This late August, Rocket Matter, purveyors of legal productivity software (or, “practice management software”, as we frequently refer to it here), launched a new blog, labeled, aptly (see, I wasn’t kidding): “Legal Productivity”.
The Legal Productivity blog promises much and many good postings relative to law practice management, a subject dear, as you know, to mine own heart. The Legal Productivity blog does not replace Rocket Matter’s company blog, which will continue to feature product-related news and notes, it merely moves the law practice management conversation to another webspot. Rocket Matter’s Larry Port explains, in the transitional post at Rocket Matter’s original blog.
Being the selfish beesting that I am, there’s obviously no way that I would ever promote the new Rocket Matter blog unless they did something for me first, right? (Aye, ‘tis true.) So, yes, I was granted what is the obvious honor of making the very first post at the new Legal Productivity blog, which post you can read here. (And, aside from the over-long picture of my massive cranium, I’d say it’s a well-rendered piece. (Yes, that's me patting myself on the back.))
As Larry pointed out, this first posting makes me a little like The Buggles, with less crazy sunglasses, of the Legal Productivity blog. So, check out my post, if you have a moment, and then stayed tuned to the Legal Productivity blog, for forthcoming, more useful information on law practice management-related topics.
Check Out Our Website
A Law Practice Advisor for Massachusetts Lawyers
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Finders’ Keep: The Use of Naming Conventions Within Records Management
You can chock this posting, as well as my many others, up to my essential laziness. Yes, it’s true, I am, in fact, essentially lazy: I’d rather be lying on my couch, eating chips (and picking the stray chip pieces out of my chest hair--no, those don’t get thrown away) and watching SportsCenter right now. (Oh, that’s gross? Really? Would you rather work, or eat chips on a couch? That’s what I thought.) Unfortunately, I worry too much about getting fatter, and about making money (not independently wealthy, despite what my lifestyle might otherwise suggest) to do that. So, I still have to, like, work at LOMAP, and meet with our clients.
As I’ve mentioned before, after meeting with clients, I always settle back in, and draft an email covering our discussion topics and my further suggestions. This requires some measure of time, consideration and concentration, and not of the orange juice variety. But, I’ve created some efficiencies within the process: When I notice frequently asked questions, I just write about those topics, in full, at this blog; and so, when I sit back down to write another of my little post-meeting notes, I say, Hey, man, check out our blog, where I’ve already covered this. Pretty slick, I know. I’m kind of like that smooth pomade settling up there upon your cranium topper.
You may have noticed that I have been writing, of late, on the conversion from the papered office to the paperless office. Here, I covered some general concepts. There, I covered scanning and PDF conversion. Round here, I covered records management, generally. Up in this piece, I talked over the Massachusetts data privacy scheme, and then some. (By now, you’re starting to see the creaky wheels churning across my greyed matter:) But, I forgot something.
Now, I thought I had this pretty well-covered; but, alas: people keep asking me about organization, re: What about organizing the documents I scan? And, What about, like, finding those that may get lost in the shuffle? See, now, if you just met with me, and I was like, Yeah, I’ll send you a blog post on that: (a) see, I wasn’t lying; and, (b) I told you this blog was sweet.
So, here’s my take after naming conventions and finding keepers:
Of course, once you start scanning documents regularly, the next logical step is to ask where they might go. In order to file your electronic documents appropriately, you should create a naming convention for your office client records, which naming convention is understandable to you, and consistently applied by you. At LOMAP, by way of example, we make a main break at all client intake folders by year of intake. From there, at the remaining subfolders and subfiles, we use the following convention:
Folders: e.g.--2010 01 01 Rusty Lambert
Files: e.g.--2010 01 14 Motion to Dismiss for Insufficiency of Process
This system defaults to chronological order, meaning that if you open a particular client folder, you’ll be greeted by a chronological recitation of the case history, merely by naming your files in a certain way. See, slick and easy, just like, well . . . This chronological ordering is much the same thing that a practice management system will do for you, in helping to organize cases, and you can replicate this, with respect to your document files, within your computer saved files, on your own. (And, for getting those scanned documents named and filed with more immediacy, consider creating a workflow for those documents, such that scanning, naming and filing can be managed, to the extent possible, in the background, as it were. Remember that post I referenced previously respecting general considerations for the paperless office? Go back there now, and check out Rodney Dowell’s and Alan Klevan’s great Powerpoint presentation (linked out from there), on the scanning process, which provides some insight into creating a workflow.) And, if you must keep, or wish to keep, some, or all, of your paper documents, too, that’s fine; but, if you’re going to be doing that, try to maintain the same sort of filing system for your paper documents that you do for their replicant electronic documents. If you’re using the chronological ordering (which was suggested, under a veil, above) for your electronic document management, you can fairly easily cop that style with the ordering of your paper documents: just slip the latest document behind the prior document, and so forth. With a simple process like that, you’ve got an agreement in ordering as between your electronic and paper documents. (Not that I’m suggesting that you have to adopt our filing method. I don’t care what filing method you use, so long as you apply one, one that works, and one that is comprehensible (i.e.--you should know where stuff will be and you should be able to tell just by looking at the title you have given a document, what a document is and means) to you. I mean, you probably don’t want to have a naming convention strategy that involves combinations of your cats’ names plus colors and the winning lottery numbers from the past seven months. Don’t overcomplicate things. And, geez, you could probably stand to lose some of your damn cats anyway.)
And, while the adoption of an establishing naming convention, when appropriately done, becomes a fairly failsafe method for document management, human error will always enters into the equation, as it does with any human endeavor. For that reason, you’ll want to be certain that you can find documents that may have been mishandled, or mislaid, as it were. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to do this. Windows has its own desktop search functions, as does Mac. Google Desktop offers similar features. And, improperly labeled/mishandled files may be catchable/trackable through whatever practice management system you decide to purchase. Or, you could use a pay program for searching files and folders, like TechHit’s QuickJump, which will also allow you to jump to files and folders (via a search function) more quickly (hence the name), especially if you end up establishing a complicated tiering pattern for your computer folders and files, and determine that you need to be able to move through to files faster than by clicking through multiples of folders. I have also reviewed QuickJump at our blog, here. If you want something really robust, you could select a full-scale document management program, with aggressive search options, like netdocuments, which product I will be reviewing at an as-yet-undetermined time. But, Look for that posting upcoming here!
. . .
Liner Notes
The Jared Correia Listening Project is going well, continuing apace, thanks for asking. It was a little dicey, though, for a time there, when I had to “reseat” my hard drive, and thought there was a chance that I would lose all my song ratings--but, that did not happen. I know, right?
We’ve moved to the “D”’s now, in reviewing, to refresh your memory, in chronological order, by artist (first name), all 7,176 songs currently in my iTunes library. In addition to being an intriguing little project for me, as it has reacquainted me with some songs that had been lost for some time, this also affords me a really easy Liner Notes option.
What strange and alluring mytunes might you find in the D segmentation; well, these:
“Rapid City, South Dakota” by Dwight Yoakam (Kinky Friedman cover)
“White Christmas” by The Drifters
“I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys
“I Touch Myself” by the Divinyls
“Cover of the Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
“Peace Frog” by The Doors
“Free” by Donavon Frankenreiter
“Ghetto Jam” by Domino
“The ‘Designing Women’ Theme Song (‘Georgia On My Mind’)” by Doc Severinsen
“The General” by Dispatch
“The Work Song” from “Cinderella”, by the mice
“Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground
“Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners
“Warehouse” by Dave Matthews Band
“Cool as Kim Deal” by The Dandy Warhols
"Freight Train Boogie" by Doc Watson and Chet Atkins
“Shootin’ Up Signs” by Dash Rip Rock
“If You’re Not the One” by Daniel Bedingfield
As I’ve mentioned before, after meeting with clients, I always settle back in, and draft an email covering our discussion topics and my further suggestions. This requires some measure of time, consideration and concentration, and not of the orange juice variety. But, I’ve created some efficiencies within the process: When I notice frequently asked questions, I just write about those topics, in full, at this blog; and so, when I sit back down to write another of my little post-meeting notes, I say, Hey, man, check out our blog, where I’ve already covered this. Pretty slick, I know. I’m kind of like that smooth pomade settling up there upon your cranium topper.
You may have noticed that I have been writing, of late, on the conversion from the papered office to the paperless office. Here, I covered some general concepts. There, I covered scanning and PDF conversion. Round here, I covered records management, generally. Up in this piece, I talked over the Massachusetts data privacy scheme, and then some. (By now, you’re starting to see the creaky wheels churning across my greyed matter:) But, I forgot something.
Now, I thought I had this pretty well-covered; but, alas: people keep asking me about organization, re: What about organizing the documents I scan? And, What about, like, finding those that may get lost in the shuffle? See, now, if you just met with me, and I was like, Yeah, I’ll send you a blog post on that: (a) see, I wasn’t lying; and, (b) I told you this blog was sweet.
