This is a unique ESIBytes show as you can listen to me, Karl Schieneman, Director of Legal Analytics and Review go on the road to New York City and interview random guests at Legal Tech® 2010 for their opinions on the state of Electronic Discovery and the Legal Tech show itself. The sound quality is okay and at times my editting skills have been tested, but if you have never been to Legal Tech®, you will get a sense of the types of people you can run into at the largest legal technology show in the country.
LegalTech® 2010 Live Interviews And Review || ESIBytes
February 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
This is a unique ESIBytes show as you can listen to me, Karl Schieneman, Director of Legal Analytics and Review go on the road to New York City and interview random guests at Legal Tech® 2010 for their opinions on the state of Electronic Discovery and the Legal Tech show itself. The sound quality is okay and at times my editting skills have been tested, but if you have never been to Legal Tech®, you will get a sense of the types of people you can run into at the largest legal technology show in the country.
DOJ: Kindle in Classroom Hurts Blind Students – PC World
January 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Three U.S. universities will stop promoting the use of Amazon.com’s Kindle DX e-book reader in classrooms after complaints that the device doesn’t give blind students equal access to information.
Settlements with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University in New York City and Reed College in Portland, Oregon, were announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind had complained that use of the Kindle devices discriminates against students with vision problems.
The complaints about the Kindle were based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
The three universities were among six schools participating in an Amazon.com pilot program testing the use of the Kindle DX in classrooms. On Monday, a fourth participating school, Arizona State University, also reached a settlement with the DOJ and the two organizations representing the blind.
via DOJ: Kindle in Classroom Hurts Blind Students – PC World.
Legal Blog Watch
December 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
A survey of private-practice lawyers, corporate counsel and law students found widely divergent views on the state of the legal industry and the future of the law firm business model. Released Thursday during a panel discussion in New York City on the future of the law firm business model, the LexisNexis-commissioned survey (executive summary) found that 71 percent of corporate counsel say that law firms are not doing enough to respond to the current financial pressures on their business model. By contrast, 77 percent of private-practice lawyers believe that their clients are too focused on reducing costs, at the expense of quality and long-term results.
Described as the first substantial survey of the legal industry since the beginning of the economic crisis, the survey polled 300 law firm lawyers, 150 in-house counsel and 100 law students. Their responses suggest perspectives on the crisis differ significantly based upon one's vantage point. Nearly half of in-house counsel, for example, say they have requested rate cuts from their outside firms. Yet just 18 percent of private-practice lawyers say their firms have implemented such cuts.
Only 38 percent of in-house counsel believe that law firms are hearing their plight and responding by cutting fees and costs. Maybe as a result, 69 percent of corporate counsel have shifted work in-house and 56 percent have reduced their spending on outside firms. Yet the firms report that they have taken steps to respond to the economic crisis: 43 percent have had layoffs, 41 percent have offered clients alternative fee arrangements, 33 percent have frozen their hiring, 29 percent have deferred start dates and 26 percent have reduced salaries.
[continued] Legal Blog Watch.
Defining the Law Firm of the Future | Legal Blog Watch
December 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment
What will the law firm of the future look like? That was the question for a panel of general counsel, law firm partners and industry observers at a panel in New York City Thursday night. If there was consensus among them on any point — and I'm not sure there was — it was this: The firm that will thrive in the future is the firm that is able to deliver better value through innovation and technology.
The panel was hosted by LexisNexis to highlight its release of a survey on the state of the legal industry, which I recap in a separate post. D.M. Levine of The American Lawyer has already provided his report on the panel. It was moderated by Darryl Cross, vice president of client profitability at LexisNexis, and included:
- Richard N. Baer, EVP, general counsel and CAO, Qwest
- Martin F. Cunniff, partner, Howrey
- Michael S. Helfer, general counsel and corporate secretary, Citigroup
- William D. Henderson, professor of law, Indiana University
- Peter J. Kalis, chairman and global managing partner, K&L Gates
- Thomas J. Sabatino Jr., former EVP and general counsel, Schering-Plough
- Michael F. Walsh, president and CEO, U.S. legal markets, LexisNexis
All on the panel agreed that law firms should change how they do business. All did not agree, however, on what that change should look like. In fact, the one other point of consensus among the panelists may have been that there is no one-size-fits-all answer for firms or for clients. The legal industry is not a monolith, said Kalis, and any attempt to define it as such is a fallacy.
If change is to come, it should be through the mutual efforts of law firms and clients, several panelists said. The discussion should not about “us” and “them,” said Sabatino, who is also a director of the Association of Corporate Counsel. “There should be synergy between clients and firms.” Qwest's Baer agreed: “This isn't an adversarial situation between clients and firms.”
[continued] Legal Blog Watch.
