As paralegals (or any legal professional really), it is difficult to keep up with technology trends, firm software, or even client data security.
Listeners of The Paralegal Voice are likely ahead of the curve in terms of legal tech education, even though technology evolves so quickly. But what about the lawyers in our firms?
Attorneys are required by the American Bar Association to maintain a certain level of technology competence to comply with ethical standards, but we often notice that they aren’t caught up. How do we as paralegals assist our lawyers?
On this episode of The Paralegal Voice, I interview Sam Glover, lawyer and founder of Lawyerist.com, about why lawyers need to be competent with technology, why paralegals should teach lawyers how to use technology rather than accepting all IT responsibilities, and tricks to maintain your own tech knowledge.
Topics include:
- Rules 1.6c and 1.1 from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
- Examples of clients and cases lost due to technological incompetence
- Attorneys, paralegals, and other firm staff using public wifi
- E-discovery, communications from the court, data security issues
- Encryption and using a VPN
- Teaching lawyers rather than taking on IT responsibility
- Rejecting the mentality of “it’s working so stick with it.”
- The paralegal’s role in choosing cloud software
- Sam’s favorite tech gadgets and apps
- Tips for keeping up with technology
- Practice tip from Vicki: 4 biggest time wasters
Sam Glover is a lawyer and founder of the online magazine Lawyerist.com, home to the largest community of solo and small firm lawyers on the web. He has written and spoken extensively about legal technology, marketing, management, and ethics, among other topics.
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