♫ But we got to keep it simple to save ourselves…♫
Words and music by Van Morrison.
I have run across the absolutely coolest application that I have seen in a long time …and it has quickly become indispensable to how I work. And the best part of it all is that it is also one of the simplest pieces of technology that I have seen in quite a while.
This particular application is an intelligent filing assistant for Microsoft Outlook (I have used it in both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007). At least that is how it is described on the web. I simply call it magic.
Here is how it works: SimplyFile, once installed, sits in your Outlook as a toolbar. Now, click on an email - any email. SimplyFile guesses into which folder this particular email should go. Amazingly, it seems to guess right at least 80-90% of the time. Click on “File Message” and *zap* the email goes into the right folder. When you reply to an email, it also guesses which folder the reply should go. SimplyFile is $39.95 per user, with a volume discount available for those who may wish to take advantage of this.
I am sure that it does more, but I really don’t care. When it comes to saving ourselves from the email avalanche, we have to just keep it simple and that’s that.
♫ Tell her about it
Tell her all your crazy dreams
Let her know you need her
Let her know how much she means… ♫
Words and music by Billy Joel.
As they taught us in typing class, now is the time for all good boys and girls to come to the aid of the party. Or in this case, the BC Courthouse Library Society.
They are undertaking a redevelopment of their website. And in the process of so doing, they wish to hear from lawyers on the potential redesign of their website and the services that they could be providing to you.
The survey is short and only takes about 3 minutes or so. But what is interesting is that this particular survey is open-ended and designed to bring in as much original thought as possible into not only on what they are doing, but what they could be doing with their website.
Think about it. This is the chance to have a voice in designing how you interact with the BC Courthouse Library. Wikis? Blogs? Collaborative spaces? RSS feeds that deliver content tailored to recent developments in your area of practice or interest? The ability to create secure web spaces to collaborate and organize research in developing areas of the law? The ability to be a part of a virtual community of lawyers who exchange ideas on certain areas of the law that are of interest to them? Consider the ability to hold on-line discussion groups around emerging topics….or incorporate knowledge management concepts into their website. What is the best way to facilitate professional development right across the Province, using virtual tools and techniques and how can the Library Society lead that change?
Literally the only limits to the possibilities are the imaginations of the lawyers out there!
I totally applaud the BC Courthouse Library Society, their Board of Directors and Management Team for taking this approach to their future. Johanne Blenkin is to be commended for her vision and foresight.
Oh, the survey can be found at: http://www.bccls.bc.ca/cms/index.cfm?group_id=86472.
And take a moment and tell Johanne and her staff how much we need her and how much she and her staff mean to us!
♫ And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon,
When you coming home, dad?
I don’t know when…
We’ll get together then,
You know we’ll have a good time then…♫
Writer and vocalist, Harry Chapin.
Ah, Monday morning! A fresh start on the week. Good thing that you took that file home to work on over the weekend - just imagine how busy the schedule would have been like otherwise! Let’s see - have to prepare for that big discovery this week. But the phone starts to ring and your secretary brings in the mail and despite good intentions, you are soon lost in the activities of the day. By Tuesday evening, the discovery has been pushed to the back burner of your mind by other pressing demands. On Friday afternoon you remember that the discovery is set for Monday and you still hadn’t prepared your notes. Stuffing the file into your briefcase you have a pang of guilt recalling that you had promised to take your daughter skiing this weekend. Oh well, she will learn that business comes first…
Despite the best security systems and locks on our office doors, time bandits sneak into our lives and steal away our most precious asset. These time bandits learn that certain of us are more vulnerable than others to this capital offense (truly capital, for it robs away our lives). Fortunately there are codes to live by that will stop this crime from occurring.
- Get a head start by taking 10 minutes before you leave the office today and write out your “must do” objectives and priorities for tomorrow. This allows you to come in and hit your desk running with a clear understanding of your objectives for the day.
- Handle a piece of paper once and only once. Having picked up a letter, memo or fax, dictate a reply, write instructions for filing or draft a response WITHOUT letting go and putting the paper back down on your desk. Or, stand at your desk until you have finished going thru your mail. The very act of standing forces you to make decisions and take action rather than procrastinating. Better yet, walk to the scanner and scan the letter so that you can file it into your electronic file and get it off your desk.
