Deleting Web History Before Google Gathering Takes Effect

The clock is ticking. March 1 is your deadline. Most lawyers with Google Accounts will want to read and act on this ABA Journal article: Want to Delete Web History Before Google Gathering Takes Effect? EFF Shows How. After reading the article, I logged into my Google account and was frankly amazed at the data that Google had collected on me at https://www.google.com/history. So many searches. And I thought I rarely watched YouTube Videos, but my history sure has a lot.

The thing that I think I have learned today is any time I am logged into GMail or any Google service, then Google saves information that I wouldn't have anticipated. While I still do not believe this infromation will be shared with advertisers in ways that compromises client confidentiality, any benefit I might get is not worth the history being saved. A lawyer who does an arraignment for a high profile client that has media coverage may not want any record outside of his office that he did a dozen searches on the Twinkie defense that week. You can come up with your own examples.

I'll still use Google services, but most lawyers will make the decision in the future that they will log into Google, do what they need and log out rather than staying logged in to Google all day. That may mean finding an alternative for Google Reader for example, because most users will stay logged into it all day. And it may mean that Gmail will be reexamined again as an appropriate office tool by those still using it. I already expressed my frustration with this change in my post Et Tu, Google? 

Pass it along to your friends and colleagues. The last few days of February 2012 should be known as Google History Deleting Days.

ABA TECHSHOW is about your Future

The Early Bird Deadline for registering for ABA TECHSHOW 2012 has been extended until February 24, 2012. This is a really good year to attend ABA TECHSHOW.

As ABA TECHSHOW Reid Trautz notes in his TECHSHOW blog post, Why ABA TECHSHOW is About Your Future, there are many changes impacting the legal industry. Some of these changes are the result of the adoption of new technology, while technology is the key to responding to others. An ABA Journal article this week quoted law professor Brian Tamanaha as writing that law schools produce 45,000 new graduates each year, while only 25,000 job openings are projected each year through 2018. Surely we all have to recognize that trend impacts many practicing lawyers, not just the newly minted lawyers who cannot find a job.

Read Mr. Trautz's post. This is a critical time for us all. I'm excited about ABA TECHSHOW and my Saturday morning presentation, The Future of Law Practice: Dark Clouds or Silver Linings. I hope to see you at ABA TECHSHOW.

ABA TECHSHOW 2012 -- Hope to see you there

ABA TECHSHOW is my best learning experience every year. No other legal technology conference has so many of the Who's Who of legal technologists because of the number of presentations that are offered. The Early Bird deadline is February 17, 2012 and the savings are significant. You can register and get more information at www.techshow.com. Just take a look at this great lineup of timely presentations. Many of you may be a member of a bar association that is an ABA TECHSHOW Event Promoter and provides you with another discount.

I am extremely excited about my two presentations at ABA TECHSHOW 2012. My first presentation is with Diane Ebersole, who is a practice management advisor for the Michigan Bar Association. Our topic is “Magic in Minutes: Effective Use of Document Assembly." This is truly a hot topic. With three cloud-based practice management systems announcing new document assembly tools in the last several weeks and a new generation of tools that operate as Microsoft Word plug-ins, there have been a lot of recent developments in this area.

“The Future of Law Practice: Dark Clouds or Silver Linings?” is the title of the plenary session that I will do to kick off the final day of ABA TECHSHOW. Doing a solo plenary session at ABA TECHSHOW is a great honor and responsibility. I will not claim to have the reputation and expertise of Richard Susskind, who addressed ABA TECHSHOW 2009 on a similar topic, but I have a list of ideas to share about preparing for your next decades in law practice. Here is an article I wrote for the Oklahoma Bar Journal that you can download to give you a preview. Download OBJ 2012 Jan14 - Preparing for ABA TECHSHOW

The world is changing. Attend ABA TECHSHOW to master these changes, As a tweet from @emyth observed recently, "If you're waiting for change to happen to you, it will, but probably not the change you want." I hope to see you at ABA TECHSHOW.

Et tu, Google?

One of the most significant items in technology news so far this year is Google's significant changes to its privacy policy. Google will now combine all of your data from all Google services together and users won't be able to opt out. See Washington Post Google announces privacy changes across products; users can’t opt out 

Long before I saw the movie The Social Network, I had come to the conclusion that the members of the Facebook team were, quite frankly, not good people. Facebook rolls out change after change of its privacy policy and the impact of each was that you had to make changes or your personal information would be shared more broadly than you originally intended. The average user really had no hope of maintaining control unless they were a privacy zealot willing to spend hours researching and coping with each change. My friend, Ben Schorr once said to me that you cannot look at Facebook just as a way you share information with friends. It is more accurate to look at Facebook as a giant advertising operation intent on selling your information which baits you into providing that information by letting you also share it with friends.

