2009 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

2008 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

2007 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

2008 InnovAction Awards



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    Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
    Tip: Composing an E-Mail Without Leaving MS Word
    Friday, July 23rd, 2010

    ♫ You know its gonna make it that much better

    Wouldn’t it be nice …♫

    Music and Lyrics by: Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, Mike Love, recorded by The Beach Boys.

    Reba Nance

    Reba Nance

    This is a “Tip” from my colleague and friend, Reba Nance, who is a fellow PMA (Practice Management Advisor) for the Colorado Bar Association:

    How to compose and send an E-Mail Without Ever Leaving Microsoft Word from Word 2007, 2003 and 2000:

    Many of us spend much of our time in Word. Wouldn’t it be nice to easily compose and send an e-mail in Word rather than having to minimize Word, open Outlook to send the message, and then go back to Word? Here’s how to do it in Word 2003 and earlier versions: (more…)

    Posted in Make it Work!, Technology, Tips | Permalink | 1 Comment »
    Can One be Too Frugal?
    Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

    ♬ 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

    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…)

    Posted in Budgeting, Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Technology, Tips, Trends, humour, personal focus and renewal | Permalink | No Comments »
    Best of Techshow 2010
    Friday, May 28th, 2010

    ♬You’re my latest, tell you you’re my greatest
    My latest, my greatest inspiration
    You inspire me, inspire me…♬

    Lyrics and music by: Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, recorded by: Teddy Pendergrass.

    2010 Techshow logo

    2010 Techshow logo

    This column was written for the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia’s magazine “The Verdict” immediately after ABA TECHSHOW in March. That edition of The Verdict has just hit the streets (print publication lags being what they are…) so here is the column on ABA TECHSHOW 2010:

    Well the three days of the 2010 edition of the American Bar Association’s TECHSHOW wrapped up on March 27. This leading legal technology conference had three major themes this year.

    Theme One: The Cloud

    Ethics, security and privacy concerns aside, the cloud has arrived. Whether it is using SaaS applications (software as a service) or law firms building virtual deal rooms using SharePoint, working on the cloud is now a reality for virtually all law firms. (more…)

    Posted in Change Management, Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Make it Work!, Technology, Tips, Trends | Permalink | No Comments »
    Pen Envy?
    Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

    ♬ This boy has got it made
    Media exposure
    It will make him all the rage
    But he’s not playing
    He’s not playing
    He’s just having
    Adventures in modern recording…♬

    Music and lyrics by: Simon Darlow, Trevor Horn, Bruce Woolley, recorded by The Buggles.

    This column starts a new category theme in this blog: “Tips”. This tip comes from British Columbia lawyer Richard Fowler.

    On Slaw.ca there have been posts on recording in the courts. Most recently, Mr. Justice Richard Granger posted on Technology and Court Reporting. Mr. Justice Granger stated:

    Unfortunately, court reporting in Ontario has not kept pace with the emerging technology which is available in the market place today and which could greatly assist judges in having a command of the vive voce testimony during the trial and when preparing their reasons for judgment.

    As Mr. Granger notes in his post, such real-time reporting is not inexpensive. For most trials, but particularly for criminal ones with legal aid and court budgets under so much pressure, the cost of such a system is simply prohibitive for counsel to bring into the court. Accordingly, there must be a better way! (more…)

    Posted in Make it Work!, Technology, Tips, Trends | Permalink | 2 Comments »
    The Battle Over Web 2.0 Has Started
    Friday, April 9th, 2010

    ♫ When the walls come crumblin’ crumblin’
    When the walls come tumblin’ tumblin’ down…♫

    Lyrics and Music by: George Green, J. Cougar Mellencamp

    As of March 4, 2010 (the day of originally writing this column for the Canadian Bar Association) the Canadian legal competitive battlefield changed. Dynamic LawyersTM, led by Michael Carabash, B.A., LL.B., J.D., M.B.A., Founder/President, formally launched their website: www.dynamiclawyers.com.

