Technology - LawBizBlog

ScanSnap drawing winner

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:45:58 -0500

As noted in an earlier post, we offered a brand new Fujitsu portable scanner, model ScanSnap S300. Our drawing has now closed. I'm pleased to say we had a large number of participants ... Shows the interest in Fujitsu, and well it should. I use the scanner myself. I'm impressed not only with the speed of its operation, but its very small footprint. It sits inconspicuously on my desk, ready for immediate use.

Our lucky winner is Jon Lewis of the law firm of Lewis, Feldman, Lehane & McAtee, LLC, of Birmingham, AL ... Congratulations, Jon!

Fujitsu Scanner Raffle -- FREE

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:25:41 -0500

We have the great opportunity to offer, free, a Fujitsu Scanner, S300 portable unit. Read for more details.

Outsourcing legal and legal support services

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:21:21 -0500

A new, ABA Formal Opinion 8-451 (August 5th), states the obvious: A lawyer may, but is responsible for, outsource work to lawyers and non-lawyers support appropriate to represent the interests of his/her client.

]]>Parameters of this approval include i) the fee for the outsourced work must be reasonable; ii) the client should be informed of such relationship and may need to consent; iii) the lawyer not assist in the unauthorized practice of law; and iv) the lawyer must supervise the outsourced work to assure that competency and quality assurance standards are met.

Delegation is a main principle to profitability and success. By delegating, you can get the best person to do the work, and you can thereby liberate some of your time to seek new, high interest, profitable work.

But, be careful! As my wife says, "... there's no free lunch." When you get more clients, more business, you need more people to work on the matters ... And now, one day, you wake up and find that you have the increased revenue you want, and too little time to do it without more delegation, more people ... and you become more of a manager of legal services and less of a hands-on lawyer. Some can handle this role change, some can't ... Of course, that's the only way to become a larger law firm and earn more money ... and have more responsibility.

Many sole practitioners utter the refrain that they want to be "lone rangers." They want to be on their own, without the political "games" of an organization. Yet, interestingly, almost to a person, I hear them say they want more revenue. How can you have more revenue without growth? How can you have growth without having an organization? How can you have an organization without a role change, i.e., becoming a manager of legal services? It would be nice to be able to move toward a specific goal, a certain "line in the sand," and stay right there all the time. But, ours is not a static world. Oh, what a wonderful web we weave when we start having "wants."

Competitive intelligence

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:00:41 -0500

Does more information become competitive intelligence ... or just more information? Read Ann Lee Gibson at her new blog only if you want to learn more, i.e., become more intelligent! Congratulations to Ann for a great start.

Virtual world is real

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:05:59 -0500

Is the Virtual World real? It apparently has more “life” than I knew. Even the IRS is involved, recently ruling that independent, virtual contractors were, in reality, part-time employees for whom taxes needed to be withheld. What impact will this have on other “virtual businesses?” What impact will this ruling have on “virtual assistants?” Are they independent contractors, our assumption in the past, or employees, though at a distance?

Social networking for lawyers

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:55:10 -0500

Nick Abrahams, chair of the Sydney, Australia office of Deacons, which has branches throughout Asia, discussed his firm's survey on technology.

The survey, among other things, that "If you’re over 35, you're the loneliest person on Facebook because only 1 percent of workers in that age group are using it." But a quarter of the survey respondents between 25 and 34 are on Facebook, he said, and for workers under 25, the rate of Facebook users increases to a third of those surveyed.

It is still early to discern how the new social networking sites will impact a law firm's marketing efforts; but, it is clear that these sites will not disappear in the new future ... and lawyers will need to pay attention to whether these sites can benefit them in the market places in which they operate.

I don't think we've yet got to the "tipping point" in this phenomenon, though we seem to be getting closer and closer with ever greater speed.

Be kind to techies -- or else!

