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My Powerpoint on Russian Courts and Media

It was a year ago tomorrow that I left for my trip to Russia. A year later, the trip stands out as one of the most memorable events of my life. After I returned, I gave a presentation in Boston on Russian courts and the news media. I have converted that presentation to Flash and posted it here, should anyone be interested in viewing it. I have also posted my photos of Russia, taken in Moscow and the Siberian city of Tomsk. Below is a photo of Tomsk's famous Chekhov statue.

Lawyer2Lawyer: The Am Law 100

Our topic this week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer is the Am Law 100, which reports that total revenues for the nation's highest-grossing law firms reached $64.5 billion. We discuss the survey and what it reveals about the state of the legal profession with Aric Press, editor-in-chief of The American Lawyer magazine, and Bruce MacEwen, consultant to law firms on strategic and economic issues and author of the blog Adam Smith, Esq. Here are the show links:

• Episode details.
  
• Download the MP3 file.
  
• Listen in Windows Media.
  

You can receive all Lawyer2Lawyer programs by subscribing via RSS or using iTunes. Our podcast is produced by the Legal Talk Network.

OUT-LAW, ABA Journal Win Webbys

Winners of the 2008 Webby Awards have been announced, honoring excellence in Web sites in more than 100 categories, and in the law category, the Webby Award winner is OUT-LAW.COM, the IT and e-commerce legal-help site of the international law firm Pinsent Masons. Winner of the People's Voice award -- decided by votes from the public -- is the Web site of the American Bar Association magazine, the ABA Journal.

Lawyer2Lawyer: Case Law in the Public Domain

Legal publishing is a $5 billion industry. Now, the portion of that industry that focuses on publishing and selling court opinions is facing a threat from movements on several fronts to put all federal and state case law in the public domain (a topic I've written about here on several occasions). We look at what is being done to "free" case law in this week's episode of the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer. Joining my cohost J. Craig Williams and me as guests are:

• Thomas F. Bruce, director of the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School.
• Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.org.
• Andy Martens, senior VP of new product development at Thomson West.

Here are the show links:

• Episode details.
  
• Download the MP3 file.
  
• Listen in Windows Media.
  

You can receive all Lawyer2Lawyer programs by subscribing via RSS or using iTunes. Our podcast is produced by the Legal Talk Network.

My op-ed today on open meetings

The Boston Globe today published an op-ed I wrote on current efforts to reform the Massachusetts open meeting law: Open the doors to public meetings.

Updates on Two E-Discovery Sites

Updates to two of the sites I discussed in my recent two-part article, "Discovering E-Discovery on the Web" (Part One, Part Two):

First, I wrote in the article that DiscoveryResources.org "may be the leading e-discovery portal" and that its Sound Evidence blog, written by e-discovery expert Mary Mack, is "one of the best known e-discovery blogs." Tomorrow, the site will be relaunched with a number of updates and improvements. According to Mack, changes to the site will include:

• New navigation for tracking e-discovery best practices and case law.
• New "From the Experts" articles on current e-discovery issues and trends.
• A new "Bookstore" featuring the latest books on e-discovery issues.
  
• RSS feeds for tracking the latest news and information.
  
• Updated links to industry resources and judicial opinions.
  
• A newly designed monthly newsletter.
• Links to industry blogs and other e-discovery community resources.
  

Meanwhile, one of the blogs I discussed in the article, Information Governance Engagement Area, has been discontinued in favor of a more ambitious project. Its author, Rob Robinson, a marketing veteran who has worked with several e-discovery companies, has just launched Complex Discovery, which he describes as a source for "information, tools and tactics relevant to the growing discovery market." The site is organized around key e-discovery stages, including collection, processing, review and production, and already has a number of useful resources. In addition to the "standard" articles, news items, guidelines and the like, Robinson has incorporated several innovative features:

• Scribd - iPaper Document Library: An online repository of interesting and applicable papers relevant to the field of e-discovery.
• Yahoo! Pipes EDD Mashup: An aggregation of key e-discovery RSS feeds.
• Twitter - ComplexDiscovery Updates: A Twitter feed that highlights the daily posting on the ComplexDiscovery RSS feed.
• Mogulus - Video Learning on EDD: A video channel designed to share publicly available video presentations relating to e-discovery.
• Mofuse - Website Mobile Version: A mobile version of the ComplexDiscovery site designed mobile devices.

Robinson invites suggestions of relevant RSS feeds to add to his Yahoo! Pipes aggregator.

Free AmLaw 100 Webinar Today

Aric Press, editor-in-chief of The American Lawyer, presents a free webinar today in which he previews the results of this year's Am Law 100. The 15-minute program begins at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Register for it at this page.

Lawyer2Lawyer: Polygamy and the Law

The raid of a polygamist compound in West Texas has raised difficult and troubling issues concerning the interplay between the state, religion and the rights of children, women and families. This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, I discuss the events in Texas with two guests: Betsy Branch, a family-law attorney with the Dallas firm of McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson & Downing, who serves as attorney ad litem for several children in the West Texas case, and lawyer and social critic Wendy Kaminer, who has written about the civil liberties aspects of the case at the blogthefreeforall.net.

