Beyond Structured Settlements

Secondary Market Law Blog

Katherine Scanlon and Peter Vodola, partners at Pullman & Comley, have announced an exciting new blog titled "Secondary Market Law". Their blog already addresses several sub-topics including structured settlements.

This state-of-the-art blog represents a major step forward for the structured settlement and settlement planning industries.

Other industry leaders should be utilizing blogs and web 2.0 communication tools to improve industry discussions about issues and developments.

Congratulations to Kathy and Peter for their new publishing venture. Welcome to the blogosphere!

Web 2.0 Update

S2KM's blog encourages collaborative thinking and commentary about the impact of the Internet on four overlapping markets:

• Structured settlements;
• Personal injury settlement planning;
• Special needs planning; and
• The secondary insurance markets.

S2KM's coverage includes information and observations about industry leaders and trade associations as they transition to the Internet - especially their use of web 2.0 tools to communicate, learn and collaborate.

Several notable web 2.0 developments have occurred in 2008 within the vertical markets and topics S2KM follows.

Special Needs Blogs - From a web 2.0 perspective, S2KM views elder law and special needs attorneys as advanced knowledge workers using outdated tools. Their traditional knowledge training (examples: law schools; CELA); values (example: sharing knowledge) and tools (examples: hardcopy textbooks; F2F conferences; digital publishing; listservs) are strong and positive for web 2.0.  To date, however, these lawyers and their associations have created almost no web 2.0 imprint or impact. Transition indicators exist - especially web 2.0 conference discussions and industry leaders emerging as bloggers.  The special needs bloggers are important for several markets because they address issues and laws for disabled persons. S2KM subscribes to four special needs legal blogs (as of July 7, 2008) each of which is new and/or revised in 2008:

• David Lillesand - Lillesand was a featured speaker at the SSP and ASNP 2008 Annual Meetings where he addressed structured settlement Medicaid issues. Recent Lillesand blog posts:
  • New POMS for special needs trusts - Atlanta
  • Relationship of SSDI, SSI, Medicare and Medicaid
  • How SSA decides and processes a disability claim
  • Lillesand's ASNP presentation
  • Special needs trust Q and A booklet
• Patti Dudek - Dudek is member and frequent speaker at NAELA and ASNP. Dudek participates in NAELA's member-only listserv. From a web 2.0 perspective, a listserv is a good tool to pre-launch and link wikis, blogs, podcasts and concept maps. Recent Dudek blog posts:
  • The Case for Inclusion 2008 community rankings
  • Proposed changes to the Social Security appeals process
  • The ADA Amendments Act
  • Long-term care case
• Diedre Wachbrit - With Harry Margolis and Vincent Russo, Wachbrit is a founder of, and featured speaker at, the Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP). Recent Wachbrit blog posts:
  • New special needs treatise
  • Government services harder to get
  • Autism studies
  • MetLife survey - assisted living costs

• Frank Johns (added July 7, 2008) - Johns is a leading writer and speaker about elder law, special needs and settlement planning issues. Johns also serves as the current editor of the NAELA Journal.  Recent Johns' blog posts:
  • Freedom and independence with a twist
  • New Medicaid restrictions
  • Divorce among the elderly
  • Four core values

• John Campbell (added July 14, 2008) - John Campbell, a leading special needs attorney who writes about structured settlement and settlement planning issues, has published a new blog.    John has also added valuable commentary to other blogs.  See, for example, John's comments about S2KM's January 16, 2008 blog post titled "Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007". Congratulations and good luck to John and other special needs bloggers.

LBN Developments

• The Legal Broadcast Network (LBN) has introduced Tim Butler as its new CEO and announced a successful LBN venture capital funding.
• According to LBN Chairman Mark Wahlstrom: "You are going to see a major expansion in our shows, channels, commentators and offerings, not the least of which is going to be a substantial build out of The Settlement Channel and it's content and sponsors".
• Wahlstrom also announced LBN's formation of Speaking of Settlements, which Wahlstrom characterizes as "a complete professional network in which any settlement professional, lawyer or legal professional can fill out a profile for free, start a blog, post video or audio content or create discussion boards and rooms".

