Legal Technology Blog

ILTA 2007

2007-08-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

The International Legal Technology Association annual conference was held in Orlando, Fla.in August. The theme was collaboration and communication to solve IT problems. A variety of new product offerings were on display in the vendor hall and there were several legal technology and collaboration and other educational tracks offered at the conference.

http://www.americansoccerdream.com

Wiki

2007-05-22T12:23:00.001-07:00

There is an article on law.com (http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1178269484628) describing how some legal professionals are using a new technology (the same one used for on-line encyclopedias) in the legal profession.

Client Change Practice Groups

2007-05-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

There are more and more client change practice groups being created at law firms in response to these emering issues. Firms are doing everything from creating practice group websites, to creating databases of articles and publications and we even found a law firm with a client change blog.

Building a Law Firm Practice Area Portal for Business Development Purposes

2007-04-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

Please feel free to join this webinar if interested:

The Litigation Support and Practice Management Peer Groups of ILTA are pleased to announce a free webinar titled, “Building a Law Firm Practice Area Portal for Business Development Purposes.”Be sure to join us for this webinar on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 12:00 PM Eastern / 11:00 AM Central / 10:00 AM Mountain / 9:00 AM PacificTo register: https://sdma.webex.com/sdma/j.php?ED=92676442&RG=1Building a Law Firm Practice Area Portal for Business Development PurposesThis session discusses and shows how a hosted, Web-based collaboration system can be used to build a repository of information using technologies to support marketing efforts and demonstrate experience in virtually any area of law (IP, insurance, products liability, etc.). This application of collaboration technology is somewhat different than the "traditional" or "typical" use of collaboration technologies in the litigation support theater which provide services like calendaring, document management or case tracking/management.During the session, the Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold E-Discovery Portal will be used as a case study to illustrate these concepts.Presenter:Ken Jones, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP/XERDICT GROUP LLC Ken leads Xerdict Group LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sedgwick that provides litigation support extranets to clients. Xerdict offers Web-based collaboration products that help clients manage complex litigation data, such as litigation calendars, case management data, litigation costs, discovery materials and litigation documents in a secure and efficient online portal. Ken’s professional history includes information management and applications development positions in Fortune 500 companies, at which he led efforts to build innovative website content management systems, to construct worldwide Internet-based financial collection and reporting systems and to implement SAP modules in functional areas such as order processing, manufacturing and logistics.

Blog Journalists

2007-02-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

The Libby trial in Washington has a pretty interesting twist to it -- Blog journalists are receiving press credentials just as "traditional" media individuals are.

New Legal Extranet Reporting Capability

2007-02-14T04:55:00.000-08:00

Xerdict recently developed a new reporting capability within the CaseEnsemble Collaboration System for use in all collaboration systems.

The new reporting capability allows CaseEnsemble to produce any report generated by the system " Query Builder" in a configurable PDF format. To help properly format the reports, CaseEnsemble allows the system users and clients to define the report characteristics such as the report font, font size, and page size and orientation in the PDF file (prior to printing/saving/emailing the PDF file). This new feature, which adds to the existing CaseEnsemble functionality allowing clients to either view the report on the screen or export report contents to an Excel file, greatly improves CaseEnsemble clients's ability to save Case Management and other types of system reports in a useful and attractive format appropriate for printing or emailing to clients. This capability is particularily useful for those case management applications that require periodic reports (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to be sent to clients.

Xerdict / Method360 Alliance

2006-04-05T03:48:00.000-07:00

The Xerdict Group LLC and Method360, Inc. announced today a strategic alliance that brings together Xerdict’s web based collaboration technology and professional services with Method360’s enterprise project management and IT management services.

The alliance serves several mutually beneficial strategic purposes. One such benefit is that this partnership will help to further broaden Method360's already impressive and broad set of technology consulting services into the additional vertical markets of hosted collaboration software products, focusing on the legal sector in areas such as litigation support, document management and law firm marketing. Furthermore, the union of Method360 and Xerdict will help provide additional delivery mechanisms into the marketplace for Xerdict's leading legal collaboration product, CaseEnsembleTM. And most importantly, for our present and future clients, this new alliance positions both Xerdict and Method360 to expand and grow the set and range of high quality services and products they provide.