- Avoid time-wasting activities, both for you and your secretary. Don’t dictate a letter if a telephone call will do. Use e-mail rather than faxes or letters. If you must write a letter, have standard letters prepared for common situations that take just a moment to be modified, rather than re-creating the wheel. Start a knowledge bank in SharePoint or other collaborative technology.
- Stuart McLean of Morningside once interviewed John Goddard[1] who, at age 15, sat down and wrote out a list of the things that he wanted to do before he died. When he stopped there were 127 items on his list. In his mid-sixties, he had checked off 108 items, and was working on the remainder. Now, sit back and write out your life’s goals. Then imagine that you are looking back on your life and its important moments. How many of these moments were spent working late or on weekends? Consciously take time in your life to schedule in your important goals, and not just those of your clients. Don’t take work home - you are allowing work to take command of your entire life.
- Take a moment during the day and sit down with your secretary and discuss the files in your practice. Try to remove or reduce any bottlenecks that may be slowing the flow. Listen to their suggestions to make things easier for all concerned.
- Recall that activities can be divided into five categories (Bliss): Important and Urgent, Important but not Urgent, Urgent but not Important, Busy Work and Waste of Time. Important and Urgent matters get solved. Urgent but not Important activities clamour for attention, but don’t deserve the time they get. Busy Work and Waste of Time are just that - the sooner you forget these, the better. It is the Important but not Urgent activities that deserve attention, but usually get lost in the shuffle. Create a “to-do someday” list and review that list regularly. After all, on this list you will probably find such things as going on that trip to
- Get an integrated practice management and legal accounting system for your desktop computer such as Amicus Attorney or Time Matters + PCLaw, LawStream, ProLaw and others, and start using them. These programs assist you in creating To-Do lists, creating lists of clients and telephone numbers (so you are looking in only one place for address information), in tracking calls and will create an electronic calendar and *so much more*.
- When you do dictate a letter, file a pleading, delegate a task and automatically create a follow-up entry to check if a response has been produced. This keeps the simmer on and prevents matters from going cold. Moreover, you will develop a reputation in the office for being on top of things.
- Delegate, delegate, delegate. Use the office staff to your best advantage. Refer out files that do not capture your full energy and enthusiasm. Have others do as much on a file as they legally and ethically can. Free up your time and energy for important tasks and files.
- Someone once said that life was a series of interruptions interrupted by interruptions. Take time to concentrate. Block off times to work on matters, close your door, put your phone on “do not disturb” and put your shoulder to the wheel. When the allotted time is over, take your calls, and deal with matters knowing that you have used your time effectively.
- Give yourself a reward for completing a task on your “to-do” list. Get up, take a short walk, grab a coffee, or even just give yourself a mental “way to go” prize. Recall that you attract more bees with honey than with vinegar.
- The most important time-saving tool is liberal use of the word “No”. If you refuse to allow others to take control of your time, you will have kept the time saved for your own use.
Since we all do not know just how much time we have left, each of us can benefit from using our time to best advantage. Hopefully that includes those good times spent watching our little ones take their first bicycle ride or snowplow turn.
[1] McLean, Stuart, The Morningside World of Stuart McLean, Penguin, 1990.
(this post is based on a column originally published in PracticeTalk in the Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch’s newsletter BarTalk)
♫ Cause everybody wants to hide their secrets away
And that’s okay…♫
If you have emailed a Word, Excel or even WordPerfect document to a lawyer or notary on the opposite side, you have most likely sent them confidential information that is buried in the document. The reason is that electronic documents contain information about the document and changes that were made to it (such as changing the contract terms or settlement amount). This data is hidden in the document, but it can be read by those savvy enough to find it, and is called metadata.
Fortunately, Adobe Acrobat version 8 features metadata removal. Adobe Acrobat Professional version 8 contains the ‘Examine Document’ feature that allows you to go thru a document and determine if there is any metadata therein and allows you to take action accordingly.