So, here’s my take after naming conventions and finding keepers:
Of course, once you start scanning documents regularly, the next logical step is to ask where they might go. In order to file your electronic documents appropriately, you should create a naming convention for your office client records, which naming convention is understandable to you, and consistently applied by you. At LOMAP, by way of example, we make a main break at all client intake folders by year of intake. From there, at the remaining subfolders and subfiles, we use the following convention:
Folders: e.g.--2010 01 01 Rusty Lambert
Files: e.g.--2010 01 14 Motion to Dismiss for Insufficiency of Process
This system defaults to chronological order, meaning that if you open a particular client folder, you’ll be greeted by a chronological recitation of the case history, merely by naming your files in a certain way. See, slick and easy, just like, well . . . This chronological ordering is much the same thing that a practice management system will do for you, in helping to organize cases, and you can replicate this, with respect to your document files, within your computer saved files, on your own. (And, for getting those scanned documents named and filed with more immediacy, consider creating a workflow for those documents, such that scanning, naming and filing can be managed, to the extent possible, in the background, as it were. Remember that post I referenced previously respecting general considerations for the paperless office? Go back there now, and check out Rodney Dowell’s and Alan Klevan’s great Powerpoint presentation (linked out from there), on the scanning process, which provides some insight into creating a workflow.) And, if you must keep, or wish to keep, some, or all, of your paper documents, too, that’s fine; but, if you’re going to be doing that, try to maintain the same sort of filing system for your paper documents that you do for their replicant electronic documents. If you’re using the chronological ordering (which was suggested, under a veil, above) for your electronic document management, you can fairly easily cop that style with the ordering of your paper documents: just slip the latest document behind the prior document, and so forth. With a simple process like that, you’ve got an agreement in ordering as between your electronic and paper documents. (Not that I’m suggesting that you have to adopt our filing method. I don’t care what filing method you use, so long as you apply one, one that works, and one that is comprehensible (i.e.--you should know where stuff will be and you should be able to tell just by looking at the title you have given a document, what a document is and means) to you. I mean, you probably don’t want to have a naming convention strategy that involves combinations of your cats’ names plus colors and the winning lottery numbers from the past seven months. Don’t overcomplicate things. And, geez, you could probably stand to lose some of your damn cats anyway.)
And, while the adoption of an establishing naming convention, when appropriately done, becomes a fairly failsafe method for document management, human error will always enters into the equation, as it does with any human endeavor. For that reason, you’ll want to be certain that you can find documents that may have been mishandled, or mislaid, as it were. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to do this. Windows has its own desktop search functions, as does Mac. Google Desktop offers similar features. And, improperly labeled/mishandled files may be catchable/trackable through whatever practice management system you decide to purchase. Or, you could use a pay program for searching files and folders, like TechHit’s QuickJump, which will also allow you to jump to files and folders (via a search function) more quickly (hence the name), especially if you end up establishing a complicated tiering pattern for your computer folders and files, and determine that you need to be able to move through to files faster than by clicking through multiples of folders. I have also reviewed QuickJump at our blog, here. If you want something really robust, you could select a full-scale document management program, with aggressive search options, like netdocuments, which product I will be reviewing at an as-yet-undetermined time. But, Look for that posting upcoming here!
. . .
Liner Notes
The Jared Correia Listening Project is going well, continuing apace, thanks for asking. It was a little dicey, though, for a time there, when I had to “reseat” my hard drive, and thought there was a chance that I would lose all my song ratings--but, that did not happen. I know, right?
We’ve moved to the “D”’s now, in reviewing, to refresh your memory, in chronological order, by artist (first name), all 7,176 songs currently in my iTunes library. In addition to being an intriguing little project for me, as it has reacquainted me with some songs that had been lost for some time, this also affords me a really easy Liner Notes option.
What strange and alluring mytunes might you find in the D segmentation; well, these:
“Rapid City, South Dakota” by Dwight Yoakam (Kinky Friedman cover)
“White Christmas” by The Drifters
“I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys
“I Touch Myself” by the Divinyls
“Cover of the Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
“Peace Frog” by The Doors
“Free” by Donavon Frankenreiter
“Ghetto Jam” by Domino
“The ‘Designing Women’ Theme Song (‘Georgia On My Mind’)” by Doc Severinsen
“The General” by Dispatch
“The Work Song” from “Cinderella”, by the mice
“Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground
“Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners
“Warehouse” by Dave Matthews Band
“Cool as Kim Deal” by The Dandy Warhols
"Freight Train Boogie" by Doc Watson and Chet Atkins
“Shootin’ Up Signs” by Dash Rip Rock
“If You’re Not the One” by Daniel Bedingfield
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Just a Couple of Business Card Sharks . . . : More on Business Card Optimization
This week, Jim Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program, and I were quoted together in "Business Card Sharks: A Creative Business Card Can Be The Ace Up Your Sleeve", an entertaining and informative article, written by Michael Rappaport for The Canadian Bar Association's PracticeLink.
(How did I get quoted in this article? I don't know. Jim was probably pulling some strings behind the scenes.)
In addition to the linked article, from north of the border (or, south of the border, if you're reading this at the North Pole), you may be further edified by my previous blog post on business cards, available here. For even further edification, review Jim's own robust article on business cards, available at the Oklahoma MAP's articles repository. And, for more from Jim, check his consistently excellent (and aptly-named) Law Practice Tips Blog.
(How did I get quoted in this article? I don't know. Jim was probably pulling some strings behind the scenes.)
In addition to the linked article, from north of the border (or, south of the border, if you're reading this at the North Pole), you may be further edified by my previous blog post on business cards, available here. For even further edification, review Jim's own robust article on business cards, available at the Oklahoma MAP's articles repository. And, for more from Jim, check his consistently excellent (and aptly-named) Law Practice Tips Blog.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Prefab Modules: Legal Workspace Offers Hosted Desktop Solution for Lawyers
Legal software takes time to download. It also costs money to update. And, even if you don’t know that, your IT guy does. You know, the guy that bills you for that stuff.
But, if you want an alternative method for establishing and updating your desktop legal software platform, there is, potentially, a way to acquire the whole she-bang, with little to no effort on your part, and at a cost savings to you. Legal Workspace offers a hosted legal desktop solution for attorneys. Setup is done remotely, and Legal Workspace’s engineers won’t even need to access your computer. Maintenance of programs takes places behind the scenes, as well, again, performed by those cheerful and lovable elves (well, I guess they’re really “network engineers”; but, most people really like elves, so I went with that) at the Legal Workspace bunker. And, since Legal Workspace hosts and maintains your legal software on its own servers, that means that (in addition to taking stresses off of your own servers, or machines) you have an internet portal to access your desktop from anywhere; any place you have an internet connection, your desktop is available to you. Perhaps this is the derivation of Legal Workspace’s tagline, “Take Your Work Anywhere”.
Legal Workspace is an offering of 13-year-old IT company, Business Network Consulting. Legal Workspace advertises itself as providing a quick and effective way to implement a solid technology foundation within a law firm. They manage the backend, and support the front end; and, you, well . . . you do your work. There are no start-up costs (there is a monthly fee). There are no set-up hassles. There are no updates, or patching. There are no bugs to work out. Legal Workspace offers personalized training for staff, service for migrating your existing data and importing into the Legal Workspace systems and 24/7 support from its teams of friendly elves . . . er, engineers.
If you’ve read down this far, you perhaps have a passing interest in this product, perhaps even more than a passing interest. So, let’s talk about what you get when you sign on for the presentation of your own, little Legal Workspace-produced law firm world--the standard version, that is (tweaks can be made to this setup, as we’ll see below). For starters, you get a practice management tool (of which we’ve discussed the importance at this blog, previously, here, specifically), in this case, Amicus Attorney. You also get financial management tools, in this case, TimeSlips, integrated with Amicus, and QuickBooks. But, that’s not all: you’ll also get a document management system, including version control and powerful search features, through WorldDox. And, if you buy right now, in addition to the Slap Chop, you’ll also get Windows XP set up (with Seven being considered for inclusion as we speak), as well as TrendMicro, for virus scanning. Each specific system referenced above is a partner/referrer program of Legal Workspace, such that Legal Workspace does not only load these programs, but also has working relationships with the companies behind these programs. Furthermore, given that Legal Workspace currently offers only these systems within their tailored environment (more offerings may be coming), the Legal Workspace team knows these systems intimately. The provision of practice management, records management, financial management, security and general desktop systems, within one environment, set up and maintained by a single, penultimate provider, combines to make for a large percentage of what you’re likely to need for a technology platform for your law office. And, Legal Workspace can put it all together for you, with very little fuss, and even less muss, whatever that is.
As with any program, there are pros and cons to the use of Legal Workspace. Let’s address the advantages first, of which there are a number. Most apparent may be the ability to access your desktop from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. Access is by remote desktop protocol, via an on-screen icon. And, you can access Legal Workspace via any of a desktop, laptop or PDA. Obviously, this is a significant advantage in our mobile society. From the standpoint of flexibility, Legal Workspace, as a system, your system, accessed via the internet, is usable for attorneys working on PCs or Macs. This avoids the problem of seeking workarounds, and operating systems in parallel, or virtually. There is also an inherent ease of use between and among Legal Workspace environment programs, such that the systems “play nice” together. For example, there is collaboration between Outlook and WorldDox, for archiving emails. Could you set this up on your own? Sure. But, it’s easier and more cost-effective, potentially, for Legal Workspace to do it for you. And, those cost savings are represented by “hard cost” savings, like paying an IT person to do the work, and “soft cost” savings, like reducing the strain on your own systems and servers. It can be difficult for solos and small firms to create a large, or, even, appropriate, IT infrastructure. With Legal Workspace, there is a team of dedicated engineers working for you. With Legal Workspace, you’re decreasing your desktop support costs and running a system that is less taxing on your processor; and, you’re avoiding certain practical issues, like needing more servers, and hardware, leading to attendant space and cooling issues. For all these reasons, Legal Workspace may be an attractive option for an attorney establishing a new practice, which attorney has a million other worries, aside from the establishment of a basic law practice desktop platform. One other, not insignificant, benefit, of Legal Workspace, is that it provides some back-up options for your files and documents, as part of its maintenance of your systems. In addition to what I have arrayed here, Legal Workspace also offers its own lists of advantageous things about itself, at the benefits section of its website.
