Dennis Kennedy

Technorati tags: legal technology podcast ILTA meet-up conference

Posted by dmk at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2007

Law News Now . . . and More to Come at the ABA Journal

The American Bar Association has today launched a completely revamped version of the website for the ABA Journal to stellar notices, like this, this and this. My friend and ABA webmaster Fred Faulkner played a big role in this launch and I enjoyed getting the chance to congratulate him on his excellent work this evening. Fred was a key reason that the Law Practice Today webzine got off the ground so successfully and I clearly see Fred's influence on this new site. I miss getting the chance to work with Fred on a regular basis as we used to do on Law Practice Today.

You will want to visit the site for legal news, a great blawg directory, and free content from the magazine archives.

I like the direction that the ABA Journal is going with the website and the print publication. In fact, I like it so much that I've recently agreed to take over the legal technology column for the publication starting this fall. I'm looking forward to working with Ed Adams and the ABA Journal editorial team.

It was a big honor for me to be asked to write the column and get the chance to continue the great tradition of the column that "the two Davids" - David Beckman and David Hirsch (two of the biggest names in legal technology history) - established and carried forward for many years. Their column was always my first stop in the ABA Journal when it arrived (except, of course, the issue that had an article with my picture in it - the lawyer equivalent of getting your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone, or at least inside it). I salute the two Davids and hope that I can carry on in their footsteps.

I started out writing about legal technology in a column for Lawyers Weekly USA and I've always liked the regular monthly column format. This new column will become my primary outlet for regular articles on legal technology. I'm planning to take an approach that is highly practical, appeals to all lawyers and helps them in their daily work, and also makes people stretch just a bit and think about technology. I have a list of column ideas already put together, but will always welcome ideas for new columns.

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

Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on my new linkblog or subscribe to its RSS feed.

Technorati tags: legal technology column ABA aba journal

Posted by dmk at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)

June 08, 2007

It's By Request Time Again at DennisKennedy.Blog

One of the more popular features of my blog is the occasional "by request" times I set aside to post answers to questions submitted by readers. I haven't done that for a while and thought that this might be a good time to do that again.

So, for the next week, it will be "By Request" time again and I'll try to answer as many questions as I can from what readers submit to me.

To submit a question, either leave a comment to this post or email me at denniskennedyblog@gmail.com with your questions. I don't identify questioners in my posts, and I might modify questions slightly to make the answers more useful to all readers (or to make them easier to answer for me, heh).

It's a great way for you to follow up on a recent post of mine or to ask me questions that my posts have raised or to ask general questions about some of the topics I cover on this blog or elsewhere.

- Dennis

Posted by dmk at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

Collaboration Tools for Lawyers: The Book

Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell are pleased to announce that they will be writing a book on collaboration tools that will be published in early 2008 by the American Bar Association. The book is tentatively titled: "Collaboration Tools for Lawyers: Essential Ways to Work Together with Colleagues, Clients and Even Opposing Counsel."

Nearly every lawyer finds that colleagues, co-counsel, clients and even opposing counsel use the Internet and technology to collaborate and work together on documents, projects and cases. In the simplest scenario, lawyers and clients use the "track changes" feature in Microsoft Word to work together on a document. Technology today lets lawyers take collaboration to the next level. Many legal technology tools now include collaborative elements.

At the same time, lawyers increasingly use the Internet in many ways to work together. From document sharing to videoconferencing, there are more tools than most lawyers can imagine for working together, online.

Two key trends are at play here. First, for years lawyers have understood the clear benefits of collaboration and working together as a routine matter. Second, the availability of simple, inexpensive (even free) collaboration technology has created an environment where working together makes sense to nearly every lawyer in nearly every firm. The push forward on both trends is likely to continue.

Two other important factors also come into play. First, business clients are routinely using technology to collaborate and will expect their lawyers to follow. Therefore, collaboration tools illustrate a classic example of a client-driven technology. Second, events in the world from increased travel costs to possible pandemics make it even more likely that these tools will be adopted by necessity.

To the extent lawyers have experimented with these tools, they may have the nagging feeling that they are simply touching the tip of the iceberg of what might be available to them and how they might use these tools to their benefit. We believe that they are right to feel that way, because it is undoubtedly true.

The book will provide intensely practical advice for lawyers and law firms wanting to take better advantage of these tools and the benefits they bring. It will take a look at how to use these tools wells, focus on both categories of tools and specific individual tools, and provide concrete action steps and techniques so that even the least tech-savvy lawyer can catch up with the early adopters and successful innovators.

Collaboration Tools for Lawyers: Essential New Ways to Work Together with Colleagues, Clients and Even Opposing Counsel, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell (expected publication date: early 2008)

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

Learn more about legal technology at Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Central page.

Technorati tags: legal technology collaboration book collaboration tools lawyers Law2.0

Posted by dmk at 11:12 PM | Comments (1)

March 15, 2007

Idea Market: Meet Me in St. Louis to Talk About Blogging

I don't get to speak about blogging nearly as much as I'd like to these days, but Matt Homann has given me the chance to lead a discussion about blogging at his Idea Market event on Monday evening, March 19. Matt wants you to reserve a spot (it's free) by joining this site. The Idea Market starts at 6:00 pm at the Lucas School House in the Soulard area of St. Louis. Keep an eye on Matt's blog for more details.

I understand that some of the other longtime St. Louis bloggers (like Randy Holloway) will also be there, so we might turn this into a St. Louis blogger meet-up.After all, St. Louis is Blawg City USA.

If you are a St. Louis blogger, a blogger who can get to St. Louis, or a blogger-to-be (i.e., some who is not already blogging), then it'd be great to meet you on Monday night and participate in what I'm sure will be an informative and knowledge-sharing conversation about many aspects of blogging. If you want to send me questions or topics that you want me to cover, that'd be cool.

And, as usual, there will be other fun stuff happening at the Idea Market too. Record "24" and get out the house on a Monday evening for a change.

See you there.

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

This post brought to you by LexThink!(R) - The Legal Unconference. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Litigation 2.0.

Technorati tags: blogging saint louis LexThink! idea market

Posted by dmk at 09:44 PM | Comments (1)

February 15, 2007

By Request Week at DennisKennedy.Blog

One of the things I do every year for the blogiversary of this blog is to give readers the opportunity to submit questions that I'll try to answer.

If you've always wanted to ask me a question about this blog, blogging, legal technology, or any other topic then either email me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com or leave the question as a comment to this post. Unless you indicate otherwise, I will not identify you as the author of the question. And, of course, I reserve the right to answer your question with an answer to a different question that I'd prefer to answer.

