Month: April 2013

I spent the last few days in Chicago at the 2013 installment of ABA TECHSHOW.  In just about every way, I considered it to be the best TECHSHOW ever, although there are a few things that I hope are done differently next year.

The conference sessions were, as always, excellent, with a full day devoted to Tablets and Smartphones.  As the title suggests, this track was platform-agnostic.  For some topics, that made sense.  For example, I gave a presentation on tablet and smartphone security with Pittsburgh attorney David Ries and Illinois attorney Aaron Brooks, and I thought it was quite helpful to compare and contrast security options on the different smartphones.  On the other hand, on Friday morning there was a session presenting the top apps for four different platforms:  iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 8 tablets.  Each presenter was excellent, but it would have been far more useful to have different sessions devoted to different platforms.  iPhone and iPad users didn’t gain much learning how Android users are trying to work around the lack of legal-specific software for that platform.  I really hope that next year the ABA brings back the 60 iOS Apps in 60 Minutes session that has been so popular in the past.  But notwithstanding my constructive criticisms, the iOS content at this year’s TECHSHOW was better than ever before, which is a big part of the reason that I thought TECHSHOW overall was better than ever this year.

Another reason:  the keynote speaker.  David Pogue of the New York Times was even more entertaining than I thought he would be, and I had high expectations.  I didn’t realize that his grandfather, Welch Pogue, founded a D.C. firm that merged with Jones Day in 1967 (hence the “Pogue” in “Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue”) and his father, Dick Pogue, was the managing partner of Jones Day for many years.  (Jones Day grew from 335 to 1,250 lawyers under his tenure.)  So while Pogue is not an attorney and did not speak much about the law, he definitely has an understanding of what it means to be an attorney.  Pogue talked about the future of technology, but was as much a comedian as a visionary.  He had the audience in stitches for almost an hour, then ended up by performing some funny songs.

After his amazing talk, he was nice enough to chat with many of us and take lots of pictures, such as this next one with me.  I laughed when I saw Ed Walters of Fastcase tweet that upon posing for a picture with Pogue and Kevin O’Keefe, he felt like his Twitter feed had “materialized out of thin air.”

The exhibit hall of TECHSHOW was full of activity every time I visited it.  And it seemed like half of the vendors were showing off something on the iPad.  It was just three years ago that all of us at TECHSHOW were wondering about what the upcoming iPad might mean for lawyers, and it is amazing how quickly this technology has taken hold.  I’ll be discussing some of what I saw in upcoming posts.

As always, one of the best parts of TECHSHOW was talking with other attorneys about technology.  I always learn so much when I hear what others are doing with their iPhone and iPads.  I also enjoyed talking with Jeff Taylor of The Droid Lawyer.  Sam Glover of Lawyerist.com apparently found it amusing when he saw us talking, leading him to tweet about competing smartphone ecosystems, but I always enjoy hearing what Taylor is doing with his Android phone and tablet because it often gives me idea for the iPhone and iPad.  Sam was nice enough to take this picture of the Jeff and Jeff of the iPhone and Android worlds with my iPhone.

I want to especially thank the very enthusiastic crowd for the iOS in Action session that Ben Stevens
(of The Mac Lawyer) and I presented on Saturday morning.  I know that many people had left TECHSHOW by then, but we still had a packed room and some great questions both during and after the presentation.  For those of you who didn’t get a chance to talk to me or Ben, you can always freel free to send me an email.

Finally, I had a fabulous time at the Taste of Techshow dinner that I co-hosted on Thursday night.  It’s a shame that only 12 people could attend, but we had an amazing group with lots of lively and fun conversation.  Thanks to everyone who attended:  Scott Norby of Thomson Reuters ProLaw (which sponsored the dinner), Philippe Doyle Gray (a barrister in Sydney, Australia and frequent iPhone J.D. commenter who literally traveled across the world to join us), Ian O’Flaherty and Tara Cheever of Lit Software in Miami (makers of TrialPad and TranscriptPad), South Carolina attorney Bill Latham of The Hytech Lawyer, San Antonio attorney and mediator Don Philbin (creator of the Picture it Settled app), North Carolina attorney Leigh Anne Miller, Texas attorney Karl Seebach (who recently started eDepo, a service that delivers video transcripts to an iPad), North Carolina legal technology consultant Pegeen Turner of Turner IT Solutions, Illinois law student Noelia Rodríguez-Quiñones and of course my co-host, Dallas attorney Tom Mighell.

I’m already looking forward to the next ABA TECHSHOW, in Chicago on March 26-29, 2014.

