FROM LEGAL WATH NEWS

Legal Blog Watch Of Street Fights and Blawgs Pity the innocent bystander caught up in a street fight. Last week, Kevin O'Keefe posted this item to his blog: Time hires Wonkette blogger: What's ALM paying Elefant and Ambrogi?, in which he referred to the writing that Carolyn Elefant and I contribute to this blog and asked, "Does ALM appreciate what they have with the two of them?" Let me be perfectly clear: Neither Carolyn nor I solicited or knew beforehand of O'Keefe's post. When I saw it, I added a comment, tongue firmly in cheek, "A brilliant and insightful post." The anonymous editor of Blawg Review took O'Keefe's post more seriously than did I, it appears. He/she wrote O'Keefe a private e-mail titled, "What's with Kevin O'Keefe," which O'Keefe then published under the heading, What's with Blawg Review editor? That, of course, brought a public response from the Blawg Review editor, again titled, What's with Kevin O'Keefe? The issue, of course, is not whether ALM "appreciates" Carolyn and me. As I understand the Blawg Review editor's concern, it was that O'Keefe was out of place "to take up the causes of others without them having asked [him] to do so." Let me, again, be clear: I have no "cause" to be taken up by anyone, as far as ALM is concerned. O'Keefe has been a regular critic of ALM and other legal publishers for what he sees as their failure to "get" blogging and related technologies. In the post at issue, he singled out ALM CEO Bill Pollak, suggesting that perhaps he did not understand "the power of blogs and the need for them at ALM." In a private e-mail to O'Keefe yesterday, I wrote, "Funny thing is that Bill Pollak is one of the people at ALM who most 'gets' the Internet, blogs and all that jazz. To the extent ALM has taken leaps forward in this area, I suspect he's been a prime motivator." At the same time, I believe every blogger should be encouraged to speak his or her mind on issues that affect the legal profession. As I also wrote privately to O'Keefe: "We need more rabble rousers, fewer ass kissers." I have no cause that needs taking up, but I am all for lawyers taking up the causes of others without necessarily awaiting an invitation. Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 4, 2006 at 01:06 PM | Permalink In Law Student, Media See Citizen Kane Not every third-year law student has $10 million in pocket change, so when 25-year-old Jared Kushner bought a majority stake in The New York Observer newspaper last week, eyebrows raised in media and legal circles alike. It was not long before some in the media saw in Kushner, a student at New York University School of Law and son of a wealthy New Jersey real estate developer currently in federal prison, echoes of Charles Foster Kane, the young newspaper publisher portrayed by Orson Welles in the 1941 film Citizen Kane. Slate editor-at-large Jack Shafer takes the similarity a step further, drawing on Kane to offer Kushner some unsolicited advice. First, suggests Shafer, Kushner needs his Rosebud -- some reason for his interest in journalism. "The average vanity press mogul hopes to save mankind, punish his enemies, boost his status, or revisit the remembered glories of putting out a high-school newspaper. ... If you don't have a Rosebud, get one, even if you have to make one up." Next, says Shafer, Kushner should watch Citizen Kane a couple of times for inspiration and drop hints to others about the parallels. "I also have a great Kane line for you to pinch. When young Kane's financial guardian asks if the muckraking he's doing with the New York Inquirer is his idea of how to run a paper, Kane retorts, 'I don't know how to run a newspaper, Mr. Thatcher. I just try everything I can think of.' There's your motto!" Still, Shafer cautions, Kushner should not emulate Kane in all respects. "Avoid over-eating, don't leave your wife for a bad singer, don't start a foreign war, and don't run for president." And, of course, don't neglect to show up at law school when classes resume in the fall. Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 4, 2006 at 01:04 PM | Permalink Sleuths Unearth Lost Brandeis Opinion In the annals of First Amendment jurisprudence, the Supreme Court's 1927 opinion Whitney v. California is known for its concurrence by Justice Louis Brandeis in which he wrote an eloquent defense of free speech while joining in a decision against it. Although Brandeis' words seemed out of sync with his ruling, scholars largely overlooked this irony. Now, a recently published law review article shows that much of what Brandeis said in Whitney he had intended for his dissent in another case. When fate intervened to prevent one opinion's publication, Brandeis adapted his words to another. The article, "Curious Concurrence: Justice Brandeis' Vote in 'Whitney v. California'," is written by Ronald K.L. Collins, First Amendment Center scholar, and David M. Skover, Seattle University law professor. Brandeis, they say, had written a striking dissent against affirming the conviction of Charles Ruthenberg, the executive secretary of the Communist Party. Before the opinion could be released, however, Ruthenberg died and his appeal was dismissed.  "The story of the Whitney and Ruthenberg appeals is the story of the two minds of Louis Brandeis.  One case he didn't want to decide, but was forced to; the other he did want to decide, but was unable to.  One case impelled him to apologetic concurrence; the other provoked him to uninhibited dissent.  One case was to be resolved by procedural rules; the other on the merits with a new vision of the First Amendment.  All of this changed unexpectedly ... and the two minds of Louis Brandeis melded into one." As First Amendment Center research attorney David L. Hudson Jr. writes: "Brandeis' dissent in Ruthenberg would have become a leading light of First Amendment law instead of his Whitney concurrence were it not for Ruthenberg's untimely death from acute peritonitis in March 1927 before the release of the Court's opinion. Hence, Brandeis' dissent in Ruthenberg was withdrawn and lost to history until the Collins and Skover article, which includes the opinion in an appendix." Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 4, 2006 at 01:02 PM | Permalink DA Seeks Gag on Lawyers -- but Why? A Massachusetts district attorney wants to gag two lawyers from talking about the case of a man they helped free after 21 years in prison. In an article in this week's Boston Phoenix, writer David S. Bernstein asks why. The lawyers, John Swormley and Harvey Silverglate, represent Bernard Baran, who was convicted in 1985 of molesting children at a day care center. In June, they won Baran's release from prison, when a judge vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial, finding that Baran's original defense was incompetent. But now, David Capeless, the Berkshire County district attorney, has asked a judge to place a gag order on Baran's attorneys to prevent them from making public statements about the case. His argument is that discussing the case could prejudice jurors in a retrial. But author Bernstein questions that premise. He notes that Capeless, who is personally handling the Baran case, is running for re-election. He quotes another lawyer who calls the timing of the gag-order motion "odd," because Capeless is appealing the Baran ruling and "there is no pending trial whose potential jurors could be influenced." In a recent editorial, The Berkshire Eagle portrayed this as a matter of protecting the lawyers' free speech: "In seeking a gag order ..., Mr. Capeless argued that the defense team's comments could prejudice potential jurors. The district attorney's concerns, however, should not result in the loss of the lawyers' constitutional right to free speech. The actions of the lawyers may or may not make Mr. Capeless' job more difficult, but the search for jurors should not take precedence over a basic right enjoyed by all Americans." Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 4, 2006 at 12:59 PM | Permalink Blawgging at Big Law Firms Veteran blogger Denise Howell's recent disclosure that she had been fired from her law firm sent shockwaves through the blogosphere. Like many other commentators, I questioned what this said about the role of bloggers in larger law firms. Now, we get to hear Howell's thoughts on that question along with those of two other prominent legal bloggers who have left larger firms, Howard Bashman of How Appealing and Ernest Svenson of Ernie the Attorney. Howell, Bashman and Svenson are our guests this week on the legal-affairs podcast Coast to Coast. We discuss, among other questions, why there aren't more legal bloggers at larger law firms, whether larger firms see value in blogging and whether bloggers by their nature tend not to fit with larger firms. You can listen to the program: Via Windows Media Player. Via MP3 file download. Follow future programs by subscribing to the show's RSS feed or through iTunes. Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 4, 2006 at 12:57 PM | Permalink

