This article from WebProNews.com is both instructive and entertaining. The article reports on a testy email exchange between a young attorney and an experienced legal eagle with his own law firm that has now become public news in the online world of blogs.

From the article —

The summary - a young lawyer applies for a position with a firm, which extends an offer, then cuts the offered salary; the young lawyer fires off an email declining the position, after which the fun really began.

You can read the entire article by David Utter with WebProNews.com @ When Lawyers Attack With Email.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed the state’s first lawsuit against a phone record data broker and his companies. The suit names John Strange of Denver, CO and his companies USA Skip Trace, AMS Research Services Inc. and Worldwide Investigations Inc.

From the article –

Abbott says he has reason to believe Strange uses one or more illegal pretexts for obtaining this information, such as posing as the person whose records are being requested or claiming to speak for that person as his or her representative.

The suit alleges USA Skiptrace has violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which allows the state to seek civil penalties of $20,000 per violation.

The suit also seeks attorneys’ fees and investigative costs.

You can read the entire article in the Houston Business Journal @ Texas AG files suit over sale of private phone records.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 7, 2006–

New litigation suite of services presents exclusive, relevant content, tools and services when and where litigators need it throughout the litigation lifecycle

LexisNexis U.S. is changing the game in the nearly $3 billion litigation services market with today’s introduction of LexisNexis(R) Total Litigator 1.0, a straightforward tool which enables attorneys to uncover vital information necessary to gain strategic advantages throughout the litigation lifecycle, all in one place. LexisNexis is a leading provider of legal, news and business information services and tools proven to improve firm productivity and profitability.

LexisNexis Total Litigator 1.0 is the most recent example of LexisNexis(R) Total Practice Solutions, the company’s new strategy aimed at firms’ broader business and practice needs. Total Practice Solutions help legal professionals achieve excellence in both the business and practice of law by providing better tools to increase productivity, profitability and growth. LexisNexis offerings are designed for the way legal professionals work, in all of the areas essential to their success, including Client Development, Research Solutions, Practice Management and Litigation Services.

Endorsed as the “best option for litigators” by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), the first such endorsement in the organization’s 35 years of service to litigators, LexisNexis Total Litigator 1.0 delivers unprecedented value to litigators and their firms. This suite of tools enables access to critical content, tools and services mapped to the way litigators think and work, all according to the specific tasks they undergo throughout the litigation process.

The NITA endorsement was further driven by the depth and breadth of advantages these tools provide. For example, LexisNexis Total Litigator:

– Is the only comprehensive litigation solution: By offering the most complete litigation solution, which includes research, electronic discovery, service of process and court records, LexisNexis Total Litigator is the only service in the market that covers the entire litigation lifecycle from start to finish, all in one place and organized the way litigators think and work.

– Helps develop effective litigation strategy: By responding to the expanding and emerging types of litigation, LexisNexis Total Litigator helps make effective and efficient case evaluation, effectively deals with electronic discovery, and manages litigation activity and information residing in multiple, disconnected locations.

“Litigators require a set of tools that are designed to be utilized the way they think and work. LexisNexis Total Litigator 1.0 enables this and much more,” said Andy Prozes, CEO of LexisNexis Group. “As industry experts - including NITA - attest, LexisNexis Total Litigator is the best option for litigators to find and utilize vital information while gaining a competitive edge throughout the litigation lifecycle.”

LexisNexis Total Litigator 1.0 is divided into several categories which represent the primary components of the litigation workflow, including:

– Drafting, Service of Process and Filing: LexisNexis Total Litigator includes industry-leading, reliable resources to accomplish these critical tasks, including Matthew Bender forms, and service of process and electronic filing through LexisNexis(R) File & Serve.

– Legal Research: LexisNexis is the unmatched authority in legal research, and LexisNexis Total Litigator takes complete advantage of this research through case law with headnotes, Shepard’s(R) Citations Service, analytic materials from Matthew Bender Treatises, and briefs.

– Gathering Intelligence: LexisNexis Total Litigator provides the most comprehensive case investigation resources available to litigators, including court records and strategic profiles through LexisNexis(R) CourtLink(R), public records and comprehensive news content.

– Formal Discovery: With LexisNexis Total Litigator, attorneys are provided with proven, unmatched industry expertise in electronic discovery through LexisNexis(R) Applied Discovery(R) and the precision searching of LexisNexis and internal firm documents through LexisNexis(R) Total Search.

In addition, LexisNexis will continue to build and assemble expanded litigation content, tools and services, including research-enabled case management; additional briefs, transcripts, motions and verdict reports; court rules information; and calendaring tools. These will be introduced throughout the year.

“No matter what an attorney is working on during the course of a case, only LexisNexis Total Litigator 1.0 offers a strategic advantage by making it more efficient to find the information they need, wherever and whenever they need it,” said Michele Vivona, vice president and general manager, LexisNexis Litigation Services. “Finding and managing critical information has never been this easy, and we look forward to assisting attorneys with this comprehensive litigation solution.”

LexisNexis Total Litigator is a component of LexisNexis Litigation Services, the company’s overarching offering of complete litigation solutions. LexisNexis Litigation Services drives winning litigation strategies by providing a comprehensive collection of industry-leading litigation information, tools and services focused on research, management and analysis of data throughout the entire litigation process. These Litigation Services further support the LexisNexis Total Practice Solutions.

The LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell site now offers an enhanced comparison tool that allows users to compare up to four law firms or individual lawyers in such areas as: area of practice, size of firm, office locations, educational background and attorney bar admissions.

The following excerpt is reprinted from a BusinessWire release –

“This is a great new tool that increases the value of Martindale-Hubbell’s database because it allows those of us who are frequently selecting outside counsel to do ‘apples to apples’ comparisons of various law firms with whom we’re exploring prospective relationships,” said Jerry Temko, Vice President & General Counsel, Europe, of Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. “The net benefit is that we are able to make quicker and more informed buying decisions about the most appropriate law firm for any given matter we need to assign to outside counsel.”

“The law firm comparison tool not only gives law firms an opportunity to showcase their credentials to prospective clients and grow their practices, but also provides valuable benefits to corporate counsel who rely heavily upon martindale.com to identify, evaluate and select outside counsel,” said Mike Walsh, senior vice president of large and national law firm markets at LexisNexis. “By populating the data fields on martindale.com as richly as possible with detailed information about their firms, our law firm customers can enhance their visibility among in-house counsel and improve the likelihood of being favorably compared against competitors.”

You can visit the LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell law firm and attorney directory at Martindale

Reuters is reporting that South Korean authorities announced Monday that they will start sending legal notices, including indictments, through SMS text message alerts on people’s cell phones.

Almost 75 percent of South Koreans have cell phones and prosecutors hope to save about 160 million won ($158,000) by sending legal notices to people’s cell phones. The text message legal notification system is available starting today and will become fully operational in 2006. People with cell phones will need to apply for the text message service before any legal notices will be sent.

You can read the entire Reuters article @ Mobile phones to announce ‘you’ve been indicted’

According to a recent LexisNexis press release, the LexisNexis CourtLink service is now offering more statewide court, docket and litigation information for Colorado courts than ever before. The expanded LexisNexis court record service began on December 19, 2005.

From the LexisNexis press release —

Attorneys can search real-time court records by case number and litigant name, track cases of interest and receive automatic updates from all Colorado district courts, all Colorado county courts (excluding Denver County), selected municipal courts and all seven water courts. CourtLink also offers online access to U.S. District Court content.

You can read the entire LexisNexis press release @ LexisNexis CourtLink Offers Statewide Online Access in Colorado