Andy Adkins on "Techo Retro"

Andy Adkins is a a great guy. He is a well-known legal technology consultant, speaker and author. As he says it:

• "I’m not a lawyer. I’m actually an electronics engineer by education and practice. I am also a self-educated legal technology consultant, independent, and have personally consulted with more than 350 law firms, law departments, law schools, courts, and legal vertical companies in my 15 years in this industry....I’ve made more than 220 presentations to attendees all over the country and written more than 100 articles during these years. I’ve had the honor and privilege to be the chair of the ABA TECHSHOW (2000 and 2001) and the co-chair of the LegalTech Conferences (2000 - 2007)."

Andy recently decided to put his thoughts down about the changes he has seen in legal technology over the last 20 years and the current trends in law office technology. The result is Techo Retro: What I’ve Learned in the Last 20 Years, a 14 page essay in PDF format that you can download and read for free. Thanks, Andy, for your thoughts and your service to the legal industry.

Dragon Dictate Naturally Speaking Preferred Ver. 10 Released

Nuance released Dragon Dictate Naturally Speaking Preferred Ver. 10 earlier this summer. I just placed my order and will receive my upgrade next week. Nuance is offering a half price for upgrade until the end of September, 2008. That's $99 for Preferred Edition, instead of $199.

So I can't review the program just yet. So, I'm going to call on a guest columnist (unknown to him of course), David Pogue, the personal technology columnist for The New York Times. The executive summary is that he likes it. You can read his review: Speak Up, a Computer Is Listening. It looks like there have been some nice improvements made.

For a more visual demonstration, view his online video review of DNS P10. It features, yes, you guessed it, David Pogue with his hands tied behind his back. That's probably as convincing a case for the Dragon as anyone can make.

Speech recognition is not for everyone, particularly fast and accurate typists. But for many of us, Dragon Dictate Naturally Speaking Preferred long ago crossed the line from novelty product to useful (and used) office tool. I did locate a 10% off promotion code with a search if that helps anyone. Get the code here.

Logging onto the Internet from (Almost) Anywhere

Logging onto the Internet from (Almost) Anywhere is my most recent article in the Oklahoma Bar Journal. "I can now log onto the Internet using my laptop from almost anywhere -- roadside, lakeside or poolside." It is great. I cover the details of using the highspeed Internet services provided by the mobile phone network carriers. But, even though this is not a budget-priced service, if you find yourself paying very often for hotel or airport Internet access, you may want to consider this alternative. Trial lawyers need to consider this as well. It is like wiring the courtrooms for your Internet access during trials.

I purchased my Sprint EVDO service from Dave Block of Block Business Solutions in Tulsa. How did a Tulsa vendor make a sale in Oklahoma City you might ask? It was the same way most lawyers get their clients. He was recommended by a mutual acquaintance and patiently dealt with all reasonable requests for information and accommodations, along with a few unreasonable ones.

Note: Due to airport delays and many writing deadlines, I've been a bit lax on blog posts. But I've got a lot of material to pas along. So I'm going to try to do a blog post every day for a while. Friends are welcome to start a betting pool to see how long it losts. (Weekdays only!)

Digital Edge Podcast on Search Engine Optimization

Our podcast, The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology recently covered "The ABC's of SEO." SEO, as you probably know stands for Search Engine Optimization, or in layman's terms, "How can I get the search engines to notice my Website?"

Sharon Nelson and I tried to have some fun with what admittedly can be a dry topic. So before you pay an SEO firm thousands of dollars, give us a listen and see if we answer your questions. Due to technical reasons beyond our control, we missed a month or two of podcast production. We're sorry about that, but we think we have everything ironed out to give you a new podcast every month in the future. Next month will feature an interview with a noted expert who has tips on using Microsoft Outlook.

Time Magazine's "25 Gotta Have Travel Gadgets"

Well, in my ever-challenging quest to keep you, my readers, on the cutting edge of technology advances, I am compelled to pass along to you 25 Gotta Have Travel Gadgets from that old media giant, Time magazine.

This list really illustrates so many changes, both in society generally and specifically for the business traveler. A laptop and mobile phone are the minimum business requirements for the road warrior, with the iPod or MP3 player on the personal "must have" list. How many of these items were only sci fi entertainment just a decade ago? I noted interesting GPS devices, the Kindle, a drinking water sanitizer, the HP EliteBook 6930p Laptop that can fold down and scan business cards with the built in camera, all sorts of power accessories and Apple's Airport Express, which can serve as your light and inexpensive portable wireless hub for hotel room stays or meetings. Check them out. You may find something you can't live without.

Yellow Pages Gather Dust

All law firms, including solos, need a Web page. That's my opinion, anyway. The Oklahoma City Journal Record interviewed me yesterday about attorney Web sites. I loved the headline for the feature, Yellow Pages gather dust as legal eagles flock to the Web to lure clients. Of course, I fear that it will not endear me to any Yellow Pages salespersons.

Read the article and see if you agree or disagree with my points. (Read it quickly. It will only be online for either 7 or 30 days.)

2008 Summer Reading List: The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide

I guess I should finish my Summer Reading List series before summer is finished!

