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2010 Technology Goals for Paralegals from NCBA's Practice Management Center

By Lynne DeVenny

I've been carrying around the January 2010 issue of Practice Management, the North Carolina Bar Association's Law Practice Management Section newsletter, because of Erik Mazzone's terrific article "12 for 2010". Erik, the director of NCBA's Center for Practice Management, recommends 12 technology goals that legal professionals can implement one month at a time, especially if they seem a little overwhelming at first. I know it's almost June, but I still want to share some of his great recommendations with my fellow paralegals.

• Try a new browser. I'm loving Google Chrome, and am going to follow Erik's recommendations to try some extensions. Any recommendations?


• Buy yourself a smartphone. You can ask my husband. I've been in angst over making a commitment to the right smartphone for several months. I didn't feel so bad when Steve Fox wrote an essay about his own inability to make the decision in the April 2010 issue of PC World, "When Smartphones Make Us Feel Dumb." If a techie like Steve feels likes his head might explode from all the available choices, then I'm not alone in my dithering, especially when a two-year commitment is involved.


• Get out there and network. When I talk to paralegals who are new to social media and a little hesitant, I tell them, "If you don't do anything else, set up a LinkedIn profile." You need a professional virtual presence.


• Try a digital notebook. Like Erik, I am mad about Evernote (http://www.evernote.com/).


• Use an RSS (feed) reader. This is one of the easiest ways to keep up with legal news and technology, and I'm always surprised to find that so few of my colleagues use one. I believe in it so strongly that I wrote an article, "Feed Your Mind: Stay on Top of Your Career with an RSS Feed Reader," for the April/June 2010 issue of Paralegal Today.


• Use a better to-do list. Erik recommends Remember the Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/), which my husband is also a fan of.

I recommend that you add NCBA's Law Practice Matters Blog to that RSS reader I know you've set up by now.

Related Post: Hey, Paralegals, What's in Your RSS Reader?

Full post as published by Practical Paralegalism on May 20, 2010 (boomark / email).