Internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.0 |
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The Internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.0 has become a community of lawyers, and those working with lawyers, who are interested in the legal internet from all its "angles" - how it presents the law, how it widens access to the law, how it is affecting society and the world we live in, legal aspects of e-commerce and websites, how lawyers themselves use it for communicating and for improving service to their clients, how it is changing legal practice for both solicitors and barristers, how they use the internet to market themselves and to sell legal services on the web and IT issues relating to all these topics.
It is typically taken by lawyers interested in how to develop their website and how to make the best use of resources online (particularly free ones), lawyers looking to develop the services they can offer their clients, marketing people within firms and chambers working on raising their profile and getting new work, IT staff responsible for applications related to the internet, and librarians and information-related staff, who circulate the newsletter to those with a special interest in one or more topics.
Here are the main stories this time:
1. Chris Hinze of Lovells looks at the way law firms are engaging with Web 2.0 - it is not really a question of "whether" they should do this but "how". There are risks in getting involved with social networking but also risks in staying outside these important new social groupings.
2. The Web 2.0 theme is continued with Simon Deane-Johns, General Counsel of online marketplace Zopa considering which of the social networking sites are most useful for lawyers and also raising the issue of whether it is possible (or desirable) to control the use of these sites by staff.
3. Shireen Smith of specialist IP firm Azrights looks at how entrepreneurs are collecting domain names, not (really) as "cybersquatters" but as "domainers". Some of the these domains are changing hands for big bucks.
4. Pip Johnson of Ad Alta Learning and Derek Sturdy of Tikit look at how some firms are using lawyers to produce video lectures of particular legal topics for training purposes which can then also be linked into searches of external legal resources (to keep them up to date) and incorporated into the firm's Knowledge Management systems.
5. Lindsey Greig of Cecile Park Publishing describes the need for a global data protection resource, since so much of our data crosses national boundaries these days. He also describes the development of a new data protection resource called DataGuidance to meet this need.
6. Nick Holmes looks at the process by which Richard Susskind is finishing his upcoming book "The end of Lawyers?". There have been a series of extracts in Times Online, together with comments invited, and Nick describes some of the themes emerging.
7. Alex Newson of Freeth Cartwright describe the different types of mobile device now available - mobile phones want to be laptops and PDA's (in a revival of their popularity) want to be phones, stat navs or media players - and so on. He looks at how lawyers are using the new devices.
8. Last, but certainly not least, Alastair Morrison of Strathclyde University, gives a detailed tutorial on Microsoft's SharePoint, a multiple purpose tool for creating portals, web sites and intranets. It is very powerful but quite expensive and also rather scary. (Next time we will be looking at simpler and cheaper portal systems, more or less "out of the box").
The newsletter is primariy a printed publication (not everyone wants to spend their whole day glued to a computer) but it
is also provided online, without extra charge. You can see what the newsletter looks like
here. You cannot see the full stories unless you are a
subscriber but you can see how it "looks and feels".
In the November/December 2007 issue Nick Holmes provides a description of what Web 2.0 is all about - the services, tools,
techniques and buzzwords associated with it and the ways in which lawyers are already making use of the new
interactive facilities it offers. We provide a guided tour of the legal resources available on the massive
Europa site. We describe the options which lawyers now have for remote access and flexible working, including
Blackberry's and Windows Mobiles and the pros and cons of each. We describe the main features of the Electronic
Presentation of Evidence (EPE) describing where it is most used and the major techniques available for presentation
and also give an introduction to the topic of Virtualization - the series of software and hardware techniques
to make one computer operate like several computers, or indeed the other way round. Finally, we return to the
theme of Web 2.0 with an article about whether it is possible to steal invisible (virtual) assets.
This is the basis of various current court cases in the USA developing from activities on Second Life.
In the September/October issue, we look at six new legal blogs on Family Law, what is happening in the field
of Online Dispute Resolution, how new technology is enabling firms to make more efficient use of their physical
premises, how one solicitor is using voice recognition to speed up the production of emails, how BarristerWeb
(a virtual chambers) actually works, how one firm of solicitors developed an online brand, what the new breed
of practice management systems is offering and prospects for a new wiki for Intellectual Property Law.
In the July/August issue we look at web 2.0 sites and how “social networking” works as well as some of the
legal issues involved. Domain names are part of the infrastructure of the internet but you may be a little
hazy about how they work; we provide a tutorial on these. We describe a new sort of integrated online marketing
which includes placing a video clip on YouTube, Google and Yahoo. We learn about elexica, Simmons & Simmons
marketing and client-based site. We look at outsourcing and offshoring as it extends beyond transcription
and into “real” legal work. Podcasting is not as hard as it sounds and we give a step by step guide of how
to do it. We hear about steady progress in e-conveyancing and we discover another legal “freebie” on Garden
Court Chambers website. And finally, we look at Virtual Chambers - are they the model of the future?
In the May/June 2007 issue, we provide a detailed article on hosted email and describe how "Software as a Service"
is becoming an important part of the IT marketplace. We cover Google PageRank - what it is and why it matters.
We look at the illegal downloading of music and the key cases which are driving the current developments.
We cover email notices and email footers from the point of view of limited companies. We examine virtual law
firms and consider the key factors they share and in what respects they differ. We look at how a group of
Law Societies in the South East have set up an online recruitment service and we give a progress report on
the Statute Law Database. Finally we look at the role of the barristers' clerk in a modern online world.
Full details on recent issues:
* Richard Susskind...
* Alison Harvey, Gherson & Co....
* Senior Assistant Librarian (Law Lords Library)...
* Fawzi Zuberi (Partner), Lighthouse Solicitors
* Michael Haddrell, IT Manager, McEwens...
* Rowan Alys, Sydney Mitchell.....
* Elizabeth Graham, Librarian, Brodies, Glasgow.....
* Jill Cave-Browne-Cave....
* Vivian Grainge, Library and Information Services Manager, Freeth Cartwright
* Richard Jennings, R.D.Y.Jennings & Co, North Yorkshire
(Other Subscribers)
* Your newsletter is one publication which I always make sure I read.
* I agree with the judges' comments, easy to assimilate, relevant, up to date information.
* As a subscriber I read your newsletter with great enjoyment and it is a great resource in so many ways.
* The Internet Newsletter is about the best value newsletter my firm subscribes to and I have found it extremely useful both in trying to work out a web strategy and as a "portal" to legal websites which we might otherwise have missed.
* I continue to think it is an excellent review of internet activities and just the right size for me to manage!
* I am not surprised that you won the award. The Newsletter is an excellent publication and I (and my students) find it of enormous value.
* Many thanks for the straightforward instructions on how to arrange access to the Intranet/Multiple Use version. It is refreshing to be able to provide on-line access to a publication via an Intranet without having to go through a long process of negotiating user numbers or having to distribute individual passwords!
The Newsletter is produced bi-monthly in printed form (designed for lawyers and those who work with lawyers,
who do not want to spend ALL their time in front of a computer)
but it is also available to subscribers in a web version without extra charge.
The cost is £45 for the year (6 issues), or 60 euros.
I will be pleased to provide THREE back issues of the printed newsletter without charge,
with any new subscription, and also access to ALL back issues on the web.
No money is needed in advance - just email me with your order, and you
will be invoiced with the Newsletter.
(Please give me your full name and postal details, and also phone number).
If you prefer to subscribe and pay online you can do so on
Nick Holmes' infolaw site. You can also see what the
newsletter "looks like" on that site (although you will not be able to read the full articles unless
you have subscribed).
The price includes a printed copy. I will be pleased to provide THREE back issues of the printed newsletter without charge,
with any new subscription, and also access to ALL back issues on the web.
As above, I am happy to accept an order by email. I will invoice you with the initial material.
If you prefer to subscribe and pay online you can do so on
Nick Holmes' infolaw site. You can also see what the
newsletter "looks like" on that site (although you will not be able to read the full articles unless
you have subscribed).
March/April 2008 issue
Quick Summaries of Recent Issues (printed copies of the most recent THREE will be provided free to new subscribers
as well as all of them available online).
In the January/February 2008 issue I provide an article on Software as a Service - what it is, the main
legal software companies already providing their software in this way, and why it will be going mainstream
in 2008. A small firm describes how it "went virtual", giving a blow by blow account of the services and
resources needed to do this. A legal librarian describes how legal research in England differs from legal
research in the USA - what is different, and why. Laurie Kaye provides a concise guide to what you should
know about digital media law including liability for third party content, privacy, jurisdiction and the
role of technical standards. A medium sized firm describes why it decided to produce its own HIPs and how
it does this. We cover 11 years of Internet Law with Graham Smith and we find out how PLC is working on its
own Law 2.0 products in connection with the new Companies Act.
Note that ALL these are available to subscribers on line.
Comments from Subscribers
Keep the Newsletters coming. I'm a big fan!
We are enthusiastic readers of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers which we find very informative.
I have found it to be an invaluable resource.
The newsletters are excellent and have already helped us in terms of giving us ideas on how to develop our I.T systems.
The newsletter is a brilliant way to stay updated and connected to all the latest issues and
developments. Please, definitely continue our subscription and I am sure you will keep up the good work.
It's always interesting and informative - and written in the sort of plain English that I can pass on to the non-geeky
lawyers in our practice.
I find the newsletter very interesting and informative. Thank you for all your efforts.
I do enjoy your newsletter very much - it is certainly the best of its kind that I have ever read.
May you continue with this, and your other great publications, for very many years to come.
I think the newsletter is great.
Please renew subscription - and thanks for another good year.
* Thanks for your journal which (somewhat to my surprise since I am not particularly IT focussed)
I get more out of than other.
Purchase Details
Multiple Use Licence
For Firms or organisations who wish to encourage general online use across the firm or indeed multiple locations,
view and download the pdf version,
do lots of photocopying, or all of these,
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This includes Universities and Libraries.