Settling in at SquareSpace

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After several weeks working on a new hosting service, a few comments are in order.  First, the new appearance has changed what information is presented on each page.  I decided to work with a 2-column format.  It improves readability because text has more room to breathe.  However, the cost of that change is a limitation of what can be included in sidebar areas.

Second, every post from the prior hosting service, TypePad, has been moved over.  There are qualifiers to that statement.  When posts were copied over, I found and corrected some errors where the tile of the post was replaced with other text.  I think I fixed all of those instances, but I offer no guarantees.  Similarly, some posting dates changed.  I think I fixed those as well, but some may have fallen through the cracks.  If you find a non sequitur in historical posts, either in the title or because of a data that makes no sense, excuse it as an error in the migration tools that I used.

Because SquareSpace is so flexible, I may tinker with formatting over time, so don't be surprised if parts of the blog's appearance change and then change back with no explanation.  By the way, SquareSpace is more than a blog hosting platform.  For smaller lawfirms looking at creating or updating a stale website, you could spend a few weeks using the free test account and see what you think.

Thanks for the support.  Please enjoy the new home of The Complex Litigator.

"3 Geeks and a Law Blog" (aka geeklawblog.com) collects some must read blog posts of 2009

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Visit 3 Geeks and a Law Blog for a diverse list of "must read" posts of 2009 (so far, including a few of 2008's greatest hits).  The Complex Litigator is thankful for the inclusion on that list.  Most importantly, though, is the diversity of topics included on the list.  If you haven't visited 3 Geeks and a Law Blog yet, it's worth you time to visit a site self-described as: "A law blog addressing the foci of 3 intrepid law geeks, specializing in their respective fields of knowledge management, internet marketing and library sciences, melding together to form the Dynamic Trio."

You can follow the authors Lisa Salazar, Greg Lambert, and Toby Brown on Twitter:

@glambert
@lihsa
@gnawledge

The FeedBurner feed from The Complex Litigator is now supplied by the SquareSpace blog

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The FeedBurner RSS feed for The Complex Litigator is now supplied by the RSS feed for this blog at SquareSpace.  If you are subscribed to the RSS feed from The Complex Litigator through FeedBurner, you should continue to receive a feed.  If your feed has been disrupted (meaning, if I tinkered with something that I should have left untouched and broke something), the RSS subscription link in the right column will directly supply the feed to your preferred reader.

The Complex Litigator may experience brief "outages" as the domain registrar is changed ahead of hosting move

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The prior registrar for www.thecomplexlitigator.com provided no user access to custom DNS settings.  In advance of the move to SquareSpace for blog hosting, I am moving to a new registrar (although my old registrar seems determined to make that process as slow and painful as possible).  When the registrar changes, I'll need to change domain name servers.  That will cause a brief "outage" as the new information propogate through the top level domain name servers on the internet.  Since my current registrar is being "jerky" (a legal term used to describe certain registrars), I may not be able to control the exact time of the transfer, but Monday or Tuesday looks most likely.

Once that switch is complete, I'll redirect traffic to SquareSpace on the weekend of May 16th.  That switch will cause another brief outage (anywhere from hours to a day or two, depending upon how quickly your particular DNS server refreshes its data).

The Complex Litigator Blog will "move" on May 16, 2009

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Over the weekend of May 16, 2009, the CNAME DNS record that points to this blog on the Typepad service will be revised to point at this blog on the SquareSpace service.  I will post multiple warnings about the switch, with information about how RSS subscriptions will be affected and what to do in general terms to restore a feed to your preferred reader.  The copy of the site is nearing completion and can be viewed at thecomplexlitigator.squarespace.com until the CNAME record is updated.  There are a few hiccups left to iron out; a few posts were either mis-titled or mis-dated in the import process, but most of this blog has been copied over successfully.  SquareSpace offers more design flexibility and the ability to expand the site in a number of interesting ways.

in brief: UCL Practitioner's post on Kwikset v. Superior Court (Benson) is a must-read

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If you happen to read the UCL Practitioner with any regularity, you know that Kimberly Kralowec is as cool a customer as they come.  That's why I pay careful attention when she let's loose in prose on any appellate decision touching on the UCL and related False Advertising Law.  Her post earlier today on the recent Court of Appeal decision in Kwikset Corp. v. Superior Court (Benson) (Feb. 25, 2009) (Fourth Appellate District, Division Three) is the most critical commentary that I can recall reading (but that criticism is well-justified, I think).  I've commented previously about my own concern that Division Three of the Fourth Appellate District has moved out of step with California's policies that favor consumer protection and resolution of issues with the class action device.  But the most recent Kwikset decision is little more than judicial legislation.  Be sure to check out what the UCL Practitioner has to say about Kwikset.

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Advice on getting the most from Acrobat 9 from the Delaware Employment Law Blog

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Compliments of @acrolaw on Twitter, I was directed to an excellent blog post entitled Making the Switch to Digital: Legal Research.  The article, posted by Delaware Employment Law Blog, includes some good advice about getting the most out of your online research and information management with Adobe Acrobat 9.  While I wouldn't necessarily implement all of the tips for myself, there is certainly some value in creating a pdf repository of authority used in research, particularly if you've ever considered creating a fully indexed e-brief.  I've seen one such brief, with each citation linked to accompanying authority, and its a thing of beauty.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: The Complex Litigator will soon be forced to migrate its RSS feed to a new location

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Feedburner, which provides the RSS feed from this blog to many readers, was purchased by Google quite some time ago.  Now, Google is in the process of moving the Feedburner service to its own servers.  The move is voluntary now, but will mandatory very soon.  I have read many reports of problems during the voluntary feed relocation period, which is why I have not yet changed the feed.  However, I believe that time is running out.  If you read this blog from a Feedburner feed, you can subscribe to the feed directly in newer versions of Outlook or various browsers.

UPDATE:  The feed from this site has been moved to Google's servers with no problem so far.  Many other users have reported problems with the move, but in this case it was trouble-free.  However, it isn't clear whether this will disrupt the site feed for subscribers.  If it does, give it a few days to sort itself out.

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in brief: New blog covers class actions from defense perspective

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If you are serious about understanding class actions, you need to understand the defense perspective on class actions as much as you do the plaintiff viewpoint.  Jackson on Consumer Class Actions and Mass Torts is a fairly new blog offering analysis from the defense perspective.  The blog is authored by Skadden attorney Russell Jackson, of New York, but the blog offers national coverage.

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Sanai v. Saltz: a tale of woe and courage (on the part of the Court of Appeal)

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This is post is much less about complex litigation than it is about my respect for Division Seven of the Second District Court of Appeal and the great job done by Professor Shaun Martin at his blog, California Appellate Report.  I can't do justice to the story any better than Professor Martin does, so read about Sanai v. Saltz at California Appellate Report and have some courage that we still have judges that do what the law requires, even when it probably hurts.

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