Dennis Kennedy

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May 30, 2003

A Shortcut Approach to Career Planning for Lawyers

The Preliminary Results from Boalt Research Project: 26 Factors in Effective Lawyering lists 26 skills, traits or characteristics successful lawyers have.

Assume that you are a reasonably successful lawyer considering getting out of the law practice. Sit down with this list and pick out your best 6 - 10 skills and the 6 - 10 you like best. Make a first cut on combining those lists.

Then start to work with a variety of combinations of the factors on your tentative combined list. Suddenly you're not just another burnedout lawyer who thinks that all he or she can do is practice law. You are person with marketable skills.

Now, put together combinations of those factors that appeal to you and start thinking about jobs that fit them.

This exercise should take you about 15 minutes. You can thank me when you start your new job.

Posted by dmk at 01:24 PM

A Plain Language Guide to the New Tax Code Revisions

You can study various summaries of the new tax revisions or even the law itself and still not find the answer to the key question: am I going to get a rebate check this year?

Fortunately, Smart Money's "What the Bush Tax Cut Means for You" puts it all together in a nice summary that is understandable and to the point. Compare this summary to some of the others that you'll find and you'll appreciate what a nice piece of work this article is.

Posted by dmk at 01:20 PM

May 29, 2003

Earth to Microsoft: Why Do You Make it So Hard to Be a Good Customer?

I thought that the basic premise of business was that you wanted to make it easy for your customers to be your customers or you wouldn't stay in business.

Why then does Microsoft make it so difficult for a good customer to be a good customer? This post caught my attention because it sums up so many people's feelings about the current state of dealing with Microsoft. If you try to stick with the program, you end up with a bunch of hassles. Small wonder so many people obtain copies of the software in "nontraditional" ways.

Example 1. I spent a bunch of time recently downloading and installing a huge number of critical and recommended updates for my various computers only to find that Microsoft has withdrawn one of the upgrades because it disabled Internet access for too many people. Did Microsoft tell me that? No. I learned that from a newsfeed I found that keeps me updated on Microsoft patch news. Do I have any idea what I'm supposed to do now? Nope. I still have Internet access so I must be OK, right?

Today, there's another security update report from Microsoft. What's the procedure - install the patches now or risk the exposure until you find out whether the patch breaks systems or not?

By the way, Microsoft has all my contact info because I had to sign up for a Passport account. How about a little help or just an email giving me a few suggestions?

And, the updates themselves? How about sending me a CD every now and then with the updates, at least the service packs? Despite Microsoft's assumption to the contrary, not everyone has an ethernet network with a broadband connection.

Example 2. My old Win 95 computer that will soon become a Linux computer. All I wanted to do was upgrade it to Windows 98. Why doesn't that cost me $10 or less instead of more than the value of the whole machine?

Example 3. Speaking of software that costs more than the computer how about those prices on Office XP? What about just a copy of Access?

Well, it was comforting to see a flurry of stories today that indicate I'm not the only one who had these feelings and experiences. Microsoft itself reduced the prices on Office products (of course, given that Office 2003 will be out soon that only makes sense), but they are still very high for personal and small business use. Microsoft has recognized that by liberalizing their education discount policy, even though it is still pretty difficult to comply with the letter of the academic license - I'm one of those people who tries to read, understand and comply with the license terms, since I practice in that area of law. If I have a hard time getting the rules straight, believe me, plenty of other people do too.

And there are other forces at play. The educator's version of Office is outselling the standard version by about a 3 to 1 margin, which bears a rough correlation to the fact that it sells at about a 1/3 discount over the non-educator version. In a certain sense, this is found money for Microsoft because if the educator version were not available, some percentage of these customers would have opted for the "copying from a friend" approach rather than shelling out for the standard version.

Add to these stories the continuing saga of the controversial and widely-panned Microsoft business licensing plan and it makes you wonder about what happens when to a company whose customers start to feel that they are merely afterthoughts. Microsoft may want to come down off its mountain and talk to the people who use its products and figure out ways to make it easy for good customers to stay good customers.

Posted by dmk at 10:27 PM

May 28, 2003

The Technology is Cooler as a Solo

I've had a couple of demos and conversations recently that have pointed out to me what cool technologies, especially software, are available once you step outside the large firm environment. I don't necesarily disagree that there must be a degree of standardization and lock-down in a large firm, but it sure keeps you from trying a lot of cool stuff.

For the first example, I'm rocking with a new Sony Vaio PCG-Z1A notebook with the Centrino chip. That means wireless, baby. I was at my local St. Louis Bread Company restaurant the other day using the wireless broadband to download the 29 or so critical updates it takes to bring Windows XP up to speed. It worked just like it was supposed to on the first try. Pretty cool. Wireless is one of those things that you really don't get until you experience it in action, then, wham, you're sold. I love that commercial that imitates the PBS Antiques Road Show where the guy brings in an old phone and the expert explains that in the olden days people were tethered to a wall with a wire, as they shake their heads. The Vaio notebook is a beautiful machine, something I rarely say about computers.

