Robert Ambrogi's LawSites

New Sites of Note, 7.2.09

2009-07-02T14:48:00.001-04:00

New Web sites and blogs of note for legal professionals:

Typography for Lawyers. Graphic designer turned civil litigator Matthew Butterick says that for a profession that depends so heavily on writing, legal typography is often poor. His site aims to change that. [Hat tip to Colette Vogele.]

PublicInterestLawJobs. A new career site from Incisive Media that focuses on job opportunities and career management in public interest law.

Legal Current. A new blog from Thomson Reuters that presents information and commentary on the business and practice of law.

The Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog. News and commentary from Richard D. Vetstein, a lawyer in Framingham, Mass.

New Sites of Note, 7.1.09

2009-07-01T20:15:00.001-04:00

New Web sites and blogs of note:

Legal Holds and Trigger Events, a blog dedicated to cases, insights, developments and best practices relating to the development and implementation of legal holds, writeen by John J. Jablonski, a partner with Goldberg Segalla in Buffalo, N.Y.

Owners, Borrowers & Thieves 2.0, a blog about IP ownership, use and enforcement in the 21st Century, written by three IP litigators at Husch Blackwell Sanders.

FreeCourtDockets, a free site for retrieving federal civil, criminal, and bankruptcy court dockets, as well as dockets from the Supreme Court, Court of Claims and Court of International Trade. WisBlawg has a full review.

New Sites Offer Help for Laid Of Lawyers

2009-07-01T19:30:00.000-04:00

The two major U.S. legal research companies, West and LexisNexis, both separately announced new initiatives and new Web sites to help laid off lawyers as they make the transition to new jobs. I have more details in a post I published today at Legal Blog Watch, West, Lexis Offer Help for Hard Times.

Head-to-Head Review: Casemaker vs. Fastcase

2009-06-30T08:28:00.001-04:00

Two legal research services are in a head-to-head competition to win the loyalty of America's lawyers. If you think I'm talking about Westlaw and LexisNexis, think again. This battle is between Casemaker and Fastcase. For my monthly Web Watch column in Law Technology News, I offer a head-to-head review of the two services: Web Watch: Casemaker vs. Fastcase (free LTN registration is required).

I Am Now a COLPM Fellow-Elect

2009-06-29T14:24:00.001-04:00

I am extremely honored to announce that I have been elected as a fellow in the College of Law Practice Management. The letter I received from COLPM President Edward Flitton explains:

"The COLPM is an honorary organization, unassociated with any bar association, which formally recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the law practice management profession over a period of not less than ten years. Currently, there are just over 200 Fellows from all around the world."

One need only browse the directory of current fellows to understand how honored I am to be in such distinguished company. Until I am formally inducted during the COLPM's annual meeting in September, I am a fellow-elect.

As icing on the cake, this year's annual meeting will be part of a larger, not-to-be-missed event, a two day Futures Conference Sept. 25 and 26 at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Featuring a stellar line-up of speakers, it is described as "a dynamic, interactive conference designed to help you navigate the future of the legal profession."

As for my election as a fellow, I am indebted to Ron Friedmann and Simon Chester for nominating me.

Podcast: Air France Crash Legal Issues

2009-06-26T10:11:00.002-04:00

On May 31, Air France flight 447, out of Rio de Janeiro bound for Paris, seemed to vanish into thin air. A frantic search for passengers and the black boxes turned up some of the bodies and scattered parts, but no black boxes.

This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we examine the lega proceedings likely to result from this crash, including what law governs, in what jurisdiction cases may be brought, and what damages survivors are likely to recover.

Helping us understand these issues are two lawyers who are specialists in aviation-related litigation:

Justin T. Green, partner with the firm Kreindler & Kreindler in New York City, a former Marine Corps helicoptor pilot who has litigated dozens of major aviation cases.
John A. Greaves, partner with Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, PC in Los Angeles, a former airline captain and airline transport pilot who has been involved in litigation of virtually every major U.S. airline disaster in the last 15 years.

