Category: Landscape Architecture Lessons from a Landscape Architect: De facto vs. De jur TASA ID: 334 If you are driving down a steep hillside on a narrow serpentine road, to the intersection of the nearest major road, you are on the site of one of my most difficult analysis. A freshwater reservoir had slowly evolved over a period of time into a semi-formal campsite with primitive and semi-developed camps, served by a road that was originally designed to accommodate service vehicles used to inspect and maintain pumps and valves at the hilltop reservoir. With silent assent from government officials and without formal designation of land use changes, the intensity of use of the site slowly increased. A geometric analysis of the turning radii of this road, along with an inspection of pavement and widths, determined the designs speed of this road to be 15 miles per hour while speed limit signs posted indicated 35 miles per hour. Read more
Category: Landscape Architecture Lessons from a Landscape Architect: Design and Plan for People TASA ID: 334 If you have ever driven out of a quiet residential neighborhood and found the five lanes of high-speed traffic sucking you into a vortex that will not let you go west, but instead, you are forced to go north, you may be a victim of large land mass zoning. Without regard to historical significance, indigenous architecture or landscape architecture, disregarding the normal behavioral patterns of human users’ government forces have created huge vast tracts of similar patterns. Despite current interest in new urbanism, mixed uses and pockets of parks and integrated mass transit for people moving, we are still creating mega blocks of solid homogeneity without significant integration of services and amenities. Read more
Category: Legal Technology Small Firm, Big Technology TASA ID: When you think of a small firm, what words come to mind? Compact, frugal and budget could be some examples. When you compare large and medium firms to small firms, one would assume the smaller firm is constantly trying to catch up to the larger firm. This statement may have been true ten years ago, but not today. When you step outside the box, you will find that smaller firms are steps ahead of the larger ones. Read more
Category: Legal Technology Online Jury Verdicts and Settlements Made Easy TASA ID: Do you know what your case is worth? Does opposing counsel know? In the beginning stages of a legal suit, your answer is often "No." Plaintiff's counsel creates the value of a case when preparing the complaint. Thereafter, defense counsel completes a review of the materials and evaluates the claim based on the information and documentation initially provided. Read more
Category: Legal Technology The Paperless Law Firm: How Paralegals Can Take Advantage of New Organizational Tools TASA ID: Over the past couple of years, there has been a surge of law firms going paperless. The idea of a "paperless law firm" describes an electronically organized law office. Presently, clients are looking for law offices to abandon paper files and embrace electronically stored information. Read more