I Heart Tech

Why a Lawyer Should Stick to Being a Lawyer and Not the I.T. Guy

So, my role in this world is to help lawyers use technology better. That's what I do and that's what I like to do. And I like it so much that I am often told by my peers that I'm not charging enough because I'm (supposedly) too good, I have too much experience and I might even be mucking up competitive rates (I dont think that's really true, but that's another conversation). Long of it is, I LOVE what I do and I think my rates are always very FAIR. And while I do occasionally poke fun at my brilliant clients and legal friends ...I am NOT mean, I'm just not a mean person. Except for right now as I'm writing this post. This is a mean post. And please don't hold it against me, I am human and I just cannot contain myself. I'm writing this post because I can't morally call up the attorney that sent me the note I will paste below.

Background:::She had emailed me some time ago, looking for some help so we went back and forth a few times until finally I said that it didn't sound like we would be able to work together because I simply couldn't lower my piddly rate below $100/hr (for remote /phone consulting). But I also said that didnt want to leave her in a lurch so I even included a list of OTHER legal technologists who I love and respect that she should certainly contact and hopefully get some help. So in response to that last email from me she sent me this...this is EXACTLY what she wrote...

At $100 an hour, you make FIVE TIMES AS MUCH as my associate. It is so costly that I wouldn't be able to afford to make the recommended changes in technology after paying to find out what they are. I'm happy for you that you can earn that much, but unfortunately, you are out of my price range. I'll have to make due with the handouts, my own research on line. I'm reading a college textbook on networking. Perhaps between all of it I can figure out a few things.  If those you recommend are as knowledgeable as you and cost a lot less, I'd like to contact them (at least until I start making the kind of income you do). Thank you for the offer.

I read that email and these were my thoughts:

• "Is your associate a cat?"
• "I"m not sure what YOU earn but maybe you should quit your day job."
• "Hope that college text book is online, because if it's not, it's already outdated."
• "Please, PLEASE call my BF, Debbie Foster, at Affinity Consulting"
• "You are very welcome and I hope I never hear from you again"

Well. Today, I heard from her again. She sent me another email and this is EXACTLY what she wrote:

Subject: Awful Trip..........[Her full name redacted from here]

I am sorry for reaching you rather too late due to the situation of things right now.My family and I had a trip visiting Manila Philippines,everything was going on fine until last night when we got attacked by some unknown gunmen. All our money,phones and credit cards was stolen away including some valuable items, It was a terrible experience but the good thing is they didn't hurt anyone or made away with our passports.

We have reported the incident to the local authorities and the consulate but their response was too casual, we were ask to come back in 2weeks time for investigations to be made proper,But the truth is we can't wait till then as we have just got our return flight booked and is leaving in few hours from now but presently having problems sorting out our bills here and also getting a cab down to the airport, Right now we're financially strapped due to the unexpected robbery attack, Wondering if you can helP us with a quick loan to sort our bills and get back home. All we need is ($1,650 USD), I promise to refund you in full as soon as I return hopefully tomorrow or next. write back now to let me know what you can do.

Thank You.

Seriously injured in an Accident?  Devastating medical malpractice injury?  Permanently disabling injury while at work? Family issues (divorce, paternity, custody, child support, etc.), Need to eliminate debt?
[Her full name and contact info (including her @yahoo email address redacted from here]

Needless to say, I am not sending her a PENNY  [to help pay for the I.T. support she will need to unhack her email].

 

Attention Attorneys Looking for Florida Coverage Attorneys

There's a new game in town when it comes to finding coverage attorneys in the Sunshine State. Court Covered is an online marketplace for attorneys looking for a coverage attorney and attorneys looking to be coverage attorneys - holy moly that's a lot of attorneys! I met with one of the owners of the company - Daniel Dawson and yes he's a lawyer! - a couple of weeks ago and liked him and his service so much that I thought I would share it with you. 

