ALB Technology Supplement 2012 No 1

AUSTRALASIAN

LEGAL BUSINESS

TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT 2012 SILQ_Solicitor_ALB_Ad_210x75_outlines.pdf

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VOLUME 1

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AUSTRALASIAN

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING Welcome to the ALB Law Firm IT Supplement, the first in what we hope will be a series of supplements on key issues facing the legal profession. It is fitting that technology be the subject of this first supplement: in this era of increased competition and client demand for cost efficiencies, now is the time for firms of all sizes and persuasions to optimise their IT systems. This is not just a question of saving on overheads, but also providing a more integrated service for clients. What kind of impression do your firm’s clients gain when they interact with your firm online?

Technology has always been a difficult subject to cover: this is a highly sophisticated, rapidly evolving area which does not always lend itself to easy interpretation and reporting. For this reason, we have decided to go straight to the source; the content for this supplement has been written by industry experts and the providers themselves.

This, we think, is only the first stage of a longer journey – in the long term, it is only through engaging with the technology officers in law firms and gaining the client perspective that we can complete the circle and provide a fully developed commentary.

We hope that you will find some interesting perspectives on the pages that follow and we would like to hear any feedback that you may have. What did you think of ALB’s handling of this supplement?

Did you agree with the views expressed by our writers? Do you have any strong views of your own that you would like to see in print? Drop a line to peter.ratcliff@thomsonreuters.com to share your thoughts.

This is a crucial and challenging area of legal business and it is only with your input that we can continue to push into this frontier.

LEGAL BUSINESS

www.legalbusinessonline.com MANAGING EDITOR Lesley Horsburgh AUSTRALASIA EDITOR Renu Prasad PRODUCTION EDITOR Imogen Tear DESIGNER Vanessa Lyons ADVERTISING SALES MANAGERS Paul Ferris Peter Ratcliff TRAFFIC COORDINATOR Emily Ings

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ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES AUSTRALIA Paul Ferris

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AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

Volume 01, 2012

CONTENTS 03

WELCOME

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MANAGING BIG DATA

08

TAKING A RISK ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES

10 Q&A

12

TECHNOLOGY & STAFF RETENTION

16

E-DISCOVERY

19

HOW TO INTEGRATE SOCIAL MEDIA IN YOUR MARKETING PROGRAM

20

ALL RISE FOR THE IPAD

22

FUTURE TOOLS FOR LAWYERS

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DIGITAL DICTATION AND VOICE RECOGNITION 5

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BIG DATA in your eDiscovery Future Jimi Reilly Director, FTI Consulting, Technology

R

Jimi Reilly is a Director at FTI Consulting and has over 12 years’ experience in the Legal industry.

Originally from a software development background, Jimi has worked in multiple jurisdictions, assisting organisations with their eDiscovery and compliance issues and spent the first half of 2012 in the U.S., consulting on significant multijurisdictional matters.

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ecent reports indicate that corporate data volumes are growing at 59 percent a year1 and in addition to an increase in the amount of data being stored, the types of data we are generating are changing.

With the advent of social media and mobile technologies, including smart phones and their own data-collecting Apps, everything we do generates data of some sort, somewhere. This situation is the same within corporations and the latest IT buzz word – Big Data – can be a terrifying prospect, particularly when faced with a potential litigation incident and/or the possibility of having to comply with a discovery order.

With a growth in the volume of corporate data, it follows that the potential document population for eDiscovery review will also grow. This is a trend that is starting to have a significant impact on a number of organisations. However, by being prepared, organisations can reduce the cost and disruption that electronic discovery can have on their business and improve their chances of a successful outcome.

There are a number of things that a business can do to prepare itself for a litigation event, ranging from simple document retention policies through to full litigation readiness programs. The level of investment (both financial and organisational) should be commensurate with the level of risk associated with your products and services; however, a sophisticated electronic discovery and

litigation-hold strategy is a luxury not all businesses can afford and/or justify.

Organisations can implement a number of costeffective strategies, making the information management, identification and preservation of relevant corporate data easier – even in the face of Big Data problems. These simple steps can also have other benefits for the organisation, both tangible and intangible: 1. Encourage organisational consistency: Always engage in document management best practices and have defensible document management and retention policies.

2. Plan ahead: Encourage good project management principles throughout the operation of the business.

In times of crisis, a strong project methodology (i.e.

Prince2 or PMP) will be a powerful tool at management’s disposal. Ensure there is an appropriate and defensible litigation hold procedure available in some form, including procedures that deal with events like intentional and unintentional data loss.

3. Risk management: Identify any uniqueness or weakness that your organisation may have to deal with as the subject of an investigation. Ensure that organisational information management is auditable, defensible and verifiable.

Proactively identify any high risk products or services and enforce strict information management policies around these projects or systems and, in extreme cases, implement ongoing litigation hold procedures.

4. Know your data: Understand the data topology within your organisation and identify ways in which your operations and your employees generate data. Proactively promote document management and data preservation policies to ensure the easy identification and collection of custodial data. Understand how different types of data – transactional, social media, mobile, document management and multimedia, are likely to be involved in a litigation event. Understand how you want to use the

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results of any collections and understand the scale of your Big Data problem and its growth pattern.

5. Identify appropriate professional services: Engage outside expertise to help develop business strategies and provide independent advice, representation and incident management in times of crisis.

6. Identify appropriate technologies: Know in advance the types of technologies and analytical capabilities you need to support an eDiscovery effort. Get the scale correct; ensure any technologies you implement will grow with you as you face your Big Data future. Identify patterns and trends in your infrastructure requirements – are your requirements consistent or do they tend to spike for short intervals? Understanding this will assist you to evaluate the cost effectiveness of cloud solutions or managed services should the need arise.

7. Financial management: Have an understanding of what financial and reputational risk a litigation event would cost the company – even if there is very little risk of one occurring. This will assist in the accurate planning and budgetary forecasting in the event of a litigation incident and help you understand the relationship between brand equity and budget for your circumstances.

With the spike in resource and technology demands that accompany litigation events many organisations will opt for a strong partnership with a professional services provider. This independent organisation will act on their behalf in all aspects of their corporate data and throughout the litigation lifecycle; providing advice, representation and expertise on litigation and eDiscovery compliance and often providing the technologies and tools to collect, process, analyse and review corporate data. To mitigate Big Data problems, many companies are turning to providers of cloud solutions and managed services, to transfer the infrastructure risk of large and infrequent spikes in technology demand, to a provider who has adequate saleability built into their capacity.

Being prepared and ready to respond quickly to a litigation event or investigation will reduce the costs, increase the accuracy and manage the risk associated with your Big Data problems. By having a strong partnership with a professional services firm and technology provider you can reduce timeframes, increase certainty, add defensibility and increase success rates to your eDiscovery obligations.

1. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Data-Storage/Big-Data-IsntJust-About-Volume-Gartner-705762/1/

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TECHNOLOGYDRIVEN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: The corporate counsel response

Ken Saurajen

What should a corporate counsel’s attitude be to the proposed adoption of a new technology into business-as-usual processes? While all new technology poses challenges, a sensible attitude to risk needs to be taken before innovations are counselled against on the basis of the doomsday scenario alone, writes Gilbert + Tobin emerging technologies partner Ken Saurajen.

