Law Librarian Blog

Net Neutrality Via Congress Dead For Now

Net neutrality took a bit of a hit yesterday when Congressman Henry Waxman  (D-CA) issued a statement stating that his compromise version of net neutrality legislation would not be going forward.  He cited a lack of Republican support for the measure as the reason.  AT&T had supported the legislation as it included a provision that would have prohibited the FCC from reclassifying broadband services as transport services.  The Commission is currently considering that option as a way to regulate carrier access and management policies.  Waxman's legislation also included provisions that would have prevented carriers from discriminating against different types of "lawful" Internet traffic, and would have imposed some non-discrimination rules on wireless Internet.  The Google-Verizon principles would keep regulation from wireless broadband.

With legislation dead, many are waiting for the FCC to impose its version of net neutrality principles on carriers.  The only problem with that approach is that the Commission will likely be sued over the action.  The FCC lost two high profile cases recently.  One struck down the indecency ban for fleeting expletives, and the other said it didn't have the power to fine Comcast for limiting peer-to-peer traffic on its network. 

If the FCC does act and the courts strike down the reclassification of broadband to something it can regulate, don't expect Congress to step in to fix the decision.  Congress did not act when the Comcast decision was handed down.  With the coming election and pundit predictions that the Democratic control of the House will weaken or be eliminated, there will be even less chance the next Congress will enact net neutrality legislation.  [MG]

Classic Westlaw's Forms Focus

From the announcement which is subtitled "New visibility for our massive forms collection":

Similar to ResultsPlus, Forms Focus is found on the Links tab of selected cases, statutes, and regulations on Westlaw and provides links to up to two forms related to concepts in the viewed document. (For selected documents, you can retrieve additional Forms Focus results by clicking View All Results next to Forms Focus on the Links tab.) Forms Focus identifies forms in major forms publications such as West's Legal Forms, American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms Annotated, Municipal Legal Forms, Nichols Cyclopedia of Legal Forms Annotated, Federal Procedural Forms, and other forms collections. Suggested forms are designed to be jurisdiction-neutral. These forms do not necessarily cite the viewed document; instead, Forms Focus identifies forms based on the document text.

You incur a charge under your organization's subscription plan for clicking a Forms Focus link, but you do not incur a charge for viewing the Forms Focus links themselves.

Sounds like it might be a useful add-on. [JH]

TR RIA Kills Checkpoint's Tax Alerts

Hat tip to LLB co-editor Mark Giangrande for the tip. Here's the announcement, followed by my explanation why I didn't get one:

Dear Valued Tax Alerts Subscriber:

We take pride in delivering intelligent and innovative products that meet the ever-changing needs of our customers. Helping you work faster, smarter, and with greater profitability is what we're all about.

A few years ago, we added the Tax Alerts service to your current subscription at no additional charge to you. Recently, we made a decision to discontinue the Tax Alerts service.

Here's our plan for the discontinuation of this service:

We will continue to publish new federal and state Tax Alerts developments until December 31, 2010.
 
After December 31, 2010, we will no longer update the Tax Alerts service. We will, however, continue to offer you access to the Tax Alerts database on Checkpoint until May 31, 2011.

After May 31, 2011, the Tax Alerts service will be removed from Checkpoint and you will no longer have access to the service, including its archives.

If you have any questions, please contact your local Account Manager. (Check this site for a listing of Account Managers: http://ria.thomsonreuters.com/replocator.)

As always, we appreciate your business, and we wish you success throughout 2010 and beyond.

Sincerely,

[name deleted]
Senior Product Manager - Tax Alerts

No comment of what "no additional charge to you" means in TR-speak.

Score One for BNA and CCH. Oh, that's OK if Tax Alerts is history. I killed all of Checkpoint when it came up for renewal recently. At $13K per year for our very selective Checkpoint resources, it just wasn't worth it. You might say this is an illustration of feasting on the TR carcass. You might say that $13K would be better spent on BNA and CCH online tax resources. You also might say it is damn hard to compete with BNA's Daily Tax Report even if something like Checkpoint's "Tax Alerts" is offered at no additional charge to your Checkpoint subscription.

