That headline must strike fear in the hearts of some lawyers, who already feel that they have to follow too many recent developments in the law. But this week the American Bar Association House of Delegates passed several Amendments to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct relating to lawyer's knowledge about technology. Yes, I remember when I was one of a small group of "teckies" scaring lawyers about the impact of metadata. Now the Model Rules have been amended to include references to metadata. A comment to Rule 1.1 regarding Competence added "including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology" to the requirements of basic lawyer competency. Here's a nice story from Sean Doherty of Law Technology News outlining the changes related to technology. The Model Rule proposed changes now go to the states to see if they will be adopted in the various jurisdictions.

Podcasts are a great way to learn while you are doing something else, like commuting or just relaxing. The complete archives of the Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology podcast are now available online at the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section website. We just posted the 57th Edition where Sharon Nelson and I talk to Dan Pinnington, Vice President of Claims Prevention and Stakeholder Relations for the Lawyers Professional Indemnity Company in Ontario, about how lawyers can avoid bad check frauds. Dan has allowed us to post lots of examples of fraudulent documents on the page for that podcast.

But Sharon and I have had a lot of fun podcasts over the years, (for us at least) like our recent one on the future of law practice. Check out the Digital Edge podcast archive page. You may find some useful information you missed when they were first posted. Sharon and I invite you to join us.

Since I already made one blog post on the future of law practice this week, I decided I should mention that our most recent Digital Edge podcast is our 56th Edition, which was also about The Future of Law Practice. My podcast teammate, Sharon Nelson, interviewed me for a change of pace and added some of her comments on this important topic. Give the podcast a listen if you have time.

We have done a previous Digital Edge podcast about the future of law practice- our 41st Edition posted in March, 2011. Neither Sharon or I reviewed the earlier podcast before recording this one. So if you want to listen to both and see how our thinking had changed in 14 months, feel free to do so. And before some of you even start on that e-mail, the answer is "no," we don't plan to make that topic an annual event. But smart lawyers pay attention to trends–and of course, they also always listen to the Digital Edge podcast!

56th Edition: The Future of Law Practice

Today's post from those helpful folks at Attorney at Work begins as follows:

"This summer, the hottest ticket at state bar association annual meetings seems to be sessions focused on the future of the business of practicing law. And with just cause. There’s a lot going on out there to make us nervous."

I've certainly been a part of that trend. As readers of this blog know, I did a plenary session on the Future of Law Practice for ABA TECHSHOW in March and gave much the same talk to attendees at the OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference in June. I've also been invited to give the same address at several other state bars. At about the same time of our Solo & Small Firm Conference, Attorney at Work’s Merrilyn Astin Tarlton was giving a keynote address on the topic for the State Bar of Texas. In advance of that, she asked several "top practice management experts" for advice on what actions lawyers should be taking now to prepare for the future. (I put that phrase in quotes since she included me in the group.)

She has now shared those responses with all of us in today's post The Future is Hazy – Now What? This is a quite excellent collection of ideas, comments and observations. Some of these ideas might even be slightly contradictory. (And there's one that I would think was stolen from my TECHSHOW speech, except I think Matt left Chicago before my talk.) As that great philosopher Yogi Berra said: “It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

But when you think about it, is there really anything more important for you to do sometime this week than spend a few moments reading and thinking about your future?

I've heard several office workers say they they seem to "live" in Microsoft Outlook. While I encourage lawyers to use practice management software to organize their practices, I know many of them rely on Microsoft Outlook for day-to-day calendar management, as well as e-mail. It is installed on their computers already, so it seems free. Today's lawyer needs to have access to e-mail and calendar from their mobile phones. Because we have Exchange Server at my employment, that is pretty easy to set up. When I got my first iPhone, it only took a few minutes to sync my e-mail and calendar to it. Synchronizing a to-do or task list with MS Outlook was an entirely different matter. I tried several methods. But Paul Unger gave me the tip on the tool that works. it is the TaskTask app for the iPhone. (It costs $4.99 and there is a Windows phone version that costs less, too.) It does require Exchange Server and there are some technical specs to review on the site. It is not as fully functional as it could be. But when I rememebr something I need or want to do, I really like entering it in the TaskTask app on my phone so it will be in my Outlook tasks at work. And, of course, I can always check the "to do" list from my phone.

