The Best Journalism Job Post Ever Written

http://bit.ly/ew9APU.

Hat tip to "Ed Post" of BlawgReview

 

 

 

Swooning Over SXSW

O.K., this will totally date me — but one of the dumbest mistakes I made in college was to pass on the opportunity to go the Monterey Jazz Festival because I wanted to go visit a potential boyfriend in Berkeley. Yes, that one — 1967 — where the likes of Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix took the stage.

After reading Joe Maglitta's account of South by Southwest 2011, I'm definitely wishing that I had foresaken the miserable Northeast weather for a quick jaunt to Austin earlier this week. 

Say Maglitta at IBM-sponsored smartertechnology.com blog: No event better captures the mad American mashup of music, film, new media and emerging technology than the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festivals. Held each March in Austin, Texas, the 10-day hipster geekfest wrapped up its 25^th year on March 20."

A clue that it was definitely the place to be: Rocket Matter's hipper-than-hip top guns Larry Port and Ariel Jatib were there. Another hint: Sponsors include Microsoft, Google, Apple, Adobe, Samsung, and other household names. 

"Never heard of SXSW? (For heaven's sake, don't tell anyone, especially your 26-year-old boss.)  Even if you're not into celeb sniffing (Is that Jake Gyllenhaal? Danny DeVito?), striver panels ("What Would Lady Gaga Do?"), buzz-hungry bands (Yuck), awesome fantasy films ("Dragonslayer"), hoodies, chain smoking, skinny jeans or projectile vomiting, you need to know what's happening here, Gramps," reports Maglitta.

Hmmmm.... Maybe on second thought I'm glad I wasn't there. But then, take a look at some of the winners of the 2011 SXSW Interactive awards:

• Best in Show: GrouponWorks — online discount coupons for collective buying (never mind the absolutely weird Super Bowl ads, this is a kewl concept. And while not necessarily congruent with our legal world (except possibly for the ambulance chasers and TV advertisers among us), Maglitta suggests the idea could go beyond getting discounts for manicures and happy hours: "Have you considered how Groupon (or similar) could bring your company's goods (or even IT services) to a wider (or targeted) geography or B2B community?  Resellers, partner programs, branch offices, this means you."

• Breakout Digital Trend: GroupMe - group messaging and conferencing. Now THIS is right up the alley for our crowd: "Somewhat ironically, GroupMe is basically a retro "friends and family" calling/texting app. You plunk out a message on your cell phone. Only those in your predefined inner circle can read it, check each other's geo location and photos, or hop on an automatically dialed conference call. Kind of like Facebook, only with people you actually want to communicate with … and it's easier/cheaper than unified communications. Possible IT applications: ad hoc team collaboration, disaster recovery or emergency communications, Happy Hour planning, etc."  I see that an instant hit at any firm or corporate law department with more than one venue. In fact, in any shop big enough that you can't just wave or shout at your peers. 

• Community: iFixit: Love this one, kinda a combo help-desk and wikipedia for repair manuals.  

• Business: Get Satisfaction: "Get Satisfaction offers a neat online community builder that helps you soothe customer gripes. The Enterprise version features domain aliasing, SLAs, integration with CRMs and more," explains Maglitta. Come to Mama!!

Read Joe Maglitta's full report here. 

Larry Port on the "little-understood and uner-appreciated role of design in software."

iPadmania

My colleague, Anthony Paonita, editor-in-chief of Corporate Counsel magazine, is our internal "go-to-guy" for all things Apple. He's started a deliciously simple new blog, iPadmania, that started out as an inhouse project, but now is open to the universe. 

Like Apple's products it's stark — black and white, with (so far) only one color illustration (the first post). The posts are jargon-free, which always makes me happy. And often short, which is sweet. And as an iPad junkie, I find the topics irresistible. (In the spirit of his blog, I am forsaking my usual illustration!) 

Here's his most recent post: 

The Wall Street Journal‘s Walt Mossberg does a terrific job of explaining how to do things to actual, nongeek humans. This week’s column is worth a read. He explains how to use the iPad to do some of the things you do on a “real” computer—word processing, reading PDFs, moving files to a Mac or PC, that kind of thing. The column and a demo video are online, in front of the pay wall, here. Thanks, Walt!

Fix Those Annoying E-mail Disclaimers!

Consultant Joseph Howie isn't the only one who's annoyed with those boilerplate disclaimers that clutter the bottom of almost every firm or company's e-mail messages. 

