Skins in the Game.

No. 570

Child pornography legislation has probably engendered more unintended consequences than intended ones. Remember sexting? After the unintended consequence happens, there is often some kind of backtracking, as with sexting prosecutions that nobody wanted. When the police seize a computer for any purpose, they immediately look at the history of items viewed, to see if any potential child porn is there. It seems like they usually find some.

The theory behind certain child pornography legislation is that everyone in the chain, including the consumer, shares in the guilt. As a principle of moral philosophy this is undoubtedly true. But as a guiding principle for legislation, it leads to places we don’t want to go.

Skins, the latest MTV offering, is a case in point. Taco Bell and other advertisers are bailing out. It has been speculated that their attorneys are telling them that they may be held directly liable for the broadcast of child pornography. If there was ever a case of “chilling effect” on the exercise of free speech, this is it.

CLT

The uses of texting are limited only by your imagination.

No. 569

NPR reports that a dive bar (their term) in Cambridge Mass has an app for you to text your waitress. Great idea. You never seem to be able to see the waitress when you are dying for water or need a dozen napkins in a hurry. Besides, Mr/Ms Boomer, she’s more tuned into receiving texts than noticing you waiving your arm off. Get used to it.

To those of us over, say, 50, the benefits of texting were not immediately evident. It is the perfect medium for sending and receiving messages when one or both parties are in class or on the sales floor at work. Texting can also be employed silently by two people at a large gathering to have a private conversation, free from prying ears.

So what about lawyers? How about instantaneous communication in the courtroom when your spy, sitting in the back of the room, has something to tell you? You never have to personally speak — blowing her cover. Judges don’t like to see you talking on your cell phone while court is in session, but emergencies do happen. How about sending a message to your secretary to bring you a missing document or to contact a witness you hadn’t planned to call? Or to take care of something urgent you just remembered? You take it from there.

CLT

Category: Blawging
Tags: texting

History in the Tweeting.

ï»¿ No. 568

While reading [and sometimes retweeting] other lawyers’ tweets, I came upon what has become one of the most famous tweets of all times, it read: “My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later.”

The account is still open and you and I can follow it and even reply to it on Twitter. Of course, she won’t be reading and sending tweets anytime soon. But I encourage you to go to @Rep_Giffords and send your response. Here’s mine: “Couldn’t make the 1st Congress on the Corner, but I’ll be at the 2nd.”

Category: Blawging
Tags: @Rep_Giffords

AVVO APPARENTLY LOWERS LAWYER RATINGS.[REVISED WITH COMMENT FROM CONRAD SAAM FROM AVVO]

No. 567

The Solo Attorney’s Practitioner’s Forum on Linked-In is all lit up with comments about AVVO. Many lawyers who have claimed their AVVO accounts (like me) have seen their AVVO ratings go down since the beginning of the year (like me). They usually complain that there has been no change in the data, or even an improvement. Judging from the unanimity of the complaints, the condition is so widespread that it is a very good bet that AVVO rewrote their algorithm.

There has also been a lot of concern expressed about client comments. Here’s a typical example:

I claimed my AVVO listing so that I could post links on it, but I am very uneasy about their system. It would be very easy for one person to destroy a lawyer’s AVVO rating at will, merely by posting multiple negative reviews under various aliases. And considering that people are quicker to complain than they are to say something nice, the odds are that more complainers are going to post than supporters. Maybe I’m being pessimistic in that regard.

Another commenter stated that he was the victim of a negative client comment that was not true. He couldn’t recognize the client or the situation. He complained to AVVO and the representative he spoke to was not very helpful.

The truth is, people do go to AVVO in droves and a bad comment could seriously impair the ability of a lawyer to get business. There is no benefit to the public or the bar in failing to police malicious comments. I was under the impression that AVVO investigated client comments if a lawyer complains. I’ll investigate and report.

CLT

Within hours, Conrad Saam at AVVO, had sent me this reply:

Cliff – you are absolutely correct. Every year, based on input (from literally thousands) of lawyers and consumers, we adjust the algorithm. We wrote about this on the blog in December:http://avvoblog.com/2010/12/17/9966/

As far as client reviews go – we have the gold standard on the web. Every review is read by our team to ensure it meets our stringent guidelines before it goes live. After that, attorneys can either comment directly on reviews or even challenge reviews. We take this very seriously.

Category: Legal Marketing, Practice of Law
Tags: algorithm > AVVO rating > Conrad Saam

Housecleaning in the Blogroll.