You can listen to or download the show from the Legal Talk Network.

How Facebook Fueled My Birthday Karma

2009-06-18T10:03:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was one of my most memorable birthdays ever. And it was all thanks to social networking -- and some amazingly thoughtful and generous people. I was going to write a lengthy blog post all about it, but then Molly McDonough at the ABA Journal did it for me.

Read her piece and you will understand why I feel today as if I received the best birthday gift anyone could ever hope for -- the kindness of friends. I asked people to support a Facebook cause, the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, and many responded quickly, some by joining the cause and others by contributing to it.

I am particularly grateful to the people who contributed money. It goes to the MBF to fund programs in Massachusetts that increase access to justice and that enhance the administration of justice. I want to give special thanks to two people whose generosity went above and beyond the call -- Stacy Stern and Tim Stanley, the founders of Justia.

My birthday is over, but your chance to support the MBF continues. I was honored to be elected an MBF trustee last year and I had been a fellow for many years before that, so I know first-hand the good work it supports. It is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year and it is celebrating this milestone with a variety of fundraising and outreach activities. The MBF receives much of its funding from the IOLTA program, and one need only read this New York Times article from earlier this year to understand how hard hit that program has been and how legal services programs are suffering.

MA Lawyers: Free Guides to Data Privacy Compliance

2009-06-12T20:58:00.001-04:00

As of Jan. 1, 2010, Massachusetts lawyers will be required to comply with the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, a strict new law requiring businesses to encrypt personal data and adopt written policies for data and file storage. The Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program and Catuogno Court Reporting Services have joined forces to present two free videos on what lawyers must know and do to comply with the law.

In the first video, Rodney Dowell, LOMAP director, discusses the purposes and requirements of the law. In the second, Mark L. Kupsc, president and CTO of HyTech Management LLC, Hingham, Mass., reviews the steps a law firm should take to implement data security.

In addition to the videos, LOMAP's Jared Correia today posted a guide to the Data Privacy Act. It includes links to the act, the relevant statutes and regulations and various other resources helpful in understanding and complying with the law.

Sotomayor's Top Five Rulings on Expert Witnesses

2009-06-10T15:49:00.001-04:00

Much is made of the fact that Sonia Sotomayor was a federal district judge before she was named to the federal appeals court. After all, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, she would be the only one of the nine justices to have sat on the trial bench.

The experience of someone who has served as a trial judge would be a worthy addition to the high court, many believe. If so, then one of the bread-and-butter issues in which trial judges get no shortage of experience is the admissibility of expert testimony.

So what do Sotomayor's appellate opinions on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tell us about how her trial court experience shaped her rulings on expert witness issues?

I researched the expert-related cases in which she either wrote the opinion or sat on the panel. My analysis is published in the article, Sonia Sotomayor's Top 5 Rulings on Expert Witnesses, on the Web site of IMS ExpertServices.

Top 10 Innovative Twitterers

2009-06-08T13:57:00.001-04:00

Thanks for Jay Shepherd for including me on his list of top 10 Twitterers for innovative lawyers. And sorry for it taking me two months to realize I was named. How did I find out? Twitter, of course.

L2L: College Athletes vs. EA Sports and the NCAA

2009-06-04T20:09:00.001-04:00

This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we consider the class-action lawsuit filed by college football and basketball players against EA Sports and the NCAA. The lawsuit claims that electronic games unlawfully appropriate the likenesses of these student athletes.

Our guests to discuss this issue are Peter Goplerud, dean and professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law, who is widely recognized for his expertise in the field of sports law, and Clay Travis, an attorney and sports writer who formerly was editor at Deadspin.com and now writes for FanHouse.com.

You can listen to the show at the Legal Talk Network or download the MP3 file.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

2009-06-03T22:30:00.001-04:00

I will be speaking at two events in the next month:

On Thursday, June 11, I will be on a panel at the Massachusetts Bar Association's Solo & Small Firm Law Practice Management Symposium. I am on the 3 p.m. panel, "45 Tips in 45 Minutes," together with Rodney Dowell and Alan Klevan. The day's theme is "Keeping competitive in uncertain times," and the program offers a great line-up of speakers.

