Amid Unrest, Am Law 100 Firms Hold Steady in Cairo

Despite a nighttime curfew, uncertainty surrounding the national government and spasms of violence that have prompted lawyers in at least one Cairo office to reach for gas masks, some Am Law 100 firms operating in Egypt's capital continue to counsel clients.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleALD.jsp?id=1202617685339&rss=newswire

business law

How Bad Ideas Grow Legs

Last January, Instapundit lawprof Glenn Reynolds wrote a short essay that became the darling of many folks who take an interest in criminal justice issues entitled Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything is a Crime. To be kind, it was a simplistic rehash of long-time, discredited silver-bullet solutions to complex problems. The only virtue was that it came from Reynolds, who was a law professor and thus credible by definition even though he was dabbling at the edges of an area of law about which he knew nothing.

It was excoriated here. Gideon beat it up at A Public Defender as well. Unlike Reynolds, this wasn't a theoretical exercise for us. We lived with the problems, and would wind up living with whatever inane solution seemed like a cool idea to an academic.  Whereas Reynolds' mantle of scholarly credibility was an asset for others whose interest came from a distance, ours was nuts and bolts, from living with the detritus of bad ideas in the trenches.

Radley Balko took us to task for being critical of Reynolds. The Agitator offered a homily of cooperation, arguing that we ought to work with luminaries like Reynolds rather than saying mean things like their ideas aren't fabulous. After explaining what was horribly wrong with a particular idea promoted by Reynolds that Radley found especially interesting (loser pays in criminal litigation), I wrote:

Radley also questioned by twit why I wasn't more open to embracing the ideas proffered by Glenn Reynolds and Conor Friedersdorf, "And it's probably more productive to engage, persuade new allies than to shun and mock them."  Since I hate to be a shunner or mocker, and I try to be relatively informative as reflected in this response to Radley's query, I look forward to Reynolds and Friedersdorf, our new allies, engaging. Engage away, guys. Your turn.

Of course, I was shunning and mocking, just as Radley said. But then, I had no plan to suck up to Reynolds in an effort to gain him as an ally anymore than I planned to teach a pig to sing. As players in punditry go, Reynolds is a major player,* and he enjoys his importance. He doesn't swim with minnows like Gid and me. At most, he eats us for a snack. Radley may have been well-intended, but didn't really appreciate the pecking order.

Of course, there was nothing to stop Reynolds, either before or after he published his Ham Sandwich essay, from speaking with people who were actually knowledgeable about criminal law, whether that was Gid and/or me, or some other trench lawyers, who could explain why good ideas on paper don't play as well in the courtroom.  But no. He didn't. Since it was his essay being published to enlighten the world, it was his duty to get a clue, and his choice not to.

My point to Radley at the time was the when loud voices with ascribed credibility write something like this, bad things happen. Bad ideas are taken more seriously. Other people will mistakenly assume that Reynolds, lawprof and all, has a clue what he's talking about and his ideas must have merit. After all, lawprofs could never be wrong about lawstuff.  And now that Reynolds had rung the bell, it could not be unrung.

George Will, certainly one of this country's leading conservative intellectuals, heard the peal of Reynolds' bell this week. In an otherwise excellent column on Senators Leahy and Rand's efforts to provide a backdoor to mandatory minimums (which raises the question of why they aren't seeking to end mandatory minimums through the front door, but we'll take it anyway they offer it), Will goes from the sublime to the ridiculous:

The House Judiciary Committee has created an Over-Criminalization Task Force. Its members should read “Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent,” by Harvey Silverglate, a libertarian lawyer whose book argues that prosecutors could indict most of us for three felonies a day. And the task force should read the short essay “Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything Is a Crime” by Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a professor of law at the University of Tennessee. Given the axiom that a competent prosecutor can persuade a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, and given the reality of prosecutorial abuse — particularly, compelling plea bargains by overcharging with “kitchen sink” indictments — Reynolds believes “the decision to charge a person criminally should itself undergo some degree of due process scrutiny.”

He also suggests banning plea bargains: “An understanding that every criminal charge filed would have to be either backed up in open court or ignominiously dropped would significantly reduce the incentive to overcharge. . . . Our criminal justice system, as presently practiced, is basically a plea-bargain system with actual trials of guilt or innocence a bit of showy froth floating on top.”

While Instapundit is a Big Kahuna on the interwebz and among academics, George Will has a soap box that dwarfs Reynolds. And he's taken Reynolds' "ideas" mainstream, not only crediting Reynolds for his position as an academic, but taking for granted that he's got criminal law chops.  It's unlikely that George checked Reynolds out at Tennessee Law School, where he teaches Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Law, Science, and Technology, Space Law, Internet Law. See criminal law in there? See anything in his past to suggest even a passing familiarity with the actual practice of criminal law? Me neither.

Yet, I look forward to some fine senators extolling the virtue of a dangerous and hare-brained reform of the law, citing to Glenn Reynolds' Ham Sandwich essays as the font of practical criminal law brilliance.  Because the myth has now been created and George Will gave it legs.

And this is how we end up with monumentally bad ideas being enshrined in law.


* For those who aren't familiar with Instapundit, this from Reynolds' Wikipedia page: 

Much of Instapundit's content consists of links to other sites, often with brief comments. (His frequent use of "heh," "indeed," and "read the whole thing" have been widely imitated and are often parodied by other bloggers.) Reynolds encourages readers to explore the wider blogosphere and to fully read articles and posts to which he links.

And that's the foundation for being a major player on the internet.

© 2007-13 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.

Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/07/10/how-bad-ideas-grow-legs.aspx?ref=rss

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The Impact of Voter ID Laws and Voter Purges

Before 2006, not a single US state required voters to show identification before marking a ballot. But now, 30 states have enacted some sort of voter identification law. Are these laws necessary to prevent voter fraud or are laws being passed to discourage low income groups, the elderly and minorities from voting? Lawyer2Lawyer co-host and attorney, Craig Williams, joins Professor Richard L. Hasen, from the University of California, Irvine and Wendy Weiser, Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, to talk voter ID laws in battleground states, voter purges and the potential impact on the upcoming election.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2012/08/the-impact-of-voter-id-laws-and-voter-purges/

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Disability Groups Defend California's LSAT Anti-Flagging Law

Disability rights groups have lined up to defend a California law that prohibits the Law School Admission Council from “flagging” LSAT scores—that is, alerting law schools when test takers received extra time as an accommodation for a disability.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202617365311&rss=rss_nlj

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Scary Tech: Lessons from ABA TECHSHOW 2013

Find out what the experts in computer security saw at ABA TECHSHOW 2013 - things like attendees with no passcode on their tablets or smartphones and people connecting to insecure networks which monitored their data traffic (through a scary device called a Pineapple). Digital Detectives hosts Sharon Nelson, Esq. and John Simek, president and vice president of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., welcome Ben Schorr of Roland Schorr to talk about the best ways to secure your home and office devices

Ben Schorr has been a technical consultant for businesses for two decades. Microsoft named him Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for both their Outlook product group and their OneNote product group. He was recently named by the Pacific Technology Foundation as one of the Top 50 Technology Leaders in Hawaii, where he is CEO of Roland Schorr, an IT management and support company.

This episode will help you understand how to connect to the Internet securely when you are out of the office, to create secure passwords for your devices, to keep your security patches up-to-date, to backup and do test restores of your data, and more.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-detectives/2013/04/scary-tech/

business law

New American Bar Association President James Silkenat Outlines His 2013-2014 Agenda

On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams speak with ABA President James Silkenat, on his first day in office, about his goals and initiatives for the ABA agenda.

James Silkenat has been working in international law for more than forty years. He joined the ABA’s first delegation to China in the mid-1970s and since then has chaired the International Law Section. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the American Law Institute, and has served as a Fellow in the U.S. State Department Scholar/Diplomat Program. As well as numerous other positions in and outside of the ABA, he will now serve as the president of the nation’s largest legal organization.

Silkenat will discuss his major platform goals for his presidency, including the legal education financing system and student debt, a legal job corps, the ABA’s stance on gun violence, and more.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2013/08/new-american-bar-association-president-james-silkenat-outlines-his-2013-2014-agenda

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Blending Special Needs Trusts and Structured Settlements

For severely injured plaintiffs and their families, the combination of special needs trusts and structured settlements can help provide financial security to secure future needs. Ringler Radio host Larry Cohen and co-host, Carmella Limongelli discuss this beneficial combination of financial solutions with Attorney Jay J. Sangerman, an expert in special needs trusts. Listen and find out when a special needs trust should be considered and what features the trust should have to qualify as a self-settled special needs trust.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2012/04/blending-special-needs-trusts-and-structured-settlements/

corporate law

Facebook Posts Put the Kibosh on Injury Victim's Lawsuit

A Georgia judge has tossed one of the largest loss of consortium awards in state history and -- following Facebook postings that prompted questions about the extent of injuries and the viability of the plaintiffs' marriage -- the underlying verdict as well.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.dailyreportonline.com/PubArticleDRO.jsp?id=1202617206161&rss=newswire

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New American Bar Association President James Silkenat Outlines His 2013-2014 Agenda

On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams speak with ABA President James Silkenat, on his first day in office, about his goals and initiatives for the ABA agenda.

James Silkenat has been working in international law for more than forty years. He joined the ABA’s first delegation to China in the mid-1970s and since then has chaired the International Law Section. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the American Law Institute, and has served as a Fellow in the U.S. State Department Scholar/Diplomat Program. As well as numerous other positions in and outside of the ABA, he will now serve as the president of the nation’s largest legal organization.

Silkenat will discuss his major platform goals for his presidency, including the legal education financing system and student debt, a legal job corps, the ABA’s stance on gun violence, and more.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2013/08/new-american-bar-association-president-james-silkenat-outlines-his-2013-2014-agenda

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The Internet of Things and Our Virtual Lives

The Internet of Things explains the virtual representation of objects on the web — like turning your car’s AC on from a smartphone app. Is it possible that soon the internet will be able to control our daily lives, down to resetting our alarm based on the train schedule we take to commute to work? Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell talk about the possibilities and implications of the internet of things in our daily lives and in the legal field. The second portion of the show explains The Human Genome Project, and what Kennedy learned after sending in his DNA.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2013/03/the-internet-of-things/

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G-Harmony: Motorola Mobility's Law Department Embraces Google Culture

Last year, Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. As usually happens in such a merger, the law department went though a significant re-organization. Of the law department's 250 people, 150 departed post-merger — some to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., others left the company. The MM law department took Google's instructions to better use technology to heart, and not only "ate the dog food," (i.e., used Google technology) but became a "skunkworks" operation — actually developing new technology tools and apps to help the legal team streamline processes and deliver faster, better, cheaper, and transparent legal services.

Law Technology Now host Monica Bay, an attorney and editor-in-chief of ALM’s Law Technology News, interviews David Kenzer, Motorola’s vice president of law, and Elizabeth Jaworksi, director of legal operations, about how the MM law department embraced Google's culture.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/law-technology-now/2013/08/g-harmony-motorola-mobilitys-law-department-embraces-google-culture

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The Luis Guaman Case

Professor Epps, Co-Director of Suffolk Law's International Law Concentration, discusses the murder trial of Luis Guaman and the extradition issues involved in the case. Learn more about our International Law concentration at http://bit.ly/Jemqnl.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/05/the-luis-guaman-case/

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The Legal Toolkit is Back

Wondering where The Legal Toolkit has been for the past six months? Never fear, Jared Correia, your host and a Senior Law Practice Advisor with Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program ( Mass. LOMAP), is back. In this month’s episode meet the new co-host Heidi Alexander, also a Law Practice Advisor with Mass. LOMAP, who will be the newest addition to The Legal Toolkit team. Before joining LOMAP, Alexander ran a solo law practice and a web consulting business. She has practiced employment law and litigation, clerked for a justice on the highest court of New Jersey, and worked helping entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses at a nonprofit women’s business assistance center. She is currently serving on the board of directors of a community arts nonprofit, as a special needs mentor, and as a coordinator and facilitator for girls in underserved communities. This episode will introduce Alexander and give her a chance to further outline her background, expertise, side projects, volunteer positions, and finally, her strong loyalty to her home state of Minnesota.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/2013/03/the-legal-toolkit-is-back/

