In light of the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton using her personal email while Secretary of State, John Martin, head of the Encompass E-Discovery Group with Nelson Mullins, took some time to discuss with us how common it is for private-sector employees to use personal email for work. Is this practice ever sanctioned, or used as a perk? What are the legal implications for the employer and employee?

In this installment of "Wait, What?" your hosts tackle the question of whether technology makes us lazy or not. They cover everything from grocery delivery services to texting at the dinner table. Jason, Rob and Matt spend quite a bit of time in this episode discussing whether people are productive when they work from home and the effects that "work" phones and tablets have on work/life balance. The talk evolves (or maybe devolves) into a discussion of the person who "invented" the wheel and how that may have affected life at home.

Tune into the next show (April 10) when we cover the “right to be forgotten" in cyberspace and what role this may play, going forward.

Also, stick around after the music for yet (another) embarrassing story that Matt shares.

We'd like to keep the show as interactive as possible, so PLEASE send us your feedback, thoughts, and show ideas to legal.current@thomsonreuters.com. Also, you can reach us on Twitter: Matt Angelicola (@MattAngelicola), Joe Harris (@Jwh37), Rob Russell (@batogato), Jason Thomas (@jasonthomas) and Susan Martin (@soozymartin)

Integrated Corporate Reporting

Robert G. Eccles is a professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School.  He is one of the world’s leading experts on a global movement for companies to include new, value-related information in their regular reporting to regulators, investors and stakeholders. 

Prof. Eccles has written two books on the subject, One Report: Integrated Reporting for a Sustainable Strategy  and The Integrated Reporting Movement. He is a member of the International Integrated Reporting Council (http://www.integratedreporting.org/) and the founding Chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) (www.sasb.org). Dr. Eccles is the co-founder, with Professor George Serafeim of Harvard Business School, of the Innovating for Sustainability social movement (https://www.facebook.com/innovatingforsustainability), and a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Sustainable Value Creation (https://www.conference-board.org).

Tim Nixon, managing editor of the Sustainability blog at Thomson Reuters interviewed Prof. Eccles on the benefits of integrated reporting and why corporations are moving in that direction.

At Legaltech New York this year, we caught up with Pauline Reich, JD, and Professor of Law at Waseda University School of Law in Tokyo, Japan, where she teaches cyberlaw, e-commerce and Internet-based legal research. In this capacity and also as the director of the Asia-Pacific Cyberlaw, Cybercrime and Internet Security Research Institute at Waseda, Reich tracks global laws and issues of cybersecurity on a daily basis. We had an opportunity to talk about cybersecurity, and her treatise for United States attorneys called Cybercrime & Security, which she also incorporates commentary and advice from expert attorneys, judges, police, and cybersecurity professionals. Click below to listen to the podcast.

March Madness, as always, is filed with upsets, great finishes and...trademark infringements?

Roger Boehle, partner at Foley, Bezek, Boehle & Curtis LLP discusses the potential pitfalls that await those who dare to try cashing in on March Madness.

An Interview with Allison Chock of Bentham IMF on the 2nd Annual West Coast Legal Executive Forum

On March 25, WestLegalEdcenter will host the 2nd Annual West Coast Legal Executive Forum in San Francisco.

Allison Chock, an Investment Manager with Bentham IMF, a litigation finance company that provides funding to plaintiffs for large legal disputes in the United States and abroad, will be among the experts at the event.

We had an opportunity to speak with Allison about the event and the latest Peer Monitor data.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Ill Repute, a podcast about reputation and the forces in the 24 hour news cycle and social media that impact them. Our first podcast features Susan Martin, managing editor of social media; John Shaughnessy, vice president of business communications; and Leonard Lee, PR consultant. In this edition, we talk about the Hillary Clinton email address scandal and the erosion of trust facing the media. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

In the fourth installment of Wait, What? the guys discuss the Science Fact that has come from the Science Fiction of Star Trek, Star Wars, Total Recall, comics and other media. The show starts with a comparison of the devices that were used in the Star Trek universe of television and movies, and how we're seeing many of those ideas and concepts come to fruition. The guys then get into the concept of 3-D printing and Synthetic Biology.  The discussion then shifts to Jason and Joe announcing that they've created the "Inertia-jet" (patent pending), that will revolutionize travel, and what it must feel like to be the first person/people to test a potentially dangerous piece of technology.  

The guys spend much of the second half of the show in a "lightening round" of discussing different Sci-Fi influencers to include Star Wars, James Bond, Disney and comic books. Most importantly they discuss if we currently are at a stagnation point in technological improvements to our lives. This spawns a great discussion about time travel!

As always, stick around after the music at the end of the show for something extra.

In the third installment of Wait, What? the guys jump right into the topic of technology's impact on sports and athletes. The conversation starts out with quantifying professional and amateur athletes and quickly transitions into "heart" versus analytics. The discussion moves into the topic of the stadium experience associated with professional sports teams and how the events compete with television, video game consoles, and mobile technology. 

