#LTNY: LTN AWARDS PARTY!

Celebrate! On Monday, February 1, we will honor the winners of the 2009 LTN Awards, at a gala party at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., during LegalTech New York. It will be held in the Mercury Ballroom.

Come enjoy the fellowship of our wonderful legal technology community, along great food and plenty of beverages. We'll distribute the lucite to the recipients of the vendor awards, IT director of the year, consultant of the year, IT champion, lifetime achievement, and the most innovative use of technology in a law firm, a law department, a trial, and a pro bono project!

For ticket information contact Lisa Sharpe. You can buy them in advance, and a limited number of tickets will be available on Monday at LegalTech, in the sales room, on the third floor.

#LTNY: SOCIAL NETWORKING X2

Social Networking x2: I will be moderating not one, but two panels addressing social networking during LegalTech New York at the Hilton (midtown) next week.

The first will be held on Monday, Feb. 1, from 2:30-3:45, "Designing your Social Media Policy to Protect and Enhance Your Company." Speakers include Lesley Rosenthal, vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Mark Bisard, general counsel's office, American Express; and Theodore Banks, counsel at Schoeman, Update Kaufman & Scharf, and president of Complicance & Competition Consultants. For information about this panel please visit www.legaltechshow.com.

The second will be presented as part of the 6th Annual Chief Information & Technology Officers Forum, which is held in conjunction with LTNY. That panel, "Social Networking: Keeping It Secure," will be held Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 1:45 p.m., and will feature Michael Kraft, general counsel of Kraft Kennedy (and a member of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board), and David Lewis, attorney, of Proskauer Rose. For information on this program, please click here. 

I hope you will join us at these two programs!

#LTNY: BLOGGERS BREAKFAST & FREEBIES

LegalTech once again is offering a full conference complimentary pass to non-vendor bloggers.

For more information about the show you can go to www.legaltechshow.com. To facilitate effective blogging and tweeting, the front rows in all the meeting rooms will be reserved for bloggers and will have electricity available. (Sorry, but you will need to provide your own w-ifi connection.)

Please also join us for our traditional Bloggers’ Breakfast on Tuesday morning (Feb. 2) at 9:00 am in the Petite Triannon room. It's free, everyone's welcome and we will do our traditional circle-of-intros! It immediately follows our Editors' Breakfast, so you can expect a lot of PR folks will be anxious to make your acquaintance. a conference pass to send an email to my colleague, Tom Kiley at tjkiley@alm.com. We need a link to your blog and full contact information including a physical mailing address. Tom will take care of the rest.

LTNY starts Monday, Feb. 1 and runs through Wednesday Feb 3, at the midtown Hilton New York. See you there!

WEXIS REVAMPS

The New York Times posted this article about changes in Westlaw and LexisNexis. Both companies are expected to make significant announcements at LegalTech New York; Thomson Reuter has a 9 am press conference scheduled for Feb. 1 at LTNY.

Keep an eye on our LTN  website (and this blog) for details during LegalTech.

P.S. Here's the exhibitor's list. 

Update: Bob Ambrogi offers a rave sneak preview on his blog, here.

"The bottom line is that WestlawNext brings the experience of searching the Westlaw database in line with what users today expect from a Web-based tool, making it simple and intuitive," says Ambrogi.

More Ambrogi here.

LTN TV: UPDATED! NOW A LOTTERY

Total Tilt!!! Yesterday, we told you about our "LTN TV" webcasts that we plan to tape on Monday Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 12 at the ALM booth during LegalTech New York. We invited you to contact Mary Elizabeth Whited to set an appointment if you wanted to do a 2-minute taping with me. 

What we did not expect was the absolute FLOOD of responses we received — with far, far, more requests than we could possibly accommodate. So with huge apologies to those we had already scheduled, we came to the conclusion that the ONLY fair way to accommodate all the requests is to start over — and do it as a lottery.

So here's the drill (and I acknowledge that this will make some folks unhappy, but it's the best possible "solution" we could come up with):

We will accept requests until 2 pm EASTERN time tomorrow (Weds. Jan 27). (E-mail mwhited@alm.com).

If you have ALREADY asked for an appointment you do NOT need to reapply. But all scheduled appointments are voided. 

We will notify you by Friday Jan. 29 if you have been selected.

Rules:

• Only ONE person from a firm or company is eligible for an interview.
• Everyone not selected will be placed on a waiting list.
• Mary Elizabeth's decisions are FINAL. NO WHINING. If you whine, you lose your appt. Period.
• Remember, these are news interviews, NOT commercials. Don't expect me to be the Sham Wow dude or the reincarnation of Billy Mays. I will be asking questions about trends, developments, etc.

