Good news dug up by the research mavens at The Virtual Chase: "The Library of Congress announced the release of a beta versionof Thomas, a Web site that provides access to federal legislation andrelated documents. More search features are available as well as morehelp for those unfamiliar with searching for federal legislation."
It's not looking too good for plaintiff's lawyers. So, how are plaintiff paralegals affected? "By focusing on litigation reform at the state level, business has won key battles. Suddenly, it's a tough time to be a plantiffs' attorney. "In 1901 a well at Spindletop Hill sent petroleum shooting 200 feet in the air and made Beaumont, Tex., one of the first oil boomtowns. Decades later some locals...
Very interesting survey about litigation trends in the U.S. Number of lawsuits...ouch! "Here's a sample of the findings:Large U.S. companies face an average of 305 pending lawsuits. For the largest U.S. companies, those with $1 billion or more in annual gross revenue, the number of lawsuits soared to 556 cases, with an average of 50 new disputes emerging each year for close to half of...
...& investigate outsourcing of work for attorneys & paralegals: or 3Ls Shaun Mathew and Vikram Thomas, the fact that legal offshoring is in its infancy makes this the right time to study it. And, as children of professionals who emigrated from India to the U.S., they have their own experience with an earlier chapter of globalization. “'Our idea was to go to India and see firsthand...
And what a smart wish list this is. I also think those paralegals already familiar with this stuff are smart: "Dear Santa, "I've been a good boy this year. I spent all my time helping lawyers and judges with electronic data discovery (EDD) and studying really, really hard about electronically stored information (ESI) , data harvest, spoliation, de-duplication , meet-and-confer ,...
This survey news comes from Monster & includes info about legal jobs: "Online job demand in New York was unchanged in November, as an increase in security and production job postings were offset by fewer education and military-related positions, according to a survey by Monster Worldwide Inc. "Legal positions, including lawyers, paralegals and support staff also showed strong...
Don't know, at this point, if it's possible to turn the rushing tide toward outsourcing of legal work. But I applaud the IPA's attempt: "Ruby Prasad’s legal research and briefs regularly find their way into courts across the United States despite the fact her workstation is located 8,000 miles away in India. "Prasad is among the 200 lawyers working for Chicago-based Mindcrest Inc.,...
So, have you gotten into KM yet? Is yours one of the 'progressive firms' discussed in this article? "An increasing number of law firms have invested in knowledge management (KM) programs, which they define as including "know-how" (aka, precedents and form banks), professional development, current awareness (keeping legal professionals current on changes in the law), finding experts...
Yay, more presents for me! Well, not me exactly: "With the holiday season in full swing, it's time to consider some gifts for your computer. Nothing tells your PC that you care about its happiness more than a few high-tech gadgets to make its life a little more exciting. Of course, if those gadgets also help you out as well, then everyone's happy. "The first item you might consider is...
Oh boy, doesn't this sound like an all-too-familiar story? "In a world where even the most senior of partners can now be found typing away on a laptop, an observer could mistakenly believe that personal computing is as straightforward as using the average toaster. Unfortunately for attorneys, computer software is mostly designed or implemented by computer people for computer people and not...