Tune into the next show (March 13) when we cover how movies, books, and other works of fiction drive the creation of innovative technology in the real world. More than likely, Matt will talk about the absurdity of placing a shield generator for a space station on a planet with a hostile indigenous population. In other words, the Empire is dumb.

In the latest episode we focus on the use of drone technology and artifical intelligence. 

In the first part of the show, the guys mull over the different uses of drones, briefly discussing the commercial uses of drone technology and what the benefits and drawbacks are of this technology. The discussion also touches on the privacy implications of drone deliveries and drone use overall. The second part of the show delves into Artificial Intelligence and the fears around the potential implications associated with the emergence of progressively "smarter" computers.

Wait, What? takes an irreverent and entertaining look at technology and its impact on our lives. The podcast is hosted by Jason Thomas (@jasonthomas), Matt Angelicola (@mattangelicola), Joe Harris (@Jwh37) and Rob Russell (@batogato). It's produced by Susan Martin (@soozymartin).

Sustainability is an increasing priority for many companies, and incorporating more sustainable practices is encouraging collaboration across various industries to arrive at better, more cost-effective solutions.  Tim Nixon, managing editor of sustainability, Thomson Reuters, talked with sustainability leaders at the world's largest household and personal products company (Proctor & Gamble) and nation’s second-largest car manufacturer (Ford) about their new collaborative efforts on sustainability in product design and manufacturing. 

A panel discussion at Legal Tech New York 2015 focused on the key issues attorneys, paralegals and litigation support staff should consider when deciding whether to insource or outsource e-discovery. While they may seem elementary, time, cost and complexity continue to be some of the greatest challenges e-discovery practitioners face today. The panel discussed some of the key elements to consider when deciding on an e-discovery solution. Discussion leader Ed Sohn of Thomson Reuters summarizes the panel discussion.

Panel speakers were:

·          Discussion Leader:
Edward Sohn
Global Director, Legal Managed Services
Thomson Reuters

·          Anthony J. Diana
Partner
Reed Smith

·          Glen McFarlane
Managing Director
JPMorgan Chase

·          Karin Scholz Jenson
Partner and National Co-Leader, E-Discovery Advocacy and Management Team
BakerHostetler

It’s not surprising by cybersecurity and data privacy were the focus of the Day One keynote at Legal Tech New York.  In the wake of everything from Edward Snowden to the Sony Pictures hack, the issues are on everyone’s mind.

One of the keynote panelists, Jon Palmer, Assistant General Counsel - Litigation and Antitrust Legal and Corporate Affairs. Microsoft Corporation, talked with Gretchen DeSutter of Thomson Reuters about legal issues involvingcross-border data protection and privacy policy on future technology

Wait, What? takes an irreverent and entertaining look at technology and its impact on our lives. The podcast is hosted by Matt Angelicola, government research analyst; Rob Russell, senior director in the Government segment; Jason Thomas, manager of innovation also in the Government segment; and produced by Susan Martin, managing editor of social media.

The IP market has traditionally centered on the United States. It remains a key jurisdiction, but change is in the air. With the forthcoming unitary patent system, the European Union may be about to become the epicenter of global patent litigation. The new court will mark a seismic shift in global patent litigation. Assuming all goes as planned, the major difference is that patent owners are going to have the ability to file a single lawsuit that will control almost the entire EU [aside from Spain].

The EU is a market size that is equivalent to the United States. Instead of going to each individual country's national courts, which is what you have to do today, you'll need only one lawsuit. A game changer for patent litigation and it isn't too soon for clients to start positioning and thinking about how to optimize for the split.

Morag MacDonald is an IP attorney with Bird & Bird, based in the UK.

The Equality Effect is a non-profit charity that uses international human rights law as a crowbar to pry open justice for women and girls around the world. Drawing on a team of feisty international lawyers, the equality effect supports its regional legal partners by initiating creative legal advocacy projects to achieve systemic change. In Kenya, The Equality Effect provided support for a constitutional claim against the government for failing to protect girls who had been raped; in May 2013, Kenya’s High Court agreed that the police failure to enforce existing rape laws, and police failure to protect them from rape, is a violation of domestic, regional, and human rights law. The work that led to this landmark ruling informs the equality effect’s newest project in Malawi that also seeks justice for victims of rape.

As three-time Amnesty International Media award-winner and author Sally Armstrong writes: “Once, in a very long while, maybe once in a lifetime, you get to witness a story that shifts the way an entire country or continent sees itself. The process of change is usually daring, certainly time-consuming, invariably costly, occasionally heart-breaking, and eventually an exercise so rewarding that it is the stuff of legends; this is the story of the equality effect.”

The America Invents Act marked  the most significant change in US patent law in the last 50 years. The historic provisions have impacted patent filings and patent litigation, as well as non-practicing entities or “patent trolls” as they are commonly known.

Bernie Knight was general counsel for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office when the America Invents Act was enacted.  He is now a partner with McDermott Will & Emery and talks about the impact of the America Invents Act which he helped shape into law. 

