Dennis Kennedy

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March 31, 2004

The "Blog or Website" Question

Jeff "LawTechGuru" Beard has a good post on the increasingly-common question of whether to start with a blog or a website.

I know that the question is increasingly common because I was standing with Jeff when a couple of the people he mentions raised the question.

By the way, like Jeff, my current response is definitely a blog and, in most cases, hosted on TypePad. For the reasons Jeff mentions and others, starting with a blog and gradually building out standard "website" features makes the most sense if you are in the position where you are asking that question.

But I'm still surprised when someone with a law practice tells me that they have neither a website nor a blog.

Posted by dmk at 09:45 PM

March 30, 2004

How to Help Someone Use a Computer

From Roland Tanglao: Phil Agre's How to Help Someone Use a Computer is a piece that I wish I could have written. Unfortunately, I break too many of these rules (although I sense that I'm doing so when I do) because I don't have quite enough patience.

Phil's points are so wise and on point that each of us should use them as a starting point when helping others learn to use a computer or any other tool, for that matter.

I especially agree with his point of getting down to eye-level rather than standing over someone's shoulder.

A few of my favorites:

"Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower that way, and even if you have to point them to every key they need to type. That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction."

"Attend to the symbolism of the interaction. Try to squat down so your eyes are just below the level of theirs. When they're looking at the computer, look at the computer. When they're looking at you, look back at them."

"Explain your thinking. Don't make it mysterious. If something is true, show them how they can see it's true. When you don't know, say "I don't know". When you're guessing, say "let's try ... because ...". Resist the temptation to appear all-knowing. Help them learn to think the problem through."

"Take a long-term view. Who do users in this community get help from? If you focus on building that person's skills, the skills will diffuse to everyone else."

Posted by dmk at 09:53 AM

Steve Gillmor on Why Microsoft Needs RSS

Steve Gillmor's Memo to Steve Ballmer sets out the case for RSS in an open letter to Micrososoft's Steve Ballmer. It's a great article to show people who don't get the point of RSS.

Gillmor concludes:

"RSS may appear to be just a niche technology, a hippie miracle cure for everything from information overload to e-mail dysfunction. But I'd like to see the data on relapsing from RSS. Once you kick the browser, it's very hard to go back to the old way of doing things. I look forward to hearing from you, perhaps via your own RSS feed. That's one channel I look forward to subscribing to."

Posted by dmk at 09:42 AM

Sites We Wish Had RSS Feeds

Amy Gahran has launched a project that there has been a crying need for - talking bloggers with great blogs into adding RSS feeds.

A huge thank you to Amy for this. Note that she includes a sample form letter for you to send to non-feed-sending bloggers.

I'm always frustrated to find a blog with excellent material, but no RSS feed, because I realize that the chances of me returning to the blog on my own on a regular basis are almost nil.

Help start an RSS feed today.

Posted by dmk at 09:21 AM

TECHSHOW Mini-Roundup

Well, I didn't quite get my notes and thoughts on TECHSHOW pulled together today. Luckily, Jeff Beard and Bob Ambrogi have already posted some substantive coverage.

I plan to post a debriefing or two, but, man, did I have fun, and I learned a lot and met some great people.

Coming soon: There were a lot of comments about there being nothing all that new in legal tech. Au contraire. Unless I'm significantly behind the curve and everyone else is really up-to-date with what I saw (and, more importantly, the implications of what I saw and heard), there's more innovation happening now than I've ever seen and the pace of change in law is going to accelerate more quickly than many will expect.

I've been saying for a while that one trend we'll see is tech-savvy lawyers leaving large firms to start solo and small firm practices. Those who are thinking along those lines might want to step up their timetables.

Posted by dmk at 12:06 AM

March 23, 2004

See the State of the Art in Artificial Intelligence Legal Apps

One of the programs at the ABA TechShow that I wanted to highlight is a special set of sessions on artificial intelligence and the law we are doing on Saturday morning. Legal technology pioneer Marc Lauritsen has helped us put together a great set of sessions that will feature demos of some of today's actual implemenetation of AI concepts in legal applications. If you are serious about legal tech, this program will give you a good view of what's actually out there at the high end. If you can't get a few paradigm-shifting ideas out of this session, it will only be because you are not really trying.

