It may sound like rocket science and, to be sure, without training, you would not be able to do what Mark does ... but with a bit of time and effort you too can have a virtual law firm and virtual, part-time employees and paralegals! Back to basics here again, for a basic is the hiring and training of staff and the economics of putting them on the payroll and then paying payroll taxes and benefits. I'm not against benefits for employees, but if an employee wants to work with you and is hundreds or thousands of miles away and does not want to move and wants to work only part time anyway, then what's wrong with this picture? Answer: nothing, and a very basic question to deal with.
Basic concept 15: ASP's--applications service providers
And, as this paper is being written for the annual ATLA meeting of the Small Office Practice Section, I will, by the time I present this article, already have discussed Applications Service Providers ("ASP's") at the May 5, 2000 Computer Expo at the Chicago Bar Association.
An ASP is a company that provides you with the software products you want to use, but you don't have to own them or have them on your own computers or pay for expensive upgrades or worry about loading new versions and patches to old versions of software on your computers. Akin to the timesharing services of old and the minicomputer installations of the 1950s through the 1970s, ASP's are a new breed of Internet host that is very exciting and is the wave of the future.
Thus, if your favorite case management software vendor has a new version that you want, if an ASP is hosting that software (and perhaps hundreds of other law firms as well), then your law firm does NOT have to upgrade and configure the new software ... the ASP does it for you and then, you just access the software and use it. The estimated savings in time, aggravation, expense and trouble for solo practitioners and lawyers in smaller law firms cannot be overestimated.
Basic concept 16: state bar associations must change too
ALTA is a unique bar association and the interests of its members are well served. But, what do you get from your "usual" state-based bar association? What do you get for your dues?
Do you get software testing and recommendations?
Do you get computer consulting and buying assistance?
Do you get discounts on computer hardware and software purchases?
Do you get anything but ListServ technology (and not Forums and Conferencing Software)?
Do your needs and concerns about technology get a sympathetic ear from staff leadership?
Does your bar association offer software training on a regular, or any basis?
Does your bar association offer training on how to run a law firm and law office economics?
Does your bar association help you form users' groups for various software products?
Does your bar association encourage committees to have forums on their Internet servers?
So, perhaps your dues go to a resource where you can have lunch once a month, or attend a seminar here or there (how about a virtual seminar on the Internet?). Or perhaps they will sell you a hard copy publication (why not sell it via a virtual bar association on the Internet?) Think about how your state-based bar association has changed with the times and I suspect that most state bar associations are as troubled by changes in society as we are. The real questions are what are they planning to do about these problems how quickly will they move, and are their staffs able to be a strong link in the collaborative team that can still win for us?
Basic concept 17: standards to emerge
The fact is that standards are starting to emerge or are getting easier to see down the pike. You are moving forward into the future and the 21st century way of practicing law with computer technology and the Internet is directly related to how able you are now, or quickly will be, to make changes in the future. Thus, if all of a sudden, you wanted to become a down-hill racer in skiing events, but had never been on skis, you're obviously headed for a disaster. But, if you have taken lessons and are beyond the "bunny hill" and are starting to parallel ski, you are on your way, and the rest is up to you. A more apt description might be the driving of an automobile which most of us can master really well, whereas I never, ever, could have become a downhill racer.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it ... and you must ... is to learn, learn, learn about computers and how to use them and the same goes for the various software applications you will be using in your office and the Internet. Remember that if you wanted to (because you had a malpractice case involving a botched open heart operation), you could master the procedures for open heart surgery and know about it and related surgery almost as well as or better than good open heart surgeons. Believe me, tinkering and learning to use computer hardware and software and the Internet, if done properly, with proper assistance and training, is far from open heart surgery or rocket science.
Basic concept 18: concern; commitment; collaboration
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of "concern," "commitment" and "COLLABORATION." Some of us will become THE experts on scanning hardware, another on printers, another on Internet Service Providers, another for expert-resources available on the Internet, another for who to talk with at a case management vendor's office to get your problem taken care of, another to tell you who in your city or town is really an honest and reliable networking expert ... you get the point ... and in substantive law areas, on-line collaboration via forum and conferencing software will provide a vehicle to share information, knowledge and wisdom as never before, and to preserve it for ourselves and the new members that are yet to join our organization.