    Have a look – Carabash, a Toronto business lawyer, is one of a growing list of new entrants into the area of online legal services. What makes his web services a bit different is the use of online video guides that aid purchasers to complete the legal forms that he has made available. He also has a blog and an “online legal health checkup”.

    Dynamic LawyersTM joins other online legal service providers such as LegalZoom that are seeking to tap the “do it yourself” legal consumer market. (more…)

    Posted in Business Development, Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Technology, Trends | Permalink | 2 Comments »
    Techshow 2010 Thoughts…
    Monday, March 29th, 2010

    ♫ If we put our heads together our hearts will tell us what to do…♫

    Lyrics and Music by Lorene Allen, Loretta Lynn, recorded by Loretta Lynn and Ernest Tubb.

    Now that the 2010 Olympics and Para-Olympics in Vancouver are over and ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago is concluded for another year, it is back to business!

    My overview of Techshow 2010 is being published concurrently by the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia in their manazine “The Verdict” as well as here, so there will be a short delay while the print version comes out. That post will cover the themes and tips that I garnered from ABA Techshow this year. It was a fabulous program and kudos to all who had a hand in organizing it. Stay tuned!

    In the meantime, I thought I would try to highlight one theme that struck me when talking to the lawyers and others who were at Techshow this year. One factor that became apparent was the openness of some lawyers to bring in consultants to assist in the tweaking of the management of their firms versus the (apparent) reluctance of others to do the same. (more…)

    Posted in Change Management, Firm Governance, Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Leadership and Strategic Planning, Technology, Trends | Permalink | 1 Comment »
    Guess it was Just a Matter of Time…
    Thursday, February 11th, 2010

    ♫ Well, who are you?
    Who are you? Who, who, who, who?
    I really wanna know…♫

    Music and Lyrics by Pete Townshend, recorded by The Who.

    A new service has sprung up. It is entitled “Career Excuse.com” Its purpose is to allow you to create false career references for your resume. They state:

    Lets say you are applying for a Retail position and have a 3 year gap in your resume you want to fill. CareerExcuse.com has a retail company already established with a 800 number, a real address, a real website, and a real contact person.

    Not only do they allow you to ‘fill’ that 3 year gap, they can act as new former job references, complete with: ‘company name, address, “800″ number, company website/Email address , contact name, contact phone number, contact email address’.

    You can create your own virtual company answered by a live receptionist, or direct any inquiries into voice mail limbo.

    What if someone should happen to call the listed job reference?

    When we receive a call inquiring about your references, they will be directed to our human resources dept. where they are instructed to fax, or e-mail, a Authorized Release Form and their Employment Verification Form to a contact person that we provided to you as your new job reference.

    It seems their creativity knows no bottom:

    Bankrupt companies make a great previous employer
    We have created a management company with dozens of bankrupt companies that are ready to provide any inquirer your desired reference information.

    Advising on ethics is just another part of their services:

    Is misinformation on a resume illegal?
    No, Since a resume is not a legal document, it is not illegal to misrepresent on a resume.

    Course if the employer should happen to find out about this, ah, deception:

    Can I get caught and fired?
    We can’t guarantee that you wont and not liable if you do. If you get the job in the first place..we did our part. It’s up to you to act responsible after you get the job

    After you get the job?

    It would seem that an employer must do their own due diligence by checking #800′s and email addresses against valid sources to ensure that they are receiving valid reference checks.

    It does seem that they are careful about privacy:

    What about my privacy?
    For your protection we do not collect or share any personal information about you, such as your name, mailing address or credit card number. All of your financial transactions are conducted through Paypal, our secure payment processor.

    When it comes to hiring people these days, it seems that one needs to carefully ask: “Who are You…who who????” because we would like to know…

    Hat tip to Pete Roberts for passing this site along!

    Posted in Firm Governance, Fraud and theft, Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Technology, Trends | Permalink | 2 Comments »
    WestlawNext..other Perspectives…
    Friday, January 29th, 2010

    ♫ You see more than I
    Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky…♫

    Lyrics by: Bernie Taupin, music and recorded by Elton John.