Standing by the side of the above-listed, and other benefits, of the Legal Workspace environment for legal desktopping, are some potential drawbacks, for your considering, as well. The first is that much of the advantage that Legal Workspace claims in not taxing your systems, and moving maintenance and updates off-site, can be acheived piecemeal, as well, through a collection of SaaS programs. (And, I should now mention that, even though Legal Workspace offers those partner/referrer programs within its standard environment, this does not mean that users have to include within each of their desktop environments all of those programs; nor are they limited to those programs. In fact, beyond a base package (the inclusions for which are more fully relayed below), users can select whichever programs they wish to apply at their desktop. Of course, the theory is that LegalWorkspace has chosen for its standard environment the programs it has for a reason: because it believes they work best together; and, certainly, Legal Workspace, as well, would be most familiar with its own partner/referrer programs.) Then, it becomes a question of cost, and of which program parcels you like better. I’d also tell you, as I normally do in these product reviews, that you should check out the demos on the company website; but, the demos at the Legal Workspace website are thoroughly uninspired, and impossible to navigate. It’s a small criticism, surely, but one that reflects on the ability of a potential client to access what the program will mean to him. You can, however, contact Legal Workspace directly for a live demo and work flow audit that can be done on an individual basis, or with your entire firm. And, I'd recommend that option.
Overall, I think that Legal Workspace is an excellent product for the properly-situated attorney, and especially for those attorneys who want the technology side of their practice “just handled”, with little trouble, and at a reasonable cost.
But, this “little trouble and bother” part does not mean that Legal Workspace sets you up and abandons you. They provide live chat support via their website, one free hour of training to start and two help desks for telephone support (one in Dallas, and one in Denver). Additional technical support can be purchased for $135/hour; and, customized trainings can be created and implemented, at an additional cost.
So, let’s get down to brass tacks, here: How much does this all cost?
Here are the figures:
$90/month (for the Base Package)
-private desktop environment accessible anywhere/any time;
-Microsoft Office 2007, with applicable updates (managed by Legal Workspace) and upgrades (when available)
-Microsoft Exchange
-anti-virus (globally managed by Legal Workspace)
-anti-spam (featuring user control panel)
-5 gb of secured data storage (backed up nightly and redundantly for up to two weeks)
+$20/month (for Amicus license and managing links)
+$15/month (for QuickBooks)
+$20/month (for TimeSlips)
+$30/month (WorldDox)
Essentially, we’re looking at a base program per month price, with specific per month pricing for upgrades/additions. (This pricing example would represent the full, standard Legal Workspace environment, from which you may deviate as needed.)
Now, if that sounds enticing to you, but you’re not quite ready to jump, try this on for size:
Readers of the LOMAP Blog get the first month of Legal Workspace FREE, including setup.
As you may gather, this is a not insignificant risk for Legal Workspace, as setting up the system is where the bulk of the work comes in. However, the folks at Legal Workspace tell me that they are confident that new users, once set up, will stay on. I guess you’ll be the judge.
. . .
Liner Notes
This week, I made the mistake of taking suggestions for Liner Notes from my vendor contact. And, as if on cue, to punish me, God made Legal Workspace’s Jeff Nitta send to me this crazy video:
“Evil Bee” by Menomena
Seriously, Jeff? What the hell?
No, honestly, it was a cool video, and I had never heard the song before. Jeff also sent me a more usual video selection, as well:
“Just Breathe” by Pearl Jam
(Good tune. Theo Epstein probably loves it.)
So, in honor of Jeff’s strange tastes, let’s round this session of Liner Notes out with more songs of, or related to, bees:
“No Rain” by Blind Melon
“Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees (I’m Barry Gibb!!)
“My Girl” by The Temptations (Thomas J. was killed by bees in “My Girl”. Alright, I gave that one to you. Oh, and sorry if I ruined that movie for you. But it came out in 1991; you should really have seen it by now anyway.)
“Imma Be” by The Black Eyed Peas
“Honey Bee” by Tom Petty
“Another Day”, “Down the Line” and “Iota” by The Bee’s Knees
But, if you want an alternative method for establishing and updating your desktop legal software platform, there is, potentially, a way to acquire the whole she-bang, with little to no effort on your part, and at a cost savings to you. Legal Workspace offers a hosted legal desktop solution for attorneys. Setup is done remotely, and Legal Workspace’s engineers won’t even need to access your computer. Maintenance of programs takes places behind the scenes, as well, again, performed by those cheerful and lovable elves (well, I guess they’re really “network engineers”; but, most people really like elves, so I went with that) at the Legal Workspace bunker. And, since Legal Workspace hosts and maintains your legal software on its own servers, that means that (in addition to taking stresses off of your own servers, or machines) you have an internet portal to access your desktop from anywhere; any place you have an internet connection, your desktop is available to you. Perhaps this is the derivation of Legal Workspace’s tagline, “Take Your Work Anywhere”.
Legal Workspace is an offering of 13-year-old IT company, Business Network Consulting. Legal Workspace advertises itself as providing a quick and effective way to implement a solid technology foundation within a law firm. They manage the backend, and support the front end; and, you, well . . . you do your work. There are no start-up costs (there is a monthly fee). There are no set-up hassles. There are no updates, or patching. There are no bugs to work out. Legal Workspace offers personalized training for staff, service for migrating your existing data and importing into the Legal Workspace systems and 24/7 support from its teams of friendly elves . . . er, engineers.
If you’ve read down this far, you perhaps have a passing interest in this product, perhaps even more than a passing interest. So, let’s talk about what you get when you sign on for the presentation of your own, little Legal Workspace-produced law firm world--the standard version, that is (tweaks can be made to this setup, as we’ll see below). For starters, you get a practice management tool (of which we’ve discussed the importance at this blog, previously, here, specifically), in this case, Amicus Attorney. You also get financial management tools, in this case, TimeSlips, integrated with Amicus, and QuickBooks. But, that’s not all: you’ll also get a document management system, including version control and powerful search features, through WorldDox. And, if you buy right now, in addition to the Slap Chop, you’ll also get Windows XP set up (with Seven being considered for inclusion as we speak), as well as TrendMicro, for virus scanning. Each specific system referenced above is a partner/referrer program of Legal Workspace, such that Legal Workspace does not only load these programs, but also has working relationships with the companies behind these programs. Furthermore, given that Legal Workspace currently offers only these systems within their tailored environment (more offerings may be coming), the Legal Workspace team knows these systems intimately. The provision of practice management, records management, financial management, security and general desktop systems, within one environment, set up and maintained by a single, penultimate provider, combines to make for a large percentage of what you’re likely to need for a technology platform for your law office. And, Legal Workspace can put it all together for you, with very little fuss, and even less muss, whatever that is.
As with any program, there are pros and cons to the use of Legal Workspace. Let’s address the advantages first, of which there are a number. Most apparent may be the ability to access your desktop from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. Access is by remote desktop protocol, via an on-screen icon. And, you can access Legal Workspace via any of a desktop, laptop or PDA. Obviously, this is a significant advantage in our mobile society. From the standpoint of flexibility, Legal Workspace, as a system, your system, accessed via the internet, is usable for attorneys working on PCs or Macs. This avoids the problem of seeking workarounds, and operating systems in parallel, or virtually. There is also an inherent ease of use between and among Legal Workspace environment programs, such that the systems “play nice” together. For example, there is collaboration between Outlook and WorldDox, for archiving emails. Could you set this up on your own? Sure. But, it’s easier and more cost-effective, potentially, for Legal Workspace to do it for you. And, those cost savings are represented by “hard cost” savings, like paying an IT person to do the work, and “soft cost” savings, like reducing the strain on your own systems and servers. It can be difficult for solos and small firms to create a large, or, even, appropriate, IT infrastructure. With Legal Workspace, there is a team of dedicated engineers working for you. With Legal Workspace, you’re decreasing your desktop support costs and running a system that is less taxing on your processor; and, you’re avoiding certain practical issues, like needing more servers, and hardware, leading to attendant space and cooling issues. For all these reasons, Legal Workspace may be an attractive option for an attorney establishing a new practice, which attorney has a million other worries, aside from the establishment of a basic law practice desktop platform. One other, not insignificant, benefit, of Legal Workspace, is that it provides some back-up options for your files and documents, as part of its maintenance of your systems. In addition to what I have arrayed here, Legal Workspace also offers its own lists of advantageous things about itself, at the benefits section of its website.
Standing by the side of the above-listed, and other benefits, of the Legal Workspace environment for legal desktopping, are some potential drawbacks, for your considering, as well. The first is that much of the advantage that Legal Workspace claims in not taxing your systems, and moving maintenance and updates off-site, can be acheived piecemeal, as well, through a collection of SaaS programs. (And, I should now mention that, even though Legal Workspace offers those partner/referrer programs within its standard environment, this does not mean that users have to include within each of their desktop environments all of those programs; nor are they limited to those programs. In fact, beyond a base package (the inclusions for which are more fully relayed below), users can select whichever programs they wish to apply at their desktop. Of course, the theory is that LegalWorkspace has chosen for its standard environment the programs it has for a reason: because it believes they work best together; and, certainly, Legal Workspace, as well, would be most familiar with its own partner/referrer programs.) Then, it becomes a question of cost, and of which program parcels you like better. I’d also tell you, as I normally do in these product reviews, that you should check out the demos on the company website; but, the demos at the Legal Workspace website are thoroughly uninspired, and impossible to navigate. It’s a small criticism, surely, but one that reflects on the ability of a potential client to access what the program will mean to him. You can, however, contact Legal Workspace directly for a live demo and work flow audit that can be done on an individual basis, or with your entire firm. And, I'd recommend that option.