LTNY EDITORS' BREAKFAST

Countdown: We're in total overdrive here in New York getting ready for  LegalTech New York, which unofficially starts on Sunday, January 31, and officially launches on Monday, February 1.

Law.com's technology editor Sean Doherty and I will be at the show, and we are excited about introducing LTN's new editorial assistant, Heather Schultz, at our traditional Editors' Breakfast on Tuesday Feb. 2 at 8 a.m. in the Petit Trianon room of the Hilton.

Everyone is welcome, and many ALM editors plan to attend, so it's a great opportunity for vendors and readers to chat with us about products and services.

We're looking forward to seeing you there! 

LTNY VENDOR BRIEFINGS

I again turn the mic over to Law.com technology editor Sean Doherty:

LegalTech New York is approaching fast and I am sure you are busy scheduling to maximize your time at the biggest legal technology event of the year. I am. In fact, I am scheduling briefings with vendors to get more information on the products and services they provide the legal community.

I would also be happy to talk with anyone who wants more information on what Law Technology News has to offer its readers in both print and online formats.

In several briefings, I will be joined by Heather Schultz, LTN's new editorial assistant. The briefings will be held in the Americas Hall II (third floor) and are limited to 30 minutes. Send me an e-mail if you would like to speak with us at the show and I will coordinate a time with you as soon as possible.

For availability between nine and five Monday (2/1) and Tuesday (2/2), you can check our online calendar here.

LEGALTECH PREVIEW

I turn the mic over to my colleague Sean Doherty, tech editor of Law.com:

LegalTech impacts how we provide legal services and manage the business of law. With technology we can provide better legal services with research tools from LexisNexis and Westlaw, and software that cull and review data for evidence, assemble documents, and manage trial notebooks.

We can also better manage our business with time and billing programs, as well as case and matter management applications installed on premise or in the cloud.

Technology also impacts the law itself. Ken Strutin, director of legal information services at the New York State Defenders Association, writes that science and technology at trial is constantly re-examined. "Disputed assumptions about long-standing forensic methods have propelled legal practitioners into an era of heightened skepticism," says Strutin. It seems that Frye and Daubert have run their course.

Today, most litigators would not go to trial without conducting internet searches on the parties and witnesses to the litigation to work up their case. New technology such as Web 2.0 and social networks can also be the reason, ab initio, that litigants are in the courtroom.

Where is all this going? To LegalTech New York on February 1-3, and that is only the start of the conversation for legal technology that ALM has in store for 2010. 

JUST EQUAL #2

Huge thanks to Craig Ball -- and to the Women in E-Discovery's NYC Chapter -- for a wonderful lunch at the organization's January meeting -- where Craig and I spoke about how women can use e-discovery training to end run the "glass ceiling."

I'm in the process of writing about the event for the next issue of LTN -- and because we have recently merged the LTN and Law.com technology website, we have not yet completed building the archives, so I don't have public access yet to many LTN stories.

Therefore, if you will induldge me, I'm going to reprint my Nov. 2008  "Just Equal" column here, so I can link to it in LTN and folks will be able to access it. I'm also putting an excerpt of my October 2008 Editor's Note where I challenged every law firm managing partner, every GC, and every vendor CEO to fix gender pay inequities. It's easy. Just get a salary report from HR, identify what needs to be changed, and in the words of Nike, "Just Do it!"

I'll put these "behind the curtain," so just click below to "keep reading" to find it.

Editor's Note October 2008

Many of us were appalled to learn that after all these years, we still have an embarrassing gender gap: women in our legal industry last year earned only 51% of the money that went to men in equal jobs. U.S. Census figures, released in August, reveal that women earned about $53,800, compared to male peers' $105,200, reports The National Law Journal's Vesna Jaksic.

Ironically, our tech community scored better, but still inexcusably different, with women paralegals and litigation support staff getting 93.2% of what men get paid for the same work. When you consider that women dominate trial support staff work, it's even more chilling.

This is unacceptable. I challenge every GC, law firm managing partner, and legal vendor CEO to check their own employee records and remedy this today. (Check out the fiery debate on The Common Scold — http://tinyurl.com/ltnpay.)

Just Equal, November 2008

by Monica Bay

Recently, Chere Estrin (who is launching a magazine for women in litigation, with the sassy name, Sue) and I were cyberchatting about the thorny challenges that face women, minorities, gays and lesbians in the legal profession.

