What better way to save a few sheckels than to root out free drinks. MyOpenBar.com helps you find watering holes and other venues where free or cheap drinks are being served. Cities tracked currently include NYC, San Francisco, Honolulu, Chicago, LA and Miami. Not a lot of content yet, but the Tightwad Technologist in me loves the concept.

Maybe I was a little conservative when I predicted the failure of at least 10% of the AmLaw 100 on January 1st in my “Ringing in 2009 with 30+ Predictions” post.  On 12/22/08, the firm announced it would “wind down” after 12/31/08 (i.e. THROW IN THE CARDS! COLLAPSE, FOLD!) - here’s the press release on their site. I hope my friend Lenny Nuara lands safely - I had heard he ended up at Greenberg Traurig - but is any MegaFirm safe? I think not. Thatcher Proffitt survived the collapse of the World Trade Center but hasn’t survived the ruthless onslaught of this post-apocalyptic new economy. More failures to come - you can count on it. Who’s next?

My favorite free PDF converter is NONE of them. Actual Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro can be had surprisingly inexpensively. As we’ve written about before, you can go to eBay and buy a full copy of Acrobat 6 very inexpensively (anywhere from $30-$70) - that will entitle you to upgrade to 9 Pro from the Acrobat upgrade page for only $160.bu Another way also gets you a great scanner - Acrobat 9 Standard is bundled with Fujitsu’s popular ScanJet S510 which you can get for between $300 and $400 depending on available rebates and online discount codes (and then you can upgrade to 9 Pro, again for $160). Or with Fujitsu’s Mac ScanSnap S510M, you actually get Acrobat Pro 9 for OS X. There are few better software deals than inexpensively acquired Acrobat 9 Pro on the planet. Why?

• Security
• Security
• Did I mention security - you should secure all PDFs you create that are text-based to prevent recipients from altering or lifting your text and using it for God only knows what purpose
• Commenting and markup including stamping your signature, digital signatures, etc.
• PDF packing - think of it as the “electronic three ring binder” function - unbelievably useful
• PDF Optimizer to crunch down really big PDFs
• Bookmarking - invaluable, I use it EVERY day
• Bates stamping - tremendously flexible
• Headers and footers
• Secure redaction (to prevent nitwitted black highlighting from being revealed)
• Organizer - one click leads to addiction
• Fill-in form creation
• The Typewriter function (jaw-droppingly useful)
• Full-screen slideshow mode
• Creating searchable PDFs from scanned image PDFs (one at a time or in batches)
• Web page capture
• And the piece de la r
  ésistance, Acrobat integration with MS Office components and ESPECIALLY the integration with Outlook for saving entire mail folders with all their contents including attachments in a wonderfully organized, hyperlink bookmarked, searchable PDF file.

Have I been drinking the Acrobat Kool-Aid - you bet and it deserves to be lauded - most people SERIOUSLY underuse it. If anyone is interested, I would be happy to offer my Legal Acrobat training class as a webinar soon (just let me know).

It just seems that if you want to penny-pinch, it might be better to do it on something else.

Techcrunch reporting on the overnight demise of JournalSpace.com, a blogging provider (read it at http://tinyurl.com/6ulyqs). Apparently the company IT guy was relying solely on the RAID capabilities of their servers for backup. The company has been totally wiped out and is selling its assets. They lost everything!

When will people HERE listen? I’ve spent 12 years here ranting about backup and yet we still see people ignoring the basic advice. I’ve laid it out most recently in my SmallLaw column on Technolawyer - an update of the article on my blog for ages. It’s here: http://tinyurl.com/9wwl2g - Technolawyer calls it “the best article ever written about backup.” While THAT may be overstatement, you WILL be protected as best as you can be if you follow my guidelines.

Read it and protect yourself, your practice, your livelihood. Fail to do it and heed its advice and do so at your own abject peril.

I’m neither kidding around nor overstating the issue.

P.S. Techno.Pal Nerino Petro wrote about this one today on his CompuJurist blog here. We’ve both been intensely crusading about legal data backup education. People still won’t listen, I  suspect. But the guys from the now defunct JournalSpace.com won’t ever make the same mistake. Why do we tend to need to learn our practice management lessons so painfully?