I’ve heard from many iPhone J.D. readers who will be in Chicago for ABA TECHSHOW 2013 starting tonight.  This will be my fifth TECHSHOW, and it is always a great opportunity to
learn about technology from formal CLE sessions, vendors showing off
cutting edge legal technology and (best of all) other attorneys who enjoy
using tech.  The attention to mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad at TECHSHOW has steadily increased every year that I’ve attended, both in terms of the number of CLE sessions devoted to the topic and the number of vendors showing off mobile software and accessories.  And considering that the cover article on this month’s ABA Journal is The Mobile Lawyer, I have no doubt that iPhones and iPads will be central topics throughout TECHSHOW this year.

If you are reading this, I hope to see you there.  Here is where you are likely to find me:

Wednesday, April 3

6:00 – 8:00 pm:  Cocktails and Comedy.  (Continental A/B)  The event is hosted by Rocket Lawyer. If you see me, please say hello.  I look like this.

8:00 – 10:00 pm: LexThink.1.  A fast-paced Ignite-style event.

Thursday, April 4

I’ll be checking out the over 100 companies on the Exhibit Floor and attending various sessions throughout the day, so you might bump into me just about anywhere.  My schedule includes:

10:00 – Noon:  I’ll be working at the Concierge Desk.  If prior
years are any indication, that means that I’ll spend a little time
helping people find things at the conference, but most of my time will
be devoted to talking about iPhones and iPads with anyone who stops by
to chat.  It’s usually the most social spot at the conference.

4:00 – 5:00 pm:  The Tablet Litigator.  (Northwest 3)  San Antonio attorney Mark Unger and attorney Paul Unger of the Affinity Consulting Group, will be talking about using an iPad in trial.

5:30 – 7:00 pm:  Welcome Reception.  (EXPO Hall)  A chance to socialize with attendees and vendors.

7:30 pm – ?:  Taste of Techshow.  Dallas attorney Tom Mighell, author of many books on using an iPad in your law practice, and I are hosting a dinner for iPhone / iPad users at Wildfire restaurant.  Thomson Reuters is sponsoring our dinner, and we are sure to have a great time.  The dinner has been sold out for a while now, but there is often a waiting list at the Concierge Desk, or you can sign up for one of the many other Taste of Techshow dinners, four of which also have an iPhone/iPad focus.

Friday, April 5

I’ll be in room Northwest 5 most of the day because that is the location of the Tablets and Smartphone track, where I will be speaking in the afternoon.

8:00 – 9:00 am:  Tablet Wars 2013.  Hopefully Tom Mighell will get some sleep after our dinner on Thursday night, because bright and early Friday morning, he is teaming up with Jeff Taylor of The Droid Lawyer to compare and contrast iPads with Android tablets.

10:00 – 11:00 am:  The 4×4 Challenge: Top Apps for Every Platform.  Dan Pinnington, Ben Schorr, Jeff Taylor and Mark Unger will discuss the top apps for iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry.  Although I’ll attend this session, it will be somewhat in protest; I liked it better when we had an entire hour devoted to just iOS apps, and it’s a shame that there is no 60 Apps in 60 Minutes session this year.  Hopefully it will come back next year.

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm:  Keynote speaker David Pogue of the New York Times will discuss “Disruptive Tech:  What’s Now, What’s Coming, and How It Will Change Everything.”  Pogue is a funny and intelligent speaker, and I’m thrilled to see that he will be at TECHSHOW.

2:30 – 3:30 pm:  Mobile Collaboration.  Michigan attorney Patrick Crowley and St. Louis attorney Dennis Kennedy will discuss using mobile devices to share documents and ideas.

3:45 – 4:45 pm:  Batten Down the Hatches: Mobile Security for Lawyers.  I’ll be co-presenting this session along with Pittsburgh attorney David Ries and Illinois attorney Aaron Brooks.  We’ll give you lots of tips for maintaining the confidentiality of documents and other data on your iPhone and iPad.

Finally, I haven’t seen an official announcement yet [UPDATE: confirmed], but traditionally Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog and the ABA Journal sponsor Beer for Bloggers at 5:30 at Hilton Chicago’s Lakeside Green Lounge.  This event is a happy hour with free drinks for all TECHSHOW attendees, even if you don’t have a blog.

Saturday, April 6

9:45 – 10:45 am:  iOS in Action.  South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens
(of The Mac Lawyer) and I will present this session devoted to getting the most
out of an iPhone and iPad in your law practice.  Stevens and I gave a similar presentation focused on the iPhone back in 2010, and a lot has changed in the world of iOS since then.

Finally, if this will be your first TECHSHOW, or if you just want a refresher, New York attorney Niki Black has a great All You Need to Know post with details for preparing for, and getting the most out of, ABA TECHSHOW.

See you in the Windy City!

