New York Update

I'm shortly to depart for the airport so thought I'd update on my time in New York. I'm lucky enough to be writing this piece whilst sitting in the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. I'm connected to the internet by means of the free public access WiFi in the park: fantastic!

As I reported yesterday, I didn't get chance to meet with Pete Michaelson of Michaelson & Associates. Apart from a client meeting, that left me with a bit of spare time. I thought I'd fill some of it trying to hook up with some New York lawyers who blogged about intellectual property matters and some advertiser/media types.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, I couldn't actually find many NY lawyers blogging at all. After deciding that those focusing on malpractice cases or personal injury weren't that relevant to me, this left a dearth of other talent.

I had to rule out immediately a couple of obvious candidates (such as Nicole Black who publishes Sui Generis and who I've mentioned from time to time, or Martin Schwimmer who produces The Trademark Blog)  because, whilst based in the state of New York, they just aren't anywhere near the city itself!

Good old Google helped me track down Raymond Dowd, a partner in NYC firm Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP. Ray is "partner number 14" in this firm and kindly agreed to meet up with me at a moment's notice. We had a chat in one of the firm's impressive meeting rooms overlooking St. Patrick's cathedral on Madison Avenue (the view is something clients like according Ray) .

Ray used to write a column for the New York Law Journal called "small firm life" and started a blog to support it called, you guessed it, Small Firm Life. He still writes for the journal but his column is now called "Trial & Error" since he joined the not-quite-so-small Dunningtons.

Ray's particular interest is copyright litigation and to support his interests he runs the Copyright Litigation Blog (read his comments on our meeting). It's really fascinating to talk to a practitioner in a different legal jurisdiction and hear just how differently cases are handled. In England & Wales, the changes in the Court rules over the past few years have had the effect of massively reducing the number of cases getting into the legal system: the process encourages discussion and mediation with Court proceedings much more of a last resort. In the US, on the other hand, the system really encourages a claimant to issue proceedings. The issue of whether to write and complain to the defendant first is a serious thing to discuss with your attorney Ray tells me. The use of "cease and desist" letters in the US has got a number of peculiar features that have previously been largely ignored. Ray has written a book about this, and other aspects of US copyright litigation: The Copyright Litigation Handbook. Ray may be over in the UK later in the year and I thought it might be good for him to talk to Nodus about his experiences.

I also managed to line up a meeting at the end of the day with Imke Ratschko. Imke's a partner in small Manhattan firm called Imke Ratschko PLLC and she runs a blog called New York Small Business Law. Unusually for a lawyer, her firm's website has a name completely unconnected with her firm's name: My Attorney Calls Me Back. Unfortunately, a day from hell descended on Imke yesterday and she had to cancel our meeting (I hope my call hadn't brought this on!). It's a shame we never met up because I thought that what she was trying to achieve with her blog is very similar to what we're trying to do here: provide realistic and practical information for clients, with some occasional "insider information" about the legal profession.

My last meeting of the day was with Piers Fawkes of PSFK. This is what PSFK says about itself:

"PSFK.com is a lens of changes in cultural behavior that influence all of us. In a world with unparalleled access to endless content, it's hard to know where to begin your search for insightful information. Beyond the algorithm of the search engine, the human touch makes a difference. The content provided on PSFK.com, and its sister sites, is hand-selected and unashamedly subjective."

Hugh McLeod (great cartoonist who produces Gaping Void) describes PSFK as "that very groovy NY-based marketing & trend-spotting firm".

Piers is based in the utterly-nothing-like-a-legal-office office of Anomaly, where everyone sits at one or other side of two long desks that run the length of the open-plan office space. An open kitchen at one end and sofas & glass-windowed meeting rooms at the other said, "we are creative". I dare say the lack of hierarchy in the seating plan would be disconcerting for some but I quite liked it.

I liked Piers a lot and am fascinated with how he and his colleagues have created a business about the trends and where things might go. Anyway, I'm planning to attend their conference in London next week.

Well, I've got a plane to catch and I can't sit here admiring the views any longer.