Mark I. Unger, Former Chair of the Computer & Technology Section

William D. Smith, Council Member of the Computer & Technology Section

From the Attendee’s Perspective

William: Thursday, February 27, 2019

I was very excited to attend my first ABA Techshow- enough to brave Chicago in February!

For a lawyer or IT professional with any responsibility for security and data privacy in their organization, these conferences are always a tremendous source of learning, in terms of best practices, new tools, and assuaging that am-I-the-crazy-one? feeling by learning that many others deal with the same challenges you do. However, there’s also an element of masochism as you learn of new threats and vulnerabilities which you hadn’t known you needed to be worried about. (I’m reminded of my high school biology teacher, who subscribed to Infectious Diseases Quarterly, a perpetual source of existential terror for him. That’s probably why he chose to live in the country outside of Weatherford and commute to work, notwithstanding the threat of squirrels and other wild animals.)

Privacy concerns presented themselves immediately upon my arrival at the ABA Techshow- literally! At the registration table I was greeted by a box full of these friendly little guys:

In case you’re as puzzled as me and the woman next to me in the registration line were, those are laptop camera covers. A useful reminder that sometimes the most effective security measures are the simplest, low-tech ones. (Though there’s a certain irony to having eyes on the thing.)

Of course, the inverse is also true- simple human laziness or ignorance can defeat the most sophisticated infrastructure. This theme was repeated throughout the information security related sessions I attended today. Remember the Hawaii nuclear attack false alarm? Turns out that the vulnerability arose when an employee of the emergency notifications center posted a picture of himself online that included his password on a Post-it note attached to his monitor in the background.

Craig Bayer (Optiable) and Stanley Louissaint (Fluid Designs) shared how Mobile Device Management (MDM) software can at least put some guardrails around what mistakes users are able to make. Many organizations face the challenge of enforcing appropriate security configurations in a Bring Your Own Device environment. Mobile Application Management software can be a really helpful tool here- it enables you to create a secure container within an employee’s smartphone that it controlled by the organization. This not only helps to secure firm or company information, but also addresses employee concerns about granting total access to everything on their personal device.

Sherri Davidoff (LMG Security) and David Ries (Clark Hill) delivered a session, “Security Practices That Won’t Bust Your Budget” that focused on the importance of the less technical side of cybersecurity- being aware of what data you have, where you’re keeping it, and when you’re getting rid of it, and having and following security processes- as well as some important technical tools like multi-factor authentication and password managers. Sherri said that she likes to think of data like hazardous waste- the more of it you keep around, the more likely it is that something harmful (a breach) will happen. David and Sherri also illustrated just how vibrant the dark web market for stolen data is now. “Fullz”, or full personal details including SSN, DoB, and account info, can be had for anywhere from $1-$60 per individual- and group discounts are available!

Mark tells me vendors are always a big part of the Techshow, and not just because they underwrite the happy hours. The vendor Expo hall certainly has several interesting booths this year. One company, Omega Secure, originally came out of the retail industry where they developed a device to ringfence systems processing payment card information from the rest of the IT environment (pictured below).

hey’ve now adapted this device to allow users to put any kind ofsensitive system behind it. OmegaSecure also offers network monitoring andother organizational security services. Their representative Ash  Swamy made the interesting point that law isactually the least regulated industry they have worked in, relative to retailpayment processing, healthcare, and others. Of course, even though securitybest practices are not prescribed for lawyers in terms of what specific stepsto take, the consequences of failing to do it properly can be just as severe.

Lawclerk is another very interesting vendor, though not specifically related to security or privacy issues. They offer a platform where attorneys (and only attorneys) can find and engage freelance lawyers. This can be done for specific tasks, via a project post, or users can build a team of freelance lawyers with particular skillsets who are ready to utilize when the needs arise. For solo practitioners, this could be a great way of handling an overload of work, by getting assistance with drafting a particular document or doing a piece of research. Mike Graner with Lawclerk told me that they have a number of customers who are “the lawyer” in a small town, and Lawclerk enables them to handle a broader range of matters and accept more business. For in-house lawyers like me, Lawclerk could be a handy way to get subject matter expertise on a niche topic or jurisdiction where the business has some needs but engaging a specialist or local firm isn’t yet justified.

Techshow is off to a great start and I’m looking forward to updating the Section on what tomorrow brings!

William: Friday, February 28, 2019

One of the most exciting things about technology is that it can enable you to save time, money, and stress by doing things differently, and hopefully better. But to do differently you have to think differently first, and so it was great to see so many lawyers engaging with Techshow sessions today oriented around taking new approaches to old problems.