Justice Randy Holland of the Delaware Supreme Court, editor of Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor, discusses the significance of Magna Carta, and the new Muse and Mentor book available on Amazon in print and in e-book form, as well as from Thomson Reuters.

Are missing one-third of your potential clients?  As people increasingly looking for attorneys using mobile and local search, it’s more important than ever to make sure your firm’s website is optimized for those types of searches.

A new white paper from FindLaw explains the importance of making that prospective clients can find you in today’s mobile age.  The white paper can be downloaded for free here:

http://www.lawyermarketing.com/white-papers/are-you-ignoring-a-third-of-your-firms-business-potential/

In this month’s Legal Current podcast, we cover:

-Legal news: A South Carolina boy and his mother are suing the state's DMV over his right to wear his "everyday" makeup in his driver's license photo.

-Legal trends & insights: A woman in North Dakota is facing negligent homicide charges after allegedly surfing Facebook while driving at 85 mph.

-News from Thomson Reuters: Thomson Reuters has been working together with UN Global Pulse, which analyzes big data for UN initiatives, to develop Sustainability Analytics.

-On the legal blogs: An Oregon woman sentenced for setting a 51,000-acre wildfire to help out her "bored firefighter friends."

Harnessing Big Data could be a key for firms seeking to gain competitive advantages and boost their business development efforts.

Catherine Monte, Chief Knowledge Officer of Fox Rothschild and Kimberly Stein, National Manager for Enterprise Content Management Solutions for Thomson Reuters discuss their recently published white paper, produced by ILTA, that explores how firms can benefit from leveraging Big Data through knowledge management tools. 

The 2014 American Bar Association Liberty Achievement Award is being given to Okanier Christian Dark, professor of law and former Dean of Howard University School of Law.

The Liberty Achievement Award was created to honor those attorneys and judges who take a leadership role in promoting diversity in the profession of law by demonstrating, through choices made in their careers and work done in private and/or public sector positions, that they have actively promoted diversity. This would include their own career, leadership positions and work done to advance diverse attorneys in the profession. Other considerations would include significant substantive legal work in areas of diversity, as well as community service and/or pro bono work in diversity.

In this month’s Legal Current podcast, we cover:

-Legal news: The passive aggressive watermelon stabber

-News from Thomson Reuters: Firm Central launches Deadline Assistant and enhances homepage

-Legal trends & insights: Firm sues ex-client over Yelp review that claims firm will ‘take everything you’ve got’

-On the legal blogs: Man Eats His Way Through Lufthansa Lounge Without Ever Lufting Off

You can listen to the episode now by clicking the play button on the built-in player below. We’re also on iTunes – just enter “Legal Current” in the search box.

Is this month's Legal Current podcast, we look at:

- Legal News: A courtroom brawl in Brevard County, Florida 

- Legal trends & insights: Can Eric Knudsen, the creator of the fictional character Slenderman, be held civilly liable for the recent violence suffered by the young victim of a stabbing attach in Wisconsin?

- News from Thomson Reuters: Survey says...Technology trends in 2014 and beyond

- On the legal blogs: Boy, 13, charged as adult based on size of genitals

The class-action lawsuit including former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon against the NCAA begins in District Court in Los Angeles next week.  In addition, the NCAA is appealing a recent regional NLRB ruling that Northwestern University football players have the right to unionize.

Marta Fernandez of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell has dealt with NLRB issues and discusses what likely lies ahead for the NCAA in its fight over the status of student-athletes.

• Legal news: It’s the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling to end segregation in public schools and we talked with Professor Ronna Schneider on the legal, cultural and historical importance of the decision.

•   Legal trends & insights: Social media and privacy - Snapchat and the Federal Trade Commission

• News from Thomson Reuters: Black’s Law Dictionary, 10^th Edition launched
• On the legal blogs: Festivus Pole-Maker Seeks Satanic Prayer at Public Meeting

Do so-called “Millennials” have different career expectations? Do law firms have to make adjustments in how they manage today’s associates?  Or do the associates need to adjust their expectations?  

Patricia Trendacosta - managing shareholder at Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato discusses her experience in managing today’s crop of associates to find what’s best for the attorneys and ultimately, the firm. 

For more than a century, Black’s Law Dictionary has been the gold standard for the language of law. Today, Thomson Reuters released the enhanced 10^th Edition.

Edited by Bryan A. Garner, the world’s leading legal lexicographer, the 10th Edition is the most authoritative, comprehensive law dictionary ever published. It contains more than 50,000 terms, including 7,500 new ones. In addition, there are more than 16,000 new definitions and expanded bibliographic coverage, with more than twice as many sources quoted and cited than in the 9th Edition. The earliest usage dates in English-language contexts for nearly all terms are also included; Black’s is the only legal dictionary with this feature.

Its namesake comes from its founder Henry Campbell Black who published the first edition in 1891. Today, it is the reference of choice for legal briefs and court opinions as well as being cited as a secondary legal authority in U.S. Supreme Court cases. Check out a timeline here of all previous editions of Black’s Law Dictionary by date.

Professor Garner took some time to answer a few questions about the significance of the 10th Edition in a special Legal Current podcast, which can be heard by clicking here.

