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This paper is targeted to practitioners in solo or small firm settings without access to a huge budget for updating office technology. The paper makes practical suggestions for evaluating current processes and tools with the goal of automating workflow processes and reducing human intervention. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Alberta Legal Technology Conference program in Edmonton on May 23–24, 2019.
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This paper provides practical cybersecurity tips, including questions to ask and policies to consider implementing in regards to cybersecurity readiness and risk management. 10 sample policies are also included as appendices: Written Information Security Policy, Termination Policy, Security Incident Procedures, Sanction Policy, Network Security, Access Control, Computer Use, Disposal Procedure, Bring Your Own Device Policy, and Facility Security Plan. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Alberta Legal Technology Conference program in Edmonton on May 23–24, 2019.
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The duty to protect digital information presents new challenges for lawyers related to cyber security. This paper discusses security measures for legal technology, including computers, tablets, and phones. It provides tools and protocols to protect client data and covers email encryption, wireless encryption, password management, secure file sharing, document encryption, and cloud strategy. It also discusses the fundamentals of backing up electronic data, and other disaster avoidance strategies. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 2018 Tech Solutions for Busy Law Practices program.
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Lawyers often draft new documents for clients by modifying existing precedents. The problem with this approach is that it can have a high margin of error if certain changes are missed. This paper discusses alternative approaches to drafting complex legal documents that consolidate intellectual capital in a way that increases drafting speed and accuracy and minimizes risk of errors. Topics discussed include templates, fillable forms, commercial drafting systems, document assembly technology, and more. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 2018 Tech Solutions for Busy Law Practices program.
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This paper introduces the concept of Lean Six Sigma, which is a common sense approach to continuous improvement. Under the Lean Six Sigma framework, the paper discusses the following eight specific wastes commonly encountered in law practices that hurt efficiency and quality: defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra processing. The paper then provides strategies for identifying and eliminating these wastes from the practice of law. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 2018 Tech Solutions for Busy Law Practices program.
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This paper provides strategies to reduce the amount of paper in your law practice. It discusses necessary hardware, recommended software and document management systems, and backup and security systems. It also outlines implementation steps for a successful paper reduction system. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 2018 Tech Solutions for Busy Law Practices program.
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This paper discusses the standard conception of lawyers’ ethics and reviews key provisions in the Code of Conduct that govern Alberta lawyers. It then highlights an alternative approach to legal ethics, the discretionary approach, discussing topics such as relative merit, internal merit, the tradition of the adversary system, the unpopular client, personal values, and more. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 51st Annual Refresher: Business program in Lake Louise from May 6–8, 2018.
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Microsoft® Word is used frequently in legal practice, but not always as efficiently and effectively as possible. This manual provides lawyers and their staff with step-by-step instructions for getting the most out of Microsoft® Word. It covers topics such as document management, toolbars and ribbons, tools for document editing and formatting, creating table of contents and table of authorities, protecting documents, creating and using templates, and much more. This manual is chock-full of essential information and helpful tips for every Microsoft® Word user. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Getting the Most Out of Microsoft® Word program in Edmonton on November 28, 2017 and in Calgary on November 29, 2017.
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Microsoft® Word is used frequently in legal practice, but not always as efficiently and effectively as possible. This manual provides lawyers and their staff with step-by-step instructions for getting the most out of Microsoft® Word. It covers topics such as document management, toolbars and ribbons, tools for document editing and formatting, creating table of contents and table of authorities, protecting documents, creating and using templates, and much more. This manual is chock-full of essential information and helpful tips for every Microsoft® Word user. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Getting the Most Out of Microsoft® Word program in Edmonton on November 28, 2017 and in Calgary on November 29, 2017.
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Microsoft® Word is used frequently in legal practice, but not always as efficiently and effectively as possible. This manual provides lawyers and their staff with step-by-step instructions for getting the most out of Microsoft® Word. It covers topics such as document management, toolbars and ribbons, tools for document editing and formatting, creating table of contents and table of authorities, protecting documents, creating and using templates, and much more. This manual is chock-full of essential information and helpful tips for every Microsoft® Word user. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Getting the Most Out of Microsoft® Word program in Edmonton on November 28, 2017 and in Calgary on November 29, 2017.
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It is estimated that a significant number of Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetimes. This has practical implications for lawyers practicing in dispute resolution. It is prudent for lawyers to have an understanding of mental illness and its potential impact on their clients and other parties in litigation. This paper examines the intersection of mental illness and law. It includes an overview of what mental illness is, and then discusses how mental illness affects dispute resolution. It also provides some tips and considerations for lawyers to recognize and respond to mental illness concerns when dealing with clients and other parties in their practice. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 2017 Understanding the Brain – What Lawyers Need to Know program.
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This paper highlights proposed changes to the Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp) [ITA] that would impact how lawyers and law firms deal with work in progress (WIP) on their firm taxable income. It discusses potential billing solutions to deal unbilled WIP and identifies other potential issues that may arise as a result of the proposed ITA changes. This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s 7th Annual Law & Practice Update in Edmonton on October 20–21, 2017.
