Law Technology
The Connected Lawyer 
Advances in legal technology and the effects that it has upon the practice of law.
Post Frequency: 0.8/day Last Entry: November 19, 2009 at 11:00:09 Recent Entries: 238
By Bryan Sims, Esq.
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What Does Google Know About You?
Posted on November 19, 2009If you have ever taken a look at the vast number of products that Google offers (and this doesn’t count the stuff that is secretly in development) it is no wonder that some people believe that Google is on a quest to take over the world. I just hope that if that is the case, [...
Simple Certified Mail
Posted on November 18, 2009I do almost all of my simple administrative tasks myself. Mostly because I try to automate them to make the tasks simple and fast to perform. There is one thing, however, that I hate doing: certified mail. It is a pain to deal with and I always delegate that task to my assistant...
Fabricating Evidence
Posted on November 17, 2009I read a recent story at Wired’s Threat Level Blog in which the artist who produced the Obama Hope image admitted that he had lied and destroyed and fabricated evidence to support his claim. I am no expert in copyright or fair use law, however, I am pretty sure that the artists actions in lying, [...
Handling Fame
Posted on November 16, 2009I am too young to have enjoyed Dick Cavett. Sure, I know who he is. However, I just never watched him on television. Now I get the opportunity to experience him a new with his blog at the New York Times. He writes about a variety of topics and I find myself enjoying his posts more [...
Happy Veterans? Day
Posted on November 11, 2009To all of those who are serving or have served: Thank You. In the meantime, if you have not seen the photo essay on the making of an American solder, today is the perfect day to check it out. More can be found here. Tweet This Post Related posts:Happy Veterans Day!Where to Get Free PhotosFriday Fun: Fashion [...
At the ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference
Posted on October 22, 2009I have arrived at the ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. I have already ran into some friendly faces and am excited about the upcoming programs. I am speaking on both Friday and Saturday, but I have today free to enjoy the conference, attend some sessions and visit with friends that I rarely get to [...
Another Reason to Own Your Own Domain
Posted on October 21, 2009A couple of days ago, I posted about why you should own your own domain and not use a free email service for your professional emails. 3 Geeks and a Law Blog has published a couple of posts on the ethical dangers of using a free email address. In the first, after reviewing the terms [...
A Cautionary Tale About Social Media
Posted on October 20, 2009A recent Bruce Schneier post highlights the pitfalls that can accompany social media. I am not a social media hater. I have a Twitter feed, a Linked In page, etc. However, that does not mean that I just randomly add information to my page. Further, I do not add every contact that tries to add [...
Owning Your Own Domain
Posted on October 19, 2009Legal Technologist (and all around great guy) Nerino Petro recently a posted about the benefits of owning your own domain. Nerino points out two good reasons to own your own domain. First, it is a great branding technique. As Nerino points out, you don’t even have to have a website to own the domain and [...
A GMail Tip
Posted on October 16, 2009The ABA Techshow Blog had a great GMail tip a couple of weeks ago. The post explains how you can tell if someone is accessing your GMail account from another location: Once you’re signed in, at the bottom of the page you’ll find a lot of fine print...
And Now for Something Completely Different: Jonathan Coulton
Posted on October 12, 2009I know that this has nothing to do with anything legal, however, this weekend I was finally able to see Jonathan Coulton in concert. For a good description of the concert, check out this review. The short version is as follows: Paul & Storm opened and did a fantastic job...
Upcoming Events
Posted on October 07, 2009Just a note to let people know where I will be speaking in the near future. Tomorrow, October 8, 2009, I will be speaking on Setting up your Practice: Equipment and Systems for the ISBA at a CLE on the Business Side of the Criminal Law Practice. Tomorrow’s CLE is at the Chicago Regional Office of [...
Comcast Continues to Confuse Me
Posted on September 18, 2009I recently wrote about how we had switched our home phone to Comcast Digital Voice, we didn’t like the service and we were switching back to Vonage. Switching back is a fairly simple process, we simply contact Vonage and have them start the process to port the number back to Vonage...
An Acrobat Learning Experience
Posted on September 17, 2009On Tuesday, I attended the Acrobat demonstration that I recently posted about. As usual Rick Borstein and Mark Middleton did a great job. Despite the fact that I had already seen each portion of the presentation as part of a webcast, there were still things that I learned that I would never had known had [...
Unpaid Internships
Posted on September 11, 2009Mark Cuban recently posted a screed about how he was unable to provide unpaid internships through the Mavericks. Mark explains: One silver lining of a ?great recession? that we are now in is that there are a lot of incredibly talented people without jobs, or who have lost their jobs...
First Thing: Reboot
Posted on September 01, 2009I was going to go into a long involved story about what happened to me this morning. However, I decided that this is much more simple. If you are having a problem with your computer. Do not contact your IT person about the problem until you have at least rebooted the computer once...
The Federal Courts Are OK With RECAP
Posted on August 28, 2009As most of you know, recently a Firefox plugin was released called RECAP. The idea behind RECAP is that is captures documents retrieved from PACER and uploads them to a free database. In response, at least some federal courts sent out a sky is falling, beware of evil hackers email in which they stated, in [...
Ted Kennedy & FedEx
Posted on August 27, 2009I noticed that yesterday, while I was complaining about the Comcast installer stealing my cable modem, Adrian at The Nutmeg Lawyer was fondly remembering his encounters with Ted Kennedy. I laughed out loud when I read about Adrian calling Ted Kennedy “Baby...
The Coolest Record on Appeal Ever
Posted on August 27, 2009I spent the first two and one half years of my professional life working as a staff attorney for our state appellate court. Thereafter, I had the opportunity to spend a little more than a year clerking for a justice on the Illinois Supreme Court. The upshot of this is that I love working on [...
Vonage v. Comcast Voice: There is No Contest
Posted on August 26, 2009We have had Vonage for our home telephone service since November 29, 2003. From then until now, I have loved it.The service has been consistently good, I have never had any problems, and the features are great. Our two favorite features were the silmuring feature, which allows any call to the house to also ring [...
A Great Opportunity to Improve Your Acrobat Skills
Posted on August 26, 2009Rick Borstein just announced that he is presenting 3-hour Acrobat demonstrations in Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Seattle. If you work in or near one of these cities and want to improve your Acrobat skills, you should take advantage of this opportunity...
Yes! A New Convert
Posted on August 25, 2009When I find someone else who has converted to a multiple monitor set up, I feel a completely irrational rush of happiness. No, there is no rational explanation for this. However, multiple monitors provide such an efficiency boost that I think everyone should use them...
Protecting Your Bates Numbers
Posted on August 24, 2009One of my favorite features in Adobe Acrobat is its ability to add Bates numbers to hundreds of pages in less than a minute. Another great feature built into the Bates numbering feature is that, because Acrobat stores the Bates numbering information as metadata, it allows you to remove the Bates number from the documents...
Where to Get Free Photos
Posted on August 21, 2009When I prepare a PowerPoint presentation, one of the most difficult things for me is typically finding good pictures that I can use as visuals in my presentation. Just to make things difficult, when doing this, I prefer to use photos that I have the right to use...
More Word Tips
Posted on August 20, 2009John Heckman has recently gathered together some links to site with tips on how to use Microsoft Word more effectively. These include a link to 221 MS Word Keyboard Shortcuts. I cannot stress how advantageous using keyboard shortcuts can be for you. Not only does it allow you to increase your typing speed (because your [...
Grammatical Graffiti
Posted on August 19, 2009I am not quite sure why, but I find this comic absolutely hilarious. Hat tip to the (new) legal writer for pointing this out. Tweet This Post
The Future: Brought to You by Microsoft
Posted on August 19, 2009I am neither a Microsoft hater or a Microsoft apologist. However, I found this way to funny not to share. Tweet This Post
The 5 Stages of Techno Grief
Posted on August 18, 2009Nicole Black has posted a great article analogizing lawyers adopting technology to the five stages of grief. As Nicole explains: In many ways, the legal profession?s response to technology, and online technologies in particular, can be likened to Kübler- Ross?s five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance...
Tech Must Haves
Posted on August 18, 2009I was recently interviewed for an article in the ISBA Bar Journal about must-have tech tools for solo practicioners. The article comes out in the September issue. In the meantime, you can find see a preview at Illinois Lawyer Now, the ISBA’s blog...
