Dennis Kennedy

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January 31, 2008

Kevin Kelly on Better Than Free

Kevin Kelly's post, "Better Than Free," has given me much to think about, and I suspect it will do the same for you.

The money quote:

When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.

Well, what can't be copied?

Kevin starts with "trust," a (or perhaps the) key element of any professional services practice.

He then lists 8 "generatives" that are better than free:

1. Immediacy. (E.g., instant, targeted alerts)

2. Personalization.

3. Interpretation (or "how to" or support)

4. Authenticity.

5. Accessibility.

6. Embodiment (putting into the format you want).

7. Patronage.

8. Findability.

The second money quote:

These eight qualities require a new skill set. Success in the free-copy world is not derived from the skills of distribution since the Great Copy Machine in the Sky takes care of that. Nor are legal skills surrounding Intellectual Property and Copyright very useful anymore. Nor are the skills of hoarding and scarcity. Rather, these new eight generatives demand an understanding of how abundance breeds a sharing mindset, how generosity is a business model, how vital it has become to cultivate and nurture qualities that can't be replicated with a click of the mouse.

In short, the money in this networked economy does not follow the path of the copies. Rather it follows the path of attention, and attention has its own circuits.

Wow! To me, these are important, clarifying, and challenging (in the best sense) words. It also echoes the business models that have grown up around the Open Source licenses.

And, as Kevin notes, none of it involves selling ads.

I encourage you to read (and re-read) this post.

What do you think? I'd enjoy discussing this topic.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Coming in March from ABA Publishing - The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together

Technorati tags: kevin kelly open source Law2.0

Posted by dmk at 09:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2008

Ross Kodner on the Difference between IT and Legal Tech; Laura Orr on Blogging

Two posts of note today for those interested in legal tech and blogging, which I guess would be most readers of this blog.

First, Ross Kodner has a great post on the differences between legal technology and information technology (IT). It's a great discussion-starter and should make you think. Highly recommended.

The money quote:

A mistake I’ve observed SO many firms of ALL sizes across the continent is confusing IT and LT – not making, or not knowing there is a fundamental distinction between these two areas of information.

My short take is that legal technology focuses on lawyers, how they work, and technology that helps lawyers do their work better.

Second, Laura Orr has a great post chock full of great tips on blogging for lawyers. It was nice to see the reference to me, even though it reminded me that I really don't write or speak as much on blogging as I used to.

Among Laura's excellent tips, is one I want to highlight that's both simple and often overlooked:

Open an email account for your blog.

My best advice to starting bloggers is to find one or two of the blogging "rules" that you can break when you do your blog. Personal voice, more so than strict obedience of blogging best practices, is the key to a great blog (and a great blogging experience. That said, you won't find many better digests of the best blogging practices than Laura's post.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Coming in March from ABA Publishing - The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell.

Technorati tags: legal technology blogging

Posted by dmk at 09:54 PM | Comments (1)

January 27, 2008

Dennis Kennedy's Links of the Week- January 28, 2008

I've wanted to do regular feature on this blog where I simply list some of the most interesting links I've found during the previous week - sort of a "best of" from my Google Reader Shared Items.

So, I'm kicking it off today. the idea is that I'll pick out a set of links that I might have wanted to write about or that I found especially thought-provoking or useful. I might or might not agree with the posts or items I link to, but I found them to be something I wanted to share.

In general, I'm just going to give a link to the item, without any explanation. I'll try to do this every weekend, and I'll include the latest additions to my 52 books in 52 weeks project.

And away we go.

How Buildings Learn

Sample Chapter of If We Can Keep It: A National Security Manifesto for the Next Administration, by Chet Richards

Kahn and Mann's Ten Common Pitfalls

Overnight Sensation

Countering the Enemy's Expectations

A President Like My Father

It's all in the frame: how to promote your services without breaking rapport - a writing challenge for business bloggers

Getting Past Done: What to Do After You’ve Finished a Big Project

Legal Secretaries 2.0

Twenty Snacks That Help Productivity

The Coming of the Cloud, Networked Knowledge Work and New Business Logic

This Week's Additions to 52 Books in 52 Weeks:

The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets...And How We Could Have Stopped Him , by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins

Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: links

Posted by dmk at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

The Internet Roundtable Revisited: The Blog Columns

I recently mentioned the Internet Roundtable columns Jerry Lawson, Brenda Howard and I wrote on Internet marketing for lawyers several years ago and how they are some of my favorite articles.

