FIAT LUX

The Power of One: In late June, my boss Aric Press and I were comparing notes about what Yankee games we planned to attend, and he mentioned that he would be going to the stadium on July 4, with his college friend Michael Goldsmith. Aric is the polar opposite of me, as low-keyed and understated as I can be, well, "excitable." He mentioned that his friend had ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and that they were planning to enjoy the game together, that it probably would be Michael's last, and that they were going to participate in a program about ALS.

I had a scheduling conflict that kept me at home on July 4. If I had realized what Aric was up to, I would have cancelled my plans and headed to the Bronx. Instead, I was half-watching it on TV, when all of a sudden, I hear Aric's voice — and I look up and there he is on the Jumbotron being interviewed about Goldsmith.

Last November, Goldsmith wrote a guest column in Newsweek, calling on Major League Baseball to do more about ALS. They did — and on the 70th anniversary of Gehrig's famous "I am the luckiest man in the world" speech, 15 stadiums held fundraising events called "4◆ ALS Awareness."  In New York, the Yankees donated $25,000, and portions of the Gerhig speech were recited by Yankee leaders, who wore a #4 patch (Gerhig's long-retired number). Goldsmith, a law professor based in Utah, stood at home plate with his son, and threw out the first pitch of the game to Mark Teixeira.

Son Austen Goldsmith was quoted in The New York Times:  "Being on the field with my father was the single greatest moment of my life. I think he was holding on for that."

Goldsmith told Times that he "exhorted law students to take a proactive 'can do' approach to the law and life in general," and tried to practice what he preached. "The success of this effort demonstrates yet again how 'the power of one' can make a difference."

Goldsmith lost his battle yesterday. He was 58. Indeed, he proved the power of one man.

Peace be with you, Michael Goldsmith. 

Photo: The New York Times.

LTN AWARDS: VOTING OPEN

Vote! Yes, it’s that time again — for you to tell us which vendors should receive our 2009 LTN Vendor Awards! The online ballot is survey style, and will take just a few minutes to complete! Deadline: November 15. (You will need your account number, from your mailing label — e-mail Kerry Kyle kkyle@alm.com if you can’t find it.) Click here to vote.

We are also accepting nominations for our juried LTN Awards, which honor law firms, law departments, and consultants. Categories include: IT Director of the Year, IT Champion of the Year, Consultant of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Law Firm, a Law Department, a Trial, and Pro Bono Project.

This year, for the first time, we will be present the LTN Lifetime Achievement Award — I will be making the selection of that individual. Candidates must be 55+, and I welcome nominees. There are no restrictions: it can be a lawyer, a paralegal, a vendor, a CIO — anyone in our wonderful legal technology community is eligible.

As is our tradition, the remainder of the juried awards will be selected by three distinguished members of our LTN Editorial Advisory Board: Andrew Adkins III, of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law; Fredric Lederer, of the William & Mary School of Law; and David Whelan, of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Deadline: November 13. Click here for nomination forms. 

COLORADO EDD SUMMIT

Jeffrey Staal, litigation support manager of Denver's Davis Graham & Stubbs, checks in to let you know that the Colorado Association of Litigation Support Professionals will host its third annual E-Discovery Summit on October 30 at the Grand Hyatt Denver.

The event will feature Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck, (right) who is featured in Law Technology News' October "Up Close" will address the creation of a search protocol. 

Other speakers include Beth Niepokuj of Plunkett Cooney, Marcy Heronimus of Sherman & Howard, David Garrett of Stroz Friedberg, Elleanor Chin of Davis, Wright & Tremaine, and Timothy Gordon of Holland & Hart. A cocktail reception ends the day. For more information, contact Staal.

KUDOS TO KODNER

Ross Kodner, a frequent contributor to Law Technology News, and even more frequent speaker across the country at small firm and solo programs, will be honored this month by the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Bar Association.

Kodner will receive the first annual John Lederer Solo and Small Firm Service Award at the Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm conference (Oct. 29-31.)

“The WSSF Conference leadership felt this award was needed to recognize those individuals, groups or organizations which have focused on improving the lives and practices of solo and small firm attorneys in Wisconsin,” says Nancy Trueblood, Wauwatosa, Solo and Small Firm Committee chair. "The award will be presented annually to an individual, group, or organization exemplifying the leadership, spirit, and dedication of attorney John Lederer, who saw it as his mission to help solo and small firm lawyers master the skills and technology needed to build their practices. Lederer passed away in March of 2009," the group reports.  

“Ross deserves to be the first recipient of this award due to his numerous, tireless volunteer efforts over the years on behalf of solo and small firm attorneys,” says Trueblood. “Whether he is speaking at a conference or seminar, blogging or answering questions on State Bar electronic lists, his advice and guidance has been invaluable to Wisconsin solo and small firm practitioners.”

Read Kodner's most recent LTN article, "Increase Your Wingspan" (about installing dual monitors for your computer, here.

Congratulations, Ross. A very well-deserved accolade!

SWEET TIMING

Jon Bream is in town, the first East Coast stop on the tour for his latest book, Neil Diamond is Forever. His timing is impeccable -- he's in NYC just in time to join me tonight for game 1 of the playoffs. It's especially sweet, because -- after one of the most amazing games ever played (for me, topped only by the Aaron Boone 2003 ALDS game) -- the Yankees are facing the Twins.

Bream has been the music critic at the Mpls. Star-Tribune for more than 30 years -- the longest tenure of any daily newspaper music critic other than Joel Selvin at the SF Chron, (and technically, Selvin has retired .) Bream also contributes to Law Technology News (his next article, "Greening Greene Espel" will appear in our November issue). 

JB and I go back to our cub days at the Minnesota Daily, where he hired me to be the first "girl" to cover rock and roll at the 43,000-circ newspaper. It was heady times -- our editor was Paul Brainerd, who went on to found Aldus Pagemaker, coin the term "desktop publishing," and become a close friend-of-Bill (not Clinton).

Late last night, JB  taped a segment for the Joey Reynolds show on WOR710 radio. Before he headed over to the studio, we watched the tiebreaker game at the Mudville 9 Saloon, a funky, friendly sports bar. The cordial staff warmly welcomed us all the way through the 12th inning walk-off climax. (Not many NYC restaurants would let you occupy a table for 3-1/2 hours over a $40 dinner!) It was a blast, and a suitable substitute for being in the Dome -- with enthusiastic constituents of both Twins and Tigers camps. 

Bream's last tome was a coffee table extravaganza, Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin, and his first was Prince: Inside the Purple Reign. The 160-page Diamond book is a feast for the singer's  fans, and chronicles his career from early struggles to sold-out arenas. Jon draws heavily from his many interviews with Diamond since 1976, and the books is crammed full of photos of memorabilia, such as concert programs, posters, backstage passes, etc.

Red Sox fans may be surprised to learn that "Sweet Caroline," the anthem of Fenway 8th innings, "was inspired by a photo of 11-year-old Caroline Kennedy." It has become the singer's most covered song, Bream says -- with Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Ray Coniff and Waylon Jennings among those who have recorded the very annoying ditty. (Go Yankees).

More on Bream's book tour:

Vintagerock.com interview.

Pastemagazine.com article by C. Lee.

BC (Blog Critics) review by J. Gardner.

SAD NEWS: CRAIG JOHNSON

We just received the sad news that Craig Johnson, CEO and founder of Virtual Law Partners, has died, unexpectedly. Details about the service will be announced shortly.

The firm’s executive committee and senior management will appoint an interim committee to take over Johnson’s responsibilities until a new chief executive is named, reports VLP.

In 1993, Johnson co-founded Venture Law Group, whose client roster included Yahoo!, Hotmail, and WebTV. A graduate of Stanford Law School, Johnson began his law career at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He is also known as the co-founder of Garage Technology Ventures and Financial Engines, as well as numerous other high tech companies in Silicon Valley. Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Yale and worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia.

Obituary from The Recorder.

IM-PECK-ABLE

Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck, who serves on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, has been quite active in drafting e-discovery rulings, such as March's William A. Gross Construction Associates, Inc. v. American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Co. and Anti-Monopoly, Inc. v. Hasbro, Inc. -- both establishing important guidance for the creation keywords for searching electronically stored information. (See here, here, and here.)

But did you know that Peck also has written a reference book on all things Sherlock Holmes? Or that he drives to work (unusual for a Manhattanite). And you probably won't be surprised to see that he and I share the same favorite website. After all, he lives in New York City!

Check it out here in the October issue of Law Technology News.

MUSICAL CHAIRS IN THE EXECUTIVE SUITES

After almost 25 years, George May  (right) has left Thomson Reuters, where he was vice president and general manager of West Solutions, to become vice president, product strategy, at Kroll Ontrack. At West, his duties ranged from expanding online services overseas, and managing the development of publishing and product systems, he says.

May is not the only longtime employee to have a change of address. Connie Moser, the superb marketing diva at Thomson Elite, was recently recruited by Mark Goldin, left, who had served as senior vice president and chief technology officer at Thomson Elite, to join American LegalNet as its director of marketing. Goldin was LegalNet's new CTO, but after only five months in that chair, he hopped over to the CTO's chair at DestinationRx this month.

For the latest news when the music stops, check out Law Technology News' monthly People column.

REBEL CALL

Our former ALM colleagues, Edward Adams and Molly McDonough, have just completed a two-week road trip -- one component of the ABA Journal's "Legal Rebels: Remaking the Profession" project. Adams is now the editor and publisher of the ABAJ; McDonough is the online assistant managing editor. They were joined on the tour by reporter Rachel Zahorsky and video dude John McQuiston.

The idea of the project was to identify lawyers who have changed the practice of law, and to report using just about every conceivable type of media: video, audio podcasts, wikis, photo slideshows, flicker, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. They even offered a "song of the day" during transit.

Taking full advantage of sponsor product placement (Hertz provided the SUV, Sprint the phones and Starwood the crashpads), the journey started in Boston and ended up in Washington, D.C.

They conducted daily interviews with a wide range of lawyers, including "Free Talker" Frank Aquila, and "Gossip at Law" David Lat (who was profiled, and then conducted a very strange interview of Steven Brill, the founder of American Lawyer Media).

Hats off to the ABAJ team for an ambitious adventure that demonstrates the strengths (and some of the weaknesses) of the exciting and sometimes overwhelming new technologies we are all grappling to understand and use.

MAILBAG #090730

Rummaging through the in-box:

Monty Lunn has answered the siren call of New Orleans, and moved back. He most recently was a director at Huron Consulting Group. We'll letcha know when he gets settled in with new contact info.

* Connie Moser, formerly of Elite, has joined another Elite-ite, Mark Goldin at American LegalNet. Goldin's the new CTO, Moser's the new marketing director She'll be at ILTA so you can reconnect with her there, or reach her here.

