Real Lawyer News: Meaningful Law & Technology News™

We Want Real Lawyers - NOT Ridiculous Rules

Meet Kevin O'Keefe, he's a veteran trial lawyer and the founder of LexBlog. I actually found out about Kevin a few months ago when the idea first crossed my mind to begin publishing Real Lawyer News. While running a Google search for 'Real Lawyers' I was welcomed by an army of posts plastering Kevin's name all over my screen.

If there is anyone that deserves the title 'Real Lawyer', Kevin is by far a nominee. He and LexBlog are an essential catalyst responsible for driving the American legal arena into the blawgosphere. LexBlog has developed a ton of weblogs for attorneys all over the country and every one of the LexBlog sites that I looked at are slick, clutter free and well executed.

The reason I decided to write about Kevin today (I've been meaning to write about him for a while) was due to an alarming bit of news that I found via his blog regarding the on going controversy of what constitutes ethical advertising for lawyers as defined by the New York's Administrative Board of Courts

Kevin writes:

"Lawyers' foolishness in clamping down on lawyer blogs has made its way to the tech community. Slashdot, a highly popular technology-related news website, shared the absurdity this evening.

An anonymous reader writes:

'While you might not guess it from watching late night TV, advertisements by lawyers are regulated by a web of regulations intended to protect potential clients from deceptive claims in such ads. Generally, these rules require lawyers to submit their ads to a review board, often with a filing fee paid with each new advertisement. The New York bar has proposed new rules which would define blogging as advertising. Should these rules be enacted, any New York lawyer who blogs on any legal topic in New York would be required to submit any new blog post to the New York Bar for review. For New York lawyers who write frequently updated blogs, this could force them to make multiple (and potentially expensive) reports to the New York Bar every single day.'

We've got to get with it guys. It's okay to run garbage ads on late night TV, on the side of busses, and on the walls behind urinals (yes, ads for dui lawyers), while we'll clamp down on lawyers providing helpful info via blogs. Defies common sense. But suppose that's how we got the reputation we have."

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My response is simple: I believe that there's an abundance of real lawyers in New York that can prevent this rule from being passed into effect if they care enough to fight it. Secondly, how can this trash be legal? Lastly, a post found on The Greatest American Lawyer pretty much sums the future of lawyering up, here's a quote:

"If you fall into this group of people who have a great excuse not to blog, you will soon be in the minority. It’s just a question of time. Look at the number of people using MySpace or Youtube Look at how many people are blogging, sharing their lives online. Remember that a blog started in many ways as an online journal. It was far more personal in nature. The concept of debating "blogging for business" has only come later in the game. There is a giant wave coming and building. The early adopters will be in a much better position to ride that wave."

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Rich in content, rich in results, rich in rewards for everyone. This is web2.0 - Law2.0 - Life2.0. Thanks to leaders like Kevin O'Keefe and countless others who are blogging (or 'blawging' however you want to describe it) the web is becoming a much more reliable and useful place. I propose that having a 'user certified' digital identity will soon be seen as a prerequisite for any lawyer truly seeking to maintain or establish credibility among their peers and countrymen and women.

Until next post may all your days be REAL and Meaningful!

Further Research:

• To learn more about LexBlog and Kevin O'Keefe visit http://www.lexblog.com
• New York lawyer Ray Beckerman's blog about the proposed new rules
• The Greatest American Lawyer Blog
• The Proposed New York Rules encase you missed it above
  

Technorati Tags: lawyer advertising, legal ethics, Law2.0, Real Lawyer, Kevin O'Keefe, LexBlog, blawg, authentic, democratic, marketing, New York court, rules, Greatest American Lawyer, EVOLVE or DIE

This Wave Is Yours

...but you gotta be willing to jump in and swim if you want to catch IT.

A few weeks ago I was linked in to an attorney blawger that I believe all solo practitioners and big firm lawyers should closely be paying attention to. His name is Charles "Chuck" Newton, he is a Texas lawyer, a father of four and husband to Jane who is also a lawyer.

Chuck does not maintain a traditional office that most consumers typically associate with law firms. He has no waiting rooms for clients to cool their heals, no reception area in which to be ignored, no meeting rooms for client visits, no file room in which to lose files, no law library, no messy private office for the firm’s attorneys to hide. There are no walls with licenses and diplomas hanging on them, no rec room to chat with staff over coffee and donuts, and his firm’s shingle hangs from no building. Go look in any phone book and you will not see a cheesy ad for Chuck's law firm. He answers his own phones, reads and responds to his own email, faxes and snail mail.

How does Chuck's law firm accomplish such a thing? Well IMHO, it looks like he gets things done because he doesn't need to rely heavily on anyone to do stuff for him, but instead utilizes the miracles of information technology:

• email
• Internet telephony
• Internet faxing
• electronic case filing
• Internet research
• blogging or blawging
  

There is virtually no person that cannot be reached, and no document that cannot be received or delivered, by phone, fax, email or snail mail. Chuck believes that staying connected allows him to tear down the barriers that keep him from his clients and their objectives.

