Dennis Kennedy

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February 28, 2006

Legal Knowledge Management: "Why Can't it Work Like Google?"

KM guru Jack Vinson has posted two sets of excellent notes from the recent knowledge management conference put on by the Ark Group. I thoroughly recommend Jack's posts (and Ron Friedmann's thoughts from the same conference) to you.

I wanted to discuss one common comment that Jack highlighted. He wrote: "'Why can't it work like Google?' in response to focus groups. This is a familiar refrain everywhere."

There are a couple of areas of legal technology where I feel like a real contrarian. For example, I not only do not think that WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS was the pinnacle of word processing, but, coming from a Mac environment to WP 5.1, I never did like it. Them's fightin' words to some lawyers, but I believe that it's best for everyone to use the tools that work best for them.

Another area where I am a contrarian is that, unlike most lawyers today, I'm not a huge Google fan. There, I've said it.

Over the last weekend, I was using Google to try to find quickly some articles on the ways law firms are using outsourcing. To put it mildly, I did not have a lot of success.

Since I've been using search engines since almost before search engine existed, I'm usually reluctant to blame my research skills for the problem. In fact, I knew that Google would have problems finding what I wanted, as it did a while back when I was searching for information on of counsel agreements.

It was shortly after I had my Google troubles that I read Jack's post.

It's easy to get all wrapped up in Google and treat it as the only tool in your toolbox. However, there are other tools that make much more sense, at least to me, in the KM context. Lawyers should remember the maxim about every problem looking like a nail when the only tool that you have is a hammer.

There are concept search tools like those from Recommind, pattern search tools like those from DolphinSearch, and visual search tools like those from Attenex that, to me, are infinitely more interesting in the KM context than something that works like Google. In fact, I'm intrigued these days by what you might be able to accomplish by turning some of the state-of-the-art electronic discovery tools to KM work.

If you are in the "why can't it work like Google?" group, I invite you to extend your search to some of these other search tools and see if you might change your mind.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Learn more about legal technology at Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Central page.

Technorati tags: legal technology knowledge management electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 09:01 PM | Comments (1)

February 27, 2006

Second Thoughts For Law Firms with One-Person IT Departments

I'll occasionally tell the story of the day the one-person IT department at one of my old law firms quit, leaving us with a manila envelope with his pager, keys and a memo with a few key notes for us.

I've talked with quite a few lawyers over the years who work at a firm with either a one-person IT department or an IT department that they feel is woefully understaffed.

That's why Mike McBride's great post "Some thoughts about one-man shops" struck a chord with me today. Mike writes the Out of the Frying Pan, and into the Cube blog, and works at a mid-sized law firm. He formerly wrote the Life of a One-Man IT Department Blog, which I read for several years.

The money quote:

Despite my best efforts to work on preventing break downs, to proactively deal with training issues and database maintenance, and to try and suggest ways to improve the state of the technology (which were mostly ignored anyway), most of the people I worked with saw my role as little more than sitting around waiting for something to break. A view that was obviously shared by my supervisor and other senior management, given their refusal, six months later, to actually hire another IT person because "we really wouldn't have enough for them to do".

Which would be fine, had they not allowed me to simply walk out the door and take most of my knowledge with me. They've gotten away with that, because in the interest of parting on good terms and not wanting to leave the handful of very good friends I made while working there left hanging, I agreed to be "on-call" for them in case of emergencies or to do some things that they would have had trouble doing on their own, for 6 months or until they found a replacement. One week from today, the 6 months will be over.

A highly recommended read for anyone in a small or mid-sized law firm. Does your disaster recovery plan take into account the possibility of essential people not being available?

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Learn more about legal technology at Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Central page.

echnorati tag: legal technology

Posted by dmk at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2006

Curl up with a Good Book this Weekend

Rosa Say has done a cool thing on her blog by getting a bunch of bloggers to let her know of posts where they reviewed books they liked. She's then posted a list of of those books and excerpts of the review posts. She calls this the 2nd Annual Love Affair with Books.

The result is a great reading list. Take a look at the post and make a list for your next trip to your favorite library or bookstore (or Amazon). You'll also find some new blogs that you will want to check out.

My contribution was my review of Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points.

I'd like to thank Rosa for inviting me to join in and for creating a cool way to use blogs in a helpful way that benefits her readership greatly. Happy reading.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(R) - The Legal Unconference. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Lounge - April 19, 2006.

Posted by dmk at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2006

St. Louis Blogger Lunch Today

By a string of coincidences and an exchange of emails, I ended up at an impromptu lunch with four St. Louis bloggers today. It was so much fun that we are talking about making it a regular event.

We also want to do a St. Louis blogger meet-up one of these days soon and get even more of the St. Louis bloggers together.