In this month’s Legal Current podcast, we cover:

•Legal news: Was Jewish Center shooting a hate crime?
•Legal trends & insights: The controversy over the National Security Agency’s surveillance program
•News from Thomson Reuters: Peer Monitor releases Mid-Size Law Firm Report
•On the legal blogs: Male strippers caused emotional distress to nursing home resident

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @legalcurrent.

SCOTUS takes up ACA contraception mandate in the Hobby Lobby case, a very costly Facebook post, Thomson Reuters launches Solutions -- practice-specific suites of solutions, and assault with a "beary" deadly weapon.

Most law firm websites are indeed designed to fail. That’s a bold statement, and the theme of a new white paper from FindLaw.  

The white paper discusses how many law firms’ websites may be generating less business impact than they could. Why? Because they don’t focus enough on conversion – the process of getting visitors to contact the firm.

Successful Web conversion starts with understanding the psychology of the legal consumer. This new FindLaw white paper takes an in-depth look logic, emotion and today’s legal consumer. 

The maker of 5 Hour Energy is under investigation by attorneys general in Oregon and other states because of reports of consumer health problems.  But the real battle may be over the popular energy shots’ proprietary formula, which the company refusing to turn over to investigators.

Eric Hagen with McDermott Will & Emery discusses the inherent conflict that often exist between discovery requests and trade secrets. 

Transactional law often involves pulling together information from a wide variety of sources, including the SEC and public and private deal data.  A new resource, Business Law Center on WestlawNext, provides access from one easy-to-use source to several key information sources, including up-to-date SEC and global filings and disclosures, EDGAR precedent agreements, Thomson Reuters proprietary deal abstracts covering public and private M&A, corporate finance and capital markets transactions, as well as SEC administrative material and the most comprehensive collection of SEC staff comment letters in the industry. 

Marc Butler discusses how Business Law Center on WestlawNext can help transactional attorneys 

In the February 2014 edition of the Legal Current podcast, we cover:

• Legal news: Is Facebook a marriage killer?
• Legal trends & insights: Judge Thomas Jacobs on the nature of cyberbullying and what parents can do to protect their kids. 
• News from Thomson Reuters: Jason Thomas keynote at LegalTech New York last month and the Digital Economy Task Force report coming soon.
• On the legal blogs: Judge bans man from the internet after creepy Craigslist prank.

You can listen to the episode now by clicking the play button on the built-in player below. We’re also on iTunes – just enter “Legal Current” in the search box.

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @legalcurrent.

A new report from Georgetown University Law Center and Peer Monitor warns that unless law firms re-examine their traditional business models and embrace change in how legal services are delivered, they will not be able to successfully adjust to the significant outside forces that are reordering the industry. The “2014 Report on the State of the Legal Market” highlights recent trends in the legal market, as well as factors that will likely impact the market in 2014 and beyond.

James W. Jones, senior fellow at the Georgetown Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession is lead author of the report, which can be downloaded at: https://peermonitor.thomsonreuters.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014_PM_GT_Report5.pdf

In the January 2014 edition of the Legal Current podcast, we cover:

• Legal news: Is emoji death threat a criminal defense? One law professor says that it just may be.
• Legal trends & insights: Are privacy class action suits the next big practice areas?
• News from Thomson Reuters: Jim Jones, a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center, comments on the new report from Peer Monitor and the Georgetown University Law Center.
• On the legal blogs: A 7-foot statute of Satan is being proposed for the Oklahoma State Capitol.

You can listen to the episode now by clicking the play button on the built-in player below. We’re also on iTunes – just enter “Legal Current” in the search box.

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @legalcurrent.

iPhone and Android lovers are rejoicing the increasing adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies that permit them to use their own smartphones on corporate networks.  But Fabio Marino with McDermott Will & Emery says BYOD policies can create tremendous headaches for companies in dealing with legal holds and trying to prevent theft of intellectual property.

NSA data, law firm challenges for 2014, a West Key Author helps a wrongly convicted person and the Gaming Judge -- in the December 2013 edition of the Legal Current podcast.

Crowdsource funding is the hot new buzzword among startups.  The 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups (JOBS) Act was intended to open up crowdsource funding and other social media as a means for startups to raise capital.

Tom Murphy of McDermott Will & Emery says the reality is somewhat muted compared with buzz, but says the JOBS Act has opened up other avenues for startup capital, and that social media may still a future in small business capital.

Many law firms believe top search engine rankings are a silver bullet for their online marketing — a magic tool that will deliver a steady flow of business. But are specific keyword phrases such as “Boston personal injury attorney” or “Miami DUI lawyer” really the key to online marketing success?

A new FindLaw study analyzed search-generated traffic to thousands of law firm websites, and many people may be surprised by the results.  Mark Jacobsen, FindLaw senior director of strategic development and thought leadership, discusses what actually drives traffic to law firm websites.

A copy of the white paper, “The Futility of Chasing Silver Bullets” can be downloaded here.

