Category: Legal Tech

Categories
Legal Tech

Paralegals Jumping on the Technology Bandwagon

Marching band of female musicians wearing blue and white uniforms and playing drums.
Photo by Александр at Pexels.

Many of you know that I have deluded myself into thinking that I am some sort of an ‘internet influencer’ (like the Kardashians, only better looking and not as rich).

In this exalted role, I try to stir up thought about legal tech on behalf of Appara, which sells records management and document automation software.

One of the reasons that Appara wants me to write about legal tech is to bring attention to an obstacle that their industry faces, being that lawyers fear implementing technology since doing things faster means spending less time, which means less billable hours.

read more about how Paralegals should look at legal tech “Paralegals Jumping on the Technology Bandwagon”
Categories
Legal Tech

The Devil is in the Details

A woman in a devil costume with horns against a fiery red background.
Photo by Kyle Miller at Pexels.

I spent some time speaking to one of the founders of Appara to better understand how using their software would have made my life easier back in the day.

You can read my thoughts on their site by clicking the link below.

The Devil is in the Details
Categories
Legal Tech

Field of Dreams

Baseball stadium at night.
Photo by Timo Volz at Pexels.

Bob was a brilliant lawyer. He loved technology and was a wizard at math.

Back in the day when we used fax machines and they stood alone somewhere near the photocopier, Bob became enamoured with the idea of software that would allow the assistants to send faxes from their desktop. Bob ran various scenarios to demonstrate how much money we would save if we purchased this product. He calculated the salary and benefits earned by each assistant per minute and multiplied it by the number of minutes each assistant spent walking to and from the fax machine every day. We were going to save a fortune.

read more about questions to ask before buying legal technology “Field of Dreams”
Categories
Legal Tech

Technology Levels the Playing Field

A large man and a small man standing in front of an industrial door.
Photo by Tiger Lily at Pexels.

Back when I was a teenager, I worked in a warehouse with Warren.

Warren and I unloaded trucks. Warren would stand in the truck and toss boxes to me which I would stack on the floor. A truck might contain boxes of various sizes and weights. One small box might contain screwdrivers that weigh a ton.  The next might be a large container of disposable aluminum cooking trays that was light as a feather.

read more about legal tech making it easier to compete with big law “Technology Levels the Playing Field”
Categories
Legal Tech

Danger Ahead!

Tiger
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

Back in the day, I used to teach junior lawyers how to practice law. I had me some rules. They went something like this:

  1. Do not delegate something that you do not know how to do yourself. If you do, how are you going to know if the work product is correct?
  2. Do not include anything in a document if you do not know why it is there. I will be unimpressed if you give me a document and cannot explain why you included every single word in it.
  3. As a corollary to Rule number 2, never say to me that you included something ‘because it was in the precedent.’ If you do that, I will be apoplectic and that will not be a good thing for either of us.

These rules helped me train a number of junior lawyers to be pretty good at what they did.

read more about the danger junior lawyers face using legaltech “Danger Ahead!”
Categories
Legal Tech

My Summer With the Great White Sharks

Shark.
Photo by George Desipris at Pexels.

In 2014, I was pretty fed up with life and I decided to do something different. Since my years practicing law had not prepared me to take any really big risks, I decided to take a small one. I rented a cottage on Cape Cod for the summer and set out to prove that I could work from anywhere.

read more about working remotely and legal tech “My Summer With the Great White Sharks”
Categories
Legal Tech

Rearranging The Deck Chairs on the Titanic, LLP

The bow of the Titanic wreck, submerged.

In the old days, lawyers joined firms and stayed there, progressing from Associate to Partner. Nowadays there is a great deal of lateral movement among firms. Law firms do not seem to have figured out that they have to do something to manage their business in the face of this constant change of personnel. Appara asked me to think about how legal tech fits in. You can read my thoughts on their site by clicking the link below.

Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic, LLP: Improved Practice Management and Legal Tech to Stay Afloat
Categories
Legal Tech

Searching for the Off-Ramp from the Expressway to Crazy Town 

Crowded expressway.
Photo by Olkesandr Pidvalnyi at Pexels.

My legal career drove me crazy. Granted, it was not a very long drive, but I suspect that with a bit of knowledge and a great deal of counselling, perhaps I could have taken an off-ramp before I got there.

In a better world, people contemplating a career in law would be told that: (i) it is stressful; and (ii) they should take steps to become their best psychological self before they start down that road.

read more about whether legal tech can help with mental health issues “Searching for the Off-Ramp from the Expressway to Crazy Town “
Categories
Legal Tech

Old Law, New Law: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Half of a typewriter juxtaposed with half of a laptop computer.

In the old days, the path to success in the legal profession seemed fairly straight forward: Get top marks; article for a good firm (the larger the better); get hired back; work a tonne of hours; become a partner.

With success came prestige and money.

read more about success and adaptability “Old Law, New Law: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places”
Categories
Legal Tech

Hiring Grandma and Grandpa

Older man with white beard wearing a red hat using his computer.
Photo by Mart Productions at Pexels.

My friend Steve tells a story about the loss of his uncle at age 58, when Steve was 18 years old. While Steve’s parents were aghast at the tragedy of losing their relative at such an early age, Steve remembers thinking, “what are they talking about, the guy was 58 years old. He had a good run.”

read more about selling to the younger folks “Hiring Grandma and Grandpa”