Google, on the other hand, had as its informal motto, "Don't be Evil." It was the company that allowed us to use the web in a meaningful way by giving us Google search. It seemed to be the embodiment of the idea that a company could do a great public service and make a healthy profit. GMail, Google Reader, Google Translate and many other services improved my life, did not cost me a thing and Google made tons of money with various advertising services. That was pre-2012 Google. Now Google is going to use my information in ways that I never intended and the nice little phrase "no opting out" can be Google translated as "and there's nothing you can do about it."

Your attention is directed to Google’s Watching You: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Google is now going to expand its practice of filtering Google search results based on what Google knows about me.

As the author notes, "Maybe if I’m from New York, I’ll see more articles favorable to the Giants for the next ten days. If I’m from Massachusetts, I’ll see articles supporting the Patriots.

"That doesn’t seem so bad… at first. But let’s dig a bit deeper.

"Let’s say I’m a political animal. Perhaps I get a lot of mail from Move On, or spend time with the Drudge Report. Google already uses this information to select what it shows me when I search. The 'Obama' links shown to the Move On reader are very different from those shown to the Drudge browser." id.

That is pretty significant. I can imagine someone working on a degree in Abnormal Psych may have some interesting sponsored links in their GMail account. Congress passed a law saying video rental stores could not keep permanent records of what movies I rent, but now Google will be doing that for what YouTube videos I watch. It is really quite Orwellian, except it turns out Big Brother isn't the government, but it is Google, which is already much more powerful than a bunch of national governments.

What can be done? Not much. European privacy laws may eventually temper some things. There will be antitrust investigations and Congressional hearings. But Google is already too ingrained in our personal and professional lives for most of us to even limit our usage. Google Reader will know your online reading habits and combining that with your YouTube viewing habits will give a significant window into your life and thinking.

What Google has proved is the truth of the cliché about online services: If you are not paying for the product, you are the product. Et tu, Google?

The iPad for Litigators is a hot topic

Later today I will be presenting for an online CLE titled The iPad for Litigators. Don't bother rushing to enroll as the program is now sold out. The last I heard they were closing in on 600 registered to take the class. (It will be repeated on February 3, 2012.)

My co-presenters are Tom Mighell, chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section, blogger at iPad 4 Lawyers and author of iPad in One Hour for Lawyers and Jamie Moncus of the firm Hare Wynn, who recently obtained a $37.5 million verdict using iPad trial presentation technology. I hear more every week about how lawyers are using iPads in their practices. I am grateful for the opportunity to co-present on this topic. As is almost always the case, I have learned more preparing for this program and may learn even more during the program.

Beyond the Basics of Google

My Sites for Sore Eyes column in the just-released GPSOLO eReport is Beyond the Basics of Google. Long time readers of my blog may have seen a lot of this information before. But if you have some colleagues who would benefit from this information, be sure and send them the link. I am always surprised by the number of people who have never heard of Google Advanced Search or think it is some advanced function that they are not qualified to operate.

Here's an additional related site that wasn't in the article. If you have grown tired of people asking you questions that they could answer themselves if they would just use Google, check out the site Let Me Google That for You. (http://lmgtfy.com) The site's motto is "For all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves." Go do a quick search there and click Preview to see the short animation you can send someone the next time they ask. It will bring a smile to your face. (But do not try this with your supervisor!)



Gadgets, Gizmos and Apps 2011

For the December 2011 Oklahoma Bar Journal I decided to pass along some interesting add-ons for a PC user. It's not like the old days where you had to cobble things together yourself with lots of customizations and add-ons, but I think you will find these additions helpful. Oklahoma lawyers who read this in the Bar Journal may still find this version useful as the hyperlinks have all been enabled (and corrected from the entire PDF version of the Bar Journal on our website.) So download this file to more easily visit the sites mentioned and install some of these useful add-ons. Download Gadgets_Gizmos_and_Apps.Calloway.Oklabaj

Ten essential classes of websites for lawyers

My recent Lawyers USA column covered Ten essential classes of websites for lawyers. You may know many of these, but feel free to forward the link to a lawyer you know who is not as current on Internet tools. I'll let you in on a little behind the scene information. The concept was to cover ten websites, combining some useful old standbys with newer tools. But as I tried to narrow it down to ten, it became obvious that there were several contenders in some areas. I hope you enjoy this piece and learn of some new online tools.

Oklahoma City University School of Law Teaches "Cool Tools"

Kudos to OCU's Legal Research Certificate program for its innovative first Cool Tools Café program.  I was familiar with many, but not all, of their cool tools. Descriptions of some of the cool tools are available at the link above. You may want to review these. These young law students will soon be young lawyers, using these cool tools in their practices.

Time management tips for social media

Your ABA, the American Bar Association's e-newsletter summarized an article that Catherine Sanders Reach and I co-authored for GPSolo magazine and titled it Time management tips for social media. I do like their heading a lot -- Technology Translators. If you are not aware of social media management tools, this should be worth your time. Our original GPSolo magazine article can be found here.

