Futurelawyer

Three (four, really) good reasons to go paperless | SoloSmallTech

Link: Three (four, really) good reasons to go paperless | SoloSmallTech. Sam Glover has a good five minute video podcast online at his site; it is a mini-seminar by Sam about the techniques and benefits of going paperless in the law office. Video podcasts are, however, for the young and handsome like Sam. You won't see the FutureLawyer doing this. I am too old and too ugly.

Law.com - Software Companies Allege Law Firm Misappropriated Mortgage Database

Link: Law.com - Software Companies Allege Law Firm Misappropriated Mortgage Database. In the words of a movie character: "I thought I was out of the business, but they keep dragging me back in..." I was up in the clouds dreaming of the Rays and a pennant, and I came across this item about a law firm being sued for using software licensed to its client to prepare loan packages. Whether software is provided over the net as a service or located on a local computer system or network, the prevailing model is for a license to be issued to an individual user or firm. In addition, the Terms of Use for most software will prohibit you from providing it to someone else for their use without permission. Of course, letting your secretary or another lawyer in the firm use it will not likely engender a Federal lawsuit. But, you need to know what software your firm is using, and you need to understand the Software service agreements. One of the advantages of SaaS is that you are using software being created and maintained at a host server somewhere else. So, if you aren't licensed, they aren't going to give you access. But, this gives the software company a lot of control over your use, which might not be your cup of tea. This all gives me a giant headache, and is a big reason why I use as much open source, free, software as I can. I use a licensed copy of WordPerfect and Word. I use Amicus Attorney (with syncing with Outlook) and ProDoc. Other than that licensed stuff, I pretty much have moved to the open source world; Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, and such. Do you know where your software has been?

Tampa Bay Rays In First Place - Temperature In Hell Is Freezing!

Link: The Official Site of The Tampa Bay Rays: Homepage. Okay, enough serious stuff. On to fun stuff. We are almost at the All Star break, and the lowly Rays are lowly no more. Monica Bay and I both hate the Red Sox. She loves the Yankees and I love the Rays. You can bet that I will be cheering the Rays tonight when they begin a 3 game home series against the Red Sox. After it, the Rays will either be back in second place, or firmly atop the Division. These kids remind me of the Miracle Mets. Gus Mauch, the former Yankee and Mets trainer, told me some great stories about those Mets. Will the Rays keep the magic going? If not, I will blame myself for posting about them. As Monica told me in a recent email, "Go Rays!"

Software As A Service - Is It For You?

Link: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for Litigation Support. I received a very nice email from Jack Newton at Clio, who advised me that the objectionable provisions of the Terms of Service Agreement only protected the API from unsavory types who might trash the service, and that the issues lawyers are concerned about will be dealt with when the service goes live. This brings up a host of issues that lawyers need to consider when using beta software for mission critical tasks; but, I digress. Gene Albert, of Lexbe, a wonderful SaaS litigation support service at LexBe, has a good agreement that could be used as a model for future service agreements for lawyers on the web. To prove that I am not opposed to SaaS in general, I even agreed to post a sidebar link to Lexbe at this site. My principal gripe with these services is that the data must remain usable to the lawyer, even if the service is discontinued or cancelled, by either party. This, of course, is easier with Gene's service, since the documents uploaded to Lexbe come from the lawyer in the first place. I will be discussing the issues that lawyers (and SaaS providers) should consider in coming posts. They include: 1) Who owns the data? 2) Is is still available to the lawyer, in usable form, after the marriage is over? 3) Security, security, security 4) Do documents and data remain privileged under ABA standards for third-party service providers? 5) How is backup data maintained? 6) What is the service-level promised? 7) For what reasons can the SaaS provider terminate the attorney's access to his or her data?
I look forward to a productive and continuing dialogue on this important issue. Thanks to Larry Port, at RocketMatter, and to Jack Newton, at Clio, for agreeing to participate.

