Robert Ambrogi,
a lawyer
in Rockport, MA, is vice president for editorial services at Jaffe Associates and director of WritersForLawyers.

He is author of the book, The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web

---

Help support
this Web log.

---

Home

Services

Experience

Articles

Book

Links

---

---

< ? law blogs # >

 
FindLaw adds lawyers' 'experience records'
More interesting news from FindLaw today -- the launch of the Thomson Legal Record, described as "a first-of-its-kind resource designed to help in-house corporate attorneys make more informed decisions when hiring outside counsel." The idea is a good one: enable users to research and verify an attorney's real-world litigation experience by combining a high-level view of an attorney's litigation history drawn from Westlaw with an attorney's West Legal Directory profile and published articles on FindLaw.com.

While the idea is good, the execution is selective. First, it displays litigation histories only for certain attorneys. As far as I can tell, whether a history displays for a given attorney appears to be tied to whether the attorney has a paid listing in the West Legal Directory. I don't, so in place of a litigation history next to my name appears a LawCrawler search field. Second, for those lawyers whose histories are displayed, you can read the cases only if you have a Westlaw account, so non-Westlaw subscribers are out of luck.

Try it yourself. You can go directly to the Thomson Legal Record or find it by going to either the FindLaw Corporate Counsel Center or the FindLaw for Legal Professionals Web site. FindLaw's announcement says that, in the coming months, it will expand the Thomson Legal Record to draw on additional information resources, including Thomson Financial. These resources will enable users to assess transactional data and additional dimensions of lawyer and law firm expertise and experience.

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 8:22 PM :: |

 
WisBlawg focuses on legal research and Internet news
The University of Wisconsin Law Library has launched WisBlawg, a blog offering legal research and Internet news and information with an emphasis on Wisconsin. According to reference and electronic services librarian Bonnie Shucha, the blog will report on new Web research resources and technologies, legal research news, announcements of local workshops and events, and more. WisBlawg offers an ATOM feed for those wishing to subscribe using a news reader, as well as updates via e-mail.

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 10:28 PM :: |

 
LW USA reports on ABA proposal to cut standing committee
Lawyers Weekly USA reports on the proposal to cut funding for the ABA's Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners: ABA May Eliminate Funding for Small-Firm Committee. Reporter Reni Gertner writes:

"The ABA Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners would no longer receive funding under a proposal that is pending before the ABA Board of Governors - which will decide the fate of the committee at the ABA's annual meeting in Atlanta next week."

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 10:08 PM :: |

 
More on lawyer bloggers at the DNC
Speaking of TalkLeft and Jeralyn Merritt, she made the lede of The New York Times story on DNC bloggers. (Thanks to Peter Nordbert at Blog 702 for the pointer.)

Meanwhile, Denise Howell IDs other lawyer bloggers at the DNC: DailyKos, Allen Larson and Tom Burka.

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 2:20 PM :: |

 
Lawyers among the bloggers at the DNC
One of the most thoughtful and provocative lawyer-written blogs is TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime, and TalkLeft blogger -- and criminal defense lawyer -- Jeralyn E. Merritt is among the roster of convention bloggers. I'm glad the bloggers are there to provide their unique perspectives on the convention. But as I read their reports, I am all the more aware of the extent to which these events are orchestrated to play best to the TV. Jeralyn's report, "Clinton ends with, Send Me. The crowd chants and cheers in response," reveals nothing of the emotion only a camera can convey. The DNC bloggers should avoid efforts at real-time reporting and spend their time digging behind the scenes, showing us what the cameras will not.

More revealing than bloggers at the DNC would be a cadre of guerilla videographers, taking their cameras behind the scenes, away from the scripted events and  celebrity politicians, and streaming what they find over the Internet.


posted by Robert Ambrogi at 8:40 AM :: |

 
FindLaw acquires Hubbard One
This just-released announcement from Thomson Corp. promises to reshape the field of law firm Web design, but the question is in what way:

FindLaw Acquires Hubbard One

EAGAN, Minn., July 26, 2004 - FindLaw®, a Thomson business (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), today announced the company has acquired Hubbard One, the legal profession's leading provider of marketing applications to large U.S. law firms. The combination of Hubbard One and FindLaw creates the legal industry's broadest, most comprehensive and first fully integrated suite of business and marketing applications, connected to the world's largest, best-qualified audiences and communities. The acquisition also accelerates FindLaw's strategy to be the legal profession's premier provider of business and client development products and services.

