Ok, sometimes my wacky sense of humor can go over the head of say, everyone?

I forget sometimes that not everyone reads up on e-discovery issues the way that I do. I have been getting a few emails about this so I thought I would address it. On my Lazy Sunday Links this last Sunday, I had written the following blurb:

Burgess also has the link for some boring book
from this thing called the “Sedona Conference.”

The remark was one of sarcasm. I am well aware of what the Sedona Conference is, and in fact I tried to go to one of their meetings last year, but unfortunately the company I worked with then would not fund it. I absolutely would love to go to one of their meetings. Just meeting the various players in the industry alone would be invaluable, irrespective of anything I would learn.

For those of you who don’t know about the Sedona Conference, the remark I made would have been the equivalent to me saying “some Christian guy is trying to sell me some boring book called the ‘New’ Testament.” That is because in the world of e-discovery Sedona is the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and any other Apostle you want to throw in there.

Here is their website. I encourage any legal professional that is going to have a future dealing with e-discovery issues to check them out.

Microsoft, Yahoo annouced that they are going steady, but not yet ready to take the plunge

From Reuters:

"A potential partnership deal between Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc the companies revealed over the weekend may prove to be a stepping stone to an outright acquisition, analysts said on Monday.

UBS analysts said in a research note that the business discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo could be a prelude to an eventual outright acquisition offer because it was vital for Microsoft to acquire Yahoo on friendly terms.

'A near-term deal could act as an intermediate step that would go a long way toward testing the waters,' UBS wrote."

Blog from the Financial Times Boldly states what most Contract Attorneys already know

From FT.com:

"To many, “e-discovery” still sounds like an internet start-up, although the term - short for “electronic discovery” - is rapidly becoming commonplace, especially in the finance world, where rogue traders and rumour mongers are prompting more focus on e-surveillance and a company’s ability to find the right electronic documents to respond to a lawsuit.

In the wake of scandals such as Jerome Kerviel’s alleged rogue trading at Societe Generale, or the aggressive rumour-mill that undermined banks including HBOS and Bear Stearns, banks are now eyeing an emerging new range of “spy software” that can even monitor instant messaging dialogue, utilising powerful computers that can read emails, listen to telephone conversations and analyse chat conversations as participants type, reports Reuters.

The software that enables the recording and monitoring of employee activity can help companies collect huge amounts of internal information - which they may increasingly need in the face of lawsuits spawned by the subprime crisis, or to meet rising regulatory demands, the report adds."

FCPA: Time to brush up on the old Arabic

From The Independent:

"BAE Systems admitted yesterday that American authorities investigating corruption claims over an arms deal with Saudi Arabia had issued a series of subpoenas to senior executives, as the investigation continues to gather pace. Two bosses of the defence giant were also detained after they landed at a Houston airport last week.

BAE released a statement which said: 'The Department of Justice last week served a number of additional subpoenas in the US on our employees as part of its ongoing investigation.'"

BAE, formerly British Aerospace, is no stranger to corruption, as evidenced by that cartoon above.

Second Request Alert: It is so back on!

From the AP:
"Microsoft Corp. said Sunday it is talking to Yahoo Inc. about a transaction that doesn't involve a full buyout like the software maker's $47.5 billion offer that fell apart earlier this month.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) walked away May 3 from its offer to buy the Web pioneer. Since then, billionaire investor Carl Icahn has launched an effort to oust Yahoo's board.

In a statement Sunday, Microsoft says it is considering a different kind of deal with Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) as it pursues ways to improve and expand its online services and advertising business."

Yeah, by better deal, they better mean most ginormus merger ever!

Lazy Sunday Links: It’s crappy Treo picture time!

• Breaking news: that whole “subprime” thing is spanning a lot of lawsuits.
• Burgess Computer Forensics makes the most groundbreaking statement of the year.
• If you work for a bank now would be the time to clear your cache of any steamy emails or sites that may be considered “questionable.”
• Burgess also has the link for some boring book from this thing called the “Sedona Conference.”
• This is actually an interesting piece from the FCPA Blog as to why we need the FCPA.
  