Luis Suarez' Article

• Luis Suarez, a Knowledge Management (KM) consultant in the IBM Global Business Services division, is a leading KM blogger and commentator. In 2006, S2KM reported on Suarez'  visit to Cincinnati and the resulting KM discussions with Denham Grey.
• Earlier this week, a Suarez article, titled "I Freed Myself from Email's Grip", was featured in the New York Times.
• Suarez' blog provides commentary and links to the article.
  • Suarez' conclusion: "As a communication tool e-mail can be a good thing; however, as a collaboration tool it lacks some of the most significant elements from any kind of collaboration: openness, transparency, taking responsibility & ownership, co-authorship, co-llaborate ..." (Suarez' emphasis).
  • Suarez' alternative: Instead of individual email responses, Suarez has substituted instant messages, blogs, wikis - and telephones including skype.

S2KM 2008 Wikis - S2KM recommends wikis (public and private) as powerful, simple and inexpensive web 2.0 tools for Internet-based knowledge workers. S2KM has continued to publish and update public wikis during 2008 including:

• Web 2.0 for Lawyers - S2KM's Web 2.0 for Lawyers Wiki was updated for the 2008 NAELA Symposium - and featured in a 2008 LBN podcast interview with Scott Drake.
• Structured Settlement - S2KM published the Structured Settlement Wiki on March 24, 2008. 

Selected S2KM blog posts (2004-2008) about other KM and web 2.0 topics:

• KM and Law
• Legal Blogs and Taxonomies
• Web 2.0 for Lawyers
• Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map
• KM and Structured Settlements
• Concept Maps
• Social Networks
• Introduction to Podcasting

Return to blogging and podcasting

Following a five week blogging hiatus, S2KM's structured settlement blog coverage will begin again in June. At that time, S2KM will also begin offering audio podcast commentary.  S2KM's audio feed player and podcast subscription buttons are already installed and visible on the left side of this blog.  S2KM audio commentary will become available starting next week. 

The structured settlement industry is fortunate to have these existing sources for podcast news, features and commentary:

• The Legal Broadcast Network (LBN)
  
  • The Settlement Channel
  • The Factoring Channel
• The Legal Talk Network (LTN)
  
  • Ringler Radio

S2KM believes the market for podcasts is growing.  There is room for and need for additional structured settlement podcast sources and applications - especially as structured settlements continue to merge (on the plaintiff side) with settlement planning and special needs planning. 

To provide podcast content, S2KM is partnering with Truffle Media Networks.  Based in Indianapolis, Truffle Media's core values and skill sets include the use of podcasts to help build online communities and networks. 

Truffle's background and success building communities and networks for specific international agricultural industries is a great example of how the growth and development of online social networking sometimes appears counter-intuitive.  Who would have assumed that farmers (physical laborers) would be among the early web 2.0 adapters?  Ned Arthur of Truffle Media will be co-hosting S2KM's preliminary podcasts.  S2KM welcomes Truffle Media as a communication and education partner.

S2KM's podcasts will supplement S2KM blog posts and feature interviews and commentary.  Preliminary topics will include three recent conferences S2KM attended:

• NSSTA's 2007 Annual Meeting
• Stetson Law School Special Needs Trust Seminar
• NAELA's 2007 Symposium

In addition, S2KM will begin taking a closer look at how web 2.0 is impacting structured settlements, settlement planning and special needs planning.  As one example, take a look at Care Pages - a simple, and free, social networking tool that connects disabled persons (and elderly persons) with their family and friends.

For additional information about:

• Podcasting - see S2KM's "Introduction to Podcasting"
• Web 2.0 -  see S2KM's "Web 2.0 for Lawyers".

Legal Blogs and Taxonomies

Ian Best, a third year law student at Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University has developed a valuable blog for attorneys, judges and law students called “3L Epiphany”. One of the highlights is titled “A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs” which Best characterizes as “an online service to the legal profession”.