So here's how it works in a nutshell: you create an account/profile for either the hiring side (attorney looking for coverage) or the hireABLE side (attorney available to offer coverage) and then use the website to fill in the details (hiring attorney job details, coverage attorney profile details), then find "matches" where the hiring attorney can post a job and coverage attorneys can bid on the job. As the hiring attorney you set your own price and get to communicate directly with the coverage attorney once you have selected him or her. Currently, they are working the state of Florida, but of course have plans to expand into other states. For more details - and probably a much better explanation that I give, check out their website and give it a whirl!  

 

Wainwright for the People - Law School for Kids in the Form of a YA Novel

One of my favorite attorneys has embarked on a great project and I want you to know about it.

I meet a lot (A LOT) of lawyers, I have many favorites for many different reasons. Joel Rothman, aside from being a lawyer who appreciates technology and wants to see it being used to its fullest in the practice of law, is a favorite because he exudes THE LOVE OF LAW. And I love working with attorneys who love what they do (I know, hard to believe I meet some that don't). Well he's taken that passion to a very cool level in co-writing a young adult novel titled Wainwright for the People. It's written like a legal thriller for ages 10 and up that teaches basic civics, with a focus on our judicial system and is going to be accompanied by Student and Teacher Guides (how cool is that?). 

About the book: Gideon Wainwright is suspended from school when he takes the fall for pulling a fire alarm while breaking up a bully attack.  Forced to intern for his Assistant District Attorney mother while under suspension, Gideon is thrust into the middle of an investigation that seems just a little too close to his troubles at school.  Gideon’s adventure propels him through the justice system as he, and readers, learn the fundamental concepts behind the Bill of Rights and our legal system. 

The ABA has agreed to publish the story of Wainwright for the People upon completion but they need our help with funding and marketing. I'm going to pledge a little and maybe you can too :) Learn more about the book, the project and donate to his Kickstarter project here.

Internet Explorer 9 – Stop Asking to “Speed up browsing by disabling add-ons”

I use Firefox, Chrome and IE interchangeably all day long; I don't care for one over the other and just randomly open them. So none of their little annoying habits (like asking me if I want to make one the default browser) bother me too much in totality. But yesterday I decided that I just I couldn't stand even one more occasional click in IE about speeding up my browsing. It regularly displays a bar at the bottom of the window prompting one to "Speed up browsing by disabling add-ons"

Why don't you just make it speedy, Microsoft!? Seriously, who is the hater at Microsoft that programmed that "feature"!? Here's how to make it go away (these instructions are for Window 7, other versions might vary a little bit):

1. Click on the Start button or the Windows button to show the Windows search bar:

1. Enter/type "gpedit.msc" in the search bar hit and hit enter
2. In the next window expand "Computer Configuration" then expand "Administrative Templates"
3. Click on Internet Explorer, you will find the "Disable add on performance notifications" option on the right side.
4. Double-click to open it, chose Disable, click OK and close the Policy Editor window.
5. Good-bye.

If you dare, you may want to poke around in there and enable or disable other options. For example, I "enabled" the option to "Turn on menu bar by default", it's annoying to have to press the ALT key to show it, I just want to see it all the time – I'm needy like that. Anyway, be careful in there but take control!

 

 

Tips for Picking Out the Right Laptop

Helping attorneys pick out a laptop can be like helping a friend pick out an attorney. There are so many personal, professional, technical and compatibility variables to consider, that each time I do either it's a nail-biting experience. Well, yesterday I was copied on an email by my kickass training partner and fellow consultant, Allan Mackenzie, to an attorney whose Firm we are working with. They are a 6 person Firm about to upgrade all their PC's and one of the partners also wants a new laptop. She wants to know where to go after having done a little research ona Dell. I liked Allan's [probing] response so much that I thought it was worth sharing...

My usual response to this sort of inquiry is that "laptops are like cars: a lot of possibilities and a very personal thing!" I'd hate to recommend an SUV when you're really a Prius kind of person. But let's walk through it and decide what's best for you.

Usually after minimum "tech" needs, we wind up with weight and keyboard/screen size concerns and considerations.

