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Monday, June 30, 2008

NEW BOOK

NEW BOOK

from the Cato Institute's Jim Powell

"A thoughtful, well-written book with a provocative and challenging thesis. Offers a refreshing abolitionist, antiwar case that hasn't been heard in a long time." 
—David Beito, author of Taxpayers in Revolt and Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power

Greatest Emancipations

For thousands of years, slavery went unchallenged in principle. Then in a single century, slavery was abolished and more than seven million slaves were freed. The scope and speed of this transformation makes it one of the most amazing feats in modern history.  Greatest Emancipations tells this fascinating story, focusing on the areas where slavery was the most entrenched: Haiti, the British Caribbean, the United States, Cuba and Brazil

Jim Powell takes readers from the beginnings of the abolitionist movement through the battles, the final victory of emancipation, and the incredible impact of its aftermath. At each step, he offers highly compelling insights and while illustrating the horror and pervasiveness of slavery, celebrates the conviction and hard work of those who fought to eradicate it. Further, Greatest Emancipations reveals the tremendous influence that slavery's eradication had on individual societies in the west, and underscores the key role played by peaceful antislavery strategies.

Published by Palgrave Macmillan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Powell has been a senior fellow at the Cato Institute since 1988. He is the author of popular history books such as FDR's Folly, Bully Boy, The Triumph of Liberty, and Wilson's War and has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, Money, Reason, and numerous other national publications.

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CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Telefono: 5839786 – 2084334
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES    y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Thursday, June 12, 2008

What's Hot wharton

What's Hot
Yanked from Obscurity: Why Finance Experts Are Rethinking LIBOR

First, U.S. Bankers raised questions about how the daily London Interbank Offered Rate was calculated, and then The Wall Street Journal demonstrated that the rate was inexplicably diverging from what the data suggested it ought to be. Getting it right is important, because LIBOR is the basis for many kinds of loans. The British Bankers Association says it will make changes.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1980.cfm

Leadership and Change
(Videocast with Transcript)
SAP's Bill McDermott: The Future of Enterprise Software

As president and CEO of SAP Americas, Bill McDermott is responsible for managing the German software developer's strategic initiatives in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and most recently in Japan, China and India. In an interview with Wharton management professor Saikat Chaudhuri, McDermott offered his views on where enterprise software is headed and how the company has leveraged worldwide resources to deliver its services globally. The two also discussed SAP Americas' relationship with Microsoft and threats the company faces from arch rival Oracle.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1981.cfm

Leadership and Change
Russia's Best-known Investment Banker, Ruben Vardanian, on Building Trust in a Fast-moving World

When 22-year-old Ruben Vardanian became chairman of Troika Dialog in 1992, he applied international banking standards, stressed transparency and built a young, multicultural and cooperative workforce. It wasn't easy in the rough-and-tumble Russian economy of the 1990s, but his company is now Russia's oldest and largest private investment bank. Wharton management professors Valery Yakubovich and Michael Useem spoke with Vardanian about entrepreneurship, education -- and staying honest -- in Russia.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1977.cfm

Finance and Investment
Growing Value and Activism Bring New Scrutiny to Public Pension Funds

Controlling about $3 trillion, public pension funds are too big to ignore. Some use their influence to boost shareholder rights or support social causes. In the face of "pension envy" from private sector workers, some governments have adopted defined contribution plans – and some of those have regretted the decision. The issues were explored at a Wharton Impact Conference called, "The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems."
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1976.cfm

Managing Technology
Bridging the Global Digital Divide, One Laptop at a Time

On May 20, the non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program unveiled the second version of its XO laptop, which is designed to bring affordable, modern technology to children in developing countries. In April, Intel announced its next-generation Classmate PC, which targets the same market. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been tweaking its Windows XP operating system for these educational devices, which also run on the open source Linux operating system. Experts at Wharton say that the focus on third world countries is promising, but they question whether these efforts will be effective.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1978.cfm

Finance and Investment
Secrets of the Private Equity Trade

Private equity firms manage some $1 trillion of global capital, yet because they are highly secretive, much remains unknown about their internal economics. How do PE firms organize themselves, for example, and how do they capitalize on their success? Some answers emerge from a paper by Wharton finance professor Ayako Yasuda and Yale School of Management finance professor Andrew Metrick presented at a recent Wharton conference sponsored by the Weiss Center for International Financial Research.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1983.cfm