We all know the panic of realizing that you accidently sent e-mail to the wrong person, thanks to overly helpful autofill features — or that queasy feeling when you hit "reply-to-all" rather than reply-to-only-one. (Especially if you weren't exactly diplomatic in your response.)

Howie, who also is involved with the Law Institute (née E-Discovery Institute) says it really is possible to create effective disclaimers that will help protect senders in the aforementioned Maalox moments — yet not be insipid. See "Crafting Effective E-mail Disclosures: Transform your message footer from mere annoyance to pragmatic e-discovery tool." 

Any Place I Have Wi-Fi Is Home

Randall Harris, senior deputy counsel for Los Angeles County, says its time for the law to catch up with reality: Many youngsters (and parents) are homeless, but not disconnected — they can be easily reached via cellphones.

"[A] large percentage of homeless people have cell phones, smartphones, e-mail addresses — and even blogs. As mobile phones and e-mail become less expensive and more accessible, so too must the law and policy evolve," he argues. 

"Providing proper 'due process' notice to parties in the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Juvenile Dependency Court is a challenge as complex as the litigants themselves. By requiring service of process through mail or publication (see California Welfare and Institutions Code §§ 290 et seq), the legislature fails to account for the high rate of poverty and homelessness prevalent among parties in dependency," says Harris, in his thoughtful analysis of the applicable laws. "It also fails to recognize that technology can help service of process be delivered in new, more efficient ways."

Harris advocates for a change in court rules, to allow the use of e-mail for notification of hearings in child dependency matters.  "The law should be modernized to keep pace with technology and the wireless reality of the 21st century. Having no physical address should no longer be a barrier to receiving due process," he argues, in "The Case for Providing Electronic Notice in Child Welfare Proceedings."

2010 E-Discovery Case Reviews

In our February issue of Law Technology News magazine, Cecil Lynn III did a wonderful job identifying and analyzing the most important 2010 cases that addressed electronic data discovery issues. See, "Drama & Destruction." 

He's not the only person parsing the year:

• David Lender, a partner at Weil Gotshal & Manges, and Andrew Peck, Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, wrote a white paper for HuronLegal, "Ten Key E-Discovery Issues to Watch in 2011: Expert Insight to Manage Successfully. Download here.

Among the issues they ID is international e-discovery, a topic LTN will continue to explore as the nuances of EDD — and compliance — continue to develop.

Says the pair: "The difficulties in electronic discovery are multiplied when some of a party’s electronically stored information is located outside the United States. Countries in the European Union, Asia, and elsewhere have data privacy statutes and blocking statutes. It may be virtually impossible for a company to comply with its U.S. discovery obligations without violating another country’s data privacy statutes. For example ... the first thing a company must do if it reasonably anticipates litigation is initiate a litigation hold; however, the mere step of preserving ESI may violate EU data privacy laws."

• Gibson Dunn & Crutcher — which recently announced that it has launched an IT and Data Privacy unit, offered this wrap up earlier this year.

Tick Tock: Your Comments Wanted!

Just a reminder that the deadline is approaching for you to provide your comments on two important projects:

• Frustrated with your legal technology? Elated? Share your experience and help your peers pick the best technology vendors. The second annual ALM Technology Vendor Satisfaction Survey is underway, via a simple online survey. Conducted by our Legal Intelligence research unit, there are six categories: research libraries, e-discovery and compliance, litigation support, mobile lawyering, and office technology. The deadline to participate is April 8, 2011. To participate, click here.
Participants will receive a brief analysis of the results; full results will be available for purchase for $950 (participants get a 15% discount). The results also determine the 2011 LTN Vendor Awards, so let your voice be heard!


• The Legal Electronic Data Exchange (LEDES) Oversight Committee wants your feedback on proposed electronic data discovery task codes (See ledes.org or utbms.com).
The comment period will stay open until early May. A subcommittee recommends that 34 e-discovery task codes be added to the Litigation Code Set, numbered between 600 and 699.

Meetup's Pashman to Keynote Legal Tech L.A.

There’s a new date and return venue for LegalTech West Coast 2011. We’re headed back to the recently-renovated Westin Bonaventure, but a month earlier than in the past: May 17-18 (rather than late June).

Details soon will be posted at www.legaltechshow.com, but we can tell you that David Pashman, who heads up the legal team at Meetup, a social media site, will be the May 17 keynote speaker, at 9 a.m. The website is designed to help individuals organize a local group or find an existing group to join. The website has 7.2 million members, with 79,000 local groups that hold 250,000 monthly "meetups" in 45,000 cities, says the company.

