Check out my video review of the Stabile Pro iPad stand over at my other blog, Legal iPad. All in all I really like this stand, but it’s definitely not intended to be a portable stand. Rather, it’s a very solid, but attractive, stand that allows you to elevate your iPad and use it in one location, wether it’s your office or home. It retails for $99.99 and you can buy it here.
(The kind folks at Thought Out Company provided me with a free copy of this stand so that I could review it on this blog).
The following is a special edition article that I wrote for the Daily Record about LegalTech 2012 entitled "LegalTech 2012: Legal innovation through technology."
A pdf of the article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.
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LegalTech 2012: Legal innovation through technology
It’s that time of year again--a time of year smack dab in the middle of winter when thousands of legal and IT professionals descend upon the Hilton hotel in Manhattan to learn all about the latest legal technologies and innovations at LegalTech.
If you’re not familiar with this conference, which was held last week, it’s a legal technology conference sponsored every year by American Lawyer Media. The conference generally draws attendees from large law firms, ranging from attorneys to IT staff, although firms of all sizes are represented. It boasts multiple educational tracks, focusing on a variety of legal technology issues, including eDiscovery, knowledge management, records management, project management, risk management, mobile devices and computing, and cloud computing.
In keeping with the trends from past years, there were an increasing number of new offerings in the form of legal mobile applications, ebooks and cloud computing platforms featured on the exhibit floor.
For example, Thomson Reuters and Lexis exhibited at LegalTech and each has ventured into the mobile apps arena. Both offer an assortment of iPad and iPhone apps, some free and some paid, which provide quick and easy access to a vast array of information ranging from legal news apps to substantive law databases and treatises.
Both companies have also recently entered the ebooks market and are rapidly increasing the number of titles available in this format. Thomson currently offers an assortment of ebook titles, available for viewing using their free ProView iPad app and Lexis has made substantial inroads toward digitizing their publications, with hundreds of titles available in ebook format.
Lexis also continued its expansion into the legal cloud computing market. Last year at LegalTech, Lexis introduced Firm Manager, a cloud computing law practice management platform, and this year debuted Lexis Practice Advisor, a Web-based practice resource for transactional practitioners. The goal of Practice Advisor is to help lawyers simplify routine transactions and increase efficiency by providing access to “topic-based overviews, practical guidance, forms and model documents, as well as ‘on point’ cases, codes and analytical materials.”
Other legal cloud computing vendors exhibited at LegalTech as well, including Firmex, a company that provides online virtual data rooms, and NetDocs, a company offering legal document management in the cloud. Although not exhibiting, representatives from a number of other leading legal practice management cloud computing platforms were also in attendance at LegalTech 2012, including the founders of Clio, Rocket Matter and MyCase.
In fact, cloud computing was front and center at LegalTech, with an entire track devoted to exploring the ethical, security and practical issues presented when lawyers use this technology in their law practice. This is because, as explained by Keynote speaker Don Tapscott on Day 2 of the conference, adopting and adapting to technological innovations like cloud computing is the key to surviving and thriving in this new technology-driven economy.
Tapscott’s Keynote was titled “Generations, Innovations & Practical Applications: What They Mean to Your Practice.” Tapscott offered a unique perspective on these issues, given his position as an Adjunct Professor of Management at the University of Toronto and his experience as a co-author of “Macrowikinomics and Wikinomics” and author of “Grown Up Digital.”
Tapscott explained that there are a number of “drivers of change” that will transform the work of the legal profession, including the technological revolution and Web 2.0, the economic revolution, the Net generation and the social revolution.
According to Tapscott, the technological revolution and Web 2.0 have fundamentally changed the structure of our business and personal lives, allowing instant access to the Internet and its vast array of knowledge. Because of the recent ubiquity of cloud computing and mobile devices, information can be obtained, and business can be conducted, from virtually anywhere at anytime.
The next driver of change, the economic revolution, is occurring in large part due to the proliferation of Web-enabled devices and Internet-based technologies, including cloud computing and social media. These new technologies have substantially reduced the transaction costs of doing business, making it more cost effective than ever to do business online with people from all over the world.
However, as Tapscott explained, in many ways, it is another driver of change — the social revolution— that is the force behind the rapid integration of these new technologies into our lives. Social media platforms offer new, innovative and highly effective models of citizen engagement.
Social media makes it easy to connect and share with people in ways never before envisioned. And it is the new economics of inexpensive collaboration that makes these platforms so effective when used selectively as a tool to achieve business goals.
