Real Lawyer News: Meaningful Law & Technology News™

The Zivley Law Firm is Officially BLOGGING!

A major milestone in the Zivley Law Firm technology upgrade has occurred today - Perry Zivley published his first blog post!

When you have a moment, click on over to The Zivley Blog and show Perry what it feels like to receive comments.

The Photo above is featuring Craig Whitley of Texas Website Designs showing Perry how easy it is to publish a blog post using the WordPress platform.

Today was a great day =)



Technorati Tags: WordPress, blawg, posting, starting a blog, getting started, how to, blog training, blog academy, law firm, lawyer blogger, perry zivley, Craig Whitley, Real Lawyer

Going Paperless - Painlessly...

This weekend has been bizzy-bizzy over at the Zivley Law Firm. We have been migrating all of the firm's hard files over to a perfectly organized digital file system on the server.

The new copy/fax/scanner that Perry received last week is truly a jewel. The great folks over at Canon were a tremendous help to Perry when it came to choosing the right solution for achieving his paperless office goal.

Perry went with the ImageRUNNER 2270 model, which is loaded with all the good stuff and has a really 'user friendly' operator's interface. (I've been using it non-stop this whole weekend - it really is a workhorse that is easy to steer.)

It may sound dreadful but going paperless is really the only way to operate these days. Now Perry will have the ability to access any client file instantly from his network of devices. This means when he needs to e-mail any piece of paper it will be ready on his server for instant reviewal, editing and sending.

Monique (Perry's Legal Assistant) will be responsible for scanning all incoming mail, and deliveries into the system as PDF's. What is really cool about the Canon machine is that there's an option to setup paths that allow for the scanned data to be directed where ever the operator needs it to go. This can include any storage port in the network, i.e. work station hard drive, server hard drive and e-mail inbox's. With this system in place all Perry has to do is check his e-mail to review the daily mail when he is out of the office.

Going paperless really is less pain than one might expect. Sure the initial convergence of the hard files into digital is a challenge and does require a certain degree of patience and equipment, but with the right team and game plan in place a transition like this really is a piece of cake.

The copy/fax/scanner also has an option to set-up client ID#'s which will help Perry better track and capture the real-time copy/fax/scan usage per case file. By The Zivley Law Firm handling all of it's own document reproduction in house, they will no longer need to send out small jobs to 3rd party copy houses but instead be able to offer this service at a much more reasonable rate to his clients.

Perry's case monitoring and day to day work flow is already becoming much more efficient. Just in the first week of using the machine, Perry has cleared the little mountains of paper that were once piled in A.D.D stacks all over his desk. Now having all of his files scanned into a central repository and neatly filed with logical file names, Perry will have instant access to important data in seconds. No more frantic searches and he can even work from home if he needs to.

All in all, I'd say the decision to go paperless has been a major feat of achievement for the Zivley Law Firm; probably the best decision the firm has made all year. Now all we need to do is get the Zivley blog set up for Perry and Harriett to start publishing to. Once that occurs, the entire landscape of the Zivley Law Firm will be entering a whole new dimension - Let's see if blogging will be as painless?... as going paperless.


Technorati Tags: paperless, canon, imagerunner, lawyer, blawg, zivley, law firm,

Do Real Lawyers Still Need a 1.0 Website if They Have a 2.0 Blog?

For anyone who has followed Real Lawyer News since its conception in September you may be wondering what has been going on with the Zivley Law Firm's technology transition.

Even if you're not wondering - I received an e-mail this morning from Massachusetts' infamous media and technology lawyer  Bob Ambrogi over at LawSites which has prompted me to write the following post.

Ambrogi Asks:

"What's happened with your experiment with the Zivley's? Can't tell from your blog whatever came of it."

-- Bob Ambrogi

Thanks for your inquiry Mr. Ambrogi.

From the outside The Zivley Project may appear to be on slow M..O..T..I..O..N… but from the perspective of the halls within The Law Office of Perry Zivley everything is really coming together faster than they expected.

Thanks to Craig Whitley over at Texas Web Designs, the primary landing site for ZivleyLaw.com is nearing its final stages of development.

To give you a preview Perry has decided to go ahead with the 'beta' launch of The Zivley Law Firm website. Click on the link to take a look, but please keep in mind that he is still adding a few multi-media elements like clips from deposition videos as well as a couple of other articles that he's authored and various other points of interest.

You can also find a section on the new Zivley Law website in the top navigation bar, under the "media" tab directing readers to the Zivley Blog.

Although The Zivley's venture into the blawgosphere has still consisted primarily of reading blogs, please do bare with them. They are both very excited about publishing their blog and are really looking forward to interacting with the community and fellow blawgonauts.

I know it has seem somewhat silent around here lately... but rest assured, I am working on a few interesting posts for the future - just been getting all of my pixels down the right paths.

I'd like to thank all of you who have subscribed to Real Lawyer News and who have linked or told people about my blog. I enjoy reading all of your blogs and watching the wonderful conversations that blossom around them.

Until next post, may all of your conversations be real and meaningful!




Technorati Tags: Perry Zivley, Real Lawyer, blawg, Bob Ambrogi, transparency, Craig Whitley, web development, lawyer, law firm