New legislation pending in Congress – the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act promises to reduce spurious patent litigation filed by Non-Practicing Entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls.”

However, Yar Chaikovsky of McDermott Will & Emery notes that previous attempts to rein in patent trolls, including the America Invents Act, have proven largely ineffective.

Upcoming Supreme Court cases, A Day in the Life of a Case on Westlaw, and Fruit Flies Like a Banana, on the November 2013 edition of the Legal Current podcast.

Thomson Reuters Experts-On-Call provides dedicated business law research support for transactional attorneys. Experts On-Call offers specialized assistance in dealing with SEC developments and market trends, as well as business law research including corporate organizations, company debt structures, and corporate employment and compensation.

In the September 2013 edition of the Legal Current podcast, we cover:

• Legal Trends & Insights: Software coding resources for lawyers
• Legal News: An international custody battle involving an ancient Cambodian statue
• News From Thomson Reuters: FindLaw and Univ. of Wisc-Stout start the first search engine optimization course in the nation
• On the Legal Blogs: Gun ownership laws and the blind

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @legalcurrent.

The 2013-14 term of the US Supreme Court begins shortly.  Prof. Ronald Rotunda, Doy and Dee Henley Chair Distinguished Professor Jurisprudence at Chapman University comments on what the 2012-13 term told us about how the Roberts Court has been handling some of its major decisions. 

The Legal Current podcast emerges for the second time since its renewal with more unique insights into the Legal market. In the August 2013 edition of the Legal Current podcast, we cover:

• Legal Trends & Insights: The Peer Monitor Index (PMI) provides some hope in the second quarter as the law firm market improves
• Legal News: In a settlement over fracking operations, a unique situation arises when a family’s children are subjected to a confidentiality agreement
• News From Thomson Reuters: CLEAR helps Capital Stack engage in merchant funding, a new alternative for businesses that need capital
• On the Legal Blogs: Findlaw blogged live from the ABA Annual Meeting, covering Attorney General Eric Holder’s new drug sentencing policy.

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @legalcurrent.

A new study found that drafting software tools for transactional attorneys can cut review time in half and catch more errors than manual proofreading. 

This podcast discusses what features are important to look for in automated drafting tools. 

Just in time for the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Annual Meeting in San
Francisco later this week, Sharon Sayles Belton, vice president of Community Affairs
at Thomson Reuters, chatted with this year’s ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice
Section (TIPS) Liberty Award recipient, Steven Shapiro. The award, sponsored by
Thomson Reuters, will be presented to Shapiro by Sayles Belton during the TIPS
Welcome, Pursuit of Justice and Liberty Achievement Awards Reception on Friday, Aug.
9 at the law offices of Sedgwick LLP.

As the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Shapiro directs a large
staff of lawyers who deal with a broad range of issues, including free speech,
racial justice, religious freedom, due process rights, privacy rights, reproductive
and women’s right, immigrant’s rights, LGBT rights, voting freedoms and prisoner’s
rights. He has appeared as counsel or co-counsel on more than 200 ACLU briefs
submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, and he is a leader in promoting diversity
within the legal profession. Shapiro is also an adjunct professor of constitutional
law at Columbia Law School and a frequent speaker and writer on civil liberties
issues.

The TIPS award was created in 2008 to honor lawyers and judges who demonstrate
leadership by actively promoted diversity in the legal profession.

To listen to the podcast interview with Sharon Sayles Belton and Steven Shapiro,
click the play button below. Also, watch for coverage of the Awards Reception and
other ABA Annual Meeting events later in the week on Legal Current.

The National Association of Women Lawyers recently concluded its annual meeting in New York.  Among the topics discussed at the meeting was skills, strategies and stumbling blocks for women lawyers in their career path.

Last year, NAWL released its National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms and remarkably little has changed for women at senior and partner levels.

Angela C. Agrusa of Liner Grode Stein, who was one of the first women to graduate from UCLA’s Women Studies’ Department, talks about her personal experiences and ideas on women in the law.

In the July 2013 edition of the Legal Current podcast, we discuss:

Legal Trends & Insights:  The impact of the new RTA Claims Portal on personal injury claims in the UK

Legal News: An interview with Prof. Ronald Rotunda of Chapman University on the recently concluded US Supreme Court 2012-13 term

News From Thomson Reuters: Results from a new survey of law enforcement on cybercrime

On the Legal Blogs: Did a new mother fail a drug test because of poppy seed bagel?

Predictive coding can provide major benefits when dealing with high volumes of electronically-stored information (ESI).  But at the same time, it is far from a “silver bullet” in handling ESI. 

There are four essential concepts that emerge when examining matters that have successfully and unsuccessfully utilized predictive coding.

Ed Sohn, assistant vice president for professional and consulting services at Pangea3 has written a white paper examining “The Four Pillars of an Effective Predictive Coding Workflow.”

http://www.pangea3.com/effective-predictive-coding-workflow.html

Thomson Reuters Company Investigator helps users find information on companies to assist with business development, litigation, due diligence and a host of other applications.  Company Investigator accesses more than 30 million company profiles, including 20 million hard-to-find private companies, including general company information, subsidiary data, legal disputes, secretary of state filings, regulatory filings and material agreements.