Overall, I think that Legal Workspace is an excellent product for the properly-situated attorney, and especially for those attorneys who want the technology side of their practice “just handled”, with little trouble, and at a reasonable cost.
But, this “little trouble and bother” part does not mean that Legal Workspace sets you up and abandons you. They provide live chat support via their website, one free hour of training to start and two help desks for telephone support (one in Dallas, and one in Denver). Additional technical support can be purchased for $135/hour; and, customized trainings can be created and implemented, at an additional cost.
So, let’s get down to brass tacks, here: How much does this all cost?
Here are the figures:
$90/month (for the Base Package)
-private desktop environment accessible anywhere/any time;
-Microsoft Office 2007, with applicable updates (managed by Legal Workspace) and upgrades (when available)
-Microsoft Exchange
-anti-virus (globally managed by Legal Workspace)
-anti-spam (featuring user control panel)
-5 gb of secured data storage (backed up nightly and redundantly for up to two weeks)
+$20/month (for Amicus license and managing links)
+$15/month (for QuickBooks)
+$20/month (for TimeSlips)
+$30/month (WorldDox)
Essentially, we’re looking at a base program per month price, with specific per month pricing for upgrades/additions. (This pricing example would represent the full, standard Legal Workspace environment, from which you may deviate as needed.)
Now, if that sounds enticing to you, but you’re not quite ready to jump, try this on for size:
Readers of the LOMAP Blog get the first month of Legal Workspace FREE, including setup.
As you may gather, this is a not insignificant risk for Legal Workspace, as setting up the system is where the bulk of the work comes in. However, the folks at Legal Workspace tell me that they are confident that new users, once set up, will stay on. I guess you’ll be the judge.
. . .
Liner Notes
This week, I made the mistake of taking suggestions for Liner Notes from my vendor contact. And, as if on cue, to punish me, God made Legal Workspace’s Jeff Nitta send to me this crazy video:
“Evil Bee” by Menomena
Seriously, Jeff? What the hell?
No, honestly, it was a cool video, and I had never heard the song before. Jeff also sent me a more usual video selection, as well:
“Just Breathe” by Pearl Jam
(Good tune. Theo Epstein probably loves it.)
So, in honor of Jeff’s strange tastes, let’s round this session of Liner Notes out with more songs of, or related to, bees:
“No Rain” by Blind Melon
“Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees (I’m Barry Gibb!!)
“My Girl” by The Temptations (Thomas J. was killed by bees in “My Girl”. Alright, I gave that one to you. Oh, and sorry if I ruined that movie for you. But it came out in 1991; you should really have seen it by now anyway.)
“Imma Be” by The Black Eyed Peas
“Honey Bee” by Tom Petty
“Another Day”, “Down the Line” and “Iota” by The Bee’s Knees
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Guest Post: Marketing Strategies through the Lens of Public Relations
We are very happy to have received the below guest blog post from Jena Murphy. Jena is an award-winning public and community relations professional who provides her thoughts below relative to law firm marketing from a PR perspective. To learn more about Jena and the services that she provides, you may contact her via phone at (617) 713-4400, or via email at jena_murphy125@hotmail.com.
. . .
As with every industry, public relations is filled with jargon and buzzwords that can combine to create a mystique that serves only to camouflage the effective driving force that an appropriate public relations platform can become for a business. Fear not, however, as it is relatively easy to unlock the mysteries behind a good public relations campaign.
Public Relations and Marketing
Marketing is the overall effort that an organization applies to raise awareness and to heighten its profile, so to stand out from the rest of the pack. For example, Ford and Honda are both car manufacturers. Each company points to their own superior safety ratings, lower costs and long-term warranties, with the intention of differentiating themselves from other automobile makers. Using TV, radio and magazine ads to show the cars and to list their features is a part of marketing each company’s vehicles.
A public relations campaign is one component of an overarching marketing strategy. It is a plan to leverage free space, by, for example: writing articles, being quoted in a newspaper or magazine story, or serving as a speaker to showcase product/service offerings, all while garnering a third party endorsement. Imagine that a safety engineer from Honda participates in a segment on “60 Minutes”. This person’s role in the interview is to show himself, and his company, to be safety experts. He need not call out the competition on past scandals, poor safety ratings, or the like. Instead, he should focus on discussing how to design safety features for the modern automobile. By speaking about his job, and by sharing data that is not readily available to the average American, he positions himself as an expert. Sharing these details on television demonstrates Honda’s willingness to “open” its doors to consumers, and to appear to be less of a “Goliath,” and, therefore, more accessible to the average person. Should that engineer be able to also share some new development in safety that no other car manufacturer has announced or talked about yet, Honda is then seen as a thought leader within its space of car makers.
Some companies prefer to rely solely on advertisements, that is to say, paid space in magazines, newspapers, radio, on the internet, etc. However, when that option is exercised, the third party endorsement of a reporter quoting you or including you in a story, is not present. It is then solely your paid time, to say whatever you like; because you are not, in this instance, endorsed, your message may be less impactful to consumers.
Now, many people think of “doing PR,” as, simply, accessing the appropriate connections at the appropriate times; but, that’s not entirely the case, or, that’s not all there is. It’s not solely about being connected to the “right” people. As we’ve seen in our current economic situation, things can change very quickly. If you find you are relying solely on who you know, you may be in trouble. Things can change quickly with the press, as well, with reporters and editors shifting jobs, coming and going, and with the viability of, seemingly indestructible news outlets, coming into question. The truth is, reporters don’t rely on one source, and neither should you. Beyond who you know, what is even more important is what you know. That is one thing that won’t change.
It’s What You Know
You are an expert in your industry! (Especially if you listen to LOMAP and specialize within a practice niche(s).) Are you a residential real estate attorney? Then you likely know about closings, short sales and/or property valuations. You probably have far more war stories about buyer/seller disputes than anyone you know, and you understand what happens during home inspections, and how to allocate taxes and fees within a settlement sheet. Another thing that you know, almost intuitively, is who your audience is, and how to get in front of them.
Armed with that arrayed information, you can begin to market yourself through public relations channels. As relayed above, the ultimate object of any public relations campaign is to secure yourself space, at no cost, from which you may begin to promote yourself. A byproduct of this proposition is that you receive that third party endorsement of your credibility. Being quoted in an article, or serving as a speaker, positions you, in much the same way that a television advertisement would, but without the cost, as that well-respected member of the bar who offers expert advice and thought leadership to other professionals or potential clients. If you begin to present yourself, in a cost-effective way, as an expert, which proposition is backed up by the endorsement of the person/group publishing you, you are starting to think of marketing yourself as a public relations expert would.
Deploying strategies, like those described above, is one way to promote your brand. Another way to is to partner with other professionals within your industry. You can accomplish this partnering in marketing by networking with your colleagues. Commercial real estate attorneys, for example, can begin to link up with real estate agents and employees of large companies who can locate and who maintain real estate for supermarkets, coffee shops, movie theaters, what have you. Becoming the “go-to-person” in a (relatively) small community is sure to result in recommendations, referrals and opportunities to promote your business.
It’s Where You Start
In order to market yourself effectively from a public relations perspective, you’ll need to have a plan; and, there is no time to work on such a plan like the present. When you put together your marketing plan, be clear on what you’d like to accomplish over a specific time period, and be realistic in your goals. Don’t focus too much on the need for marketing dollars to fund your PR drive; you don’t necessarily need a lot of resources to employ successful PR initiatives. Blogging is a popular marketing option, but can become more time-consuming than impactful. Committing to developing and maintaining a superlative website or spending money on flashy marketing materials and ad space can be both resource-intensive and expensive. Some of the best ways to market your firm come at no cost to you. You can serve as a speaker at various events, attend numerous professional association meetings, join the local rotary club, and do much more, all without expending a dime, and all the while networking to the hilt.
Whatever your strategy, cast a wide net, which will allow you to get in front of potential clients and colleagues, for referrals. And, don’t become overwhelmed or overconcerned about the breadth of the various tactics that you may choose to use. Getting in too deep with one channel is when you can find yourself not getting the bang for your buck that you’re looking for, especially if that channel ends up quitting you, in some way. The important things are: to be consistent in your message, to consistently apply your strategy and to be persistent in your efforts to market your firm.
. . .
As with every industry, public relations is filled with jargon and buzzwords that can combine to create a mystique that serves only to camouflage the effective driving force that an appropriate public relations platform can become for a business. Fear not, however, as it is relatively easy to unlock the mysteries behind a good public relations campaign.
Public Relations and Marketing
Marketing is the overall effort that an organization applies to raise awareness and to heighten its profile, so to stand out from the rest of the pack. For example, Ford and Honda are both car manufacturers. Each company points to their own superior safety ratings, lower costs and long-term warranties, with the intention of differentiating themselves from other automobile makers. Using TV, radio and magazine ads to show the cars and to list their features is a part of marketing each company’s vehicles.