On Thursday, July 9, I will be a panelist on a Boston program presented by Avvo as part of its East Coast Avvo Tour. The theme of the seminar is, "Among the Experts: Online Marketing for Lawyers." More details and registration information is available here.

A Different Business Model for Newspapers?

2009-06-01T21:09:00.005-04:00

My cellphone pic of this 1843 newspaper is too blurry to read. But in the upper-left hand corner, it bears this notice regarding forms of payment: "Produce of all kinds taken in exchange for the paper."

This old newspaper was on exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum as part of a display on the history of newspapers.

Podcast: The Nomination of Sonia Sotomayor

2009-06-01T16:29:00.003-04:00

A former law clerk to Sonia Sotomayor, Jenny Rivera, now law professor at CUNY School of Law, and Supreme Court expert Stephen Wermiel, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and now adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law, discuss the Sotomayor nomination on this week's installment of Lawyer2Lawyer, the legal-affairs podcast J. Craig Williams and I co-host.

Download or play Lawyer2Lawyer in MP3.

This Weekend: Chelsea Art Walk

2009-05-28T22:08:00.001-04:00

John Kennard, one of the best photographers I know and THE best photographer of lawyer portraits, alerts me to a not-to-be-missed event this weekend for anyone in the Boston area. It is the first-ever Chelsea Art Walk. John, a principal organizer, says it is "a great opportunity to see some great art in this dynamic little city across the Mystic from Boston."

The Web site has full details about the event, which takes place this weekend, May 30 and 31.

A Titillating Tell-All for Small-Firm Lawyers

2009-05-28T21:30:00.001-04:00

I have all the steamy details at Legal Blog Watch.

JD Supra Unveils 'Law Centers'

2009-05-25T21:08:00.002-04:00

The document-sharing site JD Supra will formally launch a new feature tomorrow that makes finding and following information on specific topics much easier. The new addition -- already available on the site -- is a series of Law Centers that organize documents by topics and areas of interest. These topics are arranged under four main categories -- Business, Personal, Government and Law Practice -- with various subcategories under each.

Within each section are featured news articles along with the latest articles and legal documents posted to JD Supra that relate to the topic. Contributors are also highlighted. Each section also has its own Twitter feed where you can follow new additions. (Here, for example, is the feed for the Labor & Employment section.) I'd love to see an RSS feed also, but I couldn't find any evidence of one.

JD Supra founder Aviva Cuyler said in an e-mail that the new feature "makes the content much more accessible, and also allows visitors to see the latest cases and analysis on timely legal issues in their areas of interest at a glance. This also allows us to really showcase the contributors who are providing content on particular subjects."

You can see other posts I've written about JD Supra collected here.

From Suicides to Layoffs: The Impact of the Recession on Lawyers

2009-05-22T15:21:00.002-04:00

This week on the legal affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we look at the impact of the recession on lawyers and the legal profession.

In the first segment of the program, we discuss the recent rash of lawyer suicides and the problem of depression among lawyers. Joining us to discuss this is Skip Simpson, founder of The Law Offices of Skip Simpson in Frisco, Texas. Skip is a nationally recognized expert in suicide and a pioneer in the field of suicide litigation.

In the second segment, we look at what are likely to be the long-term impacts of the recession on lawyers and law firms. Sharing his perspective on this is Peter Zeughauser, founder of the Zeughauser Group in Newport Beach, Calif., and one of the nation's premier law firm strategy consultants.

Listen to or download the show from the Legal Talk Network.

New Site Manages the Deal-making Process

2009-05-20T19:30:00.000-04:00

Transactional lawyers are the target users of a new Web site, TransactionSpace, that aims to make the deal-making process more efficient, intuitive and transparent. The site's tagline sums up its purpose: "You do the lawyering. Let TransactionSpace manage the process."

