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."