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Welcome to the Center for Practice Management Website

The North Carolina Bar Association’s Center for Practice Management (CPM) is the starting point for NCBA members seeking information about technology, practice management, and law firm start up. CPM provides resources to help NCBA member attorneys, paralegals and legal administrators improve efficiency, reduce risk and improve client relations in their law firms.

    [ABA Site-tation] New articles from the LTRC: Smartphone Buying Guide, Virtual PBX Phone Systems, Technology Trends for 2010, and More  - March 11, 2010  10:03:45 AM
    Body:
    Here's a sampling of the most recent technology articles published by the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center:
     
    The popularity of smart phones has skyrocketed in the last few years, and lawyers have rapidly incorporated them into their law practices. With smart phone models and features evolving at a quick pace, it can be hard to determine what distinguishes one from another. Here are some differentiating factors to consider when shopping for a smart phone. [Read more]

     

    Expand Your Reach with a Virtual PBX
    A virtual PBX or phone system provides big firm phone functionality for the small firm budget. Virtual phone services offer professional quality voice communications at an affordable price while sparing you the expense and overhead of maintaining a phone system or a phone lease. You should be able to manage the service in a Web browser, view usage reports and add additional extensions and features as needed. Most virtual phone services also provide an automated attendant, call forwarding, and voicemail. [    Read more]

     

    Technology trends for 2010
    Undoubtedly, we will remember 2009 for widespread economic difficulty. Lawyers, law students and legal professionals alike faced tremendous challenges as clients cut back on legal services, billable hours fell and jobs disappeared. But 2009 was also a year of rapid technological change within the legal profession, fueled in part by economic pressure. More than ever, lawyers embraced social media, experimented with online data storage and online applications, and used technology to increase their mobility. As we move into 2010, technology will continue as a major tool for lawyers looking to overcome an economic environment fraught with uncertainty. Used carefully, technology can help lawyers become more effective and efficient. [    Read more]

     

    Smartphone Voice Recognition, Dictation, and Transcription Software
    Smartphones are increasingly gaining the ability to perform many tasks that laptop and desktop computers are capable of, enabling users to: search the Internet; view and send e-mail; create and edit documents; and take advantage of a wide variety of applications ("apps") with other functions. However, the small size of smartphone keyboards can hamper users' efficiency in typing, especially for those unaccustomed to using on-screen virtual keyboards on phones without physical keyboards. Fortunately, there are several voice recognition, dictation, and transcription software applications available that enable you to operate smartphones and input text just by using your voice. [    Read more]

     

    Windows 7 Primer: Time to Upgrade?
    Few would argue that Windows Vista was anything other than a disaster. Released on January 30, 2007, Vista was hampered by a series of problems including high technical requirements, complicated security features, and software incompatibility. Critical reception to Windows 7 has been far more favorable than Vista, and early reports suggest that Windows 7 adoption is easily outpacing Vista. But is Windows 7 right for your law firm? Here are a few factors to consider. [    Read more]

     

    Visit the LTRC articles page for these technology articles and more.

    Category: Technology News
    Published: 3/11/2010 9:08 AM


    [Compujurist] Do You Know What Free Legal Research Your State Bar Offers?  - March 10, 2010  4:22:17 PM
    The folks over at 3 Geeks and a Law Blog (Toby Brown, Lisa Salazar & Greg Lambert) have a post putting up an interactive map of the US that shows which legal research product the bar associations of each state provides to its members. The map is from the Many Eyes site which I hadn't encountered before but is pretty interesting.

    [ABA Site-tation] Detailed Guide to Data Wiping - Hard Drives, SSDs, and Thumb Drives  - March 10, 2010  11:47:00 AM
    Body:

    Data security has become a constant concern for attorneys as client files and daily work product has moved almost entirely to digital format. Ensuring confidentiality and safeguarding client files now often means securing a hard drive rather than a physical file drawer.

    But while attorneys dedicate much of their data security energy and dollars towards protecting current data -- that is, the data they use and access for ongoing or recent cases -- attention must also be given to the data that is no longer needed.

    Whether the data is contained on an old computer that's being replaced, a backup system being upgraded, or a removable device like a USB thumb drive that's simply used to shuttle files around, it's vital that appropriate steps be taken to ensure that the data not fall into unintended hands.

    Along those lines, Gizmodo recently published very detailed guide to wiping electronic data, addressing multiple methods and multiple devices, and why simply "erasing" the drive may not be enough:

    Leave No Trace: How to Completely Erase Your Hard Drives, SSDs and Thumb Drives (Gizmodo)

    One additional method not detailed in the guide, though it is mentioned in the comments, is physical destruction. Many commercial shredding companies now offer hard drive and other non-document shredding services that can be used to completely and permanently destroy all manner of data storage devices.

    Category: Law Office Technology
    Published: 3/10/2010 10:47 AM


    [Thoughtful Legal Management] Recognition for Achievements by Lawyers and Law Firms  - March 09, 2010  1:20:56 PM
    ♫ We are the champions No time for losers Cause we are the champions of the world… ♫ Music and lyrics by Freddie Mercury, recorded and performed by Queen. When thinking of the Olympics, an image of a breathless young person comes to mind who is standing on a podium, smiling the smile of a lifetime as someone places a [...]

