REFLECTIONS ON MY TECHNOLAWYER NEWSWIRE TENURE
By Dennis Kennedy
Neil and I had a long conversation at ABA TECHSHOW 2006. At one point, I mentioned that I liked the TechnoLawyer Newswire newsletter because it alerted me to new products. I also mentioned that I was feeling out of touch on new products and releases in legal technology. It seemed too difficult to keep up with all of the developments.
Neil floated a trial balloon about me writing TechnoLawyer NewsWire. It intrigued me, both as a way to learn about new legal tech products and as a way to develop the discipline to write pieces that were roughly 300 words in length. At the time, I often got jabs about my rather lengthy blog posts.
Neil got back to me and we worked out the details. My main demand was that Neil come up with the titles for the pieces, which he did a great job with, although occasionally I'd suggest a title that made it through the editing process. For more than a year, I wrote the TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter, getting introduced to many new products and the people behind a good number of them. It was a pleasure to work with Sara Skiff and Neil on this.
By my count, the result was more than 150 descriptive essays about a wide variety of technology products and services that could be useful to lawyers. These are not reviews, even though some people mistakenly think of them in those terms. They are descriptions of the products and services, with an eye for how they might benefit lawyers and my perspective on what features are important, distinctive, or just plain attractive.
Because of other commitments and my decision to take over the technology column for the ABA Journal starting later this year, I've decided to step away from writing TechnoLawyer Newswire, with mixed emotions. It was great fun, I learned a lot about cool products and services, and I believe that some of you will have noticed that my blog posts have become more concise.
I've been pleased with the response from readers and, especially, from the companies about whose products I wrote. It's nice to have someone say that I captured the essence of their offering or described the features and benefits as they always wished they could have. It's also great to have people tell me that a product I wrote about filled long-standing needs they had in their practices.
MY TOP TEN HOT PRODUCTS AND FAVORITE ARTICLE
Neil invited me to write a farewell article, waiving the 300-word guideline, as he knew he must. He also suggested that I highlight my favorites of the products I wrote about in TechnoLawyer NewsWire. It was tough to pare down the list, but here are ten of my favorites:
1. Drobo
Drobo is a "storage robot" that simplifies backup and expands your storage capacity. Although I haven't bought one yet, it's on my "to be purchased" list.
2. ClearSync SE
Writing TechnoLawyer NewsWire really did get me interested in storage and backup options, especially the online storage tools. ClearSync SE is an inexpensive backup tool that also made it onto my personal purchase list. Other products/services in this category included Backup4All, Mozy, MyOtherDrive, and several others. As a recent electrical outage again reminded me, backup, online storage, and disaster recovery should be front-and-center for every lawyer.
I like this category of services and we covered plenty of them in TechnoLawyer NewsWire. Web 2.0 refers to online "applets" that work in ways that turn the Internet into an interactive applications platform, not just a set of traditional Web pages. ClipMarks, LibraryThing, Google Analytics, scanR, and iPolipo were good examples of this category.
4. New Versions Of Great Legal Programs
I liked writing about the new features in some of my favorite legal programs, like CaseMap, TimeMap, CaseLogistix, and Workshare.
5. Small Paradigm Changers
I love small products and services that can have a huge impact, if properly understood and deployed. Looking over the list, I see a lot of these. AIRTIME Manager, FreshBooks, and RealDealDocs are a few examples.
6. Appliances
Technology in a box. Keep it simple. Examples include the Teneros Continuity Appliance, Cricket Box, and the Inboxer Anti-Risk Appliance.
7. Back Office Tools and Utilities
I wrote about a good number of tools that would make sense in medium to large law offices to handle infrastructure issues, such as Up.time, Symantec Enterprise Vault, Spiceworks IT Desktop, UltraVNC, and Whitehill BPI for Legal.
8. Electronic Discovery and Litigation Tools
Lawyers are working very hard to postpone the day of reckoning on electronic discovery, but the bell will toll soon. We covered a good number of EDD tools, but I was especially impressed with what my friend John Tredennick is doing with Catalyst CR 6.0.
9. MyVu
Neil and Sara occasionally put hardware items on the list. My favorite of these was MyVu, the glasses with built-in virtual monitors so you can listen to and view videos from your video iPod. I haven't tried them, but I suspect they give us a glimpse into the post-Bluetooth earpiece future.
10. PDF Tools
If you watch the TV show "Monk," you'll know that it's all but impossible to have a list with nine items. You need ten for completeness. The only time I complained a bit to Neil was when he gave me several products in the same category for an issue. There's a limit to how creative I can be. I mean, I really like online time and billing services, but there aren't a lot of different ways to describe them. Over the course of writing TechnoLawyer NewsWire, at least seven products had "PDF" in their titles, and at least as many more either created PDFs or had some features that managed PDFs. It was hard to come up with fresh things to say, but PDFs are essential for lawyers and, if you don't use Adobe Acrobat, you need to be aware that there are tons of excellent, inexpensive alternatives.
Bonus: My Favorite Article
Not much of a contest here. I really liked the lawyer's quick guide to Microsoft Office 2007 I wrote in January. It was fun to write, summarized the main features of Office 2007, and gave a realistic framework for lawyers moving to Office 2007.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
It has been fun, as always, to be associated with TechnoLawyer. I thank Neil and Sara and everyone who has read TechnoLawyer NewsWire, especially those who gave me their feedback. It's a useful service for anyone who wants to keep up with developments in legal technology products and services and I know that I'll remain an avid reader. My best wishes to all.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: THE BEAT GOES ON
I would like to thank Dennis for his excellent stewardship of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, and wish him continued success at the ABA Journal. This summer, TechnoLawyer NewsWire celebrated its seventh birthday in its current form. Over this span, it has had five bylines, including Dennis.
Next Wednesday, the beat goes on with a new byline, and shortly thereafter some significant changes to further improve our reporting of hot new products and services of interest to legal professionals like you. Please don't miss a word, especially since every word is free. You can subscribe here. — Neil J. Squillante
