RSS and Government Agencies

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland decided to use a blog as an easy way to post press releases to the Web and do an RSS newsfeed at the same time. So if you did a lot of federal criminal…

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Author: Jim Calloway

Tools for Podcasting, Blogging and RSS

I stumbled across Mashable last night looking for something. Mashable is a news blog about online social networking trends. (How’s that for focused content?) The site does have some really nice resource collections and one article that I wanted to…

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Author: Jim Calloway

Police dashcam videos are open records

Police dashcam videos are open records, Oklahoma appellate court rules

The ruling won’t affect video taken by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Special legislation was passed several years ago that specifically exempts troopers from turning over dashcam videos.
By Michael McNutt Published: June 1, 2013

Videotapes of arrests made by police officers and sheriff deputies no longer should be considered secret, an Oklahoma appellate court ruled Friday.

“It’s a good day for the citizens and a good day for the press that helps keep the citizens informed,” said Josh D. Lee, a Vinita attorney who filed a lawsuit in Rogers County three years ago seeking videotapes taken from a dashcam mounted in a city of Claremore police cruiser. “It is the most accurate reflection of what actually occurred. Unfortunately, too often, I will read police reports and then I’ll go watch videotapes and what the police reports say happen didn’t happen the way they say it did.

“The only thing that is the saving grace for the citizen accused is to have an actual recording,” he said.

“This is a victory of the public’s right to know and for common sense,” said Joey Senat, a media law professor at Oklahoma State University.

“All of these dashcam videos do is tell the truth and the facts about the arrest,” said Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association. “No law enforcement agency should be afraid of that.”

Dashcam policies vary

The ruling by the Oklahoma Court of Civil appeals does not affect video taken by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers. An Oklahoma County District Court judge also ruled in 2005 that patrol video of arrests should be open to the public, but the state Public Safety Department since then succeeded to get legislation passed that specifically exempted troopers from turning over videotapes.

Phil Cotten, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police, said his group’s board of directors will likely discuss the opinion during their annual conference later this month.

“If there’s nothing to hide, there’s nothing to hide,” said Cotten, who retired as Norman’s police chief two years ago. “Most of the recordings that I had reviewed over the years supported the officer the vast majority of the time.”

Police department policies on the release of dashcam videos vary, Thomas said. Some, such as Oklahoma City, don’t have cameras mounted on police cruisers.

Mark Myers, spokesman for the Oklahoma County sheriff’s office, said several of the department’s cruisers are equipped with dashcams.

 

“Barring something that was considered investigative in nature, we’ve generally always released our dashcam videos and pursuits or whatever had been requested of us,” Myers said.

Lee, a former Vinita police officer, said the city of Claremore at one time turned over video copies of arrests. But in recent years, the police department developed a policy that the videos were not subject to Oklahoma’s Open Records Act and those wanting a video would have to make the request with the Rogers County district attorney’s office.

The district attorney’s office released copies of the video, he said.

“But the problem is they can only give me what they’re aware of,” Lee said. “They can only give me what they’ve been given. Say, there’s two or three different police cars on scene …. Claremore will choose which videotape to give to the DA to give to me but there might be other videotapes available.”

‘Video is a record’

Lee filed a lawsuit in Rogers County District Court, saying the video falls under the Open Records Act; the judge upheld the city’s policy, ruling that dashboard camera video is a direct piece of evidence and does not fall under the Open Records Act.

Lee appealed, and the Court of Civil Appeals ruled 2-1 that video of someone’s arrest “constitutes a public record subject to inspection under the Open Records Act.”

“The dash cam video at issue here is a recording created by and under the authority of public officials in connection with the transaction of public business,” wrote Judge Robert Bell in the majority opinion. “Thus, the arrest video is a ‘record’ as defined by the Act.”

Lee said he is concerned city police departments will approach lawmakers about giving them the same exemption that troopers have.

“There will be some sort of an amendment that they’ll try to run up the pole to legislate this opinion to be ineffective and it to be pointless,” he said. “I hope that it doesn’t pass.”