    [Law Practice Advisor] LOMAP’s "Start-Up Kit" Proffers Main Considerations for the Establishment of a Law Practice  - March 09, 2010  12:53:00 PM
    Whether you’re starting a law practice or running a marathon, it is essential to prepare (train; or, “run a train on”, as it were) and to get off the blocks quickly. (How should I know whether there are blocks at marathon starts . . . I’ve never actually run a marathon. That’s insane.)

    Here at the LOMAP home office, and about this great commonwealth, in the making of our appointed rounds, we see two sorts of attorney-clients: (1) those who have already established their practices, and who are seeking the light of whether their practices comport with best practices, and to what extent; and, (2) those attorneys who are starting their own practices for the first time, from whencever they have come.

    Those establishing their practices range in pedigree, experience, ideals and imagination. However, there are general considerations of which they all must be made aware in order to start up successfully. To that end, we have generally made available to attorneys contacting us wishing to start their own practices what we have labeled our “Start-Up Kit”, which consists of a document addressing the main considerations for establishing a practice (as alluded to above--see, I meet my promises), our general start-up Powerpoint (long version) and a self-audit checklist (perhaps better suited for distribution to those attorneys who are already practicing, but which is also likely useful for new attorneys, as they guesstimate from the questions asked what may or may not be the right and wrong ways to do things), all of which combine to create a useful electronic packet of sorts for the start-up solo attorney, or start-up firm. In the spirit, then, of publishing most all of our useful resources to our blog, I have created a drop site, at which I have sheltered the referenced “Start-Up Kit” documents, as well as another version of our start-up Powerpoint. You can now, then, access these multiple documents here, without benefit of our emailing them to you.

    (The dirty little secret here, of course, is that the collection of information described above can oft-times be as useful to attorneys seeking to refresh their practice systems as it can be for starting attorneys. Ssshhh.)

    In combination with the depositing of these resources to the wide web, LOMAP has established a group meeting for start-up attorneys and start-up firms, which meeting takes place at the end of each month, here at our offices in downtown Boston. For the meetings, Rodney and I make a fulsome presentation based on our start-up Powerpoints, and address questions. The genesis of these meetings was the fact that we tended to get the same general questions over and over again from firm- and solo-starters. Practically speaking, it was better to address the same sets of questions within a group setting. The group setting also provides the advantage of creating for attendees something of a built-from-the-ground-up support system. For attorneys starting their own practices, it can be tremendously helpful just to know that they are not alone, and that others are in the same boat, with the same sorts of questions to bale out from.

    Of course, being a company that loves to establish small administrative hoops for the jumping (c’mon, you can fill out a couple simple forms in order to talk to us, right?--we don’t charge anything), you’ll need to become a LOMAP client before you can attend a group meeting. If you want our forms, and to see about upcoming meeting dates, just shoot me an email at jared@masslomap.org . . .

    Just not over the next few days, as I’ll be otherwise occupied.


    [Oregon Law Practice Management] AirCards, Encryption, and Software! Oh My!  - March 08, 2010  8:49:30 PM
    If you aren’t a dedicated reader of Sharon Nelson and John Simek’s Oregon State Bar Bulletin columns, you should be. This month, Sharon and John discuss secure mobile computing. Among their recommendations: Don’t make a move without anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-phishing software. Keep all three up-to-date and perform weekly scans. Use encryption to protect your valuable personal data. (John [...]

    [Law Practice Advisor] Guest Post: Cowabunga, Dude! Catch the Google Wave  - March 08, 2010  2:20:00 PM
    We are pleased to have received an excellent post from Kate O’Toole, a former colleague of mine at the Massachusetts Bar Association. Kate has written on Google Wave, and her take on the system appears below. Kate has also been kind enough to agree (and cannot back out now) to provide us with another post, that one covering Google Buzz, which post, to be the second in this short series, should release sometime in April, as the weather, hopefully, continues to warm.

    Kate works as a law clerk for Rawson, Merrigan & Litner LLP in Boston, having previously worked in communications for the Massachusetts Bar Association and Shawmut Design and Construction. She is a third year evening student at Suffolk University Law School, and is a bit of a tech geek, who loves learning about creative ways to market using Web 2.0 technology, like Twitter.

    . . .

    Launched last fall, Google Wave generated a ton of buzz before its release. Technology bloggers published "first looks" and initial reviews, hailing it as "a compelling and potent collaboration tool that promises to boost productivity, help increase levels of integration with existing IT systems and capture/share greater amounts of institutional knowledge."

    But, What is Google Wave? In a nutshell, it's like a love child of e-mail and Twitter and AOL Instant Messenger. Instead of zipping someone a quick e-mail, you start a "wave", which is like a thread that includes every attachment, message and chat conversation you have with someone relative to whatever subject you choose. A wave is more versatile than a regular e-mail. With a wave, you can: insert unique, interactive gadgets, such as maps and polls; drag and drop files from your desktop and plop them into ongoing conversations; and, even export an entire wave and embed it into a blog. For a solid introduction to what Google Wave is all about, and some insights on the lingo, I suggest reading this guide, from the social media gurus at Mashable.

