Legal Commentary

ALSP @ LEGALTECH

Posted on January 30, 2008
Many thanks to Joe Howie, right, of the Association of Litigation Support Professionals, for this very kind profile in the Jan. 30 issue of the ALSP Update. I'm so honored! Howie is director of product marketing, with Syngence Corp. ALSP is dedicated to "establishing global professional standards for the litigation support profession, through collaboration, education and certification...

LEGALTECH NY 24/7

Posted on January 28, 2008
It hardly seems possible, but LegalTech New York, at the NY Hilton, is NEXT WEEK!!!!! Gather up your comfy shoes (and those dance slippers for Tuesday night) -- it's time to triage! ? First, do your homework by taking a quick look at LTNY e-newsletters: Here's the latest edition...

REACHING TALL

Posted on January 28, 2008
Deborah Novachick, president of San Francisco's Strategic Automation Consulting, is celebrating her company's 15 year anniversary ? and her 50th birthday ? by participating in the Tall Ship Women's Challenge, to support the work of the Tall Ship Education...

NEW CMO for LEXISNEXIS

Posted on January 28, 2008
LexisNexis Group has signed Joe Eberhardt to the new position of Global Chief Marketing Officer. He joins LexisNexis from DaimlerChrysler and is based in the company?s New York City headquarters reporting directly to Andy Prozes, Chief Executive Officer...

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MOTHER NATURE'S CRUEL BEAUTY

Posted on January 28, 2008
Rob Robinson, of the Information Governance Engagement Area blog, came across these utterly amazing photos of Hurricane Katrina. They show the astounding beauty of Mother Nature, even at her most devastating. Incredible. Click to enlarge this example...

EYE ON THE PRIZE

Posted on January 23, 2008
Richard Branson's not the only one out there offering significant prizes (in the case of Sir B, $25M) to stir the minds of inventors and motivate creativity. Branson's offering a bounty to whoever can figure out how to create munchkin devices or other ways tol gobble up excess CO2 in the atmosphere, to combat global warming...

MAILBAG #080122

Posted on January 23, 2008
Just sent February LTN to bed, now dealin' with the flurry of activity before LegalTech New York, but want to play catch-up with da ol' in-box: ? Kudos to Susman Godfrey, one of four law firms selected by The National Law Journal for its 2008 Pro Bono Awards...

CIO FORUM - EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT

Posted on January 16, 2008
Long-time LTN board member Judith Flournoy, CIO of LA's Loeb & Loeb, and David Rigali, CIO of St. Louis' Husch & Eppenberger, are co-chairs of the 2008 Law Firm Chief Information & Technology Officers Forum, which will be held Feb. 6-7, as part of LegalTech New York...

ALOHA

Posted on January 16, 2008
I've been ridiculously swamped with LegalTech NY prep and trying to close the February issue, so apologies for the radio silence. I've got quite a backlog, so I'm just gonna post a couple quick items and then I'll get back to you later. First, the revolving doors: ? Silvia Coulter and Jim Cranston have merged their consultancy, CoulterCranston, into Hildebrandt International (a Thomson entity)...

MAILBAG #010208

Posted on January 02, 2008
I don't know about you, but it just seems impossible to me that we are really in 2008. Where did the 90s go? Or the 80s for that matter? :) Anyway, happy new year, and may the sun shine (not too) brightly on you this coming year, may moonshine and the stars bring you joy as well...

BUSINESS GREEN

Posted on January 02, 2008
Our colleagues in the UK have recently launched BusinessGreen, a terrific new website that is loaded with news, articles, webinars, links, a blog, and other resources to help your organization reduce its "carbon footprint." Among recent items: ? UK battery recycling rules on horizon ? Cheat sheet on carbon offsetting ? Cisco's plan to make departments responsible for carbon quotas ? Green computing Check it out!

MAILBAG #122407

Posted on December 24, 2007
A bit of catchup before I head back to the beach (the news never sleeps).... * First, thanks to Pro Bono Net, and in particular, Pam Weisz, for this kind write-up of our new Law Technology Now podcast. ALM's CEO, Bill Pollak, serves on the board of this terrific organization, which helps facilitate pro bono services by our legal community...

CLEAR CHANNEL

Posted on December 24, 2007
All I can say is "Wow." To be honest, I really didn't have high expectations about the new Clear airport security service, mostly because so few of the airports where I regularly travel have it. For example, it's not (yet) available at the United gates at LaGuardia, my primary "home" airport...

HIGH TECH HOLIDAZE

Posted on December 17, 2007
Call it green, call it inexpensive, call it creative, but I just LOVE getting (and sending) holiday e-cards. And it's a hoot to see how the technology is getting so sophisticated that you can even personalize the cards. I just sent a batch out from Hallmark...

PAKISTAN & THE RULE OF LAW

Posted on December 17, 2007
I belatedly turn the mic over to ABA president William Neukom: Dear Fellow Lawyer, Each day, evidence mounts that pressure brought by Americans and people of other nations is forcing Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf to soften his assault on the rule of law...

LTN AWARDS: AND THE WINNERS ARE....

Posted on December 11, 2007
The jury's in.... with wonderful results, for our fifth annual LTN Law Firm & Law Department Awards. The lucite will be presented at our gala LTN Awards Dinner, Tuesday February 5, during LegalTech New York at the Hilton N.Y. See post directly below for info on how you can join us! Here are the 2007 winners: IT Director of the Year John Sroka - Duane Morris Champion of Technology George Rudoy - Shearman & Sterling Most Innovative use of Technology by a Law Firm Goodwin Procter (iStaff) Most Innovative use of Technology by an In-house Legal Department Gene Stavrou - Kraft Foods Most Innovative use of Technology during a Trial Ropes & Gray Graphics and Litigation Technology Support team Most Innovative use of Technology for a Pro Bono Project Wills for Heroes Foundation CONGRATULATIONS to all! Special thanks to our independent jury, Andrew Adkins III, of the University of Florida's Legal Technology Institute; Fredric Lederer, of the William & Mary School of Law; and David Whelan, of the Law Society of Upper Canada ? all members of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board.

