Attorney's Talk

Developing trends- Class Action Noticing

2010-05-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have been reflecting on the increasing involvement of the world wide web in matters pertaining to the legal field. Lets face it - we are living in a day and age where we are witnessing the multiplying versatility of technological applications every day, all over the world, on as many professional verticals. Likewise, the internet, as a medium, is progressively gaining ground in class action settlements and proceedings too. Admittedly, the internet, has helped in streamlining the administration of class action noticing. The Internet’s broad area of operation, emerging universal appeal, extensive number of alternatives it offers users; all contribute to making it the most diverse and utilitarian channel of communication of all. Of course, for your and my knowledge, it will be only with the refinement of measurement and analysis over a period of time, that we will be able to eventually assert the Internet’s quantitative and qualitative contribution to class action notification.

However, with the exponential rise in the practice of sending class action notices through the internet, I must refresh the point that E-noticing has not always been THE option for executing class-action legal notifications. Only with passing time and appropriate management, has it begun to materialise as an efficient and a cost-effective alternative. The biggest importance of E-noticing, as I comprehend, is the flexibility one has in managing and reaching out to the mass - everyone involved in class action proceedings understands that it can be a costly component of the claims administration process. E-mail and websites provide platforms for affecting low-cost, interactive notice that can be assessed and enhanced without much ado.

Off the record, if I try assess the merits of using the internet as a dependable instrument of law on a point-by-point basis – a dedicated website, allows class members to enjoy swift, straightforward, absolute and confidential access to case information and is an economical and effectual means of providing comprehensive information on a class action. Besides, publication on a website also offers a means of tracking whether class notice was actually viewed or not. (See, e.g., In re Lupron Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig. 228 F.R.D. 75, 85 (D. Mass. 2005); a case on similar grounds – I still remember vividly following the proceedings!)

Despite it’s cumulative advantages and most American business advancing towards a paperless environment; the courts still continue to debate on whether E-noticing is appropriate to provide legal notice in class action litigation for the reason that the courts need to be assured that the notice is being delivered to class members. The pace at which electronic communications are being replicated and republished have led some courts to believe that electronic means risk distorting the notice permitted by the court (Reab v. Elec. Arts, Inc., 214 F.R.D. 623, 630631 (D. Colo. 2002)). Other courts have cited these same features as supportive of widespread indifference, rendering electronic class notice ineffective. (See Karvaly v. eBay, Inc., 245 F.R.D. 71, 91–92 (E.D.N.Y. 2007). Although many courts are willing to view e-notification as the ‘best notice practicable’ when the underlying claims arise from transactions on the Internet (Browning v. Yahoo! Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86266, at *13 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 16, 2007))

In my opinion, cases wherever class members are heavy users of the E-mail and World Wide Web, E-noticing should be considered. However, the internet’s effectiveness is compromised by the challenge to identify and target class. Thus, it makes sense for the courts to continue exploring ways to integrate technology into the legal system and not rely on the internet as the only channel of dispersing class action notices. The long and the short of it – when effectively exploited, this low-cost, interactive features of electronic communications can enhance the value of class counsel's representation to the class, potentially heightening actual participation in a claims-made settlement.

FTC regulations for Websites

2009-12-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

I recently wrote a precise article on "FTC regulations for websites". I thought it appropriate to share it with you guys on this blog. Feel free for further queries via comment section. Here we go:

The Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to act in the interest of all consumers to prevent deceptive and unfair acts or practices. In interpreting Section 5 of the Act, the Commission has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to: mislead consumers and affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service.

In addition, an act or practice is unfair if the injury it causes, or is likely to cause, is: substantial not outweighed by other benefits and not reasonably avoidable.

The FTC Act prohibits unfair or deceptive advertising in any medium.Sellers are responsible for claims they make about their products and services. Third parties - such as advertising agencies or website designers and catalog marketers - also may be liable for making or disseminating deceptive representations if they participate in the preparation or distribution of the advertising, or know about the deceptive claims.
PROTECTING CONSUMERS’ PRIVACY ONLINE

Under the revised guidelines, the FTC calls for every website to have a clear statement that data is being collected. It says consumers should be allowed to choose whether to have information collected, and when data collection occurs outside the traditional website context, companies should develop alternative methods of disclosure.
The recommendations add that a company that collects data for behavioral advertising should provide security for it. And companies should also retain data only as long as is necessary to fulfill a legitimate business or law enforcement need.
“Put simply, this could be the last clear chance to show that self-regulation can -– and will -– effectively protect consumers' privacy in a dynamic online marketplace,” said FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz in a statement.
FREE PRODUCTS

