SC Small Firm.com

Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

We’ve talked so much about online data backups, that it’s almost refreshing when a hardware product gets attention. I’m talking about the ioSafe http://www.iosafe.com/, an external hard drive that has been compared to a “black box” on an airplane. Fireproof, waterproof and nearly indestructible, this might be the in-office or in-home backup you are looking for. If you would like to see a comparison of ioSafe products, go here: http://www.iosafe.com/products-solo. While you’re there, watch the video where they demonstrate the safe being torched, doused in water, and crushed.

The latest GP Solo Technology eReport is out, along with my Sites for Sore Eyes column with Jim Calloway. This time, we discuss a smidgen of our favorite apps for the iPhone and the Droid. Be sure to check it out!

I find that many small law firms have reserved a domain name and have set up their email to use that name, but they have no Web page yet. I think that it’s really important to have some kind of Web presence if you are giving out your email address and it ends in something like @Doelawfirm.com.  I imagine the prospective client seeing that domain name and trying to look it up on the Internet. What do they think when nothing is there? When it happens to me, I think that maybe the firm isn’t quite as “together” as I would like my lawyer to be. It shows a lack of completion.

So what is holding so many lawyers back? Fear of high cost, for one thing. Difficulty in finding a Web page designer is another. And then there’s the content factor: what are we going to say? No one wants to have an amateurish Web page. I understand all of these concerns. But I think that having a simple page with the firm’s directory information and practice areas, lawyer’s names and a map is a good thing. No need for a “contact us” button. I think soliciting business on the Internet isn’t something you should do without thinking about it a long time and weighing all the pros and cons.

As for cost, there are loads of unemployed or part-time Web designers advertising reasonably priced Web pages on the Internet. Chances are, one of your friends has a friend who has a college age kid who’s a wiz at designing Web pages. Also, with the advent of blogging, so many free, professional looking, templates are available online. There are also inexpensive editors that you can find online – see my post on Artisteer, for example. I’ve known more than a few lawyers who tackled their own designs. Look at local law firm Web pages and see who took design credit. Contact them and get a price. Google “web design” and your city name to see a list of local companies and to request some quotes.

Coming soon: search engine optimization: does it work and is it worth paying extra?

A few years back, a professor at a well-known law school told me how his university dealt with old computer hard drives. “We used to pay students to smash them with sledge hammers,” he recalled, “until someone got a piece of metal in his eye. Then we stopped.” Around the same time I heard this tale, I discovered an experiment by MIT researchers. The students at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (I’m sure you have a visual of what they might have looked like) purchased used hard drives from eBay and other sources. Of the approximately 170 drives, they found only 12 that were properly sanitized. The rest all contained data, including credit card numbers and medical records. Doh! This study sparked another project, this one involving “drive slagging.” If you know that slag relates to molten metals, you probably figured out that drive slagging means melting down your hard drive. If you’d like to see some neat pictures, check out the link. I think you will agree, there’s no way to rescue that data!

Aside from melting, foolproof ways of sanitizing a hard drive so that it can be disposed of are few and the techniques for rescuing data on hard drives have improved over the last few years. I’ve heard experts in computer forensics state that data can be retrieved from hard drives that were submerged in sea water, burned, and otherwise abused. Such feats are not inexpensive, of course. Spending $1000 for one drive would not be unusual (which is why you’re glad you made that backup, right?).

So, what’s the best way to dispose of a hard drive? See my eCycle post from December 2009.

I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for ABA TECHSHOW.  Years ago, when I was an associate in a law firm, getting more interested in law office technology and less interested in practicing law, I attended TECHSHOW in Chicago. It was the early 1990′s and so much was happening in the legal/tech world. The atmosphere was electric, and I met other lawyers from around the country – all enjoying a truly unique experience. No other so-called legal conference has the same focus on “real” lawyers.

That first TECHSHOW, I met a kind, generous lawyer who encouraged me and introduced me to people instrumental in putting on the conference. His name was Jim Keane, and his legacy as a pioneer and amazingly nice guy lives on, even though he passed away too young from cancer.  In his honor, TECHSHOW awards the annual James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering.

Chicago seemed really distant to me back in those days and it was a big step to get on the plane and go there by myself. But looking back now, 17 years later, it was one of the best steps I ever took. This year, TECHSHOW is March 25-27, at the Hilton Chicago. If you’re interested in taking the leap, please take advantage now of the Early Bird pricing and special SC Bar discount. Just enter discount code EP1001 when you register. I hope I see you there!