We really enjoyed recording our recent Digital Edge podcast- Teaching the Technology of Law Practice to Law Students.

Our guest was Darin Fox, an associate dean at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.  He oversees the law library, information technology, and the school’s law practice technology training program, called the Digital Initiative Project. Not only is the University of Oklahoma College of Law my alma mater, but the Digital Initiative Project is a great concept for the training of future lawyers. Every incoming law student gets an iPad, with accompanying training and legal-specific software apps. They offer many tech training classes and have a certificate they offer to graduates as well. But listen to the podcast and you can learn of all of the interesting concepts OU is using for lawyer training. (And let me add, as we approach the fall football season, BOOMER SOONER!)

Darin Fox Digital Edge

 

 

 

 

 

Three University of Oklahoma College of Law faculty members attended this year's ABA TECHSHOW, participating in TECHSHOW's academic track. Planning is underway for the next ABA TECHSHOW now and there will be an academic track for law school faculty again next year. So if you haven't yet gotten it on your calendar, now is the time. ABA TECHSHOW 2018 will be held March 7-10, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Whether you are a law school faculty member or a practicing lawyer, there's no better place to learn about the latest advances in law office technology, get advanced training on the tools you use and meet some really great people than TECHSHOW.

And, yes, unless you are a recent law school graduate, things are changing in law school instruction just like they are in all aspects of our profession.

I often have lawyers tell me that they know they should be doing social media marketing or maybe blogging, but they really don’t know how or what they talk about and how to target it to impact their practice. And no one believes that they have the time.

I’ve known Nancy Myrland for a fairly long time, although not extremely well.  We occasionally have visited at conferences, but she’s a law firm marketing expert and generally goes to different conferences than I do. But let repeat. She’s an expert. I’m fairly certain when we first met in person we both already felt we knew each other because of reading each other’s online articles and social media posts. That’s how social media marketing should work.

Today she published Lawyers, Can You Grow Your Practice By Publishing Content? You should read it. You should also feel free to click on the link Myrland worksheet to download her simple worksheet for content creation. You’ll have to give her your email address and she may reach out to you again in the future. That’s how the world works.

Nancy doesn’t know I’m going to do this blog post. But her worksheet is a nice way to collect your thoughts for your law firm marketing and so I am sharing it with you. Again, that is how social media marketing works.

Kevin O’Keefe, CEO of LexBlog, writes frequently on his Real Lawyers Have Blogs blog about developing connections and relationships through social media. That is his business, but also his passion.  If you haven’t visited his blog, today is a good day for reading his content.

Marketing by content sharing involves sharing your expertise with others without counting an immediate and direct return from any particular content. But the content you share should be thoughtfully targeted to highlight the services you provide to an interested audience. But share great content regularly and something good will happen in return.

Post by Darla Jackson, OBA Practice Management Advisor

Darla JacksonAlgorithms greatly affect the results produced by legal research tools. While legal information professionals have understood this for some time, only recently has an independent study documented the variance in legal research results produced by the unique algorithms employed by different research platforms.  A report of the study, conducted by Susan Nevelow Mart, The Algorithm as a Human Artifact: Implications for Legal {Re}Search is available on SSRN.

Despite the influence that algorithms have on legal research, most legal research tools have released minimal information about their proprietarily developed algorithms, which has been called a lack of “Algorithmic Accountability.” Understanding the Technical Bias of Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Fastcase, Google Scholar, and Casetext, Three Geeks and A Law Blog (12/12/16). 

Not only have legal researchers had limited information about the algorithms used by these “black box” systems, the researchers have not been able to customize algorithms to contextualize their research. Fastcase 7 now allows users to perform a customization of the relevance algorithm.

On the Advanced Search display in Fastcase 7, if you check the option to “Customize Relevance Algorithm” the customization tool allows you can customize the relevance algorithm by adjusting the sliders for seven relevance factors.  These factors are the Search Relevance Score (this scores each document based on the numerosity, proximity, diversity, and density of your keywords); Large Document Relevance (This shows the relevance for larger documents); Small Document Relevance (this shows the relevance for very short documents, such as appeals that simply affirm the lower court); Authoritativeness (this scores judicial opinions by how many times they have been cited); Frequently Read (This machine learning tool prioritizes documents frequently read in the Fastcase service); Frequently Printed (this machine learning tool prioritizes documents frequently printed in Fastcase); and Frequently E-mailed (this machine learning tool prioritizes documents frequently e-mailed in Fastcase).