For additional information about “taxonomies”, including a concept map, see this post in the “Green Chameleon” weblog.

An important upcoming event featured on 3L Epiphany is a free, public forum titled “Bloggership: How Blogs are Transforming Legal Scholarship” April 28, 2006 sponsored by The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.  The symposium events will take place in Ames Courtroom at the Harvard Law School and will include a live webcast.

Thank you to Denham Grey for keeping me updated on legal blogs, taxonomies,  concept maps, podcasts, wikis and knowledge management generally.

Educational Conferences

As participants within the structured settlement and settlement planning industries increasingly recognize the complexity and importance of their professions, one result should be improved educational programs that incorporate Internet features including weblogs, podcasts and wikis.

Thank you to Denham Grey for alerting me to this excellent weblog post on 2 Cents Worth about how any organization or association can improve and expand its educational programs using Internet technologies.

Structured Settlement Weblogs

S2KM welcomes two new bloggers to the structured settlement blogosphere:

1. Mark Wahlstrom - Mark is co-owner (with Jan Schlichtmann) of the Legal Broadcast Network.  Mark's podcast and weblog commentary appears on The Settlement Channel.  One of Mark's recent weblog posts addresses the EPS SFA merger.

2.  John Darer - John is a leading structured settlement consultant and industry commentator.  John has an interesting take on Symetra's recent announcement to expand its settlement transfer business.  For those who have not seen the Symetra announcment, here is a copy:
---------------------------------------

"Introducing Clearscape Funding Corporation

Dear Structured Settlement Consultant:

Nine months ago we launched an "advanced funding" pilot program, giving payees under Symetra Assigned Benefits Service Company (SABSCO)-owned annuities the ability to transfer their structured settlement payments to SABSCO in exchange for an immediate lump sum. The results of this program have been outstanding! Clients tell us they are grateful for our ability to quickly meet their immediate financial needs and for the professional manner in which we've shepherded their cases through the courts.

SABSCO's funding services are now available in all states. We're also expanding with a new service to payees under non-SABSCO-owned contracts, including those issued by other life companies. At the heart of this expansion is the latest addition to the Symetra Financial corporate family ?

Clearscape Funding Corporation!

Beginning January 11, 2006, Clearscape Funding Corporation will offer payees the same helpful and responsive service that many have come to know through Symetra Life. Clearscape Funding continues the Symetra tradition with fair pricing, fast turnarounds, and strong technical knowledge. It's yet another example of how Symetra Financial is working to meet your customers' needs by providing financial solutions for navigating the unforeseen changes that life can present. For more information, visit www.clearscapefunding.com.

If you have questions about our structured settlement or funding services, or need assistance with a nonqualified opportunity, please call your new business representative or me at 1-800-599-5732.

Sincerely,

Kim McSheridan

Vice President

Income Annuities

Symetra Life Insurance Company"

Social Network Technologies

Denham Grey, a leading Knowledge Management (KM) thinker and practioner, takes on the KM lions in their own den when he moderates an online presentation this week for the "Star Series" sponsored by the Association of Knowledgework (AOK).

Entitled "Knowledge Sharing and Social Software", Denham's presentation includes a valuable and related wiki.  Among other resources, the wiki features a concept map of podcasting created by Barbara Bowen for S2KM Limited.

For additional background information about social network technologies, see Denham Grey's weblog, "Knowledge-at-work" as well as the following wikipedia entries:

• Community of practice

• Concept map

• Knowledge management

• Podcasting

• RSS

• Social bookmarking

• Social network

• Weblog

• Wiki

Plus additional information about:

• Podcasting
• Knowledge management and structured settlements.
• Membership in AOK.