*Angelique Schaffer checks in from Thomson Reuters to advise us that Legal Current has replaced Westblog. Check it out!

* Herbert Roitblat of Oratec forwards  this encouraging article chastizing local governments for their version of "solution-speak." Note the list of 200 no-no words, including "beaconicity," "holistic governance," and "incentivising."

* Better late than never: This slipped thru my inbox cracks, so it's a bit old now, but still interesting: Katherine Petusek, of the National Association of Women Lawyers and its foundation, are conducting a fourth annual survey on retention and promotion of women in the largest 200 U.S. firms. Contact Cheryl Oblander here for an update. Copies of past surveys can be viewed here.

*Finally, a treat courtesy of SheFanJane (Jane Heller). A fun YouTube that you can embedding where appropriate. (BTW, she just featured an excerpt of my book review of her terrific new book, Confessions of a She-Fan)  on her book's website (scroll down below "advanced praise.")  Full review here. And I've also started posting my book reviews on Amazon (username Monica Bay. We'll use it to close out this edition of TCS: 

MAILBAG #090629

Catchin' up w/ the in-box:

* Ipro Tech had to write a big check ($246,470) to settle claims that it had unlicensed copies of Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec software, but CEO Jim King says his organization takes the full blame.

"As part of the settlement agreement, IPRO Tech Inc. agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software on its computers, purchase any licenses necessary to become compliant, and commit to implementing stronger software asset management practices," reported the Business Software Alliance.

 "IPRO continued to use subscription software after the license term expired," said King. "The good news, this was not intentional. We fully supported the audit process and we support the goals of the BSA. Upon discovery of our licensing oversights we worked with the BSA to immediately correct the deficiencies." 

* Keith Rowand has started a company, Rowand Software -- and is offering document comparison and near de-duplication software. He's also offering computer programming. 411 here.

* Kelvin Chin checks in to report that he's packing up his L.A. bags and heading east again -- to Raleigh, N.C., where he has been named sales director  at Womble Carlyle. (That's the firm with the bulldog mascot).

* Also changing business cards: Mark Goldin is the new chief tech officers at Los Angeles-based American LegalNet. He joins from Elite.

* David Cowen says his 2Q09 survey on lit support work shows hours have spiked. Check it out here.

* Deborah Novachick of Strategic Automation Consulting as returned from Nigeria, where she taught classes in operations management at Pan-African University Lagos School of Business, which hosted a “Management Development  Program for Legal Practitioners.” The project was started by Joy Harrison-Abiola, who  is a legal administrator in Nigeria, and a member of  the Association of Legal Administrators. "Four of the faculty members of the ALA's Essential Competencies for Legal Administrators programs went over to Nigeria," she says. "We and the others on the faculty have donated months of our time." E-mail her here for more info.

PECK & WAXSE HOLD COURT AT ROUND TABLE

Fascinating dinner last night with the Fios (see below) gang, to kick off LegalTech West Coast. Mary Mack and Debbie Caldwell were among the orchestrators of the evening, which featured two prominent U.S. Magistrate Judges who you have been reading a lot about (in Craig Ball's EDD column): Andrew Peck, (far left) of the Southern District of NY, and David Waxse (left) , of the District of Kansas. It was a sneak preview, of sorts, of tomorrow's keynote address at LegalTech West Coast.

Mary Mack moderated the eat-and-talk roundtable discussion, which drew about 25 lawyers and one summer associate for an off-the-record discussion of recent discovery trends. Peck recently caused a lot of heat with his Gross case ruling, a "wake up call to the bar" chastising attorneys about sloppy searches and failure to truly cooperate with opposing counsel (See Ball's June column), Waxse authored the key  Williams v. Spring/United Management Co. case in 2006.(See ABA Journal's "These Cases Rock").

The two men interact well together and quickly drew the audience into the discussion, which covered a lot of territory running from ethics to how EDD requests are sometimes used to bully the other side into submission because the sheer cost of production.

Both judges -- along with Tom Allman and moderator Carole Basri -- will be presenting the Thursday keynote (immediately following our "Green Your Career" networking breakfast for jobseekers) at LegalTech West Coast, at the LA Convention Center. Don't miss it. These two judges are entertaining, and substantive, and it's bound to be a great panel. For information, visit www.legaltechshow.com -- or just come on' over to the LA Convention Center!

MAILBAG #061209

I'm just about ready to head out to Charlie Haas' 7:30 p.m. book reading at the Barnes & Noble in the Village (396 6th @ 8th) for his new book, The Enthusiast... but before I dash out the door, need to catch up on some incoming!

• Attorney Paul Levine  also has a new novel out -- Illegal -- and he introduces a new "trouble-prone hero," Jimmy (Royal) Payne. It's a tale set in the California desert that tells the plight of a 12-year-old boy whose mom disappears during a border crossing. It was inspired by real events, says Levine. "A thriller with a social conscience, the book combines the moral decay of Chinatown with the sudden violence of No Country for Old Men," he says.

• Audrey Rubin checks in to announce the launch of her new website, Rubin Solutions. (Sigh, will they never learn -- but at least it rhymes!) (Audrey: NO SOLUTIONS!!!!!! It's the most abused word in the English language.) Chicago-based Rubin (right) served as COO for seven years at Wildman Harrold Allen and Dixon, and at Butler Rubin Saltarelli and Boyd.

• Clifford Chance's Sally King chimes in with a request to spread the word about a petition to help pass legislation that would protect women from "drive thru" mastectomies. Check it out here. This is really important -- and doesn't impact just women. Men, sign it too! Your mothers, wives, daughters and friends will appreciate your support.

• Frederick Hertz, my pal from SFO, also has a new book, which debuts in July  from NOLO, with Emily Doskow: Making it Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Parnterships & Civil Unions. Here's an interview with Hertz: Part 1 and Part 2.  (The book's not showing up on the Nolo site). 

• And we are not done with new books: Perry Binder says Unlocking Your Rubber Room will motivate you to achieve professional satisfaction, and is based on his courtroom and classroom experiences. (He's now a legal studies professor at Georgia State Univ. 

• Mais Oui! The Association of Legal Administrators has launched a French version of its website, available here.  It features French language introductions to key ino, special resources, and links to the English language section of ALA's main website.

• Perry Segal wants you to know about his blog, E-Discovery Insights, which covers EDD from a California lawyer's perspective.

• Adobe's Rick Borstein found this post from Matthew Buchanan about virtual letterhead to be a very green idea, (with a hat tip to Stephen Nipper). 

OK, all for now... I'm off to hear about Henry Bay!

MO' MAILBAG #052009

JoAnna Forshee checks in to let folks know that it will provide 10 scholarships to unemployed attorneys who are job hunting, to attend its "Get a Life" Conference that is presented by the Total Practice Management Association. It is a two-day workshop on marketing and practice management and social networking that will be held in Chicago on May 27 & 28. Deadline to apply, 5/22, 5 p.m. CST. 411 here.

• Brent  Bourque has replaced long-time director of marketing Connie Moser at Los Angeles-based Elite. She's a tough act to follow! Bourque, based in New Orleans, has been with Elite for 12 years, starting in sales. His title is senior director, strategic marketing and business intelligence, and he can be reached here.

• Charlie Haas, who went to University of California Santa Cruz, along with lawyer/marketer Louise Rosen Byer et moi, is embarking on a book tour for his latest novel, The Enthusiast (Harper Perennial). Check out his book readings:

Tuesday, June 2, 7:00 pm  - Books Inc. at Opera Plaza, San Francisco.
Thursday, June 4, 7:00 PM - A Great Good Place for Books, Oakland (Montclair district).
Monday, June 8, 7:00 PM - Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland.
Friday, June 12, 7:30 PM - Barnes & Noble, 396 Avenue of the Americas (at 8th St.), New York, N.Y.
Thursday, June 18, 7:30 PM - Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles.

 I'm planning to attend the NYC reading -- after all, the main character's name is Henry Bay!

Charlie also wrote the sequel (Gremlins 2) to one of my all-time favorite movies Gremlins. (Whenever I'm in a funk I just remember the scene with all the critters singing "Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to work I go" with popcorn bucket hats!)

• Stephanie Hall wants you to know about her Relay for Life -- the American Cancer Society fundraiser she participates in every year to honor her mother, who she lost to cancer almost five years ago. Any donation helps.

• And our LTN colleague Theodora Blanchfield is also participating in a project, to benefit the Cancer Survivorship Initiative at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in N.Y. She's running to hnor her grandfather, Herbert Blanchfield, who died of mesothelioma in 2000. 

• Steve Schwartz reports that certain LSAT PrepTests (past administered LSAT exams) are available only to students who take prep courses, not those who self-study. Check it out on his LSAT Blog. 

MAILBAG #050109

Catchin' up with the inbox:

• Andy Adkins, of the Univ. of Florida (Gainsville) found this amazing update of Captain Sully's seaplane adventure: Download Hudson. It's even better than the ones I previously posted.

• Barkley Court Reporters check in to tell us  that -- as of March -- it has planted 10,000 trees on behalf of clients, as part of its "Green" program that encourages litigators to put transcripts in online repositories include of printing them on paper. Pat Barkley wrote about the program in LTN's Green Law column in July, 2007. 

• Brooke Keyser of RainMaker also checks in with a progress report, about the "Pay it Forward" challenge issued by James Hammond. (We wrote about it last month.) To date, RainMaker has awarded $127,850 in economic assistance funds, of the $1 million it has pledged, she says, and saw a 273% increase in traffic to its website. More than 1,000 firms expressed interest in the program, she says. The first firm to participate is Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, says RainMaker. 

• Angelique Schaffer of Thomson Reuters reminds me to post this video from the WestBlog produced at this winter's LegalTech New York, (#LTNY) with yours truly pontificating on all things legal tech.

Blogosphere Updates:

• John Grisely reports that that he is building up the resource section of his blog, Mesothelioma Questions. 

• Andreana Pentaris wants you to konw about a new website, LawFirms.com. It devotes articles and resources to a vareity of legal topics, running from criminal defense to bankruptcy, and also has a blog, Legal Research Guides.

• Danielle Walker reports that  E-Lessoned Learned ( eLLblog) has been revamped.

• A.J. Levy -- who  writes the Out of the Box Lawyering blog forwards this post about some creative uses for Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software. He also alerts us to a new blog targeting lawyers who use iPhones.

BACK ON THE PAYROLL

Good news from both Babs Deacon and Mark Reichenbach, who both got pink slip'd a few months back.

Deacon has landed a new gig with Integreon, (which recently acquired Onsite3) as director of consulting. New e-mail here.

Reichenbach is the new veep for client and industry development, with Capital Legal Solutions. 411 here.

Both will join us at the "Greening Your Career" job seekers' networking breakfast, June 25 at LegalTech West Coast.

Congrats!!