I finally have gotten the chance to go back to Worldox as a document management tool. I so much prefer it to what I was using over the last few years. It's largely a matter of personal preference, but that means that my life is easier and it's my preference that takes priority, not the preference of a committee. As a teaser on Worldox, you can incorporate your email into the doc management system, moving you away from the frustratingly rudimentary search and management functionality of Outlook.

I also got to be trained on CaseMap 4.5 over the phone by Danielle Carwell of CaseSoft. I'm not a litigator and have no interest in being one, but CaseMap is the only thing that's ever made me even think about being a litigator. Every time I experiment with CaseMap I have a flood of ideas of how it might be used and I'm about to try some in a non-litigation context. I remember someone saying to me that "if you are not using Casemap, you're not really litigating." I still can't imagination how anyone would hire attorneys in a litigation matter who didn't use CaseMap.

Here's another one: Enfish. Can't find anything on your drives? Aren't using Worldox? Can't find old email? Enfish is kind of like a Google for your hard drive. It's much more, of course, but you get the idea. Some people are good at scrupulously managing files and folders so they can always find things. I'm not one of them and I doubt you are either because I haven't met many.

Finally, I had a great phone call and GoToMyPC demo of ActiveWords from Buzz Bruggeman. We speak the same language, it seems. ActiveWords in simplest terms is a universal macromaker, but that description doesn't do it justice. Longtime Windows users have their own lists of common tasks where a graphical interface is a pain in the butt because it takes a lot of steps. Enter ActiveWords and you can automate that. I'm just scratching the surface with the program by using it to open programs quickly by typing a few letters, but it's a godsend for making common tasks really easy. Like all good programs, it gives you room to explore doing things that you want and makes you think about ways it can help you.

By way of comparison, I was talking with a friend of mine at one of the top 100 firms who was lamenting using Office 97 programs. I got a cool new Lexar Jump Drive (the floppy may indeed be dead) and wondered what approval process might be required in some large firms. I just got to pop it in and go. It reminded me of the time I waited over a year for approval to have a $79 color inkjet purchased and installed on my office computer. You know what, I never did get that printer.

If you're doing something cool with tech that fits into to the solo space (or not), I'm always willing to hear more about it.

Posted by dmk at 11:48 PM

May 27, 2003

You Find the Coolest People in the Blogs

Legal marketing maven, Larry Bodine, has joined the blogging world. Check out his blog at http://radio.weblogs.com/0125000/. His Law Marketing Portal is a fabulous resource on legal marketing.

Posted by dmk at 11:03 AM

A Helpful Dose of Computer Security Information

Can we ever get enough good, practical information about computer security? I say "nay!"

Some useful resources I've found recently include CERT's Home Computer Security; Five Steps to Wireless Security; Security Practicum: Essential Home Wireless Security Practices; Overview of the WPA Wireless Security Update in Windows XP; and for the power users and eternally curious, 75 Top Network Security Tools.

Posted by dmk at 11:01 AM

May 21, 2003

LLRX Returns

The great LLRX.com site has returned with new content. LLRX is one of the truly valuable legal web sites with tons of great articles in its archives. The new issue launches with some excellent articles and I'm proud and pleased that it includes some newly published material from me, including the latest edition of The Internet Roundtable. A big thank you to Sabrina Pacifici for keeping LLRX alive and going.

Posted by dmk at 07:37 AM

24: Lawyers Using Computers

24, to me, is far and away the best show on television these days and last night ended the great run of season 2. In an inspiring twist for those of us lawyers who see the potential of the use of technology in the practice, a huge tide-turning discovery was made by a high-powered lawyer who worked with a database on his own to find key information. Not associates and paralegals plowing through banker's boxes of documents, but a major partner working a computer with expertise.

As I said, it was kind of inspring.

Posted by dmk at 07:29 AM

May 20, 2003

Getting a Handle on Legal Tech ROI

I got an email the other day from a person agreeing with my comments that there would be an increasing emphasis this year on justifying return on investment (ROI) for law firm technology projects. However, the person wanted to know if there were guidelines for measuring ROI - a good and fair question.

I don't think there is one magic approach to determining ROI because every firm will weigh different factors in different ways. What's important is to have some method to measure ROI. Here are two articles that will give you a good overview of the ways some firms and companies have tried to implement ROI analysis for technology.

