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article LEGAL AGE IN NEW YORK STATE

The Tech Savvy Lawyer : Collaboration Technolgies for Legal Firms

The Legal Industry & Informationeverybody is. Â
TechnologyRemote Conferencing - Sometimes the
Like all other industries, the legalability to collaborate on a document may
industry is not insulated from thenot suffice and actual discussion and
tremendous changes in informationknocking together of heads might be
technology over the past decade, and theneeded. Web conferencing allows multiple
challenges and opportunities itpeople to get together in a virtual
presents. If anything, the changes havemeeting room and discuss issues as
more bearing on law firms & departmentseffectively as being there in person.
because information management is at theSecurity - A lot of the information a
core of what they do - consulting withlegal firm handles is highly sensitive
clients, colleagues or experts;client information, which it is bound my
increasing compliance & regulationbusiness ethics and contracts to
demands, wading through a constantlyprotect. Since this information is
expanding sea of legislation and casemostly accessed and distributed over the
law; managing outsourcing partners;public network of internet, and often
keeping abreast with latestdistributed to third parties at some
developments; or managing a mountain ofpage, security is right at the top as a
matter files.concern. Â
Recent TrendsAccess Control - Another level of
Perhaps the most significant change insecurity is the ability to manage who
the legal services industry the declinesees what information and what they can
of "relationship lawyering".do with it. Since multiple parties like
Recent times have seen increasedattorneys and associates across the
competition, & changes in underlyingcompany, outsourcing partners, and
market structure. There has been amultiple clients access information from
continuing trend of decline ofthe firm's central storage this is of
"relationship lawyering". Traditionallyprime importance. Â
strong relationships between law firmsProductivity Applications - Although
and corporates are eroding, with moremanaging documents and information is
companies opting for in-house legalone of the most important things a law
departments, or "shopping around" forfirms IT systems need to do, it is not
the best deal. Another significant trendall. They also need the ability to
is the increasing convergence of legalmanage and share schedules, to maintain
markets, where competition is as likelylists of important contacts, to manage
to come from a firm in another state orand track different tasks and
overseas as from a local firm. These &litigations teams or individual
other developments are exerting greaterattorneys may be involved with, or
pressures on legal firms to be morebilling management. Â
efficient, an it is imperative thatWhat They Don't Need
attorneys spend their time analyzing41% of lawyers had no IT staff at any
information, rather than organizing orlocations for their firm, while 17% have
managing it.Âone person, 8% have two, and 38% have
Drivers of Technology Adoption by Legalthree or moreÂ
FirmsABA Law Tech Report 2006
Possibilities of Technology - TheIT Hassles - If getting all the above
primary driver of greater use ofgoodies requires setting up a
information technology by legal firms isspecialized IT department, installing
developments in technology itself. Newexpensive hardware, and managing ongoing
technologies & greater bandwidths allowmaintenance and upgrades, it might just
great possibilities in the arenas ofnot be worth it for a small to mid sized
information management, productivity andlaw firm. Bigger firms have the deep
remote collaboration. Information can bepockets and incentive to set up
moved over the internet with greaterdedicated systems, but it might not be
security. And unlike yesteryear, lawsustainable for smaller firms. Â
firms can access these technologiesComplexity - To ensure that attorneys
without hefty costs and the need to setembrace the IT system, attorneys should
up specialized IT departments. Âbe able to concentrate on the
In 2004, Forrester Research Incinformation itself, rather than
estimated that some 39,000 legal jobsgrappling with the nitty-gritties of the
will have moved offshore by the end ofsystem.
2008.Costs - Cost, of course is a top
Outsourcing/Offhsoring - Legal firms areconsideration for small to mid sized
now increasingly open to legal processcompanies across industries. The ongoing
outsourcing of tasks they traditionallycosts and hefty capital investments
held close - research, transcription,needed for custom and enterprise systems
coding and even legal research and theare just out of reach.
drafting of legal documents. It isThe Software-as-a-Service Advantage for
commonplace to see a NY based law firm,Legal Companies - HyperOffice as a Case
subletting research work to a team ofin Study
professional lawyers & paralegals inSAAS allows firms to pay for using the
Bangalore, India. This enables firms tosoftware rather than owning it
majorly cut down costs & concentrate onAbout eight to ten years back, it was
core legal functions. But it alsotrue that access to the above
necessitates a greater need totechnologies was available only to huge
communicate, collaborate & monitor thefirms whose budget and scale justified
functioning of outsourcing vendorsdedicated IT departments. Times have
hundreds or thousands of miles away.changed since then. The software as a
Security is also an issue, sinceservice (SAAS) approach, allows even
performance of the services oftensmall to mid sized firms easy access to
requires access to regulated consumerbig business technologies, but without
data or other sensitive data.having to deal with the messy underbelly
In 2004, almost 60% of lawyers worked atand huge costs associated with them.
multi-office firms and over 10% ofBenefits of SAAS Solutions
lawyers work at firms with ten or more-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Low
offices.Implementation
Geographic Diversification - As-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Cost
mentioned before, there is a distinctEffective
movement towards multiple office firms,-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Flexible
with offices spread both nationally and-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Mobile
globally. US based companies are nowAccess
serving many foreign clients, or serving-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Enterprise
