What’s New?

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… Read the rest

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.… Read the rest

New Pennsylvania Policy Will Require Litigants to Remove Confidential Information From Filed Documents

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

I’ll Take “Advancements in Legal Technology” for $1,000 please, Alex

Recently, there has been some discussion out of IBM about the possibility of using Watson-like technology for legal research, litigation and discovery. While this sounds like a great idea in the abstract, in reality, it remains to be seen whether Watson is capable of such an undertaking.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, Watson is a room-sized computer created by IBM and named after its first president, Thomas J.Read the rest

Cell Phones are Computers – The Evolution of Technology

For most people, the word “computer” conjures up images of a traditional desktop computer and monitor, or perhaps a laptop or even a netbook. Few, if any, would associate the word with their cellular phone. However, it is undeniable that modern cell phones are, more and more, performing tasks for which we would ordinarily use our computers. We can check our email, surf the web, stream music and videos, and download software, all with a little device that fits in our pocket.… Read the rest

Legaltech New York

Yesterday, my associates, Molly Gilligan, Diana D’Auria and I, spent the date (actually our annual jaunt) at Legaltech, New York, the large commercial legal technology show (not to be confused with the ABA’s Techshow, where I will be speaking in April). As usual, there were many vendors and we were able to visit with friends from our many partners, including LexisNexis TimeMatters, CaseMap and Concordance, Legal Files case and matter management software, AccessData Summation (I have just become a newly-minted Summation Support Specialist, which replaces my prior certification as a Summation Certified Trainer) and Payne Systems (Metadata Assistant).… Read the rest

Great Free Microsoft Office Manuals

Free is always a great price, but this time, free is not only a great price but a great product.  A company, Mouse Training, has release its training manuals and Quick Reference Guides for Office 2007, Office 2003, Office XP (2002) and Office 2000. The materials include Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Project and Visio.

All of the documents are in pdf format.… Read the rest

When Tech & Ethics Collide

The latest issue of Lawyers USA has a interesting (albeit brief) summary of an ABA program, Dangerous Curves Ahead: When Legal Ethics and Technology Collide,” presented by Catherine Sanders Reach, Director of the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center. Knowing Catherine, I am sure that the program was interesting and thoguht-provoking. It covered issues, including the Model Rules, Metadata, Email, Social Networking, and Data Security.… Read the rest

Reflections on Techshow (Part I)

Having just returned from Techshow 2010 in Chicago, the ABA Law Practice Management Division’s annual trade show and CLE program extravaganza, I was struck by a couple of things. First, no longer did it seem as though every booth was focused on e-discovery. While there is no question that e-discovery is an important issue, I felt as though the issues the vendors focused upon were things like case management (and my friends from Time Matters and Legal Files were present), document management (ditto for Worldox and Fujitsu (Scansnap), legal research (Lexis for Office – Wow!… Read the rest