Articles Posted in General Announcements

In Are We Nearing a Global Turning Point?, business expert witness Douglas E. Johnston writes:

Several important economic factors appear to be moving unfavorably for the US at the moment, both domestically and abroad, and there are increasing indications that America may not be able to orchestrate a hoped-for global resurgence on its own. Despite encouraging signs of domestic recovery, fundamental structural problems persist in the US economy. The National Debt now exceeds $18 Trillion, the Department of Agriculture confirms that well over 46 million Americans continue on food stamps, and key voices have stepped forward asking for a deeper look at several U.S. economic statistics….

Mathematically, the odds are very strong that a global realignment of the dollar, euro and yuan and their relative weighting and exchange rates will occur, and possibly soon. Why? Because despite the brave declarations of economic recovery from global leaders, each of them has very capable advisors who understand the reality that the entire planet is daily sinking deeper into depression. The Baltic Dry Index, long noted as a reliable surrogate statistic for the volume of global shipping trade, has reached an all-time low in February 2015. It is increasingly possible that the passage of time plus continued money printing from central banks may no longer produce reliable global economic growth.

Since 1999, Internet For Lawyers has provided law firms, corporations, corporate legal departments and local and state Bar Associations around the country with professional and entertaining turn-key CLE programs teaching legal professionals to use the Internet more effectively for business, legal and investigative research.

Company principals, Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch will present the following in-person Continuing Legal Education seminars during February and March. They also offer online quizzes for California Self-Study Continuing Legal Education Credit.

February 26 Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI)

An automotive engineering expert witness testified this week in the federal lawsuit two Minnesota families brought against Toyota. While the Koua Fong Lee and the Trice-Adams families argue that a defect with Lee’s Camry caused a deadly crash in 2006, Toyota says the accelerator pedal shows it was pushed down during the crash and that Lee mistook the brake for the accelerator.

Older model Toyotas were not included in the carmaker’s massive recall after sudden acceleration problems. Toyota was fined $1.2 billion in 2014 by the Justice Department after prosecutors said Toyota’s tried to conceal the problem of sudden acceleration in its vehicles. The case will go to the jury next week.

The National Transportation Safety Board is offering a new course for Legal Professionals, NTSB Investigations: What Legal Professionals Need to Know, to be held March 5-6, 2015, at the NTSB’s Training Center in Ashburn, Va.

The Forensic Expert Witness Association’s Annual Conference will be held in San Diego on April 23-25, 2015.

The Forensic Expert Witness Association’s Annual Conference is a national event that brings together a large and diverse group of professionals from across the country who share common goals related to forensic consulting and expert witness services in all fields of discipline. FEWA welcomes new and seasoned forensic consultants, attorneys, legal professionals, exhibitors, and those interested in exploring forensic consulting as a career to attend the 2015 Annual Conference, April 23-25 at the Westin San Diego.

The FEWA Annual Conference offers forensic consultants who often serve as expert witnesses, the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and techniques required to perform in an effective manner. Forensic experts testify in court trials or provide vital information that will be used in a trial. Oftentimes, they must perform highly technical and precise work where one misstep can have an adverse impact on a legal case. In almost every case, the expert’s testimony is a necessity and is expected by jurors and judges.

In Coming to Grips with Risk, business expert witness Shelley Lee Boyce writes that “Your tolerance for risk is an important factor in how you allocate your investment portfolio among different investments.”

While investments are subject to many different types of risk, risk tolerance typically refers to your ability to hold an investment when the return is either less than you expect or it declines in value. You should only assume a level of risk you are comfortable with, so you aren’t tempted to sell an investment when it is at a low point.

There are at least two factors affecting your risk tolerance. One is the level of investment risk appropriate for you based on your personal situation. Key factors to consider include:

Carole Levitt and Judy Davis, co-authors of Internet Legal Research on a Budget (ABA 2014) and Mark Rosch, co-author of The Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet (IFL Press 2014) present Internet Legal Research on a Budget on Saturday, September 13th, 10 am-12 pm.

Are you an attorney who didn’t pay enough attention in your first year Legal Research class and now realize you should have? Or do you know all about the Internet but want to learn how to use new legal and investigative research sites that are free and low-cost (and even established sites that you have yet to try out)? Or, did you attend law school before computers existed, much less the Internet? Then this seminar is for you!

In partnership with Internet for Lawyers this class will provide instruction and tips from recognized Internet research authorities: Carole Levitt and Judy Davis, co-authors of Internet Legal Research on a Budget (ABA 2014) and Mark Rosch, co-author ofThe Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet (IFL Press 2014).

Expert Witness Skills Workshop offered by The American Institute of CPAs

Do you have the confidence and communications skills necessary to serve as an effective expert witness under pressure? Are you often chosen to serve as an expert witness by outside clients? How do you communicate to jurors today that are more technical and have different expectations of testimony and witnesses? Limited to just 36 participants, the AICPA Expert Skills Workshop answers all of these questions and covers the expert witness process from qualifications to depositions to mock trial.

In three intensive days, you will:

Business expert witnesses may consult on joint ventures, shareholder disputes, financial fraud and business damages. Bruce Dubinsky, Managing Director in Duff & Phelps’ Dispute Consulting practice and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Regent, will be a featured speaker and present a session titled “Preparing for Civil Litigation in a Fraud Examination” at the 25th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in San Antonio, TX, being held June 15-20, 2014. Bruce will share his real-world experience serving as an expert in the fraud examination field, including testifying in the “Madoff 5” criminal trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the fraud examiner for the United States Department of Justice.

Attendees will also learn how to:

Manage the case discovery process from the expert and client perspective Successfully write an expert report to convey your opinion Testify effectively at trial or deposition to illustrate your view

In The Internet of Things, for Better or Worse, computer security expert witness Steve Burgess writes on networked devices. Burgess Forensics has offered computer forensic and electronic discovery as well as expert witness testimony since 1985.

“The Internet of Things.” Sounds like a carnival ride or a zombie movie doesn’t it? But it’s not that and it’s not a new idea. Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems was talking about networked home appliances & devices at the turn of the last millennium when he announced the advent of Jini, Sun’s java-based network architecture for connecting said appliances. The Internet of Things is nearly the same concept – networked devices, with the added feature of being accessible from the Internet.

What kinds of devices make up the Internet of Things (“IoT”)? Anything Internet-connected, which can currently include everything from computer to coffeemaker, from range to refrigerator, from baby monitor to burglar alarm, from car to crockpot. And because they’re Internet-connected some people are afraid that these devices may be subject to malware that will cause them to become zombies.

The ABA TECHSHOW 2014 will be held at the Hilton Chicago with conference dates March 27-29 and expo dates March 27-28. ABA Techshow contacts may be found here. From http://www.techshow.com/conference/, here are tips on attending.

Planning for ABA TECHSHOW

Once you’ve registered, spend some time looking over the Conference Schedule – our dynamic list of educational tracks, sessions, and speakers. The ABA TECHSHOW Board has organized the schedule into multiple tracks, or general topic areas. There are also vendor tracks, meet-the-author opportunities, lunch ‘n learn sessions, and the ABA TECHSHOW 2014 Keynote Speaker, Rick Klau!