Tuesday, April 08, 2003

 
The New Yahoo Search Engine

From the site: Tara Calishain, Gary Price and Chris Sherman comment on Yahoo's new search interface and capability. Tara highlights some of the differences between Yahoo and Google. Google still powers the Yahoo search feature. She also defines the new syntax. Gary remarks on a few changes. Note especially #6 concerning the retrieval of one item per domain. Chris highlights some of the new features, which include "shortcuts" for retrieving maps, phone numbers, weather and news.
From: TVC Alert 8 April 2003
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MS Word “Exclude” Dictionary

Some strange letter combinations, like "mw" are passed up by MS Word 2000. If you come across a letter combination or word that Word thinks is a correct spelling, you may want to check out dictionary.com to see why it is included in the dictionary, then head this
Microsoft Knowledge Base article on how to create an "exclude dictionary". “Although not intuitive, it's pretty easy to set up and now Word flags mw as a misspelling.”
From: The LangaList Standard Edition 2003-04-07
SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): Create and send a new email to (subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net)

Can a Lady Own a Law Firm? Own A Law Firm?

Carolyn Elefant writes: This previous post discussed some of the factors possibly explaining the disproportionately low number of women in the personal injury field. Seems that women are disproportionately represented elsewhere - both as solos and particularly as owners of larger practices as reported in this piece, Despite Law School, Women Owned Firms Remain Rarities, Sheri Qualters (3/28/03). The article reports that:

Data from the legal placement organization shows that only 36 percent of the lawyers from the class of 2001 who opted to start a solo practice were women, which is only a slight uptick from the 33 percent reported by the class of 1997.

By way of explanation for the disparity, the article posits that:

Women may be more risk-averse when it comes to starting their own firms, said Ellen Carpenter, a shareholder at Boston-based law firm Roach & Carpenter PC. "It's a big step to start your own business," Carpenter said. "There may be some of that at play, or they may think they won't be able to generate business.
Still, the article profiles a few inspiring stories of women who have succeeded in founding their own firms such as Sara Goldsmith Schwartz of Schartz and Hannum and Ellen Carpenter of Roach and Carpenter. These women's law practices sound exciting enough that they should motivate other women to go out and hang out a shingle as well.
From: MyShingle.com April 06, 2003
posted by Nancy Tuesday, April 08, 2003

Monday, April 07, 2003

 
National Archives Provides Database of 50 Million Historic Records

From the site: CNN reported the availability to the public of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Access to Archival Databases System (AAD) in this April 5 article. The database was actually released on February 12, and represents a substantial e-gov program to provide a single user interface for researchers to facilitate searching, retrieving and dowloading approximately 50 million online records created by 20 federal government agencies that currently comprise 350 databases. The plan calls for an expansion to include data from 500 databases.
From beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
April 7, 2003
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Search Privacy At Google & Other Search Engines
By Danny Sullivan, Editor of The Search Engine Report, April 2, 2003

From the site: Danny Sullivan explains what Google tracks with cookies and why there is no current threat to your privacy.
From: TVC Alert 7 April 2003
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GPO Access Changes Their URL (web address)

From the site: GPO Access, a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office, has a new Web address. GPO Access provides access to federal legislation and related documents, the United State Code, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Government Manual and more.
From: TVC Alert 7 April 2003
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Top Ten Ways Your Firm's Employees Can Improve Your Marketing
By David Rodnitzky April 2003

From the article: Have you noticed that everyone thinks that they're marketing experts? Few people who aren't lawyers would claim that they could successfully argue a motion in court, and fewer still would want to attempt a triple-bypass surgery unless they had completed the requisite years of medical school and residency. Yet, when it comes to marketing, people feel free to talk at length about their opinions, regardless of whether these opinions are based on any experience or schooling…

So what should a marketer do when he or she is constantly approached by good-intentioned co-workers with suggestions on how to improve the marketing? My advice is simple: listen! A lot of the suggestions may be silly, but you're also likely to hear some ideas that you would have never come up with yourself.
Here are ten reasons to not only listen to employee suggestions about marketing, but to proactively solicit advice!
1. Brand Perception
2. Web Site Usability
3. A Non-Marketing Perspective
4. Catch Mistakes
5. The First 30 Days Rule
6. The Word on the Street
7. The Word in the Field
8. The Best Rainmakers are Educated Rainmakers
9. Happy Lawyers = Happy Marketing Team
10. Learn the Trade
From: FindLaw's MODERN PRACTICE: A Monthly Publication On Law Practice & Technology
April 2003 Issue #11
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Thin Client Markets
By Albert Kassis, Esq. April 2003

From the site: On any given day, there will be very few potential clients seeking to engage lawyers or law firms that practice in the area of law that your firm handles. So many law firms vying for so little attention results in a "Thin Client Market." How, then, does a law firm cast the biggest net to capture these potential clients on any particular day? And how does a law firm stand out against other firms in a particular practice within a particular geography?

Find the answers to these and other important questions.
From: THE PRACTICE PAPER: A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq. April 2, 2003 Issue # 128
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posted by Nancy Monday, April 07, 2003

Saturday, April 05, 2003

 
I really must apologize for missing yesterday and for returning to the old blog platform. I am in sunny South Carolina again visiting my beautiful daughter and her husband. This morning was the 26th Annual Cooper River Bridge Race which my daughter and I ran together - it was SUPER! Beautiful views of Charleston and the activity on the river. We finish in front of over 4,000 runners, but I'm NOT telling how many finished before us! This was our first time and our game plan was just FINISH and set a baseline for next year. We have a nice low bar to hurtle next year!!!

Now on with the news - Oh yea, I'm on Blogger again because Movable Type wanted a log on and password which I forgot to bring down with me. I'll move all this to MT as soon as I get back to rainy,cold Ohio!!

Blog for Solos and Small Firms

From the site: Fellow Washingtonian Carolyn Elefant has a new blog, My Shingle, "for and about solos and small firms."

This content rich site includes an On-Line Guide to Creating A Law Practice and a featured report, The Bars, Reviewed that surveys state bar and ABA services and materials available for solos and small law firms.
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news” By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net 18 Feb 2003

Software for Solos and Small Firms

From the site: If you just want to search in the contents of word processing files, you might want to check out SleuthHound. It handles Microsoft Word documents out of the box, and a plug-in can be used to access WordPerfect docs, as well. Depending on how many of your people will use it, you may want to look into either the per-person 'Pro' version ($99/person with WordPerfect plug-in), or go with the 'Intranet Sleuthhound' ($145 + $14/person). It's not clear how plug-in costs figure into the 'Intranet' package, but I assume they'd be happy to discuss that with you.

They also offer a free 30-day trial download, so you can check it out for yourself.

David Brandt, legal tech consultant
E: mailto:david@davidbrandt.com
From TechnoLawyer’s Answers to Questions on Oct 3

Thread Tracker 0.8.7

From the site: Many people working with computers find themselves joining any number of online forums, and this helpful application will help them keep track of their posts and responses. Essentially, Thread Tracker notifies users when replies have been made to their posts and threads. After entering a user name, the application will list the user's most recent posts and count the replies that have been made so far. Users can also send queries to the software development team, along with any other comments or suggestions. Thread Tracker 0.8.7 is compatible with all systems running Mac OS X and higher. [KMG]
From: The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/ Volume 9, Number 13 April 4, 2003
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News Desk

From the site: Easily customized for a variety of preferences, News Desk is a helpful way to stay in touch with hundreds of news sources. The application is a RSS headline reader, reading headlines from thousands of sources in 25 different languages. Users can search for headlines with keyword searches and age filters, along with the ability to send headlines using emails. The program's main Web site also feature five tutorials that assist users who want to utilize the full capabilities of the application. News Desk is compatible with all systems running Windows 95 and higher.
From: The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/ Volume 9, Number 13 April 4, 2003
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posted by Nancy Saturday, April 05, 2003

Thursday, April 03, 2003

 
Invisible Web Resources

From the site: Search Systems: An Essential Directory of Public Record Databases. For some of you this week's resource is an old favorite. It's been online for several years and was first know as pacs-info.com. For those of you who don't know about this resource, it is worthy of a visit and bookmark. This searchable directory contains direct links to over 13,000 public record databases from the U.S., Canada and other countries. Most of these databases are free to access. It's also worth pointing out that a great deal of the material in these databases resides on the Invisible, Deep, or Hidden web (pick the term that works for you). In other words, the only way to access the content is to use the interface from the specific database.

Here are a few other directories for government data that might be of value to you.

NETROnline (Public Records Online) A collection focusing on tax assessors' and recorders' offices.
Federal Agencies Directory (U.S.) From the library at Louisiana St. University.
From: The ResourceShelf Thursday, April 03, 2003

Something New from Google News

From the site: A small tweak at Google News makes searching for material from a specific source easier. Let's say you want to find material from the Chicago Tribune with the containing the keyword, Pentagon. Enter the terms, source first and the query will automatically rewrite itself with the syntax source:Chicago Tribune. This automatically limits your search to a single source. You are also given an option run a search on those specific terms. Note: In some cases the query will not auto rewrite itself but an option to limit to source is offered. For example: a search for the keyword train in The Guardian.
From: The ResourceShelf Friday, March 21, 2003

More Sources for Cached Web Pages

From the site: We're all aware of the fact that Google "caches" pages each time Googlebot comes through and crawls a web page. Caches are not permanent. The Wayback Machine an archive project does keep pages permanently) . Each page is "recached" each time the crawler visits the page. What gets by many people is that other web engines also cache web pages and could be useful in attempting to find a specific page that's either been removed from the web or its content has changed. Is any one source perfect? No. However, having multiple sources can be very useful. A few weeks ago I mentioned Fagan Finder's Page Information Viewer. It's a great tool to check various page info sources. It's also useful to check and see if the page has been cached by any/all of the following sources:
* Google
* Google News
* Daypop
* Yuntis (An experimental engine from State University of New York, Stonybrook)
* The Internet Archive (A PERMANENT source to over 10 billion captured web pages)

One More Point: Gigablast, another general web engine also caches web pages. Simply run your search and press the cache link or enter a url and see if the page is available. Gigablast also does a good job of listing the date the page was cached.

See Also: Fagan Finder Also Makes a Useful Tool "Site Info" Page. Look for the Link Labeled "Bookmarklet"
From: The ResourceShelf March 17, 2003

Teoma

From the site: Interview of Apostolos Gerasoulis and Steve Berkowitz of Jeeves/Teoma If you've been reading ResourceShelf over the past couple of year's know that we are very positive about Teoma (http://www.teoma.com/). Gerasoulis is VP of Research and Development at Ask.Com (Teoma's parent). He was also a member of the team at Rutgers who created Teoma (known as DiscoWeb at that time). Berkowitz is the President of Jeeves. This interview was conducted by James Mathewson of Computer User. Here's a portion of Gerasoulis response as he explains how Teoma is different than Google.

Mathewson: [Google] sort[s] results on the basis of the popularity of pages on the Web. If one site is hit more often than another, it will rank higher on the search results?

Gerasoulis: Here we do things a little differently than Google. Google counts hits without giving them any value. Everyone votes and no vote is weighted differently. We think better authority is defined by experts in the subject matter--these are the people who vote on which sites are the most authoritative, at run time. We call this subject-specific popularity. Once we have the results ranked by subject-specific popularity, we sort them into community clusters. This is the really interesting thing about Teoma 2.0. Every community uses words differently; they have different rules for the way the language is used. And community members even search for things differently using the same words. Let's say you type in "Apple," you might get results for Apple Computer, apple butter, apple picking, etc. These results will be grouped by their community meanings for the word apple. The user can narrow their search by the community they belong to.
From: The ResourceShelf Thursday, April 03, 2003
posted by Nancy Thursday, April 03, 2003

Tuesday, April 01, 2003

 
I promised myself that I would NOT stoop to the level of an April Fool, but the April Fool's Day Gallery is too good to miss!
I answered only 8 of the 16 quiz questions correctly; if you have a few minutes today, check it out!
From: Inter-Alia 1 April 2003

You might want to post this article on your firm's website!
Lawyers offer free services

Free legal services are being offered to Ohioans called into military service.

Lawyers include members of the Attorney General's Office, state legislators who are lawyers, and members of the Ohio Bar Association.

Rep. Timothy J. Grendell, Attorney General Jim Petro and Stephen Chappelear, president of the Ohio State Bar Association, have announced the expansion of the Patriot program, a pro bono program to help active duty military personnel and those in the reserves and National Guard.

"This program will benefit the men and women from Ohio who are protecting our constitutional freedoms by providing them with legal assistance while they focus on keeping America safe from terrorists and other threats," said Rep. Grendell, R-Chesterland.

Lawyers can help military families exercise their rights under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act. Legal assistance will also be available for wills, trusts, living wills, powers of attorney and durable powers of attorney for health care.

More than 140 members of the Attorney General's Office staff provide their services to the program.

To get help: 866-444-3577."
From: THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, Tuesday, April 1, 2003 Thanks to G Baker's e-mail! (GBaker9916@aol.com)

Come Interview Jay Foonberg!

Carolyn Elefant writes: “We at MyShingle.com are thrilled to announce that the first subject of our planned monthly e-mail interviews is none other than Jay Foonberg. For those of you who don't know, Jay is the acclaimed author of How to Start and Build A Legal Practice which most solo and small firm practitioners regard as the ultimate treatise on starting a firm. But this isn't just any basic interview - we would like you to submit the interview questions for Jay. We will compile the best of the bunch and send them on for the type of high quality and clever response that Jay regularly and generously provides.”
From: myshingle 30 March 2003

First Online-Only Law Journal Debuts

“Click on over to the Santa Clara Journal of International Law, a journal of the Santa Clara University School of Law. Available only online, and only for free. First issue published last Friday, March 28.”

From the site: “A unique feature of the Santa Clara Journal of International Law is its purely electronic format. The Journal Editors hope that the online format will facilitate broad range accessibility in a way that print media cannot. The web-based format will allow the Journal to stay current continuously by publishing articles that are timely rather than having to wait to publish periodic volumes. The editors also feel that the online format offers easier access and direct reference to other relevant online materials. The Journal will publish reviews and comments from a diverse representation of international scholars and hope that this format will reach readers across all borders.”
From: Bag and Baggage 1 April 2003

If you are not going to the ABA TechShow, check out Dennis Kennedy’s presentations on his blawg site. Some of the material is repeated in each presentation, but there is enough good and unique information in each to make them worth checking out!

“MY TECHSHOW HANDOUTS POSTED TO WEB (PDF)”

“I have now placed copies of my handouts for TechShow on my web site in PDF format. The first set is for a presentation called "Are Clients Driving Your IT Strategy?" and the second is "The Technology Manifesto: Working Closer With Your Business Partners."
From: DENNISKENNEDY.BLAWG 31 March 2003

“Corporate Scorecard: Top Practices in 2002” By Jim Schroeder
The American Lawyer
04-01-2003
From Law.com
posted by Nancy Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Monday, March 31, 2003

 
"War Means (Almost) Never Having to Say You're Sorry: Civilian Deaths and Official Apologies" By Joanne Mariner

“With apologies for the killing of civilians being scarce, it is unsurprising that compensation for such killings is even scarcer, and the criminal prosecution of the perpetrators is scarce still.”
From: FindLaw’s Writ: Legal Commentary
Issue #139, March 24 - March 28,2003
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"Law Blawgs All on One Page"“

Bob Helmer has created the Daily Whirl, a one-stop shop to see headlines from many of the lawyer and law blogs now available. The site also offers a lot of personalization options. Another good example of lawyers creatively using blogs and feeds.”
From: Dennis Kenndey.Blog: Legal Technology, Technology Law and Other Musings
26 March 2003

"Tomorrow's Tech"

ZDNet's Anchordesk "has a good collection of articles in a special report on personal technology choices that may help you make decisions about hardware, software, and services over the next 18 months."
From: Dennis Kenndey.Blog: Legal Technology, Technology Law and Other Musings
24 March 2003

"Courts by Zip Code!"
"In the continuing effort to bring our readers the lastest and best tools, we have just added an exclusive new feature to our site. It's called "Courts by Zip Code", created by the very talented Larry Staton. The Courts by Zip Code interface is just under the Law.com Dictionary on the left navigation bar. Larry created this tool to allow his firm to quickly determine what federal court to file law suits in across the country. And, he has agreed to make it available to the public through our site.

To use Courts by Zip Code, simply punch in the zip code you want to check, and use the drop down menu to define your search, which return results including the Federal Circuit, District, and Division, as well as the City and State that the zip code is for. The database will return the information you request. Please keep in mind that while the database is functioning, new data is being added on a daily basis, and some results may return no data, until the database is complete."
Posted by: Glenn K. Garnes, 24 March 03
ESQ Law Tech Weekly

"Malpractice Lessons: Secure Assets; Don't Wind Up Like Johnnie Cochran"

Carolyn Elefant writes: “Legal malpractice can happen to the best of us, as these articles demonstrate. But at least by reading these pieces, we can avoid the mistakes committed by a prominent Connecticut firm as well as famed lawyer Johnnie Cochran.” The first article Fairfield Law Firm Guilty of Malpractice, Daniel Tepfer, Bridgeport News (3/29/03) ”reports that a jury found a prominent law firm liable for more than one million dollars in a legal malpractice action filed by the firm's client, an NBA coach. But the firm neglected to secure the defendants' assets in prosecuting the suit so when the case came for trial there were no funds to pay a potential judgment.

Malpractice Lesson No. 1 - secure those assets before trial!

A second article, Cochran Faces Malpractice, by Fran Spielman Abdon Pallasch, Chicago Sun Times (3/28/03), “describes a legal malpractice suit against the famed Johnnie Cochran. Though the error - missing the statute of limitations for a medical malpractice case - was committed by a firm associated with Cochran and not Cochran himself, because Cochran would receive a referral fee for the matter, he can be held accountable for the other firm's malpractice under Illinois Law.

Malpractice Lesson No. 2 - know your jurisdiction's rules on liability with respect to referral fees and be very careful where applicable rules put you on the hook. A referral fee, no matter how large, won't outweigh the damage of a legal malpractice action.”
From: myshingle on 30 March 2003

"Free Speech Right Does Not Transfer to Attorney" By John Caher
New York Law Journal

”A citizen may have a right to address a public body, but that free speech right cannot be transferred to an attorney or other representative, a Northern District of New York federal judge has ruled.”
From: Law.com 03-31-2003
posted by Nancy Monday, March 31, 2003

Friday, March 28, 2003

 
Happy Friday to you all! If you happen to be a “boomer” like me, you will no doubt remember “Good Morning Star Shine” from the rock opera “Hair,” and the youngsters out there can relate to “E.T.” here. Now, you may well be asking yourself where I am headed with this, but read on….

N.M. Lawmakers OK Day Honoring ET Culture

SANTA FE, N.M. - Believers in space aliens, rejoice!

"New Mexicans can now celebrate every second Tuesday in February as "Extraterrestrial Culture Day" after a Roswell lawmaker's proposal won approval in the House.

Some lawmakers scoffed at the idea. But the sponsor of the memorial, Rep. Daniel Foley, R-Roswell, said life on other planets — if you believe in it — surely has its own set of cultural beliefs.

"They have some sort of culture, whether it's something we understand or not," he said.

The measure, approved Friday, claims extraterrestrials have contributed to recognition of New Mexico. The state has been associated with little green men for more than half a century, staring in 1947 with a purported UFO crash that came to be known as the Roswell Incident.

Foley suggests that a copy of the memorial be transmitted into space with the intent that it be received as a token of peace and friendship."

and…

"This just wasn’t Mr. Mason’s day in court. Not Perry Mason, Ray Mason.
This 40 year old stout fellow plead guilty to aggravated assault before
Judge Jim Parsons in Athens, Texas. His Honour - no doubt taking the plea of guilty into account as a mitigating factor - handed Mason a sentence of 8 years in jail. The judge’s magnanimity did not sit well with Mr. Mason, who thereupon turned around, dropped his pants and gave His Honour an astronomy lesson, to wit, shouting, “Hey judge, look at this.”

Judge Parsons was apparently not in the mood for lunar studies. He handed Ray an additional 6 months for contempt of court.

I feel the judge overreacted. He could have been more opulent and creative in his disposition, perhaps as follows:

“Mr. Mason. You are going to be spending the next 8 years in the penitentiary. I did ask you before sentence if you had anything to say. You said, “No judge, not at this time.” Moments later after handing down sentence you reversed yourself and invited the entire courtroom to watch a full moon. This novel sort of self expression should not go unnoticed. In fact, no doubt there are many lawyers in the community who would do the same thing you just did. Instead, they often come here and pepper me with boring legal submissions, citing cases like ‘The People v X’ or ‘The People v Y.’ Your own lawyer for that matter, following pronouncement of your sentence, uttered the words, “Thank you Your Honour.” I know what he really meant. At least you have been honest and forthright with the Court. You simply expressed what Charles Dickens said over a century ago, namely, ' the law is an ass.’ Your candour is a good start on your road to rehabilitation. Best of luck in your new location.”

After all, the punishment should fit the crime."

See “Man Moons Judge, Gets More Jail Time”
Both from: LEGAL HUMOUR NEWS – March 26, 2003
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Now for the serious…

“Outsourced legal writing: If it's used with caution, it can be a lifesaver” By Robert J. Ambrogi

“For lawyers in small firms or on tight deadlines, legal research and writing services can be lifesavers. But… they are not without flaws. And experts in legal ethics and professional liability warn that using them carries risks.”
From: Lawsites
March 18, 2003

“Judges May Decide Whether to Probe Pro Se Competence” By Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal
03-28-2003
“District court judges are not required to inquire without prompting into a pro se plaintiff's mental competence, even where there is evidence of bizarre behavior, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

Examining the scope of Rule 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as it concerns the appointment of guardians ad litem or other protective measures, the 2nd Circuit said judges have broad discretion in deciding whether to conduct an inquiry into the competence of indigent plaintiffs.”
From: Law.com: News
28 March 2003

Tips for Protecting Your Privacy on the Internet
"The article provides basic advice on how to navigate the Internet without leaving an obvious trail."
From: TVC Alert 27 March 2003
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posted by Nancy Friday, March 28, 2003

Thursday, March 27, 2003

 
Competitive Intelligence is so interesting and growing more important each day. Today’s first article is from Free Pint

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Internet Intelligence - Analysing Web-Sites for Competitive Intelligence" By Arthur Weiss and Steve England

Some interesting information from the site includes:
- “A good starting point for determining a company's Internet strategy is to examine the company's domain names. Thus, Network solutions "whois" service allows the entry of a company name and gives the first 50 web sites registered to the company. These names can indicate a variety of different things – from where the company hopes to expand, to how they perceive competitors.”
- “We also consider how the web site is being used and what corporate message is being relayed.”
- “A comparison between links going out of a site, and links to a site can highlight any reciprocal arrangements between different companies and web-sites.”
- “Most designers are now familiar with the concept of Meta Tags and these need to be checked to see how the site is attempting to promote itself. For example, it is becoming quite common for companies to include their competitors' names in the meta tags in the hope of being found when a surfer is actually looking for their competitor.”

STATES FAIL IN CYBERSECURITY PLANNING
“A new study from Zeichner Risk Analytics LLC, State Implementation of Cyber-Security Requirements (pdf) identifies 36 states that have failed to prepare for and implement appropriate cybersecurity measures as required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 to protect critical financial and information infrastructure from cyberattacks.”

You may be interested to know that Ohio falls under the Tier III category of states “with little or no cyber-security activity!”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net March 26, 2003
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NEXT-GENERATION E-MAIL
”Most law firms have long since incorporated e-mail as a standard form of communication with clients. With the introduction of LetterMark and eLawMarketing, ALL-STATE LEGAL, a leader in engraved and printed stationery, aims to help law firms integrate printed and electronic communications, including one-to-one e-mail stationery and one-to-many e-mail marketing. LetterMark enables you to create a firm-branded HTML e-mail template that any Outlook user can then use for e-mail correspondence.”

“The browser-based eLawMarketing service facilitates the creation of sophisticated permission e-mail marketing campaigns or the publishing of an e-mail newsletter. With eLawMarketing, you can track opens (the number of people who open your messages), click-throughs (the number of people who click on a link), and other important metrics. eLawMarketing also features a "Forward E-Mail" function that enables recipients to send the newsletter to others, thereby generating referrals and growing your subscriber base. LetterMark works with Outlook 98/2000/2002.”
Learn more about LetterMark
Learn more about eLawMarketing
From: TechnoLawyer NewsWire March 26, 2003
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posted by Nancy Thursday, March 27, 2003

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

 
Today I have found some interesting technology articles and sites and one article for frequent fliers. Enjoy and be informed!

