Finis, on the right, and friends from MILO

Litigators: if you didn’t come up against Finis in a courtroom, consider yourself lucky. He had such a mastery of presentation via technology, notably the iPad, that lucrative judgements rained down on his side. I had the honor of watching one of Finis’ iPad CLE’s last week, the day he died. It was like watching David Copperfield: he was able to perform elegant magic with that tablet, moving from app to app.

Finis played many roles – he was a loving husband, a lawyer, a trial presentation consultant, a member of his local community, a technology consultant, and to many of us, a great friend. Finis’ enthusiasm about life was infectious. His interests ran many and deep. I often told people he knew more things about more things than anyone else I’ve ever met. He was constantly in the moment. His laugh, humor, and passion were infectious. His eyes would get big, almost like a kid, when he would talk about things that interested him. Every moment I spent with him was totally engaging and positive. Finis was one of those guys that made you feel more alive and alert. (more…)

Last week we had the pleasure of presenting a webinar to the Maryland State Bar Association on The Ethics of Cloud Computing. I presented the latest information from state bars around the country, and gave a history and vocabulary for cloud topics so we could have a deep, intelligent conversation.

Below are some of the resources: ethics opinions from the state bar associations, slides from the presentation, and a letter from Rocket Matter and other members of the Legal Cloud Computing Association to the ABA Ethics 20/20 commission.

Slides from Ethical Cloud Computing for Legal Professionals

Legal Cloud Computing Association’s response to the ABA 20/20 Ethics Commission

North Carolina Bar Proposed Ethics Opinion on Cloud Computing: 2011 FEO 6 and 2011 FEO 7

Pennsylvania Bar’s 2011-200 Ethics Opinion on Cloud Computing

The video below is a recording of a the presentation.

Video is an important component of both organic and inorganic search engine optimization. It is also a great way for potential clients to get a sense of who you are.

For attorneys who are too busy to write a blog or who prefer to use video, recording quick vlogs can be a valuable way to increase your online presence. In addition, different people respond to different mediums, providing potential clients the opportunity to get to know you not only through your writing, but also through how you speak, increasing your opportunity to get those individuals to pick up the phone or send you an email. (more…)

Zite is a free personalized magazine that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter every time you use it. It evaluates millions of new stories every day, and uses patterns, categories and user activity to automatically aggregate personalized information to your iPad or iPhone.

Zite delivers all the great news, articles, blogs, and videos you want – and helps you discover new stuff that you’ll love.

Previously available only on the iPad, Zite recently debuted an iPhone app. The iPhone app design is simple and intuitive. To use it, choose from the list of news categories or search for one. I searched for and chose law, productivity, blogging, social media, and cloud-computing.

Or you can integrate the app with your Google Reader, Twitter and Read It Later accounts. Zite makes it easy and tracks how you interact with the articles you read. I added my Google Reader account. Baby steps. (more…)

I’ll admit – when I first got hold of an iPad it sat in a drawer for months at a time. I just wasn’t that into it.

But then I had a eureka moment: I realized that iPads, and tablets and smartphones for that matter, are cloud terminals. They’re access points.

They’re like those black and green computer terminals that used to connect to mainframes, but with more memory to store things. They’re the plug that goes into the back of your skull in The Matrix. (more…)

Transcript review the old-fashioned way is like panning for gold – lots of hard labor to find each valuable nugget. And this hard labor usually includes struggling through stacks of papers, highlighters, tape flags, and color-coded sticky-notes at your desk or on your commute.

Until now.

Lit Software, the developers who brought you TrialPad for iPad, is transforming the way you review transcripts and conduct depositions. We specifically designed TranscriptPad for iPad to provide complex transcript review tools right on your iPad. This means that you now have the freedom of sophisticated transcript review anytime, anywhere. (more…)

Our App of the Week series covers productivity and lifestyle apps as well as legal apps, all leading to a more productive and mobile lawyer. This week’s edition takes a small detour to share the love with some other sites that cover legal apps.

iPhone JD – The title says it all. iPhone JD is a site for lawyers using iPhones and iPads published by Jeff Richardson, an attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jeff does a thorough job profiling each app with screenshots and insightful analysis. He also offers up useful tips and other tech news.

Mobile Legal Apps – Another title that leaves no guesswork about what this site offers up. Hosted by UCLA School of Law, the site lists legal and related mobile apps in a few categories including Legal Research and Law School. (more…)

Occasionally we cover “Lifesyle” apps which go to efficiency, wellness and other issues, leading to increased productivity. CardStar is such an app.

I’m not much of a shopper, but appreciate a deal when I see one. Often, those deals are connected to a loyalty card and even more frequently, those cards are either lost or left at home. The one item we’re never without is our smartphone and now with CardStar, our plastic.

Use your phone’s camera to scan in cards for hundreds of national and regional retailers, libraries and associations. If we don’t support a card, or if your card doesn’t have a barcode, it’s easy to add your own.

I’ve started using the app and it works beautifully. No more fishing around for cards or losing out on deals. And I’ve made a dent in eliminating clutter by gleefully dumping the plastic cards. (more…)

We’re consuming more information on our mobile devices, including blog posts.

As bloggers we know that content is king. We also spend a bit lots of time fiddling with the format, font, color, and a ton of other design features to enhance readability and make the experience for our visitors pleasant and efficient.

Unfortunately all of that formatting doesn’t translate well on a smartphone. What’s a blogger to do?

If you’re on the WordPress platform – which I highly recommend – it’s as simple as uploading and activating a plugin, choosing the settings you want (the default works just fine) and that’s it. All in less than five minutes.

The awesome plugin is WPtouch which formats your site with a mobile theme for visitors on Apple iPhone / iPod touch, Google Android, Blackberry Storm and Torch, Palm Pre and other smartphones. (more…)

Yesterday, we discussed how lawyers could improve their law firm productivity and personal well-being by training for a triathlon or 5k, and the positive reaction told us we were on to something.

So today, we’re going to stick with the fitness theme for today’s mobile app:  Active.com.

Last year in my quest to keep in shape and stay disciplined, the Active.com app was a critical, invaluable asset. They publish new articles every day about different sports and feature lots of great advice.  Their regular website is great too:  check out their 5k and triathlon starter guides. (more…)