Web 2.0 Comes to the Legal Profession
We now have what many technology experts call 'Web 2.0' and, once again, technology offers new opportunities for members of the legal profession to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their workflow. We believe it is in the interest of technology leads within law firms and corporate counsel groups to consider how they can better incorporate these innovations into their practices, given the benefits they can deliver.
Features
Best Practices for Reducing Errors in e-Discovery
e-Discovery is inherently messy and prone to mistakes. The data itself is not always what it appears, the volumes of data are often mind-boggling, and the locations in which the data is stored are not always easy to find. Add to this the fact that we have recently witnessed a lawsuit involving a major law firm and an e-discovery provider, all which revolved around e-discovery mistakes. While the lawsuit was ultimately settled, an environment of mistrust has surfaced. This mistrust, however, can easily be eliminated with a little planning and foresight.
The Role of Tape
Information stored on various kinds of electronic media is becoming central to virtually all corporate investigations, whether they are litigation-, regulatory- or audit-driven. The adoption of e-mail as the standard communication and document distribution mechanism, coupled with its exponential growth, has focused attention on electronically stored information.
Movers & Shakers
Tech Lawyer Earns Licensing Certification<br>Andrews Kurth Lawyer Named to Association Board<br>Book Offers LawyersCareer-Building Advice
e-Commerce Docket Sheet
Unauthorized Source Code Copying Conversion Claim Not Cognizable in PA<br>Satellite Radio Service Is Non-essential Luxury In Unconscionability Test<br>Software License Arbitration Provision Survives Contract With No Other Evidence<br>Parties Settle Charges Over Data Security
Online Pharmacy Ordered to Pay FTC $15.8 Million
Saying they 'dispensed deception,' a federal judge in Atlanta has ordered the founders and operators of a now-defunct online pharmacy business to pay the FTC $15.8 million for fraudulent claims associated with the drugs they peddled.
Features
Novel Internet Statute Strategies
The Internet presents special regulatory challenges. Any effective statute, for instance, must be prepared by an entity with the authority to draft, implement and, to some extent enforce, the statute. Efficacy, of course, hinges on jurisdiction, but the Internet knows no geography and, so, users leap boundaries with a finger poke or thumb flick. These challenges require novel statutory strategies to meet the Internet's current and future status as a channel and communications domain that requires regulation at various levels of operation and use, including e-commerce.
Features
DIY-ing to e-Plan
Professional services requiring insight and judgment ' and application of sophisticated expertise on a case-by-case basis ' seemed immune to the e-commerce onslaught. After all, no one wants to trust the future welfare of one's family and affairs to a device that makes the phrase 'computer problem' a redundancy. And why would people who need to spend thousands of dollars on estate planning even think about trusting an online service just to save a few dollars ' even if only to pass on post-mortem thoughts from the grave?
Features
White-Collar Crime: Another View
In a November 2007 article, we noted the government's aggressive enforcement and broad interpretation of federal money-laundering statutes, expressing concern that prosecutorial use of the statutes had been unfairly and improperly expanded. Elkan Abramowitz and Barry A. Bohrer, 'Federal Money-Laundering Statutes: Course Correction?' New York Law Journal (Nov. 6, 2007). In the same article, we expressed hope that the U.S. Supreme Court would take corrective action in cases then pending before it. …
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