JD Scoop

Here is a brief roundup of some of the coverage we've seen since our launch earlier in the week. Thank you, editors, writers, bloggers, for starting conversations and spreading the good word. (For a comprehensive list of related links please see JD Supra's In the News page.)

- The Wall Street Journal Law Blog: "... JD Supra is a new site that allows lawyers of all stripes to post court docs, filings, articles, client alerts — anything relevant to a case, really — for others who are doing legal research. The homepage has a cool sidebar that keeps track of who’s contributing the most docs."

- ABA Law Journal: "... JD Supra also offers a free platform for attorneys and others involved in legal matters to market themselves and identify individuals with useful expertise. A search page allows them to look for relevant material by jurisdiction, subject matter and document type."

- National Post: "JD Supra launches the YouTube of law... Let the posting begin!"

- Justia Law, Technology, and Legal Marketing Blog: "... We are encouraging all of the law firms we work with to participate and share with JDSupra's law library. By working together we can help build a great new legal research library. This is a very nice start of a new free research service!"

- WisBlawg From the UW Law Library: "... It's not only that JD Supra is facilitating the sharing of legal content - there are other sites do that, like DocStoc or Scribd - but what makes it unique is that it is able to lend some authority to those documents by tying them to author profiles. As a librarian, I'm much more likely to rely on a source when I can verify the expertise of its author. [It's] quite ingenious actually."

- MyShingle.com: "... JD Supra gives solo and small firm lawyers a way to strut their stuff.  By posting documents, other lawyers can get a sense of what your work product is like.  And by uploading a document, you gain a listing in JD Supra , which is another way to gain visibility online."

One mention that generated an interesting conversation around the JD Supra virtual water cooler comes from LawyerKM: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms. The post - titled "Is JD Supra inter-law firm Knowledge Management?" - asks: "are any firms going to share the good stuff — the “intellectual capital” that really gives them the competitive advantage over the other firms out there?"

Two days into our launch and we're thrilled to see a question such as this one. We hope that this is not just the beginning of a worthwhile dialog about Knowledge Management but also the start of a conversation that goes to the very heart of it all: the way we value information today in the face of dramatic technological innovation (ie., web and internet and the technologies they bring forth).

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[Finally, taking a page from Tim Stanley's book (actually from the bottom of his Justia Law posting about JD Supra) here's what we're listening to today: Grateful Dead, live at Roscoe Maples Pavilion, Stanford University - Feb 9, 1973. Downloaded from the Internet Archive, streaming directly to our ears.]

Building community - that's one of the many things that excites us about what we're doing here at JD Supra.

Sure, yesterday saw the launch of a new online legal research tool that also happens to be an excellent marketing platform for lawyers and members of the legal community - but, we so often return to that last word: community. With the arrival of each new JD Supra contributor, we are seeing the birth of a new and vital community network. That thrills us to no end. Good reason to start off JD Scoop with a quick look at some of the people (and firms) joining ranks right here, right now.

Friends, without further delay, we give you a small slice of the growing JD Supra community. Forgive us if you're not included here today; we have plans to feature as many of you as possible in this blog, just not all at once. (Note: much of the text below is quoted directly from the profiles of the people we've included.) Drum roll, please:

Edward Zuger III - seeking employment: currently residing in Chicago, IL; recently admitted to the Kentucky Bar and hoping to relocate with family to that state. (Also contemplating opening a solo practice.) Before graduating (Valparaiso University School of Law, J.D.) served the Indiana state civil courts through a Lake County clerkship.

Lisa Solomon - for over a decade has focused her practice exclusively on assisting attorneys with all of their legal research and writing needs, including preparing and arguing appeals and drafting substantive motions and trial memoranda. Works in almost every area of law, teaming with her clients to determine the best strategy to apply to the unique facts and legal issues in each case.

Jim Walsh - law librarian and professor teaching legal research and writing at Mercer University Law School in Macon, Georgia.

Alicia Butler - has spent her eleven-year legal career primarily working as an advocate for ordinary people victimized by corporate wrongdoing. Since January 2006, she has served of counsel to the Law Offices of Joel M. Fineberg, P.C., in Dallas, Texas, handling medical malpractice cases and providing as-needed help on commercial class-actions.

Law Offices of Michael L. Wise, LLC - focusing on procuring patents in a diverse set of technical areas including electrical, semiconductor, software, chemical, optical, and mechanical technologies. Principal attorney (Michael L. Wise) has a Ph.D. from Stanford University in physical chemistry and over nine years of experience as an engineer in the semiconductor industry. Also offered: trademark registration services.

Cato Institute - founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, a non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. (and named for Cato's Letters, a series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution). Included in the institute's mission: [seeking] to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace. (Eds.: at time of writing, the CI is a top-10 contributor.)

Lane Powell PC - a full-service law firm that has helped emerging and established businesses navigate the Pacific Northwest and beyond for more than 130 years. A survey of Fortune 500 general counsels lists Lane Powell as one of the prestigious "Go-To Law Firms of Top U.S. Companies." Clients include: Nordstrom, Wells Fargo, Nike, among others.

John Hagan - John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and Law at Northwestern University and Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago. Editor of the Annual Review of Law & Social Science. His research with a network of scholars spans topics from causes of crime to war crimes and human rights. He is the author most recently with Alberto Palloni of “Death in Darfur,” which will appear in a September issue of Science.

Amy L. Becerra - with an office conveniently located in the heart of the Historic Triangle, Hampton Roads, Tidewater Areas of Virginia, Ms. Becerra provides counsel and representation to clients in matters of U.S. immigration and naturalization law.

The Harlow Group LLC - health care law and consulting. Principal David Harlow's experience in the public and private sectors over the past twenty years affords him a unique perspective on legal, policy and business issues facing the health care community. Health care providers, vendors and payors of all shapes and sizes rely on him to help them navigate the maze of regulatory and business issues facing them on a daily basis.

Sheila M. O'Sullivan - bankruptcy, estate planning, probate, real estate and small business formation. Ms. O'Sullivan is a Title 11 Guardian ad Litem in Snohomish County, Washington, and volunteers with the King County Bar Association's Neighborhood Debt Clinic and the King County Superior Court Probate and Guardianship Review Calendar. She was selected as a "Rising Star" for 2002, 2003 and 2004 by Washington Law & Politics magazine.

Joseph Kershenbaum - COO and General Counsel of The Mortgage SuperCenter. Formerly worked as COO of E-Solutions Integrator, Inc., and as a corporate attorney with Day, Berry & Howard, advising clients on strategic business and legal issues. Experience includes mergers & acquisitions, securities, corporate governance, contracts and contractual issues, financial transactions, real estate/leasing, human resources / employment law, insurance / risk management, regulatory issues, IP and litigation management.

Faith L. Charles - a member in Mintz Levin's Corporate practice. Focusing on corporate, commercial and securities matters, including strategic transactions and corporate structuring. Among other things, handles all aspects of public offerings and private placements, representing issuers, underwriters and placement agents. (Eds.: at time of writing, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo is a top-10 contributor, with a number of practices included in the JD Supra ranks.)

Electronic Frontier Foundation - championing the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights. (And at time of writing, coming in as our top contributor!)

We'll stop here for now, but only for the sake of space. Browsing the stacks, the profiles, is wonderfully satisfying - and so, for now, we say: here's to you, our contributors, the people behind the law, the new members of our new legal community. Thanks to all of you for joining us!

 

 

 

 

I am thrilled to announce that, after a year and half in development, JD Supra – the free, online venue for the legal community to share its work - has finally launched!

Getting to this day has been fun and challenging. A venture into a new world. The best part of this experience has been meeting, working with, and getting to know, an entirely new community - programmers, designers, bloggers, web strategists and developers, who have overwhelmed me with their warmth, support, and advice (albeit sometimes unasked for).

Among the advice I received, was that we must have a JD Supra blog. Like many people, my first response was: “but I don’t have time to maintain a blog.” Thankfully, I called Kevin at LexBlog anyway.  With his help, I realized that, rather than simply a distraction from the work of JD Supra, this blog is a gift - an opportunity to continually experience, and stay in touch with, the passion that was my impetus for founding JD Supra.

That passion arises from my abiding belief that:

• “Great work in the law” happens everyday . . .
  
  . . . in artfully drafted pleadings, well-written briefs, hard won decisions, creative contracts, scholarly articles, and newsletters that keep our clients up-to-date on developments in the law that affect them;
  
  . . . in pro bono work for indigent clients and multi-million dollar transactions for international corporations;
  
  . . . in the passion and creativity that a new attorney brings to a brief, and in a seasoned attorney’s application of foresight and experience to a complex transaction;
  
  . . . in the cases we win and in the cases we lose; in the transactions we facilitate and in the litigation we help our clients avoid altogether.
   
  
• This work should be freely accessible to everyone because it has incredible value beyond the confines of a particular case and its parties; and
   
• This work should be accessible in a way that gives the lawyers behind it the recognition and exposure they deserve.
  

JD Scoop is our opportunity to highlight some of the great work that lawyers are doing, and sharing on JD Supra, as well as to hear, and respond to, questions and comments from JD Supra users. So, please share your great work on JD Supra; tell us about your scoop, so we can feature it on our blog; and share your questions and thoughts so that we can improve JD Supra for you.