ABA

That?s what we say down here in Alabama when the game is over but the fun goes on. Which is exactly where we are with ABA TECHSHOW 2008. There is still a little more packing up and putting away to be done before we can finally put TECHSHOW 2008 to bed, including tabulating the results of all the evaluations and making note of all the good suggestions we received for ways to improve your ABA TECHSHOW experience next year. Final versions of all PowerPoint presentations have been collected, and attendees can expect to receive an email blast with the link to them by next week at the latest. Nevertheless, we?re already busy at work planning for ABA TECHSHOW 2009! ABA TECHSHOW 2009 will take place April 2-4, 2009, once again at the Hilton Chicago, and Tom Mighell will be a tough act to follow! Fortunately, he has agreed to hang around a while longer and act as our director of interactive media for 2009, to make sure our attendees keep blogging, Flickring, and Twittering their way through the show. I am also fortunate to have an extremely capable planning board for next year?s show, and I?d like to take this opportunity to thank them publicly for agreeing to serve. Returning planning board members include Debbie Foster, who will be serving as vice-chair, Catherine Sanders Reach, Judge Herbert Dixon and Paul Unger. New board members for TECHSHOW 2009 are Reid Trautz, Dominic Jaar, Browning Marean and Ben Schorr. Please mark your calendars for April 2-4 2009, sign up for the ABA TECHSHOW blog feed, visit our web site frequently, and plan NOW to join us next year in Chicago for the world?s premier legal technology continuing legal education conference and expo!

The Winter 2008 Minority Trial Lawyer newsletter is now available. This issue includes articles touching on segregated housing and schools, in-house opportunities for minority lawyers, representing clients in the media, and more.

This teleconference and live audio webcast is designed to provide practical tips to those seeking to use ESI as proof in business litigation and how to keep such data protected.

This day-long conference addressed the current issues in class litigation and the latest developments in class action case law. View the written materials from the program.

Subprime mortgage litigation is outpacing the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s, according to a Navigant Consulting study.

Well, it's over -- last week ABA TECHSHOW 2008 saw more than 2,000 attendees, 120 vendors, and 60+ legal technologists presenting more than 50 educational sessions, and from what I've heard so far a good time was had by all. Here are some of the highlights: Keynoter Marc Rotenberg gave a timely and well-received presentation on "The Anatomy of the Eliot Spitzer Investigation," then sat down with me for a lively discussion on privacy issues and how they affect us all. ABA TECHSHOW After Dark was a terrific success, with attendees, speakers, and exhibitors mingling together with food, drink, and the sounds of the Empty Can Band. We were honored to present Cowell Taradash, P.C., the founders of IllinoisDivorce.com, with the first annual Jim I. Keane Award for Excellence in E-Lawyering, at a luncheon that was well attended by our conference registrants. Once again the Taste of ABA TECHSHOW Dinners on Friday night were the place to be, with over 130 of our attendees and faculty dining and discussing technology topics at restaurants around Chicago. As usual, the educational content reigned supreme. Every attendee that spoke to me mentioned the consistently high quality of our ABA TECHSHOW speakers. If you're weren't able to attend, check out the ABA TECHSHOW Buzz, where you can still find blog postings and photos from the conference. We'll be keeping the Buzz going all year long, so that you can keep up on the latest that's going on with ABA TECHSHOW -- just subscribe to the feed! It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2008, but now it's time to turn things over to the new team. I am pleased to announce that Laura Calloway, Director of the Alabama State Bar's Law Office Management Assistance Program, will serve as Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2009. You'll be hearing from her on the TECHSHOW Blog very soon!

The Section of Litigation has announced that it is accepting nominations for the 2009 John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award through November 14, 2008. Recipients of the Wisdom Awards have made outstanding contributions to the quality of justice in their communities, ensuring that the legal system is open and available to all.

The "Preparing for the Challenges of Child Witnesses" free CLE Teleconference on March 18, 2008 has increased the registration limit to the first 400 registrants. Be sure to register now in order to take advantage of this informative teleconference sponsored by the Children's Rights Litigation Committee.

If you weren't able to attend the CLE Seminars or Teleconferences, or just want a refresher on the program topics, be sure to take a closer look at the program materials.