GREEN YOUR CAREER: A NETWORKING BREAKFAST

This erratic economy has been tough on everybody, but none more so than the members of our legal technology community who have lost their jobs. It's difficult, scary, and challenging for even the most self-confident professionals.

Our Incisive gang wants to help -- so we decided to team up at LegalTech West Coast and offer a simple, heartfelt gesture: On day 2 (Thursday June 25) we will host a very informal, free "Green Your Career" networking breakfast, from 7:45--8:45 a.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

It will be co-hosted by Law Technology News and law.jobs, with the support of the LegalTech crew, and has a straightforward format:  We're inviting job seekers -- as well as vendors and law firm leaders (even if you do not currently have an available opening).

For the first half-hour, we'll just schmooze together, and enjoy coffee, tea, danish, etc. — i.e., a chance to "work the room."  Then we'll gather at round tables, where at each table a leader of our community will talk about how he or she survived/thrived thru a career transition. Among the scheduled speakers are:

• John Tredennick, who was a litigator partner at Holland & Hart when he spun off Catalyst Respository Systems.
• Tom Collins, former owner of Juris Inc., who survived cancer and now is a murder mystery novelist!
• J. Craig Williams, who shuttered his small firm and joined Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold.
• Mary Mack, renowned counsel at Fios Inc.
• Brad Blickstein, who opened his own consultancy to help businesses serve corporate legal departments, after working in magazine publishing.
• Babs Deacon, who was one of the SPi folks who lost jobs last winter, who is the new director of consulting at Integreon, based in New York.
• Mark Reichenbach, who just joined Capital Legal Solutions after losing his gig at i365.
• John Lipsey, who left law practice to work for legal technology vendors, and now works for Martindale Hubbell Connected. 

The event is FREE -- and all attendees will be invited to stick around and visit our exhibit hall and the Day 2 Keynote Address (immediately following the breakfast) on us.

Job seekers will be encouraged to post their resumes on lawjobs.com, and all firms/vendors who attend will get free access to lawjobs.com (for a limited period, of course).

Again, just a simple concept:  let's provide an hour of inspiration, nurturing, contacts, and networking. 

Please come, whether you need a job, or just want to offer encouragement. And if you are coming to show support, please bring along a gift card (you can pick them up at most supermarkets or drug stores), so we can give a day brightener "party favor" to each job seeker. It can be just a few dollars (or more if you can tithe a bit more generously) -- to a national "chain" such as Starbucks, Target, Macy's, Chevron, Von's, movies, SuperCuts -- you get the picture. Something practical and upbeat that will lift spirits!

(If you can't attend and want to send a gift card, mail them to us c/o Law Technology News, 120 Broadway, 5th floor, NYC 10271.)

Job seekers: Come for warmth, support and new contacts! If you e-mail us at lawtech@incisivemedia.com, we'll have a badge ready for you (and that will help us make sure we have enough coffee and danish). But you can also just show up.

Firms/vendors: If you do have a spot open, what a better place to find great talent? And even if you don't, you might tomorrow -- so bring lots of business cards.

And as an added incentive for technology vendors: We will raffle off a wonderful lunch or dinner with moi (you can even use the word "solution" and I will promise to try not to cringe) where you can tell me about your company's plans, products and services and get a great meal on LTN!

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!  Visit www.legaltechshow for details, or e-mail LTN at lawtech@incisivemedia.com.

LAST but not least: Please help spread the word!  Twitter this! Blog this! Reprint this post freely! Let's get viral! The permalink is http://tinyurl.com/LTWCbkf. Twitter hash: #LTWC.

Update: Great news! The Los Angeles County Bar Association (which offers career resources on its website, has joined us as a co-sponsor of the breakfast!!

NEW IS OLD AGAIN

Sorry, Baltimore, we got Tex & we ain't givin' him back. Even if he got jussssst a little bit  spooked by the "welcome" booooos he got on opening day at Camden.

Now usually when the Yanks meet up with the O's in Maryland, there's about 65% Yankee fans in the stands
(I suspect most from New Jersey because it's so easy to get to from the Garden State, and Camden is so economical and family friendly.)

But not on Opening Day. It was more like 10%. To be honest, it's the first time I've felt juuuuussst a little intimidated in the friendly confines of Camden. The hostility to our newbie Tex rivaled that of the pissed off Yankee fans chanting "Who's Your Daddy" to Pedro Martinez in 2004 postgames, the noise level so intense that the Stadium literally shook.

But anyway..... it was big fun, even tho we got clobbered. My colleague Jai Wallace and I are sending huge thanks to our guests, the delightful Mary Ellen Belusci, Yankees fan Joe Zanta, and Scott Bogash of Needles; and Yvonne Dornic  of eSentio Technologies and her finace Jim Rhodes,  and Red Sox fan David Horrigan of Covington & Burling. Yvonne and Jim helped me recover from the trauma with a nightcap at their amazing restaurant, Ze Mean Bean in Fells Point.

I'm hoping tonight's game has a much happier ending for the New Yorkers. Should be interesting, as my O's rep Matt Dougherty notes: It's the Far East match-up, with Taiwan's Chien Ming Wang facing the O's new addition, Koji Uehara -- former ace of the Yomiuri Giants-- in his major league debut. And Thursday I get the pleasure of spending time with Cataphora's fascinating Susannah Smith, and Kelly Klyn, litigation technology specialist for Goodwin Procter. Can't wait!

I'm also LOVING the brand new Baltimore Hilton -- Check out the view from my room! It is literally yards from Camden, and gorgeous. But I must admit has a kinda odd color palette -- but it works: tangerine, gold, cobalt blue and lime green. So much better than 2008's obsession with chocolate and aqua (Yes, yes, yes, I watch way too much HGTV.)

Tuesday was an off day so we headed down to DC to visit with Robert Erich Jr. of Select Associates. We had a terrific conversation about how the economy is affecting the time/billing/acctg vendors -- Erich noted that his company's star* collect  product has seen quite a spike in sales in recent months. Select Associates, says Erich, specializes in a variety of add-on software that integrates with Elite, Aderant, and other T&B/A software that targets the top AmLaw firms, he explained, including data warehousing and business intelligence tools. One of the newest offerings star* targetCash which helps firms project cash flow.

I suspect that interest in these types of products will most definitely continue to jump as purse strings tighten throughout the legal industry.

Tuesday night, we had the pleasure of joining Sally Gonzalez (Baker Robbins & Co.) and Stan Wasylyk (Michael Farrell Group) for a boisterous dinner at the Hard Times Cafe in Alexandria. Years and years ago, when I was vice-chair of the ABA's Law Student Division, we had a ton of meetings in D.C. and made regular pilgrimages to the HTC. It's a lot of fun, and it was great to return, although I probably ate more carbs in one sitting than I normally eat in a month.

Sally and I can bore anyone to death when you get us talking about our adventures on United Airlines. Sally's in the coveted rareified air of Global Services -- so elite that they don't even publicize it or tell you what the membership requirements are -- but it pretty much boils down to flying overseas a lot. Sally was based in London for a long stint, and also frequently visits clients in Switzerland, so she has that elusive BLACK Mileage Plus card that the rest of us mere mortals drool over. I hope we didn't drive our companions toooo nuts but we sure had a good time comparing road warrior stories.

(Btw: this could be a very interesting year for road warriors because so many of us will probably drop at last one level in the elite tiers because so many firms/companies are reducing travel.)

So... two more days in the wonderful Inner Harbor before I head back to NYC. Of course I save the best for last.... thanks to a dear friend who is a Cubs season ticket holder I actually got tix for last Saturday's Cubs/Yanks Exhibition game at the New Stadium.

OMG, it totally takes your breath away. It's just magnificent. But the strangest thing about it is that once you are inside, in your seats, it's almost Twilight Zone Deja Vu -- because it FEELS like the old Stadium. Even the FTI ad is in its proper place. The new video screen is awesome, and the Batter's Eye is now a restaurant, but the subway still screams right by the Short Porch, the Bleacher Creatures still do roll call, and it just feels great. Only the courthouse is missing from the tableau, because of the slight change in real estate.

And making the day even more touching: the first pitch was thrown out by Captain Sully, and the USAir 1549 skyboat crew! (He was joined by the first officer Jeff Skiles and chief flight attendant Doreen Welsh.)

Saturday, Cano christened the Stadium with its first home run,  and Tex got back-to-back homers! (Jeter got the Stadium's first hit Friday night.) Joining me at the day game was the fabulous consultant Brad Blickstein, of Chicago's The Blickstein Group (above left), who took most of the photos on this page, and two terrific marketing dudes from Deloitte: Alan Numsuwan and Michael Rachlin. (We had a great conversation about off-shoring e-discovery and the impact of the economy on outsourcing.)

Two things da Yankees gotta do: 1) Get Sweet Lou (who got a standing ovation from the crowd during the Saturday game) to give us another one of  his bats to sit on top of the center field flag pole, so we can see the wind direction (Mattingly took the original from the old stadium) and 2) they HAVE to install those nylon rope bank-line things to control the concessions line from blocking traffic all the way across the huge broad concourse.

But no complaints. It's wonderful.  It's awesome. Even the birds are already finding their niches. And yes, no question about it, Aura & Mystique and the other ghosts have cheerfully crossed the street. Welcome home. 

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.

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.

ATTACK PANIC!

As we all reel with the spiraling economy, Topic A is how to dodge a pink slip.

In Law Technology News' February issue, in the article,  “Staying Afloat,”  article, IT leaders offer astute advice:

* Matt Kesner, CIO of Fenwick & West, says everybody should take on as many new duties as they possible, and “prove every day that you are worth employing.”

* Says Kraft Kennedy’s CTO Marcus Bluestein: “It’s easier to let a name go than a face,” so work on building your relationships with attorneys!

* Concurs Henry Chase, CIO of Burns & Levinson: “Show your worth. Share your knowledge. Stay on top of technology.”

MAILBAG #090222

From da inbox:

Video CLE: Ellis Mirsky says Trial.com  www.trial.com, now offers free video CLE programs. Tarrytown N.Y.'s Mirsky is exec director and GC of Trial.com, which is a network of trial lawyers and firms. They are also offering litigation management podcasts on iTunes.

Economy crunch: Samantha Carlin, of Steven Brill's Clear, says even if your law firm or company is not reimbursing users for membership in its program that helps frequent fliers circumvent long TSA lines, Clear will still set up employee discount programs, and can send over its mobile enrollment kiosk. I absolutely love Clear, especially when I'm flying in/out of JFK and SFO. Its staff are professional, courteous, and savvy. (Usual caveat: Brill used to be my boss.)  Interested? Contact Carlin here. 