Finally, Tapscott discussed the final piece of the puzzle: the Net generation. He explained that the Millennials are the final driving force behind this fundamental societal change. This new generation grew up around computers and the Internet. Incorporating new devices into their day-to-day lives is second nature to them. For that reason, the Millennials are perfectly poised to take advantage of all that these new technologies have to offer. And, that they do.
Their norms are derived from their online experience. According to Tapscott, they have grown accustomed to, and take for granted, the benefits derived from these tools, including freedom, customization, scrutiny, integrity, collaboration, entertainment, speed and innovation.
Because this generation grew up with these tools, they have come to expect the immediate gratification of online interaction. Rather than being passive recipients of information — ie. the television — they are used to actively participating and reaping the benefits of that collaboration. For this generation, the drivers of change are simply par for the course.
So, what does this mean for businesses? Well, according to Tapscott, these drivers of change are causing a large-scale business model disruption — and the legal field is not immune. The only way to acclimate to a disruption of this proportion is to create a business model innovation that adapts to, and takes advantage of, the changes wrought by the disruption.
Tapscott likened the current state of affairs to being stranded an oil rig platform that is engulfed in flames and located in the middle of the sea. This scenario is also referred to as “the burning platform,” and is a well known business lexicon highlighting the need for immediate and radical change when faced with unexpected and dire circumstances.
As Tapscott explained, when trapped on the burning platform, the obvious conclusion is that the costs of staying where you are are far greater than the costs of changing and adapting to the sudden change of circumstance. In other words, innovate or die.
This warning, while somewhat dramatic and cliché, is inescapable, and lawyers hoping to stay afloat in today’s ailing economy would be wise to heed it. These new technologies are here to stay. Learn about them, understand them and use them to your law firm’s benefit. To do anything less would be a short-sighted, and potentially fatal, mistake.
This week's Daily Record column is entitled "More iPad Apps for Lawyers."
A pdf of the article can be foundhere and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.
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More iPad Apps for Lawyers
IPad sales have exploded since this revolutionary device was released less than 2 years ago in April 2010. In the last quarter of 2011 alone, it is estimated that more than 13.5 million iPads were sold — a 166 percent increase from the same quarter one year ago — and a total of nearly 25 million iPads were sold in 2011.
This is one technology trend that lawyers are embracing, with tablets regularly making an appearance in law offices and courthouses across the country, and iPads are clearly leading the way. In fact, according to the ABA’s 2011 legal technology survey, the iPad is used by 89 percent of those lawyers who use a tablet device for work-related tasks and 15 percent of respondents used a tablet to conduct work while outside of their primary workplace. For firms with more than 500 attorneys, that number increased to 26 percent.
With more and more lawyers buying iPads, the legal field’s collective interest in iPad apps has increased dramatically and developers have been responding to this increased demand by creating apps tailored specifically for lawyers, with new ones coming out all the time.
Unfortunately, the iTunes app store does not yet have a specific category for legal apps, so it can sometimes be a challenge to locate apps created just for lawyers. To save you some time, in today’s article, I’ll describe a number of the more popular legal apps available
First, there are the apps that I wrote about in April 2011, including: 1) 3 trial presentation apps: the RLTC Evidence ($4.99), Exhibit A ($9.99) and TrialPad ($89.99); 2) an app that assists with jury selection, Jury Tracker ($4.99); and 3) 2 other useful legal apps including Lawstack (free), which includes, among others, the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence and certain state codes, including New York; and Fastcase (free), a legal research app that includes cases and statutes from all 50 states and the federal government. Since April, there have been a slew of new legal apps released, all of which are available in the iTunes app store.
First, New York lawyers can stay on top of their ethical obligations using the New York State Bar Association’s newly released “Mobile Ethics App for New York Lawyers” (free). CaseManager for iPad ($14.99), is another new app that operates as a mobile case manager for all of your law firm’s matters. ExhibitView ($29.99) is another new addition to the legal app family, and operates as a presentation aid for use during trials or depositions.
Another app intended to make trial preparation simpler is the Transcript Pad app ($49.99), from the makers or TrialPad. This app allows you to import multiple deposition transcripts onto your iPad so that you can review and mark up transcripts right on your iPad. Then there’s iJuror ($9.99), a jury selection app that aids lawyers in managing the voir dire process.Rulebook (free), is another app to consider. This app allows you to the download federal and state court rules specific to your jurisdiction and then makes them readily available and searchable on your iPad.
Finally, there’s the Wolfram Alpha Lawyer’s Professional Assistant app ($4.99). This app is a reference tool that pulls information useful to lawyers from Wolfram Alpha’s massive database. Using this app you can access a vast amount of data including definitions of legal terms, state-specific statute of limitation information, and investigative information, such as weather and company information. You can even perform calendar and financial calculations or utilize the blood alcohol calculator.
