Category Archives: Law Office Management

ABA Journal’s 2014 Top Ranked Law Blogs.

27 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Blogs, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Legal Technology

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Comparing The Top-Ranked Law Blogs To The ABA Blawg 100, by Robert Ambrogi, LawSites Blog

http://tinyurl.com/m72nj4p

Includes the ABA Journal’s Law Blawg Hall of Fame, which are no longer listed in its top 100 legal blawgs. Don’t worry. They’re not gone. They’ve just moved to a higher plane. -CCE

Jayne Navarre has an interesting post at her Virtual Marketing Officer blog in which she looks at how the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 list lines up with the top-ranked law blogs generally. Her post underscores the vagaries in “top” lists of any kind. But her primary premise seems to be that the Blawg 100 list omits several outstanding law blogs, and that those blogs’ high rankings using other metrics validates her position that they should be included in the Blawg 100.

Sadly though, this year I note that a number of really outstanding law blogs, which had made prior years top 100, are now off the list. Out with the old, in with the new. Got me thinking. Have these once power house blogs been diminished? To cure my intellectual curiosity, I set off to find out: Does the Blawg 100 stack up to the top ranked law blogs?

To make her comparison, Jayne turns to the BlogRank list of the top 50 law blogs. This list ranks blogs using more than 20 different factors, including RSS subscribers; incoming links; Compete, Alexa and Technorati ranking; and popularity on social networking sites. . . .

Dennis Kennedy Announces His 2014 Blawggies!

27 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Legal Blogs

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Drum Roll, please…The 2014 Blawggies are Announced, by Jim Calloway, Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog

http://www.lawpracticetipsblog.com/2014/12/2014-blawggies.html

Dennis Kennedy, legal technology guru and former technology columnist for the ABA Journal, has announced his Blawggie Awards for 2014 — the 11th edition of the honor. In much the same way that prestigious art exhibits often have a single judge, Dennis relies on his own expertise alone for the Blawggies. The competition is limited to blawgs Dennis actually reads and podcasts he has on his listening schedule.

Some readers may already suspect I am reminded to mention the Blawggies this year because, yes, I am a winner!! Dennis picked Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog as Best Law Practice Management Blog for 2014. I’d like to thank the Academy, well, OK, I’d like to thank Dennis. I also want to make special note of his choice for Best New Blawg of the year, John Simek’s Your IT Consultant. If you were not aware of that new blawg, check it out.

Our Digital Edge podcast was also a runner up for Best Legal Podcast. it was a particular honor because we were second behind The Kennedy-Mighell Report. For those of you who still haven’t made listening to podcasts a habit, let me point out an earlier edition of their podcast titled “The Fundamentals of Podcasts: Listening and Subscribing.” Podcasts can be a great way to make productive use of time driving or exercising, but only if you know how to subscribe to them so they are ready when you have a spare moment. This podcast tells you how to set everything up to listen and learn.

It’s Almost The First Of The Year – Time For Strategic Planning Meeting!

25 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Disaster Preparedness, Law Office Management, Management, Marketing, Office Procedures, Technology, Time Management

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Leadership for Lawyers: How to Conduct a Strategic Planning Meeting, by Larry Port, Legal Productivity

http://tinyurl.com/o8txfh9

Your office may run perfectly – or so you think. We all have room for improvement. The same goes for the workplace. You may feel that, if there are any changes needed, you’ll make that decision. Fair enough. But is it possible that someone else at your office may have an idea you haven’t considered? You won’t know unless you ask. -CCE

What I’m about to ask you to do may initially seem like madness for an hourly lawyer, but I argue that it’s madness NOT to do it.

For the love of all that’s holy, PLEASE spend a day or two (even three) a year, locked in a room away from your office with the most important people in your law firm.

You need a yearly planning meeting like the one I describe below, and without it you’re spinning in circles without a navigation system. You won’t know where you’re going or when you’ve arrived.

Your annual planning meeting is the most critical conversation you will have all year for your law firm. When well-executed, you will emerge with a blueprint for the future direction of your firm. You’ll lay out concrete initiatives and goals that will, in turn, drive quarterly plans, which trickle down to your everyday to-do list.

Thought of in reverse, every activity you engage in on a daily basis should support a quarterly objective which is derived from the road map you draw in your annual offsite meeting. . . .

What Is A “Zero Knowledge” Cloud And Why You Should Care.

