♬ See your heart will lead you where you want to be, but your head will lead you where you ought to be.
But which will lead you where you’re meant to be? ♬
Lyrics, music and recorded by K’LA.
2012 New Years
This is Part 2 in the 2012 Tips and Predictions series where I have asked my good friends and colleagues to contribute their best ideas for the New Year. Accordingly without further ado:
Dr. Frank Fowlie: “Future Shock” predictions:
- Consumers will no longer be forced to call their credit card company to deal with “unknown” charges. No more phone tress, no more wait times…You’ll be able to go to your bank’s credit card website and fill in a form online, the bank will handle it from there.
- When you buy something online and there’s something wrong with the purchase, you’ll be able to go to a single portal for goods sold in Canada, and start a redress process online, at your convenience. This is less Future Shock, as the European Union has already created a regulation which makes this possible across Europe. Like “chip” cards did in the past, the technology will migrate from Europe to Canada.
- Small Claims Courts in Canada will move towards Online Dispute Resolution to more effectively and efficiently manage the court processes. There will be a new wave of computer literate judges who hear and settle cases online.
- Courts of equity will look to technology to handle small value claims. Online Dispute Resolution will replace hearings in matters where the value is the same or lower than the Small Claims Court limit.
- Law firms will publish hourly rates on their websites to allow for consumer choices. Consumers will be able to search out legal services in the same way they look for other commodities online.
- Lawyers will begin to sell “Boutique services” allowing consumers to handle some part of their own legal matters. Some lawyers will develop practices which simply “guide” lay litigants, as opposed to forcing the lay litigant into court with representation.
- Legal Zoom, or some like entity, will set up shop in Canada. Legal services outsourcing becomes a market drive out of India and Ireland.
- The public can make complaints against lawyers using an online platform, perhaps to an independent body.
Dr. Frank Fowlie, www.internetombudsman.biz.
Judge Monty Ahalt ( Ret.): “Warp Speed”:
As the year closes out and some say the decade there is always a clamour for the folks to know what is in store for the next year. Some will look at last year and make resolutions. My Life now breaks down into three areas:
- Court centered ADR and case management as a recalled Circuit Court Judge now counting 30 years.
- A Mediator/Arbitrator now counting about 45 years – www.montyahalt.com.
- Founder and CEO of VirtualCourthouse.com – leading ODR provider – now counting 10 years - www.VirtualCourthouse.com
Each area has it’s unique challenges and will experience new horizons in 2012. While I do not pretend to be Carnac the Magnificent of Johnny Carson days there are some new happenings that seem to be clearly presenting themselves for the coming year. (more…)
♬ There’s a few people spinning gold…♬
Lyrics, music and recorded by Blind Melon.
Time to finally post my 2011 ClawBie nominations! There have been so many great blogs springing up in Canada that this year that it is becoming even harder to choose only three!
Of course, the #1 legal blog in Canada, in my humble opinion, is and remains, slaw.ca. Simon Fodden and the rest of the group (which grows ever wider) is really defining the standard for legal blogs – not just in Canada but across the world. In the same way Jordan Furlong’s Law21 blog constantly reflects ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking regarding the legal marketplace, trends and undercurrents. Slaw has been nominated by many (which I totally endorse!) and as such I won’t follow on their nominations. I understand that Jordan’s blog is not in the running, since he is one of the judges.
So I am going to pick three that I think are more than deserving of a Clawbie award. For my nominations, I am staying in BC:
#1: Eric Magraken’s BC Injury Law blog. Eric is a great example of how a lawyer can lever social media to great effectiveness. All of us have seen buttons linking to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn ..but savvy Eric has a Media Requests link! Eric has previously won ClawBie awards, for good reason. He is setting the bar for a client-centric personal injury blog.
#2: Susanna Jani’s Distance Family Mediation Blog. BC is moving forward in the application of different mediation methods to resolve disputes in BC (including my interest, Online Dispute Resolution) and Susanna is a careful, thoughtful proponent of and researcher into how these different methods can be used to end conflicts. As she states: “A key goal of the service is to make family mediation affordable and available to all British Columbians, regardless of their income or location.” Susanna is shining a light into how technology can be used to increase access to justice by lowering costs, speeding up resolutions and allowing people to get on with their lives.
#3: The ClickLaw blog. ClickLaw is doing great things with regard to trying to help ordinary people solve legal problems. This nomination is not so much for the blog but rather all the great work they are doing at ClickLaw. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I used to teach for The People’s Law School, but I have a warm spot in my heart for organizations that are genuinely trying to help those who who don’t have the resources to hire a lawyer and who are looking for some information and education. ClickLaw is doing great things in helping people interact with the government, with courts and other tribunals, particularly teens, immigrants and aboriginal peoples. Good work always deserves recognition. Besides, I love the name “ClickLaw!”
These are three nominations from all of those who are out there spinning gold…
♫ You have stolen
You have stolen
You have stolen my heart…♫
Lyrics and music by: Chris Carrabba, recorded by: Dashboard Confessional.