Sabrina Pacifici emailed me that she has placed all of the columns in one location on LLRX.com. Even better, she relinked and added columns 36 and 37, a two-part series on blogging.

I remember that Jerry Lawson decided that it was time (July 2003) to cover blogs as part of Internet marketing in the columns. We had been talking privately about blogs and how they were changing all the rules and conventions of law firm websites.

I started the first column with: "When I notice that both Jerry Lawson and I have commented publicly that the energy and excitement around blogging remind us of 1995 and the early days of creating web pages, it's clear that blogging is a topic that deserves some attention . . . ."

We brought in two of our favorite bloggers as guests - Ernest "Ernie the Attorney" Svenson and Tom "Inter Alia" Mighell - and the columns are especially interesting to show their early reflections on blogging.

I've always felt that Ernie captured a core element of blogging with this comment:

I was always interested with the idea of having a website, but I would never have taken the time to set one up. But some easy-to-use weblog software with a free 30-day trial is all it took to draw me into the Internet fray. That, and an obsession to have my voice broadcast to the widest possible audience.

I thoroughly recommend the columns to anyone interested in blogs and blogging, and the early history of lawyers using blogging. Look for the discussion of the term "blawg."

Column 37 (part 2) marked the end of the Internet Roundtable columns, which was appropriate in a sense because blogs so radically changed the world of traditional law firm websites.

Jerry Lawson's final comment on that last article was both wise and prescient:

Blogs have enormous potential, but it's important to keep the phenomenon in perspective. I think we're going to see another instance of the "80/20 Rule." It will probably shake out something like this: About 80% of all lawyer web logs will fail. The remaining 20% will have greater or lesser degrees of success, mostly modest. One per cent or so, maybe less, will be extremely successful. However, some of that 1% will be so successful that they will make their owners very, very glad they got into the blogging game.

A big thank you to Sabrina for bringing back these columns. And, when you visit the articles, be sure to check out the rest of the always great content at LLRX.com.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: legal technology internet roundtable blawg blogs

Posted by dmk at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2008

Planning for Legal Technology in a Recession

The recession winds have hit the economy at gale force levels in the last few weeks. Many people spent a nervous day watching the stock market today.

The natural reaction to news of a slowing economy is to cut back on spending. Recession often goes hand in hand with retrenchment, and there's little doubt that the legal profession is already casting a nervous eye toward technology budgets.

Today, I took a look back at an article I wrote in 2001 called "A Prudent Approach to Legal Technology Spending in a Slowing Economy." It's been one of my most popular articles. I wondered how relevant it felt today.

The article actually holds up well, despite the outdated examples and reference to Y2K efforts.

It also reflects some of my common themes, including my stubborn insistence that the concepts of modern portfolio theory (diversity of investments, et al.) should play a role in legal technology strategy and planning.

Here are the key points in the article, which are worth thinking about in the coming days and weeks.

The key: being willing to think of technology in terms of investment.

I like to think of technology investing as a form of portfolio investing. Much as we rebalance our investment portfolios in changing economic conditions, the same principles apply to technology investment. . . . The interesting conclusion in modern portfolio theory is that the most prudent approach, over the long term, includes a reasonable proportion of high-risk, high-return investments, regardless of the investment climate. In a slow economy, sticking with a diversified approach is mandatory.

Investing in technology requires a similar portfolio approach.

The article identifies six areas to consider carefully when developing your technology portfolio:

1. Technology That Cuts Costs

2. Technology That Makes You Indispensable to Your Clients

3. Technology That Helps You Get New Clients

4. Technology That Helps You Move into New Practice Areas (or Creates Profitable Niche Practices)

5. Technology That Helps You Recruit and Retain Great People

6. Technology That Makes You Saner

The article concluded with these thoughts:

In a slow economy, you need to make smart choices about technology. Focusing hard on return on investment is important, but not if you are using that as an excuse to shut down technology investment. A better approach is to get a lot of options on the table and consider their likely risk and potential return. Then prudently pick a diverse portfolio of technology investment projects and step boldly forward. Not all of them may work, but the diversification will, and you’ll find yourself well positioned for the changes to come, both in the economy and the practice of law.