A product that's advertised as free if another is purchased - "buy one, get one" - indicates that the consumer will pay nothing for the one item and no more than the regular price for the other. Ads like these should describe all the terms and conditions of the free offer clearly and prominently.
TESTIMONIALS AND ENDORSEMENTS

Testimonials and endorsements must reflect the typical experiences of consumers, unless the ad clearly and conspicuously states otherwise. A statement that not all consumers will get the same results is not enough to qualify a claim. Testimonials and endorsements can't be used to make a claim that the advertiser itself cannot substantiate.

Connections between an endorser and the company that are unclear or unexpected to a customer also must be disclosed, whether they have to do with a financial arrangement for a favorable endorsement, a position with the company, or stock ownership. Expert endorsements must be based on appropriate tests or evaluations performed by people that have mastered the subject matter.
Warranties and Guarantees
Warranties

The Rule on Pre-Sale Availability of Written Warranty Terms requires that warranties be available before purchase for consumer products that cost more than $15. If your ad mentions a warranty on a product that can be purchased by mail, phone or computer, it must tell consumers, how to get a copy of the warranty.
Guarantees

If any ad, on your website, uses phrases like "satisfaction guaranteed" or "money-back guarantee," you must be willing to give full refunds for any reason. You also must tell the consumer the terms of the offer.

OTHER IMPORTANT POINTS

* Disclaimers and disclosures must be clear and conspicuous. That is, consumers must be able to notice, read or hear, and understand the information. Still, a disclaimer or disclosure alone usually is not enough to remedy a false or deceptive claim.
* Demonstrations must show how the product will perform under normal use.
* Refunds must be made to dissatisfied consumers - if you promised to make them.
* Advertising directed to children raises special issues. That's because children may have greater difficulty evaluating advertising claims and understanding the nature of the information you provide. Sellers should take special care not to misrepresent a product or its performance when advertising to children.

We hope this article provides you with insightful information to legally and securely run your online business, for any queries, please contact us at support@prodigylegal.com

FaceBook Group

2009-12-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

On Sunday 13, November 2009: An initiative to spread legal awareness and knowledge as a Pro-bono activity by the lawyers of Prodigy Legal has formed a substantial shape. A group within facebook has been created where you can post your legal questions/trivia's and accept immediate assistance from a panel of lawyers from diverse fields.

Here is the excerpt from group description:

Prodigy Legal’s team of young socially motivated lawyers have taken an initiative to help you with your itsy-bitsy legal hurdles and raise your awareness towards legal issues. We aim to provide you with insightful legal information and knowledge; and to direct you towards suitable legal recourse. We have created this dynamic forum where you can post your legal queries/trivia and we shall revert with troubleshooters. Our panel of lawyers cover a range of fields of law. So, whether you have business or property or an IP issue (or even a family conundrum actually), WE are listening!

Join the group to help us clear the cobwebs and offer you an effectual legal outlook.

Our Interest: We believe - the best way to gain knowledge is to spread it!

You can join the group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=202434196957

Help spread the cause.

Website businesses - regulations and compliance

2009-02-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

Website businesses - regulations and compliance

Hi all website entrepreneurs or my friends thinking of starting a website(s) or representatives of website(s). I hope this post is valuable to you in assisting you to legally and securely conduct and regulate your website business.

Ever since post late 80's, with the dynamic growth of the Internet and usage of online resources, the website business has grown tremendously and developed as a lucrative channel of income for many entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations. You'll find various types of website in this universe including but not limited to service and/or product oriented, market places, professional hiring places, social marketing places, media places, music, sound, pictures and/or media sharing. All such types of websites do have some governing laws to comply with; you may be thinking which law will govern your website as your customers can be from any part of the World. Here's the answer: your website is governed by the laws of the jurisdiction from where it is operated. Then there can be various Governmental rules and regulations and statutory requirements over your websites depending on the nature and purpose of your website.

But above rule do have an exception, some websites can be regulated by dual jurisdictions, and to conclude whether a website needs to comply with dual jurisdiction has to be determined by deeply understanding the services of the website and targeted audience. This is actually determined by the ever growing rules and rationales of Caselaws.

For some type of online business, like hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, fund raising, arms and weapons sale, jewelry, health products, fertilizer products, there are special requirements to fulfil, and such requirements are imposed by Governmental agencies OR ACTS like FTC, FDC, ATF, HIPAA, etc.

