Beyond Structured Settlements

2008 NAELA Symposium - 2

This blog post looks at the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and elder law certification (CELA) from the perspective of knowledge management (KM) and web 2.0. S2KM's prior blog post (2008 NAELA Symposium-1) featured S2KM's "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" wiki  plus a NAELA-specific podcast interview by Scott Drake for the Legal Broadcast Network (LBN) with Patrick Hindert, S2KM's Managing Director and blog author.

Knowledge Management (KM) means organizing knowledge to achieve productive work, competitive advantage and business value. KM provides a professional discipline to personalize advancing Internet technologies and to help knowledge workers understand and manage personal, organizational and industry knowledge.

Here are some recommended KM learning resources for NAELA members:

• Wikipedia definitions for
  • Knowledge management
  • Elder law
• Google searches for
  • Knowledge management
  • Elder law
  • Elder law wikis
  • Elder law blogs
  • Elder law podcasts
• Denham Grey's
  • KM wiki
  • Knowledge Sharing and Social Software
• Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map - Dr. Barbara Bowen
• Selected blogs featuring KM and law
  • Lessig 2.0 - Lawrence Lessig
  • DennisKennedy.com - Dennis Kennedy
  • Law X.0 - Ian Best
• S2KM blog posts
  • Web 2.0 for Lawyers
  • Concept Maps
  • Introduction to Podcasting
  • KM and Law
  • KM and Structured Settlements

From a traditional (pre-web 2.0) KM perspective, NAELA represents an "advanced" and knowledge-intensive community of practice. NAELA's community knowledge is displayed on the NAELA website as well as the website of the National Elder Law Foundation (NELF) which sponsors and manages the Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) program.

In addition to the CELA program and the several hardcopy elder law textbooks CELA recommends as learning resources, NAELA captures and distributes knowledge in many formats including:

• NAELA's website - an excellent example of a web 1.0 website;
  
• NAELA conferences - including hardcopy handouts, CD Roms, and audio tapes;
• NAELA Journal - an academic journal featuring articles by leading elder law attorneys and professors;
• NAELA News - a magazine featuring additional articles by leading elder law attorneys and professors;
• NAELA Listserv - an online tool for NAELA members to communicate about substantive legal issues.  

Question: what is striking about NAELA's "advanced" knowledge-intensive community of practice?

Answer: NAELA currently does not offer its 4400 members any:

• Web 2.0 resources; or
  
• Web 2.0 applications; or
• Web 2.0 learning strategies.  

NAELA's web 2.0 shortcomings are shared by almost every other professional trade association S2KM follows. AAPD, featuring two association blogs, represents the singular exception that proves the rule. Because of NAELA's strong knowledge foundation and orientation, however, this author predicts NAELA and its professional members will become successful adapters of web 2.0 tools and technologies.  It is time for NAELA to begin this transition.

NASP 2007 Annual Meeting - 2

This blog post continues S2KM's reporting about NASP's 2007 Annual Meeting.  For earlier S2KM reporting: see NASP 2007 Annual Meeting - 1.

S2KM continues to update and improve the nasp wiki where S2KM is capturing key components of a conversation about "The Structured Settlement Market" initiated October 19, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Recent additions to the nasp wiki include summary outlines for these NASP educational presentations:

• Stephen R. Harris - topic: "Transfer Issues";
• Patrick J. Hindert - topic: "The Primary Market".

Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map

This blog post re-publishes an updated S2KM concept map titled "How Web 2.0 Impacts Lawyers" developed with Dr. Barbara Bowen, Managing Director of Sound Knowledge Strategies.

Related resources:

• Barbara's audio interviews with Ned Arthur of Truffle Media Networks:
  • S2KM Podcast Tape 10 - discussing the "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" concept map;
  • S2KM Podcast Tape 4 - introducing Barbara and concept maps.
• A "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" wiki developed with Denham Grey and featuring Barbara's concept map.
• A blog post by Luis Suarez about the evolution of Knowledge Management.

