Posted by Chuck Kallendorf: “Ohio’s House Bill 163, passed May 16th. and effective Oct. 12, 2006, authorizes courts sentencing drug offenders, or imposing disposition on juvenile defendants, to reimburse law enforcement agencies for the cost of tests determining whether substances were, in fact, of a controlled nature.
(LSC analysis)
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Cincinnati Law Library Blog, 30 August 2006
Posted by Sue Altmeyer: “As we previously reported on this blog (See our prior post New Ohio Law on Bicycle Operation, June 20, 2006), HB 389 mandates that local bicycle ordinances must comply with the rules of the road. Municipalities can not ban bicycles from public streets other than freeways. Bicycles must stay to right and give room to allow traffic to pass, with some exceptions. The changes are effective September 21. See Cyclists: Soon, Uniform Rules to Rule the Roadways in Ohio by Kaye Spector, The Plain Dealer, Aug. 30, 2006; Changes Afoot, The Plain Dealer, Aug. 30, 2006; Ohiobike.org, HB 389 Information."
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Cleveland Law Library Weblog, 30 August 2006
Posted by Tom Collins: “Recently Juris, Inc. asked midsized law firms about health insurance—155 firms responded [to] those questions.
Respondents reported an annual inflation rate of 10 percent for health care costs. Considering employee compensation accounts for 60 percent to 80 percent of firm operating expenses, a 10 percent yearly rate increase will eat away partner income pretty quickly.
Only 35 percent of respondents indicated that they have raised co-pays to manage costs. Only 59 percent indicated that they had competitively bid their health care program.
Inflation in employee health care is presenting a real cost-management challenge to all businesses. Midsized law firms may forgo efforts to negotiate lower rates due to a feeling that they do not have the necessary critical mass for negotiating leverage. That is wrong. You can lower rates or avoid double-digit increases by shopping around, especially if you are willing to accept higher co-pays or deductibles.
Start shopping six months before your renewal date. When it’s renewal time, it is too late to shop.
Firms reported an average health insurance premium of $594 per employee. Over half of the reporting firms have cafeteria plans, and only 10 percent have fitness and wellness programs.”
To view Tom’s illustrative chart, visit
Source: morepartnerincome.com, 31 August 2006 [Click on "Try Again"!]
Posted by Larry bodine: “RFP means one of two things. It's either 'Real Fools Participate' or 'Request For Probing,' according to Steve Waterhouse, the Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group, a sales consulting and training company.
Real Fools are the ones that read the document and believe every word, he says. It will state, "All questions must be in writing" and "Contact with the company must be through the purchasing office." If you play this game, you are falling into the trap of thinking that this makes a level playing field for all bidders.
The probability of winning business from responding to an RPF where you have no relationship with the client is so close to zero as to not be worth discussing. Unfortunately, everyone has won one or two and believes that they are the exception, Waterhouse says. Studies done by the Waterhouse Group and others show otherwise.
He advises:
• Refuse to look at an RFP as an immediate need to begin preparing a proposal. It's not. In fact, in most cases, you would be better off making another cold call than responding to the RFP's terms.
• Redefine the RFP as a Request For Probe. That means, the prospect has sent up a signal flare that identifies a source of potential business. Treat it like any other hot lead.
• Assuming that the business outlined in the RFP is business you want or that it could lead to business you want, start digging.
For the rest of the story, visit the LawMarketing Portal.”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: Larry Bodine’s Professional Services Marketing Blog, 30 august 2006
In the news: “Intellectual property due diligence is big business these days, with demand described as growing exponentially in the last few months alone. It not only generates a huge amount of billing time on projects, but could also serve as a pipeline for corporate and other high-revenue work, such as litigation. Only a few firms, however, have combined those practices seamlessly to offer a sophisticated team of lawyers that can perform high-quality IP due diligence, which means there is a niche waiting to be filled.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 31 August 2006. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Arnie Herz: “Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith, Esq. recently announced the publication of InnoVaction (pdf), the College of Law Practice Management’s new e-zine covering innovation in the practice of law. Among the noted and notable contributors are MacEwen himself and Gerry Riskin of Amazing Firms Amazing Practices.
I’m about midway through the magazine and it’s terrific. It approaches the subject of innovation from a variety of perspectives and, in doing so, demonstrates the power of collaborative thought and action.
As Riskin points out in a recent post, the collaboration on this important topic continues in a new blog, Blank Sheet of Paper And a box of crayons. The blog is the work of Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, the editor-in-chief of the ABA’s Law Practice magazine.
Collaboration is something that fortifies any effort to compel positive change in the legal profession. A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to experience this kind of collaborative power when Riskin and MacEwen volunteered their time and energy to help me test run my new training and development program on the XE Factor.
The input and diverse ideas they offered during our day together have proven invaluable and the program - as it’s since evolved – reflects the boons of our very constructive collaboration.”
For active links, visit Arnie’s blog
Source: legal sanity, 24 August 2006
Sabrina Pacifici posted: “The 2006 Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards includes a list and links to all sites that were won awards, as well as finalists. Below is a sampling of information about specific categories:
• Winner in the State Portal Category: Michigan
• County Portal Category: 1st Place - Seminole County, Florida
• City Portal Category: 1st Place - Seattle, Washington”
For the active links, please visit
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici. 30 August 2006. Copyright ©2002-2006 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe <http://www.bespacific.com/mt/subscribe.html>.