We had three BlawgThink alums (four, if you count me) - Michelle Golden, George Lenard and Marianne Richmond - and Microsoft's Randy Holloway (who wanted to attend BlawgThink but had other commitments).

Meeting other bloggers is my favorite part of blogging.

I'm pushing Randy to see if he can get the keys to one of the meeting spaces at Microsoft's offices here in St. Louis to host a blogger meet-up. Watch for more details. Maybe I'll finally get my chance to meet my favorite St. Louis blogger, Shelley "Burningbird" Powers, in person if we can put this event together.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(R) - The Legal Unconference. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Lounge - April 19, 2006.

Technorati tags: St. Louis bloggers BlawgThink

Posted by dmk at 08:36 PM | Comments (1)

Smart Man Online Interview

I've long enjoyed Yvonne Divita's Lipsticking blog, so it's an honor to be interviewed by Yvonne for her "Smart Man Online" feature today.

I talked about a number of topics and talk quite a bit more about writing and blogging than I typically do on this blog.

If you don't already read Yvonne's blog, shame on you, but go ahead and check out the interview and sample some of the excellent material she has there on Internet marketing to women. I got to meet Yvonne at the first LexThink conference, but I was a fan of her blog long before that.

Thanks, Yvonne, for all your kind words and giving me the chance to be one of your "smart men online." It's a blogging honor that I truly appreciate.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 08:20 PM | Comments (1)

February 22, 2006

Invitation to Participate in an Outsourcing Roundtable Article

They've turned over the editorial keys to the ABA's Law Practice Today webzine to me for April's issue. The theme is outsourcing - technology, people, off-shoring, homesourcing, and any other aspects we can cover.

One thing that I know I want to do is to create a big roundtable article in which a bunch of experts discuss various aspects of outsourcing, probably with a legal technology focus. The model is this roundtable article on electric discovery I put together in July 2004.

If you'd like to participate in this article, let me know. We'll use the Web 2.0 tool Writely to work on the roundtable article.

If you have an article or want to write an article on some aspect of outsourcing, let me know. Law Practice Today has a great audience for your articles.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Learn more about legal technology at Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Central page.

Technorati tags: legal technology Law Practice Today outsourcing

Posted by dmk at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2006

More Details on the LexThink! Lounge Event Released

Matt Homann posted some details on the upcoming LexThink! Lounge event today.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(R) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink! Lounge - April 19, 2006.

Technorati tags: LexThink! LexThink! Lounge unconference

Posted by dmk at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)

Pulling the Plug on the All Q & A Format for this Blog

I decided last night to put an end to the all question-and-answer format I have been experimenting with since the beginning of the year. For new readers, the idea was that I would write the title of each post as a question that the post would then answer.

My reasons for taking the approach were:

1. It was something different and might be a way to reinvent my blog a bit.

2. People have always enjoyed my "By Request" days where I answer questions.

3. Mainly, though, I thought it might be a way to help me write blog posts more quickly and easily.

After almost two months, I had drawn a few conclusions:

1. It wasn't making it easier and quicker to writer blog posts. In fact, in some cases, I spent more time working on the question than the answer (I'm kidding), and some posts didn't lend themselves to the Q & A format or resulted in awkward questions.

2. I did not get a lot of feedback on the new format and what I did was from people who questioned the approach I was taking or liked the old way better.

3. I noticed some interesting, slightly negative results in Google search rankings that might be attributed to the use of questions in the post titles.

In other words, I was beginning to shrug my shoulders whenever I thought about the approach. It wasn't a negative experience, but it wasn't a positive experience either.

Last night, some of the smartest bloggers I know told me it was time to abandon the approach. That confirmed my thinking.

I decided that since it's my blog, I can do whatever I want, including changing my mind.

So, I'm dropping the all Q & A approach, although I still do the occasional "By Request" days and use a question as a post title from time to time.

Blogging is about experimenting. Some experiments work really well and some not so well. Those are the easy experiments to evaluate. It's the ones that end up in the middle that are hardest to decide what to do with.

So, I'm thinking up a new experiment. Anonymous blogging has been done to death and probably won't work for me (see the title of this blog). I've seen pictures of me appearing on various blogs lately and I'm intrigued by the idea of doing graphics and pictures on my blog.

By the way, of the recent pictures of me from BlawgThink, I greatly prefer the one here to the one here (from the fun-loving bloggers at RethinkIP).

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http//www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2006

Where's the Rest of Blogiversary Week?

Life intervened on my blogiversary plan. My father-in-law had chest pain and was hospitalized and had a few procedures last week. He's now home and doing well. Our plans and schedules got turned around for a few days.

So, blogiversary week will just end without further fanfare. I have some "by request" posts that I'll respond to later this week, but I think I'll simply return to regular programming.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)

Posted by dmk at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2006

What Was The Most Important Blog Post You Read (or Re-read) Today?