Got this one from David Barrett’s great blog, the “The Linked in Lawyer.” I’ve gone from Twitter-skeptical to Twitter-open minded in two days. Great thoughts on Twittering in this slideshow.

I had previously posted about Andrea Cannavina’s (of LegalTypist fame) great Technolawyer article on her D-A-F-T concept for managing electronic communication. So view the article on her website, click here. Seriously worth a read - she knows from whence she speaks!

Make this number 33, not foreclosing the possibility I might think of a few more:

33. Social networking’s rise and fall - sure, we’re all Linkedin, Plaxo-ing, TXT-ing, IM-ing, Naymz-ing, Facebooking, and Twittering each other at a frenetic pace . . . now. Add in all our iPhoning and Blackberrying and human contact goes out the window. Human social skills - the kind you need when you’re actually shaking another person’s hand with a firm, determinedly professional grip, while looking them straight in the eye becomes a lost art. We spend so much time digitally connecting with each other, including spouses emailing each other . . . while both in the same bed, that a backlash ensues. I predict that within five years, there will be a return to a “novel” and “new” (for some) form of communication called “live networking.” Yes, meeting actual humans at social events, business / networking mixers, attending live CLE seminars to seek out camaraderie and companionship. Humans crave other humans and eventually, once the sheen of online social networking fades a bit, we’ll want to actually be around other people again. The truly savvy among us will NEVER lose this live human connection and will be seen as prescient masters of the previously “lost” art.

No, I’m not saying digital communcation will disappear. What I’m saying is that we’ll regain a sense of balance between live human interaction in our businesses and personal lives, with a rational and reasonable amount of digitalk.

To get a sense of how I see this being so out of balance now, rent a film from ‘82 called “Koyaanisqatsi.” This art film, set to a haunting Philip Glass score, illustrates the Navajo concept represented by the film’s title, which apparently means “crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living.” Koyaanisqatsi is what we are experiencing now. It can’t and shouldn’t stay that way - it’s just not healthy.

It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without predictions, would it? Powered by a wonderful champagne just a few minutes ago, here are the short version of mine:

1. At LEAST 10% of the AmLaw 100 law firms will fold by the end of 2009 - the era of the megafirm is over. Heller Ehrman and Thelen are history. Who’s next? (Take a look at these websites - it’s positively chilling - when Goliath falls, he falls HARD!)
2. The rise of BigSolos - not sure what else to call them - these are emigrants/escapees/laid off/downsized lawyers from megafirms who decide to go the SSF route. I’m working with several helping them make the transition from megaoffice and being used to an army of bodies to help them to . . . being on their own. Watch for my upcoming SmallLaw column on Technolawyer this month on this very topic!
3. SaaS products start to make serious inroad in legal technology areas including practice management and billing systems. Read the rest of this entry »

A must read - Andrea Cannavina’s Technolawyer Technofeature on her D-A-F-T method of email management (Defer, Act, File, Toss). It’s a whole lot of common sense crammed into one neat, compact article. Again, a must read for all of us innundated with email every day.

Stuff as follows:

1) Tons of response to my post this week about the Newegg.com deal on ScanSnaps - glad so many of you were able to take advantage of these. As to the $50 Paypal discount, beats me - might have been one day only. Also, when deals are posted, understand they could easily disappear that day. But asking me why a deal doesn’t apply any longer won’t get you anywhere - ’cause I don’t know either.