Pashman (left) will discuss the legal challenges Meetup faces as it operates in a rapidly evolving business and legal environment — including contract principals involved in terms of service, defamation, and other claims under the Communications Decency Act. He'll also discuss copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as well as trademark infringement, government subpoenas, and privacy matters in light of recent Federal Trade Commission (and other government) activity.

Pashman earned his J.D. at New York University, and joined Meetup after a stint at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati. In his spare time, he does low-keyed things wuch as trekking the Indian Himalayans, according to his meetup bio.

Photo: Meetup

Hands Across the Water

John Tredennick, CEO of Catalyst Repositories Systems, is among the many in our community who have been deeply touched by the earthquake and tsunami that has crippled Japan.
 
The events hit close to the heart for Catalyst: It has offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong and maintains a secure data center in Japan for Asia regional hosting. Catalyst also is a founding member of the E-Discovery Asia alliance, a group of forensic, collections and e-discovery experts covering Japan, Hong Kong, China,  Korea, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

So Catalyst and its Asia and U.S. partners are organizing a relief effort they are calling "Legal Professionals for Japan,"  he says. "Frankly, this disaster makes most of the others we have faced look almost minor."

The idea is to provide a focal point for donations to the Japan Red Cross, he says. "Catalyst and its partners intend to donate — and we want to provide a vehicle to encourage others in the legal community to do so as well. For that reason, we are offering to match individual contributions made through LPJ. Our goal is to raise at least $20,000," Tredennick advises.
 
For more information, visit www.catalystsecure.com/japanaid 

Update 3/21: United Airlines is offering miles if you donate to the American Red Cross to help those affected in Japan: "Donate to the American Red Cross and we'll thank you with up to 500 bonus award miles; 250 miles for donations between $50 USD and $99 USD or 500 miles for donations of $100 USD or more. We are committed to awarding a maximum of 5 million combined Mileage Plus and Continental OnePass miles, so please donate today."

UAL says its MilesPlus members can also donate their miles through its Charity Miles program.

War of Words

Not surprisingly, as a journalist and lawyer, I feel very strongly about the right to free speech. Nothing makes that position stronger than seeing what happens when dictators and governments try to suppress those rights, as we continue to see in China, Iran, Libya, and so many other places across the globe — and sometimes, even at home. 

But exercising this fundamental human right is not without pain — as when members of the Westboro Baptist Church spew venom in the name of God when they demonstrate at the funerals of soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. These "churchgoers" celebrate the deaths of young men and women as revenge for the United States' tolerance of gays and lesbians.

Yesterday (March 2), the U.S. Supreme Court, by an 8-1 vote, ruled in favor of the Topeka-based "church." Said Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court: "Speech is powerful. It can stir peple to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker." 

In February, 2008, Claire Duffett, then news editor of Law Technology News, wrote a fascinating story about the underlying trial, for our "Technology on Trial" series. In "War of Words," she chronicled how the legal team for Albert Synder, who buried his only son, was able to turn Westboro's own videos of their demonstrations into powerful testimony for the plaintiffs in Albert Snyder v. Fred W. Phelps, Sr. et al., Civil No. RDB-06-1389, which went to trial on October 22, 2007 in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland Northern Division, before Judge Richard Bennett.

The plaintiffs won the first round of the litigation: "The jury deliberated for one day, returning on Oct. 31 to declare the church liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. It awarded $2.9 million, with an additional $8 million in punitive damages," but participants recognized that the victory might not stand up. 

Duffett concluded her article with this prescient statement: "If overturned, the plaintiffs could take solace in a famed 1919 dissent by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: "We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe." 

Raise Your Voice

The eDiscovery Institute has changed its name and website to The Law Institute — www.lawinstitute.org — and is kicking off a survey on options for processing voice files as part of discovery, reports Joe Howie, director of metrics development and communications.

The institute is asking vendors to provide information about how they handle voice files, with the goal of "providing lawyers with information on the different options open to them for identifying relevant records, along with reasonable expectations for retrieval accuracy as well as the time and computing resources required to perform the processing," he says.

There are no fees for participating in the survey, nor will there be fees charged for the electronic version of the survey report," Howie notes.
 
The deadline for submissions is March 21, 2011. Howie requests that organizations planning to take the survey contact him at  Joe@eDiscoveryInstitute.org.