It has to be John Robb's post, "The Next Attacks." Read it and see if you agree. Be sure to follow the link that explains his reference to a "black swan."

Dave Pollard's "Three Things to Teach Your Children" is another candidate for most important post.

On the professional side, Ron Baker's "Attorneys Aren't Knowledge Workers" is another must-read.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)

What is Information Lifecycle Management?

I've been thinking lately about records management and information governance as being more important than the related area of electronic discovery. And I'm not the only one thinking that way.

I've written a new white paper called "Making the Right Decision at the Information Lifecycle Management Crossroads" for RenewData that's hot off the presses. You can download it for free here.

As you may have noticed, I've started to do some white paper writing lately. I really enjoy it. It gives me a chance to write longer, analytical pieces that provide some big ideas and a context for them in a way that I typically cannot do in magazine articles and to write for a different audience.

I think that this white paper on information lifecycle management will give lawyers, IT people and business execs involved in the compliance, records management, information governance and e-discovery areas some useful ideas to think about. It certainly represents my latest thinking on this subject. Let me know what you think about the white paper.

And, yes, I would be receptive to talking with you about writing white papers for your company, especially if you are as pleasant and easy to work with at Rob Robinson and the people at Renewdata.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Technorati tags: information lifestyle management electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2006

By Request: What Would I Do Differently If I Started Blogging Today?

Leading intellectual property law blogger Steve Nipper had a great post the other day called "Five things I would do differently if I started blogging today" that I highly recommend to your attention. He has some wise observations and some great tips for both new bloggers and long-time bloggers.

I started this blog three years ago today. To help you understand my point of view, at the time I felt that I was starting my own RSS feed and that the blog was the vehicle for the RSS feed. RSS was the motivation and the driver for this blog. As I've mentioned before, I was soaking up everything I could about RSS at the time, Dave Winer's Scripting News was my prime and daily resource, and I spent much more time researching what the blogging tools could do in generating RSS feeds than I did in researching what they could do in terms of blogging.

First, let me concur that Steve's main points in his posts - portability and user friendliness - are ones that every blogger needs to think about on a regular basis.

Here is my somewhat iconoclastic list:

1. I'd Treat My Blog More Like a Website. I make no secret that my focus for my blog and the audience I consider when writing my blog is the audience that subscribes to the RSS feed. Even though I know that a huge number of readers visit my blog directly, I'm surprised when someone tells me that they "visited" my blog.

As a result, I think I underserve the non-RSS portion of my audience, don't think about the blog experience as much as I perhaps should, and have not explored what blogging software, such as Movable Type, can do as a content management tool for a combined blog/website experience. I'm intrigued by some of the things another RethinkIP guy, Matt Buchanan, has done and has talked about doing in terms of making his blog more webpage-like.

What does that mean? Updating certain posts with fresh information or lists of links. Using posts as repositories of information (say, a list of my articles). Fleshing out the "blog as mini-portal" concept. There are a lot of ideas there.

Once you move into a feed-dominant approach, I think that you focus primarily on content and less on the actual design and user experience of the visitors to the blog (do bloggers really understand what the message they are sending when they have a long column of not-very-relevant Adsense ads on the front page of their blogs or a blog roll in which there are hundreds of blogs and six of the first ten are either dead links or blogs which haven't been posted to in months?)

In retrospect, I might have decided to do the idea I had a few years ago to redesign my site and adapt it into Movable Type. RSS is still what interests me most, but I think I neglected some things that would have worked well for the large numbers of people who do not yet use RSS.

2. I Would Have Used More Emoticons and Humor Warnings. Many people still do not believe me that I started this blog not as a lawyer blog, but as an experiment in writing. I wanted to try different kinds of writing and let it find its own audience. As a result, I'll do things on my blog that I would not recommend that the standard lawyer blog do. But, I know that.

One thing that I like to do is write about subjects ironically or to attempt to inject some humor. One of my friends likes to tell me that my humor is pretty dry and it's hard enough to know when I'm not being serious in person, but it's even harder to know that in my blog writing.

Once upon a time, I used little "humor warnings" when I thought there was a good chance that people, especially lawyers, would not be able to tell from the context that I was joking around. I haven't done that in a while. I also use a lot of self-deprecating humor, which people don't always understand that I'm doing (that comes from growing up in small-town Indiana, where both self-deprecating humor and deadpan-delivery are admired traits).

The unstated rule in blogging seems to be that you not use emoticons (smileys) to let people know that you are joking. ;-) This, of course, preserves the "but I was just joking" defense if someone takes exception to your post, but sometimes leads to some misinterpretations.

This has become more of a concern as the blogworld has grown and not every blogger knows every other blogger. In the past few months, I've felt that too many of my comments have been misinterpreted and a smiley here or there would probably help matters.