Legal ethics advice can sometimes be dry and off-putting. No one likes to be lectured to, especially about not stealing, lying or misbehaving. Oklahoma Bar Association Ethics Counsel Travis Pickens gives us twelve practical suggestions about maintaining ethical standards and improving our law practices at the same time. (I will note that I introduced Travis to the subject matter for tip #9.) Read "Mere Professional Conduct" by Travis Pickens and share the link with a first-rate lawyer you know. 

There are many changes ahead for us in the future. But one set of changes that that I see impacting lawyers and law firms in the near future involves how we produce documents and bill for documents. There are some great tools that relatively few law firms are using now that I think will become common very soon. I direct you to my column in Lawyers USA on "Efficient legal document production for lawyers." Feel free to share the link with other lawyers you know. It will take some time to learn the tools and modify some parts of your business model. But with these tools we have the potential for less drudgery for lawyers, more efficiency and a better work product to deliver to our clients. It is hard to argue with that.

This weekend I am going to spend some time watching the NBA playoffs on TV. Some might say too much time, but that would just be an opinion, not a fact. I'm not alone in having this weekend plan in my state.

Perhaps that is one reason that I was inspired to write "Taking a Charge" for the Oklahoma Bar Journal this week. The column is not mainly about basketball, but refers to the fact that lawyers so often have to "take a charge" and absorb punishment on behalf of their client. It could be the lawyer defending a high profile client where the community is already convinced of guilt or any number of difficult things that happen in contested family law matters. It may be that a client has disregarded the lawyer's directions and now the lawyer is forced to take the heat for it. Over time taking all of this stress can have very negative consequences for the lawyer, including stress-related illnesses or burnout.

You cannot take care of your family and clients if you do not take care of yourself. I hope you download and enjoy this column. Try to take care of yourself. It is OK to take some time off to watch some hoops–or do whatever it is you enjoy. Download TakingACharge.Calloway.oklabarj

Work/life balance is an issue for many these days. It is not just an issue for lawyers, although the challenge tends to be felt acutely by many in the legal profession. Last week the Oklahoma Bar Association ran a series of work/life balance features on its web page. We have collected all of those features in a Work/Life Balance Week Recap online. We have also added a short, thoughtful video by Travis Pickens, the Oklahoma Bar Ethics Counsel. Maybe Travis has a career ahead in film some day. Check out our resources and share the link with others.

The new iPad is out today! The new iPad is out today! The new iPad is out today! OK, that may not be as funny as Steve Martin's screams about being in the new phone book in The Jerk, but a lot of people are really excited about the new and improved iPad released today.

Trial lawyers are also pretty excited about the iPad. With great apps for trial presentation and preparation and a very simple interface, lots of lawyers are successfully using iPads in the courtroom for jury trials and other types of hearings. iPad for Litigators is the topic of the 53rd Edition of the Digital Edge podcast. Our guest is Tom Mighell. Tom blogs about the iPad in the legal community at iPad 4 Lawyers.  Tom is the author of the book iPad in One Hour for Lawyers and the author of the newly announced book iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers. Tom and I have done several programs about lawyers using iPads in and out of the courtroom. So my co-host, Sharon Nelson and I chat with Tom about how trial lawyers use iPads. It turned out to be a pretty good podcast if I do say so myself and the show notes have links to the apps we discussed as well as a link to purchase the archive of a CLE presentation Tom and I did through ALI-ABA with trial lawyer Jamie Moncus.

I hope you can listen to our podcast on The iPad for Litigators.