"Developing an strong relationship with an elite consulting company such as Method360 illustrates the importance Xerdict places in identifying and partnering with best-in-breed firms as integartion partners for our hosted collaboration products" noted Kenneth Jones, Chief Information Officer of the Xerdict Group LLC. Furthermore, comments Jonathan Wong, a Managing Director at Method360, "The Xerdict-Method360 alliance will expand an established client base to provide legal and non-legal industry clients with a comprehensive range of technology consulting ."

Both Method360 and Xerdict are available to discuss collaboration or other technology consulting needs with current or prospective clients. Free demonstrations of the powerful and flexible CaseEnsembleTM are also available upon request.

About Xerdict

Xerdict Group LLC is a subsidiary of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP, one of America’s preeminent litigation and trial law firms. As part of Sedgwick’s focus on efficiency, productivity, and client service, Xerdict Group was founded in 2004 to offer outstanding litigation support technology including legal case management and practice management collaboration software products such as CaseEnsemble, ClientEnsemble and ProjectEnsemble and other technology-based litigation support services.

Contact :
Kenneth Jones, Chief Operating Officer
Phone: 973-286-4350
Electronic Mail: kenneth.jones@xerdict.com. (www.xerdict.com)

About Method360

Method360, Inc. has provided high-end consulting services including enterprise technology project management, data architecture, business workflow, SAP integration and IT management services since 1997. Client industries include legal, financial, healthcare/pharmaceutical, telecommunications, utilities, retail and insurance.

Contact:
Jonathan K. Wong, Managing Director,
Phone:
Electronic Mail : jwong@method360.com. (www.method360.com)

LegalTech 2006 West

2006-03-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

This conference is scheduled for June 5-6, 2006 in Los Angeles. For more information please click here.

Courtroom Technology

2006-03-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

Law.com has a very interesting article on courtroom technology. It is available by clicking here.

2006-03-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

There are a number of very good articles out on disaster planning and contingency planning and the need to plan appropriately in this area. Once of the better articles on this topic is in this month's CIO (www.cio.com).

Microsfot Security Issues

2006-01-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has published several updates on this topic in the past few days, if you are not aware of them please be sure to do a bit of research on the topic so you can properly protect and update your PC's and network environments.

Buying a laptop?

2005-10-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice resource and article to assist one in making a purchase of a laptop.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7602_7-1016082-2.html?tag=cnetfd.sd

ZoneAlarm

2005-10-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

ZoneAlarm, who makes a very nice personal firewall product, is moving into the anti spyware area. The article describing this is below.

http://reviews.cnet.com/ZoneAlarm_AntiSpyware/4505-3667_7-31563660.html?tag=cnetfd.sd

Holographic Imaging

2005-08-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting article on this new and exciting technology and how it might be appropriately used in the context of the courtroom. To review the article please click here.

Remote coding solutions

2005-08-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

You might want to consider a legal extranet as a possible way of enabling multiple document codes from multiple document locations to work through and categorize documents which require categorization as part of the discovery process or other legal requirements.

Chip prices are dropping

2005-08-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

This could mean lower prices for PC's in the future. Good news for those charged with keeping equipment up to date.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GU3VA3O0JWNFSQSNDBGCKH0CJUMEKJVN?articleID=167600320

Firefox Version 1.5 beckons

2005-08-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

See the referenced article for more information.

http://www.linuxpipeline.com/news/166402116

Tougher Punishment For Identify Theft

2005-08-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act would require companies with large numbers of customers to extend and exhance various types of privacy protection measures. More details are available by clicking here....

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166404272&tid=6295

In-flight cell phone and data standards work marches on

2005-08-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting update for those of us who enjoy spending our time wisely while on the road.

http://www.techweb.com/wire/mobile/167600505

New Browser Version Available

2005-07-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Mozilla Foundation has posted the second alpha edition of its next stand-alone browser, for now code named "Deer Park." The link is available at this address:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=165702111&tid=5979

On-line Privacy Investigators

2005-07-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a really interesting article, looks like some of the methodologies used by investigators are fairly aggressive and that the FTC will be looking into these practices. For more information on this please visit the following link:

http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=165701674

Open Source Migration Article

2005-07-05T04:40:00.000-07:00

If you are considering migrating some or all of your IT infrastructure to Linux, this recent article in CIO will probably be of interest to you. It covers many issues and lessons learned for one company which completed such a migration.