Sponsor Spotlight Free In-House Counsel Webcast Learn how IP experts are addressing the growing threat of online brand abuse by attending this FREE webcast: Preventing Online Brand Abuse. This one-hour presentation will surface the latest trends and best practices in establishing, maintaining and protecting corporate brands on the Internet. This on-demand event includes panelists from Best Western, TaylorMade and Verizon. View Now! Inside Opinions: Legal Blogs Robert Ambrogi's LawSites Blawg Review Adam Smith, Esq. I/P Updates Silicon Valley Media Blog InhouseBlog My Shingle Prism Legal Human Law May It Please The Court Leadership for Lawyers Law Department Management Insurance Scrawl Crime & Federalism The Wired GC The Common Scold Jottings by an Employer's Lawyer Future Lawyer The Professional Marketing Blog From the Law.com Newswire [about RSS] Law.com Privacy Policy

EL MUNDO DE LOS BLOGS Y LA EMPRESA

EL FENOMENO BLOGS Y EMPRESA UNA NECESIDAD PARA AGREGAR VALOR

SINTESIS DEL TEMA

Esto y más trataremos en una Charla que dictaremos en SOFOFA  en septiembre de 2006 . Se tratará de  conversación  y estará dirigida al mundo de la empresa, del marketing, de las Relaciones públicas , del lobbying, en general de las comunicaciones  corporativas; abogados y estudios juridicos,médicos y Clinicas de cualquier tamaño;

 Pueden reservar su inscripción  con el señor Claudio Pérez en el Nº 6884265  cprez@fundacionsofofa.cl    Santiago, Chile

§         los blogs pueden ayudar a informar sobre las características de los productos;

§         a convencer a indecisos, a crear un interés.

§         Las compras no son actos racionales, sino compulsivos (o eso al menos le ocurre a una inmensa mayoría de la gente).

§         Así que a las empresas, lo que les interesa es tener el mayor número de impactos posibles (un impacto se produce cada vez que ves un anuncio de un producto), para que cuando el cliente se decida a comprar un producto se acuerde de su marca.

§         Por tanto los blogs son un sitio de información cualificada, igual que las revistas especializadas, que si acceden a poner publicidad, dejan de ser independientes y tenderán a informar bien de las empresas que les pagan.

§         Luego los bloggers  somos como los periodistas, unos clientes activos que influímos  en la opinión publica y debido a que podemos ser muchos, somos difícilmente controlables.

