Futurelawyer

Hey, Lawyer! After WFH, Are You Going To RTO? The FutureLawyer NL.

Technology RTO Returen To Office Technology. Alphabet soup just got more complicated. After a couple of years of Working From Home (WFH), many workers are returning to the office (RTO). Solo lawyers, however, never left (NL). The technology that allows a human to be a lawyer wherever they happen to be, kept me going during the worst of the Pandemic. Years of developing methods of law practice as a solo, using tech as available, served me well. But, now is not the time to abandon the lessons you learned. Use them to craft a law practice you are happy about. Have fun.

#TBT - Did The FutureLawyer Invent Online Teleconferences?

Note: I have been advocating online hearings and court proceedings for many years. It took a Pandemic to make it happen.

Zoom Teleconferencing - The FutureLawyer Has Been Ready For 13 Years.

I am smiling at all of the excitement being engendered by the breathless fast moving of the Courts to video teleconferencing because of the current pandemic. Please. The ability to hold conferences and hearings over the Internet has been around for years. As an example, the Futurelawyer wrote this post on April 22, 2007:

"I have often wondered why lawyers and judges weren't using freely available video conferencing tools for hearings, and conferences as a regular course of doing business. My free Skype account sends and receives video from my cheap little video camera that plugs into a USB port. Why can't other lawyers do the same? Now that Google has purchased a video conferencing software company, maybe the landscape will permit a commercial player to tap this market. In the meantime, if you want to SEE me when you chat over Skype, plug in a camera, and let's go. We can have hearings without a Judge. I guarantee that we will both win. Except that you will have to look at me in my home environment without a few cups of coffee in me, and a silly grin on my face."

Yes, that is a young FutureLawyer mugging for the camera in my home office. We didn't know anything about virtual backgrounds then, so the background is a little busy. But, I have been preaching to the choir for years about using this technology to save on gas, travel and time. As many are now finding out, Judges and lawyers can do a fine job of getting their argument across without being in the same room. I feel a little like the farmer welcoming home the prodigal son.

#WhyIAmASolo - Being Able To Have The Support Of The Solo And Small Firm Section Of The Florida Bar.

LINK - Spring 2022. Being a solo lawyer is beneficial to some of us, because of the freedom it provides. It becomes our identity, and it is the reason I am able to practice law, hopefully into my Eighties, if I live that long. The Florida Bar Section on Solo and Small Firm Practice provides many benefits, not the least of which is the LINK publication, which I share here. If you are a solo or small firm practitioner anywhere, you should find something helpful in the digital magazine. Enjoy and learn.

 

Efiling's Ninth Birthday - It Is A Brave New Online Legal World.

TimeLines And FlowCharts And Diagrams, Oh My! SmartDraw 2020

SmartDraw. What if I told you that your law practice could afford to hire a complete graphics department, one which could create any sort of drawing, diagram, timeline, or flowchart you might ever need in your practice, for $69 a year? For a small annual subscription, you can access any type of form, chart or drawing you might ever imagine, create Venn diagrams, and hundreds of other professional looking documents that bring graphic clarity to your argument, or to your organizational needs. SmartDraw has been around for a while, and, while I don't use it much anymore, I gladly pay the annual subscription. I was reminded of the software's utility, and the company's class, when I got an email this morning reminding me that my renewal was coming in 30 days, and offering me 3 methods of cancelling, should I wish to. Classy. No thanks, SmartDraw, I like having an in firm graphics department for a pittance. In fact, I suspect that there are a lot of lawyers who share my enthusiasm. You can download a standalone version, or access the program from your web browser. You can even launch it from SmartDraw's Facebook page. 

Legal Fuel Knowledge Center - Law Firm Management At Your Fingertips.

Legal Fuel Knowledge Center. The Internet can be a wonderful thing. The best in class Florida Bar Legal Fuel website, with articles, forms and information for operating a successful law firm, is a good example of what a dedicated group of professionals can do with the modern library. Current information about systems and technology that covers everything from starting a law practice to ending one, is available for the asking. What are you waiting for? Spend your time productively. You will be surprised at what you learn.

The First Place To Go For Legal Research.

Google Scholar. In a legal system based on precedent, every case requires a search for relevant decisions of appellate courts in the past. The farther back, of course, the less precedential value a case will have. But, in a particular State, it is possible to see the path of a particular issue by looking at a chronological chain of cases. If the cases indicate that your State's courts favor your position, you can argue the cases. If not, you can advocate for your Courts to change the law. But, first, you have to figure out what your State's particular cases have to say on an issue. In the old days, long hours were required for the process, sitting in a library filled with books that had to be located in a card catalog, and pulled off the shelves, opened up, and read. Often, the researcher would be seated at a long wooden table, surrounded by piles of books. This iconic image is still used by TV and movies to show legal research. And, in the old day, lawyers paid a lot of money to have a library full of books, and usually could only afford their own State's reporter system, which could be hundreds of volumes. So, let's be crystal clear. For case finding, in 2022, the first place you should go is the Google Scholar website, which searches, in an instant, the case law of all 50 States and all Federal courts. This massive and instantaneous research costs absolutely nothing. Free. Nada. Zip. No more excuses that you can't afford a library. Start with Google Scholar. You can add the edited stuff that costs something later. Now, get out of the library and get some research done.

#TBT - Yes, FutureLawyer, Your Paper Library Is Only Decoration.

Court Listener. Recently, I posted about my obsolete paper library, with two hundred year old volumes containing appellate court opinions, and secondary source books with legal analysis and encyclopedias. They look pretty in the library; but, for a several decades now, they have just been decorative. One of my guilty pleasures is the Perry Mason channel on Pluto. When I want to relax, I watch old episodes of the series that sparked my interest in the law. In the opening and closing credits, a table containing several volumes of Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS), the oldest and most famous legal encyclopedia, are shown. The big blue books were once the repository of general law everywhere. Today, it seems that every time I open my browser, there is another computer aided legal research site, and my favorites, Google Scholar, AnyLaw, and CaseText, along with paid and curated sites like FastCase, are always getting new companions. The non-profit Free Law Project is one of these, and the case search site, Court Listener, contains access to millions of primary law cases, searchable online, for free.

Before You Start Your Next Legal Research Project, Do This.

Harvard Law Free Legal Research Sites.  Before you pay another dime for legal research, be aware that much of the statutory and case law in the United States, and many secondary sources, are available free, if you know where to look. Aside from CaseText, AnyLaw, Google Scholar, and other services that Bar Associations provide as a benefit of membership, there are hundreds of sites that are free. No money. No cost except your time s earching. A good place to start is the excellent list of links at Harvard's Search page. Keep your money in your pocket. Spend a couple of hours searching free sites. You will probably never need to pay for legal research again.

The Best Alternative PDF Software For Lawyers - Kofax Power PDF Advanced.

Kofax Power PDF Advanced. In today's email, Internet, and Efiling environment, aside from document creation, perhaps the most useful software for lawyers is software that creates, manipulates, stores, and distributes, PDF documents. Adobe invented PDF; but, there are many software programs that allow PDF creation and use. In fact, both Word and Wordperfect allow lawyers to create a PDF of any word processing file, at which point software like Adobe and Kofax Power PDF Advanced, can then be used to store and use the PDF files. I create all of my legal documents in WordPerfect, (I only use Word if I have to), and then publish them to PDF format for transmission via email, or filing with any County in Florida using the EFiling portal. For around $129, Kofax gives an unlimited lifetime license, and the world of PDF files is open to me. Kofax used to be Nuance; but, the software is still the same, and I use it multiple times a day. How are you using PDF files?