Honoring Martin Luther King

Today,  we take a day to reflect on the dreams and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr.

Here are a few links to frame the day:

• MLK's Nobel Prize biography (and photo, right).
• Wikipedia biography.
• The King Center.
• "I Have a Dream" speech (YouTube).
• James Taylor's "Shed a Little Light" and the lyrics.

Have a restful and inspiring day, and let's all find the opportunity to do one unexpected act of kindness on today.

Fiat lux.

500,000 Less Hungry by Tomorrow (7/31)

I turn the mic over to Fios' Mary Mack:  (original post here)

I have a request and a challenge for our blackberry enabled, tiny living room we call the ediscovery community. We have the fastest grapevine in the world.  Will you help me use our grapevine to feed our hungry neighbors and collectively achieve a huge goal?

Sometimes in the electronic discovery world, we get so stressed out by how much we have to do that we forget about people who have no work, or very poorly paid work.

I have been honored to work with a group of leaders to give back.  The BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) we chose back two months ago when we started with our group of 17, was to reduce hunger for 500K people, locally, nationally and globally by July 31. July 31 of this year.  Our formal group has expanded to 42 (you’re invited) and the countdown is here.  We wanted to do it without raising funds.

We are, at this writing $7,000 from our goal. Yes, we are raising funds.  But just for about 36 hours.  Donate here.

OutIndex announces ProBono Program

OutIndex announces a corporate program focused on children's healthcare. The company provides free electronic discovery processing for pro bono programs and encourages its employees to support non-profit organizations.
Click here for more info

SOS For Iowa Lawyers

I turn the mic over to Tom O'Connor, and his TechnoGumbo blog:

Ernie Svenson has a post on his blog today with pointers to the Linn County Bar Association which includes Cedar Rapids, a city hard hit by the recent flooding and location of the Linn County District Court. Despite the flooding, the Linn County Bar is still planning to proceed with its annual meeting this coming Thursday, June 26 and several members of the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA, led by Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar,  J.R. Phelps of the Florida Bar, Catherine Sanders Reach of the ABA LTRC and myself, are planning to participate via video conference.

Women in eDiscovery Charity Drive

Lana Schell checks in to let us know about a project underway by the new group, Women in E-Discovery (affectionately nicknamed, "Skirts in EDD"). WiE has adopted the Susan G. Komen Foundation as its national charity, and is establishing teams in each of the cities where the annual three day, 60-mile walk is held. Currently there are teams forming in Philly, D.C., and they expect more. "Our goal is to raise $300,000, " she says.

The new organization already boasts 700 members. The gimmick: because WiE doesn't charge membership fees, they are asking participants who are benefiting from the group and its meetings and networking opptys to "pay it forward" and donate what they would expect to pay in membership fees to the Komen group. Details here.

P.S.: Ms. Schell will be attending the New York City WiE chapter meeting Friday, Nov. 9, at noon, at Patterson Belknap, 1133 6th Av. Details: Shawnna Childress.