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BP Oil Spill Settlement Update

The BP oil spill created an environmental and economic disaster affecting the entire Gulf Coast region. On March 2, 2012, BP agreed to settle the class action of certain oil spill related claims with the plaintiff steering committee, representing the interests of individuals and businesses throughout the region. Ringler Radio host Larry Cohen talks with colleague, Robert P. Caples and guest, Attorney Rhon E. Jones from the Beasley Allen law firm, about the various aspects of the settlement, including the important major changes in how claims will now be administered.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2012/06/bp-oil-spill-settlement-update/

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Advanced Searching and Technology Assisted Review

Identify the best practices for conducting smart searches by listening to The ESI Report. Host and Attorney and Director of Thought Leadership at Kroll Ontrack, Michele Lange, gets expert advice for conducting smart searches and exploring advanced search options to increase the effectiveness of your search protocol from Harris T. Berenson, E-discovery Counsel for Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Alex C. Gross, Legal Consultant at Kroll Ontrack. Then on the Bits & Bytes Legal Analysis segment, Kroll Ontrack Legal Consultant, Mark Thompson, analyzes recent court opinions discussing the hot topic of technology assisted review.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/esi-report/2012/05/advanced-searching-and-technology-assisted-review/

commercial law

The Luis Guaman Case

Professor Epps, Co-Director of Suffolk Law's International Law Concentration, discusses the murder trial of Luis Guaman and the extradition issues involved in the case. Learn more about our International Law concentration at http://bit.ly/Jemqnl.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/05/the-luis-guaman-case/

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Planning for Your Digital Estate

With so much of your key information and assets migrating online, it’s a challenge to remember all your passwords and accounts. So just imagine the headaches your spouse or family will have trying to figure it all out once you pass away. On this Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss how to prepare your “digital estate” before death or incapacity. After you listen, be sure to check out Tom & Dennis’ co-blog and book by the same name, The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2012/05/planning-for-your-digital-estate/

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The Eureka Moment: How Big Law Has Learned to Love Legal Practice Management

In this September edition of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of ALM’s Law Technology News, joins Dechert’s Colleen Nihill, firm wide director of project management and Anthony Licata, chief financial officer, and Kim Craig, director of project management office at Seyfarth Shaw, to discuss how Big Law is adopting legal project management, especially in the context of alternative fee agreements. All three were featured in Law Technology News’ current cover story, "The Eureka Moment."

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/law-technology-now/2012/09/the-eureka-moment-how-big-law-has-learned-to-love-legal-practice-management/

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"Nobody's dying, nobody's sick... You can't let the client suffer..."

A Canadian lawyer was on his way to a hearing for a client. Driving to the airport, he found himself in a deluge that "buried" his car, a new Ferrari. He abandoned his car and found another way to the airport to fly from his  city to another for a hearing on the following morning. All this for the benefit of his client. By the way, he won his motion on the following day!

Client service to the extreme! What have you done for your clients lately?

Source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LawBizBlog/~3/vWnwOqh2lS0/

business law

Stadium authority hires Dorsey attorney for due dilligence investigation on Wilf family

An artist’s rendering of the new stadium

The Minnesota Sports Facility Authority hired Dorsey & Whitney attorney Peter Carter to help conduct a due diligence review on behalf of the state of Minnesota and its commitment to a new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

The move comes in response to a recent civil judgment against the Wilf family, the owners of the Vikings, in New Jersey, that found the family guilt of violating state racketeering laws among other charges.

A New Jersey judge ruled last week that brothers Zygi and Mark Wilf and their cousin, Leonard, committed fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duty

The ruling came in response to a 21 year legal battle. The Wilfs were sued by by partners in a 764-unit apartment complex. Investors accuse the Wilfs of cheating them out of their fair share of revenue from the project. They are seeking more than $50 million in damages.

Today Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the MSFA, said the her group is going to investigate what potential impact the New Jersey ruling would have on the Wilfs contribution to the stadium.

Carter has a history of RICO investigations and has done due diligence work for many Fortune 250 companies, Kelm-Helgen said. The Dorsey firm will be joined by FTI Consulting, an international forensic accounting firm.

“We do not expect this to affect the overall project timeline, as progress continues between the Minnesota Vikings and the MSFA, Kelm-Helgen said in a statement.

 

Source: http://minnlawyer.com/minnlawyerblog/2013/08/13/stadium-authority-hires-dorsey-attorney-for-due-dilligence-investigation-on-wilf-family/

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UNESCO director condemns killing of Egypt journalists

[JURIST] UNESCO [official website] Director-General Irina Bokova [official profile] on Monday condemned [press release] the death of three journalists in Egypt and called for a thorough investigation into the incidents. Two journalists, Ahmed Abdel of Al-Akhbar [news service] and Gawad Mosab Al-Shami, a photojournalist for Rassd News Network (RNN) [news service, in Arabic], were killed during demonstrations in Cairo on August 14. On August 20 Tamer Abdel Raouf, regional bureau chief for the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram [news service, in Arabic]...

Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/08/unesco-director-condemns-killing-of-egypt-journalists.php

statute law

Law Firms Go Mobile

There’s no doubt the net is going more and more mobile. In fact, Facebook recently revealed about half of its 800 million users access their accounts through their smartphones. So what are the implications of this move to mobile for the standard law firm website? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the impact of mobile devices on web design, the web design movement known as Mobile First, and what you can do to optimize your website for the mobile era. After you listen, be sure to check out Tom & Dennis’ co-blog and book by the same name, The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2012/04/law-firms-go-mobile/

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Future Law Office: Top Technology Trends Reshaping the Legal Field

In this video podcast of The Robert Half Legal Report, Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal, and Robert Ambrogi, co-host of Lawyer2Lawyer on the Legal Talk Network discuss how law firms and corporate legal departments are leveraging technology to improve services and streamline workflow. They share key findings from Future Law Office, Robert Half Legal’s annual research program that examines important developments in the legal profession.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/robert-half-legal-report/2012/08/future-law-office-top-technology-trends-reshaping-the-legal-field/

power of attorney

Court says no to civil rights ‘dating’ claim

It’s no game for a dating claim, in a case filed by two FBI trainees who were booted from the Training Academy for their extramarital romance.

