily to four factors, which I discuss separately below.
The first reason why many lawyers are so unhappy is because they went to law school for the wrong reasons....
The second reason why lawyers are so unhappy, especially older lawyers, is because lawyers don’t make as much money as they used to make....
Third, anyone who has been practicing law for more than 15 years will acknowledge an appalling decrease in civility in the legal profession....
Finally, the fourth reason why lawyers are so unhappy is our profession’s negative public image....
The first reason why many lawyers are so unhappy is because they went to law school for the wrong reasons. For example, law school has long been known as a default choice for young college graduates who simply do not know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. By enrolling in law school, they can extend their adolescence for three more years while they make the difficult choice of how they will make a living as an adult. Many operate under the delusion that armed with a law degree the world will suddenly present a cornucopia of opportunities to them. The problem lies in the fact that prolonging adolescence comes at a steep price: not only is law school exorbitantly expensive, the ambivalent law student has foregone three years of income from real, gainful employment that their non-lawyer peers have enjoyed. In the end, the law school graduate discovers that the vast array of career opportunities are simply not there and, if there are career opportunities, the law school graduate cannot afford to take a low-paying entry-level corporate job because of their burdensome student loan debt. And Presto: you have a person that never really intended to practice law entering the legal profession out of sheer necessity.
The second reason why lawyers are so unhappy, especially older lawyers, is because lawyers don’t make as much money as they used to make. Many smart, bright-eyed people who once thought that a law degree was a ticket to riches soon face cold reality. The truth of the matter is the vast majority of lawyers are not rich, and many are struggling to even make a decent living. The reason for this is simple: supply and demand. There are many more lawyers chasing virtually the same amount of business. Moreover, because it is clearly a “buyers market,” large clients can successfully negotiate downward a lawyer’s hourly wage or contingent fee. The lawyer then faces the Hobson’s choice of either having no work to do or having work to do, but at a greatly reduced rate of pay.
Third, anyone who has been practicing law for more than 15 years will acknowledge an appalling decrease in civility in the legal profession. This not only applies to lawyers on opposite sides of litigation or a transaction, but to all aspects of the profession. Every lawyer has stories about the hard-ball tactics employed by adversaries, but some of the most difficult lawyers I have ever worked with are co-counsel, that is, lawyers who are supposed to be on the same team as me. Also, something that is rarely discussed is the lack of civility judges demonstrate toward lawyers practicing before them. Court opinions are now rife with derogatory and personal criticisms of the lawyers involved in the case, rather than the issues. Not surprisingly, the lack of civility, and sometimes downright rude behavior of other lawyers and judges, leads to lawyer unhappiness.
Finally, the fourth reason why lawyers are so unhappy is our profession’s negative public image. Sure, in order to be a lawyer, one has to be thick-skinned and I, for one, enjoy a good lawyer joke as much as anyone. However, it has now reached the point that one cannot watch television or read the newspaper without some criticism of lawyers. A certain political party has virtually characterized lawyers as the tools of the “Devil.” Indeed, Karl Rove has demonized lawyers with such great success that others are following suit, while others run away from trial lawyers as fast as they can (i.e., the Democratic Party). The truth of the matter is that our negative public image has led to self-loathing, which certainly leads to unhappiness.
Despite everything written above, lawyers SHOULD be happy. They are part of a distinguished profession that forms the foundation of a country that enjoys the most freedoms and privileges of any country in the history of the world. So the next time you are feeling blue or depressed, simply pop a pill (Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin or Xanax will do) or have a beer (my personal preference), and GET BACK TO WORK!! As they say in the Bahamas: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
About the Author: John J. Carey is a founding partner of Carey & Danis, LLC. His professional resume can be found on his firm's website, which states that his firm has recovered "$677 million for [its] clients, including individual settlements of over $10 million and class-wide settlements of over $90 million." John was last mentioned on this weblog here. --Ed.