Law and Public Policy
Clearing the Air: How Companies Operate in a Climate-conscious Era

Where to locate a new headquarters, how to close a supply-chain loop, how to anticipate customer demands: These are all decisions that companies must wrestle with as they respond to increasing concerns about global warming. Given the rush to be environmentally friendly, where do companies turn for dependable information and good advice? Wharton faculty and other experts say companies have to rely on a combination of internal and external resources as they try not only to manage the risks of climate change, but also to gain a competitive edge.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1979.cfm

Managing Technology
(Podcast with Transcript)
Google's Joe Kraus on How to Make the Web More Social

Joe Kraus, director of product management at Google, believes every killer app on the web -- instant messaging, e-mail, blogging, photo-sharing -- has succeeded because it helps people connect with one another. For Kraus, this means the Internet has an inherently social character, but it can be enhanced further. Wharton legal studies professor Kevin Werbach spoke with Kraus recently about the socialization of the Internet. Kraus will speak about social computing at the Supernova conference in San Francisco on June 16.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1982.cfm


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Telefono: 5839786 – 2084334
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES    y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

LEGAL BLOG WATCH


Law School Deluge: One Loss, Two Wins

The National Law Journal reported last week that as many as 10 new law schools are on the drawing boards, raising the question, Do we really need any more? For now, at least, there may be one fewer startup to worry about. Last week, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court turned down a petition from Husson College in Bangor to allow graduates of its proposed law school to take the Maine bar exam. The court called the petition unusual, given that the law school has yet to open its doors. It ruled on it nonetheless, denying the request because of the proposed school's lack of ABA accreditation and its failure to identify an acceptable alternative to accreditation. Although the court left the door open for a later petition, the Bangor Daily News reports that school officials earlier said they would not go forward with their plans if the petition was turned down. (Hat tip to the ABA Journal.)

Meanwhile, two law schools already operating in North Carolina won provisional ABA accreditation this week. Both Elon University School of Law and Charlotte School of Law -- each of which will graduate its first class next year -- were given provisional approval, a status they will retain for at least three years before the ABA decides on their full approval. That brings the number of ABA-approved law schools to 200.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on June 10, 2008 at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- Do Appeal

Busy day at the Supreme Court yesterday, with four major opinions handed down. SCOTUSblog wraps up links to the cases, news stories and blog posts. Meanwhile, a decision yesterday from a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Cook v. Gates, is drawing interest for its dismissal of a constitutional challenge to the federal government's controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," policy on gays in the military. Interpreting the Supreme Court's 2003 opinion, Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down convictions of two gay men under a Texas sodomy law, the 1st Circuit held that Lawrence did not require it to invalidate DADT. But just a month ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Witt v. Dept. of the Air Force, suggested that DADT might not withstand constitutional scrutiny. But because it remanded the case for further findings, it stopped short of deciding the constitutional question.

The two decisions raise any number of discussion points, but the least academic of them may be whether this apparent difference of opinion among circuits means that the issue is heading to the Supreme Court. "Probably," is the answer given by Terry Klein at his blog, Decisionism. And if the issue makes it to the Supreme Court, "the result will depend almost entirely on what Justice Kennedy is thinking," he says. At The Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh is less certain, if only because the subsequent history of these cases remains uncertain. Will the 9th Circuit rehear the case en banc? Will either the government or the challengers seek Supreme Court review? Would the Supreme Court agree to hear the case? Lots of questions, and the 1st Circuit's opinion will certainly factor into how they get answered. But with the 9th Circuit having left the ultimate question to another day, the Supreme Court's response to a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," case may be, "Not now, let's wait."

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on June 10, 2008 at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Short List for Global Counsel Awards

Trophy An international competition to honor outstanding in-house lawyers and legal departments released its short list of finalists this week, with the winners to be announced at an awards ceremony in New York June 25. The 2008 Global Counsel Awards is described as singling out "those in-house counsel, both teams and individuals, who excel in their specific roles." It seeks to recognize "demonstrable achievements," not simply "high-profile transactions."

The awards are given to individuals and teams in a variety of categories, including competition, employment, general commercial, IP, litigation and regulatory. Separate awards are given to in-house departments for their pro bono work and best training program. For the top award, general counsel of the year, this year's finalists are Amey plc, Caterpillar Inc., Ford Motor Company, Rio Tinto Alcan and Thomson SA.