Ken Saurajen is a partner at Gilbert + Tobin specialising in emerging technologies and complex IT transactions. ksaurajen@gtlaw.com.au +61 2 9263 4154

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THE PROBLEM. Let’s start with the problem.

I recently came across a highly entertaining, satirical YouTube video in which a young lawyer finds a typographical error in the course of large documentary due diligence.

In the screenplay, the error is immaterial of course – however he quickly gets promoted, catches the attention of his senior partners and becomes the firm superstar.

As lawyers, we are excellent at identifying risks and often all too skilled at painfully elaborating for our clients the myriad of doomsday scenarios which could arise should those risks materialise.

When this natural aptitude is combined with our inherent conservatism and a perennially skilled eye for the worst-case outcome, the result can often be the delivery of ‘fear-factor’ advice. When this attitude is brought to an evaluation of the risks associated with the adoption of new technologies into business-as-usual processes, there is a danger of overemphasising the risk-factors and downplaying (or worse, completely disregarding) a new technology’s potential business benefits.

In other words, once stacked up against the grey-haired legal fear factor, the new

technology – and its potential commercial benefits – simply doesn’t get a fair go.

The straight-laced, conventional response is that it is a lawyer’s job to identify legal risks, not to weigh legal risks against potential business benefits. However, different lawyers take different views in this regard: even on a conservative view and irrespective of whether that argument is correct or not, a corporate counsel’s advice as to the gravity of applicable risks surely still needs to be sensible, holistic and appropriately contextualised by relevant business objectives.

Increasingly, today’s high demands on corporate counsel frequently include the need for strong ‘trusted advisor’ guidance regarding key business technology decisions – it is rarely sufficient for a corporate counsel to theoretically opine to the board on pure legal problems and then comfortably fence-sit.

An exaggeration of risk can also lead to a diversion of energy from the real strategic value that a skilled legal mind can offer. Ideally, a lawyer’s role should be the development of creative recommendations as to how the new technology may be accommodated in a way which moderates perceived risks, while still extracting all the available business benefits, savings and cost rationalisations that it offers. The need to find intelligent legal solutions to allow first-tier organisations to ‘have their cake and eat it too’ has never been more important than in today’s fast moving and competitive technology landscape.

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BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGES Leaving aside larger transformation and other special projects, rapid advancements in technology are also prompting a gradual revolution in day-to-day businessas-usual processes. Organisations have realised that in addition to discrete projects which involve a large-scale overhaul of specific systems, new technologies also afford the opportunity to realise ‘quick wins’ in the form of business processes improvement, operational efficiencies, better technical outcomes and significantly reduced costs.

Traditional business models are naturally being forced to adapt in the context of new IT infrastructure, as measures such as offsite data centres, cloud computing and the use of thin-client platforms become more commonplace.

Interestingly, technology-related business changes are being driven not only by a ‘top down’ desire for business improvements and the wish to fulfil customer and market preferences, but also employee-originated demands.

For example, the accelerated uptake in smart devices, increased connectivity (including mobile connectivity), more flexible working patterns and the growing trend of using personal devices for work-related purposes is forcing day-to-day business operations to evolve to accommodate these changing behaviours. According to an International Data Corporation study, the worldwide mobile worker population is set to reach 1.19 billion in 2013 – meaning that mobile workers will represent over a third of the worldwide workforce.

It is in these areas that corporate counsel are being increasingly asked to advise their boards on the risks associated with the adoption of a new technology, its potential impact on existing processes and the extent to which any risks they identify can be managed.

While every innovation poses different risks, some common themes tend to emerge, particularly in relation to information technologies. These include concerns in relation to security (particularly data breaches), privacy, misappropriation of confidential information, reliability and quality of offshored services, adverse reputational impacts and impacts on personnel displaced by the outsourcing of operational processes or rendered redundant by the implementation of new technologies.

A HELPFUL ATTITUDE TO TECHNOLOGY RISK Each risk deserves to be evaluated on its merits in the context of the particular technology proposition. Sometimes the accompanying business case will be so compelling that management (while still needing to be fully informed of the relevant legal risks) will likely take an informed decision to proceed irrespective of them. In other circumstances, the risk appetite is not so great and the legal analysis will be highly influential in relation to a business decision regarding whether or not to proceed with a particular technology.

While presenting the board with a list of legal risks is useful, a more constructive legal analysis of a new technology proposed to be adopted might also evaluate:  both the gravity of consequence and the likelihood of occurrence. In other words, not just how serious it would be if the risks were to eventuate, but (to the extent an educated judgment in this regard is possible) how likely they are to really occur;  whether the legal risks identified have any practical or business mitigants – for instance, can they be managed through the implementation of low-cost internal governance processes or other control measures to ensure that they do not arise;  whether the identified risk is one that was already present (albeit perhaps in a different form). Often the procurement of a new technology is for some reason treated as an opportunity to shift ordinary and pre-existing business risks which would have existed irrespective of it. This is often referred to as an ‘insurance’ mindset as opposed to a ‘project-specific risk’ mindset – it inevitably leads to protracted procurement negotiations and unnecessarily costly legal process, as the vendor (often understandably) objects to and resists the reallocation of the ordinary business risk;  if scope exists to conduct pre-contractual due diligence to provide a more comprehensive view of the nature and extent of particular risks; and  whether the risks can be openly and jointly managed in conjunction with the relevant technology vendor, who will have a business incentive to provide comfort (at a contractual or practical level, or both) in relation to them.

IN THE END The above should not be interpreted in any way as counselling a careless approach to the risk associated with the adoption of new technologies. New innovations can create unique and distinct challenges which need to be carefully assessed before they should be allowed to become a part of or substitute for traditional business-critical processes.

However, a facilitative corporate counsel response will focus on the realistic objective of risk reduction as opposed to the ideal of risk elimination. It will also attribute a risk value to the opportunity cost of (and competitive exposure created by) not adopting an innovation.

Potential adverse outcomes should be viewed in their proper context and not exaggerated to the extent that a corporation is dissuaded entirely from pursuing a new technology strategy that could otherwise deliver real and tangible business benefits. Energy is better spent devising clever legal solutions – which can often be identified, with the right expertise – so that exposures can be responsibly managed alongside the adoption of the new innovation and enjoyment of the accompanying return on investment.

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Q&A with Shane Barber Shane Barber says that whilst embracing technology unquestionably

enhances the efficiency and cost effectiveness of your firm, there is still no question that law remains a relational experience and that clients will inevitably chose a lawyer they like and trust over all other considerations.

Shane Barber, Partner at Truman Hoyle, specialises in communications, broadcasting, e-commerce, IT law and the internet. He is currently the Vice President of the Communications and Media Law Association, and a former editor of the Communications Law Bulletin.

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1. WHAT KIND OF STEPS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IN-HOUSE TEAMS TAKE TO OPTIMISE THEIR USE OF TECHNOLOGY? In-house legal teams are increasingly both time and budget poor and in our experience they are increasingly looking to utilise the technology solutions offered by their external law firms to more efficiently and cost effectively serve their internal clients.

By way of example, as in-house counsel with a major telecommunications carrier in the mid 1990s, I recall that we undertook the very expensive and cumbersome exercise of providing all of our commercial staff with consumer law training. It required us to prepare physical booklets, run seminars, record videos, prepare training worksheets and to take physical roll calls. We now undertake all of those functions for many inhouse legal teams using a client log in feature on our website for a fraction of the cost and in significantly less time than it took not that long ago. On many occasions, although not all, training in this way may also be sufficient to respond to a regulator’s requirements.