From the site: “Finding employees who fit a solo or small firm's practice style, budget and personality can be daunting. But imagine the alternative: Hiring the wrong people can jeopardize a firm's productivity, reputation and pocketbook. To help you in your quest, here are some tips on building the ideal office team. And buck up -- remember that most folks date a lot, too, before they find The One.”
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Source: Small Firm Business, 22 November 2004
From The National Law Journal: “An Ohio murder case is shedding light on prosecutors' use of a federal criminal records database to run background checks on jurors -- an action that the defense counsel calls an attempt to disqualify people based on race. Martin Pinales of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers says the case marks the first confirmation of persistent rumors about a possibly "frequent practice," one that could have a "chilling effect" on minorities who want to serve on juries.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
24 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sabrina posts: "From Ars Technica this two part article on spyware -
· Malware: what it is and how to prevent it (descriptions and screen shots are provided)
· Spyware removal tools: "This software (6 programs) will be judged on its ease of use, the amount of feedback it provides, and of course its effectiveness in removing malware. Effectiveness will be determined by how well the computer works after the removal, along with an examination of any remaining files or registry entries."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
23 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Cindy Chick posts: “It's not bad enough that we have to worry about spyware, we also have to worry about spyware from companies that claim to protect us against spyware. A recent PC World article, "Poor Defenders," provides the results of test of seven heavily advertised spyware-removal tools and found that none were as good as the free Spybot Search & Destroy, and a couple even installed new spyware.
Included is a picture of Eric L. Howes, a University of Illinois library school student. Eric has analyzed more than 100 anti-spyware utilities for SpywareWarrior.com. He confirms something I've always suspected. The pop-up ads that claim that they have found spyware on your computer, have, in fact, done nothing and found nothing.
The moral of this story is, don't every buy anything advertised in a pop-up ad, and make sure to research software before buying. The two most well-respected spyware companies both offer free versions, Spybot Search & Destroy, as mentioned above, and Ad-Aware. Save yourself some money and stick with one of those two."
Source: LawLibTech, 23 November 2004
[P.S. You are actually better off running both programs because they are written to catch slightly different “bad guys.”]
Posted by Carolyn Elefant: “With the holidays approaching, we can expect an onslaught of marketing articles reminding us to send our clients and colleagues holiday cards and gifts to keep the flow of work coming. But sometimes it's nice to say thank you not to get something in return but simply to express gratitude. That's the subject of my recent Small Firm Business article entitled Saying Thank You Because You Mean It.”
Source: MyShingle.com, 22 November 2004
Legal Journals: “The University of Southern California Law School library provides an annotated index to law reviews and legal journals on the Internet. The index includes a brief description of the contents of the publication as well as a notation, which indicates whether the content is available in full-text or abbreviated format.”
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
22 November 2004
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. All rights reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: “Electronic Discovery and Evidence blog contends that keeping up to date with developments in intellectual property could make you liable for damages. "If your company regularly uses a service ... [such as an RSS feed for new patent applications] (or does regular patent searches for what your competitors are patenting) it is pretty hard to argue that you didn't have notice that your competitor had a patent."
But what's the alternative? Knowing you could put the company on "notice" for existing patents, you turn off the RSS feed and other forms of staying current. Now someone could argue you *should have known* because the information is readily available. Moreover, competent due diligence or research demands keeping up to date with new information.”
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
22 November 2004
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. All rights reserved.
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Plans Take Shape for E-Health Records
"From the New York Times, this article reviews the challenges involved in work underway by NIH, industry and providers to coordinate and implement a digital health network.
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
22 November 2004
Copyright ©2002-2004 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Posted by Carolyn Elefant: “Many lawyers resist working from home, worrying primarily about image, as in this article here. But a professional home based office is possible, as demonstrated by Nina Kallen and Lisa Solomon, the two sucessful attorneys profiled in Home Alone, Margaret Graham Tebo, ABA Journal (November 2004).”
