Proskauer partners PALS to help minority students
International law firm Proskauer Rose LLP teamed up with Practicing Attorneys for Law Students (PALS) to help with its Campaign to mentor minority law students and early-career attorneys. The campaign by PALS is a tactical initiative by the 22-year-old organization to mentor minority law students and young attorneys in the New York City metropolitan area.
The law firm committed the first leadership gift to Campaign for PALS. This partnership will boost PALS administrative capacity as well as improve its visibility through branding and marketing outreach. PALS fundraising capacity will also increase from the coalition. All this will help boost the organization's ability to provide minority law students and attorneys with help to develop their talent. Janice K. Smith, partner in Proskauer's Corporate Department and Vice Chair of PALS' Board of Directors, said the firm's decision to join the campaign was to "address the professional development needs of aspiring minority attorneys."
PALS' Board of Directors Chair and intellectual property attorney at Colgate-Palmolive Company, Amanda C. Samuel said that PALS is focused on "giving students and young lawyers the practical information they need to succeed." The campaign will bring together attorneys from top New York law firms and students from 13 area schools. PALS hopes to expand its Campaign for PALS through other similar events geared toward associates and women in law firms. Established in 1875, Proskauer Rose has more than 700 lawyers who provide a wide variety of legal services to its client's world over.
Schwebel Goetz adopts BigHand3 technology
Minnesota-based personal injury law firm, Schwebel Goetz & Sieben implemented BigHand3 Digital Dictation workflow technology in the law firm. The firm realized that the software, designed specifically for law firms, will help improve client servicing through improved response time. BigHand software is exclusively supplied and implemented by Loffler Companies Inc. across Minnesota. The BigHand system allows attorneys to send dictated case notes instantly to their assistants, even if they are not in office. It creates a 'virtual team' across the firm which ensures documents reach prospective clients as fast as possible. The system also allows attorneys to email dictation to assistants thereby speeding up the drafting and production process. Additionally, it will also help the firm save on its service calls and tape costs.
Describing the critical importance of the technology to the firm, Denise Lieske, Schwebel Goetz & Sieben Controller said, the need to respond fast in situations such as to newly published medical records and reports. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global legal sector operating from three locations, Chicago, London, and Sydney and maintains legal installations for large law firms.
FUN NEWS
City council rules 'Messages From God' are outsized
Estrella Benavides painted warning slogans on her property about government conspiracies claiming they were messages from God, received through a church statue and the Bible. The city council ordered her to remove the messages, claiming that they broke the city rules on size of signs. Estrella feels that the city code is unconstitutional and messages from God are not amenable to city codes. The city council has imposed a fine of $50 a day upon the slogans, and threatened to bring criminal charges upon non-compliance. Estrella is currently broadcasting the messages from a loudspeaker fitted on her roof.
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