The site takes the three primary steps of a transaction -- negotiation, document drafting and closing -- and integrates them within an online management tool. Lawyers who use it would begin by identifying the documents the transaction will require and the parties who will have to sign each document. The system will then track the back-and-forth of negotiating and revising the wording of each document, maintaining a full record of versions and dates. Once the documents are done, the system prepares the necessary signature pages and delivers them to the appropriate parties. As signatures are sent back, they are held in escrow until all necessary signatures are in and the deal can be closed.

As all this moves forward, progress is shown graphically in a matrix depicting documents and signatories. This allows users to see the linear progression of drafts and track the status of signatures in real time.

Here is how a typical transaction would work:

1. The lawyer logs on to her home page and creates a new deal. She enters the names of the parties and the agreements the deal will require. She sends e-mails to other lawyers inviting them to participate in the deal within TransactionSpace.

2. The lawyers post their drafts and redlined documents. As new versions are uploaded, the lawyers are always able to know which is the latest version of any document and the document's current status.

3. The lawyers assign parties to each document, telling TransactionSpace which signatures will be required on which documents. A tool creates a separate signature block for each party. It also creates preamble language identifying the document and the signature date.

4. When the documents are final, they are transmitted to the correct parties for signature. As each signature is sent back by e-mail or fax, the matrix shows the status in real time. The signatures of parties other than your own clients are kept in escrow until all necessary signatures are returned.

5. Once all signatures are in, they are released from escrow and the deal is made final. Final versions of all signed documents can be downloaded and TransactionSpace also generates a closing book for each lawyer.

While TransactionSpace is in beta, there is no charge to use it. The developers, who are lawyers, have not decided on post-beta pricing, but say it will be based on a flexible, pay-as-you-go subscription. "We believe that simple, affordable technologies, which ultimately reduce legal fees, are crucial for law firms to survive their current struggle," one told me in an e-mail. Updates about the site will be posted on the TransactionSpace blog.

Free Case Law - and a History Lesson

2009-05-15T07:36:00.009-04:00

Law.com this week published my article, Get Your Free Case Law on the Web. No sooner did it appear than I received an e-mail from a reader questioning how several of the sites discussed in the article could claim to have U.S. Supreme Court cases from before there was a Supreme Court. In fact, they claimed to have Supreme Court cases dating back to 1754 -- even before the American Revolution.

I'll admit, I felt like an idiot for not questioning this myself when I wrote the article. And when I e-mailed several of these sites to put the question to them, I heard back from only one, and the person who responded was not immediately sure of the answer.

Hoping to find the answer for myself, I first turned to one of the sites, Public.Resource.Org, to see this supposed 1754 Supreme Court case. I went to its Supreme Court library and made my way to Volume 1, Page 1 of the U.S. Reports. Sure enough, it is from September 1754. But while it is from a supreme court, it is not the Supreme Court. Rather, it is the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

I then turned to Google in search of a history of the U.S. Reports case law series. I found it easily, courtesy of Wikipedia. Here was the answer I was looking for:

None of the decisions appearing in the first volume and most of the second volume of United States Reports are actually decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Instead, they are decisions from various Pennsylvania courts, dating from the colonial period and the first decade after Independence. Alexander Dallas, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania lawyer and journalist, had been in the business of reporting these cases for newspapers and periodicals. He subsequently began compiling his case reports in a bound volume, which he called �Reports of cases ruled and adjudged in the courts of Pennsylvania, before and since the Revolution�. This would come to be known as the first volume of "Dallas Reports."

When the United States Supreme Court, along with the rest of the new Federal Government, moved in 1791 to the nation�s temporary capital in Philadelphia, Dallas was appointed the Supreme Court�s first unofficial and unpaid Supreme Court Reporter. (Court reporters in that age received no salary, but were expected to profit from the publication and sale of their compiled decisions.) Dallas continued to collect and publish Pennsylvania decisions in a second volume of his Reports, and when the Supreme Court began hearing cases, he added those cases to his reports, starting towards the end of the second volume, �2 Dallas Reports,� with West v. Barnes (1791). Dallas would go on to publish a total of 4 volumes of decisions during his tenure as Reporter.