I'll try to answer as many of the questions as I can as blog posts.

Request lines are now open.

Blogiversary gifts are always welcome.

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

Posted by dmk at 09:32 AM | Comments (1)

January 03, 2007

Meet Me in St. Louis to Talk About Blogging

For those readers in St. Louis, I'll be speaking about blogs, podcasting and RSS at the meeting of the Computer Consultants of St. Louis next Tuesday evening (January 9) at 6:00 at Screenz in University City.

The focus will be the novice to intermediate user, with a lot of Q & A. I'd enjoy getting the chance to meet some of my St. Louis readers in person.

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

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed). And check out The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast.

Technorati tags: blogging

Posted by dmk at 09:05 PM | Comments (2)

December 05, 2006

Electricity is Back

Thank you for your support and good wishes during the recent ice storm and electrical outage in St. Louis.

We finally got our electricity back yesterday afternoon and moved back home from my father-in-law's house. Yesterday morning, I checked the house and the thermostat read 37 degrees.

Glad to see Evan got his power back too.

Still more than 100,000 without electricity, with another cold snap coming.

I don't think anyone can overestimate how difficult and dangerous the job of restoring power in this ice and cold really is. My gratitude and respect goes out to the workers out in the field trying to bring things back to some kind of normalcy.

A special thank you to my father-in-law for taken us in for a few days.

This was a tough one for me, especially after the long outage this summer. It's easy to get frustrated in this kind of situation.

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

Posted by dmk at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2006

Reminder: My Upcoming Blogging Presentation in St. Louis

Just a reminder:

Thanks to the good people at the St. Louis Chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants, I'll be sharing my insights on blogging and podcasting on November 17.

Here are the details:

ALL ABOARD THE BLOG TRAIN: BUILDING YOUR AUDIENCE, REPUTATION AND BUSINESS WITH BLOGS AND PODCASTS

Dennis Kennedy, Speaker

November 17, 2006

Registration & Networking 7:15 am, Breakfast 7:30, Meeting 8:00 am - 9:15 am
Ces & Judy's
(10405 Clayton Road (in Le Chateau Village, St. Louis, Missouri)

Tom Peters has said, "Biz Blogging . . . works. It is of . . . MONUMENTAL IMPORTANCE. (Or can be.)" In the session, well-known St. Louis blogger Dennis Kennedy (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/) will introduce you to the new world of blogs and podcasts and the benefits they now bring to many consultants and professional services providers. You will start with blogging 101 and then learn how you can uses blogs and podcasts to connect with a larger audience, enhance your reputation and marketing reach, and build your business. Kennedy will share his insights from more than three years of blogging. Business blogging does work.

Dennis Kennedy (dmk@denniskennedy.com) is a St. Louis lawyer who both practices computer law and provides technology consulting services for law firms and corporate legal departments. His blogs, DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/) and Between Lawyers (http://betweenlawyers.corante.com/), are among the longest-running, best-known and most influential of the legal blogs. In 1995, Dennis became one of the first group of lawyers with a web page, and he has frequently spoken, written and been quoted on Internet marketing issues, including the use of blogs by lawyers and other professional services providers.

An award-winning author with hundreds of publications to his credit and a frequent speaker, Dennis was named the 2001 TechnoLawyer of the Year and 2003 Contributor of the Year by TechnoLawyer.com for his role in promoting the use of technology in the practice of law. His website (www.denniskennedy.com) has long been considered a highly regarded resource on legal technology and technology law topics.

He is also a co-founder of LexThink!, a conference and consulting group that focuses on innovation in the professional services industry (http://www.lexthink.com). Dennis also co-writes a popular column on electronic discovery at DiscoveryResources.org. He is a member of the ABA Law Practice Management Section’s Council and is an editor and board member of the Law Practice Today webzine (http://www.lawpracticetoday.org).

Dennis received his J.D., cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1983 and B.A., magna cum laude, from Wabash College in 1983.

Costs: $30 for IMC Members, $40 for non-IMC members,includes buffet breakfast.

If you bring a first-time guest, you will get $5.00 back at the door. Also, your Guest will receive a $5.00 discount.

We prefer that you register via our online registraton below. If you must call in your registration - call Kathy Robinson at Cost Containment Strategies - 314-439-5673.

Please make your reservation no later than Tuesday (by noon) before the Friday program.

Get more info about IMC-STL and the presentation here. Register here.

IMC-STL is a great group. I invite my local readers - lawyers or non-lawyers - to attend this session and learn more about the topic and the group.

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

Posted by dmk at 07:40 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2006

Dennis Kennedy Profiled in Law Practice Magazine

Mark Tamminga interviewed me for a little featurette in the current issue of the ABA's Law Practice magazine (note: the article will be available for a short period before it disappears behind a "members only" firewall). We cover a range of topics and you'll learn a bit about my background and story. I also talk about my perspective on blogging and RSS, legal technology and other topics. Check it out. Thanks, Mark and Law Practice magazine. Lots of other great articles in this issue.

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

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: legal technology dennis kennedy LexThink! law practice Law2.0

Posted by dmk at 08:20 PM | Comments (1)

September 21, 2006

But Enough About Me . . . .

Some "experts" recommend that you keep all elements of personality and personal information off professional blogs.

And then there's me. I disagree with the "all professional, all the time" blogging approach. I like learning more about the personal lives of my favorite bloggers. Many times, it makes me even more likely to use their professional services, but, for the for the most part, it gives me some new insights.

Josh Fruchter, at JD Bliss, has been publishing a series of short bios of interesting lawyers for a couple of years. Back in November 2004, he ran an interview with me. He sent me a note today mentioning that he had updated the site and the URL had changed, which reminded me about the interview.

If you are a regular reader (or a new reader) who would like to learn a bit more about my own story, this interview will give you one part of that story and, I hope, offer a few of the lessons I've learned over the years.

Be sure to check out the rest of the JD Bliss site as well.

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

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: jd bliss

Posted by dmk at 09:15 PM

September 19, 2006

Help Me Decide about a Book Project

Yesterday, I was contacted by two publishers who want me to write a book. It's probably something I need to get done one of these days. The trouble is that everyone wants me to come up with the idea for the book.

I'd like to ask the readers of this blog to help me with this. If I were to write a book, what would you most like it to be about? Leave a comment or email me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail . com.

I'll probably share a few of the ideas I have in the old notebook in a few days.

