Legal Technology

Hear ye, hear ye …

What if that’s not possible for your client in court or in your office? In court or in a government proceeding, if a litigant or participant is hearing impaired, that impairment can bring a hard stop to the proceedings until a certified sign language interpreter is obtained. If a potential client in your office is hearing impaired, you may be able to pass notes back and forth, but that may take considerable time and the process may lose valuable meaning. The Communication Axess Ability Group has a different answer.

CAAG is a leading provider of communication and interpreting services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It is now rolling out a “Video Remote Interpreting” service, or VRI, that uses real-time video conferencing to connect hearing-impaired individuals to sign language interpreters using high-speed Internet and a Web camera to help them speak and understand court or investigative proceedings or legal advice.

Once a contract is signed, CAAG sends a license to a court or law firm to download the software needed for VRI. After installation, the customer rings CAAG on demand, where an interpreter is available, anytime during the day or night. Certified Level 1 interpreters are on call 24/7 to respond to the VRI on their home or office computers.

The reduction in time and travel for an interpreter can be a cost savings to courts and law firms. CAAG estimates a 15 to 20 percent cost savings for their current customers over the long term.

The God Complex: A Necessary Evil

By Mark S. Britton
Special to the Legal Technology Blog

As a young associate I used to marvel at how the franchise partners in my firm seemed to be the most self-centered, egotistical beings on the planet. They would waltz into meetings having laid few hands on the deal and just start spewing orders. Low on experience and high on indecision, I would often think, “Who do you think you are -- God?”

And the answer was: Yes.

Every one of those partners, to some extent, harbored a “God Complex” -- a non-medical term used to describe someone who is egotistical, unwaveringly confident, over-competitive, unyielding and often condescending. What a horrible disorder, and what horrible people -- right? Well, while everything in life is a matter of degree, I now believe this is wrong. Their God Complex was an evil -- maybe even a defense mechanism -- necessary to get the job done.

The light went off for me a couple of years ago when I was having a drink with a doctor friend who manages a group of surgeons for one of the big Seattle hospitals. We were talking about how I have begun to prefer women doctors because they communicate so much better and seem to have much less ego. In response, my friend offered that (1) the ego is still there in my female doctors, just presented differently, and (2) ego is a critical part of being a doctor who deals with life and death situations on a regular basis. With regard to surgeons in particular, his belief was that a surgeon must have at least a touch of the God Complex in order to confidently execute in the most critical situations. Those that lose this confidence become, in industry parlance, a "compromised" surgeon and are put out to pasture very quickly.

My friend's observation made me realize that, for the most part, the same goes for lawyers. Granted, they are not dealing with a bleeding patient on the operating table; but they often have to make critical decisions that can affect their client's life for years to come. Whether you are trying to keep your client out of jail, or protect your client's assets in bankruptcy or trying to close a multi-million dollar deal, you will encounter many legal decisions that are far from black and white. This is what made law school so fun and being an associate so stressful. But being able to confidently make these decisions is also what divides the men from the boys, women from the girls, and the law firm leaders from the "permassociates."

It's what makes a great leader.

And, without this leader, failure is imminent, even if not immediately discoverable. Especially in the heat of battle, clients don't need to hear that "it depends"; they need to hear what you would do if you were in their shoes. That is why the best lawyers step up to the plate and just start swinging. They treat the client's situation as if it was their own and, with just enough life and professional experience and a whole lot of godlike confidence, they point forward.

So, before sticking another pin in the doll of your egotistical, unyielding team leader, you might ask yourself where your team would be if he or she did not make the tough calls. If the answer frightens you, then maybe a little bit of the God Complex is just what the doctor ordered.

Mark Britton is the Founder and CEO of Avvo. He is a 17-year lawyer with deep experience in the legal and e-commerce industries. Mark is the former general counsel of Expedia.com and has worked as an attorney in large, medium and small law firms. In 2007, Mark was named one of Seattle's "Top 25 Innovators" by Seattle Business Magazine. He is also a frequent commentator on financial, legal and other business issues, regularly appearing on programs such as ABC's "Good Morning America," Fox Business' "America's Nightly Scoreboard," CNN "Money" and Dow Jones "MarketWatch."

‘Just the facts’

I have seen quite a few legal Web sites now, but I haven’t been all that impressed to write about them. Then I came across Quinn Emanuel’s site. Although I’m still not that impressed with the technology, I do like how they put some facts up front to advertise their differentiators in a very poignant and concise manner.

The die-hard files

There are some technologies that just refuse to die, no matter that newer technologies can replace their function – but not their format. For example, floppy drives. Something you may still need if your loading Windows 2003 Server onto a new server with a host bus adapter that is younger than the OS install base. If you move to Windows 2008, you can simply toss the floppy drive because the 2008 installer can load drivers from the USB drive.