24 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Clouds, Confidentiality, Document Retention, Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Malpractice, Technology, Technology

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‘Zero Knowledge’ Encrypted Cloud Service Sees Business Boom, by Steven Nelson, U.S. News & World Report

http://tinyurl.com/q9fj4l8

If you have been paying attention, you have heard about “zero knowledge” clouds — and you are thinking about changing from Drop Box or other clouds that can access the information you put in them. If you know nothing about zero knowledge clouds, don’t stop here. Read more about them, and decide whether it is time for your firm to change to a more secure cloud platform. -CCE

File-storing service SpiderOak says it’s experiencing a business boom – rapidly nearing one million users and doubling its site metrics in six months – amid a constant trickle of news reports revealing Internet surveillance by the government.

Files stored using SpiderOak are encrypted and their contents unknown – and unknowable – to the company. Sharing such files will soon be ‘zero knowledge,’ too, as the company prepares to roll out Crypton, its open source app-building framework, which will be publicly available within the next couple months.

‘Essentially what we did was we inverted the Internet,’ says CEO Ethan Oberman. ‘We created a world where the server is actually a big dumb machine. It only sees encrypted data blocks.’

A free version of the file-hosting service offers 2 GB of storage in exchange for a name, email address, username and password.

‘We don’t really fact check that information,’ Oberman says.

The company does know the IP address of users, he says, but IP-masking browsers – such as Tor – can conceal that information as well, making it possible to store files without disclosing any identifying information.

If the government were to come to the company with a valid legal demand for data, Oberman says, ‘We could turn over the data, but it is literally in encrypted data blocks and not decryptable by us. The only way it’s decryptable is if you have the key, which we do not maintain.’ . . .

All Types Of 2015 Internet Privacy Protection Sites.

14 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Clouds, Computer Forensics, Computer Virus, Cybersecurity, Document Retention, Health Law, HIPAA, Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Technology, Technology

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Guide To Privacy Resources 2015, by Marcus P. Zillman, LLRX.com

http://www.llrx.com/features/privacyresources2015.htm

The Guide to Privacy Resources 2015 is a comprehensive listing of privacy resources currently available on the Internet. These include associations, indexes, search engines as well as individual websites and sources that supply the latest technology and information about privacy and how it relates to you and the Internet. These resources and sources will help you to discover the many pathways available to you through the Internet to find the latest privacy sources and sites. . . .

Do You Ever CC Clients On Emails? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t.

28 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Confidentiality, Emails, Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Malpractice, Office Procedures, Rules of Professional Responsibility

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Don’t CC Clients on Emails, by Sam Glover, Lawyerist Blog

http://tinyurl.com/mrm3ucz

This one seems like a no-brainer, but I suspect many lawyers and paralegals alike have not realized the danger in this practice. -CCE

As a general rule, you should not CC your clients on emails.

First, because it gives every other recipient a chance to communicate directly with your client. In fact, it looks like an invitation to do so. Opposing counsel should know better, but even they might use Reply All accidentally, accidentally-on-purpose, or maybe even intending — albeit misguidedly — to be helpful.

In the case of recipients who are not bound by the rules of professional responsibility, you can hardly be surprised if they take the inclusion of your client’s email address as an invitation to keep them in the conversation or communicate with them directly. And remember that the recipient might forward your email, giving anyone not already included the chance to do so. This could be harmless if your email is related to a friendly business transaction. It could also be disastrous.

Don’t forget that clients can make mistakes, too. Even if you BCC your client to avoid the above problems, it could be your client who uses Reply All.

Second, part of your job is to counsel your client, which is difficult to do without providing at least a sentence or two of summary or context or explanation. If all you do is CC your client on every email (or forward every email with little more than “FYI”), you are missing a chance to do your job.

The better practice is usually to wait until the end of the discussion (or at least a decision point), so you can bring your client up to speed with a brief summary, some context, your analysis, the options you need to discuss, etc. Go ahead and include all the back-and-forth if you like, but don’t just hand it off. It is safe to assume given the fact of your representation that your client wants you to use your legal acumen to help them understand what is going on.

So don’t CC your client. There are certainly some exceptions to this ‘rule,’ or times when it doesn’t really matter. But at a minimum you should think twice before adding your client to the CC or BCC field of an email you are about to send.

Witness Preparation = Successful Depositions.

