Category: In The (Legal Technology) News
LexisNexis and Microsoft Cut Deal for MS Office Integration
Posted by Scott Bassett in In The (Legal Technology) News, Microsoft Office Tuesday, 2 February 2010 08:36 No Comments
The ABA Journal reports that LexisNexis and Microsoft reached an agreement to integrate Lexis legal research in to Microsoft Office 2007 and the soon-to-be-released Office 2010. According to the ABA article:
Lexis will now be integrated into Microsoft Office products, allowing users to do legal and general research directly while working in Microsoft Word, Outlook and SharePoint. Users, who must have a Lexis subscription, need only click on a Lexis tab in the ribbon of utilities available in Microsoft Office 2007 and the forthcoming 2010 version to start researching, Shepardizing cases or even gathering information from Bing or Google search engines. There is no need to navigate separately to the Web and log on to Lexis or a search engine.
Affinity Consulting Launches New Web Site and 2010 Affinity University Schedule
Posted by Ed Emmerson in Affinity University, In The (Legal Technology) News Wednesday, 13 January 2010 21:39 No Comments
National Legal Technology Consultancy Dramatically Expands Online Presence to Deliver Education, 
Discussion Forums, Social Networking and Consulting Help
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Jan 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Lawyers and legal staff have traditionally struggled with five “Ws” of legal office automation: Which technology do I need? Where can I buy it? Who can install it for me? When can I get the training I need? What will it cost?
Affinity Consulting, a nationwide alliance of the top law office automation specialists for small and mid-sized firms, provides the answer to all five “Ws” by launching its new interactive web site, www.AffinityConsulting.com. Also, Affinity introduces its 2010 schedule for Affinity University (www.AffinityUniversity.com), a fun, fast-paced educational online resource for lawyers and legal professionals offering affordable one-hour courses taught live by experts.
The new Affinity Consulting web site is now your single resource for legal technology for small and mid-sized law firms. Affinity’s partner companies, Automated Horizons, Best Law Firm Solutions, HMU Consulting, InTouch Legal and Legal-Tech Solutions, Inc., have joined forces to offer streamlined access to a number of resources.
Affinity Consulting’s new web site features include:
– Find a Consultant — Whether you need help with document management or assembly, case management, payroll and accounting, trial technology, or a number of other law office automation needs, AffinityConsulting.com can route you to the right consultant for the job. Enter your search parameters and the site immediately selects the right consultant for you.
– New Affinity University Schedule for 2010 — Affinity continues its popular program of live online training taught by legal tech experts. Learn legal-specific software or standards like Microsoft Office products from scratch, or brush up on your skills. http://www.affinityconsulting.com/featured/featured/affinity-university
– Affinity Store — Purchase boxed off-the-shelf software and training materials from Affinity partners. Purchase is authorized, secure, easy and convenient. http://www.affinityconsulting.com/online-store/vmchk
– Social Networking and Discussion Forums — Affinity is developing its own social network, a dynamic online discussion forum where legal professionals can post questions, discussion topics and request responses from their peers and Affinity’s technology experts.
Steven Best, President of Best Law Firm solutions, and a founding member of the Affinity Consulting Group, remarks, “In 2010, Affinity Consulting’s commitment is to provide the most state-of-the-art, intelligent products and information available today to its customers and the legal industry. The new Affinity Consulting web site will be an extremely useful resource for law offices and legal departments. In addition, the new Affinity University schedule for 2010 is up and running to provide a host of dynamic online training options for all levels of education.”
About Affinity Consulting Group
Affinity Consulting Group is comprised of five of North America’s leading independent consulting firms with offices in Atlanta, Columbus, Roanoke, Tampa and Naples, FL. Affinity brings its clients depth of experience and expertise resulting from a combined client base of several thousand law offices and legal departments. Affinity companies hold elite level certifications for major legal industry software such as LexisNexis PCLaw(R), LexisNexis Time Matters(R), Amicus Attorney(R), Worldox(R), Tabs3(R), PracticeMaster(R), HotDocs(R) and Dragon NaturallySpeaking(R).
Affinity offerings include products and solutions for the following areas: practice management; time, billing, and accounting; document management and scanning; litigation and trial support; document assembly; software education including Affinity University online training and on-site training; voice recognition and speech solutions; network administration; remote computing; law firm retreat planning and productivity and financial management consulting.