John Bringarder, news editor at Law.com, caught this enticing post on Above the Law about some of the severe cutbacks at BigLaw.... including a decision by Locke Lord to shift from Lexis to LoisLaw to cut research costs. ATL also broke the classic gaffe story about the chatty commuter on Acela who loudly discussed pending layoffs at Pillsbury.

David Henderson chronicled this little faux pas by Ketchum's James Andrews who, when arriving at Memphis, carelessly Twittered that he was underwhelmed by client FedEx's home town -- which created quite the brouhaha. (Hat tip to Donna Payne for spotting it.)

ALOHA

One of the things I love about coming to Hawaii is that I pretty much stay on NYC time, so I get up at 4 a.m. (9 a.m. on da body clock) and have several hours of blissful quiet before the rest of the family gets up. Yes, yes, I know I'm a workaholic, but these days, who can afford not to be -- but anyway, it's one of the rare times when I can actually do mundane but necessary tech tasks, such as cleaning out my old e-mail & iTunes. And I can catch up on blogging!

Yes, yes, yes -- No need to nag me, I absolutely will turn the computer off when the sun comes up and I won't fire up the Samsung Saga either.

The weather in NY this winter has been particularly taxing, so it's a complete pleasure to exchange my waffle-stomper boots and the ankle-length down coat that makes me look like a football player for shorts and ridiculously touristy flip-flops bought for $8 in the Coco Cove gift shop at the Embassy Suites (a great place for families -- with large rooms and included "real" breakfast.)

We're here in Honolulu to say aloha to our dad, but it's truly an upbeat trip. Mom, all four kids (+ one wife and one ex-husband), and all five grandkids are here to celebrate his life. He had a great life, and yesterday would have been his 89th birthday. So we rented a sailboat and on a perfect morning, with quiet seas, and azure water/skies, under the flight path of HNL airport, we said goodbye and gave him to the warm Pacific Ocean. He must have liked it, because within minutes, a 747 (the plane he loved) flew right over us.

We then threw the flowers from our leis (after removing them from the string, which is hazardous to the marine critters) and it was amazing to see the flowers float and create a large beautiful circle. As trite as it sounds, it was soothing to literally see the circle of life created by the family patriarch. It brought home visually how this good man created a vibrant life and touched so many. The boat captain, Ken Middleton,  gave us the GPS coordinates so if ever we want to come back, we can.

We all laughed when we saw the name of the boat, "The Love Boat," and kept laughing and telling jokes and remembering funny moments with Dad throughout the voyage. He wouldn't have had it any other way. He would have been more than irritated if any of us starting "boo-hoo-hooing" as he would call it. If there's a common gene in our family it's most definitely irreverence.

Ken Middleton of TradewindCharters.com, was fantastic. My brother and I get horribly seasick, and I was really worried that I'd be contributing more than flowers to the sea -- but he offered a "homeopathic"  lavender oil concoction to put behind our ears. I was skeptical, but I'll try anything! I have no clue how it did, but it worked and none of us had any discomfort. Amazing!!!!!!

We ended the day watching the sun set from the Outrigger Reef hotel's boisterous open air  Shore Bird Restaurant , a perfect choice for a three-generation group, right on the beach. It's a fun place, a cross between a Brazilian Churrascaria and Benihana's (but you grill your own meat). It's loud and sassy, which prevents the kind of dinner conversations that can end up in skirmishes, always a good thing for any family. I couldn't stay up late enough for the Karaoke, but I expect a full report this morning from the grandkids. We toasted Dad one last time.

As my sister and I walked her back to the hotel, Mom summed it all up: "It was a perfect day."  It was indeed. Aloha, Daddyo.

WELCOME THEODORA BLANCHFIELD

We're delighted to introduce you to LTN's new associate editor! Theodora Blanchfield previously worked across the hallway as a staff reporter for IP Law & Business, and we could not be more thrilled to welcome her to Law Technology News.

Welcome aboard!

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Bad news, better news:

1. 800 law firm jobs were lost yesterday (maybe they did it yesterday rather than today to avoid Jason's wrath?) http://tinyurl.com/ltn213 (The Recorder).

2. Horrible news from Buffalo, Continental commuter plane down, all lost -- stunning  photos  on The New York Times' website. Adding to the misery, the flight originated in Newark, N.J., second plane incident from our area in a few weeks, and sadly this one with no miracle ending. 50 dead, including someone in the house that the plane hit.

On a MUCH happier note:

1. Terrific article by @pogue (David Pogue) in the New York Times about Twitter http://tinyurl.com/tcs213 (image courtesy of the NYT.)

2. Yesterday was not just Honest Abe's birthday, but the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of my idols (No, not Joe Torre - but I did just buy his audiobook and plan to listen to it over the long weekend) - but Darwin.

3. My colleague Jill Windwer found this hysterical "tech" rant by George Carlin. Love the jargon!

4. Another colleague, Anthony Paonita, editor-in-chief of  Corporate Counsel magazine, will discuss its new  Technology Survey via webinar on 2/19 at 1 EST: Registration info here.

Update: Mark  Reichenbach checks in, to advise me to "Forget Friday the 13th. Forget Valentines Day. Today is soooo much more: Using UNIX or POSIX time, at 6:31:30 seconds EST PM today, it will be 1234567890. Numerologists and Unix freaks will be having parties all around the world." He blogged about it here.

And I did forget about Valentines Day.. so a shout-out to all of us who don't have sweeties to celebrate with, including my mom... it's her first VD without Daddyo. May past and future joys buffer the bittersweet day. As an old friend once said, "You never know, when you wake up in the morning, what will happen that day."

May tomorrow bring us all  new possibilities for unexpected delights.

MEADOWS TO BINGHAM MCCUTCHEN

Robert Meadows, formerly CIO of Heller Ehrman, has been snared by Bingham McCutchen as its CIO --  and has made the bi-coastal move to Boston. He promises to be a Yankees fan, despite his new venue!

He'll be starting there on 2/17. Congrats!!!! Welcome to the East Coast. You're an official member of the San Fran ex-pat club.

#LTNY SO MUCH MORE TO COME!

At the end of day 2, I'm completely on fumes --  will post much more over the next few days. However, I wanted to share this picture of Gene Landoe, which Russ Curtis shot last night during our LTN Awards Dinner at Carmine's in Times Sq.  Gene has announced his retirement after a long happy career at CT, and we will all miss him and wish him the very best for the next chapter in his illustrious life!

P.S. If anybody knows how to turn off the automatic border on images/photos in Typepad, please email me. It's driving me nuts. monica.bay@incisivemedia.com

SAD NEWS FROM SF: JOHN McGUCKIN HAS DIED

 Just heard the very sad news that one of my favorite people lost his battle with cancer, John H. McGuckin. I got to know John during my Recorder days, and he was a gem. Modest, generous, good-spirited, kind  and smart, he always warmed my heart and treated everyone with dignity and joy. He retired in June after serving as GC of Union Bank of California, where he worked for 27 years.

I'm so saddened to learn that he's left our little blue ball. Here's the Chronicle obit. And the Mendocino Beacon obit.

One issue we both were very passionate about was our belief that the current system that requires lawyers to work only in the state(s) they are admitted in is flat-out silly, and should be replaced with "drivers license" jurisdiction -- eg you get admitted in one state and can practice in the other 49. Here's a wonderful article he wrote for Law Technology News on the subject.

OZ JOINS WHITE & CASE, WHICH IS RETOOLING

Oz Benamram,  formerly of MoFo, has joined White & Case as Chief Knowledge Officer.

The firm, according to our sibling blog, The Am Law Daily, is undergoing a major reorganization. "Under a new structure put in place this week, power will shift from 35 individual offices to 14 regional groups, with a renewed focus on 16 different global practices. The moves come in the wake of a four-month review by McKinsey," reports Ben Hallman.

Oz has been a member of the LegalTech educational board.

MAILBAG #082909

This year is just flying by... I'm realllllly happy to see the first hints of fall, as the humidity drops in NYC and it becomes wonderful again.

Here are a few items from the inbox:

• David Horrigan -- who manages to find some of the most interesting litigation (steady readers will recall his detailed coverage of the woes of Mr. Softee) -- wrote this recent article for The National Law Journal about a lawsuit filed in California by a disabled fan who argued that he is entitled to unobstructed views at NASCAR events. The appellate court agreed. The story was picked up by the gang over at the legal blogging team at The Wall Street Journal here.

• The American Bar Assn held its annual meeting here in NYC last month, and among the events was a session of the Scribes, a legal writers organization, who honored U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Here's West's blog about it, with video.

• Kudos to my alma mater: Also during the ABA meeting, the University of San Francisco Law School had a reception for its alum, where Dean Jeffrey Brand gave a very moving presentation about the school's continuing efforts to create a truly diverse student body -- with pretty breathtaking results. The 2007 entering class of 250 had 40% students of color -- 10% African American, 10% Hispanic, 16% Asian American, 4% other. Those are staggeringly high figures, and as a 1982 alumn, I am very proud of my law school.

Other stats tell of the challenges: Full time tuition next year will be $17,900. Nonetheless, there were 3,584 applications for 190 fulltime and 60 part time spots for the 2008 entering class. More info here.

• Henry Dicker and his team are already gearing up for LegalTech New York early next year, and are especially excited about a new feature that will launch -- the LegalTech Town Hall.
It will be lead by Patrick Oot -- Verizon's director of e-discovery and senior counsel. The idea is that LTNY attendees will be able to submit specific questions for the panel via video blog.
Patrick (a frequent speaker on LTN webinars and a member of LTN's edit board)  The session will be sponsored by Guidance Software and held Monday Feb 2 at 12:45, open to all attendees. More details will be coming soon -- you can check in at www.legaltechshow.com for updates.

Meanwhile, we're also planning a General Counsel Technology SuperSession -- produced by  Counsel Connect's editor Anthony Paonita and moi -- which we expect to record for my Law Technology Now podcasts -- after our huge success with the LegalTech West Coast FutureTech podcasts. Details TK here and on the LTNY site.

• Speaking of Anthony, he dropped by to tell me about a terrific website, www.flytecomm.com -- which tracks actual flight status. When his family was returning from Italy, and a bunch o' flights were delayed because of nasty thunderstorms, the website had more accurate arrival info than the airline staff. (Why am I not surprised?) FlyteTrax II combines graphics, maps and flight information to show enroute flights, weather and flight listings in one product. Individual flights can be tracked for free here.

• On the third anniversary of Katrina, my thoughts are not straying far from New Orleans today. I'm worried about my pals -- including Connie Nichols, Janine & Bruce Sylvas, Nancy Claypool, Tom O'Connor, Ernie Svenson, and Eric Barefield, the Brown family, et al. — please stay safe and on high ground until Gustav fades. Let's hope Mother Nature is kind this week.

A WONDERFUL TRADITION

What a fun evening last night (August 12) at the Dome in Mpls, for our SIXTH annual Twins/Yanks fest! Michael Medwig, Marnie Maroney & I hosted the event, which drew about 50 folks for a lively evening of beisbol and conversation!

