Dennis Kennedy

March 15, 2010

Estate Planning for Your Digital Assets - New Article

My friend Wendy Werner recently talked me into writing an article on "succession planning" for computer systems, online materials and digital assets for the newly-released issue of the Law Practice Today webzine. Wendy edited the issue and it is an excellent look at succession planning for lawyers and law firms that I highly recommend you take a look at the entire issue.

I’m happy to have contributed an article to the issue. The article is called "Estate Planning for Your Digital Assets."

I’m been thinking about writing an article on this topic for many years. What had stopped me was the complexity of the topic and how many difficult issues arise out of this topic.

However, nothing focuses the writing mind like a pressing deadline and I’m quite pleased with the results, which represent my attempt to put together a practical primer about these issues.

I tried to consolidate my suggested approach into 5 basic steps and that section makes up the core of the article:

A Simple Five-Step Plan to Manage Your Digital Estate

Step 1. Inventory Your Digital Assets.

Step 2. Identify Appropriate Help.

Step 3. Provide for Access.

Step 4. Provide Instructions.

Step 5. Give Appropriate Authority.

Based on my research for this article, there either is not much information on this subject available or it is far too difficult to find by searching in Google.

I also think that anyone with a significant Internet presence has concerns about what happen to that Internet presence in the event of their death or disability. However, almost everyone today has a growing number of "digital assets" and questions posed by them.

I’ve already gotten a very positive response to this article and hope that you find it helpful. I welcome your suggestions for other approaches that might work well for people trying to deal with their growing digital estates.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog. Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

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Call for Articles on Diversity/Inclusion: April Issue of Law Practice

I’ll be guest co-editing the April issue of the Law Practice Today webzine (http://www.lawpracticetoday.org). The issue will focus thematically on diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, more specifically practical approaches to these issue from the law practice management perspective.

We have some room for a few more articles, so if you have an article or a blog post that could easily be turned into an article, get in touch with me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com (or post a comment on this post) and I’ll follow-up to see how we can work together. I’m especially interested in articles that look at these issues from the finance and marketing side of law practice management, but any topic is fair game if you have something that would work for this issue.

Be sure to check out the excellent March issue, with a succession planning theme.

Thanks for your help.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog. Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

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March 08, 2010

Legal Ethics and Social Media - CLE Seminar in St. Louis

Lawyers using or interested in learning more about social media who will be in St. Louis on March 23 have a great opportunity to learn about social media and ethics and pick up a couple of CLE ethics hours. I'm excited to be one of the speakers on an excellent panel with legal ethics expert Mike Downey and The Bar Plan's Christina Lewis Abate.

The seminar is called "The Ethics of Social Media" and the details can be found here.

We'll cover differences between LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, the basics of how to use each platform, including privacy settings, ad purchasing and disclaimer requirements, plus how to avoid potential pitfalls including a review of recent case law and rules of advertising, malpractice avoidance, and model social networking policies. We're also planning to have plenty of Q & A.

The pricing ($95) is great, especially for the number of ethics credit. There's a special deal ($30) for law students.

The Bar Assoication of Metropolitan St. Louis' Young Lawyers Division is sponsoring the event at BAMSL's downtown St. Louis headquarters.

Highly recommended. Help us get the word out about this one. Hope to see you there.

BAMSL members may register here.

Can't make it on the 23rd? Give the new episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast, "Social Media Common Sense," a listen.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog. Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

Technorati tags: legal technology podcast social media ethics seminar CLE

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March 07, 2010

Social Media Common Sense - Podcast

Tom Mighell and I have recorded another episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast and it's now available on the Legal Talk Network and on iTunes, with an RSS feed here. The episode is called "Social Media Common Sense" (show notes here), and it's sponsored by Bill4Time. A special thank you to readers of this blog who listen to the podcast - we're very pleased with the growing numbers of downloads the podcast is getting.

Here's the episode description:

Hardly a day goes by without lawyers hearing that they need to be diving into social media. And many are already there - on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other platforms. Google stumbled on privacy on its launch of its new social media platform, Buzz. The privacy and security concerns in social media are very real. Tom and Dennis take a practical at what you must understand to take control of your security and privacy, from basic account settings to smart approaches to social media common sense.

I recently wrote a column for the ABA Journal on the basics of privacy and security for lawyers using Facebook. The article got such a positive response that we thought it would make a good topic for our podcast. After the recent privacy stumbles at the launch of Google Buzz, we decided to expand the topic to cover social media in general.