In addition to Barbara's audio interviews, the Web 2.0 for Lawyers concept map includes:

• Six (6) embedded (linked and related) concept maps
• Improved links for:
  • Web 2.0 Google searches
  • Web 2.0 commentators including:
    
    • Tim O'Reilly
    • Dion Hinchcliffe
  • Web 2.0 commentators who focus on lawyers including:
    
    • Professor Lawrence Lessig; and
    • The Kennedy-Mighell Report.

S2KM will continue to feature leading "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" commentary and resources on this blog - including periodic updates and improvements for the S2KM-sponsored Web 2.0 for Lawyers concept map and wiki.

S2KM Podcast Review - 1

This blog post highlights and summarizes S2KM's first six audio podcasts which can be subscribed to and are accessible from the upper left corner of S2KM's blog: "Beyond Structured Settlements". Future S2KM reviews will also highlight podcasts from other structured settlement podcast sites including Ringler Radio, The Settlement Channel and The Factoring Channel.

Truffle Media Networks - S2KM initiated its own podcast channel (S2KM Podcast Channel) June 10, 2007 in collaboration with Truffle Media Networks.  Ned Arthur of Truffle Media hosts S2KM's podcasts. During the past six weeks, S2KM and Truffle Media have begun to develop a collaborative public podcast library.  We intend to continue this collaboration throughout 2007.

Preliminary S2KM podcasts focus on these topics and people:

Participant introductions

• Ned Arthur - S2KM Podcast Tape 1 introduces S2KM Podcast host Ned Arthur and Ned's company, Truffle Media Networks. In Tape 1, Ned and Patrick Hindert, S2KM's Managing Director and blog editor, discuss Ned's background and provide an overview of Truffle Media Networks. They also discuss the application of podcasting to the following industries:
  • Structured settlements - including the primary and secondary United States markets
  • Personal injury settlement planning
  • Special needs planning
  • Secondary insurance markets for annuities and life insurance
• Barbara Bowen - S2KM Podcast Tape 4 introduces Dr. Barbara Bowen, Managing Director of Sound Knowledge Strategies. Barbara is a knowledge management (KM) expert who specializes in eliciting and visually representing tacit knowledge to achieve shared mental models. In Tape 4, Ned and Barbara discuss Barbara's educational and professional background and introduce concept maps. In subsequent S2KM podcasts, Barbara and Ned will discuss specific S2KM concept maps including "How does Web 2.0 Impact Lawyers".
• Joseph Dehner - S2KM Tape 5 introduces Joseph Dehner, a partner in the law firm Frost Brown Todd and co-author of "Structured Settlements and Periodic Payment Judgments". Ned and Joe discuss Joe's historical study of, and role within, the structured settlement industry beginning in 1977. Ned also elicits Joe's preliminary S2KM podcast analysis of structured settlement public policy. Joe will be providing additional podcast commentary about structured settlement public policy for S2KM during the next couple of weeks.

Supplemental S2KM reporting - The following S2KM podcasts supplement prior S2KM blog reporting:

• Special Needs Attorneys - In S2KM Podcast Tape 2, Ned and Patrick discuss the relationship between structured settlements and special needs attorneys. Related S2KM commentary and analysis includes:
  • Structured Settlement Law - a public wiki S2KM developed for a June 12, 2007 presentation to the Academy of Special Needs Planners.
  • Academy of Special Needs Planners - an S2KM blog post reviewing the Academy's March 2007 Annual Conference.
  • Inconvenient Questions - S2KM's three-part series about the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and its potential impact on structured settlements.
• Structured Settlement Mid-2007 Report - In S2KM Podcast Tape 3, Ned and Patrick identify and review important mid-2007 structured settlement industry developments as highlighted in a prior S2KM blog post. They also review June 2007 structured settlement newsletters from the law firms Drinker Biddle and Pullman & Comley.
• AAJ 2007 Annual Conference - In S2KM Podcast Tape 6, Ned and Patrick review the American Association for Justice (AAJ) 2007 Annual Meeting which occurred in July 2007. S2KM's blog coverage of the AAJ meeting included three posts. S2KM and Truffle Media will be publishing additional AAJ Conference podcast reviews in August featuring other structured settlement stakeholder attendees.

For additional information about podcasting, see S2KM's prior blog post "Introduction to Podcasting" which features an embedded concept map developed by Barbara Bowen.