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

Learn more about legal technology at Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Central page.

Technorati tags: legal technology book

Posted by dmk at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2006

New Online Audio CLE Programs Available from Dennis Kennedy at DigiLearn

I'm pleased to announce that DigiLearn is hosting two new audio continuing legal education courses that I've put together and making them available over the Internet.

First, there is my popular "Legal Technology Trends and Predictions" presentation. Here's the description:

Legal technology can be a complicated and difficult topic. How do you learn about trends in legal technology and make good decisions about where you want to take your firm? In this session, legal technology expert Dennis Kennedy discusses ten of the most important trends in legal technology today and gives you some practical recommendations of how best to address technology issues in your law firm or legal practice.

Second, there is my presentation called "Disaster Recovery Planning for Lawyers." Here's the description:

Natural and man-made calamities in recent years have emphasized the vital importance of good disater recovery and business continuity planning. Don't let your inadequate disaster plan make a bad situation worse. In this session, legal technology expert Dennis Kennedy discussess the key elements of preparation, technology and people involved in good disaster recovery planning and highlights many of the practial issues you must consider when putting together your firm's disaster recovery plan.

I'm a big fan of the ways we can now use the Internet to deliver education and I've alway liked the work that DigiLearn has done in this area. I'm very pleased to be working with them on these new programs.

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

Learn more about legal technology at Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Central page.

Technorati tags: legal technology disaster recovery CLE audio DigiLearn

Posted by dmk at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2006

Updating My Disclaimers

DISCLAIMER: The posts and opinions expressed on this blog and this website are solely the personal opinions of Dennis Kennedy. They do not represent or reflect (nor are they intended to represent or reflect) the positions, opinions, viewpoints, policies and/or statements of any entity in which I have any ownership interest, with which I have any contractual or other legal relationship, or which is, was or might be my client or customer.

REQUIRED STATEMENTS UNDER MISSOURI SUPREME COURT RULES IF THIS WEBSITE OR ANY PORTION OF IT IS DEEMED TO BE AN ADVERTISEMENT OR SOLICITATION. This website is not intended to be an advertisement or solicitation for my legal services. However, under recent changes in Missouri Rules, it may be deemed to be so, despite my intention. Therefore, the following statements may be required on this website and I have included them in order to be in full compliance with these rules. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. Disregard this solicitation if you have already engaged a lawyer in connection with the legal matter referred to in this solicitation. You may wish to consult your lawyer or another lawyer instead of me. The exact nature of your legal situation will depend on many facts not known to me at this time. You should understand that the advice and information in this solicitation is general and that your own situation may vary. This statement is required by rule of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

Posted by dmk at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 05, 2006

St. Louis Blogger Meetup in Connection with AALL Annual Meeting

The AALL Gateway has details and contact info for the blogger meetup to be held on Monday, July 10 in St. Louis at Kitchen K at 1000 Washington Avenue starting at 5:00. As if we need any more reasons to get bloggers together in St. Louis, the event was inspired by the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting being held in St. Louis.

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

This post brought to you by LexThink!(R) - The Legal Unconference. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization.

Posted by dmk at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2006

Electronic Discovery Predictions and Trends Presentation at LegalTech WestCoast 2006

Thanks to the very nice people at Caselogistix, I'll be speaking at the LegalTech Westcoast 2006 show on the afternoon of June 5 about electronic discovery trends and predictions. The panel for this presentation consists of me, so you'll get a lot of my favorite ideas, for better or worse. I guarantee I'll give you plenty of things to think about.

This presentation will be an update of the presentation I gave back in January at LegalTech New York that was one of my best-received presentations, so I'm excited to get to give it again. There will be changes from the earlier version. In fact, quite a bit is changing in the world of electronic discovery these days.

If you are attending the show, it'd be great if you would attend my session and say hello. I'll be around the show as well and don't have much in the way of specific plans. If there's a group of bloggers who might like to get together, let me know and we can get the word out. Otherwise, I'll probably focus on seeing what's going on with vendors these days.

After LegalTech, I'll give two presentations at the always great Missouri Solo and Small Firm Conference - one on email management and information overload (and the role of blogs) and the other on inexpensive technology choices for litigators (where I'll get the chance to co-present with my friend Bob Wiss from CaseSoft).

Then . . . I looked at my calendar and saw that I have no other presentations scheduled for the near future. Of course, that means that I should be reminding you that this is a GREAT time to schedule me to speak for your group or event. However, I must admit that it's nice to have a little break from speaking this summer.

In any event, I hope to see you in Los Angeles or Missouri next week. Be sure to say hello if you see me.

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

Learn more about electronic discovery at Dennis Kennedy's Electronic Discovery Resources page.

Technorati tags: legal technology electronic discovery

Posted by dmk at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2006

Special Offers from Conference Calls Unlimited for Readers of DennisKennedy.Blog

Zane Safrit, CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited, has put together some special offers for readers of DennisKennedy.Blog and I'm offering them to you as another blog reader appreciation gift (like the recent X1 offer).

I met Zane at the original LexThink event and saw him again at the LexThink Lounge event. He also recorded my first podcast when he interviewed me last year. I'm a regular reader of Zane's blog and I always enjoy talking with him and hearing about his insights.

I'm always on conference calls lately where someone conferences people in and asks, "Is everyone still on?" Or people apologize in advance in case they drop someone while trying to conference someone in.

The conference call services at Conference Calls Unlimited just plain work. It's a pleasure to use the service.

If you are considering a conference call service, or reevaluating an existing one, take a look at the offers from Conference Calls Unlimited for readers of this blog. Thanks again for reading my blog.

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

LexThink!(R) - The Legal Unconference. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization.

Technorati tags: legal technology conference call

Posted by dmk at 05:05 PM | Comments (1)

May 24, 2006

DennisKennedy.Blog Reader Appreciation Gift - Free X1 License Download Offer

The nice people at X1 have graciously agreed to provide up to 50 of the readers of my blog with a free license to the X1 Desktop Search tool ($75 regular price). The downloads are my way of saying "thank you" to the readers of this blog.

There is no software that will improve your daily life as a computer user more than a desktop search tool like X1. I use X1 to search both my local hard drives and, most importantly, as the fast, effective search tool that I've always wished that Microsoft Outlook would have had. I can tell you that Microsoft Outlook seems like a completely different program once you use X1 a desktop search tool for searching your email.

How often do you have trouble finding a file or wish that you could find all of the documents that contain a certain word or phrase. Now you can do that. It's fast and it works very, very well -- across your entire desktop as well as your enterprise network.