I really like the ideas in this article and find them quite appropriate for today. What do you think? Do you have other ideas and strategies? Is it time to focus on recession strategies?

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Get your legal technology information by audio. Check out The Kennedy-Mighell Report Podcast.

Technorati tags: legal technology recession strategy planning

Posted by dmk at 09:59 PM | Comments (1)

January 21, 2008

Celebrating the Martin Luther King Holiday

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I've written before (here and here) that the Martin Luther King Holiday is one of my favorites holidays of the year. It's a perfect day to take some time to reflect in a way that the crunch of the end of the year holidays simply does not allow anymore.

I also enjoy monitoring Technorati for the posts about MLK, with Springsteen's Land of Hope and Dreams (lyrics and a player here) as the soundtrack. Try it.

Lots of interesting posts to find today. Start with Bert Decker's The Speaking Style of Martin Luther King and follow some blog posts to see where they lead you. As they say, "Make It a Day ON, Not a Day Off!"

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: martin luther king musings

Posted by dmk at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008

I've Been Listening to So Many Podcasts that I Didn't Realize that Podcasting Might Have Been Declared Dead

One of the amusing things about reading blogs, especially tech blogs, for many years is how quickly trends arise, blossom and get declared dead, sometimes, it seems, within a period of weeks or even days. There are times when a trend is declared dead even before many people have even heard of it.

Just pick a trend and do a Google search on "is [trend] dead?"] and you'll be surprised by the number of hits.

However, it's also true that the "is [trend] dead?" post or, more emphatically, "[trend] is dead" post, will definitely generate traffic to your post. (See linkbaiting - by the way, is linkbaiting dead?)

A lot of things have been declared dead by someone or another lately - email, Windows Vista, the billable hour, the horse and buggy, you name it.

I've always liked podcasts. Tom Mighell and I even talked about our favorite podcasts on our own podcast.

My biggest reservation about podcasts was that there would be so much great content that you would have such a backlog of podcasts that you could never hope to listen to them all. You can be a fast reader, but it's much harder to be a fast listener.

I can confirm that my reservation was well-founded. There are lots of great podcasts. What NPR has done in the world of podcasting is simply amazing.

I've wanted to blog more about podcasts, but I find it difficult to blog about podcasts. In part, that's because there is often a time lag from when the podcast was released and when you listen to it. That can make it harder to find the URL when you want to link to it in a blog post. Also, if you listen to podcasts on an iPod or other mp3 player, you probably aren't at a computer and won't blog about it contemporaneously.

I had reached the conclusion the other day that I was going to highlight podcasts and podcasting as a key legal tech trend for 2008.

Then, I realized that there is a big debate going on whether, surprise, podcasting might be dead. I like Dave Winer's take on the topic, especially when he says, "My phone doesn't have a business model. Neither does my porch."

By the way, my Google search on "is podcasting dead?" tonight shows a total of 3.570 results.

So, I reconsidered my opinion about podcasts, for a few seconds, and went back to listening to podcasting and recommending it as a trend to watch in 2008. If you haven't been introduced to the world of podcasts, I recommend that you take a listen. A good starting point is visiting the Apple iTunes store and checking out the wide variety of podcasts now available, on almost any topic that you can imagine.

Count me on the side of those who think that podcasts are alive.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Get your legal technology information by audio. Check out The Kennedy-Mighell Report Podcast.

Technorati tags: legal technology podcasts

Posted by dmk at 08:12 PM | Comments (1)

January 14, 2008

ABA TECHSHOW 2008: Early Bird Discount and My Sessions

I always recommend that lawyers interested in technology, especially lawyers within easy reach of Chicago in mid-March, try to attend ABA TECHSHOW. I might show a little favoritism for TECHSHOW because I used to be on the board, but it's a great show if you are interested in educational programs about practical ways practicing lawyers can use technology for their benefit.

I see that February 1 is the deadline for a $100 early bird discount. The registration page also details other available discounts. I'll also note that joining the ABA's Law Practice Management Section was one of the best moves I made in my legal career, and it entitles you to another discount for TECHSHOW.

