General

I wrote in March 2005 about the public-records search engine Pretrieve. A major appeal of the site was that it was free. Go to Pretrieve today and the front page still describes the service as free — even highlighting the word free in red type — but it lies. Enter a query and…

The Massachusetts legislature holds an important hearing tomorrow on a bill to create a journalists’ shield in Massachusetts. Details at my Media Law blog.…

Score another glitch for the new lawyer rating site Avvo: According to the Avvo profile of lawyer and blogger J. Craig Williams — my colleague in hosting Lawyer2Lawyer — he is, shall we say, no longer with us. Click on the “Experience” tab in Craig’s profile, and it lists him as…

This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we discuss opportunities for U.S. lawyers in China. Our show features three U.S.-based lawyers who recently traveled to Hong Kong and mainland China on behalf of the Los Angeles County Bar Association as well as a lawyer who is a Hong Kong native and has practiced…

Today’s debut of Avvo may have been the most hyped new-product launch the legal field has seen in years. With $14 million in venture capital, a board of directors that includes former LexisNexis CEO Lou Andreozzi, and an advisory board made up of former ABA president Robert Hirshon and Stanford Law professor Deborah Rhode,…

I have posted photos of my recent trip to Russia in this gallery. They include photos of the Siberian city of Tomsk as well as pictures of Moscow taken during stopovers there.…

One of my favorite features of Amazon.com’s A9 search engine was its ability to display maps with block view images. Unlike the aerial views shown by other mapping sites, it took you to street level, linking map addresses to photographs of the actual streets and buildings in 22…

When someone dies without a will, the impact on his or her estate depends on the state in which the decedent resided. A handy new intestacy calculator — the central feature of a Web site called MyStateWill.com — helps determine the outcome of intestacy on a state-by-state basis.

The calculator is the work…

This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we talk to the lawyers who defend high-profile celebrities in criminal cases. Why is the public so fascinated with stars in legal trouble? What challenges do lawyers face in representing a high-profile client? Can celebrities ever get a fair trial?

Joining cohost J. Craig Williams…

Who said there are no Russian legal blogs? Here’s one: Russian Patents Blog. This appears to be the blog of a company providing patent and trademark registration and search services in Russia.…

Levick Strategic Communications, a public relations firm that represents many clients in the legal field, has launched a blog, Stop the Presses. Written by the firm’s president and CEO Richard S. Levick, the blog will focus on helping executives and business leaders understand the mechanics of crisis, litigation and regulatory communications. Among…

Earlier this month, in anticipation of my trip to Russia, I asked here whether anyone knew of legal bloggers in Russia. No one did, apparently. While there last week, I investigated this question for myself, and likewise came up empty-handed.

My investigation consisted of asking everyone I…