“The Marion Brecher Citizen Access Project (CAP), from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is a "comparative guide to state laws controlling citizen access to government meetings and records." The project provides a growing database of information on public records that uses a 'sunshine' index rating scale (to indicate the level of public access) to categories of laws that are searchable by individual state, along with links to capsule explanations of specific provisions of the laws. Users may also choose to compare ratings for a specific law across all states, or review the treatment of specific provisions for each state.”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net March 25, 2003
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Courtrooms Go High Tech By Joel Zand
“When you step before a judge and jury these days, counselor, you're not in Perry Mason's courtroom anymore. In state and federal courts around the country, attorneys will find it easier to utilize audio, visual, and computer equipment to tell a story to juries. Whether you're trying a civil or criminal case, the impact that these tools may have on your case can be well worth the effort.”
From: Tools of the Trade
A FindLaw Monthly Law And Technology Resource, Edited by Joel Zand, Esq
March 2003, Issue # 2
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A Weblog for Legal Professionals Who Use Apple Macintosh Computers
From: Tools of the Trade
A FindLaw Monthly Law And Technology Resource, Edited by Joel Zand, Esq
March 2003, Issue # 2
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LawGuru.com Legal Term Dictionary
"LLN is told that The Legal Dictionary provides free access to a large database of 6700+ common (and not so common) legal terms and definitions. Terms and definitions can either be searched via a search box or can be browsed alphabetically. Search results are displayed in a simple and clear fashion.

They have also created a FindLegalForms.com site and have added dozens of new categories of legal forms, including: Leases, Bills of Sale, Rental Applications, Power of Attorney forms, Promissory Notes, Real Estate forms, Affidavits, Confidentiality Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Releases and much more."
From: Law Librarians News
Issue 28 March 21 2003
e-mail newsletter, to subscribe contact Sean Hocking of Law Librarians News at lawlibnews@ozemail.com.au

Next week I am flying to Charleston, SC to run the Cooper River Bridge Race with my daughter and about 20,000 other runners, and plan to take my laptop to work on the long flight - it is not the miles for me, but the layovers! You cannot get from Akron-Canton to Charleston with at least one layover. I took the cheap flight and have two, for a total of 3+ hours each way! (We do not get paid much!)

If YOU fly a lot, you will find a lot of great tips by reading:
"Balancing Life and Practice: Flying High And Working Hard” By Joe Sharkey The New York Times
From: TechnoLawyer’s TechnoRelease Tuesday March 25, 2003
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

 
I do believe that it is finally Spring in Ohio! It will probably snow tomorrow!

Last month, the Legally Speaking newsletter’s lead article was on Competitive Intelligence and the first item I would like to bring to your attention is…

Resource for Competitive Intelligence Research

"Today's Search Day highlights a free resource on market data from subscription-based Dun & Bradstreet, called ZapaData (requires free registration). This site would no doubt prove useful to those conducting competitive intelligence research, as it searches a database of 14 million business records to compile company reports.".
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net, March 24, 2003
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The second item is one that you probably already know about and even use, but for the beginners I thought I’d mention it because it is an important resource.

Library of Congress Law Library

"The featured research center on the Library of Congress Today is the Law Library of Congress. It is worth noting this especially useful collection and the expertise of the professionals who work there: "The mission of the Law Library is to provide research and legal information to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Federal Courts and Executive Agencies, and to offer reference services to the public. It contains the world's largest collection of law books and other resources from all countries and provides digitized information with online databases and guides to legal information worldwide."
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net, March 24, 2003
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There is a very good article in Law.com about the ethical problems which arise with the increased use of e-mail that is worth you time to skim.

Practicing Law by E-Mail
By Jeffrey A. Fuisz and Alison M. King
New York Law Journal
03-20-2003

Help Desk

"Take advantage of Find: When conducting research, do you ever find a page that will take you forever to locate the words you're looking for? Just click Ctrl- F, and the Find feature is activated. Just click Find Next to find all instances of your word or phrase on the page. If you happen to have the Google Toolbar, all you have to do is click the Highlight key, and your word/phrase is highlighted in yellow throughout the page. A good way to speed through your research.

Finally, two useful sites for you this week.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a list of Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online -- some very helpful information and links are contained in this article.
Both from Internet Legal Research Weekly by Tom Mighell
March 23, 2003
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Legal Research Guide: Labor and Employment Law
EEO News
"Find briefly annotated news headlines pertaining to employment law issues. Topics covered include disabilities, age discrimination, equal pay, family leave, race discrimination, retaliation, religious accommodation and sexual harassment. The site offers a search feature, which appears at the top of the left-hand navigational menu."
From: TVC Alert 20 March 2003
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Monday, March 24, 2003

 
Pardon my absence the last two days. I am a big basketball fan and attended all 12 of the Ohio High School Tournament Games, then came home and watched the NCAA's!

While I was gone some interesting things crossed my desk. The first two are excellent resouce sites, then a good article on informative blawgs (contain some additions to my previous list), and finally a site of good Law Day material (May 1 is still a month away so you still have plenty of time to take advantage of this great opportunity for PR)

Speech and Transcript Center & Other Documents
Compiled by: Gary Price, MLIS
Gary Price Research and Library Consulting

News and Information via Streaming Audio & Video
Compiled by: Gary Price, MLIS
Gary Price Research and Library Consulting
Both from The ResourceShelf E-Mail Reminder
Week 105, March 20, 2003 on Friday, March 21, 2003
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Blawgs: More Than Just Fluff By Robert J. Ambrogi, Law Technology News, 20 March 2003

“This column looks at some of the Web logs that may be of value to practicing lawyers. The focus is on blogs that deliver news and commentary on topics related to particular practice areas or to the practice of law in general.”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net Free weekday coverage on current issues
March 20, 2003
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Law Day 2003
Newspaper in Education (NIE) Features for Law Day

"Just click on the URL below for four articles intended for use with your local newspapers, over a four-week period around Law Day. Each instructional feature explores a topic related to the 2003 Law Day theme, "Independent Courts Protect Our Liberties." The series shows how our system tries to ensure fair and impartial courts, a cornerstone of the rule of law.

These lessons can also be used directly by teachers in the classroom, to stimulate discussion of such topics as the historical background of independent courts, judicial review, examples of courageous judges who delivered justice in the face of hostility, and current threats to fair and just courts."

For .PDF versions:
"The following .pdfs may be printed out and distributed. If you will be reading the files on your monitor, you may need to increase your viewing magnification. Although the text may not look crisp online, the printout will be sharp and easy to read. (Note: These .pdf files contain an image rather than editable text.)
Please note that you will need to have Adobe's Acrobat Reader in order to view these files; if necessary, you can download a free copy of this program."

NIE Feature
Week 1 The Foundation for Independent Courts
Week 2 Judicial Review
Week 3 Judicial Independence in Action
Week 4 Protecting Judicial Independence

For Camera-Ready Versions - Only for use in Quark XPress, Pagemaker, Illustrator, FreeHand, and Photoshop
E-mail on 21 March 2003 from:
Charlie White
Division for Public Education (15.3)
American Bar Association
541 North Fairbanks Court
Chicago, IL 60611-3314
312/988-5732
Fax: 312/988-5494
Email: charliewhite@staff.abanet.org
posted by Nancy Monday, March 24, 2003

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

 
Today blawg offering is pair of articles on the effects of terrorism on the courts.

A Recent Oregon Ruling Allowing Secret Warrants In Domestic Terrorism Cases May Set A Troublesome Precedent by Anita Ramasastry

U. Washington law professor comments on a recent ruling by an Oregon federal district judge, denying five suspects in a terrorism case access to the FISA court warrants that led to their prosecution. The ruling may have important Fourth Amendment implications, because FISA warrants need not be based on traditional "probable cause." In addition, this is one of the first tests of the new, revised domestic spying provisions in the post-September 11 USA Patriot Act.

The Seven Basic Myths About Military Justice: Why It's Much Fairer To Defendants Than You May Have Been Led to Think by Philip Carter

“Former Army officer and U.C.L.A. law student Phillip Carter argues that much of the debate about using military courts versus civilian courts against terrorism has been seriously misinformed. Carter counters a series of myths about military courts, and explains how, under the Constitution and laws, they really function.”
From: FindLaw's WRIT: Legal Commentary
December 16 - December 20, 2002
Issue # 123
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

 
My posts here don't stray very often into politics or international affairs, but in light of President Bush’s speech last night, I think that I will share two blogs that I have come across lately that offer more personal accounts of what is actually happening over there!

The first blog I found was by L.T. Smash (alias - borrowed from The Simpson's). He is the author of “LIVE FROM THE SANDBOX” and a U.S. military reservist currently stationed overseas as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. For obvious security reasons, he can't divulge a lot of specific information, but it's still very interesting and compelling stuff.

The other blog I have found, and my personal favorite is “Kevin Sites Blog” It is a “First-person account of a solo journalist's life on the front lines of war.” I particluarly like the personal touch of the audio posts and the inclusion of photographs.

Another non-legal site of interest is ArabNet
"Designed to serve as a clearinghouse of information about the Arab world, ArabNet is a valuable source of current news coverage, along with providing country profiles of almost every nation in the Middle East. The homepage features a Latest News section that provides hyperlinks to English-language articles offering coverage from many different media sources on topical stories within the Middle East. The country profiles will be helpful to persons seeking a brief overview of each nation, as they contain basic material on their history, geography, government, culture, government, and transportation. The site also contains brief essays on topic as diverse as The A-Z of Camels and The ABCs of Arabic Cuisine. The site also contains a search engine and the ability to sign up for email updates by entering one's email address."
From: The Scout Report Friday Feb 7th
P.S. I found many dead links and dated material, but on the whole it was informative and well worth a look, just not as good as the above blogs.

On to the legal material, “A Law Firm Marketing Nightmare “
"Spoofing the email address of a prominent Scottish lawyer, someone sent a hoax message that promised to "screw the opposition" on behalf of a client. The email ended with the name of a real lawyer, his phone number and email address."
TVC Alert 12 March 2003
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Monday, March 17, 2003

 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Fact Sheet: St. Patrick's Day
Facts about Irish Americans and related topics. (eg. "9 places in the United States share the name of Ireland's capital - Dublin. Dublin, Ohio, was the most populous, at 31,392, followed closely by Dublin, Calif., at 29,973.)
ResourceShelf Post By Gary Price
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Is it Appropriate, Under the Constitution, For State and Local Governments to Weigh in on the War on Terror and a Possible War with Iraq?
By Vikram David Amar

From the article: “What role do state and local governments have, if any, in shaping American policy on the war on terror and the impending war with Iraq? This fundamental question lies at the core of a movement that has swept across America in recent months.

During this period, state houses, city halls, and even school boards have entertained proposals to register their views on foreign affairs and the war on international terrorism. Many of these proposals have been adopted.

Are these actions appropriate? Or should state and local government simply stay out of these areas?

The vision of federalism I just offered values States not just for the particular policies they may adopt, but also more generally for the alternative vision of good government that they may define and advance. In a real sense, a state government - through its legislative decisions and agenda - expresses a philosophical message that is different from that being expressed by other states or the feds.
Fine and good, some may say - but not when it comes to foreign affairs. That is precisely the arena where we cannot tolerate multiple messages. To the contrary, it is the sole place where we need to "speak in one voice."

I don't think that is true. As my older brother, Akhil Reed Amar, pointed out in the Washington Post in 2000, "taken literally, [the one voice argument] offends the very basis of our system of government. Americans emphatically do not speak with one voice. Individual Americans are free to [speak out on foreign affairs]. States, too, must be free to speak out. This vital point was established early in American history, when the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures famously spoke out [in words written by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, respectively] in 1798 against federal policies penalizing France."

Much more at the site that is well worth reading on this potentially historic day.

From: FindLaw’s Writ, 7 March 2003.

21 Rules for lawyers
How to Succeed as a Lawyer, was written by a father who wanted to offer his son guidance on how to practice law. The father was clearly a wise man. And the son was a fortunate one.
From: Ernie the Attorney: searching for truth & justice (in an unjust world) March 14, 2003

From the ABA's elawyering webzine, Best Practice Guidelines for Legal Information Web Site Providers. The guidelines were approved by the House of Delegate and updated on March 11.
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news. By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
March 14, 2003
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posted by Nancy Monday, March 17, 2003

Friday, March 14, 2003

 
TGIF – It has been a long week in Ohio, we are still waiting for all the snow to melt and see our little crocuses pop through the dirt! Maybe it will happen this weekend – I am an optimist.

Let us start our day with a little legal humor from Daniel Strigberger’s Legal Humor News

BEAM ME UP IN NEW MEXICO

“A New Mexico lawmaker has proposed having the state honour all extraterrestrial beings with a special day that will 'celebrate and honour all past, present and future extraterrestrial visitors' to New Mexico. Extraterrestrial Culture Day would be held the second Thursday of February and would honour space travelers from other worlds and even give a nod to creatures made famous in movies.”
Proposed legislation and the original story at CNN.com

On the slightly more serious side, how long is a “forthwith”?

RULE 11: Federal Circuit Affirms Reprimand for DOJ Attorney for Misleading Quotations of Law

“In a lesson to motion writers everywhere, the Federal Circuit affirmed the reprimand of a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer, under a rule identical to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, for misleading omissions in a brief.

Precision Specialty Metals, Inc. v. United States, 315 F.3d 1346 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 13, 2003). What the court called the "doctored quotations" dealt with the meaning of the term "forthwith." It probably didn't help the lawyer's cause that the term was used in an order denying her an extension to respond to a summary judgment motion and ordering the filing of a response "forthwith."

The lawyer had initially moved for a 30-day extension to answer a motion for summary judgment. The court denied the extension and ordered the lawyer to file the response "forthwith." Twelve days later, the lawyer filed the response.

The court struck the response and granted the other party a summary judgment. In a motion to reconsider this order, the DOJ lawyer omitted one of two sentences and a citation from a quotation in a parenthetical following the citation of a decision. She also omitted a reference to a specific statute from a Scalia dissent. The trial courtreprimanded the lawyer, and the Federal Circuit affirmed, holding that the omissions violated Rule 11.”
From: “Ethics and Lawyering Today: Practical Information for Practicing Lawyers.” Volume 3, Number 2. (electronic newsletter) by William Freivogel and Lucian Pera. Subscribe
posted by Nancy Friday, March 14, 2003

Thursday, March 13, 2003

 
Today's blawg contains some websites that I think you will find interesting and useful.

Bankruptcy Bonanza

"Accessing Bankruptcy Court filings through PACER is not exactly difficult, but it is not exactly user-friendly either. What if you just want to do a quick check across several jurisdictions? How about all jurisdictions across the country simultaneously? If these more complex bankruptcy searches interest you, so too will BankruptcyClearingHouse.com. Updated daily, BankruptcyClearingHouse.com is a new Web resource that provides access to current and historical bankruptcy data across all jurisdictions. Among its many features, when you locate a case in which you need to file a Proof of Claim, one click places the entire requisite filing information into a PDF file. You can also save your Proofs of Claim online, ready for you to access and use again should the need arise. BankruptcyClearingHouse.com provides two pricing options -- an "all-you-can-eat" option costs $50 per month, and a "pay-as-you-go" option costs $1.00 per search plus $0.50 per detail." To learn more
From TechnoLawyer’s NewsWire March 12, 2003
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Kroll OnTrack Law Library

"Kroll OnTrack, a technology forensics consulting firm, offers a small collection of resources. These include a glossary of technical terms, a list of briefly annotated court decisions on electronic discovery and computer forensics issues, articles about electronic discovery and computer forensics and information about related court rules and statutes for a few jurisdictions."
From TVC Alert 6 March 2003
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Legal Scholarship Network

"Formed to facilitate the distribution of scholarly information, the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) provides access to the Social Science Research Network's database of article abstracts. Search the database, or browse a list of legal sources covered, which also provides access to the table of contents for current issues. Look for the download document button, which appears at the end of an abstract, to find a link to the full-text of the published paper. LSN is part of the Social Science Research Network."
From: TVC Alert 10 March 2003
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New Freedom Initiative

"The Department of Labor recently launched this program to promote the employment of Americans with disabilities. The Web site offers frequently asked questions (FAQs) for workers and employers, fact sheets and more. Some documents available include information about compliance checklists for hiring those who are disabled, ADA (Americans with Disabilities) workplace requirements, tax-related issues, and how to serve the disabled community in sales and service environments."
From TVC Alert 12 March 2003
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Employment Law Guide

"The Department of Labor offers an Employment Law Guide, which covers wages and hours, safety and health standards, health benefits, work authorization, federal contracts and more. Sections link to relevant federal statutes and regulations, and provide an overview of basic provisions and requirements."
From TVC Alert 12 March 2003
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posted by Nancy Thursday, March 13, 2003

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

 
This Day in Law - March 12

"On March 12, 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in an as the first female US Attorney General. Learn more about Janet Reno from the US Department of Justice Attorney General's website as it stood on November 9, 2000."
From: The Paper Chase 12 March 2003

For Lawyers, Busy = Attractive

"For lawyers, the scarcity principle states: the more time you have available in your schedule, the less prospects and clients value your services. But as you grow busier and have less time available, prospects and clients see your services as increasingly more valuable."

"The scarcity principle goes further, too, because as you and your services grow more scarce, people use your availability as a shortcut cue to their quality. They draw two conclusions: The busier you are, the more valuable you are. And the busier you are, the higher the quality of your services and skills."

"Scarcity is an even stronger motivator when two things occur:
(1) when the opportunity has only recently become scarce
(2) when we compete with others for the scarce commodity"

"Here's the key: When you inject scarcity into your prospects' decision to hire you, prospects feel they need to act quickly, before they lose the opportunity.

Seven ways to profit

Here are ways you might profit from scarcity when talking with prospects and clients:
1. Explain that your prospect will lose the opportunity to file suit because the statute of limitations will bar his claim.
2. Explain that your prospect may lose the opportunity because of a pending change in the law.
3. Explain that your prospect may lose the opportunity to buy (anything) at the current price because of an imminent price increase.
4. Explain that your prospect is competing for this opportunity with other people -- and that if he doesn't act quickly, someone else may seize the opportunity, leaving him with nothing.
5. Explain that your prospect has a limited time to act or the other party will withdraw the offer.
6. Explain that your appointment calendar is tight, but that you can meet with a prospective client at a particular time and date.
7. Explain that your client roster is nearly full, but that you can make room for one more client based on your current caseload.

"If someone asks whether you're busy, don't say, "Well, I'm killing time waiting for clients to walk in the door." Prospects hearing that statement would immediately conclude that your services aren't worth much." Instead, you might say, "I've never been busier." "My calendar is full." Or, "I have so many clients, I've started to work nights," -- unless you own the firm. Then working nights is nothing new."

"In summary, explain how an opportunity is scarce -- and why your prospect should act now. When possible, point out that only recently has the opportunity become scarce -- and that your prospect is competing head-to-head with others seeking the same opportunity."

"In many cases, scarcity will provide the urgency your prospect needs to hire you or take the action you recommend."

From: Ryder, Trey. “Make Yourself Scarce and You'll Attract More Clients” The Law Marketing Portal. 24 Feb 2003. Law Firm Marketing Institute. 12 March 2003.
Mentioned in FindLaw's LAWYER MARKETING NEWS: Marketing for the Legal Sector in the 21st Century, March 2003 Issue # 30
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

 
I am truly embarrassed. In my usual Monday morning fog, I forgot to feature International Women’s Day, which was on March 8th.

For a good background of its history, go to The International Women’s Day website for “A History of International Women's Day in Words and Images” by Joyce Stevens

Other resources include:
The National Women’s History Project
American Women's History: A Research Guide - Women in Law
Women Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century
"...a new Web site to help businesswomen effectively and efficiently access federal government resources." Learn More.
Poster by G. Price at The ReferenceShelf Wed. 5 March 2003
posted by Nancy Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Monday, March 10, 2003

 
Happy Monday to you all!

I know that from time to time all of us have been tempted to do physical harm to our computers upon seeing the “blue screen of death” one too many times, but don’t do it!

INCENSED COMPUTER OWNER SHOOTS HIS LAPTOP
"The owner of a Sportsman's Bar and Restaurant in Colorado shot his laptop computer four times, as customers watched, after it crashed once too often. He was jailed on suspicion of felony menacing, reckless endangerment and the prohibited use of weapons." [AP – Yahoo]

If you have time these are fun too.

MAN ESCAPES HOUSE ARREST FOR ICE-CREAM

MAN’S SUICIDE ATTEMPT PUT ON THE ROPES

MAN ROBBED TWICE IN FIVE MINUTES

INDIAN STATE TRIES TO COVER NUDE WORSHIPERS

UK MILITARY CALLS-UP 80-YEAR-OLD TO FIGHT

UK TRAFFIC WARDEN TICKETS BUS AT BUS STOP

From: LEGAL HUMOUR NEWS – March 5, 2003
Compiled Weekly by Daniel Strigberger
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On a MUCH more SERIOUS note, the following excerpt is from Patrick Douglas Crispen’s TOURBUS Volume 8, Number 41 -- 15 Feb 2003

“I'd bet anything you've never heard of Andrew Grygus or his company Automation Access. That's about to change. Back on February 23rd, Grugus posted an editorial titled "2003 and Beyond -- Technology trends that will affect your business and how you do business." You can find Grygus' editorial on the Automation Access site at:

http://www.aaxnet.com/editor/edit029.html .

Predicting the future is almost always a fool's errand [flying car, anyone?] But, using research and news articles from hundreds of different sources, Grygus wrote an 50+ page editorial that offers an in-depth, ten year look at information technology in general and Microsoft in specific." As Gryus notes,

‘This article is a guide to trends that are already in full motion and well known by technology specialists, but are far from obvious to most business managers.’

"I take exception with Grygus calling "2003 and Beyond" an article. It isn't an article, it's an editorial. Granted, it's an exceptionally well researched editorial [the bibliography is *ELEVEN* pages long], but it's an editorial nonetheless. Grygus adds that

‘Much of this article deals specifically with Microsoft and Microsoft's future. This is inescapable, because Microsoft is a huge part of the information industry - and aspires to being all of it.’

"And therein lies the problem. The last seven words of that quote show that Grygus isn’t particularly a lover of Microsoft, and he allows his anti-Microsoft, pro-Open Source/UNIX viewpoint to seep into his "article" from time to time. In more than one place in his editorial, Grygus is long on accusation and short on substantiation."

"All that aside, Grygus' "2003 and Beyond" is one of the most important things I have read in a LONG time. It's no "Crime and Puzzlement," mind you, but "2003 and Beyond" does give a frightening and eye-opening look at Microsoft's public plans over the next decade."

Here is a small example of why I think Grygus' 50+ page editorial is a must-read:

‘The successor to Windows XP (due in 2004, and rapidly slipping to 2005) is currently code named Longhorn, and it will not be compatible with your existing software, hardware or methods. Microsoft has already stated that backward compatibility will not be a design feature.’

Here's another one:

‘Office 2003 and Windows Sever 2003 will include a Rights Management Services feature for document security. ... If Microsoft can convince businesses to use this feature, Office 2003 documents will be completely unreadable by OpenOffice / StarOffice, WordPerfect Office, Lotus, and by all older versions of Microsoft Office, forcing a total upgrade of Windows, Office and the computers it runs on.’

"If your reaction to either of these quotes is "whoa!" -- or if you are in ANY way, shape, or form involved with computers and information technology -- you NEED to take an hour out of your day and read Andrew Grygus "2003 and Beyond".

"Regardless of whether you agree with Grygus' anti-Microsoft rhetoric and conclusions, I promise that "2003 and Beyond" is an eye-opening editorial."
From: TOURBUS Volume 8, Number 41 -- 15 Feb 2003
By Patrick Douglas Crispen
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posted by Nancy Monday, March 10, 2003

Friday, March 07, 2003

 
Friday seems a good day to put forth some information on lawyer blawging. Sabrina I. Pacifici’s blawg “beSpacific” yesterday contained the following two interesting articles and TVC Alert adds two more!

If Bork Had Blogged: The Opportunities and Dangers of Lawyer Blogging
By David Maizenberg, Esq.
FindLaw's Modern Practice
March 2003

“Imagine if Bork had blogged. We would have seen those writings dissected on television, and presumably they would have provided meatier ammunition than excerpts from scholarly works. And altering or deleting old pages may not be enough. You never know what archiving systems (such as www.archive.org) might be storing. I discovered this to my chagrin recently when I located pages of old websites and Internet products I had worked on years ago and that I thought were lost forever.” (Amen, this medium can certainly humble a person quickly, when one looks back at earlier works!)

“As creating and maintaing blogs becomes easier and more routine, slips will inevitably occur (think of all the email horror stories you've heard). Because blogs live in this peculiar space that is in between the personal and the professional, it is just too easy to post-and-forget.”