No. 566

I just finished removing about a half-dozen links from my blogroll. Most of them have stopped posting.

I am slower to add new ones these days. I added one new blog today. Check out the Corrine Tampas Blog in the blogroll. Very entertaining, good writing. A Pennsylvania lawyer worth reading.

CLT

Category: Blawging

Incompetent to Stand Trial?

No. 565

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog recently called attention to an interesting case in Philadelphia. A drug runner was arrested while transporting cocaine from the West to Philly by car. He turned out to be deaf and illiterate. He hasn’t spoken a word since the arrest. It is believed by authorities that he does not understand any language. His public defender has been unable to communicate with him to prepare for trial. Is he incompetent to stand trial?

A great deal of skepticism was expressed by the WSJ Law Blog readership. How could this individual learn how to drive from Nevada to Pennsylvania without someone explaining what to do? How could he know what exits to take if he can’t read the signs? How could he know where to deliver the package? Or at the bottom of it all, how did he learn to drive a car and pass a driver’s license? In other words, many of them ain’t buying it.

Some interesting suggestions were offered for how to communicate information like the charges and trial procedure: cartoons; television shows; puppets. But communication is a two way street.

Okay, suppose you get past that problem. How to prove that he knew he was delivering cocaine. Or anything?

Imagine this scenario: drug dealers discover him and realize that he is the perfect runner. Someone drives him over and over from the starting point to the ending point. Eventually, he drives while the trainer rides as a passenger. When he has learned the route perfectly, they send him on a solo trip several times before trusting him with a package.

Of course, there are other details to master — buying gas, buying food. But, then, maybe he could be trained to do that, too.

It would make a great movie script.

CLT

Category: Criminal Law
Tags: deaf and illiterate > the perfect runner > Wall Street Journal Law Blog

For Just a Few Minutes, Be a Child Again.

No. 564

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above

,â€¨And sang to a small guitar,

“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,

What a beautiful Pussy you are.

“â€¨Pussy said to the Owl “You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing.

O let us be married, too long we have tarried;

But what shall we do for a ring?”

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows,

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?”

Said the Piggy, “I will”

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon.

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.

They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

Category: Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk
Tags: danced by the light of the moon > Piggy-wig > runcible spoon > The Owl and the Pussycat

Heroes are made in the moment.

No. 563

Amid the appalling story of the attempted assassination of Congresswomen Giffords, it is worth noting that several heroes stepped forward from the bystanders and probably were responsible for saving lives.

– A woman jumped forward to disarm the gunman as he changed ammunition clips;

– Two men followed to pin the gunman down;

– An intern (who had only just joined the Congresswoman’s staff) used his nurses training to stop the bleeding from the Congresswoman’s head wound, saving her life, although he knew that she was the gunman’s target and he was thus stepping into the line of fire;

– At least two people ran toward the shooting to help victims, one was a doctor who had worked in an emergency room, the other an ordinary citizen who would have shot the gunman, stating that in the post-9/11 era we cannot allow terrorists to push us around.

There are a lot of good people out there. If the story of the Arizona shootings is any indication, they greatly outnumber the bad ones.

Category: News Commentary
Tags: Congresswomen Giffords

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

No. 562

“You’re simpletons; you’re idiots if you don’t get that!”

These immortal words were spoken by the Governor of Pennsylvania to Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, on the subject of whether slots are on balance a plus for the state because gambling addicts would have just spent their paychecks in New Jersey, Delaware or West Virginia.

Gee, its too bad Ed Rendell will be leaving office so soon. After eight years, he has become so entertaining of late. By contrast, the new Governor of Pennsylvania is so cautious he may not be quotable at all.

CLT

Category: News Commentary
Tags: 60 Minutes > Ed Rendell > Leslie Stah

294/474: Looks Like a Law School Class Rank, Doesn’t It?

No. 561

Once in blue moon, I look at my AVVO blog ranking. On January 6, 2011, PLBT placed 294th out of 474 blogs ranked by traffic. That’s not quite in the upper half, but its getting there. So far as I know, however, PLBT is the number one legal blog in Western Pennsylvania.

The Alexa Rank of this blog is 4,273,854th World-wide, with Facebook probably ranking 1 and Google probably ranking 2.

No. 295 on the AVVO list, incidentally, is in Spanish, Practica Legal, the first foreign language law blog I’ve seen.

Onward and upward!

CLT

Category: Blawging
Tags: PLBT > Practica Legal

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

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