The personal right to privacy recognized under the Constitution includes marriage, procreation, contraception and the right to engage in certain intimate conduct, said an Alexandria federal court. But that didn’t mean the couple could avoid disciplinary action for breaking a rule about where trainees sleep.

Robert Stevens and Katherine Hayek were separated from their respective spouses when they entered the Academy, and made no attempt to hide their relationship. FBI Training Academy rules required trainees to sleep in their own rooms, and a search of Hayek’s room turned up men’s jeans and deodorant.

A special advisory agent told Hayek the couple’s relationship was a “poor choice,” and a “Suitability Review” found the trainees violated curfew, lacked integrity and showed poor judgment. Someone at the Academy apparently wrote “poison pen” letters telling the trainees’ spouses about the relationship. The FBI dismissed them from the program in 2011.

They sued, saying their termination from the Academy made it tough to get a security clearance and damaged their employment prospects.

During oral argument before U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, the plaintiffs defined the right at issue as being able to “engage in a romantic relationship with whoever you choose without having a supervisor tell you it’s immoral.”

Lee said the plaintiffs tried to draw a fine line between their status as being engaged in a romance, versus their right to engage in certain conduct. There’s no clear guidance on when a romantic “dalliance” turns into a “prospective union worthy of constitutional protection,” he said.

The couple appeared to be asking the court to extend privacy protection to the decision to commence a relationship, to carve a “very particular slice … out of the privacy pie.”

“To separate the status from the activities that flow from such a status would be an inefficient and unmanageable exercise, open to a different construction depending upon how any given couple chooses to conduct their relationship,” Lee wrote.

In simpler terms, Lee said there’s no constitutional rule barring an employer from forbidding a personal relationship between governmental employees on government property.

On Aug. 16, the court granted summary judgment for the government in Stevens v. Holder.
-Deborah Elkins

Source: http://valawyersweekly.com/vlwblog/2013/08/22/court-says-no-to-civil-rights-dating-claim/

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Looking For A Fortune Teller In Kuwait? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Although they are out there, Kuwaitis would be hard-pressed to find a faith healer, a fortune teller, or a practitioner of black magic. How does The Juice know this? Well, as reported by The Arab Times:

The Farwaniya police have arrested an unidentified person of African origin for carrying black magic tools, reports Alam Alyawm daily.



(Farwaniya is a suburb of Kuwait City.)

The suspect was arrested on suspicion and during interrogation he admitted to the charge of performing black magic.

No word on what the time is for that "crime."

Source: http://rss.justia.com/~r/LegalJuiceCom/~3/gWr0GVmUwBo/looking_for_a_fortune_teller_i_1.html

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Lawyers' Duty to Know Technology?

Many lawyers say they are "good lawyers," while knowing very little about legal technology. So does that statement really compute in this technology driven world? Recent discussions about possible changes to ethical rules include requirements that lawyers stay up-to-date on technology. Explore the intersection of technology, law practice and ethical rules, along with the implications for lawyers with Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell on this Kennedy-Mighell Report.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2012/05/lawyers-duty-to-know-technology/

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International Law Opportunities at Suffolk University Law School

Professor Christopher Gibson, Associate Dean, & Ian Menchini, Director of Electronic Marketing and Enrollment Management discuss the many opportunities available through Suffolk Law's International Law program. Learn more at http://bit.ly/I95LF3.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/04/international-law-opportunities-at-suffolk-university-law-school/

legal news

Demythologizing the Mythical Paperless Office

For many years, lawyers have chased after the holy grail of the paperless office. While the basic techniques and strategies have largely stayed the same and the technology and tools have gotten better, most lawyers and firms have not attained the elusive goal of a “paperless” office. Is the goal simply unachievable or is it just too hard to execute on what it takes to achieve the goal? In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the history and current state of paperless office efforts, approaches that might (or might not) work for you, and whether the end of paper is within sight. The second half of the episode will cover Georgetown University's new "Iron Tech" Contest where students create a new application, platform, or system to improve access to justice and/or legal representation.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2013/08/demythologizing-the-mythical-paperless-office

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Video Conferencing for Lawyers

Video conferencing can be a very effective and economical tool for law firms and corporate law departments, as long as the correct choices are made. Find out how to choose the correct video conferencing technology for you when Monica Bay, host of Law Technology Now and editor-in-chief of ALM’s Law Technology News, interviews Steven Levy, principal of Seattle-based Lexician.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/law-technology-now/2012/05/video-conferencing-for-lawyers/

personal injury attorneys

Judge Scheindlin’s Collection Case and Florida E-Discovery Amendments

One of the attributes that makes for a great e-discovery lawyer is the ability to wade through the digital mire that separates preservation from collection. The ESI Report’s Michele Lange, Attorney and Director of Thought Leadership at Kroll Ontrack joins e-discovery expert David Kearney, Director of Technology Services at Cohen & Grigsby, to discuss Judge Shira Scheindlin’s recent opinion in the case, National Day Laborer Organizing Network et al. v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, et al. On the Bits & Bytes Legal Analysis segment, Kroll Ontrack Legal Correspondent, Elliot Westman analyzes recent e-discovery amendments to the Florida Civil Procedure Rules.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/esi-report/2012/08/judge-scheindlins-collection-case-and-florida-e-discovery-amendments/

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BU School of Law’s Semester-in-Practice Program

Boston University School of Law’s Semester-in-Practice Program has provided some great opportunities to law students who are looking to prepare themselves for the legal world. Host David Yas, a BU Law alum, former publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and a V.P. at Bernstein Global Wealth, talks with Professor Sean J. Kealy, director of the Government Lawyering program in Washington D.C, and Michael Greenwald, an alum of BU School of Law, who spent a semester in Washington working for the U.S. Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Sean and Michael talk about the benefits of the program, the hands-on training, and share their personal experiences.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/boston-university-school-of-law/2012/06/bu-school-of-laws-semester-in-practice-program/

criminal defense attorneys

Kids’ Chance: Helping Children of Injured Workers

When someone is seriously injured or dies on the job, their family is left to pick up the pieces and sometimes the family’s education funds are at risk. Kids’ Chance is a national organization that funds educational scholarships for the children of injured workers, so that they can pursue their educational goals. In this podcast, Ringler Radio host Larry Cohen along with co-host, Bill Wright, talk with the Founder of Kids' Chance, Attorney Bob Clyatt, about the Kids’ Chance mission and how it has been instrumental in helping the children of injured families through the power of education.

