I'd been meaning to post a link to this old article that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly with Barlow, Lessig and Mark Stefik (and after reading Donna Wentworth's blog about the conference at Harvard where Lessig is speaking, it reminded me of Barlow's comments on Copyright).
Barlow is amazing. I spoke to him once when I came across his website where he posts his cellphone number next to the statement "call him anywhere." I was intrigued, but skeptical. I had read once that he did not have an unlisted number, and didn't try to hide from people. One night I was working late and got bored so I called him on a whim. He answered the phone himself. He was at the counter negotiating with a ticket agent, but he talked to me for about 5 minutes. Very pleasant. I asked him if he didn't get a lot of useless calls (like the one I made). He said, "no, you'd be surprised. Most people won't bother you, and I like to be accessible." What a guy!. Lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and founder of the EFF. What more could you want to accomplish in life?
8:32:00 PM
Half the world has never placed or received a phone call
Or has it? This oft-repeated statement is summarily debunked by Clay Shirky in a wonderful article. (Thanks Dan!)
7:57:50 PM
Appealing Explanations via Howard Bashman
What is "en banc" review, and how does it work in the Ninth Circuit? Howard explains it very nicely here.
7:43:47 PM
Blind Group Sues for Changes in US Currency
They don't want to remove religious references on our nation's currency, but they would like to be able to tell which bills they are dealing with. I feel sorry for the judge who has to decide this one.
3:57:26 PM
The benefits of CRM - Thoughts from Chris Smith
Among the benefits of CRM that Chris points out he mentions "Gather[ing] decentralized contact information into a single collaborative store that will survive the immenent departure of many of its contributors" [How do you know that?]
You would think that the natural tendency of a corporate organization (like BigLaw, or any other large law firm) would be to centralize. Especially information. I mean, what else do lawyers sell? Oh right, "time." But people don't pay you just to run a stop watch; they pay you for your expertise. For the information that you carry, and that you can access, and can relay.
When you see a large corporate organism not automatically trying to assimilate decentralized information then you know there is another force working here. For humans, there is the opposite of the life-force, which Freud called the "death-wish." In corporations, the opposite of the desire to centralize is the fear, or lack of understanding of the benefits of, technology.
3:31:25 PM
Lawyers less reliant on staff, sayeth Beckman & Hirsch
In their monthly ABA column (In Re Technology), the authors make the point that lawyers are less reliant on staff than they once were. True enough. Many lawyers can type (aided by spell-check), and fax, and E-mail documents that have been scanned or which are in word processing format. "An entire office can fit in a laptop for work anywhere, anytime," they say. And they point out that this trend will lower the cost of legal services, and generate higher quality work.
I totally agree. But, will law firms aid the process? Some will, and many won't.
For example, the compensation model in most (if not all) larger firms doesn't account for cost savings based on independence from staff. You hear all the time about how "overhead per lawyer is [fill in a large six-figure number] every year." I used to accept that proposition when I was a young lawyer. Now, I ask if maybe the overhead isn't different for different lawyers. Some lawyers have big offices and require a lot of staff attention. Some lawyers are self-sufficient and make few demands on firm resources. In other words, some lawyers are efficient. But....is "efficiency" taken into account in compensation? Well now, that's a telling trail of breadcrumbs isn't it?
12:38:48 PM
Newsweek has a couple of articles, one of which talks about the plaintiff's father in the Pledge case. He's interested in music and medicine, and, of course, litigation. He has a med degree from U.C.L.A., and a law degree from the Univ. of Michigan (where he filed his first lawsuit while he was still in school). Well, like I said, it's always the gadflies who challenge things, and they usually lead interesting lives
12:17:41 PM
Discovering Electronic Documents
The new ABA Journal (July 2002) has an article on this that looks fascinating. Here's a factoid that I find very interesting: "According to a 2001 study from the University of California-Berkely, 93 percent of all new information is created in an entirely digital format."
This topic is near to my heart, and so I'll be reading the article and combing it for morsels to add to my own online article about Electronic Discovery.
11:33:29 AM
Digital Transcription in the Legal Profession?
It would be nice to be able to dictate to WAV files, or even MP3 and E-mail it to you secretary and have her type it up. Someone recommended this combo, and I have to admit I'm tempted. But I type pretty well, and rarely dictate. Maybe someone else can try it and report back.
10:37:56 AM
Dan Gillmor at Harvard, Listening to Larry Lessig and Blogging about it.
Check it out. I wish I were there. Oh, and Donna Wentworth is blogging it too.
10:30:48 AM
The Music Industry's New Opus: "Three Tenors, and Two Price-Fixers"
I'm sure the record companies involved would never have done this if their profits hadn't been decimated by illegal file-sharing.
10:02:43 AM
The Sounds of Silence
Can you copyright silence? Some people think so. But, of course, some people are frigging idiots.
9:38:03 AM
Ken Layne's off to Belize...
"...I have to go to Central America to take care of some business. You would think a casino/whorehouse would run itself, but no. Cheers, Ken Layne
PS - Bookmark ESPN's Eric Neel, if you like exceptionally smart sports/culture writing...." [Ken Layne]
I have bookmarked Eric Neel (he is an exceptional writer), and also mentally booked plans to return to Belize to scuba dive, and to visit Ken Layne if he'll be kind enough to leave some traces of his whereabouts.
9:29:06 AM
New York Times Article on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Howard points out that "Adam Liptak has a front page story in Sunday's New York Times about the trouble with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can access the article here. ...Liptak prominently mention[s] the White Commission Report, [named after the head of the Commission, then Justice Byron White]. The Commission examined whether the Ninth Circuit should be split into two separate circuits. You can access transcripts of the oral testimony provided to the Commission at this link. You can access the very interesting written submissions to the Commission -- including letters from U.S. Supreme Court Justices and other federal appellate judges -- at this link. via [How Appealing]
One thing I learned from reading the article: when the Ninth Circuit sits "en banc" it sits in panels of 11, rather than the whole court (which would be 23 members). It sounds to me like the court should be split, especially if only half of the 23 full time judges are, by their own admission, able to read all of the opinions that the Ninth Circuit renders.
7:03:42 AM
