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.