So I went to pentagon city mall to get a haircut anf an umbrella, and instead I ended up buying over a hundred dollars in video games. (Jeesh, I never thought I would actually say that.) Didn't get the umbrella, nor the haircut, I know responsible, eh?

Below are some of my mall musings.

I thought this mug was rather amusing
My buddies Barack and John were there.
I would have bought this shirt if I didn't buy so many video games.
I think it is cool seeing my name on those little license plates. I never used to see my name on those things when I was a kid.

Gabe's Guide Commenters Quickly proving that they are the smartest in the world, sharpest to say the least.

First we had Michelle, clearly the greatest person on Earth. Now we have Peter Catania, who mentioned this article to me in one of his comments.

"Even as Carl Icahn rallies angry shareholders to try to force Yahoo back to the bargaining table with Microsoft, one of the "strategic alternatives" Yahoo may still be trying to work out in the background is a search advertising deal with Google. There is a 60 to 70 percent gap between what Google collects for search ads and what Yahoo collects, so simply handing over a portion of its search advertising inventory to Google would boost its cash flow and profits considerably?perhaps adding as much as $1 billion or more in cash flow."

Great catch Peter, I am stunned I didn't see that earlier.

Lazy Sunday Links will be up this evening. I have to run to Pentagon city mall. Be back soon. I have to get a haircut and buy video games for my mistress. Her name is XBOX 360.

Reason #9 Why DC Rules: The Preakness

Yes I know the Preakness is in Baltimore and not DC, but that is simply a 30-40 minute ride away. Just saw Big Brown win a few minutes ago. Pretty impressive. Although so was Smarty Jones and he failed to win a Triple Crown. C'mon Big Brown we need a Triple Crown winner! We haven't had one in like 400 years.

Below is my favorite Preakness, and a little history as to why here and here.

Reason number #8 Why DC Rules: The Oceanaire

I know it is a chain, but Oceanaire is one of my favorite places to have a a drink or three. The people there are awesome and so is the atmosphere. The food, oh my goodness, definitely try the crab cakes, calamari, and especially the hash browns (pictured above, obviously) done in Oceanaire style with bacon and tabasco. If you are at the bar, say hi to Phil, Eric, Dom, or Kelley. They are fantastic. The service there is pretty much second to none.

The "Microsoft" of Miners about to acquire the "Yahoo" of mining

From Forbes.com:

LONDON -
"As you might have expected given last week's bid expectations for Canadian steel maker Alcan, other companies in the metals and mining sector have now found themselves the subject of takeover talk. Analysts at Merrill Lynch recently suggested that BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining stock, could be an attractive target for private-equity interests, but now forecasters at Citigroup think the company would be better off just buying Rio Tinto, its nearest rival.

It might seem a little far fetched given the fact that Rio has a market capitalization of $80 billion, while BHP is worth $136 billion. But investors seemed to be hoping there was some truth the speculation, and sent Rio up 204 pence ($4.07), or 6.1%, to £35.08 ($69.93), in Wednesday afternoon trading in London. BHP was up 24 pence (48 cents), or 2.0%, at £12.09 ($24.10). It wouldn't quite be the biggest takeover of all time -- that distinction goes to AOL for buying Time Warner in 2000 for $165 billion -- but it would probably come a close second.

"Rio Tinto's strong cashflow and nominal gearing may bring it into the crosshairs of private equity, but we think BHP Billiton is a much more likely bidder given synergies and nationalistic control issue of Australian assets," Citigroup's Clarke Wilkins wrote in a research note earlier this week.

Considering Rio Tinto's sheer size, a bid at even a modest premium would need to be around $100 billion or more, and that would leave the only other miners that might conceivably buy it -- Anglo American and Xstrata, which have market values of $80 billion and $50 billion, respectively -- saddled with debt. BHP, on the other hand, has reported a hefty cashflow from operating activities of $10.5 billion for the year to June 30, 2006, and even promised shareholders it would add a massive $10 billion to its share buyback program in February.

A bid from BHP Billiton also looks compelling, Wilkins said, because of the synergies that could be achieved between it and Rio through their existing joint ventures. BHP's dual listing on the Australian and London stock exchanges, along with its being partly based in Australia, would also stand it in good stead with the Australian government since a takeover of Rio would see it gain control of the company's huge iron ore operations in Pilbara, Western Australia. Rio derives about 40% of its earnings from its mines there. "

I first received word of this from The Posse List, who had sent out an email to their DC listerv today. If you are a contract attorney anywhere in America you would be foolish not to sign up with The Posse List listservs. Their information on jobs and the market in general is pretty remarkable.