From the e-newsletter: “Microsoft Corp. has recently released an almost-final version of Internet Explorer (IE) 7 dubbed "Release Candidate 1," which is being touted as a "major step forward in ease of use and security." The ubiquitous web browsing software can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft site. A final version of the program should be completed by the end of the year, according to the company.
http://technology.findlaw.com/articles/00006/010210.html
Download Release Candidate 1”
Source: FindLaw’s MODERN PRACTICE. August 2006. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
Posted by Ed Poll: “There's an adage that goes something like "He who quotes the first number in a negotiation loses."
The same is true for legal fees ... when you quote an hourly fee, there will always be someone who is cheaper.
I just glanced through a book, Blue Ocean Strategies ... A key piece of advice is not to think out of the box, or even break the box, but rather never put yourself in the box.
Eliminate your competition entirely. Be different. Offer something that your competitors don't or can't. Create something new that your clients need or want. Think about what this might be in your own practice. If you can't think of what makes you unique, you've lost, you're really nothing more than a commodity to your clients and you may "soon" be out of business.”
For more good insights, visit Ed’s blog at
Source: LawBiz Blog, 28 August 2006
Ed Poll posts: “Alternative fees continue to be a prominent topic among lawyers. Our next several podcasts will feature interviews that Ed has conducted over the last 18 months with prominent thinkers on this subject.
Jeff Carr, General Counsel of FMC Technologies, responds here in the first of two interviews with him.
In today's world, the preeminent method of billing is still based on the hour. It's not the way that lawyers have billed traditionally. It used to be that bills were given on a bottom line for value rendered services.
Changes resulted largely by corporate counsel and insurance counsel in the 1970s, or perhaps more so in the early 80s, when people were frustrated with that kind of billing system. We went to the billable hour as a way to impose some cost control and as a way to understand the way law firms were billing us. Now of course we've got a whole generation of lawyers who know nothing else at this point.
Jeff Carr discusses this "new" horizon.
Click here to listen.”
For the active link to Ed’s podcast, visit
Source: LawBiz Blog, 28 August 2006 [Scroll Down]
In the news: “Shortly after concluding a nonprosecution agreement in lieu of federal criminal charges for antitrust violations, the government said it would indict shipping giant Stolt-Nielsen anyway, claiming the company had broken the pact. According to Susan Hackett, GC of the Association of Corporate Counsel, the government's attempt to renege on its deal has caused in-house counsel to question whether nonprosecution agreements can still deliver their main benefit -- freedom from indictment.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 29 August 2006. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant: “If you want to sell a small business on using your small firm instead of a large, impersonal firm, I can think of no better marketing than this post from Ed Wesemann who describes, bluntly, what small clients really mean to big firms.”
The active link is available below
Source: MyShingle, 23 August 2006
Posted by Kevin O’Keefe: “Good timing Tris in your post about what it takes to recruit a pro blogger for your company blog. LexBlog is getting requests from new clients for experienced bloggers who can help publish content to the client's blog.
From Triss, here's four key factors:
• Flexibility. Don't mandate on a schedule. Let your bloggers post their quota (3-5 posts a week is standard) over the course of the week.
• Editorial control. Within guidelines, just let your blogger write. Don't review posts before their posted. It chills the blogger and a post a day late might lose the punch you were looking for.
• Buy in from the company and company bloggers. The idea for hiring a pro blogger is to kick-start your blog. It’s meant to let you see how a pro does it. If you’re serious about blogging, then people in your company should start blogging too.
• Be open. Do not pretend that that the blogger works for the company. Think of your pro blogger as a freelance writer. Someone supplying great content for your blog, not a faux company insider.
Tris Hussey is a professional blogger and blog consultant, product Manager for Qumana Software and a partner in One By One Media LLC.”
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Real Lawyers Have Blogs, 26 August 2006
Posted by Wayne Schiess: “You might enjoy this interview with Joseph Kimble, law professor, editor in chief of the Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, and drafting consultant for the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:
Read it here
The author is Roy Jacobsen, who produces Writing, Clear and Simple, and who says of himself:
I have been writing and editing for more than 20 years in a variety of fields, including health food, academia, and most recently, software development. I’m currently a freelance writer and editor, and I’m also a contributing editor for The Editorial Eye, "a resource for writers, editors, designers, project managers, communications specialists, and everyone else who cares about contemporary publishing practices."
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Legalwriting.net, 21 August 2006
In the news: “A lawyer working on a laptop that's wirelessly connected to an office network could forget that the space between laptop and Internet connection is "open." Even with network security measures in place, hackers can, with the aid of special software, access the hard drive of a poorly protected laptop as well as the confidential client information and other data located back at the office. Technologist and consultant Ross Kodner offers safeguards to prevent this worst-case scenario.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 30 August 2006. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Cindy L. Chick: “I've been playing with wikis a bit more lately, both at home and at work, and I'm starting to really appreciate the simplicity and power that wikis can provide. They aren't complicated creatures. A wiki gives you the ability to create and edit a collection of web pages, which you can search, link to and categorize; not such a big deal, really. But if you're working with others on a project, and you want to store your collective knowledge and discoveries in one place, it's hard to beat a wiki.