Source: http://ringlerradio.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2013/03/kids-chance-helping-children-of-injured-workers/

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Android Devices for Lawyers

We are happy to announce that The Digital Edge is now a part of Legal Talk Network. Since 2007, Digital Detectives co-host Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. has been co-presenting another podcast, The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology, with Jim Calloway. Calloway is the director of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program. He frequently writes and speaks on legal technology issues, Internet research, law office management, and ethics for lawyers. The Digital Edge invites noted legal technologists, authors, and lecturers to discuss topics related to lawyers and technology.

This episode of The Digital Edge features guest Jeff Taylor, also known as “The Droid Lawyer,” to discuss how lawyers can efficiently use Android phones, tablets and computers in their practice.

Jeffrey Taylor is an Oklahoma City Attorney. He has been writing the popular blog “The Droid Lawyer” since 2011, educating lawyers on how to get the most out of their Android devices. His first Android device was the original Motorola Droid, which he discovered was a useful tool for his profession. His practice focuses on personal injury, small business litigation and immigration.
Learn more about Android’s newest operating system, Jelly Bean, the top Android apps for lawyers, how to prevent security and malware issues with Android devices, and much more.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-edge-podcasts/2013/05/android-devices-for-lawyers

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MLB on a Hot Streak in Lawsuit Against Biogensis

With discovery stayed in Biogenesis litigation in Miami, Major League Baseball's detractors say the league has misused the justice system to get information on player use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/PubArticleDBR.jsp?id=1202616879282&rss=newswire

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4 names for 2 openings in 8th District

The Commission on Judicial Selection recently recommended four candidates to Gov. Mark Dayton to fill two judicial vacancies in the 8th Judicial District.

These vacancies were created upon the retirements of the Judge Kathryn N. Smith and Judge Jon Stafshot. Judge Smith’s seat will be chambered at Willmar in Kandiyohi County and Judge Stafsholt’s seat will be chambered at Glenwood in Pope County.

Jennifer Fischer is the Kandiyohi County Attorney, where she prosecutes crimes and serves as the legal advisor to the County Board of Commissioners. She previously was a partner at Jones & Fischer, P.A., and, prior to that, served as an Assistant Public Defender.

Rodney Hanson is a partner with Anderson, Larson, Hanson & Saunders, where he practices primarily in civil litigation. He has maintained a local practice in Willmar since 1985 and is a qualified neutral and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.

Jeffrey Kuhn is the current president of the law firm of Nelson, Kuhn & Nordmeyer, located in Glenwood, where his practice includes real estate, probate, business, and civil litigation. Kuhn also serves as a part-time Assistant Public Defender and previously was the City Attorney for the City of Starbuck.

Antonio Tejeda is the current owner and attorney for the Law Office of Tejeda Guzman where he practices primarily in workers’ compensation, social security disability, and veteran affairs appeals. Tejeda also serves in the Minnesota Army National Guard as a Staff Judge Advocate and previously was an attorney at the law firm of Anderson, Larson, Hanson & Saunders.

The 8th district consists of Big Stone, Chippewa, Grant, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Meeker, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, Wilkin, and Yellow Medicine counties.

An announcement of the appointments will be made following an interview process over the next few weeks.

 

Source: http://minnlawyer.com/minnlawyerblog/2013/08/06/4-names-for-2-openings-in-8th-district/

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Judge Refuses New Trial in Billion-Dollar Patent Case

On the heels of a $1.17 billion verdict in a patent case, a federal judge took a hard line with the losing party after it filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202617068550&rss=newswire

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IP Law Concentration

Professor Andrew Beckerman-Rodau discusses the Intellectual Property Law Concentration offered by Suffolk University Law School. To learn more about the program, please visit the Law School's website, http://bit.ly/JNtxXh.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/04/ip-law-concentration/

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Metadata: What You Can’t See Can Hurt You!

Many are hearing about metadata in articles and blogs, but secretly admit that they don’t fully understand what it is. Digital Detectives co-hosts, Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc. and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, join Karen Massand, the President of Litéra, to take a look at metadata, whether it takes an expert to find metadata in documents, leaking hidden data, and the new metadata problem caused by the "bring your own device movement".

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-detectives/2012/09/metadata-what-you-cant-see-can-hurt-you/

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The DRI - ‘The Voice of the Defense Bar'

DRI is considered a ‘think tank’ for defense attorneys and in-house counsel. On Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen and Ringler colleague, Jim Early, join Attorney Matthew Cairns from the firm, Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, to focus on the DRI - ‘The Voice of the Defense Bar’ and talk about what defense attorneys should know about the settlement process.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2012/10/the-dri-the-voice-of-the-defense-bar/

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What Would Atticus Have Done?

Hearing that the mob was going to storm the jail and lynch Tom Robinson, the fictional Atticus Finch stood at the doorway to block their entrance. Among criminal defense lawyers, Atticus Finch is revered as a paragon of honor. Not all lawyers saw it that way.

In 1992, Monroe Freedman, a legal ethics expert, published two articles in the national legal newspaper Legal Times calling for the legal profession to set aside Atticus Finch as a role model. Freedman argued that Atticus still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. Freedman's article sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession holding Atticus Finch as a hero, and the reason they became lawyers. Critics of Atticus such as Freedman maintain that Atticus Finch is morally ambiguous and does not use his legal skills to challenge the racist status quo in Maycomb.

Monroe H. Freedman, ""Atticus Finch, Esq., R.I.P.,"" 14 LEGAL TIMES 20 (1992); Monroe H. Freedman, ""Finch: The Lawyer Mythologized,"" 14 LEGAL TIMES 25 (1992) and Monroe Freedman, Atticus Finch – Right and Wrong, 45 Ala. L. Rev. 473 (1994).

While Atticus might have fulfilled the highest calling of a lawyer, Freedman saw the character as failing his calling as a human being in a racist society, and considered that to be a fatal flaw.