An Interesting New Extension for Firefox
Posted on August 17, 2009Nerino Petro points us toward a new Firefox extension that is designed to help make public records freely accessible. The extension works by saving a copy of each document you download from PACER into a free database. This is an interesting concept and I am wondering how well it will succeed...
A Primer on Netbooks
Posted on August 14, 2009One piece of computer equipment that people have been talking about a lot lately are netbooks. These are ultra-portable laptop computers that combine the power of a laptop with ultra convenient portability. Many people have questions regarding what netbooks are and how they differ from laptops...
Closing a Client?s File
Posted on August 13, 2009One of the things I have noticed is that most attorneys don’t bother to think about file storage and retention until they start running out of room to store their files. The key, of course, is to address file retention, storage, and destruction at the beginning of your client relationship, not years after it has [...
A FAQ for Microsoft Word
Posted on August 13, 2009Often people do not use Word correctly because they do not understand how the program works. If people knew how the program worked, I believe that more people would use the myriad of features found in Word. For those who are interested in learning some of those tricks, I have found a great resource posted by [...
Blogroll Update: The Nutmeg Lawyer & TaxGirl
Posted on August 11, 2009I was pleasantly surprised to see that a couple of my favorite bloggers were also participating in Sean Carter’s drive to create a regularly blogging habit. At the same time, I also noticed that my blogroll was out of date and missing some bloggers that I regularly read and enjoy...
What?s in My Travel Bag?
Posted on August 10, 2009I recently received an email from someone asking what they should include in their travel bag. Without knowing their specific situation, that is difficult for me to answer. However, I can tell you what I travel with and explain why I have what I have...
Blogging?Survivor Style
Posted on August 07, 2009Sean Carter has proposed a Surivor-style blogging challenge in an attempt to build a habit of posting a blog entry each day. As Sean explains: If you’re like me, then every Sunday afternoon, you say to yourself, “This week is the week that I start blogging regularly! I mean it this time!” However, before you know [...
What to do if you Have Been Defamed Online
Posted on August 05, 2009The big news story, at least in social media circles, has been the lawsuit filed by Horizon Group Management LLC against Amanda Bonnen for her tweet about her apartment. Several comments that I have read relating to this matter have taken Horizon to task for filing suit over a tweet by a person who had [...
Making Google Docs More Useful
Posted on August 03, 2009Notwithstanding the confidentiality concerns found with Google Docs, I know that there are plenty of people who use and love Google Docs. Don’t get me wrong. I think it is a very neat application and I have used it before for personal, nonconfidential stuff...
Make Sure Your Communication is a Two Way Street
Posted on July 30, 2009Many of us get into a habit of doing things in a certain manner. Once we develop these habits, it’s often very difficult for us to change them. However, we must remember that, just because we do things a certain way, that does not mean that everyone else does it the same way...
I was Recently Interviewed
Posted on July 30, 2009Recently Peter Olson (also known as Solo in Chicago) interviewed me via email. Apparently I blathered on too much because he has broken my interview up into different parts. However, the first part of the interview can be found here. Incidentally, if you are not reading Solo in Chicago, you should be...
Good News from the FTC
Posted on July 30, 2009The FTC has announced that it is delaying the implimentation date of the Red Flags Rules from August 1 until November 1. This is good, although not great, news. The FTC has not backed off its position that the rules apply to law firms. However, the delay does give the ABA some additional time to [...
Red Flags Options
Posted on July 24, 2009In an attempt to combat a problem that does not exist, the FTC, has implemented rules that go into effect on August 1, 2009, requiring attorneys to have a written plan to identify and respond to red flags that indicate possible identity theft. Certainly these rules make sense for certain industries...
An Acrobat Question Regarding Form Fields
Posted on July 23, 2009One of the things I love about Acrobat 9 is the ease with which you can create forms. Adding form fields is quite easy and makes working with pre-printed court forms a piece of cake. I was recently working on a form the other day, however, and realized that I wanted to create a field that [...
Using a ScanSnap to Go Paperless
Posted on July 16, 2009Anyone familiar with my blog knows that I am a big proponent of storing every document in every file electronically. When I talk about this, one question that many people ask is what kind of scanner to get. One of the most popular scanners is the Fujitsu ScanSnap...
Another Benefit of Being Paperless
Posted on July 15, 2009Yesterday I was reminded once again of the benefit of keeping all of my documents electronically.* I received an email from a former client with a question about a case that has been over for more than four years. If I had to resort to the paper file, I would have had to retrieve the [...
Creating and Using and Index in Adobe Acrobat
Posted on July 08, 2009Recently I posted about an article I had published in Chicago Lawyer Magazine about using Adobe Acrobat as part of my legal research workflow. I have received a couple of questions relating to the article relating to which version of Acrobat you need and how to create an index so that the research is searchable...
Formatting With Style
Posted on June 22, 2009Few things drive me more crazy than trying to work on a document that someone else has created. This is because very few people understand how to use styles in Microsoft Word and instead try to format everything using the formatting buttons on their formatting toolbar...
The Mobile Practice of Law
Posted on June 22, 2009I sometimes get asked why I scan every document on every case that I have. Or, why do I think an attorney should have a laptop computer. Or, why do I suggest that an attorney needs conveniences such as a virtual fax service or a smartphone. This is the answer to all of those questions: This [...
Another Convert to Multiple Monitors
Posted on June 17, 2009I think that the single best thing you can do to improve your productivity is to add a second monitor to your desk. I was happy to see that someone else has jumped on this bandwagon. Michael Morse recently explained: I can tell you that out of all the new technology that I have introduced in [...
Nitro PDF Pro 5.5
Posted on June 16, 2009Not long ago, I noted that I had a review of Nitro PDF Pro published by the ABA’s Law Technology News. One of the products I reviewed was Nitro PDF Pro 5.5. I just received word that version 6 has recently been released. You can see a list of the upgrades here...
Using Excel to Keep Track of Your Time
Posted on June 12, 2009A friend of mine swears that Microsoft Excel does everything that an attorney needs to properly bill his clients. I am a big fan of Excel, however, I am not sure that it is the perfect solution. Further, I am sure that it is not the right solution for many attorneys...
Improving Acrobat?s Document Compare Function
Posted on June 11, 2009Adobe Acrobat has a really powerful document compare feature. This is a great feature in that there are times that you just can’t get a copy of the original word processing document to run a comparison with it. One of the drawbacks of the feature, however, is that sometimes the amount of information that you [...
Using Adobe Acrobat in Your Legal Research
Posted on June 09, 2009I recently had an article published in Chicago Lawyer Magazine. The topic is using Adobe Acrobat in your legal research. I know, an Acrobat article from me. What a surprise. However, if you are curious about what I have to say, you can find the article here.
ScanSnap Tips & Tricks
Posted on June 04, 2009For many years, most people I know in the legal technology field have been suggesting the Fujitsu ScanSnap as a great scanner at a reasonable price. I too do not hesitate to recommend the ScanSnap to anyone who is looking for a scanner. If you are someone who uses a ScanSnap, you should check out the [...
JukeFly and Bubbles, A Great Combination
Posted on June 03, 2009Let me admit now, this post has nothing to do with the practice of law. However, somedays I am still amazed at the things that technology allows us to solve our problems. In this instance, I have approximately 40GB of music sitting on my computer at home...
Acrobat.com Presentations
Posted on June 01, 2009Recently I had the opportunity to preview a newly released product from Acrobat.com. This product, which is called Presentations, is probably best described as an online version of PowerPoint that is powered by flash. The product is still in development...
My Wife is Awesome
Posted on May 27, 2009This week my wife and I are celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary. Although we typically don’t do the gift thing for our anniversary, we decided to give each other a gift this year. Last night we exchanged our gifts. To my surprise, my wife bought me a Kindle...
Adding Exhibit Stamps in Acrobat
Posted on May 21, 2009Rick Borstein comes through with another great way to use PDFs in your legal practice: Adding dynamic exhibit stamps. Rick explains: Since PDF is the defacto (or often mandated) eFiling standard, it didn’t come as a surprise that I’ve received a few emails on this exhibit stamping PDFs over the last couple of years...
Make Your Contact Information Available
Posted on April 27, 2009A recent post on Business Writing caught my eye. In the post, Lynn Gaertner-Johnston relates a story about her decision not to recommend a person for a consultant job because she could not find her contact information. Gaertner-Johnston explains: But when I tried to track down Rita’s contact information to give to my client, I couldn’t [...
