Law Practice Tips

Potpourri, Statistics and a Lawyer’s Quality of Life
By Jim Calloway, Director OBA Management Assistance Program

This month we are going to cover several unrelated topics instead of one topic. We are a bit pressed for time in our department with final preparations for the OBA 2001 Solo and Small Firm Conference, so this month we may be a bit more brief than usual. But we hope you will still find some things of interest and use in your practice.

Potpourri is defined as " 1. A combination of incongruous things: 2. A miscellaneous anthology or collection: ‘a potpourri of short stories and humorous verse.’ 3. A mixture of dried flower petals and spices used to scent the air." The American Heritage(r)(r) Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The first two definitions fit both this month’s column and our first topic.

Legal Technology Potpourri

For the remainder of this year we are serving hearty portions of Legal Technology Potpourri for lunch. Well, perhaps that deserves a bit more of an explanation.

One of the enjoyable things about my job is the opportunity to speak to members of our county bar associations at their meetings. It is a good opportunity to see what our bar members are thinking about and to pass along some (hopefully) valuable information to them.

For the remainder of 2001, my presentation for the various county bar associations is called Legal Technology Potpourri. This program combines a mixture of information of the latest in high tech office tools with some practical advice. We showcase valuable tools and a few high tech toys. It is very fast-paced, however, we do pause for breath a couple of times and allow some questions.

This program comes in either 25- or 50-minute portions and is best served with a generous lunch at a local eatery that hopefully does not belong to a national chain. Bookings are limited, however. We need a projector and screen for this one and the OBA only has two projectors. (Yes, I, too remember when the OBA didn’t have any projectors, but sometimes it appears that two is not enough.) Your county bar is free to apply for CLE credit if you so desire.

If you are an officer in your county bar or other lawyer’s organization and looking for luncheon speakers, feel free to give us at call at 416-7050 or through the OBA’s 800 number.

How long has it been since I’ve been out to visit your county bar? Well, that’s been too long!

OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference

I am not sure what else I can say about this one. But the time you read this, the guaranteed rooms we reserved will have been either sold to OBA members or released to the public. You might be able to call 1-800-833-6569 and still get a room, or maybe not. If you plan on attending and cannot get a room at the resort, call us for information on the nearest alternatives. May 18 marks the day that the price for the conference increases from a mere $135 to $185. So we need your registration on or before that date if you want the great deal.

We have great guests, great giveaways and have always had a great group of attendees. It is really a good chance to get to know some other lawyers. Some have referred to it as "summer camp" for lawyers. Other lawyers have told me that they have developed good referral sources from their contacts at Solo & Small Firm Conferences. Many of the OBA officers and members of the OBA Board of Governors will attend this year. If you are a young lawyer, you’ll have extra activities planned by the OBA Young Lawyers Division. If you have not been involved with many bar activities before, this is a great chance to visit with the OBA officers and the Board of Governors. The Family Law Section will be out in force for this event as will the members of the General Practice Section.

And the most important thing for some of you, there will be lots of free stuff given away to all conference attendees and bigger prizes will be given in drawings as well. We hope to see you there.

Lawyer’s Quality of Life Issues #1

Most lawyers and, according to recent studies, most other professionals, are working more hours than ever before. One of the promises of technology was that it was supposed to relieve us from drudgery and provide us more leisure time. So has technology failed in that promise? With the Internet, home computers, and mobile phones, we truly have the capability to work every waking moment.

I would argue that technology provides us a set of tools. For the most part, tools are not inherently good or bad. Whether you are talking about a hammer or a handgun, the good or bad aspect arises in the way we human beings use the tools. Mobile phones are a good example. If you use your phone to be able to attend a child’s Little League game instead of being tethered to the office waiting for one urgent five minute client phone call, you have made a good use of technology as relates to both client service and your personal life. If, on the other hand, you never get through a family meal or social event without numerous interruptions from mobile phone calls from clients, perhaps you need to re-examine your priorities and your use of your tools of the trade.

I note this in advance because I am firmly convinced that one of the single best tools for lawyer productivity is a set of tools for remote access to the law office. But these tools can be used to aid or detract from your quality of life, personally and professionally. Many of us have home computer systems. If you have small children and the business day ends with a couple of hours still needed to finalize a project that must be completed, it is a great benefit to copy everything on a floppy disk, go home to your family and then finish the project after the little ones have gone to bed. On the other hand it is easy to slide down the slippery slope and find yourself working on the home computer too much of the time when you are at home.

