Book Reviews
A Survival Guide to Computer Contracts: How
to Select and Negotiate for Business Computer Systems
By Jeffrey Monassebian (Great Neck, NY: Application Publishing
Inc., 1996). 304 pgs. $24.95. To order, call (800) 275-2606.
Reviewed by
R. Timothy Muth
Acquiring a computer system is a major investment for any business.
Information systems are increasingly vital to a company's daily
operation. Yet, many computer software development projects fail, and
many computer systems do not meet the promises made by the vendor's
salespeople.
When problems with a computer system surface, business owners
frequently find their contracts offer little protection. Agreements
often fail to adequately describe the parties' roles and
responsibilities. Many times the agreements use the vendor's form, which
provides negligible remedies to the purchaser.
In A Survival Guide to Computer Contracts, attorney Jeffrey
Monassebian has written a useful guide to help deal with this problem.
The book is written for the business person who may be unfamiliar with
both the terminology of the computer industry and the formats of legal
documents. Monassebian simplifies both the computer jargon and the legal
lingo.
The guide covers most of the major areas involved in computer system
acquisition. Monassebian starts with the beginning of the process -
determining the organization's needs and finding computer system vendors
who can meet them. He correctly stresses the importance of documentation
for these initial steps, which businesses often overlook.
The book then discusses whether to purchase: 1) prepackaged software;
2) standard software that is customized for the particular business; or
3) software that is custom-developed, and the considerations involved
with each choice. The guide also covers various formats for computer
system acquisition including "turn-key" solutions, outsourcing,
facilities maintenance, service bureaus and leasing. The book's heart is
Monassebian's analysis of typical clauses seen in computer contracts and
his explanation of their significance in readily understandable
terms.
Monassebian overlooked the conversion of a business's existing
computer data for a new system. Data conversion must be both accurate
and compatible with the new software. Allocating responsibility for this
process is an important step in contracting for a new system, but is not
discussed in the book.
The book includes 11 sample agreements covering the basic contracts a
purchaser might face in a computer system transaction. The samples are
drafted to protect the purchaser's interests. The book also contains
samples of a Request for Information and a Request for Proposal, for use
in defining system requirements at the beginning of the acquisition
process. The sample agreements are available on computer diskette from
the publisher.
Although written for the layperson, A Survival Guide to Computer
Contracts will be useful for lawyers who do not regularly practice in
this area and who need an overview of issues that must be considered in
the computer contracting process. Experienced attorneys who practice in
computer law will not find in-depth discussions of the fine points of
software license agreements and the like, but they will find that the
book's easy readability provides a useful checklist.
R. Timothy Muth, Harvard 1986, chairs the computer and technology
law practice group at Reinhart, Boerner, Van Deuren, Norris &
Rieselbach S.C., Milwaukee.
How to Manage Your Trust Account Using
Quicken (video)
Madison, WI: State Bar of Wisconsin Law Office Videotapes, 1996.
72 minutes. $59.
Reviewed by
Lou Dodulik
If you have a trust account and a computer, why aren't you using a
software program to help manage your trust account? The common excuse is
lack of time to evaluate software programs, learn the program purchased
and implement the software. The State Bar's 72-minute video, How to
Manage Your Trust Account Using Quicken, can help.
The video offers practical advice about equipment, the software's
basic features and how it can manage your trust account, how to generate
reports and how to reconcile your trust account. While the video uses
step-by-step examples, it is not a replacement or substitute to the
User's Guide, but rather it is an introduction to using Quicken.TM
The video states that Quicken is an inexpensive, general software
program available on computer disk or CD-ROM and is written in various
languages to match various computer systems. While the software was not
written specifically for an attorney's trust account, the task can be
accomplished by understanding the various options available. Also,
certain ethical and fiduciary duties are involved with trust accounts
that the software cannot address.
The video suggests dedicating one computer to the task of managing a
trust account and three printers. The dedicated computer allows
immediate access and eliminates the possibility of an accidental entry
or system breakdown if the computer is part of regular daily operations.
The video recommends having a battery backup for the dedicated system,
off premises back-up disks for data and a virus detection program. Of
the three printers, one dot matrix printer is for trust account checks,
another dot matrix printer is for the firm's checks and one laser
printer is for reports. The dedicated system is a nice way to use
outdated computers.
Regardless of the hardware setup, users must understand the software
to make Quicken work. The video runs through various commands on the
WindowsTM power bar to help explain the software, which is helpful
because one actually sees how and where to access the various commands.
The video also explains how to type in commands for users without
Windows and states typing may be faster than using a mouse.
The "preference" command allows users to adapt the Quicken software
to a specific use. The video shows how to set up a new account with the
corresponding sub-accounts, how to save the work, how to print checks
and more.
How to Manage Your Trust Account Using Quicken allows the viewer to
see how a flexible, inexpensive software program can be adapted to
manage a trust account.
