Albany Law Hosts Tribute to Siegel

Albany Law School will host an event to celebrate the career of Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus David D. Siegel on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. A tribute will be given by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, New York Court of Appeals, as well as other special guests.

Professor Siegel, who joined the Albany Law School faculty in 1972, has taught and still writes extensively on civil procedure, federal jurisdiction and practice, conflict of laws, and New York practice. He is the author of New York Practice, the leading treatise on New York practice, and one of the few commentators appearing in the United States Code Annotated.

For more information, or to share memories of Professor Siegel, visitwww.albanylaw.edu/siegel.

Judge: No cryptographic hash analysis without warrant

(Full Text of Article by Dan Goodwin from The Register)

Child porn case, from MD PA which sets forth warrant requirement for search of computer, even when “only” making a copy of the hard drive and doing a “hash analysis” i.e., adding up sums of numerical identifiers for various files without opening the files.

The hash analysis program was EnCase, which is in common use amongst law enforcement computer forensic experts.

Read the full text of the decision here.

Tell-a-Friend

Tell-a-Friend: Word of Mouth Marketing made simple

It’s free! Just copy and paste. No integration or coding.
Users can share content across IM, Email or Social Networks
Users share content without leaving your site
Visitors can access their contact lists and easily reach out to their friends

Just click on the link above to reach the site, which will generate the necessary code for your web site or blog. Add the code and have your very own social media widget which can be used by visitors without leaving your site or blog. Express or custom looks available.

***

 

Just click on the icon on the top of the left column on this page to give Tell-a-Friend a try.

Google Flu Trends

Google Flu Trends

Google has found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional systems
***
For those of us who qualify as chronically ill or elderly; i.e., at high risk during flu season, there is also a “Flu Shot Locator”, which works by ZIP Code and tells you how far you are from the nearest flu shot.

This is an excellent example of an “unintended consequence” from Google’s enormous user base. I expect we’ll be seeing more “mashups” of this type.

Albany Panel Dismisses Judicial Pay Suit

The New York Law Journal – Albany Panel Dismisses Judicial Pay Suit

By Joel Stashenko
November 14, 2008

 

ALBANY – An upstate appeals panel yesterday dismissed a suit filed by judges seeking to force the state to grant them their first pay raise since 1999. 

While its decision in Maron v. Silver, 504084, was peppered with words such as “deplorable” to describe the raise drought, the Appellate Division, Third Department, nevertheless decided 4-1 that the judges lacked grounds to bring their claims for higher compensation.

The decision will be published Wednesday.

The majority dismissed the remaining two grounds recognized by Acting Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara (See Profile) last year, that the lack of a raise imperiled judicial independence by driving good judges from the bench and that the refusal to increase judges’ salaries was in retaliation for their rulings on controversial issues such as ordering higher school aid for New York City (NYLJ, Dec. 3, 2007).

 

***

The suit before the Third Department yesterday was brought by Nassau County Court Judge Edward A. Maron …, Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack of Brooklyn … and former Supreme Court Justice Joseph A. DeMaro of Brooklyn.It is one of three suits brought on behalf of the judiciary seeking higher pay and the first to reach the Appellate Division.

A second suit, Larabee v. Governor, 112301/07, is scheduled to be heard by a First Department panel on Tuesday. In that case, Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Lehner … ruled that lawmakers and the governor had unconstitutionally linked passage of a judicial pay raise to unrelated public policy issues, such as campaign finance reform or a pay raise for lawmakers themselves (NYLJ, June 11).

A third suit, Kaye v. Silver, 400763/08, is also before Justice Lehner in Manhattan. He is considering a motion for summary judgment filed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and motions to dismiss the action from the governor and legislative leaders.

2008 NYSBA Solo and Small Firm Survey

Bernice K. Leber, the President of the New York State Bar Association, has formed a Special Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practice. The Committee’s charge is to make a comprehensive study of particular issues and challenges which confront solo and small firms practices, and to recommend ways in which the bar associations, the Courts, and other entities may assist them in meeting those challenges and in achieving successful practices and balanced lives.