Recent reports in The National Law Journal (http://tinyurl.com/NLJdiversity) have been disheartening, documenting pay discrepancies, and little improvement in ladder climbing at BigLaw, especially for minority attorneys. Even more distressing — the toooften- vitriolic comments on Above the Law (www.abovethelaw.com) and other blogs.

Estrin happened to notice that our September LTN was estrogen-free, and asked me about why there were no women's bylines.

"What do you think accounts for the lack of women writers, technology pros and other positions in legal technology?" she queried.

I was surprised, and grabbed a handful of issues to check my own stats. As editor of LTN for a decade, I have always had a fierce commitment to embrace diversity in all aspects of our operation. I also blog about this topic constantly on The Common Scold (www.thecommonscold.com) and EDD Update (www.eddupdate.com). My passion is shared by our leadership, one of the many reasons why I've stayed here for 23 years. Here's what I found:

• Ten members of our 38-member editorial advisory board are women. I rotate about 20% of members off every year to make room for new talent. But I have not had success attracting minority members, only one in the last few years. (Interested candidates, e-mail me!)

• Women are regularly featured as our "Up Close" profile, so far this year, in five issues.

• May's President's Corner was a female.

• In the last four issues, 10 women had bylines. Donna Payne writes her wonderful Test Drive column, featured in most issues.

• Over the decade, our unit has hired and trained many talented journalists, in cluding many women and several minorities.

Indeed, the foundation of LTN has been our keen belief that our profession is changing from being run like private clubs — to a corporate model that values diversity and empowers everyone to do their best possible work. It's only good business to do so.

This is a core LTN campaign that I am proud to champion.

But it's obvious that our legal profession has a long road to go, and that there are no easy answers. Lisa Belkin, in her final Life's Work column (http://tinyurl.com/LTNBelkin) in The New York Times summed it up when she said that after a decade, she's left with more questions than answers.

There are so many nuanced factors that sabotage glib road maps: everything from balancing family and work; negotiating salaries; teamwork; effective self-promotion; leadership; and even ridiculous stereotypes (e.g., crying ruins a woman's career). And a whole lot of folks, myself included, have absolutely no interest in the lifestyle and sacrifices required to become and stay a BigFirm partner.

But there is no question — racism and sexism remain deeply embedded in our profession. That simply must change. We must continue the dialogue, no matter how difficult. We must strongly support and mentor the women, minorities, gays and lesbians who are climbing the ranks of our profession.

Fortunately, there are good men and women genuinely trying to fix this. We simply cannot give up. We must use everything in our power to make it right, and just. 

HONORING MARTIN LUTHER KING

Today,  we take a day to reflect on the dreams and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr.

Here are a few links to frame the day:

• MLK's Nobel Prize biography (and photo, right).
• Wikipedia biography.
• The King Center.
• "I Have a Dream" speech (YouTube).
• James Taylor's "Shed a Little Light" and the lyrics.

Have a restful and inspiring day, and let's all find the opportunity to do one unexpected act of kindness on today.

Fiat lux.

RUDOY & MAHONEY: "SWIM OR SINK"

As law firms and law departments struggle to thrive in the new economy, they look to technology to help them navigate. George Rudoy, director of global practice technology and information services at Shearman & Sterling, predicts key trends for the year ahead — one of our new videos on our newly revamped Law Technology News website. (We launched it late last year; it merges the former LTN site with the wonderful Law.com technology site, and is co-managed by my colleague Sean Doherty et moi!)

Rudoy and Australia's Michelle Mahoney, of Mallesons Stephen Jaques — for the second year in a row — wrote LTN's January cover story about how we're all coping with the economic turmoil of the last 18 months. In this year's  "Swim or Sink" they explore the sometimes counter-intuitive ways that law firms and law departments are approaching the business of law.

Rudoy and Mahoney are among the voices (which include Foley & Lardner's Doug Caddell) who insist that the days of "doing more with less are over." Instead, they argue that it's time to rethink IT.

Rudoy says IT leaders should get more involved with the business of law. A conversation with IT should not be about applications and infrastructure, says Rudoy. It should be about how technology can help lawyers provide legal services and conduct business, including development and marketing.

DOCS v. LAWYERS RE: E-RECORDS

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $19 billion to help doctors and other health care providers buy and install electronic health record systems, with the agenda of creating an integrated national Health Information Network to improve health care and reduce costs.