There will be a limited number of these licenses available. Simply click on the link here and you can download your copy. When the licenses run out, you won't be able to download a copy. So, if the last time we did a promotion like this is any example, you will want to act quickly.

Thank you again for reading my blog. A special thank you to Gregg Coapman and Ann Kuo of X1 for making this happen.

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Technorati tags: legal technology x1 desktop search

Posted by dmk at 04:51 PM | Comments (2)

May 21, 2006

FeedPass as an RSS Subscription Option

I'm always looking for ways to demystify and make easier the RSS subscription process. Marshall Kirkpatrick's recent post on FeedPass (read the comments, too) got me interested in exploring FeedPass.

Part of what FeedPass does is to create a handy subscription page that is designed to make it easier for people to learn about your RSS feed and subscribe to it.

If you are a new reader of my blog or have been thinking about subscribing to the RSS feed, please take a look at the subscription page and let me know whether you think it makes it easy for your to understand RSS and subscribe to the feed.

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

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: legal technology feedpass rss

Posted by dmk at 11:36 AM | Comments (3)

March 21, 2006

A Better Way for Lawyers to Accept Credit Card Payments? Special Offer for Readers of this Blog

I've always liked to try new ideas on my blog that might benefit my audience. Here's the latest one.

I was contacted recently by the nice people at "Accept by Phone" about their merchant credit card accounts built with attorneys who bill for their time in mind.

They offered and now actually agreed to do something special for my blog audience for the next 4 days (through March 25).

"Accept by Phone" is one of those ideas that works just like it sounds. You can process payments from a client quickly by dialing a toll-free number, entering your client's credit card number through an automated system, and then authorizing and processing the payment, all in a few seconds.

The pertinent facts: The system supports Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover cards. Payments will automatically transfer from your Accept by Phone merchant account to your own bank account in about 24-72 hours.

So, what are the advantages, you might be wondering, as I did. It only costs $5.00 a month and 3.95% per sale. There are no equipment leases (that's an important feature) or other add-on fees, and you can cancel at any time without penalty. Hey, they even include free sales slips.

It's simple and it might be a good way for you to eliminate the hassles of dealing with bad checks, late payments and accounts receivable - and it could also help some of your clients to pay their legal fees. And you can accept payments from anywhere.

That's the idea of Accept by Phone. I liked what they told me about the service and said that I'd be happy to publicize the service if they would do a special promotion for readers of my blog. I'm getting no commission. We're trying this as a blog marketing experiment.

They agreed, and here is the special offer:

Normally, it's $99.00 to apply for an account. For the next four days, that application fee is waived if you use the codes below. Think of it as a $99 reader appreciation gift.

To take advantage of this offer and bypass the $99.00 fee to apply, you must click on the "Special Offer Login" link on http://www.accept-by-phone.com/attorneys.html (or go directly to http://www.accept-by-phone.com/spec_offer.html. Study the service carefully and see if it makes sense for you and your needs. I'm happy to bring the offer to you, but you'll need to do your own due diligence.

Then use the following user name and password to apply to receive the application fee waiver.

Username: techlaw

Password: abp7

If you have been considering accepting credit card payments, then be sure to take a good look at what Accept By Phone is offering.

This special offer will only be available until 11:59 PM, Saturday (March 25).

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

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2006

Caselogistix and Affiliate Marketing Links

As I've mentioned, my friends at Caselogistix are bringing me to LegalTech NY next week to speak about trends and predictions in electronic discovery. I hope to see you there. I did a run-through of the presentation today and was pleased with how it is turning out.

As I've learned more about Caselogistix, I've become intrigued about how this tool fits into the whole litigation management / electronic discovery field. If your practice concentrates in these areas, you'll definitely want to do some research to see if it fits your specific needs. I like their tagline: "Litigation software so easy to use, lawyers actually use it."

As part of a new experiment on this blog for 2006, I'm trying out an affiliate marketing link on this blog that is designed to produce a small commission for purchases of Caselogistix use the affiliate link. Essentially, I'll be doing with Caselogistix exactly what I do with book links through the Amazon Associates program.

You would be correct if you assume that I get a lot of requests to mention products on my blog or put links in the Legal Technology Central Section of my website. I'm looking at affiliate marketing arrangements as a reasonable economic approach to handling those requests. I'm interested in your feedback on that approach.

So, I encourage you to learn more about Caselogistix by using this link:

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Posted by dmk at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2006

Welcoming DiscoveryResources.org and Fios as Sponsors

I'm so pleased to welcome DiscoveryResources.org, the premier electronic discovery resource center on the Internet, as a new sponsor of DennisKennedy.Blog. In addition, Fios, a leading electronic discovery service provider, will be sponsoring the Legal Technology Central section of my website, which I am now in the process of updating and adding resources and new pages.

Please take a look at what's going on at DiscoveryResources.org and Fios by clicking on the sponsor banners when you see them.

I'm so pleased to see legal technology vendors seeing the potential of using blogs as a way to reach their target audiences and am pleased to be associated with an innovative and forward-looking company like Fios.

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

Posted by dmk at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2005

X1 Licenses Are Almost - Get Yours Now

As I mentioned here, the nice people at X1 are providing fifty licenses for the X1 Desktop Search tool for readers of this blog who email me with a request for the URL for the download. My rough estimate is that there are around fifteen of them left, so if you would like one be sure to email me (denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com) with your request for the down load URl soon. I appreciate it when you include comments about this blog with your request. As any blogger will tell you, it's fascinating to see who reads your blog.

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments.

Posted by dmk at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2005

Free X1 Desktop Search Licenses as Gift to Readers of this Blog (Limit of 50)

The nice people at X1 have graciously agreed to provide up to 50 of the readers of my blog with a free license to the X1 Desktop Search tool ($75 regular price). I wanted to used this offer as a way to say thank you to readers of my blog.

There's been no category of software hotter in 2005 than the desktop search category. X1 is one of the leaders in the category. The tool will let you swiftly search files and email as if you have a search engine for your hard drive. I can tell you that Microsoft Outlook seems like a completely different program once you use a desktop search tool for searching your email.

All you need to do is to be one of the first 50 people to email me (preferably at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com) with a request for the URL you'll need for the download and I'll get you the info you need. The URL has a built-in counter that will cut things off at 50 or at an expiration date in January, so I'll simply ask you to download one copy only. Once the 50 downloads happen, the offer will end. If you'd like to pass along some comments or suggestions about my blog, I encourage you to do so.