2) Woot.com’s Deal of the Day today is a winner for those looking for digicams for the holidays, or just because you’re looking for a great Point and Shoot camera. They have a Pentax Optio A40 12 mp model today (ONLY TODAY and they tend to sell out early in the day when great stuff pops up), for $119.95. Street pricing on this $249.95 MSRP camera seems to be around $170-$200ish. I’m personally partial to Panasonic’s series of digicams that have Leica lens, but Pentax’s Optio series is legendary and this is a steal. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been recommending Fujitsu’s ScanSnap series of desktop scanners as part of my Paper LESS Office process since their initial release. That “big green button” is legendary for its simplicity in converting physical paper into PDFs with a single push - doesn’t get easier than that. At their usual price of around $400ish with a perennial $50 rebate available, they’ve been a steal, especially because of the inclusion of a full copy of Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard edition (I’m told ver. 9 is coming in 1Q ‘09). But leave it to wonderful web merchant NewEgg to make it LOTS better. You can now get a ScanSnap S510 for Windows systems for a net price, after rebates of $249. Here’ how: “NewEgg.com has the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 300 x 300dpi USB Interface Sheet Fed/Document Fed Scanner for $399 - $50 off using PayPal - $50 code SCAN121250 [Exp 12/22] - $50 rebate [Exp 12/31] = $249 shipped.” $249 until 12/22 - that’s incredible for this product. I think every single PC in every law practice should have both a ScanSnap (or similar desktop scanner with scan-to-PDF ability) and a full copy of Adobe Acrobat (ideally ver. 9 Pro for most practices). These also are tremendous home organizers and paper management tools (i.e. Xmas and Hannukah presents!)

Saw this on the ABA Solosez listserve today - a superb idea. Xerox Corporation has an initiative going that can let you send a Thank You note to our troops for the holidays (or just because). It’s called “Let’s Say Thanks” which you can access by clicking here.  The idea is that you can generate a thank you note online, choosing among all sorts of different formats. Xerox will print the thank you note, in color, and send it to a randomly selected American armed forces member. What a truly wonderful idea - thank you Xerox. This is one of those few online services where I would just plain implore you to ask others to take part. Imagine your own counterpart - some 30 or 40-something Mom or Dad, in Iraq, Afghanistan or deployed elsewhere in the world, away from their families for the holidays. It couldn’t replace being home, but being bombarded with warm wishes from thankful Americans couldn’t hurt. Take the time to do and bring a smile to a fellow American serving our nation away from home for the holidays, or anytime.

Friend and ABA pal Jeff Allen has rolled out his new blog. Called JAllenLawTek: The Intersection of Law & Technology, it will be one of my regular reads. Jeff is a long-time legal technology superstar, perhaps best known for his columns on legal tech for the ABA GP|Solo magazine and for his long-time volunteer service as Editor of the GP|Solo Division’s Technology E-Report. He routinely reminds his speaking audiences that he is “bi-platform,” using both Macs and Windows systems in his Oakland, California practice with Graves & Allen. Welcome Jeff - look forward to reading your observations now more often than ever!

Maine is the latest American jurisdiction to issue an ethics opinion regarding metadata issues. Today and tomorrow, December 8th and 9th, I will be presenting a Maine Bar CLE program called “Metadata Matters in Maine: What Every Maine Lawyer Needs to Know About
Metadata and the Ethical Rules.” Here’s the link to the seminar information. The program first runs this morning from 9-1215PM in Bangor at the Four Points Sheraton at the Bangor Airport (walk-ins are welcome!). Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be presenting the program again at the Holiday Inn West from 130-445PM Tuesday afternoon, December 9th.

Maine lawyers, as well as lawyers from adjoining states - and later lawyers anywhere who will be able to view the recorded version  of the program, need to listen to this program. I’ll be surveying the state of metadata ethical guidance from ALL U.S. jurisdictions, explaining in detail what metadata is and what the threats are to every law practice’s confidential information, ability to be ethically-compliant and most important, the threats to clients’ interests. In my usual fashion, I’ll do with in plain English and will even try to bring a little levity to an otherwise deadly serious topic.

I’ll also be joined by friend and colleague, Alan Nye, a Portland practitioner best known for his terrific blawg, Al Nye the Lawyer Guy.

So by all means, if you’re in Maine, come (and bring your staff - they need to understand metadata issues too!). But if you’re in Massachusetts, New Hampshire or anywhere else in reasonable driving distance of especially the Portland program on 12/9, you can’t afford to ignore this program!

For those of you who don’t know Bill Pope, you should. He’s the pioneering and innovative CEO of a company called Lawstream. Lawstream publishes a top-notch practice management system called Lawstream Pro specifically developed for the Mac OS X operating system. The product and the company are shining examples of what should happen in the Mac legal software world. Regarding my recent Technolawyer article (see my blog post on this from last week), Bill posted a comment on his Lawstream blog, mostly in support of my assertions and acknowledging (finally! someone!) my pro-Legal Mac position.