• Episode details.
• Download the MP3 file.
  
• Listen in Windows Media.
  

You can receive all Lawyer2Lawyer programs by subscribing via RSS or using iTunes.

Updates on Free Case Law

I've had several posts in recent months about various efforts to move caselaw into the public domain and, once there, to make it more accessible. I also had a recent article about this in Law Technology News, Online Legal Research Revolution. Now, some updates:

• IT Conversations interviews Carl Malamud, the man behind Public.Resource.Org and a long-time crusader to bring public information out of the darkness.

• David Hobbie at his blog Caselines puts public-domain search engine PreCYdent to the test and "was stunned" by the results. "I have never seen such a highly relevant set of search results on any electronic case search engine. Not in Westlaw. Not in Lexis. Not anywhere."

• Meanwhile, PreCYdent has moved from alpha to beta with a release it describes as more stable. Its recent newsletter (sent to everyone who registers) says it is working hard to extend its database to all state jurisdictions. It has also added a Government Printing Office archive of 1.3 million documents and a database of legal forms.

• Public.Resource.Org has been adding a collection of state cases and codes.

• Public.Resource.Org has added most of the cases from the first Federal Reporter series, which supplements the F.2d and F.3d series posted in February.

Lawyer2Lawyer: The Case for the Shield Law

On our legal affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer this week, we discuss the federal shield bill pending in Congress. I have complete details about the show at my Media Law blog.

Mass. Open Meeting Bill

At my Media Law blog, I have this post about the open meeting bill reported out yesterday by a committee of the Mass. legislature. I have also posted the text of the bill. Here are two news reports in which I comment on the bill:

• Lawmakers ax fines for meeting violations.

• Move to reform open meeting law advances.

Instant Legal Bliss?

That's what a new Web site, SueEasy.com, promises consumers. But one lawyer calls the site "the worst lawyer idea ever." See my post today at Legal Blog Watch.

Boston Blawger Meetup a Success

Amy Campbell has this picture from last night's meetup of Boston blawgers at Emmets Pub. The occasion was the Boston visit of Kevin O'Keefe, president of lexBlog. Among other bloggers who attended were Diane Levin of MediationChannel.com, Leanna Hamill of Massachusetts Estate Planning and Elder Law, Joshua Paulin of Boston Immigration and Nationality Blog, Doug Cornelius of KM Space, Aaron Silverstein and Matthew Saunders of Saunders Silverstein & Booth, Jessica Foley of Massachusetts Driving Laws, and others that I know I am forgetting. Also attending were several lawyers who do not yet have blogs but are preparing to launch them. Also there was Dick Dahl, technology and features reporter for Lawyers USA.

Free Beer in Boston?

See here.

Boston Massacre Trial Documents

Recently at Law.com's Legal Blog Watch, in a post titled Massacring the Boston Massacre Trial, I wrote about bloggers' critiques of the dramatization of that trial in the recent HBO miniseries, John Adams. Now you can obtain a less dramatic and perhaps more historically accurate perspective, by way of the Law Library of Congress, which has posted details about its collection of documents related to the trial -- some of which are full text versions in PDF.

Boston Blawger Meetup Wednesday

Kevin O'Keefe, president of LexBlog, is coming all the way from Washington state to Boston this week, so the least we can do is get some blawgers and blawgees together to buy him a beer. Our meetup will be this Wednesday, April 16. Tentative time is 6-ish and tentative place is Emmet's Pub. Feel free to e-mail me to confirm details (my last name at gmail.com).

Lawyer2Lawyer: Law Firms Go Green

With global warming and environmental issues plaguing the world, the legal community is doing its part by going green. This week on the legal affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we discuss initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility within the legal profession. taking charge and partaking in individual tasks within their firms to save the environment. Joining me to discuss this issue are:

• Attorney Carolyn S. Kaplan, chief sustainability officer at the law firm Nixon Peabody, the first person to hold such a position at a major law firm.
• Daniel Eisenberg, a lawyer at Beveridge & Diamond who was a principal architect of the ABA-EPA Law Office Climate Challenge.
  

Listen to this show or read more about it:

• Episode details.
  
• Download the MP3 file.
  
• Listen in Windows Media.
  

You can receive all Lawyer2Lawyer programs by subscribing via RSS or through iTunes.

Two New Sites Simplify Life after Death

Savvy estate-planning lawyers help their clients prepare for every contingency that may arise after they leave this life. This week brought announcements of two new Web sites, each aimed at simplifying the process of settling a decedent's affairs, even when no estate planning was done.

The first, eDivvyup, is an online auction site specifically designed to help surviving family members divide and distribute the deceased's personal property. While similar in concept and features to eBay, an eDivvyup auction is kept private, restricted to family members and invited participants. The decedent's property is listed and described and then sold to the person who places the highest bid within the time set for the auction. From the site:

"eDivvyup provides families with a vehicle to identify those most prized possessions that are desired by the children and a platform where each family member can equally bid on coveted items. What was once a great source of tension can now be a source of healthy interaction as family members witness and participate in the bidding process."

