[LAW-LIB:56944] Re: Do you have a Google "war story" to share for an upcoming book?

From: Lucy Kellogg (lck@stevensandoconnell.com)
Date: Tue Oct 14 2008 - 11:32:26 PDT

  • Next message: Carole Levitt: "[LAW-LIB:56945] Re: Do you have a Google "war story" to share for an upcoming book?"

    Oh My Goodness! I can see it now!. PLEASE do not respond online to Mr.
    Huttner's comments; if you need to say something, do it to him directly,
    PLEASE.

     

     

    Lucy Cameron Kellogg, Paralegal/Librarina

    Stevens & O'Connell LLP

    400 Capitol Mall, Suite 1400

    Sacramento, CA 95814

    Telephone: (916) 329-9111

    Facsimile: (916) 329-9110

    http://www.stevensandoconnell.com

     

    ________________________________

    From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
    Behalf Of Ronald Huttner
    Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 11:13 AM
    To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
    Subject: [LAW-LIB:56942] Re: Do you have a Google "war story" to share
    for an upcoming book?

     

    "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 <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)



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 14 2008 - 11:34:25 PDT