A recent post of mine drew a lot of attention for stating that the number of legal startups had nearly tripled in two years. Relying on the Angel List roster of legal startups, I observed that the number had grown from 412 two years ago to 1,094…
On Lawyer2Lawyer this Week: Transgender Rights and Bathroom Bills
With its “bathroom law,” North Carolina has become ground zero for a debate that is playing out in a number of states involving the transgender community, equal rights and equal access to public accommodations. North Carolina’s controversial law bans people from using bathrooms that don’t match the sex indicated on their birth certificates,…
LexisNexis Unveils Visualization Map Feature for Case Law Research
Within search results, search terms are color coded at the top of the page and the location bar appears in each search result.
A new visualization tool for case law research in Lexis Advance is being announced today by LexisNexis Legal & Professional. Called Search Term Maps, the tool color codes and maps…
ABA Not Out to Regulate 'Entire Legal Tech Industry,' Future Commission Member Says
In a post yesterday at the Catalyst E-Discovery Search Blog, I discussed concerns about whether the ABA’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services is looking at regulating e-discovery companies and other companies that provide products and services to the legal industry.
Today, the commission’s vice-chair Andrew Perlman told me that…
Adobe Announces Box, OneDrive Integrations; E-Signing App; Acrobat Enhancements
It’s been a year since Adobe introduced its all-new Acrobat DC version of its popular PDF software, which came packaged and tightly integrated with another new offering, Adobe Document Cloud. (See my review here.) Today, to mark that one-year anniversary, Adobe announced several enhancements to Acrobat DC and Document…
Is Regulation of E-Discovery Companies on the ABA's Radar?
At the Catalyst E-Discovery Search Blog today, I have a post examining whether there could be a call for regulation of e-discovery vendors.
Some background: This Thursday is the deadline to file comments with the American Bar Association’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services on whether states should regulate legal service providers (LSPs).…
Startup Plans to Rate Lawyers Based on Court Records and Win-Loss Stats
Two Harvard University undergraduates are preparing to launch a website that will rate lawyers based on publicly available court records. The site, called Legalist, will mine and analyze court records in order to match clients with lawyers who win similar cases based on details and location. It will also profile litigators’…
Class Action Lawsuit Challenges PACER Fees as Excessive
A class action lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Washington, D.C., challenges the fees charged by PACER, the federal courts’ online court records system, as excessive. The lawsuit seeks to obtain relief on behalf of “all individuals and entities who have paid fees for the use of PACER within the past…
Seven Recent Legal Tech Articles Worth Reading
Here are seven articles I’ve read recently that I recommend as worth a look:
Luddite Lawyer’s Guide to Computer Backup Systems. Lawyer Craig Ball, a leading expert in e-discovery and computer forensics, offers this newly updated primer on backup techniques and media. Although written with an eye to discovery, it should…
Legal Services Corp., Microsoft and Pro Bono Net Team Up to Create Legal-Aid Portals
In a move aimed at enhancing access to justice, the Legal Services Corporation announced today that it is partnering with Microsoft Corporation and Pro Bono Net to develop state legal portals to direct individuals with civil legal needs to the most appropriate forms of assistance.
Initially, they will develop…
For Real Estate Lawyers, A Hidden Research Gem Gets New Polish
One of the little-known gems of web research for real estate lawyers is the Underwriting Library of First American Title. The site used to describe itself as “the largest compilation of title material available on this planet.” I no longer see that description anywhere on the site, but I wouldn’t…
Citrix Will Soon Launch Its Own Law Practice Management Platform
[Editor’s note: Subsequent to this post, Citrix abandoned its plan to launch a legal practice management platform. General information on ShareFile for legal can be found here.]
In case you think the market for practice management software isn’t already crowded enough, you will soon have another choice. Sometime this spring, Citrix will launch…