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IMAGINE YOU’RE ON ‘FRESH AIR’

Law blogs have come to be known as “blawgs,” so maybe it’s time for a catchy new name for law firms that do podcasting. Lawcasting, perhaps?

Folks at San Francisco’s Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe don’t particularly care what it’s called. They’re just excited to have released their first-ever podcast last week.

Podcasts, for the uninitiated, are recorded audio discussions that can be downloaded from, for instance, a Web site. Then they can be played on portable music players, such as Apple’s iPod � hence the name “podcast.”

Orrick’s first podcast consisted of a discussion by two of Orrick’s Silicon Valley attorneys about National Federation of the Blind v. Target, a discrimination case currently before a federal trial court in Northern California. The case asks the question of whether online businesses should conform to the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. In September, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel declined to dismiss the suit, sending a strong message that the ADA could apply to an online business.

Orrick partner Mark Howitson, an employment attorney, was one of the voices taped in January, in a conference room at the firm’s Menlo Park office.

“It’s a different medium,” Howitson said. “As an attorney you’re used to writing articles. We went into it pretending we were on [the National Public Radio show] ‘Fresh Air.’“

Orrick’s not the first law firm in the country to make use of podcasts. Several have used them as recruiting tools, to give prospective associates a better sense of the firm.

Boston’s Goulston & Storrs has recorded some to answer typical questions such as, “How does work get allocated?” and “Could I get stuck doing work for only one partner?”

Orrick may be at the forefront locally. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Morrison & Foerster; Cooley Godward Kronish; and Fenwick & West do not podcast, according to spokespeople for those firms.

The Orrick podcast became available March 12 on the firm’s Web site � on the employment law page � as well as on the Santa Clara University School of Law’s TechLaw Forum site. Orrick helps fund the SCU site, which features articles and discussions about technology law. And SCU taped and packaged the Target case discussion for the firm.

The podcast is “an interesting venue to present a real service for our clients, where there isn’t an invoice attached,” said Orrick intellectual property marketing manager Deirdre Shipstead, who first pitched the idea of podcasts at the firm last fall.

Shipstead noted that the firm’s first podcast has been broken up into segments, so listeners can pick and choose which ones they want instead of listening to the whole thing.

� Jessie Seyfer

JUST FASHIONABLY LATE?

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton may be arriving late to the China party, but firm leaders are optimistic that they’ll quickly stake a claim.

“It’s a giant legal market and we’re getting in the middle of it,” said Chairman Guy Halgren, who announced last week that the firm had opened a Shanghai office as expected.

Sheppard is aiming to carve out a niche working on investment matters and dispute resolution as well as a distressed-assets practice. The firm also hopes to establish a link between Century City and Shanghai.

“We represent almost every major film studio in the country, and studios are making major investments in China,” Halgren said.

The firm will ideally work on intellectual property issues related to distribution in Asia, particularly China, he said.

Leading the efforts will be former Coudert Brothers Chairman David Huebner, now a Sheppard partner.

Sheppard’s interest in China has already been an important aspect of attracting key laterals such as partner Edward Tillinghast III, also a former Coudert attorney, who will be working with funds that invest in distressed assets in China.

“Some laterals you can’t attract unless you have an office there since that is so much of their business plan,” Halgren said.

Since the firm received its China license, Halgren has been hearing from a lot of interested attorneys within the firm � such as an associate who approached him the other day to let the chairman know about his Mandarin skills.

For now, the firm is focused on getting the office set up and convincing clients its lawyers are fully equipped to work in China.

“We’re going to establish ourselves and show we have the best product,” Halgren said. “Let the best person win.”

� Kellie Schmitt