Saludos Rodrigo González Fernández. Más en consultajuridica.blogspot.com

HA NACIDO UN NUEVO BLOG CASINOSDECHILE.BLOGSPOT.COM

Hemos creado un nuevo blog “ CASINOSDE CHILE.BLOGSPOT.COM “  a fin de satisfacer requerimientos de la industria de Casinos  de Juego en Chile.

 

• Vamos a recopilar la información inherente a esta actividad, para quienes en ella trabajen puedan disponer de un sitio de consultas y al mismo tiempo aportar comentarios y post respecto de la industria de casinos de juegos  en el mundo
• También en este espacio vamos a responder consultas desde la blogosfera mundial y desde Chile en todas las materias jurídicas y administrativas  sobre los Casinos de juegos , sus regulaciones y como cualquier otra empresa establecida en nuestro territorio. Para ello disponemos de un conjunto de abogados y desde la consultajuridica.blogspot.com podemos dar soluciones integrales  empresariales y corporativas
• Colaboraremos con la industria lo concerniente a responsabilidad social corporativa
• Ya tenemos disponibles cursos, charlas y conferencias respecto de la industria de casinos de juego en Chile

 

 Con la incorporación de nuevos casinos  de juego a lo largo de Chile se habrá establecido  una actividad muy importante para la economía de Chile y que contará con una Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego

La Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) es el organismo autónomo con personalidad jurídica y patrimonio propio que representa al Estado en el ejercicio de las funciones de supervigilancia y fiscalización para la instalación, administración y explotación de los casinos de juego del país.

La entidad fue creada por la Ley 19.995 de 2005y se relaciona con el Presidente de la República por intermedio del Ministerio de Hacienda. Está regida por el Sistema de Alta Dirección Pública establecido en la Ley N º 19.882 y su autoridad máxima es el Superintendente, quien es nombrado por el Presidente de la República y cuya Misión es Supervigilar y fiscalizar el cumplimiento de las disposiciones legales, reglamentarias y técnicas para la instalación, administración y explotación de los casinos de juego del país.

Les Saluda

RODRIGO GONZALEZ FERNANDEZ

CASINOSDECHILE.BLOGSPOT.COM

LIBERTADA & DESARROLLO CON NUEVO SITIO WEB

Felicitaciones a Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo por el Nuevo sitio Web. Pero no veo un link de contacto o no lo encontre?

 

Libertad y Desarrollo
Lanza Nuevo Sitio Web
Con el objetivo de adaptarse cada vez mejor a las necesidades tecnológicas
y comunicacionales del mundo moderno y dar un mejor servicio a sus
usuarios y suscriptores, Libertad y Desarrollo lanzó su nuevo sitio web
(www.lyd.org), que permitirá una navegación más amistosa por sus
contenidos y ampliar en forma importante la oferta de documentos on line.
El nuevo sitio ofrece, en español e inglés, un diseño más moderno y atractivo
y reordena los contenidos para hacer más fácil y dinámica la navegación.
Adicionalmente, el sitio incorpora un nuevo centro de documentación, que
pone a disposición de los lectores y suscriptores de LyD, más de 3500
documentos. Adicionalmente, se ingresarán periódicamente columnas de
opinión, entrevistas y notas relacionadas con los temas relevantes de la
agenda nacional e internacional.
En esta nueva web los visitantes podrán encontrar opiniones rápidas y
oportunas de todos nuestros expertos; las conferencias y charlas dictadas
por nuestros expertos y podrán suscribirse a nuestras publicaciones y
eventos.
Estudiantes, investigadores y periodistas tienen secciones especiales
donde podrán encontrar más fácilmente información relevante. En el caso
de los investigadores, las últimas publicaciones, separadas por tema y
actualizadas semanalmente; por su parte, los estudiantes, podrán hacer
preguntas de políticas públicas a nuestros investigadores, y encontrar
información de las actividades dirigidas a jóvenes; los periodistas podrán
enterarse de los eventos realizados y programados y las noticias
recientes de LyD.
El sitio www.lyd.org, ha registrado durante el 2006 un promedio de 130 mil
visitantes únicos mensuales, siendo uno de los centros de estudios más
requeridos del continente.
Santiago, 28 de Julio de 2006

PALESTINIAN BLOGS

'This Week In Palestinian Blogs: World On Fire'
by Naseem Tarawnah

While the flames of war engulf Lebanon, Gaza is still under attack. Many of the victims have been Palestinian children, some barely a year old; and as their families prepare to burry them Haitham Sabbah asks the fundemental question: “How shall we forget? How shall we forgive?”

As sound of artillery shells resonated from the nearby Al-Magazi refugee camp, Mona El-Farra overhears one of the girls at the children’s center in the Nusseirat camp say: “Nobody can stop me from dreaming, nobody should take my dreams away.”

Mona has been touring the camps and hospital emergency rooms in Gaza the last few days with many stories to tell; stories of sadness , of freedom and of resilient children of Gaza whose dreams continue to dance.

