legalSPY

2005-07-20T08:08:00.000-04:00

ProntoPatent is a cool program for MacOS that downloads patent PDFs from the USPTO. Simple, but works well. You may also wish to check out Patent Grabber, which seems like it's been around longer, is a bit more sophisticated and is slightly less expensive, but in initial tests I liked the simplicity of ProtoPatent. Maybe I'm just persuaded by good design, which PG doesn't seem too concerned about. I think I'll try both for a while & see which one I like the best before purchasing.

Herman Miller Babble: Device Keeps Sensitive Conversations Private

2005-05-24T09:19:00.000-04:00

Definitely useful for lawyers!

From the press release:

Herman Miller Inc. wants to make it easier for private telephone conversations to remain private. A device called Babble is the office furniture company's first foray into high-tech electronics. The wireless box duplicates and disassembles a user's voice before broadcasting it through a series of speakers to make phone conversations unintelligible to passers-by.

"It essentially turns one person's voice into something that sounds like a small-group conversation,'' said Bill DeKruif, president of Sonare Technologies, Herman Miller's research and design arm in Chicago."

"Anyone standing just a few feet away can hear the person talking but is unable to discern the content of the conversation because it's being muddled by the other voices," he told The Holland Sentinel for a Friday story.

(Via Gizmodo.)

Edit Protected PDFs?

2005-05-03T17:12:00.000-04:00

What PDF protection? Check out PDFKey Pro, which guarantees a 100% identical copy of any password protected PDF so that you can edit it. Considering that many contracts and other important documents are now circulated via protected PDF files, I wonder what sort of impact this will have?

link

2005-03-15T11:01:00.000-05:00

Look, it's a stack of law books!

(Via urbanSPY.)

Second Amendment Shirt

2005-03-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

OK, so most of the t-shirts at Busted Tees are stupid, but if you're a legal-type, you might appreciate the Second Amendment shirt... (shown)

Law School Photos

2005-03-10T10:51:00.000-05:00

This site has lots of photos of law schools across the country. Great if you're trying to make decisions about attending, or are feeling nostalgic...

Barrister Wigs and Robes

2005-03-02T16:47:00.000-05:00

Very cool. Check out Ede and Ravenscroft, British "Robe Makers and Tailors Since 1689." There you can learn all about the history of legal dress and even order your own barrister wigs, etc. I'm thinking this is for collectors only, because it's the real deal, and a lot more expensive than the cheap wigs and robes sold for use in costumes.

Better Trial Advocacy Through Technology

2005-02-23T09:57:00.000-05:00

Normally I don't grab verbatim from other sites, so I'll just point you to this great article about using technology to improve your trial law practice. Although I really enjoyed the summary, I think it's particularly good as a starting point to many great net sources, full of interesting links to cool stuff.

Twelve Ways Technology Can Make You a Better Trial Lawyer - By David Swanner

(Via Notes from the (Legal) Underground.)

Visually Mapping Discovery Docs?

2005-02-16T06:53:00.000-05:00

Reviewing (and understanding) hundreds of thousands of documents in a complex case can be quite a bear. E-discovery systems have made things a bit easier. Companies scan and OCR the documents, which are then available for attorneys to review and search via web-based systems. I've encountered two such systems, Amici, LLC and CaseVault. Still, rather than boxes of documents to manage, you still have lots of documents online that must be organized somehow. Enter Stratify Legal eDiscovery. The company has evidently created a new system to visually map complex sets of emails, "identifying critical relationships." It's true that emails can be tough to wrangle, considering all the recipients and respondents, replies, attachments, etc. There's so much information duplicated, and identical emails appear in the document collections from many key individuals in cases. This sounds very helpful. I'd like to see visual mapping for more than just email, though I bet emails make up the bulk of documents when dealing with modern companies. I couldn't find any pictures showing how the system works, and you may need to sign up for a demo on their website. But it sounds a little like how Kartoo.com works. That would be super-cool if we could really do something like that, getting visual maps of the universe of documents in a case. Even better if the system could do it intelligently, without requiring too much extensive meta-tagging of documents for key terms, topics, individuals, etc. Perhaps this will be possible. I've already been very impressed with the OCR advancements I've seen on other systems. Anyway, I have always been intrigued by Concept Maps, and would love to see new ways of applying them to legal document review and analysis during eDiscovery.

Referred by Law.com.

LawSchoolNumbers

2005-02-15T16:53:00.000-05:00

Law school applicants, check out LawSchoolNumbers.com for a cool site. The site developers have set up a system where applicants from across the country can enter their vitals (LSAT, GPA, etc.) and see how your fellow applicants are faring with the application process. Add to the data set by entering the schools to which you applied and dates when your application was complete, decision rendered, etc. It's a good way to see when you can expect to hear back from your schools and how likely you are to be accepted. I found the LSAT/GPA plots particularly interesting.

Secure Access Tokens

2005-02-09T23:31:00.000-05:00

Depending on the sort of work you do, this may or may not be new to you, but it must be relatively new, and it's most definitely cool. I'm told that more and more companies are using things like this to allow key individuals (like their attorneys) access to confidential resources. In fact, RSA Security says that more than 15 million people are using their SecureID system for two-factor (something they know and something they have) hardware authentication. Basically you get a "token," a key fob with an LCD screen. The screen shows a number with 6 digits. The number changes every 60 seconds or so. To gain access, you have to enter that specific code and your personal password. The code only works at that moment in time and only with the second factor as well. Naturally, details are confidential, but I encountered one of these today and was impressed with the system since I hadn't seen it before.

Google Maps!

2005-02-09T08:08:00.000-05:00

They've done it again. The wizards at Google deliver something super-useful and better than anything else around with Google Maps. I've been trying it and it way trumps the competitors. Use it to zoom in on any location, locate maps at any scale, and plot directions between two addresses. The best thing to do is check it out, but I was particularly impressed with the speed and clarity of the maps, plus informative pop-up info about the location you're searching for (powered by google's directory services). I'll be headed to this service regularly. For those of you who have to give clients directions, it's easy to email maps. Time will tell whether their directions are more reliable than those at Mapquest or other sites that have been around for a while. It worked best for me when using the Firefox browser.

Referred by urbanSPY.

LawSchoolStuff

2005-02-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

Into Intellectual Property? Check out this shirt, depicting the spork patent, along with other humorous law-related apparel at LawSchoolStuff.com. Their bestseller is the "Working Hard to Be Average" shirt, which they insist "every law student understands" (perhaps I'll learn about that in the Fall...). Or for one who would prefer to advertise his/her intent to dominate... the "Gunner" shirt. I think there's probably something for every sort of law student here.