foreign interests of domestic clients.Class Features
There was a significant presence of-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Backup &
international clients in even theSecurity
smallest law firms of 1 to 20 lawyers.-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Updates &
There has also been a spate of globalEnhancements
mergers and acquisitions of law firms inSoftware as a service (SAAS) is an
the new millennia. All this necessitatesapproach where the software vendor
a greater need for communication,undertakes the burden of creating,
collaboration and information exchangehosting, maintaining and securing the
between branches.application upon himself, and further
Regulatory Compliance - Since thelets it out to customers over the
implementation of Sarbanes Oxley Actinternet as a service.  Customers
came into effect, records management hasdo not pay for owning the software
become an essential requirement.itself but rather for using it. Some
Organizations are required by law tospecific benefits of the SAAS approach
retain certain documents for predefinedare as follows:-
periods. Also, the amendments to FederalNo Implementation, No Dedicated IT
Rules of Civil Procedure went intoDepartment - Since the backend is taken
effect on December 1, 2006, and apply tocare of by the vendor, users don't have
any firm involved in litigation in theto bother about hardware, software
U.S. Federal Court system. Thedownloads, server security,
amendments mandate that companies beconfiguration etc. Implementation cycles
prepared for electronic discovery. Firmsof months are cut down to just a few
have to drastically alter the way theydays. For example, HyperOffice just
preserve, retrieve and producerequires a sign up, and customers can
electronic data.get it up and running within minutes.Â
Competition is coming both from firmsCost Effective: Scale Up & Down as
spread across the nation & the globe, asNeeded - The cost structure of SAAS
well as consultants & advisors who weresolutions is usually a reasonable
traditionally not considered part of themonthly per user fee. This ensures that
"legal industry"minimal costs are locked in, unlike
Competition - Because of the death ofenterprise solutions where tens of
relationship lawyering, and "one stopthousands of dollars are committed.
shopping" by clients, firms cannotMoreover, there is no cost uncertainty,
afford to be complacent anymore.as terms are clearly laid out, which
Moreover, competition is as likely toallows for greater predictability.
come from the opposite end of theBig Business Features - A range of big
country or globe, as from localbusiness functionality is available to
companies. Competition is also comingusers, but they don't have to bother
from other quarters, consultants andabout the complex backend which goes
advisors who offer services that werewith implementing this functionality,
previously the purview of lawyers. Insince that is the vendor's headache.
this arena of intense competition,Flexibility & Mobility: Keep Connected
lawyers have to double up asAlways - These solutions are developed
"rainmakers" & networkers (legalwith a view to delivery over the web.
business development) in addition toThis ensures that the system with full
traditional roles. Âfunctionality is available over simply a
IT Needs of the Legal Industryweb browser, saving users from tiresome
Centralized Document Storage - The legaldownloads or implementations on local
profession generates a tremendous amountworkstations. Moreover, since these
of digital information in the form ofsolutions are children of the internet &
case files, contracts, court filings,mobility era, they also allow access
exhibits, evidence, briefs, agreements,over mobile devices. HyperOffice allows
bills, notes, records and other officealmost full functionality over many
activity such as email. This informationmobile device with internet access
is the firm's collective knowledge &including iPhone.
learning which sets it apart fromUser Friendly - Ease of use is of prime
competition and needs to be retrievedimportance to a non techie attorney.
again and again. Compliance alsoSAAS solutions are out-of-the-box.
requires certain documents to be storedEmphasis is on ease of use, with the
& retrievable for extended periods ofmessy backend taken care of. The entire
time. Attorneys across different officesHyperOffice solution can be managed from
need to access and collaborate on thisa central console and needs no technical
information. Âexpertise at all - truly child's play!
In 2007, 53% percent of lawyers used aBackup & Security: Let the Experts
PDA outside of the office, 32% to checkHandle It - Ensuring security and
e-mail.disaster preparedness requires effort.
ABA Law Tech Report 2007Antivirus software needs to be purchased
Remote Access - Ready access to crucialand implemented, the system needs
documents and information can sometimesconstant monitoring, and physical
be all the difference between asecurity of the servers needs to be
favorable or adverse judgment. Lawyersensured. Disaster recovery plans also
now have wings on their feet visitinghave to be put in place in case of
clients, interviewing experts, orevents like fire, natural disasters etc.
attending outstation court proceedings,Backup servers and magnetic tapes have
and are often out of office. It isto be maintained, frequency of backups
important that they are able gain LANhas to be managed etc. Whew!
like access to documents from the firm'sWith SAAS, all this is a part of the
repository even when they're not at themessy backend taken care of by the
office premises. Âvendor. Moreover, these vendors have
Document Collaboration - It is notdeveloped an expertise hosting and
enough to only be able to accesssecuring applications, since this is
documents from the firm's storage. Atheir core operation. This is an
single case file may need multipleexpertise a mid sized law firm can not,
inputs from attorneys with differentnor would like to develop.
expertise, clients, experts,Updates & Enhancements - Since it
researchers, and other associates spreadapplication resides on the vendor's
over the country or even the globe (inservers, the vendor can simply add
case of outsourcing). Therefore it isupdates, enhancements and new features
important to have the ability toat his own end which are instantly
concurrently access and work together onavailable to the users of the
the same file, from right whereapplication.



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