Futurelawyer

Who Says Technology Isn't Making Work For Lawyers?

UK Law Firm Sets Up Special Team To Hunt Down Anonymous Commenters | Techdirt. Here is a great use for high-priced legal talent that is conversant with the Internet. Set a group of lawyers loose with computers and a firm client list, and go out on the net and find all those nasty anonymous persons who are saying nasty things about our clients. Once identified, I suppose that the firm will get some more litigation business suing them for defamation. Hey, I get it. Internet defamation is one of the fastest growing tort areas. It can be extremely damaging. People shouldn't be able to hide behind privacy laws to post anonymous defamatory comments. However, actively trolling for them seems a bit much. What do you think?

Fifty Tips For Writing Contracts That Stay Out Of Court

Article Florida Law - Contract Writing.

James Martin is a local attorney and friend of the FutureLawyer who has done some really fine writing about contract and document drafting. Every lawyer does a lot of writing, and most of us write contracts on occasion. This article follows some really handy tips for drafting that should be in your head every time you go to the keyboard. The toughest assignment can sometimes be to convince the client of the value of spending adequate time and money on a contract or lease or other legal document. Clients have been bombarded by vendors and sites that sell boiler plate documents cheap, and they don't understand how difficult and complex the drafting process can be. Discuss some of the matters in this Fifty Tips article with the client, and then ask them whether they want to give the process short shrift. Oh, and if you use James' tips, send him a thank you email.

Ouch - Do You Know Who Your Clients Are?

Small Firm Business - Impostor Clients Land Attorneys in Hot Water.  On the surface, this is a simple case. A lawyer in a closing asks for photo IDs of his clients at the closing table. Husband provides his. Wife says she left hers at the restaurant. The closing proceeds, and the lawyer doesn't follow up. Lo and behold, the mortgage goes into foreclosure and it turns out that the "wife" was an impostor. Now, lawyer is defending a grievance for not verifying the identity of the parties. Ouch. I had a similar case early in my career, in which I asked for the Seller's IDs. Luckily for me, "wife" said hers was "in the truck", and, when she and husband didn't come back after 30 minutes, I figured out that she never was. I shut down the closing, and didn't get burned. The moral of this story? Get photo IDs from everyone you meet; especially if they are doing business with you. The next chapter in this saga will begin if the FTC is successful in applying rigorous new identity-theft prevention rules to attorneys. The ABA has filed a lawsuit seeking an exemption; however, cases like this one don't help the cause. There are days when I wish I was 6 again, sitting in front of a black and white TV, and the masked man was the good guy.

Please, God, Don't Let It Be The Lawyers

Skype Tech Licensing Soap Opera Continues: Founders Sue eBay, New Buyers For Copyright Infringement | Techdirt. If it is true that Ebay paid a gazillion dollars for Skype, and didn't get the license to the core technology, the blame game is going to get started. Skype is great tech, and the ability to make calls cheaply anywhere in the world over the Internet is a billion dollar idea. Is it possible that the Executives at Ebay didn't lock down the technology when they paid big bucks for Skype? One of the recurring lawyer nightmares is missing something important in a contract or a transaction that ends up costing a lot of money. One of the benefits of solo practice is that billion dollar deals don't cross your desk. I hope that some grunt lawyer doesn't get blamed for this. In any event, the author is right; if Ebay bought the assets and didn't lock down the intellectual property, somebody has some 'splaining to do.

Legal Sites - FutureLawyer

In response to popular demand, I have created a file containing hyperlinks to many of the websites that I use in my everyday law practice. It is not intended to be comprehensive; however, it is free for the asking (or emailing) to all who sign up for the Futurelawyer RSS feed or email subscription. The feed and the subscription are free also; however, if you want a hyperlinked file containing links to a lot of useful websites, just send an email to the Futurelawyer and let me know you are already subscribed, or have subscribed. 