The podcast takes a very practical look at some of the things you need to be wary of and, more important, practical steps you should be taking to protect your privacy and security while making effective use of social media platforms. From passwords to privacy settings and friend lists to good judgment, we make the case for applying common sense to use fo social media. Take a listen and see if we convince you.

I also suggest that you take a look at my ABA Journal column called Saving Face.

In our "things we've been talking about" segment, Tom and I talk about our actual experience with Google Buzz, including my concern that Buzz suggests that Google is abandoning Google Wave. I also express my frustration with the usability problems I find with Buzz. Tom takes a calmer approach.

We end the podcast with our Parting Shots - practical tips you can use right away. Tom points to another new Google tool - Google Moderator - that provides a way to obtain feedback. I note how I like a program called Mobipocket Creator for converting PDF documents into Kindle-ready formats and a cool new webpage you can use as your default home page in your browser at http://fav4.org.

Give our new episode a listen and let me know what you think. Show notes for the podcast are at here.

And try some of the back episodes as well.

THE KENNEDY-MIGHELL REPORT PODCAST IS NOW ON TWITTER. You can now follow the podcast on Twitter at @tkmreport.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog. Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

Technorati tags: legal technology podcast social media privacy collaboration

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March 04, 2010

Saving Face: A Simple Facebook Privacy and Security Primer

My latest technology column for the ABA Journal is out. It's called "Saving Face: 5 tips to better security on Facebook ."

For a while, I've been concerned about the cavalier approach that many people, especially lawyers, have taken to privacy and security on Facebook. As Facebook approaches 400 million users, there's little question that most of us need to address these concerns. As Facebook and other social media platforms continue to make changes to their privacy approaches and default settings, security and privacy has moved out of the realm of "set and forget" to something that you need to revisit on a regular basis.

I've wanted to write something simple and basic about how to understand and deal with these issues - or at least to make a good start - and point people in the right direction.

This column was my opportunity to do that. I've been gratified by the requests for reprints and the numerous comments to the article already. I recommend reading the comments because there some good insights and tips in the comments.

I went for a simple five-step approach. Not too many and just enough to make it easy to get started and make a difference,

The five steps:

1. Use a strong password and change it on a regular basis.

2. Review and make appropriate changes to your privacy settings.

3. Be discriminating in your use of Facebook apps.

4. Take control of what others can put on your page.

5. Consider using “friend lists.”

To make myself clear: This is serious stuff and you had better pay attention to what's going on and what the implications are when you venture into the world of social media. A few basic steps will make a world of difference.

The money quote:

And I cannot stress too much the need to always use good judgment when using social media.

For more detailed advice and instructions, I like Leah Pearlman's and Carolyn Abram's Facebook For Dummies^® (updated in November 2009) - an inexpensive way to protect yourself against embarrassment at the least and real serious damage at the worst.

Tom Mighell and I also talk about this and related topics in our new podcast, "Social Media Common Sense."

Check out my new column. Let's all be more careful out there.

+++++++++

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog; Follow me - @denniskennedy.

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

Listen to The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast on the Legal Talk Network. Twitter: @tkmreport

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February 28, 2010

Social Media and Internet Tips for Law Students - Upcoming Presentation

On Tuesday, at St. Louis University Law School on March 2 at 5:00, I'll be speaking to law students, recent law school graduates and anyone else who might be interested about social media, the Internet and tegal technology with a focus on how you can use these tools to effectively launch your legal career. Phi Delta Phi is sponsoring the event.

I'll take an informal approach, with lots of Q & A, and I'm planning to let the audience pick the topics they most want me to cover. In other words,I'll see if i can "crowdsource" the structure of the presentation.

I'll highlight some of my ideas from this post on advice for 1Ls and my latest ABA Journal column called "Saving Face," but I expect to share a lot of other information based on my own experience and what I've learned over the years. I'm also hoping to learn a lot from the perspecitives of law students who are facing these tough economic times.

There are two places you can find more information on the presentation - on the Law School's calendar page and the Facebook page for the event. There's also an email address for information - pdp@slu.edu.

Please mention the event to law students or others in St. Louis who might be interested. It'd be great to see you there.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog; Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

Listen to The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast on Legal Talk Network. Twitter: @tkmreport

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February 25, 2010

Opening Up to Open Source - Podcast

Tom Mighell and I have recorded another episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast and it's now available on the Legal Talk Network and on iTunes, with an RSS feed here. The episode is called "Opening Up to Open Source" (show notes here), and it's sponsored by Bill4Time. A special thank you to readers of this blog who listen to the podcast - we're very pleased with the growing numbers of downloads the podcast is getting.

