Tom Mighell and I have recorded two more episodes of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast since I’ve last posted about podcasts on this blog. They are now available on the Legal Talk Network and on iTunes, with an RSS feed here.

Our last two episodes:

Missing Manners for the Digital Age (#56)

The episode description:

Should you really be checking your BlackBerry while I’m having a conversation with you? Do you need to reply to every email, text message, cell phone call and Twitter direct message? When is it OK to unfriend people on Facebook? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the evolving notion of “digital etiquette,” where people are most likely to make missteps in digital manners, and their take on guiding principles for good and polite behavior in our digital world.

Sometimes Tom and I know exactly where we want to go with our podcasts and sometimes it’s a surprise to us where they go. This episode is an example of the latter type. Before we hit record, we were saying that we had no idea where this one was going to go. At the end, we were quite pleased with the directions it had taken and some of the topics we touched on. See what you think.

The genesis for this episode was our appreciation for the new Slate podcast on digital manners called “Manners for the Digital Age” with Farhad Manjoo and Emily Yoffe. The premise is that our new digital world might well require a whole new set of etiquette rules.

We take a look at whether traditional etiquette rules, the old email etiquette rules, or even good old common sense get us to where we need to be in our new social media world.

We touch on WIlliam Gibson’s notion that, especially with smartphones, the Internet now has intruded into and is part of our “real world” experience. We also have the feeling that “common sense” really doesn’t get us far enough. We discuss some of our own pet peeves and take some tentative steps for suggestions for ways to deal with digital etiquette.

In our Q&A segment, we dive into the topic of QR codes (note this blog’s QR code below). Our Parting Shots deal with gadgets and keyboard shortcuts.

The Legal Technology Multiverse (#55)

The episode summary:

As the number of legal technology options and platforms have increased, management of legal technology has become more complicated than ever before. Routine recommendations are changing because of smartphones, use of Macs, Web 2.0 and other changes. In important ways, our view of technology and even the Internet has become more personalized and less universal. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss how our technology is becoming more complex and varied, the resulting changes to questions you must ask and traditional recommendations, and ways to start to address the implications of this trend.

I’m of two minds about this podcast. I’m so pleased with the actual content and our treatment of the topic. I also quite disappointed that I had a technical glitch that required the use of the backup recording for me. Thanks again to the stellar crew at the Legal Talk Network for salvaging the episode.

In the episode, we discuss what we are calling the “legal technology multiverse” – the idea that there is no longer one common, universal technology or Internet experience and that each of us is starting to have our own unique technology experience. Apps play a big role in this and there are implications in both tech support and the very discussions we have about technology.

I recently spoke to a group of third year law students and invited them to ask me whatever they wanted about legal technology. I knew that there was a risk I’d get stumped, but I didn’t expect that I might get stumped by the very first question or that the first question would get me thinking about the legal tech multiverse.

The first question was about what might be a good case management software choice for a start-up law firm with a mixed Mac/PC environment.

Now, there are many great experts on case management tools, so it’s never been one of my strong topics – I turn to one of my expert friends. I was immediately on shaky ground, but I took a deep breath, said, “that’s a great question,” and, fortunately, found an answer starting to form.

What I realized, though, is that the “standard” case management advice, which has applied for many years, no longer stands alone. There are many nuances and answers to this question will vary based on a number of factors.

In the podcast, Tom and I explore not just this question, but the transition of legal technology and law firms from a relatively homogenous environment to a much more diverse environment than we’ve ever seen before. It’s not just Macs or the cloud. Smartphones, apps and other Internet technologies are moving into standard use. There is also a growing interest in Open Source software.

All of this raises a multitude of new questions, including, not least of which, where do you find good help for what you want to do.

This episode is one of our best and it was so disappointing to me to find my main recording had come out garbled.

In the rest of the show, we answer a question about recommend iPad apps. Our Parting Shots cover turning dual monitors into quadruple monitors and the valuable blog about using iPads in business, iPadCTO.

I invite you to listen to the episodes that interest you. As I said earlier, I also recommend that you subscribe to the podcast through iTunes to get new episodes as they are released (and not wait until I post about recent episodes on this blog).

Let us know what you think about episodes. And try some of the other back episodes as well. Although we’re working on some technical issues (please be patient), the show notes for the podcast can be found at www.tkmreport.com.

We always welcome your questions and will try to answer them on episodes.

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

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Now Available! The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Visit the companion website for the book at LawyersGuidetoCollaboration.com. Twitter: @collabtools