Digital Dictation Is Simplifying How Lawyers Work
October 03, 2005
With the advent of e-discovery, it's impossible to combine today's state of the art e-discovery solutions with yesterday's analog-dictation technology. Having a foot in both worlds is at best inefficient, and at worst can lead to misplaced data or work. <br>But the dawn of digital dictation has eliminated lawyers' worst frustrations of dictating to tape cassettes. With this new technology, lawyers can treat spoken words like any other digital data, inputting it to a desktop or other computer via a microphone and manipulating it in a digital voice-software file. Lawyers can then move spoken text around, and insert spoken or printed text as well as charts, spreadsheets, photographs and videos and, when they're done, transmit their work to a typist or save it to an audio file for clear and accurate translation into a printed document, or an e-document to be shared digitally or projected for viewing in the appropriate settings.
Utah and Michigan 'Do-Not E-Mail' Programs Take Effect
October 03, 2005
It is of concern to and important for e-commerce ventures to note that two states ' Michigan and Utah ' now prohibit the sending of certain kinds of e-mail messages to destinations listed on state-maintained registries. The new laws are directly at variance with the policy of the federal government, which so far has declined to adopt a do-not e-mail list. <br>But unless, and until, the Michigan and Utah registries are declared to be pre-empted by federal law, affected businesses should obtain and comply with those states' registries.
A Word from the Editor: Privacy and Data Protection Issues Are Here to Stay
September 20, 2005
Privacy has been described as <i>"the right to be let alone,"</i> a phrase popularized in an 1890 <i>Harvard Law Review</i> article by the future U.S. Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis in which he expressed concerns about the threat posed by technology to an individual's control over his own personal information. At the close of the 19th century, the perceived technological threat to privacy was the spread of cheap photography and high-speed printing. Imagine what Justice Brandeis would think of today's camera phones, global positioning systems, employer surveillance of e-mail, and customer relationship management systems, not to mention the myriad other technological developments of the last 115 years.
Utah and Michigan 'Do Not E-mail' Programs Take Effect
September 20, 2005
Two states ' Michigan and Utah ' now prohibit the sending of certain kinds of e-mail messages to destinations listed on state-maintained registries. The new laws are directly at variance with the policy of the federal government, which so far has declined to adopt a "Do Not E-mail" list. But unless and until the Michigan and Utah registries are declared to be pre-empted by federal law, affected businesses should obtain and comply with those states' registries.
Standing Near the Cliff Edge
September 06, 2005
There is a tsunami wave coming to law firms caused by an earthquake out there called value billing. Every law firm, small to large, will be affected. The wave will wipe out and suck out to sea the old guild culture, organizational structure, the products and services, and the compensation systems. Although the idea has been around since the publication of books in 1989 and 1992, titled Beyond the Billable Hour and Win-Win Billing Strategies, respectively, there has been little progress throughout the legal profession. Lawyers still expect to bill by the hour based upon the false assumption that effort equals value. Clients are changing their views of value added. We are entering a new era where law firms must change the way they must serve clients and value partner contributions.
Not All Property Rights Are Created Equal
September 01, 2005
You've been there and know the terrain: The law breaks property into two categories -- real and personal. If the object of a transaction is found to be personal property, then it is subsequently categorized as either tangible or intangible. In the realm of interconnected networked computers, however, although broadly categorized as personal property, Internet property has characteristics of tangible and intangible property. Consequently, attorneys must take the special nature of Internet property into consideration when attempting to resolve or avoid legal difficulties relating to an Internet transaction, something, of course, to which e-commerce ventures find themselves at ongoing risk and dealing in round-the-clock daily.
Losing Grasp Of Technology
September 01, 2005
Let me say one word: Internet. Now, how about a couple more: Broadband Access. It's my contention that the security problems we face today in the forms of unsolicited e-mail, virus infection, phishing scams and the dreaded identity-theft issues are the direct result of giving access to powerful computers attached to the Internet via broadband access to users who are unqualified to own, use and operate such technology.
