The Mac Lawyer : Ben Stevens : Using Macs In The Practice Of Law

Apple's newest toy is for more than just games, books, and Internet browsing. It has the potential for greatness in law school as well. Law students can use the iPad to take notes, study, share multimedia, and more. These apps make the iPad a perfect companion for law school:

1. Black's Law Dictionary :: At $49.99, this app is an expensive one, but it's worth it. The app offers full access to Black's Law Dictionary, including a handy search interface, audio clip pronunciations, and citations linked to Westlaw pages. You may not be ready to ditch your leather-bound copy of this dictionary in favor of the iPad app, but it's certainly handier to cart around campus.
2. LawStack :: Would you like to be able to carry around the Constitution, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, and more, all in one handy place on your iPad? LegalStack makes it possible to have nearly an entire legal library in your pocket, with plenty of preloaded law books included, as well as state codes and more that you can add to your stack. You'll get offline access, search, bookmarks, and more. Best of all, this app is completely free.
3. LexisNexis :: Using the LexisNexis app, you can retrieve cases on the go. If you need a quick glance, you can just use the Case Brief to get an overview right away. This app has favorites and a search history, so you can go back and learn about important cases easily. You'll also be able to share what you've found with classmates, colleagues, and professors.
4. iStudiez Pro :: Use iStudiez Pro to reclaim your sanity while you're in law school. This app will allow you to get organized in a major way, keeping your assignments, dates, schedule, and more all in one place and easily accessible. You can also set up alarms, color coding, and a summarization of your day.
5. Legal Ease :: When it's time to take the Multistate Bar Exam, turn to this app that can make studying a little less painful. In Legal Ease, you'll find 800 attorney-authored questions that will help you review everything you need to know. They're offered in a flashcard style with detailed explanations for all answers. You'll be able to review questions, create practice tests, and see how well you do in particular subjects. This app is even helpful for current law students who want to study and be quizzed on a particular subject of law.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for law students with iPads. Check out the iTunes site or just search the app store on your iPad to find out what other goodies are available for you to take advantage of.

This guest post is contributed by Roger Elmore, who writes on the topics of hospitality management schools.  He welcomes your comments at his email Id: rogerelmore24@gmail.com.

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In April, when the iPad came out, I offered to conduct an experiment forBen Stevens’ The Mac Lawyer blog. The plan: read a traditional book, a second on a Kindle, and a third on an iPad, then write about it. Over the past year I’d been used to reading primarily on my Kindle and the occasional tree-based book, and was interested in figuring out the new publishing terrain once and for all.

Part 3: The iPad Book: The Given Day, by Dennis Lehane

A big thanks is in order to Dennis Lehane, who wrote one of the best and most compelling novels I’ve read in years, if not ever. The Given Day is a book so gripping and phenomenal, I was able to read it on an iPad without succumbing to sweet Internet temptations lurking just beyond the home button on the gorgeous device.

Pros: While the iPad does not leverage E-ink, a tough blow in my opinion as far as e-readers are concerned, it does have a high-resolution backlit screen which enables you to read it in dark places (i.e. while someone is asleep next to you) without a Snuggie® booklight or similar device. I combatted LCD screen eye strain by dimming its brightness and changing the font to a muted sepia-tone color, which Apple does a great job of facilitating.

The iPad reference tools are terrific: tapping a word looks it up in the dictionary, a huge improvement over the Kindle’s medieval cursor device. If Apple supported multiple language dictionaries (only Japanese and English are currently available), it would be a great teaching aid for foreign language study. Flipping through pages is elegant and quick. Much appreciated Apple-style flourishes like 3D page turning is a significant improvement over Next and Previous buttons on a Kindle.

Cons: Forget about reading on your iPad outside unless you carry a tent with you everywhere you go. The glare from the sun and reflective objects makes reading on an iPad an uncomfortable endeavor in bright light. The LCD screen does not feel like a book at all, unlike E-ink. The iPad is also much heavier than the Kindle 2, making it a challenge to read in bed. As you adjust your reading position, the screen rotates around like a whirling dervish, making reading on your side rather tricky. This flipping back and forth is eliminated by a tiny screen lock button, which took me a month to figure out.

If, like me, you struggle to focus on a single task and do not have an incredible book to read like The Given Day, good luck trying to read it on an iPad. You’ll instead find yourself enjoying any one of the amazing capabilities the device offers.

Finally, In Order of Preference

The clear take-home message to me from this overly-prolonged experiment in 21st century reading is that different book technologies serve very different purposes. All things being equal, my top choice is a paper book in my hands as long as the font is a comfortable size (anyone who’s picked up a copy of Atlas Shrugged recently understands my pain). The ability to leaf through pages, scribble in margins with an actual pencil, and dog-ear pages still trounce their simulated equivalents in e-readers.

