DRU'S HEADED BACK TO SF

The amazing and wildly influential Drucilla Ramey is heading home to San Francisco, to become the next dean of Golden Gate University's School of Law. She's been in New York City for the last seven years, and most recently served as executive director of the National Association of Women Judges.

Here's the top of The Recorder's story. Read the full story here.

By Petra Pasternak

March 26, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Drucilla Ramey is back in the Bay Area, this time to head a San Francisco law school.

Golden Gate University School of Law has appointed the former longtime head of the Bar Association of San Francisco as dean-elect. She will take over the reins from acting dean Alan Ramo on Aug. 1.

The school has been searching for a new dean since Frederic White left last March to head Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.

Legal observers say that Golden Gate will benefit from Ramey's fund-raising prowess, as well as from her reputation as a champion of diversity.

"She is an icon in the city, a real force of nature," said Bingham McCutchen partner Raymond Marshall. "People just don't say no to Dru, even when you know what she's coming to ask for, which a lot of times means money." Marshall said that he personally, as well as his firm, have over the years given money to Ramey's causes.

On diversity issues, he added, "She has a national brand and that can only be good for Golden Gate University."

GGU President Dan Angel said that the law school narrowed its pool of applicants from about a dozen to four in the final round. Ramo didn't apply to be permanent dean, Angel said.

He added that Ramey brings "instant visibility," saying that there was "comfort and excitement concerning her candidacy."

#SESNY: BUBBLING ABOUT GUY KAWASAKI

Guy Kawasaki mesmerized the SRO crowd today at the NY Hilton, when he gave the kickoff keynote address at our Search Engines Strategies conference. #SESNY.

Kawasaki is smart and irreverent, two of my favorite personality traits, and gave a crash course in using Twitter as a marketing tool. I think it will take me days to absorb all of his advice, but among the top tips:

• Retweeting is one of the best measures of your success. (How many folks re-post your posts).
• Twittercounter tracks the most popular sites (currently, @cnnbrk)
• "Forget the A list" -- instead of thinking "trickle down," it's better to have evangelists "bubble up" with enthusiasm about your products or services.
• It's important to have lots of "followers," but what really matters are "direct messages" and "@ replies."
• If you are serious about wanting to use Twitter as a marketing device, you probably want helpers who can post for you.
• Another key to success is the quality of the links that you put in your posts.

Guy demo'd a slew of third-party programs, everything from TweetDeck to ReTweetist, that he uses to monitor his own site, and his company site, Alltop.com.  He graciously offered to give attendees his bookmark list, which I will post here once we get it.

Bottom line: If you have a chance to hear Guy, don't miss it. He will make your teeth hurt with all his ideas (some, he admits, are controversial) and is big fun.

Update: here's his list.

TECH TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

Alan Cohen covers some fascinating nuances for international travelers trying to stay connnected overseas, in "Technology Tips for the Traveler," from Corporate Counsel magazine.

Among his tips, he warns about surfin' the web from your cell phone or  BlackBerry when abroad:

"While it's true that checking short e-mails on a BlackBerry won't break the bank while you're overseas, the story is far different when it comes to Web browsing. Much more data has to pass across the network, particularly on graphics-intensive sites, and you'll be paying-and paying-for that. You'll rack up the fees even faster if you use any GPS-type features on your device. "This is where people really get killed," says Gregson. So if you need to find a restaurant for dinner, do it the old-fashioned way: Ask someone (just not over your cell phone)."

RAINMAKER'S ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PACKAGE

RainMaker Software Inc. has announced a $1 million "Law Firm Economic Assistance Package," where firms can apply for discounts on software if they pledge to "pay forward" the sum to benefit their local communities.

Says prez James Hammond, examples might include identifying new pro bono work programs for laid-off workers; helping families facing potential mortgage foreclosures; or participating in charitible organizations.

For details of the program, click here  for home page. Click here for press release.  Click here for Hammond's "Open Letter."

MED/TECH: THE $2 REPORT

Had a fascinating visit today with a specialist in retinas. At first, I was pretty frustrated because you have to wait a lonnnnnng time to see the doctor, but once you're in the exam room, Dr. Kenneth Wald is the model of efficiency. (A good sign: his support staff are awesome, and his patients looooove him -- in fact, when I was getting antsy, two of them told me to chill out, that he's worth the wait.)

And he's the first specialist I have ever been to who literally dictates his medical report AS he examines you. Wald uses a Bluetooth microphone (just like a cell phone mic) that feeds to his BlackBerry. Of course I had to ask how it worked.

The audio file is shipped immediately to India, he explained. By the time Wald has walked his dog at about 5:30 a.m.tomorrow, he'll have all of today's letters to review as he drinks his morning coffee. He makes any changes he wants, prints and signs the letters, and then his staff puts them in envelopes, and mails them to the referring doctors.

Sometimes, Wald says, if a case is particularly interesting or challenging, he will do some medical research and add more info to the letter before it goes out.  Fortunately for me, my eyes were neither interesting nor challenging, so the letter to my opthamologist Dr. Julia Katz should be in the mail tomorrow morning.