Don?t Let Your Software Control You
Posted on April 25, 2009Every so often I read something and I say to myself, I wish I had written that. I had that experience recently when I read a post on PDF for Lawyers. In the post, Ernie explains: Remember this joke? Guy goes into see the doctor, and the doc asks “what seems to be the problem?” The guy [...
Reviews of UltraMon and Nitro PDF Pro
Posted on April 17, 2009Today I had two reviews published by the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section in their Law Practice Today webzine. The first is a review of UltraMon, a product I have used for years. If you use multiple monitors, you definitely need to check this utility out...
Synchronization Programs
Posted on April 14, 2009For the last several years, one of my favorite programs has been Network Unplugged. Not long after I started using Network Unplugged, Mobiliti, the company that made it was acquired by Packeteer. At that time, the name was changed from Network Unplugged to Mobiliti...
Adobe Acrobat 9 Error
Posted on March 31, 2009Is anyone else having this problem? I am using Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. Starting last week, Acrobat keeps crashing on me. It almost always crashed if I OCR a document and then try to save it. Also, it will crash sometimes if I open a scanned document and then try to save it...
Afraid by Jack Kilborn
Posted on March 30, 2009Jack Kilborn is the alter ego of J.A. Konrath, the author of the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series of crime novels. I am a big fan of those. Thus, I was happy when I was able to snag a review copy of his new book, Afraid. With Afraid, Konrath brings us a book that is quite [...
Thinking of Hanging Out Your Own Shingle? Please Join Us.
Posted on March 23, 2009I am honored to have been asked to present for the Illinois State Bar Association at a seminar called Hanging Out Your Shingle (Without Hanging Yourself). The program will be presented at the Northern Illinois Conference Center at 8500 East State St., Rockford, Illinois on Friday, March 27, 2009...
Link Array
Posted on March 19, 2009I have way too many links about a variety of things that I planned to blog about but I realized that I never will. Thus, I decided to throw a few up as a variety of links. The Connectict Legislature has raided the state bar’s Client Security Fund...
Online Access to Case Information
Posted on March 18, 2009I know that I frequently complain about the glacial pace at which Illinois courts are finally adopting the electronic filing concept. At least in this arena, however, there is some progress. For example, DuPage County has implemented a very efficient efiling system...
A Great Way to Share Your Contact Info
Posted on March 17, 2009As usual, Ernie the Attorney has another great suggestion: Whenever I go to an event I usually bring business cards. Sometimes I remember to hand them out and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes people to ask me for them, but usually they don’t...
Link Array
Posted on March 11, 2009I have way too many links about a variety of things that I planned to blog about but I realized that I never will. Thus, I decided to throw a few up as a variety of links. The Library of Congress adds 3100 pictures to Flickr These pictures are really interesting...
The Downsides of SaaS
Posted on March 10, 2009I beleive that Software as a Service is a growth industry in the legal field and that, as programs get more complicated and more expensive, more people will be moving to a SaaS model for at least some of their software needs. A recent problem with Google Docs, however, highlights one of the potential problems with [...
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston
Posted on February 24, 2009I have read seveal of Charlie’s other books and I would recommend his book Six Bad Things to anyone who has any interest in crime fiction. However, I was not thrilled by his last stand alone novel (The Shotgun Rule). Thus I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked up his latest novel, [...
Using Checkmarks in Excel
Posted on February 20, 2009Carol’s Corner Office Blog recently had a great trip on how to add checkmarks to an Excel spreadsheet. Carol explains: I receive lots of e-mail from subscribers asking me if they can put checkmarks into the cells in their MS Excel spreadsheets. The short answer is yes! There are several ways to place checkmarks in the cells [...
E Fax Comparisons
Posted on February 20, 2009It is no secret that I am a fan of efax services. If you are thinking about switching to an efax service, you should check out FaxCompare, which compares the various efax services available. The site has good information and I recommend it for anyone thinking about signing up for an efax service...
Redaction Done Wrong. Again!
Posted on February 17, 2009At times I am amazed at the technical incompetency of some people. Recently the AP was able to discover the confidential details of the settlement between Facebook and ConnectU because whoever “redacted” the confidential information did not actually redact the information...
E-Filing and 20th Century Lawyers
Posted on January 29, 2009It is no secrete that I love the CM/ECF (e-filing) system that the federal courts use. Not only is it very convenient to be able to file your documents from your desk, but it is also great that you don’t have to serve those documents on the other parties who have filed an appearance in [...
Best Blago Quote I have Seen Yet
Posted on January 27, 2009I normally avoid political topics on the blog, but with the impeachment trial going on in Springfield, it is impossible to ignore. The best comment I have heard about the whole mess comes from a post from Eric Zorn. He was commenting on fact that Blagojevich had purchased a puppy for his children because they [...
Books: A Review of 2008
Posted on January 26, 2009In 2008 I read only 29 books (down from 40 in 2007, and 46 in 2006). I am quite disappointed by this and plan to aim for my 2006-07 level in 2009. Nevertheless, I did read some really good books in 2008. Of the 29 I read, my favorites were, in no particular order: Little Brother [...
Too Much Treo? No, Not Really
Posted on January 23, 2009I just discovered that I have worn a callus on the inside of my pinkie finger because of the way that I hold my Treo when I type one-handed. The conclusion that I draw from this is that I apparently often use the Treo only in one hand. As a result, in the future I [...
Making a Useful Signature Stamp
Posted on January 22, 2009At PDF for Lawyers, Ernie the Attorney provides a great tutorital on creating a digital signature in Adobe Acrobat. The problem with using a digital signature in Acrobat is that most people don’t understand them. In addtion to your name, the digital signature contains other information that verifies that you signed the document and that [...
A Primer on Electronic Signatures
Posted on January 21, 2009TechnoEsq has a great post in which he discusses the methods of signing electronic documents. As he explains: Contracts are now signed electronically, emails are frequently used for communication between counsel and clients, pleadings in federal court are even electronically signed and filed...
Creating a New Google Docs Document from GMail
Posted on January 20, 2009Google recently added a new feature to Gmail that allows you to create a new document in Google Docs with one click. As the GMail Blog explains: No more copying and pasting the text from your email — just open the message you wish to convert, click the “Create a document” link on the right side [...
Surprise!
Posted on January 20, 2009Andy Nulman believes that surprise is a great way to market yourself. He has a new book espousing this philosophy. he has offered to send a copy to each of the first 200 bloggers who posts about the book. I was not familiar with Andy today, but I will try reading just about anything...
Synchronizing Files with Dropbox
Posted on January 19, 2009The Affinity Law Office Technology Blog recently posted about Dropbox, a site that allows you to backup, share, and synchronize your files online. The post explained: Once installed, the software creates a Dropbox folder on your desktop. Simply drag files you want to sync with another computer to the Dropbox folder...
Palm Pre Presentation
Posted on January 13, 2009I just finished watching the presentation that Palm made at CES when it introduced the Pre. Like many others, I have feared that Palm was dead. However, I am really excited about what Palm is doing with the Pre. I like the sound of the new OS as well as their emphasis on synergy...
Microsoft Word Tips for Jury Instructions
Posted on January 13, 2009I just saw a great tip from Carol’s Corner Office Blog about printing jury instructions. One of the problems with preparing jury instructions is that you need a copy for you, opposing counsel, and the judge with citations on them. You also need jury instructions for the jury without these citations...
Efiling and Cook County
Posted on January 09, 2009Yesterday i attended a presentation by the Cook County Circuit Clerk about the efiling system they are planning to roll out in March 2009. The vendor Cook County selected is USCourts.com, which is also the vendor for the statewide efiling project in Alabama...
PDF Tips and Tricks
Posted on January 06, 2009Recently PDF for Lawyers pointed to a great article on How to Do Everything with PDF Files. I don’t know that the list actually covers how to do everything. However, it is a pretty comprehensive list with several different tips, including several for creating PDFs without using Adobe Acrobat...
A Great CLE Idea
Posted on January 05, 2009I love what the people at Mentor CLE are doing. They make their presentations available for free on the Internet. If you want credit for them you simply pay $19.95 per hour. Recently they added their newest product, a daily three minute audio report on recent developments in the law...
Cool Web Applications Usable by Anyone
Posted on December 31, 2008Recently, Dumb Little Man posted 21 Excellent Web Apps for College Students. The list included some obvious choices such as Wikipedia, Gmail, Zoho, Google Docs, and Google Calendar. It also included other suggestions such as Remember the Milk, Bookfinder, Drop...