For lawyers for whom metadata is a particular concern, WordPerfect offers the ability to Save Without Metadata feature – allowing you to avoid any ethical difficulties by removing confidential information that can be captured into an electronic file and viewed by others. WordPerfect Office X4 - the latest office suite from Corel - offers the ability to strip away metadata using the built-in tool or to save the document to PDF format.
Payne Consulting offers the Metadata Assistant that removes metadata from Word/Excel/PowerPoint (97 and higher) files. It integrates with Outlook 2000 and higher, GroupWise and Lotus Notes as well as with many document management systems. Payne’s Metadata Assistant also cleans and converts files into PDF format for additional protection.
If you are using Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft offers a free metadata removal tool that is described as follows:
“With this add-in you can permanently remove hidden data and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint files.”
You can download this tool from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=144E54ED-D43E-42CA-BC7B-5446D34E5360&displaylang=en (*or just Google Microsoft Hidden Data Removal Tool*)
Microsoft Office 2007 has a built-in feature to remove metadata.
These tools will allow you to send out your documents, secure that your secrets have been safely hidden away and that’s okay!
♫ Come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, baby
Cant you see that I am not afraid? ♫
Words and music by Robby Krieger, recorded by The Doors.
If you maintain a web site or a blog, you want to know who is linking to your site. If you have a blog, you can use Technorati to see how many blogs are referencing your blog and to create a list of those links. But it is difficult to see the linking in a graphical manner.
Hello Touchgraph! This website allows you to explore the relationships between websites or blogs. You type in the URL of your web site or blog (or any other web site or blog in which you are interested), and you obtain a graphical view of the links to that site or blog.
It is a wonderful way of viewing who is reaching out to touch you…!
♫Don’t take the bait,
Don’t seal the deal,
Don’t buy the hype..♫
Words and Music by The Neighborhoods
The New Jersey Law Journal has posted an article online:
Businesses Hit With E-Mail Blast of Virus-Carrying Pseudo-Subpoenas by Mary Pat Gallagher on Wednesday, April 16, 2008. That article reports that thousands of executives received e-mails on Monday April 14, 2008 purporting to be US federal court subpoenas but which appear to be part of a “phishing” scam to capture sensitive data.
This is another example of a phishing attempt by impersonating a law-related entity, in this case the U.S. District Court. The fake subpoenas bear the seal of the court and docket numbers from real cases, though apparently closed ones, without party names. Mary Gallagher reports that they command an appearance on May 7 before a grand jury in a particular room at the U.S. courthouse in San Diego.
They identify the originating e-mail address as “subpoena@uscourts.com” and contain a link with an instruction to “download the entire document on this matter … and print it for you record.”
“As is typical with these phishing attempts, those who click on the link infect their own computers, and those networked to them, with a virus aimed at gathering passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers and similar information. Matt Richard, of VeriSign’s iDefense Labs, a cybersecurity group, estimates that 1,800 recipients have clicked on the link.”
The phishing emails bear the name of “O’Mevely & Meyers,” a fictitious law firm. But there is a real firm of “O’Melveny & Myers LLP” in LA and the phishing email incorporates the real firm’s address. The name is close enough that O’Melveny has posted a notice on its Web site stating it is not the source of the subpoenas.
Aiside from the usual spelling and grammatical errors, the most significant tip-off was that “federal courts will never send you a subpoena by e-mail,” stated Scott Christie, a former assistant U.S. attorney who once headed up the New Jersey office’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section.
Gallagher quotes Christie as stating that lawyers should be warning their clients, and because unexpected future variants are likely, people should “review their e-mail messages carefully and if there are misspellings or other indicia of impropriety or fraud, immediately contact their attorney.”
http://www.law.com/jsp/nj
It will only be a matter of time before these attempts spread to other jurisdictions and other courts. Lawyers should be notifying their clients of the proper method for informing them as to real court notices and subpoenas. If they do receive such a notice directly, they should be informed to contact their lawyers prior to clicking on any suspect ‘notice’ sent to them directly to avoid taking the bait of the spear phishers.
♫ 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…
♫ 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….