For instance, I have "fat fingers" and "near middle aged eye-sight," as well as a "questionable back." Therefore weight vs. screen size were biggies in my consideration list.

If the laptop never leaves your desk, then really big screen and heavy weight will get you, actually, price reductions.

So, while I can glean a great deal from your interest in the Dell XPS 13 ultra book in its specifications, I'd like to take a step back and try to understand what you really want from the laptop.

1. Do you intend to "go places" with this device, or will it always stay at home?
2. What type of things do you intend to "do" with this machine. Just email and web surfing?
3. Do you have a lot of media? use iTunes? Will you be loading many pictures and movies of a personal nature?
4. Are you hoping it will be used as an "adjunct" machine in the office, or only as a "I'm away from from the office."
5. Are you hoping to use this for, say SKYPE video calls to other parties?
6. Are you replacing an existing laptop? If so what did you do with it, love about it, hate about it?. What model is it?
7. Do you have a printer at home? What is the make and model?
8. What special programs outside of Office will you be using? For example, do you need to run database queries in Summation?
9. Will you be able to / want to add a second monitor?

These are great questions that get you thinking about just what needs need meeting. I got a MacBook Pro about a year ago and really wish I had thought twice about the CD Drive which I NEVER EVER use - having left that out would have netted me a MacBook Air at half the bulk (ha, and twice the price.)

Be sure to chime in with any tips or ideas you have because of your laptop-buying experiences.

 

Document Naming Conventions - Guidelines for Law Firms

I was recently approached by the general counsel office of a university to help them come up with some guidelines for naming documents - a pretty common issue. I love getting calls like this because it means somebody had the sense to realize something was wrong and they want to do something about it. The GC was frustrated with the state of the document names she was seeing in search results. She couldn't tell what was what and felt she was spending too much time opening or previewing documents to identify the right one.

In this particular case, the group has a formal document management system (thank the legal technology gods - for those of you still using Windows Explorer to manage thousands of client matter files, you have an entirely different problem). They use FileSite - a product I train almost every week, so these are some ideas I have based on my experience with it and its ilk. 

Establishing naming conventions that are used constantly across a Firm will improve searching efficiency - that means SAVE A LOT OF TIME. I mean, if you are going to pay the thousands, if not tens-of-thousands of dollars that a DMS will cost - you should definately be using it to the fullest. These systems are designed to make the saving, searching, perusal and retrieval of a document or a set of documents quick and effortless.  I've found that no matter what system you put in front of them, users still tend to browse through search results looking for the documents they require. Why? Wel I think this is often due to lack of training (we know how I feel about that) and also because of poorly named documents.

The purpose of file naming conventions / standards

So why bother? Many people think that the POINT of a DMS is to remove the need for structure and just search everything because everything will be found. And that's actually the problem. I have a client with 10 MILLION docs in their document repository and searches are so fast and effective that they do find everything - to the tune of a 5000-result search. That's not helpful. But as people become better searchers (a topic for a whole 'nother post) - the document name will help narrow the search to the exact document they want. A document that is given a well-structured name based on a file naming convention is easy to search for, identify and retrieve. However, the key to successfully executing this strategy is that everyone must and understand and follow the file naming policy. It's not optional - so that's your first tip.

Consistent standards should help a user determine:

• What naming elements are to be used and their order
• When and what  abbreviations or acronyms should be used
• What constitutes a new version

Creating and enforcing a standardized document naming scheme can support the following objectives:

• Simplify access to and retrieval of electronic documents
• Sorting of documents in logical sequence (by date ascending or descending, by version number)
• Help searchers to definitely identify the document/s they are looking for
• Enable the user to recognize the subject and content of a document from a list
• Track and control versions of documents

Document Name Fundamentals

The key to naming a document is to NOT name if for yourself. Most users assume that everyone else thinks, save and searches the same way they do. Ha.  So,  I might know that “Agreement – Marsh final FINAL 3-5-2011” is an affiliation agreement executed on the 3rd day of May 2011. But will another person think it’s a construction agreement we are overseeing for the Marsh Corporations new wing that was finalized on Marsh 5th, 2011?

