Dennis Kennedy

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September 28, 2006

St. Louis Idea Market #2

Matt Homann has announced the second St. Louis Idea Market. Details here. Hope to see you there.

[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 - a new public LexThink conference - watch for details.

Technorati tags: innovation LexThink! idea market

Posted by dmk at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2006

Personal KM in the Organization

I've puttered around the edges of knowledge management over the years. I must admit that my interest has always been in personal knowledge management more so than capital-K, capital-M knowledge management.

Dave Pollard has a tremendous post today called "The PK-enabled Organization," that pulls together a personal knowledge management (PKM) approach within the context of an organization. It stresses the bottom-up, rather than the top-down approach to KM that I've always felt makes the most sense.

It's a long read (it'll be a chapter in a book), but you will be well-rewarded for your time and effort.

The money quote:

Rather than trying to impose new processes and infrastructure on people, PKM attempts to support and reflect the ways we intuitively learn and share what we do. It adapts technology to people's behaviour, rather than forcing behaviour to adapt to new technology. What is missing, still, is more pioneers.

Speaking of KM, one of my favorite KM experts, Jack Vinson, has a great short post comparing traditional conferences to unconferences and making the analogy with punk rock - another bottom-up, adaptive approach.

Important ideas.

[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 - a new public LexThink conference - watch for details.

Technorati tags: legal technology personal knowledge management knowledge management LexThink! unconference Law2.0

Posted by dmk at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2006

Explaining Blogs and RSS: A Primer

It's surprising how it's still difficult to tell, rather than show, people what blogs and RSS are. I've struggled with the explanation for a long time. Today, I have a new approach. thanks to David Maister.

Maister, one of the leading authorities on professional services management, generously and graciously mentioned me and a conversation we had as he started blogging in his excellent "Blawg Review" post yesterday.

One of the coolest aspects of blogging for me is that I occasionally get contacted by people whose work I have long admired. I'm one of the biggest fans of bloggers. I was thrilled when David got in touch and asked to talk because I had been reading his books and articles for years. What I remember most from the call was the wise advice he gave me, and the simple fact that it is much easier to talk to people for the first time when you've read and admired their work. That's in part why bloggers seem to easily make friends with each other - there's an earned respect that comes from reading each other's work.

As an aside, David's blog had one of the fastest speeds from zero to "must read" that I've ever seen for a blog. He has excellent content and a great podcast too.

His post got me thinkiing about blogging and RSS, and the difficulty in explaining it in words to people who are unfamiliar with the concepts.

It's easy to show people a half-dozen or so blogs so that they get the idea - "posts," "reverse chronological order," et al. I've long maintained that if you have have 30 seconds to show people how RSS feeds work in news aggregators, they'll know right then whether it's something that they absolutely must have or whether it's not useful to them. There's little middle ground.

However, the short description still evades us. As many of you know, I like to explain blogs in terms of effects rather than technology. I say, a blog is "an online newspaper or magazine column without the newspaper or magazine." To people who have maintained web pages for a long time, it's useful to describe blogs in terms of a lightweight, easy-to-use content management system that lets you concentrate on content without hassling with HTML.

J.D. Lasica has famously described RSS as "news that comes to you." Lasica's article was one of the main motivators for me to get my blog launched. The phrase is at the same brilliantly concise and quite vague for people who have not seen or used a news aggregator. After all, doesn't all news come to you? It reminds me of the Macintosh's (or iPod's) famous "intuitiveness." Well, yes, it is intuitive, once someone shows you how it works the first time. I remember being befuddled the first time I tried a Mac (many years ago) before someone explained the notion of "double-clicking."

David Maister's post reminded me that I often think of blogging in terms of the benefits of it, not the technology or a precise definition.

Here's the way I propose that you think about blogs and RSS, especially if you are new to this medium.

1. Blogs. Blogs allow you to read in one place the regular (often daily) writing of many of the best thinkers, experts and authorities in subject matters you care about or would like to know more about. (That's why I often describe them as "columns.") For example, in the past, I might have read a book by David Maister when it was published or found an article if I happened to subscribe to a magazine in which he published. If he had a newsletter, I might have subscribed (or my firm might have a subscription that was routed to me). My contact with his work was sporadic and had a hit-or-miss quality.

