The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/11430
The trick is to figure out which numbers are important for you to pay attention to. But once you review your numbers on a regular basis, you’re in a position to squeeze inefficiencies out of your law practice. • Use Technology to Its Fullest Potential: Technology levels the playing field, enabling smaller firms to measure their progress, work more efficiently and pick off business from larger firms. Two of the most important equalizers are social media and cloud computing (using Internet-based computing resources). Social media receive a lot of publicity; some of it accurate, some of it overblown. The truth of the matter is, a well-crafted blog, combined with Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook can build business relationships as well as establish a small firm as an influential thought leader. As the saying goes, on the Internet, everyone’s voice is equal. Information is increasingly commoditized. Entrants like Fastcase, Bloomberg and Google into legal research continue to eat away at the dominance held by West and LexisNexis. Electronic data discovery tools, once only available to firms with the deepest pockets, can now be accessed through cloud-based solutions like Lexbe or Nextpoint. And the cloud is also bringing new, more accessible practice management and time and billing applications, which help firms both gather performance data and incorporate project management practices into their operations. Technology that harnesses information can streamline your operations and save money in the long run. AT THE END OF THE DAY (AND THE DECADE) This decade is a time of great transformation, where some firms will get left behind and others will leap ahead. By leveraging technology, embracing project management, and taking a data-driven approach to decision-making, law firms can emerge on the 2020 horizon as successful, profitable and efficient businesses. ILTA The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be (in the Movies) by Andy Spiegel “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives.” That line (which you have to hear intoned to fully appreciate) is from Edward D. Wood Jr.’s 1959 “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” affectionately described by sci-fi aficionados as the worst movie of all time. But for a pretty awful movie, it’s an awfully astute observation. Fact is, the future is where we are all living right now –– it just happens not to be any future we’ve seen depicted in movies: not apocalyptic (“The Omega Man,” “Mad Max”), not dystopian (“1984,” “Soylent Green”), not utopian (“Lost Horizons”), not cartoony (“The Jetsons”), and especially not funny (“Back to the Future,” “Sleeper”). It’s true that many technologies and electronic gadgets have made the leap from movie and TV screens into our lives (Star Trek-like communicators, miniature digital cameras, watch phones, rocket suits, talking computers, etc.), and certainly many of the social issues and cautionary hypotheses raised by Hollywood resonate today –– and will continue to do so in the years to come. But when it comes to robots or apes controlling us (“Terminator,” “Planet of the Apes,”), post-apocalyptic survival (“The Day After,” “The Road), time travel (“The Time Machine”), future crime prediction (“Minority Report”), manned trips to the planets and sentient computers (“2001” and “2010”), human cloning (“The Island”), off-world colonies and sentient androids who look like Daryl Hannah (“Blade Runner”), we still experience these futures only in darkened movie theaters with giant buckets of popcorn in our laps. The fact is, despite all our science, invention, Larry Port is the Founding Partner and Chief Software Architect of Rocket Matter. A speaker and writer, Larry frequently discusses efficiency and quality techniques in the software industry that can be leveraged by law practitioners. He also conducts free monthly webinars on emerging topics for attorneys and speaks at bar association CLEs around the country. He can be reached at larry@rocketmatter.com. technology, prognostication and brainpower, the future is far easier to create on paper than to achieve (or fall victim to) in reality. One thing is sure: whatever we think the future will be, we’re in for a few surprises. ILTA Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 15