“And as blogging becomes even more popular, more and more questions will arise. For example, can blogs be cited, like extemporaneous notes, as evidence of one's state of mind or knowledge on a particular date? And in the patent law context, could blogging about a particular technology be construed as evidence of knowledge of prior art? In the small law firm context, blogging is an especially useful publicity tool. All the firm's lawyers can post to the firm's blog and build it up to be a real destination for readers. But what if the firm breaks up? Who owns the blog name? How about the archives? Was it all work-made-for-hire to the firm?”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
Free weekday coverage on current issues
March 06, 2003

And… “In Interview with Bloggers, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program Jim Calloway discussed blogs with two expert techie attorneys and I am pleased to say, colleagues; Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell.
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
Free weekday coverage on current issues
March 06, 2003

“Should Legal Professionals Tune in to Blawgs?” TVC Alert 5 Feb.03

“In reading through the host of articles concerning the growth of weblogs over the last few years, I am struck by the continuing theme of individuals searching for ways to integrate the weblog concept into a business model and purpose. In the legal vertical at this point, there appear to be at least four distinct categories of potential uses for the all of the content generated by the blawg community.”
1. Research
2. Gaining New Clients
3. Supporting Existing Clients
4. Marketing Lawyer Expertise

Bill Gratsch’s next four blogs go into further detail on each of these uses for blawgs.
From TVC Alert 5 February 2003
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See also net.law.tools "There are reasons to be cautious about blogs as knowledge management and marketing tools, but even more reasons to be excited."
posted by Nancy Friday, March 07, 2003

Thursday, March 06, 2003

 
Control Technology Before It Controls You

"Dylan Tweney recognizes that the problem of information overload is approaching a critical point. He draws interesting analogies between the current work world and mathematician John Nash's life as portrayed in "A Beautiful Mind." What were all those magazine and newspaper pages with marks and other highlighting plastered to the walls of Nash's office, if not "a weblog in physical form!"? Fun analogies aside, Tweney poses a serious question: How can we control the technology that gives access to all this information before it controls us?"
From: TVC Alert 24 January 2003
The Virtual Chase
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Kroll Ontrack Case Law Newsletter

"Computer forensics consulting firm Kroll Ontrack Inc. offers a free monthly newsletter, which provides current news about court decisions, technology, rules of evidence, and other issues pertaining to electronic evidence. A Minneapolis-based firm, Kroll Ontrack provides services for legal professionals, federal agencies and corporations, including data-recovery, evidence collection, electronic discovery, expert testimony, and secure chain-of-custody procedures."
From: TVC Alert 27 February 2003
The Virtual Chase
Subscribe

Is Voicemail Discoverable?

Ever given that a thought?? "[D]igitized voicemail and the technology that threatens to make it as permanent and accessible as e-mail" presents the next electronic discovery challenge."
Interesting reading!
From: TVC Alert 21 November 2002
The Virtual Chase
Subscribe
posted by Nancy Thursday, March 06, 2003

Wednesday, March 05, 2003

 
Inexpensive Options to Create PDF Documents

“This article reviews two applications, RoboPDF 2.0 ($50) and pdfFactory($50), that offer a low-cost alternative for attorneys currently using Adobe to create database repositories of documents. “

From the article:
“Both are also available to download in free, time-limited trial versions.”

”If your primary concern is securely transmitting sensitive documents that you want the receiver to be able to print in optimum quality, RoboPDF is clearly the better choice because you don't have to pay extra for the security features.

But if you're creating PDFs for publishing at Web sites, pdfFactory, with its bookmark functions and greater flexibility in handling fonts is a better bet.”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news. By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net. Free weekday coverage on current issues. March 04, 2003
Subscribe

Also from Sabrina:
Law Firm Leverages E-Documents

From the March 2003 issue of AmLaw Tech, this article on a customized electronic discovery application called Patterns, developed for Preston Gates, is described as "a search engine on steroids."

"Court Documents: Will They Age Well?"

From the article, "Given the appeal of replacing paper with pixels, legal professionals are looking for a way to alleviate concerns about antiquated technology and multiple jurisdictions with multiple platforms. The solution? Advisory committees are considering different formats for use in creating a solution to the law student's Night of the Living Floppies -- a national standard for electronically archived documents."

“The Law Student's Night of the Living Floppies”
"Here is a true story, torn from the pages of legal life in late 20th century America: An attorney in the mid-1990s sent a summer associate to a client's office to copy computer files. The lad arrived bearing 3 1/2-inch disks, expecting a quick job followed by the law firm's happy hour. To his horror, the client's computer was a technological old-timer that accepted 5 1/4-inch floppy disks. A five-minute job became an afternoon-long ordeal of contacting computer vendors and bringing in an external drive. The point: Technology morphs madly. Today's wonder is tomorrow's quaint collectible."
From Gary Price at The ResourceShelf Thursday, February 13, 2003
posted by Nancy Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

 
Gun Database Causes Law Enforcement Controversy

“The San Francisco Chronicle reported on February 28 that Attorney General Ashcroft has threatened to prosecute California law enforcement officials who continue to access three government databases, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the National Crime Information Center and the Interstate Identification Index, to track illegal gun owners.”

“The Chronicle states that 'Federal authorities believe the list of convicted felons, drug dealers, suspected terrorists, spouse beaters, illegal immigrants and others should only be used to help gun dealers determine if someone is allowed to buy a gun, not police investigating other gun-control violations.' And 'If U.S. authorities deny access to some of the FBI's computers, state officials believe they will be forced to return guns to violent criminals. Thousands of background checks would be prohibited every year, state officials said.' Because the 'state uses the system to conduct background checks for the gun dealers but also to determine if a confiscated weapon should be returned or if someone has a large number of illegally owned firearms.' ”

"The California law enforcement officials are permitted to use 2 of the 3 national databases. But say that it is important for them to have access to the NICS because “The NICS-only information includes the names of illegal immigrants, possible terrorists, people classified as mental defectives or who have renounced their citizenship, people dishonorably discharged from the military, and convicted drug addicts or dealers.”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
Free weekday coverage on current issues
March 03, 2003
posted by Nancy Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Monday, March 03, 2003

 
After a very nice weekend we are once again facing an Arctic blast, the thermometer now registers a big fat four degrees!

I think we should begin Monday with a bit of humor, from Marcel Strigberger’s “LEGAL COMMENTARY”

"Great news this week. We have all been waiting for this piece of legislation. The Nevada Assembly has made it legal to shear sheep inside Carson City’s city limits.

For years now people who wanted to shear sheep inside Carson City had to do it surreptitiously. Sheep shearing aficionados would gather behind a mall or in a remote area of some large park to indulge in their avocation. Sometimes they would even meet right inside a large casino. After all, the police would never suspect that any casino would condone fleecing. But it was simply not the same, having to shear sheep with your eyes looking back over your shoulders. There was always the concern that some cop would catch you by surprise and cry “sheep”.

Over the decades there was much resistance against legalizing sheep shearing. The conservative legislators argued that sheep shearing was an addiction. In fact a small group of shearers even formed an organization called the Sheep Shearers’ Anonymous. Those in power also were concerned about the effects unfettered sheep shearing might have on the children. One municipal councillor Zeke Small used to say, 'If the children wear a woo[l]len sweater it’s one thing. But sooner or later they might ask where the wool comes from. As parents we must act responsibly.' Nevada public schools in fact never offered sheep shearing education.

The legislation is only in bill form for now and it needs Senate approval. But it is great to know that the state of Nevada has finally come into the 21st century on this issue. Nevada having taken its time in passing this legislation after most states have done so certainly can’t be accused of blindly following the other states like - well you know."

See “Nev. Moves to Repeal Sheep-Shearing Law”
From LEGAL HUMOUR NEWS – February 26, 2003
Compiled Weekly by Daniel Strigberger
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On the serious side...

"Can An HMO Be Sued For Medical Malpractice Based On Its Coverage Decisions? A Recent Federal Appeals Case Says Yes." By Anthony Sebok

"Brooklyn law professor Anthony Sebok discusses an issue that has become all the more pressing in this era of HMOs: Can an HMO ever be sued for medical malpractice on the theory that it acted like a doctor when it made a particular coverage decision? Sebok dissects the logic of a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that addressed this very question."
From: FindLaw's WRIT Legal Commentary
February 23 - February 28, 2003, Issue #133
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On the more practical side…

Do you know that the Adobe Acrobat Web site allows you to capture Adobe .pdf documents as html documents? You can download Acrobat documents and do with them as you will with your word processor. It does not work with forms, of course, and it sometimes scrambles a paragraph or two, but for general .pdf documents it is great. And best of all there is no learning curve other than remembering to copy the URL of the .pdf document since you will need to paste this URL into the Adobe conversion Web page. It is a good idea to print out the pdf version first so you can compare it with the conversion document to be on the safe side.
From TechnoLawyer’s Fat Friday February 28, 2003
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posted by Nancy Monday, March 03, 2003

Friday, February 28, 2003

 
Once again, I am ending this week with a profile from the ABA program
Raising the Bar: Pioneers in the Legal Profession
Black History Week 2003

This week we are profile Damon J. Keith.

"Damon J. Keith is Senior Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, based in Detroit. During his distinguished career, he has served as a public servant, lawyer in private practice, civil rights activist, and jurist. When he received the ABA's Thurgood Marshall Award in 1997, he was lauded by Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section Chair Leslie Harris:

"Judge Keith represents the best in the legal profession. His work reflects incisive analysis of issues, principled application of laws and the Constitution, passionate belief in the courts' role in protecting civil rights, a commitment to community service and, most significantly, an independence of mind to do what's right that is at the core of professional responsibility. There is no better role model today for lawyers and law students seeking to work for equal justice."

Read more interesting details of Keith’s career

Today I have a couple of links that I think would be good for your firm’s web page.

The first is: “IRS Updates the ‘Dirty Dozen’ for 2003: Agency Warns of 12 Common Scams”
From TVC Alert 28 February 2003
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The second is the “New Homeland Security Website”

"Terrorism Forces Us to Make a Choice, Don't Be Afraid, Be Ready." This is the introduction to the new website launched by the Homeland Security Department, called Ready.gov.

The site provides information in three main areas: Make a Kit of Emergency Supplies, Make a Plan, and Be Informed , which covers how to respond to threats from biological, chemical, explosions, nuclear blast and radiation.“
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
Free weekday coverage on current issues
February 19, 2003
posted by Nancy Friday, February 28, 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

 
I doubt this applies to any of YOU, but it is good to know…

EXPERTS: OFFICE LIAISONS TROUBLE
By Jeff Scullin of The Ledger (Lakeland, FL)

“Whether in private industry or government, whether an official policy exists or not, experts this week said a basic premise of good management is that supervisors don't sleep with the people who work for them.

Rules forbidding managers from dating their subordinates are common for many private companies, which are loath to hamper productivity or expose themselves to legal risk because of employees' personal relationships.

Such rules, known as fraternization policies, are less common for public servants -- even elected officials, such as [Florida's 10th Circuit's] Chief Circuit Judge Charles Curry, who this week acknowledged an ongoing relationship with his judicial assistant, Cynthia Cooley.”

A Great Idea That I Hope Gets Some Attention!

MAKING ROOM FOR MOMS
By KRISTI L. NELSON
Knoxville News-Sentinel

“As part of a multifaceted plan to improve women's health as well as the health and happiness of UT Medical Center workers, the medical center five months ago began providing a lactation room for its employees. About 20 mothers currently use the tiny, softly lighted room, which contains a desk, telephone, shelf with resource material, clock and hospital-quality breast pump. The door locks, and a slide notation tells those outside when the room is in use . . . It's a logical move, then, for those in the business of health care to make, but for the same reasons, it would be logical for other businesses as well. So why aren't more of them moving on it?”
From: FindLaw's THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A Resource For Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
http://www.findlaw.com
February 26, 2003, Issue # 123

Along the same lines, FindLaw offers: “Lawyers With Kids Board: A message board for lawyers with kids.”
From: FindLaw's THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A Resource For Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
http://www.findlaw.com
February 26, 2003, Issue # 123
posted by Nancy Thursday, February 27, 2003

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

 
BEWARE Blackberry-Dependent Lawyers

Alternatives to the Blackberry
Forbes offers worried Blackberry users a review of alternative products which may come in handy in light of the current legal battle underway between Research In Motion and NTP.
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
"Free weekday coverage on current issues"
February 25, 2003

“The Law in Harry Potter: A System Not Even a Muggle Could Love” is the lead article of the current University of Toledo Law Review (Vol. 34, Number 2).

At first glance it appears to be an entertaining look at the novels through the eyes of a law professor as the authors scholarly discusses the governing structure, criminal law and human rights of the magical world of J.K. Rowling. But near its conclusion the authors get to the serious point of their piece, “Rowling has created a legal system without lawyers and the result is a Kafkaesque nightmare in which the individual is often helpless.” And “Harry Potter reminds us, through their absence, what lawyers do and why they are important.”

“Harry Potter presents important social issues to its audience… its stories are set in a world with flaws and dangers for children and adults to experience and to think about.”

Come in, sit back and enjoy an interesting and entertaining article!
posted by Nancy Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

 
GET 'EM WHILE THEY LAST

“February 24, 2003, marks the 200th anniversary of the Supreme Court's first great case, Marbury v. Madison. This case established the power of judicial review: "It is emphatically the province...of the judicial department to say what the law is," Chief Justice Marshall wrote in his opinion for the Court.

In commemoration of the anniversary, the ABA has produced a brief, free guide to the case for students and the public. The eight-page booklet, which was included in the 2003 Law Day Planning Guide, looks at the facts of the case, the decision, and the case's historical legacy. It also includes teaching strategies for several grade levels and for community education.

Marbury is central to our history and structure of government, and it's also very relevant to this year's Law Day theme of "independent courts protect our liberties." To get free copies of the guide, simply call 800-285-2221 and ask for product code 317-0355. Supplies are limited.”
From: E-mail from Charlie White, Division for Public Education, American Bar Association (Feb. 24, 2003 3:43PM)(copy of file with the author)

Microsoft's Digital Rights Management Plan

“On February 21, Microsoft announced the Windows Rights Management Services For Windows Server 2003. The company also released a white paper, Microsoft Rights Management Solutions for the Enterprise: Persistent Policy Expression and Enforcement for Digital Information, that details new digitial rights management applications for the Windows OS. According to Microsoft, they have "combined and extended rights management technologies developed for use with music, eBooks, and videos to help safeguard enterprise information." The Herald reports that implementation of the Windows Rights Management Services will raise the level of corporate monitoring of computer generated documents, and have a significant impact on how internal corporate documents and e-mails are used, disseminated, stored and purged. The software can "restrict who may view, copy or forward e-mails or sensitive information" and "can automatically delete files after they reach a certain expiration date." See also CNet's article, Microsoft expands rights management tool, which highlights how a range of rights to documents within an organization can be established and closely regulated according to specific users, so as to ensure confidentiality and security.”
From: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news
http://www.bespacific.com
By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
Free weekday coverage on current issues
February 24, 2003
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The ABA Law Practice Today Webzine inaugual issue is out.
Headlines included are:
Marketing
A Continuing Discussion Of Law Firm Marketing On The Internet
Be It Resolved: Generating Business in 2003
Strategic Planning - Pitfalls to Avoid
Finance
Cash Versus Accrual Financial Reporting
Responsible Leadership / Financial Management Savvy
Management
Your Law Firm: A Vehicle for Entrepreneurial Success
How Jill (and Jack) Got Nimble
Training & Developing New Lawyers
Technology
Systematic Discovery and Organization of Electronic Evidence
From: net.law.blog: Internet Tools For Lawyers Wednesday, February 19, 2003
posted by Nancy Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Monday, February 24, 2003

 
Snow, snow and more snow! So what else is new?

Two interesting labor law and information sites

elaws "The U.S. Department of Labor offers this interactive tool for finding information about federal employment laws. Browse the site by keyword or by category (e.g., employee, employer). Each keyword links to an "advisor" that provides information about specific federal laws. The keyword, parental leave, for instance, links to the advisor on the Family and Medical Leave Act. The advisor provides an overview of the law, questions and answers, and then links to the text of relevant statutes and regulations."

AgeRights.com "This law firm Web site offers commentary, case summaries, a glossary, and more on the topic of age discrimination in employment. Case summaries cover the U.S. Supreme Court and 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The glossary includes employment law terms."

From: TVC Alert Feb 10 2003
posted by Nancy Monday, February 24, 2003

Friday, February 21, 2003

 
Once again, I am ending this week with a profile from the ABA program
Raising the Bar: Pioneers in the Legal Profession
Black History Week 2003

This week we profile Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
“Gabrielle Kirk McDonald's distinguished career has spanned the globe. She has served as a civil rights lawyer, a law professor, a federal judge, and the president for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In all these roles McDonald has shown a passion for justice and has used the rule of law to combat injustice. As she has explained, ‘I believe in the rule of law not just intellectually. It's visceral for me. It's in my heart and soul…it's what protects people from anarchy.’”
Read more about Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
From: White, Charlie. “FW: Black History Month Feature.” E-mail to the author. 6 Feb 2003

Do your colleagues seem ruder these days? Incivility Among Lawyers On the Rise

Carolyn Elefant writes: Do your colleagues seem ruder these days? You're probably not paranoid...49 percent of participants in a recent survey responded that civility among lawyers nose-dived and 37 percent said there was no change as reported in Incivility Among Lawyers Spikes, by Stephen Van Drake, South Florida Business Journal (2/14/03). And according to the article, no change means trouble, too, since the American Bar Association red-flagged the problem 12 years ago.
The article identifies four areas of incivility:
(1) concealing smoking guns and playing games in discovery;
(2) staging "deadline fax attacks," i.e., sending materials at the very last minute possible to limit opposing counsel's time for response;
(3) burying adversaries in paper (the article singles out large firms, in particular, as frequent proponents of this "uncivilized" strategy) and
(4) trash talking in opening and closing arguments, aspects of trial where lawyers traditionally have broad leeway but have gone to such extremes that they've made judges uncomfortable with the propriety of the statements.

Are these good examples of "incivility" - or are they simply part and parcel of being a "zealous" advocate?
From: My Shingle 19 Feb 2003
posted by Nancy Friday, February 21, 2003

Thursday, February 20, 2003

 
Bad News, Good News!

Bad News:
If you are an Ad-aware (a program that rids your computer of spyware) user, you may want to do a thorough scan of your hardware. For the last “FIVE MONTHS that LavaSoft didn't release any new reference file updates, LavaSoft (maker of Ad-aware) left their unsuspecting customers unprotected against dozens of the newest spyware programs infesting the Internet.”

"To uninstall Ad-aware 5.X in Windows 95/98/98SE/ME, just go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. In XP, go to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs. You should see an entry for Ad-aware and also one for RefUpdate 2.0 (the program that updates Ad-Aware's reference files.)"

"Uninstall both programs. But if it doesn't say "Ad-aware" or "RefUpdate," DON'T UNINSTALL IT. You'll probably see lots of similarly named programs in Add/Remove programs, but the ONLY ones you want to remove are Ad-aware and RefUpdate."

Good News:
Now that the old Ad-aware is gone from your system, you have a choice: download and install the new version of Ad-aware or download and install a competitor's product.

If you choose the latter, check out The LangaList, Standard Edition, 2003-01-13. Fred Langa has been following the whole Ad-aware situation quite closely and has found some excellent anti-spyware tools, some which are free and some which aren't.

Downloading the New Ad-aware

"Ad-aware 6 is a decent product. The question is, are you willing to overlook the past reference file update problems?
If you *DO* decide to download and install Ad-aware 6, your best bet is to download it from Download.com."

Just click on the green "Download Now" button on the left side of the page. The new Ad-aware 6.0 is 1.45 Mb in size, so be patient. Just follow the on-screen prompts to install and then run Ad-aware. You will probably be amazed at how much spyware you have picked up in the months that LavaSoft has been ignoring you!

From: TOURBUS Volume 8, Number 41 -- 16 Feb 2003
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posted by Nancy Thursday, February 20, 2003

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

 
Before our last set of practical blawgs, I offer you this...

“Fur better or fur worse”
(Filed: 16/02/2003) with news.telegraph.co.uk
"The custody battles are fiercely contested and often bitter as couples fight for the most important things in their lives: their pets. Quentin Letts reports on the rows over dogs, cats and, in at least one case, a frog."

“The film star Michael Douglas, before marrying Catherine Zeta-Jones, did a deal with his ex-wife on their ocelot. Meanwhile a divorce court judge in Dallas, Texas, found himself peering down at a 6lb chihuahua called Missy. Missy originally cost £155 but the legal fees from her pet custody battle came to £10,000."

"There was bitter anguish in Aberdeen last year over the ownership of a rottweiller/boxer cross called Max whose owners decided that they liked one another a great deal less than they did Max.”

“Can these people be real? Can they really get so worked up about mere animals? You might laugh but they are, indeed, deadly serious. Some pet owners love their animals more than children. Pets do not grow up and leave home. Their love is silent and less complicated.”

“Pet custory battles are, at present, more common in America than they are here. Several law firms in the US make big money out of animal adoption agreements, pre-nups - or perhaps that should be 'pre-pups' - the drafting of visitation rights and pet-related financial bequests."

"Pet lawyers advertise their services with headlines such as ‘Don't take Buffie too!’ and ‘You get the car, I get the cat’.”

Just a thought if you are a young lawyer looking for a specialty or an experienced lawyer looking for a change.
From: LEGAL HUMOUR NEWS – February 19, 2003
Compiled Weekly by Daniel Strigberger
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And now the last of the practical blawgs…

Tech Law Advisor A blog devoted to copyright, trademark, parody, fair use and technology legal issues, from Kevin J. Heller, a lawyer with Manhattan's Gursky & Ederer. From the site I found a link to “Web Watch: Blawgs: More Than Just Fluff” by Robert J. Ambrogi at Law Technology News that has a more inclusive list than this of blawg worthy of your time.

Tillers on Evidence Postings are infrequent on this blog by Cardozo Law School Professor Peter Tillers, but he promises to begin adding portions of an evidence book he is writing. Check out his Thursday, January 09, 2003 post, ”Try Your Hand at Another Exam Question?” It looks like a “doozy”!

Trademark Blog New York City lawyer Martin Schwimmer updates this blog several times a day with news about trademarks and domain names. His Sunday, 16 Feb. post had a piece on the Zippo Lighter and the 15 Feb. blog concerned "The Bush Adminstration’s trumpeting of the hydrogen-fueled car. It had an "initiative" branding hydrogen as FREEDOM FUEL and hydrogen-powered cars as FREEDOMCARS." The post explains why the Adminstration pulled the name. Interesting!

VoteLaw This informative blog is part of what may be the only Web site devoted to the topic of voting law, from Birmingham, Ala., lawyer Edward Still. He covers elections, voting rights, campaign finance and other topics. From the site: “Monday, 17 Feb. post HR 235: Electioneering by Houses of Worship H.R. 235 will allow churches and other religious institutions to engage in some election-related activity without losing their tax-exempt status. Below I have collected the analyses of the bill I have been able to find online.” Very interesting reading!!

Weatherall's Law Kim Weatherall, lecturer in law at the University of Sydney, Australia, provides commentary on current developments in intellectual property and technology law. She expresses interesting views on American law vs Australian.

I’d like to remind you that all of the preceding blawg sites are from “Many 'Blawgs' Provide Practical Information” by Robert J. Ambrogi
In TVC Alert, 6 JANUARY 2003
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Tuesday, February 18, 2003

 
I hope all of you enjoyed the long weekend – Thank you Mr. Lincoln and Washington!
Now if we just did not have all this snow to contend with… although it could be worse, we could work in New York!!

And now for today’s practical blawgs…

LessigBlog Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig discusses cyberlaw, intellectual property, the Internet, and whatever else he chooses.

OpenLaw From Harvard Law School's Berkman Center, Openlaw is an experiment in crafting legal argument in an open forum. Lawyers and non-lawyers alike can add comments to drafts of legal arguments, pleadings and briefs from actual cases.

RealCorporateLawyer.com Blog (He moved and changed the name of the blawg) Broc Romanek, editor of RR Donnelley Financial's RealCorporateLawyer.com, tracks current developments in corporate and securities law.

SCOTUSblog Published by the Washington, D.C., firm Goldstein & Howe, this is the only blog devoted to tracking litigation before the Supreme Court.
I found really interesting about this blawg was it’s reference to our weather and the Supreme Court and how it effects cases!! Particularly interesting were the blawgs for Monday, February 17 and Tuesday, February 18, 2003.

Statutory Construction Zone This innovative blog from Washington, D.C., lawyer Gary O'Connor analyzes current federal cases that involve matters of statutory construction. For each case, he sets out the statute construed, the court's conclusion, and the statutory construction tools used by the court.
I loved his QUOTATIONS OF THE WEEK:
“English does not contain words for all complex economic arrangements; whenever the language lacks a one-to-one mapping of words to ideas (or words to things) there is a potential for ambiguity and confusion.”

TalkLeft An unabashedly left-leaning look at the law and politics of crime from Denver lawyer Jeralyn Merritt.

posted by Nancy Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Friday, February 14, 2003

 
Once again, I am ending this week with a profile from the ABA program
Raising the Bar:
Pioneers in the Legal Profession
Black History Week

This week we profile William Henry Hastie (1904-1976)

William Henry Hastie was the first African American to serve as a federal trial judge. He also became the nation's first black federal appellate judge. During his long and illustrious career in law and public service, Hastie also served as a teacher, attorney in private practice, senior government official with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the War Department, Howard University law school dean, and the first black governor of the Virgin Islands. Presented with the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, he was cited "for his distinguished career as a jurist and as an uncompromising champion of equal justice."
Read more about William Hastie
From: White, Charlie. “FW: Black History Month Feature.” E-mail to the author. 6 Feb 2003

And because today is Valentine's Day, I have a few fast facts for you from Gary Price, author of the Reference Shelf Blawg. From Friday, 7 Feb 2003:
Source: U.S. Census

Fast Facts: Valentine's Day
”Statistics relating to the holiday. Included in the report:
* 2.3, million Number of marriages that take place in the United States annually
* 24,197, The number of florists nationwide
* $418 million, Value of U.S. imports of chocolate from Canada, the leading country of origin for such imports, during a recent 10-month period. Similarly, Canada was the leading foreign source of nonchocolate candy in the United States ($232 million worth in shipments).”

