Legal Technology

International Legal Technology Association Conference

The ILTA annual conference got underway today in Orlando, Fla. The conference theme this year is collaboration. And what better way to kick off the collaboration in the conference than listening to a keynote entitled "Apollo 13: A Successful Failure?"

Captain James Lovell, Jr., NASA astronaut on the Gemini 7, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 recounted the story of how he and his crew secured the Apollo 13 lunar module as a life boat to safely return to Earth following an explosion in the oxygen system. The safe return was possible due to the courage and collaboration of the crew and their acute attention to detail.

No doubt, we all aspire to the qualities in the Apollo 13 crew that brought them home safely. At base, collaboration and effective communication go a long way -- perhaps to the moon and back. But we don't have to go that far. The ILTA conference itself is becoming a lesson in collaboration and peer networking to resolve problems in the legal profession with technology. I will report on this as it happens over the next few days.

In the mean time, I engaged a legal media panel of peers today to collaborate with vendors and the media. The Envision Agency hosted editors Ken Hansen (Peer to Peer), Monica Bay (Law Technology News), John Delavan (Legal Management), Keith Ecker (Inside Counsel), and myself (Law.com Legal Technology) to guide and give tips to vendors and the media  when communicating company news and pitching stories. Monica Bay had some sound advice: "Read the pub" before you submit news or story ideas. Otherwise, you may as well be on the moon.

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A Ways to Go Before Web 2.0

On my way to the International Legal Technology Association in Orlando, Fla., I was searching for some light reading to accompany me in transit. After perusing the top ten best sellers, I decided not to help the publishing industry recycle paper. Instead, I cracked open the 2007 American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center Survey Report. I found it interesting to see how the responders receive technology information.

The ABA Legal Technology Resource Center sent out 28,018 electronic survey invitations and received 1,876 in return. Although that might look like a dismal response for the time and effort, in reality, that's not all that bad -- especially for electronic surveys.

Of the 1,876 who responded, 71 percent said they get technology information from print publications. On the electronic front, 54 percent said they receive information from Web sites -- 29 percent get their information from e-mail newsletters. But only 6 percent of the responders get technology information from blogs and only 3 percent from RSS feeds.

I guess we have a ways to go before Web 2.0.

Pay-Per-Call Advertising For Lawyers

This post is not about Pay-Per-Click adversting, so don't bother to correct me. It's about Pay-Per-Call advertising offered by San Francisco, Calif.-based Ingenio.

Pay-Per-Call advertising was made for lawyers in search of telephone leads. Pay-Per-Call advertisments appear in prominent search engine results and directories like AOL Yellow Pages, Infospace, Local.com, Marchex and Switchboard. When potential clients click on those results it drives business down to your phone.

With Ingenio's Pay-Per-Call, Lawyers do not need a Web presence and they do not have to worry about unsolicted e-mails coming their way that may cause a conflict of interest or otherwise violate a disciplinary rule or code of conduct. Ingenio's advertising generates a lead via the telephone, not e-mail, and you only pay when you get called. This advertising service fits lawyers like a new suit.

It is much easier to ascertain and develop a client relationship on the telephone than through a series of e-mails. And with Ingenio's new partnership with LexisNexis, advertising just got a whole lot easier for lawyers already advertising on attorney.com and lawyers.com. Ingenio will power the Martindale-Hubbell Attorney Match-Direct Call Service. Visitors to attorney.com and lawyers.com searching for legal services will be connected to a lawyer by phone.

Now you might think that Ingenio has dragged an aging technology like analog phone services to the Web to make a buck. That's not the case. Ingenio has set up its own VoIP network and developed its own call manager to intelligently manage call transfers to your law office. And remember, you only pay for the call.

No Splash for Niagra

Sun Microsystems introduced a new version of its Niagra processor. The new UltraSPARC T2 chip will be twice as fast as its predecessor. Most lawyers are not familiar with Niagra, because it is not found in PCs or laptops. Niagra technology and the UltraSPARC T2 is primarily used in computer servers that make up the bulk of Sun's revenue (47 percent). But this news was dwarfed by Sun's announcement to reduce its work force as part of a new restructuring plan, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission -- nothing like well-timed announcements to promote good technology.