Chuck is so on to IT that IT truly does radiate from his smile, just look at the picture of him below. This guy sees IT clear as day... He see's the future - NOW. He knows that we are all in the middle of a paradigm shift and he sees the beautiful future that is presenting itself for those willing to see IT.

"Think about what technology is all about.  It is about effortless collaboration and effective communication with those around you without the need for filters.  The whole purpose of technology in a Third Wave society is to knock down the structures that bind us, and to cut the levels of management and support help that hold us back.  In short, these technologies substantially improve what?  The productivity of all of those lawyers that become attuned to and use the new, cheap technologies." -Chuck Newton

We are indeed heading toward David Brin's transparent society of collaborative technologies. I'd like to believe that we are a culture of team work and a nation of unity, but lately there has been so much division. Who knows if it was policy or religion or just pure fear that caused us as a people to be broken asunder and segregated, but is it not apparent that we are all slowly but surely coming back together again? In a third wave world there are no walls and we are all the connector and the connection - Linking IN, teaching IT, and spreading IT all around the globe.

To learn more about Chuck or the Third Wave click on the respective links. Thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags: IT, Third wave, Transparency, Law2.0, Lawyer, Home Office, Solo Practice, Chuck Newton, Real Lawyer, Law Firm, Blawg, Legal Tech, Decentralization, Disintermediation, LinkedIn, GTD, DIY, SupportEyes

This Week In Law Episode #1

The This Week in Law podcast is out! Leo Laporte just posted the first episode to his blog tonight. Listen to it here.

I just listened to the show... It's an interesting first start. Excellent content yet the audio quality is some what poor and quite distracting.

Despite the technicalities, this podcast is so refreshing and definitely worth a listen. To have the opportunity to listen in on real lawyers gathering together for a conference call to discuss current day law and technology issues is a tremendous milestone for Law2.0 - I wish Denise and Leo all the success with TWiL and I look forward to listening to future episodes.

If TWiL turns out to be anything for Law that TWiT.tv was for technology, it will certainly be a jewel worth mining for. Denise Howell's other shows on the GigaVox Media Network are worth listening to as well.

Hosts: Denise Howell, Cathy Kirkman, Ernie Svenson, John Palfrey
Guest: Hank Barry

Technorati Tags: Law2.0, TWiL, Denise Howell, Ernie the attorney, Cathy Kirkman, John Palfrey, Hank Barry, Lawyer, IP, copyright law, Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons, Social network

Upgrade Update

Perry has a server and a new desktop, Monique (Perry's legal assistant) got her new machine, and Harriett now has a laptop. I'll keep the specification details short. Lets just say Perry called DELL and explained his goals. He requested the best value for his dollar and packages started showing up at the law firm. I'm relieved that the hardware is finally out of the way, now maybe we can start getting down to the business of blogging =)

Perry's first college room-mate, Dave Broeckleman of Strategic Network Consultants, has successfully got the Zivley Law Firm server up and running. Dave says he has been trying to get Perry away from using AOL and peer to peer networking for many years. Nevertheless, he was thrilled to be helping Perry with the hardware upgrade. He has now successfully migrated all of the Zivley Law Firm directories over to the server and has also set Perry up with a new e-mail address at his zivleylaw.com domain.

Perry is happy because he no longer has to wait 10 minutes each morning for his machine to boot up and he doesn't have to rely on a peer to peer network to manage his data. The days of the computer constantly being thrown into lethargic mode every time his paralegal needs to access a shared directory on his hard drive are finally over!

Now it's time to begin testing the real usability of this upgrade. As of now, Perry's filing system will not change that much, he typically nests his relative client files within their respective directories on his hard drive. Now he will just be storing all of that data on his server drives.

To better manage the wealth of knowledge living within each case that Perry handles, he hopes to soon be able to easily tag (add meta data) into every file that he or his paralegal creates -- word docs, spreadsheets, presentations, deposition transcripts, photos or videos. Each element of every case that the Zivley Law Firm handles will not only be redundantly backed up in to perpetuity but as it is being archived, the data base will be growing infinitely smarter. By each author having the capability to instantly wrap the content of a file with meaningful meta data a tremendous value will be packed in to any search query made on the firm database in the future. Tagging is a great way to share legacy information among colleagues at a law firm. I wonder how many law firms are guilty of inefficiently managing their knowledge bases?

Knowledge Management is a whole other topic worth exploring in a separate post so I'll save it for later. I just wanted to send out a quick update to catch everyone up on the happenings at the Zivley Firm. I realize it has been a while since the last time I published, and believe me I know all about consistency being key. So find it in your heart to forgive me and I'll do my best to have some engaging footage to publish again next week. On that note, I'll leave you with a short movie that I made in hopes of bringing you a little closer into the upgrade process over at the Zivley Law Firm. Until next time, may all your days be real and meaningful. Thanks for dropping by!