The article is available here: http://www.cio.com/archive/070105/cendant.html

Service Level Agreements

2005-07-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

If you are developing or deploying applications within your law firm (undoubtedly if you work in Applications Development within IT you must be involved in one of these activities) it is a strong practice to develop service level agreements on your applications with your clients. Having these discussions will help you and your client understand what is important to the business in terms of performance, features and reliability/availability. And, having this document in place will set some expectations with respect to the levels and types of service this application should be providing to the business.

More details on Service Level Agreements can be found in the recent article posted on CIO.com, which is available by clicking here.

Strategy to Avoid Shipping Backup Tapes

2005-06-30T04:03:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting article proposing some electronic vaulting alternatives to snail-mailing electronic backup tapes all over the place....

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=164901978&tid=16008

College Recruiting / Entry Level IT Job Programs

2005-06-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

Looking to recruit fresh IT talent? Here is an article from CIO which describes three different programs in place within the industry.

http://www.cio.com/archive/061505/staffing.html

Social network analysis - developing marketing contacts

2005-06-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a very interesting article from CIO.COM which talks about how a law firm is considering using technology to improve and enhance their contacts database and how they might leverage the contacts each attorney has within this firm.

http://www.cio.com/archive/061505/km_sidebar_one.html

Controlling internet usage

2005-06-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Are you charged with constraining internet usage to appropriate and work related sites only? If so, here is a useful piece of information. Within some companies where access to news and sports sites are restricted, some creative employees are setting up newsfeeds (e.g. RSS) and having the news fed to them via these methods. Most companies only block the website URL's, not all news feeds. So, the end result of these policies is that, for some employees, they are actually spending MORE time on this unproductive work (setting up and maintaining the feed in addition to reviewing the news) rather than less time because of this policy. I don't have any brilliant solutions to these issues to suggest, just thought the information would be useful for anyone responsible for this type of internet-access control so you could speak intelligently on the topic.

Fighting Spyware

2005-06-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

This recent article in Information Week provides a great deal of useful information with respect to combating and removing spyware from your computers. The article is available by clicking here.

What is the importance of anti-spam software

2005-06-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

This recent article really spells out why we need this of protection.

http://www.systemsmanagementpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=164300577

Wireless Internet Access On Flights

2005-06-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

If you are a road warrior and want to stay productive while in a plane, the recent annoucement by United Airlines that they'll installing wireless access in their fleet will be of interest. Pricing will be steep but, for some, well worth it.

More details here:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=PQU3D50RSQOVSQSNDBGCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=164300895

Good new article on anti-spam appliances

2005-05-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

This was posted on law.com, it is a very informative article. Good descriptions and reference list for various offerings available in the marketplace to filter email messages.

The article is available by clicking here.

Legal IT Forum In Australia

2005-05-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

The 7th annual Legal IT Forum will be taking place between Wednesday the 12th and Friday the 14th of October 2005. There also will be a CIO/IT Directors Forum, and a brand new In-house Legal IT Forum on the 11th and 12th of October.

Details are available by clicking here.

New Netscape Browser Review

2005-05-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

There is a good article on Information Week which discusses the pros/cons of the new Netscape 8 browser.

The article is available by clicking here.

E-Discovery Article

2005-05-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is a very good article discussing what types of data needs to be maintained, for how long, what type of data needs to be retrieved within discovery, and most notably the confusion created by the lack of national standards on this topic.

The article is available by clicking here.

MIcrosoft Enterprise Anti-Spyware and Virus Efforts

2005-05-23T04:46:00.000-07:00

This article describes Microsoft's current efforts to develop enterprise-wide solutions for Spyware / Viruses, etc...

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163106320

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and Health Care Directive

2005-05-18T04:08:00.000-07:00

The Missouri Bar provides, as a public service, a downloaded form for a "Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and Health Care Directive".

The website for this material is: http://www.mobar.org/public/index.htm

Wireless Networking Tips

2005-05-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

The Federal Government recently released a report detailing many areas of opportunity for improvement by Federal Agencies with respect to how they have deployed and operate their wireless networks. There are some very good tips and items to consider within the report.

The report is available by clicking here.