With a blog, the work and thinking of people I admire is now available on a regular, often everyday basis, in one convenient place. For free. There's a certain informality to the form and often blogs have the feeling of being an email from a friend (more about that topic in another post to come). It's that everydayness and the opportunity for opening a conversation that distinguish blogs from other forms of communication. They also give you a chance to see people you admire discuss a variety of topics (often "off-topic" in terms of their specialities) - a fabulous learning opportunity.

Think of blogs in terms of easy and regular access to the thinking of the best minds on the subjects of highest interest to you.

2. RSS. There is an abundance of riches in the world of blogs. You can find hundreds of blogs that interest you and even if you limit yourself to the leading authorities in your niche areas, you may still find yourself visiting a good number of blogs. It's takes time and effort. You either have to remember URLs or manage bookmarks and favorites. Do you start your day by visiting a bunch of blogs? What if a blogger hasn't posted something new that day? A benefit of the reverse chronological order of blogs is that you can see quickly whether there is something new on a blog.

What if . . . you didn't have to visit each of those blogs individually everyday?

Here's where RSS and news aggregators come in. You can explore the technology later. For now, think in terms of the effects and benefits.

With RSS and a news aggregator, each of the new posts from the blogs I care about automatically appears on my computer in an organized, easy-to-read-and-manage way in a news aggregator or news reader. I don't have to go out to each blog individually. The new material from the bloggers I want to read, after I "subscribe" to the RSS feed, is available to me in one place at my fingertips.

That's magical. And, as I've written before, it's what changes the world.

Thanks, David, for the mention (and the excellent and useful post), for giving me much to think about, and for inspiring me to come up with a new way to explain blogs and RSS.

[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 - a new LexThink public conference.

Technorati tags: legal technology blog rss maister

Posted by dmk at 06:06 AM | Comments (1)

September 21, 2006

But Enough About Me . . . .

Some "experts" recommend that you keep all elements of personality and personal information off professional blogs.

And then there's me. I disagree with the "all professional, all the time" blogging approach. I like learning more about the personal lives of my favorite bloggers. Many times, it makes me even more likely to use their professional services, but, for the for the most part, it gives me some new insights.

Josh Fruchter, at JD Bliss, has been publishing a series of short bios of interesting lawyers for a couple of years. Back in November 2004, he ran an interview with me. He sent me a note today mentioning that he had updated the site and the URL had changed, which reminded me about the interview.

If you are a regular reader (or a new reader) who would like to learn a bit more about my own story, this interview will give you one part of that story and, I hope, offer a few of the lessons I've learned over the years.

Be sure to check out the rest of the JD Bliss site as well.

[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 tags: jd bliss

Posted by dmk at 09:15 PM

September 20, 2006

Reconsidering IT as a Portfolio

I was reading Bruce MacEwen's blog, Adam Smith, Esq., this evening and saw that he addressed one of my longtime favorite tech topics - taking a portfolio approach (based on modern portfolio theory) to technology. Ron Friedmann also discussed this topic recently.

I have written and spoken on this topic quite a bit over the years - see, for example, this article from 2001 - but I can't say that I've set the world afire with the idea. So, I'm hopeful that the recent attention to the topic will prompt you to consider the approach as a way to help define your technology strategy.

As an aside, I'm especially intrigued by the combination of portfolio theory and "prudence," as you'll see in my article I linked to above.

[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 portfolio theory IT

Posted by dmk at 09:01 PM

September 19, 2006

The Puzzling Resistance of Lawyers to Electronic Discovery

My recent comments about teaching electronic discovery to lawyers seem to have touched a nerve. I've had a number of people get in touch with me about the questions I raised. In addition, my friend and e-discovery guru Sharon Nelson raised two other important questions about EDD in a comment, namely:

1) Will there be a shake-out between those law firms (especially among the big boys) that are well-prepared to deal with electronic evidence and those that are not?

2) Will there be an awakening by corporate clients that they need to assess their own litigation readiness with respect to e-evidence AND that of their outside counsel?

I had a great conversation today about the role of litigation support managers in all this (very, very important) and what I call the puzzling resistance of lawyers to electronic discovery.