That same client log in feature can be used as an online data room with all of the security features that that requires, or as a place for collaborative document work.

As cloud service providers sharpen their consumer offerings to compete in a busy market, in-house legal teams should feel increasingly secure in working with their law firms and others in real time in the cloud. I certainly recall the significant day to day stresses that in-house lawyers faced in servicing their clients. I recall the early morning queues at your desk when internal clients would effectively ‘camp out’ so that they got your undivided attention as soon as you arrived at work. Technology means that

the ‘risk’ of a matter is now even more efficiently transferred to in-house counsel with ever tightening deadlines. As external lawyers, we should not underestimate simple things that we can do using our technology that will assist in-house counsel in what is a very stressful role. Simple things may be preparing mark ups to documents with the author set to ‘Legal’ and preparing emails which can be easily cut and pasted and then forwarded on by the in-house legal team to their internal client.

2. WHAT KIND OF PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE DOES YOUR FIRM USE AND HOW DOES IT MAKE YOUR WORKFLOW EASIER? As a smaller specialist firm of 35 lawyers, our software and other technology use has greatly enhanced our efficiency and cost effectiveness. The implementation of our iManage document management system for instance has seen a significant progression toward a paperless office and greater document accessibility across the firm. It has also seen greater efficiency in the use of our knowledge management system.

The days of wandering from office to office to look for physical precedents or to consolidate filing are long gone.

Simple things such as the introduction of digital dictation and a sophisticated IP telephony system have greatly enhanced our response times and client service respectively. Investing in online research tools at the desk now takes up a significant part of a law firm’s budget, but the comprehensiveness and timeliness of the output that results means that not doing so is not an option. We are not afraid to use the many powerful tools in standard software offerings to undertake functions like client relationship management.

Increasingly sophisticated standard offerings mean that it is not always necessary to implement bespoke systems which may not interface well with the other systems used in the office.

Our lawyers are increasingly mobile, working off site at client’s offices and increasingly at home. As a profession, we are all aware that we will see more and more of this into the future. We have implemented a highly effective virtual private network arrangement for our lawyers so that laptops and other devices can be used almost anywhere with seamless

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

and secure access to our internal systems. A danger of a multiplicity of systems though is that they may not be as user friendly as they could be for both new staff and those of us who studied law in the 70s and 80s, which was very much a pen and paper time. To this end, we have created a bespoke intranet as a central launch location for much of our technology and systems.

3. IN THE LONGER TERM, HOW CAN YOU SEE TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE WAY LAW FIRMS OPERATE? WILL THIS CHANGE THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE LAW FIRM/CLIENT RELATIONSHIP? I got my first job at a global law firm in 1989. One of the key attractions of that firm to an eager graduate was that all lawyers had access to a computer on their desk. Up to that time, that was unheard of. The computers were in fact green screen ‘Wangs’ and their utility was pretty limited but at that time we were at the forefront of the promised technology revolution. I also recall that a young lawyer’s first job was to hand mark-up changes to documents using a red pen with the document then dispatched by way of another recent innovation, the fax machine. Within seven or eight years all of that technology and those methods of practice were redundant.

As an in-house lawyer in the 1990s, we grappled with the idea of whether it was safe for lawyers to ever use email to provide legal advice or to send documents. I recall that our original answer was no, and this was from lawyers inside a leading telecommunications company!

If we compare the way we practice today to the way we practiced in the 1990s it is almost unrecognisable. The result is that the time from origination of a legal task to a comprehensive, accurate and usable outcome for the client is a fraction of what it was when I started practicing 24 years ago.

We move on from here to the increasing reality of a paperless office and tablet technology replacing pen and paper once and for all, particularly given that tighter systems integration between the tablet device and the desktop is tantalising close.

Voice recognition software increasingly makes both in-house and outsourced typing and document preparation redundant and client online collaboration facilities will be more widely used so that multiple authors can manipulate the one securely located document.

As lawyers increasingly opt to use their own devices for both leisure and work, security of information will remain paramount. For lawyers, there is nothing new in this of course.

Law firm business models based on undertaking highly commoditiseable work need an urgent rethink. The internet has delivered a handy self-help tool in this regard.

Other than for LinkedIn, which many of our partners and lawyers use extensively to connect with their clients and peers, the jury is out for us in relation to the extent to which social media will enhance our client interface. Many of the objectives

of social media are not necessarily consistent with a lawyer’s professional obligations. Many of my colleagues in larger firms attest to its benefits in the recruitment process but in our case many of our lawyers join us three or four years into their legal careers. We certainly remain open to enhancing our use of social media if it adds real value to our clients and builds the bond between us.

We are already seeing an ever increasing array of online options available to us to build our brands and dazzle our clients and each other with the depth of our insight. True IPTV using the NBN will no doubt add even more cost effective options.

At the end of the day, however, practising the law remains a relational experience. As has always been the case, clients will choose to work with individual lawyers that they trust and like and who are responsive, commercial and accurate. These are very human traits and will continue to be of significant importance to clients as technological innovation from external law firms, like technical excellence, is presumed as a given.

4. THE ROLL-OUT OF THE NBN IS CONTINUING ACROSS AUSTRALIA. REALISTICALLY, WHAT CHANGES CAN AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES EXPECT TO SEE IN THE COMING YEARS AND WHAT PRACTICAL BENEFITS MAY RESULT? Faster, ubiquitous broadband will be a significant enabler for Australian business.

In the practice of law, it will certainly greatly enhance the ability for our lawyers to use many of the innovations we have already introduced in our firm to operate remotely via virtual private networks, with full and secure access to all of our systems.

The key benefit will no doubt be the removal of many of the data volume constraints which impede business communications today. Gone will be the days when a client asks whether a law firm has video conferencing facilities for instance.

That will now be available to all in a cost effective way. Travel times and costs can be expected to decrease.

The NBN though is really just an enabling technology. The killer application probably doesn’t yet exist, but when it does we will all wonder how we ever lived without it.

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5

Ways to Attract

and Retain Staff with Smarter Technology Damian Huon

Legal firm technology strategy specialist with over 20 years experience working with Australia’s leading firms. As CEO of Huon IT, Damian and his team achieve business outcomes for professional service organisations with ‘everything technology’.

W

hether you are an aspiring CBD firm, or a suburban practice competing against the pull of big city lights, attracting and keeping talent is about more than offering a healthy pay packet.

New recruits are interested in what systems they’ll be using, what gadgets they’ll be given, and what kind of environment they’ll spend their time in.

The technology you provide your staff has a substantial influence on your employer reputation, and to many it demonstrates whether you are capable of evolving for the future.

Developing a suite of flexible work options to empower your team is crucial to keep your top performers happy and committed.

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PROVIDE A WORK-LIFE BALANCE WITH DESKTOP VIRTUALISATION

Flexibility around where, when and how your staff work is a critical component of any retention strategy – and technology happens to be one of the most powerful tools you can use to achieve this. At any end of the spectrum, from Gen Y through to Baby Boomers, the level of support you provide staff in meeting both work and personal commitments plays a key factor in job satisfaction. These initiatives must also address the needs of the business as a whole too. This is where Desktop Virtualisation comes into play. In simple terms, Desktop Virtualisation Infrastructure (VDI) removes the reliance of your staff on any one particular computer, allowing them to work on any device, anywhere. Instead of saving and running your programs, applications, processes and data on your personal machine, everything is stored and run centrally from your company’s servers.