As Leigh Dodds says in his article "Embracing the Wiki Way: Deploying a Corporate Wiki" (Freepint, July 27, 2006), "Creating a wiki environment is as much of an exercise in community building as it is in software installation." Dodds further explains how he used a wiki at Ingenta to create a space where the engineers could capture project requirements and incorporate documentation. He didn't stop there. He found a myriad of other ways to use wikis to enhance communication and collaboration.
Creating community spaces are certainly just as important in law firms. It's not technical data that may be stored, but perhaps instead, knowledge of a certain area of law or new legal trend. It could also relate to a particular deal or client. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because it's a wiki, you have to open it up to everyone. There are levels of security available on most wiki products. Just make sure the members of the community the wiki is aimed at are allowed to contribute. There's not much point to a wiki if it doesn't engage the group that it is intended to serve.”
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: LawLibTech, 21 August 2006
From the blog: “How do you get the best possible performance from your employees? How do you motivate them to reach beyond their limits; to dig down and find the inner resources and strength to seek out and conquer new challenges?
In a new article posted to the web site of Freedman Consulting entitled “Catch Them Doing Something Right!” the author addresses this issue, and offers sound advice, including unveiling the most important 3 Rules of Communication you will need to know.
There is an increasing deterioration in the quality level of candidates for support staff. The cream of the crop are reaching higher on the employment ladder, leaving much slimmer pickings than ever before to fill the ranks. You will need to maximize the performance of the available candidates. Learn how.”
For active links please visit the website listed below.
Source: Law Practice Management, 21 August 2006
Posted by Sabrina Pacifici: “USPTO press release, August 28, 2006: "To improve the tracking and disposition of amendments and requests for corrections to trademark applications submitted after publication, the Office is providing the following recommended procedures. Once an application has been “approved for publication” by the examining attorney, all amendments and requests for corrections are processed as amendments/corrections after publication. You can determine the status of your application and whether or not it has been “approved for publication” or “published for Opposition” by entering the serial number in the Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) database."
For the active link, visit
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici. 28 August 2006. Copyright ©2002-2006 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe <http://www.bespacific.com/mt/subscribe.html>.
Posted by the ResourceShelf staff: “Total Bankruptcy Cases Filed Fall to Lowest in Nearly Five Years
This news release includes several tables in XLS format.
Bankruptcy filings fell 9.3 percent during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2006. Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts during that period totaled 1,484,570, down from the 1,637,254 bankruptcy cases filed for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2005. This is the lowest filings have fallen since the 12-month period ending September 2001. The drop in bankruptcy filings has occurred since the implementation of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.
[Their] Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: The ResourceShelf, 29 August 2006
Posted by Genie Tyburski: “Originally published in The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, this article discusses tools and basic strategies for finding personal information.
RELATED: The Art of Public Records Research
The Virtual Chase, 7 March 2006
(Corporate clients' need for information from public records runs the gamut from validating a businessperson's credentials to gaining a competitive edge in the marketplace. Clients might ask you to assess a potential partner's reputation, find assets, identify ownership, affiliations or relationships, discover activity in a certain field or geographic region, determine consumer reaction to products or services, uncover evidence of legal problems, or conduct research on just about anything that pertains to doing business.)”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
TVC Alert Research News, 29 August 2006, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=aug06/29aug06.xml
Posted by Diane Murley: “One of the most important steps in any legal research project is determining whether the statutes, regulations, and cases that you want to cite are still "good law." This process goes by a number of terms: updating, cite checking, verifying, or validating. You may also hear it called Shepardizing or KeyCiting, after the two big citators. These terms always include, at a minimum, determining whether the authorities you cite are still applicable and current.
Whether something is good law, and how you make that determination, depends on the type of authority that you want to cite. We will cover how to determine if an authority is still good law when we cover each different type of authority, but here is an overview.
A statute cannot be good law if it has been repealed or declared unconstitutional. A regulation cannot be good law if it exceeds the statutory delegation of authority or is inconsistent with the authorizing statute. A case cannot be good law if it has been reversed or overruled, or if the statute on which it was based has been changed.
To determine whether a statute is still good law, you need to check when the statutory code you are using was last updated, and then check the session laws for statutes enacted since that update. For statutory codes in print, check the pocket part or supplemental pamphlets shelved with the code. You must also check to see if any cases have held the statute to be unconstitutional.
The process for determining whether a regulation is still good law is similar to the process for statutes. Although publishing schedules and arrangements vary from state to state, generally you must check when the regulatory code was last updated, and then check the register for regulations adopted since that update. You must also check the authorizing statute, as described in the previous paragraph.
To make sure that a case is still good law, you must check to see if any subsequent cases have reversed or overruled it. See our research guides on citators. You must also check the statutory code to see if any statutes enacted since the case was decided have changed the common law or statute on which your case was based.
Legal resources on the web can be at least as out-of-date as print resources, and it can be difficult to tell when they were last updated. Check carefully to be sure you know when the law on a website was last updated, not just when some feature of the site was updated.
See Evaluating Websites and Other Information Resources.
Making sure that the statutes, regulations, and cases are good law is a lot of work, but it is much better than relying on research that may no longer be current or applicable.”
