Legal technology tools abound; however, no single application satisfies all parties. Law firms, corporate legal and government agencies are continually seeking tools to deliver richer, more dynamic intelligent environments for users within their workflow.
A major “need” is customizing these applications and tailoring specific content to align with a practice group, division or department. Through true personalized integration, legal practitioners can focus on the task at hand rather than tinkering with the tool.
Thomson Reuters has a growing list of legal products with Web parts, which provide pointed, personalized information integration in a portal, while deeper levels of true customization of our products and services also exist. Ultimately, the key is for developers to foster innovative, flexible solutions to correspond with ever-evolving user workflow.
I’ve written the following white paper, West Points of Customization Integration, to explain how you can use current Web parts and other customized integration to best position your legal department for success.
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
Company Current | Voices |
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For a seemingly innocuous 140 characters, Twitter continues to rouse evocative legal discourse.
The newest twist for Twitter has judges grappling with the question of what place, if any, Twitter has in the courtroom. According to a recent article in Time, the United States Supreme Court has yet to rule on Twitter’s use in the courtroom. The lower courts are divided about its role; some tolerate tweets by attorneys during criminal proceedings, while others forbid such activity altogether.
Helping to further spark the discussion, recently there was much hubbub about the comedian Steve Martin (@SteveMartinToGo) who, while on jury duty, was tweeting about his experiences. He quipped multiple times, tweeting:
REPORT FROM JURY DUTY: Lunch break. Discussing case with news media gives me chance to promote my book.
REPORT FROM JURY DUDY [sic]: Defendant running for exit. Not to escape, but out of disgust. Judge wearing NOTHING under his robes. We are adjourned until tomorrow.
FINAL REPORT FROM JURY DUTY: Defendant sentenced to death. Feeling bad. Wait…call from REAL JURORS OF BEVERLY HILLS. WORTH IT!
Technology, like Twitter use in the courtroom, poses an interesting dilemma. It is a debate as aged as the legal system itself, which is directed at openness, fairness, and access to the justice system. How unrestricted do we want our legal system to be? What information is appropriate to be disclosed to the mass public?
Looking at the Founding Fathers for guidance on the breadth of access to public information, perhaps we have a glimpse into their intent. The hallowed Independence Hall in Philadelphia originally had been built on the belief that there must be open trials, and as such, no doors were placed on the courtroom. Therefore, is it not plausible to argue that the use of Twitter in courts is consistent with the free flow of information our forefathers had intended in our “open” court system? What do you think?
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
Company Current | In the News | Uncategorized |
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The world of ever evolving social media can be legally and technologically confining for companies. ALM hosted an event last week titled “Social Media: Risks and Rewards” at the Harvard Club in New York City.
The stage was set for the daylong conference by the keynote, Joel Reidenberg, Professor of Law and Director at Fordham University School of Law. He focused on the impact of social media from a user and business perspective delving into a website’s terms of service, privacy policy and technology.
The lively discussion began with a poll of the audience. Of the nearly one hundred senior level counsels in attendance, two had read the terms of service and five the privacy policy of LinkedIn. Simply stated, most consumers do not look at the terms of a web site. Increasingly alarming, as Facebook learned, social media sites tend to be unaware of what their “app” vendors are doing.
Blending this issue with social media name squatting, underutilized technology to aid awareness of policies, and an under educated social media public, attorneys are finding it an arduous task to craft appropriate policies.
Reidenberg makes several technological and policy recommendations: (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
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What would the father of project management, Henry Gantt, say today?
Having increased its scope to nearly every industry, from civil engineering to defense and software development; project management has rarely delivered at law firms.
Until now. The landscape and technology has transformed enough such that project management can and will thrive at law firms.
The practice is creeping, yet some scoff. While recently visiting a mega firm in Washington, D.C. they admitted to being in the midst of a five year plan to fully adopt and integrate project management within the organization. They say it is an iterative process, but they are very encouraged thus far.
This direction is due to the demand by clients for alternative fee arrangements. Now their office is abuzz with terms like scope creep, Agile, and Gantt charts. This is intriguing because multiple conversations with third to seventh year associates at various large firms confirms one thing, we are still in the evolving phase of understanding. There is a temporary disconnect between some attorneys and what is just ahead. Nearly every associate balked at the idea that a project manager utilizing technology tools like Microsoft Project will be a part of their existence.
However, that said, increasingly I see management paring out positions for project managers and instilling the processes. These two will align soon.
As a project manager for full life cycle development for many years and consulting to law firms in technology now, these processes making sense in medium and large law firms for the following reasons: (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Business | Law firm business |
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Lawyers are mired in the enormity of eDiscovery materials.
