Bored Contract Attorney writes blog...little less bored now

I have been following this blog called Freeloader Attorney for a while now. The author is a contract attorney who is writing about his experiences doc reviewing. I find it to actually be rather interesting. I highly recommend it to anyone, especially contract attorneys.

The Subprime Storm is coming

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will make public as early as June several enforcement cases involving subprime mortgage-related investigations, two sources familiar with the probes told Reuters on Wednesday.
The SEC last year formed an internal task force to investigate various areas of the subprime mortgage market including sales practices, accounting, the role of credit rating firms and securitization of packaged mortgages.
Many market participants, including credit rating agencies, Wall Street firms and mortgage brokers and lenders, have been criticized for fueling the U.S. housing market, perhaps without disclosing certain risks.
The SEC, which aims to maintain market confidence, is focused on proper disclosure and potential fraudulent activities to investors.
"I think we'll have a few subprime-related cases relatively soon ... within weeks," one source said.

It's another GabesGuide.com Unscientific-Scientific Poll: Today's Topic, Outsourcing.

Since it seems like it is Outsourcing Day here at GabesGuide.com, I figured this poll would be relevant.

My opinion of outsourcing legal document review work to non American attorneys is the following: (Answer up to three)
	I believe it is condoning the practice of law without a license
	I believe it could jeopardize client confidentiality
	To be honest I just don't want my job taken away
	I do not consider document review as the practice of law
	I am ok with outsourcing as long as the proper supervision is in place
	Other: I will post my answer in the comments below
Free polls from Pollhost.com

You have 4 days to send Sarah Sellers to college

Read here, and watch the video, then read here, and then Vote Here, and remember to confirm your vote in your email or it won't count. It literally takes two seconds, and believe me this is a good thing. The voting has become much closer as of late. She is still in the lead but at last check only by about 170 votes. I don't ask for much, but please if you can spare a moment, vote.

It's GabesGuide.com 2nd Monthsary!

Wow, so it has been officially two months since I started this blog. Two months! That is almost like 7 weeks or something. I usually can't keep my attention on something for two days much less two months.

In all honesty, this blog has been such a joy to do. So far I have over 2000 unique visitors in 40 different countries. Someone has even looked at my blog in Saudi Arabia! I really appreciate all of you who have visited, and I hope that I have been able to make a small contribution to your knowledge of e-Discovery, as well as kept you entertained with my numerous off topic posts.

Again thanks.

Outsourcing: This is why my Lazy Sunday Links should stop being so lazy

The outsourcing story I reported about on Lazy Sunday Links is really starting to pick up steam. First reported in the Blog of the Legal Times, it has now been picked up by the ABA Journal, JD Wired, and now this blog:

"Does the monitoring of cross-border communications by the United States government under the Patriot Act and the Wiretapping Act and the lack of US constitutional protection in foreign countries violate an attorney’s duty to keep client matters confidential?

Does outsourcing act as a waiver of the attorney-client privilege or otherwise permanently affect a client’s legal rights?

One law firm is concerned that the answer is ‘yes’ — and has sued the Bush administration for declaratory judgment and asked the District of Columbia and Maryland bars for ethics opinions on the matter. According to Newman McIntosh & Hennessey, US government interception of attorney-client communications is highly probable because the National Security Agency (NSA) is free to spy on foreign companies. The Newman firm filed the complaint and ethics opinion requests seeking guidance on whether outsourcing of legal services compromises constitutional rights — and wants the court to order law firms to disclose their use of outsourcing and foreign legal support to clients, and to order the US government to establish protocols to shield attorney-client information from US government surveillance.

The complaint and legal inquiry arose out of a solicitation to the Newman firm by Acumen Legal Services (India) Pvt., Ltd./Acumen Solutions, LLC (TX) to provide the law firm with outsourced litigation support. Hennessey, a named partner for the firm, is concerned that information from his personal injury and medical malpractice practice could fall into the hands of competitors who employ outsourced services, through the electronic discovery process. According to Hennessey:

It’s not paranoia. It’s just fact . . . . [N]ow that we’re outsourcing services, we have given no consideration to the ongoing practice of the government harvesting information out there.

Hennessey openly wonders whether explicit client consent should be required before any data is sent abroad.

Legal outsourcing has grown dramatically in the last decade as bandwidth has improved to easily handle large amounts of imaged data, facilitating remote document scanning and low-cost document review, primarily in India.

Here’s why this is a particularly interesting story to watch: A. large law firms are now relying heavily on the practice of outsourcing their legal document imaging and legal document review work to maintain their profit margins. B. The regulation of attorneys is almost entirely a matter of state law. I’m not aware of any federal controls over the attorney-client relationship or attorney-client privilege (except with regard to the recent encroachment on attorney-client communications in the representation of enemy combatants in connection with Guantanamo and Bush administration military tribunals).

The case has been assigned to District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA)."

Looks like this story is gaining some legs. This is definitely an angle I had never considered.

Off Topic: What a historic decision!