Robert Hudock and Jason Christ, both senior associates at Epstein Becker & Green, take a look at how the health care system compares to the legal industries adoption of e-discovery collection and production practices, in "Electronic Discovery: A Special Report," in The National Law Journal (registration required).

CRAIG BALL: EDD FOR EVERYBODY

Most discussions about e-discovery focus on big firm, big budget litigation, but even small cases involve electronically stored information. What's a small firm attorney to do when she faces the courtroom with a relatively small matter?

Craig Ball comes to the rescue with the help of key players in our legal technology community. In "EDD for Everybody," Ball sets up a hypothetical case. In it, "Edna" who is handling a construction dispute, anticipates that the number of possible files will be somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 items.

What advice would you give? See what your peers suggest in the EDD Showcase in the January edition of Law Technology News.

END GAME

Terminating legal holds is easier said than done, says John Jablonski. But it's also "an essential part of a defensible legal hold business process."

In "End Game," Jablonski, a partner with Goldberg Segalla, and co-author of ARMA's new book,  7 Steps for Legal Holds of ESI and Other Documents, says that "timely release of legal holds can help corporations escape from the legal hold purgatory."

To find out more, check out the January e-discovery showcase in Law Technology News.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

It's been three years now since the electronic data discovery rules were added to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the number of reported cases involving electronically stored information has skyrocketed. But some lawyers still "simply do not anticipate (or woefully underestimate) issues related to ESI," says Cecil Lynn, of counsel to Ryley Carlock and Applewhite.

In "Back to the Future" in the January issue of Law Technology News, Lynn chronicles key 2009 rulings, finding that most of them are reiterating established principles. Lynn looks at everything from the increasing clarion for "cooperation," and issues around form of production, to failure to preserve, sanctions, discovery abuse, and more. It's part of our EDD Showcase.

Want more? Check out our Law Technology Now podcast, where Cecil Lynn joins me as a guest to further explore the 2009 EDD rulings -- with a special bonus: a cameo appearance by ALM's Henry Dicker, who offers a sneak preview of LegalTech New York.

E-DISCOVERY BILL OF RIGHTS

In January's Ball in Your Court column, Craig Ball argues that it's time for a "Bill of Rights" for requesting parties who seek electronically stored information from their opponents. Requesting parties, he insists, have rights -- and duties -- during litigation.

Among the rights, says Ball, an Austin, Texas-based attorney and forensics consultant, is that ESI be produced in the format in which it is kept in the usual course of business; and that the producer clearly and specifically identify any intentional alteration of ESI.

Among the duties: an obligation to anticipate the nature, form, and volume of the ESI under scrutiny, and tailor requests to minimize burden and cost of securing the data. Read more in the current issue of Law Technology News.

Craig and I will be speaking Thursday (Jan. 21) at the New York City chapter meeting of Women in E-Discovery. It will be held at noon, at Credit Suisse, 11 Madison Ave., floor 2B, in the Club room.

To RSVP please visit newyorkcity@womeinediscovery.com. We hope to see you there!

EXPOSING CONTENT

One of the most crucial, and sometimes frustrating, aspects of reviewing electronically stored information is trying to follow e-mail "threads" — the conversations created by replies (to all), forwarding, etc. Finding all related e-mails can be a challenge, but technology can help.

In "Exposing Content," Anne Kershaw and Joseph Howie explain how "e-threading" can help you contain e-discovery costs, explicating the three general ways that e-mails are associated into threads. They also offer a chart of vendors who provide technology tools to help you create the fabric of these conversations.

It's in the EDD Showcase, in the January edition of Law Technology News.

HERE COMES LEGALTECH NY & COBALT

I turn the mic over to my colleague Sean Doherty, Law.com's technology editor:

 After welcoming the new year with a bevy of new predictions, we are looking forward to another LegalTech new year in New York from February 1 to 3. And it promises to be like the forthcoming Chinese New Year of the Metal Tiger, projecting a positive year with a motto of "I win." Only at LegalTech, I think the motto will be "we win."

It's going to be a new legal technology year when IT stops talking about feeds and speeds (read: hardware and infrastructure) and focuses on making it easier for lawyers to provide legal services and tend to the business side of the law.

That said, we are already getting some news on Westlaw's Project Cobalt from a number (one, two, three) of sources. The new project appears to offer users an easier interface (read: Google-like) to legal resources. I can only hope that the hype does not give us any game changers. We have the game, ladies and gentlemen. We need the tools to master it.

(Hat tip to Aric Press for pointing out the sources.)