After a book, I’d choose the Kindle. It’s lightweight, works in any lighting condition, and doesn’t have all the distractions the Internet brings to the table. It’s a dedicated reading device, and though it’s a little clumsy in places, it does its job exceedingly well.

Then there’s the iPad. It was a worthy contestent in a noble contest, and I wouldn’t live without mine. However, when it comes to evaluating the product strictly for reading, I don’t see myself reading another book on the iPad. You can’t take it outside, it’s heavier than the other reading technologies (though perhaps lighter than the hardcover edition of Atlas Shrugged), and uses an LCD screen instead of E-ink. Moreover, everything that makes the iPad an phenomenal media and Internet consumption device work against it when you require the deep concentration necessary for books.

But that’s just my take. We’re lucky to live in a world with such options, with three remarkable technologies.

About the Author

Larry Port is the Founding Partner of Rocket Matter, the leading web-based legal practice management product. A speaker and award-winning writer at the crossroads of the legal profession and cutting edge technology, Larry writes extensively for legal publications including Law Technology News, Law Practice Today, ILTA's Peer to Peer, FindLaw, Chicago Lawyer, and others.

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In April, when the iPad came out, I offered to conduct an experiment forBen Stevens’ The Mac Lawyer blog. The plan: read a traditional book, a second on a Kindle, and a third on an iPad, then write about it. Over the past year I’d been used to reading primarily on my Kindle and the occasional tree-based book, and was interested in figuring out the new publishing terrain once and for all.

Part 2 of 3: Failure and Redemption with an iPad and a Kindle.

In Part 1 of this series, I announced my intention to test all three reading technologies via Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori trilogy. I read the first volume as a paper-based library book, but I apologize in advance to Mr. Hearn. I just couldn’t get through the second book in the series, Grass For His Pillow, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it doesn’t have to do with his prose.

The iPad contains two great book-reading apps, iBooks from Apple and Kindle from Amazon. Unfortunately, the iPad also contains a zillion other apps that tug at your attention, including access to practically all of the information ever recorded by civilized man, email, news, streaming Netflix movies, and every social network imaginable.

If you’re like me, which is a stone’s throw away from an official ADD diagnosis, it may be difficult to finish book on an iPad unless it’s completely engrossing. The device is just so dang incredible. I finally found such a book, so stay tuned to Part 3 to find out the killer read which helped me overcome the allure of iPad amazingness. In the meantime, I switched back, bewildered and dispirited, to the Kindle.

The Kindle Book: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, by Steve Martin

If you like Steve Martin, appreciate the art of stand-up comedy, or ever wondered what it feels like to get very, very famous quickly, Born Standing Up is a book you should put on your list. I read the majority of it on my Kindle 2 and a small amount on my iPhone 3G.

Pros: The Kindle was my first electronic book reader, and for a technophile like myself it will forever occupy a special place in my heart, as do other fondly-recalled first-time experiences. Compared to an iPad or a book, the Kindle is much lighter at 10.2 ounces. Book shopping and delivery is quick and effortless, because in reality the Kindle is a portable spigot through which you pour dollars into Amazon. For example, I decided to purchase Mr. Martin’s book at an airport minutes from boarding my flight. Twelve dollars and sixty seconds later, the book arrived and so I could read it on the flight.

The Kindle screen, leveraging a proprietary technology known as E-ink, does not have a refresh-rate associated with LCD screens, which makes it easier on the eyes by eliminating strain and reducing glare. I happen to be partial to devices that do one thing really well as opposed to a device that performs multiple functions fairly well. The Kindle is definitely in the former category: aside from serving as a terrific reading device, the only other thing it excels at is sucking money from your pocket and sending it to Amazon. And you have to see the battery charge to believe it. I picked mine up after a month of idleness and it was still on.

An aside about e-readers in general, including both the Kindle and iPad...

E-readers are great traveling companions. I like to read different kinds of books depending on my current whimsy, and with an e-reader, I can keep a biography, spy thriller, historical fiction, and business book with me at all times without my carry-on weighing 100 pounds. I can also increase the font size for easier readability, critical as I head towards forty. I’ve noticed e-reader adoption among the elderly, incidentally, in my heavily retiree-laden town of Boca Raton, FL.

Because of the mobile Kindle and iBook apps, and the mechanism Amazon and Apple use to maintain your bookmarks, you can always be with your book. For example, I read my book at night on my e-reader and the following morning use the corresponding iPhone app to flick through some more pages at the exact place I left off the night before while, say, waiting in line for coffee. At night, I pick up exactly where I left off at Starbucks on my e-reader. Now that’s cool, although, my inner civil-libertarian bristles at the thought that Amazon and Apple now know exactly what I’m reading, when, and where.