Laila El-Haddad still finds it difficult to blog from the U.S. especially when the news from back home has been mixed. While her in-laws have fled to Syria her father’s cousin in Gaza tells her that with no electricity in the area people can eat only what they cook the same day as lack of refrigeration and sweltering summer heat add to the already accumulating frustration. Meanwhile Fida, Laila’s activist friend from Gaza, writes her an email along with some photos of the Rafah crossing: “I came back and thought I can do some thing , but the Israelis destroyed more and killed more , and now in Rafah a lot live in the schools after they lost there houses.”

Fayyad of KabobFest is not surprised at Zawahiri’s latest video as he attempts to jump on the recent wave of support for Palestine and Lebanon where traditionally resistance movements there have viewed Al-Queda with contempt.

While pictures of Israeli citizens signing missiles before they are launched into Lebanon and Gaza have become popularized on many Palestinian blogs, Fayyad wonders if this is considered “Jewish terrorism” since “When a Muslim commits a crime, the whole of his religion goes on trial.”

In Hebron, Katie from Postcards From Palestine describes a week full of harassment that starts with a Palestinian family trying to celebrate a birthday party despite the aggravation of neighbouring Israeli settlers and intervening Israeli army soldiers wondering “whether or not this birthday party was legal”  and ends with her frustration over the beating and jailing of her friend.

Collective punishment and scare tactics: Naj from Gaza translates leaflets dropped by Israeli planes from occupied skies. Naj also documents the amount of damage that can be done by just some of the Israeli incursions in three days.

Elsewhere, just west of Nablus, the Israeli Army closed off a checkpoint and opened it briefly to allow only Israeli settlers in, leaving dozens of frustrated Palestinians to stage a non-violent protest by lying down on the ground to close the road with their bodies. The Israeli army responded with excessive beatings and sound grenades.

Last March Haitham Sabbah published two interesting posts about Samia, just another Palestinian refugee trying to cross the border to see her homeland. Recently another Palestinian blogger, Reem, had the good fortune of meeting her to talk about what it means to be banned from entering one’s homeland.

Lastly, Hayam Noir writes an open letter to Kofi Annan, Dr. Marcy Newman writes one to Israel.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/07/31/this-week-in-palestinian-blogs-world-on-fire/

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CARBON LIKE GREEN FUEL

Carbon cloud over a green fuel

An Iowa corn refinery, open since December, uses 300 tons of coal a day to make ethanol.

By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Late last year in Goldfield, Iowa, a refinery began pumping out a stream of ethanol, which supporters call the clean, renewable fuel of the future.

 The plant is burning 300 tons of coal a day to turn corn into ethanol - the first US plant of its kind to use coal instead of cleaner natural gas.

An hour south of Goldfield, another coal-fired ethanol plant is under construction in Nevada, Iowa. At least three other such refineries are being built in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

The trend, which is expected to continue, has left even some ethanol boosters scratching their heads. Should coal become a standard for 30 to 40 ethanol plants under construction - and 150 others on the drawing boards - it would undermine the environmental reasoning for switching to ethanol in the first place, environmentalists say.

"If the biofuels industry is going to depend on coal, and these conversion plants release their CO2 to the air, it could undo the global warming benefits of using ethanol," says David Hawkins, climate director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington.

The reason for the shift is purely economic. Natural gas has long been the ethanol industry's fuel of choice. But with natural gas prices soaring, talk of coal power for new ethanol plants and retrofitting existing refineries for coal is growing, observers say.

"It just made great economic sense to use coal," says Brad Davis, general manager of the Gold-Eagle Cooperative that manages the Corn LP plant, which is farmer and investor owned. "Clean coal" technology, he adds, helps the Goldfield refinery easily meet pollution limits - and coal power saves millions in fuel costs.

Yet even the nearly clear vapor from the refinery contains as much as double the carbon emissions of a refinery using natural gas, climate experts say. So if coal-fired ethanol catches on, is it still the "clean, renewable fuel" the state's favorite son, Sen. Tom Harkin likes to call it?

Such questions arrive amid boom times for America's ethanol industry.

With 97 ethanol refineries pumping out some 4 billion gallons of ethanol, the industry expects to double over the next six years by adding another 4.4 billion gallons of capacity per year. Tax breaks as well as concerns about energy security, the environment, and higher gasoline prices are all driving ethanol forward.

The Goldfield refinery, and the other four coal-fired ethanol plants under construction are called "dry mill" operations, because of the process they use. The industry has in the past used coal in a few much larger "wet mill" operations that produce ethanol and a raft of other products. But dry mills are the wave of the future, industry experts say. It's their shift to coal that's causing the concern.

More plants slated for Midwest, West

Scores of these new ethanol refineries are expected to be built across the Midwest and West by the end of the decade, and many could soon be burning coal in some form to turn corn into ethanol, industry analysts say.

"It's very likely that coal will be the fuel of choice for most of these new ethanol plants," says Robert McIlvaine, president of a Northfield, Ill., information services company that has compiled a database of nearly 200 ethanol plants now under construction or in planning and development.

SOURCE: RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION; AP

If all 190 plants on Mr. McIlvaine's list were built and used coal, motorists would not reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions, according to an in-depth analysis of the subject to date by scientists at University of California at Berkeley, published in Science magazine in January.