For a lot more interesting facts related to Valentine’s Day, click on Fast Facts
posted by Nancy Friday, February 14, 2003

Thursday, February 13, 2003

 
Before I offer you some more interesting and helpful blawgs, a little humor…

“William Watson of Albany, New York launches an action seeking a declaration that the United States should not be a republic as this violates his Constitutional rights to be governed by a king. And while he is at it, he claims he should be that king. He alleges in his claim that he is halfway there already, as his name is William.”
From: Legal Humor News, Wednesday, 12 Feb 2003

And if you have some free time on your hands???? You will chuckle at “If it Ain't Broke, It Ain't Broke”Adapting to a law office computer upgrade . . . oh for the days of that Underwood typewriter.
Same source

And now for today’s practical blawgs…

Jurist To call this excellent site a blog is misleading - it is more like a daily newspaper for the legal profession, providing news, commentary, event listings, court dockets, and much more. It is operated by Bernard Hibbitts, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. From the site on Feb 10, 2003:
Legal Implications of the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster R.C. Walters, Esq. Federal Aviation Administration
"JURIST Special Guest Columnist Richard C. Walters, attorney for the Federal Aviation Administration and co-author of a legal study of the 1986 Challenger explosion, says that the legal issues potentially arising out of the Columbia accident will be anything but simple and straightforward." Read Mr. Walter's op-ed.

KidLaw “One hopes that Timothy Travis, an Oregon juvenile-law attorney, finds time to update more frequently this blog on child abuse and neglect law. Although postings are sporadic, it shows promise for becoming a useful resource.”
I hope our author is right, I was disillusioned when I saw the title of the home page, FAT (Facts About Taxes) and a minuscule section on “Child Abuse and Neglect Sites.”

KinsellaLaw N. Stephan Kinsella, a patent attorney in Houston, Texas, reports on developments in patent law and comments on resources and findings of interest to patent lawyers.
The very first post to this site is quoted below:
“Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Don't expect NesQuik, Ovaltine or Hershey to offer this anytime soon: Recent patent: Semen taste-enhancement dietary supplement. What will they think of next.”
Click on the above link and you will find this at the USPTO website:
“SUMMARY OF INVENTION
This invention regards a novel and unobvious dietary supplement formulation of relatively specific ratios of fruits, vegetables, and spices that when ingested by the male results in a significant improvement to the taste of the male ejaculate by reducing its generally salty and/or bitter taste while also adding a pleasant flavor that is considered by 98.5% of all customers as very enjoyable.”

LawMeme “Yale Law School's Information Society Project operates this blog, subtitled "Legal Bricolage for a Technological Age," delivering law and technology news and commentary.”
I am sure that Timothy Koogle and Yahoo’s problems with the French courts are quite familiar, but I liked their insight on its ramifications…
From the site: “Such a ruling, incidentally, would have had rather strange implications. It would mean, for instance, that eBay, and any other online auction house, effectively supports all the habits, political outlooks, fetishes -- and so on -- associated with the goods sold on its web site.”

Leah's Law Library Weblog Leah Sandwell-Weiss, a librarian at the University of Arizona College of Law and a former judge advocate, covers law, libraries and legal research, with a smattering of military law.

LegalMind.org An anonymous San Francisco lawyer uses his blog as a scrapbook, collecting links to articles and cases he finds interesting, with an emphasis on Internet and securities law. Other lawyers may find some of what he collects interesting as well.
Although posts are infrequent, they are interesting… "Before sending an email, ask yourself: 'How would I feel if this email is going to appear on the frontpage of a newspaper?' - The Perils of Email - A must-read on email and the recent lawsuits in the corporate world, from Fortune.
And better yet his Dec 19th post was one I also used in December on the Christmas Clauses!

Legal Weblog Attorney Brian M. Peterson reports legal news of interest to lawyers in West Virginia.
From the site: “The Evolution Debate Rages On"
Nearly seventy-eight years have passed since the Scopes "Monkey Trial," and we are still debating whether creationism should be taught in our schools alongside Darwin's theories. This Charleston Gazette article notes that "West Virginia school officials may add a 'qualifying statement' to new statewide science standards."
posted by Nancy Thursday, February 13, 2003

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

 
And now for today’s practical blawgs:

GrepLaw Another blog from Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet Law and Technology, it follows Internet law developments from throughout the world. From the site on Tuesday Feb. 11, 2003: “Clay Shirky has written an excellent article entitled "Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality" Simply put, diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality: "A new social system starts, and seems delightfully free of the elitism and cliquishness of the existing systems. Then, as the new system grows, problems of scale set in. Not everyone can participate in every conversation. Not everyone gets to be heard. Some core group seems more connected than the rest of us, and so on." A must read for anyone interested in the statistics, fairness, and power relations of blogging.”

HIPAA blog Jeffery P. Drummond, a partner with Jackson Walker, Dallas, comments on the policy and politics of medical privacy and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

How Appealing Thanks to Howard J. Bashman, chair of the Appellate Group at Philadelphia's Buchanan Ingersoll, this is one of the best resources on the Web for tracking appellate litigation throughout the U.S.

icann.Blog A nationally known writer and commentator on Internet law, San Francisco lawyer Bret A. Fausett maintains this excellent blog about ICANN, the Internet naming authority. From the site on Monday, Feb. 10,2003: "IraqTV Courtesy of .ws"
Taliban.com: "A lot of businesses would feel pressured by the current warmongering US propaganda to knuckle under and re-assess whether they should be providing indirect support to the nation of Iraq. So, for their courage and principle, we tip our turban to the folks at Global Domains International." I wasn’t able to find their quote, the site is still under construction, but I am sure it will prove to be very interesting when it is up and running.

ICANNWatch A pioneering group of Internet law scholars collaborate to maintain this blog. They include Temple University Law Professor David Post, Wayne State Law Professor Jonathan Weinberg, University of Miami Law Professor A. Michael Froomkin, and Milton Mueller, associate professor at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies.

Inter Alia Tom Mighell publishes the informative electronic newsletter, Internet Legal Research Weekly, and maintains this companion blog to provide timely updates of new Web sites and legal research tools. From the site on Tuesday, 11 Feb 2003 : “Research Site of the Day” "It's getting to be that time of year, so TaxLinks may be a useful site to have in your Tax folder. Well, maybe not -- TaxLinks claims to be "your online source for IRS Revenue Rulings." Indeed, the site posts rulings all the way back to 1954. There's also a link to TaxSites, which provides links to helpful tax information. “

Jottings By An Employer's Lawyer A management-side employment lawyer with the Texas firm Haynes and Boone, Michael W. Fox highlights important employment law developments and adds the perspective of a practitioner. From the site on Monday, 10 Feb 2003: "Just In Time For Valentine's Day - Help On Dating, Sex & Romance At Work" Susan Heathfield has comments on the problem, what HR can do about it, and tips for the involved individuals at her regular spot at humanresources.about.com
posted by Nancy Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

 
"Many 'Blawgs' Provide Practical Information" by Robert J. Ambrogi

Practical Blawgs

“This column looks at some of the Web logs that may be of value to practicing lawyers. The focus is on blogs that deliver news and commentary on topics related to particular practice areas or to the practice of law in general.”

What follows is a round up of blogs that offer practical information for lawyers."

I'm only going to list a few each day...

Blueblanketblog An appellate attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice reports and discusses selected Supreme Court and environmental cases. Most interesting are her dispatches from the Supreme Court oral arguments she occasionally attends. While scanning her site I found the following post that I just had to share:
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
WASHINGTON, DC—Seeking to "safeguard our precious wild lands for future generations of SUV ads," the Department of the Interior set aside two million acres in Wyoming and Colorado for use in car commercials Monday. "If we do not protect this land," Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton said, "we may one day have no place for Dodge Rams to run wild and free."

Consensus at Lawyerpoint The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization devoted to protecting civil liberties in Cyberspace, sponsors this Web log. It follows the work of the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group and efforts to develop a consensus on regulation of digital broadcasting.

CopyFight: The Politics of IP Donna Wentworth, an editor at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet Law and Society, tracks legal rulings, Capitol Hill policy-making, technical standards development and technological innovation as they relate to intellectual property and the Internet.

DeLawOffice.com Larry D. Sullivan, a general practice lawyer in Delaware, and William Slawski, his coworker, write about Delaware law as well as about the Web, the day's headlines, and law practice in general. At this blawg I found:
Saturday, February 08, 2003 "Intellectual Property Run Wild"
"I'm sure that there's a bit of good business sense applied here, but I was kind of saddened when I saw the following. What we can't copyright, we patent. What we can't patent, we trademark. What we can't trademark, we copyright.
Next time you throw together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, remember that if you had applied for the patent before 1995, you could have been there first.

Ernie the Attorney Maybe it is the clever name, but more likely it is the compelling content that has made Ernest E. Svenson, a partner with Gordon Arata McCollam Duplantis & Eagan, New Orleans, one of the most popular law-related bloggers. He writes generally about law, law practice, legal technology, and the Web.
Read Sunday Feb 9, 2003:
"Juror E-mails Plaintiff-Lawyer Blogger - this is an interesting E-mail that was sent by a former juror to InstaLawyer (a plaintiff-lawyer blog). It's always fascinating to get an inside view into the mindset of a jury, even if it comes from just one of the jurors.

Excited Utterances Devoted to "a sociological and psychological perspective of law firm knowledge management," this blog by Joy London, manager of the practice data group at a large law firm, provides commentary along with a number of links to useful articles and Web sites. Sat, Feb 8, 2003: “Law Firms Use Personality Tests"
"Once again, I note another cultural difference between US and British law firms. This time the issue is personality testing of associate recruits and non-legal staff. In For Innovative Firms Apply Psychometric Testing to Recruitment and Staffing,the author notes "the American attorneys raised skeptical eyebrows while their English counterparts seemed rather self-satisfied to be so far ahead of the curve" But psychometric testing may provide a new way to look at associate attrition problems, team-building, employee motivation and business development.”

Gideon's Promise.The infrequent musings of New Orleans criminal defense lawyer Richard W. Westling. From the site: Wednesday, February 05, 2003
"Reasonable Doubt -- What a Concept" Having recently completed a federal criminal trial in the Eastern District of North Carolina (with less than pleasing results), I am faced with a criminal defense lawyers connumdrum -- how to get jurors to grasp the concept of reasonable doubt. This topic is one worthy of some discussion over the next few weeks, but at bottom, I am, as an advocate, faced with the dilemma of explaining for jurors that which I am not sure I fully understand. How many of you have a ready definition? How many jurors come into jury service understanding how much doubt they need to have to vote against conviction?"

Watch for more tomorrow!
posted by Nancy Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Monday, February 10, 2003

 
Modern Practice surveyed legal professionals from around the country on productivity and bad habits and presented their results in the February issue:
“20 Questions on Attorney Productivity” by Andrew Zangrilli

Participants included:
Clifford S. Stanford, Senior Counsel, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Randy Morris, Esq., Claims Associate, Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company
Aaron D. Weinberg, Attorney, John C. Allen, P.C.
Richard Chon, Attorney, Burke Williams et al LLP
Katie Phetteplace, Esq., Associate, Starr Finley LLP
Charles Dirksen, Esq., Attorney, Gold Bennett Cera & Sidener
J. Alex Dillon, Esq., Detroit, MI

The questions they were asked were:
1) What bad habits have you eliminated from your life lately?
2) Did the elimination of the bad habit increase your productivity at work?
3) What one thing has increased your work productivity the most?

Their answers are very interesting and diverse – a good read.
From: FindLaw's MODERN PRACTICE
Law Practice & Technology
February 2003
Issue #9 - The Productivity Issue
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posted by Nancy Monday, February 10, 2003

Friday, February 07, 2003

 
February is Black History Month and the ABA will be profiling four eminent African-American lawyers and judges throughout the month.

Let us close this first week of February with a closer look at Barbara Jordan (1936-1996)

"Barbara Jordan, an accomplished lawyer, legislator, orator, and educator, led a life distinguished by noteworthy achievements, many of which were groundbreaking "firsts." She became the first African American to serve in the Texas senate since Reconstruction when she was elected to that institution in 1966. She became the first black elected official to preside over a state legislature when she became president pro tempore of the Texas senate in 1972. She became the first black woman to serve as a governor in the history of the United States when she served as Texas governor for a day on June 10, 1972. She became the first African-American woman from the south and the first black Texan elected to the U. S. House of Representatives when, in 1972, she was elected to be the first representative from the newly created 18th congressional district. She also became the first woman and the first African American to deliver the keynote address at a major political party convention when she keynoted the 1976 Democratic National Convention."
Read more about Barbara Jordan
From: White, Charlie. ”FW: Black History Month Feature.” E-mail to the author. 6 Feb 2003.
posted by Nancy Friday, February 07, 2003

Thursday, February 06, 2003

 
Another way to fight stress is to curl up with a good book...

THE BIRTH OF A LEGAL LE CARRE?

A Review of Yale Law Professor Stephen Carter's The Emperor of Ocean Park by SAM WILLIAMSON

The following is just a brief excerpt from the review.

“Even the parts of Emperor that I found personally less interesting were thought provoking and gave me insights into worlds with which I was at least somewhat unfamiliar. For lawyers, this book will be especially interesting. It involves a number of legal communities, all of which are portrayed with wit and skill, proving that one of Carter's greatest abilities is the way he can point out shortcomings without ever lapsing into lampoon.

This is not a perfect book, but it's a very interesting one. I can't imagine any lawyer regretting their decision to read it, even if at times they wish that Carter's editor had forced him to cut to the chase a little faster.“
FindLaw's WRIT: Legal Commentary
December 16 - December 20, 2002
Issue # 123
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posted by Nancy Thursday, February 06, 2003

Wednesday, February 05, 2003

 
Stress – We have heard the word a million times! Unfortunately, many of us, myself included, do nothing about it until it is out of control, simply because we think that it is the “other guys’ problem – not ours.” This is VERY dangerous thinking.

“An article in the New York Times noted that 40,000 lawyers stop practicing law each year, approximately the same number who enter the field after law school. Some leave for retirement, others because their original goals and values for entering the legal profession have changed, and still others leave because of stress or burnout including a loss of passion and commitment to the practice of law.

A 1998 survey conducted by the Maryland Bar Association noted that 1/3 of the 1,000 lawyers contacted at random were so unhappy and disillusioned that they were contemplating a career switch.”
From: “Burnout and Career Stress - Alternative Careers”
by: David E. Behrend, M.Ed. (Career Planning Services, Jenkintown, PA)

"Among the manifestations of a stressed-out lawyer are the following:
· Failure to return telephone calls
· Missing deadlines
· Chronic exhaustion and fatigue
· Overreacting/catastrophizing
· Taking everything personally
· Loss of enthusiasm
· Obsessive/compulsive thoughts and behavior
· Episodic or chronic depression
· Having disciplinary/legal problems
· "Losing it" having emotional outbursts
· General lack of self-care
· Alcohol or drug abuse

Fourteen proven stress reducers
“The following are a few tried and true methods/strategies/tips for dealing with stress, managing stress and/or reducing the effects of stress in a lawyer's life. While many may seem trite or obvious, actually doing them (not just "knowing" them) will help.
1. FOCUS. Do one thing. If possible start it, work on it and finish it without interruption.
2. DELEGATE. Let others help you.
3. SLEEP. Sleep deprivation is devastating. You will perform much better following some rest and relaxation.
4. EAT REGULARLY AND WELL. Eat breakfast; don't skip meals; eat a balanced diet of healthy fresh foods.
5. ATTITUDE is very important. Think positively. Do not underestimate the effect of a positive attitude on your life and/or your performance.
6. Start a physical EXERCISE program and stick to it.
7. DON'T TAKE YOURSELF (and everything else) so SERIOUSLY. Very little of what lawyers do is really a matter of life and death.
8. Focus on the PRESENT. It is always now. Try to avoid undue preoccupation with the past or the future.
9. Take a three-day weekend without files, your cell phone, beeper and/or laptop. And, take a real VACATION preferably ten or more days away from work at least once a year.
10. Have some FUN. Let yourself play.
11. Develop a RELATIONSHIP with at least one person someone whom you can really talk to about anything. And really talk to that person. Trust someone with your secret fears and perceived inadequacies.
12. SAY "NO" to new work when you already have too much.
13. DON'T PRETEND to be an expert in everything.
14. Get professional HELP.”
From: "The Stress is Killing Me"
by Roger L. Ross

If you recognize yourself or a colleague who may be suffering from the effects of stress in his or her life, refer to #14 above and SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP!
posted by Nancy Wednesday, February 05, 2003

Tuesday, February 04, 2003

 
If you have a few free minutes, Bob Ambroji’s article “takes a look at 'blogs that may touch on the law, but are by no means preoccupied with it. Some are political, some are polemical, some offer parody, and some gaze at their own navels, but all are interesting in their own ways.' (The date noted at the top of the page should probably be January 2003.)”

“INSTEAD OF "BOOING" DISGRUNTLED BENGALS' FANS ARE SUING” is just one of the stories you will find at Lawpsided, "a blawg written by Sean Carter, a lawyer, stand-up comedian and humor writer. He follows the lighter side of legal news, culling reports of outrageous crimes, offbeat lawsuits and other legal news and compiling them here."

"Another blawg that takes a lighter look at the world of law, etc is MadKane. "Madeleine Begun Kane has been called 'one of the funniest women in the blogosphere.' One thing is for sure: she is one of the funniest lawyers. Besides her Web log, check out her political parody feature, "Dubya's Dayly Diary," and her collection of legal humor columns." From her site…

“I wrote a song parody about Bush's State of the Union address, but never got a chance to post it here. I think it's time. Feel free to sing "Old George Dubya's Talkin'" to "Everybody's Talkin'" by Fed Neil, using this midi link.

Old George Dubya's Talkin
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Old George Dubya's talkin' at me.
I don't buy a word he's sayin'.
Can't bear the echoes of his lies!

People must start carin'.
Doesn't matter what their race is.
Must see the truth beyond the guise.

It's so clear, for oil he's a-pinin'.
He's the country's bane.
Fightin' wars when violence suits his goals.

Rantin' 'bout his en'mies' sins.
Hailin' sleazy policies.
Violatin' his vows, yes, one by one.
There’s more – go to the website for the rest of the song!

On a more serious not, a couple of sites on Legal Ethics

Ethics and Lawyering Today
"Lawyers Bill Freivogel and Lucian Pera produce this free monthly newsletter on current developments in the various laws, rules of ethics, and other regulations that govern how lawyers practice law. It's available by email subscription and at the Web site. The archive begins with the March 2001 issue, but does not include a search feature.”

Freivogel on Conflicts:
Lawyer William Freivogel authors this guide to conflicts of interest. "[D]esigned for lawyers who have a basic knowledge of the conflicts rules," the site provides commentary with ample cited references on a variety of complex issues. A What's New page keeps track of developments.”

All from TVC Alert 4 Jan 2003
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Monday, February 03, 2003

 
Joining the entire world, we would like to express our condolences and add our prayers for the families and friends of the seven astronauts of the Columbia space shuttle.

Today I have two websites that may be of interest to you…

JurisPro "is a free expert witness directory with an amazing amount of information. As opposed to other expert sites, here you can review the expert's C.V. (in PDF format), see a photo, hear the expert speak, read their articles, and learn more about the expert's background. You may search by keyword, or browse the list of expert categories, which is pretty extensive -- even more amazing are the subcategories! I don't know if the featured experts are worth your money, but this site is definitely worth your attention."
Posted by: Tom Mighell at 7:14 am at Inter-Alia Monday, Feb 3, 2003

Resident Agent Information
"To serve process upon a company, you first must identify its resident agent -- the entity it has designated as its representative in the state. Most states now have Web sites where you can search for resident agents, but finding these sites can be a chore in itself. Resident Agent Information, from Maryland lawyer Terry A. Berger, is a no-nonsense guide to finding this information online, covering all U.S. states, territories and possessions."
Posted by Robert Ambrogi at 10:57 PM at LAWSITES Tuesday, January 21, 2003
posted by Nancy Monday, February 03, 2003

Friday, January 31, 2003

 
While I was surfing the net this morning I ran across an interesting and uplifting website:
“A Good Lawyer®: Secrets Good Lawyers [and their best clients] Already Know”
which is also the title of Stephen W. Comiskey's book.

A Good Lawyer consists of five chapters, The Players, The Tools, The Venues, The Rules and For Ever and Ever. Each begin with a short discourse on the topic followed by a lengthy list containing pearls of wisdom, ideas, and practical advice. This site is worth your time! The next article continuews one of his ideas.

Client Retention
FindLaw's Modern Practice with David Rodnitzky

“Remember that old adage, "give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime"? That's the way I think of attorney-client relationships. A lot of law firms spend thousands of dollars every year attracting new clients, while simultaneously neglecting the important art of retaining their existing clients. And study after study has shown that client retention is much more profitable and less costly than client acquisition. Here are the Top 10 Ways to Build Relationships.”

This article is full of links for delving further into each topic.
From: THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
January 30, 2003, Issue # 119
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posted by Nancy Friday, January 31, 2003

Thursday, January 30, 2003

 
If you are a football fan like I am or especially if you are not, you may have missed some of the best commercials of TV (which really isn’t hard to do!) But seriously there is a site where you to choose which commercials you would like to see, and it is FREE!
From: Posted to The ResourceShelf by G. Price on Monday, January 27, 2003
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And now for some interesting websites…

Business Ethics

“This is an extremely informative page of links that was apparently put together by a librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. Here you'll find some great resources on business ethics, with articles and publications, case studies, corporate codes of ethics, professional organizations, and more. Very interesting information.”
From: Internet Legal Research Weekly January 19, 2003
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Substance Abuse Information Database

“The U.S. Department of Labor maintains this database containing summary information and full-text documents pertaining to workplace substance abuse issues. Topics include developing workplace policies, implementing workplace programs, training and education, testing, laws and regulations, and more. Search by various criteria including keyword or established topic. Or browse the database by title, topic, author, or other criteria.”
From TVC Alert, 5 SEPTEMBER 2002
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Workplace Resource Center

“The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention provides this Web site devoted to drug prevention in the workplace. Find the full-text of government publications like the Medical Review Officer Manual, news headlines, commentary, laws, and more.”
Same source – TVC Alert 5 Sept. 2002
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posted by Nancy Thursday, January 30, 2003

Wednesday, January 29, 2003

 
A bit of good old-fashioned humor is in store for you today.

"A Mr. Tony Scavetta wants spousal support from his ex, Elena. There is nothing wrong with that I suppose unless you consider that Tony was previously convicted of assaulting his former wife. He was also convicted of and served time for making death threats to her. There’s more. Once in jail, he made harassing telephone calls to her for which he received an additional 18 months. For good measure he also sexually abused their daughter for about 4 years. The wife’s lawyer thought Tony’s application took some gall and so he brought a motion for summary dismissal of the support claim. To his surprise, Ontario Superior Court Justice Margaret Scott disagreed and allowed Tony’s claim to proceed to trial. To paraphrase, Her Honour said something like, ‘Hey, according to the Divorce Act, in determining entitlement to spousal support, what hath conduct to do with the price of tea in China? Marriage is a partnership and spouses are meant to help one another in tough times. If they ever split only the needs and means of the respective parties count and it is up to the trial judge therefore to determine whether the financial status of the parties justify spousal support.’" The article further goes on to say that the judge did allow for a restraining order against Tony, that he not come within 30 metres of his ex. So if she loses the case all she has to do is tell Tony to "Come and get it." and he will be in violation of the restraining order!
“The Lawyers Weekly” Vol. 22, No. 25 (24 January 2003)
From: LEGAL HUMOUR NEWS – January 29, 2003
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“Humpty Dumpty v. The King, All His Horses, All His Men, And Funcola Limited” is great fun as well.

Straight Tea By Marcel Strigberger is a story about a little Canadian Tea garden where the guests paid for what they ate and drank on the honor system. The article is written with fun at heart, but extrapolates it to the law at he conclusion… “As we are all probably honest at heart, wouldn't it be interesting if the spirit of that tea garden would infect all witnesses taking the stand in our courtrooms? It would certainly make the job of lawyers easier. We'd never have to cross-examine. The presiding justice would always comment, ‘I find that both sides were credible.’"
Both from the Legal Humor web site.

THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY PUTINA
"Russian law firm is reportedly drawing up legal action against the special effects people who dreamt up Dobby - the computer-animated elf in the new Harry Potter film. The firm claims that Dobby bears a striking resemblance to Russian president Vladimir Putin. (I suggest you click through the link to see the comparison!)" [Evening Standard]
From: LEGAL HUMOUR NEWS – January 29, 2003
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, January 29, 2003

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

 
Dale Pike, author of the Stand Up Eight Weblog discussed four ways in which weblogs can help any business in today's posting.