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Advertising, Depositions, Discovery, Law Office Management, Marketing, Objections, Video Deposition

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Witness Preparation: Best Practices for a Successful Deposition, by Jim Calloway, Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog

http://tinyurl.com/osk8vkn

Jim Calloway is a superhero masquerading as the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program. While that being the Director of the OBA’s Management Assistant Program may be Jim’s “day job,” Jim does far more than that. This link will tell you more about his other activities, and I have no idea where he finds the time: http://jimcalloway.typepad.com/about.html.

But the best thing about Jim is that we found him first! And we know a good thing when we see it. We may share him with the rest of you from time to time, but luckily Jim has – so far – always called Oklahoma his home. -CCE

Witness Preparation: Best Practices for a Successful Deposition is a really nice article by Tulsa, Oklahoma attorney Robert P. Redemann. I strongly recommend it to any lawyer, even those who might not be involved with depositions. Sometimes it is good to understand best practices in our profession. Share the link with a young lawyer you know.

I would add one other item. Have you looked at the materials you routinely give the client to prepare for a deposition recently? Surely all law firms have progressed past the point of giving clients photocopied deposition tips in favor of custom-prepared materials with the law firm’s name, address and logo. But if you have not reviewed your handouts lately, take a look. A good proofing and freshening is often in order. Use some different sized fonts, headers, text boxes or insert a small graphic or two to increase readability. You never know who may be looking at this document sometime as a representation of your firm’s work product. Make this a professional document you are proud to have carry your firm’s name.

Social Media in Law Office Marketing.

21 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by in Law Firm Web Sites, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Marketing, Technology, Using Social Media

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SEO and Social Media, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog

http://tinyurl.com/nuj2nwp

SEO has always been about one thing: publishing high-quality content that gets seen and linked to by as many people as possible. For years, the foundation of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has been dominated by two key elements: content and links.

Today’s online society has given rise to a third: social media. It wasn’t around during the dawn of the SEO industry, but it’s difficult to ignore the power and importance that social media has in any marketing strategy.

Social Media does more than allow companies to keep up with their competition. It allows them to reach out and interact with their customers while building their brand, creating a sense of community, and driving traffic to their website.

When it comes to social media, however, there is no ‘one size fits all’ rule. . . .

CaseManager iPad App – Fast, Inexpensive, And Highly Recommended.

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Apple, Apps, Calendar/Docketing, iPad, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Technology

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CaseManager — Manage Your Legal Practice On Your iPhone or iPad, by Jeff Richardson, iPhone J.D.

 http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2014/09/sponsor-casemanager.html

iPads are very popular, but not all attorneys use them to their full potential. This app sounds great. I would like to hear more from those who use it. -CCE

[C]aseManager was created by New York civil rights attorney John Upton as a fast and inexpensive solution for sole practitioners and attorneys with small firms who want to use mobile devices to manage their law practice. The app debuted in 2011, and I discussed the app in August of 2012 and January of 2014. However, the app recently received a major update to version 6.0, when the interface was revised to match the aesthetic of iOS 7 and the upcoming iOS 8. CaseManager is a beautifully designed and useful app for keeping track of all of the key information in your cases:  events, tasks, contacts, time and expenses, plus the facts, notes and documents unique to each case. 

The basic organization of the app is the same as before, but now in version 6, when you launch the app the first thing you see is the calendar entries for today, so you know immediately what is ahead of you. . . .

[Emphasis added.]

 

Valuable Life Lessons in 12 Speeches.

11 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Management

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12 Greatest Speeches That Will Teach You The Most Valuable Life Lessons, by Jospeh Hindy, @Lifehack

http://tinyurl.com/nfpdb6d

The most valuable thing an experience person has is their experience. People make mistakes, learn from them, and adapt their life around them to become better people. Those people would then tell tales to others to help teach those lessons so that others would not have to make the same mistakes. People still tell these stories today but in a slightly different format. These days people use speeches to express their experiences. Here are some valuable life lessons you can learn from some of the greatest speeches. . . .

Legal Edge From JD Supra – App Of The Week.

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by in Apple, Apps, Cell Phones, iPad, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Technology

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App of the Week: Legal Edge- Stay Up-To-Date on Legal Developments, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog

This app is free – at least for now. -CCE

http://tinyurl.com/k9smzoh

In the business of law, it’s extremely important to stay on top of the latest legal developments. With Legal Edge from JD Supra, you can do just that.