I just found out that the Red State Update has confirmed me as a friend on Facebook. I am their 675th friend! I feel so honored. Due to this momentous occasion, I am going to repost the first video I receieved about them.

Because America stinks at lending money, India is the hottest place on earth to practice law, well American law at least

From The Economic Times:

"NEW DELHI: A slowdown in the US is giving a push to the Indian legal process outsourcing (LPO) sector. Indian LPO firms are reporting a rise of over 200% in revenues in the past 12 months as they see a dramatic rise in litigation, intellectual property infringement work and bankruptcy-related document drafting. The rise in new business from litigation is due to a crash in the stock markets post the subprime crisis, which led many stockholders to sue companies.

“We have seen a dramatic rise in business from the litigation and IP infringement verticals in the past three months as organisations look to make money form brand or IP infringements due to a slowdown in consumer spending in the US.

We have ramped up our headcount correspondingly by almost 50% and plan to scale up more in the coming months,” says Sanjay Kamlani, CEO of Mumbai-based Pangea3.

US companies are also looking to cut costs and offshore legal work to India as lawyers are one of the highest paid professions in the US. “A junior lawyer on the US east coast (where the major stock exchanges are located) makes about $1,65,000-$2,00,000 per year.

The same work can be done at one-tenth the cost in India. As companies look to cut costs we see a rise in our toplines,” says Matthew Banks, senior vice-president, Legal Services, Integreon.

Mumbai-based Integreon has about 420 associates in the LPO business and has seen an over 200% rise in revenues in the past 12 months."

So what country will be outsourced to next, once India becomes the most vibrant economy in the world

From Sepia Mutiny:

"Outsourcing to India is nearly limitless in potential, both boosters and opponents alike claim. As evidence, they point to the proliferation of services that are currently being performed in India. No longer limited to programmers and call centers, outsourcing has grown to encompass BPO, medical transcription, tax return preparation, and concierge services. The latest frontier is the legal profession

In the past three years, the legal outsourcing industry here has grown about 60 percent annually. According to a report by research firm ValueNotes, the industry will employ about 24,000 people and earn revenue of $640 million by 2010. Indian workers who once helped with legal transcription now offer services that include research, litigation support, document discovery and review, drafting of contracts and patent writing. The industry offers an attractive career path for many of the 300,000 Indians who enroll in law schools every year. [Link]"

You have 5 days to send Sarah Sellers to college

Read here, and watch the video, then read here, and then Vote Here, and remember to confirm your vote in your email or it won't count. It literally takes two seconds, and believe me this is a good thing. At last check, her closest comeptitor is 340 votes behind, but she needs to make a strong showing before Sunday. Please take two seconds and vote.

Outsourcing Company still trying to discern difference between DC, Chicago

I received in my email today in regards to a patent paralegal ad:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

Hello,

I saw your post on craigslist. I run a paralegal firm with experts in US law, JDs and LLMs from Top-tier US Law schools, Litigation and IPR experts with 20+ years of experience. We have an established team of IPR experts. Our team consists of prior art researchers, WIPO-certified patent draftees with over 20 years experience in USPTO and International patent work. We also offer best quality paralegal services in litigation, and we have experience in both Federal and State litigation, trials and appeals.

All this is provided at a very low price, because our work-office is in India.

You have posted a recruitment notice for the post of an Patent Paralegal. If telecommuting is permitted, we can save thousands of dollars for your firm and provide a much higher quality of service, because people who will oversee your work are US-educated lawyers and not secretaries or paralegals.

A lot of Chicago firms and corporations use our services and save money thereby. If you are similarly interested, please get back to us from a valid email ID and we willl provide you with website and contact information.

Sincerely

Sayak
On behalf of and in Asst. to CEO.

UK Lawyers scurriliously read through new white paper, still looking for protagonist, plot.

EnCase softwore has released a white paper concerning e-discovery with major corporations in UK Courts. The link to the white paper is here.

"This is one of a series of white papers written by Chris Dale of the UK-based e-Disclosure Information Project. Its purpose is to further understanding of the issues arising from electronic disclosure in the UK and the part which EnCase® eDiscovery from Guidance Software and similar data image collections applications can play in addressing those issues for large corporations."

For those of you who do not know what a white paper is click here.

Slightly Off Topic: Winston & Strawn to now just go by the name "Win"

From the Houston Chronicle:

"To Cher, Madonna, Oprah and Prince add Howrey, Skadden, Sutherland and Winstead.
It’s part of a new branding trend for law firms — to go by only one name.

When a law firm brands itself, it’s generally fantastic for the person answering the phone, hard on the tech team and really rough on the legacy of the usually-dead partners whose names go out of use.

As law firms get more comfortable with the idea that lawyers can be professionals and still run their firms like businesses, the idea of creating a marketplace persona for the firm is increasingly popular. This results in modernized Web sites, shiny new often-arty brochures and fewer names on the stationery."

You have 6 Days left to send Sarah Sellers to College

Read here, then here, and then Vote Here, and remember to confirm your vote in your email or it won't count. It literally takes two seconds, and believe me this is a good thing.

