Sunday, April 15, 2007 7:59 AM
Blawg's Sunday Paper, a quick spin through the blawgosphere and the week that was.
Paul Ohm, guest-blogging at The Volokh Conspiracy asked Do Blogs Influence SSRN Downloads? In his post, Mr. Ohm outlined some analysis he has completed, and concluded Yes. In fact, yes, they do. Among his conclusions, perhaps not surprisingly, is that Blogging about an article at the Volokh Conspiracy appears to be a good way to increase SSRN "Abstract Views" and "Downloads."
Professor Gordon Smith at Conglomerate wrote about the The Difference Between Revlon and the Business Judgment Rule:
Vice-Chancellor Strine's opinion in In re Netsmart Technologies, Inc. Shareholders Litigation was issued a month ago, and I have been pondering it ever since. This case has a lot of interesting features, and I hope to blog about some others later. For this post, however, I concentrate on Leo's attempt to distinguish the Revlon standard from the business judgment rule...[read more by clicking The Difference Between Revlon and the Business Judgment Rule ]
Larry Bodine's Law Marketing Blog pointed out Four Hot Trends in Marketing outlined by Silvia L. Coulter, managing director of CoulterCranston, Inc.
Meanwhile, Marianne Richmond at Resonance Partnership Blog, which covers Social Media, Word of Mouth Marketing, and Branding, spent some time creating topical link lists worth exploring links for 2007-04-15, links for 2007-04-14, and links for 2007-04-13.
Out of the Jungle reflected on one of the week's news items in the post Laptops in class -- again! with a discussion of the conversation that followed among law faculty.
The BLT: The Blog of the Legal Times gave notice of a recent interview, A Senior Justice Official Speaks Out, in a post from Friday:
In an interview with our Tony Mauro, Daniel Metcalfe, a longtime senior lawyer at the Justice Deparment, says Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has “shattered” the department’s tradition of independence and politicized its operation more than any other attorney general in more than 30 years. Gonzales is slated to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week to provide further testimony in the burgeoning U.S. attorney scandal. Metcalfe, a former career official at the department, retired in January, before the current controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys erupted. He views the episode as an “awful embarrassment” that has only worsened already-low morale at the department, especially among career attorneys. [Click A Senior Justice Official Speaks Out to read more and find links to the full article ]
LexLibris wrote a brief post on the news that Law.com Launches Legal Web Search Engine, citing TVC Alert which in turn, cited Robert Ambrogi.
V.U. Lawcity, the Valpo Law Blawg, reported Survey says Google draws 64 percent of U.S. search queries.
Freedman Consulting's Law Practice Management asked Are You Ready for the New Postal Regulations and a Whopping Increase in Costs?
New postal regulations go into effect on May 14, 2007. It’s called Shape-Based Pricing. There are a few decent sites on the internet for information at this point.
This is probably one of the most under-reported events I have experienced in recent years, particularly when it may result in an increase in postage costs of as much as 50% overall to an uneducated law firm. We’re not talking about just an increase of 2¢ per letter. We’re talking about a whole new labor-intensive mailing process, and some significant price increases in actual postage for the bulk of mail which is sent by a law firm. In fact, for most firms the most significant price increases aren’t even on the radar screen. I know they weren’t on mine. But I attended a seminar today presented by ITS Mailing Systems, an authorized dealer for Hasler. And it was an eye-opener.
The Harvard International Law Journal Digest highlighted an international border dispute, Peru to Take Chilean Border Issue to the ICJ:
The president of Peru, Alan García, announced over the weekend that the country will turn to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to resolve its maritime border controversy with Chile. Peru says that this border has never been legally set, while Chile sees as binding a pair of treaties signed by the two countries in the 1950s. President García’s announcement followed a highly charged protest near the coastal border organized by nationalist groups last Thursday.
Mark Beese at Leadership for Lawyers reported that
Earlier this month I had a chance to interview Chris Marston, founder and CEO (not managing partner) of Exemplar Law Partners for an article that will appear in the ezine, The Complete Lawyer. Marton is a thirty-something entrepreneur who started a law firm with a unique approach, characterized by flat-fee only billing, hiring only entrepreneurial lawyers, creating cross-functional teams from the beginning of a matter, and an obsession for client service.
Read Mr. Beese's full post on the subject here: Chris Marston Interview
Duke Law and Technology Review’s iBlawg offered a post on The Federal Circuit and Administrative Law Principles:
Recently, the Federal Circuit handed down its decision in Pfizer, Inc. v. Apotex, Inc., No. 06-1261 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 22, 2007), invalidating one of Pfizer’s patents on Norvasc, U.S. Patent No. 4,879,303 (“the ‘303 patent”). Chief Judge Michel, writing the opinion, included a discussion on the appropriate level of deference given to findings by patent examiners, but under the specific facts of the case, the court’s holding resulted in an interesting twist. [click link to find out more about this 'twist']
Noric Dilanchian at IP Lightbulb Blog wrote about the Top 50 trade marks in the UK in 2006
And, finally, to end as usual on a lighter note, Court TV's weblog Stupid Crimes & Misdemeanors gave its Awards of the Week under the category "Another day, another burglar."
Enjoy your Sunday...