"This article was published in Praxis,
Chronicle of the Malaysian Bar, and is reproduced herein with the kind
permission of their Editor"
How
technology can help your legal practice.
by Jason
Kay
The
landscape of legal practice has changed significantly with the introduction of
new technology. From manual typewriters
to electric ones to computers, and the corresponding development of sending
information by post or fax and now email, the law office of today is vastly
different from that of 30 years ago when many of our current senior
practitioner were just coming out of law school. It may be virtually unrecognizable 30 years
from now with the speed technology and science are progressing.
But for
now, do take a few minutes from your busy day, and allow me to share with you
what changes you can incorporate into your practice that may yield benefits
many times over.
The essentials.
Your hand/mobile phone:
Unless you have a legacy phone which you only
use to make calls and handle SMS, yours will probably be a smartphone. Smartphones are phones which are essentially
mini-computers. If you have this, you
have a treasure in your hands. Your
smartphone can access the internet, your emails, and most allow you to do
editing on the soft copy of your documents.
Researching and having access to the wealth of information all over the
internet with your smartphone is no longer the stuff of science fiction - it is
almost as if you have the Star Trek ship’s computer with you at all times.
When used
properly (and in tandem with a good legal assistant/personal
assistant/paralegal/secretary/clerk back at your office - I’ll use the word
“clerk” to denote the whole group from now on), your smartphone can save you
valuable time.
For
example, when attending court, you do not have to bring your physical
diary. Your diary can be online,
synchronized on the ‘cloud[1]’ and
accessible to your clerk to monitor. You
can easily view several diaries (for example the diaries of other lawyers in
your firm, or lawyers that you are working with on a particular case, if they
grant you viewing access) at once to avoid scheduling conflicts.
After
court, while in the canteen or on your way back to your office or your next
meeting (I assume you have a driver or take public transport), you can dictate
your report letters to your clerk to prepare the draft for you. That draft can then be emailed to you to
check and sign - digitally - without you having to make the trip back to your
office. On days with back-to-back
meetings and/or emergencies, this keeps you productive and this minor, but
important, work which will not fall through the cracks and be delayed.
Your computer:
In today’s practice, if you do not have a
very capable clerk, you should already have more than a basic working knowledge
of word processing software, usually either MSWord or OpenOffice. Beyond the basic typing and printing, you
should already know (or soon learn) how to:
- format
your document (using tabs, margin stops, and tables),
- use
mail merge (useful if you do bulk work with standard-form-type documents),
- index
your document (with foot/end-notes for a more eye-catching written
submission), and
- annotate
your document (with comments when collaborating with others).
Why should you bother learning all the above? Well, as a lawyers, our main (if not only)
asset is our ideas. It stands to reason
that we should put down our fee-generating ideas in a readable (and, if
possible, stylish) manner.
MSWord/OpenOffice is a tool. If we
learn to use it well, the time and effort invested will more than pay for
itself in the long run.
Your fax machine:
Almost all offices would have a normal fax
machine. They generally come in 3
different versions (from basic to advanced) which are: thermal paper,
ink-jet/carbon paper, and powder/laser print.
What you should consider getting/adding to your office is an AIO
(all-in-one) machine which combine 3 or more of the following functions: fax,
print, scan, email. With AIOs, you will
be able to take advantage of the “scan” function. This is essential in the process of
digitizing your files so that you can have easy access to it wherever you are
without actually having to lug the thick heavy physical files. Just make sure you get one with a scan
function that includes OCR (optical character recognition). This will help a lot when you do your getting
up on the digitized documents.
Putting it together: Convergence and Synergy.
Convergence
is a wonderful word that means "the sum is greater than the
parts." Synergy is another word
describing a similar concept. What you
already have (handphone, AIO, and computer) can work wonderfully to improve
your practice, and ultimately, the quality of your life. You just need to start using them together to increase their benefit
manyfold.
How you
can specifically do so is, unfortunately, beyond the ambit of this introductory
article.
The iPad.
One other
item that you should serious consider adding to your toolbox is the Apple iPad
(or any other tablet with similar capabilities). I have written on how the iPad can improve
your practice - “Using the iPad in your legal practice”[2].
In brief,
the iPad is vastly superior to your computer/laptop when getting up a
matter. Reading from it is a joy. There is hardly a boot-up delay which allows
you to almost instantly put your ideas down in writing. You can write on it with your finger or a
stylus, and if you prefer to type, it’s a simple matter of adding a wireless
keyboard.
Conducting
trials with the iPad is possible - I have managed to do so with an iPad and a
laptop (to take down notes), and with the physical file on the table, just in
case.
PDF - a special mention.
PDF is
the acronym for “portable document format”.
In plain-speak, it means what you see on the computer monitor is what
you will see when you print it. This is
a powerful format which will be very necessary when you start working with your
digitized files. Working with PDFs
require specialize programmes to fully harness its benefits. For your computer, you should purchase
“NitroPDF”[3] (USD119.99)
and on the iPad, the app “PDF Expert”[4]
(USD9.99).
Why should you digitize
your files?
By
digitizing your files and putting them on the cloud, they are available to you
wherever you go. This allows you to
literally have all your office files, and your whole library[5], with
you at all times. You will be able to do
that urgent work while on holiday (if absolutely necessary), or not. You now have a choice,
unlike in days of yore when a holiday really means being cut off. What if an important and simple task that can
greatly benefit your practice (but needs to be done immediately) comes along
while you are on holiday? Would you not
be glad that you had the tools and the ability to take that few hours and get
the job done? I would.
Is this
change to the landscape of legal practice good?
Absolutely. The legal profession
is a service industry. The only
difference with the other players in this industry is that we are professionals
in the truest sense of the word, dealing with very complex and difficult issues
and we have very high ethical standards.
At our core, we assist people in what is usually the darkest hours, or
the most trying/momentous time, in their lives.
Having the tools and ability to work faster, more efficiently, and
effectively is always a good thing.
The
learning curve of what I have described in the foregoing is not too steep - it
takes 3-8 weeks to master. After about 2
months, you should be able to start seeing tremendous results.
The key
is to keep practicing to use the tools you already have together. Good luck with your
practice.
And this should be
mentioned: Do not play (too many) games
on your handphone/iPad. They are a waste
of time. A little bit, yes. But not too much. Time is precious
[1] “Cloud” here is used to mean the storage
space for data that is stored on a server connected to the internet and
accessible from various devices which have internet access.
[5] if you digitize your
books, or subscribe to the online legal reports - do note that there are a
wealth of free resources out there, some examples being http://www.kehakiman.gov.my, http://www.federalgazette.agc.gov.my, and statutes - just go to
Google and type in this search string, “(name of Act)
site:agc.gov.my” without the double quotation marks, and you
should be able to download the pdf version of the statute as at 2006.