    For now, the technology is still in preview, and requires an invitation to register. To get an invite, you can try signing up through Google; although, I signed up about a month before Wave was launched, and still haven't received anything from Google. In the days immediately following the product's release, people were so desperate for invitations that they even bid on them on eBay! Personally, I had better luck searching on Twitter for "google wave invite" and stumbled upon a woman who was giving some away. I recommend this method, and there should be plenty of invitations floating out there in cyberspace. (In fact, if you’re interested in trying Google Wave, Jared and Rodney have invites to spare.)

    When I was finally able to snag an invitation and to log on, I was disappointed, though not very surprised, to discover that only about two people on my GMail contact list also had access to Google Wave. I was impressed that Wave automatically pulled in my GMail information and contact list, and also liked how the interface closely mirrors Google's other applications (GMail, Docs, etc.). However, three months later, while I have about 200 contacts in my GMail account, only about 12 of them have popped up on my Google Wave list. I imagine that someday, if Google's dreams come true, all e-mail will phase into the Google Wave format. For now, Google Wave just feels like another account that I have to monitor, or at least to check on. But, I never check on it--because very few people I know use it.

    But things have to start somewhere, right? While this tool is obviously a work in progress, it does seem to have plenty of promise as a communication mode of the future. Hypothetically, if it becomes mainstream, like regular e-mail, here are some ways that lawyers could benefit from it:

    Client Communication

    Jay Fleischman, at “The Untethered Lawyer”, offers a scenario where Google Wave helps to improve the lines of communication between attorneys and new clients. Through a single wave, an attorney can start talking to a client and discuss some potential issues. The client can easily drag and drop documents, maps, and photographs into the wave. Once you determine that there is a potential claim, you can drag your paralegal or associate into the thread to add more information or insights. Whenever you need to communicate with your client moving forward, you simply add to the original wave, and the entire record of your communications is in a single place.

    Attorney blogger Dan Friedlander of "Law on my Phone” also envisions Google Wave as an easy way to work on interrogatories with clients. Having an ongoing, working draft of a set of interrogatory answers would eliminate saving a string of documents ranging from "ints - client", "ints - revised", "ints - revised 2," and "ints - revised 2, final v.3", etc.

    While these scenarios would be remarkable timesavers, there are still many clients who don't even use e-mail. Clients who are on board with the Wave would likely be few and far between, at least for the foreseeable future. But, Twitter grew 1382% in the course of a year, so you never know!

    Group Collaboration

    This is where Google Wave can really shine. Google Wave features real time collaboration using technology it acquired from EtherPad. EtherPad had established a neat website that created a public notepad where multiple authors could collaborate on the same document in real time, with different contributors highlighted in different colors of text.

    Imagine pasting a draft of an assented to motion into a wave, where opposing counsel can make suggested edits as necessary, either at their leisure, or while working on it with you in real time, rather than collaborating through the exchange of phone calls and multiple e-mails with a million different attachments. After the completion of revisions, you can play back the wave like a video, so you can see the sequencing of edits and comments. You can apply this same process to contract drafting and negotiation, as well as to memos, to research, or to any sort of project management within your firm.

    So, where do we go from here? Unfortunately, the only option is really to start slowly, because the technology is still in its early stages. I suggest that you scrounge up an invitation and at least get your account set up, and find a friend or colleague who is interested in using it with you. Start a wave, and see what it’s like. Try doing some online collaboration, play with the gadgets and test out the real-time chatting/editing.

    My only disclaimer is that, since the product is still in beta release, the security and stability may not be perfect. I do not suggest starting waves that include sensitive, privileged information, just to be safe. Internet security is certainly not my area of expertise; but, if you are concerned about the security of your communications, here is some suggested reading:

    http://googlewavesecurity.com/

    http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=2748

    http://theharmonyguy.com/2009/10/19/first-impressions-on-security-in-google-wave/

    Still haven't had your fill of Google Wave? The blog community has a plethora of insights, tips and information to offer about this new tool. A quick search will yield many, many hits. Good luck, and happy surfing!


    [Oregon Law Practice Management] Is Acrobat Really Necessary?  - March 08, 2010  9:30:30 AM
    Twenty years ago, creating a PDF required Adobe Acrobat. Today free or low-cost third party PDF writers are abundant and PDF generation is built into traditional and online office suites. With a price tag starting at $299 for Standard and $449 for Pro, is Acrobat really necessary? The answer is yes! Here are just a few [...]

    [ABA Site-tation] Friday PMA Blog Roundup - 03/05/10  - March 05, 2010  2:24:40 PM
    Body:

    Another great week of blogging from the law practice management advisors. Here are some of the highlights:

    You can stay up-to-date on the latest blog posts from practice management advisors by subscribing to our PMA Pipe RSS Feed.

    Category: Technology News
    Published: 3/5/2010 1:24 PM


Last Update: Tuesday, February 09, 2010
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