Marcus P. Zillman is a an internet search expert whose extensive knowledge of how to leverage the “invisible” or “deep” web is exemplified in this guide. The Deep Web covers somewhere in the vicinity of 1 trillion pages of information located through the world wide web in various files and formats. Current search engines are able to locate around 200 billion pages. Marcus identifies sources to mitigate the odds on behalf of serious searchers.
To ascertain the current use of social websites/media in law firms, a survey was conducted among Law Librarians entitled Computer Use in Your Organization. In addition to the responses from law firm Law Librarians, several Law Librarians from law schools and county/state government law libraries also responded as did an independent Law Librarian. The opinions of Law Librarians was sought since they are typically among the first professionals in the legal environment to explore, use and recommend new computer innovations and trends useful to attorneys, judges and legal scholars regarding information gathering, information sharing, electronic legal research and current awareness. Part 1 of the Survey details the responses of fifty-six Law Librarians regarding computer use in their organizations. Part 2 will review the responses and take a close look at the implications of the responses and what, if any, patterns can be predicted for 2010.
The November 17, 2009 Google launch of free caselaw searching via Google Scholar is the focus of John J. DiGilio’s timely content and resource review.
Many lawyers understand the importance of networking, but running a law practice takes time and no one ever seems to have enough of it. This factor is one of the main reasons lawyers offer as an excuse to avoid online networking, but Nicole Black proposes how choosing even a few efficient applications from the range of free tools available can streamline and accelerate this marketing process.
Conrad J. Jacoby details approaches and exercises that contribute to a successful process for calculating – and staying within – a realistic budget for a litigation or regulatory document review.
Conrad J. Jacoby discusses his experiences using the Peek mobile e-mail device (Time Magazine’s 2008 Gadget of the Year), which he believes is genuinely useful and an excellent value for its cost.
Attorney and legal IT expert Conrad J. Jacoby believes participants in this year’s conference were hungry for the knowledge available there, for the ability to see in-depth presentations of products, and to attend personal briefings with high-level vendor-side programmers and product directors.
Attorney David Navetta contends that there there will be significant financial pressure on organizations to take advantage of the pricing and efficiency of cloud computing, and if attorneys fail to understand the issues ahead of time there is a serious risk of getting “bulldozed” into cloud computing arrangements without time or resources to address some serious legal issues that are implicated.
Attorney and KM expert V. Mary Abraham provides details on how one law firm has found a way to create real transparency in its dealings with clients via an extranet, and whether this process may start a trend.
Stanford Law School deputy library director Erika Wayne describes an open source document access project focused on improving PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), sponsored by a small group of research savvy and customer service oriented law librarians.