♬ Your a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel
Your as cuddly as a cactus
Your as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch…♬
Lyrics by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, music by Albert Hague, performed by Thurl Ravenscroft.
Mr. Grinch by Dr. Seuss
Anyone who runs a business knows that it is profitable only if you have funds left over after paying all the bills. This enforces a common-sense mentality in ensuring that your costs don’t get out of control. However, in some offices the principle of saving money is taken to such an extreme that their frugality is actually costing them money. Here are some examples (drawn from the collective experiences of my fellow Practice Management Advisors and myself): (more…)
♫ Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing…♫
Lyrics by Friedrich von Schiller; music by L. van Beethoven; Ode to Joy”.
When my trusty but basic cell phone died, it was time to look for a replacement. I knew that it was time to stop my resistance as one of the last holdouts against the western phenomenon that has blown thru the business world, namely the Blackberry. It was a difficult decision but ultimately driven by the need to carry my calendar around with me without carrying a paper printout. I thought that these tiny black megaliths would soon start to have an influence over my life much as the black megalith slowly but surely changes the primitive ancestors of man in: “2001 A Space Odyssey“. What I should have realized much sooner is that this influence could be both positive as well as possibly negative. I also realized that as a self-confessed tecchy, I was failing to drink my own Kool-aid.
♫ Tell me something good
Tell me that you like it …
What I got to give will sho nuff do you good.. ♫
Lyrics and Music by Stevie Wonder, recorded by Rufus and Chaka Khan, “Tell me Something Good“.
While Simon Chester may be leading the discussion on the application of Twitter for lawyers, there is no question that Twitter has proven its value for legal technology conferences.
There were many new and exciting aspects about ABA TECHSHOW 2009 including Richard Susskind’s keynote address on the end of lawyers. But to me, in looking back at ABA TECHSHOW, it was the influence and power of Twitter that is leaving the biggest impression.
You can read the rest of this post on www.slaw.ca “Something to Twitter About“.
♫ You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one…♫
Music and lyrics by John Lennon.
In the Supreme Court of the United States decision in Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, decided Feb 25, 2008, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. quoted John Lennon’s lyrics from Imagine (in full in a footnote) and referred to them in the text of his opinion. He asked:
” What, for example, is “the message” of the Greco-Romanmosaic of the word “Imagine” that was donated to New York City’s Central Park in memory of John Lennon? See NYC Brief 18; App. to id., at A5. Some observers may “imagine” the musical contributions that John Lennon would have made if he had not been killed. Others may think of the lyrics of the Lennon song that obviously inspired the mosaic and may “imagine” a world without religion, countries, possessions, greed, or hunger.”
Litigators and those seeking to persuade juridical bodies or indeed, people in general, have come to realize the strong message and imagery that song lyrics create in our minds and in our imaginations. They evoke not only an intellectual component, they also reach into the emotional and the sensory sides of a person’s mind. If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a song worth a thousand pictures? We are moving up the scale in terms of being able to connect with as many different components of a person’s personality and thinking processes as we can when we bring in musical, lyrical and emotional components to our work.
In a world filled with digital information at our fingertips, just imagine where all this can take us! You may say I am a dreamer, but it looks like, courtesy of Judge Alito, I am not the only one…
♬ My kind of town, chicago is
My kind of town, chicago is
My kind of razzmatazz
And it has, all that jazz…♬
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Music by Jimmy Van Heusen, recorded by Frank Sinatra.
On April 2-4 in Chicago a once-in-a-year, not-to-be-missed event will take place. This year – of all years – should be the year lawyers, administrators, legal technologists, researchers and anyone involved in the delivery of legal services makes a bee-line to TECHSHOW in Chicago. Why? Simply because this recession is the best opportunity to upgrade your systems and technology to be able to take advantage of the upswing (that is coming, notwithstanding the financial news). It is difficult to either introduce new technology or get people to change when they are going gangbusters…hence the Stephen Covey 7th habit: “Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal”.
This economic downswing is the perfect opportunity to take a step back, examine not only what you are doing from a business perspective but also how you are doing it. What principles of workflow and efficiency can you apply to your practice? How do you determine what are the best strategies for you and your firm? What have other firms done and how well is it working for them? Lastly but certainly not least, what can you do for yourself to improve your own personal productivity and effectiveness?
I have found TECHSHOW to simply be the best resource in this regard. The collection of minds that assemble and speak, discuss, go out for dinner and mingle are the ones that will stimulate you, raise issues and ask questions at a depth equalled nowhere else.
The keynote speaker is non other than: Richard Susskind, OBE, who has 25 years of legal technology experience, and serves as Chair of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information and has been IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England. In an interview in The Times Online, Richard states:
Sir Richard will no doubt be addressing similar themes in his keynote, based on his latest book: The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services. But Richard is but one voice to be heard at TECHSHOW. There are 60 other notable presenters (including many Canadians: Nils Jensen, Steve Matthews, Joel Alleyne, Jean-François DeRico, Dominic Jaar, Peg Duncan, Donna Neff, Dan Pinnington and yours truly).