For active links, visit
Source: Law Dawg Blawg, 25 August 2006
Posted by David Whelan: “Donna Payne, of Payne Group, does a nice wrap up of the issues relating to metadata (or "data about data", which can include author and version information as well as changes to contractual terms in the document you just created in Microsoft Word). Of particular interest are examples of how courts and others have failed to properly eliminate metadata before "publishing" a document. The American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center (Catherine Reach, director) has some additional tips and suggestions (PDF) surrounding ethical use by lawyers of technology.”
For the active links, please visit
Source: Cincinnati Law Library Blog, 28 August 2006
Posted by Jim Calloway: “With changes to the Federal Rules on the horizon for December, many firms are scrambling to get up to speed on electronic discovery issues. My good friend (and noted legal technologist) Craig Ball has compiled five of his articles on electronic data discovery into one file for your free downloading pleasure.
Please note that this is a direct link to a 104 page PDF file that exceeds 1 MB in size. Thanks for sharing with us, Craig.”
For the active link, visit
Source: Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog, 16 August 2006
Posted by Tom Collins: “I have seen many different case management solutions. All of them were pretty good. Many law firms have already invested in specialized commercial case management products, yet many have not. Unfortunately, I have seen too many law firms who, after investing significantly in a case management system, never really got it off the ground.
Case management isn’t a piece of software. If you are a practicing lawyer, you are managing your cases. Case management software is just a tool for doing so, but so are file folders and day timers. So is the Microsoft® Office Suite including Outlook® — which, if the truth be told, is the most widely used software by law firms for organizing and managing law firm cases.
The ideal objective is to automate as much of the case activity as one can. That is really what case management is all about—making the process for handling each case as routine, intuitive, and automatic as possible. The more homogenous your practice is, the more likely you are going to be able to accomplish that objective. The more diverse your practice, the tougher it will be to get everyone using the same set of specialized tools.
Trying to fit different specialized practice areas on the same set of case management tools can create inefficiencies rather than efficiency. You always need to keep the objective in mind. The objective is to be able to handle the practice area more efficiently. To that end, you may need different tools for different folks. There is no requirement that everyone use the same case management tool. For example, the litigation group may use a product like Legal Files, while the real estate group goes in a completely different direction, and still others may use Outlook. I should note that Juris is an example of a law firm business system that will connect to multiple case management solutions, including Outlook, even within the same law firm. So it isn’t necessary to give up integration if multiple case management products are appropriate in your particular firm.
In many respects, any tool you use for case management is a blank sheet of paper. To successfully implement case management, you have to be committed to training and investing the resources to set up the system to fit your practice areas. You have to continue to invest to keep your system fine-tuned to those needs. It is not something you just take out of the box and start using. What comes out of the box is just the beginning.
Do you need a case management system? Unquestionably, you do. Do you need a commercial case management system, or are you better off using a combination of general purpose tools to develop your case management solution? That is a better question. It is the objective that is important. The tools you use to get there are less important than just getting there. You need to look at the commercial products related to your particular needs and firm culture. You need to research the existing case management capabilities and limitations of your business software in combination with other software such as document management, file management, Microsoft’s Office Suite, etc. You may not be using the case management tools you already have through the connective capability of your existing software.
The commercial case management system that best fits your firm will vary depending on your size and the character of your law firm. To varying degrees, they include the following functions:
Ö Client intake information including billing arrangement etc.
Ö Case information: contacts, counsels, experts, witnesses, facts, dates, issues, strategies, etc.
Ö Calendaring, docketing, reminders, to-do lists
Ö Conflict searches
Ö E-mails and internal documents related to the case
Ö Discovery documents
Ö Notes
Ö Templates of case related information used for document assembly or preparation
Today you have powerful case management tools and comprehensive commercial products to choose from. The tool you use isn’t as important as the effort you put into the task.
When considering the addition of case management software, find out what systems work with your law firm business systems. You want the back office and front office systems working together. If you are a Juris law firm, most of the popular case management systems connect to Juris. Juris also works with Microsoft Outlook. It even expands Outlook’s capabilities for activity tracking and docketing. Many of the commercial case management vendors are members of the Juris Alliance Network as Technology Partners."
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: morepartnerincome, 29 August 2006
Posted by Evan Schaeffer: “When lawyers try to communicate with jurors, they risk condescending to them. It's easy to do. Just think of the way lawyers are always setting up a dichotomy between "lawyers" and "people who aren't lawyers." It's exactly what I'm doing in this post. If a prospective juror were to read it, I'd expect him to respond, "How condescending!"
If you don't understand why that would be a proper response, let me tell you a story. I was reminded what it felt like to be a "person who isn't a lawyer" just the other day. I was cleaning up some old notebooks from the basement. I found one that I'd filled up in July 1987. It happened to be the summer before law school and I was reading Karl Llewellyn's Bramble Bush. On a page titled "Words I've Looked Up," I'd written out long definitions to terms like "tort," "strict liability," "negligence," and "demurrer."
When I reread this page the other day, I was a little shocked. There was a time I didn't know what a tort was? Not only that, but it wasn't that long ago. It was so recently, in fact, that I remember lots of details about that summer. Most pertinent to this post, I remember what it felt like to be just a regular person--one of those "people who's not a lawyer."
To put it another way, I remember what it was like to be a typical juror. Here's the key: I wasn't stupid. Despite my lack of legal education, I happened to be damn smart--smarter that I am today, I'm pretty sure. My only failing was that I hadn't yet been indoctrinated into that cozy group of professionals who knew the meaning of words like tort, strict liability, negligence, and demurrer, and who sometimes looked down at those who didn't.
