Law Office Technology
Technological Incompetence – It’s Scary
Last night I lectured to the Barbieri Inn of Court – a specialty group of lawyers in the Philadelphia area who primarily handle workers’ compensation cases – about the requirement that lawyers be technologically competent. I discussed everything from cellphone security to ransomware. But today I realized that for some lawyers the bar for technological competence is much, much lower, perhaps below ground level. A lawyer contacted me and asked how to export a PDF to Microsoft Word format. I explained how to do it, assuming he had purchased Adobe Acrobat DC and wasn’t using the free Reader that has none of the features a lawyer needs. Boy was I […]
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April Windows Update – Helpful – But Save Your Word Normal.dot File
Microsoft released its April update for Windows 10, and it fixes a lot of bugs, 113 of them to be exact – some of which are important. For more information, click here to visit the ZDNet story about the update. Back Up Your Word Normal.dot File Before Doing the Update Although we have been unable to confirm this with Microsoft, our office has experienced problems with the update – one in particular: our Microsoft Word normal.dot file became corrupted. After installing the update, two users rebooted and discovered the Word had opened multiple times and that it wouldn’t close without overwriting the normal.dot file. That file contains all of your […]
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Working Remotely – You NEED Adobe Acrobat DC
In our office, we use four software tools more than any others: Microsoft Outlook, Legal Files case management software, Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat DC. In addition, at Integrated Technology Services, LLC, Pam Myers and Dan Siegel sell, support and train users of these and numerous other software products, including the entire Microsoft Office 365 suite of products. These products are even more essential now that we, like everyone else, must work remotely for an indefinite period of time. Pam and Dan also wrote the book, The Ultimate Guide to Adobe Acrobat DC, which has received exceptional reviews. For a Limited Time, Adobe is offering a free trial of Adobe Acrobat […]
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Did You Know You May Already Have Video Chat? Our Clients Know!
One of the things Pamela A. Myers, Christa Frank High and Dan Siegel (at Integrated Technology Services LLC) repeatedly explain to clients is that the software they already own can usually meet their needs – because the products have many more features than they realize. A great example is Microsoft 365 Office, which has many apps and features users don’t know exist. For example, if you have Office 365, you have Teams, known for its Chat feature. But Teams also has video chat. Here are Microsoft’s instructions for setting up a group video chat: Start a call from a chat in Teams You can make one-on-one or group calls with anyone […]
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Our Clients Were Prepared for COVID-19 (Well, the remote access part of it)
Not the pandemic itself, of course. None of us is prepared for a pandemic. But our clients at Integrated Technology Services, LLC all knew that to prepare for a catastrophe, they needed to transform their offices into a paperless environment. And we tell clients of our law firm, the Law Offices of Daniel J. Siegel, LLC, that we have cutting edge technology, which will allow us to operate remotely even when the Governor has ordered us to close our physical office. So did the thousands of attorneys who have listened to our webinars, attended our CLE programs or read one of the many articles (and a couple of the books […]
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Jargon-Free Software Training for Lawyers & Paralegals – By Lawyers & Paralegals
Software trainers may know about the products they support, but they may not know what you do. Legal software is the perfect example. Trainers often know their products, but couldn’t explain the difference between a pleading, discovery, or a contract, let alone the nuances that are so critical to successful lawyering. We do, we are practicing lawyers and practicing paralegals, who not only speak the language of law, we use it every day. What we don’t use is techno-geek-babble and other terms that trainers often use to show off their product knowledge, while also displaying a disconnect between what they train and their clients. At Integrated Technology Services, LLC, we […]
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Attorney/Legal Technologist Dan Siegel Named Technical Editor of New LISI Newsletter
Havertown Attorney & Legal Technology Dan Siegel has agreed to serve as Technical Editor and contributor to Leimberg Services’ newest newsletter, focusing on Practice Management. Dan is a practicing attorney, who also operated Integrated Technology Services, LLC, which provides workflow solutions for law firms and small businesses. Dan is the author of a number of best-selling books (The Ultimate Guide to LexisNexis Case Map, Checklists for Lawyers) and through ITS regularly consults with law firms about ways they can leverage technology to improve their practices. Dan also is a nationally recognized speaker and delivers 30+ CLE presentations a year. Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI) provides Estate Planning, Employee Benefits and […]
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No wonder people hate computers – and dread tech support
People know that I love technology, and use it every chance I get, but sometimes I run into circumstances when something happens and I understand the frustration. That happened to me recently. Oh, and by the way, I later learned that the problem that the support line couldn’t fix was really my fault because I should have known what the company’s trained (?) support people didn’t seem to know. Here’s the scoop. We upgraded our office’s online/cloud backup, using Carbonite, the same product we used successfully for years. This upgrade, we were told, would be easy and seamless. Unfortunately not. And complaints received a consistent response of dead air. First, […]
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The Allegory of Septa Tokens & Law Office Technology
An old Ziploc bag sits on my desk, worn, a bit dirty, and empty. For over 12 years, the bag housed my Septa tokens. I loved my tokens, my quick way of getting through the turnstiles of the El. When I heard that Septa was discontinuing tokens, and replacing them with the Key, a new hi-tech substitute for tokens, I continued to buy tokens, hoping they would stay on sale forever. Hoping – despite recognizing the futility of my hopes. Then came the announcement. Septa stopped selling tokens. And I had to buy a Key card. I dreaded it. Not for any logical reason, it’s just that I loved my […]
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When you stick your head in the sand, you get a lousy tasting “sand”wich
The almost overly stale cliché that it is not good to stick your head in the sand applies to so many topics. But for lawyers, or at least a large number of them, mention technology and they want to scream “na na na na na” and ignore you. But more and more, sticking their heads in the sand won’t help lawyers. Lawyers are now bigger targets for cyberattacks, which is the point I highlight in my column in the May 1st issue of The Legal Intelligencer/Pennsylvania Law Weekly. The column, “Law Firms Must Be Proactive to Prevent Cyberattacks,” begins with a quiz, asking whether the readers know what these items […]