Categorizing my Weblog Usage
"I've discovered that there is tremendous value to my having (at least) two spaces in which to blog. I use a weblog at work as an avatar for conversation within my small community of team members. On it I am constantly making posts that fall (roughly) into the following categories:

· reference posts
· FYI posts
· HELP! posts
· conversation posts

Reference posts
This is sort of a souped-up favorites/bookmarks list. I use Moveable Type, so the archives are readily searchable. I often make a mental note that there is a post regarding a certain topic on a weblog (either mine or someone else's). Because I'm not in the habit of using keywords extensively, there are times that I can't find the post easily because I can't remember what it was called, but most of the time it works wonderfully. In our team meetings I am finding that we increasingly refer one another to an old post on someone's weblog for more information. Analogy: Searchable and annotated Favorites/Bookmarks list

FYI posts
These are sort of like an email distribution list. I have a rough idea of who is subscribed to my RSS feed, so I can post a notice in my weblog when I come across something I think everyone should be aware of. This ranges from project-oriented communication or information to silly Friday-afternoon links to a Dilbert cartoon. Analogy: Email distribution list, discussion board, news group.

HELP! posts
This is one of the most valuable forms of communication that the weblog has enabled. When I have an idea that I don't know how to proceed with because I'm not sure
· who else is/has been working on similar projects
· who is the right person to talk to
· what potential obstacles to the project might be, etc.
For the most part, these questions are those that would not traditionally merit a phone call or an email. As silly as it sounds, I feel more comfortable posting these 'low end' questions so that someone can choose to reply if they desire than I am initiating a two-way conversation for the sole purpose of gaining this small bit of information. Further, when these questions are asked openly, all benefit from the exchange--the answer to the question moves into the FYI category mentioned above. You can remember that someone else asked the question before and you search for it on their weblog. Analogy: Phone call or email message that becomes archived and visible to all those who might need it.

Conversation posts
These are some of the most interesting. The weblog is a somewhat awkward conversation medium at first glance. Because our team uses Moveable Type, we have ready access to the TrackBack feature, which makes conversational dialogue MUCH simpler. In the past, a user would make a comment on an individual post. Often, because there wasn't any flag that indicated the comment had been made, it would go unnoticed. An unanswered comment has a chilling effect on the motivation of the commenter to participate in the future. With TrackBack, I can select the portion of your post that I wish to comment on and use my bookmarklet to post the excerpt on my weblog, along with any comments I wish to make. Because we have autodiscovery of TrackBack pings turned on, referencing the original post is as easy as checking a box or selecting the name of the post from a popup list. The new post is then referenced on the original site without any effort on the part of the original author. I am quite surprised at how readily conversations of this sort have been taken place. Once you get over the initial mental shift required to participate in this sort of conversation, it can become a powerful tool (especially when combined with the HELP posts mentioned above). Analogy: Discussion group, email (individual or list), 'slow' IM"
© Copyright 2003 Dale Pike.
From: Stand Up Eight (weblog)
posted by Nancy Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Monday, January 27, 2003

 
Two little software gems for you today…

ActiveWords is a great short-cut tool. Both Word and WordPerfect have the capacity to create abbreviations, so you type a little and get it to automatically expand to a lot? ActiveWords is, according to the manufacturer, “like Microsoft "AutoCorrect" on steroids.” AND ActiveWords does its job no matter what application you are in.

For example, one lawyer, types "addr," and gets his full address or "pleasedo" which expands to "Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions."

In addition to expansions, you can also link an abbreviation to a Web site. You can set it up so that when you type ORC, Internet Explorer loads and goes straight to http://onlinedocs.andersonpublishing.com/revisedcode/, the Anderson’s Ohio Revised Code web site.

You can also set up the code of "e" immediately followed by a person's initials. Outlook express loads, the new message box pops up with that person's e-mail address already in the "To:" line. A free 60-day trial is available after that it’s about $30/year. Cost is about $50.

Next is Sleuthhound (Pro, Intranet or Family edition)
“Are you having trouble remembering the name of a document but can recall some of the words it contains? The Sleuthhound is a search tool that lets you find data on your hard drive, just as you would using an Internet search engine. It supports Boolean searches and wildcards, and displays relevant matches with your keywords highlighted. CD-ROMs and other removable media can also be searched. You can also search by document date--for instance, using the search query "Date:2002.03*" retrieves all documents created in March of 2002.” A free trial is available.
Review from: PC World.com
posted by Nancy Monday, January 27, 2003

Friday, January 24, 2003

 
I am going to take a big step backwards today and say what I probably should have said in my very first blawg entry.

Let's start with the obvious question: What is a blawg? A blog is “Jargon. (n.) Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly-accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.” Webopedia supplied this definition. A blawg is a blog that relates to the law – either written by a lawyer about many topics or personal musing or written by a layperson (like me) about law-related topics. (Usually I do that).

“Blogs can help lawyers in several ways:

1) if they want information about the law
2) if they want to communicate information to the public or their clients
3) if they want to store knowledge that they have acquired in a publicly accessible (and searchable) Web location.
4) if they want currency in topic-specific information
5) if they want to add their own topic-specific expertise, commentary, analysis or random thoughts to the discussion.
6) if they want to use blog technology for intra-firm efficiency”

“Law Meets Blog: Electronic Publishing Comes Of Ageby Denise Howell, a Los Angeles attorney with a large firm, who maintains her own popular blog: “Bag and Baggage” contains a very extensive listing of other blawgs on the right side column on her page, and even included our blawg in her Tuesday, January 21, 2003 entry. Another good blawg entry about blawgs is by Rick Klau, a lawyer who works for a CRM company called Interface, and is aware of the importance knowledge management trends in the law.
Some information from: TechnoLawyer's Topical Compilation on August 12, 2002
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I hope this gives you a better understanding of what we are all about!
posted by Nancy Friday, January 24, 2003

Thursday, January 23, 2003

 
Continuing yesterday's "know what to use when" while searching, I have three good resources for you.

1. “One of the 'classic' reference books is Gale's Encyclopedia of Associations. This massive directory is a treasure chest of information because trade and professional associations can often direct you to people and organizations that are able to provide authoritative answers. Most libraries (Stark County District Library included) have a copy of the printed version of this directory.

Does a similar resource exist on the open or free web? The answer is yes.

Although the Encyclopedia of Associations is much larger and offers many search options, the Gateway to Associations is a worthwhile searchable database of trade and professional association web sites. Once you access an organization's site you can not only find contact information but also gain access to background papers, links to useful web sites, industry news, and more.

The Gateway to Associations has links for over 6,500 associations around the world. It's worth mentioning that while I did find links to groups located outside the U.S., the directory is particularly strong with U.S. associations.

Searching the directory is straightforward and simple. You're can search by name, category, city and state. I found several European and Canadian associations by utilizing the name and city search fields. The directory is also organized into more than 100 categories. Categories range from accounting and agriculture to veterans and women.”
From: SearchDay January 23, 2003 - Number 449
Subscribe or send a blank email message to mailto:mailto:join-search-day-text@list7.internet.com.
Posted by G. Price at The Resource Shelf on Thursday, January 23, 2003

2. xrefer, One of the Most Useful Ready Reference Tools on the Web Has a New "Showcase" Page.

"For a couple of years, xrefer has provided content from over 40 high-quality reference titles at no charge… The page is now located in the "showcase section" of the site. If you haven't visited xrefer, it's well worth the trip. The company also offers xreferplus, a critically acclaimed fee-based service for libraries and other organizations. I've also spent some time using xreferplus and found it very useful. I will continue to demo and report back. xreferplus offers content from over 100 sources.

What do xrefer and xreferplus also offer? They're excellent examples of the value that specialized search resources offer. In a nutshell, these types of tools can get you to an answer in an expedited manner… Users and information professionals should have an awareness and a basic knowledge of these types of tools (what they offer) and the ability to get to them quickly. It's just like knowing what book(s) on your bookshelf contain a potential answer. However, with xrefer you get 40 books and xreferplus 100 titles. The right tool at the right time."
Posted by G. Price at The Resource Shelf on Thursday, January 23, 2003

3. Daypop Upgrade and Fast Facts

"Daypop, a specialized search tool focusing on news and weblog content, reports that they are now crawling over 10,500 weblogs.
Here are A Few "Fast Facts" About Daypop Via an E-Mail with Dan Chan (Daypop's Founder and Sole Proprietor):
1) 'Weblogs are initially set to be crawled every 12 hours. Depending on how often a weblog is updated, it may get crawled less often, or more often if it pings weblogs.com.'
2) 'There are 1000 news sources. The big sites get recrawled every three hours. The majority of the sites are crawled every 24 hours.'
3) Odds and Ends
-- 'Appending &o=rss in a search URL? It outputs RSS so you can monitor with a news aggregator.'
--There's a Daypop Top 40 archive. And the Daypop Top News archive.
--'Appending &sum=desc to a search URL brings up a description of the page, usually the first paragraph of a news article.'"
Posted by G. Price on The Resource Shelf on Wednesday, January 22, 2003
posted by Nancy Thursday, January 23, 2003

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

 
Lexis, Westlaw or Google?

The bottom line is – use all three and know which to use when!

As Jerry Lawson (Internet Tools for Lawyers) indicates, “It depends on the job. Neither resource is superior in every situation. Each has distinct strengths and weaknesses. Paid services will be better for some projects, while free Internet resources will be qualitatively superior for some projects.”

According to Tom Mighell (inter alia) “The challenge is: where is the best/easiest/cheapest place to find this information? Learning all of the resources that are available on the web for free is a big step in answering this question.”
From: TVC Alert 22 Jan 2003

One such resource for all things adoptive is this very comprehensive source:

Adoption Resource Directories
It contains special sections on:
World Adoption Resources
Adoption Law By State
Geneology and Adoption
Adoption Laws & Lawyers
The rest of the page is a lengthy list of on-line adoption resources.
From: LawResearch NewsLetter: "Just The LawLinks." Vol. 7 No.01, January 2003
posted by Nancy Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

 
Today I made a discovery - I have found that Tuesdays that are really Mondays are twice as bad as a regular Monday for getting the brain working! Two diet Cokes, an old Rod Stewart CD and I just getting started on today’s blawg. Here goes...

The Homesteader and the Gunslinger - Plaintiff's Counsel in Discovery
“Attorney and consultant Robert Alan Eisenberg provides detailed strategies to implement the collection of discoverable electronic evidence.”
From: LLRX Update January 15, 2003
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Another article on discovery is “Discovery's Future Is Electronic: Processing computer information is changing how cases are done” by Jason Hoppin.
From: Internet Legal Research Weekly January 19, 2003
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A great new blawg on the legal scene is Be Spacific, written by LLRX’s net savvy editor and publisher, Sabrina I. Pacifici, provides accurate, focused law and technology news. It has been online since early January and contains an archive back to August 2002 and is one of the blawgs in by Cindy Carlson’s article “Legal Weblogs Revisited”
From: LLRX Update January 15, 2003
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Jerry Larson’s article, “Free Search Engines vs. Westlaw & Lexis” at Internet Tools for Lawyers, is the topic of a very interesting discussion by Tom Mighell of Inter Alia on Monday, January 20th.
From: From: Internet Legal Research Weekly January 19, 2003
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, January 21, 2003

Friday, January 17, 2003

 
Happy Friday to all of you and enjoy the skiing while our snow lasts! In Ohio that’s a day-to-day, even hour-to-hour consideration.

On a more serious note, today I have some information for you about what happens to old disk drives and the information on them.

The article "Old Hard Drives Yield Data Bonanza" and particularly the information in the responses at the bottom of the page demonstrate how important it is to be sure that all of your data is permanently removed from your computers memory before you get rid of it!

Deleting your "My Documents" folder just doesn't get it!!! Even a reformatted drive is vulnerable.

The last line of the article pretty well sums it up, "Lots of people know it is important to clean drives before you repurpose them, but few people do it because it's hard to do."

From the Naked PC for Thursday, January 16, 2003 - Vol. 6 No. 02
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posted by Nancy Friday, January 17, 2003

Thursday, January 16, 2003

 
Tweaks to AltaVista News Search
”They're small but useful. You can now limit to a specific date range. Use the date pull-down box and select date range. You're then presented with two clickable calendars, where you can select dates. [At Google your only choices are 3 or 6 months, and a year.] These are the type of boxes often found on travel sites. Btw, if you want to directly enter the date range that also works. However, be careful! The date structure is dd/mm/yr. Also new is an option to limit your news search to only retrieve articles that contain images.”
Posted by G. Price on Wednesday, January 15, 2003 at the ResourceShelf

Teoma Launches Beta, Advanced Search Page Now Available
“More good things from Teoma, an advanced search interface! Don't be surprised if you see some tweaks and experience a few performance issues before the official announcement early next week. Remember, be careful if you choose to limit by date with Teoma or any web engine.”
See Also: You Can Also Choose To Use Advanced Syntax with Teoma
Posted by G. Price on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 at The ResourceShelf

Easy, Foolproof Small Networks
"’Powerline’ networking has two enormous advantages over traditional wired networking.”

1) “Like wireless networking, a powerline network requires no new cables or special wiring at all: Any building that has normal electrical service already is fully wired for powerline networking, with no need to snake cables through walls or under floors, and with no need for drilling or other structural work at all.”

2) “Powerline networking spreads the signal around: Once the network signal is injected at any point into a wiring system, the network can be accessed from almost anywhere else on the same electrical system. This means you can move from room to room or floor to floor in a building, and still be able to access the powerline network from any ordinary wall socket. In fact, because electrical wires carry signals very well, a powerline node actually can have greater range than a wireless access point, and also avoid many of the problems of wireless signal loss caused by thick walls or other obstructions. Anywhere the electrical wires go, the powerline networking signal follows.”

3) “Unlike wireless networking, which creates a wide bubble of connectivity in which anyone--- authorized or not--- may be able to detect the network and try to log in, a powerline network's data signal remains confined to the physical wires: It doesn't broadcast out into the surrounding empty space. In this way, powerline networking can be more secure than wireless networking.”
But there's a catch, especially if you're in an office complex, apartment building, condo, or other situation where a number of different occupants all may share the same electrical system. To keep your data private, you need to make use of one or more of powerline networking's special security features.

Read this article for several simple solutions to this problem.
From: The LangaList Standard Edition, 2003-01-16 at: http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-16.htm#1
Subscribe (it's free!): Create and send a new email to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net
posted by Nancy Thursday, January 16, 2003

Wednesday, January 15, 2003

 
BEEN TO THE OPERA LATELY?

"Opera is a web browser that is smaller and faster than Netscape and Internet Explorer. Aside from the fact that it's just a bit over 3MBto download, Opera is a full-featured browser that's faster than the competition, especially on computers that don't have a fast modem or lots of memory. Opera runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, OS/2 and is available in about two dozen languages.

Despite its small size, Opera does everything a web browser is supposed to do. It also has some cool features, such as multiple windows, a powerful hotlist, and other goodies. Opera includes a good Usenet newsreader, supports FTP, style sheets, and SSL security. It also handles both Java and JavaScript. And unlike it's rivals, Opera actually adheres to Internet standards. Setting aside all the acronyms, the bottom line is that Opera will render web pages the way they are supposed to look.

Opera is also an excellent browser for users with physical handicaps, as it can be navigated with the keyboard only, and can scale the size of web pages on the fly. So depending on your monitor size, resolution and visual acuity, you can choose to set the browser window size from 20% to 1000% of actual size. You can also configure Opera to work with screen reader software.

At install time, Opera will import your IE Favorites and Navigator Bookmarks, which is a nice feature. It's always a pain to lose your bookmarks when switching browsers.

In the past, Opera was charging for their browser, but the Opera Version 6 browser is free. The software is ad-supported, which means a standard size ad banner is displayed in the toolbar at the top of the screen. If you want to turn off the ads, you can pay a registration fee of US$29 ($20 for students and schools). I think this is a good deal for both the users and the programmers. If you'd like to try an alternate browser that's lean, mean, and not closely tied to the interests of a billion-dollar corporation, try Opera."

From: TOURBUS Volume 8, Number 22 -- 29 Oct 2002
posted by Nancy Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Tuesday, January 14, 2003

 
Remember today's links as your next business trip approches...

World Executive City Guides
Indexes detailed and informative guides to over 140 of the world's most popular cities. "As well as internet hotel discounts, each guide features: maps of the city and area, city pictures, weather and climate information, attractions and restaurants and travel tips."
From LII Week 15 Nov 2002
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Fodors.com: Tips for Women Traveling Solo
"Women traveling alone, locally or abroad, will 'find strategies for handling health and safety matters and the occasional weirdo.' Many helpful hints on lodging, dining, rip-off prevention, and other matters can be equally useful for men. Click on Destinations to find mini-guides for domestic and worldwide vacation planning."
From: LLI WEEK 22 Nov 2002
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A companion article to the above:
The Original Tipping Page
"Organizes dozens of guidelines by service (for example, restaurant, limousine, beauty shop) and provides a percentage figure based on experience and common sense. Includes U.S. and international recommendations."
From: LLI WEEK 22 Nov 2002
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Free Travel Tips.com “We have thousands of helpful free tips and links for travelers dealing with airlines, rental cars, hotels, cruises, restaurants and theme parks. Whether you are on a business trip or vacation, traveling alone or with the kids, in the U.S. or abroad we can help. We have tips to help you before you go with planning research, packing and preparing for a road trip along with links to many difficult to find official and governmental sites. There are also checklists you can print so you won't forget anything. “
posted by Nancy Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Monday, January 13, 2003

 
I have a few interesting websites for you today!

Edlaw Online Library "Affiliated with the Franklin Pierce Law Center, this collection of education law resources is not particularly user friendly. But those who persist likely will find a lot of substance here. It provides the full-text and legal citations of select federal education laws as well as the full-text of a large collection of case law, and more."
From: Research News: TVC Alert, 21 November 2002
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National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder "This site was originally created by the Department of Veterans Affairs to address the needs of veterans with military PTSD. However, the NCPTSD provides useful information to anyone wanting to know more about the disorder. There's a good overview in the Facts area, including information on treatment and disasters. You can also find a page with a large number of topics related to PTSD, which include Accidents, Child Abuse, Media, Relationships, Severe Mental Illness, among others. Find online documents and publications, or search the PILOTS database, which contains over 22,000 citations on PTSD. This is an excellent resource."
From: Internet Legal Research Weekly, January 12, 2003
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Workplace Rights:The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "offers a collection of news and other documents pertaining to workers' rights. These cover drug testing, electronic surveillance, genetic and racial discrimination, sexual discrimination and harassment, and whistleblowers."
From: Research News: TVC Alert, 21 November 2002
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posted by Nancy Monday, January 13, 2003

Friday, January 10, 2003

 
I first read about the Google Viewer in Bob Rankin’s Tourbus newsletter way back in December, but didn’t have the time or inclination to try it out at the time and pretty much forgot about it – until yesterday.

As I was working on the February bar journal article, I got stuck in my tracks at one section. I could remember seeing the article I wanted – could even picture it in my mind, but could not remember the title or the site it came from, but did remember that I had been looking through the million or so results you get back from a Google search when I found it. I didn’t want to go through all those results again so…

I dug out the Tourbus article and tried out the viewer!

Boy is it ever slick! I will let Bob explain it, he’s the pro.

“What makes Google Viewer different is that instead of [just] showing you LINKS to the pages that match your search term, it actually SHOWS you the resulting pages themselves, sort of like a scrolling slide show of relevant Web pages. So, thanks to the Google Viewer, you can actually view the results of your Google search without having to move your mouse.” The links scroll down the screen at 5 second intervals just like a slide show (though you can speed it up, slow it down, or start and stop it with a mere mouse click.)

According to Bob, “If you can use a VCR, you can use Google Viewer” and I concur! Try it! I found my article in just a minute or two and enjoyed the show instead of being frustrated by slow loading pages and dead ends!
posted by Nancy Friday, January 10, 2003

Thursday, January 09, 2003

 
Like Yahoo! Searching, but hate blatant ads??

Try http://search.yahoo.com/, all you will see is the search box and the standard directory. (What a relief!)
From: The Resource Shelf posted by G. Price on Thursday, January 02, 2003

What the Web Can Do For You – Net Clients with The Right Stuff
By Larry Bodine for ABA Law Practice Management Section

A good Web site is the best marketing investment a law firm can make.
Larry Bodine's article summarizes the key points to keep in mind for your firm's 2003 online strategy.
-- What's Next for Law Firms on the Web? Speak Out.
-- 10 Deadly Web Site Mistakes by Larry Bodine.
-- Web Trends to Watch by Dennis M. Kennedy.
-- Fresh Content and Where to Buy It by Larry Bodine.
-- Top 10 Tips for Home Page Usability by Jakob Nielsen.
From: FindLaw's Lawyer Marketing News
January 2003, Issue # 28
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posted by Nancy Thursday, January 09, 2003

Wednesday, January 08, 2003

 
How to Use MSCONFIG

Built into Windows 98, 98SE, ME, and XP is a special tool called the "Microsoft System Configuration Utility" or simply "MSCONFIG." Designed to help you troubleshoot problems with your computer, MSCONFIG can also be used to ensure that your computer boots faster and crashes less.

1. Every time you boot your computer a whole mess of "hidden" programs load in the background.
2. Some of these hidden programs are essential, but most aren't.
3. Turning off some of these hidden programs can significantly help your computer

There is a step-by-step guide on how to use MSCONFIG.

If you are running on Windows 95/NT/2000 MSCONFIG is not (quite) available for these versions. But the free "Startup Control Panel" program will work just as well.

If you have Windows NT or 2000, you can also download the official, Windows XP version of MSCONFIG

And if you don’t know what some of the undecipherable letter/number combinations stand for, Paul Collins has put together a complete list of all of the startup applications to help you decide what to keep and scrap.
From: TOURBUS Volume 8, Number 33 -- 7 Jan 2003 by Bob Rankin
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, January 08, 2003

 
Research Dig With Genie Tyburski: Surviving Information Overload

This article written for Law Practice Management is now available online. It discusses products, services, and strategies for obtaining and dealing with mounds of current information.

The article includes:
Filter, Blacklist and Bounce Spam
Let Web Tracking Services Run Repeat Searches
How News Monitoring Works
Use Newsreaders to Filter the Noise
Take Advantage of Toolbars and Browser Add-ons
From: TVC Alert, 17 DECEMBER 2002
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, January 08, 2003

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

 
Today was Ohio’s turn to be listed in "LLRX Buzz #146: The Latest on Legal Research" by Tara Calishain.

I checked it out to see if anything was new and couldn’t help myself – this has nothing to do with law – NOTHING, but I hope you learn something about our state.

1) The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton. (I had to put that first, though we all know it, we are proud of it!)
2) Ermal Fraze invented the pop-top can in Kettering.
3) Ohio gave America its first hot dog in 1900. Harry M. Stevens created the popular dining dog.
4) Oberlin College was founded in 1833. It was the first interracial and coeducational college in the United States. (Something else to be proud of!)
5) Cleveland became the world's first city to be lighted electrically in 1879. (Probable due to the fact that Thomas A. Edison from Milan developed the incandescent light bulb, phonograph, and early motion picture camera.)
6) James J. Ritty, of Dayton, invented the cash register in 1879 to stop his patrons from pilfering house profits.
7) The Y Bridge in Zanesville was first built in 1814 to span the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers. The current bridge is the fifth construction at the same location. "Ripley's Believe It or Not" proclaimed it the only bridge in the world which you can cross and still be on the same side of the river.
8) The first full time automobile service station was opened in 1899 in Ohio.
9) In 1852 Ohio was the first state to enact laws protecting workingwomen.
10) The Glacial Grooves on the north side of Kelley’s Island are the largest easily accessible such grooves in the world. They were scoured into solid limestone bedrock about 18,000 years ago by the great ice sheet that covered part of North America.

There are more Fun Facts and plenty of interesting links to be found on Ohio's Web site!
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, January 07, 2003

Monday, January 06, 2003

 
How Competitive is Your Law Firm? Competitive Intelligence for the Legal Industry
By Cynthia Cheng Correia

“Cynthia Cheng Correia defines the elements involved in the competitive intelligence process, and details how these factors can be successfully leveraged in the law firm environment."
From: LLRXUpdate January 2, 2003
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Joel Zand ‘s Non-Billable Hours Column for Findlaw’s Modern Practice’s January 2003 issue is entitled “Get A Life, Counselor!”

Getting a life, according Zand means anything from taking comedy and acting classes (being able to stay composed on stage proved to be excellent training for arguing his clients' cases in front of juries) to triathlon training (physical exercise leaves your mind free to ponder difficult questions), building houses, teaching snowboarding and SWAT teams how to shoot, flying aerobatic planes, and scuba diveing. Judge Harry Crump, many of whose activities are listed above, states that "The busier you are," he said, "the more time you have."

Also at Findlaw:
“Does Coercing a Confession Violate the Fifth Amendment Right Against Self-Incrimination? The Supreme Court Considers the Question”
By Sherry F. Colb

And “The Over-Hyping of Human Cloning: Why The Legal and Ethical Issues It Poses Are Likely to Be Relatively Limited” by Julie Hilden

From: FindLaw's WRIT
Legal Commentary
December 30, 2002 - January 3, 2003
Issue # 125
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posted by Nancy Monday, January 06, 2003

Friday, January 03, 2003

 
It sure doesn't feel like Friday, I even forgot to wear my jeans and tennies! I must be getting old!