...Back to the Kindle...

Cons: The biggest con I see with the Kindle or other book readers is the following conversation:

Husband: This book I’m reading is incredible! I can’t put it down.

Wife: Wow. I can’t wait to read it. Can I have it when you’re done?

Husband: Sorry, it’s on the Kindle. And I’m reading something else next.

Wife: That’s so typical. You’re always so damn selfish.

Some headway has been made into sharing books on e-readers, but any features are buried deep enough so that I haven’t stumbled across it. Another general strike against e-readers is their limited portability. I still feel uncomfortable taking a pricey e-reader to a beach or pool, since water and sand wreak havoc on electronic devices.

Compared to other modern electronic machines, the Kindle 2 feels glacially slow. At the risk of sounding like a plump, lazy cruise-ship passenger, moving the little cursor around is an arduous task. Page turns are inelegant: the entire text flashes black before it’s replaced by the next page. Flipping through pages to reread a passage is time consuming and laborious, especially compare to a paper book. The Kindle 2 very much feels like a first generation device.

In the next installment, I’ll return to the iPad. Perhaps I’ll fare better the second time around.

About the Author

Larry Port is the Founding Partner of Rocket Matter, the leading web-based legal practice management product. A speaker and award-winning writer at the crossroads of the legal profession and cutting edge technology, Larry writes extensively for legal publications including Law Technology News, Law Practice Today, ILTA's Peer to Peer, FindLaw, Chicago Lawyer, and others.

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Part 1 of 3: Adventures in Reading a Library Book.

Are you like me? Do you like to read books, travel a fair amount, and like to justify expenditures on technology in whatever pathetic, desperate way you can?

In April, when the iPad came out, I offered to conduct an experiment for Ben Stevens’ The Mac Lawyer blog. The plan: read a traditional book, a second on a Kindle, and a third on an iPad, then write about it. Over the past year I’d been used to reading primarily on my Kindle and the occasional tree-based book, and was interested in figuring out the new publishing terrain once and for all.

The Library Book: Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn.

My intention, initially, was to read three volumes of Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori trilogy on each of the three different technologies (yes, a book is a technology). If you think you’d like Shogun with a dash of 100 Years of Solitude sprinkled in, you’ll like Mr. Hearn’s books.

Pros: I paid nothing for Across the Nightingale Floor, since I borrowed it from the public library and importantly, returned it on time, which is something you shouldn’t take for granted. I took this book on a plane with me, and since it’s not electronic, I could actually do something without getting yelled at during takeoff and landing.

I enjoyed the volume’s delightful “library book smell” which I believe originates from a combination of binding glue, paper, card catalog stickers, and the librarians themselves. I could theoretically spill water or sand on the book and it would still function fine, though librarians typically frown upon such behavior. Moreover, after using an electronic device all day long, curling up with a paper, analog device was more refreshing than I recalled.

Cons: I finished the book shortly after my arrival, meaning I had to lug dead weight around on my trip. Since I was obligated to return it, I couldn’t just dump it in the hotel’s book rack. In addition, when you read a library book, there’s a little voice in the back of your head whispering bad thoughts. It tells you someone could possibly have been reading the very book in your hands in less-than-delicate locations. Unlike an e-book, a library book requires an extra piece of equipment (some folks call this a “bookmark”) to identify my last read page, which I seem to always misplace.

In the next installment, I’ll attempt to read a book on an iPad. And we’ll see how successful I am.

About the Author

Larry Port is the Founding Partner of Rocket Matter, the leading web-based legal practice management product. A speaker and award-winning writer at the crossroads of the legal profession and cutting edge technology, Larry writes extensively for legal publications including Law Technology News, Law Practice Today, ILTA's Peer to Peer, FindLaw, Chicago Lawyer, and others.

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The following is a Guest Post from iGadgetLife website, which covering tech reviews and news:

Macs are great tools for a lot of different computer uses, and it can be argued that they are one of the most user friendly computer gadgets on the market. But someone new to Macs (or even a more experienced Mac user) may not realize that there are many different ways to manage and ride herd on all of those windows that a typical computing session incorporates.

In fact, there are many tips, tricks, and shortcuts that can make your Mac experience much more productive and enjoyable. Over the years I have found several that I use on a regular basis, and sometimes I still find a new one that is handy. Let's take a look at some of my favorite Mac window management tricks.

Basic Window Switching

Most users know that command-tab will switch between open windows. But Windows converts may be put off that command-tab only switches between running apps, not individual window instances. That is, if you have five Safari windows open and email, pressing command-tab will switch back and forth between Safari and email - it will not cycle through the open Safari windows as well.