Source: MyShingle.com, 22 November 2004
In the news: “Until recently, employers did not have much to fear if they were sued by former employees for the intentional infliction of emotional distress. In fact, courts often dismissed these claims, regardless of how egregious the conduct of the employer. But, think again, says attorney Victoria Phipps. In a recent workplace violence case, the Supreme Court breathed new life into this ailing cause of action by applying it to an employer who failed to keep its employee safe.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
23 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kevin posts: “20 Questions for the Law Clerk is a new feature launched by Begging The Question similar to Howard Bashman's 20 Q for the Appellate Judge. This week's guest is Scott of Life, Law, Libido. [via Howard]”
Source: Law Tech Advisor, 19 November 2004
From the blog: "We just noticed that Brooklyn Law School's Journal of Law and Policy has published the second installment in its "Science for Judges" series.
Among the titles:
Science for Judges II: The Practice of Epidemiology and Administrative Agency Created Science
Introduction by Margaret A. Berger
Overview of Research Design in Epidemiology
John Concato, M.D., M.S., M.P.H.
Systematic Review of Medical Evidence
John P.A. Ioannidis, M.D. & Joseph Lau, M.D.
Should Compensation Schemes Be Based on the Probability of Causation or Expected Years of Life Lost?
James Robins
FDA Regulatory Requirements as Tort Standards
Richard Merrill
What Is the Value of an FDA Approval in a Judicial Matter?
Michael A. Friedman, M.D.
Science and EPA Decision-Making
Robert M. Sussman
Importing Daubert to Administrative Agencies Through the Information Quality Act
Wendy E. Wagner
Welfare State of Welfare Court: Asbestos Litigation in Comparative Perspective
Sheila Jasanoff & Dogan Perese
All the articles are available online. Go take a look.”
Source: Blog 702, 20 November 2004
From the e-newsletter: "Rutgers law professor Sherry Colb analyzes an unusual constitutional question: When police officers snip a substantial amount of visible hair off a suspect, is that a violation of the Fourth Amendment? Colb discusses whether this kind of snipping -- a prelude, in this case, to drug testing -- is the kind of "search" or "seizure" the Fourth Amendment covers."
Read full text
Source: FindLaw's WRIT
Legal Commentary
November 15 - November 19, 2004
Issue #223
Copyright (c) 2004 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved
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Posted by Jerry Lawson: “James Robertson has some comments at Step Two about the need to avoid KM jargon when pitching KM implementation:
KM teams tend to start talking about 'capturing tacit knowledge' and other similar topics. Unfortunately, this simply introduces further jargon, but no greater clarity.
Knowledge sharing is certainly an important concept for those in the knowledge management and information management disciplines (ie the readers of this article).
The starting point to moving beyond this terminology, however, is to recognise that it means little to anyone else in the organisation.
Cindy Chick summaries the idea nicely: "Define tangible, clear projects that meet business needs and improve efficiency, and you may very well accomplish knowledge sharing. Just don't talk about it. :-)"
Source: NetLawBlog, November 20, 2004
Official Search Engine Blogs Abound
From the e-newsletter: “And did I mention that MSN now has its own blog for holding forth about search? For those of you playing along at home, the official search engine blogs go like this:
MSN -- http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/ (read about the first MSN bombs. Yay.)
Yahoo -- http://www.ysearchblog.com/
Google -- http://www.google.com/googleblog/”
Source: ResearchBuzz #310
November 18, 2004
Reproduced with permission of ResearchBuzz.
Copyright 2004 Tara Calishain. All rights reserved.
