Digital Tricks Every Lawyer Should Know
Updated: Efficiency, organization and ways to save money (Hint: Stop buying toner and paper!) were the top aims of panelists Andy Adkins, Michael Morse and Nerino Petro at the popular ABA Techshow session on Tuesday titled 60 Tips in 60 Minutes.
The full list of 60 tips will be posted online at the ABA Techshow site by the end of April, but here are a few of our favorite apps and suggestions included in the program:
Penultimate: An electronic legal pad app for iPad.
WebmasterCoffee: This free program analyzes your website and gives feedback on ways to improve it.
PasswordSafe: Trouble remembering the hundreds of passwords you own? This app allows users to create and save a secured and encrptyed user name/password list.
SignMyPad: Clients and others can sign documents and fill out .pdfs right on an iPad, Eliminates paper copies and allows docs to be emailed and electronically stored immediately.
eFax: Send and receive emails as faxes. This app saves on paper and toner, plus no busy signals or extra phone lines needed.
Create an electronic copy of your signature. This digital component is necessary to validate electronic documents and email faxes.
Abandon legal disclaimers at the bottom of emails. This is so 1997 and by the time the recipient has seen it, they’ve already read the email. Besides, they don’t hold legal value and are annoying to read on a Blackberry.
Rediscover the subject line in your emails. Expand it out and be specific.
Get your own Internet domain name and email address. Gmail, Yahoo and other commercial email accounts scream unsophistication.
Don’t nickel and dime clients! It just irritates them. Bill for significant legal work but don’t charge every individual item or expense. Small charges should be built into hourly rates or assessed with a single overhead charge. Also, every once in awhile, show a no-charge.
Also see:
ABAJournal.com: “ABA Techshow Presentations with Tips, Sites for Lawyers Are Online”
Last updated at 9:55 a.m. to remove “60” from the headline and to note that the full list of digital tricks will be available by the end of the month.