By the way, although I am, of course, interested in sponsor inquiries, I'm also happy to talk to vendors about doing promotions like this one that provide benefits to readers of this blog (without requiring any more effort from me than this one does) or other discount / affiliate marketing arrangements.

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Posted by dmk at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2005

The Last(?) "By Request Day"of 2005, the Blawggie Awards and Other Housekeeping Matters

I had an appointment for tomorrow cancelled and thought it might be a good day to run another "By Request Day" on this blog, possibly the last one of the year. You know the drill - leave your questions in the comments to this post or email me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail . com with your question and I'll try to answer the questions I get, plus a few I've been holding.

A number of people have been asking me when I'll announce the 2005 edition of my annual "Blawggie" awards for excellence in legal blogging. I noticed that I did those on December 26 last year, but that seems like a busy day and I think that I'll do them before Christmas this year - tentatively on December 22nd.

As the end of the year approaches like a freight train, you can expect to see on this blog an effort to finish the job of reposting my articles, which has proven to be a popular feature. My goal is to finish by the end of the year - I was surprised by how many articles I've written over the years. I'm nearly finished with the legal tech articles and will be mixing in some more of my technology law articles.

The 2006 version of my annual legal technology predictions article is in draft form and that will be published this month, perhaps in a long version and a short version. Details to come. The crystal ball was quite interesting in its revelations this year.

I'm also looking for a few volunteers to participate in a roundtable article on Web 2.0 tools for the next issue of Law Practice Today. Let me know if you are interested.

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

This post brought to you by LexThink!(TM) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization.

Posted by dmk at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2005

The Unique Legal Technology Needs of Medium-sized Law Firms

As many of you know, I've spent the better part of my legal career at The Stolar Partnership, a medium-sized law firm of roughly 40 - 50 lawyers when I was there.

My legal tech career probably began on the morning when I got into my office early and found a large manila envelope on my chair. I opened it and found a set of keys, a pager and a memo from our then one-person IT department that began: "As you have probably guessed, this is my resignation letter." It went on to say that that he gave me the memo because I was the only one in the who could understand the importance of and what to do with the info in the memo.

For better or worse, he was right and it made for an interesting day and next few months, to say the least.

So, I've always had a special understanding of the unique legal technology needs of medium-sized law firms. By medium-sized, I mean firms of roughly fifteen to maybe one hundred lawyers.

I've noticed, as have many others, that there are lots of great consultants and other resources for small firms and solos, and, of course, for large law firms.

However, there seems to be a gap when it comes to help specifically tailored for medium-sized law firms. As a local St. Louis sportscaster likes to say, they are kind of caught betwixt and between.

I've spent quite a bit of time talking with lawyers in medium-sized firms over the past few years. I have an affinity and an affection for this group - we have a lot in common.

Firms in this category have a difficult time evaluating legal technology options and face an overwhelming, sometimes paralyzing, number of choices. I often hear that these firms simply do not know what options they really have.

I've also found that these firms have two overriding concerns. First, they want to be sure that they are not wasting money they are spending or making truly bad decisions. Second, even with limited budgets, they want to identify a few technology projects that will be good projects that really help them. I absolutely agree that those are the big two concerns for firms of this size.

So, I've found myself thinking a lot about this group of firms and have decided that I want to make this category of firms my primary focus in my consulting. It's the category of firm or corporate legal department I can understand well and probably help the most.

As a first step down that road, I'm introducing some new, I hope reasonably-priced, consulting packages that focus specifically on the two biggest concerns decision-makers in medium-sized firms have expressed to me over the years. I described the packages as "A Second Pair of Eyes" and here are some of the details:

++++++++++++

A Second Set of Eyes: Legal Technology Audit and Strategic Planning Packages from Dennis Kennedy

Too many law firms and corporate legal departments flush away a surprising amount of money on poor technology choices and implementations. Maybe you work at one of them. Poor buying decisions, wasteful and duplicative projects, failure to take advantage of volume licenses and many other factors result in the waste of dollars firms actually spend. Failing to plan or put together any kind of cohesive approach to technology spending in the future will result in missed opportunities, misspent funds and mistaken priorities.

No one likes the terms "audit" and "strategic plan" these days, but the fact is that, whatever you want to call these processes, failing to do them will waste time and money, make people unhappy, and leave your firm unprepared for client demands.

In most cases, law firms have good people at work on these projects, but they are stretched too thin and simply do not have the time to become familiar with everything in the world of legal technology.

In many cases, what is needed is not a full-blown, expensive top-to-bottom consulting project, but simply a "second set of eyes" to look at your situation and help you set priorities, redirect projects appropriately and make better decisions.

Dennis Kennedy offers three standard packages designed to give you that "second set of eyes" from one of the most highly-regarded authorities in legal technology today.

1. Legal Technology Audit Package. Dennis Kennedy takes an overview look at your existing technology and your current projects based on telephone interviews and documentation you provide. Using his experience and knowledge of the industry, he provides you with a report of what you are doing right and what you can do better, with a focus on identifying places where you are wasting money or spending money in unproductive ways. You get a report, with a set of action steps for you to consider as ways to save or better spend your technology dollars. Price: $2,500.

2. The No-nonsense Quick Strategic Technology Plan Package. Dennis Kennedy will review your current technology plans, discuss your strategies, ideas and wish lists, and do a high-level review of your current technology set-up based on telephone interviews and documentation you provide. He will then produce a report that recommends three to five strategic technology goals tailored to your firm and action steps for working toward those goals. Price: $3,500.

3. The "Second Set of Eyes" Combined Package. The "audit" and "strategic plan" pieces fit together like hand in glove. You can combine both phases into a single package. Price: $5,000.

I've put a flyer (PDF) on my website here.

If you'd like to talk in more detail about these packages or other medium-sized law firm issues, contact me.

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Posted by dmk at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2005

Another By Request Day Tomorrow

It feels like it's time once again for a "By Request Tuesday." I've got a couple of questions in the hopper and encourage any of you who have questions that I can answer on my blog to email the questions to me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com. I'll try to answer them (or at least some of them) on the blog tomorrow.

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Posted by dmk at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2005

New Missouri Ethics Rules Require Disclaimer Language, I Think

The Missouri Supreme Court has recently approved changes to the advertising and marketing rules for Missouri lawyers.

Unfortunately, despite efforts made to clarify the rules, I find the rules impossible to interpret or to understand how they are intended to apply to my website and blog.