Icahn, Hedgefund Investor prepared to lay the smackdown at Yahoo Inc.

From CNN/Money.com

"Carl Icahn isn’t the only big-name investor taking a big stake in Yahoo (YHOO). Paulson & Co., the hedge fund run that made a killing last year betting against subprime mortgage securities, bought 50 million Yahoo shares in the first quarter, which ended March 31, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows. John Paulson, the manager who made $3.7 billion last year on his timely subprime wager, made the big Yahoo purchase during a quarter in which Yahoo fielded an unsolicited bid from Microsoft (MSFT). Microsoft has since walked away from that deal, but Icahn is leading a proxy fight against Yahoo’s board, perhaps in hopes of turning up the heat for renewed deal talks. If he succeeds, Paulson stands to make a few more bucks."

DC News: And 20,000 extra square feet seems pretty smart in their world

Arent Fox inks deal for 1000 Connecticut Ave. NW

Washington Business Journal - by Melissa Castro Staff Reporter

"In the largest private-tenant lease so far this year, law firm Arent Fox LLP announced today it will move its 264 D.C. lawyers one building over from its current office, becoming the lead tenant in the new building planned for Connecticut and K streets NW.

After its current lease expires in 2012, the firm will take 255,000 square feet -- eight floors -- in the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners-designed building slated for 1000 Connecticut Ave. NW. The prominent downtown corner currently hosts a quickly shrinking core of old floor slabs and center columns as demolition of the existing building proceeds.

Arent Fox signed a 17-year lease and will move from Washington Square, 1050 Connecticut Ave. NW, where it now occupies 235,000 square feet. The new lease represents a net gain of 20,000 square feet."

It's GabesGuide.com very first unscientific-scientific poll

Contract Attorneys: Please name your favorite review tools, you can name upto 3
	Concordance
	Summation
	Catalyst
	Attenex
	DocuMatrix
	Cataphora
	Zantaz Introspect eCM Explorer
	Prevail from Fios
	Kroll on Track
	Dolphin Search
	FileControl
	Applied Discovery
	iConect
	TCDI
	CaseData
	Ringtail
	Stratify
	Lotus Notes
	Other (please list any software not listed in comments)
	None, they all do the same thing.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Attenex one step closer to complete world domination

From Barry Murphy at Mimosa:

"Lots of chatter on the recent Kazeon / Attenex announcement that promises eDiscovery processing costs as low as $4.30 per Gigabyte. Many experienced eDiscovery folks have cried foul, citing the intricate details of eDiscovery processing and the inherent costs. C'mon folks - somewhere the twain shall meet. eDiscovery processing costs are going to come down no matter what. The technology for processing is getting better and, more importantly, organizations are starting to proactively manage much of their discoverable information (though not enough for my liking). How fast we go from $2,000 per GB for processing to less than $5 per GB remains to be seen. That debate, frankly, takes us away from the more important issues to be solve. Why? Because everyone is focused on the ability to collect and find legacy information that is traditionally unmanaged. What the focus should be on is proactively managing this information. That's right - setting retention policies, getting rid of non-necessary content; these types of actions are what will eventually lead to the elimination of processing fees. But, the legacy data messes that exist within organizations will keep processing vendors busy for quite some time."

I did not cover the Kazeon/Attenex alliance orginally for a few reasons. First this blog tries to focus more on the attorney review side of e-discovery, although I do venture into technology from time to time, because I think it is important, especially for contract attorneys, to be up on the lastest trends. The other reason is that I research a ton of websites a day on this topic, and there are countless articles on what technology vendor is partnering with who and what. I could spend all day filling the blog with info like that.

That being said, 5 bucks a gig, wow. If they can pull that off, it would definitely be pretty revolutionary.