Reason #11 Why DC Rules: Rolling Thunder

In honor of Memorial Day:
"Rolling Thunder Inc., established in 1987, is a veterans advocacy organization that works for the return of prisoners of war and missing in action from all of the conflicts of the United States. The organization does not require that its members be veterans;^[1] and estimates that 40% to 45% of its members are non-veterans.^[2]

Because many group members ride motorcycles and many group events are motorcycle-oriented, Rolling Thunder is sometimes referred to as a motorcycle club or "biker group." However, riding or owning a motorcycle is not a requirement, and the group's primary focus is on veterans' advocacy.

The President of the organization is Artie Muller. Muller has worked closely with exiled Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam with the stated goal of helping to bring closure to the U.S. families of unaccounted-for MIAs and POWs from the Vietnam War.

Rolling Thunder is noted for its annual gathering of members and supporters at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia every Memorial Day weekend."

The video below is entitled Rolling Thunder Ride to the Wall. I like it. Watch it when you get a chance.

Featured Review Tool: Kroll OnTrack

From their website:

"In today's digital world, attorneys frequently review massive amounts of computerized text and data to locate, analyze and organize key evidence in preparation for client cases.

Kroll Ontrack, the technology services group of Kroll, helps attorneys and litigators at corporations, law firms and government agencies gather and filter electronic documents for use in legal proceedings, regulatory matters and investigations. Kroll Ontrack also recovers, restores and protects electronic data that has been erased, reformatted or lost, and investigates the causes of technology and data tampering.

With the technology strength of Kroll Ontrack and the risk consulting expertise of Kroll's other businesses, Kroll can provide full scale solutions for investigations, corporate restructuring and security matters.

Our Services

Electronic Discovery
Increasing quantities of electronic data and documents often require attorneys to spend excessive amounts of time trying to identify discoverable electronic evidence. Kroll Ontrack's electronic discovery specialists provide a range of time-efficient and cost-effective services that help gather, analyze, organize and prepare data for review in litigation matters and regulatory proceedings.

Computer Forensics
Kroll Ontrack specializes in developing effective strategies for locating and retrieving electronic data from computer hard drives and technology systems. Kroll Ontrack's computer forensics engineers are trained to identify where exactly on computer networks key evidence is likely to be found-even if that evidence appears at first to have been erased or lost. Kroll Ontrack also can create a comprehensive chronology of computer usage and determine whether computer evidence was altered, damaged or removed.

Data Recovery
Kroll Ontrack uses proprietary recovery and analysis tools and techniques to locate, recover and analyze active, deleted or damaged electronic data. Whether working along side clients to recover data or providing the same services from remote locations, Kroll Ontrack customizes real-time data-recovery solutions that are fast, convenient and cost-efficient, retrieving electronic documents from virtually all computer storage and operating systems."

Breaking News: Lawyers to benefit from misdeeds of corporate executives, public officials

Here is a small but rather interesting article concerning white collar crime from Crain's Detroit Business:
"Criminal defense lawyers, even those representing white-collar defendants, once were mostly trial specialists and usually practiced solo or in small firms.

Their reputations earned them major clients and cases, often referred from large firms that wanted to keep the stigma of criminal litigation away from their business clients.
But times have changed.

Stakes are higher as federal investigations increasingly target companies and top corporate officials. And such cases generate major revenue."

Lazy Sunday Links: I say YahGooHoogle, you say MicroHoogle, would you just make a decision?

• The MicroHoogle drama still is playing out. Reuters give a recap.
• World’s richest man says banks are to blame for this whole sub prime thing.
• Small Bethesda sues US government and legal outsourcing vendor trying to protect this little known detail in the world of legal ethics called “client confidentiality.”
• Off topic: Don’t forget to vote for Sarah Sellers, your next West Virginia Idol. And if you want to know more about Sarah Sellers, click here.

YaGooHoogle?

Still no word on a deal between Yahoo and Google. I was hoping to hear by now.

I am off to Six Flags America, so by Murphy's law I am certain will go down while I am there, and not watching the news. Oh well, pretty sure I can live with that. Lazy Sunday Links will post tonight. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend.

Warren Buffett: After the USA's slow and painful death, I will buy America for 200 Trillion Dollars, which will be equal to about 31 euros

From Reuters:

"The United States is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investor Warren Buffett said in an interview published in German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

He said the United States was "already in recession" and added: "Perhaps not in the sense that economists would define it" with two consecutive quarters of negative growth."

Off Topic: Big Brown take note: Sarah Lee Sellers turning into the Secretariat in the horserace for West Virginia Idol

Big Brown

As of today Sarah Lee Sellers has over 450 more votes than she did yesterday, and I am sure much of that was because of your help. She leads the pack by over 400 votes, but she is by no means out of the woods yet. Afterall, she in West Virginia, which probably means she is never out of the woods. Ok, bad joke I admit. To quote Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, "I kid, I kid."