We had a blast in section 222, with contingents from Thomson/Reuters/West, Kroll, Merrill, the EDD consultants gang, Teri "Jersey Girl" McCarron and her entourage, Amy Juers' Edge Legal Marketing crew, Dorsey, Parsinen Kaplan, et al. It was also delightful that LTN's former associate editor, Katie Montgomery and her mom could join us! What a great group.

It was great opportunity to see everybody, chat about the latest developments, and see a great game, with so many ups and downs that the fans of both teams were happy. (The Yanks won, but only after the Twins' Delmond Young hit a home run off Mariano Rivera to take the game into extra innings).

Thanks to everybody for joining us for such a memorable evening! Thanks as always to the Twin's fabulous Luis Breazeale and Lisa Rasmussen for taking such very good care of us!

Here's a quick photo album.

MAILBAG #073008

Here we go!

• Microsoft Corp. has announced a new Law Firm Diversity Program, aimed at increasing the number of women and minority attorneys within its outside counsel. It's putting money where its mouth is -- by changing its legal fee structure so that each of the company's 17 "Premier Preferred Provider" firms is now eligible for a 2% quarterly or annual bonus, based on whether it achieves "concrete diversity results." GC Brad Smith conceived the plan. "Microsoft is a global company and cannot be effective if it cannot understand and appreciate the interests and needs of the incredibly diverse array of individuals who make up its stakeholder groups," the company asserted in its announcement.

Despite "good intentions," the legal profession has a disappointing track record on attracting and keeping women and minorities, acknowledges Smith. Only 18% of partners at large firm are women, and only 5.4% are minorities, he says.

Internally, Microsoft says it is also holding senior execs accountable for the success of the program, tying 5% of Smith's  (and other legal/corp affairs execs) bonus to diversity improvements of the PPP participants. It also pledged to increase fees to diversity firms by .5%, increase representation of women at more senior levels within its legal/corp affairs ranks by 1% and increase minorities in U.S. posts by .5%. It will also continue to host programs promoting diversity in the profession.

Pardon my cynicism, but those goals seem pretty tiny. I would have liked to have seen the goals be higher than .5% and 1%. But then, given Microsoft's scope and influence, hopefully the pressure will help. It really is shameful that in 2008, our profession has done so poorly in attracting and retaining women and minorities. But it's also not a simplistic issue, and it is loaded with subtleties (many women argue that they do not WANT BigFirmHaveNoLife jobs). But sexism and racism is alive and thriving in the real world, so even if the goals are modest, kudos to Brad Smith Redmond for spotlighting such an important cause. Let's hope his goals are exceeded by double digits!

 

• The delightful Tom Collins reports that his first mystery book, Mark Rollins' New Career & the Women's Health Club, is now available on Amazon.

Lemme give him the mic:

    After selling Juris to Lexis/Nexis and turning over the reins of the blog MorePartnerIncome.com to others, I ventured into a new career as a mystery writer. [The book] is the first of what I expect to be a series of mysteries featuring Mark Rollins as an ex-software entrepreneur turned amateur sleuth. 

    We are not talking about the great American novel. This is the kind of book you buy for airports and travel. It is a fast read that pokes a little fun here and there, but the mystery is a serious one. I enjoyed writing it and believe you will find reading it equally enjoyable.

As for next adventure of Mark Rollins, I had started a second book involving attempts on the life of the rainmaker of a fictional law firm when the project was interrupted by a return of my colon cancer. I had surgery in May and will be dealing with radiation and chemo for the remainder of the year. In spite of this temporary setback, Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker should be on internet bookshelves by 2009.

Here's to Tom, with our warmest wishes and thoughts for a SPEEDY recovery and many, many, many more adventures of Mr. Collins & Mr. Rollins.

• Michael Goldblatt checks in to let us know that his Computer Newsletter's August edition contains links to Chevron GC Charles James' keynote address at this summer's LegalTech West Coast. The newsletter targets Louisiana legal professionals, and includes product reviews, mobility tools, trial practice tips, marketing resources, and more. For more info, visit www.lawyerscomputergroup.com.

• Lana Schell, who is active in the Women in E-Discovery Philadelphia chapter,  is participating in a Breast Cancer 3 Day event benefiting the Susan G. Koman for the Cure program. She'll walk 60 miles and would appreciate donations to help her exceed her $2,200 goal. 411 here.

 

MAILBAG #070608

Catching up with incoming e-mail!

* Bob Johnston, of the Executive Council in NYC, checks in to tell us that if you were unable to attend the recent (excellent) program about "Green IT" you can watch highlights online here.

I attended the program, and was especially impressed with Microsoft's chief environmental strategist, Robert Bernard. Also speaking: Dell Inc.'s Head of Environmental Affairs, Michael Murphy; 1E's CEO and CTO, Sumir Karayi; Weber Shandwick's EVP and Cleantech guru, Paul Jensen, and Brian Dumaine, discussing his new book, The Plot to Save the Planet - How Visionary Entrepreneurs and Corporate Titans are Creating Real Solutions to Global Warming."

* The American Lawyer's Richard Peck alerts us that K&L Gates is now the official name of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis. The firm also announced the 7/1 merger with Kennedy Covington.

* Change of the guard: Leah Bilotta has handed the marketing manager reins at RainMaker Software Inc. to Matthew Altemus, former Marketing Associate. Bilotta has accepted another position and is relocating to Saratoga Springs, New York. It's been a pleasure working with Leah, and we wish her well. Welcome, Matt.

* Michigan's Enrico Schaefer reports on a new website design for his firm, Traverse Legal, www.traverselegal.com.  "Note that the blogs are fully-integrated into the remainder of the law firm website. There is no distinction in design, colors, logos, etc. between the nine distinct blogs which each capture a distinct practice area of the firm.  Note that the homepage pulls in the last three posts from each blog, creating rotating dynamic content."

* Ari Kaplan notes that his new book, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development, has been published by Thomson West.

* Lindsey Goodrich, of Chesapeake Interlink Ltd., checks in to tell us that there's a new website for Needles case management software. It offers a new look, an updated menu structure, additional features and information, with a more comprehensive organization of content areas. "We wanted pages that exhibited a high-tech, sophisticated, animated, engaging, and dynamic web presence," says marketing director Mary Ellen Bellusci.

* Whoppee! UAL's Ted is gone, and UAL is going Star Alliance with Continental. My mom found this article in USA Today by David Grossman about the great news that UAL has executed Ted -- it's discount program that tried to compete with the likes of Southwest. I hated Ted from the outset, and was always stuck on it when I traveled to Phoenix -- and always tried to manuveur my itinerary to avoid it, so I'm thrilled. I'm also thrilled that UAL had the good sense, when merger talks failed, to set up Star Alliance status with Continental, which has a superb reputation (and yes, is the official airline of the Yankees, for what that's worth, so I see a lot of their ads). It always drove me nuts when I was at Sky Harbor to have to walk right past the Continental nonstop Phx/Newark flight when I was headed to the Ted flights and a miserable 12 hour trip home with connections.

* Finally, Susannah Smith offers two gems: First, this link to Eco*Systems, which offers "green" trade show exhibits etc.

And this "BallGirl" video, which has many folks buzzing about whether it's real or faked: Download Ballgirl.wmv. Says Susannnah: "This is from my close friend Jack Rains who was chair of the Houston-Harris County Sports Authority when the  (now) Minute Maid Stadium was built."

It's an absolute hoot! 

ANDY'S A STAR

Check this out!!! LTN edit board member Andy Jurczyk, CIO of Sonnenschein, stars in this new Apple video about the new iPhone 2.0:

Click on "Hear What IT executives are saying about iPhone 2.0" video.

The production quality is amazing!

Update: for some reason, they have removed the video from the site, but you can still see Andy if watch Jobs' keynote.

SNEAK PREVIEW: FUTURETECH AT LTWC

We've been  putting the final touches on the upcoming, first-time ever  Law Technology News Presents FutureTech  at LegalTech West Coast.

We're calling it "The Trifecta" inside ALM, because it's the first time  we've conceived an effort that includes a live presentation, podcasts, and an LTN report.

And I'm updating this post today (June 4) with exciting news: FutureTech will be sponsored by BlueArc, a San Jose-based company that provides "high performance unified network storage systems to enterprise markets, as well as data intensive markets, such as electronic discovery, entertainment, federal government, higher education, internet services, oil and gas and life sciences."

BlueArc supports "both network attached storage, or NAS, and storage area network, or SAN, services on a converged network storage platform." We're thrilled to have them as our sponsor of FutureTech!

Here's the 411:

1. Live: Day-long FutureTech track presentation at LegalTech West Coast (L.A.) on Friday, June 27.

2. Podcasts: Podcast package of six standalone presentations, for our Law Technology Now   podcasts (created in partnership with Law.com and Legal Talk Network).

3. Law Technology News (print/digital/website): We'll run a “FutureTech" story, in the August 2008 edition, based on the topics in the track.

FutureTech Live Program at LegalTech West Coast

Panel description: The legal profession is undergoing a dramatic change as firms face a future where clients expect “better, faster, cheaper” legal services, demand use of technology, and require accountability. No longer can law firms be run behind closed doors, managed like private clubs. Today’s firms must compete to win — and retain — business, and are expected to demonstrate the same priorities as their clients: for quality work, diversity, cost management, and responsiveness. This track will explore how firms and clients are responding to these challenges. 

Law Technology News’ editor-in-chief Monica Bay  will moderate all panels

1. Sell Your Tech 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
It’s no longer enough for firms to win business based on legal skills alone. Today’s savvy firms realize that they must offer top-line technology to win and keep clients. Our panelist will share how their firms have integrated technology tools, such as extranets and wikis, to increase collaboration and better serve their clients’ expectations.

Doug Caddell  —  CIO, Foley & Lardner.
Rob Kahn — Director, Business Development, Fenwick & West
Robin Solomon – Firmwide Knowledge Manager, Heller Ehrman

Green Law 1:30-3 pm
It’s Not Easy Going Green.... Or is It? Using technology tools to create a “green” workplace will not only lower your energy consumption, it will increase productivity, morale, profits, improve lifestyles and health, cut costs, and help you get, and keep, new clients. How your organization can establish a program, from leadership needed to concrete programs that work.

Alvidas Jasin, Director of Business Development, Thompson Hine
Bruce Lymburn, Partner, Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean
Tony Hoke, Global Technology Purchasing/Asset Manager, Morrison & Foerster

TomorrowLand  3:30-5 pm

Where is legal community headed, and what challenges does it face, as technology becomes embedded in every facet of our lives? From delivering the best possible legal services to our clients; to providing opportunities to excel in the workplace and at home; to confronting the challenges of competing interests in a global economy; it’s a heady challenge to move forward. Named for the iconic futuristic venue at Disneyland, this panel will showcase six legal technology leaders who will forecast what lies ahead — and where opportunities may abound.
 
