TechnoLawyer: TL Editorial

10. You bought an Xbox 360 rather than a Ferrari 360 when you had a mid-life crisis.

9. You advise your client to litigate rather than settle so that you can use the new versions of CaseMap, FYI, TrialDirector, etc.

8. You ask the judge if you can "televise" the trial on YouTube.

7. You count e-mail newsletters instead of sheep to fall asleep.

6. Your den is full of autographed photos of Wells Anderson, Adriana Linares, Jeffrey Lisson, David Moon, Lynn Packer, Ed Poll, Seth Rowland, and other TechnoFeature authors.

5. Thanks to a restraining order, you're no longer allowed within 100 feet of Dennis Kennedy, but you still e-mail him suggestions for TechnoLawyer NewsWire.

4. You camped out overnight to attend the BlawgWorld launch party.

3. You're still hopeful that LawPro 2 will ship one of these days.

2. You have dual monitors in every room of your house, including your bathroom.

1. You return from a weekend in Vegas with the TechnoLawyer logo tatooed on your ....

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

On February 11, 2002 in this newsletter, I wrote: "Despite the years of competition, the case management market still has many players. But last year, West Group acquired ProLaw and Lexis-Nexis allied itself with Time Matters. Will further consolidation occur? Will we ever see a roll-up or merger involving a case management solution and an accounting or time-billing solution?"

Since then, LexisNexis has acquired Time Matters and PCLaw, and more recently CaseSoft and Dataflight. Thomson-West, Wolters Kluwer, and other companies have also made strategic acquisitions.

What does it all mean? Veteran technology reporter John K. Waters attempts to answer this question in his Law.com article, LexisNexis Mergers: Toward a Microsoftesque Monoculture?

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Picture this — you're the product manager of Samsung's new Q1 ultra-mobile tablet PC. You're feeling pretty good. After all, the Q1 does everything a laptop can do in a smaller form factor.

But then CNET UK has to go and spoil your day by publishing a 10 page (!) head-to-head review comparing the Q1 to the Apple Newton MessagePad 2000, which was released in 1997. Even worse, CNET crowns Newton the winner, especially regarding battery life, reliability, and price! Kudos to CNET UK for a truly fun read.

From the article: "It was always going to be a tough fight as the Samsung Q1 punches well above the Newton's weight," said Chris. "But the Newton has 12 times the battery life of the Q1, so ended up winning the fight with sheer stamina.  Add to this the Q1's inflated price and it's a no-brainer. They may be ten years apart, but the Newton still wipes the floor with the Origami project."

Read the article.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Thanks to you, TechnoLawyer was among the first publishers to identify Dell's customer service problems, which have contributed to the company's woes. Dell has even launched a blog to address concerns and keep customers apprised of its restructuring efforts.

But Dell has another problem. For consumers and small businesses, computers are once again being perceived as cool — a word few people would use to describe Dell's product line. By contrast, Apple and HP have unveiled stylish computers this year with slick TV ads to match. HP even lets you create your own version of its ads. Dell recently acquired Alienware, but those high-end machines have a limited audience.

If Dell shores up service and remains competitive on price, will that be enough? Or must it also start designing PCs with sex appeal across its entire product line?

Update: It looks my crystal ball was crystal clear for a change. On July 27, 2006, BusinessWeek published an article entitled Microsoft, Design Guru about how a group within Microsoft is trying to persuade PC manufacturers to build sleeker, sexier PCs.

From the article: "The Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit, hand-delivered to about 70 designers, contains everything a PC maker needs — color palette, suggested materials, even graphics for icons and power buttons — to create computers, laptops, and peripherals that hew to Vista's look. A separate booklet exhorts hardware makers to eschew drab, utilitarian boxes. Microsoft is providing the toolkit for free and vows not to strong-arm any company into incorporating the concepts."

About TechnoEditorials

A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Earlier this year I proclaimed 2006 the year of mobile video. Well, uhm, I think was off by about five years. Maybe ten. Instead, I should have proclaimed it the year of YouTube, the site that finally delivered on the promise of online video — for both filmmakers and their audience. One aspect of my prediction has come to pass, however — lawyers using online video as a marketing tool. For example, Allison Margolin, a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles, created a 3:35 minute film about her work and uploaded it to YouTube. So far it has garnered 1,751 views.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Most lawyers wouldn't admit getting fired to their friends much less blog about it, but that's exactly what Denise Howell (former IP Memes contributor) did last week after being fired from Reed Smith. Her Post in her Bag & Baggage blog has sparked a flurry of supportive Posts from fellow bloggers. Notwithstanding this publicity, the facts remain a mystery — and may never see the light of day. Will this event become a turning point in the way law firms handle sensitive personnel issues? Only time will tell.

Read Denise Howell's Post, Have Aeron, Will Travel. Read what other bloggers have had to say.

And speaking of large firm antics, two weeks ago we reviewed Billable Hours, an amusing spoof about partners in large law firms. About 1,000 of you got to see the film before it was yanked from YouTube for reasons we don't know. Fortunately, we found another copy of the film. Watch it while you still can.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

A few years ago my sister booked marketing guru Seth Godin to speak at an American Express event. Marketing gurus don't speak for free, but fortunately someone had the good sense to film Godin when he spoke at Google earlier this year. The lecture runs 48 minutes, but it's well worth your time if you're interested in either Google or online marketing. Bonus — if you like it, you can download a copy for your iPod or PSP. Watch the video.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

David Cardon, a lawyer at Cardon & Goodman in Hampton Roads, Virginia, has produced and released a short 4.5 minute film entitled Billable Hours. A spoof reminiscent of the cult classic Office Space, Cardon's film depicts large law firm lawyers as boorish middle-aged men more interested in gossiping about attractive coworkers and plotting free lunches than their work. The highlight of the film consists of a summer associate interview in which two partners ask a series of psychological questions approved by the hiring committee. Some people will find Billable Hours offensive. Locker room humor abounds — don't show it to your kids and don't play it at work. A more experienced filmmaker might have provided a moral compass by making the partners even more cartoonish and preposterous. However, to his credit, Cardon does provide one grounded character — the law student — onto whom we can project our own sensibilities. As someone who conducted countless law student interviews during my tenure at a large law firm, I found Billable Hours amusing. I applaud Cardon for taking a chance (comedy is not easy), and hope his film inspires other lawyers to create their own films about law practice.

Update: If the above link no longer works, you can watch the video on Cardon's MySpace page.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Longtime TechnoLawyer members know that I care as deeply about the design of technology as I do about its function. So does New York Times columnist David Pogue. Take a look at his often hilarious 15 minute video presentation from this year's TED conference. As a bonus, in addition to streaming the video, you can also download the audio or video for your iPod — definitely a keeper. Take a look.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Ocean Tomo is a fascinating company — a merchant bank that specializes in intellectual property. For example, the company appraises patents and trademarks, holds patent auctions, provides experts for IP litigation, provides risk management services and insurance to protect trade secrets, and will soon launch a publicly-traded index fund that tracks stocks with strong IP portfolios. Sadly, while a lawyer should have started this company, that's not the case. It was founded by an investment banker. Learn more.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.