Please click here to vote for Sarah. And to read more about her story click here, or just scroll two entries down. The contest ends on June 1st, which is a week from tomorrow.

It is also important that she has a strong showing because apparantly our votes only count for one third of the role in selecting the winner.

Grand Prize Winner Announced (6/03/08) Process of picking winner includes input from MetroNews & Sponsors (1/3rd), WVWC (1/3rd), and Voting Results (1/3rd).

We cannot have these West Virginia Wesleyan and MetroNews Superdelegates overturning the will of the American people! That is why she needs to go into the convention with a sizeable lead.
Oh by the way, if you don't have any idea who Sarah Lee Sellers is, she's a freaking genius.

If there's such a thing as competitive calculator mashing, Sarah Lee Sellers would get the medal. A high school junior from Hedgesville, W.Va., Sarah spent 2,000 hours and burned out two calculators – creating a handmade 111 by 111 prime magic square out of only Eisenstein prime numbers. (If you must ask, a magic square's columns all add up to the same number, while an Eisenstein prime is any number where 3n-1 equals a prime.) She even managed to sneak a cryptic message – "Love" – in the top center.

A testament to a rigorous mind, Sarah's accomplishment – whether it medals or not at ISEF – has already sparked interest in math among classmates back in Hedgesville, she says. And when a gaggle of local elementary school students gathers around her booth, she explains sweetly, holding up her giant magic square: "You can do anything you want to if you put your mind to it."

Vote Today.

Featured Review Software: Applied Discovery from Lexis Nexis

From their website:

Litigation Our comprehensive service offering is designed to help you navigate the sometimes daunting world of electronic discovery. Because when you really think about it, the process of discovery hasn't actually changed—only the storage medium and review tools for the documents are different. With this in mind, simply follow the discovery process you already know, but leave the tools and technology to us.

Antitrust Our comprehensive service offering is designed to help streamline response to government document requests. When you see how easy it is, you'll wonder why you waited so long to get started.

On a personal note, LexisNexis Applied Discovery was where two of my former colleagues once had their stomping grounds, Kush Bambrah and Kimberly Quan. Both are exceptional people in the e-Discovery universe.

Off Topic: Actually, way off topic: I want Sarah Lee Sellers to be the next West Virginia Idol

I seriously thought this was a joke when I got this in my email this morning. After checking the source, I realized that it was not.

Below is a video interview for Sarah Lee Sellers. Sarah is competing to receive a scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan University, which is by the way is the top Wesleyan university in West Virginia. What are the grounds for receiving this scholarship? Good grades? Need? Character? Because I can tell you Sarah would qualify for all three if that was the criteria.

But it does not come down to any of those in the final analysis. Sarah wins the scholarship with your votes! I am not joking. They are literally dangling the scholarship in front of her like a carrot, and putting her through a video interview so America can vote to see if she is deserving of it or not.

The interview starts off very normal, she tells about her background, subjects she likes, and the fact that some guy named Jesus is her savior (Yes I know who Jesus is so don't email me. He is my savior too, but I guess I can share him with Sarah). Then, toward the middle of the video they discuss why she wants the scholarship and she breaks down in emotion, telling about her financial troubles her family had when she was young, and is almost embarrassed when she says her mom cannot afford college. She continues tearing up for pretty much the rest of the interview. It is very gripping.

Does WV Wesleyan U stop the video to let her get herself together, so she could finish the interview composed? Of course not, that would have been the classy thing to do.

What also struck me was that fact at such a young age she knows what she wants to do in life. 10 years from now she wants to get into cryptology. Cryptology! I didn't even know what cryptology was in high school. In fact I still don't know what it is exactly. I assume it is the study of crypts or something.

The other thing I could not help but think about was how incredibly, incredibly lucky I was as a child. My parents were not rich, but they provided me with a very comfortable lifestyle. They sent me to Georgetown Prep, and college was never seen as an obstacle financially.

Here is someone who has worked so hard, and seems so morally grounded, and they make her go through this BS to get a scholarship at their university.

Frankly Sarah, the question is not whether you are deserving of a scholarship, it is whether West Virginia Wesleyan University is deserving of someone like you. You have too much character, dignity and class for that University, and they should feel blessed every day for the chance to have a student like you.

Lets send Sarah Lee Sellers to college people! You can vote for her here. Also remember to click the confirmation link in your email or your vote will not count. Be sure to watch her video below.

If you don't know the first thing about e-discovery, click the link below

This is one of the best blog posts I have seen about e-discovery. It is exceptionally detailed. The blog is call E-discovery Team, authored by attorney Ralph Losey. I have added the blog to my law links. If you don't know the first thing about e-discovery, click here.

Quick Hit: If you think Six Flags is fun, checkout this webinar Best Practices for Gaining Control over Corporate E-Discovery, yeah...

Just an FYI for anyone interested, from the EDD Blog:

"Clearwell Systems Inc. has announced a free web seminar with Google. The seminar will feature Vivian Tero, Program Manager for Compliance Infrastructure at IDC. It is titled "Weathering the E-Discovery Perfect Storm: Best Practices for Gaining Control over Corporate E-Discovery," and will be held on Tuesday, June 3 at 10 AM PDT. Go here to register."

