RICHARDSON JOINS BLOG NETWORK

Heads up Apple Addicts: Jeff Richardson joins ALM's Law.com Blog Network, with the iPhone JD blog. It targets lawyers who use Apple's iPhone. Richardson is a partner in the New Orleans office of Adams and Reese, where his practice focuses on representing defendants in class action and complex litigation, as well as appellate, products liability, and constitutional litigation.

A recent post discussed Sonnenschein, Nash & Rosenthal's decision to allow its attorneys to choose iPhones -- and how adoption quickly rose to 30 percent. Apple features the firm on this video -- yes, that's CIO Andy Jurczyk, a longtime member of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board.

YOUR OPINION PLEASE!

As frequent readers of Law Technology News know, a key mission of our publication is to champion the members of our legal technology community — IT leaders, paralegals, lit support and e-discovery professionals, firm executives, vendors, et al. I am constantly on my soap box hounding law firm managing partners and corporate GC to fix gender pay inequity, and preaching the power of diversity.

For years, LTN's art director Shane DeLeers and I have insisted that when we run photos of members of our community, that they be in "go-to-court" professional attire; e.g., jacket and tie for the gents; equivalent for the gals. We believe that presents them in the most authoritative, positive light; and helps earn respect from the legal organizations that (at least historically) have not always recognized their contributions.

But lately I've been getting some push back from folks I admire — who tell me that I need to loosen up, because our community does not wear ties (except for funerals and court appearances) and that by requiring ties, LTN is not reflecting our community. Sure, I know you would never get hired if you showed up for a job interview at Google in a suit. But does it help get you a seat at the decision-making table in your organization?

What do you think? Is it time to stop requiring ties in photos for Law Technology News?

Update: To clarify, I am referring here primarily to photos submitted for President's Corner and our People column, and "controlled" photo shoots; as opposed to "live" photography from events such as LegalTech or ILTA where almost everyone is in business casual.

TECHNOLOGY VENDOR SATISFACTION SURVEY

I turn the mic over to my colleague Sean Doherty, about some exciting news: 

ALM has recently launched its 2010 Technology Vendor Satisfaction Survey to measure law firm satisfaction with technology across nine attributes in 25 categories. The survey has pre-populated the categories from the winners of the last two years of Law Technology News awards.

Write-in evaluations of products and services that are not listed are also allowed.

The survey is not limited to LTN subscribers, but is open to all participants from now until the end of April.

The executive summary of the survey results will be released at LegalTech West Coast in June. Read more.

WOMEN IN E-DISCOVERY: N.J. MTG POSTPONED

With yet another snowstorm expected to hit the tri-state area today and tomorrow, the inaugural meeting of the New Jersey chapter of Women in E-Discovery has been postponed.

I'm so disappointed as I was looking forward to the event (I was scheduled to speak on social networking). But I'm also relieved because I've got the flu/cold bug that's traversing the area faster than the downhill skiers in Vancouver.

The fabulous Babs Deacon will speak at the March meeting, on data analytics. I'll be speaking in June. Hopefully, it won't be snowing in June.

TWO CHOICES

Law Technology News' first-ever Compliance Showcase includes a helpful article from Toyko-based Thomas Shaw, discussing how companies can vet vendors.

Carefully choosing vendors to help global company process data requires finesse and a lot of knowledge. Regulations governing data privacy, security, and rules governing financial statements can vary from country to country. Basically, says Shaw, there are two main choices -- certification or an evaluation process. He guides you through key standards with pragmatic tips on how to negotiate this tricky landscape.

And David Cunningham, managing director of Hildebrandt Baker Robbins, who co-leads its risk practice, offers a glossary to help you learn the lingo. Check it out in the latest issue of LTN

CONQUER COMPLIANCE

A dominant theme in many discussions at LegalTech New York was the emergence of compliance as a key concern to firms, law departments, and government organizations. To address this trend, Law Technology News presents our first-ever Compliance Showcase, in our February issue. 

Our cover story, "Conquer Records," by Nixon Peabody's Christian Rummelhoff, discusses the particular challenges of implementing a centralized records management program. Employees, says Rummelhoff, typically chafe at being forced to change work habits. "They see extra work -- learning a new application, system or process -- and may not see the value of records management, or understand the cost and risk of accumlulating inconsistently-managed information."

LET IT SNOW

I've been based in New York City for
12 years now, but I'm still a California girl at heart. So I'm acting like a kid today because — for the first time since I moved here — ALM has declared a Snow Day for its NYC offices.

When I lived in San Francisco, we had "appointment" snow -- weekend trips to Tahoe, with the joy of driving over the Donner Summit and experiencing the Sierras' sheer majesty. Snow was never spontaneous in the City by the Bay.

But it has a mind of its own in New York. Snow here shows up at annoying times -- like opening week at Yankee Stadium; or when I really want to get in the car and head north but I have the good sense to postpone travel -- because I am still that California woman who knows that I don't have enough Malcolm Gladwell blink experience behind the wheel when ice is involved. (My five years in Minnesota are way too long ago, and besides, back then I was a fearless 20-something, need I say more?)