Christopher Koch's "Why Doesn't Your ROI Add Up? You Do the Math" is a good starting point for thinking about these issues, with a nice checklist of issues to consider. Kingsley Martin's Show Me the Money - Measuring the Return on Knowledge Management focuses on the issue of knowledge management, but provides an outline of some standard ROI methodologies that can be used with other legal technologies.

Posted by dmk at 07:57 PM

May 19, 2003

Revolution OS DVD

Many people would like to get a solid understanding of Open Source and Free software and, unfortunately, have not found a good, easy way to do so. Even my law review article on the Open Source licenses probably won't do the trick for most people, much as I hate to admit that.

I just watched today a DVD of a documentary called "Revolution OS" that is an excellent introduction to what is going on in the Open Source Movement, the Free Software Movement, Linux and the licensing and IP implications involved. It tells the story well, through interviews with most of the major players. I thoroughly recommend this DVD as an introduction to these topics. My only critique might be that it is a little light on the MIT/BSD family of licenses, but, in fairness, the focus of the film is on the GPL and Linux.

Posted by dmk at 08:44 PM

May 15, 2003

Research Agent News

Research Agent News is a brand new email newsletter focusing on the economics of online research and it's definitely worth a look. While admittedly I'm going to be biased toward a newsletter that runs one of my articles as a feature in its first issue, I like the fact that some of the first articles focus on both the cost recovery and income opportunity aspects of online research, including an ROI calculator. Take a look.

Speaking of newsletters, don't forget about my new free email newsletter, Practical Technology Contract Review News.

Posted by dmk at 01:41 PM

May 14, 2003

Cybersecurity and Cyberincident Response Plans

Simone Kaplan's article on CSOOnline.com called "When Bad Things Happen to Good Companies" is a great, if scary, overview of cybersecurity and cyberincident response plans. It's a good starting point for trying to come to grips with these issues and even better for those who have not yet focused on these issues.

If you are in Missouri (or nearby) and have an interest in this topic, I had a meeting with Cecil Caulkins of The Missouri Bar this evening about planning an all-day seminar on the legal and business aspects of cybersecurity. It looks like it's a go and we are working on a September date. I welcome any suggestions for topics or speakers or any other comments that will help me gauge the interest in and target this program.

Posted by dmk at 10:34 PM

May 12, 2003

Companies Unprepared for California Data Privacy Law

Every piece of legislation directed at technology seems to have unintended consequences. I mentioned last week that companies are now stepping up to unintended consequences and costs of the Patriot Act. Add another to the list.

Jaikumar Vijayan's article in ComputerWorld suggests that a new California Data Privacy Law intended to protect Californians against identity theft may have wide-ranging and unexpected consequences for any company doing business in California. In simplest terms, a company may have an obligation to notify California citizens in the event of a security breach that might lead to identity theft. But it's not so simple. As the article indicates, some have found the statutory language ambiguous and a company that notifies only Californians of a security breach invites a public relations nightmare.

If that's not fun enough, imagine 50 different state identity theft laws, plus federal laws on the subject as well.

Posted by dmk at 09:36 PM

May 09, 2003

The Rising Cost of Patriot Act Compliance

If you want to find classic examples of unintended consequences just look at what happens when legislation and technology mix. The aims and intentions are usually laudable, but law do not seem to be able to keep up with technology and legislators seem equally unable to foresee the consequences of new statutes and regulations.

Tamara Loomis's New York Law Journal article, "The Rising Costs of Patriot Act Compliance," gives us some more examples and more expensive news for financial institutions and other businesses who had a hard enough time navigating through the shoals of Graham-Leach-Bliley and HIPAA.

She points out: "A year and a half later, many experts say we may never know whether the law is working as intended. Yet, effective or not, it is now an expensive fact of life for the financial firms that fall within its gamut.Although still a moving target at this point, the cost of compliance is expected to be staggering. According to research firm TowerGroup in Needham, Mass., securities firms alone will spend nearly $700 million on compliance over the next several years. The list of tasks is long and still growing. Just last week, the U.S. Treasury Department, the agency administering the new law, issued seven new sets of Patriot Act regulations."

Posted by dmk at 11:42 AM

An Ideameme Worth Spreading

Jim Fruchterman, the CEO and founder of Benetech, and one of the 2003 Social Entrepreneurs of the Year by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in Geneva, Switzerland has an article on News.com called "Throwing down the gauntlet to Silicon Valley." His premise is that "combining technology with social enterprise provides immense leverage for good."

He says, "Many technologists would love to work on socially important problems, but this is rare because they don't have viable models. The best way to bridge this gap is with social enterprise, a technology venture run like a business but structured as a nonprofit with two bottom lines: social and financial. The goal is not to make lots of money, but instead, to deliver the maximum good while operating in a sustainable manner (generally at breakeven). The technology user is treated as a customer--not the recipient of charity--and the enterprise must meet his or her needs or lose revenue."