Of course, many coal-fired ethanol plants on the drawing board will not be built, Mr. McIlvaine says. Others in planning for years may still choose natural gas as fuel to meet air pollution requirements in some states.

Other variations on ethanol-coal are emerging in Goodland, Kan., and Underwood, N.D., where ethanol plants are being built next to coal-burning power plants to use waste heat. Efficient, but still coal.

That could spell trouble for ethanol's renewable image.

"If your goal is to reduce costs, then coal is a good idea," says Robert Brown, director of Iowa State University's office of biorenewables. "If the goal is a renewable fuel, coal is a bad idea. When greenhouse-gas emissions go up, environmentalists take note. Then you've got a problem."

Ethanol industry officials say coal-power is just one possibility the industry is pursuing.

"I think some in the environmental community won't be all that warm and fuzzy about [coal-fired ethanol]," says Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, the national trade association for the US fuel-ethanol industry. "It's fair to say there's a trend away from natural gas, but coal is just one approach. Other technologies are part of the mix, too."

He cites, for instance, a new ethanol plant in Nebraska strategically located by a feed lot, using methane from cattle waste to fire ethanol boilers. Another new plant in Minnesota uses biomass gasification, using plant material as its fuel.

Coal for now, wood in the future

Coal may end up being merely a transitional fuel in the run-up to cellulosic ethanol, including switch grass and wood, says another RFA spokesman. While ethanol production today primarily uses only the corn kernel, cellulosic will use the whole plant.

Cellulosic ethanol, mentioned by President Bush in his State of the Union speech, could turn the tide on coal, too, by burning plant dregs in the boiler with no need for coal at all.

"It's a fact that ethanol is a renewable fuel today and it will stay that way," says Matt Hartwig, an RFA spokesman. "Any greenhouse-gas emissions that come out the tailpipe are recycled by the corn plant. I don't expect the limited number of coal-fired plants out there to change that."

Still, Hawkins insists that if ethanol is made using coal, the carbon dioxide should be captured and injected into the ground.

"We favor getting ethanol production up," Hawkins says. "But we obviously favor a cleaner process. We need large cuts in global warming emissions from transportation. It's not good enough for ethanol to simply be no worse than gasoline."

from legal blog watch news

Legal Blog Watch

Never Too Early to Start Cultivating Patrons of the Arts There's a lot of marketing going on at law firm summer associate programs, though not in the way you might think. Sure, firms are wining and dining young law students and trying to sell them on all the benefits of working at the firm. But in New York, cultural and artistic institutes have been marketing themselves to summer associates, hoping that today's young law students will become tomorrow's patrons of the arts, as described in this NYT article, "For Top Law Students, A Sidebar with the Arts" (7/23/06). Kianga Ellis , founder of Avail Art, a for-profit company to support the arts, describes: "I hope to create a pipeline of new patrons for the arts. The challenge the arts are facing in terms of cultivating new patrons is how to make it interesting and relevant to the lifestyle of new professionals. It's about making it part of your lifestyle -- where you ate dinner, where you go on the weekend." Avail Art is not the only program to match lawyers with the arts. According to the article, last summer, the Appollo Theatre Foundation hosted summer associates for an amateur night at the Apollo, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland held a social networking party for local nonprofits and summer associates from Cleveland's top law firms.  The article asks whether "convincing young lawyers to buy art can ease the spiritual burden of 2500 billable hours a year." I wonder that myself. Will lawyers feel better about not having followed another passion, like art or writing, because they can afford to buy or sponsor it? Or does that simply make the longing worse? Posted by Carolyn Elefant on July 24, 2006 at 03:15 PM | Permalink 'Anonymous Lawyer' Hits the Book Stands Tomorrow July 25 , 2006 is the first day of the bar exam in most states, but it's also the day that Jeremy Blachman's novel, "Anonymous Lawyer," officially hits the bookstores. Though releasing a book about big-firm practice on the same day that the bar exam starts doesn't strike me as the best timing (particularly where the narrator expounds on the devastating consequences of failing the bar), the release date does allow AL to ride the coattails of recent movies like The Devil Wears Prada and other exposes of bad bosses. I was fortunate enough to have snagged an advance copy of "Anonymous Lawyer," which I've reviewed favorably, over at My Shingle. Posted by Carolyn Elefant on July 24, 2006 at 03:12 PM | Permalink Blawg #67 Is Out David Fischer of the Antitrust Review hosts Blawg Review #67. Not surprisingly, Blawg Review covers a range of antitrust topics, including a link to Fischer's co-blogger, Manfred Gabriel's analysis of Microsoft's Antitrust Principles and Fischer's post on the status of antitrust litigation against Bar Bri based on allegations of an illegal market division agreement with Kaplan. This week, notices to potential class members, i.e., those who took Bar Bri between 1997 and 2006, are being mailed out. But Blawg Review #67 contains much more than just antitrust; be sure to go over and take a look. Posted by Carolyn Elefant on July 24, 2006 at 03:10 PM | Permalink

IMPORTANT NEWS

'Blogs are Improving Citizen Concerns'
by Rosario Lizana

You’re riding on the highway at maximum speed (120 K/H), talking with a friend, calm. Suddenly a public bus passes you so fast that curiosity gets ahold of you: how fast is this bus is going? And the driver decides to follow the bus.