It is of imperial importance that your website efficiently complies with such requirements for long terms safe and secure business. There are many websites which are banned and removed from host servers (hosts are forced to do that) by government agencies because of their non-compliance. Still, from my legal experience I believe that there exist large number of websites which are in non-compliance and infringing Federal, State or International laws but still they are conducting business for years. The issue is the enforcement of laws in this vast and never ending webspace, but it does not mean that such business/websites will keep on regulating without being caught by the eyes of regulating agencies, the sword hanges forever.

Another question I think you have in your mind is that how your website is going to comply with all such multiple complicated legal requirements. What you need to have is very diligently drafted legal documentation on your website. Your website shall have all the required disclaimers of regulating Acts and/or agencies, and in the right format. The legal documentation for every website is specific depending on particular governing law and functionality. Mere copy paste of legal documentation can be a vulnerable threat to your web based business. For some of the websites it needs to be assured that you are not infringing registered Patent rights, if so, you need to adapt some changes to make sure that you are not in the line of infringement.

I hope this initial information on website regulation and compliance is useful and you can feel free to reach me for any further queries without slightest of hesitation.

The author of this article is Avish Sharma representing an International legal firm Prodigy Legal Minds, a lawyer expertise in international online business laws; he could be reached at avish@prodigylegal.com or 347-404-5274. You can visit the website www.prodigylegal.com for further information.

Disclaimer: *It should be strictly noted that nothing in this article constitutes as legal advice or solicitation and no attorney-client relationship can be interfered with the author or firm. For further discussion you can contact the author.

Online Free Legal Resources

2008-11-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

The following is an answer by me to a friends request for cost effective(free) Online Places to search Laws, caselaws, statutes, rules and State laws. I understand and agree that the following article may be a bit informal however it can impart usefull information and can enrich your cost efficient research skills.

I'd like to go a bit beyond from your question to make this thread more usefull even for people in search of legal information pertaining to other fields including yours. I understand that lexis and westlaw can be great place to get legal information nonetheless I would like to jolt down free sources, so here we go: Cornell’s Legal Information Institute has a fully searchable version of the U.S. Code at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/. Federal regulations can be tricky – they are updated more regularly than the statutes, and the traditional online services usually can be counted on have the most recent regulations. So can eCFR, the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, www.gpoaccess.gov/ecfr/.

Free case law can be found at LexisOne a great but not well-known service provided by Lexis And for efficient results one cam also try LexisOne’s Shepard’s Citations Online, which you can “rent” for $40/day, $60/week, and so on. You can’t beat a deal like that anywhere. Just remembered that you can also try www.fastlaw.com with similar pacakages but also allows 24 hours free full access trial services. For full-text state statutes, that contains links to the statutes, constitution and often the administrative code of each state: http://www.prairienet.org/~scruffy/f.htm If you’re researching federal statutes, Thomas, at http://thomas.loc.gov, is the place to go for legislation and other statutory research. Looking for briefs: www.appellatebrief.net is the best place. Other good sources are www.lawreview.com & www.lawsource.com

And yes, If you’re looking for federal court case information, you may have more luck. Thanks to PACER, http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/, and the federal government’s e-filing initiative, more and more court records are being made available online; once you register for PACER, it’s only seven cents a page to download original documents from federal case files.

Hope this helps and you get the relevant information you're looking for.

Hedge Funds to Investment Company

2008-07-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

I strongly believe that there are many Hedge Fund owners who are planing to regulate more securely by registering themselves as Investment Companies, moreover, considering the recent stringent action by SEC against many Hedge Funds who fail to conduct/operate their Hedge Funds within the exceptions laid down by SEC from registering as an Investment Company. Legal Reasearch team at Prodigy Legal Minds has recently conducted a thorugh research on procedure to effectively and efficiebtly regsiter a Hedge Fund with the SEC. Considering the growing concern of more and more Hedge Fund owners, I thought it useful to share the following overview of the whole procedure and key to exception:

1) Registration with the SEC

2) Compliance with State requirements.

3) Compliance with the Internet (website) and digital delivery laws for public offerings.

4) Legal sales marketing requirements.

Before entering into the first step 1 it must be noted that a Hedge Fund can go for exemption under Regulation D. For compliance with this exemption a Hedge Fund must show a “no general solicitation” and “pre-existing, substantive relationship” of the broker-dealer with the investor.

