Changing Legal Research
With the recent launch of WestlawNext, and recent announcements from Fastcase and LexisNexis about new products, it’s time to step back and see what's really changing.
Survey Says
Back in December we asked you to fill out a survey regarding practicelaw. Some respondents wanted to know what we heard.
Ethics and/or Social Media?
As with almost everything a lawyer touches, social media use brings up plenty of gray areas. Avoid social media at your peril, but use it at your peril. What’s a lawyer to do?
What's New, What's Coming
The ball has dropped on Times Square, the Rose Bowl is over, and the final strains of Auld Lang Syne have faded away. Time to turn to what’s new and what’s coming in 2010.
Not Even My Two Front Teeth
Caught between Thanksgiving (when I express thankfulness) and Christmas (when I ask for gifts) and New Year's (when I make resolutions) -- a list of those things I resolve to be thankful for if they come about in 2010
Top 25 Minnesota Blawgs?
What if we launched the MinneBlawg 25, the top 25 legal blogs with a Minnesota base and focus? Who would make it?
The Turtle Always Wins
The UCB Task Force has recently "completed" a huge task – reviewing and revising existing UCB mortgage foreclosure forms in light of statutory changes in the 2008 and 2009 legislative sessions.
Lawyers To Be 'Web MD'd?'
The bottom line: lawyers who fail to innovate may have the most to lose. With access to legal opinions increasingly available to anyone at anytime, Joe Q. Public and so-called ‘non-lawyer specialists’ now have many of the legal research tools many lawyers take for granted.
Featured Posts
Practice. Law. Life.
Legal Style Guides
To badly hijack a quote from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, good legal writing style, like pornography, is hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Attorneys start developing a legal writing style in law school. For most of us, it is awkward at first. Remember IRAC (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion)? Not to speak of wedging in legal citations, not just in a proper Bluebook format, but in a manner that doesn’t get in the way of content. How much does one paraphrase a case, quote directly?
Coming Soon to a Computer Near You
With Monday’s launch of WestlawNext, Thomson Reuters’s new legal research platform, and recent announcements from Fastcase and LexisNexis about new products, it’s time to step back and see what really is changing.
The New York Times and the latest ABA Journal both preview some of the changes, which we also summarize below. While competition for your business is always good, there are now a lot of things to remember and compare beyond Westlaw or LexisNexis. Some say the big two missed their chance with the solo and small law firm demographic, so it will be interesting to see the applications for the new products. Consider this your quick reference guide. (more)
Chewing on Our Legal News
We asked, you answered. Each Wednesday, the MSBA sends out its Legal News Digest (LND), which collects and highlights legal news from the past week, including Minnesota and national news as well as news about the legal profession. More recently, we added select blog posts from local and national legal bloggers.
After launching the new LND format in May, we continue to tinker with minor changes but are also trying to gauge reader interest in various stories and topics to help us plan bigger changes. In the last few weeks we heard back from nearly 700 MSBA members about the strengths, weaknesses, and thoughts about our approach to the legal news. Here goes. (more)
So, What Is Off the Clock?
Save the date
Greg is back from Italy, so we’re returning to our regularly-scheduled monthly Thursday happy hours. Save the date for Off the Clock #6 on Thursday, February 25, 3:00-6:00 at Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis.
What is Off the Clock? Prompted by discussions on the MSBA’s solosmall listserv, we’ve been having get-togethers with Minnesota State Bar Association members to talk shop and to walk through hands-on demonstrations of tech tools. It’s an informal forum to ask questions and learn new tricks. (more)
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