TR's Warren, Gorham & Lamont Brand for Tax Publications. I still have some Warren, Gorham & Lamont tax titles in print. WG&L, as folks may recall, was (1) acquired by Thomson in 1980 and (2) the tax publishing activities of WG&L were merged with RIA in 1996. This brand somehow has found a way to survive in the TR empire by continuing to publish high quality works. Very rare. Perhaps that's because WG&L is part of the tax and accounting segment of TR's Professional Division, not TR Legal. I plan to keep the titles as long as they are used, remain, relatively speaking, reasonably priced for print continuation, and continue to maintain the standard of quality we expect from WG&L for tax publications.

BNA's New Premier State Tax Library. BTW, you might want to contact your BNA rep because the Company has developed a new state tax library. Download BNA's Premier State Tax Library Brochure. Note to FTC, no free review provided, but I'm interested. [JH]

On the Virtues of Good Typography: Butterick's Typography for Lawyers is the first guide aimed specifically at lawyers (and legal writing profs and law students!)

How many readers remember Robin Williams' The Mac is Not a Typewriter, 1st ed. (1991)? Winner of the 1991 Benjamin Franklin Award in the Computer Book Category, this little book was a style manual showing Mac users how to produce professional quality manuscripts. It was aimed at desktop publishers but also any Mac user seeking a polished look for the documents he or she was creating. What was the first thing I learned from the book? Eliminate double spaces between sentences.

Matthew Butterick has been promoting good typography practices for lawyers on his website for years now. A snip:

Typography is always important because presentation is always important. Just like a gesture can punctuate a point in court, good typography can reinforce the meaning of your text. Good typography helps your reader move beyond your words and into your meaning. Conversely, bad typography can mislead your reader and undermine your meaning.

Another snip on why typography is important for lawyers:

[O]n a day that you have to finish an important court filing, do you do any of the following things to your document before you file it with the court?

• Convert straight quotes to curly quotes
• Remove double spaces between sentences
• Insert nonbreaking spaces where appropriate
• Insert small caps
• Check hyphenation

If you’re like most lawyers, you do none of these things. But why not?

... When you show up to make an oral argument, you make sure that you present yourself as professionally and persuasively as possible. Similarly, your written documents should reflect the same level of attention to typography.

"Modern law offices have the same document-production capabilities as professional printing shops of not so long ago. But most legal documents -- letters, memos, agreements, court filings -- remain stuck in the outdated habits of the typewriter era," writes Butterick. That for me echoes back almost 20 years to Williams' The Mac is Not a Typewriter. Butterick, by the way, is one of the few typographers-turned-attorneys in the US. Before becoming a lawyer, he earned a degree in art from Harvard, focusing on graphic design and typography. After college, he worked as a digital font designer.

How This Typographer-Turned-Attorney Spent His Summer. Over the summer Butterick turned his website into a book. His Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents will be available from Jones McClure Publishing in November 2010. You can pre-order a copy now from the above link or on Amazon. (Note to FTC, no review copy provided). Not only will it be useful for the practitioner, it is highly recommended to get this book into the hands of legal writing profs and students. Only costs $25 (and don't you like a publisher who doesn't price a title at $24.99!).

Here's an illustration why the work should be acquired by way of Typographer at Law: An Interview with Matthew Butterick (AIGA March 17, 2010):

When you were doing your law studies, did you ever bring your typographic concerns to the bench? And if so, how were they received?

Butterick: I did use Stempel Garamond or something for my first paper in my legal-writing class. The professor said, “Next time, use Courier.” “Why?” “Because that’s how we do it.” “But lawyers don’t have to use Courier.” “Well, that’s how we do it.” And so on. Giving professors a hard time is a favorite pastime of law students. You learn quickly that the professors are immune to it.

I’ve gotten mail from young lawyers asking, “I just started working at a law firm. How do I make the managing partner adopt everything on your site?” I say, you don’t—you do your job. You apply the techniques to your own work where you can. Sooner or later people will say, “Hey, why do your documents look better?” That’s how you win.

From the product description for Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents:

Typography for Lawyers is the first guide to the essentials of typography aimed specifically at lawyers. Author Matthew Butterick, a Harvard-trained typographer and practicing attorney, dispels the myth that legal documents are incompatible with excellent typography. Butterick explains how to get professional results with the tools you already have — quickly and easily. Topics include special keyboard characters, line length, point size, font choice, headings, and hyphenation. The book also includes tutorials on specific types of documents like résumés, research memos, and motions.

[JH]

Call for Nominations: ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities' 2011 Thurgood Marshall Award Offers Opportunity to Promote Access to eLaw Resources for Everyone

The Thurgood Marshall Award recognizes long-term contributions to the furtherance of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights in the United States. Past recipients include such distinguished men and women as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Fred D. Gray, the Honorable Abner J. Mikva, and Stephen B. Bright. The award will be presented at a dinner on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, during the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada. The deadline to submit nomination materials is Friday, October 1, 2010.