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In the news: “Attorneys use wireless connections in coffeehouses, bookstores, airport lounges, hotel lobbies and even parks. It's practice anywhere, anytime. But just think of the confidential client information they're beaming into the ether. The possibility for malicious interception is high. Get the lowdown on the best ways to lock down that wireless signal as much as possible.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
22 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
In the news: “With the strongest growing economy in the country and the lifting of restrictions on law firms seeking to cash in, Las Vegas is becoming a hot spot for practice expansion. Many firms based outside Nevada are opening new offices or stoking existing practices in the state's largest city. And although entertainment is the heart of Vegas' economy, the legal work in Sin City cuts across all industries.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
19 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
From the e-newsletter: “Founded during the crucial struggle for civil rights during the 1960s, the U.S Commission on Civil Rights has continued its work right up to the present day, and remains an important part of the federal government. Along with investigating claims of discrimination, the Commission also has a significant research arm, and the agency produces numerous reports and public news briefs that are offered here as well. Some of the more intriguing reports available on the site's homepage include "Redefining Rights in America: The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration, 2001-2004" and "Broken Promises: Evaluating the Native American Health Care System". Visitors may also want to look through the material that provides information on how to file a complaint with the Commission, or look through the numerous job opportunities. Some of the material on the site is also available in Spanish. [KMG]”
Source: The Scout Report
Volume 10, Number 46
November 19, 2004 |
Copyright © 2003 Internet Scout Project.
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Avoiding litigation - Some tips
Ernie blogs: “I can't avoid it because it's what I do for a living, but most people like to avoid litigation. Philip Greenspun has some worthwhile observations on how to avoid litigation. He's not a lawyer, just a really smart guy who teaches at M.I.T.”
Source: Ernie the Attorney, 18 November 2004
From the e-newsletter: “With interest rates still low and home prices soaring, more and more couples are committing to home ownership before committing to marriage. But there are some special considerations involved with buying a home for an unmarried couple, and couples should be aware of their rights should something go awry.
Read full text
Top 10 Reasons for Unmarried Partners to Own Property as Joint Tenants
Buying a Home”
Source: FindLaw's PUBLIC ADVISOR
A Weekly FindLaw Newsletter Providing News and Resources for the Public
November 18, 2004
Issue # 59
Copyright (c) 2004 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: “Learn about your property boundary rights and how to handle disputes with your neighbors in the "Homeownership" section of FindLaw's Real Estate Center -- including answers to frequently asked questions on fences, what to do when your neighbor creates a "nuisance," and a helpful "shared boundaries" dictionary. Click on the link below to get started.
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Home Ownership Resources”
Source: FindLaw's PUBLIC ADVISOR
A Weekly FindLaw Newsletter Providing News and Resources for the Public
November 18, 2004
Issue # 59
Copyright (c) 2004 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: "Google released a new search site Wednesday called Google Scholar that lets you search "specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research."
You can find Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.com/
Google Scholar supports most of Google's regular query modifiers [for more information about Google query modifiers, check out my free Google 201 PDF handout at http://tinyurl.com/4hhn9]. Google Scholar also introduces a new query modifier:
author:authorname
How do you use the new author: query modifier? Well, here are three examples of it in work:
author:stack "The effect of country music on suicide"
author:Balasubramaniam "Coordination Modes in the Multisegmental
Dynamics of Hula Hooping"
author:crispen "Social stress in pregnant squirrel monkeys"
Google Scholar is brand new and is still in beta. In other words, the folks at Google are still working out the bugs and the database is kind of small. But from what little I have seen so far, I'm impressed.
For more information about Google Scholar, check out http://scholar.google.com/scholar/about.html
Source: TOURBUS
Volume 10, Number 34
18 Nov 2004
Copyright 1995-2004, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
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Carolyn Elefant writes: “My colleague Lisa Solomon, who assists lawyers with legal research and writing projects, was recently interviewed on the benefits of outsourcing legal reasearch and writing by Ed Poll of lawbiz.com, a lawyer coach and management expert. Lisa has made the interview available here at her firm's website. Lisa's website summarizes some of the benefits of legal outsourcing: When you outsource legal research and writing projects, you pay only for the time it takes to complete the project, but when you hire an employee, you immediately add to your fixed expenses. Your practice may be busy enough to benefit from project-based outsourcing, but not busy enough to not support another employee. Outsourcing is a wise use of your firm’s resources that can increase profitability.
