John Benson dot com

New Job!
Excellent news on the career front! A few weeks ago I began working for a large law firm in Kansas City as a litigation support consultant. It’s a rather vague title and a difficult position to summarize. I will be working full time as an expert in electronic discovery and the various challenges presented by electronically stored information. I’ll be working directly with clients to help them take proactive steps to prepare for litigation and working internally to educate attorneys on e-discovery issues as they relate to current litigation projects.
Unlike associates, I am exempt from any billable hour quotas or expectations which will allow me to focus my efforts, take part in a wide variety of cases and continue other endeavors which I hold dear. I hope to return to my position teaching law and ethics at Colorado Tech and will be putting a good deal of effort to help grow the KCMBA Technology and Computer Law Committee. Things are pretty exciting around here right now and I’m really looking forward to the next few months.
New Designs!
Over the past few months I completed and published two websites which I haven’t had a chance to add to my design portfolio. In May the Enchanted Forrest Condominiums approached me to revamp their web presence as they completed construction on their new buildings outside St. Louis. I am very pleased with how the project turned out and certainly wish Kim and Claire good luck with their new endeavor.
I also had the opportunity to build a site for the law practice of my old trial advocacy partner, Heath Stuart. He’s a great guy and busting his tail to make it as a young solo practitioner in the Kansas City area. If you have any issue from traffic tickets to estate planning, you should give him a call.
I’ll be collaborating with my cousin on a new project for my father’s range management business soon. I’m looking forward to collaborating with someone for the first time and think that by taking advantage of each of our strengths that we can produce something with some real pop, as they say.
Finally there will be some big changes with this website as well. I’ll be producing a good deal of content relating to e-discovery, technology and law and want to make some changes. Primarily I’m concerned with the RSS capabilities of my current CMS and Joomla’s development cycle has been less than impressive since I first chose it. I’ve done some poking around and have settled on ModX as my CMS of the future. I’ve been looking for a system which doesn’t assume too much, but is more flexible than Wordpress.
New Speaking Engagements!
At the end of October I had the opportunity to speak at Pumpcon in Philadelphia and had a great time. I’m working on additional material to supplement the slides which I presented then and look forward to demystifying the e-discovery process at a Con near you. At this point I’ll certainly be in attendance of LayerOne and DEFCON and hope to add a couple new locations as well as some exciting CLE classes around Missouri.
New Content!
As I talked about above, I’ll be writing a good deal of material on e-discovery and other legal issues presented by electronic evidence. I’m going to stay away from the standard fare of intellectual property issues and strike a balance between writing that appeals solely to attorneys or information technology professionals.
Get excited.