LTN AWARDS: & THE FINALISTS ARE:

Posted on December 11, 2007
The results are in! Here are the finalists for the 2007 LTN Vendor Awards, which will be presented at our fifth annual LTN Awards Dinner, Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the Hilton New York, one of the highlights of LegalTech New York. The finalists were chosen by YOU, our loyal LTN readers! Thank you for your enthusiastic participation in this year's competition...

DELL STARTS SELLING AT BEST BUY

Posted on December 07, 2007
My colleague Sean Doherty, tech editor of Law.com, picked this up from Associated Press: Dell Inc. will start selling notebook and desktop computers at electronics retailer Best Buy Co. in a few weeks, the PC maker said Thursday. Beginning in January, Best Buy said it will sell Dell's XPS and Inspiron desktops and laptops computers in more than 900 stores...

BUYING & USING GREENER COMPUTERS

Posted on December 07, 2007
From our colleagues at The Legal Intelligencer, "Buying & Using Greener Computers." (Hat tip to Law.com's Sean Doherty): By Brian R. Harris We hear a lot these days about how a little action by each of us can go a long way in helping preserve the environment for all of us, and that extends to the use of technology as well...

GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNIN'

Posted on December 07, 2007
I've been meaning to tell you how much I just love my Garmin Nuvi 200, which I've been using for about two months now. I am wondering how I ever took a business trip without it. I picked up the unit (the basic model, other version have lots more bells and whistles) at Best Buy, on sale for about $200...

MURDEROUS URGES ...

Posted on December 06, 2007
Lois Meltzer, a Seattle-based lawyer (and former humor columnist of our San Francisco-based newspaper, The Recorder) checks in to report that her new novel, The Murderous Urges of Ordinary Women, is now available on Amazon.com. The book chronicles "the comic adventures of four 50-ish friends who take up vengeance as their mid-life hobby ? the way other women might take up the autoharp or learn Portuguese...

LAW TECHNOLOGY NOW

Posted on December 05, 2007
Radio Daze: I'm beginning to feel like I'm going full-circle back to my radio days! I've been enjoying moderating our Law.com E-Discovery webinar series (currently sponsored by Zantaz); I'll be presenting a live webinar next Tuesday for the National Constitution Center ("Media Relations Bootcamp for Lawyers;" and we've just launched our new monthly Law...

MEDIA BOOTCAMP

Posted on December 04, 2007
LTN's editor-in-chief Monica Bay will present a live webinar, "Media Relations Bootcamp for Lawyers," on December 11, from 1-2 p.m. (Eastern), presented by The National Constitution Center. For registration information, click here.

EDD IN SAN FRANCISCO

Posted on December 03, 2007
Warm thanks to the wonderful audiences last week in San Francisco, where I spoke to the Women in eDiscovery's new Bay Area chapter, (left, hosted by Bingham McCutchen) and at the Estrin Paralegal SuperConference. One of the themes I'm particularly fixated on right now is the impact of EDD costs on litigants...

Day 99 - IT'S (ALMOST) OVER

Posted on December 03, 2007
I arrived back from California to find a check from Delta, for $912 (to add insult to injury, they discounted my claim of $1014 for "wear and tear" of the lost items). I'd rather have my luggage, thank you. According to Delta, they will keep looking for up to 180 days from the date of the incident, but I'm not holding my breath...

MAILBAG #120107

Posted on December 03, 2007
Mark Osborn, of LexisNexis, checks in with the news that his company has created an Environment and Climate Change center on lexis.com. It's designed to help companies and their law firms better understand the relevant law, prepare for changes, and respond to litigation...

GIGGLE TIME

Posted on December 03, 2007
This one -- from attorney Edward Evans -- is just too funny. I'll turn the mic over to him for the dialogue between the customer and the Walmart clerk: Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went: Walmart Employee: "Hello -- how can I help you?" Customer: " I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week...

TOM COLLINS HANDS OVER THE REINS

Posted on November 29, 2007
The fabulous Tom Collins, formerly top dog at Juris Inc., is handing over the reins of his very popular blog, More Partner Income, so that he can spend more time enjoying golf... and he's threatening to write a novel. Let me turn over the mic to him: Blogs like law firms require a life of their own if they are to continue to serve the community...

MAILBAG #112007

Posted on November 20, 2007
We open the inbox and find a variety of items: ? The ever-prolific Mark Reichenbach blogs in On the Mark about the Georgetown eDiscovery Institute sessions. A highlight of the meetings, he says, was the closing roundtable: Moderated by John Rosenthal, (an expert in e-discovery and a litigation partner at Howrey, LLP) , the event closed with a roundtable composed of judicial heavy hitters in the field, including Judge Lee Rosenthal (former chairperson of the Federal Rules Advisory Committee), Judge Shira Scheindlin (former member of the Federal Rules Advisory Committee), Judge Kent Jordon (3rd Cir...

LAPTOPS FOR KIDS

Posted on November 20, 2007
Sheila Mackay, of Daegis, and Colleen Clark, of Bingham McCutchen, are involved with a terrific project to help youngsters in Otavalo, Ecuador. They will travel to the country next month, on a volunteer mission with an organization called People Helping People...

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