Incubators

In June, we introduced you to Stanford University's "CodeX" crowd, led by Roland Vogl, who are incubating some very interesting legal technologies. We also turned you on to Cisco's ethics team, which converted a dry, thick Code of Business Conduct into a user-friendly, and yes, entertaining e-book. It not only educates Cisco's personnel, but it's transparent — check it out at http://at.law.com/LTNCiscoCOBC — which comes in especially handy in delicate situations like how to handle gift-giving rituals overseas.

In this August edition, we continue these themes. Chicago-based Lisa Holton does double duty, writing both our cover story, "G-Harmony," and our e-discovery feature story about a more historical incubation — the judges who were pioneers in developing electronic data discovery. In "G-Harmony," she explores some of the ramifications of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a feisty unit of the legendary Motorola (perhaps most remembered for its early forays into cell phones, with those huge, brick-sized iterations). As expected in such a merger, the MM law department, originally 250, was reduced to 100. (Some transferred to Mountain View, Calif., to join Google's law department; others lost their jobs.)