As you can can see, legal-specific iPad apps abound and more are sure to follow. These apps make iPads all the more useful in the 21st Century law office, allowing you the flexibility to access information relevant to your practice no matter where you are.
I was deeply honored when Richard Susskind, a leading legal futurist and technology author and someone whom I greatly admire and respect, agreed to write the foreward to my new book, "Cloud Computing for Lawyers." The foreward, in its entirety, follows.
You can learn more about this book and purchase it here. And, if you're interested in buying this book in ebook format, as many have told me they are, rest assured it will be available for purchase in that format in just a few months.
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HOW SHOULD LAWYERS RESPOND to the emergence of new technologies? This is a question that will regularly challenge the next generation of leaders in law firms. New systems, applications, and techniques will arrive in the market with disconcerting frequency and somehow they need to be identified, evaluated, and then exploited or rejected.
Law firms do not find it easy to monitor and assess the latest technologies. Their leaders are rarely interested in IT and tend to see it as a costly operational black box best passed along to someone with a screwdriver or to a partner who is a computer hobbyist with formidable credentials, perhaps in the self-assembly of mini-computers. Meanwhile, many legal technologists in firms insist on speaking about technology to their bosses in impenetrable technical jargon rather than English.
Linguistically, technically, and culturally, there is a gulf in most law firms between managing partners and IT directors (or, if you will, chief technology—or even information—officers). And so, when a new technology surfaces, there rarely is a well-established process by which its relevance and impact can be assessed. Senior lawyers are rarely plugged into the world of technology innovation, while technologists may not recognize the way in which an innovation might be harnessed by legal practitioners.The result is that law firms are often late in noticing and adopting beneficial technologies, decisions about what systems to use are determined by what other firms are doing, leaders feel out of touch, and technologists have disproportionate power in selecting systems.
It is into this disturbing void that Nicole Black is launching her much-needed book on cloud computing for lawyers. There can be no doubt that cloud computing is of immense significance for our economic and social lives. And yet, until now, it has been hard for lawyers to understand what it is all about, where it is going, what the risks and benefits might be, and how it could affect the practice of law. Technologists have been enthusing about the cloud for some time now, but this energy has rarely been channeled into focused business thinking in legal circles. Law firm leaders will have heard of the cloud, but may well have rejected it as the latest round of techno-speak.
What is needed is some way of accelerating lawyers’ understanding of a major new development. In relation to cloud computing, this book provides the way. Written by an individual who understands the law and technology, it is a punchy primer for lawyers who want to grasp the potential of cloud computing and do so quickly. The book clarifies the obscure, dispels misconceptions, and helps us see what life might be like when our information and software is not in held our laps but stored, out there, in a constellation of machines owned and run by others. The benefits of this set-up for lawyers and clients are compellingly explained, but so too are the risks.
Written in unpretentious and often light-hearted prose, and peppered with memorable anecdotes, Nicole Black succeeds in demystifying cloud computing. Vitally, in providing a source that is accessible to law firm leaders and their technologists, the book should help bridge that disturbing gulf between them.I wish the work every success.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at LegalTech New York. I've written a Daily Record article about my take on the conference, which will be published later this week. But in the meantime I offer you the following videos.
First, a video from LexisNexis wherein my fellow panelists (Steve Mann (moderator), John Barber, Steven Levy, and David Sorensen) and I discuss discuss key takeaways from our panel "Global Trends in Law and Technology –an Analysis and Roundtable Discussion."
And, later that day, Colin O'Keefe, of Lexblog, interviewed me about my newly released book "Cloud Computing for Lawyers" as part of Lexblog's coverage of LegalTech NY. That video can be found below. I promise I'm not quite as serious as I appear in the video. Someone remind me to smile next time!
Now that my new book "Cloud Computing for Lawyers" is published, I've decided to occasionally highlight legal cloud computing platforms on this blog. These posts will introduce relative newcomers to the legal cloud computing world or showcase significant new features added to the more "seasoned" platforms (many of which I discuss in my book).
Today's featured platform: ContractTailor, a relatively new addition to the legal cloud computing market.
ContractTailor provides document creation software based in the cloud, somewhat similar to the new feature rolled out by Rocket Matter, a legal practice management platform, a few weeks ago and discussed in this prior post. One major difference is that ContractTailor is a standalone product. So you don't have to buy into a full fledged law practice management suite if that's not what you're in the market for. And, obviously, it's a different product, so the interface and features differ.
A few weeks ago, one of the co-founders of ContractTailor, Chilwin Cheng, walked me through a demo of the platform. I found that it offers a simple, understandable interface, although, as is the case with any new software, if will likely take some time to familiarize yourself with its features.
