Legal Commentary

The always-prolific Craig Ball has sprinted faster than even his usual brisk pace, with not one, not two, but three contributions to Law Technology News in the last few days. Last week, he shared details of how Facebook has added a new tool that will be a boon for e-discovery, allowing its users to easily capture their content on the sizzling social media site. (By the way, if you have not yet seen "The Social Network", don't miss it! Hopefully, it won an Oscar last night for Best Screenplay, if not Best Picture -- Aaron Sorkin's astonishing writing grabs you from the film's first images.)

Today, Ball takes a break from electronic discovery to discuss another one of his passions ? Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software. Anyone who's ever seen Ball give a speech will testify that he has some of the most creative slides in our industry. In "PowerPoint Powers Up: 9 New Features," Ball raves about nine new changes to the popular software, and explains how you can use the new tools to create dynamic (and literally animated) images.

Tomorrow, visit the top stories area of our homepage to see the March edition of the "Ball in Your Court" e-discovery column, which addresses effective protocols for metadata, including a detailed list of what information should be produced. A particularly relevant topic in light of Southern District of New York Judge Shira Scheindlin's latest opinion in National Day Laborer Org. Network v. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 11655 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2011). Here's a recent story, "Much Ado About Metadata," from Jennifer Rearden and Farrah Pepper about the ruling.