• More information about the award
• The nomination form which should be submitted electronically to irr(at)abanet.org

Who would I nominate? Ray Kurzweil; it's a no-brainer although it may be too law librarian-ish to get the recognition Ray deserves. As CEO of Kurzweil Technologies, Ray has been an innovator and pioneer in assistive technologies for 30 years. The inventor of the first print-to-speech reading machine for the disabled, Ray just keeps focused on the task at hand as the publishing landscape changes. Now there's Blio for eBooks, by K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc., joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind.

If not the ABA, perhaps AALL? Now, if only we can get our major legal vendors on board to provide access for everyone. In this day and age, the technological solutions are readily available to provide electronic delivery of primary and secondary legal resources in formats convenient and practicable for use directly to individuals with disabilities as easily as they are provided to individuals without disabilities.

The current state of affairs and the current conduct of vendor business ought not be tolerated one minute longer. If we are truly advocates of access, we should be making this a top priority. I speak from professional and personal experience because my personal attorney is blind so I know the hoops he has to jump through just to obtain usable legal resources to practice his chosen profession. [JH]

When Is a Library Like a Prison?

Aside from any other comparisons, when the management of both institutions is outsourced.  Cash-strapped governments have leased assets or turned over some services to private companies as a way of keeping their costs down.  Now the trend has hit some public libraries.  The New York Times reported on Monday that a city with good financials, Santa Clarita, California, has hired Library Systems & Service to manage its three libraries.  That development seems not to sit too well with some citizens with Santa Clarita.

A visit to the LSSI web site shows glowing testimonials from various municipalities who have engaged these outside services.  There are expanded library hours, upgraded facilities, and a host of other improvements through LSSI management.  How is is possible that a for-profit company can do that with less operating money than would a library board?  Consolidation is one avenue.  The New York Times describes the company as the fifth largest library system.  Online subscriptions and other purchases are less expensive in bulk.  Centralized cataloging is another area that lowers costs.  How about staff?  Now, I think, we're getting to a substantial area of savings. 

According to the LSSI faq, all or "nearly all" local staff are retained, becoming employees of LSSI rather than the municipality or county that has the system.  This effectively takes these employees off the government books and placed them in the private sector where the salaries and benefits can be a bit more, what's the word, "flexible."

Here are some comments from the company chief executive as reported in the Times article:

“There’s this American flag, apple pie thing about libraries,” said Frank A. Pezzanite, the outsourcing company’s chief executive. He has pledged to save $1 million a year in Santa Clarita, mainly by cutting overhead and replacing unionized employees. “Somehow they have been put in the category of a sacred organization.”

And

“A lot of libraries are atrocious,” Mr. Pezzanite said. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”

Ah, the hostility to staff, or am I reading something into this?  As an academic, I can't really speak to the work conditions in a publicly-funded library.  The sentiments seem to suggest that librarians are lazy and overpaid.  I don't think that is the case, but then again, I'm not in the business of squeezing money out of library systems.  [MG]

 

A First, I Think: Law Prof’s Tweet Cited in Brief

Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog for calling attention to this. See Josh Blackman's Blog post for details on the citation to a tweet by UCLA law prof Adam Winkler to refute an interpretation of a law review article Winkler wrote. [JH]

USCprelim: Pilot Project to Update Online USC Titles Faster Launched With IRC

In Is There a Future for an e-USC? Law Library Lights, 9 (Winter 2010), Andy Zimmerman and Trevor Rosen asked "would it be possible for the OLRC to create an e-USC along the same lines of the e-CFR?" By way of email exchanges with Andy about this topic he wrote

For some time I've wished the government would post a relatively current edition of the United States Code, and I got particularly interested after the e-CFR proved successful. I researched the situation last Fall, and spoke with Peter LeFevre, the Law Revision Counsel. At the time Mr. LeFevre was focused on the worthy goal of reducing the time lag for incorporating new laws into the official USC to about a year, but he was receptive when I mentioned possibly also developing an unofficial-but-nearly-current edition of the USC similar to the e-CFR.