Amazing -- as is the cost: $2/letter.

MADOFF WATCH

Interested in following the Bernie Madoff mess?  Catch up on Twitter: @amlawdaily  or @Madoff_watch, or at The American Lawyer website.

TOP IT SALARIES DROP, MIDDLE STEADY

On the Careers blog, by Don Sears, is his analysis of  a report from New York-based Bluewolf on 2008/2009 IT salaries for the tri-state area (NY,NJ,CT).

Not surprisingly, $ for top jobs -- and entry level spots --  is slipping.

Says Sears:

Salary numbers at the high end of each category are, as expected, down overwhelmingly, but average salary levels are holding steady. The other thing to note is that in many categories the bottom or entry-level salaries in most positions have fallen some. The bottom line is that it has become much more of an employer's market--even in IT.

Anecdotally, I would suggest that these salary numbers represent the highest you will probably see (and maybe even inflated) in the United States, with Silicon Valley numbers coming in close

Top figures from Bluewolf:
Chief Information Officer $140,000 - $175,000
Chief Technology Officer $120,000 - $150,000
Vice President of Information Technology $110,000 - $145,000
Information Technology Manager $100,000 - $120,000

CHOP CHOP

Our quite wonderful and often over-caffeinated HR department tries to keep our spirits up not just by keeping us well-informed about benefits, opportunities, and resources -- but every once in a while throws out a light-hearted contest with a $25 gift card to various retailers as a prize.

Yesterday, Martin Buckingham asked us all what the best non-work-related  cost-saving idea was that we had heard or tried. It was late in the day, and I was a bit tired of editing, so I took the bait and got on a roll. Here's what I sent him. I freely confess that my middle class roots show, and it may help to know that like most Boomer Mahattanites, I split my time between a postage-stamp-size apartment and a modest country cottage (mine's in NW Conn.)

1. I’ve stopped spending, period. I buy dog and cat food – everything else, forget about it.
2. Stopped using cabs -- except late night when safety is an issue.
3. Am considering cancelling my New York Times sub, but as a journalist, I can’t bear to not support my favorite newspaper.
4. Am questioning every single purchase like I did when i was 20.
5. If I go to the movies, I’m not going to dinner afterwards, or if I do, I order only an appetizer. I don't order wine ever. (Maybe I should order wine and no food, suggested my staff.) When I do go to movies, i look carefully to see if senior discount starts at 55 rather than 60.  I have not yet lied about my age, but I was tempted. (Very soon I won't have to, sigh.)
6. Run our co-op board meetings (I’m prez) rather than go to movies. Usually more entertaining, even when annoying.
7. Why get pedicures anymore? I'm sure I must have boxes of Wite-out from 1983 down in my storage room. I'll just start a new fashion trend for white toes. 
8. Shop upstate and avoid NYC grocery stores.
9. Lug laundry upstate so I don’t have to spend $10 to do it in my apt. building.
10. Hoard Diet Coke when it goes on sale (4 12-packs for $11).
11. Started bringing in Stop & Shop Instant Oatmeal to work rather than paying for bagel, orange juice etc. every morning.
12. Walk very carefully on ice because I can’t afford any more physical therapy co-pays or any more broken bones.
13. I would try street parking instead of my nice parking lot, but I'm not good at math and would never get Alternate Street Parking days right. And I really don't want to get my mirrors "customized" by trucks.
14. Scream at A-Rod’s latest bonehead move to distract me from the economic crisis.
15. I actually shop at Wal-mart now.
16. Ignoring expiration dates on food and medicine.
17. Constant anxiety attacks decrease my hunger so who needs to eat? (see #1 above)

Unfortunately, all but two of the above are true. OMG, I sound like a very old lady :)

Can the gift card be for Gristedes or Petco? :)

J. CRAIG WILLIAMS JOINS SEDGWICK

One of our favorite people, the suave and sophisticated J. Craig Williams, has joined Sedgwick! Williams joins as a partner based in the firms Orange County office, along with Joseph McFaul, who joins as special counsel.

Both were formerly members of WLF | The Williams Lindberg Law Firm, a boutique firm based in Newport Beach, Calif.

Craig not only is a member of the LTN edit board, but is co-podcaster with our Bob Ambrogi, on LegalTalkNetwork's Lawyer2Lawyer, and is one of my podcasting mentors. Plus he actually was willing to be seen in public with me at Angels Stadium when the Yanks played the Angels last year. (I was, of course, in full Pinstripes, always fun at away games). That is courage, my friends. That's him (right) at the little celebration we held for him at LegalTech West Coast, for the release of his delightful book, How to Get Sued.

Congrats Craig and Joseph. Full release here.

NO EXCUSES

Don't expect to go into a courtroom and plead computer illiteracy, warns Joseph Howie, in LTN's March cover story.

Increasingly, judges simply won't take that as an excuse to dodge e-discovery. Howie follows up on some of the themes of U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola's LegalTech New York keynote presentation, including the suggestion that it may be time to require all lawyers to be tested for technology competence.

And in the same issue, the community offers support to its pink-slipped sisters and brothers. Find good advice here.