So two things:

1. Thanks Bill - you’re a decent fellow and your commitment to Mac lawyers, even the zealots who are difficult to reason with, is exemplary.
2. If you’re a Mac user and with to best exploit the wonders, elegance, stability and reliability of OS X, the only logical thing to do is deploy the Lawstream Pro practice management system - you’d be insane not to.

Where were you in ‘82? I was a senior in college, and I was one of the nuts who was clamoring for Atari’s new 2600 video game. It was the best of the best - more advanced than its TI predecessors and the logical inheritor of Pong. Well, now you can return to those glory days of video gaming yesterday with a complete Atari 2600 kit (original console, not a replica) with 20 original games for only $120 (or $205 with an S-video upgrade mod) from Atari2600.com. Not sure how many they have, but how cool would it be to travel back a quarter century to your first video gaming thrills and chills?

Before reading further, let me quote myself from my recent Technolawyer article about Mac use in law practice:

—-”I LOVE MACS!”—-

There. Is that ambiguous in any way? I think not.
Ok, back to the title of this post about some of the responses from the Mac legal community about the article. I wish it wasn’t the case. But it’s true. After writing a realistic article, that was actually very pro-Mac use in law practice, the Mac-using legal community responded with mostly mean-spirited personal attacks. However, some Mac legal luminaries - those who have been around long enough to understand the history of the development of Mac legal use, like Ed Siebel privately indicated their agreement and support for my “get in the mainstream” arguments. I really taken aback though at how personal the responses/attacks were. It was a legal technology article, for goodness sake, not some slam piece aimed at every Mac using lawyer. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of you know I’ve been on a headlong, nearly frantic and campaign/religious mission to educate lawyers everywhere about the threats represented by the metadata issue. I’ve probably delivered over 200 CLE programs specifically about it over the last eight years or so and have written countless listserve posts about it. You can read some of my most extensive materials on the subject here in this PDF. A surprisingly large number of people in my audiences STILL indicate they’ve neither heard of metadata or have, but don’t really understand what it is. I’m actually presenting in Maine next week specifically about that state’s new ethics opinion mandating every Maine lawyer both understand and proactively address the threat.
With a growing number of American jurisdictions chiming in with ethics opinions on the responsibility of lawyers related to metadata, the time is long past for lawyers EVERYWHERE to understand the issues, threats to their practices and their law licenses.

Great thanks to techno.pal Jim Calloway, the Oklahoma Bar’s Law Practice Management Advisor (”PMA”) for his excellent article about metadata recently published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal. Also, be sure to read his follow-up blog post on the subject, incorporating the Maine issues that arose after he published his original article.

I would implore all of you, whether you’re in one of the jurisdictions that have already issued a metadata ethics opinion or not, to read Jim’s articles and if you’re anywhere near one of my live CLE programs on the subject - come and listen. This is NOT optional knowledge. This is NOT some techno.geeky subject just for the pocket-protector wearing set. This is an issue for every lawyer, in every kind and size of practice, in every jurisdiction the world over. Your reputation is at stake. Your practice as a business is at stake. Your clients’ interests are at stake. Your law license may be at stake. Read the rest of this entry »

From the Japanese gadget fiends who bring us Dynamism.com, the long-time web purveyor of home-market tech toys . . . er . . . I mean, “tools” (since as techno.pal Bruce Dorner regularly observes, “toys aren’t tax-deductible, tools are”) comes the new Gizmine.com. The site offers a broad range of Japanese market-exclusive digitoys. In and of itself, that isn’t unusual or unique. What is unique though, and what caught my attention was the fact that you can search for gadgets not just by type or price, but . . . and hear’s what I think may be a first when it comes to electronics, by COLOR. Yes, you can search for all the pink, or purple, or red gadgets. And you can even search ONLY by color. Who cares what the things do - as long as they’re red, I’ll take three please!

I think this represents a new chapter in the world’s continuing fascination with electronic gadgetry - that it no long matters what the gizmo does, what it will do for you. It only matters that it’s pink. Or blue. Or yellow. Or red.

What have we come to? It’s not good. But it IS interesting.