GadellNet attended the American Bar Association (ABA) Tech Show in Chicago April 16-18. Some of the hot topics at the show included law practice management software, paperless strategies, security, cloud applications and e-Discovery, to name a few. The show boasted more than 100 exhibitors – we interacted with these key vendors between scheduled seminars to review live product demos and new offerings. Here are some of our key takeaways:
Security as a Major Concern
Security has been a hot button issue for every industry lately. GadellNet recently posted a blog about why IT security matters to your business. The legal industry is no different. In this year’s ABA Legal technology Survey, 71% of respondents said security and confidentiality were a major concern. Speakers repeatedly mentioned the requirement for VPN on public wi-fi (or using a personal, secure hotspot) and to implement 2-factor authentication “with haste.” An entire track was dedicated to security and included topics such as encryption, cleaning up after data leaks and not surprisingly, an hour-long session on how critical 2-factor has become.
Paperless Strategy & Document Automation
There is a necessity for clear, documented procedures to increase efficiency and manage your risk when moving your practice to paperless. We reviewed paperless workflows for internal and external documents along with retention strategies. Speakers highly recommended “Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande as a starting point. You must be “dogmatic about your approach” to make it work.
Integrating Tech Solutions
With a growing set of cloud-based tools to help manage your practice, it is becoming critical to create an integrated eco-system to improve workflow. Speakers recommended establishing access policies, security controls across applications, ethical walls and using information security and compliance software. GadellNet specializes in application integration and can recommend ways to improve your workflow between systems. It’s all about efficiency and reducing redundancy.
Modern Presentation Practices
Many suggestions were made about streamlining presentation practices by simply using an iPad, Apple TV, the PowertPoint app, Microsoft Office 365 and TrialPad. This simple set of tools and be easily implemented for client and courtroom presentations. When it comes to presentations, the simpler the better.
Additional focus was placed on cloud-based and traditional practice management software, process management, virtual desktop computers, mobile device management and using assessment tools to track your firm’s efficiency.
GadellNet offers secure and reliable tech solutions for the legal industry.