Instead, use the command-tilde ("~") combination to cycle through your Safari windows (or any other multiple windows of the same app, such as Finder). Once you get used to this slight difference (the tilde key is right above the tab on the Mac layout), you will find that being able to cycle through only that app's current open windows is actually much easier than having to cycle through ALL open windows on the computer.

Another thing to note about window management on OS X is that the first click usually only gives the window focus. That is, if you have a background window that you want to click on, for example a link on a web page, you will find that it is a two click operation, The first click brings the window to the forefront, the second launches the link. There are exceptions to this (as we mention below), but in this way, accidental clicks on background windows are avoided.

Background Window Scrolling

As a user, we sometimes have need of background windows while working in a different activated window. However, switching different apps in and out of the foreground is not always the most efficient way of working. Thankfully OS X offers some handy ways to manage your background windows.

For starters, you can scroll a background window simply by hovering the mouse over it and scrolling. This works equally well with the two finger drag on the trackpad or the scroll ball and wheel on your mouse.

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The following is a Guest Post from broadband suppliers:

There is a common thought among Windows users that Apple is more complicated and is only for techies. I was a Windows user for a long time until I got a chance to access one of my office's Macbooks. It was an easy and friendly experience that provoked me to upgrade to Macintosh.  I feel more comfortable, faster and proud to be with Apple now.

Every Apple product is embedded with an innovative solution that provides more accessibility to the user. Assistive technology has become a default standard of Apple at no extra cost. The experience of the product is same for all the users including the users with special needs. These are the key factors for the success of Apple.

All the Mac products are provided with an alternative simplified interface that can help users to learn and explore the features. Especially users who have difficulty in using a mouse are provided with features like slow keys, sticky keys, gestures, voice over, quick nav, etc.

Accessibility for Vision Disabilities

Apple’s assistive technology provides wide options for the users who have visual difficulties, which allows users to control the screen without even looking at it. Voice over is a speech to text tool that can auto speak and describes what is happening on the screen. This tool can be controlled by simple gestures like tapping or flicking the track pad. It can also be controlled using a virtual dial called the rotor to change its settings. Users are allowed to assign gestures using voice over commands to control the MAC. It also supports USB and Bluetooth Braille displays and automatically programs the keys based on the model.

Alex voice is one of the most important features which speaks English with a natural intonation even after faster speech rates. It analyzes a paragraph, understands the meaning and delivers content more naturally taking enough breathe between the passages.

Voice over includes a built in screen magnification with up to 40 times zoom in and a cursor magnification which makes it easy for the user to follow. High contrast and reverse video lets the user to play with display settings like color, contrast, scaling and system widening. Also there are a variety of apps with a talking feature like talking alert, calculator and clock.

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The following Guest Post is from Daniel Cawrey:

In the past, users connected to the Internet through a broadband connection. But with the advent of personal, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets like the iPhone and iPad, we have new security concerns—especially with the wireless operators who serve these devices.

Take the recent reports about AT&T’s leak of over 100,000 personal email addresses from iPad owners using the wireless operator’s network. This was done by running a script on a public AT&T website by an underground security group named Goatse Security. Worse, they released these email addresses to the public.

AT&T has had security problems with Apple’s products before, most notably when the first iPhone was released. Shockingly, those using AT&T’s network were receiving bills that could amount to hundreds of pages long, detailing all of their data or web activity; highlighting that the operator was paying close attention to users’ 3G activities.

This new development brings a great question to the forefront – who is responsible for leaks of personal data in this example? Apple or AT&T? While Apple has a duty to keep user information private, the reality is that if you don’t have an iPad connected to AT&T’s 3G service, you simply won't have this problem. It's likely that while both companies will receive backlash because of this story, it’s really AT&T’s problem.

Apple needs to exert its influence on AT&T, however. It’s widely believed that Cupertino has spurred other wireless networks in favor of its exclusive deal with AT&T, to the tune of five years. With that being said, there are clear security issues with AT&T and its servers. In this instance it doesn’t appear to be the wireless network itself, but a flaw in the way that AT&T stores user information.

The fact that AT&T kept user information that is not encrypted is a concern. This data is not for public consumption and should be stored with respect to privacy. In the coming days, it's likely that AT&T will announce they will better obscure user data, and rightly so. Even if their servers are vulnerable, and at this point we know to some degree that they are, encrypting the database that stores user information would be a good step in making sure that outsiders don’t have the ability to swipe data that has any value.

The bottom line is that AT&T may not necessarily have problems with its wireless network, but its internal company servers clearly are not protecting data in case of any sort of loss. Here’s hoping that AT&T learns something from this latest security breach, before it happens again.

Source:  Daniel Cawrey is a technology blogger who writes on a variety of IT topics including Google Chrome and network management software.

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This is Part Two of "Why We Went Mac, and Have Never Looked Back....", a Guest Post by my friend, Randy Juip, which explains why his firm converted to Macs.  If you want to read Part One of his Guest Post, which addressed their firm's hardware considerations, click here. Otherwise, I hope that you enjoy Part Two:

We purchased a copy of Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 for each station, which provided us with the basic software necessities -- word processing and spreadsheet mainly. If you keep your eyes open, you can pick up copies of this software on discount from time to time. Since I prefer to use Apple’s iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote), my partner and I have copies of that software as well.

To work and play well with the Federal Court ECF system, we use Mozilla’s Firefox 4.0 browser instead of Safari as our default browser. I use a neat little add-on called X-Marks to sync my Firefox bookmarks to Safari (which, in turn, syncs my bookmarks to Mobile Me). The process is then repeated in reverse at home.

For those stubborn, PC-only programs (like our timekeeping package, Sage’s TimeSlips, RealLegal’s .ptx transcript viewer, and Corel’s WordPerfect), we have installed Parallels 5.0 running Windows XP (we’ve recently moved on to Windows 7). I have no reason for using Parallels over VM Fusion other than I’m used to Parallels now, and don’t have the time (or desire!) to switch. Boot Camp was not an option because our workflow requires switching between the PC programs and their Mac counterparts. There have been great posts on this topic in the past.

Each employee has a MobileMe account, which was a simple, efficient, and quick solution to our remote access and mail needs. We use Mail for our email and iCal for our Calendar. To make the calendars work nicely with each other, we invested in BusySync licenses at each station -- this software allows us to share iCal calendars over our local area network (LAN) without needing to set up a server or the like. I understand that the publisher of BusySync has recently released a replacement program, BusyCal, which supposedly does even more amazing stuff. However, BusySync is working so well for us now and I really don’t see the need to fix something that doesn’t need fixing.

So what’s the other stuff? For me, it’s all the other programs that I use to make my life easier. I have come to rely on DataViz’s MacLinkPlus Deluxe for converting old WordPerfect files into Word Files. I am committing myself, more and more each day, to integrate Evernote into my workflow. I can not live without DropBox, which I’ve had for years. In my mind, DropBox is the single greatest utility ever created, and I frankly can’t understand people who still use thumb drives. Really.

One point which I think deserves some discussion is Time Machine. This may be preaching to the choir, but I can not tell you what a frustration computer security and back up in a PC environment can be. I’m not speaking about any firm in particular, but any PC environment -- through a combination of technological ignorance, bad habits and practices, and inherent flaws in the Windows system -- is asking for expensive IT support. I know firms that spend, literally, thousands upon thousands of dollars every year on security, firewalls, and, of course, IT support to rebuild and restore affected systems. This is a near constant headache, and for a sole practitioner or small-firm attorney, is not financially sound management.

It’s odd, then, that many older generation attorneys insist on PC’s over Macs, especially when they’re the least capable of dealing with the constant onslaught of PC-specific malware. “Yeah, Macs are nice,” an older Judge told me a this year’s ABA TechShow, “but at some point you have to grow up and get a PC.” Whatever.

Each of my key workstations has a 500GB or 1TB external drive attached to it locally for hourly time machine back ups. Our central file storage server is a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ which has 4x1TB drives with RAID, so we have 2.7TB of effective central file storage which is mechanically secure. If one HDD fails, I can hot-swap it for another, and the entirety of our data is unaffected. It’s small, quiet, and powerful for our purposes. I understand that Netgear’s ReadyNAS Pro is even faster, with more RAM and Gigabit ethernet, but to date, our office has not run into any disconcerting issues in that regard.

Our mission-critical documents and files, in turn, are backed-up offsite using Mozy, which I'm not totally satisfied happy with, but which does the job. We chose Mozy over other worthy competitors (like Carbonite) due to Mozy’s support for Networked Attached Storage.

Time Machine, RAID in the ReadyNAS, and Mozy -- all of this means, to me, that I really don't spend much time thinking about Viruses, Malware, etc... I don't know if some crazy 13 year old is holed-up in his parent's basement working on a blockbuster Mac virus or not, but what I do know is that if we get it, we'll just rewind things an hour or two using Time Machine and our offline backup. Don’t misunderstand me -- I’m not completely unconcerned, but the worst case scenario is really not that bad with a Mac.

Aside from the Mac’s unmatched business functionality, it’s aesthetics, and it’s reliability, there are a number of other benefits to Mac users. If you use a Mac in your personal life you already know that the iLife programs -- iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, etc... -- are must-haves. The integration of your business life and your personal life is just one added benefit to taking your office Mac.

Don’t forget, either, the iPhone and the iPad. I hope it’s safe to say that the iPhone has established itself as the go-to smartphone for busy professionals. It seems to me that people who use other smartphones either don’t know better, are too close-minded to consider the alternatives, or more likely, have no choice. I don’t want to dismiss the alternatives out of hand -- everyone likes competition, but its clear that the iPhone competitors are trying hard to emulate the iPhone’s appeal, design, and capability.

