Second weekend out of the water in a row, and I’m feeling a little on edge. Today would otherwise be a surfing day but there’s some ice build-up along the shore that causes too much backwash to warrant getting in the water. March typically brings blue skies and calm winds for great paddles though, and its just around the corner.
Here is what I got into this week that you may find interesting.
- Al Baker and Amanda Hartocollis, Confidentiality Hinders Police in Therapist’s Killing. Ought law enforcement officials be given a broad production order to search patient records as part of a care giver’s murder investigation? That’s the issue raised in this news story. (New York Times)
- Law in Action, Justice Scalia in uncompromising form. I think the Scalia BBC interview will be one of the most interesting legal podcasts in 2008. If you’re having problems downloading from this link, it’s also on iTunes right here. (BBC News)
- L.A. Theatre Works, Top Secret: The battle for the Pentagon Papers (Panel Discussion). This is a great podcast on iTunes U. The panelists (Pamela Karlan and Philip Tubman with moderator Alan Acosta) reflect on the Pentagon Papers affair as well as how the tension between freedom of the press and government secrecy is playing out today.
- Alex Cameron and Julie DesBrisay, Privacy-based Limits in Litigation and Electronic Discovery. An overview of the relevant Canadian law. (Canada Bar Association)
- Ralph Losey, When and why should you start an e-discovery team? Mr. Losey directs this question to in-house counsel. He suggests that organizations should rely on intact teams and established processes rather than exposing themselves to the bumps that can happen when e-discovery is handed over to the litigation firm that’s brought in on a specific matter. A significant thought for those inside and outside of law firms who care about e-discovery as a business market.
Of course, there have been a number of violent incidents at American schools in the past couple weeks, including a shooting this week at Northern Illinois University. Thus far, it looks like the Northern Illinois event raises issues about plant/physical security and gun control rather than managing students at risk, but it’s probably a good time to re-link to my and my colleague Catherine Peters’s perspective on the latter issue. We published this short client update after Virginia Tech, and since then have been given some opportunity to provide guidance to colleges and universities as they work on managing privacy compliance issues so they don’t impede the development of protective threat assessment and management systems. It’s been good to work on a subject so important, but I’m nonetheless saddened and concerned by the recent events.
[Thanks to “Steve” for the tip on linking to iTunes.]
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