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Those following the John Edwards saga already know the former democratic vice presidential nominee has a tough legal fight ahead. But John Edwards lawyer's opening statement might just be the strategy needed to keep the former senator from a conviction.

Alison Van Laningham, Edwards' attorney, took to the offensive immediately. But not in a way most would expect. Rather than expound on Edwards' innocence, she instead shifted the blame to Andrew Young (Edwards' former aide) and his wife Cheri.

It's a gamble for sure, but why is it also brilliant?

A lawsuit accuses Westlaw and LexisNexis of "unabashed" copyright infringement in selling access to legal documents without permission from the authors -- namely, attorneys from coast to coast.

Two attorneys filed the suit in Manhattan federal court against Reed Elsevier Inc., which owns LexisNexis, and West Publishing Corporation, which owns Westlaw, The Wall Street Journal reports. West is a division of Thomson Reuters.

The legal-database companies "engaged in wholesale unlawful copying of attorneys' copyrighted work, bundled those works into searchable databases, and sold access to those works ... for huge profits," the lawsuit states.

In a fit of curiosity, legendary Brooklyn federal judge Jack Weinstein hopped in a minivan last week, and, armed with an entourage, took a trip to the property at the center of a $1,000,000 lawsuit.

Known for presiding over some of the largest mass tort cases in history, and conducting proceedings in a slightly informal style, Judge Weinstein told litigants that he likes "to get a feel for a case and see what it's really about."

Should this be encouraged?

Have a favorite local court? Practice exclusively in a specialty court? FindLaw has just made tracking new caselaw a lot easier.

FindLaw's new RSS caselaw feeds provide the solo or small firm lawyer with targeted, practice-specific links to new cases in over 80 courts around the country. If you want to see only Ninth Circuit cases, or only cases from the California Supreme Court -- we've got the feed for you.

So what's big this year at LegalTech 2011? Cloud and mobile. FindLaw president Karl Florida was in the thick of the legal technology event talking about FirmSite Premium and cloud computing.

"We're seeing a lot of interest in cloud computing, we're seeing mobile become part of the legal technology landscape for real, and we're seeing a lot of interest in social media. So law firms are wrestling with how social media affects their practice and also their marketing," Florida said. Videos of his insights are available on YouTube.

Can toothpaste cause you to test positive for alcohol?

Anthony Galluccio, a former Massachusetts state senator, tested positive for alcohol three days after being sentenced to six months of home confinement for leaving the scene of an accident. The judge revoked Galluccio's probation for violating a no-alcohol provision of his sentence. Galluccio says that the only explanation he can think of is that toothpaste was the culprit.

That's because the toothpaste he was using contained sorbitol, an artificial sweetener used in toothpaste that contains sugar alcohol. So did the court buy that argument?

Law libraries may be going the way of the dinosaur, but what about law librarians? A recent article in the ABA Journal raises the question of how you define a librarian or knowledge officer and whether it is time for the meaning of librarian to evolve.

Traditionally a librarian is somebody who oversees a library. So, the article asks, if there is no need for a library, why would you need a law librarian? Because the amount of information is expanding so rapidly, says Google's General Counsel Kent Walker. Law librarians have the information, after all. Who else is going to be better at conducting legal research than them? As the ABA Journal piece put it, "If you have someone who is really good at finding the right information, why would a firm need, or even want, to draw a line between where that information came from?"

For solo and boutique firm attorneys looking for an edge in their discovery practice, anything that can save time and energy is worth considering.  For law practices seeking to increase productivity and profitability, software solutions are often worth considering.

Liquid Litigation Management, Inc. offers a unique set of software that contains discovery and case management tools in one product. This allows legal teams to prepare and participate in litigation in the most efficient way possible. 

San Antonio, Texas based Liquid Litigation Management, Inc. recently released Liquid Lit Manager Version 5.1.  The program includes streamlined tools that will both give users more control over the speed and efficiency of their review and ensure more organized litigation.