The Common Scold: BLACKBERRYS & PDAS SAVE LAWYERS

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The Common Scold

The Common Scold is named after a cause of action that originated in Pilgrim days, when meddlesome, argumentative, opinionated women who displeased the Puritan elders were punished by a brisk dunk in the local pond. Believe it or not, the tort lasted until 1972, when State v. Palendrano, 120 N.J. Super. 336, 293 A.2d 747 (N.J.Super.L., Jul 13, 1972) pretty much put it to rest. But the thought of those feisty women, not afraid of a little cold water, has always cheered me up and inspired me. I first used the moniker as the name of my humor column at the University of San Francisco School of Law many moons ago, and revive it now for this blawg!

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BLACKBERRYS & PDAS SAVE LAWYERS

Bob Ambrogi writes on Legal Blog Watch about three members of our community who survived the horrific attacks in Mumbai, aided by their BlackBerrys and international cell phones. Check it out here.

Here's a harrowing excerpt:

For Australian lawyer David Jacobs, trapped in a room on the 16th floor of the Oberoi/Trident Hotel, his BlackBerry proved to be his salvation, according to the Sunday Mail. Hiding in a closet, the 58-year-old Baker & McKenzie lawyer exchanged a stream of e-mails with his family in Sydney and two U.S. security experts.

"I don't know if I'm going toget out of this and I love you and I love the kids, and we've had a great life together," he wrote in one e-mail to his wife. Throughout the ordeal, he received advice from security experts on escape options and what to do if taken hostage.

December 1, 2008 in Breaking News | Permalink

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BALL IN YOUR COURT, by Craig Ball
Winner: American Society of Business Publication Editors Northeast region: 2010 Gold Award, Best Contributed Column; 2010 Silver award, Feature Series. Trade and Business Publications International ("Tabbies"): 2010 Bronze award, Best Column.

Click here for links to Ball's columns on our EDD Update blog (See right nav bar).

WEB WATCH, by Robert J. Ambrogi
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TECHNOLOGY ON TRIAL
Winner: 2010 Tabbies, Honorable Mention, Technical Article: "Rain of Terror," by Claire Duffett.

Winner: 2006 ASBPE Northeast
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Snow Job Doesn't Work (Tyco) and Game Technology Wins the Day, by John Bringardner

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Solutions Penalty Box:

Here are current contenders for the most use of incomprehensible jargon and cliches, including the banned word, "solution," in a press release. :)

MONICALOGUES:

June '08: Can You Adapt? EDD is wreaking havoc on traditional law firm caste systems, with new roles for attorneys, paralegals, IT and other litigation support staff. Opportunities abound for the ambitious.
Winner: 2009 Gold Award, Best Technical Article: American Society of Business Publications Editors, Northeast region.

Nov. 08: Just Equal,
my rant about the disgraceful gender-based pay discrepancies in the legal profession, and Editor's Note, about visiting the United 93 memorial in Pennsylvania, with my mom.
Winner: 2009 Honorable mention, 2009 Tabbies, Best Editor's Column.

October '07:
An Undercurrent of Fear: A report on the challenges of e-discovery.
Winner: Bronze, 2008 Trade, Association, Business Publications International Tabbies competition. Best Special Section. 2008 American Society of Business Publication Editors, Northeast region: Bronze: Best Technical Article.

Katrina's Wake:
In the April '06 LTN, Monica Bay and photographer Russ Curtis travel to New Orleans, to report on the legal technology community's efforts to rebuild practices and lives post-Hurricane Katrina. Links temporarily unavailable, will be back up soon.
Winner: 2007 TABBIES: Honorable Mention, Best Feature.

Fear Factor: Why Lawyers Aren't Using Technology. The ABA's most recent tech survey found that only 11.7% of the nation's lawyers are using ANY trial technology. We interview lawyers, vendors, and consultants to find out why, and the answers are shocking: lawyers are afraid of technology, don't understand it, and are overwhelmed by too many choices. Vendors take some of the blame by not educating lawyers about tech's potential. The dramatic conclusion: lawyers must embrace change, and adopt technology, or they simply will not survive in today's competitive marketplace.

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Low Visibility: As law firms move toward a corporate, rather than private club, model of operations, they are bringing in "C-level" executives to help them run their organizations. Yet many law firms still cling to old-school caste systems, where only the attorneys have real power, and everybody else is invisible. What's the litmus test? Take a look at the firm websites. Can you search for the CIO? For the COO? For the HR director? If not, the firm may be paying only lip service to change. Savvy firms realize that if they want to keep top-level executives, they better start treating them like partners.

No solutions! We're determined to build bridges, not walls -- and to explain and demystify technology in our three magazines.

That means no jargon, no acronyms, and no "insider" gobbledygoop. Words like solution, robust, mission-critical, strategic planning, initiatives, deployment are just silly cliches that have become meaningless. We like plain English. Vendors! Flaks! If you mother doesn't understand your press release, don't send it out.

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The Food Chain:

Pull Out Your Checkbook:

Katrina's Wake:

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Global Warming

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Free: The Future of a Radical Price
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Outliers: The Story of Success
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The Tipping Point
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The Long Tail
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The World is Flat
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Life Interrupted
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blink
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Only the Paranoid Survive
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Studies in Classic American Literature
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Business @ the Speed of Thought
*****

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