Small law firm practice management software purchasing guide

2005-05-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

I found this article to be of interest - there really is no reason that any size law firm today can not benefit from automating their practice given the different types, costs and complexities of legal technology and practice management software packages which are available.

http://www.abanet.org/tech/ltrc/publications/sfbpracmangement.htm

Law Firm IT Leaders

2005-05-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for ways to develop technology talent and leadership within your law firm? If so, the strategies identified at a recent CIO leadership conference and roundtable might be of interest to you. Developing IT leadership can help your law firm develop expertise and services which very well may differentiate your firm from your competition.

The information is available by clicking here.

Law Firm Internet Browsers

2005-05-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

If you ever wondered when Firefox might become more mainstream and when you might be able to make this the standard browser at your law firm, you may be interested in know that IBM is now deploying Firefox to 300,000 of its' employees. The details on this deployment are available by clicking here.

Technology Succession Planning and Cross Training

2005-05-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

CIO Magazine recently published a very good story about how UPS develops technology leaders and prepares staff members for future roles of increasing responsibility. Some of these strategies might well be appropriate for law firms or for corporate IT departments who have the responsibility to support legal technology systems, legal extranets, e-discovery systems, document management systems and other such offerings supporting the legal function.

The article is available by clicking here.

Trading passwords for coffee

2005-05-08T05:16:00.000-07:00

If there was ever a good reasons to reinforce with your users the importance of safeguarding their system passwords, here is one. It is hard to believe how many people would trade hints about their passwords for a cup of coffee. Read away to learn more about this by clicking here.

Interesting Article On IT Shared Services Organization

2005-05-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

CIO Magazine recently published an interested article on this topic. The article discusses the benefits of shared service organizations (cost reduction and, sometimes, opportunities to improve services). It also discusses some of the common pitfalls of these organizations (e.g. lack of client focus and lack of an ability to customize the service and application offerings). The article also includes some keys for success for those considering implementing such organizations.

More information on the article is available by clicking here.

Bar Association "For The Public" Site

2005-04-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-26T03:55:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-22T03:50:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-04-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-12T04:15:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Spyware

2005-03-31T04:19:00.000-08:00

Are you concerned about spyware and how it might adversely impact your legal technology applications and the desktops running your legal technology applications? If you are, please check out the various offerings from Lavasoft. They provide the award winning AdAware package and other helpful solutions to assist with network security, the reduction of spyware and popups, and many other annoying byproducts of spyware.

ABA Techshow

2005-03-31T04:11:00.000-08:00

The ABA Techshow opens today in Chicago. If you are in the area and want to check it out, the website address is http://www.abanet.org/techshow/. There also should be numerous legal technology bloggers issuing reports from the show.

Trade Show Wireless Attacks

2005-03-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

As amazing as this may sound, there are some hackers intent on spying or wreaking havok on technology vendors at trade shows (for example, prohibiting them from showing their product at their booth). If you are showing a legal technology product at a legal technology trade show, you might want to read this article and take appropriate action.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=C0HRXSVM23TD0QSNDBGCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=159908281

Technolawyer Article

2005-03-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

On Friday an article by the Xerdict Group describing how to optimize a law firm website so that search engines can locate the law firm website was distributed. Please let us know if you would be interested in this topic and we can arrange to get some help or support to you on this topic.

Trusted Computing Group

2005-03-18T04:46:00.000-08:00

If you would like to learn more about some of the latest hardware based security measured being embedded in PC's, you might be interested in reading up on TCG. They promote open standards on hardware based hardening of processors, promotion of single signons, use of digital certificates, use of digital signatures, and many other approaches to thwarting security threats.

The TCG website address is: https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/home

Small Firms Can Use Existing Tools To Present Electronic Evidence At Trial For A Minimal Cost

2005-03-17T04:32:00.000-08:00

Some very interesting examples of this are located within a recent Law Technology News article. You can read the article by clicking here.

Interesting IT Patent News about EBay

2005-03-17T04:25:00.000-08:00

There is a patent case pending with EBay which could potentially impact its' ability to offer one of the versions of their auctions, the "Buy It Now" auctions. There was also an interesting article in the NY Times within the last few weeks discussing the increase in EBay fees to store owners and how some people have or are strongly considering moving their stores from EBay to another provider or building their own websites.

If you ever use EBay to purchase computer parts or software for your law firm at an attractive price from some of the on-line stores located there, this might be of interest.....

For more details on the patent case from Information Week, please click here.

