The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has adopted a new public access policy for court records that will dramatically change how lawyers file and access documents in all courts in the state. Attorney Daniel J. Siegel, President of Integrated Technology Services, LLC, was a member of the working group whose proposal the Court adopted. The policy, which goes into effect on January 8, 2018, will require litigants to remove confidential and sensitive information from documents filed with the courts in civil, criminal and family law cases.… Read the rest
Author Archives: Daniel J. Siegel
Coming Soon – The CaseMap Book (Second Edition)
We are pleased to announce that the second edition of the CaseMap book by attorney Daniel J. Siegel will be going to press shortly. Two years in the making, this book is a major revision of the first edition, The Lawyer’s Guide to LexisNexis CaseMap, and focuses not only on how to use CaseMap, but also includes numerous tips to get better results.… Read the rest
Lawyers – even those who aren’t techie – can make some changes to their software – and save time
When Allison Shields and I authored How to Do More in Less Time: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Productivity and Improving Your Bottom Line, we included tips for being more productive in how lawyers manage our days, and our staff, etc. We also included tips for improving a lawyer’s (and really anyone’s) use of technology. After all to be productive, we all must manage our time.… Read the rest
Dan Siegel to Discuss Social Media & Ethics in Pittsburgh & Philadelphia
Need a CLE credit? Or perhaps you have a concern about your use and your clients’ use of social media? Then Dan Siegel’s upcoming program, “Current Issues in Technology, Social Media & Ethics” is for you.
Dan will present this one-hour program at PBI’s Pittsburgh center on Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 3 p.m. Click here for registration and other information.… Read the rest
Social Media Matters! And thank you to SEPTA!
Just this morning, I was speaking with an attorney whose firm consults with us about technology. He insisted that social media really wasn’t relevant and that people really don’t pay attention to it. No matter what I said, he simply was in denial mode.
Sorry, but social media matters, and law firms and all businesses need to be aware of its impact and the need to actively use sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.… Read the rest
Passwords & Security – It’s Truly Time to Think About Them
Passwords – we all hate having to deal with them. After all, we’re supposed to have different passwords for every website. Plus, they must be complicated. How in the world can we create all of these passwords and still remember them? Instead, it’s easy to just use ABC123 or Password or some other generic phrase. The problem is that those among us with less than stellar motives can easily hack those passwords and access all of our confidential information.… Read the rest
Plagued by Outlook Crashes After November 10, 2015 Windows Updates?
Are you plagued by Outlook crashing after you installed the various Microsoft updates released on November 10, 2015? If so, there is a solution.
You need to uninstall updates 3097877 and 3101746. Then reboot your computer and, hopefully, all is well. These updates wreaked havoc in our office. In fact, in order to fix all of the problems they created, we had to uninstall and reinstall Office 365.… Read the rest
Yes – You Can Have Readable PDFs
When we work with law firms and courts to help them digitize their files – such as court filings – central to that work is to assure that they use the PDF format and that the PDFs are of a high quality. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize how easy it is to create high quality readable PDFs. When you do so, the PDFs can be OCRed – made into searchable text – that facilitates easy searching, and easy copying and pasting into other documents, like briefs and opinions.… Read the rest
Pa. Bar Association Ethics Committee Provides Guidance to Lawyers About Social Media
The Pennsylvania Bar Association Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility has released an Ethics Opinion on Social Media, explaining to lawyers what they can and cannot do when posting or responding to information and comments on social media websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Avvo and others. The Opinion, one of the first in the country to broadly address these issues, explains (1) the issues confronting attorneys who use social media, (2) the ethical obligations of attorneys using social media, and (3) what attorneys and their staff may and may not do when dealing with information that their clients post on social networking websites.… Read the rest
Just Because You Have an IPad Doesn’t Mean You Need to Use It
Technology – such as iPads – can help attorneys be more effective advocates. But like any tool, you need to use it correctly, not just because you have it. Otherwise, the technology can actually weaken your position, and frustrate the judge, jury or arbitrator you are trying to convince.
I sat as an arbitrator today in a relatively routine car accident case, involving a side swipe at an intersection – I think.… Read the rest