Legal Edge allows you to stay up to date with the latest legal news via updates, alerts, and case filings from the nation’s legal professionals. With this app, you’ll receive a daily stream of articles, briefs, and newsletters on all areas of law. It also includes court filings from notable and newsworthy cases.

Through Legal Edge, you can browse information by industry, profession or topic of interest. You can also contact lawyers or firms directly through your iPhone with any comments or questions you may have about certain documents (this feature is only available for documents posted by JD Supra premium account holders).

The app was recently updated to include informative videos and a save/view functionality which allows you to view documents offline. All that is required is an app that supports PDF viewing on your devices (such as iBooks).

You can rest easy knowing that the content on Legal Edge is provided by Amlaw 100 law firms, attorneys, and other legal organizations and professionals.

Currently, Legal Edge is free and is only available for iOS devices. You can download it today from the Apple App Store.

Survey Says! iPhone Top Choice Among Attorneys.

24 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Android Phones, Blackberry Phones, Cell Phones, Cybersecurity, iPad, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Mac, Passwords, Tablets, Technology, Technology

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2014 ABA Tech Survey Shows More Attorneys Using iPhones, But iPad Use Holds Steady, by Jeff Richardson, iPhone J.D. Blog

http://tinyurl.com/pxmhlf6

Every year, the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center conducts a survey to gauge the use of legal technology by attorneys in the United States.  My thoughts on the prior reports are located here:  2013, 2012, 2011, 2010.  No survey is perfect, but the ABA tries hard to ensure that its survey has statistical significance, and every year this is one of the best sources of information on how attorneys use technology.  Yesterday, the ABA released Volume VI of the report titled Mobile Lawyers.  This year’s report once again shows that a large number of attorneys are using iPhones and iPads.

Six out of ten attorneys now use an iPhone

In both 2014 and 2013, the survey revealed that 91% of attorneys use a smartphone.  (In 2012 the number was 89% and in 2011 the number was 88%.)  For the past four years, there has been a slight correlation between law firm size and smartphone use.  In 2014, for example, 86% of solo attorneys reported using a smartphone, 89% in firms of 2 to 9 attorneys, 95% in firms of 10 to 49 attorneys, and for firms with 100 or more attorneys, 96% use a smartphone.  As a whole, though, it is fair to say that the survey consistently shows around nine out of every ten attorneys use a smartphone. . . .

Refresh App Gives You Insight About Business Contacts Or Potential Clients.

23 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by in Apps, Cell Phones, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Using Social Media

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App of the Week: Refresh L- Insight on People You Meet, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog

http://tinyurl.com/lyuutah

Have you ever had a meeting with a client or acquaintance who you know nothing about? If you want to make a favorable impression, use Refresh, the app that crawls through publicly available information to give you a snapshot of your contacts.

Featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company, Tech Crunch and more, Refresh searches the web and social networks to deliver insights about the people you connect with. It delivers information including mutual interests, shared passions, and important moments. It’s an incredible tool when it comes to business and social networking. . . .

Twitter’s New Policy On Removing Images of The Deceased.

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Using Social Media

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Twitter To Remove Images Of Deceased Upon Request, by Tim Hornyak, PC World

http://tinyurl.com/kgcvbuz

If LinkedIn has a similar policy, please let me know. -CCE

Twitter said late Tuesday it will remove images and videos of deceased people upon the request of family members, but it put conditions on the policy.

The microblogging service made the announcement a week after the daughter of the late comedian Robin Williams said she would quit Twitter after receiving gruesome images of him from online trolls.

The move also comes as Twitter tried to delete images and video depicting the death of U.S. photojournalist James Foley, who was apparently killed by the militant group Islamic State, better known as ISIS.

‘In order to respect the wishes of loved ones, Twitter will remove imagery of deceased individuals in certain circumstances,’ Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler said in a message about the update to its policies.

‘When reviewing such media removal requests, Twitter considers public interest factors such as the newsworthiness of the content and may not be able to honor every request. . . . ‘

Is It Legal Malpractice If You Are Technologically Incompetent?