And, no one even knows how the iPad will infiltrate our workflows and professional lives, but the smart money is that it will, in a big way. Although PC’s can integrate with iPhone and iPad, they don’t do it as seamlessly or as nicely as a Mac does.

The short of it is this -- I can't tell you how simple my and my practice manager's jobs are not having to worry about the technology in the office. Our technology does what it is supposed to do -- it works and lets us work to serve our clients. We don’t spend valuable time working on getting out 

technology to work. While there have been a few headaches, are significant only in that they are the exception, not the rule.

To each their own, I think. There are so many close-minded attorneys out there, who don’t understand how Intel chips forever changed Macs into business-friendly machines; but they’ll never get it.  For my part, you should not hesitate, even for a second, to take your firm Mac. Besides, people will think you're cooler then.

Randall A. Juip is a partner and the founder of The Juip Richtarcik Law Firm, and focuses his practice on professional negligence defense, business litigation, civil rights law, and public relations work (including risk management, crisis management, and public representation). The firm’s web site (www.jrlawdetroit.com) is currently undergoing a much-needed renovation and facelift). He is a Mac. 

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My friend, Randy Juip, has written a two-part Guest Post explaining in depth why his firm converted to Macs.  He was also a guest on an upcoming edition of the MILO Weekly podcast discussing this same subject.  I am pleased to present Part One of his Guest Post, "Why We Went Mac, and Have Never Looked Back....":

So many firms are locked into legacy systems -- they have PC’s, and so they continue to buy PC’s, almost without thought or consideration to the alternatives.

But I was lucky. When I opened my firm in July of 2009, I was starting from scratch. This was a totally new firm; the logistics were almost overwhelming. We would need everything, from trash bins to desks, and from staplers to computers. Taking time off from selecting legal pads and chair mats, one of the more interesting questions was also one of the easiest to answer: Mac or PC? Since I’ve always loved Macs, it was easy to go in that direction. We’ve never looked back.

So yes, PC’s are cheaper out of the box. And cost was a factor. We priced a number of different PC systems, from custom-built boxes to ordering the whole lot from Dell. It turns out that the savings -- not counting valuable, billable time -- was measurable but not as compelling as one would expect.

There were a number of considerations that lead us away from PC’s. First was the sheer technological hurdle of setting up and running a PC-based office. Macs are easy easy to set up and easy to network. You don’t have to spend hours adding available printers or copiers with a Mac. With a PC environment, on the other hand, our fear was that we’d spend much of our critical first-month start-up time babysitting fragile network settings. Macs just work, PC’s aren’t really that easy.

Second, we didn’t want to have a PC firm. PC’s are notorious for “gunking up,” for not working as well as they should, for needing constant attention and diligence to make everything work right. My partner and I knew from our own experience that running a firm from Macs would avoid these hassles.

Third, we are a young firm. We’re clever, and technologically savvy. We rely on email, PDF conversions, electronic records, and computers in general much more than our competitors. I had used PowerPoint (and now Keynote) for trials long before other attorneys began utilizing such things. “Going Mac” would fit in with the image we wanted to portray. It just made sense.

So, everyone at the office is now on one of two set-ups:

My partner and I, as well as our office manager, are on MacBook Pros (various models, but a minimum of 4GB RAM). The important consideration for us was making sure that the MBP had enough Video RAM to run an external monitor without choking on it. For docking and/or desk space, I have my MBP nestled in one of twelvesouth’s BookArc stands. They’re really sharp, and help not only display the sharp design, but to cool the MBP while it’s processing. I am waiting eagerly for HengeDock’s new product -- a base that you will slip a MBP into and out of, with all the connections available at all times. I understand that they have availability for 13” MacBooks and MBP’s, but not for the 15” and 17” models (yet).

For the external display, we selected Dell 24” G2410t monitors. They’re beautiful, accept an external arm mount on the back, and are generally well-reviewed (although I understand they’ve been discontinued by Dell -- too bad!).  Also, they are very affordable -- if you don’t mind buying on eBay.

These monitors are mounted using Ergotron’s LX monitor arms, which are not only sleek and stylish, but have support for multiple-monitorconfigurations. You know, in case we want to do that... The Ergotron LX, again, can be found very affordably on eBay.  I have really appreciated the flexibility of this arrangement -- especially on heavy drafting days. Moving the monitor in and out, closer and further from my face is a luxury I don’t know if I could now do without.