Having outsourced many legal research matters, I agree. But the value that outsourcing can provide is directly tied to the qualifications of the attorney who'll be performing the contract work. Pick a dud and you'll likely spend more money to correct the substandard work than if you'd have done it yourself. Thus, I recommend that when you choose to outsource, you examine the experience of the attorney taking on the project and obtain a description of past cases, writing samples and at least one reference. Lisa's website, Question of Law http://www.questionoflaw.net/ makes most of these materials conveniently available on line. In short, just because you're not hiring outsourcing attorneys permanently doesn't mean that you should outsource to the first person who comes your way.”
Source: MyShingle.com, 17 November 2004
From the e-newsletter: "How much thought do you put into holiday gifts for clients? Be honest now. Do you schedule a partners' meeting and brainstorm for a couple of hours? Probably not. What about a quick peruse through a gift catalog? Perhaps. Or do you ask your executive assistant to order some holiday cards and a fruit basket? It's amazing how little time many law firms and businesses spend thinking about their holiday cards and gifts. And it's amazing how such a little thing can work so strongly for or against a law firm when a client must decide whether to renew its retainer."
Read the article
THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
November 17, 2004, Issue # 211
Copyright (c) 2004 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved.
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From The National Law Journal: ”Pro se litigants have created a logjam in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with the circuit seeing a 39 percent increase in cases filed by those who represent themselves. Recommendations to relieve the situation range from using law students to help handle the load to granting firms success-based fee awards for handling the cases pro bono. The 4th Circuit, which juggles the largest proportion of pro se litigants, may also provide a model for how to handle the deluge."
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
18 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
The professor blogs: "What would the MSM like to happen to the blogosphere? Since we aren't going away, the current tack seems to be trying to remake us into clones of the MSM.
Mindy McAdams, a University of Florida journalism professor, applauded bloggers' efforts but urged them to adhere to ethical standards held by mainstream journalists.
"Our credibility is suffering with so many people rushing to publish things without checking them out," McAdams said after Cox's speech. "Blogging is really great. I like that more and more people have a voice. That's good ... But it doesn't give people who call themselves journalists an excuse to not check out the information." (Source: CNN)
There are so many problems at so many levels with this sort of analysis, but let's stick to the high points.
1. Bloggers are NOT journalists. We don't claim to be journalists and we never agreed to sign off on the rules journalists supposedly live with.
2. We are social critics who opine on a range of issues. One of our functions is holding the MSM accountable, which seems to annoy people like McAdams.
3. Does Professor McAdams really think that MSM journalists "check out the information"?
In contrast to the bulk of the MSM, Michael Barone gets it:
The left liberalism that is the political faith of practically all the personnel of Old Media is now being challenged by the various political faiths of New Media. Old Media no longer controls the agenda.
But it tries. At two crucial points in the campaign, Old Media used leaks from dubious sources to run stories intended to hurt the Bush campaign. The first was Dan Rather's Sept. 8 "60 Minutes" story on Bush's Texas Air National Guard record based on documents supplied by Texas Bush-hater Bill Burkett. CBS, admirably, posted the documents on its websites, and within 14 hours bloggers -- led by frontpage.com, powerlineblog.com and littlegreenfootballs.com -- had demonstrated that these purported 1972 documents had been produced on Microsoft Word. CBS's document experts, it turned out, had refused to authenticate them. Not until Sept. 20 did Rather acknowledge the documents were dubious. The story hurt Rather and CBS, not Bush.
Then there was the New York Times's front-page headline story Oct. 25 on supposedly missing weapons in Iraq. The story, based on leaks from International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohammed el-Baradei, who was trying to keep his job, turned out to be full of holes. But John Kerry decided to center his campaign for four of the five weekdays of the last full week of the campaign on the story. This, even though polls showed Bush had an advantage on handling Iraq. The Times story ended up hurting Kerry rather than helping him.