More Thoughts on Digital Signatures
Posted on December 30, 2008I have written multiple times about using digital signatures. As I have pointed out before, however, what I am referring to in my posts is actually just a picture of my signature added to a PDF file. A true digital signature is different and includes security and verification protocols...
Scientists Using Google Earth
Posted on December 29, 2008This is one of the coolest stories I have seen. However, while scrolling around on Google Earth, an internet map that allows the viewer to look at satellite images of anywhere on the globe, scientists discovered an unexpected patch of green. A British-led expedition was sent to see what was on the ground and found 7,000 hectares [...
Book Review: Chronological Study Bible
Posted on December 29, 2008This is another book I received through Thomas Nelson’s Blogger Book Review Program. I was very excited to see it on the list when I signed in. I have long wanted a Chronological Study Bible and this seemed like the perfect fit. When I was in college, my Con Law professor told us to always remember [...
Virtual Fax Services
Posted on December 28, 2008Recently someone asked me about virtual fax services. I have written before about virtual faxes and why I would not go back to a regular fax machine. However, I have not talked about the different options available. In spending just a little time poking around the Internet today, I found several different services that are [...
A Great Offer from Log Me In
Posted on December 23, 2008I am a big fan of Log Me In. I use it to access my home computer remotely. In fact, my ancient monitor on my home desktop (which I use mostly as a server type machine) recently died and I have just been using Log Me In to control it rather than replacing the monitor [...
Laptop Bags
Posted on December 19, 2008According to statistics released earlier this year, travelers lose more than 600,000 laptops a year at the largest and medium sized airports in the country. At the 36 largest airports, more than 10,000 laptops are last a per week. This means that you need to pay close attention to your laptop when traveling through the airport [...
A Great USB Drive
Posted on December 18, 2008Of course, there is no substitution for encryption to ensure that your information remains secure. However, you can add additional layers of protection by making your data difficult to find or recognize. To this end, ThinkGeek has a great product that they call the Hacked And Frayed Spy Flash Drive...
Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone
Posted on December 11, 2008I recently ran across a couple of posts dealing with the effects of the cellphone: Five Gadgets That Were Killed by the Cellphone and Seven (More) Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone. The first five: The PDA The Camera The UMPC (ultra mobile PC) The Phone The MP3 Player The next seven: The Pager The Wristwatch Pocket Calculator Alarm Clocks SatNav (stand alone GPD) Books Handheld Consoles Some of these I [...
Book Review: Holding Fast by Karen James
Posted on December 10, 2008I recently read Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy by Karen James. I received this book as part of Thomas Nelson’s blogger book review program. In December 2006, three climbers lost their lives during a terrible storm on Mt Hood in Oregon...
Creating a Digital Signature
Posted on December 09, 2008I know that I have written before about creating a digital signature. (Just to clarify, by digital signature, in this instance I am talking about a digital picture of your physical signature.) Ernie Svenson recently announced that he was putting on a CLE seminar on digital workflow...
Nitro PDF, A Viable Alternative to Adobe Acrobat?
Posted on December 08, 2008The Greatest American Lawyer recently suggested a viable alternative to Adobe Acrobat: Nitro PDF. Most Acrobat alternatives do nothing more than simply create PDFs. In my mind, that is not the purpose of Adobe Acrobat. It has many more features that allow you to comment on or otherwise handle your PDF documents...
Backing Up Your Gmail Account
Posted on December 04, 2008I along with many other people I know have a Gmail account. I don’t use mine for business, however, I know that some people do. If you are using your Gmail account for anything that is at all important, you need to check out Gmail Backup. Gmail backup is a nifty utility that allows you to [...
With Monitors, Size Does Matter
Posted on November 25, 2008A recent study from the University of Utah reveals something that anyone who uses larger and/or multiple monitors already know: If you use a larger monitor or multiple monitors, you are more productive. Specifically, People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two [...
Windows 7: Is It the Silver Lining in the Vista Cloud?
Posted on November 13, 2008I know that large numbers of people, including myself, have stuck with Windows XP and avoided Windows Vista. A recent post from Lifehacker provides hope that Windows 7 may not suck. The post gives us the Top 10 Things to Look Forward to in Windows 7. Of the 10 items, three of them jumped out at [...
Happy Veterans Day!
Posted on November 11, 2008To anyone who is a veteran, today I salute you. Too often we go through life without ever thinking of those who protect us by serving in the armed forces. In addition to their sacrifice, there is also often a sacrifice by the family left at home while the veteran serves overseas...
Meeting Clients at a Location Other than your Office
Posted on November 10, 2008One of the great benefits of incorporating technology into your practice is that you can practice anywhere. For many people, this means that they have foregone the expense of an office and are working only from home. Chuck Newton recently posted about Where to Meet Clients When You Work from Home...
Creating a Gravatar
Posted on November 06, 2008Last week’s Tip of the Week from Susan Cartier Liebel at Build a Solo Practice, LLC, is to create a Gravatar. As explained on the Gravatar website, A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on [...
Adobe Creates a Community for Acrobat Users
Posted on November 05, 2008Ernest Svenson posted an announcement today at PDF for Lawyers that he and David Masters are moderating the legal group at the new Adobe Acrobat User Community. Ernie explains: I happy to announce that Adobe has created an online forum called Adobe Acrobat User Community...
Twitter Tips
Posted on November 05, 2008I have written before about Twitter. If you do not use Twitter, there is no way that I can explain it to you without the concept sounding ridiculous. What I will say is that if you have thought about trying Twitter, I urge you to give a whirl. I think you will be surprised by [...
Go Vote!
Posted on November 04, 2008If you have not already done so, please go vote. I went this morning and was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I also had a nice conversation with one of my neighbors.
Tips for Using Google Docs
Posted on October 29, 2008Google Docs is becoming more popular as people realize the advantage of having documents accessible to them anywhere they have internet access. Recently Digital Inspiration posted a “practical guide to Google Docs.” The post includes tips such as the following: Q: How do I upload all my Microsoft Office documents from the desktop on to Google [...
Keeping Your Notebook Safe
Posted on October 28, 2008Chris Pirillo provides 10 Tips to Keep Your Notebook Safe When Traveling. My two favorites are: Keep It On You: It is not uncommon for someone to set their luggage down while standing in line for a muffin, or to sit down while waiting for a flight. With all luggage, it is important to keep an [...
Citations the Easy Way
Posted on October 24, 2008Bonnie Shucha of WisBlawg recently pointed her readers in the direction of a great new Firefox add-on called CiteGenie. CiteGenie describes itself as being able to: Automagically copy text with correct citations from Westlaw and other websites Cite Genie further explains: Cutting and pasting when doing legal research using your browser is simple...
WebMail Notifier: Another Great Firefox Add-on
Posted on October 23, 2008As I have said before, one of the reasons that I love Firefox is that it allows you to install add-ons to make the browser work the way that you want it to work. The newest extension that I have fallen in love with is WebMail Notifier. WebMail Notifier checks your webmail accounts (including GMail, Yahoo, [...
My Review of Adobe Acrobat 9
Posted on October 22, 2008Last week, my review of Adobe Acrobat 9 was published by Technolawyer. The review can be found on my Files page or downloaded directly from here. The short version is that I love the program and would recommend it to anyone who has not yet upgraded. There are several new features as well as improvements to [...
Rocket Matter is Getting Things Done
Posted on October 21, 2008By now, most people have at least heard of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. The key to implementing GTD, however, is to ensure that you have a good system that fits the GTD philosophy. Recently, Rocket Matter has written a post about how to use Rocket Matter to implement GTD...
My Tip for the Day: Don?t Create Stupid Rules
Posted on October 16, 2008My wife and I are in the process of refinancing some rental property that we own. Because we have all of our information in a digital format, we were able to send our financial info, tax info, etc., to the bank electronically. In response, the bank sent us an application that they wanted us to [...
The Cost of Not Going Digital
Posted on October 16, 2008The Greatest American Lawyer posted today on the Cost Savings in Going Digital. If you have not yet made the move to keeping all of your documents digitally, I recommend that you check out this post. The post explains: I?m often asked how much money it will cost in staff and time to scan in all [...
The Mobile Law Firm
Posted on October 15, 2008At The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, Evan Schaeffer reports that he and his wife, Andrea Lamere, are spending the month in Arentina. Given that their firm consists of Evan and Andrea, some people may be wondering about how they are keeping their practice going while they are both in Argentina...