Lastly, for input, I use the Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad -- I can’t tolerate the smaller keyboards without the number pad. They just don’t work for me. Being old-school, I also am partial to the original wired Mighty Mouse, which is no longer available from Apple. My partner believes that I’m crazy, as he’s devoted to the Apple Wireless Keyboard and the new-model Apple Magic Mouse. Our office manager likes a generic PC USB Keyboard and a generic PC USB Mouse. I suppose everyone will have their own preferences for input.

With this set-up, there are also the peripherals.... Each MBP needs an adapter (like the Micro-DVI to DVI adapter sold by Apple) to connect the external monitor. I bought a USB extender cable to snake up through the Ergotron arm so I could have my USB keyboard cable not drape across my desk. Each computer, as well, has a 1TB External Drive (I have grown attached to the reliability and aesthetics of Fantom Drives’ GreenDrive) attached (either by USB or by Firewire, depending on the set-up) for use as a Time Machine disk.

The support staff and associates have 24” iMacs. We bought these refurbished from the Apple web site, and purchased an AppleCare package for each of them. We were fortunate that Apple had enough of the refurbished models in stock when we needed them; it’s sometimes hit or miss when buying refurbished from the Apple site.

My office manager and support staff, along with some of the associates, were concerned about the switch from PCs to Macs, and with “relearning” the everyday workflow of a new OS. However, when they saw the difference between the old 15” CRT monitors they were used to, and the beauty and size of the new 24” iMac display, much of this concern was alleviated. We had already transitioned away from Corel’s dreaded Word Perfect word processor to Microsoft Word and the Office suite, so there wasn’t much to learn there. And, once the staff learned to integrate spotlight, quicklook, and the dozens of other helpful Mac shortcuts into their workflow, everyone -- every single employee of mine -- agrees that they are more productive and happier using Macs than using the old PC’s.

There’s not much more to say about these set-ups. They make work easy and employees happy, and what more could one want?

Randall A. Juip is a partner and the founder of The Juip Richtarcik Law Firm, and focuses his practice on professional negligence defense, business litigation, civil rights law, and public relations work (including risk management, crisis management, and public representation). The firm’s web site (www.jrlawdetroit.com) is currently undergoing a much-needed renovation and facelift). He is a Mac.

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Today's Mac-using professionals are getting mighty fond of the convenient tech solutions Apple, Inc. keeps pumping out year after year, and they want to be kept in the loop on the latest developments. To help toward this end, Alvina Lopez has compiled a top 10 go-to list of online resources that she visits on a regular basis to stay abreast of all things Mac. I expect that many of the Mac enthusiasts that visit this blog will be familiar with many of these sites, but I also suppose some will find it useful to see them all in one place for easy reference, and perhaps add a few to their queue.

1. Apple.com :: In a world of tech rumors, sometimes it's just more helpful to get the information you need straight from the horse's mouth. They have a tab titled "Hot News" where you can skim headlines for topics you might be interested in. Hot News will re-route you to updates about their products and provides links to mainstream news articles about their successes (as you might expect, they don't typically link to articles criticizing their products, so you'll need to set up Google Alerts with keywords "Mac" and "Apple" if you want to access positive and negative news articles about Apple products.)
2. MacWorld.com :: This is the website that accompanies the niche magazine. The website closely follows trends, applications, and capabilities of Mac desktops and laptops, as well as the iPad, iPod and iPhone. What I find most useful are the reviews of products and applications. The Mac tips, tricks and how-tos are useful as well.
3. MacRumors.com :: If you're interested in the rumors, scuttlebutt and leaks of new Apple products (like I am), than this site is for you. There's also a forum, where you can connect with like-minded folks who are on the edge of their seats waiting for the next product, version or update.
4. Wired.com :: This site accompanies the popular tech magazine, which I skim for Mac-related articles. The great thing about this site is the number of bloggers involved, which provides a good deal of less newsy, anecdotal information pertaining to Macs and other Apple products. The How-To tab is also occasionally useful for snags you run into with your Macs.
5. BusinessWeek's Apple blog :: This blog is titled "Byte of the Apple" and is co-written by a senior tech writer and senior writer at BusinessWeek who have followed Apple for a long time. They have interesting, mature perspectives on the company and its products.
6. AppleInsider.com :: This is a simple site which compiles a great deal of Apple-related news (and rumors) in one place. These sites are helpful for picking up tidbits you may have missed in a mass Mac news search.
7. MacLife.com :: This is the website for the magazine tailored specifically for "today's passionate Mac users." Aside from the hard tech news I can't get enough of, the site has reviews, how-tos, blogs and forums.
8. CultofMac.com :: As the name suggests, this site is suitable for the ultra Mac-obsessed. Today I shook my head when I saw a piece on a "rare MacBook Pro with THREE command keys." Even so, it does have useful Mac news and rumors. The site is run by the guy who wrote a book called Inside Steve's Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
9. Mac.AppStorm.net :: AppStorm is a blog that reviews and discusses Mac applications. You never really know what you're going to get on this site, and that's part of its draw.
10. Mac-Forums.com :: Last but not least is a discussion forum that you can join to talk to people who speak Mac. They might not go by their real names, but they can help you with your Mac questions in a snap.