BACK TO BASICS!--We're already doing it!
Most of your frustrations with computers comes from a few sources:
1. This is all new and therefore intimidating.
2. You are not aware how important it is for you to be the most enthusiastic user of the new technology to show and lead the way in your office.
3. You do not understand, yet, how easy it is to use computers until you've been trained a bit ... and it won't take very long at that if you give it a real try.
4. You have not yet taken enough of an interest in computer systems and the Internet because you may not have realized just how important the computer and the Internet are to your law practice and your clients.
5. You have not taken the time to think about how the computer allows you to better manage your law firm in every way and at practically no cost.
All this is a question of awareness! Awareness is a fact of understanding the need, understanding the benefits and finding the right resources to put you on a fast-track to computer expertise and computer-use-leadership in your firm. Such expertise on your part is no longer an option ... it is a necessity.
Hopefully, this paper and my presentation at the ATLA Small Office Practice Section program in Chicago in July will light those light bulbs and help you to assure yourself that if Paul Bernstein, who started to practice law in 1959--probably before many, many of you were even born--if Paul Bernstein can do it, then you can to! As noted, it's no longer an option. Start with the basics today, learn those basics (which you will quickly do) and then, start writing these articles and teaching us at conventions so that we can learn from your great adventures and experiences!
Paul Bernstein, Esq.
333 E. Ontario St., Ste. # 2102B
Chicago, IL 60611
voice: 312/951-8451
fax: 312/280-8180
Internet e-mail: paulbern@interaccess.com
Internet e-mail: paulbernstein@yahoo.com
Home Page: http://www.paulbernstein.com
Speech recognition software: try it--but don't fire your secretary yet
By Carl Draper
The introduction of personal computers came with the promise that computers would do routine tasks and free up valuable time for more important tasks. That promise may be realized sooner than we thought. As a young science fiction fan, I marveled at the capabilities of the talking computer "Hal" in "2001--A Space Odyssey" or the Starship Enterprise computer used by Captain Kirk in the television show "Star Trek." Of course I knew that it would be a century or more before computers would have any meaningful language abilities. To my pleasant surprise, that day is dawning.
A simple trip of any office computer store will reveal a dozen voice recognition products for home, teens, the business office, law offices and medical facilities (After starting this article announcements were made that the leading vendor, Dragon Systems was purchased by competitor Lernout & Hauspie which then promptly filed for bankruptcy. Still this is the time to buy while there is a variety of products still on store shelves.) Each of these is priced modestly with home versions selling for less than $50, complete with headset and software. These home versions are a cheap way to experiment, but are not accurate enough for serious use. Office software has been bundled with word processing, spreadsheets, Web design tools, and speech recognition for under $500 for the specialized law office editions. Are these programs worth the money and time investment for a typical attorney? The answer is, "Yes," for those who consider it as a tool to assist, rather than replace, valuable support staff.
The emergence of voice recognition software was not possible until computing power had some real punch in the typical office. Without analyzing the boring details of how these systems operate, it is a fair description to say that the computer and software compares digital speech patterns with known models. The higher processing speeds and memory of today's office PC's makes it possible to do the analysis in phrases rather than individual words, greatly improving accuracy. Until the very fast processing speeds of 500 MHZ or faster were available, these programs lagged intolerably for the impatient lawyer. Many users found these fun computer toys rather than real productivity tools.
Whether this article inspires the purchase of one of the leading contenders (Dragon Systems and IBM Via Voice), attorneys and office managers need to consider the impact of this technology in office equipment and software purchases. First, as to product selection, Dragon Professional (alone or the "Legal Suite") is the better product in the opinion of most attorneys who have experimented in this technology. To utilize one of these programs, the hardware and minimum system requirements need review. Everyone should now know to never purchase software that requires at its minimum the maximum from the intended computer. This is especially true of the memory and computer processor speeds needed by these applications. All of them will require at least a Pentium II processor operating at 266 MHZ or faster and 64 MB of memory. As usually is the case, meeting the minimum requirements will give the maximum frustration. To make practical use of these products, be sure to have a Pentium III, 500 MHZ processor or faster and 128-256 MB of RAM before you begin. Remember that memory is cheap and this processor is available on many of the bargain computers. The other must items are a quality sound card and microphone or digital recorder. The software package will have a list of tested products in the books or on-line support. I recommend that attorneys consider getting high quality digital recorders simply because we have all grown accustomed to talking to recorders and a lot of flexibility is lost if you are tethered by a headset to a PC in your office. It is simply inconvenient to carry a whole computer around just to do some dictation.