Company Investigator is available on WestlawNext and presents information in a manner that makes it easy to analyze corprorate "family tree" structures, relationships among corporate entities, and other company-related information such as recently filed court dockets, bankruptcy filings and more.

In the case of Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. the  U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but synthetic complementary DNA ("cDNA") is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring.

The distinction is a critical one, as it opens the door for broad application certain genetic testing, while preserving important patent rights for the biotechnology industry.

Jorge Goldstein, Ph.D, of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC, who is one of the leading pioneers in biotechnology patent law, discusses both legal and scientific ramifications of the case in this podcast interview.

The Intellectual Property and Science business of Thomson Reuters recently published a new study called Building Bricks, in which the global research impact of what are known as the BRIC nations. Over a ten year period, global research publications and R&D spending were studied in relation to the patent activity of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Korea. Bob Stembridge, the IP Analyst on the report, comments, “The technology coming out of the BRIC nations is certainly on the rise, and it’s important, I think, for governments to keep a close eye on technology coming out of those countries and to be aware of what’s going on and to track those developments.” Stembridge discusses global innovation and patent growth further in the podcast below.

Law firms are beginning to borrow from the corporate world to incorporate aspects of their clients' business models. Fenwick & West has created a new Product Manager role that borrows from the consumer products world and is modeled on a structure commonly seen in their clients' businesses.  Managing Partner Kate Fritz discusses Fenwick's innovative efforts in this area and the increasing ways in which law firms must adapt today to fit their clients' needs.

Celebrity scandals always seem to capture the public’s attention, as evidenced by recent headlines involving Lance Armstrong, Manti Te’o, Lindsay Lohan, and any number of celebrities that you see populating the checkout line magazine rack.

But after the headlines fade, what are the consequences of these scandals?  Why do some scandal-scarred celebrities rebound while others merely show up weeks later amidst more headlines?

Ronald Camhi is a partner at Michelman & Robinson's Los Angeles office, is the Chair of the Firm’s Advertising, Marketing and Media Department and is a member of the Firm's Recruiting Committee. Mr. Camhi discusses some of the legal aspects of celebrity scandal.

Recent news reports have called attention to the risks of American businesses and government agencies being hacked by Chinese agents.  And a new classified National Intelligence Estimate reportedly lists several other nations, including France and Israel, as sources of cyber-espionage against US targets.

Peter Toren, IP and Computer Crimes expert with Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC discusses the landscape of cyber-espionage risks and how law firms can help their clients.

The Super Bowl is almost as well known for its commercials as it is for the game itself.  And those commercials are also well known to lawyers, since trademark infringement against the NFL is becoming a major issue. Attorney Greg Korn of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump and Aldisert LLP discusses some of the pitfalls that await businesses that run afoul of the National Football League and its trademarks.

Our episode this month highlights some great legal aspects of interesting news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts”segment talks how not to use Twitter during a natural disaster. 

Then in our  “On the Blawgs” segment, we feature a story how not to use Instagram when you’re voting

Our interview segment is with Christopher Bright, an attorney who discusses why intellectual property is one of the hottest areas of law right now.

The complete interview with Anthony Curto can be found here.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight: Shakespeare said “a rose is a rose” but will the FDA say that 7UP Cherry is a cherry?

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, just leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, it’s @legalcurrent.

Christoper D. Bright, an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery LLP discusses why intellectual property litigation is currently one of the fastest practice areas in law.

Thomson Reuters has announced the 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators list, honoring 100 corporations and institutions around the world that are at the heart of innovation as measured by a series of proprietary patent-related metrics. The full report is available at http://www.top100innovators.com.

Financial analysis of the acknowledged companies gives credence to their significance in that these organizations outperformed the S&P 500 by three percent in their market cap weighted revenue (15 percent versus 12 percent). This year’s winners also added 124,214 new jobs over their prior year employment figures.

"Innovation is the foundation for economic prosperity and technological advancement," said David Brown, managing director, Thomson Reuters IP Solutions. "Our Top 100 Global Innovator methodology demonstrates the insight that can be gleaned from the analysis of patent data and confirms the fact that companies focused on innovating drive growth and financial success."

In this podcast, Bob Stembridge, a researcher with Thomson Reuters, discussed the 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators.

See the Thomson Reuters 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators at http://www.top100innovators.com.

Our episode this month highlights some great legal aspects of interesting news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment shows one way of getting to know the local wildlife. 

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment, we feature a story about a supposed wine collection of Thomson Jefferson’s.

Our interview segment is with Anthony Curto, a New York attorney and author of the recently published, The Time For Justice: How the excesses of time have broken our civil justice system.

The complete interview with Anthony Curto can be found here.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about federally created floods and who should, if anyone, be liable for damages.If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, just leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, it’s @legalcurrent.