Looks like LeFever ran with the idea! Recently the House of Representatives Office of the Law Revision Counsel (OLRC) launched USCprelim with the online publication of Title 26 containing the Internal Revenue Code, current through Public Law 111-237 (August 16, 2010). You can view the updated IRC by section or group of sections, specify the title and section or other subdivision, or search by words or phrases using boolean and proximity connectors. Additional search options include

• Concept (searches for documents statistically related to your query)
• Relate (suggests words related to your query, based on co-occurrence within database)
• Fuzzy (suggests words spelled similarly to the first word in your query)
• Dictionary (verifies existence and popularity of a word in the database)

See the Help page for details.

About USCprelim:

Starting in 2010, the OLRC began a pilot project, called the USCprelim, to update certain titles of the U.S. Code on the website throughout the year as laws affecting those titles are enacted, rather than waiting until the end of the congressional session. Although these titles are also prepared from the same database used to prepare all other versions of the Code, they are posted to the website as a preliminary release, before all editorial notes have been added and before all work has been thoroughly reviewed. Thus, it should be expected that the preliminary release will be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version. Nevertheless, the preliminary release should be useful to those seeking a more current version of the law. As with other online versions of the Code, the U.S. Code classification tables should be consulted for the latest laws affecting the Code.

In his recent blog post, OT: There IS a future for an e-USC!, Andy writes

I would like to think my article (co-written with Trevor Rosen, a librarian at Kilpatrick Stockton LLP) planted the seed for USCprelim but, either way, the pilot represents a big step forward, and the OLRC should be commended for making it happen.

No doubt Andy's conversation with Peter LeFevre didn't hurt and most likely it was a contributing factor to the development of this new resource. There are substantially different requirements between how the CFR and its eCFR version and the USC and its new USCprelim can be created. But it most definitely looks like OLRC is overcoming some of the hurdles the creators of the e-CFR do not have to face. [JH]

Engaging in Profitable Labor: Help Change the World of Electronic Production, Distribution and Access to Legal Information Now

It took the initiative of NOCALL and "the ground-breaking effort led by Erika Wayne at Stanford University’s Robert Crown Law Library and Carl Malamud of PublicResource.Org to develop a national inventory of all primary legal resources at every level of government" plus no small amount of nudging inside and outside the law librarian blogosphere to wake up our association leadership from its Rip Van Winkle state so they could catch up to the pack to justify their leadership role as advocates for transformative change that is also representative of AALL members' own activities. Thank god, individual law librarians and AALL chapters don't have to pass every last thing by the Executive Board before taking action.

By now AALL's ad revenue sources, that would be our major vendors, have realized that any "leave it to the private sector" argument is not going to be persuasive; that bucking progress -- the LAW.GOV project is part of the much larger Gov 2.0 movement -- cannot be stopped. Last week's announcement that LAW.GOV was awarded $2 million by Google to provide financial assistance to help make government more transparent is another step toward changing the world of electronic production, distribution and access to legal resources. So now it is time to engage is some profitable labor.

AALL Webinar: Producing a National Inventory of Primary Legal Materials for LAW.GOV. AALL is offering a ways and means webinar on Oct. 6 (11:00 AM to 12:15 PM - Central Time) for participants and others interested in participating in our association's State Working Groups to Ensure Access to Electronic Legal Information project which was reformulated to recognize and contribute to LAW.GOV thanks to the "ground-breaking effort" noted above. Registration must be completed by October 1, 2010 at 5:00 PM (CDT). Details here. The speakers will be several current state project coordinators:

• Kentucky State Working Group coordinator, Emily Janoski-Haehlen, Assistant Director of Research & Online Services, Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law Library;
• Maryland State Working Group coordinator, Joan Bellistri, Law Librarian, Anne Arundel County Public Law Library and;
• Indiana State Working Group coordinator Sarah Glassmeyer, Faculty Services and Outreach Librarian, Valparaiso University School of Law Library.

Profitable Labor Can Change the World. We rapidly aging and decrepit Baby Boomers law librarians know how important this project is but, well, we're pretty tired after muddling through each workday before we finally handing over the reigns of so-called institutional authority to Gen X and Gen Y-ers. They too know how important this effort is. They have the skills required -- well, so do we -- but they also have the energy required! Hopefully, those who haven't already signed up for the task at hand will do so after the AALL webinar.

When you are as aging and decrepit as we are, Gen X and Gen Y law librarians, you will be able to look back and say "I helped change the world of electronic production, distribution and access to legal information." Look forward to that by doing some profitable labor. It won't be easy but real contributions never are. [JH]

Are Law Libraries In Decline? I Don't Think So

I came across a press release for the expansion of Yuin University's law library services.  The law library is now open to members of the public.  While I congratulate the school on the expansion of public services, I have some reservations about some of the statements I found in the release.  Take the lead sentence, for example:

Law libraries are slowly becoming obsolete, as so many people, including attorneys, use the internet for research.   Although a lot of older attorneys and academics would argue: there is no substitute for an actual tangible law library; many younger attorneys try to avoid having to venture in to a law library.

And this statement:

Although law libraries are used less and less, most universities continue the long-established practice of only allowing students, alumni, and a select group of attorneys, access to their law library facilities.  Traditionally, this was so members of the general public would not disturb the law students; cause too many books to be in use and unavailable to students; or damage materials.  However, now there are few law students in the law libraries....

I would fall into that category as an older attorney and academic, so it may come as no surprise that I disagree with the generalizations that law libraries are becoming obsolete or the implication that everything is on the Internet.  I also believe it is a wrong assumption that younger attorneys have easy access the Lexis, Westlaw, and other comprehensive online legal research materials as a universal statement.  These cost money, and someone attempting to establish a practice may not have the resources, along with student loan debt, to simply buy into these systems.  Hence the use of law libraries for research.  Somebody else paid for it.

I would think that the amount of use a law library recieves depends on location.  But I believe that any law library located in an even moderately populated urban area would not have a problem finding individuals to use it.  The press release supports its position with this article in the Herald Tribune where the Sarasota County Law Library has lost its lease and plans to put books in storage and provide computer access only until it finds a new home.  Some county commissioners are questioning the need for a law library at all under these circumstances.  This is hardly a trend, even in cash strapped circumstances. 

I can say from experience of working in academic libraries, some of which have public access, that the type of patrons range from the (obvious) student population, the newly minted attorneys, and the experienced attorneys who have been there and done that.  A library is more than a collection of books and databases.  It is also collection of services provided by a knowledgeable staff who can use their experience to get to the heart of the research faster.  Google is wonderful.  I can't live without it.  But I also know what it can and can't do.  If print collections are diminishing because of a shift to online publishing, its because library managers have to make collection development decisions based on available funding, format, and relevance to the user population.  Law libraries will continue to exist because everything is not online, or cost effective for individuals to purchase, and the skill level of patrons will vary.  If someone can do it all by themselves, that's great.  In my library, at least, we're not starving for attention.  [MG]

 

Blio eReader Software for Windows Set To Launch Today

Check the Blio website for details on the free download. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, CNET's Ina Fried interviewed Ray Kurzweil. The Blio demo starts at 2:25 in the below video. Highlights include preserving book formatting, excellent text-to-speech synchronized with text highlighting, incorporating animation, and embedding video and interactive quizzes in the eBook format. [JH]

Feasting on the Carcass: The push by TR Legal to pitch new titles as "ancillary" in the Shed West Era

Recently LLB contributing editor, Vicki Szymczak (Brooklyn Law School Library Director) broke the story that there is a new game afoot from TR Legal. She titled the post, New Publication Model for West. I would have called it "Oh Boy, a New Pricing Scheme for New Titles Published by the Folks in the Land of 10,000 Invoices." Or maybe I would have called it "Feasting on the Carcass: The Push by TR Legal to Pitch New Titles as Ancillary in the Shed West Era." Oh, wait, that's what I'm calling this post. While blog posts tend to have a half-life of 24 hours, Vicki's deserves much more attention from institutional buyers. I will try to add a little perspective on this new marketing scheme in this post.

Two snips from Vicki's post but her entire post really does requires your undivided attention:

Mr. Cahill to give me a call to explain why we do not have access to this new series of ALRs, and the 'why' has to do with how West intends to roll out new titles.  As he explained to me, ALR-INT represents a new way to do business at West.  This title is, what he called, an ancillary title.  This means that currently it is available online only on commercial accounts and only on a per search charge basis.

...

In order to help protect the profit margin at West (ahem) due to the unprecedented shredding-shedding -  of West materials at libraries, Mr. Cahill informed me that new products will all have an individual market plan.  The market plan will take into consideration how West will make a profit off the title.  If you buy both online and print, you will receive some sort of discount.  But, you will not get a two for one.  If you buy just the print, you won't get the online.  And if you buy online, you won't get the print.  However, if you buy both, you will get a discount.  I thought that this is what I was doing when I bought ALR-INT.  But apparently, I wasn't.  This part of the explanation at least rings true.  They need to make up the money that they are losing, and this is how they are going to do it.