THE BENEFITS: • Allows staff to work in a consistent system whether on a desktop, laptop or tablet, from the office, home, court or cafe • Improves productivity and turnaround times • Flexibility reduces absenteeism and sick leave • Facilitates job sharing and working from home • Central storage reduces risk of data loss and duplication of documents

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CATER FOR PERSONAL PREFERENCES WITH A BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE (BYOD) POLICY

With so many mobile devices on the market, ranging from iPhones and iPads, to BlackBerry’s, Androids and more, organisations need to strike a balance between giving employees what they want, while keeping the company’s systems secure.

The latest trend in many firms is a BYOD program. Although historically it was simpler and cheaper to standardise all devices to just one or two models, when employees choose to invest in their own personal devices – why not allow their use? Staff can work on the piece of equipment they are accustomed to, without costing the business.

These devices aren’t known as smart phones for nothing – they also offer a variety of functionalities that can benefit your firm in a wider sense.

Beyond simply connecting to corporate emails, access to your Document Management System (DMS) can be provided with mobility server licensing and, as above, Desktop Virtualisation

also lets staff access their desktops on their phones.

This flexibility does come with risks however, so firms must proceed with caution. The multitude of technologies can make IT management and troubleshooting difficult.

To avoid data breaches and costly support overheads, organisations should define and agree upon parameters.

For instance, passwords should be enforced and devices connected to a central console so they can be remotely wiped if lost or stolen.

THE BENEFITS: • Higher job satisfaction for those who work outside of traditional hours • Flexibility to work with technology of choice • Increased staff mobility • Improvements in efficiency and productivity • Reduced costs

Damian Huon is a Technology Strategy Specialist, with over 23 years of experience advising Australia’s leading legal firms. Damian is CEO of Huon IT, a professional IT services consultancy firm.

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OFFER AN INSPIRING ENVIRONMENT WITH AN ACTIVITY BASED WORKPLACE Activity Based Workplaces (ABW) are revolutionising the every day office.

No longer chained to a permanent desk, a range of functional spaces – ranging from desks, booths, breakout rooms, libraries, or cafes – are provided for employees to work in. While staff may have an individual area for storage, they can elect where to work depending on what suits their task at hand.

This freedom is attractive to staff as the variety boosts morale, stimulates collaboration with colleagues, and recognises each employee’s individuality.

To achieve such a change not only do staff habits need to adapt, but the firm’s IT must also innovate to support the agile environment.

The high level of mobility means that either staff need to be designated a laptop, or a ‘thin computing’ environment be set up, using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (as above) so that staff can log in to their systems on any device.

Another key technology required is Voice over IP (VoIP), so that staff can access communication services including calls, fax and messaging from any location. These systems may be run on fixed phone handsets which the staff log into, or straight from their PCs.

THE BENEFITS: • Increased job satisfaction with freedom of choice • Appeals to the wider demographic with a variety of work styles • Inspires staff with a dynamic, creative environment • Stimulates collaboration and communication between staff • Saves space by eliminating permanent desks which are often unoccupied

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4

OVERHAUL RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING WITH VIDEO CONFERENCING

As the quality of video conferencing improves dramatically, so too do the opportunities it provides staff.

From the very beginning of the recruitment process, video conferencing can expedite interviews to help you secure talent from across the state, country or beyond. Not only does it streamline the process, but it actually helps attract new recruits by demonstrating that your firm is progressive. Once onboard, induction and ongoing training can be enhanced as all training can take place at once, by one trainer, and can be recorded for use at a later date. This allows staff to remain at their desk, ensures consistency across participants, and cuts costs.

In a broader sense, video conferencing can also be used for interoffice meetings to enable better collaboration between staff, and externally for some levels of client meetings.

THE BENEFITS: • Progressive interview structure attracts recruits • Enables more frequent, cost effective training • Reduces time out of the office • Enhances collaboration between staff • Cuts the cost and effort out of travel

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PUT AN END TO USER FRUSTRATIONS WITH RELIABLE, EFFICIENT SYSTEMS

Finally, the obvious point to make is the vital need for IT systems that work well, all of the time.

When systems are sluggish or fail frequently, staff become frustrated and their productivity and commitment to your firm suffers. Even the most eager graduate can have their enthusiasm undermined by roundabout work practices, system failures, and having to perform rework when their efforts have been lost.

Technology should be a help not a hindrance to employees. The level of talent you expect in turn also expects equipment and systems that empower them to perform and leverage their skills.

If your firm doesn’t offer supportive technology now, be mindful that the next time you plan an upgrade it may be also met with scepticism. Seek advice from experts with the right mix of business and technical expertise, to ensure you take the right approach and select the best solution.

IT is a key building block in the foundation of your business. Getting it right is crucial so you don’t lose talent to a more progressive firm.

THE BENEFITS: • Greater staff satisfaction • Lower turnover rates • Increased peer referrals • Enhanced staff productivity • Less ongoing IT support dependency

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eDiscovery:

The impact on the changes in Federal Court PN and Supreme Court PN Paul Gooderick Director, Law in Order

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Paul has provided technology solutions to the legal industry since 1996. In January 2004, Paul partnered with LIO Document Management, to create LIO Electronic, focusing on the provision of electronic litigation services to law firms and corporate legal departments.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and a Master of Business in Marketing.

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unning a large-scale litigation inevitably leads to the use of electronic documents at some or all stages in the litigation process including document collection, review and court room presentation. Rules and practice notes concerning the use of technology in litigation have progressed apace over the past 10 years. Most recently the practice of discovery/disclosure has come under the spotlight in the Federal and New South Wales Supreme Courts.

The rules guiding use of electronic evidence have evolved from supporting simple scanned documents to the preparation, management and exchange of emails and other electronically sourced files. Most recently matters are relying on information derived from mobile devices like iPads and smart phones, websites, internal document management systems like SharePoint, social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and private blogs like Yammer.

Over time the concept of proportionality has been added to various practice notes which addresses the relationship between the cost of achieving an outcome and the value of the claim. More recently Federal and New South Wales Supreme Courts have addressed the mechanics of exchange/ disclosure. Specifically the New South Wales Supreme Court practice note has generated

a great deal of interest. Practice note SC Eq 11 concerns disclosure in the Equity Division with the aim of “achieving the just, quick and cheap resolution of the real issues in dispute in the proceedings”. The practice note outlines restricted practices around disclosure and cost recovery as noted below: DISCLOSURE • The Court will not make an order for disclosure of documents (disclosure) until the parties to the proceedings have served their evidence, unless there are exceptional circumstances necessitating disclosure.

• There will be no order for disclosure in any proceedings in the Equity Division unless it is necessary for the resolution of the real issues in dispute in the proceedings.

• Any application for an order for disclosure, consensual or otherwise, must be supported by an affidavit setting out: • the reason why disclosure is necessary for the resolution of the real issues in dispute in the proceedings; • the classes of documents in respect of which disclosure is sought; and • the likely cost of such disclosure.

COSTS • The Court may impose a limit on the amount of recoverable costs in respects of disclosure.