So I am savoring my first-ever Snow Day. My tiny Manhattan patio is frosted with about seven inches of white. Later today, I'll take my dog across the street to Carl Schurz park; she absolutely loves snow, but like me, walks more carefully than when we were both young.

And I'm enjoying one of the best (or possibly worst) things about snow days: Thanks to technology, I'll probably get even more work done today than in the office, with all the meetings, appointments, interruptions. I brought home my MacBook; I'm plugged into the VPN; I can create a winter wonderland playlist on my iPod, I've got WNBC on the TV keeping me company with weather updates; and I'll take my digital camera with me to the park to capture the day.

Snow days are mother nature's way of saying "Hey! Stop what you are doing!" Enjoy the mysteries of this little blue ball circling the sun. Do silly things. Let the crystals melt on the warmth of your hands.

A good lesson for all of us. Enjoy your day.

LTN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

At our LTN Awards ceremonies at LegalTech New York, I was honored to present our inaugural Law Technology News Lifetime Achievement Awards to three wonderful members of our legal technology . 

John Alber, Thomas Burke, and M. Thomas Collins have all demonstrated leadership and a fierce commitment to technology innovation, customer service, and the legal technology community throughout their careers. 

Alber is Bryan Cave's technology partner and leads its award-winning client technology group. Under his leadership, the group has developed innovative, web-based programs such as TradeZone, an international trade decision support system, and InsiderZone, an insider trading compliance training product. Alber is a frequent contributor to LTN, and the presentation was especially sweet, because he was the recipient of our first IT Champion Award.

Burke is chair and CEO of World Software, which offers the Worldox document management system, used by about 3,500 law firms across 37 countries. Worldox won the 2009 GoldLTN Award for document management. The Burke family founded the company in 1988 and Thomas Burke served as its president until 2009. 

Collins founded Juris in 1988 and served as its CEO. By the time Juris was purchased by LexisNexis in 2007, the had become a leading provider of financial and business information systems for midsize law firms. Throughout his career, he has been a frequent speaker, author, and blogger on management topics as well as technology issues and the legal profession. 

Congrats to all three for their stellar contributions to our community.

Hat tip to Lee Feldman for creating the press release on these wonderful awards. 

#LTNY WRAPUP

Whirlwind: The booths are dismantled but the buzz remains intense, as we wrap up LegalTech New York.

We saw significant new releases from companies large (Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis) and small (Rosen Technologies); learned a lot about Judge Shira Scheindlin's important new ruling on legal holds; listened with awe as Malcolm Gladwell  and Lisa Sanders (right with David Craig) compared the legal and medical professions; felt more confident about drafting social networking policies; quietly cried as the Cambodia Ambassador to the United Nations, Sea Kosal, accepted the award to the Cambodia Tribunal for its creative technology; networked with established and new friends; and had such energetic conversations that we are all losing our voices.

The conference had an unexpected undercurrent: optimism.

Thank you to everyone. See you in Los Angeles in June. 

Video Links:

P.S. Here are just a few video links from the show: Ari Kaplan, Larry Port (Rocket Matter), Rich King, CaseCentral, Applied Discovery (George Socha speaking)  and yours truly.

More: LexisNexis Mike Mintz with  Bruce MacEwan, Alex Dalessio,  John Alber.

Ari Kaplan interviews Deborah Baron of Autonomy.

John Tredennick (Catalyst Repository) 

For more, search YouTube for LegalTech 2010.

Check out Twitter posts by searching #LTNY.

Story and press release links:

Sean Doherty's "That's a Wrap"

Sean Doherty's Getting the Most Out of LTNY.

John Bringardner's report on program with former U.N. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and TR CEO Peter Warwick.

LexisNexis press release on Lexis for Microsoft Outlook

Blog posts:

Adrian Dayton: blog post 

Tom O'Connor: docNative Paradigm 

E-Lessons Learned

Above the Law

Photo courtesy of Thomson Reuters

GENTLE RAIN

Inspiring Words: Monday night, at LegalTech New York, we recognized the winners of the 2009 LTN Awards — leaders of our community who showed creativity and innovation to develop technology tools to help legal professionals. It was wonderful to be able to present the awards to such stellar members of our community.

The winner for Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Trial was the technology team of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, who are prosecuting five men for crimes against Humanity. The first was Kaing Guek Eav (a.k.a. Comrade Duch) who personally oversaw the torture and execution of more than 14,000 prisoners during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. He awaits his verdict which is expected shortly.

LTN's former news editor, Claire Duffett, wrote a poignant and powerful story about the efforts of the technology team, in our December issue.

The ECCC has extremely limited resources for its mission. But with on-the-fly creativity, sheer grit, and low- and high- technology tools, the  team handled both expected and spontaneous technology challenges --  everything from translating the proceedings into English, Khmer, and French; to managing a satellite system so that Cambodians in far flung villages can follow the proceedings.

We were so very honored that His Excellency Dr. Sea Kosal, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations, took time from his hectic schedule to join us at LegalTech to accept the award. He graced us with a short speech that was moving and inspirational. Thanking Ms. Duffett for focusing attention on the tribunal, he  gently reminded us that technology doesn't just help legal teams deliver better, faster, cheaper legal services —  technology can help foster justice.

Photo by Russ Curtis