The Connected Lawyer

If you have ever complained about having to swap a hard drive out of an external hard drive enclosure, I have found the perfect solution for you: The SATA HDD Multi-Function Dock.

According to the website,

This SATA HDD Dock allows you to plug any 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA Harddisk to your computer via USB or ESATA port, a powerful tool for data transfer, backup and cloning. It functions as a 2-port USB hub and card reader as well. The device is compatible with both PCs and Macs.

Hat tip to Wired for bringing this to my attention.

As I was perusing my RSS reader this morning, I came across two blog posts that provided an interesting contrast. First was from the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog. There, Evan Schaeffer points us toward an article from PC World about why you should back up online.

In contrast, I found a post from Futurelawyer pointing us toward an article from Lifehacker warning of some of the dangers of online backups.

At first blush, these articles appear to contradict each other. A closer review reveals, however, that the concerns raised by Lifehacker are slightly different from what PC World is talking about. The PC World article gives a nice overview of some of the online backup services available. The Lifehacker post cautions people about using the unused disk space on their web server as a backup option.

As PC World points out, one of the drawbacks to online backups is the expense. Recognizing this, Lifehacker had previously suggested putting unused disk space on your web server to use. In their latest post, however, they reveal that some web hosts are deleting the backup files as violations of the terms of service. Thus, if you are going to consider using this space for a backup, make sure you read your terms of service.

That, of course, leaves unanswered the question of how you should backup. I believe that a multipronged approach is best. First I suggest a “local” backup of your computer on an external hard drive. I know that there are other media available. However, I think the hard drive is the easiest most convenient way to go. If you are in love with DVDs, so be it. You will need multiple hard drives because you will always need to keep at least one of these off site. This is to ensure that you have a copy of your data somewhere other than the same location your computer is.

If your computer crashes, it’s of no concern that your backup drive was sitting by your CPU. If your building, floods, burns down, is swept off to Oz, etc., then you will certainly regret the fact that your backup drive was destroyed along with your regular drive. Thus, it is essential that you keep at least one copy of the backup off site at all times.

If you have office that is separate from your house, this is fairly easy to do. Simply carry the backup drive from the office to your house and return the next morning with the next drive from your house to the office. This becomes more difficult if your office is in your house. If this is the case, you really need to find a location away from your house to regularly take your backups. This location, should be easy for you to access and it should be located somewhere that you can conveniently visit frequently.

In addition to using backup drives and keeping them offsite, I also recommend that you find an online backup service and backup those critical data files (such as client files) with the online service. This gives you added protection in the event that a natural disaster hits both your office and your off site storage location. This is certainly possible with events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes, etc. The online site gives you an additional location (hopefully in another part of the country) where your data can safely weather the storm.

I know this seems like overkill. However, if you ever lose your data because of a hard drive crash or a natural disaster, you won’t think that it is overkill at all.

The Illinois Supreme Court released a press release today announcing a plan for a unified efiling system throughout the state.

Chief Justice Robert R. Thomas and the Illinois Supreme Court announced Friday a
wide-ranging plan to build a technological infrastructure that would link electronically all the
courts in the state’s 23 judicial circuits and 102 counties.

Once completed, the plan would provide, among several features, a uniform system for
the electronic filing of cases and case documents in all of the state’s trial courts. It also would
bring together, under a uniform structure, other electronic business initiatives which the Court
has allowed previously.

The press release goes on to explain:

At the heart of the plan is the development of an Illinois Judicial Branch portal using web-based technologies. Just as a portal like Yahoo or Google provides access to a myriad of information, the Illinois judicial portal would provide a single point for access to a broad scope of case information collected from cases filed in all 102 Illinois counties. The initiative would not relieve judicial circuits of their record-keeping responsibility, but the portal would provide a central point of access to trial court information and a single system to distribute trial court data to federal and state entities.