On the schedule:

Harry Silver (VP Online Product Strategy, Lexis) - "More Like This Headnote" search

Skip Walter (Chief Technology Officer, Attenex ) – Attenex Patterns

Derek Schueren (Director of Legal Solutions, Recommind ) - MindServer Legal (conceptual search, machine learning)

Hendon C. Pingeon (National Sales Director, Valora ) - auto coding plus QC technology

Lisa Colpoys (Executive Director, Illinois Technology Center for Law & the Public Interest) – smart online applications for the legal services community

Peter Jackson (VP, R&D, Thomson Legal & Regulatory) - CaRE (for Classification and Routing Engine)

Marc and I will moderate the sessions and we are planning for a lot of time for Q & A. These sessions are joint presentations of the ABA and the International Association for AI & Law.

Posted by dmk at 10:10 AM

DiscoveryResources.org and My New Column with George Socha

As my friends know, I have a hard time turning down the chance to write a column, but the recent opportunity I got to start a new column for DiscoveryResources.org, one of if not the premier Internet resource on electronic discovery, was an offer I simply could not turn down. You see, the column gives me a chance to write with one of the most knowledgeable and tech-savvy lawyers I've ever met - George Socha, who has been my "go to" person on electronic discovery issues for several years.

We're doing the column (see the first column - called "The Electronic Discoverers" - in which we take an overview of the e-discovery landscape) in the conversation style, which gives us a great structure to include guests as well as to take several views of an issue.

I invite you to try out the column and let us know what you think. If you have ideas for topics, let us know.

As an aside, George is doing some cool things that he'll probably announce soon that will be invaluable to those working in and following developments in e-discovery. You'll get a little glimpse of some of those things in this first column.

For those thinking - "But Dennis doesn't even do any litigation . . ." You are right - I'll focus more on the tech, management and trends aspects of these issues and George will brilliantly cover the technical discovery issues in more detail.

Thanks especially to Julia Wotipka for putting this idea together.

Posted by dmk at 09:53 AM

Eric Mack Online

Another blog related to David Allen and organization/productivity approaches is EricMackOnline (blog with feed). Mack's blog tells the story of launching Allen's blog and appears to be chock full of useful tips and information. Thanks to Tanny O'Haley for pointing me to Eric's blog and the background on the startup of David Allen's blog.

Posted by dmk at 09:35 AM

David Allen - URL Updates

One of the things I love about blogging is how you get to meet people doing cool things.

I posted recently about organization guru David Allen's new blog and how it and some related resources would become must-visit places for those of us practicing Allen's great system.

I got a thank you note from the operator of one of those resources, Jason Womack, who wanted to update me on the new URLs for David Allen's blog - http://david.davidco.com and Jason's Getting Things Done blog - http://jason.davidco.com. Both have feeds and I highly recommend them.

Posted by dmk at 09:25 AM

March 18, 2004

Still Time to Register to Attend or Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor at TechShow 2004

The American Bar Association's TechShow 2004 takes place in Chicago next week. Even if I weren't totally biased by being a member of the TechShow Board, I'd still call it the premier legal technology seminar and show for lawyers.

My rule is "the more the merrier," so I wanted to remind people that it's not too late to register to attend or for your company to exhibit or sponsor.

There's a great roundtable discussion about TechShow 2004 and the expected highlights in the current issue of Law Practice Today.

Please be sure to introduce yourself and say hello if you see me at TechShow. I'm speaking at three sessions, so I'll be a little frantic, but I'd be glad to meet you.

Posted by dmk at 10:51 PM

Support Our Sponsors - CaseSoft and Fios

Keen-eyed vistors to this blog have already noticed the logos of the blog's first two sponsors - CaseSoft and Fios. I've put together some sponsorship options to highlight some of my favorite vendors and give them exposure to the blog's audience. Because I've decided to limit drastically the product reviews I write anymore, this approach has become an avenue to expand what I can do with this blog.