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:19:42 -0500

Checks and balances is a key element of American democracy ... and our economic success. Apparently, San Francisco forgot the lesson ... and has paid dearly. This is a lesson that all law firms must learn ... and practice ... or possibly be guilty of multiple counts of malpractice and violation of Rules of Professional Conduct! It is a basic rule of the Business of Law.]]>
Finally, for reasons known only to him, he agreed to release the code ... but only to one person, the Mayor of the City of San Francisco. He was on his way out of town to get married ... but made a detour to the jail to speak with the administrator...and now become a witness to a crime! He was given the code ... and San Francisco can breathe a deep sigh of relief, but not until paying many thousands of dollars to outside consultants in their attempt to break the code and get into their very own system. They couldn't do it!

Be kind to your I.T. folks, listen to their complaints and suggestions, treat them well ... and make sure that there is a redundancy of knowledge in your firm. Just as you should have multiple back up systems, so, too, should you have multiple people knowledgeable and capable of running your systems. You should not be made a hostage to your own technology.

Years ago, I was delivering a presentation about client relations ... During a morning break, one of the participants came up to me and apologized for having to miss the balance of the day. He had just received a phone call that his secretary, whom he had terminated the day before, was in the office and working in the computer system. He left. Talking with him the following day, I learned that she had crashed his entire system and he was having to rebuild from the ground up .... Another lesson surrounding technology: When terminating someone's employment, immediately (not tomorrow or the next day!) change passwords and every other mechanism by which the employee might gain access to your sensitive technology -- and escort them out the door right away. Don't allow them to wander the hallways of your office to say good-bye to compatriots. They can do that on their own time, after hours. You have too much to lose by ignoring employment terrorism that occurs daily. This in not invasive of privacy; this is protection of your commercial rights.

This is truly scary -- Laptops can be searched!

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:59 -0500

A recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal allows the government to search, seize and download laptop data at border crossings despite the Fourth Amendment! Suspicion is not required. A warrant is not required. No protection is available for the individual under this ruling. Just one more liberty removed.

The panel suggested that travelers should no longer expect privacy!

Rules of professional conduct require confidentiality. ABA Model Rule 6.1 provides that "A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to the representation of a client ... " Thus, a lawyer should not have any information on the laptop about clients' matters. If that's true, then can a lawyer travel across the border with a laptop? Arguably not!

Chevron GC gripes against technology vendors

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:19:43 -0500

Charles A. James, General Counsel of Chevron, Inc., started his keynote remarks at Los Angeles’ LegalTech program by describing his employer, Chevron, as one of the Corporate 5!

I’m familiar with Corporate 100, AmLaw 100, etc. When he spoke about the top 5 companies in the world, he jarred my sensitivities. He’s right, of course, and I intellectually knew that. But, he connected with the emotional side of my understanding. He got my attention.

Of course, that’s the function of the keynote presenter – get the attention of the audience. He did that by describing his gripes against technology vendors ... and challenges to law firms.

Discussing how much work Chevron "farms out" (outsources) to outside counsel, and the metric (see below) he uses to increase the size of his internal legal department, Mr. James was more candid than I recall from other GC.

]]> Grossly overselling the practicality, functionality and integrate-ability of the vendor’s product. He suggested that sellers’ claims are grossly wrong – “complete enterprise solution;” “seamless integration with existing system;” “... we have an update that addresses your question in a couple of months.”

Gripe #2:
“Why can’t we all get along?” As Rodney King said, Mr. James asks why is it that there isn’t more integration of technology systems?

Gripe #3:
Vendors are not realistic about the conversion and implementation costs, as well as the learning curve. And, in Chevron, technology training has to get in line with compliance, governance, HR, etc. training .... The world doesn’t stop for technology vendors to provide sufficient training to the Chevron folks ...

He noted that the challenge that we (our country) has is to return to the mentality that “it is not a crime to be in business.” Compliance today, he said, is the biggest challenge for business. And that compliance effort does not contribute to the development of products or profits. If left to their own devices, he is convinced that business will produce jobs, good level of living and quality of life.

He concluded with his view that the key for the future of the legal profession will be the development of information technology to manage knowledge.

