Articles Posted in August, 2014

Eloquent remembrances about Browning Marean have been written by those who knew him well. See the posts by Craig Ball, Tom O'Connor, Chris Dale, John Tredennick, Ralph Losey, Monica Bay and Josh Gilliland. These folks built friendships with him over many years, traveled to conferences with him, sat on panels with him, shared meals with him,…

The University of Massachusetts School of Law has launched what it is calling an incubator designed to help new lawyers start their careers while serving modest-income clients who might not otherwise afford a lawyer. Justice Bridge is described as a legal access center and law practice incubator that will help enable new lawyers to deliver high-quality, affordable legal services to clients of modest means.

At the ILTA annual conference in Nashville today, Microsoft Corp. announced the release of a preview version of a new document management and collaboration platform designed for law firms and legal departments. Called Matter Center for Office 365, it works with Office 365 and allows legal professionals to securely find, organize and collaborate on files within the familiar Office environment.

I recently reported here about the ABA Journal’s Hackcess to Justice, the first-ever hackathon held during an ABA annual meeting. First prize went to William Palin, a Massachusetts lawyer. Over the course of the two-day event, he created PaperHealth, an iOS app that provides a quick and easy way to create a legally binding health care proxy or a non-binding living will on an iPhone or iPad. As it turns out, Palin had previously created another legal app, PaperWork. Developed for use by family law attorneys in Massachusetts, PaperWork allows users to create PDF…

In two posts last year, I wrote about Box, the file sharing and collaboration platform, making a push into the legal industry through integrations with several mobile and web legal platforms (here and here). Today, two weeks before its major BoxWorks2014 user conference in San Francisco and just a few days before the International Legal Technology Association conference in Nashville, the company announced major new clients in the legal field and new law-related partnerships and integrations.

It is estimated that all the programs and resources devoted to ensuring access to justice address only 20 percent of the civil legal needs of low-income people in the United States. And with dwindling funding due to decreases in IOLTA and other funding sources, the problem is only growing worse. Given this situation, technology is…

The cloud-based practice management platform Rocket Matter has announced that it now allows integration with Outlook email. By installing a plugin in Outlook, users can associate a Rocket Matter case and billable time or costs with an email directly within Outlook. If an email has an attachment, the attachment will automatically be uploaded to Rocket Matter and be accessible through its web interface.

Some interesting and helpful idea came out of #hackcesstojustice. No, it hasn't cured cancer, but small steps help too. @ABAJournal — Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) August 8, 2014

If you have any doubt as to the success of the ABA Journal's Hackcess to Justice event on Thursday and Friday, consider this: Even Scott Greenfield said nice things about it. The first-ever hackathon held during an ABA annual meeting, the event was a competition in which teams were given two days to develop technology that could help expand access to justice for those unable to afford…

I am thrilled to be serving as moderator this Saturday for ABA annual meeting program, “On The Docket: The 2013 Supreme Court Term.” A panel of distinguished Supreme Court experts will look back at the recently completed term and also preview the notable cases accepted for the coming term. The panelists are:…

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Whenever there is a conversation about using technology to enhance access to justice for the poor, there is sure to be talk of A2J Author. Developed almost 10 years ago by the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction and the Center for Access to Justice and Technology at IIT Chicago-Kent…