“A critical component to the success of this project is the establishment of statewide technology standards that will allow the integration of the 23 judicial circuits’ information systems into a common link,” said Ms. Cobbs, the AOIC director. “The use of a central judicial branch portal, and the establishment of standards will ensure that Illinois’ use of technology to assist in the work of the courts is secure, uniform, and cohesive, rather than a patchwork of independent services.”

The AOIC has been working with several national vendors to identify technologies that would implement a database platform, a statewide network and associated standards to support the e-business initiative. Director Cobbs and her staff also will be working with the Chief Judges of the 23 circuits, as well as with county officials to plan and implement the initiative as seamlessly as possible.

This press release says all of the right things, however, I am troubled by the comment that:

Unlike the federal court system, in the Illinois trial courts, there is no uniform case management system and thus, implementing an e-filing system like the one that is utilized in the federal courts is not possible.

So, can they implement one unified system or not?

With respect to timing, the Court announced:

A time frame for full implementation of uniform statewide e-filing and other e-business is uncertain, but it is expected to be phased in over a period of three to five years. The cost of development will be funded through judicial branch resources, and other sources of funding will have to be identified as needed.

You can download a copy of the press release here.

This seems to be a step in the right direction. However, it appears a little sparse on the details. I am curious to see what their actual plans are. I know that I have been clamoring for efiling in Illinois. As much as I want to see it arrive, I also want to see it arrive in a form that benefits the practitioner.

For now, I will accept this announcement for the good news it appears to be.

Web-Tones recently posted an entry titled Darkside of SaaS. In the post, the author explains:

As we move more and more of our computing to the cloud one thing will become painfully obvious. It is not the service provider with the coolest interface or lowest cost that will win. It is the provider that can deliver 24/7 world class support.

He then asserts:

Here is a dirty little secret about SaaS: a major screw up on the provider’s part can bring your online world tumbling down in a NY second. Try to find a number that you can call and ask a question like WTF just happened? Nope, can’t do it. Just have to submit a ticket to the cloud and hope that someone responds in time to save that major deal you are working on.

I think he is right, as far as he goes, but the problems he highlights are not limited to SaaS applications. You have these same problems with the company that provides your internet service, or fixes your computer when it breaks, or, for that matter, services process for you.

Anytime that you are about to enter into agreements with providers, you need to ask yourself what happens if something goes drastically wrong. If you lose your connection to your SaaS provider, do you have another way to access the information? If your internet connection goes down, does your provider guarantee to have it back up in a certain period of time? Do you have an alternate connection you can use? When your computer crashes, does your service contract provide for on site service within 24 hours or do you have to send the computer off site to be fixed? When you must have someone served immediately, can you reach your process server and will she get the person served for you?

You should be asking the same type of questions with all of these service providers. Of course the answers you want may not be the same. For some people, it is vitally important that they be able to reach their service provider 24/7/365. For others, they may need to reach someone only between 7 am and 10 pm.

The important thing is that before you sign a contract for any of these services, you need to decide what is important to you. Then find a provider that will meet your requirements. If you must be able to speak with someone in support at 3 am on Saturdays, make sure you can do this. If you need guaranteed uptime of of a certain amount, find someone who will give you that guarantee and who actually has penalties that give the guarantee teeth.

As Web-Tones emphasized, depending on your requirements, cost may be the lowest factor in consideration when shopping for a SaaS or any other provider.

I am not sure why, but it feels strange to say that. However, I do have one a presence and I might as well make it easy to find.

My LinkedIn page can be found here.

I have also recently started using Twitter. My Twitter page is here. Cleverly, my Twitter name is Bryan_Sims. Please note the underscore. Although I suppose you can follow the other BryanSims (note, no underscore). His life is probably more interesting than mine, given that he is the CEO of brass Media.

If you are not familiar with Twitter, I urge you to check it out. Twitter allows you to broadcast what you are doing 140 characters at a time. I avoided Twitter for a long time, fearing that I might like it. That prophecy has proven true. The reality is that no one can really explain the Twitter experience to you. You must check it out for yourself to truly understand it.

