Hurricane Sandy

The devastation is like nothing I have ever seen. The entire East Coast has been affected. Millions in New York City, New Jersey and other cities and towns along America's most populous urban stretch coped with major losses and daily inconveniences. Commuters, homeowners and businesses struggled with the loss of power, waterlogged or burned homes and the challenge of navigating a crippled infrastructure of damaged roads, bridges and mass transit systems. New York City had not been hit with the kind of flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy in more than half a century. As of early Wednesday, roughly 6.5 million homes and businesses were still without power, including 4 million in New York and New Jersey. Electricity was out as far west as Wisconsin and as far south as the Carolinas. More than 8.2 million lost electricity at the height of the disaster. Sandy left at least 61 dead.

Hundreds have lost their homes, their possessions and years of memories. For them, it’s more than just not being able to play video games or watch their favorite team play. It’s about rebuilding their lives. The Red Cross is taking donations to help the people in need. You can go to:  www.redcross.org to make donations.

Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted Tuesday the storm will end up causing about $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion — big numbers probably offset by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to longer-term growth.

From the staff of the Litigtion Support Technology and News Blog: Our prayers go out to everyone who has been impacted by this horrible event.

Bank of America sued for alleged mortgage fraud

Article by Chris Isidore CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/24/news/companies/bank-of-america-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

The Justice Department is seeking $1 billion from Bank of America, alleging the bank committed fraud by selling defective mortgages from a program it says was known within the bank as "the Hustle."

Those mortgages were purchased by government-backed mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, resulting in over $1 billion in losses for taxpayers and countless foreclosures, according to the complaint announced Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The suit alleges that "the Hustle" was a nickname for the bank's "High-Speed Swim Lane," or HSSL program, designed to streamline the mortgage origination process. But the government alleges it was "intentionally designed to process loans at high speed and without quality checkpoints, and generated thousands of fraudulent and otherwise defective residential mortgage loans."

The government says the program was started by mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, but continued after it was purchased by Bank of America in 2008. It ran through 2009, according to the suit.

Firms Grow Bolder About Suing Clients for Unpaid Legal Fees

Article by Christine Simmons in the New York Law Journa lhttp://www.newyorklawjournal.com/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202575867624



Suing clients for unpaid legal fees could become routine as firms are growing more assertive about collecting overdue bills .The New York Law Journal reviewed law firm collection suits against former clients filed in the past two months in Manhattan Supreme Court. Each week, between three and seven such suits were filed during the period.

The fee suits were brought by large and small firms, and boutiques and solo attorneys who have pursued amounts ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Not all fee disputes wind up in court. The number of cases closed in arbitration and mediation programs overseen by the state court's Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program increased to 1,179 last year from 579 in 2004.

The number of suits against former clients tends to increase at the end of the year when firms try to wrap up their collections. The firm considers the client's ability to pay, what the firm considers to be the value of its work, the client's expectations of cost and the risk of counterclaims.

One major issue for the law firms is Malpractice claims. These claims are brought against firms in 42 percent to 47 percent of cases where the firm has sued for fees. Firms also face the risk of forfeiture or disgorgement if the client claims the legal services didn't meet the appropriate standard.

Overall, lawyers are much more aggressive about collecting money today. The economy plays a big part in it. Some law firms have gone as far as sending partners daily emails on billing and collections. Its amazing how times have changed.

Women at Big Firms Make Up 70 Percent of Staff Attorneys, 15 Percent of Equity Partners

 Article by Stephanie Francis Ward, ABA Journal



A National Association of Women Lawyers survey of the country’s largest law firms recently found that 70 percent of the businesses’ staff lawyers were female. However, women only made up 15 percent of the firms’ equity partners.

Also, according to the report, women partners are credited with smaller books of business than their male colleagues, even if their development efforts are significant. And while 50 percent of firms’ associates were women, they only received 40 percent of the bonuses.

The Future of Law School Tuition

Article by Stacy Zaretsky
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/10/how-much-will-law-school-cost-in-the-future-its-pretty-scary/

In the past few months, those involved in legal academia have been going back and forth over whether the cost of law school tuition is expensive. Many would argue that it is, considering the fact that even during the height of the recession, some law schools instituted across the board tuition hikes. Even now, when repeated calls have been made for reduced class sizes, law school tuition continues to rise to make up for the lost revenue those additional students would have provided


We know phrases like “linear regression” and “relative variance” are hard for most lawyers to digest, so we’ll allow this chart to speak for itself. Here are the ten most costly law schools ranked by projected 2021 tuition:

E-Discovery Pop Quiz

Think you're ready for electronic data discovery? See how you fare on the questions below, some of the least challenging used to assess the skills of new arrivals at the 2012 Georgetown University Law School E-discovery Training Academy.

1. The duty to preserve electronically stored information is not triggered until:

a. A claim or suit is reasonably anticipated.
b. Receipt of a preservation notice from an opponent.
c. 21 days after service of a complaint.
d. Service of the first discovery request.

2. Using hash values from the National Software Reference Library to cull irrelevant data is called:

a. De-Hashing.
b. De-NSRLing.
c. De-NISTing.
d. Normalization.

3. Printed out, a gigabyte of data will usually generate:

a. 5 million typewritten pages.
b. 500,000 typewritten pages.
c. 24 Bankers' Boxes.
d. 18,000 TIFF images.
e. A variable volume dependent upon the form of the data.


4. Indexed search differs from linear search in that:

a. Indexed search traverses the source data each time a query is run.
b. Indexed search does not require that a database of content be created.
c. Only indexed search supports Unicode character sets.
d. Indexed search is much faster than linear search for subsequent searches.
e. Most EDD service providers rely primarily on linear search.

5. A "network share" is a:

a. Remote storage allocation employed by a user to facilitate backup.
b. Device with an IP address used by multiple custodians.
c. Collaboration tool sometimes called a "deal room."
d. Feature that distinguishes Network-Attached Storage from a Storage Area Network.

6. Which of the following is an example of embedded metadata stored in a file?

a. Date last modified.
b. Date last printed.
c. Date last accessed.
d. File size.
e. File address on disk.

7. De-duplicating within a single custodian's mailboxes and documents is called:

a. Vertical de-duplication.
b. Horizontal de-duplication.
c. Near de-duplication.
d. Global de-duplication.

8. In e-discovery, it's important to understand the provisions of Federal Rule of Evidence Rule 502 because it:

a. Addresses ways to protect against and remedy inadvertent production of privileged information, including electronically stored information.
b. Sets out the Safe Harbor protection against sanctions when data loss occurs despite the routine, good faith operation of electronic information systems.
c. Establishes the duty to offer a quick peek production option for ESI.
d. Governs the role and qualifications of experts, including Daubert challenges.

9. Your client diligently employs a grandfather-father-son backup tape rotation model for its Exchange server with six-month rotation of monthly full backups and four-week rotation of weekly full backups. The monthly backup is made on the last day of each month. The Exchange server is configured for a 90-day purge (i.e., auto-deletion) and the Dumpster for 60-day retention (i.e., of double-deleted messages). This configuration has been in place for three years. On July 1, 2012, what is the earliest date after which you can be reasonably confident that all e-mail still exists on backup tape?

a. 1-Jul-09.
b. 1-Jul-11.
c. 1-Nov-11.
e. 1-Jan-12.
f. 1-Apr-12.


10. An English language keyword search is not likely to be effective if it:

a. Fails to incorporate common misspellings.
b. Fails to account for pertinent abbreviations and acronyms.
c. Includes stop words.
d. Runs against a collection of encrypted files.
e. Fails to support both ASCII and Unicode text.
f. All of the above.


Answer key: 1:a; 2:c; 3:e; 4:d; 5:a; 6:b; 7:a; 8:a; 9:c; 10:f

Questions provided by Law Technology and News

Surprise Ruling by Delaware Judge Orders Both Sides To Use Predictive Coding

Artice by Ralph Losey

http://e-discoveryteam.com/2012/10/25/news-flash-surprise-ruling-by-delaware-judge-orders-both-sides-to-use-predictive-coding/







Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster in Delaware Chancery Court has made e-discovery history, again, with a surprise bench order requiring both sides to use predictive coding and to use the same vendor. EOHB, Inc., et al v. HOL Holdings, LLC, C.A. No. 7409-VCL (Del. Ch. Oct. 15, 2012). This appears to be the first time a judge has required both sides of a dispute to use predictive coding when neither has asked for it. It may also be the first time a judge has ordered parties to use the same vendor.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Vice Chancellor Laster is well-known as a controversial judge for, as they put it, his surprising rulings, calling attorneys to the carpet, and, along the way, generally become the talk of the Delaware bar.

There is a new predictive coding case on the map that could have a big impact on the attitude of corporate America to predictive coding. Let’s hope this surprise intervention by a strong judge turns out well. Like Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster, I too have drunk deeply of the predictive coding kool-aid. There is no doubt that if predictive coding is done properly, review can done at lower cost and greater effectiveness than with any other method. It all depends on how it is handled.

 

Stay tuned to see how this case goes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bank of America sued for alleged mortgage fraud

Article by Chris Isidore CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/24/news/companies/bank-of-america-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t1






The Justice Department is seeking $1 billion from Bank of America, alleging the bank committed fraud by selling defective mortgages from a program it says was known within the bank as "the Hustle."

Those mortgages were purchased by government-backed mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, resulting in over $1 billion in losses for taxpayers and countless foreclosures, according to the complaint announced Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The suit alleges that "the Hustle" was a nickname for the bank's "High-Speed Swim Lane," or HSSL program, designed to streamline the mortgage origination process. But the government alleges it was "intentionally designed to process loans at high speed and without quality checkpoints, and generated thousands of fraudulent and otherwise defective residential mortgage loans."

The government says the program was started by mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, but continued after it was purchased by Bank of America in 2008. It ran through 2009, according to the suit.

The Future of Law School Tuition

Article by Stacy Zaretsky
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/10/how-much-will-law-school-cost-in-the-future-its-pretty-scary/







In the past few months, those involved in legal academia have been going back and forth over whether the cost of law school tuition is expensive. Many would argue that it is, considering the fact that even during the height of the recession, some law schools instituted across the board tuition hikes. Even now, when repeated calls have been made for reduced class sizes, law school tuition continues to rise to make up for the lost revenue those additional students would have provided


We know phrases like “linear regression” and “relative variance” are hard for most lawyers to digest, so we’ll allow this chart to speak for itself. Here are the ten most costly law schools ranked by projected 2021 tuition:

Take the E-discovery Pop Quiz

Think you're ready for electronic data discovery? See how you fare on the questions below, some of the least challenging used to assess the skills of new arrivals at the 2012 Georgetown University Law School E-discovery Training Academy.

1. The duty to preserve electronically stored information is not triggered until:

a. A claim or suit is reasonably anticipated.
b. Receipt of a preservation notice from an opponent.
c. 21 days after service of a complaint.
d. Service of the first discovery request.

2. Using hash values from the National Software Reference Library to cull irrelevant data is called:

a. De-Hashing.
b. De-NSRLing.
c. De-NISTing.
d. Normalization.

3. Printed out, a gigabyte of data will usually generate:

a. 5 million typewritten pages.
b. 500,000 typewritten pages.
c. 24 Bankers' Boxes.
d. 18,000 TIFF images.
e. A variable volume dependent upon the form of the data.


4. Indexed search differs from linear search in that:

a. Indexed search traverses the source data each time a query is run.
b. Indexed search does not require that a database of content be created.
c. Only indexed search supports Unicode character sets.
d. Indexed search is much faster than linear search for subsequent searches.
e. Most EDD service providers rely primarily on linear search.

5. A "network share" is a:

a. Remote storage allocation employed by a user to facilitate backup.
b. Device with an IP address used by multiple custodians.
c. Collaboration tool sometimes called a "deal room."
d. Feature that distinguishes Network-Attached Storage from a Storage Area Network.

6. Which of the following is an example of embedded metadata stored in a file?

a. Date last modified.
b. Date last printed.
c. Date last accessed.
d. File size.
e. File address on disk.

7. De-duplicating within a single custodian's mailboxes and documents is called:

a. Vertical de-duplication.
b. Horizontal de-duplication.
c. Near de-duplication.
d. Global de-duplication.

8. In e-discovery, it's important to understand the provisions of Federal Rule of Evidence Rule 502 because it:

a. Addresses ways to protect against and remedy inadvertent production of privileged information, including electronically stored information.
b. Sets out the Safe Harbor protection against sanctions when data loss occurs despite the routine, good faith operation of electronic information systems.
c. Establishes the duty to offer a quick peek production option for ESI.
d. Governs the role and qualifications of experts, including Daubert challenges.

9. Your client diligently employs a grandfather-father-son backup tape rotation model for its Exchange server with six-month rotation of monthly full backups and four-week rotation of weekly full backups. The monthly backup is made on the last day of each month. The Exchange server is configured for a 90-day purge (i.e., auto-deletion) and the Dumpster for 60-day retention (i.e., of double-deleted messages). This configuration has been in place for three years. On July 1, 2012, what is the earliest date after which you can be reasonably confident that all e-mail still exists on backup tape?

a. 1-Jul-09.
b. 1-Jul-11.
c. 1-Nov-11.
e. 1-Jan-12.
f. 1-Apr-12.


10. An English language keyword search is not likely to be effective if it:

a. Fails to incorporate common misspellings.
b. Fails to account for pertinent abbreviations and acronyms.
c. Includes stop words.
d. Runs against a collection of encrypted files.
e. Fails to support both ASCII and Unicode text.
f. All of the above.


Answer key: 1:a; 2:c; 3:e; 4:d; 5:a; 6:b; 7:a; 8:a; 9:c; 10:f

Questions provided by Law Technology and News

The Best 167 Law Schools According to The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review named the top law schools in 11 categories. They include:

• Best Career Prospects: Columbia University
• Best Classroom Experience: Stanford University
• Best Professors: Duke University
• Most Competitive Students: Baylor University
• Best Quality of Life: University of Virginia
• Best Environment for Minority Students: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Columbia Law School managed to get 99 percent of its graduates a job within nine months of leaving — the top rate among law schools nationally, according to the latest grad-school rankings by The Princeton Review.

Median earnings for the roughly 450 legal eagles who flew the school’s Morningside Heights coop last year was a sky-high $160,000.

NYU’s School of Law in Greenwich Village got 96 percent of its 2011 graduates hired within nine months, at a not-too-shabby $145,000 median pay — good enough for fifth place among law schools.

 Among B-schools, Stanford University was best at securing gigs for its graduates — with a 92 percent success rate within three months of graduation.
Median salary for those jobs was $127,000.

For the complete list you need to purchase the book at the link below.

http://www.randomhouse.com/princetonreview/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307945303

Addition of 1,000 Jobs Makes September a Bounce-Back Month for Legal Sector

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

The legal sector's employment roller coaster ride continued last month as the industry added 1,000 jobs, according to preliminary data that was released on Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The September data shows that 5,900 more people are employed in the legal sector now than were at the same point last year, and that the industry has seen a net gain of 2,900 jobs since the start of 2012.


Friday's report raises the total number of people employed in the legal sector above 1.12 million, a figure that—with the exception of July 2012—the industry had not reached since July 2009. Prior to the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, the legal industry regularly employed roughly 1.17 million people.


Overall, the U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs in September, and the nation's unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent, its lowest point since President Obama took office almost four years ago. 

2012 Global 100 Law Firms: Most Revenue

Article on Law.com http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202571228982






Gross Revenue for the Global 100 saw an increase of 7 percent. This is the highest increase since 2007. American firms represented 76 of the top 100 global law firms while Britian had 14. Below is a list of the Top 10 for the complete list click the link above.
                                                      

2012 Rank	Firm	Gross Revenue
1	Baker & Mckenzie	$                     2,152,000,000.00
2	DL Piper	$                     2,090,500,000.00
3	Skadden	$                     2,165,000,000.00
4	Latham Watkins	$                     2,152,000,000.00
5	Cliffford Chance	$                     2,090,500,000.00
6	Linklaters	$                     1,936,000,000.00
7	Allen & Overy	$                     1,898,000,000.00
8	Freshfield	$                     1,827,500,000.00
9	Kirkland & Ellis	$                     1,750,000,000.00
10	Hogan Lovells	$                     1,665,000,000.00