A user should be able to identify the substance of a document without even opening it. Its name should consistent of:

• Practical,  descriptive terms. Even though most DMS's assign a document type it's ok to include terms such as "Affiliation Agreement" or  "Employment Agreement" – not just "Agreement" and also, the names of the parties involved most certainly help
• Notes that might be important to the searcher if a file is part of a document set: Scan, Executed, Finalized (not "final FINAL" - really?, Filed, Redline (if you insist on saving Redlines)
• Use standardized capitalization
• Capitalize proper names for buildings, areas, facilities, and processes ("Building 12", not "building 12" - makes a difference when you read it, right?)
• Have consistent conventions for typical phrases. For example, “between LawTech Partners and Marsh Corporation”  can be shortened to "LTP / Marsh Corp". 

A proper document name will NOT:

• Be “wordy” and is short of useless terms (the, by, of)
• Include a date unless that date is not a system date. For example, a DMS like these (Worldox, OpenText, Legal Files) will track and store dates that identify creation, edited, e-mailed on, printed on dates – it does not typically have a field for “Executed on” or “Expires on” or “Filed on” (but you can normally add it). Therefore, those dates CAN be included in the document name if they are important and not otherwise clear.
• Include unfamiliar or uncommon abbreviations, acronyms or misspelled words

How does your Firm handle document naming issues? Please chime in with your thoughts and ideas and if your Firm has some guidelines that you have found useful please share them with us in a comment below.

Word 2010: Comparing Document Version Natively

If you don't pay or don't want to pay for a 3rd party doc comparison tool, you can use Word's built-in document comparison tool. Here's how:

1. In Word, click on the Review tab, go to the  Compare group, click on the Compare button.
2. Click on the first option "Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline)."
3. Under Original document, browse for the document that you want to use as the original document.
4. Under Revised document, browse for the  document that you want to compare (normally the newer or revised document).
5. Click More to select the settings for what you want to compare in the documents.
   By the way - any options that you set now will stick at the default options for comparison the next time you compare documents.
6. Under Show changes, choose whether you want to show character or word level changes.
7. Word will want to create a 3rd document for the results, but if you do not want to display changes in a third document, choose which document you want the changes to appear in.
8. Click OK.
   If either version of the document has tracked changes, Microsoft Word displays a message box. Click Yes to accept the changes and compare the documents.
9. Microsoft Office Word displays a new third document in which tracked changes in the original document are accepted, and changes in the revised document are shown as tracked changes. Your two source documents are not changed.

Not using Word 2010?

• For Word 2007, the steps are the same but here's a step-by-step guide anyway.
• Word 2003 - see this article
• Mac User? Check out this good article from Brett Burney on how-to plus some extra tips.

 

The First Two Signs That Your Legal Secretary Needs Microsoft Word Training

So. Today I got mad. I've had it with some of these secretaries who claim to not need training because they "know Word." Let me just point out the blue whale in the room (it ate the elephant) - most Word users have little idea how to TRULY use the awesome functions and features that make Word a time-saving-work of document-creation art. As a matter of fact, most of them use it more like a typewriter than a modern-day automated, efficiency creating, document development tool. Can I say this with authority? Yes. Why? Because I have spent the last 12 years of my life talking, helping, fixing, wiping the tears of and training your legal staff and your attorneys on Microsoft Word. Is it their fault that they are so often under-trained? ...ehhhh, sometimes and no.

Here's what I think happened....there was WordPerfect and it was simple (and good) so everyone became proficient with it. Then Word started to sidle its way in. Law firms did one of three things: ignored Word (and many still do), allowed a bi-product existence or totally migrated to Word. Those who stuck with WP, haven't had to or wanted to learn a whole new product so they stayed and are the WordPerfect Die-hards. No problem with them, they have a tool and they know how to use it. Good.

