Legal Talk Network Posts New Digital Detectives Podcast

On this episode of Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek invite guest Craig Ball to discuss why you should be wary of TIFF files and all the reasons to go native in your e-Discovery file review. Ball explains that a TIFF image turns the evidence into a small, non-searchable image. Craig Ball is a certified computer forensic examiner, a court special master and author of the Law Technology News column and blog both titled "Ball in Your Court." Listen to the podcase here... 

2013 - Churn That Bill, Baby! Overbilling in Law Firms

Churn That Bill, Baby! Overbilling in Law Firms

June 2013 ABA Journal Highlights Sensei's Principals

The current issue of the ABA Journal includes two stories complimentaing presentations by Sensei's Principals at the ABA Techshow in Chicago. The first is an article "Digital Detection - Tracking down the Craigslist Killer" by Mark Hansen in which he recounts the story of how the case was cracked through a combination of events as told to a spellbound audience by Sharon Nelson and John Simek. Read the article...  

The second article "This Pineapple can intercept Wi-Fi traffic" by Reginald Davis enthusiastically threw the reader into John Simek's astonishing presentation on how a simple $99.99 gadget could compromise most of the devices in the conference room seeking a Wi-Fi connection.  Read more...

President of Sensei Enterprises Inaugurated As President of the Virginia State Bar

VERY SPECIAL SENSEI NEWS!

Sharon D. Nelson, President of Sensei Enterprises was inaugurated as the seventy-fifth President of the Virginia State Bar for the 2013-2014 bar year. She was sworn in on Friday, June 14 by The Honorable Cynthia D. Kinser, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia (shown on the right) at a gala enjoyed by all.

Sharon has been a member of the VSB Council and Executive Committee and a member of the bar's Standing Committee on Budget and Finance.  She has served as chair of the Technology in the Practice of Law and Unauthorized Practice of Law committees. She is a Court-Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children.  In addition to her membership in the bar, she is a member of the Virginia Bar Association, American Bar Association, Fairfax Bar Association, Women in Technology, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and Virginia Women Attorneys Association. She is also a former President of the Fairfax Bar Association.

Res Gestae Published an Article by John W. Simek

Res Gestae, The Journal of the Indiana State Bar Association, recently published an article entitled "Encryption Made Simple for Lawyers" by John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, and Dave G. Ries, partner in the Pittsburgh office of Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP. Since encryption has become a generally accepted practice in information security for the protection of confidential data, attorneys should understand it and be able to utilize it in approriate situations. Read the article here...

"Ride the Lightning" Highlighted in PinHawk

"If you are of the general mindset that nothing is secure anymore, then this post by Sharon Nelson will not surprise you," says the June 4 issue of PinHawk Law Technology Daily Digest referring to a post in Ride the Lightning on Skype security. The article goes on to say that if you are just chatting with relatives via Skype, security may not mean anything but if you are connecting with a client via Skype to discuss a secret acquisition, it's a different story.  Read the post here...

Alps 411 Law Blog Cites Sharon Nelson on LinkedIn

Kiffin Hope of Alps 411 Law Blog shared Sharon Nelson's post in Ride the Lightning regarding the Government's proposed new mobile security guidelines.  Last week, White House officials announced a series of new resources and initiatives which included guidelines to help implement the administration's vision of delivering government information securely anytime.  Read the blog here...

Slaw Highlights Article by Sensei's Principals

Slaw,  Canada's online legal magazine, published an article by Sharon Nelson and John Simek, Sensei's President and Vice President, entitled "The Perils of Social Media for Judges."  Excerpt: "It was inevitable that, after lawyers flocked to social media, judges would follow.  Unsurprisingly, stories of judicial misconduct are beginning to appear." The authors thanked D. C. Superior Court Judge Herbert Dixon, who maintains a two-way street of information sharing.  Read the article here... 

Legal Talk Network Posts New "The Digital Edge"

This episode of The Digital Edge: Android Devices for Lawyers discusses how lawyers can efficiently use Android phones, tablets and computers in their practice with guest Jeffrey Taylor also known as "The Droid Lawyer."

Jeffrey Taylor is an Oklahoma City Attorney. He has been writing the popular blog “The Droid Lawyer” since 2011, educating lawyers on how to get the most out of their Android devices. Learn more about Android’s newest operating system, Jelly Bean, the top Android apps for lawyers, how to prevent security and malware issues with Android devices, and much more. Listen to the podcast here...

"The Brief" Publishes Article by Sensei's Principals

"The Brief," published by the American Bar Association, included an article in the spring 2013 issue by Sharon Nelson, David Ries, and John Simek entitled "Law Firm Data Breach Nightmares and How to Prevent Them." Now that the FBI has made it clear that law firms are a major target for hackers, firms are beginning to scrutinize their data security. While you'll have to roll up your sleeves and invest some money in securing client data, there is much you can do that is low or no cost, starting with changing all default settings, applying security updates, and having a strong password policy. Read the entire article in the Spring 2013, Vol. 42, No. 3 issue.

