♫ A change would do you good
A change would do you good..♫
Words and music by Sheryl Crow, J. Trott and B. MacLeod.
My friend and fellow blogger Jim Calloway picked up on my blog post Do You Want to Know a Secret?…on whole-disk encryption for lawyer’s laptops, flash drives and portable devices in his blog post entitled: Security Issues of Carrying Digital Documents. Now Jim has a philosophy of not allowing comments on his blog, so I will take the liberty of replying to his post here!
Jim asks why we haven’t seen more secure laptops out in the market. I think the answer to Jim’s question is that they are just starting to appear.
In Information Security Magazine’s web site they have a news item from January 3, 2008 entitled:
Hardware-based encryption gains most innovation of ‘07. In that article it states:
‘Hardware-based encryption is just making its way into the mobile device market, but it’s coming on fast. Earlier this year, Seagate announced the Momentus 5400 FDE 2 hard drive, at first available only through clone laptop company ASI, but now available on select Dell models. Intel has announced its chip-based hardware encryption, code-named Danbury, will ship with vPro processors in the second half of 2008.
“By end of 2008, we’ll see a fair amount of variety of offerings,” said Jon Oltsik, senior information security analyst for the Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group. “By mid-2009, there will be more widespread combinations. By the end of next year, if you are replacing laptops, you’ll have several options–not just from Dell. It will be pretty much universal.”‘
SO the short answer to Jim’s question is - it’s a’coming! And I would say - it’s about time! A change towards greater laptop and portable device data encryption will do us all good!
♫ And the walls came down,
All the way to hell.
Never saw them when they’re standing,
Never saw them when they fell…♫
Words and music by The Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan).
On March 27th, Security.IT.World web site reported on CanSecWest Security Conference’s PWN 2 OWN hacking contest. The contest offered three operating systems that a hacker could attack: Vista, Linux and Mac. Day One didn’t see anyone able to hack into the systems when contestants were only able to attempt hacks via a network. On day Two, when the rules were changed to allow hackers to use web sites and emails to host their attacks, the MacBook Air with its Mac operating system went down first - in under 2 minutes. The hacker, Charlie Miller, earned himself $10,000 as well as the MacBook for his efforts.
While this should put terror in the heart of anyone trying to protect their office systems from attacks, the beneficial side to these contests is that the vulnerabilities that they expose are reported (privately) to the developers of the software who can then patch them without the vulnerability becoming known.
In a sense, allowing these attacks to occur in this organized fashion should help prevent the security walls from coming crashing down and our systems going all the way to hell as a result…
♫I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly.
I’ll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away…♫
Words and music by Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne.
Since 2004, the College of Law Practice Management has been recognizing lawyers and law firms who are willing to take risks and who are spreading their wings in looking for ways to improve the business of practicing law. Again this year, the College is looking for innovative and bold entries - the deadline for entries to win one of the 2008 InnovAction Awards is June 2. (Early birds can save a little money by getting entries in before May 1). Click here to learn more about the awards and read about past winners. If you know of someone who is taking a chance and breaking away from the pack, have them submit an entry. Who knows…perhaps they can teach us all how to spread our wings and touch the sky!
♫ What a feeling.
Bein’s believin’.
I can have it all, now I’m dancing for my life.
Take your passion
and make it happen..♫
Music by Giorgio Moroder, lyrics by Keith Forsey and Irene Cara
Having returned from speaking and attending ABA TECHSHOW 2008, I now have the perspective of time to reflect on what I saw and heard and discern the trends and emerging issues that flowed from the conference.
First off, there were many new faces at Techshow this year, particularly among the speakers. This was a good thing as the introduction of new ideas and perspectives that fresh blood brings to the conference cannot be underestimated and Techshow does a fine job of this. There were also many new vendors on the exhibit floor and that added a degree of novelty to the conference as well!
