Texas Advanced Paralegal Seminar (TAPS) 2007 –
Addison, TX
By Javan Johnson, ACP and Cecile N. Wiginton, CP
In a word — “WOW!” It was an
incredible TAPS. The 2007 event
had the highest number of registrants
ever in the 9 years that TAPS has
been held, with 293 registrants! A very special Thank You to the TAPS
2007 Planning Committee who made
TAPS such a great success: Javan Johnson,
ACP (Longview), Chair, Cecile Wiginton,
CP (Midland), Online CLE Chair, Patricia
Giuliano (San Antonio), Board Advisor,
Star Moore (Fort Worth), CP, Speakers,
Debbie Oaks Guerra (Flower Mound) and
Sharon Taylor, CP (Houston), Vendors,
Gloria Porter (Lewisville), Marketing, Nan
Gibson (Houston), Door Prizes, Ellen
Lockwood, ACP, RP (San Antonio), Registration,
and Frank Hinnant (Innovative
Legal Solutions, Houston) as special advisor.
Educational Presentations: Speakers were phenomenal as usual. Just
to highlight a few, Tom Mighell, Senior
Counsel and Litigation Technology Support Consultant
for Cowles &
Thompson in
Dallas spoke on
“Finding a Digital
Needle In An
Electronic
Haystack: Internet
Research for
Legal Professionals”.
Mr. Mighell
is a favorite
speaker at TAPS
returning again
this year to share his wealth of
knowledge about researching on the Internet
and electronic discovery issues. His
topic reaches all areas of law, teaching the
right tools and the best strategies for
searches. He also discussed the Directory
vs. Search Engine. Directories, compiled
by humans search engines, are computer
based and use spiders or robots that crawl
the Web to find words. He also coved the
Meta-Search Tool and other search strategies
and search syntax. Mr. Mighell
offered many
cool tools for
Google and
explained how to
create documents
in basic
Word format so
that several people
can work on
the document at
the same time.
He explained
bookmarking
and setting up a
Google notebook
which is a great
way to keep information you have found
on the Internet. His favorite tool is RSS
(Really Simple Syndication). There is no
fee to subscribe and you get a feed of
search information that comes to you
automatically. There is a good article in
Law Practice Today by Tom Mighell on
RSS. Jordan W. Cowman is Board Certified in
Labor and Employment Law by the Texas
Board of Legal Specialization and spoke on
multinational employees. Mr. Cowman
was an extremely entertaining speaker
bringing animated life to his topic on
international labor laws. He was an
employer advisor from 2002-2004 to the
United Nations’ International Labor Organization
which is based in Geneva. He
used an illustration of “Dilbert Goes to
Brussels (to work for an American company
doing business in Belgium)” as a scenario
to explain the complexities of international
labor laws and the ramifications
of U.S. employers sending employees to
work in foreign countries. The speaker
explained that an American employment
agreement can be construed and litigated
based on the law of the country in which
the employee is working regardless of the
fact it was written based on laws in our
country. European labor laws typically
favor the employee. In the case of terminations,
the best rule of thumb is to bring
the employee home then terminate them,
but problems can still remain under that
foreign country’s laws. The best rule of
thumb is to keep the employee until the
statute of limitations runs. Mr. Cowman
explained the benefits of working overseas,
some of the tax implications, and discussed
the Civil Rights Act of 1991 which
now applies overseas. The speaker discussed
various cases of Mexican Nationals
suing under U.S. law and Title 7. Mr.
Cowman also touched on the fact that
employment at will is an American concept,
but that the European concept is that
the employee is vested in the company.
This is the same for South America and
the Far East. Matthew M. Jennings of Cox Smith
Matthews Incorporated, San Antonio,
Texas, spoke on “Napster, Grokster &
Other P2p Punksters.” Mr. Jennings discussed
the phenomenon of cybersquatting
while allowing businesses greater access to
its customers, and how this can threaten
the intellectual property of the business.
