Electronic Discovery - Federal Criminal Cases

Federal prosecutors and criminal defense counsel now have a set of standards to guide them in dealing with discovery involving ESI (electronically stored information). The standards are set out in this report: Recommendations for Electronically Stored Information Discovery Production. Written by members of the Department of Justice/ Administrative Office Joint Electronic Technology Working Group, the standards are the topic of training sessions scheduled for federal prosecutors.

Happy World Intellectual Property Day!

Today, April 26, is World Intellectual Property Day.  It is meant as a celebration of innovation and creativity and how both are fostered and encouraged by intellectual property.  This year's theme is Visionary Innovators.  April 26 was chosen as World IP Day because that is the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force, creating the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  WIPO's purpose is to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States and in collaboration with other international organizations.  You can check out the posters, postcards, and book marks from previous World IP Days in the World IP Day Archives.

Another great way to celebrate World IP Day is to take advantage of some of the offerings at the BC Arts Festival April 26 - 28, 2012.

Legal research classes for Fall 2012 and Spring 2013

For all of you 1Ls and 2Ls who are starting to thinking about class registration: consider taking a research class this coming fall and/or next spring! The BC Law reference librarians teach a wide variety of courses that will make you life as a researcher much less stressful and much more productive and efficient.

This fall, three sections of the popular Advanced Legal Research class (3 credits) will be offered. There are also 2 credit subject-specific classes for those of you interested in environmental, international, immigration and tax law, or on related journals. Next spring, you can take some more research classes! As always, Advanced Legal Research will be offered, along with subject-specific classes for insurance & civil litigation, intellectual property, and criminal law.

If you have questions, please stop and chat with the reference librarians--we will be staffing a table outside the library in coming days. A complete list of offerings, with full descriptions, is available by clicking on the title of this blog post.

The cartoon is from www.stus.com, with our thanks.

Legislative efforts to repeal McCarran-Ferguson as to health insurance

There are three bills currently before the 112th Congress to repeal McCarran-Ferguson's insurance antitrust exemption as to the business of health insurance. The bills are Protecting Access to Healthcare Act, H.R. 5, Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act, H.R. 1150, and Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act, H.R. 1943. The Protecting Access to Healthcare Act, H.R. 5, is particularly interesting since it has gone through extensive committee reporting, has passed the House and is currently before the Senate. If enacted, the bill would establish procedural reforms for healthcare liability lawsuits, including restriction of non-economic and punitive damages for medical malpractice and medical product liability, and would establish a federal good samaritan law for medical volunteers who render services during disaster, in addition to restoring the applicability of federal antitrust laws to the business of health insurance.

Free program on transitioning to law practice

Boston College Law School is one sponsor of the Pathways to Practice program offered by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education on Friday, April 13, 2012. This is a free program aimed at 3L students and recent law school graduates. You may attend the live session or listen to the recorded class. Pre-registration is required.

ABA TECHSHOW Wrap-up

I recently attended the ABA Techshow and Expo, the ABA's annual conference about newer trends in law practice technology. What most stood out to me on the first day was the near ubiquity of tablet computers, especially iPads, in the hands of nearly every attendee, along with a great deal of discussion on how mobile devices are beginning to change how law is practiced. Many other new gadgets and software solutions were highlighted in the expo, while the conference sessions focused on managing client and information and documents in the cloud, making the transition to a paperless office, e-discovery, use of technology in the courtroom, data security, leveraging social media, and the increasing presence of Macs in law offices. Check out the links throughout this post for more information on the hot topics at Techshow.