Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide
Do you know which best-in-class law office tech products have a “sweet spot” price just for solo and small firm lawyers?
If not, you can find the best buys in the 2019 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide, published by the ABA Law Practice Division.
“There are way too many vendors competing for law firm monies,” say authors Sharon D. Nelson, John W. Simek, and Michael C. Maschke. “Separating the hype from the reality is really hard if you are not a technologist. We take a limited number of known legal technology solutions and try to give lawyers a few (but not too many) recommendations based on what we see working well in solo and small firms. We also try to tell lawyers what differentiates the products in features and dollars to save them time in making decisions.”
Order the 2019 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide or learn more about it here.
Vendor-Neutral Approach
The 2019 Legal Technology Guide touts itself as the only publication specifically designed to help solo and small firm lawyers find the best value for their dollars. The book gives a vendor-neutral overview and recommendations for computers, servers, networking equipment, software, printers, security products, smartphones, tablets, and more.
The guide is intended for lawyers who do their own office tech and for those who use an IT consultant.
New and updated topics for the 2019 edition include:
- The latest recommendations on hardware and software for PCs, Macs, and tablets
- Best products and practices to protect sensitive data from internal and external security threats
- Tips for safe and secure remote access to your data, even when traveling abroad
- Advice to help you prepare for the worst-case scenarios – lost smartphone, data breach, natural disaster
- Tomorrow in legal tech, from trends in cyber risks to cloud computing and relevant new ethics opinions
Legal Technology Guide: Author Q and A
Following is from the Legal Technology Today blog:
What inspired you to write this book? “Even when we started writing these guides more than a decade ago, there was no single annual source like this book. Also, too many lawyers were relying on ‘pay to play’ sites which recommended technology—we whole-heartedly encourage lawyers to stay away from the ‘pay to play’ listings. The sad part is that such sites are often not transparent and the lawyers have no idea that they are reviewing paid recommendations.
What was your biggest challenge in writing this book? “Staying current! Legal tech changes day by day. We all read legal tech articles voraciously, but it is impossible for anyone to know everything as it happens. Each year, we begin writing in August with our draft due in October. By the time we review the final version of the book, all kinds of things have to be updated. Most subjects in the book stay pretty current throughout the year (the primary exception are the specifications for specific computers, laptops, etc. For that reason, we do offer free updated specifications via email upon request to anyone who buys the book) and we are very faithful about delivering them.”
What do you think will surprise readers the most? “Some of them will be surprised by vendors/products they do not see. There is a reason for that. We don’t want to recommend something that we haven’t thoroughly vetted and seen work well for solo and small firms. New entrants to the marketplace will need a little time to prove themselves before we will consider including them in the book.”