A public relations campaign is one component of an overarching marketing strategy. It is a plan to leverage free space, by, for example: writing articles, being quoted in a newspaper or magazine story, or serving as a speaker to showcase product/service offerings, all while garnering a third party endorsement. Imagine that a safety engineer from Honda participates in a segment on “60 Minutes”. This person’s role in the interview is to show himself, and his company, to be safety experts. He need not call out the competition on past scandals, poor safety ratings, or the like. Instead, he should focus on discussing how to design safety features for the modern automobile. By speaking about his job, and by sharing data that is not readily available to the average American, he positions himself as an expert. Sharing these details on television demonstrates Honda’s willingness to “open” its doors to consumers, and to appear to be less of a “Goliath,” and, therefore, more accessible to the average person. Should that engineer be able to also share some new development in safety that no other car manufacturer has announced or talked about yet, Honda is then seen as a thought leader within its space of car makers.
Some companies prefer to rely solely on advertisements, that is to say, paid space in magazines, newspapers, radio, on the internet, etc. However, when that option is exercised, the third party endorsement of a reporter quoting you or including you in a story, is not present. It is then solely your paid time, to say whatever you like; because you are not, in this instance, endorsed, your message may be less impactful to consumers.
Now, many people think of “doing PR,” as, simply, accessing the appropriate connections at the appropriate times; but, that’s not entirely the case, or, that’s not all there is. It’s not solely about being connected to the “right” people. As we’ve seen in our current economic situation, things can change very quickly. If you find you are relying solely on who you know, you may be in trouble. Things can change quickly with the press, as well, with reporters and editors shifting jobs, coming and going, and with the viability of, seemingly indestructible news outlets, coming into question. The truth is, reporters don’t rely on one source, and neither should you. Beyond who you know, what is even more important is what you know. That is one thing that won’t change.
It’s What You Know
You are an expert in your industry! (Especially if you listen to LOMAP and specialize within a practice niche(s).) Are you a residential real estate attorney? Then you likely know about closings, short sales and/or property valuations. You probably have far more war stories about buyer/seller disputes than anyone you know, and you understand what happens during home inspections, and how to allocate taxes and fees within a settlement sheet. Another thing that you know, almost intuitively, is who your audience is, and how to get in front of them.
Armed with that arrayed information, you can begin to market yourself through public relations channels. As relayed above, the ultimate object of any public relations campaign is to secure yourself space, at no cost, from which you may begin to promote yourself. A byproduct of this proposition is that you receive that third party endorsement of your credibility. Being quoted in an article, or serving as a speaker, positions you, in much the same way that a television advertisement would, but without the cost, as that well-respected member of the bar who offers expert advice and thought leadership to other professionals or potential clients. If you begin to present yourself, in a cost-effective way, as an expert, which proposition is backed up by the endorsement of the person/group publishing you, you are starting to think of marketing yourself as a public relations expert would.
Deploying strategies, like those described above, is one way to promote your brand. Another way to is to partner with other professionals within your industry. You can accomplish this partnering in marketing by networking with your colleagues. Commercial real estate attorneys, for example, can begin to link up with real estate agents and employees of large companies who can locate and who maintain real estate for supermarkets, coffee shops, movie theaters, what have you. Becoming the “go-to-person” in a (relatively) small community is sure to result in recommendations, referrals and opportunities to promote your business.
It’s Where You Start
In order to market yourself effectively from a public relations perspective, you’ll need to have a plan; and, there is no time to work on such a plan like the present. When you put together your marketing plan, be clear on what you’d like to accomplish over a specific time period, and be realistic in your goals. Don’t focus too much on the need for marketing dollars to fund your PR drive; you don’t necessarily need a lot of resources to employ successful PR initiatives. Blogging is a popular marketing option, but can become more time-consuming than impactful. Committing to developing and maintaining a superlative website or spending money on flashy marketing materials and ad space can be both resource-intensive and expensive. Some of the best ways to market your firm come at no cost to you. You can serve as a speaker at various events, attend numerous professional association meetings, join the local rotary club, and do much more, all without expending a dime, and all the while networking to the hilt.
Whatever your strategy, cast a wide net, which will allow you to get in front of potential clients and colleagues, for referrals. And, don’t become overwhelmed or overconcerned about the breadth of the various tactics that you may choose to use. Getting in too deep with one channel is when you can find yourself not getting the bang for your buck that you’re looking for, especially if that channel ends up quitting you, in some way. The important things are: to be consistent in your message, to consistently apply your strategy and to be persistent in your efforts to market your firm.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Guest Post: Ethics Considerations for the Virtual Practice of Law
This is the final post in a three-part series on the virtual practice of law authored by Stephanie Kimbro for the LOMAP Blog. The first part in this series provided a basic introduction to the topic of virtual law practice and the unbundling of legal services online. The second part in this series covered the marketing of a virtual law office. This final installment of the series addresses the ethical issues associated with, and best practices in relation to, the delivering of legal services online.
To hear even more of Stephanie’s take on virtual law practice, listen to her appearance on my “Legal Toolkit” podcast, here.
Stephanie is the winner of the ABA’s 2009 James I. Keane Memorial Award, for Excellence in eLawyering. For more information on Stephanie and her practice, visit her blog. And, watch for Stephanie’s book on virtual law practice, to be released by the ABA later this year.
. . .
I would like to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation to Stephanie for choosing to grace our blog with this in-depth and thoughtful series on the virtual practice of law, now concluding. Thank you, Stephanie.
. . .
The delivery of legal services online carries with it a number of ethical concerns; however, these ethical concerns are not all that unlike those that have traditionally been addressed by offline law firms. The online lawyer is able to mitigate risks associated with virtual law practice just as a traditionally-practicing attorney would with an offline practice when, for example, installing and using software for law practice management. There are two separate categories of ethics matters to address in connection with the virtual practice of law. The first pertains to the attorney’s duty in selecting the service provider that will be setting up, hosting and maintaining the virtual law practice. With any cloud computing service, there are precautions that must be observed in researching and choosing a software provider. The second category of potential ethics concerns relates to the attorney’s daily operation of the virtual law office; and, the focus there is on ways to mitigate potential malpractice risks when working with clients online. Further issues related to each category are discussed in greater detail below; and, in addition, suggestions are made and additional resources are pointed to, for further guidance.
Researching the Service Provider
When researching prospective software as a service (SaaS) providers, who would set up, and maintain, your virtual law office, you should carefully read through the provider’s Service Level Agreement (SLA), and thoroughly query the provider as to any remaining areas of concerns, following review of the SLA. If you don’t quite know where to start, the North Carolina State Bar has recently published a useful, proposed ethics opinion that provides a list of questions for attorneys to ask of prospective service providers, as well as offering further information respecting how the provider’s responses may potentially impact your virtual law practice. In addition to the North Carolina proposed opinion, you should also review the ABA’s eLawyering Task Force’s “Suggested Minimum Requirements for Law Firms Delivering Legal Services Online”, for some additional guidance. In Massachusetts, there are further requirements for dealing with third party service providers accessing certain protected resident client information, including the mandate that a contract provision must be reached with such third party service providers guaranteeing their compliance with Massachusetts’ data privacy regulations with respect to their accessing of your data. All of LOMAP’s blog postings respecting Massachusetts data privacy may be located via this root post.
Below is a list of items that should either: be addressed within the provider’s SLA, or (otherwise) be effectively and satisfactorily addressed by the provider when questioned by the attorney. As technology changes, especially in relation to the virtual practice of law, this list of issues may expand; alternatively, some questions may become irrelevant. And, for this very reason: the recognition that technologies become quickly outdated, the proposed North Carolina ethics opinion regarding the use of SaaS in law practice management, and other state bars’ guidelines, do not mandate specific technology requirements. Accordingly, the attorney establishing a virtual law practice should satisfy himself that his chosen provider will keep current with shifting security standards in the industry and will constantly update its services to address those changes.
1. Data Return and Retention Policies
a. Return of law office data should be in a readable format, preferably encrypted; and, data should be returned within a reasonable amount of time after request is made by the attorney.
b. What is the policy on making a request for data return?
c. Find out what happens to data after the relationship between service provider and attorney is terminated.
2. Third-Party Hosting
a. Understand the provider’s relationships with other companies.
b. Obtain a copy of any agreements between the provider and another company that covers servers, support and/or maintenance of law office data.
3. Government and Civil Search and Seizure Actions
a. How would the provider handle the related request, if handed a subpoena to deliver contents of law office data?
4. Server Information
a. Find out where servers are located, and if there is geo-redundancy.
b. Realize that servers located outside of the United States may be subject to international laws.
c. Does the service provider offer data escrow with servers located overseas?
d. Make sure that the servers are housed in Tier 4 data centers.
5. Compliance with Federal Regulations
a. If your provider will be collecting credit card information, rather than redirecting that service to another third-party hosting company, make sure that the service is PCI compliant.
6. Confidentiality Breaches
a. Will the attorney need to hold the service provider to unlimited liability for data breaches? If so, the provider should have adequate business insurance to cover the cost.
7. Security and Backups
a. Who has access to law office data?
b. Find and review confidentiality, privacy policy and nondisclosure statements.
c. Law office data should remain encrypted, and should only be decrypted with the permission of the lawyer/law firm.
d. Understand how backups, maintenance and updates to the service affect the security of law office data. Does the provider conduct regular security audits? How often do they backup data? Is there any downtime for maintenance, or for upgrades to service?
8. Transferring Data/Compatibility
a. Are there export features that allow for data to be transferred to other software applications, or backed up in-house, in addition to the online storage and backup? How easy would it be to transfer online law office data to a compatible system, if the virtual law office service were terminated? Would there be a resulting time gap when attorneys and/or clients would not have access to needed law office data?