Another one: tape drives. With disk-to-disk backup, who wants to muck around with tape and its grandfather schedules? Well, there’s still quite a few people -- me included. So if you’re thinking of tossing the tape drive, put it in a mailer to me c/o 10 U.N. Plaza, Floor 3,  San Francisco, CA 94102.

And if your tape drive is down for the count, and you’re thinking of disk backup, don’t give up the drive too soon. There are tape drive repair specialists like CPU Inc. that will put it back together for you. Because when it comes to disaster recovery, nothing beats the tape format.

Fax is another die-hard technology. It also refuses to die, but fax deserves its own post. Because lawyers have an intimacy with their fax machines that continues despite all the good-looking alternatives like MyFax.

Here we go again

We are getting close to another event where original manufacturers (read: vendors) show off their new stuff and polish their old stuff. The International Legal Technology Association meets in Washington, D.C., from August 23-27, 2009.

Although I will not be attending the show this year, I will make an attempt to distill news of interest right here and on the EDD Update blog. Even as I speak, updates are starting to roll in. For example, Workshare, the makers of Delta View and collaborative editing tools for lawyers, announced an improved integration point with NetDocuments. Note that Workshare already has built-in integration with Interwoven and Microsoft SharePoint.

Now users can select an original document from NetDocuments online DMS and compare it to one or more modified documents utilizing Workshare’s document comparison engine (formerly, DeltaView). Modified documents can then be saved directly back into NetDocuments. You can even compare an e-mail attachment in Outlook with a document in NetDocuments’ store.

Previous to this bit of information, both Workshare Protect and Pro received new enhancements and revisions.

What to Expect at ILTA 2009

By Ari Kaplan

Special to the Legal Technology Blog

I spoke with Joy Heath Rush, the Enterprise Multimedia Manager at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago and the President of the seven-member board of directors for the International Legal Technology Association about the upcoming ILTA annual conference, which she described as "the number one venue for peer networking for people who are professionals in legal technology and unmatched educational sessions."

Among other interesting initiatives, there will be ILTA TV and additional early morning super sessions ("extra keynote sessions"), including one by Richard Susskind, author of The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services (Oxford University Press, 2009), on Wednesday at 8am.  Rush recommends the first-time attendee orientation Sunday night at 6pm and using the organization's online itinerary planner to coordinate your conference schedule.

She noted that the economy will impact attendance and that a number of programs will focus on how to achieve more with less.  There will also be distance learning opportunities and one of the vendors is offering a way for those who cannot attend to share the experience in its "Not at ILTA" campaign.

In addition to technology, a variety of professional development programs are designed to help attendees think about "the other things that make us feel positive and successful at work."

Listen to our interview

Ari L. Kaplan, Esq.
Ari Kaplan Advisors
(646) 641-0600

Follow Me on Twitter and Join My LinkedIn Group

Legal technology writer and author of the Amazon.com bestseller,The Opportunity Maker:  Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development(Thomson-West, 2008).

The Bright Side of the Legal Employment Market

By Ari Kaplan

Special to the Legal Technology Blog

I spoke with Jane Allen, president and founder of Counsel on Call, a provider of flexible legal solutions for lawyers.  She noted that success in the current environment is more about securing the best value for the money being spent, rather than simply cutting an organization's spending.  In that regard, law firm partners are being strategic and are trying to make good business decisions to weather the down market.  Law firms and clients are also trying to determine whether a new model of practicing law is emerging.

She noted "on the bright side" that while the legal employment market has tightened, there are more opportunities for lawyers than ever before to do things outside of the traditional practice.

Listen to our interview .

Ari L. Kaplan, Esq.
Ari Kaplan Advisors
(646) 641-0600

Follow Me on Twitter and Join My LinkedIn Group

Legal technology writer and author of the Amazon.com bestseller,The Opportunity Maker:  Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development(Thomson-West, 2008).

The ROI of Time Capture and Related Trends in Legal Tech

By Ari Kaplan
Special to the Legal Technology Blog

I spoke with Brett Owens, CEO and co-founder of Chrometa, a company that makes time capture software for solo practitioners and small law firms, about its 2.0 release.  The product records and organizes time spent by application, e-mail, Internet activity, and document.  It also allows users to view their totals by day, week, month or a customized range.

Brett and I discussed the innovation trends in the legal community and the impact of Web 2.0 tools on recent advancements in legal technology.

Listen to our interview .

Ari L. Kaplan, Esq.
Ari Kaplan Advisors
(646) 641-0600

Follow Me on Twitter and Join My LinkedIn Group

Legal technology writer and author of the Amazon.com bestseller,The Opportunity Maker:  Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development(Thomson-West, 2008).

Avvocating: 'What Is Strategy'

By Conrad Saam
Special to the Legal Technology Blog

"What is Strategy," by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, is at the beginning of the curriculum of almost every MBA "Strategy 101" class. I reread my copy while cleaning out my garage this weekend. The foundational business principles Porter discusses are almost universally overlooked by law firms. As a result, many lawyers find themselves struggling with the business of law. Most focus on operational effectiveness (i.e., improving the efficiency of their work) as the source of law firm success. Porter would argue this is a misguided strategy and instead, the business of law should focus on differentiation.