The intent is to reflect concerns from the judiciary relating to increasing and sometimes incredible costs associated with discovery, most notably the oft quoted Channel 7 mega litigation (Seven Network Limited and Anor v News Limited and Ors). Justice Sackville was very public and fervent in his

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commentary stating “in my view, the expenditure of $200 million and counting on a single piece of litigation is not only extraordinarily wasteful, but borders on the scandalous”.

This new practice note and the similarly focused Part 20 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 raise a number of practical questions as to how to approach the discovery process.

Disclosure may not be initially ordered but the issues of the matter may change and disclosure may be ordered at a later time. This raises the question as to whether document workflows should be established with potential disclosure in mind. This is almost counter intuitive when overlaid on the volumes of data currently created; according to IBM, “90% of the data in the world today has been created in the

last two years alone”. This vast increase in data volumes does not however materially impact the quantum of claims. Document processing and review costs must be improved, reduced incrementally to ensure that proportionality is maintained.

We now find ourselves in the position of having vastly greater amounts of evidence to consider when running cases with more restrictive guidelines around discovery and cost recovery. The practical requirement is to manage the discovery process as cost effectively and quickly as possible.

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AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

Ultimately this has no impact on the issues at hand and evidence must still be prepared and presented to support a position. Often a practitioner will not initially know if they have a case and in a commercial litigation may not have access to people involved in the matter as they may have moved on. Everything relies on quickly accessing and understanding the content of large document sets. eDiscovery is a mature market with many firms, vendors and service bureaus providing sophisticated tools and services to enable effective preparation and exchange of electronic documents. An often overused phrase “early case assessment” (ECA) has appeared over the past few years as a part of the broader eDiscovery market, initially driven by software vendors. It is the process of gaining visibility over large volumes of information in a short space of time to assist in making decisions on how to approach a case. In the days of paper and linear review this approach was difficult to realise. When the vast majority of material is electronic there are a number of technologies and approaches that can be employed to make high level determinations of the contents of these documents which then assists in strategic decisions in approaching the case.

The value proposition for ECA is linked to the speed and effectiveness with which large volumes of documents can be processed and assessed by lawyers or legal technology experts to inform the next stages of the document review and case preparation processes. This typically involves transferring the key documents and other potentially relevant documents to a litigation support platform like Relativity or Ringtail for further review and case preparation.

An emerging trend in the United States sees corporations taking control of the ECA phase of the eDiscovery process in-house, away from law firms who are the traditional custodians of this piece of the workflow.

Dedicated litigation readiness groups are appearing in many Fortune 500 companies and they are often tied into broader information governance frameworks.

Technologies like Venio and the Australian developed Nuix specifically target the ECA market. They are optimised for quickly

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processing large volumes of data while overlaying reporting and analytical tools geared towards providing easily digestible views of the document content.

This computer assisted “first-pass review” workflow is very useful in reducing the quantity of documents requiring one-to-one assessment by paralegals or lawyers and uses technological analysis for the purposes of removing obviously irrelevant documents from the scope of searches.

Large scale litigation is the natural application of ECA but this technology based approach is increasingly being used for ACCC, ASIC and FOI requests which can have very short turnaround times often with significant penalties should the obligations under the requests not be met in a timely fashion. The most significant risk associated with the application of ECA technology relates to the return of false negatives when applying the various search and analysis methodologies. Typically applying search terms to a document set for the purposes of locating relevant data is guided by the knowledge of the documents possessed by the person searching the documents. Concept searching and thesauri go some way to ensuring that search terms are extended to similar terms and concepts but a thorough understanding of the document set and the risks associated with the application of search terms is critical to ensure completeness and avoid surprises from the opposing party.

The various technologies employ different methodologies to achieve these outcomes and often third-party tools can be applied to further extend the “smart” analysis of documents.

A number of questions need to be posed when assessing whether to acquire tools or outsource the processing to a third party organisation. The first question is that of risk.

To ensure completeness and compliance with court rules technology alone is not sufficient. eDiscovery and ECA require effective technology application within a rigorous process framework by appropriately trained and competent staff. Organisations need to assess their own appetite for risk and return when making that choice. The second question relates to competitive advantage. An in-house capability, whilst creating a sizeable cost centre, can create significant competitive advantage for the firm. There is an increasing trend to use hybrid models of in-house and outsourced services. The last question is around functional flexibility and innovation, and whether a firm has the appetite for employing resources to achieve this outcome.

As the practice notes and court rules continue to evolve, ECA will play an increasingly important role in a firm’s ability to deliver cost-effective and timely outcomes to their clients.

The once boutique industry has now matured into a sizeable market that offers many software vendors and service bureaus capable of delivering effective results in a number of different commercial models. A pragmatic attitude and partnership with well-credentialed suppliers will assist in delivering these outcomes.

SHRINKING VIOLET OR SOCIAL BUTTERFLY?

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

Richard Spencer, Director TWO Social, says it’s too late to shy away from social media, so exactly how wide should you cast your net?

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ccording to BRW’s 2012 survey amongst top law firms, times are tough for the legal practice in Australia. Competition is fierce and increasing, globalisation is changing the market dynamic and market growth for legal services is flat at best. Yet despite the current climate Australian law firms are lagging behind other professional services in using social media to promote their services. There does appear to be an interest but it is coupled with a distinct lack of action.

Social media is an indisputable global phenomenon.

One in every four minutes spent online in Australia is now spent on a social site. Facebook alone has more than 900 million members worldwide; 11 million are Australian and 75 percent of these visit the site every day. Facebook’s users are connected to 170 friends on average and spend over seven hours a month on the site, averaging 20 minutes on every visit. Between them they upload 250 million photos a day and ‘like’ 80 pages. Globally we watch the equivalent of 150 years of video every day on You Tube and, in March, LinkedIn passed the three million member mark in Australia alone.

But so what, clients don’t turn to social media to find a law firm. If this is what you were thinking as you read the last paragraph, ask yourself if you said the same thing about the web just a few years ago?

According to Vizibility and the American Bar Association, 81 percent of U.S. firms are now integrating social media channels into their marketing initiatives. Over 93 percent are using LinkedIn, 57.1 percent are integrating Facebook and nearly 50 percent are uploading videos to YouTube.

So should your firm be embracing social media?

Absolutely. The question you should really be asking is not should we, but how should we be integrating social media channels into our marketing programs.

Your firm may not be ready for an aggressive engagement strategy centred on a Facebook page, which is fine, many businesses in plenty of sectors aren’t. So start internally, where all the best marketing programs begin. Does your firm have a social media policy? 61.2 percent of U.S. firms do. Find out if you have a progressive training program that is working with all of your staff to address the risks and rewards of personal and professional engagement through social media channels and if not, initiate one –because if you can’t trust your own people to do the right thing, who can

you trust? Next, consider your audience and where they are spending their time online? Decide what you want to achieve, set objectives and determine the most appropriate channel to address your audience, and this might not be the most obvious choice. For example, LinkedIn is often considered to be a recruitment tool. But in Australia alone, LinkedIn has three million registered professionals, 71 percent of whom are aged 25-54 years. Just over two percent of these members or 60,000 people are in the legal profession. A search for the term General Counsel alone shows 3,560 people with that job title across Australia. This makes LinkedIn arguably the single largest database of legal professionals in the country and access to the data is ostensibly free. As a business development tool in a B2B market, LinkedIn is unsurpassed, but not every firm thinks of this application in those terms.

