Analyzing Instant Messaging As Evidence
September 27, 2007
Instant messaging is an increasingly popular medium that is sometimes an important link in the prosecution's case. As with every new communication tool, it brings new challenges for criminal procedure. This multi-layered technology provides the convenience of e-mail coupled with the immediacy of a phone call. At the same time, its informality allows anonymity and raises concerns about privacy, authentication, best evidence and identification.
Achieving 'Voice Productivity' with Digital Dictation Software
September 26, 2007
Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C.'s IT group is a 14-member centralized team that is charged with the responsibility of pursuing value-added technology solutions for the staff and its clients. With this overriding mission in mind, Anna Boll, the firm's IT project manager, and I began our pursuit of selecting and rolling out a new dictation technology to our staff.
The Place to Network: Network Your Way to an International Practice
September 26, 2007
In today's Internet age, from strictly a networking standpoint, the world is officially your oyster. Never before has it been so easy for attorneys to communicate with clients and colleagues from all over the world to attract, develop and secure international business.
Federal Judge Strikes Part of Patriot Act
September 06, 2007
According to the Associated Press, a federal judge in New York struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act on Sept. 6, saying investigators must have a court's approval before they can order Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers.
NYCLA Opinion: In Certain Circumstances, 'Dissemblance' By Attorney-Supervised Investigators Is Permissible to Gather Evidence
August 30, 2007
Ethical prohibitions impact the common practice of almost every active trademark lawyer regarding his or her use of private investigators to collect information from third parties. However, the scope of permissible conduct is not always clearly defined. For instance, when a search report reveals one possible bar to your client's adoption of the mark, such as a nine-year-old federal registration by an individual who does not appear to have a Web site, can you or your investigator contact this person and devise some plausible explanation for the reason that you want to know if the mark is still in use? Or if you discover that a company appears to be infringing your client's trademark, can you send someone pretending to be a customer, but who asks all sorts of questions relevant to proving infringement that the ordinary consumer is highly unlikely to raise? Does it matter if the person you or your investigator makes contact with is a low-level sales clerk or the owner of the company?
Controlling the Spiraling Costs of Online Legal Research
August 30, 2007
There was a time when electronic services were supposed to replace books and lower costs. They've done neither. Instead, fees continue to rise each year — well beyond the rate of inflation, say law firm librarians (licensing fees are typically covered by confidentiality agreements). Surveyed librarians expressed dissatisfaction on pricing issues especially with the big-two online providers, Reed Elsevier Plc's LexisNexis and Thomson Corp.'s Westlaw.
When Products Liability Intersects with Malpractice Strategy
August 30, 2007
Medical device products liability litigation and medical malpractice litigation have intersected for as long as physicians have been prescribing and implanting medical devices, but that overlap continues to increase and become even more intricate as medical devices become more sophisticated and more widely utilized by physicians and the public, and as plaintiffs increasingly seek to keep their cases in state court by including local diversity-destroying defendants in suits.
