Friday, July 30, 2004
as a follow-up to the article about blogging lawsuits, see GROKLAW, which is a blog covering the SCO v. IBM lawsuit over open source rights to UNIX in excruciating detail
Thursday, July 29, 2004
came across this article today:
Blogs Dot the Litigation Landscape
seems like blogs are branching out and making themselves useful ...
one of the case blogs referred to is run by a lawyer named Reback for PeopleSoft, the target of a hostile takeover by Oracle; "At his client's request, Reback is 'blogging' the proceeding, sitting in the trial all day, taking notes, and filing an account on PeopleSoft's corporate Web site." How would that be - to be paid by your client to just sit in trial all day and take notes? sounds like the lawyer is acting as a specialized personal reporter for the client, but probably commanding a much higher salary than the average reporter.
another case blog involves the martha stewart trial; the defense team was able to take advantage of web capabilities in unexpedted ways: "One aspect that Morvillo said his team hadn't anticipated was the usefulness of the Web site in dealing with the media and outside lawyers. When motion papers were publically filed, they were posted on the site, and when others wanted a copy, 'it took the strain off our office to be able to just refer the interested parties to the site,' he said." Sounds like a really good idea, one that firms representing high-profile clients in other cases may emulate.
Finally, there's the personal touch:
"Between the expensive professionalism of Stewart's site and the ragtag Blake sites lies the site maintained by family members, such as www.myjaysonwilliams.com. Former National Basketball Association star Jayson Williams could surely afford the P.R. route in fighting charges of negligent homicide for firing a shotgun at his chauffeur.
But the strategy of his defense team was to downplay his wealth and to portray him as a loving and religious family man, a strategy bolstered by the Web site of his wife, Tanya Young Williams, a lawyer, who regularly posts gauzy photos and diary entries. The effect resembles a greeting card, but allows for occasional outbursts -- such as when she scored the prosecution for kicking black males off the jury -- without affecting the sentimental tone. Williams' first trial ended with a hung jury, and the site can be expected to continue into the retrial next January, if the judge doesn't intervene."
Blogs Dot the Litigation Landscape
seems like blogs are branching out and making themselves useful ...
one of the case blogs referred to is run by a lawyer named Reback for PeopleSoft, the target of a hostile takeover by Oracle; "At his client's request, Reback is 'blogging' the proceeding, sitting in the trial all day, taking notes, and filing an account on PeopleSoft's corporate Web site." How would that be - to be paid by your client to just sit in trial all day and take notes? sounds like the lawyer is acting as a specialized personal reporter for the client, but probably commanding a much higher salary than the average reporter.
another case blog involves the martha stewart trial; the defense team was able to take advantage of web capabilities in unexpedted ways: "One aspect that Morvillo said his team hadn't anticipated was the usefulness of the Web site in dealing with the media and outside lawyers. When motion papers were publically filed, they were posted on the site, and when others wanted a copy, 'it took the strain off our office to be able to just refer the interested parties to the site,' he said." Sounds like a really good idea, one that firms representing high-profile clients in other cases may emulate.
Finally, there's the personal touch:
"Between the expensive professionalism of Stewart's site and the ragtag Blake sites lies the site maintained by family members, such as www.myjaysonwilliams.com. Former National Basketball Association star Jayson Williams could surely afford the P.R. route in fighting charges of negligent homicide for firing a shotgun at his chauffeur.
But the strategy of his defense team was to downplay his wealth and to portray him as a loving and religious family man, a strategy bolstered by the Web site of his wife, Tanya Young Williams, a lawyer, who regularly posts gauzy photos and diary entries. The effect resembles a greeting card, but allows for occasional outbursts -- such as when she scored the prosecution for kicking black males off the jury -- without affecting the sentimental tone. Williams' first trial ended with a hung jury, and the site can be expected to continue into the retrial next January, if the judge doesn't intervene."