Source:  http://newsok.com/police-dashcam-videos-are-open-records-oklahoma-appellate-court-rules/article/3840638

The Latest iPhone and iPad Apps to Help Lawyers

Scroll the Smarter Way: The Latest iPhone and iPad Apps to Help Lawyers Work More Efficiently

cloud_insetThe most downloaded iPhone and iPad applications may be the hit cartoon game Angry Birds, the popular social network Facebook and the Internet radio service Pandora, but among the one million different apps are some useful tools for lawyers on the go who crave organization, easy access and synchronization between their office and everywhere else. In a recent continuing legal education course, “iPhone and iPad Apps for Lawyers,” experts hand-picked apps in a variety of categories deemed most valuable for legal professionals.

Tech-savvy panelists Jim Calloway, director of theOklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program, and Tom Mighell, a senior consultant at Contoural, Inc., a provider of information governance consulting services, presented the most exciting applications for iPhone and iPad users that can make these devices the Swiss Army knife of successful lawyers.

An over-arching theme is the concept of a “mobile office” that provides tools away from your desk. Rather than a static paper calendar, apps such as Fantastical and Pocket Informant Pro can be accessed from a mobile device. For Internet searches, Calloway identified the Atomic Web Browser app as ideal for the iPhone and iPad because it “has the ability to remember your settings … so the next time you go to the site you won’t have to zoom in and out.” Google’s Chrome browser app allows users to access sites saved on a computer at work via their touch-screen devices.

“If you are a Chrome user on your desktop, you can synchronize all of your bookmarks back and forth (between your iPad and desktop),” said Mighell. Calloway reiterated that point, admitting that “many times that’s bailed me out where I had a bookmark I wanted to get back to.”

The panelists said that the question lawyers asked most about when using iPhones and iPads was: “How do I use Microsoft Word?” Document creation, revision and annotation are critical to many in the legal profession to access important attachments and make changes. As of now, there is no official app made for Microsoft Office.

Documents To Go® and Quickoffice Pro HD are popular tools for editing and manipulating documents, but experts shared that lawyers who crave consistency should download the app CloudOn to enjoy the entire suite of Microsoft Word features.

“With CloudOn, you are actually accessing Microsoft Office in the cloud,” explained Mighell. “It will load the document into a full version of Microsoft Word.” Mighell noted that CloudOn does have a limitation since it requires an Internet connection.

Panelists said another important task for legal professionals is note taking. Notability is a versatile app that lets users log information through handwriting, typing and audio. But Evernote, a popular new player in the app world, was labeled the “most valuable player” of iPhone and iPad apps based on its ability to allow users to log information as they find it, and search for it later.

“Evernote is just, in my view, a must-have app,” said Calloway. “It has a great web-capturing ability.”

As a cloud-based service, Evernote is a tool for tracking information and making it accessible by organizing the information with “tags” and storing those details in different “notebooks.” Users cannot only store their own notes and lists, but also articles they find and pictures they take while out and about. For instance, if a lawyer sees a street sign that needs to be documented for a particular case, a lawyer can snap a photo of it in Evernote, tag the photo with the case name, and find the photo later by searching for that case name.

“Evernote will use optical character recognition technology to be able to read the text in any image that you upload,” said Mighell. “You can easily read it and that makes it searchable.”

Experts stressed that lawyers also focus on security, especially because client-privileged information and personal information should be confidential. Mighell and Calloway recommended locking a device and instituting 12-character passwords rather than using the previous 8-character standard. An easy way to store these passwords is through password manager apps LastPass or 1 Password, said Mighell.

“A password manager is something you should have on your iPhone or your iPad,” advised Mighell. “Keeping track of passwords is just not easy to do and shouldn’t be done anymore on a notepad or sticky note.”

Experts also discussed how to digitally sign documents; how to use accessories to film witness testimonies with an iPad; how to scan documents with Scanner Pro; and ways to use an iPhone or iPad as a remote for presentations, such as through KeynoteRemote.

