I found this quite funny.
Bryan Sims
Typography (Or Why Your Briefs Should Be Visually Appealing)
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I trust that anyone who reads my blog would also read the much more popular Ernie the Attorney. If you do not, I urge you to go subscribe to Ernie’s blog right now. Ernie is one of the pioneers in the legal blogging world and consistently posts well written, topical, and useful posts. This week, Ernie is talking about things that he learned from Matthew Butterick’s Typography for Lawyers. This looks like a fascinating book. I have ordered my copy, but I am waiting for it to arrive (Amazon was temporarily out of stock when I ordered it).
While waiting, however, I have had the pleasure of reading Ernie’s posts about lessons that he learned from the book. Thus far, he has posted the following:
- Typography matters, especially for lawyers
- Lawyers – you should be ashamed of your court captions!
- Good typography promotes readability; and remember the 5 monkeys
- Why court rules regarding typeface and line spacing should be updated
If you have any interest in making your briefs more readable, you must read these posts from Ernie. You also might want to check out the book. I am waiting with bated breath for mine to arrive.
If you are not a typography nerd (there’s no shame in that) and you are wondering what all of the fuss is about, let me just say that how you format your document both affects the reader’s ability to read the documents, as well as the reader’s perception of you.
I was recently on a call with one of my clients and we were working through some discovery issues that had been raised by opposing counsel in a letter. This attorney clearly does not put a lot of thought into formatting his documents and one of the things that my client told me was that the letters from the opposing attorney are hard to read because of the way in which he formats them.
Even if you don’t want to study this issue, you should spend a little time just figuring out if there is something you can do to make your documents more effective.
Backups Equal Peace of Mind
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Despite the fact that most people depend greatly on their computers, it seems that very few people have a good backup system in place that would allow them to continue working in the event that their hard drive fails. The thing that I have discovered is that having a good backup solution gives me peace of mind.
I certainly don’t want my hard drive to fail nor do I want something to happen to me computer. However, I sleep just fine at night knowing that if something does happen to my computer or hard drive, I have easy access to all of my data and I can be back up and running in short order.
In my mind, a good backup system has two important features:
- It is multi-layered
- It is automatic
The layering protects you from your points of failure and the automatic protects you from you. The key thing to remember is that no one likes backups. Thus, no one will run backups on the schedule you are supposed to. Software, however, allows you to schedule your backups so they run automatically. Thus, you don’t even need to think about them.
Below I will describe the backup system that I use. I describe it here not because it is the perfect or ideal solution, but rather as a model of what a backup system looks like. Keep in mind that I am working from a hard drive on a computer (in my case a laptop), with no server. Also, the focus here is on data backups rather than mirroring my system drive. With that being said, my system is as follows:
There are three main hardware components to my backup system. I have my laptop where all of my data lives. I have an external drive at my office that I back up to. (In my case I lease server space from my landlord, but an external hard drive would work just the same). I also have a desktop at my home that have a large capacity drive.
For the software component, I use a product called SyncBack. I find the software works well, is easy to use, and is inexpensive. In all honesty, I would like to find something like Time Machine. However, I have not yet found anything that runs on Windows that can do what Time Machine does.
My system works as follows. I create a profile to backup documents both at home and at my office. I set the program to automatically run the profile at the time that I will most likely be at the location. Then SyncBack automatically backs up my documents to both my office location (when I am in the office) and to my home desktop (when I am at home).
Additionally, my home machine automatically backs up all of its data with an internet back up service.
Using this system, I have multiple back ups in multiple locations. If disaster were to strike my office, I have a copy of my data at home. If disaster were to strike my home, I have a copy of my data at my office. If disaster were to strike both my office and my home, I have a copy of my data on the internet.
Since I have gone to a system like this, I have had to recover from (at least) two hard drive crashes and move my files to a new computer. I achieved all of this without any difficulty and without worrying that my data had been lost.
One caveat that I must mention is that the point of a backup system is to recover your data in the event of a data loss. Thus, you need to regularly make sure that your backups are properly saving your data and that they are not becoming corrupted. A corrupted back up is the same as having no back up.
Becoming Paperless: The Process
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I have said before that becoming paperless is a mindset. It is not about the technology, though you will need technology to accomplish it. Further, it is not about getting rid of paper in your life. If you are an attorney, there will still be paper in your life. Instead, it is about deciding that you no longer want to be a slave to the paper. It is about deciding that you will handle your documents electronically, rather than as paper.
As I look back on my career, I now see the first baby step that I took toward becoming paperless. I had been practicing for a few years and, like most other attorneys that I knew, I took a copy of the court file with me to each court appearance. Further, unless the case file was exceptionally large, I took a copy of the entire file. One day, while my back was hurting from lugging case files around, I asked myself why I was carrying the entire file. I quickly realized that I had no good reason.