Can a Law Firm Be Too Visible on the Internet?

2005-03-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

I recently read an interesting article titled "Can a Law Firm Be Too Visible on the Internet?". Of course, a law firm needs to be careful that their 'internet message' is appropriate and consistent with all other marketing and public relations message but, assuming this is the case, I think it is reasonable to state that it is indeed in a law firm's best interest to gain as strong an internet presence as they possible can.

For the text of this article, please click here.

Legal Technology White Papers

2005-03-11T18:06:00.000-08:00

A host of legal technology white papers on topics such as the following is available on the Law Technology News website. These could serve as an excellent resource for those interested in learning more about the use of technology within law firms and in support of litigations.

Case Management, Compliance Management, Document Management, E-filing, Electronic Data Discovery (EDD), E-mail Management, Sarbanes Oxley and Time and Billing

Let the bloggers beware !!!!!!!

2005-03-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

The story of Mark Jen and his blog about happenings at his employer and his termination are a must read for those in the blogging community to be sure what one does and says in their blog is consistent with the corporate culture of the organization who whom they work.

This story, from Information Week, is available by clicking here.

Here is an update to this....

Fired Google Blogger Lands A New Job

Click here to read.

TechWebCasts

2005-03-08T05:06:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting list of webcasts on various technical topics of interest including several of note for the legal fields including spam control, virus control, reducing IT security risks, and records management programs.

Legal Technology Spending Survey.

2005-03-07T04:14:00.000-08:00

LegalVoice's 2005 survey conducted at the recent February 2005 LegalTech show in New York shows 68.8% of law firms and corporate legal departments have increased their IT budgets.

More details can be found by requesting the results from LegalVoice.

Blue Screen of Death

2005-03-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

IBM yesterday did a demo of an application, priced at $300, which is designed to help people recover data from damaged hard drives. The application can reside on a device such as an MP3 player. It is called "IBM Rescue & Recovery On Linux". They claim it can rebuild a hard drive in an hour or recover data instantly.

One article describing this product can be found at:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=3EW4IZ0UEMAHKQSNDBCSKH0CJUMEKJVN?articleID=60404809

IT Security Conference

2005-03-02T11:09:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for advice and guidance on how to best implement additional IT Security Policies within your law firm or company? If so, this upcoming CIO conference which discusses both the technological offerings as well as the soft-skills required to be successful in this effort could be of interest to you. The conference information site is available by clicking here.

Firebox is chipping away!!!! Be sure you plan accordingly

2005-03-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

I read several articles in the past few weeks indicating that the market share for Firefox is climbing (now in the range of 5 to 7 % of all browsers) while the market share for Internet Explorer is falling (now below 90%). So, if you are deploying any legal technology applications (such as law firm extranets) it is definitely a good idea to be sure the legal applications are thoroughly tested on both IE and Firefox.

Human Genome Project

2005-03-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry this post is not about legal technology but here is a great way to contribute unused computer resources to help cancer research. I am not an expert on this technology but will definitely check it out hoping that I might be able to help others.

http://www.grid.org/projects/hpf/

http://www.grid.org/download/gold/download.htm

Calendaring Software

2005-03-01T04:31:00.000-08:00

Does anyone have any recommendations on calendaring software which will post up individual calendars for litigations and also allows for a consolidated view of all the calendars so that one can see what all the attorneys in an office are doing on any particular day or week.

Corporate Spyware Audit Tool

2005-02-28T17:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a useful tool to help you assess the risks facing your law firm network or PC's....

http://www.webrootdisp.net/entaudit/start.php

Legal Technology and Legal Services Resource Guide

2005-02-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

Do you need a source for a particular type of legal technology software? If so, you might want to get a copy of the LawTechnologyNews Resource Guide for Fall/Winter 05. I got mine at LegalTech in NY. I imagine you could contact ALM or LTN directly to get a copy. I think it is a terrific resource for legal technology products and legal business services.

New Phishing Tactic

2005-02-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

Please be aware that there are continued attempts by criminals sending emails posing as banks and asking people receiving the email for their bank account information. It might be wise to attempt to block emails from senders such as these using one of your email filters if you have this capability within your law firm. One of the security firms which might be able to provide more information on this, as they were quoted on the TechWeb site, is a company based in San Diego named Websense.

