Nicole Black, BridgeTower Media Newswires
These days, technology is unavoidable. Even lawyers can't escape it and now regularly use technology as part of their day-to-day practices. For example, according to the 2017 American Bar Association's Legal Technology Survey Report (Report), 94% of lawyers now use smartphones for law-related purposes.
Cloud computing has made its mark, too, with more lawyers using it in 2018 than ever before. In fact, according the Report, the number of lawyers incorporating cloud computing software into their law practices increased by 14% over the past year. The survey results showed that after remaining stagnant at ~30% from 2013-15, and then increasing to 38% in 2016, there was a large increase in 2017, and that percentage jumped to 52%.
Of course, although the use of technology in law firms is increasing at a rapid clip, that doesn't mean all lawyers should be using technology. Instead, it's up to each lawyer to determine if and when to implement technology tools into their practice. But in order to do that, you need to fully understand the technologies available to you. Otherwise you won't be able to make educated decisions about technology.
Because of the rapid pace of technological change, the thought of learning about emerging technologies often seems overwhelming to lawyers, leading some lawyers to choose to ignore technology altogether. Rest assured, that's a mistake, especially now that 31 states require lawyers to maintain technology competence as part of their ethical obligations, of which New York is one.
Since ignoring technology isn't an option, here are some resources to help you learn about the latest legal technology options so that you can make educated choices about implementing technology into your law firm.
First, there's a great book focused on helping solo and small firm lawyers to make wise decisions about technology tools for their law office, "The 2018 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide," which is published by the American Bar Association. This book is written by legal technology experts and is full of the information solo and small-firm lawyers need in order to make knowledgeable, informed decisions about law office technology. The authors - Attorney Sharon Nelson, Certified Information Systems Security Professional John Simek, and Digital Forensics Examiner Michael Maschke - cover a vast range of hardware and software tools, provide a wealth of information and tips on choosing the right technology for your firm, and offer their perspective on the impact of emerging technologies on the practice of law.
Blogs are another great resource for lawyers seeking to learn about legal technology. However, there are a lot of blogs out there, so choosing which ones to follow isn't always easy. To get you started, here are some of my favorite legal technology blogs.
First, there are the legal technology columns at Above the Law (online: https://abovethe law.com/technology/). These columns are written by a number of different legal technology bloggers here (myself included), and are always informative and cover a variety of legal technology issues.
Next, a blog that has been around since 2002: Bob Ambrogi's LawSites (online: https:// www.lawsitesblog.com/), which provides news about the legal tech industry and lots of great advice for lawyers seeking to learn more about using technology in their practices.
Other popular legal technology blogs to consider include: 1) Future Lawyer (online: http:// futurelawyer.typepad.com/), written by the always-knowledgable Florida litigator Rick Georges; 2) Technologist (online: http://blogs.findlaw.com/technologist/2017/09/), a group blog; 3) Divorce Discourse (online: https:// roseninstitute.com/articles/), where attorney Lee Rosen shares technology and law practice management advice; 4) Law Practice Tips (online: http://jimcalloway. typepad.com/), a blog chock full of wisdom from Jim Calloway, an attorney and the director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program; 5) iPhone JD (online: http://www.iphonejd.com/), where attorney Jeff Richardson covers all things Apple-related, including iPhones and iPads; 6) Ride the Lightning (online: ridethelightning.senseient.com/), which covers a variety of interesting legal technology issues and is authored by lawyer Sharon Nelson, who offers her opinion on the effect of legal technology on the practice of law; and 7) the MyCase blog (online: https:// www.mycase.com/blog/), where I regularly write about a host of legal tech issues.
So now that you know where to turn to learn all about legal technology, what are you waiting for? Start reading some of these resources today, and you'll be well on your way to the technology competence needed to make the right legal technology choices for your law firm.
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Nicole Black is a director at MyCase.com, a cloud-based law practice management platform. She is also of counsel to Fiandach & Fiandach in Rochester and is a GigaOM Pro analyst. She publishes three legal blogs and can be reached at niki@ mycase.com.
Published: Fri, Mar 30, 2018
