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iPad Impact: Going Where No Lawyer Has Gone Before?

As I passed through airport security last Wednesday, and reached in the gray bin for my iPad as it rolled out the x-ray machine, I realized it was not mine but the traveler ahead of me. Moments later, as several new bins came rolling at me, the passenger behind me reached for my iPad, mistaking it for hers. That never happened with my laptop before! On my flight that day--and on many flights recently, there are quite a few more iPads in use than even just a few months ago. 

Just last week I shared an article on Google+ about the consumerization of enterprise IT by iPad users and smart phone users.  I also tweeted about an article sent to me by Susan Traylor of the Arizona Bar about a personal injury law firm handing out customized iPads to clients to facilitate communication and case collaboration.

Today, I picked up the August issue of Law Technology News that contains an article by Alabama trial lawyer, James Moncus III, about his firm's decision to use the iPad 2 and the TrialPad app in a high profile wrongful death suit of a police officer, instead of more mature and expensive trial technology. The articles details this decision and their use of the TrialPad app to help them win a $37.5 million verdict. 

Two weeks ago I served as faculty with Jeff Richardson, Josh Barrett, and Tom Mighell, on a ALI-ABA webcast, 60 iPhone/iPad Apps in 60 Minutes, that attracted over 200 lawyers to the on-line seminar. We have similar crowds when we do this live at the ABA TECHSHOW.

And there were countless lawyers toting and using iPads in Toronto last week at the ABA Annual Meeting.

In January 2010, I blogged about the iPad being a tipping point in legal technology. It fulfills the need caused by a confluence of economic, technological, and professional changes that are taking place in the world around us. However, the rapid adoption of the iPad as a serious legal tool has even surprised me. From client communication to trial presentation, from reading and marking up depositions on a plane flight to Skyping with a client halfway around the world, the iPad has changed the way we do business as lawyers. That trend will only accelerate: The iPad is allowing lawyers to be more nimble, mobile, responsive, and productive.

About the only thing holding lawyers back are the strictures imposed by IT professionals who are not keeping up with the innovation that is tablet computing. Yes, we have to be mindful of our professional responsibilities, but we also need to keep innovating to keep up with our clients and the ever-present demands to lower the costs of delivering legal services.

Confessions of a TECHSHOW Chair

I am excited to be leading a wonderful group of nine people who are planning the 2012 ABA TECHSHOW next March. It is a small collection of volunteer lawyers and legal professionals who plan all facets of this premier technology conference for the legal profession. We held our second 2-day planning meeting last weekend (the first being in May) to develop the "grid" of over 70 educational sessions over 3 days, review the expo hall for over 100 vendors, select and engage a keynote speaker, and dozens of other details. Despite the work, it is really a terrific professional experience to build the next edition of this twenty-five year tradition.

But it does cut into my freetime, and as you can see from the lack of blog posts in the last few months, it really cuts into my blogging time.

Yet I wouldn't trade the experience. Besides working with my colleagues on the TECHSHOW Planning Board, I am being introduced to many new people who contact me to be a part of the ABA TECHSHOW 2012, mostly as a speaker. It's time consuming, but worth it.  I am corresponding with lawyers from acroos the U.S. and Canada. The planning board works to incorporate up to 30% new speakers each year, so I welcome these inquiries. 

The Board also has its ear to the ground for new ideas, topics, and the Next Big Thing. We continue to keep offering popular topics such as the Paperless Track that are well-attended each year, as well as new tracks and sessions--yep, iPads in the law office (and at trial) will be an expanded topic this year.

We are well into our planning, but always have time for few more good suggestions--in addition to the ones we get from past conference attendees and others. So feel free to email me with your suggestions. And while I can't promise positive results, if you would like to be a speaker, include a brief synopsis of your past technology and speaking experience. We always have the top legal speakers at this conference, so the competition is tough.

Anyway, I'll blog when I can, but be sure to check out the ABA TECHSHOW blog too, for updates throughout the coming months leading to the conference on March 29-31, 2012 in Chicago. 

If You Wonder if Someone is Watching You, Click Here

The Wall Street Journal just finished running a fascinating and downright scary investigative series revealing how our privacy is compromised when we are surfing the Internet or using a cell phone, and how big players such as Microsoft have purposely failed to provide tools to protect our data in order to cash in on the on-line advertising bonanza.