Lilia Efimova Blogging Seminar

     The Tri-State Knowledge Management Association issued the following press release on January 10, 2005:

Blogging Seminar and Workshop to Feature Lilia Efimova

· International Expert to Speak at The METS Center

· Program Targets Tri-State Knowledge Workers

· Personal and Business Applications Featured

     Cincinnati, Ohio – January 10, 2005: Lilia Efimova, an internationally-acclaimed online learning and blogging expert, will conduct a blogging seminar at The METS Center in Northern Kentucky from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon on January 20, 2005.  Networking and a continental breakfast will begin at 8:30 am.

     Sponsored by the Tri-State Knowledge Management Association, the seminar is designed for knowledge workers interested in blogging including learning and HR specialists, attorneys, journalists, marketing and public relations professionals and consultants. 

     Efimova will discuss the rationale and start-up process for blogging as well as the related tools, technologies, best practices and business applications. The seminar will also address more advanced issues such as RSS, backtrack, blog-specific search engines, social bookmarks, blogviews, blogs and personal knowledge management and emergent blog communities.

     The cost of the seminar is $35 per person. Attendees may register in advance online or by contacting Linda Bickel by telephone (859 647-6387) or email (linda.bickel@useMETS.org).

     Born and educated in Russia, Efimova resides in the Netherlands where she conducts research about learning and knowledge management at Telematica Instituut. Efimova also authors Mathemagenic, an award-winning blog. During her current visit to the United States, Efimova is participating in a series of seminars and workshops about blogs and blogging.

     Blogs, also called weblogs, are an inexpensive and easy method to publish on the Internet. Blogs generally serve as personal or collaborative online journals and contain frequent entries organized in reverse chronological order. Blogs have many applications including reporting, publishing, learning, marketing and networking. The underlying blog technologies facilitate syndication and subscription to other blogs. The process of updating a blog is referred to as “blogging”. The person who writes and maintains a blog is called a “blogger”. Collectively, the online blogging community is known as the “blogosphere”.

     Recently social software, which includes blogging, has caught the attention of the popular and business press with articles in the New York Times, Forbes, Fortune and Financial Times. Major Internet players such as Google and Microsoft have started to enter the blogging field and venture capitalists are funding software projects. According to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, blog readership grew 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of Internet users.

      The Tri-State Knowledge Management Association is a non-profit organization that provides collaborative KM learning opportunities for knowledge professionals in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Association meetings, seminars and workshops take place at The METS Center located near the Greater Cincinnati International Airport. Affiliated with Northern Kentucky University, The METS Center features advanced learning technologies. For additional information about the Tri-State Knowledge Management Association , contact Patrick Hindert (Patrick@s2km.com).

Wikis, Blogs and Tsunamis

     The December 28, 2004 edition of the New York Times (NYT) includes an article entitled “Blogs Provide Raw Details from the Scene of the Disaster” (registration required) about the aftermath of tsunamis resulting from the December 26, 2004 earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

     Although the NYT article promises a lot  (“For vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs”), I was generally unimpressed with the news coverage in the blogs featured in the NYT article.  Most likely, the extensive damage caused by the tsunamis has prevented many on-site bloggers from accessing the Internet in the immediate aftermath. 

     Of the blogs I have reviewed, the most informative posts about the recent Asian earthquakes and tsunamis are Dina Meta’s blog (“Conversations with Dina” - multiple posts) and Dennis Kennedy's blog ("DennisKennedy.com" - December 27, 2004 post).  Both Dina and Dennis include a reference to Wikipedia.  After reviewing Wikipedia’s coverage, my conclusion is the same as Dina’s: “This is so impressive …within hours of the disaster, Wikipedia has a most comprehensive and evolving page on the Indian Ocean Earthquake."   Dina's December 28, 2004 post features an interesting and valuable comparison entitled "Blogs or Wikis...What's the best platform for building a collaborative disaster-relief resource on the web?" with specific reference to SEA-EAT, a blog Dina helped organize.  Dina's conclusion: "Because [SEA-EAT] is a community that is open...[p]erhaps a wiki might have captured the spirit better?"

