Legal Tech

By Peter LaSorsa Most lawyers have a presence on the Internet in the form of a website. Of course a website is a form of advertising and therefore the rules regarding advertising must be followed. I did a recent random survey of websites in the Chicago area (checking out the competition) and found an interesting trend. On the front page of many websites there is a form that the user can fill out and send to the law firm. Most have a place for name, address, phone number, email and a brief synopsis of what the issue is. At the bottom of the form by the submit button there is a box that the user checks agreeing to the terms and conditions as defined by the law firm. There is usually a hyperlink on the words terms and conditions, which allows the user to view the actual terms and conditions prior to checking the box. On my website instead of terms and conditions I utilize the word disclaimer. The same action takes place, as the word disclaimer is a hyperlink that takes the user to a page or two of information regarding the disclaimer. I actually chose the word disclaimer instead of terms and conditions for the following reason. The language of most legal websites starts with something to the affect that by visiting the website or sending in a form with your name and address the action does not imply or infer a legal agreement or contract of any kind with the firm. In my opinion the problem with utilizing words like “terms and conditions” are that those words are inherent with agreements and contracts. I mean terms and conditions to what? To an agreement or contract that you are then denying has been formed?

By Peter LaSorsa Electronic discovery has been the hot litigation issue for a few years now. Probably at the forefront of electronic discovery is email. I would hasten to say everyone in the business world utilizes email, except those still clinging to their Luddite ways. There was a recent case that involves email in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that is worthy of mention. In United States v. Warshak[1] the Court held that email might be private and constitutionally privileged. The Court ruled the portion of the Stored Communications Act that allowed the government to access Internet Service Providers “(ISP”) stored emails older than 180 days with just a subpoena or court order unconstitutional. I believe this is the first such statement by a court on this level. In short the Court said that email stored with commercial ISP’s have the same Fourth Amendment expectations to privacy and actual protections of privacy as phone calls and letters. In this case, the government issued a subpoena to the ISP requesting and receiving 27,000 emails from Steven Warshak. Those emails were utilized to help secure at 25-year prison sentence. The problem was the subpoena allowed the government to secretly get access to the emails without the knowledge of Warshak or without a search warrant. In affect, the government by-passed the constitutional mechanisms of obtaining a search warrant and therefore, the constitutional protections afforded Mr.

By Peter LaSorsa In a recent survey more young people are utilizing text messages than email as a form of communication.  In fact, both Google and Facebook are investing heavily in the text message application space.  The difference between SMS (a text message) and email is not just the weight and friction of the user interface and cognitive load of having a subject line.  The main difference is in social and mental framing of that medium of communication. Sending a text message to someone’s Gmail or Yahoo mail does not make it an email.  Most young people (read this as your clients for the next 30 years) believe email to be too slow and formal and prefer to text.  As an attorney, a decision has to be made as to whether to fully engage in the world of text messages and if so, how will you preserve the client communication? There are times when a text message makes sense, your client is running late, do to a late train, the train is crowded and a phone call probably will sound garbled—instead a quick text (stuck on train is 15 min late k for appt?).  Whether we like it or not that is the way the 20 something generation thinks and communicates.  I quick text response of (fine) and the issue is solved.  The advantage to this type of communication is that you may be out of the office and rushing back for the appointment and now you can relax knowing you will have extra time. I know many will argue an email will accomplish the same task but only if both parties have smart phones with email capability. Additionally, if you are just getting out of court you may have 10 or 20 emails in your inbox and by the time you get to them, it is too late to take advantage of your extra 15 minutes.

By Peter LaSorsa This article is probably best addressed to solo practitioners or those with just a few attorneys. I will say upfront that my email address is pmllaw@yahoo.com and has been since the beginning of my law firm. When first starting out my goal was to run lean and mean. Keeping costs low and not spending where spending isn’t required best accomplish this. One area where spending can get high is on technology and especially on computers and computer systems. You have a few options when choosing an email account. The first option is a free account from Google, Yahoo or Hotmail where the email is hosted on their servers and all that is required is to log in and send and receive email.  Another option is to purchase your own email server and host your own email system, using say Microsoft Outlook. Lets take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. The advantage of the host your own option is you can have a more professional email (that is what I hear other attorneys say often about email addresses like jsmith@xyzlawfirm.com as opposed to jsmith@gmail.com). There are other advantages of using Microsoft Outlook as it relates to other legal software you may have. For example, your other software may allow you to integrate your emails into a document retention feature. The disadvantage to having your own email server is the purchase price, maintenance and fact that someone has to be responsible for its operation. You can outsource this but again it just increases the cost.  What happens if you are on vacation for a week and your email server goes down?