The second consideration in making this purchase is time: are you willing to devote some time to training yourself, your computer and your secretary to work as a team on this project? If not, cancel the order. Fortunately the training element has made the same dramatic improvements that the accuracy has. Just a year ago, the standard voice recognition software for the professional required about two hours for the initial installation and training just to get started for the first time. I devoted an entire Saturday morning to it. Today's latest released have reduced training from an hour to about 15 minutes. This does not mean that 99% accuracy will be achieved in that short training, but the product can be used that soon. this leads to greater satisfaction because it is always more interesting to be getting some task done for yourself than to "waste time" reading a lot of text to a computer. I mention adding the secretary to the process because I am convinced that this is no the magic solution to the payroll blues. This software does not file, answer the phone, greet clients or make important decisions. Concern from the clerical staff that this is a tool of personnel replacement will do no good for office morale. Most important, however, is the use of this tool to help minimize the mundane task of repetitive typing and free your secretary to perform more professional and productive work.
Both of the leading programs allow integration between the voice recognition and the word processor of your choice. Both leading contenders allow voice commands to control computer operations including editing and even opening and using other programs. You can create a spreadsheet or surf the net with voice commands. I do not know anyone who can do these tasks more efficiently than even a poor typist with a keyboard and mouse. Voice recognition is great and well suited, however, for the attorney who organizes some thoughts, speaks clearly but types poorly. We practice in court and with office dictation many of the skills that are needed for success with these new tools.
If you are intrigued enough to experiment with these programs, here are some suggestions in addition to those found in the software manual. First, consider some tips for dictating followed by some strategies for use in the office.
1. Buy the "Professional" or the "Law Office" package. There is no use in saving $100 or even $300 in cash and losing more on accuracy, training time and efficiency.
2. Exceed the minimum system requirements for the hardware processor speed is vital for seeing the results on screen as you dictate.
3. Don't cheat on training time. Good training before you use the product will pay dividends. Remember that these programs learn (as you do, too) from your use and corrections over time. Bad practice or training will teach you bad habits and poor recognition.
4. Always make accurate corrections of your dictation. After some practice you may need to make quick notes where accuracy is not crucial. In those cases you have the option of not saving your speech files. This means that the computer will neither learn good nor bad recognition from that document.
5. Organize your thoughts before dictation. This is a good idea for any dictation, but more important for those. If you regularly dictate on tape and give instructions to the typist midsentence, you will have trouble with voice recognition. this product is still a robot typing for you exactly what it hears you say. As with tape dictation recorders, the digital recorders do let you go back and record over material that you want to rewrite.
Ultimately, this product must find its place in the law office as a tool that saves time. Most attorneys type too slowly to be productive at that task. It is far more efficient to hire a good typist and free up the attorney time for planning, research, trial work, or other tasks. The same is true with voice recognition. It is still nothing more than a keyboarding tool. If an attorney dictates complex pleadings, briefs or other long documents and performs all of the corrections, it is unlikely that office overhead was saved. If corrections are not made on the computer that produces the text, no learning will occur and no efficiency will be created. For this reason, my secretary is secure in her job. My use of voice recognition is not seen as a replacement for her assistance.
To make good use of this technology, consider using it to replace the current tape recording types of dictation system. The reasons are numerous. First, digital recorders abound and tapes do not jam in them. Offices with networks can take advantage of this and use the server to store all voice dictation for retrieval by secretaries as needed. The secretary can learn the voice recognition system along with the attorney in order to make corrections and editing. This allows the secretary's computer to do all of the learning and improve in accuracy. The attorney can use a headset in the office for dictation or a hand held digital recorder. The speech files can be saved in a digital voice form without converting to text. By way of analogy, it is like using a scanner and saving the "image" of a text page without using the OCR (optical character recognition) to convert to editable text. Secretarial equipment is available that includes a player with foot controls just like the analog tape systems most of us use. This could be a good feature for a new office or one replacing old tape based dictation equipment. The investment needed can be as little as $200 to get good software that is packaged with an appropriate headset microphone. That is all that is needed to put this technology to good use.
