Woman using her Mobile Phone in the street, night light Background

Baker McKenzie Dawn Raid

Don't hit the snooze button. A dawn raid—or in say, Paul Manafort's case, a pre-dawn raid—seems like the government's way of signaling you may have picked a very bad day to sleep in. When the authorities come busting through the doors unannounced in the wee hours—sometimes in multiple locations simultaneously—to conduct a surprise sweep for documents and data in connection with an ongoing investigation, what's a client and its employees to do?

Don't ask any of the seemingly countless individuals and entities currently under federal and state scrutiny. Grab a mobile device—before it's confiscated?—and snap open Baker's Global Antitrust Dawn Raid app, the ready-when-you're-not resource featuring a four-phase detailed dawn raid guide, key principles, and hot button links to firm lawyers standing by in cities around the globe to help clients survive a unexpected and presumably unnerving antitrust, anti-bribery or tax raid.

The key takeaways: Call the lawyers, get the search warrant and names of agents, cooperate, do not destroy evidence, take notes but don't interfere, call the lawyers, call the lawyers, and whatever you do, don't wait to call the lawyers. Should the need arise, select “I Am Being Raided,” then select the region and country from the menus designated Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. The app also features short FAQs on legislation, search powers, employees' rights, penalties, legal privilege and more, which you probably should review in advance of a potential dawn surprise.

Stay calm and get some rest. The lights are always on at Baker McKenzie.

Free on IOS and Android.

 

Explore GDPR

It's showtime for the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the comprehensive no nonsense data privacy law that comes into full force this May, establishing perhaps the most stringent rulemaking of its kind in the world and impacting pretty much every digital venture that touches Europe. Compliance is everything.

If you have yet to eyeball the far reaching GDPR, the digital privacy docents at DLA Piper have put together an app that enables reading and searching full text of the law in English as well as Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Spanish and Swedish, all languages DLA Piper lawyers know. The GDPR, which regulates the collection and use of personal data in Europe and carries heavy fines for noncompliance by companies, is a framework based on years of work on privacy law reform starting with the EU's 2012 Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC.

Piper's app conveniently links GDPR's articles to the corresponding portions of the predecessor directive. The app also provides pointers to the firm's data and privacy group's offerings including a microsite for background and info on GDPR, a roundup of data protection laws of the world, a data security scorebox, and the Privacy Matters blog. The digital age may not have completely killed privacy after all.

Available on IOS and Android.

 

Weedmaps

Unless you're in a perpetual fog of Purple Urkle, you heard the recent news from California. When the Golden State lit up the marijuana landscape with a law effective the first day of the year allowing recreational use of the popular plant, it instantly became the largest legal commercial pot market anywhere.

And dude, cannabis business is blazing. Whether you or your clients invest in, grow, distribute, prescribe, or just enjoy the plant, including edibles, paraphernalia and countless related products, or you're just following budding trends, be aware of resources like Weedmaps, an online marijuana directory open since 2008 and updated again this month.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, Weedmaps, a so-called Yelp for pot, along with competitors like Leafly, operates in the legal limbo offering listings, community input and info on dispensaries, doctors, brands and deals with photos and other goodies. Subscribers may now connect to the service using a Google or Facebook account.

Sure, Weedmaps has been cited for things like security breaches, and too many fake, for-pay product reviews—you know, stuff that never happens on the Internet. Make your own judgment about mobile resources for keeping pace with this smoking hot segment of the economy. Fire up Weedmaps with caution. Happy app trails.

Free on IOS and Android.

 

Hamilton – The Official App

Celebrate the birth of the child who would grow up to become a founder of America and the shining superstar savior of musical theater for millennials everywhere. Alexander Hamilton, a lawyer, among various other achievements, was born on January 11, 1755 on an island in the British West indies, and would definitely have had a few fun apps on his favorite mobile gadget, including one featuring official Broadway show merch, trivia, #hamcam show-themed filters, and lotteries to win those coveted cheap tickets to the mega-hit show about American history and more.

Escape today's head-spinning news from government and partisan politics with a look back at the early head-spinning days of the same. Or, skip the app and read the Federalist Papers again, or you know, just click on @hamilbots—the bot that tweets a lyric from the beloved Broadway show literally every 30 seconds. Stay young, scrappy and hungry, America. It's still your shot.

Free on IOS and Android.

 

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New York–based Jesse Londin is a lawyer and freelance writer. Twitter @spacelawyer