Because ContractTailor is cloud-based, it runs on any type of computer operating system and you simply need an Internet connection in order to access it. Using ContractTailor, lawyers can create many different types of documents, including contracts, statutes and bylaws, and resolutions.
One very useful feature of this platform is that it permits secure sharing and collaboration with clients or other authorized users, which is a especially important, since collaboration oftentimes occurs when drafting documents. And, the system that many laweyrs still use is less than perfect and involves the oftentimes confusing process of sending various drafts of confidential documents back and forth via email (which is an inherently unsecure method of communication even though it has been given the ethical green light by various bar associations).
ContractTailor also offers a unique search funtion that allows users to locate specific clauses and then insert them into the document that you are in the process of creating. As of now, document tagging is not available, which is unfortunate since it would be a very useful tool in terms of labeling and later locating previously created documents and/or clauses used in prior documents. Hopefully tagging will be added in the future, since it's a flexible way to classify and organize information in a way that makes sense to the user.
All in all, it's in interesting product and worth looking into if you're in the market for a standalone SaaS-based document creation system.
ContractTailor offers a 30-day free trial and if you decide to sign up, the cost is $39 per user per month. You can learn more about ContractTailor here.
This week's Daily Record column is entitled "NY Bar Gives Guidance for Lawyers Seeking Clients Online."
A pdf of the article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.
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NY Bar Gives Guidance for Lawyers Seeking Clients Online
As of May 2011, more than 65 percent of adults in the United States participated on social media sites, according to the Pew 2011 Internet & American Life Survey. That’s a lot of people interacting and sharing online, and lawyers are beginning to take notice.
Understandably, as more people use social media, more lawyers are beginning to acknowledge the potential benefits of online interaction. However, as is the case with any type of interaction with potential clients, whether online or off, there are risks of unintentionally violating ethics rules regarding solicitation, advertising, inadvertently creating an attorney client relationship and more.
Fortunately, for New York lawyers seeking guidance on these issues, the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics addressed some of these concerns in Opinion 899 (12/21/11).
This opinion answered two questions: 1) Whether lawyers may answer legal questions in chat rooms or on other online social media sites; and 2) If so, whether lawyers may also offer their legal services in the course of answering questions?
When addressing the first question, the committee compared answering legal questions on the Internet to writing for publications on legal topics. The committee cited Rule 1.7(r) and advised that “a lawyer may write for publication on legal topics without affecting the right to accept employment, as long as the lawyer does not undertake to give individual advice.”
However, the committee also referenced the Comments to Rule 1.7(r) and cautioned that lawyers should refrain from misleading members of the public into thinking that “a general solution (is) applicable to all apparently similar individual problems, because slight changes in fact situations may require a material variance in the applicable advice.”
Finally, the committee turned to the issue of whether answering questions online constitutes advertising and concluded that in most cases it does not, as long as the communication’s “primary purpose is to educate and inform rather than to attract clients.”
Next, the committee considered the second question: whether lawyers answering questions online may simultaneously offer their legal services. At the outset, the committee noted that although Rule 7(a) prohibits lawyers from soliciting clients in chat rooms or on other social media sites, Rule 7.3(b) specifically excludes responses provided at the “specific request” of a prospective client.
However, the committee then explained that “a legal question posted by a member of the public on real-time interactive Internet or social media sites cannot be construed as a ‘specific request’ to retain the lawyer … (but) if a lawyer’s primary purpose in answering a question is not to encourage his own retention but rather is to educate the public by providing general answers to legal question, then Rule 7.3(a)(l) does not prohibit the lawyer’s responses.”
The committee then addressed the proper course of action to take when, during the course of an online interaction, a prospective client makes a specific request to retain legal services. The committee concluded that it is ethically permissible for a lawyer to respond to the request, but if the forum in which the request was made is public, the response must be made privately and “outside the site … so that persons who did not request the proposal cannot see it.”
In other words, when engaging in public online forums, lawyers should focus on providing general information that serves to educate the public and, if the interaction leads to a request for representation, the lawyer should follow up by requesting a means to engage in a private conversation, whether by phone, email or in person.
As a side note, the committee specifically states in its opinion that “the lawyer may respond (to a request to retain the lawyer) with a private written proposal outside the site” (emphasis added). Thus, presumably, responding to a request for representation via a private message at the social media site would be unacceptable. This makes no sense to me, since a private message at an online forum is no less private than an email or phone call, and is not visible to those who did not request information regarding legal services.