The panelists said legal professionals should download carefully; advising that they check with their IT department to verify if one app is preferred over another and to build a “support network” of friends and co-workers who also use the same apps. Several apps come in both free and paid versions, and experts recommend paying if a user enjoys the app enough or will frequently use it.

More information can be found in Tom Mighell’s book, iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers.  The CLE was presented by the ABA Law Practice Management SectionSolo, Small Firm and General Practice DivisionSection of Intellectual Property LawYoung Lawyers Division and the Center for Professional Development.

Video Conferencing

SURAT: In an example of courts going tech-savvy, a couple got their divorce approval from local court after the statement of the husband living in the US was recorded through video conferencing on Saturday.

The divorce approval was announced on Tuesday after the couple agreed to all the terms. Court of T K Gurnani, principal judge, family court, approved the divorce application.

Amish Jivan and his wife Dipti Gheewala lived together only for six days after getting married in 2008. Jivan then went to the US for his business and never returned.

The couple remained separated for the four years and agreed to get separated legally after mutual understanding that they could not continue the relationship.

“As expected, it was not possible for Jivan to remain present in India during legal procedure and according to law, the person himself or his attorney should remain present in the court. In this case, Jivan handed over the power of attorney to his relative who filed the divorce application,” said Hemant Topiwala, lawyer for the couple.

“The couple had difference of opinion since the day of marriage following which they decided to mutually discontinue the relationship,” he said.

It was second marriage of both the individuals and after meeting each other through a common friend, they decided to marry. The marriage took place on December 23, 2008 and Jivan left for the US on December 29. Due to busy schedule in his fast food business, he could not return to India, his lawyer informed.

The court used live video chat software available online and the video conferencing was carried out on a laptop.

“The court asked Jivan to identify his signature and the people related to case. After confirmation, his statement was recorded and his application was approved,” said Topiwala.

The couple decided on a one-time settlement amount of Rs 21 lakh, which Jivan agreed to pay Dipti. After the application was filed in August 2011, the court asked the couple to discuss compromise for six months. However, they could not reach to any agreement.

Source:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/Court-approves-divorce-of-Surat-couple-through-video-conferencing/articleshow/13071168.cms?goback=%2Egde_3818704_member_114188646

Social Media Statistics

How Family Law Attorneys Use Social Media Evidence in Court Cases [infographic]

Posted on April 03, 2012 by David

The infographic, “How Family Law Attorneys Use Social Media Evidence in Court Cases,” provided by Dishon & Block Family Law Attorneys, illustrates how lawyers are turning to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr to help them identify “smoking gun” evidence for their cases.

Source:

http://www.cadivorce.com/news/social-media-evidence/?goback=%2Egde_3818704_member_112274467

Ipad!

The iPad for Litigators

The new iPad is out today! The new iPad is out today! The new iPad is out today! OK, that may not be as funny as Steve Martin’s screams about being in the new phone book in The Jerk, but a lot of people are really excited about the new and improved iPad released today.

Trial lawyers are also pretty excited about the iPad. With great apps for trial presentation and preparation and a very simple interface, lots of lawyers are successfully using iPads in the courtroom for jury trials and other types of hearings. iPad for Litigators is the topic of the 53rd Edition of the Digital Edge podcast. Our guest is Tom Mighell. Tom blogs about the iPad in the legal community at iPad 4 Lawyers. Tom is the author of the book iPad in One Hour for Lawyers and the author of the newly announced book iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers. Tom and I have done several programs about lawyers using iPads in and out of the courtroom. So my co-host, Sharon Nelson and I chat with Tom about how trial lawyers use iPads. It turned out to be a pretty good podcast if I do say so myself and the show notes have links to the apps we discussed as well as a link to purchase the archive of a CLE presentation Tom and I did through ALI-ABA with trial lawyer Jamie Moncus.

I hope you can listen to our podcast on The iPad for Litigators.

 

Source:

http://jimcalloway.typepad.com/lawpracticetips/2012/03/the-ipad-for-litigators.html