The What They Know series began July 30 with The Web’s Gold Mine: Your Secrets, which Doc Searles (of Cluetrain Manifesto, et al) has pronounced as the tipping point in on-line advertising. That is, when people realize how much they are being tracked they will opt-out of providing data to surreptitious data miners who, in turn, will move on to greener (as in money) pastures on the Internet.

As part of this investigative series, the WSJ ran a series of tests including one that calculated the number of surreptitious tracking files that were installed when visiting the top 50 most visited sites on the web. The results are astonishing: "The 50 sites installed a total of 3,180 tracking files on a test computer used to conduct the study. Only one site, Wikipedia.org, installed none. Twelve sites, including Dictionary.com, Comcast Corp.'s Comcast.net and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com, installed more than 100 tracking tools apiece in the course of the Journal's test." Yes, Virginia, free stuff on the Internet carries a steep price.

This information is collected and sold on data auction sites, such as BlueKai, and used to provide on-line companies with more information about you as you visit their websites. For example, Capital One Financial Corp uses data it purchases to instantly decide what credit card offers when you visit their website. Websites are gaining the ability to decide whether or not you'd be a good customer, before you tell them a single thing about yourself.

This isn't all about money, but privacy and personal security too. In the August 3 installment in the series, the WSJ highlights how cellphone tracking can be used in domestic abuse cases to help the perpetrator locate their victim in a shelter. If you are a family lawyer, this is something you may want to advise ALL of your clients!

The WSJ also provides valuable links to the on-line advertisers, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Lotame, and BlueKai, to allow consumers to change their preferences (i.e. voluntarily provide accurate data about yourself) or opt-out completely.

If you want to learn more about the privacy policies of the sites you visit--especially when using your firm's computers, try TrackerScan (by PrivacyChoice.org) via the WSJ site. To help stop this intrusion of privacy, visit the links above, and then get the TACO (Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out) add-in for Firefox to prevent future privacy intrusions.

Besides the individual privacy aspects revealed in this WSJ series, it should give law firms pause to review and reflect upon their firm technology and Internet use policies with an eye to reduce the amount of information gleaned from employees while surfing for work and for pleasure.

Security Alert: Must All Lawyers Abandon Smart Phones?

A bit of a techno-firestorm started in late 2009 when my friends John Simek and Sharon Nelson alerted lawyers to the security flaws of the iPhone. They have warned the legal profession to be careful not to use the iPhone because if lost or stolen the phone can be quickly compromised and confidential data stolen with the right equipment.

While I respect John and Sharon immensely, I have disagreed with their analysis of our profession's Rules of Professional Conduct: I don't believe lawyers need to give up the iPhone as a business tool in order to avoid a potential breach of client confidentiality.

Now comes word via NetworkWorld and Wired of the ease by which to comprise an Android phone and steal cell phone signals.

As technology marches on, criminals will find ways to compromise it. Whether it is an iPhone, Android phone, or other phone, they are vulnerable to these criminals. It is up to lawyers to maintain reasonable security on their phones, but there is no need to trade in cell phones each time a headline points out a particular phone is vulnerable. Our ethical rules just don't require it.

How to Catch an iPhone Thief

Thanks to Jeff Richardson of the iPhoneJD blog for pointing me to this blog written by an iPhone owner who had his iPhone stolen on a plane, and then pieced together information using a variety of Internet tools and some chutspah to get it back. With the recent debate over the real security of the iPhone, it is nice to know there are tools to get it back, even if it does take some effort.

Debating the Intersection of Confidentiality and iPhone Security

    Well, my good friends Sharon Nelson and John Simek over at Sensei Enterprises have set off a bit of a tempest over at Solosez, (as pointed out at The Last Word) with their recent article on lawyers' professional use of the Apple iPhone. While I think they are among the elite technology thinkers in our profession, I have to respectfully disagree with their over-stated warning that lawyers should not use iPhones because they lack certain security features.

    As my readers know, I am an avid iPhone user, and have blogged and presented seminars about the iPhone in law practice. I am a practice management advisor and also present seminars on mobile security, using our Rules of Professional Conduct as a guide.

    I do not question the thoroughness of the forensic analysis detailed in the article, rather my quarrel is with their application of our Rules of Professional Conduct. Model Rule 1.6 governing confidentiality of client information is not a strict blanket concept. Lawyers must take reasonable steps to keep the information confidential; we are not required to take all steps to achieve absolute perfection in guarding our clients’ information. 