01 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Malpractice, Social Media, Technology, Technology, Technology, Trial Tips and Techniques, Using Social Media

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Luddite Lawyers Are Ethical Violations Waiting To Happen, by Megan Zavieh, Lawyerist Blog

http://tinyurl.com/lo9fs45

Do you have a smart phone but only know how to make a telephone call? Do you think of a cloud as some white puffy thing in the sky that looks like a ducky? Do you have a computer on your desk but never turn it on? Is the password to your computer actually “password”? Then this article is for you. Technology is here, and it is not going away. Resistance if futile. -CCE

Technological incompetence used to be merely a competitive disadvantage. Now, it is a potential ethics violation — or even legal malpractice.

During my first year of law school, we were not allowed to do computerized research. Instead, we were taught to use the leather-bound reporters, Shepherds, and treatises. It was only during our second year that we were deemed worthy to use Westlaw and Lexis to ‘confirm’ our book findings. (Of course, I doubt any of us ventured into the stacks again.)

This approach reflected the general attitude of the legal profession in the mid-to-late 1990s. Technology was grudgingly accepted, but not required. Lawyers at big firms had online research accounts and solos went to the law library to use the books. Nobody thought anything was wrong with this, although online research did give big firms a competitive edge.

In 2013, email is ubiquitous, and just about every lawyer has some form of electronic research available on his laptop, tablet, or phone. And everyone — lawyers included — uses Google to find everything else. In law practice, that includes research on witnesses, opponents, judges, and anything else not found in a Fastcase, Westlaw, or Lexis database. Technology is an unavoidable part of practicing law.

Ethics rules follow practice

The ethics rulemakers have taken note of this evolution, and the rules have grown to require technological competence.

Lawyers cannot ignore technology

The ABA made it abundantly clear that lawyers must keep up with technology when it amended comment 8 to Model Rule 1.1 on competence. Comment 8 now reads:

To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject.

(Emphasis added.)

As Nicole Black, Director of Business Development at MyCase, puts it, ‘I think it’s pretty clear that […] lawyers can no longer turn a blind eye to technological advancements and their effect on the practice of law.’ . . .

Jeff Richardson’s Latest for iPhones and Ipads.

26 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by in Android Phones, Apple, Apps, Cell Phones, iPad, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Tablets, Technology, Time Management

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In the news, by Jeff Richardson, iPhone J.D. Blog

http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2014/07/apple-2014-q3.html

In this version of Jeff Richardson’s “In the news,” we get a wide variety of iPhone and iPad candy. There is  information about Apple’s new partnership with IBM, smart watches, making the most of Wi-Fi on an iPhone or iPad, apps to track billable hours and listen to podcasts, the iStick – a new thumb drive with a USB and Lightning connector to transfer files between a computer and an iPad without having to use a cloud (a bit pricey for my budget), and Touch ID – a fingerprint scanner for iPhone 5s.

For those of you already in football mode, Jeff shows us how to subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket from any iOS device for $200.

If you are a hiker, you may be interested in a new device that lets you connect to another iPhone or Android device up to 50 miles away even when there is no cell or Wi-Fi Service. You may think of other ways this kind of thing would be handy.  It is nice when traveling abroad because it will allow you to remain in touch with another GoTenna user without having to pay the high international cell roaming fees.

If you think that no one hears you, send an email to Apple COE Tim Cook. Someone sent an email about the quality of the music played while waiting on hold with Apple. Mr. Cook read the email, and fixed it. -CCE

How To Recognize A Bad Client The Easy Way.

20 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Management, Marketing

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The Bad Clients You Don’t Take Will Be the Best Money You Never Made, by Randall Ryder, Lawyerist Blog

http://lawyerist.com/75147/bad-clients/

Wouldn’t it be nice if every client who called to retain a lawyer were completely honest and forthright during that first meeting or telephone call? Have you ever been burned by believing your client and finding out the hard way that the facts are not what you’ve been told? You ask all the right questions. They seem to give all the right answers. Perhaps you do not see had bad it was until you have spent time and money on the case. Here are some warning signs that will help you avoid bad clients. -CCE

Not all clients are created equal. Great clients will enhance your legal skills, your reputation, and your bottom line. Bad clients can make you question your skills, destroy your reputation, and result in the worst money you have ever made.

Once you have a better understanding of how bad clients can wreck your practice, you will get better at spotting them and avoiding them. And it will be the best money you never made. . . .