Google Maps in the Courtroom
Posted on October 09, 2008I was in court this morning waiting for my case to be called. The judge was hearing a short argument over how much access and expert needed to a private home to render his opinion. To demonstrate the situation, one of the attorneys had brought in some pictures of the houses at issue...
Let Mail Goggles Save You
Posted on October 08, 2008One of the things I love about Google is that they aren’t afraid to try something. They almost always have some cool new feature coming out of their labs. One of the latest is Mail Goggles. Named after Beer Goggles, Mail Goggles is a feature in GMail that requires you to perform a series of [...
The 20th Century Strikes Again
Posted on October 07, 2008When I checked my mail at home today I found a two inch thick book that was a gift from my alma mater. The book is an alumni directory. And yes, my undergrad is small enough that all of the alumni can fit in a single book. When I realized what this was, I was struck [...
A New E-Reader
Posted on September 11, 2008I am a big fan of ebooks. They are certianly more portable than regular books. Although I read my ebooks on my Treo, I am always happy to see advancements in e-reader technology. engadget has a post about a new e-reader from Plastic Logic. This device is thinner than the Kindle, plus it is flexible...
Be Careful While Working and Talking on the Telephone
Posted on September 08, 2008Last week I was reviewing a tract search from a title company. When I called the title company to ask about a couple of questions that I had on the search, the person I spoke with explained that it would take her a few minutes to get the information that she needed because she was [...
ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference Starts Today
Posted on September 04, 2008I don’t know what your plans for today are, but I am headed to the ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. I will be speaking at two sessions. Today I am speaking with Nerino Petro on online applications and Software as a Service (SaaS). On Saturday, I am again speaking with Nerino, Todd Flaming, and [...
Blogroll Update: Legal Dockets Online is now Courtport
Posted on September 04, 2008Just a quick post to note that Legal Dockets Online is now known as Courtport. It looks like they have the same great info on electronic filing. It’s just at a different location now.
A Welcome to My Wife
Posted on September 03, 2008My wife has finally joined the blogging world. Feel free to visit her site and if you are looking at real estate in the far west suburbs, give her a call. She will be glad to help you.
Google Chrome: My Initial Thoughts
Posted on September 02, 2008I downloaded Google Chrome today just to play with it and see what it was like. My initial thought is that, had it been introduce three years ago, it would be really cool. Right now, however, it ranks a shoulder shrug from me. Maybe it has some hidden jewels that I haven’t found yet...
The Current Real Estate Market
Posted on August 28, 2008The wasserblawg has a humerous look at today’s real estate market. Unfortuantely, I think it hits a little too close to the truth.
You Send It Got Better
Posted on August 27, 2008One of my favorite online services is You Send It. It allows you to send large attachments via email. I have written about this service before. I have used the service to send discovery documents, pictures, and powerpoint presentations without having to worry about exceeding the limits on someone’s mailbox...
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Posted on August 27, 2008I know that I am late coming to this party, but I just finished Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, and it is great. My reading tastes are quite varied, however, when given the choice, I usually read thrillers or science fiction. For the most part, I do not read fantasy...
The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield
Posted on August 24, 2008At the begining of August Michael Hyatt, the President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, announced on his Twitter feed that in conjunction with their publicataion of the book The Faith of Barack Obama, Thomas Nelson would send the first 200 bloggers a copy of the book as long as they agreed to post a [...
Another Great Firefox Extension
Posted on August 14, 2008I love the various extensions that you can add to Firefox to make it work the way that works best for me. Tom Mighell at Inter Alia has identified another great Firefox extension Picknik. Picknik allows you to easily capture graphics and webpages right from within Firefox...
Extending Your Laptop?s Battery Life
Posted on August 13, 2008The article then goes on to describe other actions you can take to extend your battery life. Some of these include: Turn off ports. Disabling unused ports and components, such as VGA, Ethernet, PCMCIA, USB, and yes, your wireless, too. You can do this through the Device Manager or by configuring a separate hardware profile (see [...
More Backup Suggestions
Posted on August 12, 2008I cannot suggest often enough that you need to have a good backup plan in place. I know Ross Kodner has written on this topic, which he calls the most boring topic in legal technology, multiple times. Certainly, this is not the most exciting topic around...
A Tip for Browsing the Web
Posted on August 11, 2008This is something that I have found that many people do not know. When you are in either Internet Explorer or Firefox, if you want to page down the website, simply hit your spacebar. It has the same effect as hitting the Page Down key, but it is a whole lot easier to hit the [...
Is Anyone Else Having Problems Using Cambria with HP LaserJet 5
Posted on August 08, 2008Quite a while ago I made the switch to using Cambria as my default text font in my word processor. I really like the looks of it and I think that it looks good and is easier to read on both the screen and paper. Recently, however, I have been having problems printing from Word [...
Blocking Cellphone Spam
Posted on August 08, 2008Spam is the bane of our email existance. Recently David Pogue wrote about how to stop cell phone spam. He explained the problem as: OK, now I’m really, REALLY annoyed. Within a week, my wife and I have both started getting spam text messages on our Verizon cellphones...
Another Word Tip
Posted on August 05, 2008One question I often get from others who are frustrated with Word deals with how to fix the formatting in a particular document. Often the formatting screw ups occur because someone was not properly using styles. Somethimes, however, the formatting is screwed up because the document is imported from aonther format or because someone pasted [...
The Perfect Filing Cabinet is a Trash Can
Posted on August 04, 2008Ernest Svenson (a/k/a Ernie the Attorney) has a great post at PDf For Lawyers about the necessity of keeping paper documents after they have been scanned. Ernie explains: Once people realize the benefits of scanning and decide to do it they usually have one last question: how long should I keep the paper after I scan it? [...
Your Keyboard Has a Tab Key for a Reason
Posted on July 31, 2008I am a big fan of using styles in Word. If you understand and use them, Word becomes very powerful and, I think, more easy to use. I understand, however, that not everyone uses or understands styles. I beleive that the proper solution to this is good training...
I Heart Adriana
Posted on July 30, 2008I love Adriana Linares‘ blog I Heart Tech. Her posts often contain the best tips. Her tips are so good becaue they are often very simple to perform, plus they are practical. Her latest tip is a tip for Outlook that I love. In her tip, she explains how to simulaneously view nonsequential days in [...
An Example of How Technology Has Changed Our Lives
Posted on July 29, 2008If you have not seen the video of the NYPD Office and the Critical Mass rider, (in which the bicyclist has been charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct) watch it below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ According to the New York Daily News, the police officer described the above incident as follows: Pogan [the officer] said he saw Long [...
Is the iPhone/iPod Touch the New Laptop?
Posted on July 29, 2008Over the past few weeks I have enjoyed an interesting series of posts from both Dennis Kennedy and Ernie the Attorney. Dennis has posted a three part series in which he explains the process that he went through in deciding to purchase an iPod Touch as his new laptop computer...
Ways to Beat Stress
Posted on July 25, 2008In a recent post, Dumb Little Man gave some good tips for beating stress when working at home. Although aimed at people who work from home, you can apply most of the tips, regardless of where you work. This is especially true if you take your work home with you...
So Close, But Not Quite There Yet
Posted on July 25, 2008A few weeks ago I received an email from one of the bankruptcy courts to which I am admitted. The email announced that they will be doing an “ECF Tip of the Month.” The idea is to address problems commonly encountered with the ECF system. For example, the first tip is for filing an amended creditor [...
Thanks Jim
Posted on July 24, 2008Thanks to Jim Calloway for naming The Connected Lawyer the Site of the Week. Jim is a leader in the the legal blogging world and it is an honor to be recognized by him. Also, if you are not reading his Law Practice Tips Blog, you need to start right now.
Excel Tips
Posted on July 24, 2008Nerino Petro has identified a great article revealing some hidden gems in Microsoft Excel 2007. I believe that Excel is one of the most under used programs in a law office. There are so many things that you can do in Excel must easier than you can do in any other manner...
TinyURL Creator Rocks (Again)
Posted on July 23, 2008A few posts ago I knocked TinyURL Creator (a Firefox extension) for the fact that it made me go through an unnecessary mouse click everytime that I used it. Because of this, I named Shrinkify my favorite URL shrinker. Today I admit my error. Yes, in its default mode, TinyURL still makes you click a box [...
Fixing iTunes Library Problem
Posted on July 16, 2008We are getting ready to go on a short road trip. This means that I wanted to add some music to my wife’s iPod (it’s what we use for music on the trip). While selecting songs to add to the iPod (checking the little boxes in iTunes), I accidentally selected all of the songs in [...
