Proctor in Admiralty

Monitoring Email Usage

I have been terribly delinquent in posting and I am trying to be better but there never seems to be the time - I am therefore renewing my offer to anyone who wishes to post on maritime law and technology - please let me know as I would be pleased to offer up some space here for guest bloggers.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with my friend Irene Zanetos regarding my blog, and she sent me a link to an interesting article in Information Week magazine.  It surrounds the well known and often ignored fact that as we all type more and more emails, the amount of documentary evidence in any particular matter grows and grows.  The article discusses good document retention policies and tools/software for managing, archiving and locating email, plus the need to think before committing something in writing - something not enough of us do.

Thanks Irene for the heads-up and I will try to be better about posting more often!

Technology finds monster waves beyond estimates of computer models

Researchers aboard the RRS DISCOVERY experienced waves of up to 95 feet in height - the biggest waves ever recorded.  The scientists believe these waves are created by resonance where a storm builds energy into waves over the hours rather than by strong winds which are traditionally thought of the source for large waves.  You can read more about the findings of British National Oceanographic Center researchers aboard the RRS DISCOVERY here.

From an industry perspective, design of vessels able to withstand large waves may need to be reconsidered in the future   As a final note, waves of up to 95 feet give new meaning to so called heavy weather or force majure defenses.  It will be interesting to see the impact of this data on the maritime industry.

What happened to Equasis?

Update to post below: Equasis is back on line.  According to the US Coast Guard, Equasis was having a dispute with its hosting company.  It appears to be resolved and most importantly, Equasis is back online.  I also learned that the popularity of the service is growing all of the time.  I will try to get some statistics on this to report back.

What happened to Equasis, the online database of more that 7500 vessels around the world?  That is the question on the mind of many and I note the comments posted to my orignal entry on Equasis back in May, 2005.  That post is here. 

So far, I haven't been able to find out.  As many of you know, the website is down and they are not answering the telephone in the Equasis head office in Paris - I have called numerous times. 

I am trying to get an update from the US Coast Guard, one of the sponsors of the Equasis project and I will update all of you as soon as I have more information.

For those interested Equasis was an acronym for the European Quality Shipping Information System - I didn't know that until today!

Until more information is available,  if anyone knows of an alternate source of that great data available previously available on Equasis.org, please post a comment here. 

Legal tech, tips and training guru

My friend Adriana Linares is blogging about Legal Technology tips at I Heart Tech.  I have known Adriana since she consulted and trained at my old law firm, and helped bring us from a world of Wordperfect and Groupwise to the Microsoft Office suite.

She is smart, talented and cute - not to mention, she knows her way around a computer.

Her posts have included useful tidbits including, free software for syncing files across multiple computers - here and a free desktop viewing tool, here.

Add her feed, you will not be disappointed.

By the way, thanks to Tom Mighell at Inter Alia, for bringing Adriana's blog to my attention!

Defense of the Legal Profession

There was a very interesting Letter to the Editor in the October issue of the Georgia Bar Journal, the magazine of the State Bar of Georgia.  In the letter, attorney Alvin Leaphart defends against attacks on the legal profession and comments on the need that the world has for lawyers while simultaneously attacking the profession.  Leaphart summarizes stating:

If you want to be popular, be a doctor, a preacher, or the village idiot.  If you want to make a difference and walk a long, lonely road, be a good lawyer.

The letter appears on page 5 of the issue, accessible here.

New Mediation Blog

I saw my former partner Bobby Glenn, of Hunter Maclean at the Welcome Reception for the Maritime Law Association of the United States fall meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona.  He advised that he had started An Advocate for Mediation, a blog devoted to mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Bobby is well suited to be blogging on this topic.  He has been heavily involved in the development of ADR usage and has served as the Chairman of the ADR committees of the State Bar of Georgia and the MLA.  He is often called upon to mediate complex cases and has developed an excellent reputation for getting the parties to resolution. 

I highly recommend checking out An Advocate for Mediation.

MLA Hurricane Katrina Message Boards

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Maritime Law Association of the United States (the "MLA")has set up two message boards on their website.  One is devoted to news of MLA members in affected areas and one with offers of assistance for those affected.   

If anyone knows how to repost the message board on this Blawg, please advise as I am happy to do  so.   If anyone wants to post information here regarding MLA members, offers of assistance or anything else of use to the maritime legal community dealing with this crisis, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone coping with this tragedy.

- Marc

Map to the Federal Courts and some interesting resources for cocktail party chatter

Thanks to Denise Howell at Bag and Baggage for this post with some great links:

Take That, Pat Robertson.

The ABA has put together a collection of resources, the Supporting America's Judiciary Toolkit, "to help lawyers, bar leaders or anyone working to address the attacks on our judiciary." And for those seeking to find the judiciary (the federal ones, anyway), here's "a new interactive map that shows each of the 12 regional judicial circuits and 94 judicial districts. Clicking on the map will take you to links for the Web sites of the federal courts in a particular circuit or district." (via Genie Tyburski)

Tom Peters' 100 Ways to Succeed

Thanks to Jim Calloway for his post which introduced me to Tom Peters and his 100 Ways to Succeed/Make Money.  The first 50 ways are available on the Tom Peters Blog and on the Change This blog - an interesting blog itself.  I should have recognized Tom's name from In Search of Excellence, but I had to check out his site to make the connection.  I must be living under a rock.

The tips are practical and could and should be used by anyone who gets out of bed and puts their pants on one leg at a time.   Check them out.