The social events (Techshow after Dark, the Techshow speaker dinners) were a great success, even if the band at Techshow after Dark was a bit loud. The attendees were wonderful - they came loaded with lots of questions, terrific comments and suggestions and fully contributed to the sense of sharing and knowledge exchange that is so much a hallmark of ABA TECHSHOW.
In terms of the undercurrents running through the educational sessions, certainly e-Discovery continues its relentless march through the legal corridors, transforming everything in its path. It is difficult to believe that there is any litigation lawyer in North America today who is not at least aware of the need to consider the implications of electronic evidence in virtually every case.
It was reassuring to see the emphasis given to two closely-related issues: Records Management and the Paperless Office. These two go hand in hand, in my opinion. Furthermore, I saw a sea-change at this year’s TECHSHOW - and that was the overall acceptance that integrated case (or practice management) and legal accounting software is the foundation on which any law firm should now be built. Virtually all lawyers (at least at TECHSHOW) now recognize that these products are not only getting better and better (Amicus Attorney+ Amicus Accounting, LexisNexis Front Office and Back Office (Time Matters + PC Law), Practice Master + Tabs 3, LawStream, ProLaw etc) but they save a tremendous amount of time and effort as well. Furthermore, they are now being integrated into the paperless office, which only increases the scope of their use and reach.
Two other related issues: IT Security and Privacy were also big and will only get bigger as we move to a fully digital law firm and concerns over personal privacy and identity theft continue.
And lastly I was most impressed by the emergence (or should I say, surge in interest) of using a Mac in a law office. These sessions were very effective in not only demonstrating the usefulness of this platform and the benefits that it offers; they also pretty much debunked most *if not all* of the myths that Windows and IT staff put forward to stop a Mac from being used in a Windows-centric office and network.
A cultural trend was the sheer number of people (mostly faculty!) who were actively blogging as the conference went on. The list included: Kevin O’Keefe (Real Lawyers Have Blogs), Sharon Nelson (Ride the Lightening), Dominic Jaar (Wines and Information Management), Tom Mighell (Inter-Alia), Jim Calloway (Law Practice Tips Blog), and many others! Indeed, I smugly did a blog post on the Keynote Speaker Marc Rotenberg while listening to the presentation right from the ballroom floor, only to find that Reid Trautz (Reid My Blog!) seated right behind me, on his MacBook Pro, had beat me by posting to his own blog moments before on the same topic (if anyone thinks that there isn’t any competition among bloggers, think again!). How cool is that?!!
Notable and cool speakers for me were:
Tom Mighell (*the Chair of this year’s Techshow*) who did a great job in interviewing the great Keynote Speaker Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC.ORG). Steve Best, my co-speaker in Drafting Bills Your Clients Love to Pay was exceptional and made my job effortless. Ben Stevens, who did both sessions in the Mac Track, was terrific.
And of course the speakers on 60 Sites in 60 Minutes (Tom Mighell, Reid Trautz and Craig Ball) and 60 Tips in 60 Minutes (Brett Burney, Barron Henley and Sharon Nelson) were funny, entertaining and also informative in continuing the fine TECHSHOW tradition of these sessions!
This was a wonderful TECHSHOW - and I can’t wait for the 2009 version when my fellow Law Practice Magazine Profitability co-columnist Laura Calloway takes over as 2009 TECHSHOW Chair! This is one conference that is is sure to stoke your imagination and take your passion and make it happen!
♫ How do we ever keep this secret
How do we keep it in the dark…♫
Words and Music by A. Wilson, N. Wilson, A. Hammond, H. Knight, recorded by Heart.
I have just heard Marc Rotenberg, the Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC.ORG) in
To say that he was effective at putting the fear of God into the audience regarding the privacy, or lack thereof, of your information on the Internet, would be a gross understatement.
Along with a number of highly interesting issues that he raised (in light of the Spitzer resignation) he dealt with the issue of the collection, retention and pervasiveness of personal information when using most internet search engines, web mail services, IM services and the rest.
