Conferences, Consultants & Computers - Post - 2001 OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference Report
By Jim Calloway, Director OBA Management Assistance Program

Well, the fourth annual OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference is now history and we certainly hope a good time was had by all.

This year we talked a lot about law office technology with our guests, the Circuit Court - Ross Kodner, Bruce Dorner, Dan Coolidge and Oklahoma's Sheryn Bruehl. Not only did we have several interesting programs on technology, but our guests were often found discussing tech questions with conference attendees in hallways and during the social events. Bruce Dorner is a practicing attorney from New Hampshire and has been to three of the four OBA SSF conferences. He joked that we probably are going to require him to start paying dues at that rate.

But from all indications, everyone seemed to enjoy our out-of-state guests. They provide lots of humor as well as great information. I am a bit biased, but I thought that they were great. Thanks for attending - Ross, Bruce, Dan & Sheryn. I've already received e-mail from the out-of-state members of the quartet, expressing what a good time they had in Oklahoma and how many nice folks they met.

Several attendees stopped me in halls at the conference to brag on what a great deal the conference was - only $135 for twelve hours of great CLE, several meals, lots of free goodies and social events with great music. Than doesn't happen by accident. If it were not for the support of the OBA Board of Governors and the financial support of our sponsors and vendors, there would be no OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. They deserve one more mention.

Co-Producer
Oklahoma Attorneys Mutual Insurance Company
Gold Sponsors
West Group
Lexis Law Publishing
Silver Sponsors
Beale Professional Services
Martindale-Hubble
OBA Family Law Section
OBA General Practice Section
Bronze Sponsors
Loislaw
FilePic

Our sponsors contributed many items to our "Goodie Bags" which every attendee received. This year our giveaways were distributed in a souvenir red beach bag featuring the sponsors's logos, the conference logo and the appearance of OBA parrots decked out in beachwear. In addition to the beach bag, conference attendees received commemorative 2001 conference flying disks and sun visors. There were pens, conference survival kits, complimentary copies of Law Office Computing and Lawyers Weekly USA, mugs, golf tees and much more.

The OBA Young Lawyer Division is always an active group. Combining the Solo and Small Firm Conference with their YLD Mid-year meeting certainly looks like a great plan in hindsight. They contributed greatly to the conference, not only financially, but in terms of energy and excitement. They handled the party Friday night, paid for the great band, the Bad Monkies, and bought us all glow necklaces. That was especially entertaining as some of our respected lawyers chose to wear them around their heads as glow-in-the-dark headbands during the outdoor party.

Promoting the conference in advance, I mentioned that we would be featuring five attorneys who spoke at ABA Techshow 2001. We also have some local lawyers who are well-versed at law office technology who attended the conference as well. It is very interesting to talk with those who are at the cutting edge of legal technology. Listening to them as they agree and disagree is most instructive.

The Internet now allows us to debate and discuss issues across the country and across the globe as easily as we used to be able to discuss things in our neighborhood. But there is still something superior about having face to face discussions. You can read a manual, but there's still something of greater value about having a classroom instructor show you and answer questions.

As I noted many times before, the tasks that a lawyer performs are largely related to information retrieval and processing. Drafting documents, doing legal research, undertaking investigations, and communicating our clients' positions are all information management tasks. While we did not refer to it in these terms a couple of decades ago, a lot of what a law firm does is laboring to manage and maintain a large database of client information, information about the law, scheduling information and information about the facts of various matters. You can do this using paper products - lawyers did for years - but technology makes it easier, after you get past the learning curve.

It should have been no surprise that law firms were among the early adapters of information processing devices ranging from manual typewriters to magcard typewriters and fax machines to computers and modems. It just made sense to automate our information management.

So for those of you who still aren't using computers as more than glorified word processors, take heart. There are many learning curves in the road ahead, but we are clearly to the point where you will know you will benefit from new improvements.

