By Peter LaSorsa
I often have attorneys ask what type of printer they should purchase. Many seem to think they need a color printer. The first question I always ask is how many color prints will you actually print per month. Go back and look at the last three months and give an honest assessment. Color printers cost more and the ink costs more so if you really don’t need a color printer, why purchase one? As an alternative to a color printer I suggest purchasing a black and white and sending your color printing needs to Kinko’s. You can upload the file online and pick the printing up at your leisure.
Even if you printed in color in the last three months, did you really have to? Very few items have to be printed in color. In fact, if you are printing pictures, Kinko’s does a better job than your printer will and the paper stock they utilize will be better.
In the long run, purchasing a black and white four-in-one printer/copier/fax/scanner will save money and do a good job. I utilize a Brother DCP 7020 and it sells for around $100. The replacement cartridges are fairly cost effective and the machine is a workhorse. It has never let me down and for a solo does a great job. If you have multiple attorneys it may be less expensive to purchase each attorney their own four-in-one black and white printer.
Legal tech
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May 27, 2010 |
Practice News
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May 20, 2010 |
Practice News
By Shamla Naidoo You’ve heard about the issues with metadata—lawyers can inadvertently share privileged information, even with opposing counsel. You may also have reviewed the ethics rules on how to react when opposing counsel accidentally sends us a document containing metadata. Wouldn’t it be better to avoid sending the metadata in the first place? Lawyers review the content of legal documents before sharing them. However, metadata is part of the content of the electronic document - but it is not obvious, not on the face of the document - and may be easily overlooked. Careful review of metadata reduces the ethics burden created for other lawyers; increases client confidence in how sensitive matters are handled; and demonstrates competence to operate in the electronic age. There are expensive tools and services to help you manage your metadata; however, you can simply use the available features of your existing word processing software to do this for free. I use Office 2007 so the metadata management discussed here is limited to Word 2007 before converting them to PDF. First, you should clear any existing metadata from new documents since these may include default information. If you use templates or reuse documents, the name of the author of the template or source document may be embedded within your work product. To clear this information, click on the Office button (in the top-left corner of the Word window), select “Prepare”, select “Inspect Document”, and press the “Inspect” button. In the next screen, Word will display all locations where metadata was detected, including document properties, headers, footers, watermarks, etc.
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May 13, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa You have a trip planned for the Caribbean and you want to be able to stay in touch with the home office and clients—can you with your cell phone? The answer depends on the cell phone carrier and your cell phone. There isn’t enough space to write about all cell phone carriers or cell phones and pda’s so I will write about what I use. I travel to the Caribbean five or six times a year and I have the same access in the Caribbean as I have in Chicago. I have the Blackberry 9550 Smart phone through Verizon, which has UMTS (3G DATA) in over 85 countries. It also has access through various networks in over 200 countries. Check with your carrier for details but the following steps will apply to any cell phone carrier - only the details will change. There are some steps to take before you travel to ensure you have a smooth cell phone experience. First, make sure your cell phone subscription includes a global plan. Many do and if yours does not, you can sign up and cancel when you return. Additionally, you can rent a global satellite phone from Verizon for the period of travel. If you do have a global plan, make sure your SIM card is installed. If you purchased your phone at a store they did this for you. Lastly, with Verizon dial #228 and press send to get an updated preferred roaming list. There will be two different types of networks when traveling, GSM and CDMA. I don’t have enough space to provide details of each but when making a call outside of the U.S. you can tell you are in the GSM network because there will be a GSM or GPRS icon in the top right.
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May 6, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa Google recently rewrote its browser-based word processing and spreadsheet software. There isn’t much difference on the outward appearance but the internal changes are significant and worth mentioning. The new changes include allowing documents imported from Microsoft Word to retain their layout, and a new ruler for adjusting margins. But the real change is in the collaborative editing. Under the old version, a 15-second delay was the norm for two or more people working on the same spreadsheet or document. With the new version, changes are instantaneous. On the down side, Google’s new applications do not allow work while offline. This will only affect people sitting on airplanes or in some remote location where Internet access is not available. To digress, cloud computing is Internet based computing, where shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand. In other words, the word processing or spreadsheet software does not reside on the individual computer. One big advantage of cloud computing is that people with three or four computers don’t have to purchase the same software for all three or four computers. And with cloud computing you have the ability to work on documents no matter what computer you have in front of you as long as you can connect to the Internet. For those attorney’s who have a need to collaborate on documents with multiple people in various locations, the new revised Google docs and spreadsheet are worth a try. This link will answer any additional questions and get you started.
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August 17, 2009 |
Practice News
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.
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June 23, 2009
State
Chicago area
- Cops gets probation for beating bartender, Chicago Tribune
- Wrongful death suit filed against Dunkin' Donuts, Chicago Tribune
Southern Illinois
- New judge assigned in Coleman triple-murder case, Belleville News-Democrat
Nation
- Student loan relief on the way for law grads, ABA Journal
Legal tech
- 5 ways lawyers can utilize the Kindle e-book, Wisconsin Law Journal