The Attorney's Office Tools
Office Technologies for the Legal Practitioner
Ben Schmerler A
s an IT professional, every day I have to focus on making my customers more efficient and productive using Information Technology (IT). Before any
business (law firm or otherwise) makes an investment in technology solutions it is extremely important that they understand what they are investing in so they can make the right decisions in both the short and long term. Te purpose of this article is to outline several components of IT and what they mean to you and your practice.
Where do I start? Many people mistakenly think that having a bunch of
fast computers will make their practice operate smoothly, but in reality, it takes much more than that. When I meet someone for the first time, I try to identify their business needs so I can match the technology to their needs. What’s the point in investing in a server when everything can run off the Internet? Why purchase a Blackberry if you are never going to leave the office? Without question, identifying need is the most important step in IT design. When you contemplate your office technology, determine
the areas in which your practice needs improvement from an efficiency standpoint. Perhaps you are using too much paper. Maybe you are having a hard time communicating with a large group of clients. It could be that regardless of efficiency, you need to spend more time doing work from home in order to better deal with the day to day personal challenges we all face balancing our work life and our personal life. As a technology consultant, I can encourage my clients towards thinking about these questions, but it is up to them to realize which of these frustrations can be addressed with IT. Once these business needs are established, then it is
just a matter of matching the technology to these problems. Typically, a law firm will turn to software (as they should) to
centralize their practice data and simplify procedures. Tere are a number of practice management applications out there, and my advice is to look into several of them. Te features for each one of these applications vary as can the price to deploy for your practice. I can only stress that the investment in IT is worthwhile
if it addresses your specific needs. Many times I see practices purchase an application knowing that it lacks certain features that are truly needed for them simply because it is cheaper or is somehow less painful to deploy given existing technology. In my opinion, this is a crucial error. I would rather see my clients not purchase a specific technology, than settle for something that I feel will not accomplish their goals. What do I do after I identify the software I want to use? As mentioned before, identifying which software your
practice needs is the most difficult step for the IT decision maker at the firm. Te rest of the design should be done with someone who has knowledge of what kind of hardware is needed in order to finish the job. Tat said, I feel that the end user should still understand what the hardware means and what they should look out for when reviewing a hardware proposal. Unfortunately, there is a huge divide between those who understand what the technology means and those who do not. I do think that most technology professionals have a
Trial Reporter / Spring 2010 27
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