Carlos Verdugo (ES)  posts the experience: “We were literally between Tongoy and Los Vilos, at the maximum speed allowed, when a greased lightning was coming to our vehicle to pass us, and we ask Is a bird? No, is it a plane?, No. Is it superman? No, it's Ramos Cholele (a bus company in the region)”.

He continues describing that they followed the bus to discover the speed. 170 K/H. This is not the end of the story. They record it with mobile and post it, eliciting more than 60 comments sharing the concern. El Morroccotudo (ES), a weblog newspaper from the region posts it to.

So, various media outlets ask them for permission to use the video.

In the last few weeks, a house robbery inspired a man to build a blog (ES) for expressing his concern about the crime in Chile. Students coordinate national strikes by blogs and fotoblogs. Neighbourhoods that demand the release of a homeless man and for spread the information build a community blog and web page.  Last week, a bloggers campaigned for the victims of a flood in the south. Chile has 16 million citizens. So, for other countries these should be everyday responses, but for us it is a way of adjusting media to social concerns.

While the Chilean media have still been slow to adopt blogs and other technologies, citizens have started using them, and slowly blogs are starting to be the sources of information once occupied by the traditional media.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/07/21/blogs-are-improving-citizen-concerns/

CONFERENCIA SOBRE LOBBY EN SOFOFA MIERCOLES 26 DE JULIO

 

http://www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com/

 

CONFERENCIA DE LOBBY EN SANTIAGO - CHILE

 

LOBBY: PROXIMO MIERCOLES 26  DICTARÉ UNA CONFERNCIA SOBRE “ LOBBYING SIN CAER EN TRAFICO DE INFLUENCIAS” EN LA  SOFOFA                                                                                                                              

Quienes estén interesados en participar pueden llamar a SOFOFA  al fono 6884265 o e mail: cperez@fundacionsofofa.cl  

 

Atentamente, Rodrigo González Fernández    lobbyingchile.blogspot.com; WWW.CONSULTAJURIDICA.BLOGSPOT.COM

 

 