Reason # 10 Why DC Rules: Six Flags America

Which I am going to this weekend! It literally is only a 2o minute drive from my house. I will be sure to take some more crappy Treo pictures for Lazy Sunday Links. I am probably going to go on Sunday now, since it will be 5 degrees warmer and less windy.

After waning for so many years, Six Flags America as a whole has really made a comeback, thanks to the intervention of America's most beloved human being and humanitarian, Redskin's owner Dan Snyder.

If you get a chance to go bring your bathing suit and be sure to check out Hurricane Harbor. I always find the Tornado alot of fun (pictured above). As far as roller coasters, definitely ride the Superman (also pictured aboved). It is one of the tallest roller coasters in the world. I will never get on it myself, because I am a total wuss in that area. At least I admit it.

Second Request Alert: Is the Microsoft-Yahoo engagement over after Yahoo caught sleeping with Google?

From NYTimes.com:

"How can Google, the Internet search and advertising giant, contend that teaming up with Yahoo in search ads would not invite an antitrust challenge?

Under a proposed partnership, Google would let Yahoo use its more sophisticated ad technology to deliver ads next to some Yahoo search results. By some estimates this could bring Yahoo $1 billion a year in added cash.

If they strike a deal, the No. 2 company in search ads would hand over some of its business to the dominant company in that market. When asked about the issues this would raise in a meeting with reporters this month, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, offered only a cryptic reply: “We would anticipate structuring a deal to address antitrust concerns.”

People involved in shaping Google’s approach say the deal under consideration would be a straightforward supplier arrangement, similar to ones in the markets for computer printers, appliances and cellphone service."

Predatory lenders must prove to be less predatory, more lender

From Sarah Murphy at Bliss PR:

Subprime Lawsuits: How to Defend Yourself
22/05/2008 - 15:02
"The pace of subprime-related litigation continues with no apparent end in sight as more and more lawsuits are filed against mortgage lenders, Wall Street firms that packaged and resold the mortgage loans into bonds and mortgage backed securities (“MBS”), and companies that invested in MBS. Many of the mortgage lender lawsuits are directed at underwriting practices and accounting estimates, including estimates related to allowance for loan losses, valuation of mortgage servicing rights and residual securities, and liabilities for loan repurchases.

What companies can do to defend themselves against these lawsuits depends on how they arrived at their accounting estimates and whether they can demonstrate that good faith efforts were made to determine those estimates based on information available at the time. Anthony Lendez, CPA, CFE, is a partner with BDO Consulting, a division of BDO Seidman, LLP, and can speak to the following best practices for the various defendants of these lawsuits:"

President of Kroll on Track to battle President of Lexis Nexis Applied Discovery on top of Sears Tower to determine supreme control of Chicago

Chicago Lawyer Magazine conducted an e-discovery poll of Illinois attorneys and the results were rather interesting:

"Perhaps the biggest surprise occurred almost immediately in the question which asked “Are you familiar with the Federal Rules changes regarding electronic discovery?” 70% answered “Yes” which means that 30% were not familiar with the rule changes. The figure seems almost astonishing given the high degree of coverage and the flurry of CLE activity surrounding changes that went into effect in December of 2006."

"The question, “Have you ever hired an electronic discovery consultant or firm?” provided the biggest surprise of the survey for me. 69% of the respondents indicated that they had not hired an eDiscovery consultant or firm. Those who did hire such a company preferred Kroll (25%) Lexis-Nexis Applied Discovery (20%), Fios (18.5), FYI (18% ) and EED (15%) All other companies listed (KPMG, Encore, Stratify, Attenex and Navigant) came in at single digit percentages.

Upon examination, the breakdown is perhaps not so surprising. The respondents answering “yes” to the consultant question were the large firm attorneys with high value cases. The respondents answering “No” were predominately sole-practitioners and small firms. The fact that these are respondents performing a high percentage of their eDiscovery work in-house is a theory perhaps born out by the fact that the two most popular products listed as a response our question about products are Summation at 64% and Concordance at 47% . Both products are more easily used by smaller firms to perform their own eDiscovery processing, especially on email files. And in fact, after those two products, no other company had higher than a 10% response except for EnCase, which is typically used for forensic-level analysis of servers and workstations."

BTW, that picture below is from Cloud Gate Park in Chicago. Also don't forget to take first GabesGuide.com Unscientific-Scientific poll as well.

Off Topic: Another Red State Update and special comment

I saw the other day that someone commented about my new favorite comedy troupe, The Red State Update, about how I was turning this site into a political blog. I hardly think posting this video rises to the level of doing that, but regardless, this is not a political blog.

I have my own political opinions as I would think most attorneys do, and I am not afraid to espouse them when appropiate. That being said The Red State Update is a comedy troupe, and I find them freaking hilarious. You can check out their prior posts on their website or YouTube.

