New Additions to LLRX.com

Among the most recent additions on LLRX.com, are the following research guides:

A Compilation of State Lawyer Licensing Databases

Compiled by Andrew Zimmerman and Trevor Rosen.

Although this guide focuses on websites that help you determine whether a lawyer is currently licensed to practice in a particular state, there are many other kinds of state-specific lawyer-related online databases -- lawyer finders, lawyer referral services, bar member directories, disciplinary rolls, etc. Many of these resources can be found by following the links posted at LegalDockets.com.

Forensic Evidence and the CSI Effect

Compiled by Ken Strutin.

This is a collection of select legal scholarship and media studies that illuminates the extent of the phenomenon and whether it needs to be addressed and how. It should be noted that there is a large body of news articles, short-term scholarship, books and other media concerning this topic that is not covered in this survey.

Cloud Computing For Lawyers

Published on March 6, 2010, by LLRX.com (Law and technology resources for legal professionals), Nicole L. Black has put together a summary outlining what is cloud computing, particularly cloud computing for lawyers.

[C]loud computing makes it possible for your data and software platforms and services to be stored offsite, in the "cloud".

Online services of this type, which include software as a system (SaaS) and platforms as a system (PaaS), are becoming increasingly common and, for many lawyers, are an attractive alternative to the traditional law practice management software installed and maintained on a local server within a law office.

Earn CLE Credit For Listening to Lawyer2Lawyer

Via Robert Ambrogi's LawSites,

I am pleased to announce that you can now earn CLE credit for listening to Lawyer2Lawyer, the weekly legal-affairs podcast I cohost with J. Craig Williams. Our podcast and all 15 of the podcasts produced by the Legal Talk Network are now available through the West LegalEdcenter.

FreelanceLaw

FreelanceLaw.com is a national database of freelance attorneys, paralegals, and other legal professionals, offering their services to law firms on an independent contractor basis.

FreelanceLaw has built up a database of over 1,200 freelance legal professionals nationwide that are currently working, or willing to work, for law firms on an independent contractor basis, and hold the appropriate qualifications/certifications for performing that work. Law firms ranging from AmLaw 100 to solo practice in 12 states, have already registered and found freelancers to work projects for them. FreelanceLaw is now actively seeking more.

FreelanceLaw, Inc. was founded by San Diego attorney Melody A. Kramer for the purpose of simplifying the process for law firms and inhouse legal counsel who are trying to locate specifically qualified freelance attorneys, paralegals, court reporters, interpreters, and other freelance legal professionals to meet their project requirements.

To register is free. You can follow the site's blogs. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.

Typography For Lawyers

What is typography anyway? Should a lawyer pay attention to typography? Matthew Butterick suggests yes and here is why. First, what is typography?

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs. Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). [Wikipedia]

Matthew Butterick is a civil litigation attorney running a law office, Butterick Law Corporation, out of Los Angeles. As he states,

Even though the legal profession depends heavily on writing, legal typography is often poor. Some blame lies with the strict typographic constraints that control certain legal documents (e.g. court rules regarding the format of pleadings). But the rest of the blame lies with lawyers. To be fair, I assume this is for lack of information, not lack of will. This website tries to fill that void. There are numerous guides on typography for generalists available but none specifically aimed at lawyers. This website is an ongoing work, with pieces being added as I write them.

Butterick addresses what typography is and why is it important and especially why is it important for lawyers? The website features lessons on how to improve typography in legal documents: basic typography, intermediate typography, and advanced typography. Users are welcome to leave comments and ask questions. See for yourself and enjoy!

Other blogs that posted about this:
Out of the Jungle: Typography for lawyers
Supreme Court of Texas Blog: Typography for lawyers
Standford Law School: Typography for lawyers
LexLibris: Typography for lawyers
Electriccounterpoint: Typography for lawyers
Binary Law: Typography for lawyers
Stark County Law Library Weblog: Typography for lawyers
Legal Writing Prof Blog: Typography for lawyers
FontFeed: Typography for lawyers
Cearta.ie: Typography for lawyers
GeoTypoGrafika: Typography for lawyers
RIPS Law Librarian: Typography for lawyers
Marblehead Blog: An online guide to typography for lawyers
And many more

New on LLRX: 5 Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media

On July 11, 2009 Nicole L. Black published an article on LLRX.com titled Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media. Nicole Black is an attorney in Rochester, New York and the founder of lawtechTalk, a company that educates businesses about emerging legal technologies and Internet and Web 2.0 technologies.

[S]ocial media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It’s a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, political and business use. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). — Source, Wikipedia.

Five Things To Know:

1. Social media is useless without goals
2. Different social media sites serve different purposes
3. 'Social media' is a misnomer
4. People want to hire other people, not businesses
5. Lawyers cannot afford to be left out of the loop

Read the full article to get the full scoop. And let us know your thoughts.

