The Connected Lawyer

Leveraging Technology to Practice Law More Effectively

Monthly Archives: January 2009

E-Filing and 20th Century Lawyers

It is no secrete that I love the CM/ECF (e-filing) system that the federal courts use. Not only is it very convenient to be able to file your documents from your desk, but it is also great that you don’t have to serve those documents on the other parties who have filed an appearance in the case.

When a document is filed with the ECF system, the system automatically sends and email to everyone who has filed a appearance informing them that a document has been filed and providing a link to download the document. This means that everyone has a copy of the document just minutes after it has been filed. In addition to the time savings, this process also saves staff time, postage, and mailing supplies.

Notwithstanding this, there are still some lawyers who either don’t understand this or who can’t abide by the fact that a computer system is performing their service for them. So, it is not unusual for me to see that something has been filed in a federal case (either district court or bankruptcy) and then a few hours later I receive a copy fax. Although not a frequent, but still way more often than it should be, I will not only receive a copy by fax, but I will get a copy in the mail a day or two later.

I know that sometimes people have diffiuclty adopting to new technologies, but I don’t understand the desire of these attorneys to waste the additional time, money, and effort duplicating the work performed by the ECF system.

Best Blago Quote I have Seen Yet

I normally avoid political topics on the blog, but with the impeachment trial going on in Springfield, it is impossible to ignore. The best comment I have heard about the whole mess comes from a post from Eric Zorn. He was commenting on fact that Blagojevich had purchased a puppy for his children because they were having a hard time with the arrest and impeachment process. Zorn noted:

I genuinely do feel bad for the Blagojevich girls. What a heartbreaking and scary ordeal this must be for them.  What a bleak future they face.

The sympathies I feel here are similar to the sympathies I feel for Lura Lynn Ryan, the wife of our imprisoned former governor. But they also remind me family, particularly children, should always be an extra incentive to do right in this world.

He then concluded with:

Those closest to you pay an unfair and heavy price for your sins so, you know, maybe you should think about that before you indulge in an orgy of venality instead of trying to compensate later by buying a puppy.

Awesome. Just awesome.

Books: A Review of 2008

In 2008 I read only 29 books (down from 40 in 2007, and 46 in 2006). I am quite disappointed by this and plan to aim for my 2006-07 level in 2009. Nevertheless, I did read some really good books in 2008. Of the 29 I read, my favorites were, in no particular order:

I highly recommend any of these books to you. Additionally, if you know  young reader, both Little Brother and Zoe’s Tale are perfect for the YA crowd as well as adults.

This year I also reached the conclusion that I will read anything that Michael Lewis writes. I read The Blind Side and The New New Thing. Both were excellant and just missed my top 5 list. If you are at all interested in business planning, visions for the future, or technology, I urge you to read The New New Thing. The book deals with the height of the tech industy in the late 1990s. In so doing it is an excellant lens to view the vision that the industry pioneers had for us a decade ago and how that compares with the technology that we are currently using.

Too Much Treo? No, Not Really

I just discovered that I have worn a callus on the inside of my pinkie finger because of the way that I hold my Treo when I type one-handed. The conclusion that I draw from this is that I apparently often use the Treo only in one hand. As a result, in the future I should probably avoid any smartphone that requires two hands to type.

(Any suggestion that I use the Treo too much, will fall on deaf ears).

Making a Useful Signature Stamp

At PDF for Lawyers, Ernie the Attorney provides a great tutorital on creating a digital signature in Adobe Acrobat. The problem with using a digital signature in Acrobat is that most people don’t understand them. In addtion to your name, the digital signature contains other information that verifies that you signed the document and that it has not been changed since.

Ernie explains:

A signature, digital or not, has to satisfy two elements: (1) non-repudiability, and (2) acceptance by the receiving party.  In other words, the point of signing a document is so the recipient knows it’s from you, and that you can’t deny it’s from you (i.e. you can’t repudiate authorship of the document).  Digital signatures are far superior to regular signatures in this arena.  Where they fail miserably is in the ‘acceptance’ part.
Because digital signatures are not familiar to most people they freak out if they see a bunch of numbers where they’re used to seeing indecipherable human scrawl.  So, how to remedy this problem?
The quick and dirty fix is to do what I outline in that blurb I mentioned a few sentences ago. Just create a stamp and slap that on the document you want to ‘sign.’  It won’t be secure like a real digital signature (and if you want to repudiate it you can say your secretary exceeded her authority and stamped it without your knowledge).  But, let’s say you’re a fair-minded, by-the-rules kind of guy (or gal).  Is there another option?

Fortunately Ernie has solved this problem. Simply go to his post and follow his few simple steps to create a digital signature with an appearance that won’t freak people out.

A Primer on Electronic Signatures

TechnoEsq has a great post in which he discusses the methods of signing electronic documents. As he explains:

Contracts are now signed electronically, emails are frequently used for communication between counsel and clients, pleadings in federal court are even electronically signed and filed. Obviously, such a paradigm shift is necessary in the modern era and makes today’s world work, from ATM and credit card purchases to purchasing automobile insurance online. From a legal perspective, however, there are many different forms of electronic signatures. The term is used interchangeably to describe three very distinct means of signing a document electronically:

1. Signature Stamp (or scanned version of a signature)

2. Electronic Signature (used in the federal court system)

3. Digital Signature (encryption used to authenticate a document).

This article explains the three forms of electronic signatures and assist in their creation.

I urge you to review this article to find out the uses for each of these three types of signatures as well as how to create and use each of them.

Surprise!

Andy Nulman believes that surprise is a great way to market yourself. He has a new book espousing this philosophy. he has offered to send a copy to each of the first 200 bloggers who posts about the book.

I was not familiar with Andy today, but I will try reading just about anything. So, Andy, if you would like, I would love to receive a copy of your book. Feel free to send it to me at: Bryan Sims, 1001 E. Chicago Ave., Suite 111, Naperville, IL 60540.

Creating a New Google Docs Document from GMail

Google recently added a new feature to Gmail that allows you to create a new document in Google Docs with one click. As the GMail Blog explains:

No more copying and pasting the text from your email — just open the message you wish to convert, click the “Create a document” link on the right side of the page, and voila, you have a brand new document which you can then modify and share!

This feature is not turned on automatically. To turn it on, simply open your Gmail account, click on Settings, then click on Labs. Near the bottom is Create a Document. Click enable and then save the settings. While there, feel free to poke around the other options available and try them out if any catch your attention.

Hat tip to Reid Trautz for first pointing this out.

Synchronizing Files with Dropbox

The Affinity Law Office Technology Blog recently posted about Dropbox, a site that allows you to backup, share, and synchronize your files online.

The post explained:

Once installed, the software creates a Dropbox folder on your desktop.  Simply drag files you want to sync with another computer to the Dropbox folder.

Here’s how it works:

  • Drag and drop to move files around, just like you normally would
  • Any files or folders inside Dropbox will get synchronized to Dropbox’s servers and any other computer linked to your account.
  • Green checkmarks will appear on top of your files to let you know that they’re synced and up to date.

Dropbox provides up to 2GB of storage for free. Larger amounts are available for a monthly fee. The feature that I love about this service is the synchronization. There are a variety of services that allow you to store documents online for retrival anywhere. This service not only allows you to store them, but it also synchronizes the files and lets you when when they have been synchronized. This means that you don’t have to worry about keeping track of which version of the docuent is the most recent.

If you are looking for a way to synchronize your files, you might want to check Dropbox out.