Legal Technology: Cloud and Mobile Computing for Lawyers

Presented by: Nicole Black

Author | Cloud Computing for LawyersCo-author | Social Media for Lawyers--The Next Frontier

Legal Technology Evangelist MyCase.com | web-based law practice management

“The Internet? Bah!” by Clifford Stoll,1995

E-Commerce? Bah!

E-books?Bah!

E-readers?Bah!

E-business? Bah!

How did we get here?

June 2006--Google launches first non-email cloud product

July 2006--Twitter launched

August 2006--Amazon EC2 cloud product released in private beta

September 2006--Facebook opened to the public

April 2015 --Apple Watch released

April 2010--iPad released in US

July 2008--Apple launches the App Store

June 2007--iPhone released in US

Lawyers cannot afford to be left out of the loop

3 major technology trends:

• Social Media

• Mobile Computing

• Cloud Computing

Why should you care about cloud computing?

•Cloud computing

•Software as a service (SaaS)

What is cloud computing?

Do you use Lexis or Westlaw?

Do you or your clients use gmail?

Do you use Wikipedia?

Cloud• Convenience• Affordability• Flexibility• Mobility• Back up

SaaS• Bill on the go• Instant access• Client access• Communicate securely

Benefits

• By the end of 2012, 20% of businesses owned no IT assets and conducted business solely

in the Cloud

• In 2013, mobile phones overtook PCs as the most

common Web access device worldwide

• By the end of 2014 over 3 billion of the world’s adult

population was able to transact electronically via mobile or

Internet technology

Source: Gartner’s Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance

Cloud and Mobile Computing: Not a Trend

Are lawyers using cloud computing?

•15% of firms with 500 or more lawyers have used cloud

computing

• 31% of solo attorneys used cloud computing

• 34% of law firms with 50 or more lawyers use cloud computing

*ABA 2013 Tech Report,2013 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey,

•83% use the cloud for the simplified support and maintenance

• 44% use the cloud because it facilitates less hardware in-house

• 74% use the cloud for its convenience

• 63% use the cloud for 24/7 access

• 56% use the cloud because of its affordability

*American Lawyer’s 2012 Tech Survey and 2013 ABA Legal Tech Survey

Why should you care about mobile computing?

“Mobile devices are constrained by their memory, processing power, and battery life. But combined with cloud computing, data processing and storage can happen outside of mobile devices.”

*IEEE Computer Society 2014 Tech Trends Report

There are more mobile phones on the planet than there

are TVs

The growth of the iPhone was 10 times

faster than the growth of America Online

There are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1

billion of them own a cell phone, but

only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush

*Source: The Hub Spot Blog/Mobile Marketing Association Surveys

But are lawyers using

mobile technology?

Lawyers’ smartphone use has increased from 89% in 2011 to 91% in 2014

58% of firms purchase tablets for their attorneys

89% of law firms report that their lawyers use tablets on a daily basis

Sources: International Legal Technology Association and Inside Legal’s 2014 Annual Law Firm Technology Purchasing Survey and ABA’s 2011,

2014 Legal Technology Survey

The iPad is used by 84% of those lawyers who use a tablet device for work-related tasks

48% of respondents used a tablet to conduct work while outside of their primary workplace, up from 33% in 2012

In firms of more than 500 attorneys, lawyers using iPads for work-related reasons outside of work

increased to 26%

Source: ABA’s 2012, 2014 Legal Technology Survey

Sometimes cloud computing ethics will fee like a maze

Sometimes, the journey will be frustrating

A lot of people will tell you what you can’t do

Take it step by step

Ethical issues to consider:

A. Attorney client confidentiality

B. Compare/contrast to traditional outsourcing relationships

C. Meeting obligations of “reasonable” security

QUESTION:

Whether an attorney can use an online system to store confidential client data and, if so, what steps must be

taken to ensure the data are secure? New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics, Opinion 842

(September 2010)

* Source: http://tinyurl.com/abaCloud

Security issues to consider:

1. Encryption2. Geo-redundancy3. Data back ups4. Extraction of data5. Transborder data flow6. Financial security

For full list of questions see: http://bit.ly/hyFBxo

Explore and learn

Don’t get left behind

Thanks for listening!

Nicole BlackLegal Technology Evangelist

MyCase.com | web-based law practice management

www.nicoleblackesq.com@nikiblack on Twitter

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