IT Security Awareness continues to grow as a corporate imperative

2005-02-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

Yet another indicator that companies are increasingly aware of data security risks and taking appropriate precautions to protect the enterprise can be found within the results of a recent survey. See the results by clicking here.

New Version of IE

2005-02-21T04:48:00.000-08:00

As you may know, Microsoft has announced version 7.0, but what it will really be like is a bit of a mystery. More details can be found here.

Blogging Books

2005-02-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

Do you want to learn more about how to set up a legal blog -- types of available software, templates, service providers, etc... ? If so, there are a wealth of books on the topic, and one of these might be of interest to you.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/073820756X/egovlinks/103-1077658-4410212

Use of Open Source Software Within Law Firms

2005-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

Recently, there was an article within Technolawyer which discussed the potential use of Linux within law firms (stability, support, availability of software to run on the operating system, etc.).

Open source as a term itself is often not entirely understood. While open source software indeed is generally available at no charge, there is indeed a license associated with open source software and provisions which must be complied with. One common provision is that one might need to include a comment such as "based on the program xxxxx". Another is a requirement to display a copyright notice in a prescribed manner if the open source package is used in a particular way. Another common provision is a warranty disclaimer if an open source package is used in a certain way (of course, the entire concept of a warranty for something you are not paying for is I suppose a topic one could discuss independently).

I am no expert on the topic, but it is worthy to mention that when one accepts any software license, including that for "free" open-source software, be sure it is thoroughly reviewed, understood and complied with.

Costa Rica

2005-02-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

You might be surprised to learn that they too are now a big player in the offsource outsourcing arena. Click here to read the article and see why.

Example of trial presentation custom animation

2005-02-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

For an example of an animation which might be of use and value within the context of a trial or pre-trial negotiations, please visit the following URL: http://www.xerdict.com/vehiclecrash.ppt.

For another example of an animation which is recreating a crime scene, please visit the following URL: http://www.xerdict.com/CrimeRecreation.ppt.

Enterprise Anti-Spyware Tools

2005-02-15T01:59:00.000-08:00

Symantec and McAfee launched enterprise tools to fight spyware at the RSA Conference. These are designed to be improvements, for organizations, over the current set of antispyware tools such as AdAware and SpyBot currently widely used by organization and individuals alike.

The companies plan to integrate these capabilities into other similar products such as anti-virus software, spam blockers, etc.

For more information on these new products, please click here.

Google Maps

2005-02-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Do you currently have or need to put a map to your law firm onto your website? If so, you might want to consider the new Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/). The ability to use your mouse to scroll about the map without redrawing the entire screen is a really nice and unique feature.

Vendor Management Organizations

2005-02-14T04:48:00.000-08:00

As we know, law firms tend to implement a number of external software programs in order to meet the business needs of the firm. This typically includes software for time and billing, document management, e-discovery, trial presentation, and many other types of functions.

CIO Magazine recently published a strategy for managing vendors which they spoke of what many large companies are doing to manage vendors -- forming VMO's (Vendor Management Organizations).

To learn more about this emerging strategy and to see if this might be beneficial within a law firm, please review this article by clicking here.

Team 48

2005-02-13T05:03:00.000-08:00

Hey, was the #48 smokin' this weekend or what? Won the Shootout and then got the outside first row spot for the 500. What a weekend !!!!!!!!!!!! If only the #17 could have done anything this weekend, it would have been perfect.

If you have no idea what this is referring to, visit:

http://www.lowesracing.com/

http://www.roushracing.com/

Alternative email program evaluations

2005-02-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

If you would like to consider email clients other than Microsoft's (Thunderbird, etc), a recent article in the Washington Post which describes a few alternatives might be of interest to you. I use Outlook but from what I read, and I am certainly no expert, other programs might be able to offer some additional features and/or security controls which might be of some interest to those in the process of selecting an email program for their law firm or other enterprise.

The article is available by clicking here.

Trial Presentation Software

2005-02-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Did you know that packages such as Sanction provide a tremendous feature set including the ability to show multiple screens, layer annotations and other images on top of existing files to illustrate and highlight specific areas of an exhibit incrementally on a single screen, show video depositions with the text running along in synch at the bottom of the screen, post up images of documents, and use features such as magnifying glasses and panning.