Lou Dodulik, Thomas M. Cooley 1994, practices at Mudroch, Halaska
& Weaver S.C. in Elm Grove.
The Kingfish and the Constitution
By Richard C. Cortner (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996). 216
pgs. $55. To order, call (800) 225-5800.
Reviewed by
Barbara Reinhold
Franklin D. Roosevelt once called him the most dangerous man in the
USA. To read Richard C. Cortner's book, you'll come away agreeing with
that assessment of Huey "Kingfish" Long - at least regarding the First
Amendment.
Long served as Louisiana governor from 1928 until his death in 1935,
and in the process changed forever the face of freedom of the press in
Louisiana and, quite possibly, the USA. Cortner, a political scientist,
chronicles the public life and times of the Kingfish and his battle
against the press, focusing on Long's rise to power through his flagrant
manipulation of Louisiana government to reward his friends and punish
his detractors - among them the Louisiana urban daily press.
In 1930, after a series of critical articles, Long proposed
legislation to impose a 15 percent tax on all gross revenues generated
by Louisiana newspapers from advertising. He struck again with a bill to
empower local DAs to bring suits to enjoin newspapers in their
jurisdictions that were "obscene, lewd or lascivious" or "malicious,
scandalous or defamatory." Any newspaper found to have violated one of
these standards could be permanently enjoined from publishing.
Even by today's standards, these measures would chill freedom of the
press in the USA. The effect would have been exponentially so in 1930,
when freedom of the press had not yet emerged in the courts as a
significant issue. The Louisiana newspaper tax case, Grosjean v.
American Press Co., ultimately became one of those cases, which along
with Near v. Minnesota, that stands for the proposition that the press,
in order to be free as it is meant in the First Amendment, must be
unfettered by prior restraint, including economic prior restraint
through taxation.
Although the book focuses on one person and his extreme relationship
with the media, it also deals with the more general context of
government-media relations and their often tenuous balance.
This book is a fascinating read. Unfortunately, it is a scholarly
book, with a tiny text typeface, making it unlikely to be found locally.
It's worth ordering from the publisher.
Barbara Reinhold, U.W. 1988, is a Columbia County assistant DA,
currently on temporary assignment to the Dane County DA's
Office.
Private Antitrust Actions: The Structure
and Process of Civil Antitrust Litigation
By C. Douglas Floyd and E. Thomas Sullivan (Boston, MA: Little,
Brown & Co., 1996). 1,315 pgs. $155.
Reviewed by
Ramon A. Klitzke
The federal government's recent marked reticence to launch broad
attacks on antitrust violations has forced impatient lawyers to turn to
private litigation. Moreover, the promise of treble damages, joint and
several liability, equitable relief, and fees and costs in private
antitrust litigation is not without its allure for business competitors
struggling against unfair combinations and monopolistic practices.
This comprehensive textbook, Private Antitrust Actions, focuses upon
the increasingly important issues of structure and process in private
antitrust actions. It does not directly treat the scope of underlying
substantive violations. Rather, the authors portray the "dimensions of
the playing field" of private federal antitrust litigation.
The chapters are devoted to federal jurisdiction and venue,
relationship of federal and state courts, exemptions, governmental
immunity, limitations, standing, complex litigation, jury trial and
summary judgment, liabilities and remedies, fees and costs, and claim
and issue preclusion. The authors review the recent important U.S.
Supreme Court decisions that have fundamentally altered the analysis of
these subjects. The conduct of all private antitrust litigation has been
significantly affected by these cases and this timely textbook should be
consulted by specialists in this complex litigation and also by those
with a broader litigation practice. Both the plaintiff and defense bars
will find this work profitable.
In Private Antitrust Actions, Prof. Floyd and Dean Sullivan create an
impressive work that will find its way into law firm and law school
libraries alike. While not a casebook, its complete and detailed
coverage of every important phase of private federal antitrust
litigation is more than suitable for an excellent law school problems
seminar.
The necessity for this kind of work to be available to practicing
attorneys must be underscored. The work is current, comprehensive and
balanced. It treats its topics in a depth that is not available in
existing works devoted to the substantive antitrust prohibitions
themselves. It fills an important gap in the literature of antitrust
law.
The book is very well-organized into logical chapters and chapter
sections. Full and complete footnotes support the text. Comprehensive
tables of cases and secondary authorities are provided. There is an
excellent index.
Ramon A. Klitzke is Professor Emeritus, Marquette University Law
School, where he taught antitrust, intellectual property and
administrative law.
Reflections of the Dream, 1975-1994: Twenty
Years Celebrating the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Edited by Clarence G. Williams (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press,
1996). 332 pgs. $17.50. To order, call (800) 356-0343
Reviewed by
James J. Casey Jr.
Among the problems facing America, few are intractable as the chasm
that separates minorities (particularly Black America) from mainstream
America (primarily White America). Three decades since the passage of
the landmark civil rights legislation, much has improved in terms of
minorities rights and opportunities, but continued inequities exist.