For complying with above requirements a Hedge Fund need follow a procedure to invite previously UNKNOWN prospective investors to complete a questionnaire posted on the Internet web site "as a means of building a customer base and database of accredited and sophisticated investors" for the broker-dealer. A password-restricted web page permitting access to private offerings would become available to a prospective investor only after the affiliated broker-dealer determined that the investor was "accredited" or "sophisticated" within the meaning of Regulation D. Additionally, a prospective investor could purchase securities only in offerings that were posted on the restricted web site after the investor had been qualified by the affiliated broker-dealer as an accredited or sophisticated investor and had opened an account with the broker-dealer.

The Hedge Fund can also satisfy the "no general solicitation" requirement solely in the context of offerings by private hedge funds is excluded from regulation as investment companies pursuant to Sections 3(c)(1) and 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act, 15 U.S.C. §§80a-3(c)(1) and 80a-3(c)(7).

Benefits of Registration, mainly:
a) Unlimited number of investors.
b) No minimum investment requirements for the investors.

Registration with the SEC as closed-end Investment Company (Funds of Hedge Funds):

Here, the Hedge Fund have a option of going for Dual registration. Under dual registration, at the same time you’ll register as an Investment company under the Investment Company Act, and register the offer and sale of its securities under the Securities Act (“Dual Registered FOHF”). Whether two opt for Dual registration must only be considered after thoroughly evaluating all the legal aspects of the particluar organization.

Registration requirements:

1) Filing of Form N-2.
2) Registration Statement, which includes:
a. Prospectus portion: discloses information about, among other things, the FOHF’s investment objectives and strategies, risks, expenses and performance.
b. Additional information regarding operations.
3) Providing PPM to interested investors.
4) Company Disclosure:
a. Valuation
b. Risks
c. Fees & Expenses
d. Investment Strategies

Registration fees:

At the time of filing a registration statement, the Hedge Fund require to pay to the Commission a fee at a rate that shall be equal to $92 per $1,000,000 of the maximum aggregate price at which such securities are proposed to be offered. The rates shall be applied pro rata to amounts and balances of less than $1,000,000.

*The Hedge Fund may commence offering and selling of shares immediately upon filing a registration statement with the Commission

Performance Fees

Hedge Fund can charge performance fees only for a “qualified client”. Many Hedge Funds do have failed to adhere to this requirements.

Its also a question that Who is a Qualified Investor?
- Rule 205-3 generally defines a qualified client as one of the following:
(1) a natural person or company that has $750,000 under the management of the adviser; or
(2) a natural person or company whom the adviser believes has (a) a net worth of $1.5 million or
(b) is a qualified purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) of the Investment Company Act.
*we’ll require a unique secure legal jargon with the investor agreement to take care of this.

At last, Funds of Hedge Funds are a very unique, complex and new investment product and require upmost care to be structured efficiently. It will better if the Hedge Fund owner(s) take some time at the upfront to explore all the future possibilities and legal implications upfront.

I hope this information will be valuaable for the people associated with the Hedge Funds.

P.S: Prodigy Legal Minds is not a Law Firm, and does not render any legal advice, however Prodigy Legal is engaged in delivering cost efficient legal support services to Corporations, law firms, In house Counsels; under the strict supervision and control of the presiding Attorney.
Above material is written through exhaustive research and research only, nothing here constitutes as legal advice.

Free Online Sources for Legal information

2008-05-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

The following is an answer by me to a friends request for cost effective(free) Online Places to search Laws, caselaws, statutes, rules and State laws. I understand and agree that the following article may be a bit informal however it can impart usefull information and can enrich your cost efficient research skills.

I'd like to go a bit beyond from your question to make this thread more usefull even for people in search of legal information pertaining to other fields including yours. I understand that lexis and westlaw can be great place to get legal information nonetheless I would like to jolt down free sources, so here we go: Cornell’s Legal Information Institute has a fully searchable version of the U.S. Code at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/. Federal regulations can be tricky – they are updated more regularly than the statutes, and the traditional online services usually can be counted on have the most recent regulations. So can eCFR, the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, www.gpoaccess.gov/ecfr/.