New on LLRX: Blackberry Apps for Lawyers

On June 30, 2009 Nicole L. Black published an article on LLRX.com titled Blackberry Apps for Lawyers. Nicole Black is an attorney in Rochester, New York and the founder of lawtechTalk, a company that educates businesses about emerging legal technologies and Internet and Web 2.0 technologies. As she writes it took some time to conduct the research.

First, there is a number of apps consisting of databases of federal and state laws, which allow lawyers to carry relevant laws and rules in their pockets in an easily accessible format.

From the developer “The Law Pod,” lawyers can purchase the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence and the U.S. Constitution.

And much more, check out the full article for more applications that might be useful to you.

JD Supra Introduced Law Centers

For those who don't know of JDSupra, take a moment to read one of our previous posts, JD Supra & Facebook. JDSupra recently introduced its Law Centers. All the donated documents are now organized into four categories by topics and areas of interest: Business Law Centers, Personal Law Centers, Government Law Centers, and Law Practice Centers.

Each section features news first, which is followed by three main sections: News and Analysis, All Documents, and Contributors. One can easily see what is new in the area of research, what new documents have been shared and posted, and who contributed them.

If you are a twitterer, the Business Law and Personal Law Centers have their own Twitter Feed that you can follow.

Keep It 'Light' While 'Lawyering'

Via Legal Technology Blog, an article titled Nutmeg Lawyer Adds Spice to the Blawgosphere is about Adrian Baron, an attorney in New Britain, Conn., who writes rather amusing blog The Nutmeg Lawyer, a blawg discussing the trials & tribulations of law practice. Baron is a general practitioner and partner of Podorowsky, Thompson & Baron. He handles everything from criminal defense to real estate to family law and immigration. He really gets to experience the legal practice and he likes to blog about it. His blog has been highlighted by many other blawgs, including the ABA Journal Blog.

Baron says,

There are a lot of funny things going on in the legal world. I could've just as easily done a scholarly blog, but I don't want to do homework every night.

While you are in law school, try not to turn into a complete jackass. Not only will you alienate your friends and family but you will eventually alienate those you will contact in your professional life. Jackass law students often turn into jackass lawyers. They are difficult to deal with and we tend to make fun of them in courthouse backrooms and on golf course fairways.

Take a look at his blog and some of the stories he has shared and enjoy!

Disbarment for Student Debt?

Canadian blog, Law is Cool, wrote about a Houston-based lawyer who has been disbarred for unpaid student debt. The ex-attorney, Frank Santulli, has carried US$67,000 in outstanding loans since 1998 and failed to follow a plan to repay them. So the Texas court decided to take his license. Result? Now he can't work at all. What a plan? My question is, how is he going to pay now that he doesn't have a job? Mr. Santulli plans to appeal the decision. Let's see what happens then. Any thoughts?

Read also:
Lawyer Disbarred for Student Debt
Houston Lawyer Loses License Because of Failure to Pay Debts

The End of Lawyers?

With a little bit of a delay, oops, via Legal Blog Watch, Robert J. Ambrogi writes about the keynote address by Richard Susskind, the legal technology consultant, adviser, author and Big Thinker, at the ABA Techshow in Chicago.

His talk was based on his new book, "The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services," which followed from his 1996 book, "The Future of Law." His key point was that the delivery of legal services will see rapid and fundamental change -- not that lawyers need to make it change, but that change will come and is coming despite us.

Robert Ambrogi gave a really concise summary of the address emphasizing the fundamental change within legal profession. It is worth reading. The full post is available here.

Increase in Number of People Representing Themselves in Court

The New York Times published this article on the increase in self representation among individuals in civil cases during the current financial downturn in the economy.

Financially pressed people . . . are representing themselves more and more in court, according to judges, lawyers and courthouse officials across the country, raising questions of how just the outcomes are and clogging courthouses already facing their own budget woes as clerks spend more time helping people unfamiliar with forms, filings and fees.

There is no national system that tracks the number of individuals who represent themselves in court, but in New York

[I]n the first six weeks of this year, nearly 95 percent of litigants in paternity and support cases did not have a lawyer, compared with 88 percent in all of 2008.

And in California

[T]he portion of plaintiffs without a lawyer rose by 22 percent, while defendants representing themselves rose by 36 percent.

This trend has put a tremendous strain on court personnel, and lines at self help centers at courthouses around the country have grown. The article notes that

Courthouse workers also say that people are representing themselves in more complicated cases, involving divisions of complex assets, home foreclosures, houses worth less than a mortgage balance and combinations of these and other problems. Such cases in the past were more likely to involve a lawyer.

Martindale-Hubbell Connected BETA

Martindale-Hubbell, the premier global network for lawyers is introducing professional networking site for lawyers. Join Martindale-Hubbell Connected, the online professional network– designed exclusively for legal professionals– that leverages the unsurpassed reach of the Martindale-Hubbell database of more than one million lawyers.