Again, they are a COMEDY TROUPE. They make fun of Democrats and Republicans. Heck, they make fun of themselves. The whole red state, red neck thing is part of their schtick, like it is for Jeff Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy. They do this to make money. They don't see Red and they don't see Blue. Believe me, the only color that they see is green.

Besides, life is short, we all need to laugh every now and then.

Creepy Dolls to remain creepy afterall

Somehow I missed this a two days ago. I think I need to work on better search terms.

"Mattel Inc. has settled with a former employee that designed the Bratz line of dolls, but will carry on with a suit against the maker of Bratz, MGA Entertainment, according to media reports."

Link to the full article is here.

Another cartoon I find funny

Court Opinion states that if you are not asking for it, you are "asking for it"

I meant to post this yesterday, but I became too bombarded at work. Below is a link to a great article about how metadata should be transfered from one party to another in e-discovery.

From the New York Law Journal:

"The most recent federal decision[FOOTNOTE 1] weighing in on the hot-button issue of discovery of metadata[FOOTNOTE 2] and documents in their "native format," i.e., "the way it is stored and used in the normal course of business,"[FOOTNOTE 3] offers some simple, common-sense advice on how to best achieve that discovery objective: Ask for it. Up front."

Off Topic: I just find this cartoon funny

I found this on the Power of Attorney blog. I do like where I work by the way, very much actually. Heck, they are the ones who gave me the idea for this blog.

T2 to EA: $25.74 a share is that all I am worth to you?

From The Mercury News:

"Take-Two Interactive Software hinted Monday at the possibility of formal negotiations with its hostile suitor and rival video-game publisher, Electronic Arts of Redwood City.
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's chairman, announced in a statement that the company had begun a "process" involving some type of "formal discussions" with unnamed "interested parties." A Take-Two spokeswoman said the New York-based company declined to elaborate on the wording of the statement and would offer no additional details.

Earlier Monday, EA revealed another extension of its $2 billion tender offer to Take-Two shareholders, this time extending it to June 16 to accommodate a Federal Trade Commission review of antitrust implications. The previous deadline for the tender offer was Friday, which was an extension from mid-April. EA took its offer directly to shareholders March 13 after being rebuffed by Take-Two's board.

"EA's offer price remains unchanged at $25.74 per share, and our offer is still subject to conditions that include regulatory approval," Owen Mahoney, EA's senior vice president of corporate development, said in a statement.

EA declined to comment on questions about possible formal discussions with Take-Two.
Take-Two's board, which repeatedly has characterized EA's offer as insufficient, had rejected any formal negotiations until after the April 29 release of "Grand Theft Auto IV," the latest edition of the blockbuster game series that's central to EA's bid."

Hat Tip: The Posse List

We have an answer from DC Bar President-Elect Candidate Kim Keenan, well an email at least...

"Dear Mr Acevedo

First let me apologize for taking so long to reply to your very thoughtful email. In my defense I wanted to provide you with the correct response. The DC bar is a mandatory bar so we are not authorized to address this issue.

However it would be appropriate to address your concerns to the Committee on unauthorized practice of law. You will find their information on the DC Court of Appeals website. I appreciate your interest and concern for this important issue.

Kim Keenan

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry"

They are not ALLOWED to address the issue? What are they allowed to speak about? How can I determine who I am going to vote for if they cannot speak about current trends in litigation?

Oh well, maybe I am barking up the wrong tree here and need to take this up with the committee on the unauthorized practice of law.

By the way...

I have sent a follow up email to both DC Bar President-Elect candidates about this post regarding their opinion of the legal outsouring trend both here in this country and abroad. Since I had not heard from either of them in over a week, I thought a second email was appropiate.

I think we need to start getting our Bar leaders both locally and nationally to take a stand on this. Now that may very well be in favor of outsourcing, and that is ok, at least I would know where they were. What I don't like is how the outsourcing business is booming, while the leaders of our Bar organizations sit passively by and don't address the issue, when in my opinion, there are serious ethical questions concerning the practice of law that need to be addressed. I address more of that here.

Charlie the Tuna, Bumble Bee Mascot, and Mermaid from Chicken of the Sea prepare to enter the octagon in UFC cage fight.

Over at the Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal, they have a question and answer with Sonnenschein partner Kathrine Funk over the antitrust issues in the food industry.

"Will Charlie the Tuna may be caught in a fishing net that may not be dolphin-safe? Del Monte Foods is seeking alternative strategies for StarKist — Charlie’s current home — as the cost of tuna production gets more expensive. One problem: the two obvious buyers — Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea — already own a big chunk of the packaged-tuna market. And regulators are looking at dairies again. That got us thinking about competition among food companies.

So many dream food mergers seem to run into antitrust concerns. So we caught up with Katherine I. Funk, (left) a partner with law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, to find out why. Ms. Funk was a staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission. (Deal Journal Trivia: Earlier in her career, Ms. Funk was a sports writer for the Kansas City Star, so she knows something about competition.)"