Free case law can be found at LexisOne a great but not well-known service provided by Lexis And for efficient results one cam also try LexisOne’s Shepard’s Citations Online, which you can “rent” for $40/day, $60/week, and so on. You can’t beat a deal like that anywhere. Just remembered that you can also try www.fastlaw.com with similar pacakages but also allows 24 hours free full access trial services. For full-text state statutes, that contains links to the statutes, constitution and often the administrative code of each state: http://www.prairienet.org/~scruffy/f.htm If you’re researching federal statutes, Thomas, at http://thomas.loc.gov, is the place to go for legislation and other statutory research. Looking for briefs: www.appellatebrief.net is the best place. Other good sources are www.lawreview.com & www.lawsource.com

And yes, If you’re looking for federal court case information, you may have more luck. Thanks to PACER, http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/, and the federal government’s e-filing initiative, more and more court records are being made available online; once you register for PACER, it’s only seven cents a page to download original documents from federal case files. Hope this helps and you get the relevant information you're looking for.

Online Videos - Latest HOT Marketing Trend for Law Firms

2008-02-12T15:45:00.001-08:00

This was certainly going to come. As online marketing techniques promoting services by means of educational, knowledgeable and informative videos is growing in popularity internationally, especially across the American society, LexisNexis announced a new capability that enables law firms and legal service providers to create and publish videos as part of the marketing options on the Matindale-Hubbell(R) lawyers.com (SM) and martindale.com (R) online legal destinations. In addition to opening up a new way for firms to sell themselves, the video feature also allows potential clients to "visit" and assess law firms without any physical interaction or visiting them.
Sharon Lubrano, vice president, lawyers.com for LexisNexis said "Lawyers are increasingly embracing new ways to differentiate themselves and attract new business while consumers and small business professionals are eager to learn more about a lawyer or firm's philosophy and demeanor prior to hiring the firm," adding that "Our new online video capability meets both of these needs with an exciting option that allows firms to showcase their expertise and provides clients with additional decision-support information."

Undeniably, Video marketing is the next Hot mode for promoting your services with many prominent players in legal industry following it and experiencing the considerable outreaching effects of it.

Revolution in Legal Profession via Technology

2008-02-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

Gone are the days when the lawyers strictly need to maintain and search through multiple shelves of law books, prepare by hand a litigation calendar, case preparation files and infact need expensive support office. Blatantly, to maintain a real office is much more expensive then a virtual one. Moreover, the evaluation of technology has also resulted in drastic increase in the efficiency of Legal professionals and has resulted in higher Client satisfaction. Now, burdened lawyers can even securely send their legal work to lawyers in other countries like India and can efficiently utilize global resources.

Several legal software’s and research tools have become vital essence of legal practitioner’s life. This article discusses the role played by the dynamic technology and support of US Bar and Courts for the effective utilization of such technology.

LexisNexis

For the more then a decade Lexis has been world's leading provider of information management and workflow solutions for Firms, lawyers and Law students. It has resulted in increased profitability and productivity for legal and professional firms. There popular searchable archive has been an effective tool to search of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents and other material. Integrated case assessment and integration is highly constructive. Now, the inclusion of Total Litigator provides advanced services to Lawyers. It combines world-class client development, legal research and practice management capabilities in a single, integrated solution.

Concordance 07

Concordance being the first venerable Document Review database enjoys elite position among competitors. Now, with the launch of new Concordance 2007 by LexisNexis adds more lucrative features to the older version. The slick new look and significant improvements in its tagging interface, email import, and conduits to other major litigation software products should help it maintain its place at the head of the legal-software pack. The improved tagging increases the review rate of documents by very efficiently. The inclusion of Total Litigator in the Concordance 2007 itself helps the paralegal/attorney to effectively utilize the advanced features of Lexis.
Recent article by Litigation support expert Paul Easton excellently reviews the new Concordance 2007.

Easy Soft

EasyDoc now can also handle PDF forms we download from the Internet. Import any PDF form into EasyDocs as a template. EasyDocs will display all existing Word templates along with newly added PDF forms, nicely organized for you. EasyDocs can display the entire form or just the fields you need to fill out. You can fill out the form in either mode. Save the case file. EasyDocs retains the information you entered. If you need to make a change, simply change it anywhere in your case file. EasyDocs will then update all associated files, including any linked PDF forms. EasyDoc can configure so that the entire team can share same set of templates and review each other's work. It helps to delegate various tasks to team members and check the status of all open matters at one place.

Highly Secure Data Transfer

Law firms are now looking for Cost Benefit services offered by Legal Service providers/vendors located in India. However, prevailing security of the confidential material is top most priority and sending data across the sea causes doubts.
Data sent across the public Internet is generally not protected from prying eyes, but you can make your Internet communications secure and extend your private network with a virtual private network (VPN) connection. A VPN connection uses encryption and tunneling to transfer data securely on the Internet to a remote access VPN server on your workplace network.
With internal and external mandates demanding that Legal processes be secure, documented, and auditable, companies are clamoring to impose order over enterprise file transfer.