Reflections of the Dream, 1975-1994: Twenty Years of Celebrating the
Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, tackles this quandary through a series of provocative
speeches spanning 20 years. Each year MIT holds a symposium celebrating
and examining the life and teachings of Dr. King, and editor Clarence G.
Williams has selected from the symposia speeches and presentations
representative of the years 1975 through 1994, with an open letter to
House Speaker Gingrich in 1995 as an appendix. One is struck by how each
speech reflects its time. The speeches as a whole recount and document
the major factual events in the modern Civil Rights era, beginning with
Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in December
1955 so that a white man could sit.
For example, the selections of the 1970s express hope that Dr. King's
dreams would be realized. Selections from the 1980s reflect increasing
pessimism that the country's conservative shift and election of
Republican presidents would lead to retrenchment of economic, political
and social rights and opportunities for minorities. President Clinton's
election in 1992 led to a reemergence in these speeches of hope that the
country would address such problems once again. Most of the Black
speakers are decidedly Democrat in political orientation, and one must
be concerned about the absence of "conservative" Black speakers in this
collection.
Since Dr. King was assassinated in April 1968, much has been written
about whether the Black community bears any responsibility for its
continuing economic, political and social struggles. None of the authors
in this compilation address this topic, and it is a glaring omission. It
is an intellectual point of great importance and a major criticism of
this collection. It is almost as if Black intellectuals are afraid to
criticize their own people for fear of being labeled closet racists or
supporters of the "white superstructure." But Black irresponsibility
over the past 30 years does not legitimize racism. It calls for greater
communication and understanding between the races. And none of the
speeches address the simple fact that other minority groups who have
been in America a shorter time seem to have done better in that time -
another deficiency.
At the 1994 symposium, Coretta Scott King claimed that her husband
"saw America not as a melting pot, but as a vibrant mosaic of people of
all races, religions and other ethnic groups. We need not surrender our
group identities, he felt." This is a point of major importance when
understanding race relations. Traditionally, it has been felt that
America succeeds because it is a melting pot of people of different
races, religions and ethnic identities. Assimilation is the key process
here. At best, Dr. King's call would lead to harmony. At worst,
maintenance of separate identities - marginally calling themselves
"Americans" - will lead to political, economic and social Balkanization
of the United States - a disturbing prospect.
This collection is highly desirable reading on civil rights and race
relations because it informs the reader and stimulates thought.
James J. Casey Jr., Dayton 1988, is a sponsored program officer
in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Northwestern
University.
Wisconsin Juvenile Law Handbook
Virginia A. Pomeroy and Gina M. Pruski (Madison, WI: State Bar of
Wisconsin CLE Books, 1996). Forms on disk. $115.
Reviewed by
Gregory Posner-Weber
This may be the largest "hand-book" published by the State Bar of
Wisconsin. Certainly it is one of the most useful. The skill and
enthusiasm of the authors is laudable, as is their effort to address
virtually every aspect of practice under revised chapter 48 (the
Children's Code) and newly enacted chapter 938 (the Juvenile Justice
Code) of the Wisconsin Statutes.
The Wisconsin Juvenile Law
Handbook is intended for both the juvenile law specialist and the
general practitioner who is thrust into the confusing world of the
juvenile court system. While the authors are attorneys for the Office of
the State Public Defender, careful writing and editorial review have
produced an essentially nonpartisan guide to juvenile court practice.
Practice commentary is clearly identified as such; it most often
reflects the point of view of adversary counsel.
The handbook begins with a general discussion of the statutory and
constitutional rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in
the various types of juvenile court litigation. Jurisdiction and venue
questions receive detailed analysis, with the following chapters
addressing each chronological step in juvenile court proceedings.
Recognizing the importance of certain issues in juvenile court
litigation, the authors devote individual chapters to waiver of juvenile
court jurisdiction in delinquency cases, confidentiality, termination of
parental rights and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. Each
chapter is well-organized and supported by appropriate citation to
statute and case law. In situations where the law on a particular matter
is unsettled, the authors present cogent and well-reasoned analysis to
support their conclusions.
Especially useful are the chapters devoted to juvenile court motion
practice and fact-finding hearings. Far too often, practitioners who are
unfamiliar with the nuances of juvenile court proceedings simply treat
their cases the same way they would treat a criminal prosecution - with
predictably disastrous consequences for all concerned. Anyone facing a
fully contested juvenile court matter will be inadequately prepared
without closely reviewing the handbook.
This book will be a useful addition to the library of the private
practitioner, the district attorney, the corporation counsel, the
guardian ad litem and the juvenile court judge. There is no question
that the recent modification of chapter 48 and the creation of chapter
938 generated a need for a comprehensive practice manual. The handbook
is currently the only authoritative source in this field. It merits this
distinction, and is likely to retain it for years to come.
Gregory M. Posner-Weber, Marquette 1987, is an assistant attorney
general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice. He concentrates in
criminal matters involving children and youth.
Wisconsin Lawyer
