TechnoLawyer

Coming December 13, 2005 to TechnoFeature: Did you ever think that once indispensable tools like the typewriter would become obsolete? A growing portion of our personal and professional lives have become electronic and automated, but at what price? In this article, Judge Nancy Gertner of the United States District Court of Massachusetts addresses the effects of technology in the courtroom — her courtroom. Don't miss this inside look at the advantages and disadvantages of today's courtroom technology from the most important person in every courtroom — the judge. High tech courtrooms — efficient or excessive? You decide.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Recently, we've published a number of hands-on reviews of Stamps.com in Answers to Questions. TechnoLawyer member Grace Lidia Suarez adds her two cents: "I am a home-office-based appellate lawyer. Before Stamps.com, I wasted time adding up stamps, and then had to take the packages to the post office when they weighed more than 16 ounces. Now I print out exactly the postage I need, and I can drop the packages into the nearest mailbox or hand them to my carrier. I love it!"

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Earlier this year in Answers to Questions, we published Gerard Stubbert's Post Using PaperPort as a Discovery Tool. In response to that Post, TechnoLawyer member Arthur von Kursell writes: "Gerard, I enjoyed reading your Post on PaperPort. Currently I am involved in a corporate matter involving tens of thousands of documents and am in the planning stages on how to manage them. Your Post was both timely and informative. I appreciate the insight."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

In our continuing coverage of courts that prevent lawyers from carrying their cell phones, TechnoLawyer member Darren Cantor writes: "Colorado's Federal District Court has a local rule barring anything that can take a photograph. Thus, almost all newer generation cell phones, carried by attorney or otherwise, are barred. I have approached the Court Clerk, and "they are working" on some fix for this, but for now, those of us with multi-function devices (phone/PDA) do without. I just tell judges that I cannot set anything as the Marshall seized my calendar upon entry to the building. Maybe eventually one will figure out that this seizure is silly and we ought to join at least the 20th century, if not the 21st!"

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming December 6, 2005 to TechnoFeature: It's easy to get wrapped up in all that technology has to offer — the difficulty lies in exercising restraint and making informed, calculated decisions. In this article, management consultant and lawyer coach Ed Poll discusses some of the most common technology traps and how to avoid them — especially when time and money is at stake.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming December 6, 2005 to IP Memes: You'll learn about an interesting new relationship forged between the MPAA and a peer-to-peer file sharing enterprise, why you may need to check your computer if you've played any Sony-distributed CDs lately, why using Wikipedia, the ever-evolving free online encyclopedia, may become part of your prior art arsenal, and how our very real intellectual property laws may come into play in the very unreal world of video games.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Mondays, IP Memes is a biweekly newsletter that explores emerging technology-related intellectual property issues — or "memes" as we call them. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming December 9, 2005 to Fat Friday: Lawrence Brownlee discusses the potential risks involved with implementing universal wireless networks, Tom Rowe explains why legal vendors don't sell Mac OS versions of their software (but notes one that does), Christian Connell explains why Treo-craving lawyers should steer clear of Cingular, Michael Schley discusses how he achieved a paperless law firm (now if he could just find a good desktop search tool), and Diane Hopkins discusses the advantages of document management software like WORLDOX over traditional file naming systems. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming December 12, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Nancy Cassaro reviews her firm's recent switch from Elite to a new accounting/time-billing solution, Ivan Frockt reviews his Avaratec 1000 Series laptop plus suggests some helpful tips to prevent buyer's remorse, Bobby Abrams reviews two utilities for tweaking your Windows preferences, Arthur Smith reviews Hubbard One, his firm's extranet provider, and Grace Lidia Suarez explains why she still partitions her hard drive (and our publisher explains how partitioning can protect against spyware). Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming December 2, 2005 to Fat Friday: Ross Kodner sets the record straight on his controversial comments about some (not most) legal bloggers, Gediminas Bukauskas discusses the main problem with implementing Linux in the law office, Marcus Haywood reviews X1 Desktop Search, William Shilling reviews a legal software product for the Mac (plus what he does to get legal vendors to recognize Mac-heads) as well as providing a review of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, and John Gordon explains why Mac users have enjoyed a false sense of security all these years. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In our TechnoGuide newsletter, TechnoLawyer member Christopher Simmons recently asked: "Word and DeltaView can generate redline comparisons of Word documents. Is there a way to generate a redline comparison of PDF documents that have been OCR'd?" TechnoLawyer member Barry Ansbacher responds: "This feature is built into Acrobat 7, or at least the professional version. It does only a fair job of comparison; however, Adobe seems to be pretty good about constantly improving its products and features."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.