Although I maintain that my blogs and website are not intended to be and are not an "advertisement" or "solicitation" for legal services, I have determined that my only option is to load up my website and this blog with the disclaimer language that seems to be required under this new rule.

Until I get further guidance on how to comply with the new rules, my best guess is that I must include the following language on my website.

REQUIRED STATEMENTS UNDER MISSOURI SUPREME COURT RULES IF THIS WEBSITE OR ANY PORTION OF IT IS DEEMED TO BE AN ADVERTISEMENT OR SOLICITATION. This website is not intended to be an advertisement or solicitation for my legal services. However, under recent changes in Missouri Rules, it may be deemed to be so, despite my intention. Therefore, the following statements may be required on this website and I have included them in order to be in full compliance with these rules. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. Disregard this solicitation if you have already engaged a lawyer in connection with the legal matter referred to in this solicitation. You may wish to consult your lawyer or another lawyer instead of me (us). The exact nature of your legal situation will depend on many facts not known to me (us) at this time. You should understand that the advice and information in this solicitation is general and that your own situation may vary. This statement is required by rule of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

For a story about this new rule, please read .

The money quote from that article:

"Levison said it was unclear how this rule will be carried out."

That is quite an understatement. I simply do not understand changing rules in ways that make it clear how you should comply with them. I'm trying to do my best and I hope that will be taken into account.

I believe that these rule changes will become textbook cases for the law of unintended consequences and I fervently hope that, as advertised, they are intended to address specific concerns related to television commercials and litigation practices and not as traps for the unwary.

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

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's consulting services, featuring RSS and advanced blogging consulting and technology committee coaching packages for law firms, corporate legal departments and other professional services providers.

Posted by dmk at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2005

Let’s Do A "By Request Tuesday" Tomorrow

It’s been a while since I’ve done a "By Request Tuesday" and I thought it might be fun to try another one.

Email me your questions at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com and I’ll see if I can answer it tomorrow.

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

Posted by dmk at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2005

A Major Change in My Approach: Enabling Comments on DennisKennedy.Blog

I've never enabled comments on my blog before today. I've had a number of reasons for not doing so – most of them familiar to anyone who maintains a blog and struggled with the issue of comments.

At Between Lawyers, we allow comments and, even though the results have been mixed – comment spam is a real issue, I've been rethinking my stance on comments on this blog.

My approach has always been that this blog is a publishing vehicle for me, not a discussion area. People routinely send me emails and comment on my posts on their own blogs, so I've never had the sense that I don't have an exchange of ideas because I don't allow comments.

However, I learned recently that even though I thought I had been blogging for a couple of years, I have not, in fact, had a blog because I did not have comments enabled for this "blog." It seems that a "true blog" has comments enabled. Imagine my embarrassment. Perish the thought that blogs might actually be a vehicle for individual expression when some see the opportunity to proclaim what the on true blog must be so close to their grasp.

While I will admit to ignoring these types of pronouncements about what a blog is or isn't and what a blogger should and shouldn't do (hey, why should government be concerned with regulation of blogs when there are scores of bloggers who are perfectly happy to slap all kinds of guidelines and requirements on bloggers?), the timing and heavy-handedness of this recent post got my attention at a time when I was thinking about enabling comments. So, I thought it was best to bring my "blog" into lock-step conformity with this type of pronouncement of what a "true blog" really is.

Well, maybe not.

Actually, I feel like experimenting with comments. I have some ideas for posts for which enabling comments will make sense. I've been generally pleased with my comments experience at Between Lawyers. I'm curious whether enabling comments will bring new energy or ideas to this blog and/or to me. And, it's just fun to change my mind on something every now and then, especially after becoming known for taking the opposite approach.

I have a few concerns relating to spammers and a**holes, but I'm pretty confident that I have neither in my audience.

I will have a comment policy. The basic principle is this: it's my blog and I'll do what I want.

The brilliant Lisa Williams at the Learning the Lessons of Nixon blog, recently posted about the various approaches to comment policies in this aptly-titled post, which I recommend that you read before reading the rest of this post. It should come as no surprise that I fall into the "living room" policy she describes in the post.

I've roughed out the following comments policy for this and welcome your comments about it and ways to improve it. I don't mind throwing it out to the public as a starting point toward evolving some standard comments policies that bloggers might use. I would be shocked if people didn't have some criticism of this policy.

1. I don't want your anonymous comments – stand behind what you are saying. If I can't figure out who you are, I reserve the right to delete your comments. If you want to be anonymous to the public or use a pseudonym on your comments, I'm OK with that if you first email me and tell me who you are and how to contact you.

2. When you post a comment, ask yourself whether you would say the same thing to my face while sitting in the living room of my house after I invited you over for dinner. If you know me at all, you'll know that I have no problem whatsoever asking you about a comment you post when I meet you in person to see if you will say it in person, just to see whether you are a person of honor or someone who will squirm.

3. It'd be bad enough for you insult me by posting a comment on my blog, but I will not tolerate your posting a comment on my blog to personally insult someone else. I'll enjoy either deleting your comment or posting about it separately to publicize what a jerk you are. Use common sense and good manners.

4. While I may monitor comments and manage/delete them, let's face it, I probably can't and won't do that on a regular basis. But I might. I reserve the right not to respond quickly to your comments, not to respond at all, to open, close and delete comments, and to generally act like I, rather than you as a commenter, am the owner of my blog. In general, I'll have good intentions and really mean well about responding to your comment, but sometimes I might in fact be studiously ignoring you.

5. Now, the legal stuff. By posting a comment, you agree that (1) you represent and warrant that your comment does not defame or libel anyone, does not infringe anyone's intellectual property, trade secret, confidentiality or other rights, and does not violate any applicable law or regulation, (2) you grant me a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, publicly display and/or perform, sublicense and make derivative works from your comment in connection with the normal maintenance and operation of this blog and my website, including archives and collections, and for my personal and internal business purposes, and (3) you will indemnify and hold me harmless with respect to any claim and related expenses (including legal fees) from a third party in connection with your comment. I reserve the right to take down so fast that your head will spin any comment that gives me any concern and may change these rules at any time by posting the changes on my blog and/or website.

I'm enabling comments as experiment in the technology and, more importantly, as an experiment in trusting my audience. I have every confidence in you, but there are some other people out there who have forced me to have a set of rules.

Comments are now open.

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

Posted by dmk at 11:08 AM | Comments (6)

February 21, 2005

DennisKennedy.Blog Birthday Celebration Week – Free PDF Download of First Two Years of Blog Archives

I thought I'd run the Blog Birthday Celebration Week thing another day or two.