10 Top Law-Related TED Videos.

20 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Bad Legal Writing, Computer Forensics, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Computer Virus, Copyright, Criminal Law, Cybersecurity, Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Discovery, Encryption, Evidence, Finance and Banking Law, Fraud, Google, Government, Identity Theft, Intellectual Property, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Legalese, Malware, Management, Patent Law, PC Computers, Plain Language, Presentations, Search Engines, Trial Tips and Techniques, Trojans, Video

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Top 10 Legal TED Talks, by Tim Baran, Legal Productivity Blog

http://www.legalproductivity.com/op-ed/top-10-legal-ted-talks/

Have you heard of TED? It began in 1984 as a conference and now covers a wide range of topics in more than 100 languages.  Think of it as a massive brain trust that shares great ideas and information.

Each of the law-related TED talks listed in this article are worthwhile on their own: (1) four ways to fix a broken legal system; (2) eliminate legalese by using plain English; (3) how to beat a patent troll; (4) how the Internet will change government; (5) laws that choke creativity; (6) copyright law; (7) why eyewitnesses get it wrong; (8) how technology could make crime worse; (9) the Internet and anonymity online; and (10) how great leaders inspire. -CCE

Is It Time For A “Bring Your Own Device” Policy for Your Law Office?

01 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Android Phones, Apple, Blackberry Phones, Cell Phones, Clouds, Computer Forensics, Confidentiality, Cybersecurity, Disaster Preparedness, Emails, Encryption, Google, Intellectual Property, iPad, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Mac, Management, Marketing, Passwords, PC Computers, Social Media, Supervising Support Staff, Tablets, Technology, Using Social Media

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Mobile Device Security for Lawyers: How Solos and Small Firms can Ethically Allow Bring Your Own Device, by Will Harrelson, Curo Legal Blog (with hat tip to Jeff Richardson, iPhone J.D. Blog!)

http://tinyurl.com/lrrnp7g

The Start of Bring Your Own Device Policies

It really is the iPhone’s fault. Yes, Apple is to blame for designing the most desirable piece of technology of the last decade. So desirable, in fact, that employees of all stripes requested (and, often, begged) their IT departments to toss the increasingly-‘corporate’ Blackberry out the window and allow the use of their personal iPhones for corporate emails and calls. As a result, we have been living in the age of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ where employees use a single personal mobile phone (or tablet) for both their personal email, texting, and social media while also using it for work email, word processing, and other enterprise applications.

Before the Bring Your Own Device era, a company’s greatest out-of-office security concern was an employee who left a briefcase in a taxi. Today, the worry is an employee misplacing a device the size of wallet containing almost limitless amounts of data that criminals or hackers would easily and quickly exploit if given the chance. Clearly, there is an obvious financial motivation for all businesses to protect their own or customer’s sensitive data.

However, lawyers face particular ethical consequences if they fail to take reasonable efforts to either investigate the technologies that they implement or protect their client’s confidential information. . . .

Why Defendant Former Employers Do Not Get Mirror-Image of Plaintiff’s Personal Computer.

30 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Computer Forensics, Discovery, E-Discovery, Emails, Employment Law, Evidence, Forensic Evidence, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Requests for Production, Technology

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Proportionality Prevents Mirror Imaging of Family Computers, by Joshua Gilliland, Bow Tie Law’s Blog

http://tinyurl.com/osvw3ws

The Defendants in employment litigation sought the mirror imaging of the Plaintiff’s personal computers three years after she had been terminated. The crux of the eDiscovery centered on the former employee forwarding emails from her supervisors email to her personal account, which the Defendants claimed were lost by the Plaintiff. The Court denied the motion to compel. Downs v. Va. Health Sys., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74415, 6-11 (W.D. Va. June 2, 2014).

Judge James G. Welsh did a very nice job of summarizing ESI relevant to a case,proportionality, and the rules for conducting forensic analysis on an opposing party’s hard drive. The Court held the following:

(1) Nothing in the record suggests any willful failure, fault or bad faith by the plaintiff on her discovery obligations that would justify the requested computer forensics examination;

(2) The “mirror-imaging” of the plaintiff’s family computers three years after her termination raises significant issues of confidentiality and privacy;

(3) There was no duty on the part of the plaintiff to preserve her family computers as evidence;

(4) Principles of proportionality direct that the requested discovery is not sufficiently important to warrant the potential burden or expense in this case; and

(5) On the current record that the defendants have failed to justify a broad, and frankly drastic, forensic computer examination of the plaintiff’s two family computers.