3. I Would Have Done More Collaborative Blog Projects Earlier. The whole blogging thing is worth it for me just because it gave me the chance to work with Between Lawyers group. If you add LexThink!(R) to that, that's quite a "return" on my blogging investment. I'd like to do more of that, and to have done it sooner. The bloggers I've met over these three years are amazing people. I'm happy that they've let me join them in creating whatever blogging will grow into.

I'd still like to do that big collaborative project that a bunch of us have been talking about for way too long.

4. I Would Not Have Turned on Comments. I turned on comments on my blog after not enabling them for close to the first two years of my blog's life. Now that they are on, I don't really think that I can (nor do I really want to ) turn them off. But I have a lot of second thoughts about them.

I estimate that the ratio of comment spam to good comments is at least 50:1. It's part of my regular routine to clear out spam comments. On the other hand, one good comment from someone you respect makes all the hassle seem worth it - at least now that they are on. In retrospect, I would have left them turned off and ignored the people who like to say that you don't have a "real blog" if you don't have comments on.

5. I Would Not Have Spent Two Years Trying to Decide What the Right Thing to Do on Ads and Sponsorships Was and Then End Up at the Same Place I was at Two Years Ago. I used to write a lot on this topic. My feeling was that randomly-served ads really did not make sense for blogs (unless you have huge amounts of traffic) and that the National Public Radio sponsorship model was more appropriate for blogs. However, there was tons of discussion about ads on blogs, ads in feeds and related issues. I wanted to do the right thing and follow the model that the leading blog thinkers felt was best.

The blog world moved to server-based ads. I do some of that, through Blogads, in part because Henry Copeland was a speaker at our BlawgThink conference, but, now more than ever, I think that a tailored sponsorship model is the better approach. I'll consider any approach these days and it is clear that the ad-based model has become a standard, but I think I should have gone my own way from the beginning.

6. I Would Have Done More Experimenting. I'm really curious to see where today's generation of highly-focused, marketing-oriented blogs go. I think that many of them are great and I learn from them on a regular basis. I also know that most of the long-time bloggers are writing on topics and in ways that are far different and far broader than what they did when they started. It seems that somewhere between a year and a year-and-a-half, many bloggers start to write more personally or to explore new directions. It will be interesting, in a good way, to see what happens with the more corporate blogging efforts.

Some might say that I've probbaly experimented more than most with the blogging form. I still remember the negative feedback I got when I experimented with a blog post written in the third person.

However, there are many things I haven't tried and I'd like to have been more willing to experiment with new features, approaches, audio and the like.

So, I'd add to Steve's list of key points one thing - a willingness to experiment.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 05:18 PM | Comments (3)

Is It True That My Blog Has Its Own Amazon Wishlist?

My working theory is that at some point after your second year of blogging, your blog begins to take on a life of its own. It's more than just that it demands to be fed with new posts every day, like an online Tamagotchi pet.

Bloggers start talking about their blogs as if they are another person and they even have pet names or acronyms for their blogs. Last summer, Doug Sorocco of the RethinkIP blog was in St. Louis and we had lunch. He kept talking about the "Artip" blog this and that. Gradually, I figured out that he meant RTIP. I didn't want to admit that I didn't know about his new blog and I resolved to look it up later. On the drive home, I finally realized RTIP was the insider name for RethinkIP.

I can't believe the number of bloggers who have pet names for their blogs. I've started to refer to mine as DKB. Between Lawyers has, of course, turned into "BL" when we talk about it among the authors. We actually considered what the shortened or pet names might be when we named Between Lawyers.

Anthropomorphize is the technical term for this phenomenon.

So, to make a long story short, I was talking with my blog about the blogiversary week thing. It said, "Shouldn't I be the one getting presents? Let's face it, the audience comes to me, not to you."

A fair point.

My blog then said that there were a lot of things that I had touched on in my posts (actually, it said "our posts") in the last three years that it would like to learn more about. It then said that it would like to put together an Amazon wishlist so that readers could send the blog books and other items it was interested in.

Right. So, I said, "If you can make the wishlist, I'll post about the wishlist in the blog and we'll see what happens." I thought that would be the end of it, seriously, but blogs can be innovative, insistent and persistent. Today my blog reminded me that today is its official birthday and handed me the URL to its very own Amazon wishlist.

Well, a promise is a promise, right? If you like my blog and want to send it a birthday present, you now have a handy list of gift suggestions. Send any gifts to me and I'll pass them along to the blog.

Blogs really do seem to take on a life of their own.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tag: blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2006

Did You Say You Were Offering Some Discounts on Your Services for Your Blogiversary Week?

I did say something about some special discounts for some of my services during my blogiversary week.