From that day forth, when I went to court, I took with me only the documents that I thought might be necessary for that court appearance. Often, that is only a copy of the last order entered in the case. In doing this, I quickly learned the joy of freedom over my paper. I also realized that I have never once ended up in court wishing that I had my entire case file rather than the documents that I selected to bring with me.
That realization is similar to the same sense of freedom that I had once I decided to create a paperless office. I realized that I could control the paper, not the other way around.
Becoming paperless does take some time, however, it is not rocket science. Anyone who can manage law school and the bar exam can handle converting their office to a paperless office.
Recently, Ernie the Attorney posted a great primer on The 3 Phases of Becoming Paperless. In his post, Ernie takes you through the three phases of becoming paperless: (1) Optimize your digital skills in general; (2) Keep digital information in digital form; and (3) Learn to digitize information.
I cannot argue with anything Ernie says in this post. Instead, what I will say is that the new year is often the time that people make resolutions. This is my suggestion to you: If you do not currently run a paperless office, go read Ernie’s post, find out where you are in his three phases, and commit to taking the next step. Change takes some time. However, don’t be afraid of taking that first step. Except for firing a toxic employee, I can’t think of a single thing that you can do to improve the efficiency of your office more than converting your office to a paperless office.
I believe this and I live this. If you are thinking about going paperless and you still aren’t sure where to start or what to do, shoot me an email or give me a call. I will be happy to answer your questions.
Books in 2010
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In the past I have posted a compilation of books that I have read in the past year. Last year, however, I set up a book blogging site: I Would Rather Be Reading. Don’t worry, I wasn’t blogging over there either. Anyway, I have published by review of 2010 there. If you are interested, you can check it out.
A New Member of My Office Staff
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My goal is to replace my computer about every three years. My computer will hit three years in March 2011. However, I had noticed that it has been running really slow lately and I could see that the end was neigh. Rather than waiting for it to die before I replaced it, I recently ordered a new computer. Although it was not supposed to arrive until after the first of the year, I got it just before Christmas.
I bought a Dell Latitude E6410. From what I can tell, this is the successor to my old D630. It is approximately the same size as my D630, although it seems to weight a little less. Also, they have moved the battery from the front to the back. I like this change a lot, although it means that my VGA connection has been moved from the back to the left side of the machine. In other respects, I like the machine a lot.
For the most part, it is an updated version of what I used to have. However, it has a few notable differences. First, I got a lighted keyboard. This is absolutely awesome. I have used it several times already and don’t think I will buy another laptop without this feature.
Second, the computer came with Windows 7, which I am enjoying so far. This is a legitimate successor to Windows XP, which I have used for several years. It is responsive, fast to boot up, and works without a hitch. I had heard several good things about Windows 7, and I am glad to see that it works as well as advertised.
Additionally, on my old computer I was using Microsoft Office 2007. With this new computer, I upgraded to Office 2010. There are a lot of similarities between 2007 and 2010. However, there are a few differences, that I think are improvements. First, the file menu is back. This seems like a small thing. However, I like it. Also, in Office 2007, the interface for Outlook was essentially Office 2003, with some 2007 features. With 2010, Outlook now works just like the rest of the suite.
As an added bonus, Outlook is working much faster. I don’t know if this is because Outlook 2010 is a faster, leaner, program, or if it is because of Windows 7, or if it is because I have a faster machine with more RAM (or some combination of the three). Regardless, Outlook 2010 loads a lot faster and works a lot faster for me that 2007 ever did.
Finally, my new computer is red. I prefer this greatly over the silver that I have had on my two previous laptops. I know that this is a small thing, however, I am glad that I went with a color other than silver.
Addendum:I forgot to mention that there is one change on my new computer that I do not like. On my old laptops, the tops were secured by a locking mechanism that I had to slide to unlock. With my new computer, the unlocking method is to push a button. The lock that locks the top seems to require more force to make sure that the lid is locked. Also, the button release makes it much easier to accidentally release the top.
Adobe Acrobat X: My Initial Thoughts
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For the last few days, I have been taking Adobe Acrobat X for a test drive. I plan to do a full review later. However, I thought I would hit a few highlights right now. Overall, I think X is an improvement over 9. If you use Acrobat a lot, there are some features that will likely improve your efficiency using the product. With respect to specifics, here are some of my initial thoughts.
- The toolbar is much more customizable than it ever had been before. I can easily add just the tools that I wanted to the toolbar. This was one of my main complaints in previous versions , thus I am thrilled to see this improvement. In particular, Adobe has added an icon for insert pages and extract pages. I use both of these tools a lot. I am glad that I no longer have to drill down the menus to get to these.