When you consider that web search histories, emails, IM Chats and the like could be demanded from third party providers and these demands could include solicitor-client communications or research being conducted for a client, the collection, use and disclosure of this data takes on particular importance.
This raised the inevitable question: “Just how do you protect yourself when using the Internet?” Marc responded by referring to the EPIC Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools. This web page lists links to services that allow you to send ’snoop proof email’, surf anonymously, block ads, cookies and spyware, call using VoIP in a private manner, use secure instant messaging, ecrypt and erase files and information on your computer, set up secure firewalls and much more.
This is a treasure trove of information for anyone who is concerned about their information being available on the web. They also help lawyers answer the question of how do they keep things secret….
♫ Say you’ll never leave me, never leave me alone.
Say you’ll never leave me, never leave me alone…♫
One of the lessons we have all learned when using computers - usually the hard way - is to back up your work. There are few sensations to match that sinking feeling when you realize that your document/file/hard drive has been deleted, crashed or simply disappeared - leaving you frantically trying to recover your data.
Yet many of us have websites and blogs that are hosted by third parties - and we are blissfully unaware of whether or not these third party hosts have dutifully backed up our work in the event of some disaster. Enter HTTrack Website Copier. This free application (distributed pursuant to the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation) allows you to make a backup of your website or blog by downloading to a local directory all the directories, HTML, images and other files found in your blog or web site using your original link-structure. Once downloaded, you can ‘browse’ your web site or blog as if you were online. It is quick, easy to configure and easy to use.
This is a great application and a fine example of the other free software to be found under the GNU free licence. And best of all, by backing up your web site or blog, you can be assured that your data will never leave you alone…
(Hat tip to Dominic Jaar for putting me onto HTTrack Website Copier!)
♫ What the people need
Is a way to make em smile
It ain’t so hard to do if you know how
Gotta get a message
Get it on through
Oh now mama, don’t you ask me why
Oh, oh, listen to the music…♫
Words and music by Tom Johnson, recorded by The Doobie Brothers.
Kevin O’Keefe’s “Real Lawyers Have Blogs” blog was kind enough to start a series of Q&A posts regarding the upcoming ABA TECSHOW in Chicago on March 13-15, 2008 with yours truly. Rob LaGarta did the interview:
David Bilinsky of Thoughtful Legal Management [LexBlog Q & A]
As the ABA TechShow draws nearer, you’ll start to notice certain LexBlog Q & As that bear the TechShow’s badge (above) in place of our guest’s photo. This is your indicator that the interview you’re about to read is with a legal professional scheduled to present at TechShow, and that at least a portion of our conversation is focused on the event.
Our first guest is David Bilinsky, Practice Management Advisor and staff lawyer for the Law Society of British Columbia and author of the blog Thoughtful Legal Management. Dave will be speaking on two panels at TechShow:
- “Records Management Technology: It’s A Small World After All”, with Jesse Wilkins (3/13, 4:15-5:15 p.m.)
- “Drafting Bills Your Clients Will Rush To Pay”, with Steve Best (3/14, 1-2 p.m.)
Find out more about Dave’s blog and his goals for TechShow after the jump.
…
In the interview I talk about new ABA Techshow speakers including Kevin O’Keefe himself, Nils Jensen from Victoria and Dominic Jaar from Montreal, among others.
What is interesting is that Rob asked about where did the idea come from about using music lyrics to start my posts. You have to read the full answer on Kevin’s blog - but: “What the people need Is a way to make em smile
It ain’t so hard to do if you know how..gotta get a message, get it on through..oh oh, Listen to the Music….”
♫ So you got the looks but have you got the touch
Don’t get me wrong, yeah I think you’re alright
But that won’t keep me warm in the middle of the night
That don’t impress me much…♫
This week I had the pleasure of moderating a panel of distinguished corporate counsel for the Legal Marketing Association - Vancouver Chapter speaking on: How in-house counsel view their lawyers, law firms and their marketing and business development efforts.
