Technology

ABA TECHSHOW 2019: 7 Tech Tips From The Experts

Even if you couldn't make it to ABA TECHSHOW this year, you're now armed with lots of technology advice and ideas.

By  
on

It’s hard to believe that another ABA TECHSHOW has come and gone. As in year’s past, the 2019 conference was jam-packed with lots of opportunities to connect with like-minded colleagues and learn about the latest and greatest in legal technology.

No matter what your interest or reason for being there, TECHSHOW fit the bill. From the CLE sessions and the EXPO Hall to after hours gatherings, including the Taste of TECHSHOW dinners, there was something for everyone. By the end of the conference, attendees were armed with lots of information about using technology to help them run their law firms more effectively and efficiently.

7 Tech Tips

However, if you weren’t able to make it to TECHSHOW this year, never fear! I managed to interview some of the leading law practice management and legal technology experts in attendance. During the interviews, I asked each of them to share one of their favorite, recently acquired technology tips and they were happy to oblige. So without further ado, here’s what I learned from each of them.

LinkedIn Networking Tip

According to the ABA’s 2018 Legal Technology Survey Report, LinkedIn is the social network that lawyers and law firms use the most. 46 percent of lawyers reported that their law firms maintained a LinkedIn presence and 65 percent reported that they personally maintained a LinkedIn profile for professional purposes.

For those of you who use LinkedIn, this first tech tip video will be of interest. In it, Allison Shields, lawyer, ABA author, and law practice management consultant, shares a little known LinkedIn trick that makes it easy for you to connect with other LinkedIn members who are in the same room as you are. This comes in handy when you’re at a conference or other professional networking event. You can watch the video and learn how it works here.

Sponsored

Cybersecurity Tech Tip

You hear a lot about cybersecurity these days, and for good reason: it’s important to ensure that your legal client’s confidential information is safe and secure. Fortunately, lawyers have options when it comes to securing their law firm’s data.

As you’ll learn in this next video, cloud computing is a very viable and affordable way to accomplish this goal. Joe Patrice, lawyer and Above the Law senior editor and author, explains that for many lawyers, cloud computing software and storage offers far more security than the on-premise computing typically used in law firms. To learn more, you can watch that video here.

Technology Competence Tip

Technology advancements have occurred at a rapid clip over the past decade. Changes have occurred so quickly, it’s been tough to keep up. As a result, some lawyers have simply ignored technology altogether.

Sponsored

As you’ll learn in the next video, turning a blind eye to technology is no longer an option. Lawyer, Above the Law columnist, and legal technology expert Bob Ambrogi explains that technology ignorance is now unethical in the majority of jurisdictions. You can learn more by watching the video here.

Read and listen to books for free

We use our mobile devices to consume lots of content, from TV shows and movies to articles and books. Some of that content is free, and some of it is not. Fortunately, there are subscriptions services like Netflix or Amazon Prime that allow you access to online content for a small monthly fee.

But you also have other options, as you’ll learn in the next video. In it, Heidi Alexander, lawyer, author, and Deputy Director for Mass LOMAP’s Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, shares information about a mobile app that provides free access to digital content, including written books and audio books, from libraries across the country. You can watch that video here.

iPhone Security Tip

Our smartphones collect a lot of data about us, and oftentimes we’re not even aware that it’s happening. The good news is that you can control how much information is collected by and stored on your device. The trick is knowing what data is stored on your phone and how to change your phone’s settings to comport with your preferences.

As you’ll learn in the next video, one type of information often collect by smartphones is geolocation data. Fortunately, there are experts like Jeff Richardson, lawyer and longtime legal blogger at iPhoneJD. He shares the low down on the geolocation data collected by iPhones and explains how to turn off that data collection in your phone’s settings. Watch the video here to learn more.

Secure Communication Tip

Lawyers have an ethical obligation to ensure client confidentiality. This means that reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that all confidential client communications are secure and protected from prying eyes.

For decades now, lawyers have communicated with clients via email, even though it is inherently unsecure and easily hacked. As you’ll learn in this next video, secure online client portals are a better, more secure option for lawyers in 2019. This is because, as the ABA Ethics Committee concluded in Opinion 477 in 2017, unencrypted email may not always be sufficient for client communication. Instead, as Jim Calloway —  lawyer and Director of the Management Assistance Program for the Oklahoma Bar Association — explains, online portals, such as those built into law practice management software, are often the most secure communications option for lawyers. You can watch that video here.

Legal Software Testing Tip

We all know that the right legal software can make all the difference. The trick is figuring out which software tools are the perfect fit for your law firm’s needs. However, making this determination isn’t easy and often takes time.

The good news is that this process isn’t necessarily as difficult as you might think, as you’ll learn in this next video. In it, Carolyn Elefant, lawyer, author, blogger at MyShingle, and Above the Law columnist, shares her advice on a surefire way to ascertain right from the very start if it’s worth test driving a specific software tool in your firm. Watch the video here to learn more.

There you have it! Lots of tech tips from the experts. So even if you couldn’t make it to ABA TECHSHOW this year, you’re now armed with lots of technology advice and ideas. But attending the conference is still the best way to learn about technology, so mark your calendars for next year: February 26th to the 29th. Hope to see you there!

Niki BlackNicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

CRM Banner

Topics

, ,