Yesterday was Race Day at the New York Times, where two op-eds argued the failure of a certain verdict in Florida was due to the one word unspoken throughout the trial, race.  In a "surprising" choice that suggests the power of an excellent public relations team, one op-ed was by Gloria Allred's daughter, Lisa Bloom, who, after explaining the basis for her assumption about what was inside George Zimmerman's head, illuminated the race issue with the insightful:

Huh?

In contrast, Cardozo lawprof Ekow Yankah invokes the spirit of his fellow lawprof, Freedman, in writing:

The anger felt by so many African-Americans speaks to the simplest of truths: that race and law cannot be cleanly separated. We are tired of hearing that race is a conversation for another day. We are tired of pretending that “reasonable doubt” is not, in every sense of the word, colored.

Every step Mr. Martin took toward the end of his too-short life was defined by his race. I do not have to believe that Mr. Zimmerman is a hate-filled racist to recognize that he would probably not even have noticed Mr. Martin if he had been a casually dressed white teenager.

This conforms with my assumption as well. I find it impossible to believe that Zimmerman's perception of Martin as being "a punk" wasn't colored by race. Sure, there was also youth and attire, but it was part of the whole package. And to the extent that his skin color played a role in his perception that this was a kid who needed to be followed, who posed a threat of doing something wrong, it is racist.  Maybe not white hooded, cross-burning racism, but racist nonetheless.

This isn't a legal argument, however. Bloom and Yankah are both writing from the legal perspective, but what they are writing about isn't legal. It's sociological, a condemnation of a society that is still racist despite having a black president.  Anyone who thinks it's "problem solved" is delusional.

But Yankah contends that it is "the simplest of truths: that race and law cannot be cleanly separated."  Cleanly? No, it probably can't be cleanly separated, though it's similarly unclear that this constitutes "the simplest of truths." There is nothing simple about it.

It gives rise to a troubling question, that Yankah fails to adequately address and is way over Bloom's head.

What is reasonable to do, especially in the dark of night, is defined by preconceived social roles that paint young black men as potential criminals and predators. Black men, the narrative dictates, are dangerous, to be watched and put down at the first false move. This pain is one all black men know; putting away the tie you wear to the office means peeling off the assumption that you are owed equal respect. Mr. Martin’s hoodie struck the deepest chord because we know that daring to wear jeans and a hooded sweatshirt too often means that the police or other citizens are judged to be reasonable in fearing you.

We know this, yet every time a case like this offers a chance for the country to tackle the evil of racial discrimination in our criminal law, courts have deliberately silenced our ability to expose it. The Supreme Court has held that even if your race is what makes your actions suspicious to the police, their suspicions are reasonable so long as an officer can later construct a race-neutral narrative.

Being fully willing to accept that race factored into Zimmerman's perception, based on my own personal bias, the question that remains unanswered is what should the law have done about it?

Does the introduction of race by the prosecution into Zimmerman's perceptions alter the rule of self-defense? Does it render his subsequent conduct unlawful, even if it would have been lawful otherwise? Should there be two rules of law, one for interactions between people of different races where perceptions of the significance of conduct is assumed to be racially related, if not motivated? 

To point out that we still live in a society where race remains a pervasive unresolved issue is to state the obvious. To suggest that the criminal law should accommodate it is to present an intractable problem. Atticus Finch didn't hesitate to put his life on the line for his client, a black man accused of raping a white woman. But he didn't do enough because he didn't confront the racist society in defending Tom Robinson?

If the prosecution had been allowed, and inclined, to argue that George Zimmerman's conduct was racially motivated, and that his ultimate decision to shoot and kill Trayvon Martin was, at least in the tiniest of ways, based upon his race, would that have rendered his belief that he was about to suffer death or serious injury unreasonable?  If his head was being beaten against concrete by a white youth, as opposed to a black youth, would the harm have been different?

The argument that this scenario would never have commenced had Trayvon Martin been a white youth in a sports jacket and khakis is likely true. It's pure speculation no matter how much your head screams "yes, yes, yes," of course, but still. Yet how would the law have been any different at the point where a shot was fired? 

If we are to have a nation of laws to guide ourselves, how do we draw these vague, fuzzy lines where the law ceases to apply, where it's a free for all, where there is no longer a fixed right and wrong and everything becomes a matter of feelings, assumptions and personal perspective?  Yankah may be right that race and law cannot be cleanly separated in our collective consciousness, but then we cease to be a nation of laws when we ignore one for the other.

You might prefer that to happen here, but will you feel the same when you sit in the defendant's chair?  So what would Atticus Finch have done? He would have defended George Zimmerman based on the law, even if he failed to meet Monroe Freedman's expectation that he not be morally ambiguous. Atticus Finch would have still been the paragon of honor, even in the face of societal condemnation. That's what criminal defense lawyers do. That's what we are sworn to do.

 

 

 

© 2007-13 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.

Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/07/16/what-would-atticus-have-done.aspx?ref=rss

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Accelerate Your Use of Metrics

Corporate law departments want to improve their use of data and reporting to make smarter, more strategic business decisions - the question is, "how?" In this edition of Tech Experts, join Rashad Porter, Director of Business Intelligence Strategy & Solutions at Datacert, for a discussion of the Legal Business Intelligence Maturity Model. Rashad uses this tool to help you realistically evaluate where your department’s reporting stands now and outline actionable steps you can take towards becoming more strategic in your use of metrics to manage.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/tech-experts/2012/08/accelerate-your-use-of-metrics/

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Absolute Novelty Worldwide - Not Always So Absolute

In this Intellectual Property webcast, Thomas McNulty and Sandra Szela Congdon of Lando & Anastasi, LLP discuss absolute novelty worldwide. Learn more about Lando & Anastasi, LLP at http://www.lalaw.com.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/07/absolute-novelty-worldwide-not-always-so-absolute/

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Liability After Facebook’s IPO

Facebook’s super-hyped IPO quickly turned into Wall Street folly. Lawsuits were filed almost immediately. Accusations of selective financial disclosure, investor deception and NASDAQ negligence are flying. So who is to blame? And who is liable? Lawyer2Lawyer co-hosts and attorneys, Bob Ambrogi and Craig Williams, get the legal story of Facebook’s botched IPO and pending litigation from John P. ("Sean") Coffey, Managing Director at BlackRobe Capital Partners, and Scott M. Berman, Partner at Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2012/06/liability-after-facebooks-ipo/