Expand your professional network– Connect with the people you know and the people your connections know to expand your network.
Get "just-in-time", trusted answers– Tap into the community to securely ask questions or discuss a pressing issue of law.
Demonstrate thought leadership– Share your knowledge with a global audience on everything related to your practice area or the legal profession.

Let us know what you think!

What Does It Take To Become a Top Lawyer?

Shai Littlejohn, a general counsel for the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission in Washington, wrote a special to the National Law Journal, titled Self-marketing is key. In this piece she argues that just having the law degree does not take you to the dream job, and most definitely does not guarantee an opportunity in the law field, let alone in any other field. As she states, "navigating the [legal] profession is far more complicated than the bar itself."

Shai recommends for all the young attorneys out there to think of themselves as three parts lawyers and one part marketing agent. It is important to be able to sell yourself. Shai calls it 'personal brand' and recommends to establish and cultivate one. As we all know, good job gives good results, but excellent job gives excellent results. As Shai points out, if you want to be offered the top jobs that are given to only the top attorneys, you must become the top attorney.

The question is: What does it take to be the top attorney?

The article presents few very helpful suggestions, among which Shai talks about the idea of involvement. Get involved, be on call, be available, don't consider your work just work but think of it as a service to your employers as well as to your clients.

Take a minute and read this inspiring article.

Be the top attorney and get the top jobs, if that is your dream!

Law Students Networking With Lawyers

Law is Cool has a post Law Students Can Network With Lawyers, discussing Facebook, Jurafide, LawLink, and one of the latest Lawyrs, which is a platform intended to be specifically for lawyers and law students.

The ability to dialogue and network with legal professionals from 128 countries (although mostly American and British) is fascinating. They obviously have groups like other social networks, often comprised of alumni or interests, and a legal news page. There’s also a page for law firms. Lawyrs has a publications page.

Read the full review of this new platform called Lawyrs, including pros and cons, right here. Do you have any preferred social/professional networking tools that you'd like to recommend? Do you have any experience with any of the tools mentioned above? Feel free to share.

E-mail Scam That Targetted Lawyers

Via Legal Blog Watch, lawyers be aware - don't fall for scams of being hired by companies that don't exist or scams involving checks that are counterfeited. Read the full story. First post titled The Great Lawyer E-mail Scam was posted by Legal Blog Watch back in September 2008. A follow up story E-mail Scam Still Snaring Lawyers was just posted now in January 2009.

If you think lawyers are too savvy to fall prey to an e-mail scam, think again. One lawyer who fell victim to it estimates that the scam has bilked lawyers out of more than $1 million. That lawyer is now being sued by Wachovia Bank for the $190,000 he wired from his escrow account to a Korean bank on behalf of what he believed was a company in Taiwan.

Now, another lawyer has fallen prey to the scam. Houston lawyer Richard T. Howell Jr. tells Texas Lawyer that his firm was bilked out of $182,500 by a client who contacted and hired him through e-mail. Howell was contacted by e-mail by what he believed to be a Japanese company, Techno Design Industry, seeking to collect some $3.6 million in accounts from U.S. customers. The company signed a retainer agreement by which he would receive a third of any amounts he collected. Before he could file lawsuits against any of the customers, Techno notified him that one customer wanted to make a partial payment. He received what appeared to be an official Citibank check from the supposed customer in the amount of $367,500. After confirming through Citibank that it had paid the check, he disbursed $182,500 to Techno. Needless to say, the check was counterfeit.

Chamber Rankings Included in Martindale Listings

As posted on Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, the Martindale.com lawyer directory published by Lexis will now include chamber rankings. Starting in February, 2009, the addition is part of a broader effort to enhance Martindale.com through the introduction of new tools and new sources of data, rankings and commentary, the announcement said. The Chambers Guides list the top lawyers in 175 countries, providing independent rankings and editorial commentary.

A Chambers icon will appear next to profiles of those lawyers and law firms on Martindale.com that have been ranked by Chambers. Clicking on the icon will open a window linked to the Chambers Web site showing rankings and editorial commentary. These rankings will be in addition to Martindale's traditional Peer Review Ratings and its more recently launched Client Review feature. Earlier this year, Martindale announced an agreement with LinkedIn to link lawyers' Martindale listings with their LinkedIn profiles.

A Lesson in How Not to Get Admitted to the Bar

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejected a candidate for admission to the bar for sending harassing and threatening e-mail messages to a member of the Massachusetts bar, and then lying about it to the Court hearing his appeal. The Court said the candidate's conduct "strongly suggests dishonesty, poor judgment, and a willingness to misuse the judicial process." Desy v. Board of Bar Examiners, SJC 10069 (Oct. 20, 2008).