I've been a huge fan of CaseSoft's products, CaseMap, TimeMap and NoteMap, since they were first introduced. In fact, the story of how Bob Wiss (one of the founders of CaseSoft) and I first met and my first article on CaseMap are part of the lore and history of CaseSoft. For those unfamiliar with CaseMap, think of it as a litigation knowledge management tool. We have also worked out an arrangement to benefit the readers of this blog. If you visit the CaseSoft website and download a trial version of NoteMap, CaseSoft's outlining tool, and let them know that you learned about CaseSoft products from DennisKennedy.blog, CaseSoft will give you one free license for NoteMap. If you were already planning to buy a license for CaseMap, this deal is pretty irresistable. If you like great free software, it's also pretty irresistable.

The second sponsor, Fios, also provides great litigation software tools and a premier web resource on discovery - DiscoveryResources.org. I'm enthused by what Fios is doing. In fact, I'll be joining e-discovery guru George Socha to co-wrote a monthly column on electronic discovery that will appear on the DiscoveryResources.org website. Because I have the benefit of already seeing the first column, I can tell you that this column will be a must-read for those interested in electronic discovery.

If you think this blog's sponsorship program might make sense for your company, please contact me and I'll get you the information you will need to consider opportunities in this blog and my website. Worldox, maker of a great document management software package in common use in the legal profession, and Tabs 3, premier financial and practice management software, are a new sponsor and advertiser on my website.

If you attend the upcoming ABA TechShow 2004 next week in Chicago, you will have a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the offerings of these great companies and talk with the principals of these companies.

Please support these sponsors. I am grateful for their help in allowing me to get the word out on how lawyers can use technology in better ways.

Posted by dmk at 10:48 PM

What Lawyers Need to Know About the Open Source Licenses

My new article on the Open Source licenses has appeared in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Internet Law. The article is called "What Lawyers Need to Know About the Open Source Licenses." It is the practical and in-depth article on the Open Source licenses that I've been wanting to write for several years. I'm pleased that it found a home in one of the most-read publications for computer lawyers.

Unfortunately, the Journal of Internet Law is a print publication only. However, I have eight extra copies of the issue in which the article appears. As a benefit for readers of my blog, I'll send a copy of the issue to each of the first eight people whose e-mails requesting a copy I receive (dmk @ denniskennedy.com).

Otherwise, you may obtain reprints from the Journal of Internet Law, find a copy in a law library or, even better, obtain my original version of the article as part of my new "Practical Principles of Legal Tech and Tech Law (1996 - 2003)" CD - a collection of nearly 500 pages of my best articles in the PDF format.

I've also collected my well-known "online book" I call "Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Primer" and am also making that available in the PDF format. Both collections will soon be available from a number of sources as downloadable eBooks. Until then, you can obtain the collections in the old-fashioned way - by mailing me an order form with your check. If you are interested in licensing my original version of the article for distribution in your organization, please contact me. Because I do appreciate there is some irony involved here, I expect to make a version of the article available for free sometime later this year.

Remember that I keep a list of Open Source license law resources on my website at http://www.denniskennedy.com/opensourcelaw.htm.

Posted by dmk at 10:45 PM

March 17, 2004

David Allen's New Blog

Thanks to Buzz Bruggeman, Robert Scoble, and Jim McGee, I am now happily subscribed to organization guru David Allen's new blog. I'm a long-time fan of David Allen's approaches set out in his classic book, Getting Things Done, and I wrote about the GTD approach earlier this year in the context of the software tool, The MasterList.

Interestingly, in another example of blogsynchronicity, I was planning to write about and recommend Allen's excellent e-mail newsletter and website in my blog today. In the post I planned, I was also going to point out Jason Womack's GTD to Me blog, which covers Allen's principles and provides excellent tips. As it turns out, Womack wrote about Allen's newsletter today.

I've recently completed a more thorough and aggressive implementation of Allen's principles than I've ever been able to do to this point. It's amazing how making even a good faith attempt to follow Allen's procedures reduces your level of stress and feeling of being overwhelmed. I'll also confirm the comment Womack makes in his blog today that you can reduce the message count in your inbox to zero and feel good about doing so by using the basic principles.

Posted by dmk at 10:43 PM

March 16, 2004

The House Where I Grew Up

I love the satellite map sites like ACME Mapper. Here's a view of the house where I grew up. It's hidden by some big trees, but I recognized the whole neighborhood. Of course, growing up in a town of 5,000 people means I don't have as much to remember as others of you might.