There are many news stories about identities and personal information being compromised on the web, but in many cases there are not many ways to verify if your online identity has been breached. For example a friend of mine had several charges appear monthly on her iTunes account that were not hers – it seemed that someone has compromised the account and was charging small amounts every month…small enough that most times, it wouldn’t be noticed…
Fortunately there is Pwned List (pwnedlist.com), a free way to check if your user name or email address matches one that is on Pwned’s list of compromised accounts.
What is the story behind Pwned?
The site started out as small research project with a rather simple premise. To discover how many compromised accounts can be harvested programatically in just a couple of hours. Well, needless to say, the results were astonishing. In just under 2 hours we had close to 30,000 accounts, complete with logins and passwords. The truly scary part, however, was the quality of data we were able to collect in such a short amount of time. The accounts we were able to retrieve consisted of email services, social media sites, merchants and even financial institutions. It was clear that something had to be done. (more…)
♫ Together we’ll stand – Divided we’ll fall
Come on now people – Let’s get on the ball – And work together…♫
Music and Lyrics by: Wilbert Harrison, recorded by Canned Heat
Tipping Point
Ask a lawyer who does divorces about the work that he or she does for clients and they will most probably answer we practise family law. As lawyers, we all understand that and it creates a commonality among colleagues – we are family law lawyers or corporate lawyers or criminal lawyers… etc.
But ask that question of a person going through a divorce about who they want and you will get a different answer – we want someone who can get me out of this relationship, help me with custody of my kids and help create an equitable split of the marital property. With respect, this isn’t just about seeing what we do differently from our clients. This goes to the heart of the relationship – clients focus on results. What should we focus on as a lawyer? On creating value.
Why is this important? Today there are two symptoms that I think indicate that the legal world is not as healthy as we may otherwise think it is. One is the huge growth in the self-represented litigant. The second is the growth of websites and online services that come very, very close to the practice of law (such as legalzoom.com) or other self-help-with-divorce (or similar) sites. The growth of the self-represented litigant represents the fact that legal services cannot be marketed to an increasing slice of society. In other words, this group cannot see the value they would receive for the money they would otherwise spend on lawyers. Those using those self-help websites see value in the documents and advice that they receive from these web services. (more…)
♬ Ain’t no pill for this pain
So please, please come to my rescue baby
Make it right away…♬
Lyrics and Music by: Diane Warren, recorded by Uncle Kracker.
If you are like me, you are facing the prospect of aging parents…or in my case, an aging parent (my dad having passed on 5 years ago). If you happen to live in a different geographical area from your parent, you are facing the additional prospect of trying to help them from a distance with the various challenges that life throws their way. When it comes to helping them with their technology, the distance aspect can become a real barrier…trying to talk them through “click on this” and “do you see that..” while on a telephone call with them seated in front of their computer trying to solve the latest crises gives you a whole new respect for anyone who works in IT support.
How can you solve this problem? For me, LogMeIn has come to the rescue (https://secure.logmein.com/).
This application allows me to log into my mom’s computer from thousands of miles away – and see her desktop. I can install software, update the applications, create bookmarks, run utilities – do virtually anything from a distance that I could do sitting down in front of the computer.
Of course, lawyers and others have been using LogMeIn or GoToMyPC for years to connect to their office computer remotely in order to work from the road. This is the same idea but with a twist – since I am logging into someone else’s computer.
In terms of security – you have to log into the LogMeIn site first. Once connected to LogMeIn, you connect to the remote computer and then log into that computer using a user name and password. Double security.
You are looking at the desktop of the remote computer…you can move the mouse, click on applications etc.
One proviso – the remote computer has to be on and connected to the Internet to work. If you require a reboot of the remote computer (to install or update software, for example) then it is useful to have your parent at home to ensure that the computer restores its internet connection so you can log back in again and check if the updates etc. installed properly.
How much does all this cost, you say? In the case of LogMeIn – I am using the free version. So far it is able to do anything that I need of it to keep my mom’s computer (a Mac Mini) working just fine by using my MacBook.
Since there isn’t any pill for the pain of an incomprehensible computer, LogMeIn allows me to come to the rescue – right away!
♬ …I care for you… I’m there
… I’m there for you…I care… ♬
Lyrics, music and recorded by Wolfsheim.
Jay Fleischman in a blog post entitled: “Is the Virtual Law Firm Model Coming up Short?” opines that lawyers practising in a virtual practice are ‘missing an ingredient’. Mr. Fleischman continues:
Those who offer the virtual law firm are selling something most people don’t want. People want to be able to make a personal connection with other people, to build trust in a lawyer’s expertise. They don’t want to be met with a password-encrypted firewall and triple-redundant backup systems.
Mr. Fleischman and I agree on at least one point thou: it isn’t about the technology. Most certainly!
But with respect, we differ on where to take it from there. In Mr. Fleischman’s view:
You need to figure out how to connect with people who are not necessarily in front of you. In fact, you’ve got to determine when being face-to-face is best for the client.