Well, TR Legal can try.

Oh yes, TR Legal needs to make money in this Shed West era. The first strategy was to create a 21st Century across-database SE by way of WLN while selling it based on a 20th Century pricing scheme. The objective here was to expose WLN users to resources that were out-of-plan for those institutional buyers who provided out-of-plan access as a way in TR Legal marketing gurus' mindset to increase in-plan coverage in licenses because racking up huge ancillary costs that are getting ever harder to push to clients in the private sector was going to make in-plan expansion a cost-sensible decision. Let's add that TR Legal's sales force has been instructed to pitch WLN as a way to be "competitive." What utter nonsense.

Needless to say, adoption rate in these economic times is low; solo and small firms mostly so far. Those who know better, that would be institution buyers who rely of the judgement of professionals instead of amateurs  -- ah, that would be law librarians -- aren't falling for this stunt. Eventually, Classic Westlaw's plug will have to be pulled. I'm thinking five years at the most.

So now comes a course adjustment from the marketing gurus who guessed wrong the last time. New publications -- some, if not all, according to Vicki's post -- will be ancillary and only if you buy both in print and online may discounting be available. Like that's going to be attractive. My biggest problem with this shift is that this new pricing scheme is not unlike what LexisNexis does for current titles -- have a SUB for a major MB secondary print title, get a discount for online access to the title if you keep the print title. It not, pay full price. This keeps me from adding some major titles to my LN contract. Last year CCH was offering a discount to switch from print to IntelliConnect for major loose-leaf sets we have in our collection. With improvements having been made to IntelliConnect since then, I may now be interested.

In TR Legal's case, we appear to be talking about new publications, not existing ones. Here's a publisher who can't keep sales up for their current print catalog because the Company is pricing itself out of the print market. Just how many "new titles" will be attractive as the Company tries to execute title-by-title marketing strategies designed to maximize profits off of each by selling some as "ancillary," particularly when we know the Company's historical profit margin targets, annual price increases, and format switcheroos. For online access, well, we all know how TR Legal likes to lock-in buyers to multi-year commitments. Anyone really interested in going down this path for a "new title" in print, online or both with the most difficult to work with legal publisher?

TR Legal appears hell bent to reduce its subscriber base. When this doesn't work, watch out for some old mainstays getting a "new title" makeover -- the new "Joe's Federal Practice & Procedure" from the "editorial staff" replacing Wright & Miller, to echo Vicki's concern:

I wonder how long it will be before publications get new names and new subscriptions and be eligible for the new publication model?

Remember AM JUR Taxation being carved out of AM JUR as a standalone? Note the comments to Vicki's post. I do not mean to put words in Vicki's mouth, but I see no reason to trust TR Legal. Once "Plan B" fails, we can expect a "Plan C."

Time for a gut-check. If you study TRI's financial reports closely, you will find that TR Legal's 32% profit margin and revenue stream is what keeps Thomson Reuters flowing with cash. When will the folks at TR Legal in Eagan have the intestinal fortitude to tell the folks at TRI in New York City that these marketing stunts and pricing schemes are killing their business; that they simply will not succeed and can't continue because their buyers have caught on to the fact that they will no longer let TR Legal pick their pockets, their annual spend, to prop up the rest of the Professional Division's or, for that matter, the entire Company's products and services. From LLB's analysis of TRI's 2009 financial performance:

Do note profit margins in the Tax & Accounting and Healthcare & Science segments of the Professional Division remain in the 21-22% range and in TR's separate Markets (financial industry) Division the profit margin for 2009 was 19.3%. ... Obviously, buyers of TR Professional's products and services, particularly TR Legal's, should seek advice from buyers of TR Market's financial services industry's products and services.

Current TR Legal titles are being axed, online search services being downsized when not eliminated outright. They simply are not that good and are too expensive. New TR Legal titles? One has to be out of touch with reality to think this is going to work based on the Company's past business practices and institutional buyers' responses to them. Here is a publishing empire that has reached the dead-wrong conclusion after examining (1) its own products and services; (2) the competition's products and services; (3) price competition for legal resources that are becoming commodities; and (4) the actions taken by its base -- the private sector.

Triumphalism revised 16 months later. The sort of triumphalism written about in Westlaw rises to legal publishing fame by selling free information (April 29, 2009 issue of City Pages (Minneapolis)) is over.