A Google tip for you today: If you are looking for a map to an address, just type it into Google's search field. If Google recognizes the entry as an address, the first results will contain links to maps at MapQuest and Yahoo! Maps. Most of the time all you will really need is an address and the city for Google to make a match.
From: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY Volume 3, Issue 35, December 22, 2002
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And an interesting article at Findlaw -"Are Law Firm Partners "Employers" for Purposes of Discrimination Law? A Federal Court of Appeals Suggests They May Not Be" by Joanna Grossman

From the article: "The decision is certain to inspire fear in law firms across the country. If partners indeed qualify as firm ‘employees,’ that means they can sue their firms under laws such as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA); Title VII, the major federal anti-discrimination statute; and other federal laws that only 'employees' can invoke."
From: FindLaw's WRIT: Legal Commentary, Issue # 123, December 16 - December 20, 2002
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posted by Nancy Friday, January 03, 2003

Thursday, January 02, 2003

 
Last evening I came across a little quiz of Internet knowledge and I MISSED one of the questions. See if you have better luck!

Question 1
Tim Berners-Lee is considered the father of:
A. the United States B. email C. the World Wide Web D. the Internet

Question 2
IMHO is shorthand for:
A. I Mean Hold On B. In My Humble Opinion C. I Might Head Over D. If Money Hold Out

Question 3
Another way to describe a URL is:
A. Web site address B. Internet Service Provider C. computer D. I have no idea.

Question 4
When it first started out, legendary online retailer Amazon.com sold:
A. wine B. travel maps C. computer games D. books

Question 5
To move from one Web page to another, you generally:
A. wiggle your nose B. click a hyperlink C. press “Enter” on your keyboard D. send an email

Question 6
How would you figure out which version of your browser you are using?
A. right-click on the bottom right corner B. from the “View” menu, choose “Source” C. from the “Help” menu, choose “About” D. What’s a browser?

Question 7
What is the little arrow you use to click buttons on the screen called?
A. mouse button B. pointy thing C. shortcut D. mouse cursor

Question 8
Which of these is one way your computer can catch a virus?
A. through an email attachment B. through the phone line C. when you sneeze on the monitor D. from a thunderstorm

Question 9
Which of these is a name for a common computer operating system?
A. Huh? B. Netscape Navigator C. Outlook Express D. Windows

Question 10
What does Alt+Click mean?
A. Hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and click your mouse button. B. Press the ‘Alt key on your keyboard and then click you mouse button C. Point your mouse cursor top the button onscreen that says “Alt” and click it. D. Click the mouse button on the right side.

Here are the answers:
1. C. the World Wide Web; 2. B. In My Humble Opinion; 3. A. Web site address; 4. D. Books; 5. B. click a hyperlink; 6. C. From the “Help” menu, choose “About”; 7. D. mouse cursor; 8. A. through an email attachment; 9. D. Windows; 10. A. Hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and click your mouse button.

To learn more about each answer, go to: <http://netforbeginners.about.com/library/quizzes/basics/bl-basics-answers.htm>.
From: The electronic newsletter " Net for Beginners" by Charlyn Keating Chisholm
posted by Nancy Thursday, January 02, 2003

Tuesday, December 31, 2002

 
I wish I had seen this one last week, but "better late than never!"

A LAWYER'S LETTER TO SANTA
By SEAN CARTER

“Attorney and comedian Sean Carter offers a plea from a lawyer, to Santa, for a number of "legally-challenged" individuals. Carter suggests gifts Santa could bring to Robert Blake, Winona Ryder, Martha Stewart, Trent Lott, the Central Park jogger five, and others, and points out that Santa himself is often on the wrong side of the law.

From: FindLaw's WRIT: Legal Commentary
December 23 - 27, 2003
Issue #124
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And for the New Year...

Ten Top Resolutions for Your PC
by Tom Spring

Give your PC a great start to 2003 by following our advice for snappier--and safer--computing. Happy New Year!

1. Banish Junk From Your Hard Drive
2. Give Your PC a Jump Start
3. Protect Your Network
4. Give Your PC a Flu Shot
5. Browse Without a Trace
6. Say No to Sneaky Ads
7. Want to Be Spam-Free?
8. Out With the Old
9. Stay on Top of Fraud
10. Break Free of Entanglements--and Bad Posture

And for YOU on New Year's Eve...

Find the answers to these traditional questions and more at:http://www.how-to-keep-your-new-years-resolution.com/

How do I keep my resolution?
What are some common resolutions?
Why do we celebrate New Year's Eve, and why do we make resolutions?

And maybe try Resolution Reminders.
From: inter alia Thursday, December 26
Subscribe at the inter alia link above.
posted by Nancy Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Monday, December 30, 2002

 
I'M BAAAACK! (In the infamous tones of Ed McMahon) It is nice to be home, but winter in Ohio is, well, winter in Ohio!! And Charleston, S.C. is just too beautiful for words!

And now to work - over the weekend I ran across an old article that holds valuable advice even today.

Langa Letter: Traveling With Laptops In The Post-9/11 World: Fred Langa offers 10 tips for speeding your electronic gear safely through even the most rigorous security searches. "There are several steps you can take to speed your way safely through even the most rigorous security searches and also greatly reduce the chances of loss, theft, or damage to your expensive and delicate electronic travel gear. Here are my top 10 travel tips for post-9/11 air travel with electronics:
• Make your laptop bag easily searchable. Cables, batteries, chargers, and the like are a fact of modern life, but if your laptop bag is a rat's nest of cables and loose parts, you're inviting either close scrutiny or a time-consuming unpack-repack at the screening table.
• Make unfamiliar devices obviously non-threatening. You can assuage the concern of a security screener by carrying the owner's manual for such devices with you, having the printed owner's manual in the bag next to the device helps reassure the screener that it's a standard consumer device and not something dangerous... Place any unfamiliar device on top or in front of more common devices, so it won't appear that you're trying to conceal anything: Be open, up front, and help the screener identify what he or she is seeing.
• Have your electronic devices charged and ready to run. Some security screeners still will require you to turn on your laptop or other electronic device to show that it is real. If your device's batteries are dead, you may face a long delay.
• Avoid problems with any tools you need to carry. If your electronic needs are such that you must travel with a small set of tools, pack them in your checked luggage. Or, if you have no luggage to check, send your tools ahead to your destination via mail or other delivery service. That way, the tools will be there when you arrive and will not cause problems for you at the airport.
• Maintain visual contact with your bag. To foil the "snatch-and-grab" scenario, place your items on the X-ray belt but wait until they are out of reach inside the X-ray machine before you go through the metal detector. And as you go through the detector, watch the far end of the X-ray belt to ensure that no one is making a move toward your carry-ons as they emerge from scanning.
• Make your carry-on bags an undesirable theft target. Use a generic, nondescript carry-on that does not scream "electronics inside!" And no matter what case you use, make your bag stand out in some way so it can be identified even across a crowded concourse, so a thief will think twice about trying to lift it. Luggage stores and online travel sites (like Magellan's) carry personalization/identification straps, handle wraps, and (my favorite) oversized, high-visibility fluorescent luggage tags that can help you spot your stuff in a crowd and also make thieves seek less-conspicuous stuff to steal.
• Likewise, make your laptop itself an undesirable theft target. There are many simple, do-it-yourself options for permanently personalizing your gear, but I prefer the professional laptop ID and tracking method available from www.stoptheft.com. It's a system of permanent, high-visibility "tattoos," decals, and metal ID plates that you affix to your equipment with glue of such strength that a thief would likely have to damage or even destroy the laptop or other item to remove them.
• Carry backups. A real no-brainer!
• Stay up to date. See the article for a host of sites for staying current.
• Stay cool. Expect to be searched; expect some level of hassle and delay. Arrive at the airport early to allow plenty of time to make it through security, and try to remember that all this hassle is not the screener's fault.
From: From TechnoLawyer’s Fat Friday on October 25, 2002
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posted by Nancy Monday, December 30, 2002

Friday, December 27, 2002

 
A Free Service from the BNA Library, Web Watch
BNA (The Bureau of National Affairs) is a well-known and respected publisher of news and analysis tools dealing with legal and regulatory issues in business and government. In November, Laura Gordon-Murnane, a librarian and BNA's Intranet Webmaster, introduced a new and free service called Web Watch. From the site, "...you will find links to government, industry, and academic resources on selected topics spanning the breadth of BNA coverage. New subjects will be posted weekly, and new resources will also be added to existing topics." From ozone issues to workplace safety, from aviation security to broaband, you'll find an amazing collection of useful and authoritative resources and reports. This "must have" site and is not only a useful directory (worthy of sharing with patrons) but an excellent collection development and alerting tool to locate new content for your web site and bookmark files. Kudos to BNA and Laura for providing this service.”
VAS&ND Post posted by G Price on Thursday, November 21, 2002
posted by Nancy Friday, December 27, 2002

Thursday, December 26, 2002

 
20 Questions With An Expert on Grassroots PR
By Andrew Zangrilli

Read this article and find the answers to these questions and begin planning for a New Year's change in your approach to public relations.

1. What is Grassroots PR (GRPR), and how does it apply to a law firm?
2. How can GRPR support a law firm's client acquisition program?
3. Does the kind of GRPR activities differ on a regional basis?
4. What marketing activities are included in all GRPR campaigns?
5. What should lawyers be wary of when they undertake PR opportunities?
6. Does GRPR apply to Internet Activities?
7. Do you practice Grassroots PR at your firm?
8. Why do you feel there's been a backlash against branding?
9. What do you think the public expects from law firms?
10. Should individual attorneys take steps independent of the local firm's initiatives?
11. Let's say a firm has an attorney with expertise in Mergers & Acquisitions with German media companies. Discuss how a firm can take steps to market its individual attorney experts.
12. How has the legal marketing landscape changed over the past several years?
13. In 5 years, how do you envision the legal marketing landscape?
14. In a tight economy, why should law firms continue to spend money on marketing?
15. In your experience, what is the most effective marketing activity?
16. Least effective?
17. Marketing giveaways - effective, or a waste of money?
18. What are some effective ways that firms scale back their marketing budgets without completely stopping all initiatives?
19. Discuss accountability as it pertains to law firm marketing activities.
20. What basic concept would you impart to law firms assessing their marketing campaigns?

From: THE PRACTICE PAPER, November 13, 2002 Issue # 110. Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
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posted by Nancy Thursday, December 26, 2002

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

 
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from sunny South Carolina!

LLRX.com has done it again…

Here is a wonderful article for the season!

“The Establishment ‘Claus’: A Selective Guide to the Supreme Court's Christmas Cases”

In recognition of the holiday season, Stephen Young's guide outlines the origins of Christmas and the ways in which the Supreme Court of the United States has encountered the holiday.
From: Happy Holidays from LLRX.com Friday 12/20/02
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Monday, December 23, 2002

 
A BETTER WAY TO REDLINE

If you are using Word's built in track changes feature beware… it has a very dangerous feature for lawyers. When you use track changes to redline, Word deposits "metadata" in the document, which includes information about who made the changes, and when. But metadata also includes the changes themselves. Even though the changes might be accepted, and they do not appear to the reader on the screen, if the document is revised and redlined again in any program, the redliner will usually pick up the prior changes again as if they had just been made. This is annoying because you will get changes marked which weren't made in that draft, and dangerous because you may not want that reader to see changes made in prior drafts.

This is a big enough problem that Microsoft in its knowledge base recommends that lawyers not use the feature and suggests that lawyers use Lexis-Nexis' CompareRite (which was retired on Feb. 1, 2002), or Workshare's Deltaview.

“DeltaView vs. Word XP's Track Changes” and “Workshare DeltaView and Keyspan Digital Media Remote“By Brett Burney are two very informative articles.

Another option is to use Payne Consulting's Metatdata Assistant. See also “Baker+Cadence | Solutions, LLC”
posted by Nancy Monday, December 23, 2002

Friday, December 20, 2002

 
Today’s entry has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with the Law.

Bob Rankin of “Tourbus” fame has given the site for sending a little encouragement and holiday cheer to our over 300,000 American service members who are stationed over seas.

The Pentagon warns that you should NOT flood the military mail system with letters, cards, and gifts.

Rather, point your mouse to a United States Department of Defense news release telling you how to donate calling cards to, send email greetings to, or sign a virtual thank you card for US service members.

Thank you Bob!
From: TOURBUS Volume 8, Number 31 -- 19 Dec 2002
posted by Nancy Friday, December 20, 2002

Thursday, December 19, 2002

 
Start the New Year with Workshare DeltaView!

Contact: Danielle Hope, Workshare Technology
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posted by Nancy Thursday, December 19, 2002

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

 
Consultants v. Trainers

Many a “rant” on this topic has appeared in my mailbox during the past few months. One example, “The claimed training on case management software, Amicus, consisted largely of 'this is an example of.' There was no attempt to take any of the trainees through more than very basic access options. The consultants provided alleged custom training materials, which in retrospect consisted largely of 'print screen' graphics and a 'click, click, click' sequence of reaching a screen for input.” illustrates an important point. The lawyer in the example did not know whether he was dealing with a trainer or consultant.

So today’s post informs our lawyers of the night and day differences between a trainer and a consultant.

Simply put, a consultant helps to determine how you can implement a program, analyzing your needs, identifying the necessary orientation requirements and mapping a plan for a successful roll out. A trainer will teach you how to use the program to enter data, etc.

You really should use both. Each is very important in their way, but get them in the right order – consultant THEN trainer.
posted by Nancy Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

 
TechnoFeature: Microsoft Security: An Oxymoron?
By John Heckman

(Originally published in Consulting News for Law Firms: John Heckman, Microsoft Security: An Oxymoron?, Consulting News for Law Firms, Fall 2002.)

“New security breaches in Microsoft products are revealed with distressing regularity. In the process of dealing with the details of each particular incident, you can't help but think:

-- Why is Microsoft unable (or unwilling) to deal with these security issues?
-- How should a small to medium firm that does not have the resources to devote a part-time employee to security approach this problem?”

After discussing several specific examples of security problems with Microsoft products (Word and Outlook and Internet Explorer, even if you don’t use it as your primary browser) he offers the following advice:

“You can do this yourself on a haphazard basis, but remember Red Adair's adage: ‘If you think hiring a professional is expensive, try using an amateur.’"
“Rather than simply ignore the issue, firms might consider hiring a consultant to come in on a regular basis -- say, a half-day a month -- and go over all new security issues as they pertain to the firm. This visit could also provide an occasion to increase user awareness (there is no substitute for on-going security and anti-virus training). In addition, the consultant could be "on retainer" so that you get a priority response in the event of a particularly serious new virus attack, or the actual infection of your system. In short, take the "retainer" approach that is similar to the way attorneys deal with having experts or other attorneys specialized in certain areas "on call" so that you know they will be available when needed.”
From TechnoLawyer’s TechnoFeature December 3, 2002
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Monday, December 16, 2002

 

YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT
By JOANNE MARINER

"In a case argued before the Supreme Court last Wednesday, Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement explained that coercive interrogations in no way violate the rights of detainees. He claimed that the constitutional violation at issue in Miranda v. Arizona occurs only in court, if and when the prosecution tries to introduce a suspect's coerced statements as evidence.
Put bluntly, you have no right to remain silent. What you have, instead, is a right not to be criminally prosecuted on the basis of your coerced statements. If the government is correct, then the language of the Miranda warnings is wrong."
From FindLaw's WRIT: Legal Commentary December 9 - December 13, 2002 Issue #122
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For those of you who enjoy statutory construction, I found a blawg that is just for you -- the Statutory Construction Zone.

"This weblog aims to provide "current, succinct, statutory-construction case summaries that will be helpful to practitioners; to demonstrate that there is a lot more to statutory construction than "plain meaning" vs. "intent"; and to disseminate trivia about the pre-1789 English common law." Yet another terrific use of the weblog mechanism."
Posted by: Tom Mighell at 8:14 am at Inter-Alia
From: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY, Volume 3, Issue 37, December 15, 2002.
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If you are in IP or Copyright Law, I found an interesting blawg for you… “
COPYFIGHT: the politics of IP

Lastly, a few computer tips from Neat Net Tricks -

"IE COOKIESVIEW "is a small - and free - download that displays the details of all cookies that Internet Explorer stores on your computer. You can sort them, search by Web site, delete them, and copy them, even on networked computers with access permission. CookiesView works on Win95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP with IE versions 4-6."

THE 99% WORD FIX. It's one of those simple tips we often forget and continue to tolerate MS Word (any version) crashing, sending error messages, and misbehaving in general. Just close Word and do a find (Ctrl+F will do nicely) for the file "normal.dot" and delete it. If you think that's too drastic, rename it to something else. Restart Word and it rebuilds the file and resets its default to the original settings. It's clean and it even seems to start more quickly, with no errors. Neat."
Both from Neat Net Tricks Issue #139 12/14/02
Subscribe: Send a blank email to info-neatnettricks@silver.lyris.net
posted by Nancy Monday, December 16, 2002

Friday, December 13, 2002

 
Networking is the name of the game for today's entries.

Quite a while ago while researching an article for the bar journal, I emailed WiseNut/LookSmart with a question. Today’s email included a wonderful reply from one of the Inverito folks who have developed a research tool for SEC filings called EdgarIQ. The current FREE version is BetaPLUS but version 1.0 will release at the end of the year. “However, even in it's current release, EdgarIQ offers many features that may be of interest to your readers:

· Full-text search: All words in all SEC filings are indexed and updated daily.
· Two search boxes: The company search box enables users to search using the company name, ticker symbol or CIK number for up to 10 companies at the same time. It also provides a clickable list of suggestions if several possibilities exist for the company name input. The second search box allows users to search for keywords and supports basic Boolean operators. By using both boxes together, users can find specific words and phrases within particular company filings.
· Multiple sorting functions: Users can sort by date or form type. They can group all results from one company for keyword searches. From the results page, they can click quick links under each result to see all filings from that company, a list of companies with the same SIC code or more filings with a given keyword (if only the keyword search box is used.)
· Searchable Industry Sector Directory
· Forms Directory: This is built for each company and displays an outline of all forms filed by a given company when the [View Filings by Form Type] link is clicked.
· Exhibits Indexed Separately”
From: King, Amy. “Ex-WiseNutter.” E-mail to the author. 12 Dec. 2002.

Another take on networking –

Gone, but Not Forgotten by Christine Canabou
“No company likes to dismiss its talented employees because of a rotten economy. But there's a way to keep people working with you even after they stop working for you. Here is a five-point program on how to build a successful alumni network for your company.”
"The goal is not to retain employees," says Cindy Lewiton Jackson, director of global career development and alumni relations for Bain & Co., a pioneer of the concept. "The goal is to build lifelong affiliation." Katie Weiser, global director of alumni relations at Deloitte Consulting, adds, "Our people will be movers and shakers wherever they land next. We're planting seeds for the future."
The alumni phenomenon is sweeping all kinds of organizations -- and for good reasons. First, once the economy bounces back, alumni may want to return to the company. Second, one way to maintain a good reputation in tough times is to cultivate positive alumni relationships.
But how do you build a network that works? Here's a five-point program culled from leading alumni networks.
1. There's more than one way to network. An alumni community can be either an official company initiative or a grassroots effort.
2. If you build it, they may not come. You have to ask your alumni what they want, or they will lose interest.
3. Membership better have its privileges. Alumni networks need to create explicit reasons for people to join and stay -- like landing new jobs. Publishing a regularly updated alumni directory is the number-one benefit. Some companies are even equipping their job-seeking alumni with how-to books, training classes, and job-referral programs. "There is a greater demand for jobs as opposed to bodies to fill them, so we've adapted," says Jackson, who is helping about 200 Bain alumni find jobs. "Their needs change, but the focus is the same: How can we help?"
4. Don't be surprised if your alumni surprise you.
5. What are you waiting for? "As more people left the company, we felt a greater sense of urgency to stay in touch," says Keogh. "We invested a lot in them, and they invested a lot in us. Eventually, we would like to bring many of them back."
From: Joel R. Zand, Esq. The Practice Paper: A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
To subscribe visit the Newsletter Subscription Center

posted by Nancy Friday, December 13, 2002

Thursday, December 12, 2002

 
Today's blawg is for your business clients!

Business Owner's Toolkit
"Publisher CCH Incorporated offers this free site for business owners, especially those with small businesses. Find the CCH Small Business Guide, a collection of practical articles on various aspects of planning and running a small business. Other sections of the site provide model forms and checklists (Small Business Tools), employee training (HR Tools), and advice about business issues (Ask Alice).
From: RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 2 DECEMBER 2002

Free Downloadable [Business] Forms
"Office Depot provides forms on a variety of business issues that your clients can download and customize. They cover business finance, employee management, compensation, marketing, worker safety, recruiting, starting a business, firing, and equipment."
Also from: RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 2 DECEMBER 2002
posted by Nancy Thursday, December 12, 2002

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

 
In November I included a post on “Plain Language in Law” by Sandeep Dave.
“Writing For Clients,” by Louis J. Sirico Jr. and Nancy Schultz, a special to lexisONEsm, approaches the topic from a different perspective, but one that is equally important.
Their advice includes:
“... consider the expectations and hopes those clients probably have for communications from their lawyers. Several likely expectations come to mind:
· Reassurance
· Demonstration of competence
· Clarification of the procedural status of the matter, and explanation of what happens next
· Clear explanation of applicable law
· Presentation of available options and consequences
· Predictions about how matters are likely to be resolved
· Demonstration of concern for the client as a person
· Clear explanation of fees and costs
· Respect for the intelligence and contributions of the client
How can you fulfill these expectations? Here are three suggestions:
· Use appropriate language
· Provide useful information
· Inspire confidence
The rest of the article gives specific examples of good and bad drafts of letters to clients.
This article is well worth your time!

Another good article from Lexis One is “How To Word Invoices That Clients Are Happy To Pay” by Jay G. Foonberg.
“The basic secret in invoicing is to tell the client everything you did. There is no such thing as an invoice that is too long. If you do a good job of preparing invoices, clients will think they're getting a bargain and will be glad to pay them before you reconsider how little you seem to be charging.”
How to Word the Invoice
“The most important thing in invoicing is to list every single document you prepared or reviewed… List every single letter, court form, and document — including the number of drafts or revisions — that you worked on. Also indicate whether you reviewed the document or prepared it or revised it. Also list the forms your secretary prepared, including such documents as summonses, declarations or returns of service, and instructions to the clerk of court.”
Billing for Telephone Calls
“… if you immediately sent a letter repeating the facts given you and your opinion, the client will gladly pay for "correspondence and telephone conference concerning Mechanics Lien Law." As an added benefit, you decrease your malpractice exposure by repeating the given facts or questions in the event the client later claims he or she gave you different facts.”
Show Dates of Services
“Your invoice should show every single date you worked on the matter even if only a minor service was rendered on a particular date. A client will usually be impressed by the fact that you worked on his or her case on six or seven different dates during a month.
This technique lets clients know you are giving their cases continual attention. Do NOT list the date opposite the service rendered. List the dates at the end of the invoice. If you worked on a single document on two different dates, the client erroneously may think that you are double billing if you show the same or a similar description twice.”
Ask Your Client“Ask your clients, especially business clients, if they have preferences in the wording or presentations of invoices to them.”
Show Litigation“If there is a pending lawsuit, always show the name(s) of the case(s), the court(s) where the matter is pending, and the case number(s). Clients know that litigation is expensive — because you warned them at the inception of the matter — and by listing the court information you remind them monthly that the matter is expensive because litigation is expensive and not because you are expensive.
Your client may wish you to use the Uniform Task-Based Management System Litigation Code Set available from the ABA Litigation Section.”
Don't Show Number of Hours of Service“ Unless your fee agreement requires you to spell out the time devoted to each part of the work, don't do it. Listing each and every service and time often upsets the client over some minor aspect of the invoice.
If your fee agreement requires showing the hours worked, show the hours at the end of the invoice after all services are set out. Do not show every time detail alongside the work done unless the client asks for it.”
The author gives specific examples and has several more interesting bits of information for you:
Always read your invoices before they go out.
Ask your clients if they want or need their bills in any specific format or style.
Ask your clients where they want the bills sent.
Some clients want the bill only to say "Professional Services Rendered," with some sort of description in a separate document. Lawyers' bills are often subject to discovery and you may not want anything in the bill that might inadvertently tip off the other side as to where your strategy is headed. Some clients do not want their accounts-payable staff or others to know what is happening in the matter. If you do produce invoices in litigation, remember to redact (blacken out) the work description.
From: TechnoLawyer's TechnoRelease Tuesday on December 10, 2002
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

 
I found a new blawg that contained a few interesting articles.

Traveling over the holidays? Need to keep in touch with the office?

Stay in “Hotels with high-speed Internet.” A recent issue of SearchDay points to a resource sure to prove useful to lawyers who travel frequently -- the Geektels directory. A "geektel" is a hotel with high-speed Internet access. This directory lists more than 2,300 of them, in locations throughout the world. Browse by country and city to find a hotel in your destination. Most listings describe the type of broadband service and the cost.
From: LAWSITES Monday, December 02, 2002

LeapLaw: A New corporate law resource.