Traditional copyright law and direct
infringement was also discussed. He set
out the requirements and benefits of registration,
exclusive rights and duration.
This is a valuable industry, a $14 trillion
industry — $700 billion this year. He further discussed
direct infringement,
unmasking
the registrant
(the cyber thief
triad is Russia,
Cayman and
China), social
networking sites
such as YouTube
and MySpace and
then discusses
indirect infringement
i.e. “If you
have knowledge
the court will find you liable.” Case law was covered
with regard to contributory infringement
and the copyright statute 17 U.S.C. § 501.
Contributory Infringement: the Sony
Defense; Vicarious liability: the Napster
Case; Inducement: The Grokster Case,
were just a few of the big cases covered.
Enforcement strategy was discussed and
the changing marketplace. Mr. Jennings
also noted that the three major distributors
of music are Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and
iTunes and that how music sales greatly
increased with DVD use and sales. P2P
networks were discussed and the evolving
threat of “third generation P2P networks”. Jim Wood, an Investigator in the Check
Department/Identity Theft Task Force of
the Dallas County District Attorney’s
Office, gave a summary on identity theft.
With the increase in identity theft, this
speaker defined the various types of identity
theft and mail fraud. Types of identifications
stolen fall into two categories:
personal information which includes date
of birth, social security number, driver’s
license, passport, maiden name, etc. and
financial information which includes credit
card numbers, bank account numbers,
PINs and insurance information. The new
passports have a chip in it containing all
your personal information. A pouch is
available to help you block this electronic
data when going through security areas.
The speaker described in detail all the
scams out there waiting to prey on victims.
If you are a victim of identity theft,
there is a Resource Center at www.idtheftcenter.org. Texas is the fourth in the nation for ID theft. He recommended
sending a money order instead of using
PayPal or other forms of payment for
internet shopping. Mr. Wood described
how ID theft occurs including the skimming
devices that some clerks and waiters
use to capture your credit card information.
Mr. Wood defined what is needed to
prosecute the theft, including the need for
immediate reporting, the agencies to notify,
and prevention. Socials: The TAPS socials were beyond expectations,
again! The WARM-UP WELCOME
Social was held on Wednesday evening at
the Crowne Plaza Hotel (TAPS Headquarters),
where the attendees enjoyed appetizers,
cash bar, and mingled with friends
and sponsors. The attendees were given
the opportunity to make photo buttons
with friends and colleagues, which were a
lot of fun. There were 200 attendees and
vendors at the Wednesday evening event.
Following the Welcome Social, shuttles
were provided to transport attendees to
dinner at various restaurants. Team Legal
was the sponsor for the photo buttons and
the shuttles. The STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT
EVENING Thursday night social was held
at 300 Dallas gaming facility, where the
attendees were able to participate in neon
bowling, black light miniature golf, billiards
tables, and a game room. There was
a bowling tournament as well as a hole-inone
contest. The attendees also played
various arcade games and billiards. Lots
of competition going on at this terrific fun
event….with everyone having a great time!
To the delight of the event attendees, there
was a tremendous buffet and special
evening beverages. The FINAL SCORE Friday luncheon was
our final social event of TAPS. Again this
year we had a Grand Prize sponsor, New-
Line Legal Practice Support, who sponsored
a $1,500.00 cash prize which was
awarded at Friday’s luncheon. The
keynote speaker for the final celebration of
TAPS 2007 was Jay R. Downs, Attorney at
Law, founder and shareholder of the
Downs Stanford firm in Dallas. Presenting
“Ethics For People and Paralegals,
Too!”, Mr. Downs kept the audience
engrossed with his many stories and
brought laughter to the audience by sharing
antics throughout his life that molded
his integrity and ethics. He attributes
training that began with his parents, teachers
and coaches, as well as friends and
peers who all framed his character and
outlook on life. He left us with the profound challenge: to have a “Courageous
Heart and Humble Spirit” and live our
ethics daily both in and out of the workplace.