Then we have the Middlers, those who stayed on the fence and allowed both products to stay in use. The users from these firms know WordPerfect VERY well and just enough Word to get  by. They may have been offered training at some point but either didn't go or it didn't stick because they didn't use it.These users will often claim they "know word" just from having had it installed on their computers over the past years. Yeah, because you learn application skills by keyboard osmosis. Many of these folks move on to other law firms and when asked if they know Word will answer, "Of course, my old firm has been using it for 5 years." No training needed there. (pahahaha!)

Then we have the poor poor Word Warriors who got handed Word during a "conversion/migration project." Here's what happened to them... back when all the first (and often major) conversions were starting in 2003, 2004, 2005 - we all thought it would be a GREAT idea to make support staff take 8 hours of Word training (straight!) and mandate attorneys to sit through 2 tortuous hours of training WHILE we yanked their old PC's out AND ran their life's works through a "conversions" that was sure to perfectly re-produce their documents as well-behaved Word 2003 docs. We all had visions of secretaries sitting back down at their desks, kissing their new computers and making sweet digital-love to Microsoft Word.

That's not quite how it went. The conversions were stressful, documents were lost, training was forgotten, tears were shed...it was pure survival mode. The documents needed to get done, get out and get replicated to keep the machine moving. So over time the thought of actually learning how to use Word as it should be used got buried in the day to day survival of the firm. The need for training has also gotten lost in the assumptions of administrators and attorneys because staff aren't asking for it and work is being produced. Everyone MUST be a Word expert. Hate to tell you, but many of you couldn't be more wrong.

I applaud (and thank) the many, many firms who do recognize the need for and offer training; heros are the secretaries who have the courage to admit they need training; champions are those that take pride in their work and want to create beautiful documents. THANK YOU! And of course, believe me, there are many users who are REALLY GOOD, but they are so far and few between that I can nearly remember them all (Hi Jill, Evalina, Marcus, Hello Maggie, Michelle G. (not S., she was such a faker), Hi Victoria! I often tell stories about you!).

Holy cow, did I get side-tracked. I'm almost not mad anymore, I'm sad. I feel sorry for all these people who have to sit in front of Word all day long and suffer. I feel sorry for those who want it but can't get. I do not, however, feel sorry for those of you whose firms pay REALLY good money for people like me to come in and HELP and you are so delusional that you don't get it.. or maybe you're so vain that you don't want to admit it.But whatever, back to where I started.... Here are the first two signs of a badly created document because SOMEONE doesn't know what they are doing.

Here is how a typical AWFUL signature block will look when SOMEONE doesn't know or worse, just doesn't CARE...

Look at all those tabs! How embarrasing!

This is how it SHOULD (or could look, there are a couple of options but here's one)...

Here's another one...a typical case style done wrong....

Shameful!

What Pretty looks like...

Today, your documents are a sign of your commitment to technology in the business of your practice. Anyone can open up the hood and see how your Word documents are being nurtured, when they look like the bad examples above it reflects poorly on the Firm.

But alas, there is hope. With the release of Word 2007 and 2010, it's a clean slate! It's a second chance! So be sure to include training in your budgets and be sure to make training an embedded part of your firms culture and bottom line.

Here are a few training resources for Word 2007 and 2010:

What’s new in Word 2010 for 2003 upgraders

Microsoft Word's Team Blog

Interactive: Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide

Converting documents from previous versions of Word

The Why Behind Our Styles and Lists Designs

Word 2010 Training Courses from Microsoft

Check the compatibility of your Word 2007 documents

Get this book!

Formatting Legal Documents With Microsoft Word 2010

or this one

Formatting Legal Documents With Microsoft Word 2007

Critical Computer Skills Every Attorney Should Know - Pasting (Yep, I'm Serious)

This one is short and sweet and pretty easy but I'm still astounded at the number of times I teach this to someone for the first time. We all know there's a lot of cutting and pasting that goes on in a law firm, that's not the problem. The problem can often be in the results of the paste. Let's discuss.....