A Mobiliti Solution
Posted on July 15, 2008One of my favorite programs is Mobiliti which is now owned by Packeteer, Inc. When I first started using the program it was called Network Ungplugged. I actually prefer that name, because it is a great description of what it does. The program allows me to synchronize my network files to my laptop so that [...
Another Office 2007 Conversion Solution
Posted on July 09, 2008A couple of days ago I wrote about the fact that many people still use Office 2003 and are unable to read documents created in Office 2007. The solution that I suggested was that if you are using Office 2003, you should download the compatability pack that allows you to read Office 2007 documents...
Fuzzy Navel Released
Posted on July 08, 2008I recently reviewed an electronic ARC of Fuzzy Navel by JA Konrath. I enjoyed the book and would certainly recommend it if you have read and enjoyed his other novels. Anyway, the book’s release date is today. If you have been waiting for it, wait no more...
Another Great Acrobat Feature
Posted on July 08, 2008For years, I have done the majority of my research online. Until a couple of years ago, I would identify the cases that helped me, email those cases to myself, print them out, and then highlight/take notes on the hard copy. A couple of years ago, I realized that it made no sense for me [...
MS Office 2007 Compatibility
Posted on July 07, 2008When I got my new computer recently, it came with Office 2007. It took me a while to get used to 2007. The reality is that I was perfectly happy with Office 2003 and I felt no overwhelming reason to change. Since getting Office 2007, I have realized that many other share my opinion in [...
Adobe Acrobat Seminars
Posted on July 02, 2008It is no secret that Adobe Acrobat is one of my favorite programs. I am excited about the launch of version 9 and am curious about what new features that Adobe has added to make Acrobat even better for lawyers. Fortunately, Adobe appears to want to answer that question...
Great Gesture from Rocket Matter
Posted on June 25, 2008Rocket Matter has announced that they are offering RocketMatter free of charge to attorneys who have been displaced by the recent floods. The free service will be available to those attorneys for the balance of 2008, or until the attorney establishes their new permanent home...
Another TechnoFeature
Posted on June 25, 2008Yesterday I had the pleasure of having my review of the Canon ScanFront 220P scanner published as a TechnoFeature by TechnoLawyer. A reprint of my review can be found on my Files page or by clicking here. My summary of the review is that I loved this scanner and I would recommend it for anyone who [...
Eating While Traveling in Oregon
Posted on June 24, 2008Recently I spent some time the Pacific Northwest. We spent time in Portland and Astoria Oregon as well as Ocean Shores, Washington. I love this area and always enjoy visiting. While in Portland, I found the best doughnuts that I have ever eaten at VooDoo Doughnut...
Using a Blog to Manage Information
Posted on June 23, 2008My wife has asked me why I blog about the books that I read and the hotels that I stay at. After she asked the question, I realized that one of the main reasons that I do this, is so that I can find the information again when I need it. Sure, I could make notes [...
PicLens Makes Pictures Easy to Use
Posted on June 23, 2008A couple of months ago, Matt Homan recommended PicLens for anyone who “EVER view photos or other images in the web.” At the time, I thought the suggestion was interesting, but I did nothing other than bookmark Matt’s post and the PicLens site...
Going Paperless?
Posted on June 22, 2008I am a huge advocate of moving to a paperless office. In my experience, it is simply a more efficient way of doing things. If you have not yet made the decision to move to a paperless office, Lawyer’s Weekly has a good article on how to get started...
The City of Books
Posted on June 21, 2008While in Portland, I was able to visit Powell’s Books, which claims to be the world’s largest independent used and new bookstore. I can’t verify this, but I can verify that it is huge, and, without a doubt, the coolest bookstore I have ever been in...
Using TripIt
Posted on June 18, 2008I have written before about TripIt. TripIt is a travel organization website that allows you to forward your reservation confirmations to the website and it automatically builds a travel itinerary for you. When I wrote about TripIt before, I had not yet tried it...
Time to Register for 2008 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference
Posted on June 11, 2008I just received the registration brochure for the 2008 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. This is shaping up to be another great conference and I am really looking forward to it. There are three programing tracks with lots of good programs and speakers scheduled...
Damn You Buzz Bruggeman!
Posted on June 10, 2008Recently I had a self imposed (or maybe a wife imposed) moratorium on purchasing new software. Some days I think I like to collect software as much as I do other gadgets. To that end, I download a lot of free trial software, play with it for a while, and then discard it when the [...
Acrobat & Mobiliti Problem
Posted on June 05, 2008I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro 8 and Mobiliti Basic 7.1. I presume that most people are familiar with Acrobat. Mobiliti is a program that creates a virtual network on your laptop that allows you to access designated folders when you are disconnected from your network...
Fake Fax Signatures
Posted on June 03, 2008Bruce Schneier has a great post on the apparent insecurity of fax signatures. Bruce is right of course in his assertion that fax signatures can be easily forged, especially if you have a copy of your signature on your computer. However, as Bruce points out, fax signatures are accepted because they are typically only one small [...
Another Word Tip: Squeezing Text on a Page
Posted on June 03, 2008I love tips that help us use MS Word more effectively. Nerino Petro at Compujurist has a great little post detailing how to take the last bit of text that appears by itself on the last page and squeeze it into the previous page. Not only does Nerino share this tip, but he also tells [...
Favorite: Shrinkify
Posted on June 02, 2008I have written before that TinyURL Creator is one of my favorite Firefox extensions. That is no more. I have a new favorite: Shrinkify. Both of these extensions do the same thing. Namely, they take a really long web address and convert it into something that is short and easily used...
A Great Hard Drive Solution
Posted on May 28, 2008If you have ever complained about having to swap a hard drive out of an external hard drive enclosure, I have found the perfect solution for you: The SATA HDD Multi-Function Dock. According to the website, This SATA HDD Dock allows you to plug any 2...
Backups, An Interesting Contrast
Posted on May 28, 2008As I was perusing my RSS reader this morning, I came across two blog posts that provided an interesting contrast. First was from the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog. There, Evan Schaeffer points us toward an article from PC World about why you should back up online...
A Step in the Right Direction
Posted on May 23, 2008The Illinois Supreme Court released a press release today announcing a plan for a unified efiling system throughout the state. Chief Justice Robert R. Thomas and the Illinois Supreme Court announced Friday a wide-ranging plan to build a technological infrastructure that would link electronically all the courts in the state?s 23 judicial circuits and 102 counties...
SaaS and Support Options
Posted on May 22, 2008Web-Tones recently posted an entry titled Darkside of SaaS. In the post, the author explains: As we move more and more of our computing to the cloud one thing will become painfully obvious. It is not the service provider with the coolest interface or lowest cost that will win...
My Social Media Presence
Posted on May 21, 2008I am not sure why, but it feels strange to say that. However, I do have one a presence and I might as well make it easy to find. My LinkedIn page can be found here. I have also recently started using Twitter. My Twitter page is here. Cleverly, my Twitter name is Bryan_Sims...
Is This Normal?
Posted on May 21, 2008I have a case in which opposing counsel is sending me approximately 1,000 pages of nonconfidential pages of discovery. He asked if he could send them to me electronically (note, these are from a third party and, for a variety of reasons, edicsovery is not a concern)...
Crossing Borders with your Laptop
Posted on May 20, 2008The fact that agents can search your computer when you cross international borders presents special problems for attorneys, given that our computers likely contain information we are ethically bound to keep confidential. If you are considering international travel with your laptop, I recommend that you check out Bruce Schneier’s column on crossing boarders with your [...
Fuzzy Navel by J.A. Konrath
Posted on May 19, 2008I managed to get my hands on an ARC of Fuzzy Navel, J.A. Konrath’s new novel coming out in July 2008. I read it in fewer than 24 hours, coincidentally about the same amount of time that the book covers. In this latest installment of the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series, the action is packed into [...
This is Not a Metadata Problem
Posted on May 16, 2008I have spoken on multiple occasions to attorneys about the dangers of metadata. I have found that many attorneys are not aware of the problem and do not know how to follow simple steps to manage metadata. I was completely stunned, however, by this post which describes a business plan that was submitted to a venture [...
Some People I Just Don?t Get
Posted on May 16, 2008The Legal Profession Blog has an interesting post about Stephen Harris, a Kansas attorney who was disciplined because he refused to file bankruptcy pleadings electronically. The opinion from the Supreme Court of Kansas explains: In January 2005, Respondent attempted to file a bankruptcy case, in behalf of another client, using paper pleadings rather than electronic pleadings...