I think you get the point. Try it yourself. By thinking back to a time before law school, you too might be able to get in touch with your inner regular person. I'm certain you'll find that he was smart, articulate, and intellectually engaged. He probably had a wealth of personal experience. If a snotty lawyer had stood up in front of him and said that he was going to "attempt to keep things simple" so that "even a non-lawyer could understand"--well, your inner regular person probably would have been a tad offended. He'd probably have asked the lawyer to get the hell off his pedestal and start acting like a regular person.
And he would have been right. The next time you're talking to a jury, remember that.”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.”
Source: The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, 15 August 2006
Posted by Tom Collins: “BTI Consulting Group, a leading provider of market research, reported that the “Best In Class” law firms had in common the following practices.
1. Each has a single individual responsible and accountable for client service performance
2. They make specific changes in response to client feed back
3. These firms spend $14,000 to $17,000 per attorney on marketing
4. They have a formal, written strategy - i.e., plan
5. They track and measure client retention.
The above five practices together with seven more comprise the 12 Power Marketing Practices that BTI identified as those that are producing pace-setting performance among law firms. Based on their research, law firms that follow the majority of the twelve practices experience a significantly higher per-partner profit over those that do not. You can order their complete report or read an overview of the twelve practices in The Atlanta Bar Association’s The Complete Lawyer.”
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: morepartnerincome, 28 August 2006
Posted by Evan Schaeffer: “Here's a recent electronic discovery column worth reading: "Ten Blunders That Stop E-Discovery Cold," by Craig Ball in Law Technology News.
Read the whole thing, but if you're too busy, simply read blunder #10:
10. You kid yourself that we don't need to learn this stuff.
OK, you went to law school because you didn't know enough technology to change the batteries on a remote control. This English major feels your pain. But we can't very well try lawsuits without discovery, and we can't do discovery today without dealing with electronically stored information.
You don't want to work through an expert forever, do you? So, we have to learn enough about EDD to advise clients about preservation duties, production formats, de-duplication, review tools, search methodologies and the other essential elements of e-discovery. Our clients deserve no less.
A little preachy, I suppose, but right. Many lawyers aren't doing enough when it comes to e-discovery. If that means you, perhaps you should take the time to read all of Ball's column.”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.”
Source: The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, 17 August 2006
Posted by Allison C. Shields: “There's a great little piece in this week's ABA Journal e-Report on a Philadelphia law firm that's using kids' art to create a welcoming atmosphere for both employees and clients.
The law firm of Cohen, Seglias, Pallas, Greenhall and Furman in Philadelphia has collected the artwork of employees' children, framed it, and hung it in the office lobby. Not only does the artwork allow proud parents to display their childrens' work and feel a part of the firm, but it sends a message that the firm cares about its employees and their families. The display sets a tone for the firm and puts clients at ease.
I think this is a fabulous idea for improving communication and morale within the firm, and fostering an atmosphere in which people feel connected to one another and the firm. The message to clients is that this is a firm that cares about people. It's a win-win for the firm, and it's part of what will set this firm apart - it's a display of their personality.
The firm's website notes their commitment to quality of life issues for attorneys, and the display of children's art in their office is an example of that. (As an aside, I think it would be even better if their site had some pictures of the art gallery to continue that warm atmosphere into their web presence).
This example just goes to show that what differentiates you from your competition doesn't always have to be something directly or traditionally related to your practice or how you deliver your services - sometimes it's just an expression of the firm's personality and the kind of people that work at your firm. I have no doubt that the art gallery at the firm will reap benefits far beyond what the firm initially envisioned when they embarked on this project.
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: Legal Ease Blog, 25 August 2006
M. Morrison writes: “Selfhelpsupport.org is a collaborative project among multiple groups including the National Center for State Courts, Legal Services Corporation, the Chicago-Kent College of Law and Pro Bono.net. Dating from 2003, the project was originally funded by the State Justice Institute. The website is designed to be “a virtual meeting place for people involved with providing pro se assistance or directing pro se and self help programs.” The site is intended for courts, lawyers, and other advocates, and most of the site’s offerings require free membership. Members can use the site for information-sharing and professional networking. The main feature of the site is an ever-growing library of materials from pro se programs from around the country. Content includes scanned documents and links to articles and reports. The material is extensive and the site map provides well-organized access. Materials include statistical reports, ethics materials, training materials, and substantive law items covering topics from custody, to landlord/tenant to probate.”
Source: InSITE, 28 August 2006
Posted by Jim Calloway: “I want to share something with you that has been working very well for me for the last several weeks. I'm not suggesting it for all of you as it deals with both my needs and my failings.
Let me start out by saying that I am not one of those hyper-organized types that make for good legal secretaries and administrative assistants. I think that I'm pretty well organized, for a lawyer, but I have to watch myself to avoid lapsing back into the old habits of using piles of paper to organize.