Finally, consider the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth story. Kerry strategists are now saying that Kerry should have responded to the Swifties' charges sooner. But they didn't because they were confident Old Media would bury the story. Which it did, for months .... But the story got aired on New Media, the Swifties' book zoomed to No. 1 on amazon.com and Kerry responded to the charges on Aug. 19. Then Old Media had to cover the story, and while many stories brushed the Swifties' charges aside as "discredited," more careful examinations, as in The Washington Post, showed the charges had some substance.
Barone concludes:
Memo to future Democratic nominees: You can no longer rely on Old Media to hush up stories that hurt your cause. Your friends in Old Media don't have a monopoly any more.
Yep. Go read the whole thing."
Source: ProfessorBainbridge.com, 16 November 2004
Carolyn Elefant writes: “Earlier this week, I came across this glowing article from the Washington Legal Times, Rethinking the Hours New push on workplace flexibility aims to put life back on the agenda, Patti Giglio (11/16/04) which lauds the new flexibility that large law firms are purportedly showing towards parents(not just moms, but dads too!) who want to climb the partnership ladder but make time for home life. The article quotes large firm attorneys, Joan Williams of the apologist Project for Attorney Retention and even Jack Keeny, DC Bar President, who uniformly gush about how flexible law firm programs are a win-win situation for attorneys and the legal profession. But, there's just one small problem: the article doesn't tell the whole story. And that's where the blogs come in....
For example, consider this post from Anonymous Lawyer who basically characterizes so-called part-time programs as equal-work for less than equal pay with the benefit of allowing participants to pretend they're making a sacrifice: What we didn't realize at the time, but has become abundantly clear now, it that all part-time means is that people work 100% of the time they used to work for 80% of the pay. It's a profit center. It's fantastic. Technically, the people working part time don't come in on Fridays. That's the part-time part of it, the 80%. But their clients come in on Friday, and the partners in charge of their cases come in on Friday, and meetings get scheduled on Fridays. So they end up spending a few hours working from home on Friday, so as to not get behind. But then they usually end up coming in over the weekend to catch up too, and in some cases they're here more weekends than the people working full-time. Their "flexibility" just means they substitute some weekend hours for Friday hours, they work just as hard, but they get 20% less salary, and lose pretty much any chance to ever make partner. The truth they don't realize is they could work from home on Fridays as a full-timer anyway if they were careful about which partners they ended up working for. I won't usually tolerate it, but a lot of people here would have no problem if the work product was good. But I think in a way they know this when they go on part-time schedule. They know they're going to work just as hard. They want to work just as hard. But they're willing to spend 20% of their salary just to be able to tell themselves, and everyone they meet, that they work "part-time" for the good of their children. That they're making some sort of sacrifice. It's self-delusion, and it makes them feel better about putting their career first if they can tell their husband / friends / hair stylist that they only work "part-time" and they're giving up such magnificent career opportunities all so they can get by with only one nanny instead of two. Pathetic. But the firm loves it now.
