The Digital Edge

In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview technologist and Microsoft expert Ben Schorr about the price, benefits, and downfalls of Windows 10 and what lawyers specifically need to know. Topics Include: What happened to Windows 9 The start menu and live tiles on desktops without touch screens Microsoft Edge versus Internet Explorer The quality of Cortana Rumors of peer-to-peer networks and bandwidth use New and existing hardware and software compatibility Whether lawyers should download the operating system and when How much Windows 10 costs? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview John Iezzi, author of “Results-Oriented Financial Management: A Step-by-Step Guide to Law Firm Profitability,” which is a book about compensation issues in small and mid-sized firms, what successful financial management looks like, and changes small firm lawyers need to make. Special thanks to our sponsors, ServeNow and CloudMask. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Legal marketing has changed dramatically in the past 20 years as we have reached “the digital era.” Some lawyers have embraced this new world of social media marketing, engaging website content, and cloud-based computing. But those who have not, particularly solo and small firm lawyers, are missing out on an opportunity for increased client base, client satisfaction, and competition with big law firms. Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview Sona Pancholy, a business development director, about the ways in which the digital age impacts law firm marketing, what mistakes lawyers should avoid making, where busy professionals should start, and some dos and don’ts of social media. Special thanks to our sponsors, ServeNow and CloudMask. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview Allison Shields, co-author of “How to Do More in Less Time: The Complete Guide to Improving Your Productivity and Increasing Your Bottom Line.” Allison discusses why she wrote the book, productivity mistakes lawyers often make, and specific suggestions she has for increasing time efficiency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview Judy Perry Martinez, chair of the ABA Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services. Martinez discusses specific actions the commission is taking to find solutions, including grassroots meetings across the country, a national summit, public hearings, and lawyer education. She explains how discussions with lawyers, judges, technology innovators, law students, academics, and law librarians bring awareness to issues in the changing legal landscape and encourages solution ideas. These changes present challenges and opportunities for lawyers today, but those who do not jump on board will likely be left behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview attorney and marketing consultant Jennifer Ellis about what SEO is, why it is so complicated and expensive, and steps lawyers and law firms can take to start marketing online. Fundamentally, she explains, SEO means optimizing your law firm’s website so that people searching for your services in your area will find you on the results page. For example, if you own a family law firm in Phoenix, you want people who are searching in Google or Bing for “How do I find a divorce lawyer in Phoenix?” to find your law firm in the results. Due to complicated Google, Bing, and Yahoo algorithms and factors like mobile-friendliness, valuable content, and anti-spam rules, Ellis estimates that high-quality SEO should cost from $3,000 to $10,000 a month. If you are a solo or small firm with a limited marketing budget, she gives several other online marketing suggestions including running Pay Per Click campaigns or boosting social media posts. Ellis has suggestions for any lawyer or law firm on any budget and she strongly advises lawyers to spend some time on their online presence. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview The Kennedy-Mighell Report host Tom Mighell, lawyer and author of “iPad in One Hour for Litigators,” about why the iPad is the best tablet for litigators and how to best use the tools and applications available on the iPad. Mighell makes many suggestions about which apps are most useful for litigation, including apps for note taking, case intake, document transfer, discovery, legal research, and trial presentation. In addition, he recommends accessories for data input (handwriting or keyboard) and data output (evidence presentations or a printer). Most importantly, he emphasizes, lawyers should never assume they know how to use an app just because they downloaded it. Make sure you practice using every application before you enter the courtroom. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview law firm consultant Britt Lorish about today’s speech recognition and dictation solutions, added benefits of current dictation software, common misconceptions about Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and the best microphones and apps to consider. Lorish explains that most lawyers who use dictation have embraced digital recording and filing, but many lawyers are still wary of using speech recognition softwares due to previous bad experiences. She talks about using softwares from dictation vendors like Philips, BigHand, and Winscribe in the cloud, and how Dragon is lagging in cloud-based usability. Additionally, Lorish discusses custom commands, a system of automating commonly-used commands like adding a signature block, opening a document template, or inserting standard client/attorney language. These speech solutions, Lorish says, can greatly help lawyers with disabilities, those who type slowly, and can even help younger lawyers improve oral argument abilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview lawyer and legal technology blogger Sam Glover about when technology became an issue for attorneys, how they can get in trouble due to ignorance, and what all attorneys need to know about hackers, cloud services, and the resulting ethical duties. First, Glover explains that lawyers are getting into trouble in the courtroom by not knowing about how technologies like Twitter work, therefore losing cases that could be easily won. Concerning cyber security, he discusses the many reasons lawyers cannot simply outsource technology knowledge. Gloverhas been writing about technology, law practice management, marketing, and other legal information on Lawyerist since he started it in 2007. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ABA TECHSHOW is an annual legal technology conference in Chicago, sponsored by the Law Practice Division of the ABA. The goal of the conference is to educate lawyers, legal professionals, and law firm employees on using technology in their practice. The 2015 conference will be held April 16th through the 18th, and will feature many new and recurring educational topics that are trending in legal technology. Want to find out if this conference will benefit your practice? In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview the Chair of the ABA TECHSHOW Board, Brett Burney, about the 2015 conference, what attendees can expect, and why attendance is useful to almost anyone working in the legal field. The people who should attend, Burney says, are solo and small firm lawyers, government lawyers, members of corporate legal departments, and big firm lawyers. Additionally, law firm employees such as paralegals, legal assistants, CIOs, IT professionals, law firm administrators, office administrators, litigation support professionals, and many others will benefit from the educational value of the ABA TECHSHOW. He talks about this year's legal technology topics such as cloud computing, a paperless office, digital security, and many others, and how the board selects speakers of quality and relevance. Burney discusses how having vendors and exhibitors at the conference can help users, why a legal professional should attend for the first time, and what's new and cool for the 2015 conference. The ABA TECHSHOW comes highly recommended by past attendees for legal professionals at any level of tech experience, from novice to expert. Brett Burney is the Chair of this year's ABA TECHSHOW Board and is also the Principal of Burney Consultants LLC. He focuses the bulk of his time consulting on e-discovery and litigation support topics. He also works with lawyers who want to integrate Macs, iPhones, and iPads into their practice. Burney is a frequent contributor to Legal Technology News and speaks around the country on litigation support, e-discovery, Mac and iOS-related topics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices