CLE Opportunities

The (new) legal writer has a post titled CLE Opportunities. If you’re looking for some good legal-writing CLE, then check it out!

Metadata - What Is It and What Are My Ethical Duties?

An interesting piece by Jim Calloway published on January 5, 2009 and available here, at LLRX.com presents the insight on the need to understand at least the basics of metadata.

The legal ethics implications of metadata “mining” are no longer just of interest to the lawyers processing electronic discovery or the ethics mavens. The ethical implications of one lawyer examining the metadata in a file received from another lawyer have generated a lot of discussion. This article will cover the legal ethics opinions issued so far and give you tips on how to avoid exposing confidential information unintentionally via metadata.

Take a minute and read about what metadata is, author's conclusion regarding the ethical implications, ethics opinions on metadata, and some of the suggested ways to guard against metadata disasters. And, of course, feel free to share your experiences!

The Art of Cross-Examination

Peter Small has a useful post on TheStar.com titled The Art of Cross-Examination, "it's a powerful tool that can lead to surprises, but only when used with suitable finesse." As also mentioned on Law Is Cool, Peter interviewed several lawyers for useful cross-examination tips that even you might find interesting. And just to stick with our latest 10-tip-list, a U.S. Law Professor Irving Younger shares the following list of 10 tips regarding cross-examination:

1. Be brief.
2. Use short questions, plain words.
3. Always ask leading questions.
4. Don’t ask a question to which you do not know the answer.
5. Listen to the witness’s answers.
6. Don’t quarrel with the witness.
7. Don’t allow the witness to repeat his or her direct testimony.
8. Don’t permit the witness to explain his or her answers.
9. Don’t ask the “one question too many.”
10. Save the ultimate point of your cross for summation.

The Things You Won't Learn in Law School?

Law is Cool is out with yet another list of 10 tips. Omar Ha-Redeye shares his perspective on learning in law school and points to a post on public defender blog titled: 10 things I didn't learn in law school. Omar shares his professor's advice to learn "through osmosis" and shares the ten things law school didn't teach him. Check it out yourself at either of the links. Here are just few to mention:

• That you will forever be haunted by names of cases, but not remember a damn thing about the case itself. Who here can tell me about Helicopters or International Shoe or Pennoyer or Dudley and Stephens? (Okay, that last one is really cool - it’s about cannibalism). Wasn’t there a Vana White case?
  
• How to pick a jury.
• There is no box. Law school professors keep telling you to think outside the box. What they don’t tell you is that 'there is no box'.
• That law review leads to document review. If you want to do real work, take a clinic or something.

And there are more. Would you like to add to the list? Feel free to share your experiences.

Inauguration Information

If you were lucky enough to score tickets to the inauguration of Barack Obama, or just want to know about the preparations required, the Senate Rules Committee has a website with all the information you need.

For events not occurring at the Capitol Building, check out the Presidential Inaugural Committee website. The PIC is responsible for planning the inaugural parade and official inaugural balls.

You have until tonight, Jan. 8, at midnight to enter a contest to win tickets to the swearing-in and one of the inaugural balls. You just have to write a short essay on what Barack Obama's inauguration means to you.

And for those of us who will be on campus that day, the inauguration will be broadcast live from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM on a large screen TV in the Tudor Room. Televisions in the cafeteria and Preston Student Lounge will be set to channels showing the events of the day. The Student Bar Association will be supplying refreshments in the Tudor Room during the broadcast.

Apple Registers Patent Application Pointing to iPhone

As posted on Legal Blog Watch, iPhone users who want to check their e-mail, surf the web, send a tweet, or just text, while standing outside in the cold weather, might be interested in a new Apple patent application, published January 1, 2009, which reveals "an idea for winter gloves with special iPhone-responsive fingertips for the thumb, index and middle fingers." This High Tactility Glove System is a system used to operate electronic device.

The glove system may include an inner liner and an outer shell. The liner may be formed from any suitable material, including a material that is thin, electrically conductive, has low thermal conductivity, and/or has an "anti-sticky" finish. The outer shell may include at least one aperture through which the inner liner may extend to operate the input mechanism of an electronic device (e.g., on at least one finger tip).

Fired on Facebook ... Another Role?

Facebook is no longer only the social network where people go to meet others, share pictures, or connect with old friends. Following an older post about Australian court that allowed lawyers to serve a couple with a lawsuit papers via Facebook, here is yet another role that Facebook has easily fulfilled; the Calgary Herald reports that a Canadian spa used Facebook to fire an employee, esthetician Crystal Bell. Additional discussion is posted on Legal Blog Watch.

2009 Statistical Abstract of the United States

The U.S. Census Bureau releases the 2009 Statistical Abstract of the United States. It is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It also is designed to serve as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. Appendix I of this volume contains the Guide to Sources of Statistics, the Guide to State Statistical Abstracts, and the Guide to Foreign Statistical Abstracts. Tables reflect national data, and also data for regions, individual states, and smaller number of metropolitan areas and cities. Appendix II, Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: Concepts, Components, and Population, presents explanatory text, and complete current listing and population data for metropolitan areas defined as of December 2006.

Court Papers Served By Facebook

On the Legal Blog Watch, an interesting post titled Court Papers Served by Facebook by Carolyn Elefan about serving court papers via one of the biggest social networks Facebook.

Imagine opening your inbox on a social networking site and finding an invitation -- not to connect to an acquaintance -- but to show up in court. That may be the direction that social networking is headed, at least in the aftermath of a case out of Australia, where a judge granted lawyers permission to serve defendants with a default judgment via Facebook.

Do social networks take on yet another role? What are your thoughts on it?

Know Your Courtroom

TechnoLawyerBlog features a post by Gerry Oginski titled YouLaw: Show and Tell in the Courtroom. Check it out and see for yourself if you know your way around the courtroom. This post features a short video by Jeff Roberts, a trial attorney in Newport Beach, CA and, which is then discussed by Gerry and accompanied by, once again, a list of practice tips. Good Luck in your courtroom!