Other, more general, questions for the service provider (including about: subscription costs, training availability and cost, support, infrastructure for growth, etc.) are not included above as ethics concerns; but, these matters should also be addressed, separately, within the selection process.
Daily Best Practices for the Virtual Law Office
There are other potential ethical concerns that arise from the attorney’s use of software for the delivery of legal services to clients online. However, the online form of practice management is no different than traditional forms of practice management in that there are daily best practices that the attorney must employ to ensure that he is acting responsibly, and ethically. With respect to many of the ethical concerns related to the virtual practice of law, the technology itself may be utilized in helping to prevent malpractice in the online delivery of legal services. Regardless of the structure of the virtual law practice, or the technology chosen to implement it, the following ethics concerns should be addressed prior to engaging in the delivery of legal services online.
1. Unauthorized Practice of Law
a. Attention must be paid to matters of compliance with respect to the marketing and advertising rules and regulations of each jurisdiction in which the virtual law office provides legal services. Jurisdiction checks need to be in place, so that, when a prospective client registers through the client portal, the attorney is informed as to whether the legal matter is within, or without, his jurisdiction. This process should also serve to notify the prospective client of the restricted jurisdictions in which the attorney is licensed to practice law.
b. Unauthorized Practice of Law with Multijurisdictional Virtual Law Firms: This species of virtual law firm must be especially careful respecting compliance with marketing and advertising rules and regulations of the several state bars implicated, which rules and regulations may include additional registration of URLs, and approval of website design (as are read the rules in multiple states).
c. Residency Requirements and Unauthorized Practice of Law: Residency requirements exist for a handful of state bars, which specifically require a “bona fide office” for a law practice. However, most of these rules do not specifically address the use of cloud computing or of a virtual law office, whether completely web-based, or as integrated into a traditional law practice.
2. Conflict of Interest
a. Conflict of interest checks should be run on both online and offline contacts.
3. Competency
a. The virtual attorney must make the decision on a case-by-case basis as to whether a prospective client’s legal matter may be adequately handled online, or whether that matter requires the attention of a full-service law firm. Different practice areas and client bases require different processes and forms of communication. The attorney should recognize what level of legal assistance he or she may provide online, and then adequately inform the prospective client of the limitations of those services.
b. A virtual law practice may streamline the legal workflow, but it should never compromise the quality of legal services delivered to clients, or affect the attorney’s zealous representation in a legal matter.
4. Conflict of Laws
a. This issue occurs when an attorney provides federal law–related legal services, like intellectual property law services, online. The attorney practicing in this wise may handle the online client’s matter as far as it relates to the federal law issue; but, if that same online client requires the drafting of a state-specific legal document, such as a contract, the attorney may not handle this aspect of the project for the online client if that client is not located in a state in which the attorney is licensed to practice law.
5. Authentication of the Online Client’s Identity
a. While the attorney should conduct some form of online verification to ensure that the prospective client with his virtual law office is who he claims to be, it is not the attorney’s duty to so identify the prospective client to prevent fraud.
b. The online client should sign clickwrap agreements in order to confirm his identity online, and in order to accept the terms of representation. Just as a traditional law firm would accept a signed engagement letter from a client, an online attorney should be able to rely on contact and other information provided via the client portal.
c. Forms of video and web-conferencing could be used to speak to prospective online clients initially, and, specifically, to assist in the verification of identity, if necessary.
d. It is the attorney’s responsibility to refer the prospective online client to a full-service law firm for legal matters where the attorney does not believe that online methods used to authenticate identity are adequate under the circumstances.
6. Defining the Scope of Online Representation
a. Prospective online clients must understand the scope and nature of the legal representation being offered through the virtual law office, and must provide their informed consent as to the scope and nature of that representation. Notice will depend upon whether the virtual practice will provide completely web-based, unbundled legal services or whether the virtual practice will be run in conjunction with a full-service firm. One current debate is whether the attorney should be required to inform the client of where law office data is hosted, and, further, more generally about the chosen SaaS applications used to deliver the online legal services.
b. If unbundling legal services, the attorney should check with his state bar for any ethics or advisory opinions on the subject. There may be rules and regulations in place regarding the procedures for limited representation. In Massachusetts, you should review, on this head, the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Ethics Opinion No. 98-1, regarding unbundling legal services. You should also review, as persuasive matter, this handout, from Lawyers Mutual of North Carolina, which features recommended guidelines for the unbundling of legal services.
7. Establishing the Attorney/Client Relationship Online
a. Another ethics concern may be that the virtual lawyer creates an unintended lawyer/client relationship online. Multiple clickwrap agreements and communications with prospective clients address this concern and ensure that the client has adequate understanding of the nature of the relationship, and so provides informed consent to the attorney.
b. In addition to using a clickwrap agreement to establish the attorney-client relationship, the attorney may also use a combination of online and traditional methods to ensure that he has clearly established the attorney-client relationship.
8. Protecting Client Confidences
a. Most state bars have rules of professional conduct requiring that communications transmitted from the client to the lawyer be kept confidential. Accordingly, a virtual law office should have an SSL certificate, and should provide the client with secure data transmission.
b. Ensuring the protection of client confidences depends on the ability of the attorney to thoroughly research the cloud computing provider used so as to achieve a real understanding of the technology behind the system, the security of the system and how the virtual law office data is stored and protected.
9. Online Storage and Retention of Client Data
a. The attorney has a duty to safeguard client property throughout the legal representation, and for a number of years following the completion of the client’s legal matter. The attorney needs to understand how the law office data is stored and retained by the service provider used. For questions to ask, and considerations to take, in vetting a service provider, review the above section related to researching the cloud computing service provider.
10. Online Payments and Trust Accounting/IOLTA Compliance
a. Ensure that funds are allocated to the correct trust account in each client’s jurisdiction, and that your trust accounts are in compliance with your state’s IOLTA requirements. This takes additional work when there is more than one lawyer, and where there are multiple jurisdictions’ regulations in play, requiring compliance with sets (versus a set) of rules.
11. Daily Best Practices to Avoid Malpractice
a. It is the responsibility of the attorney to ensure that he or she is not only well-educated, but also keeps up to date, on security issues related to the use of the technology package selected for delivering online legal services.
b. Virtual law firms should consider establishing best practices guides for use by attorneys using remote devices, like laptops and smartphones. An attorney using such devices should know, for example, how to protect his or her unique username and password and to avoid remotely accessing client information via free, public WiFi networks. A best practices guide would address these, and similar, questions.
c. Provide online clients with educational content pertaining to the protection of their client portal usernames and passwords and respecting guidance as to how to protect themselves from identity theft and other security risks associated with conducting business online.
While many of the ethics concerns discussed above do not differ overmuch from those attending traditional law practice, these concerns do require that a baseline of careful research and consideration must be undertaken before an attorney begins to deliver legal services online.
To hear even more of Stephanie’s take on virtual law practice, listen to her appearance on my “Legal Toolkit” podcast, here.
Stephanie is the winner of the ABA’s 2009 James I. Keane Memorial Award, for Excellence in eLawyering. For more information on Stephanie and her practice, visit her blog. And, watch for Stephanie’s book on virtual law practice, to be released by the ABA later this year.
. . .
I would like to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation to Stephanie for choosing to grace our blog with this in-depth and thoughtful series on the virtual practice of law, now concluding. Thank you, Stephanie.
. . .
The delivery of legal services online carries with it a number of ethical concerns; however, these ethical concerns are not all that unlike those that have traditionally been addressed by offline law firms. The online lawyer is able to mitigate risks associated with virtual law practice just as a traditionally-practicing attorney would with an offline practice when, for example, installing and using software for law practice management. There are two separate categories of ethics matters to address in connection with the virtual practice of law. The first pertains to the attorney’s duty in selecting the service provider that will be setting up, hosting and maintaining the virtual law practice. With any cloud computing service, there are precautions that must be observed in researching and choosing a software provider. The second category of potential ethics concerns relates to the attorney’s daily operation of the virtual law office; and, the focus there is on ways to mitigate potential malpractice risks when working with clients online. Further issues related to each category are discussed in greater detail below; and, in addition, suggestions are made and additional resources are pointed to, for further guidance.
Researching the Service Provider
When researching prospective software as a service (SaaS) providers, who would set up, and maintain, your virtual law office, you should carefully read through the provider’s Service Level Agreement (SLA), and thoroughly query the provider as to any remaining areas of concerns, following review of the SLA. If you don’t quite know where to start, the North Carolina State Bar has recently published a useful, proposed ethics opinion that provides a list of questions for attorneys to ask of prospective service providers, as well as offering further information respecting how the provider’s responses may potentially impact your virtual law practice. In addition to the North Carolina proposed opinion, you should also review the ABA’s eLawyering Task Force’s “Suggested Minimum Requirements for Law Firms Delivering Legal Services Online”, for some additional guidance. In Massachusetts, there are further requirements for dealing with third party service providers accessing certain protected resident client information, including the mandate that a contract provision must be reached with such third party service providers guaranteeing their compliance with Massachusetts’ data privacy regulations with respect to their accessing of your data. All of LOMAP’s blog postings respecting Massachusetts data privacy may be located via this root post.
Below is a list of items that should either: be addressed within the provider’s SLA, or (otherwise) be effectively and satisfactorily addressed by the provider when questioned by the attorney. As technology changes, especially in relation to the virtual practice of law, this list of issues may expand; alternatively, some questions may become irrelevant. And, for this very reason: the recognition that technologies become quickly outdated, the proposed North Carolina ethics opinion regarding the use of SaaS in law practice management, and other state bars’ guidelines, do not mandate specific technology requirements. Accordingly, the attorney establishing a virtual law practice should satisfy himself that his chosen provider will keep current with shifting security standards in the industry and will constantly update its services to address those changes.