I'll be speaking at two sessions this year, with two of my favorite co-presenters, Dan Pinnington and Tom Mighell.

First:

The Virtual Law Office: Is "Software-as-a-Service" Ready for Prime Time? Friday, March 14, 2007

What if you could work from anywhere that you had Internet access? Our experts will help you decide whether it's finally time to make a virtual law office your reality, and the online services that can help you make it happen. We'll also cover the ethical and due diligence issues you must work through to keep your virtual office as safe as one made of bricks and mortar. Whether you want to practice from the beach, the mountains, or a treehouse, it's time to start designing the virtual law office of your dreams.

Speakers: Dennis Kennedy, Dan Pinnington

Second:

Working Together from Wherever You Are: The Lawyer's Guide to Collaborating on the Internet Friday, March 14, 2007

Collaboration is no longer an option. Online tools like WebEx, Sharepoint, Acrobat Connect, Basecamp, Zoho, wikis and others make it easy for lawyers to work instantaneously with clients and colleagues, whether they're across the hall or on the other side of the world. Come join the authors of a soon-to-be published ABA book on collaborative technologies as they discuss the options available to lawyers, developing a collaboration strategy, and the ethical implications of working with others in an online environment.

Speakers: Tom Mighell, Dennis Kennedy

Hope to see you there. I always try to make myself available to meet with as many readers of this blog as I can while I'm in Chicago for TECHSHOW.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: legal technology techshow collaboration saas

Posted by dmk at 09:31 PM | Comments (1)

January 12, 2008

52 Books in 52 Weeks

In the least couple of years, I've enjoyed reading the posts of several bloggers who are trying to read 52 books in 52 weeks.

With The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies due out this spring, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on book-reading for 2008.

I've also wanted to find a good way for me to keep track of the books I've read. I experimented a bit with Shelfari, but didn't stick with it.

So, for 2008, I've decided to do the 52 books in 52 weeks meme (and encourage others to do so).

My approach will be to update this post periodically throughout the year to keep the running tally in one place.

December

64. Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Sanction, Eric Van Lustbader

63. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, John Bogle

62. Bumping into Geniuses, Danny Goldberg

61. Chain of Blame, Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla

November

60. The John Boyd Roundtable, Mark Safranski

59. Looking for Trouble, Ralph Peters

October

58. The Medici Effect, Franz Johansson

57. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, Charles Morris

56. Reinventing Collapse, Dmitry Orlov

September

55. The Integral Vision, Ken Wilber

54. First Daughter, Eric Van Lustbader

53. Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?, Thomas Kohnstamm

52. The Art of Cycling, Robert Hurst

51. The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide, Sharon Nelson, John Simek and Michael Maschke

August

50. The Faithful Spy, Alex Berenson

49. The Third Coast, Ted McClelland

48.The Unthinkable, Amanda Ripley

47.A Simpler Way, Margaret Wheatley

46. Richistan, Robert Frank

45. Downsizing Your Home with Style, Lauri Ward

44. Seeing the Old Way, Jonathan Hale

July

43. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

42. The iPod Book, Scott Kelby

41. Kingdom of Shadows, Alan Furst

40. The Foreign Correspondent, Alan Furst

39. Sins of the Assassin, R. Ferrigno

38. The Orpheus Deception, David Stone

37. Terror and Consent, Philip Bobbitt

June

36. Flashback, Raymond Chandler

35. Pulp Stories, Raymond Chandler

34. Double Indemnity (script), Raymond Chandler

May

33. The Amateur Spy, by Dan Fesperman

32. Still Broken, by A.J. Rossmiller

31. The Big Switch, by Nicholas Carr

30. High Window, by Raymond Chandler

29. Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler

April

28. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

27. The Rolling Stone Interviews, by Jann Wenner and Joe Levy

26. Bathroom, by Suzanne Ardley

25. Darkness Falls, Kyle Mills

24. Prince of Fire, by Dan Silva

23. Beyond Bullet Points (Second Edition), by Cliff Atkinson

March

22. Certain to WIn, by Chet Richards

21. Crashproof Your Kids, by Timothy Smith

20. The Physics of NASCAR, by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

19. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle

February

18. Absolute Power, by David Baldacci

17. Stone Cold, by David Baldacci

16. The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzkin

15. The Shell Game, by Steve Alten

14. Coltrane, by Ben Ratliff

13. The Sign of Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle

12. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

January.