Little Brother
Posted on May 13, 2008Are you concerned about the new surveillance methods being implemented in New York City? Do you believe that it is stupid that we have to take our shoes off while going through airport security? Do you think it is stupid even after hearing the head of TSA explain the reason for it? Does security theater, [...
2008 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference
Posted on May 12, 2008Early Bird Registration is now open for the 2008 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. I was on the planning committee for this event and I believe that this will be another great conference. As with previous years, the conference will have three tracks to choose from: Substantive Law, Effective & Ethical Practice, and Legal [...
Even More Filing Problems
Posted on May 09, 2008I know that I have been bagging on the Cook County Clerk’s office lately. See this, for example. It’s not that I want to pick on them. However, the reality is that they are the ones that I have problems with. For example, after I was unable to find a complaint or answer in the file [...
Travel: St. Louis Westin
Posted on May 09, 2008I recently traveled to St. Louis and stayed in the Westin that is across the street from Busch Stadium. Apart from Seattle’s Hotel 1000, which I loved, this has to be one of my favorite hotels. It is conveniently located across from the stadium and has easy access to the highway...
More Filing Problems
Posted on May 08, 2008I know I complained a couple of days again about the difficulty in getting a file from the courthouse in Illinois. It turns out, however, that Peter Olson was right: at least I got the file I wanted. Today I had the “pleasure” of retrieving a file from the clerk’s office in Cook County...
Defending Gary by Mark Prothero & Carlton Smith
Posted on May 07, 2008I am a true crime junkie. Thus, I jumped on the chance to read Defending Gary, a book about the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgeway, written by one of his attorneys, Mark Prothero. This is not your typical true crime book. If you want the details of the investigation or how forensic evidence finally solved the [...
Why is Illinois Stuck in the 19th Century?
Posted on May 06, 2008I am still fuming from an experience that I had in a local court clerk’s office yesterday. I had a meeting outside of the office. While I was out, one of my partners contacted me and asked me if I was near the courthouse. It seemed that one of his divorce clients had another case [...
Keep Your WiFi Sessions Secure
Posted on April 29, 2008Web Worker Daily gives us four simple tips that can help you keep your public wifi sessions secure. His tips are: Use a VPN Don’t forget the firewall Avoid using Internet Explorer Keep your logins secure Check out his entire post to see an explanation of each and how you can easily implement them.
Creating PDFs in Office 2007
Posted on April 29, 2008Here’s a great tip from Affinity Law Office Technology Blog about a free plugin from Microsoft to create PDFs from Office 2007. I am a firm believer in using Adobe Acrobat. If you haven’t bought my argument yet, however, and you are using Office 2007, you should install this plugin.
An Interview with Larry Port from Rocket Matter
Posted on April 28, 2008Last week I had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with Larry Port from Rocket Matter. Rocket Matter is a web based practice management and time and billing solution. In the interview, Larry tells us about Rocket Matter and a little about how it works...
Rick Borstein Does it Again!
Posted on April 25, 2008I am not sure how it does it, but Rick is able to figure out what problems I am encountering in Acrobat and tell me the solutions. All without me having to bug him by email. Earlier this week, Rick posted on his blog an answer to the question of how to extract nonsequential pages [...
The Fear of Getting Rid of Paper
Posted on April 23, 2008Chuck Newton addresses our fear of getting rid of paper. Chuck has some great thoughts here and it is a post that anyone who is moving to a paperless practice should read. Chuck describes this fear as: So fear fits. You want to scan and destroy the document, but you cannot because of lingering doubts that [...
Answering Simple Questions
Posted on April 23, 2008I just read a great article by Jim Calloway. He points people to an article that he recently wrote for the Oklahoma Bar Association explaining how to answer simple questions by searching the internet. I can think of several people off the top of my head who would benefit from reading this article...
Zits & Blogging
Posted on April 22, 2008I have a Zits calendar on my desk. For those of you not familiar with Zits, it’s a comic about a teenage boy. Really, it’s much funnier than it sounds. Anyway, yesterday’s comic from my calendar was too good not to share.
WiFi in the Southern District of Illinois
Posted on April 22, 2008I recently received an email from the Southern District of Illinois announcing that they will have a wireless network available for attorneys in all court buildings in East St. Louis and Benton. To use the service, you have to obtain login credentials from the Intake desk...
ConXPoint: The Future is Here
Posted on April 21, 2008To the extent possible, I try to make my practice as paperless as possible. The benefits of doing so are innumerable. Of course, one of the problems is that some people still require an original signature on documents. One of the solutions to this problem is to use digital signatures...
Infected by Scott Sigler
Posted on April 20, 2008I just finished Infected by Scott Sigler. It is a classic horror novel that gave me chills like I haven’t had since I read Misery, Thinner, Cujo, and the Shining. Infected is horror does in the classic King mold that is designed to scare you and mess with your mind...
10 Sync Tools
Posted on April 18, 2008From MakeUseOf.com comes 10 Sync Tools Every Office Worker Should Know Of. There are some good suggestions here, including Google Browser Sync and Mozy. The other programs are ones that I have not used before. One that I find interesting is SyncToy, which allows you to sync files between your PC and your USB Thumb [...
The Perils of PowerPoint
Posted on April 17, 2008Here is an excellent example of how a bad PowerPoint presentation can kill an otherwise well presented speech. First, start this speech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkWdOa2ypYg Then, click through the PowerPoint presentation below. | View | Upload your own Hat tip to Presentation Zen for pointing this out.
Downside to Multiple Monitors?
Posted on April 17, 2008Dilbert exposes the possible downside to multiple monitors.
Google Docs v Office Live Workspace
Posted on April 16, 2008If you have questions about the differences between Google Docs and Office Live Workspace check out this post from Inter-Alia, which compares the two. It looks like there are some significant differences between the two. For example, First, unlike Google Docs, you aren’t actually working on documents inside the browser — you are using the Microsoft [...
Irony from the Supreme Court
Posted on April 15, 2008Does anyone else love the fact that the Supreme Court released two tax cases on April 15?
Microsoft Outlook Utilities
Posted on April 15, 2008A while back a reader asked me if I knew of a solution that allowed him to file his emails from Outlook to a folder on his hard drive. I use Speedfiler and like it quite a lot. However, it files messages only in Outlook. That did not solve the reader’s problem...
Multiple Monitors Increase Productivity
Posted on April 14, 2008To the surprise of no one who has ever used multiple monitors, recent studies show that multiple monitors increase a user’s productivity 20%-30%. As the Slashdot article notes: For those of us who use multi-monitors, this is not shocking. The Microsoft article states: Give someone a second monitor, let them use it for while, and then try to [...
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
Posted on April 13, 2008I just finished Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. This Grisham novel is one of his few that does not include a disenchanted attorney hiding from or fleeing from the law. Instead, it is a feel good book about a third string quarterback who ends up playing football for the Parma Panthers in the Italian [...
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Posted on April 13, 2008Recently I talked about how much I enjoyed The Kite Runner. I just finished Hosseini’s second novel: A Thousand Splendid Suns. Upon my initial reflection, I liked this book even better than The Kite Runner. Once again, Hosseini brings alive the culture in Afghanistan and sheds a light on the plight of the people there [...
Negotiating a SLA for SaaS
Posted on April 11, 2008If you are considering using a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, John Heckman has some great advice on negotiating a Service Level Agreement. His post includes several tips on provisions to try to get included in the agreement, including: ? Specify levels for uptime, response time, support coverage, and escalation of issues (you don?t want [...
My Freedom GPS and TomTom Maps: I?d Be Lost Without Them
Posted on March 31, 2008I have written before about how much I like the combination of my Freedom Keychain GPS and TomTom Maps. Until this last week, however, all that I had really done with the system was play around with it. On vacation, however, I had the opportunity to use it in several situations...
Kickin? it in Tennessee
Posted on March 24, 2008I agree with the Greatest American Lawyer about the Power of a Good Vacation. Taking GAL’s words to heart, the family and I are spending the week in Tennessee at the Kickback Kottage. The cabin is very nice and has several amenities, including a hot tub and, most importantly, high speed internet access...
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Posted on March 19, 2008For Christmas, my sister gave me a copy of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Had she not given it to me, I likely would never have picked the book up. I have have too many unsatisfactory results from reading books that I “should” read to read a book simply because it is popular...