It unclear to me whether the committee reached this conclusion on purpose, whether it was an oversight, or whether it was due to a lack of understanding of the private messaging function available at many social media sites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Nevertheless, according to my reading of this opinion, responding to a request for representation via a private message at a social media site may not be ethically permissible and should be avoided absent additional clarification from the committee in a subsequent opinion.
If you're wondering how to stay relevant as a lawyer in the face of rapidly changing technologies, check out this 3-part series from 3 Geeks and a Law Blog
This week's Daily Record column is entitled "New York State Ethics Committee On Lawyers Using Groupon-type Services."
A pdf of the article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.
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New York State Ethics Committee On Lawyers Using Groupon-type Services
It’s been years since the economy was booming and although the recession is technically “over,” it sure doesn’t feel like it. Which is unfortunate for the legal profession since, when money is tight, the last thing people want to do is hire an attorney unless it’s absolutely necessary. For that reason, competition for those in the market for legal services can sometimes be fierce and many lawyers are seeking to market themselves as creatively as possible in an attempt to attract new clients.
Some are even turning to sites like Groupon, which are online platforms through which local businesses offer group discounts to potential customers. Through these sites, a business can offer customers the opportunity to purchase a service or product at a deeply discounted rate, so long as a minimum number of other patrons agree to purchase the service at that price. If the minimum number of people sign up, then the proceeds from the sale are split between the website and the business offering the discount.
In a previous column, I questioned the wisdom of lawyers using Groupon since, in my opinion, selling legal services alongside spa treatments or car washes does little to enhance the dignity of our profession. Even so, lawyers continue to seek to advertise their services using sites like Groupon and for that reason, in Opinion 897 (12/13/11), the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics recently grappled with the ethical issues presented when lawyers do so.
One interesting issue considered by the Committee was whether the money retained by Groupon constitutes an improper payment for a referral in violation of Rule 7.2(a). This rule provides, in relevant part, that “(a) lawyer shall not compensate or give anything of value to a person or organization to recommend or obtain employment by a client, or as a reward for having made a recommendation resulting in employment by a client.”
The Committee sought guidance from Comment 1 to Rule 7.2(a) which provides that it is permissible for a lawyer to pay for advertising and communications as permitted by the Rules. Accordingly, the Committee concluded that as long as the fees paid to websites like Groupon were reasonable, such fees were ethically permissible, since they are more akin to an advertising fee rather than a referral fee. This is because the website takes no “action to refer a potential client to a particular lawyer – instead it...carrie(s) a particular lawyer’s advertising message to interested consumers and...charge(s) a fee for that service.”
The Committee then examined a number of other ethical quandaries presented by advertising via Groupon, including the need to refund excessive attorney’s fees, compliance with advertising regulations and the risks of forming an improper or premature attorney/client relationship and concluded:“A lawyer may properly market legal services on ‘deal of the day’ or ‘group coupon’ website, provided that the advertisement is not false, deceptive or misleading, and that the advertisement clearly discloses that a lawyer-client relationship will not be created until after the lawyer has checked for conflicts and determined whether the lawyer is competent to perform a service appropriate to the client. If the offered service cannot be performed due to conflicts or competence reasons, the lawyer must give the coupon buyer a full refund. The website advertisement must comply with all of the Rules governing attorney advertising, and if the advertisement is targeted, it must also comply with Rule 7.3 regarding solicitation.”
Thus, although marketing your services via websites like Groupon may not be the most dignified way to advertise your services, doing so isn’t necessarily unethical.
As more businesses move their IT systems into the cloud, lawyers need to ask if cloud computing is right for their firm. Cloud Computing for Lawyers features a discussion of cloud computing fundamentals, an overview of legal cloud computing products, and step-by-step instructions for implementing cloud computing in your practice--including practical tips for securing your data. This book will help you:
Understand the current state of cloud computing technology
Weigh the risks and benefits of cloud computing
Evaluate legal cloud computing applications like law practice management, billing, time tracking, e-mail, and e-discovery software
Consider the ethical considerations of storing client data in the cloud
Maintain security and privacy for your online data
It will start shipping at the end of this month.
I'll be speaking on at panel at LegalTech New York on January 30th and will have copies with me, so you'll be able to take a look if you happen to attend LegalTech this year.
There will also be a "Meet the Author" session at ABA TechShow on March 30th at 1:45 and copies of the book will be available for purchase at TechShow.
I'm thrilled that this book is now available and am so thankful to all of my friends and colleagues, both online and off, for their support as I wrote this book. Couldn't have done it without you!
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and GigaOM Pro Analyst. She co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise, and is currently writing a book about cloud computing for lawyers that will be published by the ABA in late 2011. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.
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