The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/163881
Litigation Support Professional A BLURRED LINE BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL by Julie Johnston of Cooley LLP I have been in IT for 30+ years, the last 10 in law firms. My role over the last few years has shifted from IT to litigation support technologies and now trial technologies. I work closely with attorneys, paralegals and our IT group in the support of our offsite litigation events (trials, hearings, arbitrations, etc). As you can imagine, I have been enmeshed with technology all my professional career with much spillover into my personal life. It is difficult for me to navigate my professional and personal world without the aid of some type of technology. Well, that may be a stretch — my dog is still my alarm clock. I believe everyone will agree that the advances in technology, specifically smartphone technologies, have allowed us to be and stay connected from virtually anywhere. I am more efficient in my professional life because I can communicate quickly with my team, reach out to vendors and research local court rules all from the palm of my hand. The apps I use to communicate, document and manage my professional projects are the same tools I use in my personal life. The line in the sand between my professional life and my personal life has become exponentially blurred as my dependency on technology increases. However, to keep things in perspective, I try to remind myself of a quote from Huxley: "Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards." Julie Johnston has worked in the IT field for 30 years, the last 10 focused on legal technologies. Julie provides trial support and litigation support services at Cooley LLP. Julie has worked for other firms in the San Diego area, including Procopio Hargraves Cory & Savitch, Sullivan Hill, and Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek. Julie is involved in several organizations supporting legal technologies in the San Diego area and sits on the board for Women in eDiscovery, San Diego Chapter. Contact her at jjohnston@cooley.com. 46 Peer to Peer EVERYONE'S USING IT There's little doubt that more and more of our prospects are tuning into social media channels. A 2013 survey of in-house counsel by Greentarget and Zeughauser Group found that 73 percent of respondents said they use social media tools. Many survey-takers described themselves as social media lurkers: They hang back in the shadows and watch what other people are saying. Legal marketers like me love studies like these because they back up our ceaseless social media mantra: If you tweet it, they will come. And click. And follow. And attend your webinar, read your article, subscribe to your mailing list, and so on until they — in an ideal world — sign an engagement letter. When lawyers ask me how all this is possible, I usually point to the iPhone or BlackBerry glued to their palms. With the remarkable availability and sophistication of mobile devices, lawyers have all the tools they need to project their legal knowledge, case successes, and, yes, their actual personalities, out into the world. But before a lawyer starts live-streaming her next opening statement, she should carefully consider strategy and execution. For if one lawyer tweets in the woods and no one is following her to hear it, those 140 characters are lost to the world. Live tweeting is a real opportunity for us to be the eyes and ears of our intended audience. REPORTING LIVE Twitter has enjoyed a front-row seat at nearly every major world event since 2006, when Twitter founder Jack Dorsey issued a very innocuous first tweet: "just setting up my twttr." Twitter users propelled the Arab Spring movement, issued first-person accounts of Chesley Sullenberger's historic landing in the Hudson River and even tweeted greetings from the International Space Station. Granted, your firm's CLE event or conference presentation may not be as riveting as outer space, but live tweeting is a real opportunity for us to be the eyes and ears of our intended audience. What information does that audience really care about? Who are they eager to hear from? What are the "shareable" tips and tricks they can pass along to their own followers? I consider all these questions before my event starts. Sometimes I even draft some preliminary tweets with informational tidbits about the presenters and links to relevant materials. With