In a wider context, you need to determine if your company is ready to engage with an audience through a social media channel. Typically, but not always, that means that the firm will need to converse with clients and other stakeholders online and in an open forum. If that’s the case you can build your strategy accordingly. If not, that does not preclude social channels from your marketing strategy. At the most basic level, social media provides an exceptional source of market information on issues important to your firm and to your clients. Setting up listening posts and investigating software that helps you analyse the data will deliver a raft of benefits with no need to converse or engage with anyone. Alternatively, sites like YouTube and Slideshare allow you to disable their comments functionality, allowing your firm to broadcast thought leadership to a much wider audience without the need to manage the communities that other channels create.

Whatever level of comfort your firm may currently have with regard to social media you can be assured that it’s not going away, it is not a fad and it will have an impact on your business in the near future – if it hasn’t already.

Richard Spencer is a Director of TWO Social, a specialist Social Media agency.

As well as being a regular media commentator, Richard advises organisations on how to maximise their opportunities across Social channels. Prior to founding TWO Social, Richard was Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Interactive with TMP Worldwide, Global Head of Marketing for Michael Page and has been working in digital communications since 1996.

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AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

The case for the iPad Kate Greenwood thinks that she has finally found the Holy Grail in the new iPad. Designed for viewing a variety of media, the iPad can be used for taking reading materials home, reviewing maps and photos with clients, capturing notes at client conferences and carrying copies of cases and legislation into court.

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Kate Greenwood is based in Brisbane, a full-time barrister, part-time lecturer, and more than a tiny bit techno-geek, she is forever on the hunt for technology that can keep up with the demands of legal practice. The only place she won’t take her iPad to is the beach.

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ightweight and portable, the iPad is ideal for courtwork and conferences. Carrying around an iPad filled with PDF copies of cases and legislation is infinitely lighter than carrying around the paper copies or a laptop.

The court wifi and the iPad make a perfect fit. Using the court wifi to do internet searches means that the advocate can respond to unexpected queries from the Bench without needing to bring a heavier briefcase holding the ‘just-in-case’ materials.

Once the relevant passages are found, the iPad displaying the text can then be handed up to the bench for viewing. An iPad showing the relevant provision in legislation was recently handed up to the bench for perusal, and the computer-savvy judge requested that counsel pull up the DSM IV criteria on the iPad so that the expert witness being cross examined might address those criteria in his answers.

If documents need to be amended, the amended version can be emailed from chambers to the iPad in court, and then forwarded on to the Associate and parties in the matter. The iPad can sit on the court lectern when you need to refer to your notes and it is less noticeable than reading from a laptop.

The iPad really comes into its own for reading and reviewing documents such as electronic copies of judgments, legislation, affidavits and contracts. The iPad now rivals paper for ease of reading because you can flip pages and expand text on the screen.

Highlighting documents and adding notes can be done quickly and the marked up copy

kept for future reference. There are a number of Apps for reading pdf files: GoodReader, PDFExpert and iBooks. Each of them has different advantages: GoodReader is easy to use and allows you to manage cases and pdf documents (like the expert witness report) into folders. PDFExpert allows you to mark up the pdf documents by highlighting passages and making notes; it is useful for marking up cases, legislation and the rules. Word documents can be opened and viewed in Mail and transferred to GoodReader with a click of a button.

Word documents can also be read in iBooks but at the moment options for editing Word documents are limited.

The pdf readers can be used to annotate or mark up judgments for your own reference or so you can direct the judge’s attention to the passages that you seek to rely on. Equally, the markings can be hidden so that a clean copy is handed up to the judge. Should a permanent record of the display be needed for the court record, a screenshot can be made of what is shown on the iPad. Not only can pdf versions of judgments and legislation be copied from the websites but other content useful to lawyers can be viewed on the ipad. Photos (Photos) and videos (Videos, Youtube), podcasts and recordings (iPod), email (Mail) and web-browsing (Safari, Atomic Web), tweets (Twitter, Twitterific) and news content (ABC, BBC News, The Australian, the SMH, Guardian Eyewitness) and journals (ABA Journal, Barrister) are all easy to review on the iPad screen. Legal reference materials are being produced for overseas jurisdictions (eg LawBox for the U.S. and Ilegal for the UK) and Australian content is starting to be offered as well.

The usefulness of the iPad is not confined to just reading or reviewing documents. Emails can be written, diagrams can be drawn (Penultimate), documents dictated (Dictamus), typed (SoundNote, Notes) and converted to text from voice (Dragon Dictate). In conferences I use Google Earth or Maps to clarify instructions as to places; I review Records of Interview on iTunes on my laptop or iPod on my iPad. I can draw a mud map using Penultimate and can then send it as a pdf document to my email; I can also take notes and

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

make a recording with SoundPaper. The iPad also helps you make better use of the technology that you already have. I end up reviewing a lot of CCTV footage – police videos and recordings – none of which have a consistent format or even run on the same computer software or the same operating systems. AirVideo on my iPad lets me control the running of the video; I can be in a different room controlling the video remotely and not have to physically sit at the computer running the CCTV software. I am given CCTV, which works on DVD, CCTV that needs obscure software that only runs on Windows 4, CCTV that needs obscure software that only runs on Windows NT. All those problems are now easier to deal with by utilising AirVideo – I just have to find computers that communicate via WiFi and use them as servers. Using AirVideo Server, I now use three different computers to behave as video servers to the iPad; my Mac laptop runs the DVDs, the spare secretarial PC runs the Windows 4 CCTV and someone else’s retired laptop runs the Windows NT CCTV. This one trick has single-handedly justified the purchase price of the iPad for me.

THE PRACTICALITIES: The Apps for the iPad can be obtained through the iTunes store. If you have an iPad, be sure to get the ‘Paperless’ iBook (an electronic book) written by David Sparks, a lawyer who has created a small book jampacked with useful advice.

Copying and creating documents for use elsewhere means that the documents need to be transferred between your iPad and your regular computer either by email, iTunes or through a cable.

After opening the mail attachment on your iPad, Mail then lets you open the pdfs in PDFExpert, iBooks, Stanza, or GoodReader. There is also the Dropbox service which lets you store documents in the cloud and transfer documents

more easily between your computer and the iPad. Some of the Apps have their own file transfer abilities built in.

For example, the first part of this article was written using Soundpaper, now called SoundNote. After I typed up the paragraphs, I told SoundNote to ‘Share with Mac or PC’.

This instruction then created a temporary web address which allows computers from the same local network to access the files.

SO WHAT ARE THE DOWNSIDES OF USING THE IPAD? Unlike your laptop, you must store the documents that you want to view with an App, like GoodReader, inside the App itself. This is a technological trade-off needed to be able to start the iPad instantly on the press of a button. So all the documents I want to read in GoodReader have to be stored in that App (via iTunes from my laptop or via mail from my iPad). The same thing goes for PDFExpert and iBooks. I have turned that negative into a positive. GoodReader is used to organise materials for each matter, the brief materials, relevant legislation and judgments I need to read to prepare the matter. PDFExpert holds anything I want to mark up, so I keep my UCPR and legislation and some leading cases in PDFExpert. iBooks can hold pdf and Word documents as well as electronic books. I keep CPD documents in iBooks.

Will the iPad ever replace a laptop entirely? Probably not, but it is far more light and portable and if you don’t need to do anything complicated, it is easier to take with you. It can be used under limited circumstances to replace a laptop. I find I rarely take my laptop to court with me these days but always take my iPad. This is one device that in a few years time we are going to wonder how we ever managed without.