LeapLaw, is a subscription "knowledge base" targeted at corporate associates, in-house counsel and small law firms. LeapLaw positions itself as a sort of virtual paralegal, providing access to tools and information that will help a lawyer "leap" to completion of a task. It does this primarily through a database which it says contains more than 2,000 corporate terms and definitions, more than 800 legal forms, another 800 sample corporate votes, a collection of "best practices" guides, and links to outside sources of information. Although focused exclusively on corporate law, LeapLaw promises to add other topics in the future, including real estate, intellectual property, bankruptcy, litigation, employment and contracts.
Read more about LeapLaw at this new blawg LAWSITES Wed. Dec. 4th

Thanks to Inter Alia for the lead!
posted by Nancy Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Monday, December 09, 2002

 
The two sites I have chosen for today are excellent examples of what is good about the web. Here is some “Food for Thought.”

PBS Frontline Home Page
This Web site companion to the popular PBS show Frontline offers attractions for both the show's aficionados, as well as those with a more casual interest. There are previews of upcoming shows and archives of past shows, which can be browsed chronologically or by subject - handy for a general user looking for information rather than a particular show. Web sites for individual previous shows provide texts, images, related readings, links to online discussion forums, and video clips (sometimes entire programs). For example, at the Web site for the Frontline program, "Let's get Married," visitors can read an essay by Alex Kotlowitz, pondering liberal versus conservative views on the public and private consequences of divorce and marriage. A current feature documents 20 years of Frontline, complete with all 420 programs (title and short summary listings for earlier shows; Web sites beginning in 1996); an interview with David Fanning, longtime producer of the show; a short history, and even a Frontline quiz.” Summary by Debra Shapiro
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002. http://scout.wisc.edu/Volume 8, Number 48, December 6, 2002

The second site is Kuro5hin.org. According to the site, "Kuro5hin.org is a site about technology and culture, both separately and in their interactions." According to its editors you will not find "...garbage in the discussions here, because noise is not tolerated. This is a site for people who want to discuss the world they live in. It's a site for people who are on the ground in the modern world, and who sometimes look around and wonder what they have wrought." One of today’s entries, “ How Much is a Life Worth?” by “I am Jack's username” compares the diversity of how much money was awarded to the families and victims of various tragedies including the Twin Towers, PanAm Flight 103, etc
Posted by David Goldman, editor of kfsource.com

posted by Nancy Monday, December 09, 2002

Friday, December 06, 2002

 
"Internet-Surfing Jurors Vex Judges: Research Causes Mistrials, Delays"
by Luci Scott
The National Law Journal
12-04-2002

We all know that everything you read on the Internet is not true and when jurors go home and log on, they may be jeopardizing the concept of a “fair” trial. This article contains specific instances of juror surfing, how it affected the trial, and what could/should be done about it. Very interesting reading.
From: The Virtual Acquisition and Reference Desk posted by g price on Wednesday, December 04, 2002

“Attorney Accused of Shaking Prosecutor”
By Joseph Morton
December 4, 2002

How not to make friends and impress people. Enough said.
From: THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq. A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms http://www.findlaw.com December 4, 2002, Issue # 113
posted by Nancy Friday, December 06, 2002

Thursday, December 05, 2002

 
"How to Make Love in the Office"
Forget about loving your work. Try loving your coworker!
by Alison Overholt

“The holiday season and office parties. Office parties and spiked punch bowls. Spiked punch bowls and a little carrying on. A little carrying on and . . . Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Jack Welch and Suzy Wetlaufer.”

Her advice:

1. Go ahead: Dive right in.
”Office romances are a lot more successful -- and less dangerous -- than you might think. And they're also more serious…Dennis Powers, a professor at Southern Oregon University's School of Business and author of The Office Romance: Playing with Fire Without Getting Burned, says that more than half of all office romances end in long-term commitments or marriage. With approximately 8 million Americans (that's the population of New York City) slated to dip their pens in the company ink this year, those are pretty good numbers -- and much better odds than the success rates for more traditional approaches to dating.

2. Keep it discreet - but don't be secretive.
”Taking the plunge does not mean letting it all hang out. Successful office romancers agree: Keep PDA (that's public displays of affection, not personal digital assistants) away from the office. Even if you are discreet, do not expect that your relationship is a secret. "Most couples try to keep it quiet, but by the time they tell, the whole office already knows," says Powers. "People still appreciate the effort to keep it out of the workplace, though."

3. Do not cheat. Just don't.
Because no matter how you look at it, stepping out on your spouse with someone at work is just a bad idea all around. It causes drama in the office, and let's not even get started on the drama it causes at home. Case in point: Jack Welch and Suzy Wetlaufer. For all the money that Welch made as the iconic head honcho of General Electric, his divorce settlement with his wife may wind up being the biggest deal of his entire career.”

4. And remember: The forbidden fruit is always the most tempting.
"Forget policies that say that if you date, you're fired," Powers advises. "They don't work." When workers are forced to skulk around, intentions become much murkier and the outcomes are far less positive. "From a policy standpoint, it is much more important to train managers in how to deal with it," says Lever. Besides, the corporate benefits of employees romancing one another may be greater than you think: Just ask Southwest Airlines.“

Sidebar: Heart V. Head
“Not satisfied to seek legal counsel only with prenuptial and divorce papers, people are now signing "consensual-relationship agreements," which are bringing the courtroom into the heart of the process of courting. "The idea behind it is simple," says Stephen Tedesco, a San Francisco lawyer with the firm Littler Mendelson, who pioneered the agreements with his colleague Jeffrey Tanenbaum four years ago. "The big quandary for employers these days is sex harassment. The difference between sex harassment and office romance is that romance is consensual and welcome, whereas sex harassment is not. In this day and age when most people meet their spouse at work, the consensual-relationship agreement is how companies and individuals can protect themselves."
From: THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
November 20, 2002, Issue # 111
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posted by Nancy Thursday, December 05, 2002

Wednesday, December 04, 2002

 
These articles don't really have anything in common except that I found them interesting!

"Holiday Gifts - Feeling Snug & Secure"
By The Modern Practice Shopping Guru
December 2002

"Christmas, Kwanza, Hannukah, Ramadan, Festivus . . . there are plenty of holidays that folks are celebrating and giving gifts for this time of year. But you don't have to follow any particular faith to find these gifts particularly useful. We like to think that each of these items offers a bit of security and safety in their own way."

On the list are:
Computer bags that don't yell "Steal Me!"
Anti-virus software
PDA and Mobile Phone Cases
Notebook and PDA Screen Protectors
Buy the iPod that now comes in both Apple and Windows format
From: FindLaw's MODERN PRACTICE: Law Practice & Technology, Issue #7

"Let's Meet Online: Getting Together in Cyberspace Avoids Travel and Streamlines Document Drafting" by Kathryn A. Romley
Legal Times, 12-02-2002

"Online meetings let two or more people engage in "live" meeting activity over a network, using a variety of features embedded in the product. The best products available today provide a high level of security, thus protecting attorney-client privilege; integrated video and telephone-like audio; an ability to introduce documents, diagrams and exhibits; and a sophisticated document editing capability."
From: RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 2 Dec 2002
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posted by Nancy Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Tuesday, December 03, 2002

 
Today I have three totally unrelated, but interesting articles for you...

"Ashcroft and Rehnquist Go On A Shopping Spree: The Problem With Choosing Jurisdictions And Judges Based On Predicted Results In The Sniper And Terrorism Cases" by MICHAEL DORF

"Columbia law professor Michael Dorf discusses whether there is anything wrong with the government's selecting judges and jurisdictions favorable to the results they want. The Attorney General has made clear that he
wants the sniper suspects tried in a death penalty state, and it appears that the government is also choosing sympathetic courts for its terrorism-related cases. Dorf argues that even Justice Rehnquist has joined the game."

From: "FindLaw's WRIT Legal Commentary"
November 25 - November 29, 2002 Issue #120
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"'Prices Are Trade Secrets' - Stores Unite to Make DMCA Look Stupid" By John Lettice

"Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Staples have all given notice to Internet bargain hunter site FatWallet.com, alleging that the site, which provides a forum for information swapping about best prices, sales, coupons, etc., infringes their copyrights and trade secrets under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In other words, they claim their sales prices are protected intellectual property. For now, FatWallet.com has decided to comply with the notices."
From: TechnoLawyer's IP Memes 12/2/02
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Copernic Agent Professional
Tara Calishain reviews a desktop-based search tool that claims to
allow users to "power search the Web using more than 1000 search
engines in 120 specialized categories."
From: LLRXUpdate December 2, 2002
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, December 03, 2002

Monday, December 02, 2002

 
There are several sites that provide free access to EDGAR filings but they "DO NOT provide searchable keyword access to complete document." Enter EDGAR IQ.
* The search interface is simple and straightforward. One search box allows you to enter a company name or ticker symbol. If you enter a company name and several possibilities exist you will be prompted with a clickable list to help you narrow. Entering a ticker symbol will resolve into the correct company name. You can enter up to 10 ticker symbols, company names per search. Make sure to place a comma between them.
* The other search box allows you enter keywords. You can “not” out a term with a minus sign.
* The default search is two years but can be changed with a couple of quick clicks. Material in the database begins in 1996.
* If you want to find specific keywords within a company filing you can enter a company name in one box and keywords in the other box.
* After selecting a document, your search terms will be highlighted inside the document.
* A results page provides the ability to sort documents by document type
* Each result page also provides a hypertext hierarchy as to industry. For example, Boeing falls in the Manufacturing -> Transportation Equipment -> Aircraft And Parts -> Aircraft hierarchy. Clicking on any of these terms allows you to a list of all companies in the category. Categories are built using SIC data."
From: Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk Post posted by g price on Friday, November 22, 2002

"Don't throw away that spam...
Donate it to science! CipherTrust has announced the creation of Spamarchive.org, designed as a spam repository. Just send your spam to Spamarchive , so makers of anti-spam tools can test their algorithms on the latest mass e-mail marketing methods"
From: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY Volume 3, Issue 36, December 1, 2002
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Speaking of spam... "Fred Langa noted earlier this month in Information Week that while spam filters statistically only catch less than 25% of all spam, it also stops 34% of all legitimate e-mail. Crazy."
Posted by: Tom Mighell on Saturday, November 30, 2002 to Inter-Alia

posted by Nancy Monday, December 02, 2002

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

 
A few fun facts for (I love alliteration!) the day before Thanksgiving!

Some statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Agriculture and reports from other government organizations.
They include:
- 270 million turkeys were raised in the United States in 2002
- 13.6 pounds of turkey were consumed by the typical American in 2000
- 1.4 billion pounds, the weight of sweet potatoes produces in the U.S. in 2001
From the “Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk” on Thursday, November 14, 2002

Check out the Original "Bill of Fare" and exactly who were at the First Thanksgiving by going to the "Plymoth-on-Web" site. The links on the menu take you to the recipes of the day - very interesting. Check out the "Pompion, Stewed".
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002. http://scout.wisc.edu/ . Volume 8, Number 47, November 27, 2002

Seriously though, continuing yesterday's theme, I do have another tidbit for corporate counsel and intellectual property lawyers. TechnoLawyer has started a weekly e-mail newsletter called "IP Memes," which will focus on technology-related intellectual property memes -- IP issues that have just begun to surface and that have not yet made their way into court opinions or statutes.

“Each edition of IP Memes will consist of ten brief synopses of technology-related intellectual property memes, each of which will be accompanied by a link to a detailed article. Three highly regarded intellectual property lawyers will write IP Memes: Kevin W. Grierson, Dennis M. Kennedy, and Gail J. Standish. To prevent overlap, each author will have his/her own "meme beat."
- Memes relating to copyright and trademark law
- Memes that surface in scholarly writing, memes that arise in the wake of cutting-edge technology, and the big thinkers from which these memes derive
- Memes relating to patent law and trade secrets

Subscribe to IP Memes
From a Nov 18, 2002 press release, “IP MEMES: A NEW E-MAIL NEWSLETTER FOR CORPORATE COUNSEL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYERS”
posted by Nancy Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

 
Today is for specialty lawyers.

If you are a corporate lawyer - This one is for you!

THE GIFT OF A PATENT
"The latest "high tech innovation" among corporations is also a way to obtain a tax break: donating little-used or hard-to-license inventions to universities and non-profit organizations. Donations of such patent rights promote both good science and good will. Read this New York Times article.
From: TechnoLawyer’s IP Memes November 25, 2002
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If any of you out there are securities lawyers – listen up!

The Virtual Chase reports that: “The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released rule proposals Thursday for regulating the conduct of securities lawyers. The article highlights the provisions of the proposed rules. The rules do not yet appear in the Federal Register, but you can read them at the SEC's Web site."
Also See: Implementation of Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys
From: RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 25 NOVEMBER 2002
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Monday, November 25, 2002

 
Happy Monday!

Today's blawg contains articles and sites that you might want to use on your website or in your newsletter.

TN-Elderlaw.com
Attorney Timothy L. Takacs offers commentary, a weekly newsletter, and a news bulletin pertaining to elder law issues. The commentary targets seniors and covers issues like "Navigating the Medicaid Maze" and "What the Salespeople Don't Tell You About Living Trusts." The newsletter covers issues of interest to attorneys as well as the public, and is available via email. Especially for lawyers, the bulletin is published by LexisNexis and appears to be available free of charge by email. It consists of news summaries with links to full-text documents. A current issue covers "Inflation-Adjusted Tax Items for 2003," the "Use of Psychotropic Drugs in Skilled Nursing Facilities" and many other topics. The site maintains an online archive of the bulletin, which you can browse.
RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 20 NOVEMBER 2002
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Does the IRS Owe You Money?
The National Taxpayers Union is a database containing the names of almost 100,000 Americans who have not yet received refunds due to them from the IRS. The refunds are for returns filed this year or earlier. You can search by last name with or without the name of a state.
[Note: if you think you may be due a refund, try other variations of your name in case it was misspelled.] Results include name, city, state, and zip code (but not street address) as well as what's owed (all the ones I saw were for income tax refunds.) A phone number to call and make a claim is also available in case you find your name here.
From LLRX Buzz #136, Nov. 25, 2002
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US Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women
Established in 1995 by the federal government, the Office on Violence Against Women is responsible for handing the Department of Justice's legal and policy issues regarding violence against women in the United States, along with working closely with other divisions within the Department and administering a variety of grant programs. One of the main components of the site is devoted to providing information about the Office's grant programs, for which state and local agencies are eligible to apply. There is also plenty of material for the general public and community groups, including different publications documenting the very real problem of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking. For grant applicants to get a better sense of what other communities are doing around the country, a state-by-state interactive map allows users to find out about programs designed to combat violence against women, such as outreach programs on college and university campuses. The section of the site that is perhaps most useful overall is dedicated to the national domestic violence hotline and sexual assault hotlines for various states. [KMG]
Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002. Nov. 22, 2002
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Five Strategies for Fighting Your Ticket
So you want to fight your traffic ticket? Here are five strategies that may help you win your case.
1. Challenge the Officer's Subjective Conclusion
2. Challenge the Officer's Observations
3. Prove Your Conduct Was a "Mistake of Fact"
4. Prove Your Conduct Was "Legally Justified"
5. Prove Your Conduct Was Necessary to Avoid Harm
Copyright © 2002 Nolo

Learn About Incorporating a Business
Need to learn the basics about starting a business? This site, provided by Business Filings Incorporated, gives you a good overview about the different types of businesses, Frequently Asked Questions about LLCs, Corporations, and Non-Profits, tables comparing the different types of business entities, detailed state-by-state incorporation info, and even advice on which state to choose.
From: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY, Volume 3, Issue 30. October 6, 2002
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posted by Nancy Monday, November 25, 2002

Friday, November 22, 2002

 
“Top Ten (Not) Free Lunches” by David Rodnitzky

Milton Friedman’s simple phrase: "There's no such thing as a free lunch." is the inspiration for Rodnitzky’s “list of ten 'marketing opportunities' that you might encounter which merit a closer look before going forward.”

1. Bargain Basement Advertising
2. Sponsored by the Number Zero
3. The 'Other' Yellow Pages
4. Printing Problems
5. Paltry Public Relations
6. Pay-for-News
7. You've Won an Award!
8. New Kids on the Block
9. (Not So) Free Trial Offers
10. The Free Web Site

From: THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq. November 20, 2002, Issue # 111
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
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posted by Nancy Friday, November 22, 2002

Thursday, November 21, 2002

 
Lawyers PLEASE take note of this article!

As a non-legal person, or is the politically correct term legalese-challenged??
Anyway, I love the concept!

"Plain Language in Law" By Sandeep Dave

From the article: “Readers delight in legalese and jargon - and jump with joy facing old French, Latin and Roman words. Their ears ring with history and adventure – and they pay handsomely for that momentary journey to the past.

Am I serious? No, I am not. Clients abhor legalese. They want lawyers to communicate like ordinary mortals – in plain and understandable language. Tongue in cheek, they repeatedly remind us lawyers to shun jargon. But who cares? After all, we are sentries to a thousand year old heritage.”

“The fact is that -
· it is possible to express legal concepts in plain language
· plain language is legally effective and precise
· plain language is effective for lawyers and clients
· readers prefer plain language

Lawyers depend on language. They earn from it. General grammar rules govern their language use. They think otherwise. Let us see some common principles that lawyers should use -

1. Write in the present tense - and not the future. Law speaks constantly
2. Use active voice - and not passive, unless for a particular reason. The prospectus may be issued by the Company becomes The Company may issue the prospectus
3. Be positive - and not negative! "Persons without a passport may" becomes "Only persons with a passport may"
4. Do not nominalize - do not convert verbs into nouns. Instead of Make a statement, write State
5. Shift citations in footnotes - don not clutter flowing text
6. Avoid sexist usage - it is rude
7. Avoid word/numeral doublets - only numerals are enough
8. Avoid all capitals sentences - the text looks crude and hinders reading”

From: LLRXUpdate November 18, 2002
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posted by Nancy Thursday, November 21, 2002

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

 

Two articles today on the Supreme Court and the death penalty

"A Basic Death Penalty Paradox That Is Tearing the Supreme Court Apart" by Edward Lazarus

“Attorney and author Edward Lazarus takes on a number of interesting questions about the Supreme Court's increasing death penalty rift. Among them are these: What accounts for the acrimonious divide over the recent decision whether to accept a juvenile death penalty case? Why have Justices Ginsburg, Souter, and Breyer become increasingly anti-death penalty as their tenure on the court has increased?”

and

"Double Jeopardy and the Death Penalty: A Supreme Court Case to Be Argued in November May Only Show the Court's Continuing
Support for Execution" by Alec Walen

“U. Baltimore philosophy of law professor Alec Walen discusses Sattazahn, the complex death penalty/Double Jeopardy Clause case in which the Supreme Court will soon hold oral arguments. Sattazahn won a new trial, only to face a worse sentence: death. Did the state's treatment of him violate the Double Jeopardy Clause? And what does it mean that the Court has accepted a death penalty case in which the defendant is likely to lose?”

From: FindLaw's WRIT October 28 - November 1, 2002 Issue #116

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posted by Nancy Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

 

On a more serious note today, I have a few interesting websites for you to check out.

Courthouse News "is a news wire service for lawyers, with daily comprehensive reports on new appellate rulings, new legislation, and new civil cases from both state and federal court. Unfortunately, the site hasn't been updated since November 6, so it's not quite "daily." There's also a link for Subscribers, but no information on how to subscribe or what you get if you subscribe. An odd, poorly designed site, but some useful information.”
Posted by: Tom Mighell on Saturday, November 16, 2002 at Inter Alia

Valuation Information "offers free search access to its Valuation Case Database. The database contains case summaries, including legal citations, for litigation involving business valuation issues. Search by one or more of the following criteria: keyword (based on a thesaurus, not full-text), court, SIC code, NAIC code, type of action, parties, decision date, industry, legal citation or docket number. Create an account to purchase PDF copies of the case and its summary.”
From: Tyburski, Genie. “Research News: TVC Alert, 18 Nov 2001.

And The World Fact Book 2002 ”New from the US Central Intelligence Agency comes The World Fact Book 2002. This annual publication contains a wide range of information on every recognized country in the world. Once chosen, visitors can view a map of the country and its flag, as well as read facts on its geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues including international disputes and illicit drugs. Geographic information provided includes brief descriptions of the country location, coordinates, area, climate, terrain, land use, and more… As a public domain document, the publication can be freely downloaded, printed, and viewed by anyone. This site is also reviewed in the November 1, 2002 NSDL Physical Science Report.
From The Scout Report Volume 8, Number 43 November 1, 2002. To subscribe send email to:listserv@cs.wisc.edu
In the body of the message type: subscribe SCOUT-REPORT

posted by Nancy Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Monday, November 18, 2002

 
What a GREAT weekend for Ohio football - Ohio State and the Browns won and several of the area high school teams are still in the state play-offs!!

NOW, a new game for you - Fantasy Court – yes, you read that right – it is not Fantasy Football, Fantasy Basketball or Fantasy Baseball, but Fantasy Court!

This is how it is played. Instead of picking a team and tracking your players’ stats, you “choose the outcome and majority/minority split of each case on the Supreme Court's docket for this term. They get points for correct choices, and the player with the highest points will win a prize at the end of the term.” 1

So log onto Fantasy Court.com, “register to play (you must be an attorney), make your predictions, and wait for the Court to decide the cases. At the end of the Challenge, the lawyer who accumulates the most points will receive a $2,500 cash prize. And the lawyer who recruits the most participants to register and play will receive a $1,000 cash prize. Even those who don't win a prize will walk away with a healthy knowledge of the high court’s decisions.” 2

1 Calishain, Tara, LLRXBuzz: The Latest on Legal Research. LLRX.com. 11 Nov 2002. Law Library Resource Xchange, LLC. 18 Nov 2002.

2 FantasyCourt.com: U.S. Supreme Court Challenge. ©2002-2003 Lawfinders Associates, Inc. 18 Nov 2002.
posted by Nancy Monday, November 18, 2002

Friday, November 15, 2002

 

WOW! It’s Friday already! Did you get everything done that was on your “To Do” list??
O.K., pretend I didn’t ask!

“Home Sweet Home”

If you are not a mouser and prefer keeping your hands on the keyboard, I just read a cool way to get back home when you are DEEP into the Internet. Instead of grabbing the mouse and clicking the “Home” icon, the Alt-Home key combo will do the trick.

Speaking of “Home” – “With Internet Explorer, you can take the long way to set up your home (start) page by clicking on Tools|Internet Options|General to Home page and clicking to use the current open site or enter an address and click on "Use default." Or you can simply left click on the icon immediately to the left of the link in the address bar while the desired site is open, hold the mouse key down and drag to the icon that resembles a house. Let go, and you'll be asked to confirm that you want the site to be your home page.”
Thanks to Jack Teems - Neat Net Tricks, Issue 137, 11/14/02. To subscribe send a blank email to info-neatnettricks@silver.lyris.net .
posted by Nancy Friday, November 15, 2002

Thursday, November 14, 2002

 

Today's tidbits are fodder for your firm’s website:

Best Websites for Business
By Mary Anne Murray Buechner and Jyoti Thottam
“Time Magazine has a nice listing of the most useful sites for business people who don't have time to search for them on their own.”

Have you used the Wayback Engine yet?
It is so easy to use when added to your browser's toolbar!
From their press release - "With the new DocuComp capability, Wayback Machine visitors can instantly identify the differences between any two historical web page versions in the website archive of more than 10 billion pages."
Both items are from: Internet Legal Research Weekly. Volume 3, Issue 89. November 10, 2002.
posted by Nancy Thursday, November 14, 2002

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

 

Today’s blawg is an abridged version of TechnoLawyer’s

TechnoFeature: Seeing Is (Not Always) Believing

By Arthur L. Smith
(Originally published in St. Louis Lawyer: Arthur Smith, Seeing is (Not Always) Believing, St. Louis Lawyer, November 1, 2002.)

“The Internet has become perhaps the most popular tool for conducting research, not only among lawyers but among other professionals as well. Its low cost (virtually free) coupled with the ever increasing volume of material available on the Web make it an ideal starting place for virtually any kind of research, from vetting your opposing expert witness to analyzing the latest congressional enactment, and everything in between.

The prime topic of cocktail party conversation (putting aside your local sports team) has turned from "How big is your hard drive?" to "What is your favorite search engine?" Whether it's Google or DogPile, or any one of a dozen other "meta-search" engines or my favorite, Copernic, everyone has an idea about which one is "the best."

Some writers have suggested failure to search the Web under certain circumstances might be construed as malpractice. Using the Internet as a search tool has become such a de facto standard in the profession that it will not be long before some hired gun expert testifies that lawyer X was, in his opinion, negligent for failing to check the Internet because, had he done so, he would have easily learned the important omitted fact that caused his client's claim to fail.

All that said, if you're a lawyer using the Internet as a research tool, you must pause and ask yourself the following question: Can I trust the information I am reading off the Internet?

