Selected presentations:

Using Technology to Enhance Client Communications
Failure to communicate consistently ranks as one of the top 10 malpractice and disciplinary complaints, not to mention a potential breach of state ethics requirements. This presentation for the Arkansas Bar Association Midyear meeting in January 2008 discusses how to harness technology to help you stay on top of communication challenges, rather than buried underneath them. The discussion includes managing and harnessing email applications, using collaborative tools, customer relationship management, "automagic" communication and how to set expectations from the start.

Collaboration and Communication Through Technology: Blogs, Wikis and RSS Feeds
How can organizations use technology to help them communicate with their staff and clients? This presentation, from the 2006 Annual ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference in Philadelphia, provides practical advice on some of the latest web developments that organizations may utilize for communication and collaboration.

See our presentations page for more presentations.

Selected articles:

New Year's resolution: clear out that e-mail in-box!
This article was published in YourABA, January 2009.
It’s that time again—time to live up to resolutions made for the coming year. The New Year provides a perfect opportunity to tackle such goals as organizing your professional life. One area to start with is e-mail. In-boxes can be flooded with spam or even with an overabundance of legitimate messages; and lawyers fret about the ethical implications of putting so much of their confidential work online.

Get connected: Social networking for lawyers
This article was published in YourABA, December 2008.
With all the demands on a lawyer’s time, what is the value of developing an online social network? A lawyer’s stock in trade is his or her relationships with others, especially clients. An investment of time in a social network can yield a substantial return if developed carefully. Many lawyers have been seeing returns on relationships developed through this growing medium.

Twitter Your Way to Professional Success
This article was published in the ABA Section of Family Law eNewsletter, December 2008.
Social media is all the rage in practice management and legal marketing circles these days, so there's a good chance you've at least heard of Twitter. In this article, we give you several ways that you can use Twitter to communicate with peers and potential clients alike.

Harnessing Information for Business Development
This article first appeared in the American Prepaid Legal Service Institute's NewsBriefs Newsletter, November 2008.
The web offers attorneys numerous opportunities to develop their businesses, but capitalizing on those opportunities requires that attorneys harness the myriad sources of information flowing on the web -- news, articles, blogs, web sites and more. This article discusses two tools attorneys can use to translate that overflow of information into a usable resource.

Three Internet Scams and Solutions Lawyers Should Know About
This article was published in YourABA, November 2008.
As the Internet continues to grow in popularity it has spawned a corresponding industry of crime, inspiring thieves to pan for Internet gold in the form of various schemes and scams. Some scammers have specifically targeted lawyers, leaving them on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars, potentially ruining their practices and livelihoods, and in one case prompting a bank to sue the lawyer. Here are three noteworthy types of online threats to look out for and corresponding solutions (including phishing and spoofing, web browser vulnerabilities, and lawyer e-mail scams).

Blog Technology 101
This article was published in YourABA, August 2008.
Blogs have become an essential way for lawyers to market their practice. Getting started is easier than you think. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you blogging in five minutes.

Social Networking
This article was published in the Division for Bar Services' The Bridge, April 2008.
It's a fitting metaphor for our electronic age: a business technology, popularized by kids, based on a concept nearly as old as the human race. It's already affecting your bar. So just what is social networking? Read this article to find out.

See our articles page for more articles.

For more information on Web and Communication Technology and a variety of other topics, visit our articles, presentations, and FYIs: Technology Overviews pages.

LTRC Hotline:
LTRC researchers can provide information on topics that are of special importance to your law office. LTRC staff are available via a Hotline (312) 988-5465 or via e-mail to help with your technology questions.

ABA Lawtech Discussion List
Lawtech is intended for members of the legal community who wish to discuss issues related to the use of technology by practitioners. Its subscribers include lawyers, law school and law firm IT staff, court staff and judges and other legal professionals. Subscribe, change your subscription or search the archives here: http://mail.abanet.org/archives/lawtech.html.

FYI: Starting a Website
A broad guide to launching a law firm or legal organization website.

FYI: Blogs
An overview of blogging and the usefulness of a blog in the legal environment.

FYI: Photo and Video Sharing
Various tools for sharing your photos and videos online.

FYI: RSS
A primer on RSS feeds and RSS feed readers.

More overviews on a variety of legal technology issues can be found on our FYIs: Technology Overviews page.

Listserv® and Webboard comparison
This presentation walks through the pros and cons of using Listserv® software and Webboard software in a number of different situations.

Lawtech
A discussion list for the legal community on issues relating to technology and the practice of law.

ABA Site-tation
A broadcast list over which LTRC staff send periodic updates on interesting and valuable Web sites.

Planning for Technology: The Long and Short of IT
Presentation given to a firm retreat on the long term Strategic Technology Planning and short term technology planning, with an overview of available technologies. Participants also received two handouts, one on further resources regarding Strategic Technology Planning (PDF) and the other provides a select bibliography of resources for researching legal technology.

Where is the Knower?
Presentation relating to bar associations use of technology.