When I was in private practice and used paper systems, I always thought that organizing brief banks or form banks was a challenge as it was always difficult to figure out the appropriate level of categorization and subfiles. I've created a folder on my computer called "My Library." I still use other folders for specific projects, but this folder is for things written by others that I decided to save for any reason. It is all articles and essays. Some are scanned, but most are printed from web pages with Adobe Acrobat. I can use desktop search to locate things in the folder and am building quite a collection which all can be full text searched. It also allows me to stay focused when working on an online project. If I stumble across something interesting, I do not stop to read it, but grab it for later use and return to the present matter.
Here's my method. It is quite simple. When I find a great article online (or one I don't have time to read now, but might want to later) I carefully look to see if there is a printer-friendly version. Often there is. Then I print it to PDF using Adobe Acrobat. I give it a name like "PowerPoint Woes by Bob Smith August 2006" which is often not the name of the article.
If I have a spare moment, I might check to see if there are any recently saved articles I haven't read. But, even if I haven't read them yet, I am building a collection and because it is a digital file, I may find something there months from now as a result of a desktop search.
Bottom line is that I now save articles to My Library every week. My rate of saving articles is more than it used to be when I tried to organize by topic. I may delete an article after reading it weeks later. Many lawyers may not have a need to read many online articles. But it works for me and might work for some of you. Save the digital info today and figure out the details later. Some of you might be able to use this to organize your online reading of recreational topics, too.”
Other good ideas can be found at Jim blog site at
Source: Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog, 27 August 2006
Posted by Tom Mighell: “I've long been a fan of search tool Rollyo, which allows you to create your own "search rolls" that specifically target the web sites you want to search. Now they've gone one step better and introduced the Rollbar Bookmarklet. Just drag the link up to the Links bar of your browser. Then when you're at a site you want to search, just click on the Rollbar, enter your search terms, and Rollyo will search that particular site for your terms. This is a great tool for sites that have no search feature, or a bad search feature.”
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Inter Alia, 21 August 2006
The ResourceShelf staff posted: “The SBA podcasts provide an introduction to various small business topics, and will deliver business information and advice for new and established entrepreneurs on all aspects of starting, expanding and financing a small business, as well as business protection. The current list of podcasts includes the following subjects:
• Is Entrepreneurship for You?
• The SBA Small Business Training Network — Log On!
• Selecting a Business that Fits
• Disaster Preparedness for Business Owners
• Financing a Small Business
Download free from the SBA podcast library. New podcasts will be added monthly.
[Their] Source: U.S. Small Business Administration.”
For the active link, go to
Source: The ResourceShelf, 27 August 2006
Posted By Rob Millard: “Seth Godin has a post titled Thinking About Snakes on a Plane that makes a very important point:
Having everybody know who you are is something very different to having everybody want to buy what you're selling.
For those that missed the hype surrounding the movie, the makers used the internet to get feedback on some scenes and invited those that provided input to a highly publicized pre-release premier. A new, innovative and interesting idea. But the result? Disappointment at the box office. Not much likelihood of an Oscar nomination either.
Maybe it will become a hit when it is released as a DVD. Crappy movies sometimes do.
The same cannot be said of professional services, of course. Crappy service seldom gets a 'second chance.' So much for spending huge effort on name recognition, either. Far better to devote that effort to identifying your key clients and treating them like royalty.”
For active links, visit
Source: Adventures in Strategy, 23 August 2006
Posted by Patrick Lamb: “I've written before about the importance of clear, crisp, distinctive writing when recording time, using entries to tell a persuasive story. The entry is here. Tom Collins has a terrific post making the point in a more compelling manner. Tom writes the morepartnerincome.com blog. As Tom reminds us:
There is one thing that you send to your client that is certain to be studied in detail—your bill. Use it to show professionalism and customer care. This will convey value and develop the kind of trust that earns you more business and referrals.
I know from my personal experience reviewing the bills of other lawyers that terse, shorthand entries are the ones most likely to be questioned. Time entries should tell a story about what you were doing, why you were doing and what you found or what you generated.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: In Search of Perfect Client Services, 16 August 2006
Posted by: John Jantsch: “You know you need to be found online locally right?
I've been preaching it on this blog for years and now even the Yellow Pages Association is suggesting that offline Yellow Pages use is dropping.
Found this stat at Marking Vox and just thought I would use it as a reason for a friendly reminder.
Your local Internet strategy in 3 steps: (Actually this is the bare minimum but it's a good start)
1. Create an education based content web site
2. Sprinkle local (towns, suburbs, address) content throughout and in your page titles
3. Register with the local search directories (Google Maps, YahooLocal, AOLLocal, Windows Live Local)
By the way, I will be in Denver on September 28th covering the Search Engine Strategies Local Search event. If you plan to attend I hope we can chat.”
Active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Duct Tape Marketing, 24 August 2006
Posted by Dennis Kennedy: “What is your innovation style? One theory suggests that there are four styles of innovators.
The Innovation Tools blog has a post called "New tool for innovation team design: Innovation Styles Online" that discusses and points to a great website, InnovationStyles, with some tests and other tools, that will help you determine your innovation style and learn more about innovation styles, how to recognize them and the role of styles in teams.
Near the bottom of the post on Innovation Tools, you'll find a link called "Discover your own innovation style (through October 31, 2006)" that will let you take an online test to determine your innovation style. Try it out.
Those who know me probably won't be too surprised that I fell under the Exploring style.”