Year after year, without fail, the best-attended and most highly rated presentations at ABA TECHSHOW® are the "60 Tips in 60 Minutes" sessions. These fast-paced presentations are packed with practical bite-size nuggets of information. For those that aren?t familiar with this format, these are fast-paced presentations in which 3 or 4 of our best ABA TECHSHOW presenters actually run through 60 or more slides in 60 minutes. A tip might show you a simple way to improve client service, manage your time or avoid an ethics trap. Or it might tell you of a really useful Web site, an underused but essential feature of a software program, or a simple and effective way to market yourself. Whatever it?s about, you listen and you get it?and you go back to work and put the tip to use the very next day. Now, I will admit I get more exited about tips than most (OK, more than everyone), but few if any presentations pack more information and education into 60 minutes. It is a guarantee that everyone walks out of an ABA TECHSHOW tips presentation with at least a few nuggets. Exclamations of "wow ? I didn?t know you could do that" are frequently heard. Each year at least a few attendees tell us "that was the best presentation I have ever seen". Well, for all those that can?t make it to TECHSHOW, we thought, why not take the same approach for the ABA TECHSHOW issue of Law Practice? So we?ve tapped some ABA TECHSHOW speakers and favorite writers for their best tips on using technology to tune up your practice. They?ve covered some hot trends and topics for your reading pleasure. Read them here. Squeezing Your Office into the Palm of Your Hand Impressing (Not Annoying) Judges Going Paperless Pleasing Clients with Top-Notch Communications Taming Voice Recognition Software Leveraging Google Tools Hot New Web Sites Billing More Time Enjoy the tips! And, if you really like them, please consider coming to see us at TECHSHOW next year. PS: Do You Have Tech Tips to share? We want to hear from you ? share your wisdom with your fellow LawPracticeToday e-zine readers. Send your best practical and helpful tips to LawPracticeMagazine@gmail.com. The best will be published by the ABA Law Practice Management Section. ?Dan Pinnington, Guest Editor Law Practice Magazine, April 2008 Issue Dan Pinnington writes the Tips & Tricks column for Law Practice, is Editor of Law Practice Today webzine, and is a past chair of ABA TECHSHOW.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that ABA TECHSHOW 2008 is experimenting with several new tools that make it easier for our attendees (as well as those who couldn't make it) keep up with what's going on at the conference. Well, this afternoon we launched the ABA TECHSHOW Buzz at www.techshow.com/buzz -- it's the place where all the action will occur once the conference gets started! Here's what you'll see there: -- An aggregated feed of blog posts authored by our ABA TECHSHOW attendees, faculty, and even exhibitors. -- A stream of photos taken at ABA TECHSHOW -- A Twitter stream, with conference updates as well as personal messages from our attendees and others -- A Del.icio.us feed, where you can find links to some of the great sites that are mentioned during ABA TECHSHOW You can see everything on the Buzz page, but if you want it to come to you, we've created RSS feeds you can easily add to your favorite newreader. If you want to participate in creating Buzz for ABA TECHSHOW, or if some of these tools are brand new to you, we've posted a Buzz Cheat Sheet (http://www.abanet.org/techshow/docs/2008/buzzcheat.pdf), with instructions on how to use each of the four services. The only rule that we have is: play nice. We reserve the right to remove content that we deem inappropriate for the ABA TECHSHOW audience. Jump right in -- we're ready to start!

This is a case involving a collision between an ambulance (running with emergency lights and siren) and a light rail train, which caused the train to derail and collide into a building. The lawyers are using many photographs of the area and the vehicles, taken right after the accident, as well as several dates thereafter. The intersection where the collision occurred was in the midst of significant construction at the time of the collision, and has changed quite a bit since that time. One of the central issues in the case is the visibility of certain things at the scene: whether the ambulance driver could see the light rail train, and vice-versa, as well as the vantage points of various witnesses. Although the lawyers are inundating the jury with photographs, none of the photographs adequately depict the line of sight at critical points in the action. Witnesses are almost always saying that the photographs do not accurately set out what they could, or could not, see. Moral? Think about whether the photographs you have are sufficient to show the jury what you want them to see, or whether their use confuses the jury. Photographs carry with them a great amount of authenticity and credibility, but only if they are not confusing. Lawyers do not always have the luxury of having photographs taken at their direction immediately after an event ? instead, we rely on law enforcement or investigators to take sufficient photographs for their needs. Don?t try to force a photograph to be more than it is ? thus adding confusion to the trial. If a photograph doesn?t do the trick, consider using drawings based upon testimony, and explain why no photograph shows that unique vantage point. Or better yet, consider using a technology such as Trial Director or Case Map, and asking witnesses to draw on the photograph to enhance the accuracy and applicability to your case. Do not simply use a large number of photographs that do not clarify the witness? testimony ? use a visual aid, but make it the correct visual aid.