1. Data Return and Retention Policies
a. Return of law office data should be in a readable format, preferably encrypted; and, data should be returned within a reasonable amount of time after request is made by the attorney.
b. What is the policy on making a request for data return?
c. Find out what happens to data after the relationship between service provider and attorney is terminated.
2. Third-Party Hosting
a. Understand the provider’s relationships with other companies.
b. Obtain a copy of any agreements between the provider and another company that covers servers, support and/or maintenance of law office data.
3. Government and Civil Search and Seizure Actions
a. How would the provider handle the related request, if handed a subpoena to deliver contents of law office data?
4. Server Information
a. Find out where servers are located, and if there is geo-redundancy.
b. Realize that servers located outside of the United States may be subject to international laws.
c. Does the service provider offer data escrow with servers located overseas?
d. Make sure that the servers are housed in Tier 4 data centers.
5. Compliance with Federal Regulations
a. If your provider will be collecting credit card information, rather than redirecting that service to another third-party hosting company, make sure that the service is PCI compliant.
6. Confidentiality Breaches
a. Will the attorney need to hold the service provider to unlimited liability for data breaches? If so, the provider should have adequate business insurance to cover the cost.
7. Security and Backups
a. Who has access to law office data?
b. Find and review confidentiality, privacy policy and nondisclosure statements.
c. Law office data should remain encrypted, and should only be decrypted with the permission of the lawyer/law firm.
d. Understand how backups, maintenance and updates to the service affect the security of law office data. Does the provider conduct regular security audits? How often do they backup data? Is there any downtime for maintenance, or for upgrades to service?
8. Transferring Data/Compatibility
a. Are there export features that allow for data to be transferred to other software applications, or backed up in-house, in addition to the online storage and backup? How easy would it be to transfer online law office data to a compatible system, if the virtual law office service were terminated? Would there be a resulting time gap when attorneys and/or clients would not have access to needed law office data?
Other, more general, questions for the service provider (including about: subscription costs, training availability and cost, support, infrastructure for growth, etc.) are not included above as ethics concerns; but, these matters should also be addressed, separately, within the selection process.
Daily Best Practices for the Virtual Law Office
There are other potential ethical concerns that arise from the attorney’s use of software for the delivery of legal services to clients online. However, the online form of practice management is no different than traditional forms of practice management in that there are daily best practices that the attorney must employ to ensure that he is acting responsibly, and ethically. With respect to many of the ethical concerns related to the virtual practice of law, the technology itself may be utilized in helping to prevent malpractice in the online delivery of legal services. Regardless of the structure of the virtual law practice, or the technology chosen to implement it, the following ethics concerns should be addressed prior to engaging in the delivery of legal services online.
1. Unauthorized Practice of Law
a. Attention must be paid to matters of compliance with respect to the marketing and advertising rules and regulations of each jurisdiction in which the virtual law office provides legal services. Jurisdiction checks need to be in place, so that, when a prospective client registers through the client portal, the attorney is informed as to whether the legal matter is within, or without, his jurisdiction. This process should also serve to notify the prospective client of the restricted jurisdictions in which the attorney is licensed to practice law.
b. Unauthorized Practice of Law with Multijurisdictional Virtual Law Firms: This species of virtual law firm must be especially careful respecting compliance with marketing and advertising rules and regulations of the several state bars implicated, which rules and regulations may include additional registration of URLs, and approval of website design (as are read the rules in multiple states).
c. Residency Requirements and Unauthorized Practice of Law: Residency requirements exist for a handful of state bars, which specifically require a “bona fide office” for a law practice. However, most of these rules do not specifically address the use of cloud computing or of a virtual law office, whether completely web-based, or as integrated into a traditional law practice.
2. Conflict of Interest
a. Conflict of interest checks should be run on both online and offline contacts.
3. Competency
a. The virtual attorney must make the decision on a case-by-case basis as to whether a prospective client’s legal matter may be adequately handled online, or whether that matter requires the attention of a full-service law firm. Different practice areas and client bases require different processes and forms of communication. The attorney should recognize what level of legal assistance he or she may provide online, and then adequately inform the prospective client of the limitations of those services.
b. A virtual law practice may streamline the legal workflow, but it should never compromise the quality of legal services delivered to clients, or affect the attorney’s zealous representation in a legal matter.
4. Conflict of Laws
a. This issue occurs when an attorney provides federal law–related legal services, like intellectual property law services, online. The attorney practicing in this wise may handle the online client’s matter as far as it relates to the federal law issue; but, if that same online client requires the drafting of a state-specific legal document, such as a contract, the attorney may not handle this aspect of the project for the online client if that client is not located in a state in which the attorney is licensed to practice law.
5. Authentication of the Online Client’s Identity
a. While the attorney should conduct some form of online verification to ensure that the prospective client with his virtual law office is who he claims to be, it is not the attorney’s duty to so identify the prospective client to prevent fraud.
b. The online client should sign clickwrap agreements in order to confirm his identity online, and in order to accept the terms of representation. Just as a traditional law firm would accept a signed engagement letter from a client, an online attorney should be able to rely on contact and other information provided via the client portal.
c. Forms of video and web-conferencing could be used to speak to prospective online clients initially, and, specifically, to assist in the verification of identity, if necessary.
d. It is the attorney’s responsibility to refer the prospective online client to a full-service law firm for legal matters where the attorney does not believe that online methods used to authenticate identity are adequate under the circumstances.
6. Defining the Scope of Online Representation
a. Prospective online clients must understand the scope and nature of the legal representation being offered through the virtual law office, and must provide their informed consent as to the scope and nature of that representation. Notice will depend upon whether the virtual practice will provide completely web-based, unbundled legal services or whether the virtual practice will be run in conjunction with a full-service firm. One current debate is whether the attorney should be required to inform the client of where law office data is hosted, and, further, more generally about the chosen SaaS applications used to deliver the online legal services.
b. If unbundling legal services, the attorney should check with his state bar for any ethics or advisory opinions on the subject. There may be rules and regulations in place regarding the procedures for limited representation. In Massachusetts, you should review, on this head, the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Ethics Opinion No. 98-1, regarding unbundling legal services. You should also review, as persuasive matter, this handout, from Lawyers Mutual of North Carolina, which features recommended guidelines for the unbundling of legal services.
7. Establishing the Attorney/Client Relationship Online
a. Another ethics concern may be that the virtual lawyer creates an unintended lawyer/client relationship online. Multiple clickwrap agreements and communications with prospective clients address this concern and ensure that the client has adequate understanding of the nature of the relationship, and so provides informed consent to the attorney.
b. In addition to using a clickwrap agreement to establish the attorney-client relationship, the attorney may also use a combination of online and traditional methods to ensure that he has clearly established the attorney-client relationship.
8. Protecting Client Confidences
a. Most state bars have rules of professional conduct requiring that communications transmitted from the client to the lawyer be kept confidential. Accordingly, a virtual law office should have an SSL certificate, and should provide the client with secure data transmission.
b. Ensuring the protection of client confidences depends on the ability of the attorney to thoroughly research the cloud computing provider used so as to achieve a real understanding of the technology behind the system, the security of the system and how the virtual law office data is stored and protected.
9. Online Storage and Retention of Client Data
a. The attorney has a duty to safeguard client property throughout the legal representation, and for a number of years following the completion of the client’s legal matter. The attorney needs to understand how the law office data is stored and retained by the service provider used. For questions to ask, and considerations to take, in vetting a service provider, review the above section related to researching the cloud computing service provider.
10. Online Payments and Trust Accounting/IOLTA Compliance
a. Ensure that funds are allocated to the correct trust account in each client’s jurisdiction, and that your trust accounts are in compliance with your state’s IOLTA requirements. This takes additional work when there is more than one lawyer, and where there are multiple jurisdictions’ regulations in play, requiring compliance with sets (versus a set) of rules.
11. Daily Best Practices to Avoid Malpractice
a. It is the responsibility of the attorney to ensure that he or she is not only well-educated, but also keeps up to date, on security issues related to the use of the technology package selected for delivering online legal services.
b. Virtual law firms should consider establishing best practices guides for use by attorneys using remote devices, like laptops and smartphones. An attorney using such devices should know, for example, how to protect his or her unique username and password and to avoid remotely accessing client information via free, public WiFi networks. A best practices guide would address these, and similar, questions.
c. Provide online clients with educational content pertaining to the protection of their client portal usernames and passwords and respecting guidance as to how to protect themselves from identity theft and other security risks associated with conducting business online.
While many of the ethics concerns discussed above do not differ overmuch from those attending traditional law practice, these concerns do require that a baseline of careful research and consideration must be undertaken before an attorney begins to deliver legal services online.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Picking the Grid-Lock: So Much Cooler Offline
Try finding a wireless signal in Iowa, in south central Iowa, to boot (a bit different from south central L.A., but still), secured or otherwise. (No, I’m not going to buy an aircard, it’s just not that important to me.) The fact of my describing the following as “incidents” (our (Jessica and I’s) two attempts to get online) will give you some indication of how difficult, and potentially dangerous, the task is: In the first incident, we arrive at the local public library, in an attempt to gank its wireless signal. Fail: the library took down its wireless network. And, with a line of three or four thoroughly more desperate persons lined up on the steps of the edifice, just to use the one desktop computer, the morning was a total collapse of, what otherwise would have been, a sublime time for “ruling the air”. In the second incident, we arrive, via motor carriage, at the block of a local motel. Parking on the street, we are able to access the motel’s unsecured wireless connection. After one half hour of reconnecting to the wide world via the web, sitting in the car with the air conditioning on, and trading the laptop back and forth across the front seat, the housekeeping staff and management had gathered above us, to an overlooking portico, alternately staring and pointing, and certainly determined to call the police. (Not bad, all in all: This would represent only the second time in Iowa that we had had the police called on us, real or otherwise.) Yet, any worldly New Englander would certainly have known, at an instance, what we were doing. As a final tally, I would say that I checked email a grand total of four times over the course of two weeks of vacation. (We were elsewhere, too.)