J. Craig Williams – Partner, The Williams Lindberg Law Firm  (Tech & Law in Multi-jurisdictional Practices)
Craig Ball – Consultant/Attorney (Crystal Ball: Future of E-Discovery)
Douglas Caddell — CIO, Foley & Lardner (Next Generation – Systems & People)
Peter Hsiao — Head, Land Use & Environmental law Group, Morrison & Foerster (CleanTech)
Tom Baldwin — Chief Knowledge Officer, Reed Smith (Relationship Capital) 
Judith Flournoy – CIO, Loeb & Loeb  (Leadership)

I got the idea for the TomorrowLand sessions from TED (Technology Entertainment Design) -- the Silicon Valley think tank that produces amazing conferences where speakers are allowed exactly 18 minutes to talk. That's it. 18 minutes.

I loved the concept, so I'm trying this format (15 minutes) for the third session of the track -- AND -- we are going to tape them to create "Almost Live from LegalTech West Coast" -- six standalone podcasts for my Law Technology Now series (a joint project between Law.com & Legal Talk Network -- you can even subscribe on iTunes!

Finally, the LTN component: We'll produce at least one article in the August LTN, which will be available in print, digital and website versions.

We are tremendously excited about this first-ever Live/Podcast/Print/Digital/Website effort, and we hope you will join us at LegalTech West Coast, on June 27. And listen, and read! About the only media we're NOT doing (yet) is TV -- but don't rule that out for the future. Let me know what you think!

GOODBYE, HELLO

Martha Fay Africa, a former member of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board, has boomeranged right back to the legal headhunting firm that bears her name. I'll turn it over to my colleagues, reporter Niraj Chokshi and photograph Jason Doiy, at The Recorder:

After leaving almost exactly one year ago, recruiter Martha Fay "Marty" Africa has returned to the legal search firm that bears her name.

Africa, who will regain her managing director title, returned to Major, Lindsey & Africa on May 8, though the firm only announced it in a press release Wednesday. Africa, who had spent the past year with Hodge Niederer Cariani Lindsay, a small executive search firm in San Francisco, said she returned after Roland Dumas, a good friend and colleague at Major, Lindsey, asked her to come back.

"We missed her desperately," Dumas said. "Marty's contribution is passion."

"It felt like a really genuine reaching out," Africa said, "and I felt I should really think about this."

Africa, who had spent 24 years with the firm by the time she left last May, was the first recruiter to join Robert Major in the 1980s. By the time she left last year, it had about 110 recruiters.

"It was never sort of my career goal to be part of a large organization," she told The Recorder last year. She left because she felt she was better suited "to a smaller boutique situation," she said then.

Now Major, Lindsey has about 150 recruiters and more than 20 offices, according to its Web site, which describes it as the world's largest legal search firm.

Hodge Niederer, in contrast, now boasts 20 partners and associates on its Web site.

"I was ambivalent about the [Major, Lindsey firm's] growth," Africa said Wednesday, "because for me growth meant you didn't have people that you know as well . . . working in the firm."

But, after spending some time away from the lawyers and the firm where she has built her career, she had a change of heart. As for her prior concerns about growth, she said, "I've learned to relax a whole lot about that."

And while she had cashed in her partnership years before leaving Major, Lindsey in 2007, she said Wednesday she's considering buying back in. "I don't see any need to be a partner, but I think the firm would like me to be a partner."

Some legal recruiters at other firms say it can be tough to transition out of the legal search field.

"It's very difficult to go from a farmer to a fisherman," said L. William Nason, of Watanabe Nason Schwartz & Lippman in San Diego.

"I take my hat off to her for taking the challenge," he added. "The difficulty is unimaginable."

Valerie Fontaine, of Seltzer Fontaine Beckwith in Los Angeles, said that the differences between executive and legal search drove her and her partners to spin their firm out of a larger corporate recruiting firm where they had worked.

"What we did as legal recruiters was very different from what corporate recruiters were doing," she said.

Also, the competition is different. They found themselves up against "tens" of local legal recruiters, while the corporate search folks were facing half a dozen national competitors, she said. "You have to approach it differently."

Africa said her transition to an executive search firm, while not without its wrinkles, hadn't been very difficult, because prior to that at Major, Lindsey she'd been working on retained in-house placement, matching up corporations with legal executives.

At the Hodge firm, she said, she placed people for various positions, including vice presidents of human resources, chief financial officers and chief compliance officers.

MAIL BAG #060108

On the road again..... catchin' up with the
in-box:

* Upcoming Webinars:

-- TutorPro Ltd. is offering TutorAuthor NG, designed to help law firms create online educational programs. There are six sessions scheduled this summer.

-- Guille Rayala of Workshare is inviting you to a Workshare/Microsoft webcast on automating enterprise contract management. It will be held June 10, at 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. East coast time.

* Congrats to Jonathan Ezor and the gang at the Touro Law Center's Institute of Business, Law & Technology. They are celebrating their 5th year anniversary with a bash on June 18 at the Long Island facility. Details here: _invitation.pdf

* Also celebrating a year 5 milestone is "Excited Utterances," a newsletter created by editors Joy London and Sean Hockings. It covers KM, tech, publishing, blogging, open source, and web 2.0 topics, all aimed specifically at the legal community. Check out the current issue here, which has subscription info: Download llneu_149_23_may_2008.pdf

* The San Jose Mercury News is going digital, check it out here.

* United Airlines' Red Carpet Club now offers free wi-fi -- it's still from T-Mobile but you no longer have to be a subscriber, you can simply use your RCC membership number to access it. UAL is also following suit of other airline clubs, and now you can purchase a 1-day pass online for $50 -- that can come in handy as gifts or if you have extra guests with you.

* Deborah Novachick checks in with a report about her efforts to raise money for the Tall Ships Education project.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. By the last report we raised $1,800. So wonderful, wonderful. This has been a great experience for me.  It is a lot of work to get it all organized, but then you get to e-mail everyone, and hear from so many people.  Very much a community experience.  I am big on community.

Stayed in roughly the same geographic area all my life, went to college and lived among a very dedicated community of educators, stayed in the same career and industry all my life, and got involved in a lot of community activities. Started in kindergarten when a neighbor who was an elementary school teacher rounded up all the little neighborhood girls to start a Blue Birds group. We all stayed together from Blue Birds, to Campfire Girls, to Jr. High Campfire Girls. Then we went on to sports, cheerleading, student office, peer counseling, and, not surprisingly, many of us ended up in professions like counseling, consulting, lawyering, teaching, real estate, and nursing.

For a bunch of little girls we had some amazing adventures (at 11 I broke my foot when tobogganing with two of the most adventurous girls in Lake Tahoe -- between a Propane tank and a telephone pole – don’t try this at home -- and then I messed around on my cast so much that I had to wear assorted casts for SIX MONTHS – became known, affectionately, as “the gimp” at school, but hey, for 6 months I got out of classes early and had someone carrying my books!) 

We kept widening our circle of friends, helping each other, and adding new mentors until we grew up.  Then we continued to seek out mentors.  And eventually we found ourselves mentoring others.  I can’t imagine what my life would be like without learning firsthand (experiential education) how warm and generous people can be.  And what we can accomplish as a team, a community. 

I realize now that we were pretty poor as kids.  But I had no idea at the time.  We seemed to be surrounded by people who had so much to share. 

I hope the girls at the Tall Ship Education come away with that feeling that so many things are possible.  I have been prepping for a speech on generational differences in October, so I understand better now that outlooks can be very different depending on the times one grows up in.

But the answer seems to be diversity and communication.  And that was exactly what my integrated public schools, the teachers, and mentors showed us when we were kids. And it is what the “Experiential Education” approach behind TSEA’s programs teaches. TSEA creates an environment where a highly diverse community is intent on a very important goal that benefit to the community (i.e., not to sink the ship and all one’s shipmates And then the magic happens.

BODINE ON SOCIAL NETWORKING & CMOs

Let's turn the mic over to Larry Bodine, member of LTN's edit board and speaker extraordinaire: 

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to let you know that I will be a speaker for an upcoming Law Journal Newsletters webinar, "Getting New Business from Online Social Networks," on Thursday, May 15, 2008 from 12:00PM — 2:00PM Eastern Time.

Thousands of lawyers have created profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and Plaxo Pulse — but they don't know how to use them to get new clients and make more money. Yet with the right approach, online social networking can be a powerful tool for generating new business, as some in the legal profession are beginning to discover.

This live web audio conference will examine the promise of social networking for lawyers, with particular emphasis on LinkedIn because of its business-orientation. Featuring detailed guidance on specific capabilities and features, it will explain how you can use social networks to:

* Get professional introductions
* Find and stay in touch with former colleagues
* Ask questions of everyone in your network
* Seek endorsements and recommendations
*Search for jobs
*Use a social networking listing as a web page alternative
*Join or start an SIG
and more

As a special favor, Law Journal Newsletters (ALM) has arranged a special discount for my clients/colleagues.  You can receive 30% off the registration price or CD-ROM of the presentation when you use promo code 2215083

Register up until May 14th  or by phone at 212-313-9248.

P.S. From Mon -- be sure to tell them you saw it on The Common Scold :)

P.P.S. Larry's a very busy dude. He will also be chairing ALM's Chief Marketing Forum: Modern Business Development program, Sept. 16-17 at the Westin NY. Details here or contact Karen Abrams here.

 

LAWYERS ON AMERICAN IDOL?

Monica Phillips Jalil (director of mktg) and the gang at Washington, D.C.'s Ross, Dixon & Bell are pulling out the stops for their former partner Will Hopkins, who is one of 20 finalists in American Idol's Songwriter Contest. Let me turn over the mic:

If selected, his song, “When You Come From Nothing,” will be recorded and released as the first single by the winner of American Idol. The song is also performed on American Idol by the two finalists on the next-to-the-last show and then is performed by the winner immediately after claiming the crown. And the song goes on the American Idol's first album, which can sell millions of copies.

Cast your vote now! Go to the website,  listen to the finalists, and rank the songs. The name of the song will pop up as you listen to each song, but the songwriters are not identified. The voting runs through April 23. (Wednesday)

How did Will Hopkins go from lawyer to songwriter? In 2000, with no musical training whatsoever, [he] decided to start composing songs. He had always written them in his head and he finally decided to do something about it.

He woke up one morning and realized that “at my core, I’m a songwriter and when I die I want my tombstone to say ‘songwriter,’ ” Will said.

Just five months after writing his first song, he announced that he was leaving the practice of law to focus full-time on his songwriting career. In 2001, he did just that and for the last six years he has split his time between Washington, D.C. and Nashville. In the last two years, eight of Will’s songs have been recorded by independent artists, and he has won numerous honors and awards.