It raised another question for you to consider, as I have been for a while, but, as yet, with no good answer. I'm surprised by the passivity of litigators, traditionally a group known for aggressiveness, when it comes to electronic discovery.

Here's the question:

Does the passivity and reluctance we see in litigators an indication that protecting the quantity of billable hours, maintaining the status quo and staying in the comfort zone have become more important than winning cases?

I'll raise the question for discussion, but, believe me, I'm not the only one who has raised this issue in the past year.

Lots of good questions out there on this topic. What are your favorites? Perhaps there would be some interest in doing a LexThink event that delves into these electronic discovery questions, especially one with a focus on the role litigation support managers and electronic discovery lawyers will play in the process. If that interests you, let me know – we're working on putting together some future LexThink events.

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

Learn more about electronic discovery at Dennis Kennedy's Electronic Discovery Resources page.

Technorati tags: legal technology electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 11:30 PM | Comments (3)

Help Me Decide about a Book Project

Yesterday, I was contacted by two publishers who want me to write a book. It's probably something I need to get done one of these days. The trouble is that everyone wants me to come up with the idea for the book.

I'd like to ask the readers of this blog to help me with this. If I were to write a book, what would you most like it to be about? Leave a comment or email me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail . com.

I'll probably share a few of the ideas I have in the old notebook in a few days.

[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 book

Posted by dmk at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2006

Crossroads: Western Wall / Jerusalem

I'm watching (again) a show on CMT called Crossroads that features Rosanne Cash and Steve Earle. I've been a fan of Steve Earle since his great debut album.

It's a warm and relaxed show filled with stories and excellent performances.

But the reason you should try to catch it is a medley they perform live of Rosanne's song called "Western Wall" and Steve's "Jerusalem." Western Wall is amazing, but from the first chord of Jerusalem you know that you are about to witness magic. And that's exactly what you get. What a performance! Beats the heck out of whatever else you might be watching on TV. Trust me on this one.

[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 tags: steve earle jerusalem crossroads rosanne cash

Posted by dmk at 08:46 PM | Comments (0)

Computer-based Legal Decision-making in 2006

Ron Friedmann has a thought-provoking post called "Computers as Lawyers?" that I recommend that everyone who likes to think about the intersection of law and technology take a look at.

The post strikes a lot of notes for me. For example, I've talked with Marc Lauritsen (Marc, how can we talk you into blogging?) and others on and off over the last few years about decision trees.

I remember back in law school at Georgetown, I took one of the first classes in Computers and the Law offered in the US. That was in 1982. Milton Wessel was the professor and I don't know many classes that I enjoyed more. One day, we were talking about artificial intelligence and the law, and the applicability of computers to legal decision-making. I asked this question: If we "knew" (in a measurable way) that an AI program was more likely to reach a measurably "correct" result than a jury, would we change from a jury system to a software system? There was an impassioned discussion, with the overwhelming consensus that people prefer a less accurate human system than a more accurate software system. What was interesting is how the discussion suggested that "objective correctness" was not in fact the goal of the legal system and that justice is something fuzzier, yet more comforting than pure accuracy.

It's now 25 years later and I'm curious whether lawyers end up in the same place. I suspect that as more is at stake, the "human element" feels more essential, but as less is at stake, issues are more mundane, and speed and efficiency matters more, computerized decision-making becomes more attractive. Or, let the computers take the boring cases and save the interesting ones for us.

Read Ron's post and the links he points to and give it some thought.

The money quote:

Lawyers (well, at least the forward thinking ones) are increasingly relying on “smart search engines” to reduce the cost of reviewing e-discovery documents.

[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 electronic discovery Law2.0

Posted by dmk at 07:32 PM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2006

Remembering Orianna Fallaci

We lost one of the giants recently when Italian journalist Orianna Fallaci passed away. There have been many appreciations, and I especially liked the one by Kim Pearson.

Like many, I was captivated many years ago by her classic book, Interview with History, which I plan to reread. In it, as in all her writing, you see how it is possible to write with passion and fire about things you care about and believe are important. And how the world needs those who can ask the hardest questions with courage and without compromise.