TechLaw on Youtube

2008-02-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

I have read several informative articles and product reviews on Techlaw, and was glad to stumble with Florida Attorney in Techlaw episode 1: how your legal bill gets inflated; & 2: Top 5 Web Development Contract Pitfalls. Importance of seasoned and secure Contract/Agreement is discussed, and how a loose Contract can effect future transactional disputes. You can watch them at http://youtube.com/results?search_query=techlaw&search_type= . Hope to see many more episodes.

Copyright Complaint under DMCA

2008-02-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

As Internet use is growing dramatically, adversely it is also leading towards growing Internet copyright infringement. Suppose, someone takes your picture from Orkut, facebook etc and use it in a libelous manner causing you much agitated grievance.

Under Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998, a copyright owner has the right to file a complaint with the Host of the website, complaint application is required to be in a prescribed format. Further, DMCA imposes liability over the Host company to Take Down the infringing material.

Seems quite easy right:-)

I hope it becomes that easy. Infact, it is very tedious and irritating while corresponding with the Host as they are exempted for any liability arising from their customers (website owners) and further they don't take prompt action in most of the cases.

It's somewhat like our government offices. Reminders & reminders, still reminders...

But an effective, clever and continious effort by the copyright owner can successfully result to a Take Down and preservation of his Copyright. And always remember to keep a polite approach as much is in their hands.

Still in few situations (5%) people don't get a proper redressal to their cause.

For an effective filing of a Complaint, you can visit the directed website www.pligarismtoday.com

Further you can ask me for a free consultation:-)

Just for Gigs

2008-02-12T15:39:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends, with much work pressure over everybody in this competitive market, freak some time out with the following statistically significant findings of an Anonymous Law Firm:

1. Associates who divorce their spouses see an immediate boost in productivity, salary, mental health, and the chances of being assigned to do the kinds of intellectually stimulating legal work that brought them to the firm in the first place. These benefits are tripled in cases where the associate chooses to forego visitation with his or her children.

2. The most satisfied associates reported that they receive an average of 2-3 hours of sleep per night, while associates who reported an average of 7 or more hours of sleep per night found themselves most likely to receive additional assignments in the weeks following the study questionnaire.

3. Associates who eat take-out meals for dinner at least 6 times per week, ordered through the corporate intranet, showed significant progress toward self-actualization and an afterlife spent in nirvana.

Any of your humours comments are not at all welcome... :-)

$222,000 damages for downloading SONGS

2008-02-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

Jammie Thomas of Brainerd, Minnessota.... downloaded 24 songs illegally, if he would have downloaded those 24 songs via itunes it would have cost him only $24.

But now, Federal Court has asked him to pay $222,000...Isn't it huge amount for illegal downloading, you must be thinking that how many people you know who have downloaded more then that:-)

Ray Beckerman, a lawyer who defends people accused of illegal downloading, describes the verdict as "one of the most irrational things I have ever seen in my life in the law."

Again, some are also in favour of the verdict considering the unique facts of the case. Journalist Declan McCullagh spells this out most clearly, pointing to four factors that added up to a win for the RIAA:

1. The RIAA was able to match a Kazaa username and IP address with Thomas. That's not possible in every case.
2. The judge adopted key RIAA jury instructions, a crucial move that gave RIAA "a much easier time of it."
3. The judge's "making available" jury instruction required no proof that any other Kazaa user actually downloaded songs from Thomas' computer.
4. Copyright law's allocation of statutory damages proved harsh in this case, with the jury deciding to award $9,250 per song, when it could have gone as low as $750.

At last, I sincerly hope that none of those Jury members have ever downloaded illegally...