I must admit that in my brief non-scientific trial of adjusting the relevance algorithm, I did not observe any significant variation in the search results produced. However, I hope to engage with Fastcase to discuss the weighting and application of the customizable factors.  For now, some transparency and customization does help me at least feel somewhat more in control.

Fastcase algorithm

Our citizens all deserve equal access to justice. Those with financial means can afford the best representation. There are many who can afford to pay something for a lawyer’s help but cannot afford full representation. Next Friday, August 18, OBA Practice Management Advisor Darla Jackson and I teach a three-hour program on Delivering Limited Scope Services Effectively and Safely. (Some refer to the service model as unbundled legal services.)

What are limited scope services? This term refers to a lawyer agreeing with an appropriate client to provide less than full-service representation under existing Rule 1.2(c) of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct. In June 2017, the Oklahoma Supreme Court added a new rule, Rule 33, to the Rules for District Courts of Oklahoma. The rule provides that lawyers who prepare pleadings or other documents to be presented to or filed with the court must disclose their participation on the document, but may do so without entering appearance in the underlying matter.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details. While this rule change now provides an opportunity to help those who cannot afford full-service legal representation, this is intended to provide a viable and profitable business model for lawyers to use to help people. However, attorneys who deliver these services need to appreciate the ethical duties they must satisfy. Additionally, attorneys must recognize that some clients seeking limited scope representation may later have a complaint about the scope of the services provided.

This program will provide practical guidance and suggested sample forms relating to delivering limited scope services. It is offered for three hours of continuing legal education credit including one hour of ethics.

I attended Heidi Alexander's presentation on Evernote for Lawyers at ABA TECHSHOW 2017 and thought at the time that she should be a guest on our Digital Edge podcast to talk about Evernote. As it turned out we were able to arrange that fairly quickly. Sharon Nelson and I are pleased to allow Heidi an opportunity to further showcase her expertise in our podcast Evernote for Lawyers- Manage Your Research, Marketing, and Process where she discusses basic features for the beginner and tips for the advanced users.

Earlier this year, the American Bar Association published Heidi's book Evernote as a Law Practice Tool.  Heidi Alexander Evernote Book Cover Read some excerpts from the book here. There is even a ebook edition.

I think Evernote and its now-free competition Microsoft OneNote meet a basic need for lawyers more as a free form digital notebook than as a note-taking app. I love the ability to capture web pages so I can easily find and read them later. But both of these have powerful note-taking features. Personally I like the theory of using both Evernote and OneNote, one for personal matters and the other for business.

Alexander-HeidiBut that approach means that you may not become a power user of either program. So I'd encourage you to read all of the linked resources above and see if Evernote is the tool you can use or if your basic use can be upgraded to power user.

But first, enjoy the podcast.

A feature in the New York Times this weekend, The Lawyer, the Addict, is a compelling read, made so in large part by the writer’s viewpoint from outside of the profession.

Those of us in the profession have repeatedly heard the statistics on lawyer depression, addiction and suicide. In every one of those areas our profession ranks worse than most all others. Many of us have lost colleagues to depression and suicide. Lawyers have offices where others bring in their stress, their problems, difficult situations, threats they are concerned about and other such matters. Lawyers are there for every death sentence passed in a criminal trial, but we are also there for corporate “death threats” as well. We even have a name for it- the “bet the company case.”

But I think this story of Peter, dying from the impact of his drug addiction while still maintaining appearances as a partner in a high-powered law firm, breaks some of our assumptions about what addicted lawyer behavior looks like. His last call from his death bed was to call in to a scheduled conference call.

I have no great wisdom to share on this critical topic today. But it bears repeating to say, if you are in trouble, reach out for help. Many bar associations provide crisis counseling to members now. The Oklahoma Bar Association provides 24 hour free crisis counseling to its members, who can call 800-364-7886 any time day or night. There are other community resources for many situations. Ask for help if you need it.

