Law Office Technology

ThompsonWest Webinar Series

 Tom O’Conner, Browning.Marean and I have been doing some Webinar’s on legal technology for ThompsonWest.  We did one on Basic Law Firm Technology yesterday and we are doing one on 1/21/2008 on disaster recovery.  Certain states will give CLE Credit. 

Here is the description:

Disasters come in many forms -- hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, power outages even terrorist attacks.  The best disaster recovery plan is a disaster preparation plan so that your practice can be back in business as soon as possible. Technology can assist this process but there are other important business decisions to consider as well: availability of equipment, access to data, staffing issues .....all these are supported by technology in today's law firm and this session will show you how to put the the right technology system in place before disaster strikes.

http://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/course_detail.jsf?videoCourseId=18196558

 

 

Hi My Name is Craig and I work at a Bar

Still no power at my house.  No work has been done in out neighborhood.  I am not mad at Entergy at all, they have a huge job to do and they are working as hard as they can.  The latest estimate will be 9/17/2008 to we have power.  That will have been  without power for 17 days.  Again, no complaints, the storm was a big deal but you would think that it would be a bigger story on the national news.       

Did a newsletter to clients on experiences during the storm.  You can view it here: http://www.lawot.com/Newsletters/hosted.htm

I spend the morning working at Perks, and the afternoon working at Chelseas.  They have even given me my own corner at the bar at Chelseas to work at. 

You can get MREs and Tarps and water from FEMA on Siegen Ln. 

Ike prediction is early but does not look promising.

Power Situation in Baton Rouge and Surrounding Areas

Poached from the Daily Report and Entergy's Website

Also check out Entergy's Map: http://entergy-louisiana.com/outages/la.aspx

Unfortunately the area my house is in still has not been assessed so who knows when we will have power.  My apartment in New Orleans at 1st and Magazine still does not have power.

Officials with Entergy outlined this afternoon when it estimates power will be returned to the majority of customers in certain neighborhoods, communities and cities. Here is the schedule released by the utility company:

– Shenandoah/White Oak – Monday

– Jefferson Terrace – Friday

– Country Club of Louisiana/Industrial Park – Monday

– Central – today

– Santa Maria – 5 to 7 days

– Scotlandville – 7 days

– North Baton Rouge/Greenwell Springs – 3 to 5 days

– St. Alphonsus – 7 to 10 days

– Park Forest - Sunday

– Tara/Goodwood – Friday

– Bocage - 7 to 10 days

– Denham Springs – Tuesday

– Walker – Monday

– Livingston/Satsuma – 10 days

– Port Vincent – 21 days

– Gonzales – Sunday

– Prairieville – 10 to 14 days

– Geismar/St. Gabriel – 14 to 21 days

– Zachary/Baker – today

– Jackson/St. Francisville – 7 to 10 days

– Port Allen/Brusly/Addis – Friday

– False River – 5 to 7 days

– Livonia – 3 to 5 days

From Entergy's Website:

Here is the latest restoration information for South Louisiana:

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept: 3:
  Allen, East Carroll, Vernon

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 4:
  Bienville, Calcasieu, Cameron, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson Davis, Madison, Morehouse, Tensas, Union, Webster, West Carroll

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 5:
  Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, LaSalle, Lincoln, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Richland

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 6:
  Avoyelles, Jackson, Sabine, Winn

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 8:
  Acadia, Lafayette, Orleans, St. Landry, Vermillion

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 9:
  Jefferson (upper portion, including Metairie and Kenner), Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 10:
  Ascension (except Donaldsonville), St. James, St. John the Baptist

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 12:
  Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 15:
  Jefferson (lower portion only), Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 16:
  East Feliciana

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Sept. 24:
  Ascension (Donaldsonville only), Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, St. Martin

• Parishes where restoration should be 100 percent complete by the end of Oct. 1:
  Terrebonne, Lafourche

We are at the Beach!!! - DAY 2 AG

My office has been reset up. My Laptop is up and connected to the internet.  On the way to Alabama I saw multiple convoys of Humvees and Utility trucks heading west towards Baton Rouge.  There was no traffic leaving Baton Rouge and not a lot of traffic heading back to New Orleans. 

It only took us 5 minutes to get gas and food in Gulfport, Mississippi.  It took a friend of mine 6 hours to get a generator today in Baton Rouge.  A couple of my friends have gotten power including one in Southdowns which is pretty amazing.   

It is so nice to do laundry and sit in air condition and watch Project Runway with Claire.  I will pick up a generator from Parents on the way back to Baton Rouge. 

Day 2 AG - Bye Bye baton rouge

I am leaving the city till at least the weekend. No power and I have sweated through all my cloths. I have internet through my wireless AT&T Card but no power so the laptop batteries are starting to drain.  I should have purchased: CyberPower AC Mobile Power Adaptor so I could recahrge my batteries to my laptop.  However even with that it takes 2-4 hours to get gas.  Everyone is cranky. I am betting two weeks til my house gets power.

Day 1 AG (After Gustav) Update

Drove around today with Brandon. Ivars and Zippies are opened. Jefferson Hwy by Wholefoods is pretty bad, major trees down. I have heard that serops and a couple of places downtown are also open. Went to ivars today.  It was pretty hot but they had cold beer.  The line to Zippies was ridiculous, probally at least an hour. Curfew is in effect tonight. Some areas of Baton Rouge have power especially around the Tigerland area but everyone else is in the dark. I might jet to the beach if it looks like we will be without power for weeks. Cell phone network got worse today and the ran caused minor flooding.

My Office in New Orleans has Power

I can connect to the server at my office in New Orleans.  Law Office Technology's Office is in the Entergy building on Loyola right behind the Dome.  It looks like my apartment in New Orleans will have power before my house in Baton Rouge.

Day 1 Observations

1. Local Radio is absolutely useless.  After the my Internet stopped working the only thing I learned from the radio is that I could use my cell phone light to help make a ham sandwich.  Guess what, I don't have any ham.  It would have been nice if they just told us where the storm was and when we left.
2. Jindal is the man.  This is a completely about face from Katrina when our governor was on TV crying the entire time.  Jindal seems to in complete control on the entire situation.  His press conferences are amazing and he seems to have them every hour. 
3. Kip Holden's administration did a great job preparing for the storm.  There was a huge police presence everywhere and some major roads have already been cleared.
4. If we get power back in a week I would be happy.  Most of the polls in my neighborhood are sideways and I think I must have heard about 15 transformers blown before the power when completely out.
5. Sleeping in your car is the way to go.  AC on and a nice CD playing music.  (By the way, it would be impossible for me to die from carbon monoxide poisoning)
6. At 28 it is still nice to be learning some new drinking games.
7. Geraldo Riviera getting blown into something would have made this all worth it.
8. No one in Baton Rouge has mastered the four way stop.
9. The fact that only two people died in Baton Rouge is pretty amazing. 
10. The Bush administration, esp Homeland Security did a great job learning from Katrina.      

Pictures from Gustav - 7:21 PM

We have a curfew at 8pm.  It is like High School all over again.

My Gazebo did not make it.