Highly Secure Data Transfer-An Integral Requirement for LPO

2008-02-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Law firms are now looking for Cost Benefit services offered by Legal Service providers/vendors located in India. However, prevailing security of the confidential material is top most priority and sending data across the sea causes doubts.
Data sent across the public Internet is generally not protected from prying eyes, but you can make your Internet communications secure and extend your private network with a virtual private network (VPN) connection. A VPN connection uses encryption and tunneling to transfer data securely on the Internet to a remote access VPN server on your workplace network.
With internal and external mandates demanding that Legal processes be secure, documented, and auditable, companies are clamoring to impose order over enterprise file transfer. Truly-secure enterprise file transfer requires a multi-phased approach that includes the following:

Encryption:
in-stream encryption for maximized security; support for multiple encryption algorithms including AES (Rijndael), DES, 3DES, and Blowfish

End-to-end Delivery:
most data breaches don't happen as the files are in transit but rather at either end of the transmission. FTP servers are notoriously vulnerable to hacking; DMZs are also susceptible to compromise

Auditability:
detailed audit logs and other granular reports must be available and easily accesible for any historical time period

Access Management:
strong authentication and authorization of users

Multi-protocol Support:
support for a variety of popular protocols (e.g., HTTPS, HTTP, FTP, FTPS (SSL), and SFTP (SSH) – this increases the organization's flexibility

Centralized Control:
the solution must offer an easy way to centrally monitor and control the movement of all information across the enterprise

Automation:
by decreasing the number of manual actions required, and by automating authorization, execution, processing, monitoring, and logging, an organization can increase overall data security
CyberFusion Integration Suite (CFI), from Proginet, is an advanced secure file transfer solution that enables IT organizations to securely consolidate all enterprise file-transfer activity. The solution supports strong authentication including PKI and x.509, access controls at user/group levels, selectable levels of encryption, full auditing on all transfers, and detailed compliance reports – maximizing security and control, and significantly simplifying mandate compliance.

Outsourcing from European nations requires more precautions as per EU Privacy Directives. Shortly a post on it...

At Last Concordance2007

2008-02-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

Concordance being the first venerable Document Review database enjoys elite position among competitors. Now, with the launch of new Concordance 2007 by LexisNexis adds more lucrative features to the older version. The slick new look and significant improvements in its tagging interface, email import, and conduits to other major litigation software products should help it maintain its place at the head of the legal-software pack. The improved tagging increases the review rate of documents by very efficiently. The inclusion of Total Litigator in the Concordance 2007 itself helps the paralegal/attorney to effectively utilize the advanced features of Lexis.
Recent article by Litigation support expert Paul Easton excellently reviews the new Concordance 2007.
Your experience with C007 is most welcome.

Desired Career or Money

2008-02-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

Recently, I went through an article which discusses the plight of well-educated young US Lawyers who feel forced to choose between making piles of money or doing work that inspires, but not both. That's certainly an issue that rings true for many new lawyers, who profess to yearn for public interest jobs, but march off to Biglaw to repay loans.

Certainly, same is the situation prevailing here, with extortionate cost of living in metro cities, a fresher has to succumb his/her wish to pursue career in desired stream. An alluring salary offered immediately after the degree lures to forgot about the security of later future.

But again, its not an easy task to satisfy your desires as well as to maintain a wealthy living. "It takes few decades to establish a synthsis between your earnings and work satisfaction" stated by many experienced eminent attorneys.

I hope one day we all are also able to reach "synthesis" !!!!

Revolution in Legal Profession through Technology

2008-02-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

Gone are the days when the lawyers strictly need to maintain and search through multiple shelves of law books, prepare by hand a litigation calendar, case preparation files and infact need expensive support office. Blatantly, to maintain a real office is much more expensive then a virtual one. Moreover, the evaluation of technology has also resulted in drastic increase in the efficiency of Legal professionals and has resulted in higher Client satisfaction. Now, burdened lawyers can even securely send their legal work to lawyers in other countries like India and can efficiently utilize global resources.

Several legal software’s and research tools have become vital essence of legal practitioner’s life. This article discusses the role played by the dynamic technology and support of US Bar and Courts for the effective utilization of such technology.

LexisNexis

For the more then a decade Lexis has been world's leading provider of information management and workflow solutions for Firms, lawyers and Law students. It has resulted in increased profitability and productivity for legal and professional firms. There popular searchable archive has been an effective tool to search of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents and other material. Integrated case assessment and integration is highly constructive. Now, the inclusion of Total Litigator provides advanced services to Lawyers. It combines world-class client development, legal research and practice management capabilities in a single, integrated solution.

Concordance 07

Concordance being the first venerable Document Review database enjoys elite position among competitors. Now, with the launch of new Concordance 2007 by LexisNexis adds more lucrative features to the older version. The slick new look and significant improvements in its tagging interface, email import, and conduits to other major litigation software products should help it maintain its place at the head of the legal-software pack. The improved tagging increases the review rate of documents by very efficiently. The inclusion of Total Litigator in the Concordance 2007 itself helps the paralegal/attorney to effectively utilize the advanced features of Lexis.
Recent article by Litigation support expert Paul Easton excellently reviews the new Concordance 2007.