FCPA: Companies need to exercise due diligence to comply with the FCPA with guidelines that are not there and rules that are not written either

This is a great post about the level of due diligence needed for a company to comply with the FCPA. Not so much an e-discovery issue, but something contract attorneys should take note of if ever working on an FCPA matter.

From the great FCPA Blog:

"Due diligence is a common subject, so it's natural to think of it as an easy subject as well. But it's not. There's no black-letter law anywhere describing due diligence, or what type is needed for an effective compliance program under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or how much should be done. Surprisingly, the FCPA itself never mentions it. The statute describes what behavior constitutes an offense, and lists a few things that don't -- facilitating payments, promotional expenses and payments allowed under the written laws of the host country. But it doesn't mention due diligence.

Where, then, does due diligence come from? As with so many aspects of compliance, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are the fountainhead. They leave no doubt that due diligence is an essential ingredient of compliance. But even the Guidelines don't give examples, checklists, or timetables. They leave the "details" to those who know the organization best -- its directors, officers and executives. Instead of being a compliance how-to, the Guidelines describe the hallmarks of an organization whose intention is to comply. One hallmark -- you guessed it -- is due diligence. There's even some case law on the topic that's helpful."

Europe: Open to topless beaches, legal drug use, but closed to anyone seeing our documents

Obviously, I wasn't going to post a picture of a topless beach on here. So I thought i have a picture of this guy instead.

From the New York Law Journal:

"While the collection, review and production of e-mails and other electronic documents have become routine for U.S. companies involved in civil litigation, internal investigations, and various other legal matters, there is an increasing number of cases that involve foreign or multinational clients, and the collection and production of electronic documents from these clients can be anything but routine.

Clients with operations in the European Union pose a particular problem for electronic discovery because of the strict data privacy laws in most European jurisdictions, which regulate the processing of personal data and its export from the EU.

These laws create a significant tension between a foreign or multinational company's obligations to produce documents for U.S. legal matters and its compliance with European law. This is an evolving area of the law, and it is imperative that U.S. lawyers become familiar with the data privacy issue and work closely with their clients to address them before a single document gets reviewed."

Off Topic Meet Jeff Foxworthy 2.0

After that post below, I needed something to make me laugh. I posted another video of these guys earlier. They are called the Red State Update, and they are hysterical. I had never heard of them until today. Enjoy.

Outsourcing: Law licenses, we don't need no stinkin law licenses.

From Livemint.com:
"New Delhi: Bad times for some American companies is turning into good times for India’s legal offshoring industry.

For reasons largely economic and partly cultural, India’s legal process outsourcing, or LPO, services providers have seen a sizeable uptick in business since the US economy has faltered. In particular, firms that handle support functions, such as reviewing documents and researching witnesses for US litigation, have enjoyed the biggest increases amid mounting disputes over who knew what and when in the mortgage and related markets meltdown."

There is also a video as well on this when you click the link. As an aside, I did not get one response from either DC Bar President-elect candidate regarding their opinion regarding this matter. I will follow up.

The good news is we will all be unemployed together. Oh and if you want to comment about how doc review is not the practice of law, blah, blah, blah, go ahead. I made my position pretty clear.

Off Topic: This is why I voted Kristina Arvanitis for President

And you can too. Seriously this is one of the funniest videos I have seen in a long time. Definitely wear headphones if at work.

Is G-Discovery the new E-Discovery?

"There is no bigger idea in enterprise technology than the idea of “cloud computing“. What does it mean? Simply put, the idea is that enterprises will cease to buy hardware, software, and all the headaches that come with them. Instead, companies will rent whatever applications they need and access them over the internet. Software vendors will keep their applications on a pool of shared infrastructure (the “cloud”), which will automatically allocate resources between applications according to demand. Using a common analogy, we will move from today’s world where companies are buying and building their own electricity generators, to a world where there are power companies distributing electricity over a grid."

"E-discovery is no exception to this mega-trend, and I expect a portion of the e-discovery software business to move to the cloud. How quickly this happens depends on how easy it is for companies to adopt cloud-based e-discovery solutions, which is why Google’s recent moves into e-discovery are so significant.

Google is by far the largest cloud computing company in the world. Its cloud-based Google Apps suite of applications was only launched in 2007, but is already being used by several hundred thousand businesses and, Google tells me, 2,000 new businesses sign up every day. Today, the customers are mainly small to medium sized businesses (500-5,000 employees). But as its functionality improves, larger companies will increasingly start asking why they should pay for Microsoft Office when cheaper alternatives exist."

Apple to initiate shock torture on competitors, possibly waterboard

How the heck did I miss this story on Friday? I know I mostly cover mergers, FCPA, and other high powered litigation, but the IP world also generates its fair share of litigation in the e-Discovery Universe.

From CNNMoney.com:

"Apple Inc. (AAPL) has filed a patent infringement and trademark lawsuit against iPod accessories maker Atico International USA Inc.