There are equally many way to paste as there are to copy. So to copy, you cannnnnn right-click copy, edit > copy, CTRL+C, Command+C, click the copy button...and on and on and on...pick your favorite.

To paste you cannnnnn right-click paste, edit > paste, Command+V...and on and on.....BUT  BUT BUT, often, there's more. In most programs that allow formatted text, you will have an option/s for HOW you paste. Do you want to paste the text "as-is" - or do you want to paste it "text only" or do you want the program to try and "match" the formatting of the text you are pasting into? Well, believe it or not, these are very important questions. Why? Because often you don't know what kind of "information" is hidden behind your copied text. And in today's world we are copying from our own documents, old documents, new documents, someone else's documents, an email, a PDF file, the internet, from Westlaw, from Lexis, from Rainmaker, from....O-M-G...need I go on? You get it right? You are copying text from ALL OVER THE PLACE! And that text can be carrying code that makes it green, italicized or font Helvetica, it can have metadata attached to it, it can have a hyperlink to the source or it can have an automatic numbering code from WordPerfect 5 in it...it's crazy. And it's crazy because you it doesn't always reveal itself. These characteristics (hidden or visible) can cause your document to do weird things like causing your numbering to go wack or even cause major document corruption.

To easily prevent any unwanted surprises from arising, you should almost always paste text into a new document as plain text (aka "Paste Special") and then format that new text as you need it to look. Generally, you will have an option offered up by the program you are using. Which program do you use?

• Word 2003 paste options
• How to Use Paste Options and Paste Special in Word 2007
• Formatting options to Paste copied text in Word 2010
• Word 2011 for Mac paste options
• WordPerfect paste special

Couple of extra tips:

• For existing text in Word 2003-2010, look for the "Clear Formatting" button or option. It's magic!
• If you're using a program that doesn't have fancy paste options (like a cloud-based word processor), simply open up a plain text editor (like Textpad in Windows or TextEdit on the Mac), paste into it, then copy that plain text again.
• DO NOT disable the Paste Options function - it's one of the best things they've ever done to word processing!

Critical Computer Skills Every Attorney Should Know - Acrobat Essentials

At the core of a proper practice management package are tool like a document management program, Word, Outlook  and of course Adobe Acrobat. In my opinion, Acrobat is one of THE MOST ESSENTIAL tools in an attorneys technical toolbox. And just having it, doesn't mean much...and having Adobe Reader, doesn't mean ANYTHING (sorry). Not sure what you have? Open "it" up and look along the banner at the top of the window - if it doesnt say there, go to the Help menu and choose the "About..." menu option. The Reader is really only good for viewing, printing and filling out form-enabled PDF files. To create and manipulate PDF's you will need a higher version. This product matrix from Adobe will help you determine what those higher versions offer.

So back to my comment about "just having it doesn't mean much" - many of you have a full version of Acrobat but use it like it's Reader. You have no idea what a powerful tool you possess! Here is a short list of the things you can and need to be able to do with Adobe Acrobat (and if you dont have it - GET IT RIGHT NOW):

• Create simple PDF files (and even sophisticated PDF files such as an electronic closing binder)
• Insert, delete, extract, rotate pages
• Convert eligible files to text (that is, PDF to Word) (or Converting Depo Transcripts to PDF)
• Digitally sign documents
• Redact PDF files
• Bates stamp files

Learn More!

Acrobat X - Getting Started: The Basics of Editing a PDF Document on Adobe TV (This video details how to edit text and graphics in your PDF file using the new Content Panel in Acrobat X.)

Here are the online help guides for Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro, Acrobat 9 Pro  and Acrobat X (the latest) from Adobe.com.  If you have a version older than those - time to upgrade!

 Legal Specific Resources

• PDF For Lawyers
• Acrobat for Legal Professionals
• Lawyer PDF

Blog Posts: 

• Why I love my scanner and Adobe Acrobat by attorny Gregory Forman
• Adobe Acrobat X Brings New Lawyer-Friendly Features
• Adobe Acrobat X Review by Ernie Svenson