But a true set of remote office access tools can allow you to be more in control of your time and your days and you can be far better equipped to deal with emergencies. Suppose that you are quite sick with the flu and there is one project that has to be completed that day. You and your staff should have the technological expertise to allow you to complete the proof-reading at home. Your staff is better served because you do not come into the office and possibly infect them. You and your client are better served because you use your limited strength to actually do the work as opposed to wasting your energy dressing and driving into the office. In this example, you merely have to have a home computer system with Internet access and your word processing software, combined with your staff (and you) knowing how to use email and email attachments.

True remote access involves implementation of case management software and a tool like PC Anywhere that allows you to securely dial in remotely and access the system. It involves Uninterrupted Power Supplies at the office and procedures for operations. But I can tell you from personal experience, that even limited remote access can be an incredible tool for the busy lawyer, I repeat, especially when dealing with emergencies or the unexpected.

The danger lies in giving yourself the capability to literally work all of the time. An important part of these tools is the "off" button. Use it.

What’s everyone else doing?

Sometimes you may wonder how other lawyers are using technology. Most lawyers tell me that they feel they are way behind the curve in their use of technology. Simple logic dictates that three-fourths of you cannot be in the bottom twenty five percent in the use of law office technology.

Last fall, the Legal Technology Institute of the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law and iManage Inc. completed and released a study entitled "Application Service Providers- An In-Depth Look into the Future Use of ASP’s in the Legal Profession." In case you are not familiar with the term, an ASP is a broad term for a model where your business’s software and data reside on a remote server. You just pay a monthly fee and the ASP takes care of upgrading, backup and other incidents of software and data management. The model sounds really attractive, but many of us have concerns about important areas such as what happens if your ASP (with all of your client data) goes bankrupt and shuts down, what if you lose Internet access for an extended period, client confidentiality and other potential problem areas.

But I want to share some of the survey results with you.

55.2%  of respondents do not use case management software and another 18.2% either did not know or did not respond to the question. This is very interesting as legal technologists generally agree that having good case management software is absolutely essential for competing in the future of the delivery of legal services.

4.9%  say they do not use e-mail, with another 5.8% either answering that they do not know or not responding. By far, Microsoft Outlook is the mostly widely used email program with 42.1%. Novell GroupWise in second with 17.1%.

17%   report currently using video conferencing. Many OBA committees now regularly use video conferencing for committee meetings.

88.1%  of lawyers personally use the Internet at work and 55.6% state they have had Internet access at work for more than two years. 80% predict that they will be using the Internet even more for business purposes in the future.

64.1%  report downloading software from the Internet at work. (I’m sure some big firm IT departments cringe when they hear that figure.)

61.4%  of law firms have an Internet web page (including 95% of large law firms) and of those that do not have a web page, 39.4% plan to have one within six months. But only 32% have an office intranet, a web-browser based private access area they use for communication and data storage within the firm.

If you want to purchase your own copy of the study, you can contact the Director of LTI, Andrew Z. Adkins at adkins@law.ufl.edu. Andy is a great person, author of several law office technology publications and was chair of the ABA Techshow for 2000 and 2001.

Lawyer’s Quality of Life Issues #2

Did you ever feel like life was getting you down or have a bout of anxiety or depression? Most all of us have at times. Sometimes we all need someone to talk to about serious problems, but we think we are too busy or we don’t want to talk to a therapist in our small community that we may be calling to testify next month. Practicing law is a stressful occupation. If you ever feel that you are heading for serious trouble, do not forget about the OBA’s Lawyers Helping Lawyers Program. The purpose of the Lawyers Helping Lawyers committee is to continually develop and maintain a comprehensive organization within the OBA which can respond to and assist an impaired or potentially impaired attorney through direct, immediate contact and appropriate referral.

According to Glenn Mirando, Director of the program, "While dealing with drug and alcohol issues, the committee is also adept at dealing with other issues and problems adversely affecting members of the bar. Problems brought about by physical illness, divorce, stress, burnout, depression and other emotional difficulties can be addressed. Attorneys need not be at ‘rock bottom’ to avail themselves to and receive assistance from LHL."

Rule 8.3(d) of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct assures confidentiality in your contacts with LHL. Referrals are received from the attorneys themselves or from families, friends, partners, secretaries, judiciary and on occasion clients. There is no cost for assistance from the LHL committee. They can be reached by calling 1-800-364-7886; 24 hours a day; 7 days a week.

You would advise your clients not to hesitate to ask for help if they needed it. If you need help, you should not hesitate either.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal May 12, 2001 - Vol. 72; No.15