And, you know what? It was fudging awesome. There are few things I love more than getting off the grid. Although, outside of my use of the forum for work, I find a limited use in the internet: of learning new things; I have always found ye olde library to be just as useful, and more thoroughly researched and authoritative. There is nothing I love more than disconnecting from the acceptional grid, and em-powering myself.
While I know there are some of you who love the internet, and treat it like a soft, old blankey, surrounding the sucking of a comforting thumb, there should be limits to your exposure. Consider the following as suggestions for a more balanced approach to the world, such that your access of the web, combined with your access of the remainder of the world, may become more equally apportioned:
-Don’t talk on your cellphone when you’re in line at the grocery store, blasting through the others, talking like to someone else the entire time, and blowing off the check-out person without even saying so much as “thank you” to their “have a nice day”. Nobody’s that busy. (Well, that has nothing do with law practice management. It’s just a serious pet peeve of mine. And, if you have a smartphone, which you probably do, this is somewhat related to the internet. Whatever.)
-Don’t talk on your cellphone (unless you have a hands-free device) or text when you’re driving. (This one’s for all those people in Manchester, Massachusetts who drive about two miles an hour everywhere around town, and especially in the morning, when we are just trying to get to the train on time: Put down the telephone, and drive like a normal human being.)
-(Alright, seriously now.) You know, you don’t have to have your smartphone on all the time. It’s alright to turn it off. Especially when you get home. Especially for dinner. Your internet friends can live without you for an hour or two. Your clients can live without you until the next morning.
-Ditto for your computer. The more you leave it on, the more you’ll be drawn to it, like a moth to the flame. Turn it off. Close the lid.
-And, when you're working, work. Or, better yet, don’t. There’s nothing worse, on the other end, than when someone is pretending to listen to you, while they are actually mostly concentrating on work, and doing neither very well. There is a time for work, and a time for friends and family. Focus wholly on whatever it is you are doing, and the work of your life will terminate far more favorably.
-And, hey, think of all the other stuff that you could be doing when you get offline, and really concentrate on what else you’re doing. You can exercise, and de-stress. You can make dinner--really make dinner, like, not out of a microwave tray. You can talk to real people. You can go outside. (Don’t get me started on this inane regime of desk work that the world appears to be seriously buying into.)
-Besides, how healthy can it be to have laptop computers veritably strapped to our genitals for hours every day? Something tells me that that’s not part of any universal plan. . . . Unless that universal plan is one hatched by an evil (maybe) alien culture, with the aim of making us all very, very sterile.
Of course, the favorable sprouting of all this garden is that you’ll be a better client manager. Your client’s expectations will entirely change. When people know that you are only available at certain hours, and certain times only, and not at others, you’ll be amazed how quickly they’ll stop contacting you, when you have avowed, implicitly, or explicitly, to be offline, or out of their town.
Turn off. Tune out. and, Drop in, to your own life.
(Yes. A couple weeks from now, I will be holding a new Droid X in my hot little hands. Ah, well. I tried.)
. . .
Liner Notes
For this post’s edition of “Liner Notes”, let’s keep it real . . . real geographical! Below appear songs about, related to or by artists hailing from, or claiming their true home as, a state of our recent visitation for vacation . . . a “Midwest Sampler”, as it were:
Missouri:
“Medley: a. Kansas City/b. Hey! Hey! Hey!” by The Beatles
“St. Louis Blues” by Louis Armstrong
“Missing Missouri” by Sara Evans
(If I had a buck for everytime I was surprised when someone handed me a Sam Adams outside of Boston, like we have a patent on them.)
Arkansas:
“When Electricity Came to Arkansas” by Black Oak Arkansas
“Arkansas Traveler” by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys
“Arkansas Dave” by George Strait
Oklahoma:
“The Problem” by J.J. Cale (from the album “To Tulsa and Back”)
“Oklahoma!” by Rodgers & Hammerstein (Also Oklahoma’s state song)
“Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard
(By the way, there are a shizzton of songs about Oklahoma. See here.)
Kansas:
“Point of Know Return” by Kansas
“Home on the Range” by Dr. Brewster M. Higley, as channeled through Pete Seeger (Also Kansas’ state song)
“Sunflower” by Russ Morgan
(There are not as many songs about Kansas. Not even one shizzhundredweight.)
Iowa:
“Iowa Waltz” by Greg Brown
“The Iowa Indian Song” by Bing Crosby
“Iowa” by Dar Williams
There you have it. State Quarters -- You(pl.)’re on notice.
And, you know what? It was fudging awesome. There are few things I love more than getting off the grid. Although, outside of my use of the forum for work, I find a limited use in the internet: of learning new things; I have always found ye olde library to be just as useful, and more thoroughly researched and authoritative. There is nothing I love more than disconnecting from the acceptional grid, and em-powering myself.
While I know there are some of you who love the internet, and treat it like a soft, old blankey, surrounding the sucking of a comforting thumb, there should be limits to your exposure. Consider the following as suggestions for a more balanced approach to the world, such that your access of the web, combined with your access of the remainder of the world, may become more equally apportioned:
-Don’t talk on your cellphone when you’re in line at the grocery store, blasting through the others, talking like to someone else the entire time, and blowing off the check-out person without even saying so much as “thank you” to their “have a nice day”. Nobody’s that busy. (Well, that has nothing do with law practice management. It’s just a serious pet peeve of mine. And, if you have a smartphone, which you probably do, this is somewhat related to the internet. Whatever.)
-Don’t talk on your cellphone (unless you have a hands-free device) or text when you’re driving. (This one’s for all those people in Manchester, Massachusetts who drive about two miles an hour everywhere around town, and especially in the morning, when we are just trying to get to the train on time: Put down the telephone, and drive like a normal human being.)
-(Alright, seriously now.) You know, you don’t have to have your smartphone on all the time. It’s alright to turn it off. Especially when you get home. Especially for dinner. Your internet friends can live without you for an hour or two. Your clients can live without you until the next morning.
-Ditto for your computer. The more you leave it on, the more you’ll be drawn to it, like a moth to the flame. Turn it off. Close the lid.
-And, when you're working, work. Or, better yet, don’t. There’s nothing worse, on the other end, than when someone is pretending to listen to you, while they are actually mostly concentrating on work, and doing neither very well. There is a time for work, and a time for friends and family. Focus wholly on whatever it is you are doing, and the work of your life will terminate far more favorably.
-And, hey, think of all the other stuff that you could be doing when you get offline, and really concentrate on what else you’re doing. You can exercise, and de-stress. You can make dinner--really make dinner, like, not out of a microwave tray. You can talk to real people. You can go outside. (Don’t get me started on this inane regime of desk work that the world appears to be seriously buying into.)
-Besides, how healthy can it be to have laptop computers veritably strapped to our genitals for hours every day? Something tells me that that’s not part of any universal plan. . . . Unless that universal plan is one hatched by an evil (maybe) alien culture, with the aim of making us all very, very sterile.
Of course, the favorable sprouting of all this garden is that you’ll be a better client manager. Your client’s expectations will entirely change. When people know that you are only available at certain hours, and certain times only, and not at others, you’ll be amazed how quickly they’ll stop contacting you, when you have avowed, implicitly, or explicitly, to be offline, or out of their town.
Turn off. Tune out. and, Drop in, to your own life.
(Yes. A couple weeks from now, I will be holding a new Droid X in my hot little hands. Ah, well. I tried.)
. . .
Liner Notes
For this post’s edition of “Liner Notes”, let’s keep it real . . . real geographical! Below appear songs about, related to or by artists hailing from, or claiming their true home as, a state of our recent visitation for vacation . . . a “Midwest Sampler”, as it were:
Missouri:
“Medley: a. Kansas City/b. Hey! Hey! Hey!” by The Beatles
“St. Louis Blues” by Louis Armstrong
“Missing Missouri” by Sara Evans
(If I had a buck for everytime I was surprised when someone handed me a Sam Adams outside of Boston, like we have a patent on them.)
Arkansas:
“When Electricity Came to Arkansas” by Black Oak Arkansas
“Arkansas Traveler” by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys
“Arkansas Dave” by George Strait
Oklahoma:
“The Problem” by J.J. Cale (from the album “To Tulsa and Back”)
“Oklahoma!” by Rodgers & Hammerstein (Also Oklahoma’s state song)
“Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard
(By the way, there are a shizzton of songs about Oklahoma. See here.)
Kansas:
“Point of Know Return” by Kansas
“Home on the Range” by Dr. Brewster M. Higley, as channeled through Pete Seeger (Also Kansas’ state song)
“Sunflower” by Russ Morgan
(There are not as many songs about Kansas. Not even one shizzhundredweight.)
Iowa:
“Iowa Waltz” by Greg Brown
“The Iowa Indian Song” by Bing Crosby
“Iowa” by Dar Williams
There you have it. State Quarters -- You(pl.)’re on notice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)