But if it is so easy, why do some people, including some of our guests, make their living as full-time management or technology consultants to lawyers and law firms? Well, it is not easy for one thing. Modern day software is incredibly powerful. No matter how well it is designed, that power leads to complexity. A device that only does one task works simply. There is one "button" to push to make it work. A device that can do thousands of things for you has, metaphorically speaking, thousands of buttons.

Something I've already recognized was made even more clear at the conference. We need more training available for our lawyers and their staff in both the legal specific software and in the way lawyers use other software products. Document assembly is still not a reality as most law firms and several lawyers mentioned that they wanted to get beyond cut and paste to the next level in generating documents. As was mentioned in several programs, case management software can be a godsend for a law office, but only if there is someone around to train you and your staff on how to use it properly. This is a problem for Oklahoma law firms of any size, but it is more acute in the smaller firm arena. After all, if you are buying for many workstations, it is more likely that you will be able to convince a company rep to come do some in-house training on how to use the software. But every law firm needs to be investing in training and information systems management now if they wish to prosper in the future years.

We are going to spend a few months working on this problem. It is clear (to me at least) that we will have to partner with private industry to provide the resources our members need. There is no doubt that Oklahoma will never have the number of law office consultants that a state the size of New York or California will. But we need to understand the resources at our disposal.

There are many types of legal technology consultants and service providers. The Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program does management and technology "health checks" for law firms for a fee. We are going to discuss that more in next month's Oklahoma Bar Journal. We may have a special offer there, so don't miss that article.

Let's just briefly examine the roles that an outside consultant can provide for a law firm.

A consultant is one who uses specialized knowledge and expertise to solve problems and develop plans. We do this by on-site full-day visits to law firms. These can be generalized "health checks" or focus on a particular area of concern, e.g. to develop a technology purchase plan or marketing plan. We do few technology purchase plans for small firms because we usually answer such questions through our free Telephone Hotline (405) 416-7008. (Long distance callers can use the OBA's 800 number and ask for Debi Garner or Jim Calloway.) There are private consultants as well, both those who are local and those who are willing to travel in from out of state.

A reseller is someone who sells products for law office computers, either software or hardware. A commonly used industry term is a VAR, which stands for Value Added Reseller. VAR's are the ones who not only sell you software, but can come into your office and install it for you as well as giving your staff tips and training.

A systems integrator is a person who actually installs and sets up hardware and software in the office. You probably know of someone who does this in your local community, although they are not limited to law firms. Your local computer store probably has someone on staff who does this. Network specialists are included in this group. They can give sound advice, especially on procedures for backing up data or using your network drives. System integrators can be used in another sense however, as someone who sets up office software products to more easily work together. They can assist in setting up your case management software to more easily share data with your billing program or working through the process of allowing your Personal Digital Assistant to retrieve information from your computer network. (The latter is usually very easy.) Some even may do light programming if needed.

Training is another function. There can be classroom training or in-house training. Our local vocational technical schools can be helpful in this regard and last year's OBA Technology Task Force developed the concept of cooperating with them by assisting them with what law firms and their staff need. Unfortunately, we haven't made much progress on that front yet. I know of many lawyers who have placed a call seeking training and been told that they were using the "wrong" word processor for example, and therefore couldn't receive training. In-house training is superb, but expensive, especially if you want training on specialized law office software and hire a trainer from out-of-state.

As you can see, the range of consulting and training services is broad and the categories are inexact. Those who sell and install software will always have the ability and inclination to do some training for your staff. Some consultants do not mind installing some software.

But, when interacting with a consultant, it is important to be clear about both the goals and limits of the engagement.

So, to wrap things up for this month, 2001 Solo and Small Firm was as educational as it was entertaining. If you missed this year's conference you missed a great opportunity for top notch CLE, entertainment and food at a bargain price. There's obviously plenty of ground for us to cover between now and next year's SSF. We hope to engage many more of you to appear at next year's OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal June 9, 2001 - Vol. 72; No.18