Tracks range from “A Day in the (techno) Life” to Solo and Small Firm, Trial Skills, e-Discovery Update, Tech for Financial Management and others. Sessions range from Records Management Policies and Systems: Back to the Drawing Board? to Getting to Paperless: A Lawyer’s Step by Step Guide, Got Apple Envy? Macs in a PC World and my two personal perennial favourites: 60 Sites in 60 Minutes and 60 Tips in 60 Minutes. There is also the full exhibit hall to visit with its incredible array of legal technology offerings.
By registering as an early-bird by Feb. 28th, combined with a program promoter discount, you can save $150 off the full registration cost. The Law Society of British Columbia’s program promoter code is: # EP929 and the Canadian Bar Associations’ is: EP927. A full list of program promoters may be found here.
Chicago has all that jazz (and blues!) and it also has my kind of Conference…TECHSHOW is…I hope to see you there.
♫ Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten.. ♫
Words and music by Natasha Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, Wayne Rodriguez, recorded by Natasha Bedingfield.
I was greatly saddened today to read in the New York Times of the passing of John Mortimer QC, the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey. Horace Rumpole, the consumate British barrister who was never destined to be awarded a well-deserved “QC – Queen’s Counsel” designation, lived large in the pages of the books written by Mortimer, forever quoting his lifelong mantra: “Never plead guilty!” Rumpole lived for the law, he never compromised his ethics and he sought justice when lesser lawyers would have taken an easier path.
Following his days fighting Judge Bullingham in the Old Bailey, smoking his small cigars, he would return to his mansion flat at 25B Froxbury Court to be greeted by: “She Who Must be Obeyed” namely his wife Hilda, herself the daughter of a prominent QC and the former Head of Chambers where Horace practices.
Rumpole set the standard for the trodden, but not beaten, barrister – who continues to hold his head high notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of life.
John Mortimer QC was quoted by the NYT as being in the “schizoid business of being a writer who had barristering as a day job.” Budding writers would do well to follow his example and ‘live your life with your arms wide open, for your book is still unwritten’.
To Sir John, tonight I will be raising a glass of “Chateau Thames Embankment” and toasting his memory…and saying a quiet word of thanks for many many hours of enjoyment spent with my friend Horace Rumpole.
♫ Doin it right, doin it right,
Doin it right, doin it right ♫
Words and Music by Tom Lavin, recorded by the Powder Blues Band.
This post inaugurates a new thread for this blog – the technology-oriented “Cheap is Good but Free is Better!” thread. This thread will concentrate on how to do more with less. It is a response to today’s economic situation and is intended to be a collection of cost-effective tips for technology in a law office.
This first post is on how to create a PDF of something that is on your desktop – presumably something that is displayed in a browser. It could be an image, it could be instructions that are on the screen (but you don’t want to print the whole web page)or it could be video playing in a browser.
If you are on a PC, at the simplest, you can use “print screen” (by pressing both shift and ‘PrtScr’ on your keyboard) in Windows to capture an image of your desktop. Then go to ‘Paint’ (click on “Start” then “All Programs” then “Accessories” then “Paint”) and then paste the screen capture image into Paint (click on “Edit” then “Paste” in Paint). From there, if you only want to use a part of the image, select a portion of the image with your mouse and right click in the middle of the box to cut out that section and save it to your clipboard.
You can save the final cropped selection as a:
- monochrome bitmap (*.bmp, *.dip)
- 16 color bitmap (*.bmp, *.dip)
- 256 color bitmap (*.bmp, *.dip)
- 24 bit bitmap (*.bmp, *.dip)
- JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe, *.jfif)
- GIF (*.gif)
- TIFF (*.tiff, *.tif)
- PNG (*.png)
If you want to make it into a PDF, you can use one of the free PDF conversion sites on the web such as:
- Primo PDF (http://www.download.com/PrimoPDF/3000-10743_4-10264577.html?tag=lst-0-1). Note that there are no licence restrictions on Primo PDF, which is probably why it is #1 most popular Business & Productivity software download on CNET’s Download.com.
Of course, on my Mac – I just use “Grab” (“Finder” then “Utilities” then “Grab”), which comes with OS X. From there, you can choose between:
- Selection
- Window
- Screen
- Timed Screen
and save your image as a *.TIFF or print it as a *.PDF (which saves it as a PDF file).
Back to the Windows world for a moment, if you want to get fancier than what MS Paint will do, you will have to go to something like:
- SnagIt (http://www.techsmith.com) – thanks Diane Ebersole
- Gadwin PrintScreen (http://www.gadwin.com/
printscreen/) or IrfanView (www.irfanview.com) – thanks Nerino Petro - Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp) – thanks Jim Calloway
- Adobe Captivate (http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate) – thanks Catherine Sanders Reach.
