LJN Newsletters

Most people don't seek a lawyer until they need one. If they are buying real estate, suing someone, or have been arrested, then they need a lawyer fast. And when these prospects need a client fast, they turn to the Internet to find one. To get your share of these motivated prospects and turn them into clients, you will need to develop a comprehensive Search-Engine Marketing ('SEM') strategy. An effective SEM campaign ' combined with local search engines ' can reach new clients you're seeking and help you further develop new content for your site that keeps them coming back.

'Search engine optimization' and 'marketing' are the hottest buzzwords in the digital agency space in 2008. Why is this? Marketing and IT professionals have been able to track Web site visitors and understand online customers for long enough to confirm that traffic is mainly driven from the major search engines using a combination of keywords and phrases.

The iPhone is ranked among the most popular gadgets to hit the market in 2007. According to Forrester Research, with more professionals using the iPhone, demand on internal IT departments to support the device has increased as well. However, there are some limitations with the iPhone that prevent it from being readily integrated as an enterprise-class device within an organization. Although the iPhone is popular with consumers, that does not necessarily mean it will integrate well into a company's complex technology infrastructure. Below is a list of 'gotchas' to be aware of when using the iPhone and considering the possibility of enterprise-wide integration.

More than 40 sanctions cases ' resulting in millions of dollars in fines ' have been decided in one year since revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ('FRCP') took effect. In contrast, only two have been recorded under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act since it was put into place in 2002. The 2006 changes to the FRCP specifically require that companies ensure all potentially relevant electronically stored information ('ESI') associated with litigation is preserved and protected, with a subset ultimately produced when required. While on the surface this may sound simple, those in the trenches on both sides ' legal and IT ' have war stories to tell of hard lessons learned. Organizations that do not take a comprehensive approach to managing ESI for discovery may fall prey to fines, sanctions and worse.

In Rico v. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., the California Supreme Court adopted the 'fair and reasonable approach' originally formulated by the Second District Court of Appeal in State Compensation Ins. Fund v. WPS, Inc., and set forth the duties of attorneys upon receiving inadvertent disclosures.

Arguments over interpretation of the Physician Labeling Rule language may well be making an appearance in future product liability cases.

Plaintiffs' counsel recently have been changing their tactics in product liability class action litigation. In place of filing traditional injury class actions, they instead have been filing more and more economic 'no-injury' class actions, in which the proposed class members seek to recover not for personal injury, but for their alleged economic losses in purchasing a product that is worth 'less' than they paid for it because of some alleged defect.

Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.