ABA TECHSHOW 2010 Course and Faculty Lineup Announced
Posted by Scott Bassett in Don't Miss This!, In The (Legal Technology) News Tuesday, 5 January 2010 08:20 No Comments
The ABA released its complete course and faculty lineup for the upcoming ABA TECHSHOW 2010 in Chicago, March 25-27. This is a must-attend event for any lawyer, law firm administrator, staff member, or consultant interested in improving profitability through the efficient use of technology. TECHSHOW 2010 offers dozens of sessions on topics such as Scanning and Paper Reduction in the Law Office, Implementing Document Management Software, Securing Your Firm’s Data, Using Technology in the Courtroom, “Cloud” Computing for Law Firms, Practice Management Software that Works the Way You Do, What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Accounting, and many, many, more. The complete schedule can be viewed here.
We are thrilled that Affinity partner Debbie Foster is the Chair of this year’s TECHSHOW. The faculty also includes Affinity partners Paul Unger, Britt Lorish Knuttgen, Steve Best and Barron Henley.
Register by February 19 for a substantial discount.
Google enters legal research market
Posted by Scott Bassett in In The (Legal Technology) News, Other Stuff..., Web/Tech Tuesday, 24 November 2009 07:59 1 Comment
It may not (yet) be enough to cause you to drop your Lexis or Westlaw subscription, but the “everywhere/everything” web giant Google now offers a compelling and free legal research alternative. Part of its Google Scholar product, legal research on Google is fast and surprisingly sophisticated for a new service. Thanks to a tip from Ed Emmerson of Affinity partner Legal-Tech Solutions, here is the official Google blog post describing Google Scholar’s legal research capabilities.
An intriguing blog post by Dan Friedlander, Esq., AICP, of Law on My Phone suggests that Google Scholar may be a better mobile research platform than the big boys because of its ability to more easily display search results in your cell phone’s web browser. If you get a chance to use Google Scholar on your smart phone, let us know how it worked for you.
Dan recommends that you start from Google Scholar’s Advanced Search page. As noted by Dan in his post, Google Scholar’s legal database does not yet include statutes and regulations, meaning that for now you will need an alternative system to search those sources.
It will take much to lure lawyers away from their Lexis and Westlaw security blankets. Google Scholar may initially be more of a threat to second-tier research services such as Loislaw and VersusLaw. But as it improves, it could challenged the big two. Despite its initial limitations, lawyers should welcome this free legal research alternative as an option to better serve clients while keeping costs down.
Passwords – The First K3y to Security
Posted by Ed Emmerson in In The (Legal Technology) News, Law Office Management, Uncategorized, Web/Tech Tuesday, 6 October 2009 20:06 No Comments
by Ed Emmerson, Affinity Consulting Group of South Florida
In light of the recent disclosure of some 10,000 Hotmail account passwords being posted on the internet I am reposting an article here that I wrote for another blog about a month ago.
I often read articles or posts about web apps, off-site data storage or backup where the main issue raised is security or data privacy on the providers end. As Dennis Kennedy pointed out in his recent article “Working in the Cloud”, ‘Attorneys often worry about security and confidentiality issues with SaaS providers while employing practices in their offices that are all but laughably unsecure.’ Perhaps I should have titled this “Security Starts at Home”.
There is plenty to read out there about cloud standards and API security and things that most of us , quite frankly, have little to no control over. So, let’s talk about being able to use some of the efficiencies of web apps with the things we can control; good password policy. Since there has to be a balance between password strength and the ability to remember it. One of the most common recommendations is using mnemonics. A system of letters and symbols matching up to an easily remembered phrase.
Here are some examples of password policy:
Password policy and generation in it’s current state exists on a “first level” basis for most things. Your Twitter I.D., Gmail, even some bank accounts are just one good guess or phishing email away. So, before worrying about a cloud or SaaS providers back end security and privacy factors take a look around the office. Better yet, just look under your keyboard where you have taped that index card with all of your usernames and passwords.
In a subsequent post, we can discuss second level or two form authentication.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Affinity Consulting Group, LLC or any of its partner organizations.