If you want a good guide to getting started with Twitter, I recommend this blog post from Michael Hyatt. He gives a step by step introduction to getting started with Twitter. What are you waiting for? Start tweeting.

Once you get started, you will probably want to add some Twitter Tools to your arsenal. My favorite is probably Twitbin, which is an extension for Firefox. I have been having problems with Twitbin lately, however, and have switched to twhirl, which I like a lot.

If you use a Palm device, you can use MoTwit to tweet from the road.

I have a case in which opposing counsel is sending me approximately 1,000 pages of nonconfidential pages of discovery. He asked if he could send them to me electronically (note, these are from a third party and, for a variety of reasons, edicsovery is not a concern). He currently has the files in PDF and he asked his assistant to email them to me.

Not surprisingly, somewhere along the way, something ate the PDF attachment. I talked with him yesterday and asked him to burn a CD for me and I would have someone pick it up. His response was that he would have his assistant put in a request to create the CD, but he could not promise when it would be completed because his assistant had to follow the proper channels.

Is this normal? I am unusual in having simply grabbed a blank CD yesterday and burned some documents to it before mailing it off (ironically enough, to the same attorney).

I guess that I am just curious about how most firms typically do these types of things. Please note that opposing counsel does not work for a large firm.

The fact that agents can search your computer when you cross international borders presents special problems for attorneys, given that our computers likely contain information we are ethically bound to keep confidential. If you are considering international travel with your laptop, I recommend that you check out Bruce Schneier’s column on crossing boarders with your laptop.

Bruce’s advice for your best defense:

So your best defence is to clean up your laptop. A customs agent can’t read what you don’t have. You don’t need five years’ worth of email and client data. You don’t need your old love letters and those photos (you know the ones I’m talking about). Delete everything you don’t absolutely need. And use a secure file erasure program to do it. While you’re at it, delete your browser’s cookies, cache and browsing history. It’s nobody’s business what websites you’ve visited. And turn your computer off - don’t just put it to sleep - before you go through customs; that deletes other things. Think of all this as the last thing to do before you stow your electronic devices for landing. Some companies now give their employees forensically clean laptops for travel, and have them download any sensitive data over a virtual private network once they’ve entered the country. They send any work back the same way, and delete everything again before crossing the border to go home. This is a good idea if you can do it.

I urge you to check out his entire post. Also remember that they can search your phone/PDA in the same way that they can search your laptop.

I managed to get my hands on an ARC of Fuzzy Navel, J.A. Konrath’s new novel coming out in July 2008. I read it in fewer than 24 hours, coincidentally about the same amount of time that the book covers. In this latest installment of the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series, the action is packed into about eight hours. The last chapter occurs about 24 hours after the book starts.

Konrath packs plenty of action into those eight hours. Also, like his earlier works, the action is spiced up by plenty of humor.

This book features the return of Alexandra Kork (from Whisky Sour) and pulls together all of the characters we have come to know in Jack’s world: Her partner Herb, her mother Mary, her former partner Harry, he boyfriend Latham, and her friend Phineas Troutt.

I want to pause here to make two observations. First, I feel really sorry for Latham. The poor guy is wonderful to Jack’s mother and he seems like a great boyfriend. Nevertheless, the poor always ends up in terrible situations, facing grave injury or death. I just feel bad for him.

The second observation is that Phin is my favorite character in these books. In fact, I found Konrath and his books through a Phin story “Epitaph” that appeared in an anthology called Thriller. Epitaph is one of my favorite short stories ever and provides a great look at Phin.

Ok, back to our story. Not only does Kork return seeking revenge, but Jack is also involved in the investigation of three simultaneous sniper attacks. Her initial investigation of those attacks quickly leads to a horrific intersection of both the snipers and Kork.

I don’t want to say more to avoid giving away any spoilers. I will say, however, that the scenes in the snipers heads are absolutely hilarious. Additionally, because the events in the book occur over such a short period of time, the action is non stop.