Panelists were Marie-France Leroi, Senior Counsel at Terasen Inc, Gigi Chen-Ku, General Counsel for Translink, Heather Northrup, Senior Counsel with RBC Financial Group and Sue Doi, Counsel for Intrawest ULC. There was a great deal of discussion on the topic on how outside counsel can best work with in-house counsel. During the presentation we had a question from the floor that opened up a whole new area of discussion …and that was novel and interesting as well.
The question was in the context of the corporate client wanting to provide feedback to the outside firm - but the outside firm never appearing open or willing to hear the message. Worse, the danger signs are there for the outside law firm - calls by in-house counsel are not being returned promptly, the invoices appear to include ‘education time’ for the associates, the firm now appears to have an attitude of ‘entitlement’…among others. So the question is - what is the best way for the outside firm to hear the message early enough to prevent the loss of the client?
The solution that was proposed from the audience (some of the best tips come from the attendees during presentations!) was for the marketing department to establish one person…call them a client concierge…to establish a line of communication with the client. The client concierge would be there to act in a similar manner to a concierge in the best hotels…to ensure that the questions and needs of the hotel guests are being met. The client concierge can hear the concerns and questions of the client - and ensure that they are directed to the right people in the law firm - and act as an early-warning system to ensure that the law firm is not only attentive to the client but is seen as being proactive and open. This implicitly recognizes that while the legal services may be top-notch, the service levels surrounding the delivery of those legal services may not be.
It is an interesting concept and one that recognizes that the firm as a whole is a team and the team has an overarching reason (*or reasons*) to ensure that the client is happy and has an open channel to raise small concerns before they jeopardize the entire client relationship. It is really a question of client ‘handling’ and ensuring that the firm has the right ‘touch’ for the client and continues to impress the client with all that they do.
Yes, now you’re gone and from this moment on
I’ll be crying, crying, crying, cry-i-i-ing
Yeah crying, crying, o-o-o-o-ver you…Words and music by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson
With the increasing emphasis on digital information in a law office and the “paper-less” office becoming a reality, the necessity for reliable data backups is one of the issues facing lawyers and law firms. There are many methods of backup in use — tapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, RAID arrays, external hard drives and the like. One method that is receiving increasing attention is online backup to a third-party host. This article examines potential issues that are unique to electronic storage via the Internet.
The full article that I wrote on this topic can be found on the Law Society of British Columbia’s web site, specifically in the on-line edition of the Benchers Bulletin.
♫Hey, everyone, listen up, your attention if you please
We wanna give you a warning
‘Cause I found out this morning..♫
Words and music by Weird Al Yankovic
The Legal Organization Watch Blog has posted an entry today regarding a phishing email fraud that has spoofed a real Irish Law Firm and an individual who actually works in that firm - the Irish and International Practice of Arthur Cox. The details of the phishing fraud can be found at:
http://orglegal.com/1002/irish-law-firm-targeted-in-419-fraud/
In British Columbia a few years back there was a fraud attempt that spoofed a Victoria BC, Canada law firm. In that fraud attempt, the fraudsters created a false web site that mirrored the actual web site of the real firm - with the exception that the telephone numbers and email addresses went directly to the fraudsters rather than to the real firm. Somehow the real firm discovered the false web site and took steps to have it immediately closed down.
In the circumstances, lawyers and law firms are well-advised to set up Google Alerts for their firm name and all lawyers and staff…and have one person in the firm responsible for reviewing these Alerts on a daily basis. In this way, you should be able to receive some notice if your good name and those of your firm are being used inappropriately. An added bonus is the ability to see the discussion on the Web that involves you and your firm. While you are at it, you could set up Alerts for your major clients and be proactive if you discover that there is suspicious activity on their behalf. A nice feather in your cap if you can alert them to a potential problem before it becomes a bigger problem! It seems that as lawyers and law firms, we should consider taking steps to discover if our good names are being used inappropriately. Perhaps these early examples of fraud attempts can serve as an early warning to all…