11. How to Pick a Peach, by Russ Parsons

10. Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds

9. The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets...And How We Could Have Stopped Him , by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins

8. Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

7. No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain

6. The United States of Arugala, David Kamp

5. Ronnie, Ronnie Wood

4. Dance with the Dragon, David Hagberg

3. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

1. Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-first Century, and Why We Live in Houses Anyway, by Witold Rybczynski

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Technorati tag: 52 books in 52 weeks

Posted by dmk at 04:23 PM | Comments (1)

January 10, 2008

My Lexblog Q & A Interview

Thanks to Rob La Gatta and Lexblog for running a two-part interview with me as part of their excellent series of interviews with lawyer and law-related bloggers.

I enjoyed the interview greatly, as you probably will be able to tell. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

I talk about the early history of blawgs, my own first steps to blogging, lessons learned and useful advice I wish I had gotten when I started. I tried to share some of my best information and thinking about blogging.

I also recommend the other interviews in the series - you can learn a ton of great things,, and not just about blawgs and blogging.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: legal technology blogging blawg

Posted by dmk at 11:27 PM | Comments (1)

January 08, 2008

Returning to The Internet Roundtable

I was doing some research last night (for this) and wanted to find the first time that I had written about blogging for lawyers in a published article.

I actually know the answer to this question because Jerry Lawson likes to have fun and point out that I first suggested that blogs could be a great marketing vehicle for lawyers more than two years before I actually got around to launching my own blog.

So, if you go back to December 2000, in column #15 of The Internet Roundtable, a long-running series of articles on Internet marketing I co-wrote with Jerry Lawson and Brenda Howard, you'll find me saying:

"Blogs" . . . are my new favorite web phenomenon. In essence, they allow you to put an ongoing web journal of your writings on your web site, almost like a daily diary. If your site is designed to accentuate your personality, a blog might be a fascinating tool to let you easily put up opinions, idea and thoughts and get your audience to return on a regular basis.

Jerry's response was quite prescient, as always. In part, he said, "For most lawyers, blogs would be a fiasco, possibly even dangerous. On the other hand, for a few lawyers, they could be perfect."

The Internet Roundtable columns are some of my very favorite articles. We wrote 36 of them over a three-year period, all published on LLRX.com (although #36, which included Ernest Svenson and Tom Mighell in a discussion of blogging, seems to be missing). They were written as a conversation and I've used that "roundtable" format extensively over the years. It's such a great way to write good multi-authored articles.

We would pick a simple aspect of Internet marketing and kick around some of the basic ideas and concepts and offer practical insights and tips.

So, last night I looked through some of the articles. I still enjoy them and was struck by how relevant the discussions still are and how much you can learn from the articles. The columns seem to have captured some of the core principles of successful websites and improved web presence. It's interesting to see how, today, blogs, by their very nature, allow you to automatically execute some of the best elements of good content strategies.

We had a good number of guest authors, in a way a who's who in legal websites and Internet marketing from the late 1990s and pre-blog era. For example, there's a great column with Kevin O'Keefe talking not about blogs, but about creating virtual communities, the area where Kevin gained a lot recognition. Definitely worth a read.

I created this link, based on a search term, to give you quick access to the full set Internet Roundtable columns. If that link doesn't work for you, head over to the great LLRX.com site and run a search on "internet roundtable." Take a look. You'll probably find an idea or two that you can use for your website or blog. It'd be nice to see these articles get a fresh life.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: legal technology internet roundtable blogs legal marketing

Posted by dmk at 07:55 PM | Comments (1)

January 07, 2008

Talking Legal Technology for 2008

Angela Wilson interviewed me about a wide variety of legal technology topics for the ESQ Soundbytes podcast that appears in the most recent issue of the ESQ newsletter (link to mp3). It's described as "attorney and ABA technology columnist Dennis Kennedy sharing what you need to know about PCs, social networking, and helpful technological gadgets."

I enjoyed the interview, as you probably can tell from the recording, and there's some good information in the podcast. Thanks to Angela, who is doing a great job with these podcasts, and to the Missouri Bar, which is again pioneering ways to use technology for lawyer (and consumer) education.

For those looking for insights into where technology is taking the legal profession, let me recommend Neil Squillante's TechnoLawyer's 2008 Predictions, which includes links to other sets of predictions for legal technology.

All of which reminds me that I need to finish my annual article on legal technology predictions.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: legal technology predictions podcast

Posted by dmk at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2008

By Request - Taking a Firm Completely Electronic

A reader asks:

I am a legal assistant in need of some quick advice. My employer recently asked me to track down a powerful and efficient program that would help take the entire firm electronic- files, client information, discovery. Is there one all-powerful program, or a line-up of key programs, that you would suggest to help take us virtual?

I get asked this question in one form or another on a regular basis.

I always suggest that the questioner take a look at the latest version of Ross Kodner's Paper Less Office presentation as the starting point. Let me also say congratulations to Ross on his recent wedding.

I've always liked Ross's emphasis that scanning does not necessarily mean OCR and the presentation and article I link to above will help you understand the different factors that you should consider.

I've found that often people are really asking there is a fast, easy and inexpensive way to "go all electronic."

My personal "quick advice" on getting something workable, simple and inexpensive in place would be to take three steps:

1. Buy an appropriate number of licenses for Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional. And I do mean that you should spend the extra money on the Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional version. This way you'll use PDF as your standard format. You can scan directly into Acrobat, and it will index your PDF files, optimize file sizes, and let you organize and manage the files. It's a powerful all-in-one solution. Familiarize yourself with all the features of Acrobat 8 Professional and I think you'll agree. Note, too, that PDF is becoming a standard in electronic discovery as well as electronic filing.

2.Buy an appropriate number of scanners. This takes some thought. You'll need to think through your workflow and how "electronic" you really want to get. My general sense is that in most offices an approach with one centralized, high-end (meaning fast and able to scan lengthy docs in a large volume) and a scattering of inexpensive scanners on desktops of the people who will actually use them is a good way to start. Do some research, identify scanners that get good reviews and the features you want. I notice that Ross (and others I know) seem to like the Fujitsu scanners these days. I've always been happy with HP scanners.

3. Install a desktop search program that will search networked computers. I like to add the desktop search piece because it adds the search layer to your all-electronic system. Acrobat 8 does a good job on searches, but the desktop search engines are fast, impressive and invaluable. Some are free. Features tend to evolve and change, so you'll want to check the current feature sets and prices. I believe that currently Copernic Desktop Search (free) , Google Desktop Search (free) and X1 Professional ($50 per license) will search across networked computers. You might already have other search tools on your office network, too. I've used Copernic for a long time and am partial to it. I'm wary of Google out of a (perhaps misplaced) concern that my local info will become part of the Google data-mining ecosystem (not a small concern for lawyers with confidential client info).

There are many variations on this theme and you can definitely take more complicated approaches or build upon software (and hardware) you already own (e.g., document management software). Each will involve the three pieces: scanning software, scanner and organization/search tool.

That's my quick answer to an increasingly common question. I'm interested in hearing reactions and how others might answer this question today.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Get your legal technology information by audio. Check out The Kennedy-Mighell Report Podcast.

Technorati tags: legal technology paperless acrobat scanning

Posted by dmk at 08:39 PM | Comments (7)

January 02, 2008

A Mini Strategic Plan for Your Tech Purchases in 2008

My newest technology column in the ABA Journal is out and it's called Tech Greats for ‘08: Spruce up your buying strategy for a better year.

I say: "Here are my best suggestions for planning to im­prove your technology—and your relationship with technology—in 2008. These ideas won’t cost you much money, but they will make your daily experience better than ever."

The summary:

1. Get some storage.

2. Get a new interface.

3. Get a new bag.

4. Get an iPod.

5. Get a blog or a podcast.

6. My best advice for 2008: Learn a new skill or technology.

Read the column to get the details.

Also, a tip of the blog hat to Steve Matthews for his Clawbie awards for best Canadian law-related blogs - a great place to find some new blogs to add to your newsreader.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. Can be high volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.

Technorati tags: legal technology aba journal

Posted by dmk at 10:21 PM | Comments (1)