[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 tags: fallaci

Posted by dmk at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2006

Educating Lawyers About Electronic Discovery

I just returned from Washington, DC, where Tom Mighell and I presented a daylong seminar on electronic discovery for a large legal department. Yes, that's the Tom Mighell of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how best to teach lawyers about electronic discovery. It's not like you can avoid the topic. Like many lawyers, I get invitations to seminars on electronic discovery by mail or email nearly every day, especially with the December 1, 2006 effectivedate for the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure rapidly approaching.

Unfortunately, there's a certain sameness to most of the EDD seminars I see. I had a lawyer tell me a few months ago that he was going to scream if he went to another electronic discovery seminar where speakers went on and on about Zubulake. I know the feeling.

I've been wanting to take a very different approach. I've done a presentation a couple of times this year on trends and predictions in electronic discovery, which is innovative and challenges people to think in some new ways about electronic discovery. It's been gratifying to see how well-received that presentation has been.

I want to focus on the practical aspects of EDD, giving lawyers just enough learning about the technology so that they know how to recognize the key issues and ask the right questions. As usual, I'm more interested in applications (how you apply the new rules and technology to the issue in front of you) more so than learning academically about recent case law and abstract theories about the new rules. The concepts in EDD are easy; the devil truly is in the details.

And I wanted to present the topic with a litigator with experience who can also explain technology in a way that lawyers understand, and one who can explain the rules, the cases and the practical issues. Tom is perfect for that role and is an excellent presenter.

Our presentation, called "Electronic Discovery: The Basics and Beyond, had four parts: EDD/technology 101; the new rule; practical tips for the real world; and trends/predictions. In my mind, this is exactly what lawyers want and need to know at this point. My sense for this was confirmed as we started the session by heaing what all the lawyers in the room hoped to learn. We had everything they mentioned covered.

I was pleased with the discussion the presentation started and how we had given the lawyers in the room a good foundation and a vocabulary on which they could base that discussion.

As I tell people, my interest in electronic discovery is really one of education. I have no interest or angle in consulting or other projects. I like to teach lawyers about this subject, as does Tom, to help them think about it and address the challenges and point them to ways they can improve their practices.

So,this latest presentation was fun and rewarding. As I was telling Tom, it would be great if we could do some more of these together. I suspect we will. Let us know if you'd like to hear more about the seminar and whether it might work for your legal department or law firm.

As I prepared for the seminar, I was struck by how complicated these issues really are and the profound implications electronic discovery raises for us. Think about these three questions, which have rolled around my head for the last few days:

1. Is electronic discovery so complicated that it will drive most disputes to arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution?

2. Will corporate clients and vendors working on records management "disintermediate" lawyers and limit the role of lawyers in the discovery process to as small a sliver as they can?

3. Will the response of lawyers to electronic discovery and the complexity of electronic discovery add enough additional burden to our court system to effectively break it?

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

Learn more about electronic discovery at Dennis Kennedy's Electronic Discovery Resources page.

Technorati tags: legal technology electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 09:51 PM | Comments (1)

September 11, 2006

9/11 Shuffle

I was thinking about 9/11 this morning as I drove. I've been working onsite with a client and I pass by a memorial sculpted out of materials from the World Trade Centers every day at the highway exit I use. With the flags at half-mast today, it made for a way to take a little pause to reflect.

It was overcast and rainy this morning. It's intriguing how much I associate 9/11 with the sky that was the unbelieveable shade of blue.

As I've mentioned before, I've been experimenting with using the shuffle mode of my iPod to see if I can find meanings and patterns in what is served up.

Today seemed like an appropriate day for that. Here's what the shuffle served up:

Morning:

Redemption - Johnny Cash
Gunpowder - Wyclef Jean
Lucky Town - Bruce Springsteen
Labour of Love - Joe Grushecky
Break it Up ((live) - Patti Smith
Worried Man Blues - The Carter Family
An Unusual Kiss - Melissa Etheridge
Charlie the Chulo - Duke Elleington
Hey Now Baby - Professor Longhair

Afternoon:

Go Your Own Way (live) - Fleetwood Mac
Into the Fire - Bruce Springsteen
Pride (In the Name of Love) - U2
Life in Wartime - Talking Heads
These Days - Johnny Clegg
Lift Me Up - Bruce Springsteen

An interesting article to see today was Robert Andrews' Wired article 9/11: Birth of the Blog. I agree with Andrews that blogs really took off for me and became an alternative channel in the period after 9/11. Much has happened since then.