The moral of this tale of woe is: Seeing Is Not Always Believing -- when it comes to Internet research. You should look at the Internet using a proverbial grain of salt and should evaluate the reviewed content with a critical eye.”

“Ask yourself these questions:

-- Is the Web site's owner reputable and reliable?
-- Is the content consistent with your own common sense and experience?
-- Is the information found verifiable from independent sources if the need arises?
-- Is the content likely to be in place three or six months from now when you might want to refer back to it?”

Copyright 2002 Arthur L. Smith. All rights reserved.

posted by Nancy Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

 

I hope you enjoyed your "day off" for Veteran's Day!

Today The Canton Repository’s “Living” section front page is devoted to “Physicians, Attorneys, Insurance: Battle Lines are Drawn.” It is a very informative article and leads into today’s blawg…

“The Business and Politics of Medicine.” It is a very long article, so I am just going to list their links and you can go from there –

They begin with higher education sites, and the Health Policy Cyber Exchange at Duke University, Georgetown University's Institute for Health Care Research and Policy , and the University of Houston's Health Law and Policy Institute.

Next come the government sites, since that is where health law and policy are made. But first another university site, because one of the best places to find links to state and federal health laws is Cornell's Legal Information Institute . Other federal government sites that include information on health law and policy are the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Library of Medicine , and the National Institutes of Health Grants and Contracts.

There are also a number of organizations on the Internet devoted to health law and policy, including the non-partisan National Academy for State Health Policy, The National Conference of State Legislatures: Forum for State Health Policy, and the American Health Lawyers' Association.

The last site for today’s blawg is a big fat health law and policy site. Health Hippo is billed as "a collection of policy and regulatory materials related to health care."
From: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY Volume 3, Issue 8, November 10, 2002
To Subscribe send an e-mail to tom@inter-alia.net, or visit Inter-alia and sign up.
posted by Nancy Tuesday, November 12, 2002

Friday, November 08, 2002

 

TGIF! Let's make this a fun Friday with two whimsical web sites containing legal humor (among other things).

“Stu’s Views” The Daily Law and Lawyer Cartoon comes to us from the English newsletter "Law Librarians News," Issue 22, November 2002.

"Dumb Warnings" is an index of -- you guessed it -- dumb warnings. Categories include drinks, electronics, household, and the Web. You can rate warnings, leave comments on warnings, or submit your own warnings.
"This site is part of the Dumb Network (who knew?) The Dumb Network includes Dumb Laws, Dumb Facts, Dumb Criminals, Dumb Bumper Stickers, etc. Don't explore too many of them at once or you will spend hours and hours here and not get anything done."
From: LLRX Buzz - The Latest on Legal Research by Tara Calishain on November 4, 2002.

posted by Nancy Friday, November 08, 2002

Thursday, November 07, 2002

 

Two good articles for you today!

The first is “Corporate Attorneys Morph into Watchdogs” by Joan Pryde Nov. 5, 2002 (Kiplinger Business Forecasts)

From the article: “Once the keeper of company secrets, the corporate attorney is evolving into a financial watchdog, thanks to the Enron scandal. An upcoming federal rule will prompt lawyers to blow the whistle on financial wrongdoing more often and send the relationship between attorneys and their corporate clients into uncharted territory.”

For more information you can read The SEC's Proposed Attorney Professional Standards, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002, or SEC Proposes Rules to Implement Sarbanes-Oxley Act Provisions Concerning Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys

(From THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms, 6 Nov 2002
and RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 7 NOVEMBER 2002

And the second article is The Global Top 100 Law Firms, Gross Revenue
The winner is Clifford Chance, an International firm from the U.K. with $1,409,032,200
National U.S. firms were second with 20 firms in the top 100, the highest firm earned $1,000,000,000
Of course NY City rated first in individual city with 17 firms, the highest earning $1,225,000,000
No surprise either that Washington DC was second and then Chicago and Boston tied with 5 firms each.
There was one nice surprise (at least for me) an Ohio firm, Baker & Hostetler in Cleveland ranked 94th with $201,000,000 in earnings.

An overview of the article

From The VAS&ND posted by G Price on Monday, November 04, 2002
posted by Nancy Thursday, November 07, 2002

Wednesday, November 06, 2002

 

Need a book? Don’t run to Amazon.com!

Today’s RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 6 NOVEMBER 2002 summarizes two search engines that compare book prices at a variety of sites from which you can choose.

The first search engine is FetchBook.Info. which "helps you find the lowest available price online for books. Enter title, ISBN, author, or keyword. Select the book you want from the resulting list. The site then displays a chart of its availability online, beginning with the lowest price first. Sources include Walmart, Amazon, BooksAMillion, Barnes & Noble and others."

The second is ISBN.NU. "Another comparison-shopping utility, this site lets you find books by words in the title, author, ISBN, or subject. From the advanced search page, you can narrow a query by date or publisher. Attractive features include tables of contents for some books, the list price, and links to the LC-like subject headings for finding similar books. Sources include Amazon, BooksAMillion, and others."
posted by Nancy Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Tuesday, November 05, 2002

 

Maybe it is the weather – the temperature right now is a balmy 39 degrees – but I found this article to be very informative and fun reading (what more can you ask for on a Tuesday morning?)

“Why Santa's Marketing Works Better Than Yours...” by Sean D'Souza

If you are really pressed for time, here’s the “skinny”:

1) Solid branding
2) Differentiation
3) Build trust by giving first
4) Know your customer...
5) Reactivate dormant clients

"Top Ten Holiday Gift Ideas" by David Rodnitzky
is just what it says it is.

Lastly, Law Marketing Portal offers a very comprehensive listing of good ideas in “Holiday Cards: Resources And Non-Traditional Options”

All three of these articles were found in FindLaw's LAWYER MARKETING NEWS: Marketing for the Legal Sector in the 21st Century
October 2002 Issue # 25
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, November 05, 2002

Monday, November 04, 2002

 

On the subject of billing, Ernie the Attorney found a very interesting piece in the New York Times Business Section on October 29, 2002.

"Stop the Clock? Critics Call the Billable Hour a Legal Fiction" Written by Adam Liptak, the article contains many quotable quotes. I'll just list a few to whet your appetite for the rest of the article - you may need to fill out a free one-time registration to view the article.

"There is certainly a widespread consensus among practitioners, judges, recruiters and academics that hourly billing leads to punishing work schedules, unhappy lawyers, ill-served clients, over-lawyered cases, perverse incentives and outright fraud."

Bailey Aldrich, a federal judge in Boston, refused to approve the fees of several lawyers who attended but did not participate in a hearing. "It is difficult not to be offended," he wrote, "that a court should be asked to approve charges for five lawyers who made, and who were expected to make, no contribution whatever. Lawyering is not a spectator sport, and if this is the practice of the bar, already under public criticism for high charges, I want no part of it."

Charles L. Hardy, a federal judge in Phoenix, took aim at one lawyer's bill for 18.9 hours in a single day. "To have accomplished this," he wrote in a decision, the lawyer "would have had to have been in his office from 5:06 in the morning until midnight, without taking any time for meals, to relieve himself or do anything else."

"One of the reasons attorneys turned to hourly billing is that they found they were making less money than doctors," said William G. Ross, a law professor at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

As a result, said Deborah L. Rhode, a law professor at Stanford University, lawyers billing 2,000 must work 60 hours a week. "No one working these kinds of sweatshop hours can give good legal service," she said.

posted by Nancy Monday, November 04, 2002

Friday, November 01, 2002

 

Secrets for Solo Lawyers on Billing

1. Learn to bid work and invoice: If given the opportunity at your current job, bid work for clients. See how close you come to actual. Learn to write invoices that clients will pay. If your car were repaired, would you sooner pay one that said “For mechanical services rendered” or one that details the work done? When you give a price break, say so. (“Less discount of $XXX”) If you saved the client money with your talent, tell them. (“This work saves you about $7,500 in taxes.”) You will make the client feel better about paying you.

2. Learn from the best: I once worked in a firm where the partner with the sloppiest work had the best billing. Clients were happy to pay him. We laughed about it as we picked up our paychecks. Instead of laughing, we should have looked closer. We lost a terrific opportunity to learn from one of the best.

3. Examine your side work: Many of you not on your own do work on the side. I knew a man with 350 tax returns outside of his regular job. His billing rates were significantly lower than the firm prices. He could do this because he had minimal overhead. Unfortunately his billing rates were so low that if he ever went on his own, there was no way to raise them to support the overhead. Set your rates now as if they had to support both rent, utilities, insurance, etc. and give you a living wage.

4. Treat your clients like you would want to be treated: Would you hire a painter to paint your house with no idea what it would cost? Of course not. Give your clients the same consideration if you can. It is also much easier to bill and collect if your clients know up front what your charges will be.

5. Strive for complaints: If no one complains, you are too low. Lose some work because you are too high. Knowing what your peers charge won’t necessarily help you. (They could be as clueless as you.) Get enough price resistance to know that you are in the ballpark of the correct rates.

A special Thank You to John Ahern for allowing me to use his "Secrets!"
posted by Nancy Friday, November 01, 2002

Thursday, October 31, 2002

 
Boooo!

Happy Halloween!!

Yesterday I highlighted research websites. Today my topic is databases.

Robert Berkman, Editor of The Information Advisor, identifies and compares a variety of databases and provides each site with a rating from one to five stars.

CompletePlanet * * According to the site, CompletePlanet specializes in "discovery and aggregation of massive 'deep' Web content that existing search technologies cannot find." (Contains a fair amount of law material)

Fossick.com ** This is a pretty unusual site, as it provides links to over 3,000 specialty databases and search engines across most academic disciplines and popular topics, (I found over 75 law-related sites listed here – who would have thought that there would be a site on “Ski Law”!)

INFOMINE * * * What we appreciated about this site was its precision and organization. There is even a controlled vocabulary, and you have the ability to restrict a search by title, subject, and keyword. (Tons of material here.)

InvisibleWeb * * * * ½ The InvisibleWeb's 4.5 stars made it the top-rated site in this review. All of its sources looked to be legitimate databases, and it had a very good search engine. InvisibleWeb is a directory of more than 10,000 specialized databases on the Web and it is broken down into 800+ categories

Librarians' Index to the Internet * * * * While it is more a hierarchical directory than a database finder, what really makes this site stand out is its superb organization.

WebData * * * We found WebData to be intriguing, as it definitely includes high-quality databases, but it can be a confusing site to use.

Although we liked several of the sites we reviewed in this issue, our overall view is that this is an area where nobody has come up with a totally satisfactory solution. There are a number of issues--these finder sites use a very loose definition of database, several include link collections and even commercial sites, and some are confusing to search.

Ultimately, what we really need is a Gale-like directory that has strict criteria for selection, a narrow definition of database, is precisely indexed, and contains detailed summaries. Until then, we will need to make do with these Web-based equivalents.

Information from a message posted on lawlist 8/6/01 by Robert Berkman, Editor of The Information Advisor, Falmouth MA
posted by Nancy Thursday, October 31, 2002

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

 

Today’s interesting article is “Saving Time and Money With Online Research” by Jennifer Batchelor of The Legal Intelligencer on 10-21-2002.

Batchelor gives the pros and cons of using books and computers. In the article, Internet librarian Daniel Giancaterino of the Jenkins Law Library, the oldest law library in the United States, reviewed his top picks for free research on the Web, and provided pointers on how to get the most out of the sites.

According to Giancaterino, Lexis and Westlaw unquestionably offer more than what one might find free or inexpensively on the Internet. "[They] exist for a purpose and with good reason," Giancaterino said. "They're great aggregators; they have a lot of information; they have pretty decent customer service; and they have the coverage over the years that the Internet cannot hope to match."

HIS FAVORITE INTERNET PICKS:
Google is the best all-purpose search engine. The site has doubled in pages over the past 1 1/2 years, bringing its total to 2.4 billion pages. It includes numerous file-types -- including images, PowerPoint presentations, Microsoft Word documents and spreadsheet data.

His second pick was AlltheWeb.The Internet librarian described the 2.1 billion-page site as well-designed with a great advanced search page. But stated that AlltheWeb's standout feature is its background check option.

Other sites featured -- both legal and nonlegal -- included Teoma; SearchSystems.net; FirstGov; and palawlibrary.com, a subscription service specializing in county information offered by Jenkins and American Lawyer Media, which publishes The Legal Intelligencer and law.com. And of course there's always Jenkins , which is fee-free, with a couple of exceptions. He also includes Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute ; the Government Printing Office, including the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations; FindLaw; lexisONE; and American Law Sources On-line.

There is a lot of good information here and examples of when books are better than computers and vice-versa. Take the time to at least skim the article!!
posted by Nancy Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Tuesday, October 29, 2002

 

Today I found a very interesting article, “Virtual Borders, Real Laws: National Governments Work to Tame Activity on the Internet” by David Banisar of Privacy International. The article “highlights several incidents -- some currently in litigation -- where the law of one country affects the citizens or companies of another.”
From Research News: TVC Alert 28 Oct 2002

I also found an interesting web site, Just Advocates.com. The site describes itself as being "designed for law students and lawyers who believe it matters which side of the ' v.' they are on." This site includes a database of over 500 law firms covering 30 areas. Browse the database alphabetically or search by category/state/keyword. Information on the firms includes specialties, contact information, demographic information about the attorneys at the firm, and responses to several questions about the firm (covering hiring policy, logistics, and compensation.) Another resource at the site is a “list of links related to advocacy of various issues (lengthy but not often annotated.)”
From LLRX Buzz #132 - The Latest on Legal Research By Tara Calishain, October 28, 2002
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posted by Nancy Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Monday, October 28, 2002

 

Viewpoint -- Personal Computing: Learning The Facts Of Life Via The Web “points to several excellent sources of factual information. It's worth a bookmark. Or better, create a bookmark folder and throw all the sites it references into it. Then copy the folder to your toolbar.”
From: RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 23 OCTOBER 2002
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Chris Mathews’ Hardball Blog on MSN is really good. If you visit his site be sure to scroll down to the Oct. 21, 2002 entry and take the Hardball Hotseat Quiz!
From: Inter Alia on Tuesday, October 22, 2002
posted by Nancy Monday, October 28, 2002

Friday, October 25, 2002

 

"Weekly Fab Five," the five things you should do every week to keep your computer running in tip-top shape. Here is what we have been recommending.
1. Update your Virus Definitions
2. Run Windows Update/Software Update
3. Run ScanDisk/DiskFirstAid
4. Run Defrag
5. Backup Your Data
TOURBUS Volume 7, Number 44 -- 10 Jan 2002
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How to run Scan Disk
The files on your computer are organized in groups called clusters; when you use those programs, the clusters can become linked with clusters from other files, or just get lost from the other clusters. ScanDisk rearranges these clusters to where they should be in the first place. Just go to Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Scandisk. Your computer will be happy you did it.
From: Volume 3, Issue 4 January 27, 2002
INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
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An interesting article from the NY Times:
“A Senate prohibition against updating a Web site ‘for the 60-day period immediately before the date of a primary or general election’ goes into effect for some Senators while representatives suffer from no such restriction.”
From: RESEARCH NEWS: TVC Alert, 25 OCTOBER 2002
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posted by Nancy Friday, October 25, 2002

Thursday, October 24, 2002

 

Today’s interesting website comes to you from Gary Price's The Virtual Acquisition Shelf and News Desk on Thursday, October 17, 2002.
It is The Virtual Chase's Database Section
"Many of you know about Genie Tyburski's site as a place to find material about information quality, legal research and many other topics of interest to the information professional. This week I want to point out another "section" of the site that features an impressive selection of high quality specialty databases. These databases contain material that is sometimes not directly accessible from major web search tools. This is a useful resource to have nearby or to use to develop your own collection. New material is added several times a week.
Sections include:Company Information, Government Information, Health and Medicine, Law, Science, Miscellaneous Databases, and News."

Delegate all you can, but track everything you delegate.
From: TechnoLawyer’s Topical Compilation on October 23, 2002
A contributing lawyer uses a one page form, very basic, and containing simple fields: To, From, Date Assigned, Date Due, Task Assigned, Results, and List of Attachments. The assignor states specifically what needs to be done (e.g., title search to 1940; get all medical records and bills for past 5 years), and the assignee lists what he/she did (drafted complaint alleging negligence; wrote memo re UCC sections). A final field allows the assignee to state if anything else is needed to complete the project (get title insurance, etc.).
Assignor and assignee both get a copy of the form. Assignor makes sure it's done on time, and assignee returns the completed form when the project is over.
Keep a folder handy w/ "delegated tasks," and mark on the calendar when each is due in. Be sure to allow time between the dates the task is due and the actual date of performance in case something goes wrong.

A number of programs exist to make delegation tracking easier. For example, many case management programs include delegation-tracking features. Premier Software sells a Time Matters add-on called Monogram that enables litigation partners to track litigation assignments.
Alternatively, you can track delegated tasks on your Palm OS device with Straw Boss, or PunchList, and many other similar programs.

Subscribe to TechnoLawyer's Topical Compilation
posted by Nancy Thursday, October 24, 2002

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

 

The Colorado Bar Association offers “60 Sites in 60 Minutes” a presentation for solo and small firm lawyers, which contains sites both serious and whimsical but doesn’t take 60 minutes to peruse!
From: INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY Volume 3, Issue 30 October 6, 2002

Full-Text Statutes and Legislation
“There are many pages like this on the Internet, and I still think mentioning them is valuable. This site simply lists links containing full-text state constitutions, statutes, legislation, session laws, and administrative rules. And it’s updated regularly! A great one-stop shop for state research.”
From the same source.
posted by Nancy Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

 

Solo and small firm lawyers have different concerns when it comes to computers and their practice. "Saving Time and Money With Online Research" by Jennifer Batchelor of The Legal Intelligencer and "Small Firms Can Outwit Hackers" by Gail Hamilton of Law Technology News, discuss these concerns.
From Inter Alia on Monday 21 Oct 02

Another interesting article I came across is: "Court Weighs Faxed Search Warrants" by Declan McCullagh, Staff Writer, CNET News.com
From: CNET's News.com on October 15, 2002
posted by Nancy Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Monday, October 21, 2002

 

Welcome back from a BEAUTIFUL weekend!

Today I have two really interesting articles from the Law Library Research Exchange

E-Managing a Crisis of Trust
"E-mail is a ubiquitous and essential business tool. Consultant Robert Eisenberg reviews the reasons why all companies should implement an e-mail management system not only for the sake of efficiency, but also for its defensive and preventative applications."

Finding Legal Treatises
"Every legal researcher dreams of finding a source that covers their research topic in detail, and nothing else. Jan Bisset and Margi Heinen's column focuses on the task of identifying and locating legal treatises."

Both from: LLRXUpdate 10/15/02 subscribe
posted by Nancy Monday, October 21, 2002

Friday, October 18, 2002

 

Another Friday to Seize!

Check this out, there could be valuable material here - and it is FREE!

The U.S. Government Online Bookstore has a free service, called the “New Titles By Topic E-mail Alert Service,” which allows users to receive convenient and timely e-mail updates of selected new Federal publications. Sign up for any or all of the notification lists covering popular subject areas and receive updates on new titles as soon as they are available for purchase. Subject areas include:

* Business
* Defense and Security
* Elementary and Secondary Education
* Health Care
* Military History
* Travel and Tourism

More information and sign up page.

Element K Journals is another FREE service that delivers software and computer tips and techniques right to your email box. I have found MANY good tips here, but they are copyrighted. Alas, I cannot pass them on to you in the newsletter or the bar journal articles. So I am giving you the website and urging you to sign up for the “tips” on each of the software products you use. They are usually worth the time.

Enjoy the weekend!
posted by Nancy Friday, October 18, 2002

Thursday, October 17, 2002

 

The current issue of ONLINE magazine contains an interesting article by Patricia Fravel Vander Meer titled “ONE Click to Criminal Justice”

From the article: “This listing highlights a sampling of critical or unique Web sites for a varied audience seeking CJ information. This includes professionals in CJ, law, and the government, as well as students, educators, librarians, and the general public.”

It includes links to gateways, statistical data and research, monographic and periodical research materials, government documents, legal information, current events/popular interest, careers, employment, professional development, and instructor/trainer support for web-based instruction.

From: TVC Alert, 16 October 2002
posted by Nancy Thursday, October 17, 2002

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

 

Mouse Tricks!

Do you know that if you have a wheel on your mouse, it will perform magic tricks while using Internet Explorer?

With the Ctrl key depressed, moving the wheel forward or backward resizes the font.
With the Shift key depressed, the wheel moves you backward or forward to other sites
visited in the current browsing session.

From: Neat Net Tricks Standard Issue #133 September 15, 2002
To subscribe, send a blank email to info-neatnettricks@silver.lyris.net
posted by Nancy Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

 

Don't you just love long weekends and short work weeks! Thank you, Mr. Columbus!

Today I found a good site for your clients that you may want to add to your web and two for your use - all medical related.

For your clients:

QuackwatchSM
Your Guide to Health Fraud, Quackery, and Intelligent Decisions Operated by Stephen Barrett, M.D whose purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies.
From: Neat Net Tricks Standard Issue #135 October 15, 2002
To subscribe, send a blank email to info-neatnettricks@silver.lyris.net

And for your use:

Questionable Doctors
"Consumer interest groups have tried for some time to make public the names of doctors disciplined by state or federal governments. Questionable Doctors is a step in that direction. Right now there are 27 states whose reports are available online (more are on the way). You can see if there’s a report on a particular doctor, but to view the whole report you’ll have to purchase a subscription, which is only $10 for six months. If you sue or represent doctors, this is a good site to check up on them."
From: Volume 3, Issue 31, October 13, 2002
INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
To subscribe, send an email to ilrw-subscribe@topica.com

VitalSeek
"The people behind this site are based at the University of Kansas, and they have created a medical search engine that claims to provide only quality results. Last month VitalSeek partnered with URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission, to allow users to specifically request sites that have been accredited by URAC. VitalSeek’s filters are its unique feature; you can screen by medical topic, accreditation, reading level, audience, credibility, topic coverage, privacy policy, symptoms, prognosis, treatments, and many other filters. You can also restrict your search to .edu, .gov, .org, or .com domains."
From: Volume 3, Issue 31, October 13, 2002
INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
To subscribe, send an email to ilrw-subscribe@topica.com

posted by Nancy Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Friday, October 11, 2002

 
Happy Friday!

I've got a quiz on computer security for you today!

ZDNet has published a controversial computer security IQ test for small businesses, and a test for large firms and IT professionals.
The answers are interesting and informative and there are Study Guides containing links to even more information on the areas where you could use some help.

From TechnoLawyer TechnoGuide October 8, 2002
Sign me up for the Techno Guide

I would also like to remind you of our Westlaw training sessions on Tuesday, October 15th and Thursday, October 24th.
Space is limited in each of these hands-on sessions, so call the library at (330) 451-7380, to reserve your spot!
posted by Nancy Friday, October 11, 2002

Thursday, October 10, 2002

 
Good Morning!

Before I start today’s Blawg entry I want to point out that I have started my Christmas Shopping.

1. David Rodnitzky’s article, “Holiday Client Gifts - It's Never Too Early To Start Planning!” lists his top ten tips for marketing this holiday season. There is some good advice here – worth a quick read!
1. Develop a yearlong marketing strategy.
2. Send a thank you card - in July!
3. Consider the 'half-life' of your gift.
4. Give different gifts to different clients.
5. Give the gift that keeps on giving.
6. Give gifts that will make a (good) impression.
7. Know what you gave your clients!
8. Personalize.
9. Send your holiday cards out early.
10. No fruitcake.
Found at: THE PRACTICE PAPER, Edited by Joel R. Zand, Esq.
A FindLaw Resource for Solo Attorneys and Small Law Firms
http://www.findlaw.com

2. “E-Mail Mining: The Wages of Scandal” By Rafe Needleman, October 07, 2002 “Pouring through e-mail archives makes work for lawyers -- and opens up a whole new tech business.”
This article describes the new tools and technology that's often used in the legal profession. I found this one at: TVC Alert, 8 October 2002.

3. New Book and Blog: Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet, Second Edition by Greg Siskind, Rick Klau and Deborah McMurray is now available. Accompanying the new book is the authors' new blog (Spotted at Bag and Baggage.) I found it at: TVC Alert, 8 October 2002

4. “The Truth About Big Brother Databases” by Lynn Peterson and Genie Tyburski for SearchDay October 3, 2002 - Number 369, would make a good addition to YOUR newsletter or blog! Posted by g price at The VAS&ND Post on Friday, October 04, 2002
posted by Nancy Thursday, October 10, 2002

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

 

Hi! And welcome to the Stark County Law Library's Blawg!

Each day as I am doing my research, I come across much more information than I have room for in either Legally Speaking or Info@starklawlibrary.org. So I decided to create a blog to pass some of this information to you. I hope you like it!

For my first entry I have chosen Christa Lee Rock's article Multimedia Makes Way Into Courts which appeared in the New Haven Register and I found in TechnoLawyer's Fat Friday 10/07/02. This interesting article describes how a prosecuting attorney used advanced technology to win a 27-year-old case notably lacking in forensic evidence.

posted by Nancy Wednesday, October 09, 2002