In the model application proposed below, the computer does the typing and an attorney or secretary makes corrections. Consider using the software just like dictation. At the office, dictation directly into the computer is possible and saved as an audio file (".wav") that can be played back like a tape recording. the alternate method in the office or on the road is to use a digital recorder that can be plugged into the computer and then use the "transcription" feature. When the computer finishes the transcription, the sound recording can be played back and read along with the text that is already transcribed and correct the errors. Usually the process of error correction involves a double click of the mouse to reveal a menu of choices. This menu often has the correct choice to just click and resume proofreading. Remember these systems always transcribe real words, correctly spelled. The key is to get the intended words.
With a little practice, a fast computer with lots of memory and a little practice, an attorney can easily move to dictation on screen that is very accurate. The technology is likely to improve dramatically in the next few years. While speech recognition will accurately perform a typing function, it is no replacement for a great secretary. The computer can, however, alter the balance of work by doing routine typing tasks and allowing the legal assistance to work on more complex tasks. With a little practice and organization, attorneys in all settings could make speech recognition part of a more profitable law office.
_______________
Carl Draper <carl@feldwass.com> uses Dragon Legal Suite version 5 as a part of his general practice at Feldman, Wasser, Draper & Benson in Springfield, Illinois.
Employer size--it really does matter: counseling the small business client
By Richard L. Samson and Alan A. Satyr
Over the last quarter century, the "law of the workplace" has grown tremendously. Laws have been enacted at virtually every level of government--federal, state, county and municipal--protecting the rights of employees.
Virtually every business employs someone. Whether it is a Fortune 500 Company or a "mom and pop" store, there is someone working for them. However, the size of a business can determine the way that labor and employment laws affect the enterprise. Depending on the number of people employed, a business may be subject to liability under various employment laws. Accordingly, when either counseling the small business client or managing your own firm or practice, it is important to be familiar with the law surrounding the employment relationship. unfortunately, a plethora of laws relate to this area, and most of them do not share the same standards for coverage or liability. This paper presents a very brief introduction to many of the most-used labor and employment statutes, and a discussion of the ways in which the size of a business affects the application of those laws. The focus here is on various federal and state laws. Many counties and some municipalities have enacted their own employment laws and, although they are not covered here, they also should be reviewed when making employment decisions.
I. Discrimination in employment
A. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S. C. § 2000e, et seq., ("Title VII") prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, national origin, sex and religion. Discriminatory employment actions prohibited by Title VII include, hiring, termination, job assignments, promotions, demotions, wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. Title VII also prohibits harassment on the basis of any of the prohibited factors.
1. Coverage
Title VII covers every employer "engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b). The term "engaged in an industry affecting commerce" as used in Title VII is not intended as a term of limitation, but is intended to give Title VII the broadest scope possible under the constitutional limitations of the Commerce Clause.
In order to determine whether an employer has fifteen or more employees, one uses the so-called "payroll method" of counting. In Walters v. Educ. Centers, Inc., 519 U.S. 202 (1997), the Supreme Court resolved a long-standing question and split among the circuits, holding that an employer "has" an employee on a particular day if the employer has an employment relationship wit the employee. The most important part of that analysis is whether the employee remains on the payroll on the date in question, not whether the employee actually worked or was compensated on that date. Therefore, the payroll counting method includes part-time employees.
In counting the number of employees to determine the coverage of a small business, one should look carefully at the status of high-level owners and the applicable law. Some courts have held that owners who have a meaningful voice in making policy decisions may not be "employees" for purposes of Title VII. See, Devine v. Stone, Leyton and Gershman, 100 F.3d 78 (8th Cir. 1996) (law firm shareholders not counted).
2. Liability
The extent of liability under Title VII also depends, in part, upon the size of the business. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 amended Title VII to allow the recovery of compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to the equitable remedies already allowed, such as back pay. The 1991 amendments, however, set caps on the recovery of compensatory and punitive damages based upon the number of employees. The following are the statutory limits:
15-100 employees $50,000
101-200 employees $100,000
201-300 employees $200,000
over 300 employees $300,000
42 U.S. c. § 1981a(a)(3). The method of counting employees for liability purposes is the same as for determining whether the employer is covered by Title VII.