Today, readers receive the gift of a free download of the first two years of DennisKennedy.Blog posts, organized by category, in one relatively humongous PDF file (approx. 1.5 megabyte download). The PDF document runs 479 pages and includes, as bonus, a copy of my article – "Life-Altering Technology – News Aggregators and Newsfeeds." Although not quite the same as a podcast, you can even use the "Read Out Loud" option in Adobe Acrobat to have all of the blog posts read out loud to you by "Microsoft Sam" or any other voice you might have loaded on your computer.

Like many other bloggers, I still have Gmail invitations to give away. If you want one, just email me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com.

I have a few surprises left for tomorrow (Tuesday), the last day of DennisKennedy.Blog Birthday Celebration Week. I'll announce those tomorrow.

However, I will now announce that, by popular demand, "Request Tuesday" will return tomorrow. Email me your questions at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com. I have a few left over from the past week that I'll try to answer tomorrow and I'll also take a stab at new questions.

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

Posted by dmk at 10:30 PM

January 24, 2005

Special Offers and Discounts for DennisKennedy.Blog Readers

I have two discount opportunities for readers of this blog - one runs out in a few days and the other is a brand new one .

1. Until January 31, readers of this blog may go to http://www.eddixllc.com/landing/dmk.asp to obtain a huge discount on EDDix's EDD Supplier Landscape research report, which is essential reading for anyone who is really serious about wanting to learn about what is happening and what will happen in the electronic discovery industry. Reading this report will save any vendor in the industry hours and hours of research time.

2. Bruce Hause has put together a similar affiliate marketing arrangement in which my readers will receive significant discounts and I'll receive some commissions in connection with Quickscribe digital dictation software and related products. Simply ask for the "Dennis Kennedy discount" when making your order.

Bruce says:

"Quikscribe has a number of unique digital dictation and transcription features that appeal to attorneys and law firms. Our "Intelligent Audio File" format allows the author to include attachments of text, images, or files embedded within the audio file. This means that you can reference a case citation from a legal database, highlight the text with your mouse, then press the "insert" button on the hand control to capture and copy the desired text. The attorney doesn't have to dictate or print the citation, and the secretary doesn't have to type it during transcription. We also have lots of info on our website for U.S. customers at www.digidictate.com."

Posted by dmk at 09:54 PM

January 06, 2005

Looking for Some Vendor Recommendations

I'm looking for a number of service providers for my own use and for some of my colleagues. Although I'd obviously consider some kind of exchange of services for publicity or referrals type of arrangement, I'm mainly interested in finding some reliable, quality providers in the following areas:

1. Fully-outsourced ecommerce and credit card order solutions.

2. Distribution and marketing of eBooks, audio and video products.

3. Webinar hosting and administration.

4. Podcast hosting, with reasonable bandwidth and download pricing.

5. Routine conversion of VHS video cassettes and analog audiotapes to digital formats and production/reproduction of CDs and DVDs.

6. Design and production of ebooks and ebooklets.

7. Print-on-demand services.

Email me at denniskennedyblog@gmail.com. References or examples would be appreciated from vendor contacts. I'll share the results of my research on this blog.

Posted by dmk at 11:47 AM

December 17, 2004

Why I Don't Enable Comments on This Blog

I occasionally get questions about my policy of not enabling the comments feature on this blog, although most are bit more polite than the question I'll discuss below.

One of the difficulties new bloggers have is the sheer number of bloggers who make pronouncements about the "One True Way" to blog. Of course, most of these pronouncements are at wide variance with each other. I enjoy these pronouncements because, if you can look past the self-righteous and condescending tone of some of them, you can get some good suggestions for ways to improve your blog.

In other cases, well, I don't know quite how to respond. Take this recent example, please:

Dana Blankenhorn's recent post called "Blogiquette" is so grumpy and judgmental that I wonder if the title is meant to be ironic. In the post, he lists some of his pet blogging peeves, which seem to be considered cardinal violations of blogging etiquette.

One is "ads in feeds," a topic I'll address in some detail in the next few days. He's opposed to ads in feeds and thinks no one should use them. This might surprise those who see the 120 x 600 pixel (!) sponsor ad on his blog. However, I salute anyone with a blog that's good enough to command sponsor ads.

Here's the violation of blog etiquette that really got my attention:

"No comments. Who are you, God?"

Holy cow, I don't enable comments. I don't think I take that approach for Godlike reasons. In fact, I think my approach to blogging is pretty humble.

I guess that "blogiquette" permits this type of blanket criticisms of bloggers who commit this pet peeve. My sense of etiquette is somewhat different.

I've never enabled comments on this blog and that was a decision I made before I launched the blog almost two years ago. I've explained at various times why I don't enable commenting on this blog. I've also said that I can see doing other blogs where enabling comments might make sense.

That said, let me try to answer the well-mannered question, "Who are you, God?"

Reasons I Don't Enable Comments on My Blog

1. I know many bloggers who have turned off comments because of comment spam. I don't even want to fight that battle. I love blogging and I have no desire to give spammers an easy avenue to ruin my enjoyment. I turned off trackbacks recently until I see how the trackback spam issue gets resolved.

2. I've always wanted to use this blog as a way to experiment with my writing, to take my writing in some new directions and let it find its own audience. In my case (and maybe only in my case, for all I know), allowing a bunch of comments doesn't fit with what I want to do with this blog.

3. I've never really made comments on anyone else's blog, except when I couldn't find the author's email address. I'll either send a blogger an email and have a private conversation or, as in this post, use someone's post as a basis for post that may or may not have much to do with the original post. For example, I can't see how this post would be appropriate as a comment on Dana Blankenhorn's blog. It'd put him in a position where he'd need to decide whether to leave this up on his blog. I'm not comfortable with that.

4. People who want to make private comments to me email me. People who want to make public comments make them on their blogs. In each case, they "sign" their comments and take ownership of those comments. Unless I set up registration mechanisms, anonymous comments are possible. I don't see why I need to provide a stage for someone's anonymous theatrical performances.

5. I live in an increasingly newsreader-centric world. I rarely visit blogs, so most of the time comments on a blog don't even reach my radar screen. I'm using a newsreader, after all, to eliminate the need to visit each blog individually. Increasingly, I'm writing my posts with the idea that they will be viewed in a newsreader rather than in a browser by someone visiting a blog.