Checklists aren’t the most attention-grabbing topic, but “Ready for Process Automation? Start by Developing Checklists and Maps” was one of the most well-attended modules I saw at Techshow. Mary Vandenack (Vandenack Weaver LLC) and Micah Ascano (Polsinelli) shared an approach for documenting repeatable and predictable processes in checklists that will immediately result in more efficiency and fewer mistakes, and in the longer term enable you to actually start to partially or completely automate those processes. They showed a detailed process map for patent prosecution, which includes client inputs and action steps as well as internal ones. Impressively, Mary also walked through an automated entity formation workflow. While automation is talked about a lot in general terms in legal tech circles, it was really cool to see the presenters break down the nuts and bolts of how to get there in a practical, real-world way. Much of the audience seemed to feel the same way, judging by how many questions were asked. I think we will see more and more lawyers engaging in these process mapping and eventually automation exercises, as clients demand more cost-effective services and more efficient delivery models. There’s also a natural alignment between mapping, defining and automating routine parts of work and the alternative fee arrangements that are increasingly appealing to clients.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to use process mapping and checklists to reduce the time and effort you spend doing repetitive tasks, you can check out the book “Checklists for Lawyers” by Dan Siegel, and also the software tools Vizio and Hotdocs.

Dan Lear (Right Brain Law) and Susan Letterman White’s (Mass LOMAP) “Design Thinking for Law Firms” session was explicitly about getting lawyers to use a different approach to problem solving.

 “Design thinking” is a very common method of problem solving in the tech and product development world, but not one typically employed by lawyers. The basic steps are to:

1. Frame thechallenge (“how might we”) in a group discussion
2. Reframe the challenge and its context – get in the “field” to collect data
3. Make sense of the data and prioritize. Generate possible solutions
4. Experiment with a prototype

Dan used to work for Avvo, which may count as a strike against for many readers, but he made the good point that at Avvo they wanted to change the discussion about the practice of law to put the “consumer” back in the center of the discussion. Since “human centered design” is another term for design thinking, that principle of being user/customer/client centered is a key part of this approach. What’s most unique about design thinking relative to other problem solving techniques is that it is highly visual, group based, and emphasizes experimentation. The hope is that this approach will allow you to consider options that would not have occurred to you otherwise. That’s where the “framing the challenge” component is really powerful- an audience member shared the metaphor of someone presenting you with a bike that has a flat, and asking you to fix the tire. But asking some thoughtful questions would elicit the fact that the real problem is that the person needs to get to the other side of town by 6pm. Once you know that, a whole world of solutions beyond fixing the bike opens up.

“Experimentation” is easier to do in many parts of the tech world where design thinking is widely practiced, because the impact of mistakes is often minor and corrections can be easily made. To their credit, Susan and Dan acknowledged that this isn’t the case in legal practice, and emphasized that resiliency in the face of failed experiments was key, as well as a focus on learning from those failures. I asked a question to press on this a bit in the contracts and transactions context, where a mistake often has a hard dollar cost. Another member of the audience provided the really helpful suggestion of working with your leadership (or yourself) to create a “failure budget”. This enables you to be honest about the possible costs of experimentation, while also building the business case for why those short-term costs are worth the long-term benefits. If you’re interested in learning more about design thinking, you can check out “Law by Design” by Margaret Hagan or “A Whole New Mind” by Dan Pink.

Another session thattook place had a demonstration of visual notetaking along with it, which seems to me philosophically aligned with this design thinking technique. I was in a different session on security when this module was presented, but the illustration that resulted was posted in the hall for everybody to check out, and I think it’s quite cool.

William D. Smith

William is Assistant General Counsel of Business Talent Group, the leading marketplace for independent strategy and operations consulting professionals. He is on the Council of the Computer and Technology Section of the State Bar of Texas.

From the Attendee’s Perspective

Mark I. Unger, Former Chair of the Computer & Technology Section

William D. Smith, Council Member of the Computer &Technology Section

Mark: It’s a Brave New World

It’s like band camp for legal tech geeks. Seriously, I can’t tell you how much I look forward to ABA TechShow each year. I’ve missed one in last ten years due to family issues, but this is like another family. And this year looks to be very much reunion-like with some new additions to the family. 

On the flight from Austin,I’m already running into techie-peepsall around. LawPay  is a major sponsor this year and two out of the ten are on the flight. Happened to look acrossthe shuttle aisle from aiport parking lot to catch one of these folks sporting his very cool LawPay vest. And it’sgame on. I’m sitting with another Vendor to myleft and across the aisle a solo whoescaped from big law and legal tech wonk, both going to their first TechShow. Oh, howtheir world is about tochange.

 Change is the one thing that comes at these events. We’re currently experiencing (or being bombarded with) more options for law practice management, e-Discovery, client communication, document management, automation, artificial intelligence and general legal tech that is morphing these categories in new and different ways, adding not just layers of tech on top of each other, but crossing into the functionality of other systems, in an effort to gain market share.

 In the case of ABA TechShow, change comes in the form of tracks and topics. Many of the traditional speaker- guard is back, as well as many new lawyer presenters, as many vendor presenters as can get in, as well as now an infusion of law school types, as TechShow goes younger and law schools increasingly add practice management technology to their curriculums in some way. This is highlighted by the addition of a technology component to the definition of competence in certain State’s rules, following the ABA’s telegraph back in 2012. See ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Comment 8 to Model Rule 1.1. There are now 36 States that have added some form of this technology language to their definition of competence, and as of February 26, 2019, Texas joined this group of states as the 36th. For a full list of the states having implemented this, see Bob Ambrogi’s ongoing tally found at https://www.lawsitesblog.com/tech-competence.

