By Jim Calloway Reviewing the firm’s naming conventions is a good place to start. I am referring to the file names given to new documents created in Microsoft Word or whatever word processing tool the firm might use. This simple step is important. Even though you may organize your files by keeping documents in different…

By Jim Calloway If you use Facebook, it is fairly common to see a post from a friend saying “I’ve been hacked. Don’t accept any friends requests from me.” But today some lawyers use Facebook for marketing and so getting locked out of their account is a much bigger problem than missing a brother-in-law’s post…

By Jim Calloway As the holiday celebration (and scamming) season begins, we need to be concerned about our data security, but we should also be concerned about our privacy. You may be one of those who say they are not worried about data privacy because “I have nothing to hide.” But today we all understand…

By Jim Calloway Even if you don’t use Artificial Intelligence tools yet, invest a minute visiting Copilot Lab to see their examples of prompts for lawyers. AI linked to your information, such as Copilot or your legal practice management system tools allows for these types of useful prompts. If you are already a Copilot subscriber, these…

By Jim Calloway Cynics would say there are two types of businesses: Those who have suffered a significant cyber attack, with the potential to substantially impair business operations. Those who haven’t yet had to deal with one yet. Lawyers need to have a basic understanding of online threats and precautions for two reasons. They do…

By Jim Calloway Today most workstations feature two or three monitors. Lawyers who use laptops always have at least one external monitor at their desk. Using two monitors became the workplace standard rather quickly as it didn’t take long to determine that this upgrade would save time. At a minimum, you didn’t have to use…

By Jim Calloway Way back when lawyers were migrating from WordPerfect to Microsoft Word, the most difficult challenge was how Word applied formatting using Styles while WordPerfect used hidden codes within the document that could be easily displayed by using its Reveal Codes setting. Many lawyers had mastered WordPerfect and couldn’t understand why Word didn’t…

By Jim Calloway Did you know that business employees are a factor in more than 80% of successful cyberattacks? This statistic means that regular cybersecurity awareness training sessions are good for your business. I define regular as at least twice per year. Certainly, the training should apply to everyone who works in the law firm,…

By Jim Calloway Some email practices are potentially problematic. Lawyers may not always be able to avoid these potentially problematic areas, but should be aware of what could potentially go wrong. Reply All We all engage in group email discussions, which are facilitated by Reply All. So, we cannot avoid this practice. But many firm…

By Jim Calloway “Legal pros understand the importance of efficiently managing long and intricate documents.” That is how Catherine Reach of the North Carolina Bar Association begins a recent blog post on the many tools available in the View tab of the Microsoft Word ribbon that many legal professionals do not use. Lawyers appreciate that…

By Jim Calloway Once upon a time an experienced lawyer was asked to mentor a new lawyer as they had the same primary practice area. Before that relationship could begin, they found themselves on opposing sides of a hotly contested matter. They mutually decided to get this case tried first before continuing their plan. During…

By Jim Calloway When you purchase a new office computer, what happens to the outdated computer? A lawyer’s first concern is that confidential client information on that computer must be protected. While most lawyers would consider donating their old equipment to a charity, they wouldn’t be able to do that without absolute certainty there was…

By Jim Calloway Closed captioning can be very useful for lawyers, whether communicating with clients with hearing issues or just facilitating more accurate communications. First, the terms closed captioning and subtitles mean different things, even though many people (and some technology companies) use them interchangeably. Captions are transcriptions of dialogue and are used to assist…

Optimize Performance and Maintain Confidentiality By Jim Calloway In the fast-paced world of legal practice, efficiency and security are paramount. Lawyers are constantly on the move, relying on their smartphones to manage client communications, research and case management. However, one often overlooked aspect of maintaining a seamless digital experience is the regular clearing of your…

And how is it communicated to those who need to know it? By Jim Calloway What do you do when the client file is closed? Follow your firm’s policy. Your law office should have both a written file closing policy and a closed file destruction policy. Oklahoma doesn’t have a set rule on when a…

By Jim Calloway In the legal profession, an ever-increasing amount of critical communication arrives via email. The lawyer must review the email, note any assignments or responses that result from the correspondence and then ensure that important emails are retained in the client file. Because of the importance of email today, lawyers must have a…

By Jim Calloway Remember the early promise of social media? We could all share our thoughts, our opinion, our photographs and our videos with everyone in the world — at no cost. It turned out that the correct observation should have been “at no monetary cost.” But there were costs ranging from impacting our privacy…

By Jim Calloway Some lawyers are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in their practices today. Almost every lawyer has heard the stories of lawyers being sanctioned or disciplined when the AI tool they used to prepare a brief included fictitious citations and quotes from non-existent opinions. I must note that the most serious consequences were…

By Jim Calloway Many software tools have a huge variety of features and options. They are very powerful. But the more features there are, the more training is required. Some lawyers prefer simple apps that have more limited functions but accomplish them very well. A solo practitioner often can benefit significantly from implementing a personal…

By Jim Calloway No, it’s not your imagination. You are most likely receiving more phishing emails and strange phone calls with people talking in the background this year. Attempted fraud is on the rise and the schemes are increasingly sophisticated. Soon we will see more artificial intelligence-aided scams, such as a deepfake voice message from…