Kansas Business Attorney � Blog Archive � Clio: More Terms of Service

Link: Kansas Business Attorney � Blog Archive � Clio: More Terms of Service. Dan Covington reads Terms of Service Contracts carefully. Believe it or not, I was doing it before Dan started blogging about it. However, Dan agrees with me that more lawyers need to be looking at their own contracts; especially those that relate to software as a service on the web. What exactly are these service providers' attorneys putting on their pages? It is their job to protect their client. However, every contract should be a negotiation; and, the contracts of adhesion that web service providers are including in their Terms of Service are draconian. If you trust your law practice data to them, you need to know the risks. Dan goes on to report that Adobe's online service rep has still not gotten back to him about the terms of service found at Adobe.com's new site for lawyers. I traded a couple of emails with Adobe myself, and have not heard anything back. This is one case in which no news is not good news.

Microsoft to offer Windows XP support till 2014 - Gadgetell

Link: Microsoft to offer Windows XP support till 2014 - Gadgetell. This is good news for those of us who refuse to buy and install Vista. After Monday, you won't be able to buy a new computer with XP pre-installed. However, you will be able to get a copy if you buy a UMPC or other low-cost ultralight alternative. And, you will still be able to reinstall your previously owned copies. The good news here is that Microsoft will still provide updates and fixes until 2014. Heck, anything can happen in the computer world in 5 years. By then, hopefully, the legal software suppliers will have Linux versions of all their software. Then, lawyers can avoid both Microsoft and Apple.

Clio Web-Based Case Management Service

Link: Clio Privacy Policy. I saw an announcement of the Clio beta SaaS case management service at Robert Ambrogi's blog, and signed up for the beta, just for fun. I have been skeptical of SaaS for law firm mission critical data crunching for some time; my primary worries being over the security and retrievability of the data. What if the company goes out of business? Do I have a local copy of the data, in usable form? What security protocols are in place? You know, basic questions. Larry Port of RocketMatter and I have had a running dialogue about the risks and benefits of putting case management and time and billing information on a remote, hosted computer service. Then I took a look at the Terms of Service for Clio. Just a few of the gems on the hit parade:

"1. You expressly understand and agree that Themis Software shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if Themis Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from your use of the API or third-party products that access data via the API. 2. Abuse or excessively frequent requests to Clio via the API may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your account's access to the API. Themis Software, in its sole discretion, will determine abuse or excessive usage of the API. Themis Software will make a reasonable attempt via email to warn the account owner prior to suspension. 3. Themis Software reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, your access to the API (or any part thereof) with or without notice."
There is more, but you get the idea. So, Themis, you want total control of my law practice, and you can terminate me at any time, without liability. I SO want to send my money to you.

Lowering the Bar: Court Overturns Father's Decision to Ground 12-Year-Old Daughter

Link: Lowering the Bar: Court Overturns Father's Decision to Ground 12-Year-Old Daughter. My first reaction to this weird Canadian decision, in which a Canadian court in Quebec actually overturned a father's decision to bar a rebellious teenaged girl from going on a field trip after she posted photos of herself on a dating site, was "what the H*** are the Canadians smoking?" If a Court in the U.S. did something like this, it would prompt another revolution. I think the father ought to sue the Canadian Government for child support. If they want to raise the brat, then they should have to pay for it.

ET Phone Home...Access Your Computer From Anywhere

Link: Access Your Computer Remotely - Wired How-To Wiki. Being a mobile lawyer, I use remote access software on occasion. I have posted before about LogMeIn and GoToMyPc . LogMeIn is free for remote access for one computer, and GoToMyPc is around $14 a month per computer. If you want to send files back and forth with LogMeIn, you have to subscribe. There are totally free alternatives, such as TightVNC, and instructions for download and installation are in the Wired article. Free alternatives require some tweaking, and can be complicated if you are installing behind a firewall. They also lack the security features a company like Citrix (owner of GoToMyPc) can provide. If you are a do it yourselfer who wants to avoid paying, go for it. For the small monthly fee, you can't beat GoToMyPc, in my opinion, since all of the security and complexity is handled for you. Now, go be mobile.

Wisdom

I came across this at the Positive Press site. It is ancient but valuable wisdom: "Those who, relying upon themselves only, not looking for assistance to anyone besides themselves, it is they who will reach the top-most height.

-- Buddha