The Losey family headlined at the Hard Rock Casino in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday. My son, Adam Losey, an associate at Foley, his wife, Catherine Losey, an associate at Akerman, and I presented on ethics at the eDiscovery Leadership Conference. Adam came up with the title – How Not to Screw Up: Being Competent and Diligent in the Information Age. Another group called Weezer was at the Hard Rock at the same time doing a nostalgia tour, but for us this was a coming-out-party. This was the first event where we went public with Adam and Cat’s big project, a non-profit education foundation for young lawyers called IT-Lex. More on that in a minute, but first, here is our panel photo where you can see why we were dubbed beauty and the beasts.
I tried (and almost succeeded) to sit back and let the wiz kids do most of the talking. There is no better way to scare the geezers of my generation into taking e-discovery competence seriously than let them see for themselves what the next generation of opposing counsel looks and sounds like.
Our presentation included both the classic cases of e-discovery and the latest hot-off-the-press opinions. Speaking of hot news, did you see that the head of the CIA was just brought down by a FBI investigation of email? Yup, email did it again. It revealed that one of the country’s most esteemed military personalities, David H. Petraeus, was having a secret extramarital affair with his biographer. Her book was ironically titled All In. The email was reportedly found on their Gmail accounts and included sexually explicit references involving office furniture. (By the way, if the FBI can read the personal Gmail of the head of the CIA without consent, do you think they’d have any problem reading your online email?)
When will my generation ever learn what the “e” in e-mail really stands for? It is not electronic. It is evidence. This ignorance about technology is about as stupid as a 60-year-old head of the CIA having a secret affair to begin with. Ever hear of Mata Hari? No wonder we are so confused and threatened by foreign hackers. So what if the adoring fan went to Harvard and West Point and looked a tad better than your wife of 38 years? The hypocrisy of many of our leaders talking about family values is disgusting.
But, back to topic, the Losey family presentation at the eDiscovery Leadership Conference, which was, by the way, a well-run event, focused on the core legal ethics values of competence and diligence. We concluded with an over-view of my latest project, Electronic Discovery Best Practices. More on that in a coming blog.
Below is the video of the KeyNote slides we prepared. You’ll have to come to the next Losey family event to hear the words, but this will at least give you an idea of what a state-of-the-art slide deck should look like. It is not a PowerPoint. I cannot stand such clunky unartistic software. These slides were built using Mac’s KeyNote software. That is the way to go my friends. Dump your old PowerPoints and check out what Apple can do. It goes real fast, so left click if you want to pause.
IT-Lex Foundation
We Loseys presented on behalf of our respective law firms and the foundation that Adam and Catherine started, IT-Lex. This nonprofit group is devoted to education in the field of IT law, including especially electronic discovery law. The focus is on law students and young lawyers. They have a great website. You should check it out, even if you are over 30. Anyone can become a Friend without charge, although donations are appreciated.
IT-Lex posts two short blogs every day that are interesting and cool, plus they have educational videos with a humorous bent. But why listen to me? I’m well over 30. Here is a video introduction by Adam Losey and his friend and General Counsel of IT Lex, Samir Mathur:
IT-Lex will also sponsor a new kind of CLE conference of its own next year, Innovate 2013. It will feature participant interaction with quickie presentations, along with a star-cast of the top e-disco rock stars. Yes, even I will be there providing semi-adult supervision.
IT-Lex’s hottest activity is a writing contest for law students. It was just launched with a Five Thousand Dollar first prize. You read that right. Bet you wish you were a law student? Second place has a $1,000.00 prize and third $500.00. Plus, the prize-winners will be published in the IT-Lex Journal, and become Members of the IT-Lex Law Review. Talk about motivation – $5,000 cash and instant credibility in the hottest field of law today. Tell your law student friends about this.
The IT-Lex writing contest is sponsored by Adam’s law firm, Foley & Lardner, but other firms and vendors can get involved with this foundation too. It is a great way to reach the next generation. Write to the General Counsel of IT-Lex, Samir Mathur, who works full-time for the foundation and also writes most of the blogs and tweets. Samir and Adam can tell you about the many ways that you and your company or law firm can participate as a sponsor of IT-Lex.
Conclusion
Please consider pitching in to help out IT-Lex. Adam, Cat, and Samir are trying their best to bring the rest of their generation up to speed on e-discovery and IT law, but they need our help. This is a great educational activity for any e-discovery vendor or law firm to get behind. Brand loyalty starts young. Adam and Catherine have put their own savings into this start-up foundation. The old man has helped out a bit too. This foundation is going to be around for many years. I promise you that. Now is the time to give a shout out to Samir and Adam and get in on this while you can.
Great presentation at the eDiscovery Leadership Conference! Sounds like it-lex is off to something good!