Robert Ambrogi's LawSites fillTracking new and intriguing Web sites for the legal profession. |
||
Robert Ambrogi, Help support this blog. Home Services Experience Articles Book Links < ? law blogs # >  
|
Friday, July 18, 2003
AltaVista claims its multimedia index is world's largest Search engine AltaVista last month unveiled what it claimed to be the world's largest multimedia index, cataloging more than 540 million image files and 11 million video and audio files, including MP3s and MPEG videos. The index also includes professional image content from providers such as Corbis. To access the multimedia index, users can click on the "Image," "MP3/Audio," or "Video" tabs located above the search box at altavista.com, or log on directly at images.altavista.com, audio.altavista.com and video.altavista.com. Image galleries such as this and Google Image Search -- which also claims to be the most comprehensive -- are useful for lawyers to create trial exhibits or other visual aids. Use them to find pictures of medical conditions, places, designs and more. Thursday, July 17, 2003
The risky business of law Whether or not you are a solo lawyer, take the time to read the April/May 2003 GPSOLO magazine. It features nine articles that collectively offer a creative look at the risks of practicing law. It avoids the predictable "traps for the unwary" in favor of articles that examine such subjects as the risks of pro bono, the dangers of settlements, and even the risk of being funny. Articles include: Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Daubert Tracker to unveil major enhancements this week In a review I wrote last February (Daubert Tool Lets Lawyers Track Expert's History, I recommended lawyers try The Daubert Tracker, an expert-witness service whose central feature is a database of all reported decisions interpreting and applying Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals and Kumho Tire v. Carmichael, backed up when available by full-text briefs, transcripts and docket entries. Subsequent to that review, the Daubert Tracker added recent cases applying Frye v. United States, the 1928 Supreme Court decision requiring the exclusion of scientific evidence that is unproven or experimental. Now, the service is preparing to unveil major enhancements at ATLA's annual meeting July 19-23 in San Francisco, including the addition of thousands of cases. Planned enhancements are: As I wrote in my original review, a key area in which the The Daubert Tracker distinguishes itself from other case law databases is that, even if the case never mentions the expert's name or expertise, The Daubert Tracker provides it. "We track down the name of the expert even if it is not mentioned in the case," Levin said. "Also, we accurately assign a discipline. We don't take for granted the judge's characterization of the discipline." Also since my original review, the service changed its subscription structure to include a $10 half-hour session. A two-hour session remains $25 and a year subscription is $495. For $10, a lawyer would be remiss not to check an expert through the Daubert Tracker. Debevoise associate proves herself a Supreme predicter FantasyCourt.Com -- the Web site where lawyers compete to predict the outcome of Supreme Court cases -- today announced the winner of its 2002-2003 challenge. Kristin Kiehn, an associate with Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, will receive $2,500 for coming in first out of 516 participants. She correctly predicted the outcome in 47 of 79 Supreme Court cases and the split of justices in 16 of 79 cases. A news release said that Kiehn correctly predicted some of the year's most important cases, including Grutter v. Bollinger, the University of Michigan affirmative action case, and Lawrence v. Texas, the challenge to Texas' same-sex sodomy law. FantasyCourt.com is the creation of Robert J. Scott, a principal of Lawfinders Associates. Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Oyez Project adds MP3s of Supreme Court arguments The Oyez Project has provided streaming audio of Supreme Court arguments since 1996, but it recently took a leap forward by adding Supreme Court audio in MP3 format. The first set of releases, which can be found here, includes 51 cases. They are release under a Creative Commons license that allows listeners to download, share and create derivative works using these audio files. The OYEZ Project continues to provide streaming access to more than 2,000 hours of Supreme Court audio. It includes all audio recorded in the court since 1995 and selective audio before then. The project's aim is to create a complete collection of all audio since 1955. How many blogs are there in the world? According to the NITLE Weblog Census -- an attempt to find as many active Web logs as possible across all languages -- it has so far found 629,083, of which 320,634 "seem to be in English." [via net.law.blog.] Free legal software? Here? Interesting trivia: If you Google the query, "free legal software," my site comes up second, right after Nolo. (Thanks to a reader who followed this route to my site for letting me know this.) This made me wonder: Where would I end up with the query, "free beer." The answer is here. Monday, July 14, 2003
A conversation with Steven Brill For those whose interests straddle law and journalism, Steven Brill is a man of rather epic reputation. The cigar-chomping, ever-suspendered founder of American Lawyer magazine, Court TV, Counsel Connect (one of the first online services for lawyers) and Brill's Content, he recently published the book, After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era. As Jesse Oxfeld observes in his introduction to A Conversation With Steven Brill, published today on mediabistro.com, "Brill has a history of doing big things." This is the complete transcript of the interview, conducted July 8 in Manhattan. Another state court publishes its briefs online After posting my article yesterday, A Brief Summary: Free Briefs on the Web, I received an e-mail from M. Sean Fosmire, developer of the preeminent online court directory, Courts.Net, pointing out that I missed one state court that provides briefs on its Web site, Michigan. I have now added it to the article. Sunday, July 13, 2003
Round-up of new and newly discovered legal Web sites I have posted two recent columns devoted to new and newly discovered Web sites of interest to lawyers, A Hodgepodge of Newly Launched Sites and A Round-up of New and Interesting Sites. Managing knowledge management via the Web I have posted my recent column, Managing Knowledge Management Via the Web, a guide to Web resources on legal knowledge management. Guide to finding free legal briefs on the Web I have posted my June column, A Brief Summary: Free Briefs on the Web. |
|