Today’s law practice tip was inspired by Norman, Oklahoma master police officer Paul Evans and his observations from an article in The Norman Transcript. Home fire

Some may not consider this a law office management tip, but if you’ve ever helped a client who has lost their home to a fire or natural disaster gathering documentation for an insurance claim or has been a victim of theft, then you know better. At a minimum this is a great tip for a client newsletter or law firm web page.

If you lost your home to a fire (or Oklahoma tornado), how complete and organized is your documentation of the personal property contained in your home? If you have carefully documented every purchase and maintained records on these purchases in a fire resistant safe or file cabinet (or secure online storage site), you can stop reading now. For the rest of us, here are a few simple and easy ideas.

One evening soon at home, go through your entire house videoing everything with your smart phone or digital camera. Open every closet and every drawer. Don’t worry about clutter. This is an inventory, not a spread for a home design magazine. After you have completed your “home movie,” store it online in a secure location and/or give copies on flash drives to trusted friends or relatives for safekeeping. If there is a disaster, this video inventory may not be as complete as if you had kept all purchase receipts and other records, but it will serve as a great reminder of things you might have otherwise forgotten and proof you did possess them.

Then every time you make a new substantial purchase, take a moment to take a picture of the item, a picture of the item's serial number and the sales receipt. Then email these to yourself. A web-based email account with massive storage is suggested. Over the years you will accumulate a comprehensive household inventory just by taking a few pictures and sending a few emails. If something is stolen, you have easy-to-access documentation for law enforcement as well.

Access to justice availability is a significant problem today. At least that’s the belief of every organization that has studied the issue. The fact that this problem appears to be growing is a challenge for society. The legal profession has long embraced volunteerism and pro bono services. Almost every lawyer either supports legal aid or undertakes representation of individuals who cannot afford legal services under ethics rule 6.1. While those in other professions are sometimes very charitable, there’s no similar tradition that doctors or CPAs should donate their services to those who cannot afford them. (Although doctors who do a lot of work for Medicaid patients may dispute that comment.)

Then there are those who can pay an attorney’s fee, but not a “full service” fee. Here’s an interesting idea. How about a non-for-profit law firm? The first response to that might be that this has been done before, but not intentionally. But the idea of a firm where Happy clientno one makes partner and every lawyer earns a salary is intriguing, especially if the firm can enjoy tax benefits from serving the under-served.

Shantelle Argyle is an attorney and the co-founder and executive director of Open Legal Services, a nonprofit modest means law firm in Utah. She is the guest on the Digital Edge podcast for the episode Low Bono Legal Services: Working to Provide Access to Justice. We also discuss what’s different about today’s legal services consumers and how these differences affect access to justice concerns.

There is another development in Oklahoma related to access to justice. One way to lower the costs of legal services is for lawyers to assist those who want help in a limited way. One common example is that of a lawyer who prepares all of the court documents for a simple uncontested marital dissolution and had the client and opposing party execute all of the documents in the lawyer’s office. By providing the client with a good set of instructions on what to do at the courthouse to appear before the judge pro se, the lawyer can avoid the scheduling and time spent on the court appearance and charge the client substantially less.

While Oklahoma Rule of Professional Conduct 1.2(c) has for a long time allowed the lawyer to provide limited scope services, this authority was not used widely because of long-standing questions about so-called “ghostwriting.” Some attorneys and judges see lawyers preparing pleadings for self-represented litigants as a useful idea to lower the costs of some routine legal services. Others were concerned about a lawyer drafting a pleading without disclosing their participation. So a primary issue was disclosure of lawyer assistance.

This month the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued a new District Court rule, Rule 33, based on recommendations from the Oklahoma Bar Access to Justice Committee and the OBA Board of Governors. Rule 33 states:

Rule 33. Limited Scope Representation

A lawyer providing limited scope representation under Rule 1.2 (c) of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct may draft pleadings or other documents for a pro se litigant to file with or present to a district court without the lawyer entering an appearance in the matter. A lawyer shall disclose such assistance by indicating their name, address, bar number, telephone number, other contact information and, optionally, a signature on said pleading or other document with the phrase “No appearance is entered as counsel of record.”

So lawyers in Oklahoma have clear guidance. A lawyer can assist someone by advising them about their litigation, as lawyers have always been able to do. But if the lawyer prepares any document to be filed with or presented to a court, they should disclose their participation in writing to the court as indicated.