Downs, at *9-10, referencing McCurdy Group v. Am. Biomedical Group, Inc., 9 Fed. Appx. 822, 831 (10th Cir. 2001); see also Basile Baumann Prost Cole & Assocs., Inc. v. BBP & Assocs. LLC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51264, *8 (D. Md. Apr. 9, 2013). . . .

 

Habits of Exceptionally Happy People.

29 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Management

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Ten Habits from Exceptionally Happy People, Inc.com

http://tinyurl.com/qyqp4u2

Good advice, regardless of who you are or what you do. -CCE

What Makes Attorney Fee’s “Unconscionable”?

19 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Advertising, Law Office Management, Management, Marketing

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Unconscionable, by Craig Ball, Ball In Your Court Blog

http://ballinyourcourt.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/unconscionable/

 Before I limited my law practice to work for courts and counsel, I was a trial lawyer working for contingent fees.  For 20+ years, I never charged for an hour of my time.  I funded the cases, did the work and was paid only if I recovered damages for my clients.  I charged 40% plus expenses; so, for the most part my clients and I shared roughly equally in the outcome.  At the time, I thought my fees proper, and they were certainly ‘industry standard.’  Everyone charged about the same, not from collusion but from plagiarism: lawyers didn’t draft fee agreements; we copied them.

But as I look back, I see that I could have charged less—even much less—and still have made a good living.  The only limits on what I could charge were the marketplace, where I saw no competition on price, and ethical precepts dictating a lawyer may not charge an illegal or unconscionable fee. . . .

Your Management Style – Do You Fix It Or Improve It? It’s Hard To Do Both.

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Management, Supervising Support Staff

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5 Reasons Managers Are Addicted To “Fixing” – And How To Recover, by Jill Geisler, Poynter.com

http://tinyurl.com/pn83wov

I admit it. I’m a recovering fixer. Show me a piece of copy and my fingers get itchy. I crave contact with a keyboard, with a gnawing urge to tweak someone’s writing a little — or maybe a lot.

Then I remind myself of the pledge I took years ago:

‘Remember, Jill. Sit on your hands. Coach, don’t fix.’

I adopted that mantra so I’d have to learn how to help my newsroom staff improve their work without taking away their ownership, responsibility, and too often, their pride in performance. I’d have to learn to teach, not just do. Moreover, I’d need to teach in a way that would help people discover ideas and approaches for themselves, instead of just following instructions from the boss.

Now, in my leadership workshops, when I identify myself as a recovering fixer, I ask if there are any others like me in the room.

I’m never alone.

Many of the aspiring great bosses my workshops say they, too, are hooked on fixing. They’re also the ones who play catch-up on all their other daily duties as they hand-polish the work of others. But it’s become their way of life. Maybe it’s your reality, too.

Why are managers so addicted to fixing? I’ve identified top five reasons: . . . .

 

An Unique Response to Texas Center for Legal Ethics’ Opinion 642.

31 Saturday May 2014

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The Depths T’Which Ethics Reaches: or, The Origin of Opinion 642, by Greg Lambert, Three Geeks And A Blog

http://tinyurl.com/oz7hb6v

 Inspired by recent events.

Dewey said to Cheatum, ‘What ever shall we do?
Our book is getting slimmer and I haven’t got a clue
How to run a proper business, you know, one that still makes money?
We can’t just raise our rates… stop your laughing. It’s not funny!’

‘Silly Dewey, how you worry!’ chortled Cheatum through his drink.
‘There’s no problem we can’t tackle with a good and proper think.
We’re the brightest and the smartest and by far the best paid too,
We’ll just put our heads together and we’ll figure what to do.’ . . .

Mailtracker – A New iPhone App That Monitors Email Analytics.

28 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Apple, Apps, Cell Phones, Emails, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Link Rot

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App of the Week: Mailtracker – See When and Where Your Email Was Read, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog

http://tinyurl.com/nwctft6

‘Hey, did you get that email that I sent you?’

With the Mailtracker app from Answerbook, you’ll never have to utter those words again.

It’s not a mail client in itself, but rather a tracking application for monitoring email analytics. It integrates with the native mail app on your iPhone, so it doesn’t impede your current email sending/receiving workflow. The service is compatible with emails sent via Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com and iCloud (with additional account support on the way!).

The Mailtracker app will deliver real-time analytics directly to your phone. You’ll be notified as soon as an email had been read. You can also see how many times the email was viewed, how much time was spent reading the email, the recipient’s location information, and device details. . . .