Legal Technology Trends in 2006 - LogicForce Consulting, LLC

Technology Trends in 2006
What to Expect in Legal Technology in the Coming Year

As technology continues to chart the course of our future, its influence on the practice of law is unequivocal. Innovations in technology are continuing to increase the productivity of attorneys and their support staff. Consequently, the expectations of clients are higher and competition more aggressive. In an effort to help you and your firm stay one step ahead of the technology revolution, you will find listed below a few trends in legal technology that we believe will have a great impact on the legal profession in the year to come.

Knowledge Management

There is an emerging recognition in the legal world that technology is allowing work product and experience to be managed, stored and searched. This knowledge management (KM) capability can greatly increase the productivity and profitability of firms.

While dedicated KM applications are expensive, the benefits can rapidly offset the costs. With targeted training and customized use of practice management and document management programs, even small firms are recognizing the benefits of KM techniques.

Digital Dictation

The “ancient” days of dial-up Internet access, MS-DOS and micro-cassette dictation recorders are quickly fading away as the demand for productivity increases with the promises of technology. Any firm that uses dictation will benefit immensely from the latest in dictation technology. The dictation process has entered the “digital” age. Simply put, attorneys and support staff no longer have to fight with purchasing, labeling, storing, finding, erasing, and throwing away little tapes.

Digital dictation involves dictating a document onto a digital voice recorder, which connects to the PC via a USB cable or cradle. Once the document is ready for transcription, the file can be downloaded from the recorder to the PC where it is then either sent to a shared directory on the network or simply emailed to its intended transcriber. This technology can drastically improve the amount of documents produced, save time for both attorneys and transcribers, and take advantage of a firm’s current network investment. No system upgrades are required.

The Philips Starter Kit 9485 is a good place to start. It includes a digital recorder, executive transcription software, earphones, footswitch, and all required cables. Prices for this package are in the $500 range, and it is extremely easy to install and maintain.

SmartDraw Legal Solution is designed to meet the needs of lawyers, paralegals, investigators, and other legal professionals who wish to easily make professional trial exhibits and graphics. It empowers legal professionals with complete control over their graphics. It comes with more than 50,000 symbols and nearly 1,000 templates to help users create any kind of legal graphic, including Timelines, Real Estate Plans, Medical Diagrams, Flowcharts and many more. It has an easy drag and drop interface and can really give presentations a zing.

Retails for $297 (online special of $197)
www.smartdraw.com

Exchange ActiveSync

With the implementation of Exchange 2003 with Service Pack 2 you can now receive email on your smart phone or Windows Mobile device. Exchange 2003 with SP2 provides Direct Push Technology, which will send new e-mail, calendar, task, and contact data directly to your handheld device without the use of a USB cable. You are also able to search the Global Address List for email addresses, synchronize your data and enforce an IT policy for remotely receiving data. If you are currently using Exchange 2003 then you are able to use Microsoft ActiveSync without any extra charge. Basically, you receive BlackBerry results without the cost of new software or hardware.

If you or your firm has any questions regarding any of the trends mentioned in this article, please feel free to contact us at (615) 238-3539 or by e-mail at tech@logicforce.com.