Readers of this blog who will be in New York City on Friday (August 8), either for the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting or otherwise, will definitely want to attend Tom Mighell’s presentation, Working Together, Wherever You Are: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools (Friday, August 8, 2008, 2 :00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Conference Room D, Executive Conference Center, Sheraton New York).
The presentation is based on our book. I’ll not be able to be there, but Tom will do an excellent job, and we’re trying to see if I can participate briefly during a demo of one of the online collaboration tools.
From the program description:

Lawyers and firms are increasingly seeking new ways to collaborate with colleagues, clients, opposing counsel, and others. This program will focus on the practical ways every lawyer can use existing and new tools to work better and smarter with others. [This session] will emphasize how to select and use various collaboration tools and technologies. This session is equally useful for both “techies” and “non-techies.”

We’re also hoping to unveil the new book companion site (LawyersGuidetoCollaboration.com) at the session.
This will be a great opportunity to explore some of the ideas in our book and see some of the tools we like in action. It’s one session from a series by the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section at the Annual Meeting and learn more about the benefits of membership in the LPM Section.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Join the book’s Facebook Group here Now available on Amazon, too.
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This month’s issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine is out and it has an international theme. Lots of good articles, but I especially wanted to highlight an article called “Collaborative Technologies: Working with Others Around the Corner or Around the World,” by Tom Mighell and me.
We based the article on some of the main themes of our new book on collaboration tools and technologies. This article is designed as an short introduction to the topic of collaboration tools. The sidebar addresses the all-important issue of collaboration culture and sets out some tips for handling cultural issues in your collaboration efforts.
The money quote:

Today it’s relatively simple for any lawyer, regardless of firm size or budget, to collaborate with clients, colleagues, co-counsel, experts or even opposing counsel in nearly any corner of the world. The difference? The rise of the Internet as a communications tool.

I also like this quote, which illustrates one of our aha insights while we wrote the book – the notion of co-evolution:

The ways that people work together shift over time, which can affect your culture of collaboration. More important, the introduction of collaboration technologies can also change the culture of collaboration. If handled properly, the tools and the culture will co-evolve.

Check out the article to get an idea of why I think that collaboration is the most important topic in technology today.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
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The new book: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Join the book’s Facebook Group here. Now available on Amazon.
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Tom Mighell and I thought that the subject of collaborating on documents was so important that we devoted an entire section, with several chapters, to it in our new book, The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together.
I noted two good articles recently that give a good introduction to topics we cover in detail in our book.
The first Is Brian Zeve’s article “Smarter, Faster Ways for Law Firms to Create and Share Documents” in the latest issue of Law Practice Today (many other good articles in this issue, too). Zeve highlights some of the collaboration features in Word 2007. You will want to familiarize yourself with these features if you will be moving to Word 2007 this year or are noticing that Word 2003 is now 5 years old and you want to put together good reasons to push your organization to Word 2007. The article also links to a Microsoft white paper on Word 2007 for the legal community.
The second is “Google Docs Lives to Share the Words.” We not only used Google Docs as a prime example of a document collaboration tool in our book, but we also used it to collaborate on writing the book. The article summarizes the way Google Docs is built for a connected environment.
There is nothing more fundamental to the work of lawyers today than working together on documents and no more necessary skill-set than document collaboration skills. Understanding the available tools is essential. These two articles do a nice job of introducing some of the key tools and taking some first steps. When you are ready to go further, our book will be waiting for you.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Now Available! The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Join the book’s Facebook Group here.
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I’ve gotten some inquiries about the new book: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together. Let address some of the questions.
First, though, I wanted to say how happy Tom and I have been with the response to the book. The book took a lot of work and it’s great to hear from readers – makes it all seem worthwhile.
We were thrilled to get the recent comments from law practice management guru Patrick J. McKenna, who has written some very influential books, including Herding Cats, First Among Equals, and First 100 Days: Transitioning A New Managing Partner. Patrick writes:

There is an old adage that one can either work hard or work smart . . . you have a choice. And we would all choose working smart, but once having made that obvious decision, you then have to figure out how. The good news is that Kennedy and Mighell have now produced the most comprehensive playbook, whether you are a solo, large law firm practitioner or working within a legal department, for how to choose and use the right technology tools to ‘smartly’ collaborate. And for those who know that collaboration is a profoundly human endeavor, the authors identify all kinds of practical and cultural issues to watch for. This is one of those few texts that will be dog-eared throughout, from continued reference.

Evan Schaeffer, one of the most influential lawyer bloggers and a collaborator with Tom and me on some my favorite e-discovery articles says:

No matter what the size or scope of your project, this book will get you started. Sections include the following:
* Collaboration on Cases, Transactions, and Projects
* Commonly Used Collaboration Platforms
* Developing a Collaboration Strategy
Since my own practice includes many joint ventures with differing plaintiffs’ firm, each involving a single distinct groups of cases such as asbestos or Vioxx, I’ve been looking forward to reading this book since I first heard Kennedy and Mighell were writing it. (The three of us have collaborated ourselves from time to time.) Book finally in hand, I’m sure I’ll find new and more effective ways to communicate with the lawyers on my team.
I’m especially having fun working my way through Appendix 3, which lists “tools by category,” with web links to resources for conference calls, email, extranets, instant messaging, metadata removal tools, online meeting tools, online office tools, open-source software, PDF creation and management, project management, redlining tools, screen-sharing meeting tools, SharePoint tools, high-end platforms, wikis, file sharing, mind mapping, and social networking.
That’s quite a list–which gives you an indication of the breadth and scope of Kennedy and Mighell’s work. Recommended.

We’d love to get your comments as well.
The most common question we get:
Why is your book only available for pre-order on Amazon and other online bookstores and e-commerce sites?
We’re agonizing over this one, but there will be a delay before the book becomes available at those locations. It sounds like it will become available this summer. The good news is that the book is available RIGHT NOW at the ABA Bookstore with available discounts. Note especially the great discounts for orders of 100 or more copies. 😉
Can I get a sneak peak at the book before I buy it?
Yes. Both the Table of Contents and Chapter 1 are available as PDF downloads on the catalog page for the book.
When will the companion website for the book go live?
Uh, Tom, could you answer that one? Seriously, though, it looks like the site, which might be better described as a blogsite, will be live in a few weeks. I think that people will like it.
Are there Facebook or LinkedIn groups for the book?
Yes indeed. Details here. BTW, if you are the first one to help me figure out how to find the URL for the LinkedIn group, I’ll give you a mention and a link on this blog.
Is the book for US lawyers only?
Collaboration is global. We look at many Internet tools. Interestingly, our first article based on the book just appeared in print in the Law Society of Ireland’s Law Society Gazette.
Is the book only for lawyers?
Tom and I wrote the book with a broader audience in mind, but with a focus on lawyers. We’ve been pleased at how consistently readers are telling us that they see that the book has great information not just for lawyers in all types of practices, but especially for others than lawyers. In our view, anyone who is a professional services provider will find the book useful and we’d like the book to find that audience.
If you have other questions about the book, let us know. I’ll answer them here from time to time until we get the book’s companion site live.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Now Available: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell.
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