     In addition to extensive, updated news coverage of the Asian earthquakes and tsunamis, both Wikipedia (a free open source encyclopedia) and Wikinews (an affiliated free demo news service) also provide tables of contents, cross-links to related subjects and external links to traditional, international news sources. See Wikinews for additional information about the debut of this demo news service.  See Socialtext for a leading social software provider that incorporates wikis and blogs.

    

Tri-State KM Association

     The Tri-State KM Association (TSKMA) was organized in March 2004 to provide knowledge professionals in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana with collaborative KM learning opportunities. TSKMA meetings, seminars and workshops take place at the METS Center located in Northern Kentucky near the Greater Cincinnati International Airport. The following excerpts from the December 21, 2004 TSKMA Newsletter summarize TSKMA accomplishments during 2004 and announce a January 20, 2005 KM seminar at the METS Center featuring Lilia Efimova, author of the Mathemagenic blog.

TSKMA 2004 – Highlights and Accomplishments

I. KM Perforum – TSKMA organized and co-sponsored (with the METS Center and Tier1 Performance Solutions) a KM Perforum on July 21, 2004 featuring Denham Grey, a TSKMA member and internationally-recognized KM leader. Denham engaged 70 Perforum attendees in a dialogue focusing on KM’s role in the manufacture of high-performance bicycle parts at Zipp Speed Weaponry.

II. Online Collaboration Forums – with support and sponsorship from VentureForward and Denham Grey, TSKMA has developed and continues to maintain two online communication and collaboration forums:

     A. The Brain – for information and access, contact Gina Suever at gina@wow2now.com

     B. Socialtext – for information and access contact Denham Grey at dgrey@iquest.net

III. Surveys – with assistance from the METS Center and Tier1 Performance Solutions, TSKMA conducted KM surveys of 58 Tri-State professionals who expressed interest in KM and TSKMA. Results included the following preferences for TSKMA:

     A. Membership - a diverse TSKMA membership base including: knowledge workers; KM subject matter experts; KM product providers; for-profit and not-for-profit organizations; educational organizations; and governmental agencies;

     B. Mission – collaborative KM learning;

     C. Benefits – KM seminars and workshops; KM profiles; KM Yellow Pages; KM certification; knowledge exchange(s); knowledge networks.

IV. Logo – Tom Hortel of VentureForward designed the TSKMA logo.

V. Newsletters – TSKMA has published four (4) newsletters in 2004.

VI. Meetings – Four TSKMA meetings occurred at the METS Center during 2004.

VII. Special Thanks – In addition to the METS Center, VentureForward, Tier1 Performance Solutions and Denham Grey, TSKMA wishes to thank Liz Nash, Keith Burtoft, Fred Meyer and Nick Franceschina for their contributions and support during 2004.

TSKMA 2005 – Activities and Events

I. KM Seminar and Workshop – On January 20, 2005, TSKMA and the METS Center will sponsor a KM Seminar and Workshop featuring Lilia Efimova. Further information (including times and registration instructions) will be communicated in early January. Mark your calendar and don’t miss these exciting learning opportunities! Here is a preview:

     A. Lilia Efimova is an internationally-acclaimed expert on blogging and personal KM. Currently working in the Netherlands, Lilia will be visiting the United States in January to participate in multiple seminars and blogwalks.

     B. Lilia’s Blog

     C. What is a blog (aka Weblog)?

     D. What will you learn at the Seminar and Workshop?

          1. Why is blogging important;

          2. How to get started;

          3. Ways to track who is reading your blog;

          4. Tools to measure traffic and reputation;

          5. Who are the key players in the KM blogging community;

          6. What roles blogging plays in business.

II. Additional TSKMA Projects for 2005 – In addition to seminars, workshops, meetings and newsletters, here are some additional projects TSKMA is planning for 2005:

     A. TSKMA Website;

     B. KM Profiles for TSKMA Members;

     C. Tri-State KM Yellow Pages.

If you would like addition information, visit the TSKMA online collaboration forums (see above) and/or contact Patrick Hindert at Patrick@s2km.com.