GJEL Blog » Interviews

As advocates for street safety and supporters of alternative transportation, we at GJEL try to align ourselves with local non-profits actively working to influence public policy and make our community better. One of the organizations we frequently contribute to is TransForm. In the interview below, TransForm’s Development Director, Sara Marcellino talks a little bit about [...]

Read Full Article »

Frank Douma is a Research Fellow and the Associate Director of the Humphrey School of Public Policy at the University of Minnesota, as well as a Research Scholar at the school’s Center for Transportation Studies. He’s particularly interested in studying the public policy and legal concerns that driverless cars present. In January, Douma, who also [...]

Read Full Article »

TransFormCA is one of the leading voices in transportation reform in the Bay Area. Based in Alameda county, TransForm operates on a number of levels, both in the community as leaders of the Safe Walks to School movement, and through advocacy work in the local halls of power. They are also one of the five [...]

Read Full Article »

If you work in an office, the chances are that you’ve used social media at work before. Hopefully, you keep personal use of social media communities like Facebook and Twitter to a minimum during work hours. New reports have found that more than half of employers in the United States view social media use as so harmful to productivity that they’ve banned it altogether. Companies that have not taken this drastic step, however, have run in to a variety of problems related to social media use, which has led to embarrassment, terminations, and even costly lawsuits.

Read Full Article »

Practicing law for the past 35 years, GJEL Partner Luke Ellis has developed an outstanding reputation in the courtroom. For the past ten of those years, he has worked consistently to develop a related passion: mock trial. As coach for Contra Costa County’s Miramonte High School mock trial team, Luke’s teams have won eight of ten county championships, including the past three consecutive years. Last week, the Contra Costa Times profiled Luke and a number of his mock trial students for a story that highlights the important critical and verbal skills honed by experience with mock trial.

Read Full Article »

Most people outside the legal profession don’t know the incredible amount of work that goes in to a lawsuit before settlement negotiations or courtroom procedure begins. A major part of this process is discovery, defined by our legal dictionary as “devices that can be used by one party to obtain facts and information about the case from the other party in order to assist the party’s preparation for trial,” including depositions, written interrogatories, and the production of important documents. Discovery has always been a complicated process, but due to the relatively recent rise of computer domination, eDiscovery — which involves the production of information from technological sources — can be even trickier. We asked discovery expert Diane Barry to explain the complicated ethical elements of eDiscovery.

Read Full Article »

No matter what your profession, web culture and social media has become a major force over the past decade and promises to continue it’s influence in the future. But lawyers have been, on average, more resistant to new technologies than professionals in other fields. There are many reasons for this, one of which includes restrictions on legal advertising that have not stayed current with the tech zeitgeist. I spoke with legal ethics expert Diane Karpman about these regulations, the distinction between social media and advertising, and the importance of lawyers interacting with clients online.

Read Full Article »

Adding to his continuing interaction with online resources for attorneys, GJEL managing partner Andy Gillin was selected to host a “Car Accident 101″ webinar for Avvo, the social media resource for lawyers and consumers. In the past, Andy has frequently answered questions on the site’s Q&A page and posted legal guides on a range of subjects. But the webinar was yet another step showing close interaction with the online community, as Andy discussed the steps one should take after a car accidednt and answered a set of questions from his online audience.

Read Full Article »

In it’s April 2010 issue, Plaintiff Magazine, one of the leading sources of legal news in northern California, profiled GJEL managing partner Andy Gillin about his four decades of legal service in the Bay Area. The profile, penned by freelancer Stephen Ellison, captures Andy to a tee in both his professional ethos and personal demeanor. Due to Andy’s dedication to GJEL, writes Ellison, the firm has become “one of the area’s top civil litigation firms.”

Read Full Article »

For the past few weeks at GJEL blog, we’ve been focusing on distracted driving bans limping through state legislatures across the country. The movement is also picking up steam on the national level. The Department of Transportation have launched trial programs in New York and Connecticut to boost regulation, and congressional Democrats have promised to address a federal distracted driving law this year. But here in California, the debate is really heating up. Earlier this month, the state’s transportation and housing committee approved a bill sponsored by Palo Alto Democrat Joe Simitian which would increase distracted driving fines for drivers, and add new penalties for cyclists. Speaking to GJEL Blog, Sen. Simitian discussed the real-world dangers of distracted driving, opposition from cell phone companies, and his bill’s potential to save more than 700 people per year in California alone.

Read Full Article »

This post is the third in a series of interviews with the professionals who live at the intersection of law, the internet, and social media. Today I’m switching gears and bringing you an interview with someone who is not lawyer, but who nonetheless can give us legal types some great insight into what it takes [...]

Read Full Article »

This post is the third in a series of interviews with the professionals who live at the intersection of law, the internet, and social media This week brings with it more interviews of the people who are at the very top of the game when it comes to online presence. Today I bring you an [...]

Read Full Article »

This post is the second in a series of interviews with the professionals who live at the intersection of law, the internet, and social media. Today I’m happy to bring you the wisdom of the fabulous Mark Britton, CEO of Avvo. Conrad (whose interview I posted here Monday) was the first person I had contact [...]

Read Full Article »

As a legal blogger, I’ve always been interested in how social media and the internet are changing the practice of law, and the way that attorneys and clients find each other. I’ve done some research, and posted on this blog about some of the things I’ve noticed, or found out about simply while being online. [...]

Read Full Article »

I had the great privilege of interviewing Stephanie Jim this week about the Berkeley Family Festival and Bike Rodeo that happened two weekends ago. Stephanie works as an Injury Prevention Program Intern with the City of Berkeley, and she co-organized this year’s event with the program’s director, Amy Ranger. After writing about my own bike [...]

Read Full Article »