Powerpoint's custom animation features are also very useful in helping to illustrate accidents or any time-motion events (workings within an engine, flowcharts, etc) which may have occurred as part of a litigation and require a step-by-step presentation to a client, judge or jury.

Voice over IP

2005-02-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

This technology is gaining momentum at the enterprise level, according to the mobilepipeline website. If you are looking into some of the trends/issues related to using the technology within a business, you might want to read this article which is available at:
http://www.mobilepipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=59301811

E-Discovery (Voice Mail)

2005-02-06T07:59:00.001-08:00

Many of us have seen articles recently on the need to retain email messages on servers for the purposes of complying with government regulations or as part of the discovery process for lawsuits.

I recently however saw a few articles / references to voice mails also being added to the list of potential areas of data which might need to be retained for the above reasons. According to the article, since voice mail messages are also stored on servers and backed up, it is reasonable to demand these during the course of investigations or lawsuits.

Thought this might be of interest to those of you responsible for voice mail systems to be sure the backup plans/data retention plans for this media is appropriate given the potential need to restore/hand over this information.

E-Discovery (Voice Mail)

2005-02-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

ABA Tech Show 2005

2005-02-03T05:39:00.000-08:00

This show will be held March 31 through April 2, 2005 in Chicago. It is the only legal technology show sponsored by the ABA. For further details please visit their website by clicking here.

New version of Firefox

2005-02-01T05:15:00.000-08:00

There is a new version of this open source browser scheduled to be released in June (originally in March but recently the date was pushed back). The new version, 1.1, should be releasing the initial beta product in April in anticipation of a June release date.

White Paper on Legal Extranet Technologies

2005-02-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

ITLA recently published a white paper titled "The World of Intranet, Extranet and Portal Technology." The paper contains an article by Xerdict which provides a case study on the benefits, features and construction steps for building law firm client portals. There are other articles within the paper all relating to legal extranets, collaboration systems, content management systems and related technologies.

The article is available by clicking here.

Targeted Discovery Solutions

2005-01-28T06:36:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to review a product from Docuity which was quite impressive and worthy of mention. Some text from them describing their product is below - it looks to be a promising player in the area of E-Discovery helping companies and law firms streamline this often laborious process.

We are in an age of information overload. Up to 85% of a company’s information exists as unstructured data; neither organized nor indexed. Nevertheless, eDiscovery technology can classify and manage the volumes of unstructured data that exists, helping to single out the truly important information. Docuity’s Targeted Data Extraction is a breakthrough service, designed to make the eDiscovery process up to 85% faster and more cost efficient by utilizing advanced pattern matching, rules-based analysis, and auto-categorization technologies. This pioneering technology can uncover connections among documents that, on the surface, may appear completely unrelated.

Docuity is an industry frontrunner for Targeted Discovery Solutions designed to service law firms and in-house counsel as well as corporate business managers and IT executives. Docuity's solutions help to streamline the pretrial eDiscovery process and to efficiently organize volumes of unstructured corporate data for applications such as regulatory compliance, competitive intelligence or mergers and acquisitions. Docuity's mission is to help its clients meet both the challenges and opportunities posed by the management of unstructured data such as email, faxes, PDFs, invoices, reports, and other text-based documents, whether in paper or electronic format. Throughput is currently at over 1 million pages a week and can be easily increased as demand requires.

Why you must be careful in public places using your PC.

2005-01-27T04:16:00.000-08:00

It sounds somewhat silly, does it not, that people would have nothing better to do while in an airport or McDonalds or hotel lobby that to try and look at your PC to see what you are doing. But, apparently, that is not the case for many hotspot users. There are numerous reports, including one on InformationWeek (click here to read), where people are literally looking over people's shoulders (dubbed, shoulder surfing) looking for ID's, passwords, etc.

Then, there is another cast of characters out there using fairly cheap package sniffing devices to look at data which is not encrypted (most public wireless sessions are not) again looking for confidential data or id/passwords. Some of these programs can even reconstruct browser sessions so people can identify the sites you visited, etc.

So, it is probably very good advice to use appropriate care and judgment when using a hotspot to conduct business and surf the web.

PC Data and Program Migration

2005-01-27T04:12:00.000-08:00

Do you need a tool to help you move programs, data and settings when a user gets a new PC. If so, this article recently posted on law.com might be of great interest to you. It is accessible by clicking here.