Tech Toys for the Holidays - 2011 Edition

Well, it is the holiday season and with Black Friday quickly approaching, you will certainly want to listen to the 49th edition of the Digital Edge podcast, our annual Tech Toys for the Holidays Edition. Sharon Nelson and I have our usual assortment of the cool and practical high tech gifts, along with a few that are wild and wacky. (You would probably have to have settled a pretty big case this year to bid on the DeLorean Time Machine or justify buying a Robomower, but there are many low cost items featured.) The show notes provide links to all of the products mentioned.

As Sharon and I make our own holiday arrangements, we are gearing up to produce the 50th Edition of the Digital Edge podcast, Lawyers and Technology. Who knew? 

And while we are discussing online gift guides, our friend and colleague, Reid Trautz has just published his 2011 Holiday Gift Guide for Lawyers. Reid's guide is not limited to technology toys and this year even includes some new ideas in liquid refreshments. Cheers.... I mean Happy Holidays!

So why did Google hide Google Advanced Search and where do I find it?

Earlier this year Google removed the "advanced search" link from its home page. The answer to the question "why did Google hide Google Advanced Search?" remains a bit of a mystery. Google home page simplicity taken one infuriating step too far remains my best answer. Where you can find Advanced Search is pretty easy. But understanding why this little change is significant is very important to lawyers and others who want to be Internet users who are, well ..... ADVANCED!

First of all, even though the link is gone, you can still access this service by clicking on the gear in the upper right hand corner of Google next to "Sign in." Advanced search is on the drop down menu. So really the only change is two clicks instead of one. And, if you do a Google search and the results you see displayed are not to your liking, you can still click on advanced search and have your initial search terms automatically pulled in. If you use advanced search frequently, you can even bookmark this page: http://www.google.com/advanced_search instead of www.google.com, if you do wish. (This link is not new. I referred to it in a blog post in December, 2008.)  I assume most readers knew this.

But if this is all news to you, then I might respectfully suggest you are not finding the information you are looking for as fast or accurately as you might be. In a discussion about this topic in the Google Web search forum, one poster said, "[l]imiting [searches] by file type, domain name, etc is absolutely essential for students to know." Lawyers, too! As I noted in that 2008 blog post, using the "site:" search filter is great to search a single domain.

The advanced search feature I use most often is the date filter. If I am searching for information about a product, I generally start by limiting the search to pages posted or updated within the last year.

If you are searching on a fairly obscure topic and find one good resource, then using the advanced search to find other pages that are similar to that page or link to that page can lead to other great resources.

In years past, a lawyer might respond to me initiating this type of discussion by saying, "I'm not really an advanced Internet researcher, more of a basic one." My response now would be the same as it was then: Look at your billing rate, you are an advanced Internet researcher!

Five Takeaways from the 2011 National Solo & Small Firm Conference

Last week at the ABA/GPSolo National Solo & Small Firm Conference I sat in on some great CLE sessions, did a presentation with Colorado Bar's Reba Nance on Keeping Them Happy: Secrets of Client Satisfaction and was drafted for a non-singing bit part in the Oklahoma Bar Family Law Singers Ethics Musical The Perils of Pauline, which was presented at the Conference.

The folks from Attorney at Work asked me to do a brief essay on my five takeaways from the 2011 National Solo & Small Firm Conference and it was published today as a part of their Friday Five series. It contains some nice technology tips. So read it at this link.

Moving to a Virtual Practice Model – Do You Have the Right Stuff?

The September/October issue of the ABA Law Practice Magazine covers virtual law practices. I was the guest editor for this issue of the magazine and wrote the story Moving to a Virtual Practice Model – Do You Have the Right Stuff? I won't recapitulate the entire article here, other than to say my conclusion is "it depends." But I have no doubt this business model will prove very attractive to some.

I appreciate all of those who contributed to this issue of the magazine. There is a lot of great content here from a lot of experts. The features include:

The Next Five Years – Predictions for the Future of eLawyering By Richard S. Granat and Marc Lauritsen

Watch Where You Set Your Virtual Foot – Advice on Dealing with Varying State Rules By Daniel J. Siegel

The Untethered Law Office – Tools and Tips for Getting It Done By Jay S. Fleischman

Using Online Service Providers – Where the Duty of Confidentiality Reigns By Kathryn A. Thompson (research counsel for ETHICSearch, a service of the American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility.)

Leading the Virtual Firm By Karen Mackay

Popular Cloud Computing Services for Lawyers: Practice Management Online By Stephanie L. Kimbro and Tom Mighell  (Stephanie's blog VirtualLawPractice.org is a great resources on this topic.)

And there is a related article: Marketing Alternative Fee Arrangements By Mark A. Robertson

There are other greeat columns and articles in this magazine. I hope it can serve as a resource for some of you interested in learning more about virtual law practices.