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Daily Archives: February 21, 2022

How law firm librarians are reinventing themselves

Reuters: “…Once easily pigeonholed within a firm – they were the people who worked in the library – their roles now spill over into IT, marketing, business development, client services and beyond. Need a new database to track deals? Competitive intelligence? ESG expertise? Melding research and tech skills, a law librarian might be the go-to person. Already operating in a largely virtual environment, some librarians say the pandemic actually provided an opportunity to increase their visibility within their firms. But will it last?…”

The Dangers of Password Recycling and How to Mitigate the Risks

MakeUseOf: “As tempting as it sounds, re-using old passwords for multiple accounts can expose you to potential data breaches and cyberattacks. Creating complex and undecipherable passwords with a proper balance of alphanumeric characters can be a real struggle at times. Therefore, we are all guilty of recycling our old passwords. While password managers exist for… Continue Reading

A Cheese by Any Other Name: The Legal Challenge over “Gruyere”

In Custodia Legis: “On December 15, 2021, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld an administrative decision finding that, in the United States, “gruyere” is a generic term for a type of cheese, and therefore ineligible for legal protection through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Gruyère is a geographic… Continue Reading

83% of employees continue accessing old employer’s accounts

Help Net Security:  “In a recent study, Beyond Identity gathered responses from former employees across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland and found 83% of employees admitted to maintaining continued access to accounts from a previous employer. The cybersecurity threat this poses is coupled with the fact that 56% of these employees said… Continue Reading

Trump’s Presidential Records Act Violations: Short- and Long-Term Solutions

Lawfare: “…As in various other situations in which Trump has flouted well-established laws and norms that typically constrain the president, his apparent brazen disregard of the PRA [Presidential Records Act] presents two sets of questions: First, what are available mechanisms for accountability against a president who violates these rules? And second, what future reforms would… Continue Reading

Global Plastics Outlook

OECD: “Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options – While plastics are extremely useful materials for modern society, plastics production and waste generation continue to increase with worsening environmental impacts despite international, national and local policy responses, as well as industry commitments. The urgent need to make the lifecycle of plastics more circular calls for… Continue Reading

Financial Reporting and Consumer Behavior

Noh, Suzie and Noh, Suzie and So, Eric C. and Zhu, Christina, Financial Reporting and Consumer Behavior (September 28, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3932590 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3932590 – “We show that financial reporting spurs consumer behavior. Using granular GPS data, we show that foot-traffic to firms’ commerce locations significantly increases in the days following their earnings… Continue Reading

A Zero-Carbon Grid Could Prevent Future Blackouts, Study Finds

Yale Environment 360: “A year after a severe winter storm caused widespread blackouts in Texas, the state’s power grid remains vulnerable to extreme cold. But recent research suggests that moving to 100 percent renewable electricity could help prevent future outages, in Texas and elsewhere. For the study, Stanford researchers modeled grid stability in 2050 in… Continue Reading