Google Docs Bar
Posted on March 14, 2008Do you use Google Docs? If so, you might want to check out the Google Docs Bar for Firefox. According to the extension website, gDocsBar is a sidebar extension for firefox, a perfect companion for Google Docs. With gDocsBar, you can drag and drop multiple files into the sidebar to upload documents...
Illinois and Electroinic Access to Court Files
Posted on March 13, 2008I know that I have been blogging about this issue a fair amount lately. However, I think that it is the one area that can most dramatically improve our practice as well as our efficiency. Last night I had dinner with, among others, an attorney from another state...
Use TripIt to Organize Your Travel
Posted on March 13, 2008When I schedule trips, I often end up with reservation confirmations from airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. I then have to put all of that information together to keep track of when I am supposed to be and how I am getting there. TripIt is a website that offers you a way to organize your [...
Being Productive Despite the Kids
Posted on March 12, 2008One of the things that leveraging technology to practice law allows you to do is to practice law anywhere. Sometimes, this means that you are practicing law at home, with the kids around. If you have ever tried this before, you know how difficult this can be...
Benefits of PACER
Posted on March 11, 2008Bonnie Scucha points us toward an article from the federal courts describing the effects of PACER. PACER is the electronic access system that allows users to access and retrieve electronic copies of court files. The article reports that: Hundreds of millions of pages of court documents retrieved online each year by customers who numbers are approaching [...
Synching Your Google Calendar
Posted on March 10, 2008Affinity Law Office Technology Blog reveals that Google has released an update allowing you to sync your Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook. You can enable full bidirectional sync between both calendars or you can sync only from either Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook...
A New Member to My Household
Posted on March 07, 2008This week I gained a new member in my Household: A Dell Latitude D630. My D600 was 4+ years old and had starting having problems. The optical drive did not work unless you taped it shut, the internal wireless card stopped working, the power button did not work well, and the touchpad was kind of [...
A New Computer Bag
Posted on February 28, 2008My current computer bag (a Targus) is getting a little beat up. Thus, I have been shopping for a new bag. Bags that I am looking at include the Bum Back Pack Hamptons Messenger Bag, the MVision S500, the Skooba Satchel, the Waterfield Cargo, the Tom Bihn ID, or the Timbuk2 Messenger Bag...
Illinois?s Court System Failure: No Electronic Access to Files
Posted on February 27, 2008One of the areas that Illinois is seriously lagging behind on in eFiling of documents and electronic access to court files. I am constantly frustrated when I look at the baby steps that are being taken in Illinois as compared to what has already been completed in other states...
Freedom 2000 GPS and TomTom Navigator 6: A Great Combination
Posted on February 22, 2008For quite a while I have wanted a GPS. This desire comes not from the fact that I tend to get lost, but instead from the fact that I think they are really cool. One drawback was that I really didn’t want to have to keep track of another device and have to decide whether [...
An Interesting Grammar Story
Posted on February 20, 2008I admit that I am a grammar geek. Thus, I was quite interested to see this story in the New York Times about the use of a semicolon on a public service placard. The story was ok, but the best part comes at the end of the story. This article has been revised to reflect the [...
Friday Fun Part 2: The Global Peace Center
Posted on February 08, 2008Normally I don’t just link to other things. However, you need to check out the latest post from Lowering the Bar. The post discusses a recent ballot proposal in San Francisco to turn Alcatraz into a Global Peace Center. This post is too good to be missed.
Friday Fun: Snarky Comments on the TSA?s New Blog
Posted on February 08, 2008Recently TSA has started a blog. On balance I think this is a good thing. Anything that allows TSA to communicate more directly can only benefit all of us. Plus, it looks like the blog and its comments have lead directly to TSA taking action to limit inconsistent application of its rules...
Have You Ever Forgotten to Send Someone a Gift on a Special Occasion?
Posted on February 08, 2008I have a terrible time coming up with gifts to send to people. The main reason for this is that I might think of a gift for someone for Christmas or their birthday, but I will think of it months before the occasion. By the time the date rolls around I have forgotten what I [...
Practicing Law Efficiently Means Using the Right Tools
Posted on February 04, 2008I was in court today and I witnessed another attorney call his office to speak to his assistant. He instructed his assistant to contact another attorney in the office who had authored an initial draft of a brief. The assistant was to get two things from the other attorney that were referenced in the draft: [...
Friday Fun: A Doubleheader
Posted on February 01, 2008I have two fun things I want to point out today. One is “scary-fun” and the other is “cute-fun,” but it’s probably only that if you have small children. First, the scary-fun. From Wellington Grey comes a great little slide show demonstrating some of the more inane aspects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act...
Could Someone Please Tell the Daley Center that it is the 21st Century?
Posted on January 30, 2008Yesterday I had a court appearance at the Daley Center at 9:30 and then a noon meeting in the Loop. A perfect chance for me to go to court and then run upstairs to the law library on the 29th Floor of the Daley Center. I love going up there. The views are absolutely wonderful...
Thanks Rick!
Posted on January 28, 2008I was working with some documents in Adobe Acrobat and I realized that I needed to reduce the page sizes on some document and I was not sure how to best do it. Fortunately, Rick Borstein had the answer I needed. I hopped over to Rick’s Blog Acrobat for Legal Professionals and after a quick [...
Another Story Emphasizing the Need for Off Site Backups
Posted on January 25, 2008I saw this interesting story about a Florida woman (Marie Lupe Cooley) who thought that she was about to lose her job. She had concluded this because she “saw a help-wanted ad in the newspaper for a position that looked suspiciously like her current job ? and with her boss’s phone number listed” So, police say, [...
Has Mark Cuban Been Converted?
Posted on January 23, 2008I have always believed that Apple does not have customers. They have converts. In fact, I often refer to Apple fans as Macvangelists. It looks like Mark Cuban has now started drinking the Kool Aid. I can see why, of course. both the new MacBook Air and the iPod Touch are beautiful devices...
Stop the Music
Posted on January 22, 2008One thing that I absolutely hate is a webpage that starts playing music when I navigate to it. This is one (of several) reasons that I avoid My Space pages like the plague. Haineault.com has a great post on this very issue. He gives a few reasons that you should not have autostarting music on your [...
Finally: A Dell Convertible
Posted on January 18, 2008I received great news this week. Dell is finally releasing a convertible tablet notebook. The Latitude XT. The problem, of course, is that it is pricey $2499 for the least expensive option with a 1.06 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, and a 40 GB hard drive. One cool thing about it is that it comes standard [...
Favorites: Fictionwise
Posted on January 16, 2008I love ebooks. I love the fact that, on my Treo, I can carry a several books with me as well as a multitude of short stories. If you enjoy reading, I cannot recommend highly enough that you check out ebooks. Also, if you have a PDA (or at least if you have a Palm [...
It?s Been One Year
Posted on January 14, 2008It has been one year since I officially launched The Connected Lawyer. I thought I would take a second to detail some statistical information. In that time, I have made 182 posts. Of those posts, my most popular posts have been my series on formatting in Word...
Friday Fun: Zorn?s 50 Things
Posted on January 11, 2008A few days ago, Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune published his list of 50 Things he has learned in his 50 years. Some of my favorites: 2. Promptness shows respect. 3. You can?t avoid offending people from time to time. When you don?t mean it, apologize...
Is Your Keyboard Dirty?
Posted on January 10, 2008Everyone once in while I notice that my keyboard gets a little dirty and key may start sticking. When that happens, I get out my can of compressed air and blow the dust and stuff out of my keyboard. For those of you who really like a clean keyboard, however, Scott Moschella of Plastic Bugs tells [...
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Can driving accident be cause for termination?
If your state is an at-will state, the company can fire you for any reason or fo...
Must I refinance my house aftering taking full ownership after a divorce via a quit claim?
When financing there are at least two documents...the mortgage and the note. The...
What rights does a father have when a woman waits 13 years to tell a man he is a father & he missed out on the growing up of that child?
Actually, he has as much right as she to request a paternity test, plus he can f...
I signed myself out of a hospital because I thought the care was negligent. I am a nurse and know a great deal about medical care. I was in the hospital a year ago for less then 12 hours and they sent me a bill for over
If you can prove tha the care was negligen you need to get a lawyer and try to n...
How to prevent an arrest from appearing in the local newspaper?
Dont know the law in Minnesota but in most jurisdictions an arrest is a matter o...
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