The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide is subtitled "Critical Decisions Made Simple." The co-authors are Sharon D. Nelson, John W. Simek and Michael C. Maschke. This book was just published in March, 2008, so don't think you should wait for next year's version just because it is now July.

This book is an incredible resource for a new lawyer just setting up a practice or a small firm where none of the lawyers are particularly tech-savvy. The most surprising thing about this book is how easy it is to read. One would assume that it is a reference guide primarily to be used when a question occurs or a project is planned, but it is actually meant to be read and, due to its brevity, (113 pages plus a Glossary and Index) it can be read fairly quickly. The fact that this book will actually be read and not just sit on a shelf is its greatest strength. If you are someone who is frequently confronted by technology terms you do not understand, this book can be the complete solution for you.

The book is chock full of the author's opinions, which makes it entertaining and useful. However, the book's greatest strength is perhaps its weakness as well. Brevity requires significant trade offs. I'd probably be more of a fan if the book was 20% larger because a few of the topics left me wanting more. (There are only two pages on scanners and three on billing software to cite the two most notable examples.) But the chapter on scanners is followed up by great overviews on servers and networking hardware. Have you ever tried to find beginner level explanations of servers?

To be fair, I'm not the target audience for this book, nor is a large law firm IT professional. If you need this book, you know who you are and you can get a great education here. The purchase price is quite reasonable at $79.95, less for ABA Law Practice Management Section members or those whose state bars provide the books at a discount.

You can download the first chapter and the table of contents here. One reviewer gives us his favorite quotes from the book here.

Friendly Gifts or Kickbacks?

I saw a full page ad on the back of a law-related magazine a few months back that bothered me. It was placed by a multi-state court reporting firm and offered a $25 gift card in return for the next deposition scheduled with the firm. I imagine that they got a lot of responses. But the offer bothered in several ways. Would the assistant tell the lawyers he/she is getting this premium? Should it rightfully belong to the staff person making the call, the lawyer, the law firm or maybe even arguably the client? What if this reporting service charges more than the competition? Are we really talking gift or a possibly illegal kickback?

Risk of Rewards By James DeCrescenzo on Depo.com covers these issues and many more, including what the Internal Revenue Service position might be.

Does your office have a written policy about staff members accepting gifts related to their duties? One would think that, at a minimum, disclosure to the firm would be required and an outright prohibition might be advised. I'll let you read the article and make your own decisions. But here's one more example of something that law firm managers have to think about that might not have been an issue in earlier times.

Site of the Week: The Connected Lawyer

The Connected Lawyer is published by Bryan Sims. Those of you who follow legal technology trends probably recognize his name. Bryan is a regular contributor to Technolawyer and was named Technolawyer of the year for 2005. He also did product reviews for Law Office Computing until its premature demise.

The Connected Lawyer features a nice mix of posts with mini-reviews of new technology tools and services, useful techniques for using favorite technology products and general observations about whatever strikes Bryan's fancy. I imagine that many of you are familiar with his blog already. But, let me encourage all of you to stop by and subscribe to The Connected Lawyer, this week's Website of the Week.

"I cannot open that document you sent me."

"I cannot open that document you sent me." We used to hear that a lot on the early days of law office computing as several word processors competed for market share. Well, we are starting to hear it a lot more this year.

As many of you know the primary programs in Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) now have a new and improved file format, which is XML compliant. This can be noticed from the different file name extension; .docx instead of .doc and .pptx instead of .ppt. It can also be noticed when you try to open one of these "new" documents with the older version of the same software and they will not open. Luckily the "fix" for this is pretty simple, just go and download the Microsoft Compatability Pack to allow your Office 2003 version to read Office 2007 files.

When I got Office 2007 at the first of the year, I would try to remember to use "Save as" to save in the old format when I was sending something out by e-mail to make sure I didn't hear back with the "couldn't open" problem. That is surprisingly hard to rememebr. After about the third "can't open" message back, I gave up and set my default to save as the older format. I figured a year from now everyone will have either upgraded or installed the patch. Then I'll change to the new format and, meanwhile, if I need some power hidden in the new format I can always "save as" for that file.

Well, that worked for me and a few days later I was speaking to the Cleveland County Bar in Norman, Oklahoma, and mentioned that as an idea or tips of sorts.

Afterwards I was approached by Hank Ryan, a Norman lawyer and legal technology consultant. Hank smiled and made the comment that I had told them wrong about e-mail the Word files. "Oh?" I said and, since Hank is a high level tech guy, I assumed he was going to inform me about the numerous benefits of the XML file format.

"You're supposed to tell them not to e-mail Word files out at all, not teach them how!" he said. Hank and I shared a chuckle over that one, of course. He's correct. Due to metadata concerns, most lawyers would be much better served by sending files out in PDF format rather than Word. I'd been sending documents that were being jointly drafted to a co-author and had no choice.

But remember Hank's advice, not mine. Avoid e-mailing Word documents out when PDF will do. And have a metadata scrubber to use first when you have to e-mail out Word documents.