He also gave us several statistics that, in my mind, were significant to consider when thinking about the future of law firms:

Chevron revenues exceed $200 billion;
Chevron has 2000 subsidiaries; 110,000 employees; 400 lawyers.
His budget is $350 million which includes $190 million spent with outside attorneys.
Chevron is sued 2.5 times each day with $10 billion damages exposure every day.
When he arrived at Chevron, the company had 700 outside law firms and today they have 500, though 35 law firms handle 70% of their outside legal work.

Chevron tracks the number of hours billed by outside counsel. When a lawyer bills Chevron 1200 hours, Chevron will take that work inside ... either by making an offer to the attorney to join Chevron and leave the outside law firm, or hiring another lawyer for their staff ...

While Mr. James disclaims any real knowledge of technology, he certainly understands what he needs from technology to do his job better. Those who serve customers/clients must listen to the needs/messages from those who sign the check if they want to survive and thrive in the future.

Thank you Mr. James for being so direct and so candid.

LA Tech Show

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:08:10 -0500

New York (ALM) is the “big one.” Chicago is home of the ABA. And now, Los Angeles is doing its part in promoting the effective use of technology. The partnership between ALM and Los Angeles County Bar Association continues to grow. Countervailing trends are at work and I’m eager to see the results with the show opening tomorrow.

Travel has become more difficult and expensive, thus localizing efforts to bring the information to the people rather than the people to the information makes sense. Of course, you do remember we’re talking about technology? There should be no reason to travel to see the benefits of technology ... just do it over the web!

On the other hand, as the phone company realized years ago, “high tech, high touch” is required to be truly effective today. Thus, personal contact and demonstration and networking are essential even in a techie world. Hence, the LA show.

There has been so much consolidation in the legal services world of technology, however, that it will be interesting to see just how many vendors are left standing to show in Los Angeles.

Stay tuned for more. As I said, I’m eager to see the 2008 version of the show.

Blogging and TechnoLawyer

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:25:20 -0500

TechnoLawyer has created a new video with their 30,000th eBook download. A fun job ... Can you see our LawBiz Blog in the list of blogs? You have to look fast as the video speeds up at the end! But, we're there.

Will lawyers adopt to social networking?

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:21:43 -0500

There’s LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo Pulse, and .... other social networks.

In a recent article by Larry Bodine, he cited the following statistics: Less than 8% surveyed believe social networking is important to them; 91% said they spend less than 25% of their online time working with social networks. Still, these are rather large numbers to be devoting to a networking process that is relatively new ... As with other technologies, we will have to wait and see if this takes hold.
]]>Kevin O’Keefe, say it has produced business. Others, like Tom Mighell, are more skeptical that this will benefit lawyers.

For myself, I’m not sure. But, I think it’s important to be registered ... just in case. Reminds me of the sinner who went to hear a clergyman weekly. When asked why, he said he just wanted to cover all his bases.

It’s still tough to beat the traditional methods of networking. Going to meetings, calling people or sending hand-written notes or sending an email message. While “social networking” may become more popular yet, it will not replace traditional methods of staying in touch with friends and reaching out to others.

Law Technology Trends

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:50:11 -0500

Walter Mossberg, “personal technology” writer for the Wall Street Journal, highlighted a very interesting trend to a small group of consultants where I was a participant. He was looking at the industry from the 50,000 foot level when he said that it is the consumer that is driving change in technology. The winners in the race will be those who can develop new techniques to make the consumer’s life easier – without being a tech wizard.

]]>iPhone, for example.

Instruments and the technology driving these instruments is getting lighter and smaller and faster. In fact, when the new iPhone, with greater speed and range, arrives sometime in the next 6 months, I will be a buyer.

He said that the limiting factor for us will be broadband. Compared to Europe and Asia, even our newest broadband access is truly slower than molasses ... I suspect that change in this area will take a national commitment that is not yet apparent.

Mossberg is astute and funny. I, for one, will pay more attention to his columns in the future.

LawBiz Tips published

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:18:45 -0500

LawBiz Tips edition for the current week has been released. Using financial benchmarks to analyze your firm's performance has been the focus of several financial software companies. Is this of interest to you?

Also, I talk about dreaming having a poor ROI. What does this mean for the law firm? Read LawBiz Tips and learn my approach.