- Menus are another area of improvement. For the most part, these are are gone. Instead, Adobe has replaced your menus with a right hand panel that you can activate to gain access to various tools that you use. These panels are organized better than the menus ever were. Most selections are no more than a couple of clicks away. This is a huge improvement over the old interface.
- Read mode is a new feature that makes the toolbars disappear. When you select this, you gain a navigation toolbar that appears when you move your mouse to the bottom of the page, but otherwise disappears when you are navigating through the document. I am very judicious of my screen space. Consequently, I think this a great feature. Further, it takes only one click (or keystroke) to get back to the normal view.
- Action Wizards are another new feature. I have not yet had a chance to play with these. However, I have seen them demonstrated. Basically, they allow you to create a multiple step process to handle a PDF. For example, an office could have a process in which (i) all incoming mail is scanned, (ii) OCR is ran on each document, and (iii) each document is stamped with a received stamp that contains the date. Before, you would have to train whoever was doing this process to make sure that each step was followed. With the Action Wizard, however, you could create an Action called Incoming Mail. All the person would have to do is follow the steps in the Action and it would ensure that each of your steps was being followed. I think there are some really good process possibilities here that can be used in a practice.
- Adobe finally added a toolbar to for Firefox, similar to what they have had for Internet Explorer. This is a smart addition and something I never understood why they didn’t have before.
Thus far, I like the software and I think it has a lot to offer. Despite my praise, I have a couple of quibbles, however.
- It does not appear that I can control the location of the navigation toolbar. I would really like to do this. As I said before, I am very judicious of my screen space. Therefore, I would like the ability to have all of my toolbars in a single line across the top, rather than have to have 2 lines.
- I use the Save As feature regularly.I saw no way to add this icon to the toolbar. I simply don’t understand this omission.
If you currently use Adobe Acrobat, I recommend checking out Adobe Acrobat X.
2010 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference
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The 2010 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference will be on October 21 through 23 in Springfield, Illinois. We had a great time there last year. I anticipate that year will be even better now that we are in the Hilton. If you don’t have other plans, I urge you to consider attending.
I will be speaking at two sessions. One will be on using Acrobat to help you migrate to a paperless practice. The other is on time and billing and the associated IOLTA issues.
If you can’t attend, you can follow other attendees on Twitter. The hashtag we will be using is #isbassf.
You can find further information here.
Fonts and Microsoft Word
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Because I like computers and associated technology, I have been accused by many people of being a nerd. The thing I find ironic about this is that these people have no idea. Yes, I enjoy using computers, however, if you really want to get my nerd juices flowing, draw me in to a conversation about grammar or typography. (Before you ask, yes my wife rolls her eyes at me when I start talking things like fonts or the subjunctive case mood).
Anyway, I was thrilled to see a recent post titled: Nerdlaw: Thou shalt not defile thy briefs with Microsoft’s default settings.
In this post the author points out the importance of font choice and document design in preparing a brief. Yes, it not just the words you put on the page. How they look when they get there does make a difference. The author has left us a cliffhanger in that he has not yet told us what settings he thinks are appropriate. However, he promises to do so in a future post.
I am waiting for those posts with bated breath.
In the meantime, I urge everyone who drafts briefs to read Painting with Print . . . , which is made available by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. (Note that the link opens a PDF). This article can be one of the best things that you read about persuasive writing.
I am not telling you that you can win an bad argument by having a good looking brief. However, I will tell you that a poorly-presented brief can detract from your argument and that a well-presented brief will add to your argument. the last time that I checked, I want every advantage that I can get while representing my client.
Going Paperless: Another View
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Moving my practice to a paperless practice was one of the best things I have ever done. The efficiency has paid off for me many times over. Not only does it allow me to practice from wherever I happen to be, it also allows me to practice without large amounts of overhead in staff salaries.
A recent post at Lawyerist.com highlights 5 reasons that the author is glad that he went paperless. In reviewing his post, I have to agree with what he says. The reasons he gives are:
- I hate filing
- I don’t like carrying around a lot of stuff
- I save time searching
- I like to share
- I have castrophe paranoia.
Read his post for an explanation of each. However, if I were to pick just one of his five that I agree with the most, it would be number 2. I too hate carrying a bunch of things, however, I like having access to all of my information. Being paperless allows me to achieve both goals. As the author explains:
Most lawyers regularly go home with a stack of files. That’s a lot of lifting and carrying for a desk job. If you handle even moderately-complex matters, bringing the file home may require a hand cart or a couple of junior associates.
Not me. I don’t even carry a briefcase most days. My files are digital, and I sync them up in the cloud so I can access them from any computer—my laptop at home, or even my smartphone.
This goes for court, depositions, and other meetings, too. All I need to bring is a laptop, phone, or iPad, and I can get to my entire firm filing cabinet.
I can’t remember the last time that I carried more than just a few pages to court with me. Most of the time, I don’t even have that. I just take my computer.