Outsourcing: For $625 bucks Indian Publisher can tell you why you won't have a job in 2010

From Bharat Book:

"The India revenues from legal services offshoring are slated to grow from $146 million for the calendar year 2006 to reach $640 million by end 2010. The industry employed around 7,500 people in the legal offshoring space in India as of end 2006. The number of employees is expected to reach 32,000 by end 2010."

"According to Arun Jethmalani, CEO, "While most vendors start by offering lower value services and gradually move up the value chain by demonstrating domain skills and gaining client confidence, there are others who focus on specific high-end services or niches." Adds Neeraja Kandala, analyst and co-author of the report, "High volume services like Document review, eDiscovery, Legal publishing as well as niche areas in Intellectual Property and Contract services will drive future growth in legal services offshoring."
Based on our exhaustive primary research and analysis of this sector, It has identified a "List of frontrunners" which includes Evalueserve, Integreon, OfficeTiger, CPA Global, Mindcrest, Pangea3 and Quislex. We have also identified ''Emerging players'' that have potential to emerge as winners within their chosen niches. These include players like LawScribe, New Galexy, SDD Global Solutions, Tusker Group, Aptara, Lason and Quattro BPO.
The report: "Offshoring Legal Services to India: An Update" provides an in-depth information and analysis of the Indian vendor space along with vendor profiles of all major and upcoming players."

Featured Attorney turned Weightloss Guru

Mark is not currently a contract attorney, but neverless I thought his story was interesting to post.

Have You Gained Weight Since You Began Document Review and Discovery? Mark gained weight while doing such things as an associate at Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg, LLP In fact, he gained over 50 pounds in the process. After losing this weight, he launched the first in the nation executive weight loss consulting service for attorneys by an attorney (see http://www.attorneyweightloss.com/) Mark will work with you to set forth a customized and individualized program for you. He provides daily support, motivation, and personal accountability via e-mail and telephone (and in person at 1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW). His company has a 100% success rate among those attorneys committed to losing weight. He knows what it takes to lose weight while doing document review. You will find his guidance, advice, suggestions and accountability to be invaluable to your weight loss efforts.

As a courtesy to contract attorneys, he is offering contract attorneys 20% off his rates, which are posted at http://www.attorneyweightloss.com/

Reason Number 7 Why DC Rules: The DC United

Although they stunk out loud the other day when they played Chicago, and despite the fact that I am not a fan of their new jerseys, the DC United are fun to watch. They are the most celebrated team in Major League Soccer (MLS) having won the MLS cup more times than any other team. They have three fan support groups that give the United one of the highest attendences in the league. The three groups are the Screaming Eagles, La Norte, and the famous or rather infamous Barra Brava.

I highly recommend taking in a game even if you are not a fan of soccer. It's good times for sure.

More are Wikipedia.

FCPA: Justice sends corrupt corporate employees to jail because they cannot send corporations

From Dan Levine of The Recorder:

"By entering a plea last week for his role in bribing a British defense official, Martin Self joined a growing line of individual defendants awaiting sentencing in one of the Justice Department's major jihads.

Self is one of seven defendants across the country who have pleaded guilty and await sentencing for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to data recently compiled by Shearman & Sterling. The last individual defendant to be sentenced was Steven Lynwood Head in California's Southern District last September; he got six months in prison. In Self's case, the government agreed to a guideline range that would put his prison sentence at eight months.

The government's FCPA unit began by targeting companies, and now has focused on individuals to obtain tougher penalties, said Shearman partner Patrick Robbins. He compared it to the way the DOJ's antitrust division handled price fixing.

"It raises the profile of the enforcement program, and it's the kind of thing that executives around the world read about, and react to," said Robbins, a former prosecutor in the Northern District. The Justice Department brought 10 actions against individuals last year, which is the same number it brought in 2005 and 2006 combined, Shearman found. "

Continental and United trying to elope without having to get a marriage license.

From CNBC:

"United Airlines and Continental Airlines are talking about forming an alliance to gain some benefits of working together without going through a merger, which Continental rejected last month, a person close to the talks said Wednesday.

United is still pushing ahead with negotiations aimed at a combination with US Airways Group but wouldn't pursue both deals, said the person, who wasn't authorized to speak about the matter and requested anonymity. "

Off Topic: British Slaughter Houses in Panic as Monster Cow comes for revenge

That Cow is Real.