The awards are given out by the International Law Office, a legal newsletter publisher based in London, in cooperation with the Association of Corporate Counsel. Nominations for the awards come from corporate counsel and law firm partners. A number of law firms sponsor the awards. Here is a list of last year's winners.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on June 10, 2008 at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Lawyers Ignore Common Sense

When my colleague Carolyn Elefant isn't posting here at Legal Blog Watch, she of course writes her own blog, My Shingle, where she has a jaw-dropping post about a law-practice "franchise" gone bad. It all started when a Pennsylvania lemon-law firm, Kimmel & Silverman, hired an inexperienced lawyer, Robyn Glassman-Katz, to operate a branch office in Owings Mills, Md. It ended with Glassman-Katz consenting to disbarment and Kimmel and Silverman both facing indefinite suspension in Maryland.

As Elefant explains, in the first year after the Pennsylvania lawyers hired Glassman-Katz, she filed more than 500 cases -- many in the wrong venue. A full 47 of her cases were dismissed, purely because of her failure to respond to discovery requests. Maryland's Attorney Grievance Commission filed charges against Glassman-Katz in 2006, and although she claimed lack of supervision in her defense, she eventually consented to disbarment. As for the firm, the grievance committee didn't buy its argument that it knew nothing of the problems in the Maryland office, recommending that both lawyers be indefinitely suspended. At a hearing last week, the Maryland Court of Appeals gave every indication it would agree with the recommendation.

Elefant sees lessons here for lawyers who may find themselves considering similar arrangements. For the lawyer being hired, "Know your limits. If you find that you can't handle a case or don't know what to do, just stop." On the hiring side, before making a decision, "engage in due diligence" and "install systems to make a hire accountable." For me, what made my jaw drop about it all was the utter lack of common sense displayed by anyone involved.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on June 10, 2008 at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Survey: Firms Snoop on Others' Rates

A newly published benchmarking report on law firm fees and pricing has a variety of interesting findings about how law firms set rates and bill. But two findings stood out to me as particularly interesting. The first is that at least half of the firms surveyed conduct competitive price research "to uncover and understand their competitors' fee structures." They do this through data collected directly from clients as well as through external research. The other finding that interested me -- related to the first -- is that most firms base their pricing strategies on the going rates charged by their competitors. In fact, 80 percent of firms said they use that strategy "most of the time/sometimes."

Some other findings of the study worth noting:

  • Brand drives pricing. No surprises here: Brand leaders charge more, generate higher revenue, realize higher profits and see greater revenue growth.
  • Pricing is tough. Firms feel significant uncertainty and pressure about setting fees -- uncertainty about what clients will pay and pressure to remain competitive.
  • Discounting is common. Firms criticize discounting, but three-quarters say they do it, at an average rate of 9.9 percent.
  • Guarantees are common. Nearly half of the firms said they offer service guarantees, with the most common being to cut the bill based on dissatisfaction with the value received.

The survey was conducted by RainToday.com, a professional-services research and consulting firm based in Massachusetts, which sells the full report for $395 in hard-copy or $345 for download. Based on the findings, the authors offer some fairly obvious recommendations as to how law firms can raise their fees and profits: establish a brand, lead and innovate, get bigger, emphasize value, improve business development, and become active in the RFP process. All, of course, easier said than done.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Telefono: 5839786 – 2084334
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES    y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Thursday, June 05, 2008

'Mobile Phone Technology for Environmental Activism'

'Mobile Phone Technology for Environmental Activism'
by Juliana Rotich

Mobile phones are becoming an important tool for environmental activists around the world. Activists are developing new technological strategies in order to do things like educate consumers about the impact of purchasing decisions, monitor wildlife and polution levels, and advocate for the protection of forests.

A report from the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership published in April describes the many different ways mobile phones are used for social change around the world. It's called "Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in Mobile Use by NGOs" [PDF].

Below, I have listed the environmental initiatives highlighted by its writers, Sheila Kinkade (ShareIdea.org) and Katrin Verclas (MobileActive.org). I have also listed some new projects that have appeared since then.