6. I have a hard enough time following the lines of conversation in the comments to a blog post when I visit a blog, but the feeds for comments I've subscribed to from time to time are indecipherable to me. I can't figure out who's talking. In my opinion, comments are not a good medium for conversations. But that's just me.

7. I subscribed to your feed because I wanted to hear what you have to say. I assume that's why you subscribed to my feed or visit my blog.

8. Finally, the last thing I need is one more silo that holds another set of demands for my responses. I have a hard enough time keeping up with email. A comments area on my blog would be like handling my email in public, only worse because there's no way I would be able to keep up with it and people would probably criticize me for not doing a good job of managing comments. I admire the people who manage comments well, but that's not one of my strengths and it's not what I want to be doing with this blog.

Bottom line: It's a personal thing.

I don't suggest that my approach is the way to go or that you should follow my lead. Some people are obviously very critical of my approach and quick to throw insults. However, I think blogging is cool because every blogger does his or her blog in his or her own way. I like that. I try to understand the reasons for and the benefits of the different approaches bloggers take, and don't presume to think that I have found the one true path of blogging.

Now you have my reasons for the approach I take to comments. I don't mind whatever you take on your blog. It should be whatever approach works best for you. I just don't think blogging should be a "one size fits all" thing.

Posted by dmk at 11:04 PM

November 01, 2004

DennisKennedy.Blog Reader Appreciation Week Extended

Due to a little illness this weekend and some commitments this week, I'm delaying the "official" launch of my new redesign of my website and blog until November 10.

I appreciate all of the great comments I've gotten from readers who have responded to my survey and have taken advantage of the special offers for readers that are part of my blog reader appreciation week. For the details and the survey, read my initial post on DennisKennedy.Blog Reader Appreciation Week.

Posted by dmk at 09:47 PM

October 25, 2004

Announcing DennisKennedy.Blog Reader Appreciation Week

As you probably already know, I've recently redesigned my website and blog. I am so pleased with the work Spry Legal Design has done to make the redesign a reality (thank you Corri and Lance).

There's still some work I need to do on the site, but I wanted to give the redesigned site an "official" launch. The official launch date will be November 1, which will also be the official launch date of my two eBooks and at least one eBooklet. I'll be doing a number of things on November 1 to make the launch official, so be sure to watch for the November 1 launch "event."

As you may (and should) also know, this blog is very important to me. That's another way of saying that the readers of this blog are very important to me. I read all the commentary that you do about the business and marketing aspects of blogs, but the true benefit of blogging is the friendships and relationships that grow out of your blogging efforts. It's no more complicated than that. Well, there's also the two turntables and a microphone thing.

As a pre-launch treat, I wanted to offer a thank you to my readers in a tangible way. I also wanted to give my readers a chance to give me some feedback. I also decided to have a little fun at my own expense and hope that longtime readers of my articles will get a chuckle out of the following title:

Five Ways DennisKennedy.Blog Will Show Its Appreciation For Its Readers Through November 1

1. Free eBooklet. Email me with your response to the survey below and I will email you for free the PDF file for my new eBooklet called "Preparing Your Law Firm for the Internet Era: 150 Steps Toward a 21st Century Practice of Law."

2. Free NoteMap License. Follow the instructions here and Danielle Carwell at CaseSoft will give you the serial number and other info you need to obtain a free license to the great outlining tool, NoteMap. (If you are a litigator, check out CaseMap 5, an essential tool for litigators).

3. 33% Discount on eBook Bundle. My eBooks, "Dennis Kennedy's Legal Technology Primer: Best Technology Practices for Lawyers and Law Firms" and "Unlocking the Secrets of Legal Technology and Technology Law: Finding Your Way in the First Internet Era" are priced at US$45 each, or US$75 for both. If you note on your order form that you are a reader of my blog and send me the order form and your check on before November 1, your price for both will be US$50. You will also get the eBooklet for free if you send me your response to the survey below.

4. 10% Discount on Services. If you become a new client of mine before the end of 2004, simply mention that you are a reader of my blog and you will receive a 10% discount on my project fee or hourly fee.

5. 10% Discount on Seminars. If you retain me to provide one of my seminars before the end of 2004, simply mention that you are a reader of my blog and you'll receive a 10% discount on my package fee (note that a 50% down payment is required to reserve a seminar date).

Instructions for Responding to the Survey.

Copy the survey questions below. Answer the questions. Either (1) paste your answers to the questions into an email message to me, or (2) mail me your answers along with your order form and check if you are ordering the eBook bundle.

DennisKennedy.Blog Reader Appreciation 2004 Survey

1. What do you like best about the website and blog redesign?

2. What improvement(s) would you like to see made to the website and blog?

3. Do you subscribe to the RSS feed for my blog?

4. What topics would you like to see me give more coverage to my blog?

5. What topics that I do not now cover would you like me to cover in my blog?

6. I am considering either category feeds or separate blogs for a number of topics. Do you have a preference for either method, or would you prefer to see my blog continue to collect whatever I want to write about all in one place and in one feed?

7. One of the reasons for the redesign was that people found it difficult to determine what I did or what services I provided. Do you believe that you have a good picture of the services I provide? What might I do to make the picture clearer?

8. I highly value the expertise, experience and suggestions of my readers. In terms of the services and products I'm offering and my business approach in general, what would you do differently if you were me?

9. If you were asked to describe DennisKennedy.Blog in one or two sentences, what would those sentences be?

10. As you may know, CaseSoft and Fios currently are sponsors of my blog. Consistent with current blogging practices, I have not yet placed ads or sponsor logos in my RSS feeds. Would you have an objection to the placement of tasteful, non-intrusive sponsor logos / taglines at the bottom of full-text posts made available through my RSS feed?

Thank you for your responses and thank you for being a reader of DennisKennedy.Blog.

- Dennis

Posted by dmk at 09:31 AM

October 10, 2004

Please Adjust Your Feed Subscription

The recent change in web hosts caused some problems with my standard feed, which has a file name of "index.rdf". We have a work-around, but it makes sense simply to change the URL for the feed for this blog in your newsreader of choice to:

http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/index.xml.

For those interested in technical details, the index.xml feed is an RSS 2.0 feed.

For those interested in variety, this blog also has an Atom feed at http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/atom.xml. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, there should be no substantive difference between the RSS and Atom feeds.

Although I have no problems getting the feed through the old index.rdf URL, I can't guarantee that others will not and it simply makes sense to switch to the direct feed file rather than rely on a work-around.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

- Dennis

Posted by dmk at 11:40 AM