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.