At the time, people said Thomson paid too much [to acquire West]. They doubted that Thomson would be able to squeeze more profit out of West, which was already posting 25 percent returns. But since its takeover, Thomson has consistently managed to attain 30 percent or higher profit margins. Legal information seems to be the sponge that won't dry.

Nothing TR Legal is selling is worth the premium the Company is demanding. It's time to downsize, improve quality and institute pricing that will attract buyers back to the Company even if that means taking a substantial hit to profit margin.

Feasting on the carcass of TR Legal. TR Legal current strategies are heading down one path and the direction of that path for print and online is downward. The Company has the most to lose and so far it is succeeding at doing so by blissfully ignoring market conditions. For example, unlike TR Legal which maintained its status quo 13% pro forma annual price increases for print supplementation, LexisNexis cut its traditional 8% annual price increase last year to 4% in response to the economy. While I do not expect that to last, I will never forget it.

LexisNexis, Wolter Kluwers, BNA, and new players starting to make a market presence that can no longer be ignored are going to eat TR Legal for lunch because of this Company's failure to respond to new market forces that are structurally permanent. It just might be time for TR Legal to study what happened in the US auto industry circa 1980 when economic conditions prompted consumers to question the status quo. Our other major vendors are feasting on the carcass of TR Legal just like Japanese and Korean (and soon Chinese) automakers did to Detroit. A TR Legal cancellation for print or online or both does not always mean a total elimination of collection coverage or access. It's called substitution. Even shedding West reporters and digests does not ipso facto mean "because we have Westlaw." It can mean "because we have LexisNexis."

There is no doubt in my mind that every other vendor marketing strategy meeting starts with "well, we sure as hell are not going to do what TR Legal is doing." [JH]

Judge Allows Discovery of Deleted Facebook Information

There's a case out of New York State called Romano v. Steelcase, Inc. that touches on the limits of Internet privacy.  It's also another cautionary tale of sharing information on a social site.  The issue in the case involved the plaintiff's health.  AS such, the defendant requested access to plaintiff's Facebook profile.  The judge granted the request and allowed access to pages and information deleted from the account.  The thought was that postings and pictures which may contradict plaintiff's claims may have been removed in advance of litigation.  The defendant, under these circumstances, should be allowed to seek evidence that bear upon the claim.  Judge Allen Spinner said:

Given the millions of users,  in this environment, privacy is no longer grounded in reasonable expectations, but rather in some theoretical protocol better known as wishful thinking.

The Courtroom Strategy blog by Oscar Michelen has more information about this case and other examples of Facebook's use in contradicting a party's legal position.  Or putting it another way, if one is up for sentencing for DWI, don't post pictures of one drinking with abandon after the fact.  Or caption said photos with those sentiments.  [MG]

Ask Shutting Down Bloglines This Coming Friday

Ask.com announced earlier in the month that it is shutting down Bloglines on Friday, October 1.  Bloglines was acquired by Ask in 2005 when RSS was more relevant for individuals  acquiring news information via the web.  According the Ask's blog, use of the site declined due to the social sharing of news via Facebook and Twitter.  Some commentators suggest that Bloglines is the first of similar sites (Digg, Google Reader, etc.) that will go.  Maybe, maybe not.  The departure of Bloglines represents a business decision by Ask.com.  Other sites may adapt to the social web rather than fight it.  Bloglines' main page has information on how to export subscriptions to other aggregators.  [MG]

It's Banned Books Week: ALA's Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009

Banned Books Week, September 25−October 2, is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. See the ALA webpage and the Banned Books Week website.

In 2009, ALA's Office of Office for Intellectual Freedom received 460 reports on efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves. Unfortunately, ALA estimates that 70 to 80 percent of book censorship efforts are never reported. View Map of Book Censorship, 2007-2010.

ALA's Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009

1. ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee
Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

6. “Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. “My Sister’s Keeper,” by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

9. “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

10. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

For a discussion of some recent cases Banned Books Week is meant to address see this Constitutional Law Prof Blog post by Ruthann Robson, Professor of Law & University Distinguished Professor, CUNY School of Law. [JH]

Google's Project 10^100 Awards LAW.GOV $2 Million to Make Government More Transparent

A big hat tip to Erika Wayne for calling attention to LAW.GOV being awarded $2 million by Google as part of the Company's Project 10^100. From Google's September 24th announcement:

Idea: Make government more transparent
Project funded: Public.Resource.Org is a non-profit organization focused on enabling online access to public government documents in the United States. We are providing $2 million to Public.Resource.Org to support the Law.Gov initiative, which aims to make all primary legal materials in the United States available to all.

