Naperville lawyer, ISBA member, tech expert, and Solo and Small Firm Conference presenter Bryan Sims (aka The Connected Lawyer) says there are four must-have tools for sole practitioners: a smart phone, a laptop, a scanner, and a good backup system.
“Unless you’re going to be tied to your office, you should have some sort of smart phone,” such as an iPhone, a BlackBerry, or a PalmPre, Sims told Helen Gunnarsson in an interview for the yet-to-be-released September Illinois Bar Journal. “You need something that will allow you to get your e-mail, look at documents, and otherwise get some work done when you’re out of the office.”
As for laptops, Simms recommends buying a business class model directly from the manufacturer instead of the cheapest thing available. “If you’re using your computer for your law practice, you can’t afford to have it out of operation for a week,” he says.
A scanner will help you create a paperless and a portable office. “I recommend that you keep all of your documents in .pdf format. If you want to keep the hard copy too, fine, but scan everything,” Sims says. Scanned documents are easy to manage and disseminate.
Finally, you need a good backup system.
Illinois Bar Journal
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August 17, 2009 |
Practice News
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August 10, 2009 |
Practice News
"The Seventh Circuit Bar Association has seen its share of lively conversations at its meetings over the years, says Chicago lawyer and member Jeffrey E. Stone. But federal Judge Joan Lefkow, known for her softspoken grace, never expected that a discussion she launched at the meeting in Indianapolis on May 19 would incite a passionate debate that reverberated in the national news and blogosphere." So writes Helen Gunnarsson in her cover story in the August Illinois Bar Journal. She goes on to explore the topic of that discussion -- appropriate courtroom attire -- and to tell us what judges and ISBA members have to say about it. Learn what to keep and what to cull in your closet.
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July 31, 2009 |
ISBA News
[caption id="attachment_2915" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mark Mathewson, ISBA Director of Publications, is congratulated by outgoing NABE President Rod Wegener"][/caption] Mark Mathewson, ISBA Director of Publications, received the 2009 National Association of Bar Executives Peer Excellence Award on Thursday at the association's Annual Meeting. This award recognizes those members who have made a significant contribution to NABE. Mathewson, also the editor of the Illinois Bar Journal and a frequent contributor to Illinois Lawyer Now, was described as "a principled bar executive" who is "knowledgeable and well-respected." Mathewson recently received his Certified Association Executive designation, the highest professional credential in the association world.
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July 14, 2009 |
Practice News
Watch for Helen Gunnarsson's LawPulse item in the not-yet-published August Illinois Bar Journal about a scam e-mail solicitation that's making the rounds. Helen will have details, but in the meantime you can read a year-old California Bar Journal article describing this "request for Legal assistance," purportedly from a Chinese textile company. Thanks to Springfield paralegal Caren Mansfield, who alerted ISBA to the scam and the CBJ article.
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July 10, 2009 |
Practice News
Helen Gunnarsson reports in the July Illinois Bar Journal about SB 0189, which amends the Open Meetings Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Attorney General Act. "Though its supporters hail the bill as transparency legislation that will make it easier for citizens to gain access to records that are supposed to be public, critics wonder whether the new system will have its own shortcomings," she writes. Read the article.
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July 9, 2009 |
Practice News
If you do any estate-planning work and have at least one client of means – a small-business owner, say, or a farmer or other landowner – you’ll want to familiarize yourself with Senate Bill 2115, Illinois’ spanking new QTIP legislation. “[The Illinois QTIP law] allows married couples with estates of more than $2 million to set up a QTIP trust (“qualified terminable-interest property trust”) to use marital tax deductions to defer estate taxes until both spouses are deceased,” writes ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington in the upcoming (August) issue of the Illinois Bar Journal. The law, which will take effect as soon as the governor signs it, started life as HB 255 only to end up as a senate bill. It’s a response to the "decoupling" of the federal and Illinois inheritance tax. The federal and Illinois tax used to kick in at the same dollar amount, but last January the federal exclusion went up to $3.5 million while the Illinois tax continues to apply to estates of $2 million or more.
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July 8, 2009 |
Practice News
As Helen Gunnarsson will report in more detail in the August Illinois Bar Journal, a fresh burden for lawyers is on the horizon, and the ABA, ISBA, and other bar associations are objecting on their members’ behalf. Effective August 1, a new FTC rule will oblige most lawyers to develop written protocols to detect and address the “red flags” of identity theft. As the ABA says in its statement about the rule, applying it to lawyers “would impose an undue burden on law firms, especially solo practitioners, and would accomplish very little.” Rockford lawyer J. Joseph McCoy summarizes the rule and its implications for lawyers nicely in his article “FACTA’s ‘Red Flags’ Rule May Apply To Law Firms,” which appears in the June 2009 issue of the ABA’s GP/Solo Technology eReport. The general FTC site has a helpful page consolidating its Red Flags Rule resources.
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July 7, 2009 |
Practice News
As Helen Gunnarsson reports in the July Ilinois Bar Journal, "lawyers with file drawers or boxes of original wills for long-lost clients may rejoice: there’s finally a way to get them out of the office. Assuming a new bill is signed into law, the Illinois Secretary of State will take them off lawyers’ hands – for a small fee, of course." The law was drafted by ISBA Trusts and Estates Section Council member Ray Koenig.
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June 10, 2009 |
Practice News
... or the deputy, for that matter. But the Illinois Supreme Court did make employment law a little claimant-friendlier with its recent ruling in Sangamon County Sheriff's Department v Illinois Human Rights Commission. The justices held that employers are liable for sexual harassment by supervisors whether or not the employer knew about it and even though the employee-victim doesn't work under the supervisor. Read about it in the June Illinois Bar Journal and the June Labor and Employment Law newsletter.