I was going to offer some discounts on a few selected speaking and consulting packages, but I decided to do something much simpler.

Simply, if you book any speaking or consulting engagement from me this week (until February 20), you'll get a ten percent discount on the price we agree to. If it's a flat-fee arrangement, I'll knock ten percent off the price. If it's an hourly-fee engagement, I'll reduce my hourly rate by ten percent. It's that simple. The only catches are that you need to book with me this week and this discount does not apply to my legal services or to LexThink services and/or events.

Take a look at my speaking and consulting pages on my website for some ideas of the services and seminars I provide. This would also be a great time to book one of the new legal tech audit packages I've just started to offer.

As I said before, I mean for this week to be a reader appreciation week for readers of my blog.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Technorati tag: legal technology blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

What Free Downloads Are You Offering for Your Blogiversary Week?

There are five free PDF downloads I'm offering to readers of this blog this week

1. My eBooklet called Preparing Your Law Firm for the Internet Era: 150 Steps Toward a 21st Century Practice of Law (PDF, 324K)

2. My eBooklet on Rethinking Legal technology (PDF, 215K)

3. An introduction to my thinking about electronic discovery technology issues (PDF, 128K)

4. The collection of my articles I republished on my blog last fall (PDF, 740K).

5. My PowerPoint slides from my recent presentation on Trends in Electronic Discovery Technology for 2006 (PDF, 594K).

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Technorati tag: legal technology

Posted by dmk at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)

Announcing the 2006 Blogiversary / Birthday Week at DennisKennedy.Blog

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I like to do something now and then to show my appreciation for my readers.

Last year, I had the idea to use the week of my blog's anniversary (February 15) and my birthday (February 17) - this blog was an early birthday present to myself in 2003 - as a way to have a reader appreciation week. It seemed to work out well last year and I've decided to have another blogiversary / birthday week this year. It's meant to be fun and to help me remember not to treat my blog or me too seriously.

So, I'll have a continuing set of blogiversary-related posts this week and some regular posts as well. I'd also like to answer your questions, so ask away and I'll have some "By Request" posts this week too.

I've put together some special features, some free downloads, some discounts on some of my consulting and speaking packages, and some surprises. And three big announcements below.

I want to thank the people, like Ed Poll, who have already wished my blog and me happy birthday. Best wishes to Ed, who is celebrating his birthday by going to a professional cycling camp, something I'd like to do someday.

Let's jump right into the three big announcements for the week.

1. In a HUGE announcement, NASCAR has decided to recognize my willingness to mention that I am a NASCAR fan, despite the preachy advice you get that lawyers should never mention any personal interests or show any personality on their blogs (especially not for stock car racing or anything else seen by these critics as not professionally dignified), by graciously scheduling this year's Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 19, as the capper to blogiversary / birthday week at DennisKennedy.Blog.

2. As a special gift to my readers who would like to extend the celebration an extra day, the US government has generously designated Monday, February 20, as a holiday. That's the kind of appreciation I want to show for my readers.

3. The Law List on PubSub jumped the gun on this week's celebration by listing DennisKennedy.Blog as the #1 law-related blog on Saturday February 11! To go from our modest blog beginnings to the coveted #1 slot is an accomplishment that I am quite proud of, even if I did notice the irony of achieving that ranking when I didn't post anything that day or the day before. No matter - it was still a #1 ranking and I'm planning to have the screen shot framed. I see that I've slipped to #2 today, but you can still tell that I was #1. I'll let wiser minds than mine try to figure out what that all means.

Please enjoy the week. Take it in the spirit that it is intended. And, thank you so much for reading this blog and being part of the network that it has created.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(TM) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Lounge - April 19.

blogiversary

The official announcement.

Posted by dmk at 02:18 PM | Comments (1)

February 12, 2006

Will There Be A Blogiversary / Birthday Week Again This Year at DennisKennedy.Blog?

Yes, there will - starting tomorrow, Monday, February 13.

Tom Mighell (who is my #1 answer to the question Neil Squillante poses here) asked me yesterday if I really needed a whole week to celebrate my combined blogiversary (#3 - this blog debuted on Februrary 15, 2003) and birthday (February 17, which I share with Michael Jordan and Jim Brown, among others).

The answer, of course, is "Yes!"

I had the idea last year to do a blogiversary/birthday event as a fun, tongue-in-cheek way to have a reader appreciation week and to have an excuse to have some fun on my blog.

You can expect a variety of special posts, giveaways and free downloads, discounts on some of my services, and other surprises. I'll also try to answer as many of your questions as I can in a whole week of "By Request" posts (email your questions for me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com). There's way too much stuff going on for me to accomplish it all in anything less than a week.

Expect more details tomorrow, but you can start off with a free download of the slides from my recent presentation on Trends for 2006 in Electronic Discovery.