Some will criticize Oklahoma for going too far and others will criticize Oklahoma for not going far enough. But whether it is an uncontested marital dissolution, preparing exhibits and outlining the process for a small claims proceeding or helping someone prepare for a child support and administrative hearing, limited scope representation will provide another, less expensive avenue for people to obtain high-quality access to the justice that they need in some circumstances.

 

The danger of ransomware as a threat to your law practice has increased exponentially the past few weeks. You’ve heard about viruses and malware for years and, for those who have never had a data loss, it is easy to become complacent.

Recent events demonstrate how weaponized ransomware has created such a dangerous threat that responsible and cautious lawyers must act to protect both their business operations and their clients.

The WannaCry outbreak subsided when a researcher somewhat accidentally created a so-called kill switch. The Petya aka GoldenEye outbreak this week looked like ransomware, but researchers now believe it was not actually ransomware. Rather it seems to be designed to do as much damage as possible, particularly to the Ukrainian government. An email address used to facilitate ransom payments was quickly shut down by authorities, so any files encrypted or wiped by this will be lost forever in any event. Prominent global law firm DLA Piper has been offline since Tuesday. See Fortune, Law Firm DLA Piper Reels Under Cyber Attack, Fate of Files Unclear. Imagine your clients reading that headline while your phones are going unanswered.

Take precautions now.

  1. Warn and train your staff. Today’s message is “Think before you click.” The most common attack vector for malware is someone clicking on an email attachment or a link in an email. This is important communication to staff. If you must visit an unfamiliar website, it may make sense to use your smart phone for that purpose rather than your office computers.WannaCry Attack
  2. Update the operating system on all Windows machines (Microsoft security update website.)
  3. Make certain your anti-virus and firewall are updated and your subscription payment is current.
  4. Create an image Backup of every computer and store it on media unconnected to the machine. (Flash drive or DVD) Label appropriately. Repeat monthly. See How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7, 8, or 10 from How-to Geek.
  5. Back up your data either continuously or daily. An online backup service is recommended. If you back up to another hard drive, it must be disconnected from your system when not in use or the backup could be encrypted or wiped too.
  6. Do not fear the cloud. Some lawyers have been reluctant to use the cloud for some data, but the evidence is pretty clear at this point that the cloud solutions have survived these threats even while their subscriber’s local networks were being encrypted. They have experts and engineers working full-time on this. You don’t.

See also my column from the May 2017 Oklahoma Bar Journal, Cyber-Attacks: Is It Really Not If You Will Be Attacked, But When?  Personally I am now very concerned about what comes next. You should be, too. Take action.

Our podcast Is Law Really A Buyer’s Market? And If So, Now What? is quite exceptional if I do say so myself. Of course exceptional is much easier to accomplish when your podcast guest is an esteemed expert like Jordan Furlong discussing an important topic that is near and near to his heart. Law is a buyers market

And it certainly adds to his enthusiasm when he has just released a new book about the legal marketplace.

For those of you who prefer to read rather than listen, the fine folks at Legal Talk Network have provided a transcript of this podcast.

The legal marketplace is certainly changing and the term "buyer's market" is very accurate. As Jordan says, "the short answer is that it means that the balance of power between lawyers and clients in the legal market has shifted and it has shifted in favor of clients, and it couldn’t shift any further towards lawyers … because we have always been the ones who are in control of the market."

This impacts lawyers who serve all types of clients. Corporate America is more careful with its legal spend and consumers can explore other alternatives as well. Furlong discusses how many law firms should examine their basic business model and structure to prepare for the changes ahead.

"There are these new ways of delivering legal services," he notes. "You can adopt these legal services in some way, I mean, to your own practice, you can augment them to some degree, add your own particular unique bells and whistles, or you can say, you know what? I can’t compete in this practice area anymore and I need to go do something else. Higher value, something the machines can’t imitate." Some lawyers may decide to reshape their practices, and use a standardized process-driven approach to delivering some types of the legal services they have always delivered more cheaply and efficiently.

A law firm needs to have a strategy in three dimensions, Furlong says. These dimensions  are the user experience, a competitive strategy for differentiation and improving law firm culture. To learn more, you will need to listen to the podcast — and perhaps buy the book.