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Securities Law and Corporate Finance

Sheppard Mullin has an active securities and corporate finance practice involving the issuance of securities in registered public offerings and private placements, including venture capital investments and other exempt transactions. We have served as counsel to a variety of issuers/securities underwriting firms and investment banking firms in connection with initial and other public and private offerings of securities. Our attorneys have participated in all aspects of the private placement of securities, representing issuers, private placement agents, equity funds, institutional investors and venture capital firms in every type of private financing transaction, including seed financing angel investments, venture capital financing, later stage equity or mezzanine financing, PIPES and private debt financing. The hands-on experience of our attorneys in a wide variety of offerings gives us the ability to develop creative solutions to problems encountered in the course of any securities transaction.

Source:
http://www.corporatesecuritieslawblog.com/practice-securities-law-and-corporate-finance.html

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Private Companies and Family Owned Business

Our firm has provided the full spectrum of legal counsel to family owned and other private companies for more than 75 years. We represent business entities from all industries and at every stage of development and succession. Family owned and private companies have long been an important part of Sheppard Mullin's practice, and over the years we have cultivated the experience necessary to help these businesses align and balance the sometimes competing objectives of effective corporate governance, financial success, family harmony and personal development.

We believe that it is critical to understand and address the full range of needs and goals of the family owned and private companies we represent. Our attorneys work with family members and management to design and achieve their goals by providing legal services and assisting in locating and engaging other advisors who can contribute to the success of the business. Many of the legal services we offer, including critically important tax and estate planning services, are specially tailored to family owned and other closely held businesses. Our attorneys serve in the role of an experienced and trusted advisor, guiding clients through the often complex and unique challenges that they confront.

Source:
http://www.corporatesecuritieslawblog.com/practice-private-companies-and-family-owned-business.html

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Summary of Knox v. SEIU

My summary of Knox v. SEIU at SCOTUSblog.com: Knox knocks unions on mid-year assessment for non-members.

28 Day Free Trial

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Source: http://www.lawmemo.com/blog/2012/06/summary_of_knox.html

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Best Billable Hour Practices for Paralegals

Are you looking for answers when it comes to billable hour practices? Paralegal Voice co-hosts Lynne DeVenny and Vicki Voisin join Jennifer Karns, Legal Professional Training Manager for Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., as they discuss billable hour practices. Jennifer emphasizes the importance of meeting billable hour goals and adding value to time entries. She also shares essential tips for improving your billing descriptions and capabilities.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/paralegal-voice/2012/07/best-billable-hour-practices-for-paralegals/

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The Butcher, The Baker and FISA

The House Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing today on FISA, the NSA and some guy named Snowden. Few people are aware of this, as their time and attention are consumed by more important legal concerns, as regularly voice by legal entertainer, Nancy Grace.  But it will happen nonetheless.

Stewart Baker, who harbors some peculiar notions when it comes to the things the government does to keep us safe, will be testifying, and he has much to say about each of these subjects, and then some.  While his testimony of extraordinary breadth is all worth reading in a morbid fascination sort of way, it spans far more than can be discussed here. Rather than try to overreach, let's take a look-see at just one small piece of his puzzle.

To be blunt, one of the reasons I’m here is that I fear we may repeat some of the mistakes we made as a country in the years before September 11, 2001.  In those years, a Democratic President serving his second term seemed to inspire deepening suspicion of government and a rebirth of enthusiasm for civil liberties not just on the left but also on the right.  The Cato Institute criticized the Clinton Administration’s support of warrantless national security searches and expanded government wiretap authority as “dereliction of duty,” saying,“[i]f constitutional report cards were handed out to presidents, Bill Clinton would certainly receive an F–an appalling grade for any president–let alone a former professor of constitutional law.” The criticism rubbed off on the FISA court, whose chief judge felt obliged to give public interviews and speeches defending against the claim that the court was rubber-stamping the Clinton administration’s intercept requests.

This is where I should insert a joke about the movie “Groundhog Day.” But I don’t feel like joking, because I know how this movie ends. 

Gratuitous slams at Democrats aside, given that a two-term Republican in the middle didn't do any better, can you guess where Baker is heading?

And so, when a law enforcement task force of the FBI found out in August of 2001 that al Qaeda had sent two dangerous operatives to the United States, it did … nothing.  It was told to stand down; it could not go looking for the two al Qaeda operatives because it was on the wrong side of the wall.  I believe that FBI task force would have found the hijackers – who weren’t hiding – and that the attacks could have been stopped if not for a combination of bad judgment by the FISA court (whose minimization rules were later thrown out on appeal) and a climate in which national security concerns were discounted by civil liberties advocates on both sides of the aisle.

Rarely does a paragraph so grossly distort cause and effect, correlation and causation, while at the same time trivializing and blaming those darned "civil liberties advocates on both sides of the aisle."  Maybe not Jefferson and Madison, but their elected descendants who, at least in Baker's mind, put us at risk for terrorism by the horrors of defending civil liberties, those things that make us who and what we are. 

This is like a trick for fools, which makes it perfect for congressional testimony. As if the FBI having been on the wrong side of the "wall" before 9/11 was the cause of America's failure to stop the attacks. Because the FBI so effectively stopped others, say, Tsarnaev, when they had no wall to blame it on? Or that there was no other law enforcement apparatus in existence for the FBI to do its job, except to engage in a national secret colonoscopy but be forbidden from telling the patient the results.

There has never been any dispute that law enforcement would be both easier and more effective if we would just let them ignore all those nasty constitutional rights that the citizenry preserved for itself when deciding to let a government exist.  Think about how much safer we would be if police could just enter our homes at will and search for whatever they want, or just for fun. You never know what they might stumble on.

That's what Baker considers the right way to go, because he believes that government can be trusted, that government is well-intended and would rarely abuse the vast power he would give it.  Not that it would never abuse the power, but in those very rare instances where something went beyond his vision of propriety, government would also be fully capable of policing itself.  Ronald Reagan, for all his faults, was elected on the platform that government was the problem.  Baker disagrees.