This sea of change has also taken the form of many new startups, a number of which pitched in the Startup Alley Competition leading off TechShow at on Wednesday night, which was hosted by Ambrogi and sponsored by Clio. Among these are several that have looked to integrate with practice management systems, further adding to the change and morphing of system on system to make law practice more automated, seamless and hopefully more efficient. This is an example of how convergence and integration have continued to ramp up efforts to make legal practice more profitable at a time when there is even further disruption in the legal space.

Among the companies pitching are YourFirmApp, a company started by Chris Smith, a small firm Family Law Attorney in Oklahoma, and which offers personalized Apps for law firms and app-based portals for client communication and other functionality. While this App didn’t win the start-up alley competition (as winner was chosen by voting of the audience in attendance), it is now offering a ton of functionality including it’s client facing solution. These include features such as mobile messaging, mobile bill pay (with integration with LawPay, Clio, and Practice Panther), Calendaring, document sharing, and also document signing).

While many of the practice management systems have Apps, this system appears to have a deeper functionality and promise for the Attorney-Client experience.

Inaddition, automation (perhaps more aptlymore automatic document assembly)seems to be one of the hottopics (following AI, much of which is building on theautomation trend that has beencoming for several yearsnow; See IFTTT, Zapier and others).

HelpSelf Legal (now called Documate) claims to automate document production, turning forms into ready-fileable documents, in the areas of Family Violence, Debt Collection, Clear Marijuana convictions (it’s listed), Guardianship, and Child Support, with the addition of the ability to have “Instant Client-Facing Apps, and publish intake interviews that populate necessary documents. It also touts the ability to provide flat fee document services on your site,” and thus further promotes both this automation trend along with increased secure client communication. During the Startup-Alley pitch, the emphasis was on the ability to help attorneys service those who may be the victims of family violence and are not only the least able to defend themselves but also the least able to afford legal representation. According to the founder, their product was able to help attorneys file over 2000 more applications in California legal aid environment than prior year.

OurChildInfo.com, originally created by another family law attorney, this start up claims to be a unique (non-deletable messaging and tracking system for parents of children. The big current players in this market are OurFamilyWizard.com (which provides an App for both parents and functionality for Attorneys to view/download records, etc) and AppClose. OurChildInfo claims uniqueness as they only charge one parent ($7.50/mo.) and the other parent is free, though one competitor (AppClose) offers a freemium model and makes money via portion of payments received from one payor to another (along the lines of fintech-type startups PayPal, Venmo and others). They claim further uniqueness in that a parent can’t delete, back date or alter data and can print out a log file with date and time stamped log file.

War Room online deposition review app, another interestingly named startup,while around since 2012 and Chicago based,claims to be unique in that it is the first web-based deposition reviewsoftware. While many have used the tested Apps foriPad— TrialPad,TranscriptPadand Doc Review Pad (*iPad users only), this web based depo review may appeal to some and I’d be interested to see if people, especially those collaborating on depo review will latch onto this technology. It does boast similar technology to add tags (i.e. issue codes) to depositions then produce reports that would show where in multiple depositions a particular fact was shown to be true.

Startup Alley Pitch Results:

The Biggest vote getters—

DocStyle was an excellent surprise, boasting the ability to take a PDF and convert to Word using an algorithm 6 years in development to maintain (recreate) the formatting of the original document and make it editable. This product was launched today (2/27/19) here at this pitch contest and follows another offering of a metadata removal product which competes with others but seems very user friendly. It allows for single or batch metadata removal and also has an Outlook plugin that will automatically strip the metadata and convert it to PDF for sending. It is somewhat customizable in that it has an ‘ignore’ button but that button can also be turned off by administrators to prevent the human factor from creeping in.

The Winner:

The pitch garnering the most number of votes was Jurisbytes, another Attorney startup, based on the premise of clients-demanding-text communication with Attorneys. This product, definitely in its infancy, boasts the ability to create secure text messages using existing mobile devices, and protecting the telephone numbers of Attorneys (and ostensibly clients). It will also create a daily mail report showing all texts so that these communications can be stored in client file/folder for documentation purposes. They have no integrations but claim to have these coming. I know of one other product (zipwhip) that is sold as business text messaging for clients and has the ability to use landlines and also has many and multiple integrations such as Clio, Salesforce, Zoho and others via Zapier. When asked about comparison and other functionality as compared to some of the practice management Apps integrating with App solutions, they were definitely thinking of those integrations. The unique feature here seems to be the ability for an Attorney to use existing cell phones to text messages with clients, then get a report to then be able to bill for those communications. As always, look for many changes and additions with this and all other solutions every six months. The more things change, the more they…well change. It’s a brave new world out here.  Read more about all the competitors at the LawSites page.

Mark I. Unger

Mark is a family lawyer, mediator, and consultant in San Antonio, primarily focused on family law. He is the founding member of The Unger Law Firm and is highly involved in the integration of technology and the law. Find him on Twitter @miunger or online (www.unger-law.com).