And he concludes, "Corporations can cooperate with these social entrepreneurs to go after neglected markets at little marginal cost, and see their products and technology applied to social applications. Foundations need to explore how social enterprise can help their dollars go farther and how to take advantage of the immense leverage technology offers. Ultimately, the only limit on what we can accomplish with technology is our imagination. At a time when the for-profit sector looks grim, it's important to remember how much good technologists can still contribute to the world."

He provides a few examples as well. These are important ideas and ones worthy of more discussion and action. My friend Wendy Leibowitz has written on similar notions as they apply in the legal space and a few other ideas can be found at elawyering.org. Definitely something to think about. Spread the word.

Posted by dmk at 11:33 AM

May 08, 2003

PeopleSoft Decision is a Watershed Event for Linux

PeopleSoft's recent decision to port all of its 170 enterprise applications to Linux by the end of the year may well prove to be the most significant development in Linux this year and a major sign of the movement away from Windows and Linux in the enterprise market.

You have to watch what is happening in the applications market to gauge what's going on in the OS market.

"What's changed in the last few months is where [customers] want to use it," said David Sayed, PeopleSoft's technology product marketing manager. "It's a coming together of customer demand and [Linux] maturity as a whole."

Stacey Quandt, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., said PeopleSoft, like other software vendors, has seen "the competitive aspect of having a Linux solution. There's obvious demand in the market," Quandt said.

Watch where developers are putting their money, especially in this economy. This is big news on the Linux front.

Posted by dmk at 10:36 PM

XBRL - A Trend to Watch

The SmartPros newsletter carried a report today called "XBRL Top Tech Trend, Says PwC Forecast." XRBL is the "eXtensible Business Reporting Language" standard and is "an electronic format for simplifying the flow of financial statements, performance reports, accounting records, and other financial information between software programs." The idea is that XRBL will be used as a consistent format for business reporting which "will streamline how companies prepare and disseminate financial data, and how analysts, regulators, and investors review and interpret it. As a result, XBRL will save time and money when information consumers within and outside of a company analyze complex data. XBRL is a standard based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and is supported by a consortium of over 200 corporations, financial markets, accounting firms and regulators."

"The effect that XBRL will have on the business community will be more significant than the transition from paper and pencil analysis of financial information to the use of electronic spreadsheets," said Mike Willis, founding chairman of XBRL International.

The PwC report also identifies real time business intelligence systems displayed on digital dashboards, evolution of business integration technologies, real time supply chain event management with the growing use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and expanded use of XML as other trends to watch.

Posted by dmk at 10:34 PM

May 05, 2003

MLK

I was in Alabama for a few days attending a friend's wedding. Since I was flying out of Atlanta yesterday, I had a few extra hours to take a look at Atlanta.

I believe it was Tom Peters who wrote that any time he is in Atlanta he likes to visit the Ebenzer Baptist Church. That rang a bell with me, and thanks to my trusty Hertz NeverLost system, I found my way there, and discovered that in fact there is a very good Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, which includes the church, his birth home and his grave. It's quite an experience.

One of my wishes is that over time I will be able to visit some of the important sacred and spiritual places in the world. Quite simply, this site is one of them. If you are ever in Atlanta, I thoroughly recommend a visit.

Posted by dmk at 08:32 PM

May 01, 2003

Technology in Corporate Law Departments - The Current State of the Art

A fascinating article by Ashby Jones in Corporate Counsel reports on the results of a survey on what technologies corporate law departments sre using. While I'm frightened by the implications of the findings of any article that starts out, "The once hidebound law firm has finally gotten hip to technology," the article suggests that some corporate law departments make many law firms look like technological juggernauts. Three words for corporate law departments on the subject of technology - Dupont Legal Model. My set of resources on "Client Driven Technologies" has more than a few good ideas for corporate law departments. See http://www.denniskennedy.com/clientdriven.htm. One of my areas of consulting is precisely this field and I spoke on this topic at the ABA TechShow and would be happy to speak on this subject again.

Posted by dmk at 08:51 AM

Practical Technology Contract Review News

I debuted today a new free, monthly email newsletter called "Practical Technology Contract Review News." The title is pretty self-explanatory. I welcome you to check it out and see what you think. As is the case in most of my web projects, I simply want to provide a resource where there doesn't seem to be one that exists currently. This short newsletter will benefit lawyers and non-lawyers alike and focus on solid, practical information, tips and techniques for reviewing and negotiating technology contracts in what I hope will be an interesting way. In a sense, it is an extension of some of the teaching I do in my IP and e-commerce licensing and drafting class at the Washington University School of Law.

Posted by dmk at 07:35 AM