For active links, go to
Source: DennisKennedy.com, 21 August 2006
From the site: “Is Asia the next frontier for American lawyers? And is it going to be a boom or a bust? Join Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi as they explore the American lawyer in Asia. Coast to Coast welcomes our experts, Michael Shimokaji, from the law firm of Shimokaji & Associates, P.C and Jay Ponazecki, attorney for Morrison Foerster, Tokyo. Don't miss this one.
Click the play button (or choose another way to listen).
>>Play in Windows Media Player
>>Download the MP3”
Active links to download or listen to the podcast are available at the source site listed below.
Source: The Legal Talk Network, 18 August 2006 [Scroll Down]
In the news: “In a recent case where a bartender brought a Title VII sex discrimination claim over her employer's requirement that female employees wear makeup, the 9th Circuit held that dress and grooming policies may be the basis of sex stereotyping claims. That ruling enlarged the scope of appearance policy challenges but left employers in the dark over the difference between a "sex stereotype" and a "community standard." For confused employers, flexibility may be one way to avoid lawsuits over appearance policies.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 25 August 2006. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Grant Griffiths: “Ben Stevens has just started a great new blog called "The Mac Lawyer". The description is simple and short, "using Macs in the Practice of Law." For those of us that use Macs, we wonder why all lawyers don't. Take a look at Ben's great new blog and see what you can do with a Mac in your law office.
This is Ben's first post and an indication of why he decided to take the time to publish this blog:
After several weeks in development, I am pleased to begin publishing this new blog, The Mac Lawyer. While there are many excellent legal technology blogs online, none are specifically devoted to using Macs in the law office. I hope that this blog will become a useful resource for its readers, and I look forward to bringing it to you. If you have any comments, tips, suggestions, etc. that you would like me to address in future posts, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks.”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: Home Office Lawyer, 24 August 2006
Tara writes: “Yahoo now has an API available for its Yahoo Answers service. The Answers service itself is at http://answers.yahoo.com/ , while the API is available at http://developer.yahoo.com/answers/ .
The Answers services vary a lot in how useful they are. I don't like Yahoo Answers so much because there's a lot of stuff you have to wade through if you're doing any kind of serious research. I'm not a big fan of Google Answers either. The forced delineation between questioners and answerers feels strange. (I know you don't have to be an answerer to make a comment on a question.) On the other hand, the money barrier means that the signal to noise ratio is much better.
I find of all the Ask-the sites out there I tend to prefer the Librarian/Reference type sites (it's scary how many states now have Ask-A-Librarian
services) and Ask Metafilter. AskMeFi because it tends to have interesting questions and thoughtful answers. (And occasionally, granted, whacked-out questions and lunatic answers.) Many of these sites also have archives of asked questions, making them fun to mine even when current questions aren't interesting.
Question: If I made a search engine just for the domains of "Ask-An-X" type sites, would anybody use it?
Back to the Yahoo Answers API. The API allows developers to access Yahoo Answers content in several ways, including searching for questions and answers by keyword, search by a specific Yahoo Answers user, and search according to category.
You will need an application ID to make use of the API, and you will be limited to 5,000 queries per IP per day per API. There's a demo query box on the developer page that you can play with a little bit.”
Source: ResearchBuzz #384. 24 August 2006. Copyright 2006. Tara Calishain. Subscribe <http://www.researchbuzz.com/>.
Posted by Sue Altmeyer: “An unofficial copy of your own driving record can be viewed at Ohio BMV Website. See BMV Allows Driving Records To Be Viewed Online, Newsnet 5, August 18, 2006.
Active links can be viewed from the source sited below.
Source: Cleveland Law Library Blog, 23 August 2006
Genie Tyburski posts: “If you travel on business with a laptop, security should be an important concern. Wireless networks at airports, hotel and cafes are notoriously insecure. Hackers with packet sniffers -- software that captures data that travels between a laptop and the wireless access point -- could have a field day caching everything from business documents to passwords entered to gain access to secure Web sites.
If you work on business documents or conduct e-commerce transactions outside a VPN, or virtual private network, you might want to look into buying an extra layer of security. The article offers several suggestions.
RELATED: HotSpotVPN
(Click on the image in the upper right-hand corner to watch a recording of packet-sniffing in action.)
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: TVC Alert Research News, 24 August 2006, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=aug06/24aug06.xml
In the news: “Litigation boutiques argue that they provide better value than larger firms by offering individualized service, the specific expertise needed to win cases and a variety of payment options. "At the large firms, often what is heard is a large sucking sound," says attorney Steven Schwarzberg. "There are lots and lots of fees, but not a lot of results." And while larger firms can structure their litigation departments to mimic boutiques, boutiques seem to have a mystique that big law firms can't match.”
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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 24 August 2006. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Allison C. Shields: “…the barriers to entry on the Internet are few, but the world is very large, and it’s very, very hard to get noticed….how will you get people to know you are out there, and get them to come back to you[?]”
This quote came from a lawyer skeptical about how blogs work for lawyers. He’s not alone. Although lots of lawyers have embraced blogs, websites and the internet, others don’t think the internet will work for them – or don’t use it to their best advantage.
If you want people to know you’re out there and keep them coming back, offer excellent content and keep reminding them about you and how you can help solve their problems. Your website can’t just sit there if you want to be noticed. I’m no SEO expert, but I’d suggest contacting one to see how they can help you drive traffic to your site, whether it’s a ‘traditional’ site or a blog. Beyond that, here are some suggestions:
1. Put your web address on all of your marketing materials, in your email signature block, and in all of the places you’d put your other contact information. Where appropriate, make reference to specific areas of your site, or articles of interest.
