RICHARD ZORZA
As you may know, the economic crisis is having a major impact upon courts, self-help programs, and indeed litigants.
A major focus of selfhelpsupport in the next year will be working to make sure that courts and their access partners continue to innovate in access to justice, even when times are tough and resources are tight.
Top Ten Stories of the Week ending February 27, 2009:
Law Practice Management
Attorney Layoff Alternative: Temporary 10% Pay Cut at Much Shelist Feb 23, 2009, 04:42 pm CST
“The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, is pleased to announce it is seeking applications for funding under the Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative. This program furthers the Department’s efforts to assist communities to develop effective drug court strategies for nonviolent substance-abusing offenders.”:
Here is a link to the Announcement:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/09DrugCourtResearchSol.pdf
Special Libraries Association (SLA) has announced the slate of candidates for the 2010 Board of Directors. Two of the board candidates are members of the Legal Division Their names appear in bold type in list below:
2010 Board of Directors Candidates Announced
Alexandria, Virginia, February 18, 2009 – SLA has nominated eight candidates to run for election to the 2010 SLA Board of Directors. The candidates were identified by the SLA Nominating Committee, which annually solicits names of potential candidates from the membership, and is responsible for putting together a slate of candidates that has exceptional talent, is professionally diverse, and provides regionally balanced representation.
On February 20, 2009 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that it is rescinding the book advertising policy sometimes known as the “mirror image doctrine”. Below is an excerpt from that announcement with links the complete FTC Announcement, the forthcoming notice in the Federal Register, an an article in the National Law Journal discussing this action:
“The Commission has approved the publication of a notice in the Federal Register rescinding the agency’s enforcement policy for advertising of books, also known as the Mirror Image Doctrine (MID). As detailed in the notice, which will be published soon and is available now on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release, the agency is rescinding its stated policy that it will not ordinarily challenge advertising claims that promote the sale of books and other publications when the advertising purports only to express the opinion of the author, or to quote, i.e., ‘mirror,’ the contents of the book or publication….”
As noted above the National Law Journal has also published a Web-only article, FTC Rescinds Decades-old Enforcement Policy on Book Advertising, ” by Marcia Coyle. (February 24, 2009)
Top Ten Stories of the Week ending February 20, 2009:
Law Practice Management Last Week’s Layoffs Saved Law Firms an Estimated $100M Feb 17, 2009, 06:52 am CST
Law Firms
Martha L. Foote M.S.L.I.S, Chair of the SLA Legal Division has sent the following announcement which we are glad to post here for the benefit of some who might not otherwise see it:
The preliminary program for the 2009 SLA conference is now available on the web site at http://www.sla.org/pdfs/sla2009/09PCP_web.pdf. This year’s conference has very strong programming, much of it coming from our own division. Please take a few minutes to review the content and make arrangements to attend SLA 2009.
Top Ten Stories of the Week ending February 13, 2009:
Law Firms Bloody Thursday: 6 Major Law Firms Ax Attorneys; More Layoffs at Others?
Feb 12, 2009, 01:54 pm CST
The following is from a letter we received this morning from Phyllis C. Borzi, Chair of the American Bar Association Joint ommittee on Employee Benefits. It is being posted for the benefit of those who would have an interest in responding:
Dear Employee Benefits Practitioner:
Every year, the Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) presents questions from the members of the employee benefits committees of the six Sections of the ABA participating in the JCEB to various federal agencies in Washington, D.C. The agency meetings are held immediately before the May meeting of the Tax Section. This year the JCEB will be meeting with the IRS, DOL, SEC, PBGC, EEOC, HHS and CMS. This is your opportunity to ask technical questions of the staffs of the various agencies. The results of these meetings will be summarized in a written report which will be published on the JCEB website www.abanet.org/jceb/.
Top Ten Stories of the Week February 6, 2009
Law Firms McDermott Lays Off 60 Lawyers and 89 Staff Members Feb 3, 2009, 12:13 pm CST
Criminal Law Library Blog