Long-time readers will know that it's blog features like this one that have brought me criticism from those who believe that law-related blogs must be totally serious and oh-so-professional every second of every day. However, I want to do something to show that I appreciate my audience and that it is important to have fun every now and then. I expect that I'll give them more fodder for their criticism before this week is over.

Stay tuned for more details.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tag: blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)

Would You Remind Us About the Details on the Email Management Teleseminar You Will Be Part of on Tuesday?

I've been looking over the script outline for the teleseminar on email management that I'll be one of the panelists for on Tuesday, Februrary 14, and it's going to be a good session for anyone who struggles with handling their email inbox. That probably is everyone who reads this post. Including me.

Here are the details:

Surviving the E-mail Avalanche - A 60-Minute TeleConference and Live Audio Webcast 0n Tuesday, February 14, 2005 at 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern (12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Central; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Mountain; 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific)

Registration information at http://www.abanet.org/cle/programs/l06sem1.html

Description - "Are you tired of reading the same e-mail multiple times? Afraid to delete e-mails because you may need them later? Unable to find past e-mails effectively because of the volume of e-mail in your inbox or because you already deleted what you needed? Concerned about e-mail management and the potential legal implications of what you do or fail to do? Our experts offer practical tips on how to manage the everyday e-mail pileup. In particular, this program will include recommendations on topics from organizing and reviewing e-mails to finding management technology to guard against the crushing volume of messages, including how all of these issues and solutions affect case management."

Presenters:
Ted Banks, Chief Counsel for Global Compliance, Kraft Foods, Northfield, IL
Todd H. Flaming, Partner, Schopf & Weiss LLP, Chicago, IL
Nancy Flynn, Executive Director, e-Policy Institute, Columbus, OH
Dennis Kennedy, DennisKennedy.com, St. Louis, MO

Note that ABA Members can register for this program and receive complimentary enrollment in the Section of Litigation—a $75 value!

The teleseminar is brought to you by The American Bar Association Section of Litigation and the ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education.

Learn more at http://www.abanet.org/cle/programs/l06sem1.html

Hope you can join us on Tuesday.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Technorati tags: legal technology email management

Posted by dmk at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2006

How Difficult Is It Becoming to Sort Through Electronic Discovery and Litigation Technology Vendors?

Rees Morrison has a good analytical post on the number of electronic discovery and litigation support vendors at the recent LegalTech New York conference. The numbers help you understand why making choices in these categories can seem overwhelming.

The money quote:

My point from this admittedly flawed and artificial research is merely that law departments that are forced to come to grips with expensive, complicated, fast-changing and crucial document discovery have hundreds of vendors clamoring for selection.

Too many of these vendors still want to describe themselves as "full-service electronic discovery providers," a description that I don't think is helpful to anyone. I spent a fair amount of time on the exhibit floor trying to get electronic discovery vendors to explain to me what market segments they were really good at. Learning that is very helpful.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Technorati tag: electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 08:56 PM | Comments (1)

February 08, 2006

Is There Another Web-based Search Tool for Digests of Court Cases Involving Electronic Evidence?

I mentioned the Sensei electronic evidence case search tool yesterday and then saw that the Preston Gates Electronic Discovery Case Database now contains more than 400 cases. The good news is that you now have two free search tools for electronic discovery cases.

I've mentioned the Web 2.0 search tool called Rollyo before. I'm fascinated at the ways you can now start to put together your own toolbox of highly-specially search tools that fit your needs.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Technorati tags: electronic discovery web 2.0

Posted by dmk at 03:11 PM

February 07, 2006

Have You Found Any Good New Legal Technology Blogs Lately?

New is a relative term, but I will highlight five legal tech blogs that have either started or become much more active recently.

1. The I Heart Tech blog is Adriana Linares' blog. Adriana focuses her work on tech training and her blog is a great source of helpful tips and techniques on technology issues for legal professionals.

2. The Information Governance Engagement Area is Rob Robinson's blog. Rob focuses on electronic discovery, compliance, records management and information governance issues. He also did a great job of covering the recent LegalTech conference.

3. David Munn's Legaltech.com Blog covers a variety of legal tech issues from the viewpoint of corporate legal departments.

4. Rick Borstein of Adobe writes the Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog, which posts detailed information about specific Acrobat techniques and issues found by lawyers. It's a great complementary blog to the PDF for Lawyers blog.

5. The TechnoLawyer Blog is not quite as new, but is another good one for your list. I especially enjoyed Neil Squillante's recent post on his notes from LegalTech.

For a list of some of the long-lived legal tech blogs, see my Strongest Links column on legal tech blogs from the April 2004 issue of Law Practice Today. It's also worth noting that a brand new (and excellent) issue Law Practice Today has just been published. Check it out.

