Internet-Based Lawyers are Coming!!Steven Leahy |
| A new version of the British invasion is about to hit America's shores, Internet-Based Lawyers. At the recent TECHSHOW 2000 hosted by the ABA, Richard Cohen described his Internet-Based Law services firm ''Desktop Lawyer.'' His firm already claims nearly 6 percent of the total divorce trade in Britain since being offered in July of last year. In addition, the firm delivers legal documents over the Internet and advice by telephone to a market that may not otherwise be served. ''The legal knowledge we've compiled ... is in a centralized location ... and it's easily accessible to consumers. It cost us little to create, it cost us virtually nothing to store, and it cost us nothing to deliver,'' says Cohen's brother and Co-founder Graham. ''This is true e-commerce.'' The Cohen brothers plan on introducing an American version of Desktop Lawyer in a few weeks time. They plan to market their services to middle and low-income consumers, a severely under-serviced segment of the legal services market. Desktop Lawyer is not the only e-law site on the web these days. More than $100 million has been poured into e-law sites in the last several months, many with big name sponsors. For example former New York Mayor Ed Koch introduced TheLaw.com and Harvard law school professor Author Miller has introduced Americounsel.com. The move to Internet-Based Law firms has not gone unnoticed by the ABA. Recently, ABA President William Paul sponsored a committee to hammer out a plan for addressing Internet-Based Law Services. The committee met for two days at Chicago-Kent College of Law late last month. The committee called for ''immediate '' action. In typical ABA fashion, the ''immediate'' action was to set up a task force to study of existing ethics rules to determine if the current rules impede lawyers from delivering legal services to the low and moderate income consumers. Like the British invasion of the 1960's, this invasion promises to be influential and long-lasting. |
Game Time Week Two.sal |
| Bustout!, the Game of the Week Last week is a sexist and politically incorrect game. Yet, I really like the game, despite the graphics (because of the graphics??). This week's game is UFO Attacks. The game has none of the controversy, but all of the fun. UFO Attacks has great sound effects, so be sure to have your speakers turned on when you visit it-lawyer.com's game page. If you know where there are some good games I can incorporate into the web site, let me know. Have fun with UFO Attacks, we need you to save the planet! |
AOL is a Monopoly Too?Steven Leahy |
| Galaxy Internet Services, a small ISP based in Boston, brought suit against AOL claiming that AOL illegally ''attempted to eliminate competition in the Internet Service Market.'' The suit was percipitated by the introduction of AOL 5.0 last October. The software prevents AOL subscribers from using other ISP services (Galaxy claims 1.8 million AOL subscribers also subscribe to other ISPs). AOL currently has more than 20 million subscribers. |
Quote of the Day |
| Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. ==>George S. Patton, Jr. |
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