Easy Soft

EasyDoc now can also handle PDF forms we download from the Internet. Import any PDF form into EasyDocs as a template. EasyDocs will display all existing Word templates along with newly added PDF forms, nicely organized for you. EasyDocs can display the entire form or just the fields you need to fill out. You can fill out the form in either mode. Save the case file. EasyDocs retains the information you entered. If you need to make a change, simply change it anywhere in your case file. EasyDocs will then update all associated files, including any linked PDF forms. EasyDoc can configure so that the entire team can share same set of templates and review each other's work. It helps to delegate various tasks to team members and check the status of all open matters at one place.

Highly Secure Data Transfer

Law firms are now looking for Cost Benefit services offered by Legal Service providers/vendors located in India. However, prevailing security of the confidential material is top most priority and sending data across the sea causes doubts.
Data sent across the public Internet is generally not protected from prying eyes, but you can make your Internet communications secure and extend your private network with a virtual private network (VPN) connection. A VPN connection uses encryption and tunneling to transfer data securely on the Internet to a remote access VPN server on your workplace network.
With internal and external mandates demanding that Legal processes be secure, documented, and auditable, companies are clamoring to impose order over enterprise file transfer.

TechLaw on Youtube

2008-02-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

Highly Secure Data Transfer-An Integral Requirement for LPO

2007-12-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

Desired Career or Money

2007-10-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

$222,000 damages for downloading SONGS

2007-10-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

Copyright Complaint under DMCA

2007-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

Just for Gigs

2007-10-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

At Last Concordance2007

2007-09-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

Support for Outsourcing; US - India Government Ties

2007-09-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

The recently concluded US -India agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation, has boldly overcome all its controversies. Approval of the deal has shown willingness of the Bush administration to form a strategic alliance with India on mutual benefiting terms. Blatantly, the deal still needs to be formulated; Congress has to scrutinize it and requires endorsement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). US experts expect hard scrutiny but eventual expectance.

Although the deal ran up against US law, forbidding supply of technology or fuel to a non-NPT member undeclared weapons state, but still it overcame these issues. Bush has prudently recognized the dynamic opportunities arising out of this tie and has described India as “a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology”. It took Indian and US negotiators two years to bring together Bush’s promise of “full cooperation” and US law restricting such assistance on the other. We hope that lawyers and US lawmakers cast their votes in favour of the deal. According to the US-India business council, the expansion of India’s civilian nuclear-energy programme would generate $150 billion in commercial opportunities for American companies in the span of next 30 years.

This deal motivates companies and firms to step ahead and grab the opportunity for association with their overseas counterparts and to achieve prosperity and raise the standards of Global living. With the advent of technology, it would be undoubtedly a wise decision to utilize the inter-nation resources for enriched mutual benefit. It’s the time now, we have to cut loose from the adverse propensity for overseas ties and must keep the interests of the whole society at large. For example, offshoring of Legal Services has allocated the extortionate legal fees imposed on clients to an extent. If both the sides exhibit the same intensity as done by Bush’s administration, the US law firms and Indian legal professionals will experience dynamic prosperity and will help for a growth in economic standards of both the nations.

Top most US Law Firms, like Clifford Chance, have set an appropriate example by offshoring all their paralegal work and back office support to Indian vendors.

Revolution for Electronic Evidence

2007-09-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

For the past few years the importance of electronic evidence has been widespreadly recogonised by the Courts in US, but still we do not have a strong force of precedent for such issues. As those numerous cases which have intiated in past 2years, have not been decided yet. There issues have not yet been solved, so we also dont have much to refer or utilize as precedents.

Moreover, research engines like Lexisnexis does not include pending cases in their services and infact they dont have a specific topic for Electronic Evidence, i was in a blatant purview that with an widespread use of computer technology in almost every aspect of life, electronic evidence laws should be given a very higher degree of importance, anyways surely they will be given in a short span of time.

Your valuable comments are welcome to discuss the thread further.

Welcome Friends...

2007-09-25T04:59:00.001-07:00

This Blog is for all my Attorney friends, for reading the latest news (inside & Outside), infact to also share their experience/news, comment on other blogs with their spice added to it. Moreover, we will also help the public with vital assistance through this blog and strengthen the relationship with them.

Looking forward to have valuable assistance from all of you.