Speaking of long-time legal tech bloggers, Jeff "Law Tech Guru" Beard has a helpful post today for those trying to decide what to do when the other shoe finally drops in the Blackberry patent saga.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Technorati tag: legal technology

Posted by dmk at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)

Is There a Web-based Search Tool for Digests of Court Cases Involving Electronic Evidence?

My friends and electronic discovery wizards Sharon Nelson and John Simek at Sensei Enterprises have just unveiled a handy search engine that allows you to research electronic evidence cases in their database of digested versions of relevant court decisions. The Electronic Evidence Case Digest is found at http://www.senseient.com/case_search.asp . Add this one to your electronic discovery toolbox.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Technorati tags: electronic discovery electronic evidence

Posted by dmk at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2006

What Was Worse: the Super Bowl Game, the Commercials or the Rolling Stones?

I must admit how I am flummoxed at how people who brag about how they use their Tivos to skip commercials seem to watch and study commercials during the Super Bowl.

However, let me address the question.

1. The game was not very good, but Hines Ward had an MVP game and the Jerome Bettis story line was a great one. And the Steelers had a atrick play that worked. The game was not the worst of the three choices, although the clock management of the Seahawks at the end of the first half and at the end of the game reminded me why I don't like to watch college football games anymore.

2. Admittedly, I don't get the fascination with commercials, but I did see a colleague from my old law firm, Andy Puzder, now CEO of Hardee's in a commercial. Being able to say that you know someone in a Super Bowl commercial is kind of cool. So, for admittedly a personal reason, the commercials were not the worst, although I think most of the advertisers would have gotten a zillion times more bang for the buck by advertising on blogs - but you knew I would say that.

3. With all the prep for this event, did anyone think of doing a sound check for the Rolling Stones? The sound was terrible. The recording of "Start Me Up" that plays over the PA at every sporting event must sound about ten times better. I don't think that we need an extended version of "Satisfaction" last night or ever. I found myself thinking, "Let's get back to the game. Will this ever end?" Yet another of those odd cultural events that was better in concept than reality. So, the Rolling Stones get my vote as the worst of the three.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Posted by dmk at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

What Happens to Blogs, Email and the Rest of Your Online Presence When You Die?

Scott Reeves (Forbes) has a good article called "What happens to your e-mail when you die?" that addresses some of the issues involving email, blogs, websites and the rest of your online empire that arise when you die. These issues will only continue to grow in importance.

Tax professor blogger Jim Maule and I were quoted in another good article on probate and estate planning issues we will increasingly be running into as we move to an Internet society. The article, by Susan Shor, is called "Digital Property and the Laws of Inheritance" Read it along with the Forbes article and you will get a good intro to these issues.

I like this quote from me that was used in the article:

If someone dies, there are a lot of people who should be notified. The fact that someone has died is very meaningful and a paper address book may not have closest friends. Those people who are known mainly through e-mail or online may wonder what happened. By the time things get sorted out, the funeral is long over, and it's too late.

Estate planning and probate law is another area of law in which the Internet is having some surprising consequences. If you have a significant online presence and intellectual property, you probably want to do some shopping around for a lawyer who understands the value of what you have and the implications of what must happen when you die to pass the value of what you have to your survivors.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).bb

Posted by dmk at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2006

What's the LexThink! Lounge and How Can You Be Part of It?

Matt Homann has announced the next of our public LexThink! events - the LexThink! Lounge on April 19. Matt has all the details in his post, but here are some highlights:

When: April 19, 2006

Where: Chicago

Presented by: Dennis Kennedy, Matt Homann and JoAnna Forshee.

What: A salon-like gathering of some of the brightest minds in legal technology today (100 invited guests).

Beginning at 4:00 pm, and continuing into the evening, the LexThink! Lounge will combine LexThink! collaborative brainstorming techniques, Open Space facilitation, and small discussion groups with fine food and drink to create an amazing atmosphere for in-depth discussions about the future of legal technology, with a special "5 by 5" panel discussion featuring some people you will really want to hear. And bowling.

We're working on both the sponsors and the invitation list. If you want to attend or become a sponsor, let Matt know - matt @ lexthink.com. (You can contact me, too.)

Many of the attendees will be alumni/ae of the previous LexThink events, like the wonderful and generous Yvonne Divita, who has written recently about what she liked about the LexThink approach to conferences and events.

While LexThink is best known for the public events, we also do private retreats and unconferences for organizations. Contact us for more details about out private conference options.

I hope to see you at LexThink! Lounge.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(TM) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink! Lounge - April 19, 2006.

Technorati tags: LexThink! LexThink! Lounge unconference

Posted by dmk at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)

Did You Want to Clarify that You Are NOT Part of the USALAW.com Blog Network?

