Futurelawyer

Florida Litigation Guide - An Essential Tool For Florida Lawyers.

Florida Litigation Guide. If you are a Florida lawyer, you need to go to this page today. For about $50 a year, you have a case supported blueprint for the essential elements of just about every cause of action or defense you are likely to face in your career. Need to know the essential elements of an action in contract or torts? It is here, and available on your computer or smartphone or tablet. Need to argue a Motion to Dismiss, and need the current case law? It is here. While the FutureLawyer doesn't do much litigation anymore, this is the bible for those who do. Don't go to court without it. (Marc Wites doesn't pay me a dime to say this).

Signal Encrypted Messaging - Free Speech In An Internet World.

Signal Messaging. Yes, encrypted messaging can be used by bad actors. Yes, it can be used by those who some call bad; but, others call free speech warriors, like Ed Snowden. But, it can also be used by husband and wives who don't want their private spousal communications to become known to anyone else. If certain celebrities and corporations had used it, there would be fewer scandal out there. Free speech is a two edged sword. The key word, however, is freedom. It isn't free. And, like life, it doesn't come without risk. Risk is the stuff of life. We seem to live in a world where everyone wants everything to be safe, sanitized and free of the possibility of offending, or otherwise making another uncomfortable. We forget that taking offense is a unique choice that everyone gets to make for themselves. So, I say that a non profit like Signal is the very base of a free society. Information is free; but, if I want my communications with another human to be private, I have the right to do that. As lawyers, we have another important reason for using secure messaging apps like Signal. Our clients' data and information is sacred, and we have a duty to keep it confidential. If my client and I communicate with Signal, we can ensure that privacy. Would you have it any other way?

Why I Won't Buy An Apple Product.

Apple Admits Killing iMessage For Android To Keep Its Walled Garden. I have always believed that technology should be freely customizable; especially after you pay money for it. Freedom of choice is at the core of my belief system. I understand Apple's desire to keep control over its products; but, its paranoia and desire to make more money shouldn't trump the consumer's choices. If I want to trade security for more freedom, that is my choice and my risk. Of course, in the real world, no computer system, or walled garden, is secure from hackers. And, putting up a walled garden merely emboldens the bad guys. But, in the end, Apple reduces freedom of choice, and that is a deal breaker for those of us who want to tinker with the tech we pay good money for.

MLBTV - The Boys Of Spring Are Back.

MLBTV Live Stream Games. Any American boy who has grown up in the last century has a great love for baseball. We can all remember the smell of the grass, the crack of the bat, and the best plays we made in Little League and later. I remember winning a batting trophy, in a Little League season when I batted .571, and I remember pitching in an All Star game and walked 6 batters in a row, before striking out the side. It helped that my dad was the Coach. These days, I am relegated to watching the games on TV during a Pandemic, but that is made much easier by my cell phone carrier, TMobile. TMobile provides free access for the year to its subscribers as part of the Tuesday program of discounts and gifts from the company. This one is special, though, as a subscription costs $129.95 a year. That is like a $10 a month discount on your cell phone bill. TMobile has done this for the last couple of years, and it is a daily used app on my devices. Let's go Rays. This time, win the whole thing.

Sell Zoom, Buy DocuSign.

Tech Darlings Risk User Defections After Pandemic.  In our current world, anything that can be done digitally will be, and some, like Zoom, are essential to getting work done. However, as everyone gets back to in person meetings and hearings, Zoom use is obviously going to decline, and, in some cases, steeply. So, be careful about the kind of tech you invest in, because tech apps that will survive are those that are convenient, if not necessary. For instance, I use DocuSign all the time, because it is fast and easy, and I can get a legally binding digital signature with an email. This is highly desirable when clients live in other cities and States. Zoom, however, while convenient, is not as productive as in person appointments, especially for clients who discuss sensitive legal matters with counsel. Zoom calls are fine for most of my practice, and I see a combination of both in the future, depending on the circumstances. Call me, maybe? 

Want To Find Something In Windows 10? Search Everything.

VoidTools - Everything. Forget Windows search. Forget opening up a Windows search bar and trying to find the file you have been looking for. After using Windows 10 a while, we all accumulate thousands of files and images, and looking for them is a nightmare. This free tool sits at the bottom left on my taskbar, and I use it multiple times every day. Simply named: "Everything", it is a quick and dirty file name search that literally looks for files by name. In seconds a list of every file on the computer with the search term in the file name, in its location. Click on it and you are there. Since lawyers represent clients with names, it is ideal to find every file or document that refers to a particular client instantly. You're welcome.

WordPerfect Versus Word - Can't We All Just Get Along?

WordPerfect Wars. I have been using WordPerfect and its predecessors for 2 decades. I have thousands of documents formatted for WordPerfect, and I know the software like the back of my hand. However, my chosen profession has adopted Microsoft Word as the dominant word processing software, so I must navigate between two worlds. The good news is that both formats must coalesce into a document standard to be used and passed around for collaboration, and, if filed in a Court, have to be ultimately converted into a PDF file. So, I have learned to get along with everyone, and my document world is a happier place. In fact, both document processors have gotten quite good at converting back and forth. They had to, because so many of their customers demanded it. These days I work primarily in WordPerfect; but, I publish to PDF for efiling and email transfer. I work with Word documents sent to me, and send them on their merry way. I guess you could call me a word processing multi-tasker. Now, go get some work done. It really doesn't matter how you get there.

A SmartWatch Doesn't Have To Look Like A SmartWatch.

I am rocking the Armani SmartWatch today, and I share a photo below. Smart tech is being adopted by the designers, and there is no longer any reason to be known as the geek who walks down the street with computers strapped to his arm. In fact, some of the flashy, big men's watches I have seen lately look more like a Wrestling or Boxing Championship Belt than a wrist mounted time piece. Wear OS has improved, and I can't wait for the promised 5G iteration of the next Samsung Galaxy, which is rumored to be running Wear OS. I hate to lose Tizen; but, progress and all that. I think that, for SmartWatches to take over the mass market they are going to have to be indistinguishable from the current timepieces. This Armani piece gently vibrates with emails and texts and other notifications, and connects to the world with Google Assistant, which I already use every day. "O.K. Google. Who won the SuperBowl?". I just can't hear that answer too many times.

 

Emporio Armani SmartWatch - Look Like A Million Bucks For Under $200.

Emporio Armani SmartWatch. I love Tizen OS on the Samsung Galaxy Watches. I wear them most days; but, I also love looking like a million bucks, with a watch that is elegant, understated, and says so. However, I am not going to pay thousands of dollars for the experience, so I was really impressed when I saw that Emporio Armani had decided to do an Android SmartWatch, for under $200. It is a Wear OS watch and doesn't have a phone chip, nor GPS; but, it is a competent Smartwatch, and is thin, sleek, black, and looks expensive. I can wear it to a fine restaurant or gallery opening and look like everyone else; except that I am getting emails, texts, and other Smartwatch functions without calling attention to myself. I guess you could say classy and cheap is my goal. What's on your wrist?

Don't Be Boring On Your Next Zoom Hearing...Don't Be A Cat. Be A Parrot.

How to turn yourself into a potato in your next Zoom hearing. When I heard the story about the lawyer who unwittingly used a cat filter during a Zoom hearing yesterday, I immediately thought "how boring", and decided to check out some filters myself. I attach a photo of my typical Zoom setup, and the new one I want to use. I leave it to you. Boring old FutureLawyer? Or, Parrot Lawyer? We report. You decide.