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

Posted by dmk at 09:03 PM | Comments (1)

September 07, 2006

Denise Howell on VRM and VLFs

Reed Smith's loss is our gain. Denise Howell has been writing the best stuff I've read in along time about the intersection of law and technology on Bag and Baggage, Between Lawyers and her newest blog, the highly-recommended Lawgarithms.

I wanted to single out her post today on Between Lawyers called "VLFs Should Embrace VRM." part of an ongoing discussion we're having over there about virtual law firms and related issues. I've listened to two of the three parts of the podcasts she recommended (and found myself longing for a stronger hand at the editing controls on the podcast, but I think my patience will be rewarded in part 3). For those who prefer reading to listening, start with this post from Doc Searls.

The VRM (vendor relationship management) notion, simplified as "the user is in control," when applied to law has some resonance with the idea of "fourth generation legal technology," something I posted about and haven't yet returned to and developed in writing.

It's a subject I'm really looking forward to discussing with Denise, the rest of the Between Lawyers group, and others. Maybe we can do a podcast on the topic.

[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 tags: legal technology vrm virtual law firm 4G legal technology fourth generation Law2.0

Posted by dmk at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)

September 06, 2006

By Request: What is the TechnoLawyer Newswire?

I've gotten a few questions recently about the articles I've been writing for the TechnoLawyer Newswire.

As many of you know, I've been writing, in one form or another, for Neil Squillante's great legal techology resource and email list, TechnoLawyer, for many years. Many of my articles have appeared as TechnoFeatures and I am proud to be one of the distinguished group of alumni writers (and the current group is pretty darned good too) of the IP Memes newsletter, which contained some of my favorite of my own writings over the last few years.

And I consider Neil a good friend.

About six months ago, Neil and I were reminiscing and I mentioned (1) how I liked his NewsWire newsletter because it was one of the best places for me to learn about new legal technologies, (2) how I felt I wasn't able to keep up with new product announcements as much as I wished I could, and (3) how I kind of missed writing for the TechnoLawyer audience on a regular basis. Neil smiled and said he might have something for me to think about.

A few months later, I had agreed to write the articles for the NewsWire email newsletter. Two big reasons were that (1) it gave me a great chance to learn about new legal tech products and (2) it gave me a chance to learn to write in the 250-word format. Since I'm known for long blog posts, I thought this would be a great skill to hone.

So . . . what is the TechnoLawyer NewsWire? It's a free newsletter (registration required) that covers products and services that are new (or new to lawyers) and new releases and developments in existing products and services. Each issue covers three products or services. For example, today's issue featured "an online alternative to Microsoft Office, a free service for tracking your wealth (and comparing it to that of your peers), and an Outlook add-in that enables you to organize and archive your e-mail by client and matter."

As Neil says, "Dennis uses clever headlines, pop culture references, and a touch of humor. He also keeps it short and to the point, discussing only the most salient features. It’s an excellent way to stay on top of the latest and greatest products and services."

What I really do is write a short, descriptive and objective piece about the products and services - neither a sales pitch or a review (think Jack Webb, as the pop culture reference).

There are about 12,000 subscribers to the TechnoLawyer NewsWire. The NewsWire is educational, to be sure. You can see a bunch of the articles I've written here (TechnoLawyer publishes one article from each issue of the newsletter in its blog)

For more info and the subscribe form, click here.
The more subscribers, the merrier, as I always say.

If you're a vendor that has released a new product or is new to the legal market, send an email to newswire at peerviews dot com.

So, it's another innovative TechnoLawyer offering from Neil and a fun little freelance writing gig for me that will help me have a small budget for some cool new products.

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

Learn more about electronic discovery at Dennis Kennedy's Electronic Discovery Resources page.

Technorati tags: legal technology technolawyer newswire

Posted by dmk at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2006

My Interview on LawCrossing.com

Charisse Dengler wrote an article about me on the LawCrossing.com website after interviewing me about blogging, legal technology and other topics. It was fun and I think you'll enjoy reading the article. Charisse did a great job of capturing the key points from our conversation. Note: the blogging awards she refers to are the "Blawggies" rather than the Bloggies.

[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 tags: legal technology blawggies blawg blogging

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