INTERNET FOR LAWYERS - INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH UPDATE BY CAROLE LEVITT J.D., M.L.S.

October 2000

CONTENTS

1. Privacy? What Privacy? Personal Financial Data Available For a Price.
2. To combat the above, read Senator Orrin Hatch's U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Report-“Privacy in the Digital Age: A Resource for Internet Users”.
3. Want Your Practice To Explode? Don't let Your Marketing Campaign Backfire.
4. FirstGov debuted on Sept. 22. The federal government's all-in-one site.
5. The California State Bar Convention was held in San Diego from Sept 14-17. Great seminars and cool tech toys at the Exhibit Hall.
6. Carole Levitt appointed to the State Bar's Law Practice Management and Technology (LMPT) Section Executive Committee.
7. Los Angeles Lawyer's Editor/Publisher, Sam Lipsman, to speak at the Southern California Association of Law Libraries dinner meeting on Thursday, Oct. 12. For more info (all are welcome) email clevitt@netforlawyers.com.
8. LegalWorks 2000 Conference-Carole Levitt to speak at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24 (instead of 3:45 p.m.) “CyberSleuthing on the Web: Finding Non-Law Resources” and also at 8:30 a.m. at the Law Librarians Workshop (all welcome/even non-librarians).
9. More Tips
10. Subscribe/Unsubscribe
11. Advertising
12. Redistribution

1. Privacy? What Privacy? Personal Financial Data Available For a Price.

While it is supposed to be illegal to obtain personal bank account information on others, a privacy consultant working for the House Banking Committee has found that this information is readily available and that the number of vendors has doubled in the past two years. One company charges $249 to search out bank names and addresses for any individual, along with account types, account numbers and the approximate balances in all located personal accounts. The vendor, www.Docusearch.com offers numerous other financial searches including stock brokerage accounts and current employment. The trend has members of Congress concerned that the consumer protections included in last year's Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act aren't working. http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/155149.html

2. To combat the above, consumers are encouraged to get empowered to protect their “personally identifiable” privacy with a host of technology tools.

“Know the Rules, Use the Tools”. Read how to protect your “personally identifiable” privacy in Senator Orrin Hatch's U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Report-“Privacy in the Digital Age: A Resource for Internet Users”. http://judiciary.senate.gov/privacy.pdf

3. Want Your Practice To Explode? Don't let Your Marketing Campaign Backfire.

We all want our businesses to grow, but make sure your marketing campaign doesn't "blow up in your face." That's what happened to the Los Angeles firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges when their marketing consultant (since fired) recommended sending hand grenade-shaped paperweights to 600 "hip" prospective clients in Silicon Valley. While the promotion was cleared in advance with the Postal Service, the firm finds itself in damage control mode, contritely offering to reimburse local authorities for the two Bomb Squad calls prompted by the mailing. Read the whole story in the San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/0...

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INTERNET FOR LAWYERS popular guide to conducting effective research on the Internet "How to Use the Internet for Legal, Business & Investigative Research: A Guide for Legal Professionals," (http://www.netforlawyers.com/prod01.htm) now contains a comprehensive index. Newly revised, this edition also contains many new and updated research links. Now available: California or Tennessee version (both include general and federal topics also). To view a sample chapter of the book, click on http://www.netforlawyers.com/article_company_research.htm. To view the book's table of contents, click on http://www.netforlawyers.com/research_manual_toc.htm. California and Arizona MCLE self-study materials are also available to accompany this guide. http://www.netforlawyers.com/prod02.htm.

4. FirstGov debuted on Sept. 22.

The federal government's all-in-one site. “Your first click to the U.S. Government”. Search by key words, using the internal search engine or select from “Interesting Topics” listed on the first page. Links to State and Local web sites too. http://firstgov.gov

5. The California State Bar Convention was held in San Diego from September 14-17. Great seminars and cool tech toys at the Exhibit Hall.

Ruth Halpern, partner in the training consultancy Halpern & Holt(http://www.halpernandholt.com), noted in her seminar that for every $100 spent on hardware, a firm should be spending $75 on training, otherwise the first $100 is wasted. Martin Dean discussed many cool tools, from the Palm keyboard for $99 that folds up to the size of a palm, but when extended offers a decent size keyboard to use along with your Palm Pilot, to a flat screen 19 inch monitor that will save 3 feet of desk space.

6. Carole Levitt appointed to the State Bar's Law Practice Management and Technology (LMPT) Section Executive Committee.

The Committee's charge is to keep members up to date in the areas of LMPT by offering cutting edge MCLE programs and writing about hot LMPT topics in the monthly newsletter, “The Bottom Line”. Learn more about membership benefits at http://www.lpmt.org.

7. Los Angeles Lawyer's Editor/Publisher, Sam Lipsman, to speak at the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL) dinner meeting on Thursday, Oct. 12.

For more info about the meeting (all are welcome), email clevitt@netforlawyers.com. For info about SCALL and its 400 law librarians, see our web site at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/. Visit the Los Angeles Lawyer magazine online to read Carole Levitt's "Computer Counselor" column free http://www.lacba.org/lalawyer/tech.

8. LegalWorks 2000 Conference-Carole Levitt to speak at 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24.

The Daily Journal/Glasser LegalWorks Conference, to be held in Los Angeles (at the Century City Plaza Hotel, from Oct. 23-24, 2000) features Carole Levitt as a speaker on “CyberSleuthing on the Web: Finding Non-Law Resources." When? Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 2:00 p.m. Also, join us at the Law Librarians Workshop at 8:30 a.m. to learn about Domestic Internet Legal Research Websites(presented by Carole Levitt) and International law web sites(presented by Amber Smith of LACLL). To register online, see http://www.legalwks.com.

9. More Internet Legal Research Tips

Go to http://www.netforlawyers.com for additional articles, features and tips to conducting more effective legal, business & investigative research on the Internet.

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