Will Hopkins is a songwriter on the verge of a really big breakthrough. As a finalist for the American Idol Songwriter Contest, this could be his big break. American Idol is truly a cultural phenomenon, with something like 30 million people watching each show. His song, “When You Come From Nothing,” was one of literally “tens of thousands” of entries to make it to the final twenty.

Law firm partner turned American Idol songwriter? It could just happen for Will Hopkins and his song, “When You Come From Nothing.”

MAILBOX #041308

Checkin' the inbox after my Twin Cities trip:
 
* Peter Buck, the ever-hip San Francisco-based "chief technical architect" at Baker Robbins & Co., wants to give you a heads up if you are planning to attend Interwoven's upcoming Gear UP 2008 conference later this month. He's inviting you to participate in a one hour Interwoven/BRCO "Mini Bar Camp" Thursday April 24, from 9:30-10:30 am PST. (It's limited to folks planning to attend Gear Up 2008.)

I'm new to this whole BarCamp concept but here's wikipedia's explanation.

Buck and Neil Araujo will serve as session leaders and they'll screen the topics and choose five attendee leaders to lead discussions. Confused? E-mail Buck, who, btw, is the author of a terrific article in the next issue of LTN, about wikis. (I'll add a  link when the issues goes live.)

* Bruce Marcus is upset about an add that appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

* Bruce MacEwen  reviews Altman Weil's Legal Transformation Study, released late last month. Four possible scenarios for delivery of legal services between now and 2020 are outlined, including:

Blue-Chip Mega-Mania: A model that emphasizes the global consolidation of legal service providers and the dominance of giant law firms with vast global presence and offerings spanning all legal areas.

-Expertopia: A scenario that envisions the increasing complexity of the law and challenges of corporations operating in multiple environments worldwide, thereby placing a premium on specialization and expert-driven cultures at legal services organizations.

E-Marketplace: A model built on the premise that technology will be a catalyst, but not the core, for an industry transformation in which an array of Web-based technologies will make information more available and expert judgment more valuable.

Techno-Law: A scenario that contemplates rising corporate investment in automation capabilities throughout the legal services industry, leaving only the high-end services to be delivered by legal professionals and potentially requiring a complete reconstruction of the traditional business models in the legal services industry.

Disclosure: ALM has just bought Altman Weil Publications.

* Stuart Brodsky checks in to let us know he's left his spot as National Program Manager, Commercial Properties, for the EPA's Energy Star program:

Anna Stark at the EPA will be continuing to coordinate outreach to you and your peers. To smooth her transition, we are requesting that any questions you would have for me be forwarded to Sandra Khananusit (khananusit@icfi.com) at ICFI International. ICF will review your inquiry and identify if it should be immediately addressed by EPA, or managed by one of the many consulting support team members who have gotten to know many of you so well over the years.

I'll update you when Stuart lets us know his next gig.

* "Ed Post" of BlawgReview, with a hat tip to Kevin O'Keefe, spotted this breaking news about the Yankees and NY's Belluck & Fox law firm. :) Check out the firm's URL: www.homerunlegal.com. (They do mesothelioma and other PI cases).

PASSION & WORK

Got to Minneapolis last Saturday, in time for the Minnesota Daily's annual awards and alumni dinner.  I cut my journalism teeth at the Daily in the '70s, at the height of Watergate, when everyone wanted to be a journalist. We watched Nixon resign, all huddled over the lone TV in the newsroom.

I actually got my foot in the door at the Daily as a rock and roll reviewer. Jon Bream, then Arts & Entertainment editor, hired me because he thought it would be novel for a girl to cover rock, and the rest, as they say, is history. I ultimatley succeeded JB as A&E editor, did some rock and roll radio before going to law school, and then landed at San Francisco's The Recorder -- beginning my 23-year stint at ALM. Bream's been at the StarTribune for more than 30 years now, as its authoritative music critic.  (Here's his review of the eclectic Nellie McKay concert at Dakota April 6.)

The keynote speaker for the Daily's event was the venerable, veteran Jim Ragsdale, who heads up the St. Paul Pioneer Press' editorial pages. He gave a thoughtful, guarded, warm speech encouraging the young journalists to be flexible as print media morphs into digital, and advised them that they, unlike their elders, probably will NOT find their careers dominated by a single employer. It was timely, and appropriate.

As awards were given out to the year's top staffers, I was struck at how almost all the presentations were stressing the business side of the Daily, and especially on new media "forms of content" (the emergence of digital, etc.). The word "employee" was mentioned frequently, as the plaques honoring hard work were handed out. The top editorial award went to a production staffer, but there was no statement made about why she won it, other than she worked hard.

Afterwards, I was puzzled by my reaction to the evening, until it struck me. During the entire event, no one REALLY talked about journalism. About the passion and drive you need to get the story, report it carefully and right, quickly make corrections; not be afraid to take on established entities. The whole important, vital role of the "fourth estate" -- to monitor power: the government, the agencies, the people who have it, to protect the rights of all.

Granted, I, too, have been obsessed with the forms of content, as Law Technology News quickly evolves into a multi-media enterprise with podcasts, webinars, blogs, etc. And as I recently said on Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs Q&A, journalists are not the only sources of important content.

But it does trouble me that the youngsters in Minnesota, traditionally a nurturing ground of world-class journalists, seem more concerned with running a business than generating excellent journalism. When JB and I paced the worn concrete floors of Murphy Hall, we would have been appalled at being called employees. We were reporters and editors. (Nor did our meager wages hardly qualify us to be employees).

Hopefully that's just a glitch, and at next year's awards session, we'll hear more about the STORIES they produced and less about the mechanics of story production.

(No slight intended to the important business-side folks.)

QUICK TRIP TO MSP

Special thanks to the gang at Kroll Ontrack and at Merrill, for taking time from their very busy schedules to meet with us last week in the Twin Cities. Our conversations were terrific, and nuanced. We talked about everything from how customer service will be a differentiator as the vendor wars escalate, to  how everybody's trying to position themselves to provide effective counseling to their clients who are struggling to grapple with e-discovery.

Kudos to Craig Levinsohn , Allison Guidette and Daniel Pelc at Merrill, and  Michele Lange and her team (including Christian Betancourt and Kaitlin Creager) for all their insights. We also had a chance to touch bases with Benjamin Green, operations manager of ComputerForensic Services. And we always enjoy a chance to feast at the St. Paul Grille with the Thomson West gang (Gretchen DeSutter, John Shaughnessy, Jeff Patrias, and Melissa Deml). (We'll be returning to Mpls in early June for a more extended visit to Eagan).

On the EDD front, both Kroll and Merrill "get" that the profession is in desperate need of education on the complex challenges they face. Toward that goal, among the many materials both vendors have been producing are white papers, surveys, podcasts and webinars.

Here are some samples:

From Merrill:
* Total Evidence Management: A winning Approach to Complex Litigation.
* Authenticating Digital Evidence: Identify and Avoid the Weak Links in Your Chain of Custody.

From Kroll:
* Electronic Discovery Filtering: Early Processing Metrics Technology: Download kroll_ontrack_early_processing_metrics.doc

* ESI Trends Report  Download 2008_esi_trends_report.pdf (Also, see next post).

MAILBAG #040708

Joe Howie reports that the latest edition of the Association of Litigation Support Professionals' ALSP Update newsletter is available here. It includes an overview of ARMA Int'l (records/info mgmt), and an advisory about new North Carolina regulations for forensics folks (e.g., licensing requires that you've been a licensed PI for 3 years). The group is also developing an EDD checklist.

* Seattle's Kevin O'Keefe has released his "State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere Report," which notes significant growth in blogging. Last year, says O'Keefe, only 39 firms were blogging. Today, he sez,  more than 25% have jumped on the bandwagon, and 10% have multiple blogs. Special thanks, also, to KOK, for including moi in his series of Q&As, by Rob La Gatta.

* Maureen Richmond, of NorthLich,  wants to be sure you know about the Diversity "Call to Action" Summit that will be held April 24-23 in Scottsdale. It will bring together about 100 managing partners, GC and chief legal officers to address this challenge. Among the speakers is  Supreme Ct. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. 411 here.

* Aloha: Ed Jorcyzk, global director of tech for Morrison & Foerster, has hung up his hat... opting for the lure of balmy waves. He's debating a new lifestyle in either Hawaii or Ft. Lauderdale, so we'll letcha know when he next checks in. In the meantime, CIO Jo Haraf has stalled her pending departure for a few months. Never a dull moment at MoFo.

* Only in NoLa: Tom O'Connor brings us news of the "Stella-Yella-Thon," that was part of the annual Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans. Toooooo kewl. I'm headed to NoLa shortly to join Tom and the Crescent City gang for the Louisiana Bar's Solo and Small Firm Conference. May 8-9. Can't wait.

* JoAnna Forshee, of Envision Agency, reports that Legal Marketing News has been retired, and replaced with www.InsideLegal.com newsletter. It covers U.S. and U.K. legal events, marketing tips, PR practices, etc.

* Stephanie Peck Hall, of CompuLaw, is raising money to fight pancreatic cancer -- which also took the life of our ALM colleague Jim Giordano last year. To help her reach her goal, visit her website here.

* Bruce Marcus checks in with a reminder that his latest "Bruce Marcus Letter on Professional Services" is available here. The current issue includes a downloadable white paper, "Productivity: A Primer for the Competitive Firm."

* Kraft Kennedy's Michael Kraft spotted this BBC video about a car that runs on air. Now that's going green! 

* And speaking of green, Carrie Brown offers info about the Green Event Summit, scheduled for (of course) San Francisco, June 12-13.

* David Lat notes that it's not a good idea to try to board a plane with bomb-making materials. (Hat tip to "Ed Post" of Blawg Review.)

* Speaking of Ed, he wants you to know about BlawgReview #152 (TechnoLawyer!) Check it out here.

* Annie Martel, webmaster of Templateswise invites you to visit her site which offers free templates for Microsoft Corp. PowerPoint presentations.

* Chicago's Ron Stevens forwards this lament on behalf of all Cubs fans: Download cubs-futility-20080323.doc 

IT'S SPRING... FINALLY!

What a wonderful break from New York's winter weather... Five days in Tampa, with the good company of some of our legal tech denizens in Rays-ville. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's no longer the toothy, gritty DEVIL Rays, it's just plain bland Rays. Somebody ought to fire THAT marketer...)

Sunday, it was a road trip to the land o' the Pirates, in Brandenton - about an hour south of Tampa, over spectacular blue waters and a 5.5 mile gorgeous bridge, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which is very aptly named.  (Here's the NY Times architecture review).  According to wikipedia, it's the world's longest bridge with a cable-stayed main span. (Photo courtesy of Bridgeworld.net).