TOM PETERS NEWS

TOM PETERS TIMES! JULY 2006

	Executive Study Group Focusing on Your Internal Customer It's just past mid-year. How is your business doing? Is the strategy being executed to the fullest? Do your people and departments know how to think like a standalone business that can bring great value to the organization? Do they understand how to unleash the power of talent to fulfill the organization's vision? Do you? At the Tom Peters Company's first Executive Study Group, held on March 1, 2006, we addressed external business disruptions. The event was filled with stimulating conversation and ideas from a multitude of industries. Each participant walked away with enhanced perspectives about the dynamics of the 21st century business environment. We discussed the need to embrace innovation, uncertainty, even chaos, in the exploration of unimagined possibilities for transforming our businesses. Our next Executive Study Group will focus on leveraging the talents of your teams and departments to deliver value to your customers. Join us for a lively discussion that will help you: -Identify internal disruptions -Align each department to the mission, vision and values of the organization -Manage politics effectively -Acquire tools and skills to align your people and your objectives Where: British Consulate, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA When: Wednesday July 20, 2006, 9am - 4pm (Lunch Provided) Cost: $250 per person, $400 for teams of three or more Departments must think like standalone businesses to maximize the value they provide to clients/customers and prepare for the inevitable scrutiny they will face in today's relentless, bottom-line-oriented business climate. We urge you to take advantage of this opportunity. Click here to register or call Rachel Gaddy, Marketing Director at 617-242-5522 to discuss alternative payment options.
	Tom on Internal Customers Blog Entry Revisited Tom agrees that internal harmony is CRUCIAL to the success of your business, and the retention of your talent. Here's what he had to say on the subject: Winning Formula: Put the INTERNAL Customer First! A GE Energy salesperson reinforced this idea for me. Suppose you are making a complex "systems"/"solutions" sale. To pull it off (get it thoroughly implemented—the basis for repeat business) you need help—LOTS OF—from a host of folks inside GE—wherever. These folks are congenitally overworked—and have a queue of salespersons needing help. Your Goal #1: Get an UNFAIR SHARE (this is the way the GE guy put it) of these insiders' time and energy and attention. The time of the sale is way, way too late. These are Internal Relationships you should have been forming and minding long, long ago. The "simple" point: By developing a scintillating (extensive, deep) internal network you probably increase your external success dramatically. (I call all this—inside or out—ROIR. Return On Investment in Relationships.) Hint/Duh II: It takes a lot of time!
	Cool Friends, Part I Business As War Joe Finder (rhymes with cinder) started his career with a controversial expose about multi-millionaire Armand Hammer's ties to Soviet intelligence. His next book was The Moscow Club, a fictional work about a KGB coup against Gorbachev, which was considered far-fetched by many, until such a coup actually happened six months later. Five more novels followed, two of which made the New York Times bestseller list. He describes his latest release, Killer Instinct, as a story of ambition and the price of success. According to Joe, "In many ways, it is a takeoff on the notion of business as war. I'm taken by the extent to which you see books in the offices of top-ranking corporate executives with titles like Business Is Combat or SunTzu: The Art of War for Managers or Team Secrets of the Navy Seals, that sort of thing. I remember thinking, "What do these guys actually know about war? What if I took someone who had been in war and had read all these books, and was as ruthless as some of these books advocate that you be?" Our first Cool Friends interview with a novelist proved to be a fascinating and entertaining conversation with someone who has studied and researched the business world from a different perspective. Click here to read the full interview.
	Culture Fit Profile Reducing Turnover A bank client contacted the Tom Peters Company (TPC) for help with the high rate of attrition at their Call Center. In initial discussions, they reported 393 agents had left the Call Center in 2005, most within six months of being hired. At 69%, this turnover rate was more than double the industry average of 33% for call centers. The cost to the company: an estimated $2.5 million for the year! TPC provided a Culture Fit Profile for applicant selection to increase retention of the best talent and reduce the expenses of turnover. This tool reduces the investment of resources in applicants who do not fit the culture and do not stay in their positions beyond six to nine months. In addition to reducing turnover costs by up to 50%, the Culture Fit Profile is a highly effective tool for establishing the client's future call centers. To determine the culture of the call center, TPC used both on-site employee interviews and RCP assessment software, the only statistically valid measurement tool on the market. For the client bank, 532 employees completed the assessment in two weeks, describing their perceptions of the "existing culture" and the "ideal culture." TPC used the results to define the company's Culture Fit Profile. The TPC team also conducted confidential interviews with more than 70 call agents and 30 managers, supervisors, recruiters, and quality analysts. Interviewees offered their personal perceptions and general observations. Their comments were consolidated into nine topical areas (such as management style, talent acquisition, compensation) that will reinforce the successful management of turnover reduction. As part of the ongoing TPC commitment to solving this client's problem, we work with the hiring teams to establish effective interview techniques. By applying the Culture Fit Profile to all new applicants, the client can expect a dramatic reduction in the attrition rate. As a side effect, the Call Center has also developed a clearer guiding strategy that is aligned with the client bank's results-oriented, innovation-based growth plan. As Carlos Ghosn, Nissan president and CEO, has said, "Corporate culture should never be an afterthought. It is the key driver of value creation." To find out more about how TPC can help your business thrive, click here for an overview of our Change Mangement programs, or call us at 617/242-5522 in Boston or 1708 437380 in London.
	Cool Friends, Part 2 Naked Truths Robin Wolaner has had an eclectic career in publishing, with experience at Penthouse, Runner's World, and Mother Jones, and as the founder of Parenting magazine. She left a position as an executive committee member at CNET to write Naked In the Boardroom: A CEO Bares Her Secrets So You Can Transform Your Career, which recently came out in paperback. Tom blogged about the book, calling it, "by far ... the best book on strategy and tactics for women aiming to make it big in business—big biz or entrepreneurial biz. Moreover, I think any male ... can learn an enormous amount from this book." Robin's extensive list of "Naked Truths" begins with this one: "Sometimes in business, it's better to be female, sometimes it's worse, but it's rarely the same." Click here to read the interview.

Espero que le gusten las noticias de Tom Peters a nuestros lectores. Esperamos tenerlo pronto en Chile. Un caluroso abrazo a Tom desde Chile que cada día lo leen más ejecutivos y gente de la empresa. Saludos Rodrigo González Fernández  lawyerschile.blogspot.com; tambien en consultajuridica.blogspot.com Santiago Chile

LEGAL NEWS FROM LEGAL WATCH

LEGAL BLOG WATCH 

Flood of Litigation From Katrina Begins

Almost a year later, Hurricane Katrina is churning up something other than storms, broken levees and floods:  litigation. This AP article, Groundbreaking Trial Could Help Decide Katrina Insurance Claims (7/11/06), reports on a federal lawsuit that will address whether thousands of people who lost homes in Hurricane Katrina can recover damages from their insurance companies. Apparently, may homeowners did not have flood insurance, because their insurance representatives had misled them to believe that it was not necessary. Lawyers will also argue that even if policies exclude flood-related damage, the policies still cover wind-related damage -- and that the losses were caused by high winds, as high as 140 mph, rather than water.

 

Katrina may also spur pet lawsuits, as reported in this WTVNY News Report (7/6/06). Seems that some the families that took in pets lost during the hurricane have grown attached to them and want to keep them, even after new owners have surfaced. One source even said that some evacuees are now terrorizing those families who adopted the animals in hopes of getting their pets back. And lawsuits have been filed to recover the animals. 

 

We've heard estimates of the huge costs of Katrina's destruction. I wonder if any of those numbers included the cost of all of these lawsuits.

