My partner Mark Rosch and I are writing a new book for the ABA's Law
Practice Management Section covering the "whys" and "hows" of using
Google for lawyers.
As part of the "whys" we intend to include real life "War Stories" from
legal professionals who have used Google to locate information important
to a case (or other matter) they've handled. The book will cover all of
Google's search products like News, Blogs, Images, Local Search/Maps,
etc., as well as Google's non-search tools like Earth, Translation,
Desktop Search, Apps & Docs, etc.
This is where you come in. If you've had success using Google to locate
useful or important information, or used any of Google's non-search
services then we'd like to include your experience. The best story
wins...a new copy of the book or a copy of The Cybersleuth's Guide to
the Internet, 9th edition.
Please respond directly to me with your experiences or questions.
Below, is an example of a "War Story" from our previous "The Lawyer's
Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet." Stories in the Google book will
follow a similar format. They can be as short or elaborate as you wish.
You can choose to be identified by name (including firm name and e-mail
address) or remain anonymous.
__
War Story
War Story: A Search Engine Leads to a Settlement
Charlie Cochran, a lawyer in Northern California, relates this story of
how thinking outside the box allowed him to settle a case the day
before the trial, for a fraction of the original settlement demand:
"Anyhow, after attending your seminar I tried to implement some of your
research tools to a trial I had scheduled in March 2003. The Plaintiff
was a well-known musician and producer who claimed he had brain injury
from an auto accident and could no longer play the piano. My search
began with a Google 'I'm feeling lucky' which sent me to the Plaintiff's
home page. On the home page he was selling an album that he had recorded
after our auto accident. The Google search naturally hit many
online sites where his albums were being sold. One of the Google hits
had him giving an online interview with an entertainment reporter
where he discussed his auto accident, that he could not play piano for a
few months but after that he was back to playing and writing with a new
spirit and inspiration. Google image hits are amazing. It's fascinating
what people post on the Internet. One image of the Plaintiff was a
concert
he did about a year after the accident where he was shown playing piano
in front of a class of graduate level pianists. The look on their faces
showed that they were really impressed with his abilities. We ended up
issuing a trial subpoena to the woman that held the concert and
interviewed
the Plaintiff for the online interview. The case settled the day before
the trial for a fraction of the original settlement demand because,
in my opinion, we were going to confront the Plaintiff with the photo of
him playing the piano, the words from his online interview, and albums
that he was selling over the Internet."
The I'm Feeling Lucky search button returns one Web site only and, as
illustrated here, often it's the most relevant. Using
Google's I'm Feeling Lucky search button quickly led lawyer Cochran
directly to the plaintiff's own Web site. To obtain more
results, Cochran returned to his original search page and merely clicked
on the Google Search button. This search led him to an
online interview of the musician and to sites selling his recent albums,
information that he probably would not have found without
the Internet. Finally, using Google's Images feature, Cochran proved
that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
--Best Regards,
Carole
Carole Levitt J.D., M.L.S. President,Internet For Lawyers clevitt@netforlawyers.com / www.netforlawyers.com <http://www.netforlawyers.com/>
7820 Enchanted Hills Blvd., Ste A-215, Rio Rancho, NM, 87144; phone: 310/559-2247
SEMINAR SPEAKER: <http://www.livecleseminars.com/> http://www.livecleseminars.com/
AUTHOR: The Lawyer's Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet, ABA 2006 ( <http://www.internetfactfinder.com/> http://www.internetfactfinder.com)
AUTHOR: The Cybersleuth's Guide to the Internet, IFL Press 2008 ( <http://www.netforlawyers.com/prod01.htm> http://www.netforlawyers.com/prod01.htm)
EDITOR: Internet Fact Finding For Lawyers, ALI-ABA (http://iffl.ali-aba.org <http://iffl.ali-aba.org/> )
PAST CHAIR: California State Bar LPMT Section(http://www.calbar.ca.gov/lpmt)
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