Futurelawyer

50 Free Sources for Downloadable Legal Templates & Documents

50 Free Sources for Downloadable Legal Templates & Documents. Jimmy Atkinson points us to a Justice-ELearning post with 50 links to free legal forms and resources online. Some of these I have seen before; but, I have never seen them all in one place. If you need a form for something, this is the place to start.

Man with 25 IDs nabbed by face-recognition tech - Don't Pick Your Nose In Public

with 25 IDs nabbed by face-recognition tech | Technically Incorrect - CNET News. We lawyer bloggers write a lot about security and privacy on the net; actually, more about the death of privacy on the Internet. However, privacy is dead out on the streets as well. Most of your waking hours are spent on camera somewhere. I just finished a trial and I could swear I felt the bore of courthouse cameras on me all the time I was in the courthouse. Everytime you get a driver's license, or have a photo take for an I.D., there is an increasing likelihood that face recognition software is being used to scan your face and compare it to a database. You can pick your nose in public, but you can't hide. Disclaimer: This photo is not of the man in the headline. Check the post for a blurred out photo of the culprit.

Wi-Fi Connect - Verizon Brings Free Wi-Fi to Millions of Broadband Customers

Verizon Brings Free Wi-Fi to Millions of Broadband Customers - Verizon Community. Since my early computing days, much time has been spent searching for Internet access. In the nineties, I remember walking around Ketchikan, Alaska, with my cruise ship computer students (now, that is a great job) looking for dial-up Internet access in little, tucked away in the wilderness, hotels. If we were lucky, we found a hotel lobby with a computer and a dial-up account. I can remember carrying around a bulky, first-generation wireless modem that was so slow and bulky, it required a huge carrying case. Since I became a Wireless broadband customer of Verizon Wireless, my tiny USB broadband modem, plugged into a tiny Cradlepoint router, gives me wireless broadband wherever I go. However, I am a believer in the "more options is better" philosophy, and I always have a back-up plan. Since I am a Verizon high-speed Internet customer at home, through my DSL account, I can now access any one of the thousands of Boingo wifi locations in the country. Primarily located in Starbuck's, McDonalds, and hotels and airports, these locations are now available to Verizon high-speed Internet customers for free. Amazing. For about $30 a month, (remember the days we paid AOL $30 a month for dial-up access?) you can have high-speed Internet just about anywhere you go. Thanks, Verizon. You can be a really annoying big gorilla, but you are the best.

iPhone/iPod Touch Apps For The Lawyer

The no-junk business iPhone apps finder - InfoWorld. If, like the FutureLawyer, you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, and you are lost in the inane games, and other useless apps, available at the iTunes store, this Infoworld page is for you. There are thousands of so-called business apps available at the store. However, not very many are actually useful in business and professional practices. This great page from InfoWorld lists the best of the best, their price, and a link to the app details. My favorite, since I am a dirt lawyer, is the Lawyers Agent CA real estate calculator. If you practice real estate law, this may be the best 7 bucks you spend this year. I also like "Metes and Bounds", which mirrors similar Windows apps that follow metes and bounds legal descriptions of real property to determine whether they close and actually describe a real parcel. Another inexpensive program, CaseMate, creates case management details from your contact list. It is pretty basic, but, for $4.95, it is a great way to keep track of notes, contacts and other case related information on the go. Give up a visit to Starbuck's today, and get something useful.

AT&T: iPhone deal blocks VoIP over cellular

AT&T: iPhone deal blocks VoIP over cellular | ZDNet Government | ZDNet.com. Who said contracts weren't important? AT&T, in a letter to the FCC, in response to recent inquiries, admitted that its contract with Apple restricts VOIP over its cellular network. The FCC is looking at the effect of the agreement on consumers using the iPhone, and on exclusivity agreements in particular. The legal implications of the Government review are huge. Exclusivity agreements are inherently anti-competitive; whether they violate what the FCC determines is fair in the consumer marketplace remains to be determined. The FCC will be determining whether a line has been crossed between legitimate business interests and Federal law relating to open and free competition in the marketplace. It should be an interesting few months.

No Wonder Power Cords Are So Expensive!

HP Ships Power Cord in Giant Box With Attached Pallet - Hp packaging - Gizmodo. The mystery of this huge shipping box from HP hasn't been solved. However, if it came to your home, what would you do? Would you call Homeland Security? Once opened up, this unsuspecting consumer found a single power cord. That's right, no refrigerator or ride around mower. Maybe they forgot to pack the computers?

The rise of the $299 Wal-Mart laptop

The rise of the $299 Wal-Mart laptop | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News. The days of a full function notebook computer as a major purchase appear to be over. Even poor solo attorneys can afford today's $299 notebooks, which have become a commodity at WalMart and other big box stores. These computer have 2 Gigs of memory, 15 inch screens, full sized keyboards, 160 Gig hard drives, DVD-RW/CD-RW drives, wireless Internet, LAN ports, and Vista Basic. In other words, this is more computer than the average attorney or professional will ever need to get the job done. They aren't cool, they aren't fancy; but, they are under $300. And, they aren't undersized netbooks either. Spend more if you want to. But, don't say you had to.

How About Calling It A Notbook?

Time to drop the Netbook label | Crave - CNET. No, that isn't a typo. The thesis of this post from CNet's Erica Ogg, is that the specs for netbooks and notebooks are merging; so, we should all agree on a new name for portable computing devices. Like Shakespeare, I say "What's in a Name?" The name of the device is really only important to bloggers, journalists, and marketing people. Lawyers care about whether the device will do the work. I have an HP Mini, and I love it. It is tiny, goes anywhere, and has enough specs to serve as a dependable backup to my ultra-light Dell D430, which is my main computer. However, I use a full size keyboard for real work, and the keyboards on the two devices just don't seem as competent to me for real drafting work. Lawyers create a lot of documents; the roomier the keyboard, and the larger the screen, the better. Other than that, the specs are converging, and I don't care what you call them. Hey, how about calling them what they are...computers!

Client's Facebook Page Costs Him $20,000 - Be Careful Out There!

Client's Facebook Page Cost's Him�$20,000 - Legal Broadcast Network Blog Page - Legal Broadcast Network Blog feeds and news. I was reconnecting with a high school friend who sent me a Friend request on Facebook, when I found this article about a guy who published photos and videos of himself doing strenuous exercise while he had a personal injury claim going. The insurer,doing due diligence, discovered the photos, and reduced the settlement value of the case by $20,000. Ouch. Of course, there is always a risk when we publish stuff to the web. There is enough lack of privacy out there already. So, be careful out there. Don't disclose too much, and be conscious of what you do disclose. The Internet is not a confessional, and there is no priest-penitent privilege.

PACER Just Wants To Be Free - Should It Be?

pub_sp0907_PACER.pdf (application/pdf Object). This is a great article by Susan Lyons, documents/reference librarian at Rutgers University Law School Library. If you want to know what all the fuss is about, in the contest between free and open access advocates of Federal Court Dockets and pleadings, and the Federal Court System, which made PACER a pay as you go system, this is the first thing you should read. While all of us think that public information should be free, there is a distinction, as Ms. Lyons points out, between run of the mill public information, and the kind of things found in litigation dockets. Personal information that should remain private has to be redacted. Allegations made in pleadings are often never proven. As a general rule, statements made in litigation are exempt from defamation laws; what happens when they are made public on the Internet? Ms. Lyons suggests that a balance must be struck between public access and restrictions to prevent abuse. Before you join the debate, read this article and understand the parameters of the dispute.