I realize that this story is not widely told, perhaps because it’s not an especially welcome story, not in the mainstream media and not on the Internet. But it is true; the parts of my book that describe it are well-grounded in recently declassified government reports.

More importantly, I lived it.  And I never want to live through that particular Groundhog Day again.  That’s why I’m here.

The argument is reminiscent of the mother whose child was tragically killed, and goes before a legislative body to ask that no other child ever again be harmed.  There is enormous sympathy for her loss, but whatever killed the child happens a million times without incident, and then once with a terrible outcome.  What she is asking is that the million times be eliminated so that the one time never happen. It's understandable, as she speaks from personal grief, but it's an unsound basis to craft law.  Baker plays the same cards.

Notice how he ties it to himself personally, as he was there in government service when the government failed to stop a tragic event.  Of course, it wasn't the government's fault that it failed, but those "civil liberties advocates" who tied the government's hands from saving us.  That's the claim, even though it relies on a logical fallacy that Baker, a smart guy, hopes no one on the committee will see. 

Had there been no wall, and the FBI free to break into bedrooms and telephone calls at will, there is no correlation between their putative claim that they would have been able to stop 9/11.  There is no basis to claim they would have done anything more than interrogate the two suspected terrorists and let them go. There is no basis to claim that the other terrorists, even if the two were held or expelled, wouldn't have flown planes into buildings. There is no line to be drawn from point A to point Z.

But Stewart Baker will be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today and will tell them these things. And I won't. And you won't. And the wheels of government will grind on.

© 2007-13 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.

Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/07/17/the-butcher-the-baker-and-fisa.aspx?ref=rss

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The Luis Guaman Case

Professor Epps, Co-Director of Suffolk Law's International Law Concentration, discusses the murder trial of Luis Guaman and the extradition issues involved in the case. Learn more about our International Law concentration at http://bit.ly/Jemqnl.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/05/the-luis-guaman-case/

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State Sanctions Ex-Villanova Dean Accused of Inflating Student Data

The former dean of Villanova University School of Law has been banned from practicing law for three years as punishment for allegedly doctoring admissions data.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/08/21/state-sanctions-ex-villanova-dean-accused-of-sexing-up-admissions-data/?mod=WSJBlog

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Private Prisons, Profits, and Prisoners’ Rights

On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer host Bob Ambrogi discusses private prisons with Susan Herman, president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Adrian Moore, vice president of the Reason Foundation, a non-profit in support of libertarian principles and privatization.

Susan Herman was elected president of the ACLU in October 2008. As Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, she teaches courses in the area of Criminal Law and Procedure and Constitutional Law. The ACLU has been studying and protesting against private prisons as a for-profit business for decades.

Dr. Adrian Moore is vice president of policy at the Reason Foundation. He has conducted studies, written publications and scholarly articles on the privatization of prisons and how they yield quality corrections at a lower cost. He has served on boards and commissions developing or overseeing privatization at the federal, state, and local level.

Tune in to hear Herman and Moore debate and discuss the colossal incarceration rate, the profit motives of private prisons, the politics behind it all, and the impact on prisoners’ rights.

Special Thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2013/05/private-prisons-profits-and-prisoners-rights

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The Craigslist Killer: A Case Study in Digital Forensics

The case of the Craiglist Killer has lived on through digital forensics. The Boston Police released their case files in the Craigslist Killer case to the Boston Phoenix which then published a remarkable story about the investigation in April of 2012. Digital Detectives co-hosts, Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, explore the intricacies of this captivating case including: evidence from surveillance cameras and privacy implications, getting social media evidence and poaching wireless networks.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-detectives/2012/06/the-craigslist-killer-a-case-study-in-digital-forensics/

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The Eureka Moment: How Big Law Has Learned to Love Legal Practice Management

In this September edition of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of ALM’s Law Technology News, joins Dechert’s Colleen Nihill, firm wide director of project management and Anthony Licata, chief financial officer, and Kim Craig, director of project management office at Seyfarth Shaw, to discuss how Big Law is adopting legal project management, especially in the context of alternative fee agreements. All three were featured in Law Technology News’ current cover story, "The Eureka Moment."

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/law-technology-now/2012/09/the-eureka-moment-how-big-law-has-learned-to-love-legal-practice-management/

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Lessig Sues Over Threat Arising From His YouTube Video

Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig has gone to court seeking clarification that his use of copyrighted music in an amateur dance video illustrating one of his lectures on YouTube constitutes fair use.

Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202616835376&rss=rss_nlj

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Experience User-Friendly Systems

Good usability and user interface design are keys to ensuring that law department staff embrace your department’s technology investments. In this edition of Tech Experts, join usability expert, Yusuke Morita, Associate Principal Developer at Datacert, for a window into the thought process behind the design of a really user-friendly application. Learn what design elements create "ease-of-use" so you can better identify systems your staff will readily adopt and enjoy using.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/tech-experts/2012/10/experience-user-friendly-systems/

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Content Marketing for Lawyers

If you want to market your practice by leveraging your expertise, content marketing may be your answer. Jared Correia, the host of The Legal Toolkit and Senior Law Practice Advisor with Mass. LOMAP, interviews Gyi Tsakalakis, the director of web marketing for AttorneySync, to get the skinny. Jared and Gyi discuss different types of content marketing and distribution platforms, the efficacy of paywalls and the skill set lawyers need to become effective content marketers.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/legal-toolkit/2012/08/content-marketing-for-lawyers/

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Absolute Novelty Worldwide - Not Always So Absolute

In this Intellectual Property webcast, Thomas McNulty and Sandra Szela Congdon of Lando & Anastasi, LLP discuss absolute novelty worldwide. Learn more about Lando & Anastasi, LLP at http://www.lalaw.com.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/07/absolute-novelty-worldwide-not-always-so-absolute/

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How Medical Apology Programs Harm Patients

Gabriel Teninbaum, Associate Professor of Legal Writing at Suffolk Law, discusses his May 2012 Boston Globe editorial and recent article on how medical apology programs harm patients. Read the article at http://bit.ly/qEUwjh.

Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/06/how-medical-apology-programs-harm-patients/

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