Investigate THIS !

The 10 Commandments, the death penalty and Title IX are just a few of the light hors d'oeuvres on the plate of the Supreme Court this term.
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NetLitigation describes its site as, "Designed for e-businesses and netizens as well as lawyers, netlitigation.com is a tool for understanding how legal relationships and disputes are being transformed in the rapidly evolving information economy. " Includes case law in subject categories.

"Blawg Republic provides a digest view of the latest news and commentary from the legal blogging community." Easy to search site with a range of legal news sources.

Jurist Legal News and Research has breaking legal news including the legal angle on international events. Search case law here too.

On the Docket is a site devoted to Supreme Court news.

May It Please the Court is one of the most widely read (and listened to) legal weblogs. He also has an extensive list of links to other legal sites.
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The phrase "tort reform" is sounding a bit like "media elite", and all those empty, push-button phrases. When the cruel, hollow echo can't get anymore cynical, along comes Molly to put doomsday in perspective.

The point of tort deform is not to save business from a non-existent "flood" of frivolous lawsuits. The flood is just as phony as the Social Security "crisis." It's a fight between big business and the trial lawyers, and as the African proverb says, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." We're the grass in this titanic clash of special interests. What we stand to lose is the great America right to sue the bastards. What business calls tort "reform" just means the doors of the courthouse will be shut to average citizens. You cannot get justice.

Tom Paine pieces together the contradictions between what the no-torters say and what they do.

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 actually offers litigants coupons. It seems that those who have actually analyzed malpractice claims don't see eye-to-eye with Bush.
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Pending Supreme Court cases are summarized, with a link to the Argument summary and key questions. Muehler V. Mena poses the issue of whether officers "violate the Fourth Amendment if they lawfully detain an individual and ask that person questions about criminal activity without probable cause".

I've added the link to the Oyez Project's recent Supreme Court Arguments, in the sidebar.

Informative blogs that primarily comment on court cases and direct the reader to case analysis can be found here and here.
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Martindale-Hubbell has filed suit against John Does accessing their site www.lawyers.com, in violation of the terms of use for the site. A similar database has not appeared on the market but copyright restrictions would apply. Three internet users accessed over 400, 000 attorney profiles in one month.
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Mark Roberti, editor of the RFID Journal suggests that the retail use of RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags may expose retailers to invasion of privacy torts. The tags now in use by major consumer outlets to track the movement of goods, could potentially be associated with personal data in the retailers' database.

EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) interviewed executives on the commercial use of RFID tags. Roland Edwards of Global Communications admitted that, "Personal information is not stored on chip but is likely associated in store databases."

The penetration of this technology in the retail market, from tracking goods to associating those goods with specific customers will be driven by the big arm twisters, Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense.

RFID may also penetrate the legal world through the need to manage litigation.
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The ALM Law Technology News released the online poll winners of the best law firm technology vendors. The Common Scold was there.
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From the chambers of da judge I have procured this piece published by Rebeccca Foote of Ford Marrin Esposito Witmeyer & Gleser, L.L.P which offers an analysis of the application of the privileged communication through email.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 (“FCA”) prohibits unauthorized publication or interception of radio or telephone communications. While the FCA does not explicitly address modern forms of non-voice electronic communications, support for the confidentiality of email has been found in law which was designed to protect cellular telephone communications, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Using language broad enough to include email communications, the ECPA prohibits “intentionally intercept[ing], endeavor[ing] to intercept, or procur[ing] any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication.” Additionally, the ECPA expressly states that “no otherwise privileged wire, oral, or electronic communication intercepted . . . shall lose its
privileged character.”Read article with case citations

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Search all California official case law for free. Keyword and citation searches available.
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The writer at Notes from the Legal Underground details the effect of the impending law, Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 that just passed the U.S. Senate.
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Get more work by keeping your current clients. Its easier and more productive to satisfy the needs of existing clients then to kindle a new relationship. One of the primary complaints clients have about their attorneys is that they don't anticipate the clients' needs. A survey by Sage Legal Marketing was reported in The Law Marketing Portal.

92% of our respondents reported that their law firms did not anticipate their legal needs, and as a result when something came up they would start the buying process all over again. This is the foremost reason law firms do not enjoy the long-term, taken for granted relationships they once did with prime clients. Read the article

On the other hand, the Internet has become one of the first places potential clients go to find you, or find out if they want to work with you. In 2004, the 2nd most searched term for professional services in the Google Local search was attorney.

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A very productive and visible lawyer in the online discussion community, Carolyn Elefant, writes in the current issue of law.com, about the small and egregious mistakes made by lawyers, and how to make amends.

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Increasingly, documentation retained by public and private entities is being stored only in electronic format.

Some public agencies are selling the public records to private vendors but denying the public the same access to those records for free.

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