Legal Talk Network Posts New Digital Detectives Podcast

Digital Detectives hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek, President and Vice-President of Sensei Enterprises, welcome guest Ben Schorr of Roland Schorr to talk about the best ways to secure your home and office devices. This episode will help you understand how to connect to the Internet securely when you are out of the office, to create secure passwords for your devices, to keep your security patches up-to-date and more. To listen to the podcast click here...

Robert Ambrogi's Law Sites Blog Mentions Sharon Nelson and John Simek

Robert Ambrogi's article  in his Law Sites blog "What ABA Techshow Shows About Tech" summed up the four themes which he felt predominated the show. About security he says,"We are insecure about security. Who’d a thunk a few years back that programs about digital security would draw big audiences at Techshow? One of the most popular programs there was a presentation on digital forensics by Sharon Nelson and John Simek of Sensei Enterprises, and one of the most talked-about events was John’s “prank” in which he tricked a majority of his audience into connecting to a bogus wireless network."  Read the entire story here...

Ride the Lightning Highlighted as a Top News Story in PinHawk

"Law Firm Falls Victim To Phishing Scam, Sued by Bank" a post by Sharon Nelson in her Ride the Lightning blog was cited in PinHawk by Editor Jeffrey Brandt.  He stated "I've been suggesting that as part of your security education practice, you should prank your users. Through the luck of timing and a restraining order, the North Carolina law firm managed to not have 336,000 additional reasons to improve their security (at least for now). With a fall court date, we'll see if they prevail. I agree with Sharon Nelson, it looks like there is some blame on both sides of the equation."  Read the full post here...

A New "The Digital Edge" Podcast in ABA Law Practice Today

Sharon and Jim interview Jobst Elster, the Head of Content for InsideLegal.com, about the implications of big data for all lawyers in firms small and large. Big data provides both opportunities and challenges for lawyers! The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology is the official podcast of ABA Law Practice Today. Each month, noted legal technologists and authors/lecturers Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson address a different topic related to lawyers and technology. Listen to the podcast here...

"Ride the Lightning" Highlighted in Law Technology News

A recent post in Ride the Lightning, an electronic evidence and information security blog by Sharon D. Nelson, Sensei's President, was highlighted in the "From the Blogs" column in Law Technology News. The blog entitled "Law Firm Falls Victim to Phishing Scam, Sued by Bank" discusses the latest law firm to fall for such a scam and the ensuing consequences. Read the post here...

"Attorney at Work" Asks Sensei's Principals for TECHSHOW Review

In an article written by Joan Feldman entitled "Take Three from ABA TECHSHOW," several of the TechShow faculty were asked to relate three things that had them talking way past the close of the show. Aside from being tickled by the audience's reaction to John's clever presentation on the Pineapple Mark IV, Sharon and John enjoyed  "60 Sites in 60 Minutes" and the geolocation presentation by information security experts Dave Ries and his son Chris. Read their comments as well as those of other faculty members here...

ABA Journal Publishes Selected Tweets from Techshow

The ABA Journal Law News Now has been busy publishing glowing reviews of TechShow speakers and sessions. Below are examples of how our Sensei principals wowed their audiences.

#ABATECHSHOW hands down winner of Best of Show Craigslist Killer w/Nelson & Simek

Watch out CSI! Nelson and Simek are on the trail of the Craigslist Killer #ABATECHSHOW Absolutely fascinating!

Sharon Nelson ensure that you have WPA2 security on your WiFi - ensure someone doesn't hijack your wifi (for illegal purposes) #ABATECHSHOW

Sensei's Vice-President, John Simek, Quoted in ABA Journal News

Presenting "Understanding Network Penetration Testing" at an ABA Techshow session, John turned on his $100 WiFi Pineapple Mark IV and demonstrated how he could fool attendee devices in the conference room seeking a Wi-Fi connection into unwittingly connecting to the Pineapple. Smartphones, tablets and laptops often automatically seek such connections to any previously connected Wi-Fi source. The Pineapple pretends to be a known (or attractively named unknown) Wi-Fi source and thus becomes the middle man between the device and the internet enabling it to access data on the device. A must read...

Sharon Nelson Quoted in ABA Journal Law News Now

At an ABA Techshow session on data security for lawyers, Sharon Nelson, President of Sensei Enterprises Inc., and co-presenter Ben Schorr, CEO of the IT consulting firm Roland, Schorr & Tower, warned attendees that even solo and small firms are at risk of attack by hackers. Both Nelson and Schorr stated that untrained lawyers and office personnel are often the No. 1 chink in a law firm's defense. Updated ethics rules require lawyers to make reasonable efforts to insure that client data is secure. Read the article here...

An Article by Sensei's Principals Published in "Slaw"

Slaw, Canada's online legal magazine, published an article by Sharon Nelson and John Simek entitled "The Future of Law: Tomorrow's Lawyers by Richard Susskind." The article reviews Susskind's latest book, Tomorrow's Lawyers, which is generating controversy in the legal community. Sharon and John are unabashed fans of Susskind's prophesies, even those they may not wholly agree with, because he forces the legal profession out of its natural complacency.  Read the full article here...