Either way you can be doing it right for little or no cost!
♫ Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way…♫
Words and music by James Lord Pierpont.
At this time of the year I would like to wish each and everyone the Best of the Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. This upcoming year will be a challenging one and as such I hope for Peace, Hope and Happiness for all.
As has become my tradition, at this time as my gift to you I offer a few minutes of reflection. I hope this slide show and music (please turn your speakers on!) brings to you a time of calm and joy. The music is of course, Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont and is performed by the Argyle Alumni Choir, Argyle Senior Secondary School, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Frances Roberts, Director. Used with permission.
This is also a bit of an experiment in hosted slide shows. You can select two different versions – one is on SlideShare – the other is on YouTube.
I find the images much sharper on SlideShare – but the music/picture synchronization is a bit jerky and odd. YouTube doesn’t have the sync problem, but the images are much less sharp.
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: bilinsky roberts)
Best wishes for a safe holiday filled with warmth, comfort and good cheer!
(Thanks to Steve Matthews for technical assistance in hosting the slide show).
♬ Three is a magic number
Ya it is, it’s a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You’ll get three
As a magic number…♬
Written and performed by Bob Dorough
Steve Matthews, the creator of the Canadian Legal Blog Awards, has just announced the 2008 Clawbie Nomination process. True to Steve’s creative and delightfully quirky mind, rather than just submitting a nomination, he has invited people to nominate three Canadian Legal blogs via a blog post.
Never being one to turn down a creative challenge, here are my three choices to kick things off:
1. Slaw.ca: Hardly day goes by where I don’t look at Slaw and see what is on people’s minds. The cooperative weblog idea is a powerful one – here we see web 2.0 concepts in action – and the resulting dialogue between posts and comments makes the blog totally fresh and intriguing. The points of view come from all across Canada. The topics are driven by what the Slaw community feels is important. It is like being part of a great big respectful conversation that never stops – and never stops being interesting. This is my nomination for Simon Fodden and the rest of the crew for crafting, nurturing and growing this ever so Canadian social legal blog.
2. Twitter. OK, now I know Steve will say this isn’t a blog per se. Nor is it a Canadian blog per se. But it is a micro-blog – and there is a community of Canadians twittering – and tweating and listening to each other and to others – on Twitter. I think these Canadians have crafted their own collective micro-blog on Twitter – and it is fascinating! Where Slaw is about a big, deep, thoughtful community, Twitter is about being part of a different, dynamic, ‘flow of consciousness’ community. The Canadians in the Twitter community know who they are – but that doesn’t get in the way of anything. This is really about having a dialogue with people. Kevin O’Keefe (an American, if that matters) just posted to Twitter on the Clawbies while I was writing this. Twitter is everything about breaking legal and technology news and being involved – or part – of the story at the same time. So my nomination is for all the Canadians who are on Twitter and crafting their own micro-blogging community within a community!
3. law21.ca: Jordan Furlong is doing great things on his blog that deals with what my old mathematics professors would call inflection points. These are points where a function changes curve and interesting things are happening. Jordan is extraordinarily skilled in picking up on those inflection points in the legal community’s function and providing insightful commentary thereon. Well thought, well done and well received. Keep up the good work Jordan – my third nomination.
And so I encourage you to visit www.clawbies.ca and read the nominations and nominate a blog or two yourself! Oh – and Vote too! That makes three – nominate, read and vote – an ancient magical trinity!
♬ Now that ain’t workin… that’s the way you do it… ♬
Words and Music by: Mark Knopfler and Sting (Thomas Sumner), recorded by Dire Straits.
Those of you who have been reading my chronicles of my movement over to the “white side” (as I am referring to my adoption of my white MacBook) know that I have been struggling with porting over PowerPoints that were developed on the PC onto the Mac. In some cases, the PowerPoint would open in PowerPoint for the Mac, but some (or all) of the graphics in the PowerPoint slides would be simply *gone*.
Now I knew that what I was doing was not working – but for the life of me, I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I finally went searching out on the web and found a blog entry that stated that if the graphics had been simply “cut and pasted” into the PowerPoint, that these graphics could not be ported over when the PowerPoint was opened on the Mac.
So I went back to the PC – opened one of the offending PowerPoints…copied each graphic inside the PowerPoint and saved it as a JPG file. Then I deleted it from the PowerPoint and used “insert” and “picture” and selected the JPG version of that same graphic to drop it back into the PowerPoint. I did this for every graphic (it actually doesn’t take all that long, since you already have the graphics that you want) and finally saved the PowerPoint. Then I opened it on the Mac. Voila! All the graphics were there in glorious colour.
So for anyone else who is facing this problem – that’s the way you do it!