But if you are going to stick with the 2003 version of MS Office for a while, go ahead and download the Compatability pack and install it--because other people will be sending you Word documents.

Announcing LegalWikiPro

Attorney Brad Smith, of the Barkley Law Firm of Tulsa, asked me to let all of you know about his new site LegalWikiPro. He would love for this to become a comprehensive substantive law wiki for lawyers. Since he is just getting started, he has focused on developing a category of Oklahoma law at first. He has put a fair amount of time into this. Check out the entry for Death in Oklahoma.

Here's an opportunity for someone to take their state or their favorite subject matter and develop a part of an Internet site with your wisdom and experience. If a lot of people join in, this could become an important resource.

Paste Special (Unformatted): The Next Generation

Copying text from one document to another without also capturing unwanted formatting is something most of us do daily. As a veteran presenter of many "50 Tips" or "60 Tips" programs, I have often discussed with my colleagues that using Edit-Paste Special-Unformatted text to paste into a document has been sort of the "Ultimate Tip" for lawyers. No matter how many times we publicized this technique, there were always two or three people who lighted up in the back of the room when they heard this tip. It was not uncommon to get an e-mail after a seminar that said "Thank you. Learning about paste special was worth the entire price of the seminar."

Well I got that same feeling today when I read a Lifehacker post about removing the formatting in Word documents. The problem with using Paste Special is that it involves clicking on several pull down menus with the mouse, which slows things down. Even if you put a "Paste Special" button on your toolbar, you still have to click on it and then click "unformatted text." You can also use the right click.

But, try this one today. When you have copied some text to your clipboard and want to paste it without formatting into a blank document, use these three keystroke combinations in quick succession: Ctrl + V, Ctrl + A and Ctrl + Spacebar. All done before you can reach for a mouse!

Ctrl + V inserts the copied text (as you all know.) Ctrl + A highlights all text on a page. Ctrl + Spacebar removes all formatting from selected text. Zoom, zoom, zoom.

Now if you are pasting into a document with formatting you don't want to destroy, you cannot use Ctrl + A and have to select the text to be "unformatted" another way. But there's a keyboard shortcut to do this too. Paste the text. Then, while holding down the Shift and Ctrl keys, (conveniently located next to each other) use the Up arrow key to select the text you have just pasted in paragraph by paragraph. So if you just pasted in three paragraphs, you will hit it three times. Then hit Ctrl + Spacebar.

Try this a few times. It is easier to do than to explain. Finally, if you want to know more go to the Lifehacker post. Read the comments. One person says holding down the Alt Key and pressing E, S, U and Enter is even quicker. Another has posted a macro to do this in one keystroke. These tips truly are "the next generation" of Paste Special. We probably all need to create the macro and assign it to a key combination. But for today, I'm just happy to do this more quickly than I did it yesterday.

Note: I follow Lifehacker, but will note that I got this today because Technolawyer dropped it into my inbox with its free Thursday Answers to Questions e-mail. 

Site of the Week: Nowthatyouare18.org

Those fine folks at the Washoe County Bar (Reno, NV) are cutting edge kind of people. (They have hosted a link to this blog on their website for a long time, certainly a positive "cutting edge" thing in my books!) But they have recently unveiled a great website entitled Nowthatyouare18.org, which is a survival guide for teens and young adults. This is a great service. Let's face it. There's no complete guidebook for the many ways the world changes on one's 18th birthday.

Many bar associations have done something like this. The Oklahoma Bar Association has the online publication: You're 18 Now — It's Your Responsibility!

The Washoe County Bar earns kudos for creating a great domain name and creating a catchy modern design for their page. But now their challenge is the same as in Oklahoma or in the home state of everyone reading this. How do we get a teen to read this? If you are in Reno, NV or Oklahoma, and know (or have) a teen or know a high school teacher, e-mail them the link. If you are elsewhere, see if your state has a similar resource. Our OBA Law-Related Education Department works to get the word out about this resource, but they can always use more help. There's a new crop of 18 year olds each month. So spend a few minutes and see if you can so something to help inform some of them of their rights--and responsibilities.

2008 Summer Reading List: The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft® Outlook 2007

I just got my copy of Ben Schorr's new book, The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft® Outlook 2007, and have only spent a few moments with it. I'm excited about this book personally. I trust Ben's judgment. I was a co-presenter with him on a couple of law practice management panels at the ABA meeting in his home state of Hawaii a couple of years ago. (Yeah, tough duty, I know.) Ben's a law office technology consultant and IT guy who has a talent for explaining things where everyone can understand them. As much as I hate Vista, I think there are a lot of positive things about Microsoft Office 2007. I really like Outlook 2007. We all use e-mail every day now and there are so many Outlook features that most lawyers ignore like flags, tasks and mail merges. If you upgrade to Outlook 2007, someone in your office needs to read this book.

Since I have not read the book yet, I will defer to Laura Calloway's detailed review here. But after reading her review, I'm sure you will want to take a look at this publication if you are an Outlook 2007 user. Oklahoma Bar members who are not ABA Law Practice Management section members can contact my assistant, Sharon Dotson, for discounted pricing on this book.