This article is an abridged version of the original that appeared on www.hearsay.org.au in June 2012

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AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

THE FUTURE OF LAW – the tools of the trade for 2017

By Rick Ness Rick Ness has held a wide variety of technology positions within Thomson Reuters throughout his 22 year career. He joined the company as a developer in 1990 and has worked in both the U.S. and Australia as a Program Manager, Development Manager and Director.

He is currently Chief Technology Officer for Thomson Reuters Legal, Tax & Accounting Australia/New Zealand.

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Chief Technology Officer of Thomson Reuters, Legal, Tax & Accounting ANZ

echnology is increasingly shaping the legal profession, as anyone who’s worked in the industry for a few years will attest. In just a few decades, technology has become ubiquitous; 95 percent of practitioners in this country now use smartphones, 67 percent use tablet computers and a quarter use enterprise apps.¹ And it’s a new generation of professionals

that are driving this: demanding change to help them perform better. But this can be a double-edged sword – the balance between being a slave to technology and using it to genuinely drive efficiencies is a fine one.

While most lawyers will be familiar with the impact of more conspicuous technologies, like mobile and digital publishing, I’m going to examine some of the less visible trends

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

that are impacting the industry and talk about the new skills practitioners will require in order to meet the challenges of the future.

THE SHIFT TOWARDS “JUST IN TIME” KNOWLEDGE Legal libraries were the core source for lawyers to research cases and build their knowledge base, with regular publishing schedules leading to predicable patterns of consumption.

However, the past five years have seen a rapid growth in digital publishing spurred on most recently by eBooks and eReaders, with around 25 percent of lawyers now using them in some capacity.² Add to this the rise in online research tools – with more than half (56 percent)³ of lawyers using social media sources as part of their research processes – and you have a landscape where information is increasingly omnipresent and diverse. This poses its own challenges and issues with legal practitioners suffering an acute case of informationsaturation. With potentially thousands more content sources at our disposal, a challenge becomes keeping up with the rapid evolution of law and legal information and filtering through the noise. Our own research has found that even today, 83 percent4 of professionals admit there is frequently too much material to keep up with. So what are the lessons?

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) of content. RSS readers allow users to track content from a multitude of websites, blogs and wikis as soon as it is published or updated. A huge time saving mechanism, RSS readers (such as Feed Reader or Feed Demon) work by a user subscribing to a feed by entering into the reader the feed’s URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) or by clicking a feed icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process.

For legal professionals this means the ability to track hundreds of online resources, with daily, hourly or even instant updates being pushed through to their desktop or handset.

Next generation federated search. This technology has emerged to assist in digesting all of this information, saving time and cutting through to what’s important. Most legal databases now use federated search, allowing users to search multiple information resources simultaneously through one search query. If executed properly, federated search is thought to be as good as searching native sources, but to get the most relevant, accurate results, it is important to take time to learn correct query syntaxes. This is something a firm’s librarian should be able to advise on.

Boolean Syntax on Google. Learning simple Boolean Syntax commands on Google are also an important skill to save time and drive the most relevance when searching online sources.

There’s a wide variety of commands above and beyond a simple search that you might not be aware of, such as using inverted commas (“ “) to search an exact term or adding a dash (-) before a word to exclude all the results that include that word.

The list of commands is extensive and rather than go into them in detail here, Google has an excellent help centre that is worth checking out.

REDEFINITION OF PHYSICAL OFFICE SPACE Another impact of technology in the legal profession is in terms of the physical office space. A study in the U.S. found that even in 2006, legal libraries in America were decreasing in size (a median decrease of 10 percent),5 a trend that’s being mirrored here. While this can be attributed to the steady adoption of eBooks and online data storage, other factors are also playing a role, such as the emergence of super-fast broadband, cloud-based storage, and mobile technologies, all of which enable professionals to freely take their work with them wherever they go. Remote working is fine in practice, but it will fall apart unless legal professionals can equip themselves with the right tools to ensure that not being in the office does not inhibit their ability to do their job. While services such as Skype are well-known, there is a raft of enterprise applications that can be used via a smartphone to replace the creature comforts of an office-based legal environment and many Australian firms – 17 percent6 – are even developing these themselves. While not all budgets will stretch to this bespoke approach, here are three key areas to focus on: Online storage and document management. When working remotely it’s essential to be able to access your files, and also be able to share, collaborate and distribute them without having to email huge files. Cloud-based storage is the best route to manage this process, with ‘Dropbox’ currently favoured among professionals, allowing you to access your data anywhere, and also from a smartphone. While security remains a key consideration for the legal professional in particular, adding ‘BoxCryptor’ allows you to enhance security through encryption of your Dropbox files. The combination of these two tools is ideal for those wanting excellent security without huge capital investment.

Replicating the legal library. The complexities of legal research, particularly when it comes to annotating and note taking is something that is not easy to replicate away from the legal library. However, developments in eReaders are increasingly allowing legal professionals to replicate

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AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

Source: 1 , 2, 6 & 7 Thomson Reuters study conducted Feb 2012 among decision makers at 324 medium-large law firms based in Australia.

Source: 3 & 4 Thomson Reuters study conducted June 2012 among decision makers at 201 small-medium law firms based in Australia.

Source: 5 Law Library Benchmarks, 2006, PRG

this process while away from the office, via their iPad or tablet computer. A good example of this is ProView, available for free from the Apple app store. ProView is an eReader developed specifically for the needs of the professional user. This also brings a new dynamic to legal research as it allows collaborative note taking, helping the user build and share their knowledge.

Filing and note-taking. A free application called Evernote, available for Windows, Mac and mobile devices, allows you to create a virtual paper file folder, filled with your annotations, photos, web pages, research, documents and files. This is of huge benefit for legal professionals who can share notes with clients or counsel, as well as anyone connected with a particular case or project.

This method of organising your research is far superior to a stack of legal pads with written notes and scraps of paper; it is easily shared and is ideal for remote working. The app also offers on-the-fly encryption, allowing any sensitive client data to be encrypted within a document before the document is stored.

Considering broader IT strategy. While a large proportion of law firms in this country still lack formal IT strategies to deal with mobile devices – just 10 percent7 have policies to cover tablet usage for example – it’s still important for the individual to seek approval and mitigate risk when adopting any new technology, particularly when it’s cloud-based. Of paramount importance is the need to ensure confidentially and privilege are protected, ascertain where the data will be stored and that ownership of the data does not pass. Consider the implications of a cloud provider going out of service, and whether the provider will sell or commoditise the data. Do not bury your head in the sand when it comes to these issues. Individuals should always seek IT or board approval.

With these points I’ve barely scratched the surface. But remember, when it comes to technology, the only constant is rapid change. Those lawyers able to adapt and embrace new technologies will stand the best chances of succeeding in the future. But more than that, success will increasingly be defined by being able to view the technological landscape with clarity.

The ability to identify which technologies will actually help you in your day-to-day working life, and which of them will simply eat up your time is going to become a key differentiator for successful professionals. To stand still is to admit defeat, and it is only by embracing change – and embracing the evolution of information – that can prepare you for the future.

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Firms using BHL Insight really are more profitable.

BHL Insight gives law firms a complete accounting, matter management, document/ email automation, marketing and collections system. At a surprisingly low cost.

1. BHL Insight costs less. Firms use Insight for between $60 and $100 per user per month. You choose a subscription model or traditional licensing.