Now you may think that Anonymous has no credibility, but his description pretty much mirrors the experience of a so-called part time attorney quoted in the Project for Attorney Retention's own report: I worked an 80 percent schedule for the past seven years as an associate and two years as a partner and resumed a full time schedule this year. My 80 % schedule meant that I tried to take one day off per week... Moreover, though the article portrays those firms that have so-called part time schedules, many still have not done so. At those firms, new parenthood poses impossible barriers as exposed by Ms. Morality (and re-posted at Curmudgeonly Clerk): Early in my second year I married the man of my dreams and we decided to start a family. My bad. After missing a couple days with morning sickness, I naively decided to announce my pregnancy. The response: silent disregard. I was immediately taken off one of my major cases with the head of the department. Nothing was ever said to me, I just stopped receiving assignments and communications regarding the case. On a trip to court another partner instructed that I sit behind the bar while a first year accompanied him to the table. My other work also disappeared without notice or explanation. I was left with a document review that other associates refused to work on. Other second-year associates in the department were litigating preliminary injunctions, drafting pleadings, defending depositions and communicating with clients. I got no such opportunities. Whenever I asked why I was taken off my cases, I was told to be grateful. Or was given no answer at all. One partner said, “If you’re not planning on sticking around after the pregnancy, you should leave now, because the partners are upset and you’ll lose valuable references.” The words cut, and I didn’t know how to respond.Even if the article didn't want to go so far as to find attorneys willing to criticize part-time programs, it could have pointed out other problems that are evident from those quoted in the piece. For example, one dad on a so-called flex time schedule billed 1500 hours last year and expects to bill 1650 this year. But even 1500 hours billable is a 30 hour work week - and that assumes the attorney does nothing else in the office but billable work 40 weeks a year. Tack on an extra five hours for non-billable time (which is a fairly lowball estimate) - and you're already talking about a 35 hour week which is hardly my idea of part-time. Tack on the commute time and you're away from your kids 40 hours a week anyway. So what's the solution? Personally, I think that attorneys need to demand more for themselves (as an aside, why is that attorneys, whose job it is to advocate for clients are so reluctant to do so for themselves?) Despite what the article suggests, the solution to the family/work balance won't, and in fact, can't ever come benevolently from firms, because law firms are business which will always do what's in their best interest. My own belief of course, is that lawyers who want to spend time with family should start their own practices and set a schedule that accomodates the time they want to spend with their children. It's only in that situation that one gains full control over a schedule. But of course, the solo practice option is never suggested or acknowleged. More generally, most attorneys need to realize that law will come and go, but they'll only have one chance to develop and nurture a relationship with their children. Missing that opportunity, as the standard for TRO's goes, is irreparable. By contrast, reducing a work schedules to 10 or 20 hours a week might remove an attorney from partnership track for a time - but that option, as well as countless others will always remain (after all, even Sandra Day O'Connor took time off to raise her sons - and she turned out OK). And if attorneys don't have the confidence to realize that, maybe they shouldn't be practicing law at all."
Source: MyShingle.com, 17 November 2004
From the e-newsletter: ”Hello Fred, Back at Byte, you had covered Stepan Pachikov, CEO of ParaGraph and his team's pen computing product, Calligrapher.
It's been many moons since then, but with your interest in emerging technology products, I wanted to let you know that Stepan and his team are at it again with a new product, EverNote 1.0. EverNote lets you put all your notes and content (text, web clips, images, etc.) on an endless, electronic roll of paper and makes them instantly accessible anytime, any place.
You can download your own free beta copy of EverNote at http://www.evernote.com/en/downloads.
We plan to ship smartphone and PDA versions by the end of the year, complete with the ability to take a digital snapshot from your mobile device and have it appear automatically in EverNote. Linux, Symbian, Palm, Mac versions are in our to-do list....
EverNote takes some getting used to, but is an interesting idea:
EverNote is a new software product that gives you a single place for all of your notes. With EverNote, you can capture and easily find all kinds of notes: text, Web, email, handwriting, image clips and more. EverNote innovates by storing content on an endless, virtual, time-stamped roll of paper so you can quickly jump to any date and scroll chronologically through your notes, without having to open them individually.
The beta's free to try: Give it a look!”
Source: The LangaList Standard Edition
18 November 2004
Copyright (c) 2004 Fred Langa / Langa Consulting LLC. All worldwide rights reserved.
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In the news: “Online dispute resolution is gaining traction as a method to reduce friction among people willing to come to agreements outside courts. Robert J. Ambrogi takes a look at services offered by three companies -- Cybersettle.com, iCourthouse.com and SquareTrade -- in this relatively new field. As one of 250 mediators at SquareTrade, which handles the disputes of online auction giant eBay, he understands the terrain.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
17 November 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
John posts: “The horrific life of Joe Elton Nixon, briefly referenced last week during a narrow procedural hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, is at the heart of a capital murder case that Eric M. Freedman predicts will be studied in law schools for years to come.
Freedman, part of a team of New York attorneys in the cause of winning Nixon a new trial in Florida, is a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University School of Law.
The Nixon case, he said, "illustrates all the elements that typify death penalty cases, and the people who wind up getting sentenced to death. Race, lousy counsel -- all the fundamental problems.
Details here from the New York Law Journal via Law.com.”
Source: The Legal Reader, 16 November 2004
From the blog: "In a press release issued jointly with the Clerk of the United States Supreme Court, NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox TV announced the creation of a new reality TV show featuring Antonin Scalia, the colorful Supreme Court justice best known for his salty talk about “orgies” and “homosexuals.”
Reached today in Burbank, an NBC-Universal spokesman expressed delight about the deal. “When we heard the judge was talking to audiences about orgies again, that cinched it,” she explained. “Even for relative unknowns, a little dirty sex talk and some Internet buzz is often all it takes—reality TV's a wonderful thing.”
There’s no doubt it's a formula that’s worked well for Ozzy Osbourne, Paris Hilton, and several others. While no one is certain whether a Supreme Court justice will be similarly catapulted to fame, the consortium producing the show certainly hopes lightning will strike again.
Tentatively titled 'Justice 696,' a reference to a little-known Washington dance club, the show will fill a half-hour slot on Friday nights. “Judge Scalia is as pumped up as we are," the spokesman said. "We plan to have cameras follow him pretty much everywhere—shopping for flashy clothing, displaying his collection of funny masks, whatever he's doing at the moment. And even though he’s contractually obligated to show off his beefy chest as he’s robing up for oral argument, it won’t be all about sex. We’re just giddy with excitement.”
According to the spokesman, the only disappointment is that Scalia’s famously raunchy comments will have to be toned down a bit for network TV. “The last thing we want is a big fine from the FCC,” she said. “Be assured that the judge will be duly warned.”
From an office in Washington, the Clerk of the Supreme Court seemed unfazed. “When it comes to reality TV,” he said, “Justice Scalia doesn’t favor bright-line rules. Does it mean he'll go too far? I’m not sure, but I think we’ll know it when we see it.”
[Below the fold: Related posts]
Related posts:
1. What to Say to the Judge Who Crashes Your Next Orgy
2. A Couple of Beers Usually Works for Me, But I'm Famously Narrow-Minded
Source: Notes form the Legal Underground, 17 November 2004
In the news: “General counsel are feeling the strain from increased stress, longer work hours and an emphasis on hypervigilance in an era of high-profile corporate scandals -- but even with all that, most remain content with their jobs and proud to be in-house lawyers. Those are among the findings of Corporate Counsel's latest survey on work-life issues. Even with the "Enron effect" making some lawyers feel like targets, it seems that, for GCs, the good vibe lives on.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire
17 November2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
From: “Skype Stats.
An update on Skype's P2P voice over IP service, courtesy of Jeff Clavier:
* 13M+ users registered
* 1M+ simultaneous users reached for the first time a couple of weeks ago
* 2,384,686,217 minutes served, as I type this - i.e almost 2.4 billion minutes. Just to put things in perspective: Vonage has 170,000 customers and passed the billion minutes mark sometime in 2004
* 295,000 users have signed for SkypeOut (Skype has a goal of 5% conversion from the free service to SkypeOut)
If you haven't tried Skype, you should. The sound quality is surprisingly good, even though it uses peer-to-peer connections over the public Internet. They just announced availability of the Skype API, which will let developers build new applications and functionality on top of the platform.
I was originally dismissive of Skype, because it was free, private, and software-only. But I now thing it's a bigger deal than people realize. It's an example of how VOIP is changing the game in telecom, not just allowing in new competitors. [Werblog]”
Source: To Talk of Many