I definitely want to clarify that and correct any misimpression people may have.

One of the best things about my trip to LegalTech was that I got a number of opportunities to talk with Kevin O'Keefe, who I have long admired as one of the pioneers in the use of the Internet by lawyers. Check out this roundtable article we did with Kevin from back in 2000 about virtual communities to learn more about his background and get some insights into his innovative thinking about ways lawyers might use the Internet.

I read Kevin's recent post on the USALAW.com blog network and found myself nodding my head in agreement as I read about the concerns he expressed.

It would be very easy for someone going to that site to see a listing of excerpts of my posts on this blog and conclude that I had applied for and was part of that blog network. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT THE CASE.

I want to make it clear that I have no involvement in the USALAW.com blog network WHATSOEVER. I have not talked with them and, like Kevin, was not asked for permission to have excerpts put on their site. Although what they are doing may qualify as "fair use," I am concerned that people think that I am part of their blog network, endorse it or receive financial benefit from it. THAT IS NOT THE CASE.

It is very likely that my blog will become part of a blog network in the near future and I do not want people to be confused about which network I might be in. In addition, I do not want to lose opportunities to be invited into another blog network because people mistakenly believe I am part of the USALAW.com blog network.

It is possible to repurpose RSS feeds in many ways these days and probably many of those ways will technically qualify as "fair use."

HOWEVER, I have two simple rules for blog networks and other aggregation sites whose business model presumably involves making money, through ads or otherwise, by aggregating other people's feeds or "repurposing" their content where there is no license that explicitly allows for that:

1. Ask yourself how you would feel if someone else took your writing or other creative work and used it in the way you intend to use other peoples' work.

2. Notify people and ask permission, at least as a courtesy, when you "repurpose" their feeds on an ongoing basis, even if you think it is "fair use." Most of the time I will say yes (I let people reprint my articles and posts on a regular basis), but I hate to learn from someone else that my content is appearing somewhere else and that people think that I am involved in the other site, especially when I know nothing about the other site or who is behind it. And I really don't like it when I'm talking to someone about joining a blog network, since it makes it look like I am part of another blog network.

I've already posted a notice about another site that I am not associated with. I'm hoping I do not need to set up a new category for posts in which I announce that I am not associated with blogs or aggregation sites. Just ask me about what you plan to do - it's really easy to do.

Read Kevin's post - he makes some excellent points.

As a final point, as we continue to move into a more commercialized blog era, bloggers do not want to find out that someone unknown to them is making more money off their content than they are, unless they have applied a Creative Commons or other license that allows others to do so. I have not.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

Are You in a New Podcast and Will You Be Doing More Podcasts?

My latest podcast appearance was posted earlier this week. If you want to hear some more of my thoughts on the future of legal technology and where technology is taking the practice of law, I'm interviewed as part of a new podcast from Thomson West, which can be found here and is identified as "Episode 2." I had a great time talking with Leonard Lee, who did the interview, before, during and after the actual interview.

Tom Mighell and I have been discussing and starting to work on a podcast series that we hope to launch by the first of March. And, yes, we would be interested in talking about sponsorship options. Tom and I will be presenting a session on podcasting at ABA TECHSHOW 2006 in April.

Also, I've been talking with the very knowledgeable Anthony Reading of Aspen Conferencing about doing videocasts on legal technology topics with tech trainer extraordinaire, Adriana Linares, and perhaps other videocasts with others as well.

I've become intrigued lately by the development of Internet media tools and ways they can be used as information channels for materials that are better seen or heard than read.

I've done some earlier podcasts with Randy Holloway and Zane Safrit. I also have done a series of short webinars on electronic discovery as part of Merrill's On-demand Seminars and will have some audio seminars appearing soon on the DigiLearn Online site.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(TM) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Lounge - April 19, 2006.

Posted by dmk at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2006

Will You Be Making Your Slides for Your Electronic Discovery Trends Presentation at LegalTech NY 2006 Available?

I've put a PDF file (approx. 600K download) of a 3 slides per page handout of my PowerPoint slides from my recent presentation "Electronic Discovery Technology Trends for 2006" on my website for free download. The URL for the PDF file is http://www.denniskennedy.com/pdfs/Kennedy2006EDDTrendsppt.pdf.

I'll write more about my experiences at LegalTech NY over the next few days (it was great), but I especially enjoyed the chance (thanks to my friends at Caselogistix) to give this presentation. I really liked the way the presentation turned out and am pleased by the very positive response I got to the presentation. It was a great audience to work with.

Rob Robinson posted some photos from the presentation here. A special thanks to Tom Mighell for his inspired last-minute idea to get a balky projector to show these slides during the actual presentation.

Download PDF of slides.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Technorati tags: legal technology electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 10:36 AM | Comments (1)