2. Insight requires fewer computer servers than most other systems. It is fast and reliable. This is important if you decide to use a cloud-based or hosted platform.

3. Insight does not need external consultants to connect and configure different components. IT and consulting costs exceed software costs in most firms, so reducing them is a major contribution to law firm profitability. CFOs and Partners love it.

4. Insight is a secure, long-term platform for your business growth. It is not subject to sudden price increases or termination of support. BHL has increased the support costs for Insight by 4% per annum for the last eleven years. We don’t lock clients in with long contracts or closed databases.

5. Your investment of staff time in your own systems and processes is safe. At BHL we have been developing and supporting practice management systems for 35 years. Insight is our fourth generation product. No BHL client has ever been denied ongoing support or obliged to move to a new system until they were ready to make the move.

6. BHL Insight is easy to learn and use, so it is learnt and used.

This delivers the promised productivity benefits of software and lets you manage more matters with the same number of staff.

7. Clients who want to have the system modified to suit their needs can have that done swiftly and at reasonable cost.

Insight adapts to your needs, so you can differentiate your firm and grow your practice groups.

Software or more time at home?

Software or bigger premises?

Software or better holidays?

Use BHL Insight and have it all!

8. The “Paperless Office” is here: BHL Insight is fully developed and very functional. We often hear that practice management software is all the same. Not so. Firms who examine prospective systems in detail usually buy BHL: “Mate, I don’t want to float your boat but the comparison between “________” and Insight is chalk and cheese.” Statement of the CFO of a mid-sized law firm.

9. Many law firms have taken the word of their software vendor or consultants for the effectiveness of their accounting software.

To their cost. Insight automates accounting as well as document assembly, document management, workflow and legal project management. Releasing the accounts staff from mundane data entry might seem like a trivial cost saving, but experience shows it has a material impact on the quality of firm management, cash flow and profitability.

10. Using the same system for all of your firm automation initiatives reduces costs and speeds the adoption of automated processes.

Control your IT costs and give your people the tools they need.

It’s money in the bank.

11. The people at BHL care about the results you get. We are not ‘incented’ by ROI or ROE, we are motivated by client satisfaction and building strong reputations as law firm automation specialists. We help you make it all happen.

12. Insight has been developed in collaboration with a wide variety of law firm clients in Australia and New Zealand, it suits large and small firms, from 1 to 1000 users, and can make a significant contribution to your profit per partner. Contact cmec@bhl.com.au or call 1300 132 385 to arrange a free, no obligation presentation.

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AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLEMENT

The Voice Productivity Revolution Lauren Evans believes a transition to voice recognition technologies could increase your firm’s competitive edge.

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Lauren Evans, Marketing Manager for BigHand Asia-Pacific, has experience marketing in to the legal sector throughout Europe, South Africa and Asia-Pacific and has seen the global legal landscape shift dramatically over recent years, and understands how firms survive these changes.

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nnovation in technology has created many powerful tools, making the business of law more efficient, mobile and productive. These positive attributes are key drivers in a firm’s competitiveness and growth. The pressure for firms to stay ahead, whilst delivering value back to clients, puts significant strain on resources so it’s critical that staff have the right technology to do their job more effectively and ensure the firm realises maximum staff utilisation.

A frequent talking point, quite literally, is voice productivity – the power of using your voice to get more done. This isn’t a new concept as traditionally lawyers have dictated letters, memos and notes to speed up document production. The concept of voice productivity has now evolved as advancements in technologies continue to drive productivity gains. Central to this is the concept of mobility and the coming of age of speech recognition.

As firms aim to retain and grow their client base, there is an increasing need for lawyers to deliver more value to their clients in a timely fashion, whilst maintaining profitability to the firm. With competition high, lawyers are often out of the office visiting clients, and working longer hours. Mobile dictation enables lawyers to efficiently and easily work on the go, from home or abroad and instantly submit dictations in just a click. This coupled with the ability to prioritise and track work live allows more tasks to be completed, and more services delivered to clients resulting in more billable hours and business continuity. Multiple devices become one, with many firms instigating a BYOD strategy, saving thousands on dictation hardware, and reducing security risks. Corrs Chambers Westgarth recently invested in digital dictation and speech recognition with BigHand Voice Productivity because, according to Jon Kenton, COO at Corrs, operating across a global landscape with varied time zones requires a greater level of sophisticated and

flexible technology solutions. “Digital dictation is an essential tool for a flexible, mobile, and collaborative workforce. It improves efficiencies, increases staff productivity and helps us serve our clients better” he said. While the legal field has not historically been at the forefront of technological change, it is quickly catching up to other industries due to economic pressure to survive. Small firms, in particular, are drawing on the latest efficiency boosting technologies such as digital dictation and speech recognition to enable them to compete directly with larger firms; the larger firms benefit from rationalising operations globally – a critical factor in light of recent multi-national mergers. Thanks to the consumerisation of mobile technology, lawyers now demand to be more engaged and have access to information and systems 24/7 from any location. Apple has played a big part of this, transforming the way we interact with smartphones.

Steve Thornton, Gilbert + Tobin comments: “In the 4 months since we launched a device refresh and bring your own device (BYOD) strategy, Apple iPhone and Android adoption has increased from 10% to 70%; away from other devices that are not as business app rich.”

Taking voice productivity one step further is the introduction of speech recognition - in the past, the stigma around speech recognition has been well deserved but with major software advances over the last two years, the quality has reached a point where even first-time users have a high degree of confidence. Efficiency gains are significant and realised almost immediately. The technology allows lawyers to convert voice to text as accurately and as simply as possible with minimal training. Documents can be instantly constructed and require only proofing before completion, removing the need for administration staff to type up the document, freeing up time to complete more business critical tasks. Legal Secretary Laurelle Chastain from BCK lawyers in Queensland says speech recognition has enabled their secretarial team to get through work more quickly than the traditional ‘listen and type’ method: “The ability to receive accurately transcribed correspondence and file memos from the authors has been a great time saver, as the documents simply require proofing before returning to the author for signature.”

As clients continue to look for increased value for money, it is imperative that firms provide their staff with the right technology which allows them to deliver services in a cost effective way, ultimately exceeding client expectations.

DICTATE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE AND SAVE ON HARDWARE CONTACT US FOR A 30 DAY FREE TRIAL*

GET MORE DONE ON-THE-GO WITH THE BIGHAND SMARTPHONE APP Using BigHand for iPhone®, BlackBerry® or Android™ mobile, you can work remotely, away from the office, and instantly send dictations to your secretary or team in just a click. The advanced workflow options allow you to prioritise and track the live progress of your work to accelerate the document production process & allow you to bill more hours.

With 3,000 lawyers in Australia already benefiting, BigHand for Smartphone has regularly been cited as a cost effective, key productivity and business continuity tool by many lawyers in Australia.

“Enabling our lawyers to dictate using their iPhone in and out of the office has not only eliminated hardware costs but has also reduced document turnaround times by 30%, which has greatly increased productivity. Our lawyers can’t speak highly enough about BigHand’s Smartphone solution.

It’s an easy win for any Law Firm and ROI is easily realised within 3 months of the investment” NORMAN WATERHOUSE LAWYERS, IT MANAGER, MARC LOK *Conditions apply

www.bighand.com.au | T: 1300 662 948 | enquiry@bighand.com.au

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