Mobile technology is a necessity for most attorneys today. While it provides great benefits, it also presents great risk. Laptops, mobile devices and portable media can be easily lost, stolen or compromised. An August 2007 survey reports that 70% of data breaches result from the loss or theft of off-network equipment. The most common devices involved are laptops and PDAs, followed closely by USB drives. Important first steps are understanding t he risksand then paying constant attention to them. Some additional steps are storing only necessary information, strong authentication, use of encryption, not leaving them visible in cars, and use of security devices, like cable locks. These and other critical security measures will be explored at TECHSHOW on Saturday morning in Securing Your Clients? Data While on the Road.

If you?re a solo or small firm lawyer in the Chicago area or close enough for a day trip, why not spend next Friday with ABA TECHSHOW? We?re offering two tracks specifically dedicated to solo and small firm lawyers ? the 7 must-have technologies for your law practice, how to factor technology into your thinking when hanging out your own shingle, the benefits of voice recognition software, and even e-discovery for the small firm. Single-day passes are available, not only for Friday but for our Thursday and Saturday sessions as well.

If you're in the Chicago and you haven't already registered for ABA TECHSHOW 2008, there are two great free ways to get involved. First, if you're a law student (whether you're in the Chicago area or not), did you know that you can attend the entire conference for free? That's 3 days of great legal technology education, all free of charge. There's no better show than ABA TECHSHOW for those who want to learn more about the technology that's available to lawyers, how to better use the technology you already have, and what to expect in the world of legal technology once you graduate from law school. (The only caveat is that the freebies we give out to our attendees are subject to availability -- they go to paid attendees first). The other great way to experience ABA TECHSHOW 2008 is through our free Expo Hall pass. This year we're featuring more than 110 legal technology vendors, all eager to show you the latest in software, hardware, and legal technology services. If you don't have time to attend the whole conference, take an hour or two and walk over to the Hilton Chicago to wander through the Expo Hall. You'll learn a lot there, too! The free Expo Hall pass will be available on the ABA TECHSHOW website on Friday for you to print out and download. Online registration will close Friday, March 7 -- so if you're still planning on attending ABA TECHSHOW, you'll have to register onsite. See you there!

On January 4th, a complaint was filed against Sears, Roebuck and Co. for posting customers? data online in violation of its privacy policy. On the website, Manage My Home, there was a feature that allowed shoppers to look up past purchases, which could be used to look up the purchase history for any customer, in violation of Sears?s privacy policy. The lawsuit was filed in Illinois on a class action basis for all of the customers damaged. To remedy the breach, the lawsuit is asking for damages along with an accounting by Sears to determine whether the website was misused by criminals. One rumored threat would be a criminal using the information to pretend to be a Sears repair person to get into someone?s house. A copy of the full complaint may be found at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/sears%20complaint.pdf

For ABA TECHSHOW 2008, we?re creating a master conference RSS feed that will stream all of the blog buzz going on during the show. If you?re attending ABA TECHSHOW and you plan on live blogging (or just plain blogging) from the conference, please send an email to Tom Mighell at tmighell(at)cowlesthompson(dot)com ? he?ll get back to you with more details.

As discussed in the November 11, 2007 blog post, it is critical to apply security patches for all software, both Microsoft and non-Microsoft. The importance of patch management is demonstrated by a recent report by Secunia, a leading security vendor, which reported that, in a 24 hour period, 81% of Windows users were affected by security vulnerabilities in Sun, Adobe, Apple, and Skype software. Last year, Secunia found that 1 in 3 computers in corporate networks were missing critical security patches. The Secunia Personal Software Inspector (Release Candidate 1) scans computers to identify missing security updates. It is free for personal use. Secunia and other security vendors also sell vulnerability scanners for use on networks.