Enter into the quagmire social media, which in part, encompasses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn creating a massive flood of discoverable data.
At Virtual LegalTech on Sept. 23, Michael E. Lackey, Jr., partner at Mayer Brown; Jack Halprin, vice president of eDiscovery and Compliance at Autonomy; and the Hon. David J. Waxse of the U.S. District Court District of Kansas, dove into various topics surrounding social media and eDiscovery.
Some of the issues they explored included; if social media is discoverable, how to handle it, and the challenges of social media. (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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Editor’s note: Guest blogger Joe Raczynski, an applications integrator for Thomson Reuters, Legal, also is a technology evangelist who specializes in social media and portal technology. In addition, he has been a consultant in Web and wireless development.
Enterprise 2.0, collaborative-based applications, solve inefficiencies caused by the inability to locate accurate information. This session at ILTA discussed why intranets do not suffice, single silo search is dying, and what is necessary to advance the firm’s productivity.
Across the board, law firms are realizing that an increase in transparency nets far greater productivity, and in-turn, profit. This knowledge sharing facilitates collaboration and reduces the time that attorneys spend searching for content. Enterprise 2.0 is at the very center of this movement.
Enterprise 2.0 tools: (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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Editor’s note: Guest blogger Joe Raczynski, an applications integrator for Thomson Reuters, Legal, also is a technology evangelist who specializes in social media and portal technology. In addition, he has been a consultant in Web and wireless development.
Recently some select firms have forgone the necessity to prove return on investment (ROI), for KM, portal and Enterprise 2.0. However for the vast majority, ROI justification remains a constant. In this session at the 2010 ILTA Conference, the panel examined the basics of metrics, how to measure productivity rather than busyness, how to measure engagement and concrete ways to measure portal and Enterprise 2.0 applications.
As a baseline understanding for this discussion, metrics are numbers to gauge progress, i.e. a quantifiable means to measure if there is a move from one point to another. Firms engage in this activity to evaluate success and decide what to fund.
Simply stated they create these objectives to see if they are materially advancing the goals of the organization. (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
Comments (3) |
Editor’s note: Guest blogger Joe Raczynski, an applications integrator for Thomson Reuters, Legal, also is a technology evangelist who specializes in social media and portal technology. In addition, he has been a consultant in Web and wireless development.
Today at the typical law firm the onslaught of various mobile devices abound. The firm is now confronted with requests to support a fractious market of iPhones, the BlackBerry and Androids. Not only must they deal with devices, they also grapple with various platforms and specific applications. This hodge-podge environment of disparate devices can be a major challenge. This session at the 2010 ILTA Conference explored how firms deal with mobile devices and policy.
Firms have taken three approaches to mobile device management: (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
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Editor’s note: Guest blogger Joe Raczynski, an applications integrator for Thomson Reuters, Legal, also is a technology evangelist who specializes in social media and portal technology. In addition, he has been a consultant in Web and wireless development.
As social media has ballooned in popularity and use, law firms have had to wrestle with the myriad of implications on the organization. Staff and attorneys who increasingly use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can cause serious issues for the firm. This session at the 2010 ILTA Conference focused around the various aspects of a firm developing a social media policy.
Here are some important points to consider when crafting your social media policy: (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
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Editor’s note: Guest blogger Joe Raczynski, an Applications Integrator for Thomson Reuters, Legal, also is a technology evangelist who specializes in social media and portal technology. In addition, he has been a consultant in Web and wireless development.
Massive collections of information are inundating law firms. With multiple points of integration, interfaces, and varying disciplines this further muddies the waters. This session at ILTA answered questions relating the issues of organizing and managing content across all firm repositories to reduce silos, improve data quality, facilitate KM and ensure full and accurate firm records.
The goal of most firms now is to devise an ECM (Enterprise Content Management) system which includes connecting all of the following silos of information: email, DMS, KM system, records management system and others. (more…)
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
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The U.S. Constitution is one of the most powerful and impactful documents in existence. It literally touches every American’s life, and has since its creation in 1787. Recently, I had the opportunity to view the document first-hand as part of a new exhibit, “We the People: The First Official Printing of the U.S. Constitution,” sponsored [...]
Earlier this week, we released our 2011 Annual Report in an interactive format available online at thomsonreuters.com. Along with information on the company’s financial performance as well as business unit overviews, this year’s annual report contains a variety of dynamic content including interviews with our new business leaders as well as stories of how we [...]
We’ve got a great episode for you this month, kicking off with our “Chaos in the Courts” segment that, believe it or not, is yet another story about the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas. Since our March podcast, another person has fallen victim to the establishment’s trademark bypass burger.
Then in our “On the Blawgs” [...]