2. Market your website offline as well as online. Drive traffic to your site by networking, writing articles, and speaking. At each one of these events, make sure you let participants know your web address. Give them a reason for visiting.
3. Practice ‘education marketing’ – make sure that your website and your other marketing materials provide value to those in your target market. Educate them about your area of practice. Let them know that you know what their needs are, and that you have a solution that will benefit them.
4. Remember the ‘so what’ rule – for everything you write on your website, stand in your clients’ and potential clients’ shoes. As you’re reading, ask yourself ‘so what?’ Why should your clients or potential clients care about what you’re saying? Focus on what’s in it for them, and speak in their language – using a lot of technical legal terms will confuse your readers, and they may not come back.
5. Make sure to have not only good content, but current content, on your site. If you want people to come back, they have to have a reason to think there will be something new for them when they return. Offer them something THEY want – be a resource for your target market. Become the place to go for people who are seeking answers in your area of concentration.
6. Links build your page ranking and get you noticed by search engines. To get others to link to your site, whether it’s a blog or a ‘traditional’ website, contact others who have a presence on the internet in your area or complementary areas and let them know about your site. Post comments on blogs and leave your web url in the comment.
7. Don't try to be all things to all people - carve out your niche. To get noticed, you have to be different than everyone else out there. Showcase your unique talents, skills and personality. Make sure web visitors know why you are the one that understands their particular problem.
8. Make your site pleasing to the eye and easy for visitors to navigate and to read. Use headlines, sub-headlines, photos and other visuals. Don’t make paragraphs too long.
9. You can’t just market your website once, when you first put it up – it’s a continuing effort. Build a list of contacts. There’s nothing more valuable than your list. Have some way for visitors to ‘register’ with your site or sign up for your list by offering a newsletter or other free information. Then you can continue to stay in the forefront of their minds by sending them information periodically and updating them on the new information your site offers to keep them coming back.
10. Provide a way for web visitors to contact you to ask questions or start a conversation. Get their feedback on your site and on what you’re offering so you can continue to provide what your target is looking for.
The world is big, and the internet is growing at warp speed. But you can carve out an area of the internet that people will visit over and over. And you don't have to be one of the 'big guys' to do it.
Source: Legal Ease Blog, 22 August 2006
From the e-newsletter: “Allan Keiter awoke one recent morning to the scary news that his Atlanta company's website was nearly impossible to find on a Google search. MyRatePlan.com helps consumers compare cellular calling plans. Until that morning, the site had often ranked in the top-ten nonpaid results for search terms such as "free cell phones" and "family plans." And like thousands of other businesses, Keiter's company relied on free Google searches to drive customers its way.
http://rd.findlaw.com/scripts/nl.pl?url=11563164002_nl
More About Search Engine Marketing”
Source: FindLaw’s PRACTICE PAPER 23 August 2006. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
Genie Tyburski posts: “This lengthy article, which also appears in the September issue of Fortune Small Business, examines the impact Google may have on new or small companies. If a company depends on attracting new customers via its Web site, then its positioning in the search results may make or break it.
Just when you think you have the company well-positioned or "optimized," the rules change. But what small business owners may fail to understand is that Google, too, is reacting to change. Information is Google's core business and it is subject to constant change.
"If Google has its way, every word ever written and every image ever created will one day be cataloged on its servers. From a business-PR perspective, that means good press will show up in search results. So will corporate scandal coverage, leaked proprietary information, bad product reviews, blogger rants-you name it. As the volume of searchable information swells, advertisers will increasingly find themselves in a bind. As night follows day, embarrassing content will pop up next to their ads."
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: TVC Alert Research News, 24 August 2006, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=aug06/24aug06.xml
From the blog: "Blogosphere commentary on yesterday's bombshell tax decision in Murphy v. United States, No. 03cv02414 (D.C. Cir. 8/22/06) (blogged here):
• Appellate Law & Practice: CADC: § 104 Unconstitutional as Applied to Emotional Distress and Loss of Reputation:
It is pretty rare to see a tax provision struck down on constitutional grounds. Even rarer to see one which goes to the theoretical question of income.
• Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA), ProfessorBainbridge.com: This One's for the Tax Nuts:
Let 1000 lawsuits bloom. Evey tax nut in the country is probably getting ready to file suit challenging some tax or another using Murphy as a template.
• Will Baude (UConn Law Student), Crescat Sententia: Is the Internal Revenue Code Unconstitutional?:
[M]y favorite case in Federal Income Tax was Eisner v. Macomber, since I frankly found the boundaries of Congress's taxing authority far more interesting than hair-splitting about life insurance, sale-lease-backs, or the characterization of loss. So I am quite interested to see . . . that the D.C. Circuit has declared a small portion of the Internal Revenue Code to exceed Congress's power to tax income.
• Orin Kerr (George Washington), The Volokh Conspiracy: Constitutional Limits on the Power to Tax:
I know essentially nothing about the Sixteenth Amendment, but it will be interesting to see if the SG petitions for certiorari in this case (assuming it doesn't go en banc). I suspect the Supreme Court would take the case.