Here's the episode description:

Budgetary concerns have forced lawyers to take a hard look at software costs. That’s brought Open Source software onto their radar screens. The price – free – is obviously attractive, but Open Source is a completely different approach to software than lawyers expect. In this episode, co-hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell introduce the approach and philosophy of Open Source, the programs available, and when and where it might make sense for you.

I've long wanted to do an episode about Open Source software and Tom was gracious enough to let me pick the topic for this episode.

My interest in Open Source software and the Open Source licenses goes back a long way. Believe it or not, I've even written a law review article on the Open Source licenses, "Dennis M. Kennedy, A PRIMER ON OPEN SOURCE LICENSING LEGAL ISSUES: COPYRIGHT, COPYLEFT AND COPYFUTURE, 20 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 345 (2001), which was one of the early law review articles on the topic.

Although we talk a bit about the Open Source licenses and Open Source philosophy that are playing such a huge role in software development and the Internet these days, our main focus is on the ways lawyers might consider and make informed decisions about if, when and how they might use Open Source software.

If you have not considered Open Source before, I recommend this podcast as a gentle introduction. A diligent researcher should also be able to find other articles and a podcast I've done on Open Source topics. We also discuss Open Source programs in our collboration tools book.

In our "things we've been talking about" segment, I get Tom to explain the relatively new geo-location social media platform, FourSquare, to me. Tom does a great job of explaining, but he didn't convince me yet.

We end the podcast with our Parting Shots - practical tips you can use right away. Tom likes a free only PDF form tool called FillAnyPDF andalso mentions a resource for PowerPoint templates. I rave about using the keyboard shortcut + .+ T to reopen browser tabs after you accidentally close them.

Give our new episode a listen and let me know what you think. Show notes for the podcast are at here.

And try some of the back episodes as well.

THE KENNEDY-MIGHELL REPORT PODCAST IS NOW ON TWITTER. You can now follow the podcast on Twitter at @tkmreport.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog. Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

Technorati tags: legal technology podcast open source software collaboration

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February 15, 2010

Celebrating the Seventh Blogiversary of DennisKennedy.Blog

Seven years ago today, I launched this blog on an unsuspecting world as an early birthday present to myself, with a general sense that not only was I late to blogging, but that I had in fact missed the whole blogging thing. I also saw this blog as means to get to what i really wanted to do - have my own RSS feed.

The initial post was a simple one:

And so it begins . . .

I realized the other day that I had first written about blogs well over a year ago. In fact, the rise of blogs was one of my 2002 predictions for legal technology in my annual legal tech predictions article. As I was working on updating my web site (http://www.denniskennedy.com), I finally decided that I had to have my own blog. Thanks to people like Jerry Lawson, Sabrina Pacifici, the Support Forum at MovableType.org, it's finally here.

Jerry Lawson pointed out to me that I first wrote about blogs for lawyers even earlier than I remembered inthat initial post before I actually started my own blog. When I read Soctt Rosenberg's great history of blogging, Say Anything, last year, I was struck most by how long I was a reader of blogs (quite a few years) before I actually started my own. That was probably in large part due to the fact that I was writing a monthly legal tech column and other articles (and I was adding content regularly to my website), but it still is a big surprise to me to see how long I sat on the sidelines of blogging. I think I made up for the delay, and it's difficult to put into words how mch I treasure the friendships that came to me through blogging. A special thanks to all of you.

It's been a tradition here that I pull out the stops for the blawgiversary and tend to make extravagant claims about how the rest of the world treats the blawgiversary and do things like coin terms like blawgiversary (which I believe i might have done years ago in a momemnt of weakness). I was going to drop that this year until I realized that the US government had indeed created a federal holiday to give many of you a day off to celebrate the blawgiversary. Enjoy!

Seriously, though, I try to do a few special things this week to celebrate the birthdays of my blog and me. Although I'm planning to take a more low-key approach to that this week than I usually have done, I do like to take this time to thank my readers and do a little bit of a reader-appreciation week. So, watch for some special posts this week.

For the most part, however, I want to say a big thank you to readers of this blog and say that I'm looking forward to the next year of blogging, both here and on DennisKennedy.Microblog, the companion Twiiter experiment for this blog.

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

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog. Follow me - @denniskennedy

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

Technorati tags: legal technology blawgiversary blogiversary birthday collaboration

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