If you look two blocks to the east and across the street (facing the park), you will see the hospital where I was born (shortly before they stopped delivering babies there), which is now undergoing a restoration. If you zoom out a bit and go the proverbial mile east, you'll see the schools I attended, walking a mile each way.

Do you recognize the house and neighborhood where you grew up as it now looks?

Posted by dmk at 11:32 PM

March 10, 2004

Tech Firms Cash In as Lawyers Plug In

In what well could be the most optimistic article I've ever seen about the prospects for growing use of technology in the practice of law, USA Today's "Tech firms cash in as lawyers plug in" paints a rosy picture for several companies in key legal technology areas.

While the article at times reads like a PR piece for some of the companies mentioned (not a bad thing at all for them), it's most interesting for some of the statistics it provides:

"That's a marketing bonanza for tech companies trying to boost revenue after the two-year tech-spending bust. Among law firms and other business service providers, 69% expect to spend more on tech this year than last, vs. 43% of all industries, new IDC research says.

Investors are taking notice. Venture-capital firms pumped $112 million into 11 tech start-ups aimed at the legal industry from 2000 to last year, MoneyTree Survey says."

I don't want to throw cold water on this article (I'll let others do that, if they wish) because I think that anything that gets lawyers moving toward better use of technology is a good thing. However, I will caution any vendors (and VCs) looking longingly at the legal market to be highly careful about accepting the assumptions of this article at face value.

I've regularly talked with companies wanting to enter the "legal vertical," as they commonly refer to it, over the past few years, and they'll all tell you that I've given them a lot of things to think about, especially about the underlying business models and the common assumptions vendors like to make about how lawyers and law firms work. I used to do that for free, but now that I'm on my own, I offer that kind of analysis and advice as a service. Whether you talk to me or someone else, don't dive into the legal market on the basis of what you might like to conclude from this article.

That said, the article does provide a good update of trends and what is happening. One of the most important trends is mentioned in passing - the reference to LexisNexis buying Applied Discovery. You don't have to be too sharp of an observer to notice that LexisNexis and WestLaw have been buying up quite a few legal tech/service providers in the last couple of years. Where are they going? In what may one day be looked back on as one of the key milestones of legal tech in the early 21st century, the leaders of Lexis and WestLaw will sketch out their visions of the future in a special joint keynote presentation at ABA TechShow in two weeks in Chicago. There are also many other reasons to attend TechShow and I hope to see you there.

Posted by dmk at 11:02 AM

March 04, 2004

Lawyers Still Don't Get the Metadata Problem

CNET's article Document shows SCO prepped lawsuit against BofA is a textbook study of the potentially embarrassing (or worse) issue of lawyers circulating Word documents without removing metadata hidden in the document.

In this example, we get to see comments, revisions and, perhaps worst of all, an intended defendant that was later dropped from the suit that was filed. The only good news for the law firm involved is that the CNET article temporarily spared the firm the embarrassment of being named in the article. I'm betting that the name of the firm will become quite well known in the very near future.

Resources other law firms unaware of the metadata issue might want to check are:

EZ Clean - http://www.kklsoftware.com/products/ezclean/details.asp

Metadata Assistant - http://www.payneconsulting.com/public/products/ProductDetail.asp?nProductID=34

Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=144E54ED-D43E-42CA-BC7B-5446D34E5360&displaylang=en

Note to clients of law firms: Do you know what your lawyers are leaving in your documents?

Posted by dmk at 10:59 PM

March 03, 2004

Festering in My Head

Tom Coates at Plasticbag.org has a great post called "Festering in My Head" that sums up exactly the way I was feeling after taking a mini-break from blogging.

He says:

"Because the longer you leave [blogging], the more pressure there is to make your return worthwhile, valuable, interesting. I am currently backlogged with about three weeks worth of things I feel I need to say - mostly about ETCon, but also about online communities, social software, ConCon and politics - but I know now that I'll never manage to get most of it out onto the page. Had I not been so self-indulgent about making it perfect, then anything useful I had to say would actually be out there doing some limited good rather than festering in my head."

Sometimes, the best is indeed the enemy of the good.

Posted by dmk at 11:08 PM