    The article suggests lawyers avoid using the iPhone because of the risk of an iPhone being lost or stolen, then found, hacked and the all data harvested and sold. In reality, what is the likelihood that an iPhone owned by a lawyer will fall into the hands of well-trained criminal hacker who knows how to jailbreak the phone, has the right equipment to harvest the data, and the contacts to sell it to someone who will use it? And how many of those phones will be wiped clean by the attentive owner using the remote wipe feature before the data is harvested? (Instructions for remote wiping are available to anyone in the iPhone OS Enterprise Deployment Guide, and for subscribers to Apple’s MobileMe service.

    Applying this very high “hit by lightening” ethical standard to a law practice is not possible or practical; we would be paralyzed against any possible breach of confidentiality. We would not connect to the Internet for fear a new virus will infect our computers, even though we have anti-virus protection. We could never engage a temporary receptionist for fear they will cause—negligently or otherwise--a breach of confidentiality while in our office.  I mean, with all due respect to receptionists, a malfeasant temporary receptionist could do more damage in a law firm in a couple days than a hacked iPhone can do in a lifetime. 

    Yes, reasonable steps are necessary to guard client data on mobile devices--including passwords and the know-how to remotely wipe the phone should it be lost. And, yes, with the knowledge provided by John and Sharon, we should be more careful.

    Furthermore, John and Sharon’s point is equally applicable to many other types of cell and smart phones, especially the older ones.  I dare say thousands of lawyers are using phones that do not have the PIN enabled nor are their users aware of what to do quickly in the event it is lost or stolen.

    I don’t think the fear of a lost iPhone should stop lawyers from using it given the freedom and functionality it gives as a productivity-enhancing tool.  Neither our Rules of Professional Conduct, nor our malpractice standards are so high as to preclude using this or other technology tools with the standard precautions we use for any computer.

    So, I'll say "nice try" to John and Sharon next time we chat, but they'll have to try harder before they pull my iPhone out of my cold dead hands! ;-)

Beware of Costly New Scam Involving Law Firm Websites

For the past year there has been a rise in the number of sophisticated scams against lawyers, including virus-laden e-mail subpoena, fraudulent bank drafts,  and other banking schemes, resulting in costly monetary losses, embarrassment, and potential disciplinary problems. Now comes word from the Florida Bar of another scam involving fraudulent websites using names of real lawyers to catch unwary consumers of legal services.

This new scam is a version of the You-Won-The-Sweepstakes-But-Need-to-Send-Us-Money-to-Claim-It routine. The victim receives a call from the scammer with the "good news" and is given the law firm's website URL for the victim to confirm the lawyer's identity. The web address--often like ABClaw.com--takes the victim to a website that contains some legitimate information about the lawyer and/or law firm, but the phone numbers and addresses are directed to the scammer. (The site is, of course, built off-shore!) Even if the victim is savvy and calls the state bar to confirm the lawyer's name and good-standing, that won't prevent this fraud. 

This type of scam is particularly nefarious because it uses much of the public's remaining trust of the legal system to hook the victim. The best thing real lawyers can do is to join together in an effort to educate the public about these scams. Adding information to client newsletters, law firm blogs and web sites is a good start. A note in each client's bill next month would be helpful too. Such efforts will help reduce further incidents, and also assure the public lawyers are doing their part to keep down Internet fraud. Further, state bars should look at additional safeguards to see if the public can be protected against scams when they contact the bar for information.

White House Blackberry Breach Yet Another Lesson for Lawyers

USA Today reports that several Blackberries belonging to White House aides were stolen by a Mexican diplomat in what may be the most audacious bit of espionage in a long time. The Blackberries were left unattended on a table outside a meeting room during a conference in New Orleans. It is yet another example of what can happen to mobile devices if their owners are not careful. That is to say, your smartphone will probably not be stolen by a Mexican diplomat, but thieves come in all shapes and sizes. As lawyers, we need to be sure we password protect all mobile devices, and encrypt any client documents we might choose to carry on the device, among other precautions.

I spoke to a fantastic crowd of lawyers on Tuesday in San Francisco on this very topic. I wish I had this story to put an exclamation point on my presentation, then again I never like to hear stories like this, especially when they happen to lawyers. For more information about securing your mobile technology, read the A Lawyer's Guide to Mobile Computer Security. And let's be careful out there!