Congratulations to all.

Much more information is available in Erika Wayne's Legal Research Plus post. See also Gary Price's Resource Shelf post. For a little background, see the following LLB posts:

• It's Time for LAW.GOV (Oct. 20, 2009)
• It's Time for LAW.GOV, Part II: AALL To Aid LAW.GOV Project By Way of State Working Groups (Feb. 22, 2010)
• On Extending the Outreach for LAW.GOV's Support: The Incubation Process Has Begun (Aug. 3, 2010)

[JH]

Timeline of Learning Machines

Check out the New York Time's graphic history of classroom technology from the original horn-book circa 1650 to the iPad. Hat tip to Resource Shelf. [JH]

Round-Up of Practitioner Blogs

Maritime Injury Attorney Blog
http://www.maritimeinjuryattorneyblog.com
http://www.maritimeinjuryattorneyblog.com/index.xml
Reviews maritime injury news, reports and cases in Florida. Published by Rivkind, Pedraza & Margulies, PA.
 
California Elder Abuse Lawyer Blog
http://www.californiaelderabuselawyerblog.com
http://www.californiaelderabuselawyerblog.com/index.xml
Analyzes elder abuse reports, opinions and cases in California. Published by the Law Offices of Jody C. Moore, APC.
 
New Jersey Injury Lawyers Blog
http://www.newjerseyinjurylawyersblog.com
http://www.newjerseyinjurylawyersblog.com/index.xml
Covers injury law news, cases and reports in New Jersey. Published by The Rotolo Law Firm.
 
Virginia Criminal Lawyer
http://www.virginia-criminallawyer.com
http://www.virginia-criminallawyer.com/index.xml
Provides opinion on criminal law cases, reports and news in Virginia. Published by The Law Offices of David Benowitz.

[JH]

One for Aging Hippies: Marijuana Legalization as a Civil Rights Issue

This post would be those who still remember when a three-finger bag cost $20-25 if it wasn't ditch weed. Note to the authorities: I have no idea what the street price is today. I switched to Guinness a very long time ago as in statute of limitations time. See Constitutional Law Pro Blog' post and the pesky little Con Law issue that "marijuana legalization by California (or any state) raises a potential federalism or Tenth Amendment issue since marijuana remains a controlled substance under federal law." Bummer, dude. [JH]

Celebrate Everything from the "Lowly Comma" to the "Ever-Mysterious Ellipsis" This National Punctuation Day!!!

Yes, today is National Punctuation Day!!! Actually it is the seventh annual event designed to promote the proper use of punctuation marks. Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog.

Ray J. Schoonhoven, 1921-2010. A much bigger hat tip to a dear old friend from Seyfarth, Shaw, Ray Schoonhoven, who passed away on July 10, 2010. [obituary] "Ray J." was famous at the firm for his use of triple exclamation marks in his labor arbitration briefs, most likely frowned upon by the promoters of the "proper use" of punctuation marks.

Ray Schoonhoven was also known for being the "instigator" of the great 1959 Steel Strike by being the author of a labor arbitration analysis of Basic Steel's pattern "local conditions" labor contract clause, one of the most anti-productivity improvement clauses in labor-management history. I will never forget going into his office in 1985 after having performed some research on this topic to ask him, "was this really the issue that resulted in more than 85 percent of U.S. steel production being shut down for almost four months (but also resulting in SCOTUS upholding the constitutionality of the Taft-Hartley Act in Steelworkers v. United States, 361 U.S. 39 (1959))?" He smiled, turned around to his corner office credenza and pulled from the top of a stack of papers, the original memo he wrote to the firm's Little Steel clients. The passing of another giant in labor law. 

Ray was always a pleasure to work with, always had time for everyone, always was a deep well of sound advice for many young SSF&G labor attorneys and law librarians like myself, and always happy to help pick up the tab at Friday night gatherings at the local bar we all used to go to.

One of Ray's legal research stories. After exhausting all the tools back in the day long before online search, Ray told me how he just started pulling Fed Reporters off the shelves. Going through each and every one until he found the authority he needed. Talk about persistence in client representation. I believe there is a commemorative plaque on a wall somewhere in Northwestern's Law Library because of the donation he made to his law school. So to Ray, here's a !!! [JH]