I am here at LegalTech in New York where I had an opportunity to meet yesterday with Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau, founders of Clio, the cloud-based practice management application. They had big news to share: Clio has raised $6 million in financing. This is the first major capital investment in any cloud-based practice management application, [...]
Starting Feb. 10, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction is offering a free, nine-week online course, Topics in Digital Law Practice, taught by a stellar faculty of well-known speakers:
This course is designed to provide an overview of the changes that are occurring in the practice of law today, especially with respect to technology. It will introduce law students for real-world situations that they will encounter in the job market and point law professors to new avenues to cover in their courses.
The course consists of nine weekly one-hour classes, delivered via webcast on Fridays at 2 p.m. ET. Each class will include a 30-minute lecture followed by a Q&A period. Designed for an audience of law students and law faculty, the course is open to anyone.
Read more at the course homepage or register here.
Here is the full schedule:
Week 1
Friday, February 10, 2012 2pm-3pm EST
The Virtual Law Office
Stephanie Kimbro
Attorney and Technology Consultant
www.virtuallawpractice.org
Twitter @stephkimbro
Week 2
Friday, February 17, 2012 2pm-3pm EST
Document Automation
Marc Lauritsen
Attorney and Document Automation Expert
http://www.capstonepractice.com/marc.htm
Twitter @marclauritsen
Week 3
Friday, February 24, 2012 2pm-3pm EST
Technology in the Courts
Guest Speaker TBD
Week 4
Friday, March 2, 2012 2pm-3pm EST
Unbundling Legal Service Delivery
Richard Granat
President of SmartLegalForms, Inc. and DirectLaw, Inc.
http://www.elawyeringredux.com/promo/about/
Twitter @rgranat
Week 5
Friday, March 9, 2012 2pm-3pm EST
Online Legal Forms in Legal Aid
Ronald W. Staudt
Professor of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
http://www.kentlaw.edu/faculty/rstaudt/
Week 6
Friday, March 16, 2012 2pm-3pm EDT
Contract Standardization
Kingsley Martin
President, kiiac.com, www.contractstandards.com/
Week 7
Friday, March 23, 2012 2pm-3pm EDT
Free Legal Research Tools
Sarah Glassmeyer
Director of Content Development / Law Librarian
CALI
http://sarahglassmeyer.com/
Twitter @sglassmeyer
Week 8
Friday, March 30, 2012 2pm-3pm EDT
Unauthorized Practice of Law in the 21st Century
William Hornsby
Staff Counsel at American Bar Association
Week 9
Friday, April 6, 2012 2pm-3pm EDT
Social Media for Lawyers
Ernest Svenson
Attorney at Law
www.ernietheattorney.net
Twitter @ernieattorney
Assembling a document from a template in Rocket Matter 2.0.
The Web-based practice management application Rocket Matter today released version 2.0 of its platform. The new version adds two notable features: document assembly and custom fields.
With this release, Rocket Matter becomes the only cloud-based practice management platform to integrate document assembly, according to Larry Port, the company’s co-founder and chief software architect.
The document assembly feature allows users to create templates for legal forms or other documents and then automatically merge client and matter data into a template to create a final document. As the user creates a document, Rocket Matter can also automatically create a billing entry.
The user creates the templates on his or her desktop, using Microsoft Word’s ability to create “merge fields.” Rocket Matter provides a guide for formatting these merge fields to work with its application. For those unfamiliar with using merge fields, Rocket Matter also provides links to guides that explain how to create and use them. As an example, to insert a client name in template, you’d use the fields: “«Client.Name»«Client.LastName»”.
Once you’ve created a template on your desktop, you upload it to Rocket Matter. As you upload it, the application checks it to ensure that you’ve properly formatted the merge fields. If there is an error, the application shows you which field contains the error. If you’ve set up all the fields properly, then the document is added to your template library, available to use for any client or matter.
Then, when you go to the dashboard for a matter within Rocket Matter, you see a new link, “Create from Template.” Click that to see a list of your available templates. Select a template and Rocket Matter automatically populates its fields with information such as party names, docket numbers, opposing counsel and the like. As it displays the final document, it shows the fields in a panel to the right. Click on any field in the panel to jump to that field in the document.
Custom Fields
With the addition of custom fields, Rocket Matter enables the user to customize these templates beyond the standard fields it already provides. Users can create an unlimited number of custom fields, both for matters and for contacts. And any custom field you create can become a merge field in a document template.
To create a custom field for a matter or contact, simply open the item. A portion of the screen is labeled “Data.” For a matter, this Data section includes the case number and county. For a contact, it includes date of birth, gender and Social Security number. Just below those data items are new horizontal columns with two headings, “Labels” and “Values.” Here is where you create a custom field. Click “add another” and simply fill in the label and value. For label, you might put “Secretary” and for value “John Jones.” You can also add custom fields when you create a new contact or matter.
As I’ve previously noted here, Rocket Matter is integrated with Dropbox, allowing you to automatically synchronize documents among Rocket Matter, your desktop and your mobile devices. More recently, the company announced its integration with Evernote. These integrations make the document assembly feature even more practical to use.