ABA Tech Show pictures

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:44:20 -0500

Lisa Solomon is tech savvy. I learn from her everytime we're together.

We went to dinner while in Chicago this last week and she took several photographs. Here are two of them that are listed on Facebook, one of the sprouting social networks. One should be careful what is placed on internet boards such as this ... This entry is sedate and trustworthy. This is the first posting for me, excluding our Airstream trailer, of photos on this site.

ABA Tech Show interview

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:17:30 -0500

During the ABA TechShow, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Rob of LexBlog.

Tech Show - Product evaluation

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:45:07 -0500

At the ABA Show, one product continues to impress me ... Fujitsu's ScanSnap. Model 501 is their desktop model ... it's outstanding. See my podcast with Derek Flower of Fujitsu, talking about the features and benefits of this unit.

At the Tech Show, I got to see the new portable unit, Model #300 .... It is sooooo small, light and priced right. Consider buying this if scanning on the road can benefit your practice.

ABA Tech Show

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:30:16 -0500

At its annual technology fest in Chicago, the American Bar Association's Law Practice Management Section once again displays its value to the legal profession ... and its skill in throwing a great party.

As I walked around the Hilton Hotel, the new site for the show, I met many folks that I have known for years and some new folks as well. It is in these walks around the Exhibit Hall and elsewhere at the Show that I learn the most.

Once again, though, I realize that it's the people you know that is the most important element to growing one's business ... Competence is presumed. But, when people like and trust you, they will help you grow, they will teach you valuable lessons about your business ... and they make it a joy to attend conferences such as this. And, if they happen to be customers/clients of you, they will be loyal to you, you will be able to count on their business for your firm's growth.

Challenges facing sole practitioners

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:57:41 -0500

In a recent poll, the following areas were said to be the greatest concern for sole and small firm practitioners:

Income fluctuations
Managing the practice
Lack of help in the practice
Isolation from other attorneys
Inability to discuss ideas with colleagues

]]>
It's very difficult to make plans when your income fluctuates; this becomes more challenging for a younger attorney who is also growing a new family. We oftentimes are not taught the need or skill set to save money and to live within our means. And it becomes too tempting to live according to the higher end of our income stream, hoping that that sum will not decrease. But, the vagaries of the marketplace, the highs and lows of cash flow, are there and need to be handled. It is a challenge.

Managing the practice like a business, again, was never taught to us in school, unless you include the School of Hard Knocks. And, most of us want to do that which we love, practicing law, not managing the practice of law. But, if you focus on the business side of the practice, then you just might be able to do both, practice and run the business. When you manage the practice, you will know when it is economically wise to engage help. This brings us into the realm of delegation and "outsourcing," both important principles of running a business.

The first 4 items on this list are economic and can, with the help of a coach, be addressed successfully. However, isolation and lack of camaraderie with other attorneys is more psychological than economic and can, perhaps, be the largest single challenge facing sole practitioners. Networking is an essential ingredient to preserve one's sanity. While there are many jokes about this subject, it should be taken seriously. Isolation can be debilitating. There are many advantages to being solo ... this clearly is not one of them. By nature, we are a gregarious species and need to be well-connected with others. Again, coaching is one approach to dealing with this issue because a coach can and should be your ally, your colleague. This is the one person that should be there whenever you are feeling challenged. The investment in the coaching process is a small price to pay for the connectivity you will achieve.

Facebook for Lawyers

edpoll@lawbiz.com (Ed) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:49:43 -0500

In a recent post, Joshua Fruchter cited several statistics that I find quite interesting:

There are more than 63 million active users on Facebook
Since 2007, Facebook grows by more than 250,000 per year
There's been an average 3% growth annually since 2007
Active users double every 6 months

Interestingly, according to Joshua and Facebook, more than half of its users are college graduates and professionals. Sounds like a good demographic for lawyers!

One challenge, though, is how many of these professional and social networking entities can one participate in ... Consider, for example, LinkedIn, supposedly a primary business networking entity. And what about YouTube? One could spend an entire life in this new, virtual world ... and I'm not sure that would produce the best results. So, how does one choose?