Anyway, trusty Garmin "Jill" kinda tilted once we got to Brandenton. She (nuvi 200) is good, but not perfect, and kept insisting on sending us to an area of town decidedly more devoted to chihuaha dogs and beer than to beisbol. It was an interesting scenic tour, but we quickly defaulted to the tried-and-true "ask a gas station dude" method, and with his directions, finally found the charming McKechnie Field at 1611 9th street WEST (not east, as Jill insisted on sending us).

Anyway -- the "we" in this case being the intrepid Teri "Jersey Girl" McCarron (of Minnesota's McCarron Advanced Computing Services Inc.) and her boyfriend Teddy Lindgren, who shows great bravery going out in public with us when Teri and I are bedecked in Yankees-wear.

We absolutely loved McKenchnie Field. Alan Byrd sums it up in his Florida Spring Training guidebook: 'Everything seems to be a little better here than at most Spring Training sites. The grass is greener, the people friendlier, the stadium prettier and the atmospher livelier." He says it's because just about everybody at the facility is a volunteer -- and baseball and the Pirates "are woven into the fabric of the town." The local boosters raised the bucks to renovate the stadium, and they run it. It's beyond charming.

Teri is so enthusiastic, she makes me look like a wall flower, and she soon was engaged to the Parrott, or was it Mike the Super Beer man (above)? Who knows! But EVERYBODY has fun when Teri's at a game. Even Doug Mientkiewicz waved at us from right field -- and then after the game, shook Jersey Girl's hand and signed my cap after we urged him to come back to the Bronx. (Cashman was with him and grinned at our suggestion).

It was a balmy, wonderful afternoon, and the perfect way to spend an Easter Sunday. Who cares that just about none of the superstars players were on the lineup card, and the boys lost, it was a complete hoot.

Monday, it was back to Legends Field, for a chilly night game that was a slug-fest win for the Yanks. Joining ALM's Mike Medwig (left) et moi was Denise Malivuk, (right) marketing manager, and her colleague Tracey McSheffrey, (middle) of Hudson Legal. Two delightful women, they updated us on the activities of their international company (with operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia). Hudson places attorneys, paralegals and legal support professionals, in both permanent and temp posts. It targets both corporate law departments and outside counsel -- and has been particularly active in the emerging area of e-discovery, specializing in large-scale lit matters, antitrust reviews, goverment investigations, and other matters that are document intensive.

Denise and I had a fascinating conversation about how EDD is changing the career terrain, especially for lit support folks. (I'll be speaking on that topic next month at ALM's Paralegal conference in NYC).

Tuesday, we wrapped up our 2008 adventure with a trip to Winter Haven, to Cleveland turf (although they probably are moving to Arizona next year) at the Chain of Lakes Park complex - about 70 minutes east of Tampa. Another charming stadium, (although we won't talk about how poorly organized and congested the parking situation was).

It was terrific to spend time with David Bailey, president of DocuLex (right) and Tim Nissen (left) the company's marketing czar. The company recently sold its Discovery Cracker product to CT (to the CT Summation unit), and has decided to focus on document management as its "core competency." We had a great time learning about its operation, until it was time to head back west. Oh yeah, they lost.

Now it's time to head north -- with my newly-autographed hat (The Parrott, the beerman, the bullpen catcher, and Dougie, who we want back in the Bronx), new and renewed friendships  -- and just a hint of a sunburn. Spring Training has been great, but now it's time for the games that count.

Monday! Opening Day! Whoopeeee! Let's go YANKEES.

As always, click on images to enlarge. Photo album here.

DRIZZLED OUT IN TAMPA

I won't even begin to bore you about how difficult it was to fly on Thursday. Two words: Spring Break (for every child in America.) Two more words: Easter weekend. Two more words: Winds & LaGuardia. One word: Delays. Two words: Tight connections. Opps. You're bored. Moving right along!

Friday night was perfect beisbol weather, and it was fun to defrost in Tampa on a balmy warm night -- with a Yankees 2-run 8th inning rally to breakup a scoreless encounter with a very impressive Tampa Bay Rays team. This may be the year the Rays aren't in the cellar all season!

But a cold front came in Saturday morning, and with it some insistent drizzle -- Rick Georges and I were disappointed when the Toronto/ Yanks game was called in the second inning, so we moved to drier quarters to continue our conversation over lunch. Rick, a St. Petersburg solo, is the author of the FutureLawyer blog, which he is extremely devoted to -- in fact, he posts several times a day (something that is breathtaking in and of itself). A morning person, he gets up around 5:30 a.m., before his family is awake, and spends about three hours scouting out the latest gadgets, tools, commentaries, etc., he told me.

His blog, which is featured on the Law.com Blog Network, is always unpredictable: in the last few days he has written about a Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1, Palm Addicts Phone Favs, How to Stay Happily Married, the dangers of BigFirm lifestyles, and about Novell fighting Microsoft over WordPerfect. He even wrote a post about how his Bluetooth headset survived being chewed on by his dog.

Georges' blog has been featured as Typepad's Featured Blog, and he just co-authored the cover story on The ABA Journal, taking the PC side of a Mac v. PC shootout. He's a true character, as anyone would guess from perusing his blog. It was a great afternoon.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

LIVE FROM CHICAGO: ABA TECHSHOW

Just arrived at ABA TechShow late Friday.... I'm presenting Saturday morning (i.e., today) on one of two "Green" panels... Do stop by if you're in the 'hood (Chicago Hilton):

* Lara Pearson and Arthur Harrington (left) will present "Meeting the ABA EPA Law Office Climate Challenge, from 8:30 am - 9:30 a.m., then I will join them for the 9:45 panel, "Small Footprint - Big Impact:" Improving Client Services with Sustainable Practices. (Northwest 3).

* After our panel, stick around for the ABA TechShow's signature panel, "60 Sites in 60 Minutes," which closes out the event, and features Craig Ball (LTN's EDD columnist), TechShow chair Tom Mighell, and D.C.'s own Reid Trautz  in the Grand Ballroom.

Can't attend? No prob: Check out the blog reports:

* The aforementioned Tom Mighell.

* Robert Ambrogi on Law.com's  LegalBlogWatch offers links.

* Larry Bodine is blogging (and also on assignment for LTN, scoping out the latest social media issues -- keep an eye out for his report in the April Law Technology News).

* Kevin O'Keefe's (right) team is also live-blogging, with a very interesting concept -- Rob La Gatta is interviewing some of the tech community's leaders, including Jim Calloway, of the Oklahoma bar;  Aviva  Cuyler, who just launched JD Supra; and Ed Poll, of LawBiz, among many others.

O'Keefe's LexBlog and The ABA Journal (Ed Adams & Molly McDonough) co-sponsored a Beer for Blawgers get together Friday, which was a lot of fun, and O'Keefe even used his live blogging feature to alert folks that the venue had to move to a different lobby bar, due to overcrowding with green-bedecked revelers gathering at the original site (Kitty O'Shea's) to kick off the St. Patrick's Day Chicago celebrations. Chicago LOVES St. Patrick's Day -- and its annual huge parade will take place Sunday.

Other live bloggers:

* ABA TechShow Buzz * Dennis Kennedy

 

(SOB) AU REVOIR JO HARAF

Jo Haraf, one of my favorite LTN edit board members, has finally done what she has been threatening to do for a bit -- leave legal tech! We are soooooo gonna miss her!

I'll turn over the mic to her:

After 10 exciting and productive years, I'm leaving my home at Morrison & Foerster.  MoFo is a great firm with a fabulous future but it's time for me to turn the page on a new chapter in my career.  First, I plan to spend some time having fun with my family, drinking wine with lunch and having watching the sunset over the San Francisco Bay - probably with another glass of wine just for good measure. 

During my down time, I'm want to give back to my community so my dog and I have signed up for a literacy program where we work as a team assisting children with reading difficulties.  Yes, it is an unusual program but it's a good fit for us.  I'm passionate about improving literacy and he loves children. (Photos available on request….

With some quiet time, I'll be looking for the sweet intersection of those things I love to do and those things I do well.  I expect to share my passions through writing, professional speaking and returning to my consulting roots.  Many of you know me well, I would value your wisdom on what you think I should include in my next chapter.

I have gained so much from your advice, good humor and occasional sympathies in the past decade.  I owe many thanks to you and LawNet/ILTA for your support of my professional and personal growth.  If I can be of any future service to you, you'll find me at joharaf@comcast.net after March 28.7

Before I leave, a bit of business.  MoFo is looking for a new CIO.  If you would like to live in the San Francisco Bay area (or perhaps NY and you love to fly), please drop me a line.  I will be delighted to present your name to firm management.

All my best to you for the future,

Jo M. Haraf | Chief Information Officer
Morrison & Foerster LLP 
Phone:  415-268-5050 
mailto:jharaf@mofo.com

BYE BYE ROB

Rob Robinson is shuttering his Information Governance blog. Check it out here.

MAILBAG #030308

Rick  Georges is on a roll... First his eccentric and always interesting FutureLawyer blog was featured on Typepad as its Featured Blog on Feb. 13. (Where DOES he find all that stuff?)

Now, Rick is featured on the March cover of The ABA Journal  -- he debates fellow lawyer Ben Stevens over Mac v. PC. (Rick is advocating for PCs.)

* Speaking of WAY kewl, check out this amazing animation by Alan Becker that Michael Kraft (Kraft Kennedy) found. It's bound to make you smile!

* New blog: John deCastro reports that Innotas has launched PPM Perspective. (Oh boy, another TLA (three letter acronym). This one  stands for Project and Portfolio Management. Eight folks at the organization are listed as authors.

* My colleagues over at ALM Research have published the 2007 Billing Rates and Practices Survey. It covers solos to mid-sized firms across all 50 states, with about 5,000 respondents. Author: Margaret Daisley.

* Larry Bodine checks in to let us know that JD Supra has launched:

It is an online platform for lawyers in any practice to post court documents, filings, articles, client alerts and other content freely accessible to anyone doing legal research.

* Not too late to be early! Houston's the place to be Thursday and Friday... Many of the "usual suspects," including moi, will be on hand for Chere Estrin's Litigation Support Leaders SuperConference, at the Crowne Plaza. The who's who includes keynote speakers Mike Arkfeld and George Socha, along with LTN edit board members Brett Burney and Tom O'Connor. We'd love to see you.

It's a great crowd, with top firms and corporate legal departments, including Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Bingham McCutchen, Howrey, Thompson Hine, Ropes & Gray, et al. Come join us! The fun starts at noon Thursday!

Chere has kindly offered a FOF (friend o' faculty) discount of 10% -- so just tell them you saw it in The Common Scold to claim your not-really-early-bird discount. Pop her an e-mail at for details or visit the website.