When the Supreme Court moved to Washington, D.C. in 1800, Dallas remained in Philadelphia, and William Cranch took over as unofficial reporter of decisions. In 1817 Congress made the Reporter of Decisions an official, salaried position, although the publication of the Reports remained a private enterprise for the reporter's personal gain. The reports themselves were the subject of an early copyright case, Wheaton v. Peters, in which former reporter Henry Wheaton sued then-current reporter Richard Peters for reprinting cases from "Wheaton's Reports" in abridged form.

In 1874, the U.S. government began to fund the reports' publication, creating the United States Reports. The earlier private reports were retroactively numbered volumes 1-90 of the U.S. Reports, starting from the first volume of Dallas Reports. As a result, decisions appearing in these early reports have dual citation forms; one for the volume number of the United States Reports, and one for the set of nominate reports. For example, the complete citation to McCulloch v. Maryland is 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819).

Maybe I learned that back in the first year of law school. If so, I've long since forgotten. Now I know and this time, I doubt I'll forget. But what we do know is that when these sites claim to have Supreme Court cases back to 1754, what they mean is that they have the full series of U.S. Reports.

QuickJump: Correcting the Download Code

2009-05-13T16:04:00.000-04:00

My post earlier today, New Tool Jumps to Right Windows Folder, contained a type in the code for the download key. I've corrected the post to reflect the correct key, which is: ll908384573. (It should start with the letters "ll" not the numbers "11".

New Tool Jumps to Right Windows Folder

2009-05-13T11:59:00.008-04:00

Last year, in a post entitled, Take Control of Your Outlook Inbox, I wrote about a San Francisco company, TechHit, and its three simple Outlook add-ons for cutting down on e-mail clutter: SimplyFile, EZDetach and MessageSave. Today, the company is releasing the public beta version of an equally simple and clever tool, this time for quicky jumping to the right folder in Windows. Read on for an invitation code to try it yourself.

The program is called QuickJump and what it does, quite simply, is let you find the right Windows folder with just a few key strokes. To open a Windows folder, just launch QuickJump by pressing Ctrl+Shift+J and begin typing a few characters of the folder name. To find a folder named Music, for example, begin to type M, U and the folder will appear highlighted in a list. Then just click "open."

It also works with the "save as" and "open" dialogs of any Windows application. So if you are working in Word and want to save the document to a particular folder, open the "save as" dialog, then open QuickJump and begin to type the folder name. When it appears highlighted in the QuickJump list, click "open" and the "save as" dialog box jumps to that folder.

During the beta period, QuickJump can be downloaded only using an invitation code. The company has provided a code that readers of this blog can use for a free download. Go to the QuickJump download page and use this code: ll908384573.

Memorial Fund for Judge's Family

2009-05-05T11:56:00.001-04:00

I wrote last week at Legal Blog Watch about the sad news of the suicide of Francis J. D'Eramo, a Superior Court judge in the U.S. Virgin Islands (where I am an inactive member of the bar). A memorial fund has now been established for the benefit of his children. Anyone wishing to contribute may send contributions to P.O. Box 223804, Christiansted, VI 00822. Contributions should be payable to Kimberly D'Eramo, trustee. A more recent article about his death is here.

Our Latest 'YouLaw' Lawyer Video Review

2009-05-05T09:22:00.001-04:00

Here is the latest in TechnoLawyer's YouLaw series of lawyer-video reviews: "Aw Shucks" Lawyer Achieves What You Cannot. Gerry Oginski writes the main review and I am one of the lawyers who adds comments as part of the "back bench." My take was that this guy is the "Mister Rogers of the legal profession." Watch the video and see if you agree with the reviews.

10 Sites that Provide Free Case Law

2009-05-04T19:45:00.001-04:00

Free is good. But free is not necessarily equal. In my latest Web Watch column for Law Technology News, I review 10 Web sites that provide free access to case law.