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Using Vision' Court Rules To Streamline Docket Control
My firm, Shartsis, Friese & Ginsburg LLP (SFG), San Francisco, is a mid-size law firm that specializes in litigation, real estate, business transactions and other commercial areas of law. Prior to 1999, before I began working here, our firm used a calendar system that required manual calculation and research of court rules and statutes, which was extremely time consuming. The Calendar Coordinator at that time was aware of, and had used, CompuLaw's Vision program and initiated the purchase and use of the program at SFG. I was hired soon after the installation and, having had several years of experience with the Vision program, was able to work quickly to streamline the attorneys' calendars. Vision has rule databases that can be purchased and incorporated to make the calendar program nearly-completely automated. A human still needs to input the dates, for example, a trial date that the Vision system uses to compute with, but many hours of research and entry are saved on every matter maintained in the Vision program.
Using this program has increased productivity and lessened the error margin quite a bit. CompuLaw has an entire department of lawyers that keeps the rule databases current, and they send updates to their clients regularly. The major changes are sent quarterly and if they find the need, additional changes are sent throughout the year. CompuLaw rule databases are user-friendly ' you can understand the summaries of the rules provided, even if you do not have a law degree, which many calendar clerks do not. Prior to using CompuLaw's system, there was no way of easily tracking and watching for rule changes. Our calendar clerks were required to manually recalculate dates when the rules changed, ie if the number of days changed as per the change in oppositions and replies to motions in the state courts. With CompuLaw rule databases incorporated in the Vision program, when the rules change, CompuLaw's databases are updated, and they automatically adjust the dates in our system. Afterwards, a report tells you what has been changed. I calendar hundreds of cases so this is a very valuable tool.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
How AI Has Affected PR
When we consider how the use of AI affects legal PR and communications, we have to look at it as an industrywide global phenomenon. A recent online conference provided an overview of the latest AI trends in public relations, and specifically, the impact of AI on communications. Here are some of the key points and takeaways from several of the speakers, who provided current best practices, tips, concerns and case studies.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.