Hubbard One joins FindLaw on the heels of FindLaw's acquisition of Glasser LegalWorks and the launch of the Thomson Legal Record, an innovative service that enables in-house corporate counsel to do due diligence by researching the litigation track record of outside lawyers and law firms. The combined strength of these services enables large law firms to build profitable relationships with current and prospective clients by tapping into established and engaged audiences of corporate counsel, business professionals, consumers and legal professionals in person, in print and on the Web.

Through the acquisition, Hubbard One will become part of FindLaw, aligned with the Thomson Legal & Regulatory market group. Hubbard One's operations, employees and management will continue to be based in Chicago. Hubbard One President and CEO John Fish will join FindLaw as vice president and general manager, Hubbard One. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

(snip, snip)
posted by Robert Ambrogi at 10:08 AM :: |

 
Laughing at lawyers and the law
Law.com today published my survey of legal humor sites, Laughing at Lawyers and the Law.
posted by Robert Ambrogi at 9:09 AM :: |

 
Can a lawyer be fired for not wearing a tie?
Apparently so, at least in this case:

"Seventeen years after he was fired for not wearing a coat and tie to work, former assistant attorney general Donald Bouton's wrongful termination lawsuit against the V.I. government has been dismissed."

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 3:32 PM :: |

 
Help save the ABA Standing Committee on Solos
One of the greatest Internet assets for solo and small firm lawyers is the Solosez listserv, operated by the ABA Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners. In a message to the list today, Reid Trautz and Jim Schwartz, two members of the Standing Committee, reported that a committee of the ABA Board of Governors has voted to delete all funding for the Standing Committee, threatening not only the committee but also the Solosez list. At the ABA annual meeting in Atlanta next month, if the board of governors ratifies the committee's action, the Standing Committee will cease to exist.

Trautz and Schwartz write:

Without the Standing Committee, the future of Solosez may be at risk. While the General Practice Solo and Small Firm Section of the ABA has been asked to take over as the new home for certain Standing Committee activities including Solosez and the Breakfast Caucus, ABA funding of those projects and the independence of them still remain as potential impediments. Indeed, some will suggest a new, less political home for Solosez than its current home, but no other iteration, including the latest attempt this month, have succeeded to attain the depth and breadth of the current community that is Solosez now.

Further, the Standing Committee is more than just Solosez. The Standing Committee is the only voice within that ABA whose sole agenda is to speak for solo and small lawyers and be their voice within the ABA. Its mandate is to encourage solo and small firm attorneys to join the ABA by demonstrating the ABA provides a value added service to the solo and small firm legal community. But, others currently in control of the ABA's budget have unilaterally decided to cut off funding to the Standing Committee, albeit underfunded now, and thus silencing that voice even though the great percentage of new members in the ABA in the past 10 years are solo and small firm practitioners and who have elected to not join the General Practice Section. Indeed, less than 50% of all self-identified solo and small firm practitioners are members of any ABA Section, lending further concern that those practitioners will have no organized voice to speak for them in the future.

The Standing Committee is requesting a show of support from all solo and small firm lawyers -- especially those on Solosez. To facilitate this, they are asking solos to Click here, and then fill out the information requested. This will send a message (shown at the link) to 54 ABA leaders letting them know you support the Standing Committee.


posted by Robert Ambrogi at 9:01 PM :: |

 
Site promises low-cost, online bar review course
I received this press release today about MyBarPrep.com, a $149 course that promises to prepare future lawyers for the multistate bar exam:

"Norwood, MA – July 19, 2004 –Tens of thousands of students over the past decade have experienced disappointment due to the impersonal nature of conventional bar review courses. After three years of law school, students routinely pay over $2,000.00 to attend a videotaped lecture to prepare for the most important exam of their lives.

"MyBarPrep.com is a program that provides quality bar exam tools online for less than 1/10 of the price of conventional bar review courses.  How?  MyBarPrep.com provides hundreds of pages of notes, practice questions, and legal summaries completely online to aspiring attorneys for $149.00.  Why?  To support MyBarPrep.com’s word-of-mouth campaign that continues to grow daily."

The site offers little information about the company, which appears to have been operating online since 2001.

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 5:44 PM :: |

 
This year's '60 sites' now on Techshow site
Over at the ABA Techshow site, they have posted the complete list of sites from this year's 60 Sites in 60 Minutes, which Jim Calloway, Jeff Flex and I presented in March. The list includes many sites we did not have time to present during the actual program. Also available is the 60 Sites Hall of Fame, sites that are "incorporated by reference into every future session of 60 sites."

posted by Robert Ambrogi at 5:39 PM :: |