By Julie Bays October is recognized nationally as Pro Bono Month, a time to celebrate the legal profession’s longstanding tradition of service and encourage lawyers to step forward in meeting unmet legal needs. For Oklahoma lawyers, this month offers not only an opportunity to give back but also to consider innovative approaches to closing the…

By Julie Bays How many potential clients is your firm losing simply because no one answered the phone? Throughout the legal industry, law firms are losing a notable proportion of client inquiries, leading to revenue loss. This challenge extends from solo practitioners to mid-sized firms, where the inability to respond to or return calls promptly…

By Julie Bays The countdown is on for legal professionals relying on outdated technology. Law firms have just over two months left before Microsoft officially ends support for Windows 10 on Oct. 14. That date marks the end of security updates and patches for one of the most widely used operating systems in the legal…

By Jim Calloway In the summer of 1997, when I first reported for work at the OBA to develop a program to assist practicing lawyers, I certainly didn’t anticipate I would be retiring from the OBA 28 years later. But here we are. I’ll be retiring at the end of May. Retirement brings mixed emotions…

By Jim Calloway The OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference is back! It will be held July 16-18 at the OKANA Resort in Oklahoma City. This year combines cutting-edge CLE taught by a faculty of experts with the exciting new OKANA Resort, which features an indoor and outdoor waterpark and many recreational activities. You can…

By Julie A. Bays Most lawyers use Microsoft 365 (MS 365); however, between Microsoft’s propensity to rename its products frequently and the rapid pace of upgrades and improvements, many lawyers are unclear about which MS 365 subscription is best for their practice and the best way to take advantage of dozens of features they may…

By Jim Calloway Last month in this space, we discussed document automation for law offices. Given the improvement in document assembly tools and their anticipated future path of improvement, more lawyers should be creating “first drafts” through a more automated process, even if it is something as simple as creating Word templates for documents they…

By Jim Calloway and Julie Bays ABA TECHSHOW 2025 will be held April 2-5 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. This is a new venue that will allow for an expanded expo hall with even more exhibitors. This year, OBA members can receive a discount on registration by using the code EP2507 when…

By Jim Calloway More technology-based changes are ahead in legal service delivery, and I believe we are reaching the point where many Oklahoma lawyers will be exploring automated document preparation. Automated document assembly is not new to the Oklahoma legal community. In the 1990s, Oklahoma City lawyer Doug Loudenback created a collection of WordPerfect macros…

By Jim Calloway The Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct offer guidance and rules for lawyers confronting ethical challenges. Technological advances often progress more quickly than legislative or regulatory responses to these developments. So where technology is involved, some of our ethical obligations tend to change and evolve before any new rules can be written. For…