Cleveland Law Library Weblog

Cleveland Law Library Welcomes New Reference Librarian

Please join us in welcoming Kayla Fertig, our newest Reference Librarian. Kayla is a graduate of Kent State University and a northeast Ohio native. She loves all things Cleveland and is excited to be a part of the Cleveland Law Library team.  Congratulations and welcome aboard!

LexisNexis White Paper on "Protecting Reputation in an Online World" Offers 10 Great Tips

LexisNexis has just published a white paper on "Protecting Reputation in an Online World." After offering the premise that the Internet has dramatically exposed everyone to cyber-attacks such as "defamation, invasions of privacy, bullying and even revenge porn," the paper offers 10 strategic ways to combat these problems. A good read. Download the link for this article here.

All 10 Articles from the ABA's 2016 Trends in Legal Technology Worth Reading

Last week on 12/13/16, the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center released its 4th Annual ABA TechReport. The TechReport is composed of the following 10 sections, all of which can be downloaded for free:

• Planning and Budgeting
• Technology Training
• Security
• Cloud Computing
• Mobile Technology
• Practice Management
• Blogging and Social Media
• Virtual Law Practice
• Litigation and T.A.R.
• Solo and Small Firm Technology

I took a look at all of the reports, and here are a few takeaways that will make you want to read more. The key thread in all of the articles is that lawyers need to embrace technology to enhance their practices while protecting sensitive client information. In addition, the data from the surveys underlying the reports indicate which software and cloud-based services lawyers are using most in case you are looking for some ideas.

Only 5% of lawyers claim that they have a virtual law practice, but many do not realize that using email and cloud-based services for exchanging documents with clients are forms of a virtual law practice (VLP), although document-sharing with clients is not "mainstream" yet. Most lawyers do not use a single product but instead use a "patchwork" of practice management tools to keep track of clients, calendars, billing, etc. Most solos and small firms are not blogging, a time-consuming job that is mostly in the domain of large firms. Despite an inundation of marketing aimed at TAR, or Technology Assisted Review for e-discovery, it has not been widely adopted by many lawyers. Finally, while larger firms have ample in-house and vendor-provided training opportunities to keep them abreast of new online legal research techniques, solos and small firms often claim that they are not aware of training. My advice to them is check with their bar associations and local law libraries for CLE opportunities and CLE booklets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Law Firm Associates are Increasingly Using Social Media for Work

Law Technology News reports that law firm associates are increasinly using social media sites for work. Their Associate Tech survey showed that "more than a third of respondents (35 percent, up from 31 percent the year before) say they use social networking tools—both specialized legal blogs and applications intended for the public at large—for job-related purposes. LinkedIn was the most popular platform, at 94 percent, followed by Facebook at 30 percent and Twitter at 13 percent. Other sources listed by respondents included Instagram, Google Chat, and Pinterest, along with such industry-specific sites as Lexblog." The article suggests that lawyers need to use their tools because their existing and potential clients are using them for "personal and business purposes."

National Center for State Courts Creates Online Resource Guide on Social Media and the Courts

The National Center for State Courts has created an online Resource Guide on Social Media and the Courts. This Guide provides lists of courts which are employing social media like Twitter and Facebook and information on the impact of social media on juries in the courtroom, social justice, judicial elections, and other topics. The new site also provides a link to the December 2010 Ohio Judicial Ethics Opinion which indicates that a judge can be a "friend" on a social networking site with a lawyer in a case pending before the judge, as long as the judge does it "carefully," whatever that means.

The United States Court System Proposes New Model Rules on Social Media Use During Trial

In a recent news release, the U.S. Courts' system has announced the creation of a proposed, new, model jury instruction on the use of social media during trials in federal court. A Judicial Conference Committee created the proposed instruction in an attempt to curb jury misuse of social media tools to research cases and communicate about them while the cases are pending. The instruction not only contains guidelines on instructing the jury before, during, and at the end of trial, but it also addresses violations and the consequences jurors can face.