Sir, Please Speak Clearly Into The CoffeeTable

Attorneys Can See Classified Info in Coffee Table Spy Suit | Threat Level | Wired.com. If you are targeted by the Government for surreptitious eavesdropping, and later discover it, and litigation ensues, does your lawyer have the right to listen to the evidence, in preparation for trial? According to the D.C. Circuit, the answer is yes, the Court ruling that the attorney should be granted the same security clearance as his client, for the purposes of the litigation. Of course, the fun part of this case is the use of a coffee table listening device. The other fun part of this case is the clear indication that the eavesdropping was installed by one Government employee to discredit another Government employee. The really serious part of this case is that these guys are responsible for preventing terrorist attacks and stopping the International drug trade. So, if you work for the Government, I have a modest proposal: better check the furniture for listening devices before you order a pizza.

Chuck Newton: Growing Primitive

Chuck Newton: Growing Primitive. Good friend, Chuck Newton, has an interesting post about going primitive in the law office, and using the plain old telephone to grow a law practice. No, he doesn't mean naked Fridays; although, after his last post about wearing grubby clothes while working at home, I am wondering about his sartorial sanity. In fact, law practice is all about the communication. Lawyers, since the beginning, have had to communicate with other lawyers, courts, clients and all manner of man and beast. Face to face communication is always the best; however, it isn't efficient. The invention of the telephone revolutionized the way we communicate. Chuck suggests that modern Internet based communication has become so ubiquitous, that plain old telephone calls become memorable, and valuable to a lawyer. However, I think that, if a lawyer wants to go primitive, the best way to go is face to face. I don't advocate person to person communication for all things in a lawyer's practice; too impractical. However, on occasion, other than Court visits, hopping in your vehicle and driving to another person's office or home might make your visit the most memorable thing in the other person's day. In fact, in the end, we are all of us primitives. Just don't wear shorts and a grubby Tshirt to the client meeting or the Courthouse.

Why I Am A Solo Practitioner

Legal Technology - T-Mobile Suit Puts Legal Price on Wireless. There are a lot of reasons why it can be a bear to be a solo; especially, in bad economic times. It can be tough to keep cash flow when you are the only earner in the firm. You need to control spending, be frugal, and limit overhead to be successful. I have been known to fail at all three of these goals. However, one thing I don't need to worry about is what my employees are doing out there in the world with smart phones and other technology. T-Mobile is being sued by employees who were required to respond to emails and phone messages while "off the clock", and the company's own technology is being used to prove it. Worrying about large numbers of employees can be a nightmare for large law firms as well. I am sure that many readers of this blog can relate to the frustration of attempting to herd the "cats" in their firm. I am not, however, trying to get you all to become solos. That would be wrong, wouldn't it?

How to Improve Your Email Etiquette

How to Improve Your Email Etiquette (with video) - wikiHow. More and more, the practice of law depends upon email. We exchange emails with clients, prospective clients, other attorneys, Government officials, and a host of other persons with whom contact was previously a written letter, accompanied with a two week delay. Email is a wonderful way to increase the speed and efficiency of contact; however, it is a mine field of problems. Written letters have long been documentary evidence in trials. Emails, as trial evidence, are of relatively recent vintage. However, do you take as much care with your email correspondence as you do your written correspondence? Every lawyer should read this list of dos and don'ts for effective use of email. If you follow these rules, you will be a better lawyer, and you will make a better impression. Oh, and don't forget that lawyers don't have a monopoly on sending stupid emails. Use the discovery process to get at the emails, which are now used in just about every business transaction.

The Two And A Half Wave Lawyer

Chuck Newton: Oh The Pain! Oh The Opportunity!. Chuck Newton is a Third Wave lawyer. He is able to practice law solely from his home. He connects with other lawyers virtually, and does everything on the web from a comfortable chair in his home. Most of us, including the FutureLawyer, are spending more time working at computer terminals in the home. However, many of us require some commercial space and a secretary to practice law. I have clients who come to the office to conduct real estate closings, and sign wills, and meet with me. I have a secretary who schedules appointments, does paralegal tasks, correspondence, and a host of other things that make my practice bearable. However, I am a Two And A Half Wave lawyer, as I practice out of a converted home in an Office Zoned neighborhood. Chuck is right that there are many bargains on rental office space out there now. May I humbly suggest that, if you don't need the trappings of a fancy office tower, that you look for bargain houses in properly zoned neighborhoods, and buy them cheap. Once the mortgage is paid off, you will have a place to hang your lawyer hat and no rent to pay. In addition, at these prices, the property will likely have some real value by the time you retire.