Bar Association "For The Public" Site

The DC Bar Association has put together a nice collection of resources and links for the public to use at no cost. The site includes legal information, several legal resource centers, and general information on how to work with a lawyer.

The site is available by clicking here.

Legal Tech

The next West Coast Legal Tech show is June 22-23 at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles. More information about the show is available by clicking here.

WordPerfect Discounts For New York Bar Members

The New York State Bar Association (www.nysba.org) has signed on to Corel Corp.'s (www.corel.com) new bar association licensing program, allowing NYSBA members to purchase licenses of WordPerfect Office 12 at reduced prices. "WordPerfect Office is used in law offices throughout the state," said NYSBA president Kenneth Standard of Chappaqua's Epstein, Becker & Green.

New Mini Notebook From Toshiba

Here is a new, super lightweight (2.16 lbs) notebook PC which might be of interest to attorney "road warriors" looking for a way to lighten their load.

The article on the PC is available at this URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160911554

North America To Have Fewer Developers Than Asia/Pacific

This is the title of a recent article in Information Week. That's a bit of a scary thought, I would think, since one could make the argument that it is pretty important for a country to be able to differentiate themselves from others by having a competitive advantage in technology. If we in the United States don't have as many software developers as other countries or areas of the world, one would think the goal of having superior technology will be harder to achieve.

The article is available by clicking here.

SCOTIS Spring 2005 Meeting

This meeting (ABA - Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems) will be held in Chicago on May 2, 2005 for those who are interested.

Protecting against spyware

Law Technology News recently published an article which, among other things, commented fairly extensively on some of the "social engineering" tactics commonly used to try and get spyware on your PC (such as including spyware within a seemingly legitimate file download, etc.).

For more details on these techniques, visit the article by clicking here.

Setting up wireless networking options in law firm conference rooms.

If you are considering this functionality within your firm, a recent article in Law Firm Inc which addresses security considerations may be of interest to you.

The article is available by clicking here.

Using technology to identify and control printing and faxing costs at law firms

A recent article in Law Technology News identifies some new products and strategies on this topic. If you are interested in learning about some of the recent offerings in the area of controlling law firm expenses such as faxing and printing, please click here for the article.

Deploying Web Applications

If you are deploying client extranets or other externally facing application where your clients will use a web browser, the fact that more and more web users are using Firefox is something you should plan for as you deploy systems. It would be wise to test your application against Firefox making sure all the functionality is working properly, etc since this browser is gaining market share and user acceptance.

Access Database Security Issues

As I am sure many of you are using Access to track litigation cases or other litigation case management information, you probably should check out this security informational article to be sure that your litigation data is not at risk of disclosure.

The article link from Information Week is below.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=LSW3BDIDYIHJCQSNDBESKHA?articleID=160702379

Microsoft Security Patches

Microsoft is scheduled to release eight patches sometime today for Windows, Exchange, Office, etc.. If you are interested in this details and in applying the security patches please visit: http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/160503247

Extranets Defined

Here is a link to an old, yet accurate, definition of legal extranets and the cost/benefit and business value of these tools.

http://finance.pro2net.com/x15576.xml

Sarbanes-Oxley

There is an interesting editorial in this month's CIO magazine which expresses their opinion on the pros/cons of this legislation and how, in their opinion, it is contributing to making American companies less competative within the global marketplace. I found it to be interesting -- of course we need controls in place but the fundamental question is what is the appropriate level of these controls (too little and we are subject to corporate financial reporting errors, too onerous and we are imposing unnecessary costs and burdens on American companies.

The article is available by clicking here.

Potential Internet Tax

This is more general information than legal technology information, but you might want to be aware of this potential internet tax and if you have feelings on it contact your local U.S. Congressional Representatives to express your opinion on this potential tax.

http://www.smallbizpipeline.com/news/160700444;jsessionid=SKRNONQ1QF2ISQSNDBCSKHSCJUMEKJVN

McAfee Enhances Security Services

McAfee recently announced 7 x 24 support and access to certified security experts -- this service might be of interest to legal technology professionals who are charged with keeping their law firm's network secure and operational.

For more details on this service, please click here.