Last but not least, the TAPS 2007 Vendor
Exhibit Hall was superb. There were a
total of 42 exhibiting legal service companies,
6 social sponsors, and a “grand prize
sponsor”. The sponsors are listed at the
end of this article. The Paralegal Division
thanks each sponsor that made this year’s
event a great success. If at all possible, the
Division is asking each PD member to use
these companies as a special thank you for
their support. Save the date and plan to attend TAPS
2008. The Division will celebrate TAPS
10th anniversary– and it will be held in
SAN ANTONIO on SEPTEMBER 17-19,
2008.
Warm Up Welcome Social – Wednesday
Team Legal, Houston
A Strikingly Different Evening Social – Thursday
Hollerbach & Associates, San Antonio
Innovative Legal Solutions, Houston
Robert Half Legal, Dallas
Strategic Litigation Partners, Houston
Written Deposition Service, LP & Copy Solutions, LP, Dallas
CD Rom Speaker Diskette Sponsor
Litigation Solution, Inc., Dallas
Tote Bag Sponsor
C2Legal, Dallas
Portfolio Sponsor
Team Legal, Houston
Patron Directory
Innovative Legal Solutions, Houston
TAPS Signage Sponsor
The Exhibit Company, Austin
GRAND PRIZE SPONSOR
NewLine Legal Practice Support, Dallas, TX
www.newlinelegal.com
The following legal service companies exhibited at the TAPS 2007
seminar.
Adams & Martin Group—www.adamsmartingroup.com
Ajilon
Staffwise Legal—www.ajilonlegal.com
American Language Technologies—www.americanlt.com
Blue Ribbon Legal—www.blueribbonlegal.com
Blumberg Excelsior—www.blumberg.com
C2 Legal Digital Document Management—www.c2legal.com
Capitol Services Inc.—www.capitolservices.com
CaseFileXpress, L.P.—www.cfxpress.com
Cerami
Search Group—www.ceramisearchgroup.com
Charlotte Smith Reporting, Inc.—www.simplecharlotte.com
CT, a Wolters Kluwer Business—www.wolterskluwer.com
Deposition Resources, Inc.—www.depositionresources.com
Digital Copy LLC—www.digitalcopyllc.com
Docu-Trac—www.gooeysoft.com
Esquire Deposition & Litigation Solutions—
www.esquirecom.com
Exhibit Company (The)—www.theexhbiitcompany.com
Flashback Data, LLC—www.flashbackdata.com
HG Litigation Services—www.hglitigation.com
Hill Schwartz Spilker Keller LLC—www.hsskgroup.com
Hollerbach & Associates—www.hollerbach.com
Innovative Legal Solutions—www.innovativelegalsolutions.com
ISIS Investigations, Inc.—www.isisinv.com
Kelly Law Registry—www.kellylawregistry.com
Legal Partners LP—www.legalpartners.com
Legally Large—www.legallylarge.com
LexisNexis File & Serve—www.lexisnexis.com
Litigation Solution, Inc.—www.lsilegal.com
NALA—The Association of Paralegals/Legal Assistants—
www.nala.org
National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Inc.—
www.paralegals.org
One Legal, Inc.—www.onelegal.com
Paralegals Plus, Inc.—www.paralegalsplus.com
Reliable Document Retrieval, LLC—512.312.5650
Robert Half Legal—www.sullivan@roberthalflegal.com
Ruffin Consulting Paralegal & Transcription Services—
www.RuffinConsultingInc.com
Security Private Services—
http://privateinvestigator.lawinfo.com/expert/lacy
SetDepo—www.setdepo.com
Strategic Litigation Partners—www.slplegal.com
Sunbelt Reporting & Litigation Services—
www.sunbeltreporting.com
Team Legal—www.teamlegal.net
Texas Institute for Specialty Certification—www.txisc.org
Trial Logistics, Inc.—www.triallogistics.com
Written Deposition Service, LP & Copy Solutions LP—
www.writtendeposition.com
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