    Subsequent to the early glimpse into WestlawNext that Thompson Reuters provided to a group of us in Eagan, Minnesota, many of that august group have now posted their views on WestlawNext on the web. So without any further ado, here is a look at what they, and others, have seen:

  • My fellow www.slaw.ca colleague Simon Chester has posted an extensive review of the product along with screen shots on Slaw.
  • Robert Ambrogi (who unfortunately wasn’t in Eagan) posted his look at WestlawNext on his blog Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites.
  • Jason the Content Librarian (Jason Eiseman) sat down with Tom Boone, Greg Lambert of 3 Geeks and a Law Blog and Jason Wilson who were at the preview and recorded a 40 minute video of their impressions of the product (note that each of them have posted their thoughts on their own blogs).
  • Robert Ambrogi has also posted additional views on legal blog watch on www.law.com (note – his last blog post on law.com has just been posted! We are going to miss you Robert!).
  • The New York Times as well as the ABA Journal have posted reviews.
  • Carolyn Elefant posted her views on www.myshingle.com.
  • Betsy (Elizabeth) McKenzie has posted on Out of the Jungle.
  • Laura Bergus of Legal Geekery has posted a “WestlawNext: Special Edition Legal Geekery Podcast“.
  • Lisa Solomon posted a review exploring pricing and other thoughts on her blog Legal Research and Writing Pro.
  • You can sign up for a launch day alert here.
  • I hope I haven’t omitted anyone who has posted their early views and thoughts on the new WestlawNext. In the interests of fair disclosure, Thomson Reuters did pay expenses to travel to Eagan to see the preview (brrrr…it is cold there compared to warm Vancouver!).

    By visiting these other sites hopefully you will gain perspective by reading the thoughts of other legal bloggers, writers and videographers who are stars in the face of the sky.

    Posted in Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Technology, Trends | Permalink | 1 Comment »
    Aim for the Stars..
    Thursday, January 21st, 2010

    ♫ Time now to spread your wings
    To take to flight
    The life endeavor
    Aim for the burning sun…♫

    Lyrics and Music by: Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones recorded by Savage Garden.

    Every so often, all of us are looking for a bit of inspiration – a few uplifting words to give flight to our ideas and our lives. Accordingly I was pleased to receive an email from a colleague Patricia Yevics pointing me to a graduation address by Steve Jobs at Stanford University on “How to Live before You Die”.

    This particular video clip is hosted on: www.ted.com. I had visited TED before but this last visit brought home the full extent of the number of inspiring and truly great and inspirational clips on this site. TED calls itself: “Ideas Worth Spreading” and I couldn’t agree more. I like to think of TED as YouTube that has been moderated.

    I hope that we can spread the word about TED to those who may be looking for an updraft when they are aiming for the stars.

    Posted in Technology, Trends, personal focus and renewal | Permalink | No Comments »
    Human Rights, Google and Internet Explorer…on Slaw.ca
    Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

    ♫ A moment of despair
    That forces you to say that life’s unfair
    It makes you scared of what tomorrow may bring
    But don’t go giving into fear ..♫

    Lyrics and music by: Stone, Greenberg, Daniel Pierre, recorded by Joss Stone.

    This is a post on Slaw.ca today:

    You may wonder what human rights has to do with Internet Explorer. Prior to the earthquake in Haiti, the news was filled with the cyber-attacks on Google. The latest attacks on Google’s network appear to have originated in China, reported ComputerWorld in a post dated Jan 12, 2010 and were directed at the Google accounts of human rights activists in China. ComputerWorld stated:

    In a blog post Tuesday, David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, said that attacks have forced the company to “review the feasibility of our business operations in China.” Google, continued Drummond, is “no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.”

    Read more here: http://www.slaw.ca/2010/01/19/human-rights-google-and-internet-explorer/

    Posted in Issues facing Law Firms, Law Firm Strategy, Leadership and Strategic Planning, Technology, Trends | Permalink | No Comments »