Apple is also expected to take legal action soon against Florida-based Psystar Ltd., which sells computers based on Apple's Macintosh software in violation, it's widely suspected, of Apple's software licensing terms.

In the Atico suit, Apple claims Atico's Living Solutions line-up infringes five Apple patents. The allegedly infringing devices include Atico's portable iPod speakers, an AM/FM portable boom box and an AM/FM alarm clock radio with iPod dock."

The domain HellerEhrmanWinstonStrawnProskauerRose.com still available

From thelawyer.com:

"Our favourite stateside rumour last week featured the merger of not two, but three US top 100 firms. The first won't surprise anybody: Heller Ehrman. As one of the few firms to show falls in revenue and profit last year, it has been at the centre of merger rumours for months. The continuing drip of exiting partners (last week saw another former New York managing partner, Richard Martin, bail out in favour of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe) is doing nothing to stem the feeling in the market that Heller is a firm in need of a deal.

Heller's first marriage partner is rumoured to be Winston & Strawn, another pleasant, but less-than-thrilling, outfit that could use a jolt of electricity.

But it's the third leg of this legal stool that has got people here buzzing: Proskauer Rose. Were Proskauer to join the party, the US legal market would be looking at a new $1.8bn (£905m) mega-firm.

Word is, this deal is too big to digest. But the fact the market gives it credence underlines the extent to which firms are now looking at their options. More consolidation this year is a cert."

WOW. 1000 people find another way to procrastinate

Ok, so I check my Google Analytics this morning, and I officially have 1000 unique visitors who have visited my blog! I would have been thrilled if it said I had 100 unique visitors. People have looked at Gabe's Guide to the eDiscovery Universe from over 30 countries around the world, including several in Europe, India, and New Zealand--yes New friggin Zealand!

Anyway, I highly, highly appreciate it. Thanks for stopping by.

Second Request Alert: So much for going steady, Microsoft-Yahoo now engaged

This is a follow up from an earlier post. I am not totally certain as to the ramifications in this, since Microsoft is not going to acquire the entire company. If anyone can clarify this--Please for the love of God, comment.

From Reuters:

"Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has proposed to buy Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) search business and take a minority stake in the Web pioneer, stopping short of a full-out merger, a person familiar with the discussions said on Monday.

As part of the deal, Yahoo would sell its Asian assets including significant minority stakes in Yahoo Japan (4689.T) and China's Alibaba Group, while Microsoft would buy a chunk of what remains of the company, the source said.

The talks were revealed by the two companies on Sunday, but they declined to reveal the terms of the discussions. Earlier this month, Microsoft walked away from a proposal to acquire Yahoo for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, after Yahoo rebuffed the offer, saying it would only settle for $37 a share.

The new deal, if completed, would forge an alliance between the two companies that would represent an alternative means of competing with rival Google Inc (GOOG.O), whose ubiquitous search engine has made it an online advertising powerhouse."

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Second Request Alert: American_Badazz_0429 would like to add you as a friend

From Reuters:

"Facebook Inc founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed his company's independent spirit on Monday, after a report the social networking site might be sold to software giant Microsoft, which is hunting for ways to beef up its Internet business.

"You can tell, from our history and what we've done, that we really wanted to keep the company independent, by focusing on building and focusing on the long-term," Zuckerberg told Reuters while in Japan to launch a Japanese language version of Facebook.
Microsoft already has a small stake and the Wall Street Journal said this month the software giant, having failed in its $47.5 billion bid for Internet portal Yahoo Inc, had approached Facebook to gauge its interest in a full takeover."

Speaking of Facebook, you have to mindful who you meet onlien these days. Especially watch out for this guy.

Don't forget about our very first GabesGuide.com Unscientific-Scientific Poll

Who is your choice for president
	Barack Obama
	John McCain
	Kristina Arvanitis
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Above is not the Unscientific-Scientific poll. There is nothing scientific to it, because obviouusly the answer should be Kristina Arvanitis. However, this is just a friendly reminder to vote in my original GabesGuide.com Unscientific-Scientific poll about review platforms, which can be found here.

EA admonished by FTC to chew quietly and slowly. Eating fast is rude, plus causes indigestion.

From Joystiq.com:

"Super mega-huge publisher EA has announced a third extension of its tender offer for all outstanding shares of common Take-Two stock, pushing the previous deadline, which quietly passed by last Friday without so much as a hello, to 11:59PM EST on June 16, 2008. EA notes that as of 5:00PM EST on May 16, 2008, "approximately 6,210,261 shares of Take-Two had been tendered in and not withdrawn from the tender offer." In Take-Two's response, the publisher noted that said shares amount to 8% of the total.

The reason given for the latest extension seems to have less to do with virtuous patience and more to do with those pesky US Federal Trade Commission guys snooping around. "Extending our offer will allow the FTC review process to continue," said Owen Mahoney, Senior Vice President of EA Corporate Development, who added that the $25.74-per-share offer remained unchanged. The FTC sent EA a second request for information regarding the proposed takeover back in April."

Love that picture above also from Joystiq.