Practice Technology

US Appeals Court Orders Expedited Briefs in Webcast Challenge

A federal appeals court has ordered expedited briefing in a challenge to a Boston judge’s order allowing a live Internet broadcast of a hearing in an illegal downloading suit. The hearing—which would have been the first free broadcast of a federal court session live on the Internet—had originally been scheduled…

Jan 22, 2009 4:30 PM CST

Obama Reportedly Gets a Super-encrypted BlackBerry

Barack Obama has apparently won his fight to retain his beloved BlackBerry. An unidentified government agency has added a “super-encryption package” to a standard BlackBerry that the president can use for routine and personal messages, according to The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder blog. The device is designed to protect Obama from…

Jan 22, 2009 1:30 PM CST

Law School Recruits Students through Second Life

Students interested in Santa Clara University Law School can pose admissions questions to a virtual character this evening in the online world of Second Life. Jeanette Leach, dean of admissions at the law school, will answer questions as her online avatar “Penny Canucci,” according to The Tech Chronicles blog of…

Jan 21, 2009 7:32 PM CST

Judge Explains Why He Allowed Reporter to Live Blog Federal Criminal Trial

U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett of Sioux City, Iowa, is a tech-savvy judge in a district with high-tech courtrooms. When he was a practicing lawyer in a small law firm, Bennett was willing to pay an “outrageously expensive” amount to make his office possibly the first in the state to…

Jan 16, 2009 10:46 PM CST

Newspaper’s Report of Record Zyprexa Deal Proves True

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has announced it will pay $1.42 billion in a settlement and fines to resolve state and federal allegations that it illegally marketed its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa. News of a possible settlement first leaked last fall, when a lawyer from Pepper Hamilton sent an e-mail about confidential…

Jan 15, 2009 2:11 PM CST

Geek Fashion Statement is Just One Danger of Obama’s BlackBerry

President-elect Barack Obama wears his BlackBerry strapped to his belt, “the sartorial equivalent of wearing socks with sandals,” according to one technology writer. But the geek fashion statement—as defining as Ronald Reagan’s cowboy hats and jeans—should be the least of the president’s BlackBerry worries, according to the column published in…

Jan 13, 2009 7:40 PM CST

Obama Battles DC Lawyers Over His BlackBerry

Lawyers love their BlackBerrys, but they are advising one of their own—the president-elect—to give it up. Barack Obama told CNBC yesterday that he is still fighting to keep the device, the New York Times notes. “I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Obama said. “They’re going to pry it out of…

Jan 8, 2009 11:57 AM CST

Some People Love the Blawg 100 a Little Too Much

In early December, we launched the 2nd Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 reader poll, inviting readers to select their favorite legal blogs in 10 categories from among the 100 best named by our editors. Each computer could vote for a given blog only once. Voting ended at midnight on Jan.…

Jan 7, 2009 8:53 PM CST

Recession-Proof Your Practice

10 tips to protect your firm in the toughest times

Jan 1, 2009 11:40 AM CST

In Seeming First, Aussie Court Says Default Judgment Can Be Served on Facebook

Updated: In an apparent first in Australia and, possibly, the world, a judge has OK’d a plan to serve a default judgment on a non-appearing defendant via a social networking website. Although service previously has been allowed by e-mail and text message, a master of the Supreme Court of the…

Dec 15, 2008 7:06 PM CST

Downturn Could Make Recommended Legal Staffing Ratios a Reality

The longtime recommendation for lawyer staff ratios has been three lawyers for every one secretary. Recent staff cuts at law firms, spurred by the economic downturn, could finally bring more law firms into compliance. Legal staffing at the top law firms is down 18 percent through September, according to a…

Dec 10, 2008 3:55 PM CST

DNA Database Search for Relatives of Serial Killer Turns Up No Leads

A DNA search for relatives of a serial killer ended Tuesday with no new leads. Los Angeles police had hoped for a break in a string of 10 murders that began in 1985, the Los Angeles Times reports. DNA and ballistics evidence have linked the crimes to one person. An…

Dec 3, 2008 5:42 PM CST

Bob Ambrogi’s ‘Tweet 16’ on Why Lawyers Should Use Twitter

Even though he describes himself as a new technology “evangelist,” law blogger Robert Ambrogi was a little skeptical of Twitter, the microblogging platform that limits users to 140-character bits of text. But Ambrogi dove into the Twitterverse and surfaced with 16 reasons lawyers should embrace the tweet. Here are a…

Dec 2, 2008 4:25 PM CST

Gadgets with ‘Net’ in their Names Make List of Best-Priced Gifts

Techie gifts for computer, movie and music junkies are well-priced this year. The American Lawyer has assembled a list of the season’s best “bang-for-the-buck presents.” They include those mini notebook computers now known as netbooks, a Netflix movie player and a stereo headset. The publication says the mini notebook computers…

Dec 2, 2008 3:37 PM CST

The Blawg 100

Best of the Blogosphere

Dec 2, 2008 5:50 AM CST