By Jim Calloway Most law firms now store a significant amount of data in the cloud. But that doesn’t mean data backup is not still important. Catherine Reach, director of the North Carolina Bar Association Center for Practice Management, notes: “Securing and protecting your firm’s data are essential. Client files, important communications, and valuable work…

By Jim Calloway Zoom is very popular because it is easy to use and provides a free version. Most of us now have a fair amount of experience with Zoom and can use it well. But Tessa Davis, whose interests include online learning for the medical profession, published “7 Zoom “hacks” you may not know”…

By Jim Calloway Lawyers today carry around much client data on their mobile devices. So mobile device security is extremely important. Some of the greater flexibility of Android devices also exposes them to different types of risks. New threats continue to emerge.  John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises shares how to Improve Android…

By Jim Calloway There are two areas related to geotagging photos that lawyers need to appreciate. One is related to privacy and security concerns of both lawyers and their clients. Another relates to the sometimes-hidden evidentiary value of geotagged photos. As Brian X. Chen, consumer technology columnist for The New York Times, noted in a…

By Jim Calloway Dropdown menus are great ways to navigate through software for things you do infrequently. For operations you do several times a day, keyboard shortcuts are faster, and you don’t have to remove a hand from the keyboard. Some of these we know by heart, like Esc to close a window, Ctrl+C to…

By Jim Calloway We all agree that email is a pain and sometimes managing email seems like a separate job by itself. But Outlook users have one great tool for processing email that is already built-in. It is called Outlook Quick Steps. Being able to accomplish several email actions with one click is a significant…

Fastcase, the legal research service provided by the OBA to Oklahoma lawyers, has added some federal court data analytics to its standard service. This new feature is the first to be released incorporating features from Fastcase’s 2020 acquisition of Judicata, a California-based legal research platform. Your attention is directed to the post In Major Platform…

By Jim Calloway We have discussed before in this space about the importance of using long, complex passwords, which will likely require a password manager to organize.  Protecting your information and your client’s information is very important for those of us in the legal profession. The Dark Web is awash with stolen passwords and login…

By Julie Bays Practice Management Advisor In 2019, I wrote in an OBA article that: “Frequently, lawyers go into private practice thinking more about their representation of clients rather than the business side of the practice. As a matter of fact, it’s quite common to hear lawyers joke that they went to law school because…

By Julie Bays Practice Management Advisor Recently I was working on a short presentation where I wanted to record some actions on my screen. The problem was I didn’t have a way to do it other than in Zoom, which seemed awkward to me. So, while searching for a better way to do this, I…

By Jim Calloway After two years of dealing with the pandemic, we all have experienced a lot of stress. Christy Cassisa, Founder & Director of the Institute for Mindful Works, shares her thoughts this week on 10 Strategies for Bringing More Love into Your Law Practice. “Too many law offices have emotional cultures of fear,…

By Jim Calloway Director, OBA Management Assistance Program Bill Henderson, is Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law where he holds the Stephen F. Burns Chair on the Legal Profession. He blogs at Legal Evolution, and his academic focus involves analyzing data about law practice and the legal profession. This blog is…

By Jim Calloway It’s been a tough time to maintain a positive attitude with so many changes and challenges. Sally Schmidt, President of Schmidt Marketing, Inc., notes that Your Professional Attitude May Need an Adjustment . She has some interesting observations and tips about the way to improve your attitude by understanding the challenges of…

By Jim Calloway Most lawyers receive a lot of emails. Every few months I find myself unsubscribing from some email update service I subscribed to previously that sounded like a good idea at the time. OBA provides Lexology as a member benefit. But sometimes less is more and limiting the subjects for which you receive…

By Jim Calloway Trial lawyers tend to spend more time dealing with e-Discovery issues than some other types of practices. But when you consider any business could be on the receiving end of an e-Discovery preservation letter at any time, e-Discovery is a good subject for all lawyers to know something about. Craig Ball has…

By Jim Calloway When we use software, we accept a lot of default settings. So many lawyers are just using whatever default font for email that came with Outlook or was selected by their IT department. Considering how much lawyers use email for important communications today, you should examine your options. For example, if you…

By Jim Calloway As the world mourns the passing of Betty White, we share this great short video of her praising the merits of multi-factor authentication. Even in 2016 when she participated in World Password Day, she imparted a timeless call to action in her special style that will always make us smile. Take Betty’s…

By Julie Bays Each year the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center surveys ABA members to discover how lawyers are using technology in the practice nationwide. I recently reviewed the ABA Legal Technology Survey 2021 so that I could write a report on the 2021 Technology Budgeting and Planning for solo and small firms. The good news is…

By Jim Calloway My friend Dennis Kennedy, who serves as Interim Director, Center for Law, Technology & Innovation at Michigan State University, recently did a LinkedIn post entitled Fast Fish And New Technologies– Are Small Law Firms Outcompeting Large Firms? Perhaps the easiest way to explain his piece is to quote the first two paragraphs….

By Jim Calloway It’s the time of year to think about planning for next year. Attorney Megan Zavieh shares some ideas in A Pre-Year-End Checklist for Solos and Small Firms posted on Attorney at Work. Although the author focuses on limiting ethical risks, her sample list of key business areas and suggestions for reviewing are…