Even Last Year's ABA TECHSHOW Yields Great Sites

I tried to attend the 2009 ABA TECHSHOW virtually, since I could not be in Chicago on April 2-4, but I can tell from the bloggers and Twitterers who just got back that virtual attendance is not the same as being there. Over and over, I keep hearing how great it was for people who had “met” virtually to finally meet face-to-face, like beloved international pen pals laying joyful eyes on one another after years of steady correspondence. I am pea-green with envy (the same color as my blog background). To constructively handle my jealousy, I “stalk” the ABA TECHSHOW hourly on Google for updated information.

Each year the ABA TECHSHOW posts the sites from its “hot” session “Top 60 Sites in 60 Minutes”. The 2009 session has not been posted (as of the last hour), but I decided to check out the 2008 list to see what I missed last year (pre-blog). I highly recommend reviewing the sites yourself, but picked Practical Paralegalism’s Top 10 ABA TECHSHOW Sites from 2008 (so that I can do the second annual Top 10 when 2009 is posted.)

Practical Paralegalism’s Top 10 sites for paralegals from the 2008 ABA TECHSHOW list are:

1. ABA Journal (a great way to keep up with current legal events)
2. elaws (U.S. Department of Labor info regarding federal employment laws for workers and small businesses)
3. Justia Federal District Court Filings & Dockets
4. Public Library of Law (a great place to start free legal research)
5. ABA Site-tation (ABA Legal Technology Resource Center blog)
6. Common Scold (Legal Technology News blog)
7. BuyerZone (Business vendor source)
8. Zabasearch (Free telephone/address look-up)
9. Complete Web 2.0 Directory (Explore new and exciting sites)
10. Picnik (Free photo editing)

Check out the “60 Sites in 60 Minutes Hall-of-Fame” as well for more great links. (If you really have some time on your hands, the hot site lists go back to 2004.)