Citrix provides remote access solutions for more than 260,000 organizations and over 100 million users around the world.  Many law firms (mine included) use Citrix, and Citrix provides users with a free Citrix Receiver app that they can access their work environment even when they are out of the office.  I see that I’ve never posted a formal review of the Citrix app, but I use it somewhat frequently, and it works well for those times when I need remote access to software that only works on Windows or that requires you to be within the work environment.  I like using the virtual mouse mode in the iPad app that makes it easy to get the cursor exactly where you need it, making it easier to tap small buttons.

With so many Citrix users, Citrix is able to compile some statistics on who uses what platforms in which industries.  Citrix just released its Enterprise Mobility Cloud Report for Q4 2012, which you can download here (PDF format).  Not every law firm uses Citrix, of course, and I suspect that there are more Citrix users in medium size to large law firms than smaller law firms.  Thus, it would be a mistake to extrapolate any data from Citrix to all lawyers.  Nevertheless, Citrix is quite popular, so the statistics do tell you something.

So what are the statistics?  In some industries, such as transportation and utilities, Android is currently the preferred platform.  But in the legal (and insurance) industries, the iOS platform is by far the preferred platform.  Specifically, about 98% of Citrix mobile users at law firms are using iOS.  Here is a chart from the report (click to enlarge):

To be honest, I was surprised that the number was that high.  98% for the legal services industry is a pretty overwhelming statistic.  However, the Citrix numbers are consistent with what we see from other surveys and estimates — namely, that the iPad is by far the tablet device of choice for lawyers.

Thank you to Connected Data, creator of the Transporter, for sponsoring iPhone J.D. again this month.  I described the basic function of the Transporter last month, and because Connected Data sent me a free review unit soon after the product was first released, I’ve now had lots of time to use the product for real-world tasks.  The Transporter works very well, and is a perfect answer to the problem that so many attorneys face:  you want the convenience of cloud storage so that you have access to your files everywhere, but you are concerned about the security implications of trusting your confidential documents to a third party.  With a Transporter, you own the hard drive that is connected to the Internet, and you control who (if anyone) besides yourself gets access to the documents.  And because you can use standard 2.5″ SATA hard drives in the Transporter and there are no monthly service fees, using a Transporter is a lot cheaper than cloud storage companies.

I noted last month that the one missing piece was an iPhone/iPad app.  That is now solved.  Just over a week ago, Apple approved the Transporter app so you can now get it (for free) from the App Store.  In fact, if you have ever used the Dropbox app. you’ll feel right at home using the Transporter app. 

You need an Internet connect to use the app.  When you start the app, it displays a list of your folders.  Note that this includes both the folders that you created on your own Transporter, plus any folders that you were given access to by another Transporter user.  Just tap on a folder name to view its contents.  Files that you have not yet downloaded are in grey.  Files that have been downloaded to the app are in black.

 

Once a file has been downloaded, you can view it.  The app uses the normal iOS app viewers, so you can view Word files, PDF files, etc.  Or better yet, you can use the icon at the top right to send the file to another app, such as your favorite app for viewing and annotating PDF files, your favorite app for viewing and/or modifying Word documents, etc.

This is a universal app so it works on the iPad as well.  In the iPad version, you see a list of files on the left and the file itself is shown on the right.  If you tap the arrow at the top of the file itself, the list on the left collapses so you can use the full width of the iPad to view the document.  On both the iPhone and iPad, you can turn your device to use the app and view documents in either portrait or landscape mode.

Not only can you use this app to send a file from your Transporter to another app on your iPhone or iPad, you can also send files from other apps to the Transporter app.  When you do so, the Transporter app lets you change the file name (if you want to) and choose a folder, and then upload the file to your Transporter.  You then have a secure copy of the file waiting for you on your computer. 

Having an iOS app makes the Transporter incredibly useful.  I can now easily access my confidential files even when I am out of the office.

Beyond using the iOS app, I’ve also found the Transporter to work well with multiple computers.  In the past when I was working on a motion or a brief, I would often keep the active version of the document on the desktop of my Windows computer at work, and then when I wanted to work on the document at night using the Mac at my house, I’d have to connect to my work computer and email the file to myself, which can sometimes lead to confusion over which version of the document is current.  With the Transporter, I just create a folder for my matter, store my active document in that folder, and work from that document at work.  When I get home, everything in that folder is already synced to my home computer so I can just open the document and start working again.  When I return to the office the next day, the latest version of the document is there waiting for me.  And all the while, the document has lived only on my computers and the Transporter that is located in my own house — not some third party service over which I have no control — so I have no concerns about keeping the document confidential.

I’m pleased to have Connected Data and the Transporter as a sponsor of iPhone J.D. again this month, and I encourage you to check it out if you like the idea of keeping your documents secure while also having access to them wherever you are.

Click here to get Transporter from Connected Data ($199 – $399).

Click here to get Transporter from Amazon ($299 for 1TB or $399 for 2TB).

Click here for the Connected Data Transporter app (free):