bruceb news

Noted science fiction author and Boing Boing curator Cory Doctorow delivered an important speech last month in London, explaining why attempts by copyright owners to lock down computers and web sites inevitably lead to surveillance and censorship, and how the copyright battles presage bigger fights to come over the very future of general-purpose computers. It’s fascinating and convincing – a must-read for anyone interested in the policy arguments about copyrights, Internet freedom, and how poor decisions now might affect us later. It’s been posted as an article here and deserves to be read and discussed and shared.

We don’t know how to build a general-purpose computer that is capable of running any program except for some programs that we don’t like, are prohibited by law, or which loses us money.

[…] continued

Previously:
Law Firms In The Cloud: Credenza
Law Firms In The Cloud: Rocket Matter

Until now very small law firms have seldom used a true document management system, but even the smallest firm is starting to feel pressured to consider one to deal with an ever-increasing number of files. NetDocuments has the forward-facing features that put it at the top of the list of document management systems to consider.

It’s easy to start out with nothing but a moderately well-organized filing system – folders named after clients, files named more or less according to a system, and drafts emailed from person to person. […] continued

Rocket Matter is one of the most likable online services for small law offices. It handles case management, timekeeping, and billing in clean, well-designed screens presented in a web browser, with all data stored online. Take a few minutes and sign up for a demo! It’s an easy, pleasant way to get an idea of how an online program can take over functions that have traditionally been done by programs installed on your local computer. I watched a demo last week and came away with warm fuzzy feelings – nice people offering a nice product.

I’m not going to describe all the features – the Rocket Matter web site does that better than I can. […] continued

Small law offices have had few appealing options for case management and billing in the last few years. The only choices have been old warhorses that are showing their age badly, with interfaces that were obviously designed decades ago, and in some cases running on databases that are long obsolete. Amicus, Time Matters, Abacus, Timeslips, and the rest – quirky, tired, buggy (despite their decades of development), and increasingly unable to cope with new operating systems and new versions of other office software.

The landscape is finally changing. I’m going to call attention to several new programs and services for law firms and small businesses that look just grand. […] continued

There is a fascinating and informative series of articles by a lawyer and former federal prosecutor about his efforts to unearth information about a scammer who sent a phony “invoice” to his firm. It’s a well-known and simple scam – send something that looks like an invoice for a service that was never ordered or delivered, hoping that it will get paid by someone who doesn’t notice that it’s phony. I used to see variations on this for domain registration scams.

The author describes the series this way:

I’ve decided to dedicate some time and money to investigating this scam and the people and companies responsible for it.

[…] continued

The rules for online marketing change every day. Something simple, like having a web site that ranks high in Google’s search results, is turning into something barely comprehensible as search results become more individual, influenced by each person’s search history and social networks and Likes and +1s. Search engine optimization has become a dark art, complex beyond belief, far more than just sprinkling a handful of metatags into your web site header. Some of the companies offering to help you rise in the search rankings are scam artists; others provide valuable services that you could not duplicate yourself. It’s not easy to tell them apart. […] continued

Previously:
The Problem Of Saving Email

Inspired by Small City Law Firm Tech
Saving Email – It’s Just the Right Thing To Do (Outlook – All Versions)
Simply the Best, Better than All the Rest – Saving Email in an Acrobat Pro Package

Email can be gathered on an ongoing basis into a single PDF file for each case. If a law firm or business puts together a system to save email regularly and convinces everyone to use it, the result is an up to date collection of all the communications relating to a case or project, gathered into a single file that is searchable and sortable, stored with the other related documents and scans for that case. […] continued

Inspired by Small City Law Firm Tech
Saving Email – It’s Just the Right Thing To Do (Outlook – All Versions)
Simply the Best, Better than All the Rest – Saving Email in an Acrobat Pro Package

There is no easy way to gather all of the emails related to a case from all the mailboxes in a small law firm. I have studied this problem endlessly and there is no magic answer. I’m going to suggest one very appealing possibility, though, courtesy of the lovely Vivian Manning, who gave me an “Ah hah!” moment last week.

It is the holy grail for law offices, or small businesses of any kind: gathering all the information about a case or project in a single folder on the server, all the documents and scanned mail and email messages, so anyone can come up to speed on all documents and communication in a single place. […] continued

Previously:
Searching All Mail In Outlook
Search Tools In Outlook 2010

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Vivian Manning, IT Manager at Ontario law firm Burgar Rowe. In her blog, Small City Law Firm Tech, she’s writing articles stuffed with practical information about the programs you use every day – for anyone using a computer to get a job done, not just for lawyers. You should have it in your RSS reader or Favorites list!

Vivian is currently writing a series of articles about how to manage Outlook more effectively – an overview yesterday, and a lavishly illustrated article today about how to use Outlook Search Folders. […] continued

Previously:
The Sad State Of Law Office Software
Law Office Case Management In The Cloud
Advologix Practice Management
Postscript On Cloud Computing
Everything You Want To Know About Cloud Computing

Attorneys are working from home and using notebooks on the road. They’re buying iPads for the briefcase and carrying iPhones and Android phones everywhere. They already expect access to their mail and calendar on all of those devices, all the time. Increasingly, they want access to their files everywhere. And the next step is easy to predict: attorneys will demand access to their case management information on whatever device is closest to hand – not just their office computer – and they won’t tolerate any confusion or fuss. […] continued