If you like this series, you much pick this book up and read it. Konrath has also already announced that the next book in the series “Cherry Bomb” will be out a year from now. Fortunately, it is supposed to pick up right where Fuzzy Navel left off. After you read Fuzzy Navel, you will figure out why this is a good thing.

In sum, Fuzzy Navel is typical Konrath. And that is a good thing. It is faced paced, full of action, fear, and humor. If you enjoy the series, definitely read it. If you have not read any of the series before, read Rusty Nail and then read this book.

I have spoken on multiple occasions to attorneys about the dangers of metadata. I have found that many attorneys are not aware of the problem and do not know how to follow simple steps to manage metadata.

I was completely stunned, however, by this post which describes a business plan that was submitted to a venture capitalist with all of the tracked changes and comments intact. This is not a situation in which someone used a metadata viewer to mine the document for unscrubbed changes. No, this is one where the author never bothered to accept the changes and they they appeared when the document was opened. Some of my favorite comments:

“When you talk through this point on your slides, make Chanukah jokes, he is Jewish and will get them”

“I’d delete this section since we don’t have these features on the roadmap and haven’t figured out how to code this unless you believe the investors won’t catch this.”

“VCs are typically stupid when it comes to this section so be prepared for a dumb question blizzard.”

(Hat tip to mathewingram.com for the link.)

The Legal Profession Blog has an interesting post about Stephen Harris, a Kansas attorney who was disciplined because he refused to file bankruptcy pleadings electronically. The opinion from the Supreme Court of Kansas explains:

In January 2005, Respondent attempted to file a bankruptcy case, in behalf of another client, using paper pleadings rather than electronic pleadings. The bankruptcy court sent Respondent an order and in the order advised Respondent that petitions and other pleadings must be filed electronically. The court ordered Respondent to attend the required training, pass the examination, and obtain a login name and password within 30 days. Respondent failed to obtain a login name and password within 30 days.

On March 31, 2005, Respondent attempted to file a bankruptcy case in behalf of another client. On April 11, 2005, a bankruptcy judge advised Respondent in writing that he was not permitted to file a bankruptcy case using paper pleadings and that all pleadings must be filed electronically.

In July 2005, C.G. retained Respondent to prepare and file a bankruptcy case in his behalf prior to the change in bankruptcy laws scheduled for October 2005. Respondent informed C.G. that it would take 6 to 8 weeks to file the bankruptcy. C.G. paid Respondent an advanced fee of $800. Despite the fact that Respondent knew that he did not have a login name and password to enable him to file bankruptcy cases, Respondent agreed to represent C.G.

On September 12, 2005, Respondent spoke with C.G. by telephone. At that time, C.G. informed Respondent that he needed the bankruptcy case to be filed immediately because his two vehicles had been repossessed. During the conversation, C.G. asked Respondent whether Respondent had a login name and password to enable him to file bankruptcy pleadings. Respondent informed C.G. that he had a login name and password. Later, in the same telephone conversation, Respondent informed C.G. that he did not have a login name and password but that he would get one by the end of the week. Still later in the telephone conversation, Respondent assured C.G. that he would obtain a login name and password with sufficient time to file the bankruptcy before the laws changed.

I really just don’t understand this. If you do not like electronic filing, that is your prerogative. However, if you are going to practice in a court that requires electronic filing, you must comply with those rules. Trying to submit paper documents with a court that requires electronic filing is no different from trying to file your pleadings in the form of a scroll with a court that accepts only 8.5 x 11 paper.

Following court rules is not a difficult concept. It can be a pain sometimes, but the rules are not optional. The attorney here compounded his error in a couple of ways. First, not only did not not follow the court rules requiring him to file his documents electronically, but he also failed to follow a specific order directed at him to obtain his efiling access within 30 days. Once again, there are ways to disagree or challenge court orders. Simply ignoring them is not an acceptable alternative.

The second thing the attorney did to compound his error was that he continued to accept new clients when he knew that he could not file pleadings on their behalf.

If you are going to practice before a particular court, follow the rules. If you want to follow those rules, find a different court to practice before or seek to change the rules.