Show notes for October 2012:

0:00-0:44 Open
0:49-2:28 “Chaos in the Courts”
2:33-4:09 “On the Blawgs”
4:10- 6:07 Interview/Anthony Curto
6:13-7:54 “In the News” with Thomson Reuters News & Insight 
7:55-8:18 Closing comments

In his new book, THE TIME FOR JUSTICE: How the excesses of time have broken our civil justice system (Onward Publishing, June 2012) New York attorney Curto highlights the inequities that arise from the egregious excesses in time required to resolve legal disputes and provides targeted 'time fixes’ to correct the system.

Our episode this month highlights some great legal aspects of interesting news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment shares how one Portland man used Craigslist to get his stolen bicycle back. 

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment, we feature a story about an alleged penny skimming scheme.

Our interview segment is with Ahsan Shaikh of McDermott Will & Emery, who talks about the increase in intellectual property disputes in the video game industry.  

The complete interview with Ahsan Shaikh about the patent trolls of the video game industry can be found here.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about a recent lawsuit over an AutoHop feature that gives customers the option to skip commercials on previously recorded TV shows.    

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, just leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, it’s @legalcurrent.

Show notes for September 2012:

0:00-0:40 Open

0:46-2:04 “Chaos in the Courts”

2:10-4:20 “On the Blawgs”

4:26-6:40 Interview/Ahsan Shaikh

6:48-8:35 “In the News” with Thomson Reuters News & Insight 

8:36-8:58 Closing comments

The video game industry continues to grow and become more sophisticated with advancements in technology every day. With annual revenues of over $10.5 billion, surpassing both the movie and music industries, there are many people outside of the industry who are looking to cash in on the success of video games.

That includes patent trolls, who are finding that many companies aren’t properly protecting their creations. Because of this they are becoming more successful in their suits against video game companies.

Ahsan Shaikh, partner at McDermott Will & Emery, shares some of the background of patents and copyright laws that affect the video game industry and how people, including patent trolls, are finding ways to go after the companies.

Thomson Reuters announced today that Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox  P.L.L.C. (Sterne Kessler) has selected Thomson Reuters to provide its leading technology products and services for a firm initiative that will integrate law firm practice management, matter management, IP solutions, legal research and more into a comprehensive, firm-wide workflow system. The integrated enterprise system will help the firm create high-quality work product with unprecedented efficiency and deliver greater value to clients.

We’ve got a terrific episode for you this month highlighting the legal aspects of some major news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment highlights an unusual way a woman tried to ditch law enforcement which included being “slightly pregnant and slightly in labor”. 

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment we feature a blog post about social media privacy laws.

Our interview segment is with Jon Steinsapir of Kinsella Weitzman, who talks about the controversial “mockbuster” industry and the legal implications concerning these knockoffs of Hollywood’s biggest hits.  

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about recent agreements between branded and generic drug companies allegedly colluding to delay generic competition.   

As the political conventions kick into high gear, there'll be balloons, speeches and....lots  of music. But along the long and winding road that is the campaign trail, the music used by campaigns can often hit a sour note with the artists and musicians whose works are blared at campaign rallies or used on Internet videos.

Last week, former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snyder got into the act, demanding that Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan stop using his hit song "We're Not Gonna Take It."  It's not the first time artists have pulled the plug on the music.  Attorney Larry Iser with Kinsella Wietzman Iser Kump & Aldisert has been at the center of some landmark cases on the use of music by campaigns involving some of the biggest names of both the political and musical stages.

Larry Iser discusses the fight to ensure that political campaigns play by the rules when it comes to using music

Have you seen any of these movies?  Puss in Boots - A Furry Tail?  American Battleship?  Chop Kick Panda?

They're not what you think they are.

With plots and designs that depict an obvious resemblance to Hollywood’s major movie titles, smaller entertainment companies are playing off of big-name studios and attempting to deceive consumers into thinking their movies are the same films found in the theatres.

Since the start of knockoff films, with the first studios creating an obvious depiction of a major movie title in the 1950s, knockoff films have continuously been on the rise and have become a bigger and bigger problem each year with significant advancements in technology.

Jon Steinsapir, partner at Kinsella Weitzman, shares with us the story behind the controversial mockbuster industry and some of the legal implications concerning these knockoff films.

We’ve got a great episode for you this month highlighting the legal aspects of some major news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment features an interesting story about an alleged burglar who was found stuck under the garage door of a Rent-A-Center store.

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment we feature a blog post about an infringement suit involving an 80’s guitar player and an NBA player.

Our interview segment is with Josh Roth of Eisner Kahan & Gorry, who talks with us about the street murals of Los Angeles and the recent attention they have been given by city legislators working to put in place a new ordinance to end the ban on artistic murals.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about the largest case of healthcare fraud in U.S. history.  

The City of Los Angeles is considering an ordinance that would permit the legal creation of public murals on certain buildings.  Legal Current's Rachel Billman talked with Josh Roth, an intellectual property attorney at Eisner, Kahan and Gorry on the impact of the proposed new ordinance.

A great episode discussing IP wars between smartphone companies and legal issues surrounding Google.

Why are all the major smartphone manufacturers suing each other?