Businesses (even law firms) frequently focus on improving the way business is done -- either streamlining efficiency to maximize output or adding exceptional value to deliver extremely high quality. In the furniture industry, consider the spectrum between low cost, mass-produced Ikea brand and custom, one-off, artisan-crafted furniture. To survive, every furniture maker must have the appropriate mix of cost-effectiveness and quality, so there is room along that spectrum for Crate & Barrel and Ethan Allen to co-exist.

Porter dismisses efficiency as the end all for corporate success. "Few companies have competed successfully on the basis of operational effectiveness over an extended period, and staying ahead of rivals gets harder every day." Competing solely on operational effectiveness becomes very difficult -- constantly pushing to deliver an appropriate spectrum of efficiency and value-add. Instead, Porter counsels businesses to focus on unique activities that provide a differentiated positioning. "The essence of strategy is choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do." He outlines three platforms on which business can create a long term positioning:

1. Variety Based Positioning -- defined as producing a subset of an industry’s products or services. This is the common way in which attorneys differentiate -- by practice area: divorce, Immigration, etc. Indeed, the general practitioner has becoming increasingly rare as attorneys become increasingly specialized.

2. Access Based Positioning -- a function of anything that requires a different set of activities to reach customers in the best way. This can be a factor of geography or scale. Due to the localized nature of law; most attorneys have naturally embraced this level of positioning (obvious outliers would be nationwide tax attorneys like Roni Deutsch, or firms that focus on international law.)

3. Needs Based Positioning -- defined as serving most or all of the needs of a particular set of customers. It arises when there are groups of customers with differing needs and when a tailored set of activities can serve those needs best. Most large corporate focused firms try to occupy this position -- delivering a skill set so vast they serve as the single solution for all of their clients’ needs.

Most law firms combine variety and access based positioning -- Seattle DUI Lawyers, Texas Personal Injury Lawyers, Rochester Business Lawyers. In doing so, they set the lines in the sand and fight competitive turf wars with similar local competitors. Few firms have had the creativity to think outside the box and embrace Porter’s Needs Based Positioning -- serving a unique set of customers in a unique manner.

One attorney who intuitively understood needs based positioning is Jeff Feulner, who established the Men’s Divorce Law Firm to provide a specialized focus on the needs of husbands and fathers. He provides a comprehensive list of services dedicated entirely to men going through divorce, including the obvious ones like custody, paternity and child support, but also the less intuitive ones, like business valuation and relocation. Jeff is an example of a firm who understands the needs of a specific subset of customers. Interestingly, those firms who can master needs based positioning will often build stronger and deeper connections with their clients.

Instead of struggling to maximize the efficiency of your firm, consider focusing on a shift in your positioning. For the traditional law firm, moving towards a needs based positioning is a huge strategic mindshift. To explore the potential, try the following exercise:

1. Segment all of your customers into groups. Now select just one group you would chose to serve if you had to. Repeat this exercise two more times using different segmentation criteria.

2. Look at the groups you selected and map the entirety of their legal needs. What services would you have to add to meet those needs?

For most law firms, needs based positioning entails contracting the market that you serve and expanding the services that you offer. The result just might be more business with deeper, entrenched relationships.

Conrad Saam is the senior marketing manager at Avvo. Prior to Avvo, Mr. Saam's experience includes numerous awarding-winning interactive projects for clients including Disney, Nickelodeon, Lego, MTV, Ford, Macromedia, Microsoft, Kraft Foods, AOL, McDonalds, Mattel and Napster. He is a sought after speaker on interactive marketing and has been featured in publications including USA Today and The New York Times.

TechRadium vs. Twitter

It sounds like a high-tech “Goliath” going after “David.” At base, it’s all about TechRadium’s assertion of patents on a method of emergency communication for which Twitter is allegedly infringing.

Before I go too far, if anyone really believes Twitter’s infrastructure, for one minute, can handle an emergency of any proportion, please honk. The amount of times I get the signal that Twitter is too full of Tweets, and to try back later, is too many for me to take the system with any more seriousness than as an alert tool to see what my sisters are doing while I have my morning coffee. OK. On with the post.

I received a letter from a reader in response to Carolyn Elefant’s post on the topic. The reader wanted to let me know that there is an online community, Article One Partners, searching for evidence on TechRadium’s patents in question.

The AOP community previously uncovered prior art on high-level patent litigation such as Merck's Singulair drug (which resulted in a patent re-exam by the USPTO) and Worlds.com and AstraZeneca's Crestor drug.

Of course, there’s the show-me-the-money aspect of uncovering prior art, but there’s also the spirit of innovation and invention that should not be downtrodden. For more information.