Futurelawyer

PowerPoint For Fun And Profit

If you are a professional, it is likely that, at some time or other, you have been asked or required to do a PowerPoint presentation. Many legal seminars I have attended or contributed to have been with speakers doing PowerPoint presentations. I vowed, after watching this Don McMillan presentation, never to attend another slide presentation unless the author watched this first. Alas, I don't have control over other people. But, I can help you, so that you will be more effective when you do it. Watch, learn, and best of all, laugh.

 

LegalFuel - Free Help For Lawyers

Legal Fuel Document Library. Many lawyers dream of opening their own law practice. Some of us have been solo or in small firms for many years. But, practicing law is tough enough without worrying about law office management. The Florida Bar provides a lot of free help to lawyers who are setting up practices. This particular site has many documents and forms to help. Everything is here, and, if you are starting a law practice, begin your journey here. The forms are generic, so you don't have to be a Florida lawyer to use them. Good luck.

#WhyIAmASolo - I Am A Walking, Breathing, Law Office Everywhere

The Mobile Law Office. It is interesting that mobility in lawyering is just now becoming the rage, because of a pandemic. My interest in mobile lawyering is long standing, and more a product of necessity. I have never liked sitting in an office, tethered to a desk; but, in the early days, even before computers, I couldn't go anywhere without being out of touch with my law practice. So, after figuring out the the best way to take my practice with me was technology, I began looking for mobile solutions. As the tech got better and smaller and lighter, I found that I could actually be in touch, and able to produce work, wherever I was in the world. What a sense of freedom. When I wanted to go off the grid, I turned the tech off (you can do that, you know), and acted like a human being for a while. One of my hard rules still is that my tech stays downstairs in the office when I go to bed upstairs. No buzzing, beeping, ringing, or other interruptions when I don't want them. Are you mobile yet? Do you want to be? Like all journeys, it begins one step at a time.

AnyLaw, The Free Legal Research Service, Gets Intelligent With AI

Machine Learning With AI Added To AnyLaw Legal Research. I hate the term "Artificial Intelligence". It implies that true intelligence can be created in a machine. It is what it is, however, and AI certainly improves the ability of machines to find relevant information in response to a search. AI adds sophistication and better search techniques to traditional Boolean style relational database searches. Leveraging computer processing power with processes that "mimic" human intelligence adds a layer to legal research that makes finding relevant cases and statutes faster and gets better results. AnyLaw, which launched with access to all State and Federal case law databases for free, certainly doesn't plan to be free forever. But, it will be advertisers looking for user eyeballs that pay the freight. In the meantime, it is too early to tell whether AnyLaw's AI is a true competitor to some of the other new research developments out there; but, you can bet that legal research will get better for the ordinary lawyer over time. Exciting stuff.

How To Zoom Basics For Lawyers

How To Zoom Securely. The Practice Resource Center of the Florida Bar has published, at LegalFuel.com, an idiot lawyer's guide to using Zoom securely. Zoom has finally enabled end to end encryption for paid accounts; which every lawyer using Zoom should have, and there are easy settings that you can enable to make it as secure as can be. My favorites are using a Waiting Room so that you control who enters the meeting, and, as Host, set the screen sharing option to Host only. You can also require and approved Email for entry, and use passwords. Learn how to use Zoom and protect yourself and your clients and colleagues.

Florida Bar Annual Convention Goes Virtual

Florida Bar 2020 Annual Convention Goes Virtual. And, another convention goes virtual. The annual pilgrimage of Florida lawyers to Orlando, and the thousands of dollars we would be spending on DisneyWorld and hotels will be avoided this year. While the annual June extravaganza will be free of human contact, the good thing is that I only have to budget for the convention fee, and can attend the functions I want sitting at my office or home desks. See you in virtual Orlando.

Spend Your Lunch Hours This Week Learning How To Do Stuff

Affinity Consulting Symposium. My favorite legal tech consultant, Debbie Foster, and her company, Affinity Consulting, is sponsoring a lunch hour symposium online this week that looks to be a must see for practicing lawyers. While the brochure used my least favorite new phrase "the new normal" a lot, this promises to have a lot of good stuff in it. I like the idea of getting away from talking heads and boring lectures, and showing the viewer how to do stuff. The best part? The symposium is free.

Remote Computing Before It Was A Necessity

I have just discovered that the Attorney's Title Insurance Fund Assembly, a two day seminar in Orlando that I have been attending every year since 1975, will be virtual this year, and has been postponed to June. Seven years ago, I posted from the Assembly the first year that the giant paper notebook of seminar materials was provided in PDF electronic format. I set up my Chromebook to access my Windows computer in my room, and my table to follow the speakers notes. WiFi in big conference rooms is spotty and not generally secure, so I used my Smartphone as a hotspot. Remote computing hasn't always been a common option like it is today. It is even easier now to be a virtual lawyer. What tech are you using to make your life easier?

"Why Do You Need A Netbook AND A Tablet? It seems that many pundits these days are discussing whether users need a tablet or a netbook or notebook computer. As this photo shows, sometimes you need both. I am attending the Attorney's Title Fund Seminar for Florida Real Estate Lawyers this week, and, for the first time, all of the Assembly written materials have been made available as PDF files. The written materials are 6 inches thick and contain 722 pages. Just carrying the thing around is like a workout. So, the FutureLawyer, as a proof of concept, has set up my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in vertical page mode, and I am following the speakers materials on it. To the left, I have my new Acer Chromebook running Chrubuntu, and keeping up with email, web browsing, taking notes and whatever. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a 4G LTE radio in it, which i have in HotSpot mode, so both computers have Internet access through my Verizon Wireless account. In a pinch, I have my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone, which can also be used as a WiFi Hotspot. Interestingly, when this photo was taken a few minutes ago the speaker was talking about a lawyer's duty to be competent in technology as part of a 21st Century Law Practice."

May 9, 2013 - FutureLawyer

Conducting Depositions OnLine - Webinar You Need To Watch

Conducting Depositions Online. The Florida Bar's resource center, LegalFuel, hosted a great webinar yesterday that every trial lawyer needs to watch. Practicing lawyers have been struggling with law practice without human contact for some time. I have always believed that in person depositions are better suited for getting at the truth; from watching deponent's reactions and other factors. However, lawyers have, for many years, done video depositions of expert witnesses, or witnesses for whom travel is impossible or complicated. Some tradeoffs are required in the current climate. If you are a lawyer, spend an hour watching this webinar. If not, do it if you are curious. Thanks, LegalFuel, for being there for Florida lawyers.

 

VideoConferencing Isn't The Only Way To Learn During The Pandemic

I have long been a user of the LiveScribe digital pens. They are great ways to take notes and keep digital copies for future use. However, I have recently gone back to the earliest LiveScribe Echo Pen, even though it is a big, bulky instrument that takes some getting used to. The reason is that, while I am taking notes, it can record the audio and it tracks while I write for future playback. Recently, I attended a webinar online, about Florida's new electronic Notarization statute that takes effect on July 1st 2020. The speaker also discussed the older electronic signature statutes,and I recorded the webinare while taking notes with the Echo. Here is a snippet saved on my notebook computer. It really increases retention to take notes with a pen while listening. It puts retention in overdrive when you can go back and listen while you watch yourself taking notes. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MCArorfO3E5AZop5Hs5pVw_TjIg5ExP5