To see Rocket Matter’s Port demonstrate the new document assembly feature, view the video below.
A Preview of Rocket Matter 2.0: Document Assembly and Custom Fields from Rocket Matter on Vimeo.
A sample shown on the site
I happened across a website called MyPocketAttorney that says it will let lawyers build their own smartphone apps using templates designed for law offices and legal professionals. As of this morning, a notice on the site says, “Site Under Construction! Launch Date 1-20-2012.” Today being Jan. 20, we’ll see if it launches.
The site describes its service this way:
You can start building your app online using our custom templates. Your clients will appreciate the service as it allows them to contact you faster to access your latest promotions and services. In addition, you can make money between court cases and trips with the consulting fee pay option. You’ll also be able to retain your clients like never before with your app on their phone, respond quicker with a text, provide a monthly news letter and much more. Thus, making your business more efficient and with more clients.
Apps created through the site would let users call your office with one-touch dialing, get GPS directions to your office, and schedule appointments.
However, it seems that the developers of this site are not familiar with the rules of professional conduct that govern attorneys. They tout a feature of the app that would enable lawyers to pay users referral fees when users share the app with others. Here’s how the site describes this referral option:
“I saw a friend of mine using the app one day and got excited about having an attorney in my pocket. She referred me, received a $25 gift card for doing so, and I received a great service.” If you are an Attorney wanting to get your own mobile app for practice at a low-cost and hear your clients have a conversation like this one, sign up for a free account today.
Apart from the creepiness of the “attorney in my pocket” metaphor, this referral program strikes me as blatantly unethical for lawyers. As Roy Ginsburg wrote about referral fees just this week at AttorneyAt Work:
Most attorneys know they cannot share fees with non-lawyers. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, adopted by most states, are quite clear. Rule 5.4 (a) states that “a lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a non-lawyer.” Rule 7.2 (b) states that “a lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer’s services.” A referral fee is certainly something of value.
In fairness, MyPocketAttorney describes the referral program as optional, but it nevertheless suggests a lack of familiarity with the legal market. No wonder, given that the company already has “MyPocket” app-creation sites for some two-dozen other industries and topics, from MyPocketInsurance and MyPocketRealtor to MyPocketChurch and MyPocketFuneral.
The cost of one of these apps starts at $999 for the first year, after which you pay a monthly fee, according to information posted on the site.
The Library of Congress unveiled a new app yesterday designed to let you read the Congressional Record on an iPad. Called simply The Congressional Record, the purpose of the new app, as In Custodia Legis reports, “is straightforward — easily read the daily edition of the Congressional Record on your iPad (and maybe save a few trees in the process).”
According to the description, the app lets you:
Read more about the app here.
The Legal Services Corporation’s Technology Initiative Grants program held its annual conference last week in Albuquerque. I wasn’t there, but I wish I had been. The conference focused on exploring innovative ways of using technology to promote full access and high-quality legal representation for low-income people. Read the program book to get a taste of what was covered.
One clever idea introduced there was iProBono, an iPhone app that allows attorneys to review and sign-up for pro bono cases. The app is being developed for the Arkansas Legal Services Partnership. The developers’ site indicates they would develop the app for other states.
The app will let Arkansas lawyers view a list of current pro bono cases, and search and filter the cases by topic, location and other parameters. Lawyers will be able to accept cases directly through the app, after which the app will show a list of their active and completed cases.
It appears the app has not yet been released, since I can’t find it in the iTunes store. The Arkansas Legal Services Partnership site describes it as “soon to be available.”
Will a pro bono app cause more lawyers to take these cases? Probably not. But it will make it easier for those who are willing. In any event, it’s a good example of how even small-scale technology innovations can help make legal services more broadly available.
I don’t understand why lawyers think denigrating themselves and the profession is an effective marketing tool. Like the Nilan Johnson video I wrote about before, here is an attempt at humor that fails miserably. Lawyer as shakedown bully? Is that really the image this guy wants to present? I guess so, given this video and his URL of bullylawyer.com.
A new mobile app introduced this week by the New York State Bar Association lets lawyers search and access ethics opinions from their mobile phones. The NYSBA Mobile Ethics App includes the state bar’s catalog of more than 900 legal ethics opinions, dating back to 1964.
The app allows users to search for an opinion by keyword, retrieve it by opinion number, or browse a list of categories such as “attorney advertising,” “concurrent representation” and “non-refundable retainer.” Results show both a digest of the opinion and its full text. It can notify you when new opinions are added.
The free app is available for iPhones, iPads, Android phones and BlackBerrys.
I have a post about this at the ABA Techshow blog: Five Tips for Starting Your Own Blog.
I am very proud to report that I have been nominated for election as vice president of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the state’s premiere legal charity devoted to ensuring equal access to the legal system and to improving the administration of justice. The election for 2012 officers will take place at the MBF’s annual meeting Jan. 25.
Also nominated as MBF officers this year are:
The highlight of the annual meeting will be the presentation of the MBF’s Great Friend of Justice Award to U.S. District Judge William G. Young.