 

Posted by Carolyn Elefant

Gen X vs. Gen Y on the Jury

Mark Beese at Leadership for Lawyers has this post about the differences between Generation X  and Generation Y jurors, which is based on a recent article by Dr. Karen Lisko. Apparently, Generation X jurors want more data, focus on the pragramatic and are impressed with parties who take ethics risks in business. By contrast, Generation Y jurors want a case presented in an even more technologically savvy manner than Gen X, are well educated, are highly analytical thinkers, are interested in teamwork in the jury room and respect parties who abide by commitments.

 

All very interesting, but what about the Boomers? As Boomers turn 60 and retire, they're the ones who'll have more time to serve on juries as opposed to the younger generations who are now in the prime of their careers. I'd be interested in seeing how Boomers compare to the younger generation on a jury.

 

Posted by Carolyn Elefant

Being Nice Will Save You Money!

As I posted here at My Shingle, simply being courteous or hospitable to clients can spare you from a lawsuit. Same is true for employers; badmouthing an employee can result in megadefamation verdicts, as Mike Fox reminds us at this  Employers Lawyer post.

 

Fox reports on two anti-employer verdicts. The first, out of Maine, involved a $3 million verdict against Merrill Lynch. Apparently, Merrill Lynch was required by statute to report the conduct of one of its brokers, and she alleged defamation based on information in the report. In the second case, an employee was accused of stealing and won $1.5 million in damages.

 

As Fox points out, in both cases, the employer seemed to have justification for its actions. Still, I can't help but wonder whether the outcome would have changed if the employer had made the allegations more tactfully. In most, but not all cases, bedside manner can make the difference.

 

Posted by Carolyn Elefant

Can Lawyers Blink?

Human Law reports here that he's working his way through Malcolm Gladwell'sbook "Blink." Patten describes that in "Blink," Gladwell makes the case for snap judgments and mind reading, relying on "adaptive unconscious" to translate clues from our first two seconds of looking at a person or considering a problem. 

 

But do intuitive thinking and legal reasoning mix?  Patten opines:

 

The problem is that legal training makes you think again, again and again. The message of the book will not resonate with most lawyers.  

 

And that's unfortunate.  Because many times, we lawyers have only an instant to size up a judge's reaction or decide whether a prospective client is worth representing or figure out how a jury is responding to our arguments. It would be nice if we could learn to set our legal training aside and apply new skills to make these decisions in just a blink.

 

Posted by Carolyn Elefant

 

 

A Bad Few Weeks for Prosecutors

Peter Henning of White Collar Crime Prof Blog summarizes a series of setbacks and embarrassments for federal prosecutors during the past few weeks -- and also raises the tantalizing question about whether individual prosecutors who took the questionable action bear responsibility when they merely carried out office policy.

 

Henning offers two examples of prosecutorial overreaching. First, there's federal district Judge Lewis Kaplan's findings in the KPMG case that prosecutors acted improperly when they intimidated KPMG into cutting off attorney fees payments for employees charged in the government's investigation. In his ruling, Kaplan had noted that the prosecutors were "economical with the truth" in their filings and testimony, a euphemistic way of calling them liars. After the ruling, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia (who had handled the matter) asked the court to withdraw that statement and remove references to the prosecutors by name, explaining:

 

"The Government's stance in connection with this matter was an Office position, and the Government's submissions were approved by layers of supervisors.  If the Court continues to find fault with those submissions, the fault should not be attributed to individual prosecutors." 

 

Another example of prosecutors taking liberty with the facts came in a concurring opinion by Judge Kozinski, where a prosecutor tried to mislead the court about facts to support sentencing enhancement. The prosecutor had taken a sentence fragment out of context and characterized it as a finding of the court, when clearly it was not. What Henning finds interesting about the case, however, is that the slip opinion identified by name the AUSAs responsible for misstatements to the court, but the opinion in the bound volume had the names removed. In essence, the lawyer who was the subject of Judge Kozinski's concurrence obtained the same relief sought by Garcia from Judge Kaplan.

 

Henning asks whether a lawyer like Garcia had an obligation to speak out against perceived wrongdoing by his office and whether it was fair for his name to be attached to a decision that reflects office policy. Saying that a decision is a policy of "office policy" is merely a way of deflecting responsibility. Moreover, when individual prosecutors know that their name and reputation are on the line for questionable tactics, maybe it will give them incentive to speak out against them. 

 

As for the lawyer in the Kozinski decision, he committed the error individually. Had that prosecutor been an attorney in private practice who engaged in misrepresentation, I have no doubt that his name would have remained associated with the case. Why should government prosecutors, who carry an even greater burden of disclosure to the court, be treated any more favorably?

 

Finally, it bears noting that individual government attorneys aren't always let off the hook for misconduct. Tom Kirkendall of Houston's Clear Thinkers updates us on Carla Martin, the FAA attorney who violated a court order in the Moussaoui prosecution by allowing prosecution witnesses to read trial testimony. News sources report that Martin is "emotionally distraught, crying when she talks about the criminal investigation and feeling like a prisoner in her own apartment, Martin's mother said last week." And she remains subject to both state and federal investigations, which will determine her ultimate punishment.

 

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on July 11, 2006 at 12:43 PM | Permalink

 

 

    Legal Watch:

Sincerely yours Rodrigo González Fernández.