How lawyers are mining the information mother lode for pricing, practice tips and predictions – ABA Journal

The day is here: Big data, loosely defined as the computer analysis of torrents of information to find hidden gems of insight, is slowly transforming the way law is practiced in the U.S.

Law firms are using big data to identify which cases will be easy slam dunks and those that are air balls. They’re relying on the technology to get a read on what other law firms are charging, so they can adjust their rates accordingly. And big data is also popping up in law firm human resources departments, where tech-savvy department heads are crunching data on potential new hires in the hopes of coming up with recruits who are truly a good fit.

 

Read the entire article here.

 

***

I suppose its only price-fixing and a violation of anti-trust laws when a couple of solos and small firm practitioners talk about charges–not when the big folks do some data mining?

 

 

Related articles

• What are you doing about “big data?” That is a question making the rounds with retailers today. (stevesammons.me)
• Powered Analytics harnessing the power of “big data” (statsburgh.com)
• How making sense of big data could create jobs in Ireland (irishtimes.com)

Introducing Bad Law Bot from Fastcase – YouTube

Related articles

• Fastcase’s ‘Authority Check’ Now Flags Bad Law (lawsitesblog.com)

Blogging in One Hour for Lawyers Review By Sam Glover

Blogging in One Hour for Lawyers is one of the latest in the ABA’s “trendy topics in one hour for lawyers” series of overpriced books. This is unfortunate, because Ernie Svenson’s practical, quick-start guide to blogging, written with lawyers in mind, is actually quite good, despite its silly name (it takes more like 2 or 3 hours to read) and hefty price tag ($40, unless you get the iBook version I linked to above, which is more reasonably-priced at $20).

Sam Glover is an “A-List” legal blogger.  He has a lot of blogging experience and opinions about blogging for lawyers which he is not afraid to express.  Read his entire review of this new book here.

Related articles

• Are we seeing the demise of law blogs? (kevin.lexblog.com)
• Law bloggers or journalists : Who are more credible? (kevin.lexblog.com)

Use of eJuror Rises, and New Online Directory Aids Access-US Courts

With three-quarters of all U.S. District Courts now allowing prospective jurors to fill out forms online, the U.S. Courts website has eased user access by creating a national directory of courts participating in the eJuror program.

 

Seventy-two of the nation’s 94 district courts have adopted eJuror, up from 46 in February 2011. The system was introduced in late 2008 to simplify the process for prospective jurors, and to save federal courts money by reducing postage costs and paperwork associated with the jury process.

 

Under eJuror, potential jurors can avoid the mail system, responding to questionnaire forms and summons online. They also can update personal information, check when they need to report for jury service, submit a request to be excused, or to receive a deferral, and select an alternative time to serve. The system can be used from any location, 24 hours a day.

 

Participating courts usually have an eJuror link prominently placed on their web sites. To increase convenience, a national directory has been added to the U.S. Courts website. Site visitors who click on the Jury Service page can quickly access a national directory of jury information pages for all 94 federal district courts. The directory provides additional links to eJuror pages for the 72 participating courts, which enables prospective jurors to log directly into the system.

 

Jury candidates may also use the traditional paper process if they choose.

 

More information about eJuror is available in this video.

 

How Do I Navigate This Website? – N.Y. State Courts

Info and instructions for OCA’s new website look.

NYS Office of Court Administration Executive Director Ronald Younkins said the remodeled site OCA contains the same information as in the past, such as news and insight for general consumers, jurors and lawyers, but is designed to make it easier to quickly find information.

1) Global Navigation Bar: Use this to reach the different main sections of the site.

2) Global Search: Search the entire contents of the NYCOURTS.GOV web site.

3) NYcourts.gov logo: Takes you back to NYCOURTS.GOV homepage.

4) Subject Bar: Identifies the subject area for that part of the site.
Takes you back to the homepage for that subject.

5) Subject’s Left Navigation: Find content within that subject area

6) Page Content Area: The information you are looking for.

 

Check out the new OCA site:

http://www.nycourts.gov

 

 

Timeslips in the Cloud by CompuCloud Technologies

When you wait forever for something and, finally, you must leave it behind, it is disconcerting to find what you wished has happened, if belatedly.  Of course, I’m referring to Mac users who labored along with an orphaned TimeSlips for more than nine (9) years before being totally abandoned; i.e., there would never be a Mac version again.

To now find a cloud version of TimeSlips, usable by Mac, is like the worst aspects of meeting an old flame at your high school reunion.  Nothing is now as it was then.  Its awkward.

Its also expensive.  For those of us who held out as long as we could before moving to less costly solutions (e.g., Billings), $40.00 per person per month for the cloud version seems hopelessly priced back in the ’70′s.

There is no demo version and, as with all things nostalgic, “buyer beware”.

Click here for more info.

P.S. Credit (or blame) for letting us know our old flame was back goers to ”Randy Singer (MacAttorney)” <macattorney@gmail.com> Feb 02 07:25PM -0800

*Announcing Timeslips By Sage In The Cloud For MAC Users*

P.P.S.  Find our current love, Billings, here: http://www.marketcircle.com/billings/

JURIST – Paper Chase: Update all JURIST bookmarks and feeds to jurist.org!

Friday, November 09, 2012

Update all JURIST bookmarks and feeds to jurist.org!
Matthew Shames at 12:30 AM ET

[JURIST announcement] If you have not already done so, please update all of your bookmarks and RSS feeds to jurist.org. As part of our continuing transition from our old domain (jurist.law.pitt.edu) to our current domain (jurist.org), the University of Pittsburgh will soon be disabling public access to our old server. At that time, any RSS feeds and bookmarks that are still pointing to jurist.law.pitt.edu will cease to function. Don’t miss out on the latest legal news from JURIST – update your bookmarks and feeds today!

 

 

Related articles

• Update all JURIST bookmarks and feeds to jurist.org! (jurist.org)

The Golden Rules of Word Every Lawyer Needs to Know-Affinity Consulting Group

If you use Word, chances are you are not using it to its fullest potential. The following are some golden rules of Word to help you know when you’re not using the program properly and/or you’re missing a feature that would make your life easier.

Read the entire article by Barron K. Henley, Esq., Affinity Partner for free here.

 

QuicklyChat-Beta

http://www.quicklychat.com/

Are you looking to have a quick chat with a coworker or other party? QuicklyChat can help you do that, as it features fully customizable smart status updates and other bells and whistles. The video linkup emphasizes quicker and more efficient communication; it does so by detecting if the other party is currently available or not by detecting one’s current system activity. This application is compatible with all operating systems.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

 

*****

Installation was easy enough; but be warned that this is a Beta and it requires that you install AdobeAir.  If you object to Adobe, (OMG they are arrogant, changing settings and interrupting), then take a pass. I am waiting for customer support to get back to me on how to create my buddy list.  The instructions disappeared and the AddBuddy window locked up.  YMMV.

PwnedList

PwnedList is a tool that allows an average person to check if their accounts have been compromised. You can read more about where their data comes from here. Just enter an email address associated with any of your accounts to see if it’s on their list. Data entered is not stored, re-used, or given to any third parties. Don’t trust them? You can also use a SHA-512 hash of your email as input. Just don’t forget to lowercase all characters first.

Related articles

• PwnedList Offers Free Monitoring to Alert You If Your Online Accounts Get Breached [Security] (lifehacker.com)
• LastPass Users to Benefit from Credential Monitoring Services Offered by PwnedList (news.softpedia.com)
• LastPass teams with PwnedList to flag stolen accounts (infoworld.com)