I am asking that you take a few moments to complete this brief survey to help us find ways to help you and other solo and small firm practitioners. Complete the survey online by December 5, 2008 and enter your name for a prize drawing* for a free CLE program (live or recorded) presented by the Law Practice Management (LPM) Committee.

2008 NYSBA Solo and Small Firm Survey
http://vovici.com/l.dll/JGs83C87072D7leWD9U630772J.htm

Sincerely, 
Robert Ostertag, 
Chair, Special Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practice

* Members who complete the survey online by December 5, 2008 and enter their contact information in the prize drawing question will be automatically entered into a drawing for a free LPM sponsored CLE program. Three winners will be selected randomly.

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye’s final State of the Judiciary speech

 

(NY Times (James Barron): State’s Top Judge, Now 70, Gives Her Farewell Speech)

After delivering what she called her “swan song,” an hourlong speech on Wednesday in which she said her role as “chief plaintiff” in a lawsuit over judicial pay “sickens me,” the state’s chief judge said she had not endorsed anyone as her successor. “I’m waiting to see the list” of seven potential candidates recommended by a state commission, the chief judge, Judith S. Kaye, said after her speech on the state of the state judiciary. The panel will forward the names to Gov. David A. Paterson next month, and he is expected to nominate a new chief judge in January. Judge Kaye also said that if the governor called and asked for her thoughts, “I would hand him my state of the judiciary and tell him to read it carefully.” Judge Kaye, who was the first woman to become chief judge when she was elevated in 1993 and is now the longest-serving chief judge in the state’s history, will step down at the end of the year, having reached 70, the mandatory retirement age for judges. She had been an associate judge on the Court of Appeals for 10 years when Gov. Mario M. Cuomo promoted her to chief judge.

***

Webcast Available to View Online

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye’s final State of the Judiciary speech will be available over the Internet at http://live.nycourts.gov/sojwebcast.asx.

The chief judge, who is stepping down Dec. 31 because of the courts’ mandatory retirement age of 70, is speaking today at 1 p.m. at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University, 566 Laguardia Place, in Manhattan.

It is the first State of the Judiciary address Chief Judge Kaye has given outside of Albany in her 15 years as chief judge.

Tour the Legal Web’s New Sites

Legal Technology – Tour the Legal Web’s New Sites

By Robert J. Ambrogi
Law Technology News
November 7, 2008

This month, Bob Ambrogi’s column for Law Technology News rounds up new legal Web sites that have recently debuted.

***

Bob Ambrogi has put together the latest legal sites, so you don’t have to.

2008-2009 Presidential Transition Resources

Presidential Transition Team

Message to Presidential Nominees and Appointees, and Members of the President-elect’s Transition Team:

The Presidential Transition Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-293) authorizes the General Services Administration (GSA) to develop a transition directory in consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Act provides that the transition directory ”

shall be a compilation of Federal publications and materials with supplementary materials developed by the Administrator that provides information on the officers, organization, and statutory and administrative authorities, functions, duties, responsibilities, and mission of each department and agency.”

Senate Report 106-348 clarifies that the directory is intended to ”

assist in navigating the many responsibilities that fall on a new administration” that is “confronted by an overwhelming amount of material.

” 

GSA and NARA hope that this online directory will introduce you to the operation of the Federal government and the resources available to help you begin your service in the new Administration. If you have questions or comments about this directory, please contact us.

***

The site may be of interest to lawyers and law firms who will be doing business with the new administration.

Congregar

Create Poll – Congregar

Organize events more easily. Congregar makes it easy to pick the best date for your event, by asking participants to indicate their availability from the options you offer.

Enter your name and email. The name you give will be shown to participants. Enter title and give a brief description of what the event is about. Click on the calendar to pick new dates. Participants will be able to choose between these options.