The cost is $49.99 to auction up to 50 items and then 99 cents for each additional item. What the site leaves unanswered is how the proceeds get divvied up after the property is divvied up.

The other new site aimed at those on their way out is iGoodbye.com. It offers a way to leave critical financial and personal information to heirs without having to give it to them while you are still around. This could include passwords, information about assets and financial accounts, and other personal data. It could also be used to store copies of wills and trusts, to leave recorded messages or videos, or to provide instructions.

The way it works sounds simple. After creating an account, you specify the heirs or recipients, upload the encrypted files intended for each, and then notify each heir of the location of the files and the password. When you die, they contact iGoodbye.com, it verifies your death through a death certificate, and releases the files.

The cost to use iGoodbye.com is based on an annual subscription of $29.95 -- so the sooner you say goodbye, the less you will pay. There is also an option for a free account if you agree to pass the costs on to your heirs.

Hillary Would be Happy With These Results

A new search engine, Picollator, purports to search for images on the Web that match images you upload. It uses pattern recognition to look for matching visual objects in other images. In this way, it claims, is helps "find photos of people more easily than any existing text-based search system. You can simply upload a photo with people to launch the search process." OK, I thought, let's try Hillary Clinton. See below for the results I obtained. Nice pics, but for precision, I'll take text-based search, thank you.

Google Docs to Enable Offline Use

The problem with using Google Docs as a word processor is that you have to be connected to the Internet. Not a problem anymore. According to this report in The New York Times, Google will start over the next several weeks making its Web-based software available offline. "The offline feature of Google Docs temporarily stores documents changes on a user's local computer," the report says. "Once reconnected to the Internet, any changes the user made will automatically be synchronized and stored on Google-hosted computers."

More on Avvo's Arrival in Mass.

As a follow-up to my post Monday, Avvo Expands to Mass., Florida, here is a report from the Boston Herald: Lawyers Caught in Web of Scrutiny.

Perfect for Lawyers: Gmail Custom Time

Ever wish you'd e-mailed that pleading to the court a few minutes or even a few days earlier? Ever regret having missed the deadline for exercising that option? Ever wish you'd e-mailed a birthday wish to your partner on the actual birthday? Never again miss a deadline -- or at least never again appear to miss a deadline -- thanks to a feature launched today as part of Google's Gmail called Gmail Custom Time.

Now, when composing an e-mail using Gmail, just set the date it should appear to have been received and it will land in the recipient's inbox in the appropriate chronological order. You can even decide whether to have the e-mail show up as read or unread. The new feature will allow you to backdate only to April 1, 2004. And it limits users to 10 custom time e-mails a year, so that people don't lose faith in the accuracy of time.

If this sounds like a useful tool, I'd suggest you act fast. Even though it was launched just today, I suspect it may be gone by tomorrow.

Avvo Expands to Mass., Florida

Lawyer-rating site Avvo expands this week to Massachusetts and Florida, bringing its coverage to 60 percent of licensed U.S. attorneys and spanning 11 states and the District of Columbia. Launched in June 2007, Avvo's goal is to serve as a consumer resource by rating and profiling every U.S. lawyer. Initially, I was somewhat skeptical of Avvo, expressing concern when it launched that it could mislead rather than guide consumers. But as it has refined its ratings and responded to concerns raised by the legal community, I've become a convert. In fact, I've provided the company with a "testimonial" to use this week in announcing its expansion.

Avvo officially launches in Mass. and Florida on April 2. The site operates by collecting information about lawyers from multiple sources -- bar records (including disciplinary sanctions), court records, Web sites and the lawyers themselves -- and assigning each lawyer a rating of one to 10. For lawyers for whom only minimal information is publicly available, Avvo provides no rating but labels them as either "Attention" or "No Concern." Lawyers can "claim" their own profiles and add information about themselves and also request peer endorsements and client ratings.

Avvo also includes Avvo Answers, a forum in which consumers can ask questions and lawyers can post answers with links back to their profiles. In addition to Massachusetts and Florida, its profiles now cover lawyers in Arizona, California, D.C., George, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

You can see all my prior posts about Avvo at this link. I also co-author Legal Blog Watch for Law.com, where my colleague Carolyn Elefant and I have posted about Avvo frequently. You can find those posts through this Google search. Lastly, on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer that I co-host along with blogger J. Craig Williams, we have had two episodes about Avvo, one on July 11, 2007, in which we interviewed Avvo's founders, President and CEO Mark Britton and VP of Products & Marketing Paul Bloom, and one on June 18, 2007, in which we discussed Avvo's launch with guests John Henry Browne, the Seattle attorney who was a plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit against Avvo (since dismissed), the aforementioned Carolyn Elefant, and Denise Howell, author of the blog Bag and Baggage.

Even More on 'Duby-ous' Firm Video

I mentioned in this March 17 post that I'd been interviewed by Connecticut Law Tribune reporter Tom Scheffey for his article, Duby-ous News?, about the controversy surrounding a law firm's staged news program. Now Law.com Legal Technology has picked up the story.