Disability Law

Web 2.0 Update

By Patrick Hindert

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- From a web 2.0 perspective, S2KM views elder law and special needs attorneys as advanced knowledge workers using outdated tools.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: 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 currently subscribes to three special needs legal blogs 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

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 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

Full post as published by Beyond Structured Settlements on July 04, 2008 (boomark / email).