Argentina

Using mobile phones, Greenpeace in Argentina were able to rally supporters and effectively pass Argentina's first federal forest protection law. The MobileActive blog wrote of their tree saving efforts earlier this month:

Mobile phones are nothing new for Greenpeace Argentina. The organization has used mobile phones multiple times to mobilize its now 350,000 person-strong mobile list to successfully lobby for important environmental legislation. One of Greenpeace's significant accomplishments was the passage of the Ley de Bosques, or Forest Law.

According to the Wireless Technology for Social Change report, GreenPeace accomplished this by building a large database containing both email addresses and mobile phone numbers of the people who signed a petition supporting the Forest Law. In addition, they sent out text message alerts during critical hearings, and before city council votes. They also coordinated demonstrations and meetings using text messages.


Ghana

In Ghana, one project has shown that mobile phones can be transformed from typical pervasive tool for communication, to a 'super sensing' tool for environmental data collection. This is achieved by attaching a special sensor to a mobile phone. The sensor collects scientific information on air quality or even urban traffic patterns, which can be studied later and even layered over a google map.

Corinne Ramey wrote about this initiative on the MobileActive blog in April:

In the Accra study, seven taxi drivers were provided with a dash-mounted global positioning system (GPS) device and a tube to hang from their passenger window. The tube contained a carbon monoxide sensor. Similarly, three students were each given a mobile clip sensor pack containing a GPS device, and a carbon monoxide sensor. The taxi drivers and students were asked to carry their sensors as much as possible during their normal everyday activities. Throughout the day, the sensing system automatically logged sensor data. At the end of each day, the pilot participants dropped off their sensor packs at a central location where the data was then extracted and the sensors recharged. resulted from the participatory data collection A heat-map visualization of carbon monoxide readings across Accra, Ghana rendered atop Google Earth. Colors represent individual intensity reading of carbon monoxide during a single 24-hour period across the city. Red circles are locations where actual re
 adings were taken.


Kenya

The Wirelesss Technology for Social Change report describes the tension in  Laikipia district, Kenya, between landowners and wildlife. Farmers have been killed by wildlife, and their crops being destroyed. Elephants and other animals are being killed. A conflict prevention program that utilizes mobile phone technology, enables communication between the local community, wildlife service personnel, and land owners.

The pilot utilized 'Push to Talk on Cellular (Phones)' (PoC) technology, which combines the functionality of a walkie-talkie or two-way radio with a mobile phone. PoC enables communication between two individuals, or a group of people, and is particularly useful in connecting a user
group intermittently over a period of time (e.g., a working day).


South Africa, United Kingdom

FishMS is an SMS-based service from The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative that provides the status of global fish stocks to consumers. Users text the name of a fish they are considering buying to +44 (0) 79 499 8795, and are immediately advised as to whether the fish was sustainably harvested, or whether they should think twice before buying it. The following video shows the tool in action (the short film was shot on a mobile phone - Nokia N93).



United Kingdom, United States

AirText is a system that sends an SMS message, voicemail or email containing information about pollution levels in a specific borough of London. The service is aimed at people who suffer from heart and breathing problems. Similar services exist for specific locations in the United States, including Ergo (various zip codes) and ADEQ (in Arizona).

People who would like to know how much their personal greenhouse gas emissions amount to, can download an application mobGas to their phone, that allows them to report on their daily activities, like cooking, watching television or driving.

From the Wirelesss Technology for Social Change report report:

By helping users make connections between their daily activities and greenhouse gas emissions, mobGAS hopes to encourage individuals to make lifestyle changes. The application also offers tips on how to modify activities to decrease emissions.

A similar project, highlighted by Josh Catone on Read Write Web blog  is called FuelFrog. It's an application that uses Twitter to help track fuel consumption by users:

FuelFrog is exceedingly simple, and immensely useful. After each fill up, users enter their miles traveled since the last fill, the price paid, and the amount of gasoline in gallons. Over time, FuelFrog will track and graph your fuel consumption data so you can do things like identify trends in gas prices in your area, see how fuel efficient your car is (is it time to put air in the tires, perhaps?), how much you're driving, and how much you're spending.

Global Voices Environment thank MobileActive and Shareideas for the report, and would be interested in reader's input on other examples of mobile phones being used for environmental activism.   
 
Also see our recent post on Global Voices highlighting the use of web2.0 technologies for environmental activism


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Telefono: 5839786 – 2084334
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES    y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile