Posts on ‘July 9th, 2009’

While the use of language is relatively straightforward for legal professionals, no computer can process and communicate it in the same way. But with the Semantic Web and XML, says Dr. Adam Zachary Wyner, computers can process language in meaningful ways that lawyers can understand.

Almost every bankruptcy expert The Am Law Daily talks to agrees that the super-fast General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies diverted from traditional bankruptcy law because of the government’s huge role in each case and the danger that liquidation might have posed to the broader economy. What they don’t agree on is whether the cases set a meaningful precedent for future judges.

In a sign that legal industry layoffs are not abating, DLA Piper cut 21 associates and 100 staff on Wednesday. The attorney cuts amount to less than 2 percent of the firm’s U.S. lawyer headcount of 1,380. DLA is the first big law firm to conduct a second round of layoffs this year — but observers are predicting more layoffs by other firms in the months ahead. A managing partner of a national firm who declined to be named said that late summer and fall will be the next layoff season.

Marc Dreier sent a confessional letter Wednesday to the judge who will sentence him next week, describing in remarkable detail how he funded Dreier LLP’s expansion by committing frauds totaling more than $400 million. Facing a recommendation that he serve the rest of his life in prison but pleading for a measured sentence, Dreier said his downward spiral began with a simple theft from a client settlement fund and ended at a point at which he found himself “running a massive Ponzi scheme with no apparent way out.”

Japan finally introduced a new “lay juror” system in late May, after a five-year campaign to advise citizens about the changes. In contrast to the United States, the new Japanese system requires three judges to sit on a jury and render a verdict along with six citizens. Despite a barrage of publicity — including 500 mock trials and talks by American litigators — a recent poll in Japan’s largest newspaper showed that 79 percent of respondents do not want to serve as trial jurors themselves.

Big Law has been cutting the budget for months now, eliminating perks and former necessities to preserve the bottom line. Completely acceptable, says The Snark, but one can’t help noticing that Big Law isn’t admitting to the real reason behind these cost-cutting measures. Instead, Big Law is using those left in the marketing department to craft creative e-mails that disguise the harsh realities. For instance: No more free sodas and coffee? The Committee on Hydration wants to encourage water consumption.