Social Media: Another In-House Risk Gateway
March 26, 2010 | Filed Under Risk, Technology
The enterprise use of social media is gaining more traction.
But with any new corporate trend typically comes added work for in-house counsel. One sign is the inevitable legal conference on the subject, software to help you control it, and when you see that insurers are starting to focus on it.
One of the fun things for in-house counsel is to learn new things fast enough to understand them and act to protect the client. One of the realities for in-house counsel is that there is no way to put many social networking technologies (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) through normal corporate approval channels. Companies are walking a tightrope: they are encouraging employees to “get the word out” while not being able to control it.
Companies are developing policies on the subject, but the challenge is that most social media is a hybrid: part personal, part professional. Should companies undertake to educate employees about the general features and risks of social media? What if they do and it falls short?
One example: I see corporate employees posting about their attendance at industry conferences; this obviously renders public information what was traditionally far more private. Are there consequences if they were encouraged to publicize their attendance?
There are articles like this (10 Things You Should Know About Safer Social Networking) percolating around the web. It’s getting more important because new apps and features of current ones are all about location.
Lawyers can’t be Luddites these days and be effective or relevant. It’s just that it’s getting harder to know what is going on, what it means, and what to do about it.
In the meantime, perhaps a start is to issue one of these to all employees traveling on company business…
The Apple iPad: Six Lessons for Lawyers
January 28, 2010 | Filed Under Law 2.0, Technology, New Services
Apple announced yesterday its new tablet Internet device, the iPad, creating a new category between a laptop and a smartphone.
Since I haven’t touched it, and it won’t be on sale for 60 days, here are a few early lessons for lawyers from 30,000 feet:
1. Fast is the new currency. From those who have used the iPad, its first and most enduring impression is quickly it works for the user. Once people see this, they will never want to go back to old and slow.
====>Lawyers will need speed as alternative billing gains traction.
2. You must control your strategic strengths. Apple designs (and wraps tightly into IP) everything that makes products different and better for the user. They may let others manufacture, but only a few trusted vendors to ensure quality (and competition).
====>Outsourcing and convergence are tactics, not strategies.
3. Focus on a few key things and hit them hard. As Apple’s COO Tim Cook said last year “We believe in the simple, not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.”
====>Does “full service firm” sound distinctive or average?
4. You must present well. Steve Jobs and crew were in great form (full event here; you can get the essence by watching the first 10 mintues and then skipping ahead to the 1:29:00 mark, where there’s about 5 minutes left). One can only imagine how many hours of prep went into 90 minutes of presenting.
====>We are practicing law in a multimedia age.
5. Price matters. Mr. Jobs summed up the iPad: the “Most advanced technology, in a magical and revolutionary device, at an unbelievable price.” He isn’t just driving value from the features, his index also has cost at its core (and an iPad base price of $499).
====>Do you charge less than an iPad?
6. Liberal Arts was worth it. What caught my eye at the end of the presentation was the second-to-last-slide (below), accompanied by these words: “We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts. To be able to get the best of both, to make extremely advanced products from a technology point of view, but also have them be intuitive, easy to use, fun to use… It’s the combination of these two things…that let us make great products like the iPad.”
====>Lawyers might just be due for a Renaissance.
The Apple Tablet and the Law
January 27, 2010 | Filed Under Content, Law 2.0, Technology
Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs will likely announce a new device in about an hour, something between a MacBook and an iPhone.
What is less clear, but probably more interesting, is what comes with this new tech tool. The press invite was suitably cryptic, with the graphic below and the phrase, “Come see our latest creation…” If iTunes and the App Store was what made the iPod and iPhone unique, what new media platform will accompany the iPad or iSlate (or whatever it’s called…)? You know Apple will deliver a great piece of technology.
If there’s something new on the content creation side, something that makes text, audio and video easier to make, modify and market, it could be worth a second look for lawyers.
But not for just for getting noticed by clients; it might be something very timely for the brave new alternative billing world. More tomorrow…
(Update: It’s the iPad!)
(Photo: NY Times)
The Legal Videoconference of the Future?
November 25, 2009 | Filed Under Video - Wired GC TV, Technology
YouTube has put up one of their first videos in 1080p, High Definition. Appropriately enough, it’s the Muppets performing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” (rendered safe for the kiddies when Animal mumbles through the start of the second stanza. Mama!).
To watch in in full HD glory, do three things:
(1) click on the white arrow in the center;
(2) then click on HD icon that appears on the control bar at the lower right, and
(3) try the full-screen option by clicking on the next icon to it’s right.
Depending upon your bandwidth and processor speed, prepare to see how a lot of things are going to change. (If you’re on a slow pipe, with an old desktop, you may have to toggle back to regular definition, which isn’t nearly as good on full screen).
And if you watched the entire video, Kermit even gets off a nice jab at the end on the value of some videoconferences. Here’s the direct link at YouTube.
When you see it in full-screen, you see how much better it is than some of the grainy computer video links you’ve seen in the past. This sort of thing is what will drive the need to upgrade computers, and open up more bandwidth. This is also why Cisco is trying to purchase Tandberg and Logitech is buying LifeSize. (Cisco wins in almost any case as more bandwith equals more demand for its routers and other high-tech plumbing for the cyber-pipes).
Some years down the road, lawyers will see this as part of their practice and connecting with clients. The only challenge? You and moi may have to put on makeup before the next virtual meeting with the global team.
(Via Gizmodo and Jordan Furlong on Twitter)
Google Targets Legal Search - Part 2
November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Technology, Legal Resources
Now that the dust is settling a bit on the new legal functionality at Google Scholar, a few things seem clear:
1. This is something Google has been working on for some time. Googler (and attorney) Rick Klau gives some of the background here. This wasn’t coded in a rush and released into the wild for comment. Google offerings typically improve consistently over time. “Iterate” is the mantra, I think.
2. Free doesn’t mean “lacks value.” As Ernie Svenson notes, Google Scholar is already quite good, and we have really already paid for the information; Google just presents it in a highly useful and usable format.
3. There will probably be integration with other Google offerings. It doesn’t take too much imagination to think about a mobile version of Google Scholar with an app on Android, Google’s nascent mobile phone OS. Here’s a link to a case on Google Scholar; I sent it to my BlackBerry, and it’s very readable on the small screen. Heck, the base version at scholar.google.com already works well on my smartphone.
These questions (and more) will likely be covered by Denise Howell in the next This Week in Law (Friday at 11: 00am PST; featuring Google’s Rick Klau).
(Update: Here’s a good review of Google Scholar, via Ernie.)
What will Google Scholar mean to the major incumbents, such as LexisNexis and Westlaw? Probably not much in the short run, in the sense that they have been moving upmarket for years (premium content for premium cost; see some of their reaction here). Smaller firms, solos, and thrifty law departments will undoubtedly give it a hard look and watch for updates.
As for other legal research companies? The jury’s out on that. This option, which hits my Gmail account far too often, might need to reconsider the subject line of yesterday’s message:
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