"War story" ??
Come off it !!!
You gotta be kiddin'.
Charlie Cochran's "story" is no more than a very mundane story about
the exposure of a breathtakingly stupid and exceptionally dishonest
Plaintiff.
No more and no less.
Any even modestly intelligent Plaintiff (i.e. one with an IQ above 60)
making a claim of the sort that that particular Plaintiff made would
know very well that it is going to be investigated thoroughly, whether
via the internet or otherwise.
Ron Huttner LL.B (Hons)
(Retired) Barrister, Solicitor, Law Lecturer and Legal Researcher
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia
On 15/10/2008, at 4:47 AM, Carole Levitt wrote:
>
> 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
> 7820 Enchanted Hills Blvd., Ste A-215, Rio Rancho, NM, 87144; phone:
> 310/559-2247
> SEMINAR SPEAKER: http://www.livecleseminars.com/
> AUTHOR: The Lawyer's Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet, ABA
> 2006 (http://www.internetfactfinder.com)
> AUTHOR: The Cybersleuth's Guide to the Internet, IFL Press 2008
> (http://www.netforlawyers.com/prod01.htm)
> EDITOR: Internet Fact Finding For Lawyers, ALI-ABA (http://iffl.ali-aba.org
> )
> PAST CHAIR: California State Bar LPMT Section(http://www.calbar.ca.gov/lpmt
> )
>
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