Stan Gibson, partner and chair of the patent litigation group at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell talks about why smartphone patent litigation is spreading.

We’ve got a great episode for you this month, with several segments highlighting the legal aspects of some recent news stories including the incident at the Heart Attack Grill as well as the latest on the lawsuits relating to the Italian cruise ship disaster.

Our interview segment is with Robert Brownstone, Technology and E-Discovery Counsel at Fenwick & West LLP where we learn more about what could happen to companies who illegally destroy electronic evidence.

2011 might have ended on a bit of a low note for IPOs in many industries, but the energy sector isn’t one of them. To learn more about why this industry is barreling forward with stock offerings when others are pulling back, we are speaking with Rob Reedy, managing partner at Porter Hedges in Houston to talk about how the energy sector is uniquely positioned for success.

Overall, the end of year rush for IPOs didn't go as expected and investors are eyeing the market with caution going into the New Year.  But with several high-profile internet companies announcing plans for IPOs in the near future, 2012 could start out with a lot more action than you may think.

To learn more the current IPO market and what we can expect to see happening over the coming months, we are turning to Tom Murphy, a partner at the Chicago office of McDermott Will & Emery and head of the Securities & Capital Markets Affinity group.

We’ve got a great podcast this month to kick-off the New Year featuring an interview segment with attorney Yar Chaikovsky about monetizing patents and the forthcoming impacts of patent reform.

With the launch of the Thomson Reuters 2011 Top 100 Global Innovator^SM program, Thomson Reuters has recognized the companies and institutions that lead the world in innovation activity.

To learn more about the program, we speak with Bob Stembridge, Intellectual Property analyst at Thomson Reuters. 

Our last Legal Current podcast of 2011 has a bit of a political twist as we feature two segments that take a closer look at the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform.

In our interview segment, we talk with Andrew Selesnick, a partner at Michelman & Robinson LLP, about the proposed healthcare bill and its impact on the 2012 presidential election.

In many cases, face-to-face interactions are declining while digital communications such as email, instant messaging and text messaging are on the rise. While these more virtual interactions do make it easier to do business anytime and anywhere, they are also a potential breeding ground for white collar crime.

Today’s executives need to be increasingly aware of their communications and interactions in order to avoid finding themselves in legal hot water.

 
To learn more about the growing white collar crime trend, we turned to Stuart Gasner, former federal prosecutor and senior partner at Keker & Van Nest LLP. Stuart sheds some light on why we’ve seen this area of crime increase substantially in recent years as well as provides some practical advice on “how to not become a white collar criminal."

With the trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak still frequenting global news headlines, the spotlight for anti-money laundering and anti-corruption issues has largely stayed on the Middle East. But there’s another part of the world, a little closer to home, where U.S. companies still need to exercise caution and that’s Latin America.

To learn more about the anti-money laundering enforcement efforts in Latin America, as well as how U.S. companies can re-double their efforts to ensure compliance, we are speaking with Will Barry and Jeff Lehtman, both partners out of the Washington D.C. office of Richards Kibbe & Orbe.

We’ve got an entertaining episode this month, starting out with our “Chaos in the Courts” story about a 22-year-old self-proclaimed vampire, just in time for Halloween.

In this month’s interview segment, we speak with Sally Abel from Fenwick and West about some potential trademark issues that are being created with the new .xxx domain for the adult entertainment industry.

We’ve got a great “back to school” episode this month – featuring two segments about employment opportunities for law school graduates.

Social media seems to be just about everywhere, and used by just about everyone. But with a lack of legal boundaries surrounding social media, it becomes difficult to determine what is fair game for law enforcement and what is private property. We spoke with John Browning, managing partner for the Dallas office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith, and author of The Lawyer’s Guide to Social Networking: Understanding Social Media’s Impact on the Law about this issue.

We’ve got a great episode this month! Our interview segment features Owen Nee, the first person to open a Western law firm in China. Owen describes the legal landscape in China and how it compares to that in the US. He also tells us about his career, which is made up of many “firsts.”

Hear Craig Newman, partner in the New York office of Richards Kibbe and Orbe LLP talk about when it makes sense for companies to go after anonymous online posters in court and when it could backfire and make the situation worse.

Richard Gabriel, a trial advisor for Casey Anthony's defense team, talks about the jury selection process and the unprecedented challenges that the team faced in order to ensure that their client received a fair trial.

Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling against Microsoft, granting Toronto-based i4i $290 million, brings up several questions. What impact will this decision have on intellectual property law in general? As innovation and technology continue to advance, will we see more IP lawsuits in the future?

For answers to these questions and to learn more about how this case will affect IP law, we interviewed Rod Berman, Chair of the IP Group with Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell L.L.P.

ProLaw XII is launched, built on .NET technology for improved reporting features and more.

Mark Medice, program director, Hildebrandt Baker Robbins Peer Monitor, comments on the Q1 2011 report.

Join us for an interview with Steven Plitt, author of Couch on Insurance and his latest book Practical Tools for Handling Insurance Cases.