Yes, but … that is only part of the picture. In my view, Mr. Fleischman fails to take his argument to its logical conclusion. Why would face-to-face be best for (some) clients? Not because “people want to make a personal connection” (per Mr. Fleischman) but because they have to know – trust – feel – that you care. (more…)
♬ Love Is In The Air
Love is in the air everywhere I look around
Love is in the air every sight and every sound …♬
Music and Lyrics by Harry Vanda, George Young , recorded by Tom Jones.
MacBook Air 2011
This is a guest post by my friend Sherry Katz, a recovering lawyer and now computer forensics consultant. I loved reading Sherry’s articles on technology when she was a lawyer/technologist and now I love her articles as a forensics consultant. Her advice on the new MacBook Air is posted here with her consent:
I have use of several laptops as I use them in my work (forensic analysis, ediscovery). Among them are an 11″ Macbook Air, a 13″ Macbook Air, and a 17″ Macbook Pro. I also regularly use a couple of Dell laptops and a few HP laptops.
The current generation of the Macbook Air is amazing. I work with technology every day, and the new Macbook Air is the best and most fun to use laptop I’ve ever had experience with. The lack of a network adapter is not a problem. I got a device for $15 that adds a network port and three USB ports through the USB. The use of screen real estate is ingenious, and the 11″ is as efficient and viewable as a 13″ PC.
Performance is stunning. Even with the i5 processer and only 4 MB of RAM, boot time is less than 10 seconds, and everything happens instantly. Programs open in a snap. The touchpad is great; the only usable touchpad I’ve found. (more…)
♬ My outlook on life is positive! ♬
Lyrics and Music by: Ray Cappo and John Porcelly, recorded by Youth of Today.
Outlook on the Mac
“I believe that Outlook for the Mac may be the most important app that Microsoft has ever created for the Mac environment.” – Gerry Purdy, MobileTrax
This is a guest post written by Gerry Purdy, PHD. I have been following Gerry’s posts on the state of wireless for some time now and always find them to be interesting and insightful. This particular post is published here with his permission.
“Over the past six months, Microsoft has (rather quietly) finally introduced their very popular Outlook email management system on the Mac platform. It allows Mac users to enjoy the same benefits as Windows users. However, there are a number of things that are important to enterprise IT, Apple and users beyond the obvious financial benefits to Microsoft.
If you owned a Windows PC and wanted to migrate to a Mac, the process could be very difficult or, if you were using Outlook, impossible. The reason has to do with Outlook’s internal file structure which uses ‘OST’ and ‘PST’ files.
Before Outlook became available on the Mac, there was no way to copy the files over to the Mac and use them with either Mac email or Entourage. Now, with the implementation of Outlook on the Mac, anyone can copy their Outlook email files from their Windows PC over to the Mac, load Office 2011 for the Mac and open the Outlook files on the Mac. I have tried it, and it worked flawlessly the first time. (more…)
♬ Change your thinking, Change your mind, Back to the future…♬
Music and Lyrics by D. Ross, B. Wray, J. Wray; recorded by Diana Ross.
Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future
When one thinks of mentoring, one tends to think of the sage, wise counsel passing along his or her accumulated wisdom to the younger generation. While there is considerable need for this to occur, it is not the only mentoring that can take place in a law firm. Matt Starcevich, PHD, in an article: “What is Unique about Reverse Mentoring, Survey Results” in www.coachingandmentoring.com quoted Alan Webber, the co-founder of Fast Company in describing reverse mentoring (“RM”):
It’s a situation where the old fogies in an organization realize that by the time you’re in your forties and fifties, you’re not in touch with the future the same way as the young twenty-something’s. They come with fresh eyes, open minds, and instant links to the technology of our future.
Jack Welch, when he was Chairman of GE, ordered his top 600 managers to reach down into their ranks for Internet junkies and become their students.
A RM relationship can benefit both parties – the one doing the mentoring as well as the person being mentored. The younger associate gets face time with a senior partner. The senior partner gets the opportunity to gain new skills and see the world through younger eyes. In the survey, Starcevich asked “Why enter into RM?,” 41 per cent selected, “To gain technical expertise” and 25 per cent selected, “To gain a younger perspective.” This supports the notion of capitalizing on the technical knowledge base and younger perspective of the mentor. (more…)
♬ Who would have guessed
That it’s as simple as it seems…♬
Lyrics and Music by: Katy Perry, Glen Ballard, and Arnold Matthiew, recorded by Katy Perry and Glen Ballard.
Email is the bane of most lawyers and law offices. It has become a real problem handling the volume of incoming emails. Fortunately there are three tools that can help tame the email beast provided that you are using Microsoft Outlook as your email client. These are “SimplyFile”, “EZDetach” and “Adobe Acrobat Standard” or “Adobe Acrobat Professional”
“SimplyFile” and “EZDetach”
SimplyFile
SimplyFile is undoubtedly the best tool I have found for helping with email. It is an Intelligent Filing Assistant for Microsoft Outlook. Once you install the plug-in for Outlook, SimplyFile “guesses” the folder that an email should go. One click later – and it is filed. It does the same for outgoing emails too – which ensures that all your emails – both incoming and outgoing – are in the correct client folder in Outlook. No more searching in “Sent” to try to find an email that you did on a client file.
This filing ability vastly speeds up handling the email avalanche! (more…)