This guest post is contributed by Alvina Lopez, who writes on the topics of accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email alvina.lopez@gmail.com.

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I am pleased to publish the following Guest Post from Jim Martin, and I hope that my readers find it to be helpful:

I have drafted many legal forms in my law practice and have published many of them in book form through West Publishing. Back in the days of standalone word processors and WordPerfect DOS, we could easily set the forms up to merge specific client information to generate documents for clients. Not so with Microsoft Word. We had to use Hot Docs for Word.

I switched my law practice from PC to Mac in October 2009. Alas, there is no Hot Docs for Mac. Then I switched my word processor from Microsoft Word to Apples Pages in February 2010. Alas alas, there is no Hot Docs for Pages. So, I have been hunting for software that searches and replaces multiple variables of text in an Apple Pages document in one pass. And I found it…from Apple. It’s built in. You just use Numbers to hold the client’s variable text, and you use Pages to generate the documents. Both Pages and Numbers are included in Apple iWork ’09. Pages is Apple’s answer to Word, and Numbers is its answer to Excel.

Apple Pages mail merge can merge variable text from an Apple Numbers document into an Apple Pages document. You usually think of mail merge as creating letters and envelopes. That’s how it works with Word, and that’s how it works with Pages, too. But Pages also lets you merge your own variables from a Numbers document into a Pages document.

The instructions for merging with your own variables, instead of just Address Book variables, are on page 236 of the Apple Pages ’09 User Guide. It’s really easy since it involves just two files, but I will walk you through the steps I go through to create legal form documents for merging with Apple Pages. Here goes:

1. Find the legal form. Texas lawyer J. Harris Morgan taught lawyers years ago to throw copies of legal documents into whiskey boxes next to our desks. So, go to the whiskey box and pull out the form you want to “mergify”. Let’s assume it’s a deed. Print it on page for convenience.
2. Mark through the variable text. Now, go through the deed and strike through all the variable text, like the grantor name, grantor address, grantee name, grantee address, property address, property legal description, county, etc. Take your time. You don’t want Client A’s name to be on Client B’s deed.
3. Create the form document in Pages. Open Apple Pages and type that legal form document into it, or cut and paste it from an actual client file. This is your template. Save it with a name like “Deed template 2010.03.27.pages”. Note that I always put the date in the file name so that I know when I created it. Also note that you don’t need to save the file as a template. Saving it as a .pages file works just fine.
4. Create the fill-in document in Numbers. Now open Apple Numbers and create a blank spreadsheet and save it with a name like “Deed fillin 2010.03.27”. This will hold the specifics for your client. This is the variable text.
5. Enter the variable names in Numbers. In the first row type a variable name in each column. For example, in row 1 column A type the variable name “grantor name”, and in column B type “grantor address”, etc. Enter a column name for every variable text item in the deed (property address, property legal description, county, etc.) Each name must be different. Save this file for future use. The second row will contain the client’s specific information in each column for those variables.
6. Enter the variables in the form document in Pages. Go back to your legal form document in Pages. Using your paper mark-up of the legal form as a guide, go to the first variable text item that you struck out and rename it with its variable name. I add 3 asterisks around it for ease in viewing. So, the first variable might be ***grantor name***. Then select that variable name and do the following in this order:
   1. In the form document in Pages, select the variable name including the asterisks so that it is highlighted;
   2. Click on the Inspector at the top of the Pages document’s bar;
   3. Click on the Merge button;
   4. Click the radio button for Numbers document;
   5. Navigate to your saved Numbers fill-in file and select it;
   6. Click the plus sign in the lower left of the Inspector window;
   7. Click Add Merge Field;
   8. Pages will insert your highlighted text into the window under the Merge Field column;
   9. The Target Name to the right is probably not the correct variable name that appears as a column in your Numbers file, so in the Inspector window click to the right of the Target Name that Pages inserted for your Merge Field and a drop down list will appear with all of the variable names you entered in the first row of your Numbers file; just select the correct Target Name for the variable text you are trying to insert in the form at that point (e.g., ***grantor name*** Merge Field should have “grantor name” as the Target Name if that is what you typed as the column heading).
   10. Do the above for every variable text entry in your legal form in Pages.
   11. Save your Pages document file for future use.
7. Enter client’s variable text in Numbers. The hard part is done. Open the Numbers fill in document. Enter the client’s information in row 2 of each column. So, under the grantor name column you would enter “John T. Jones”. Do this column by column. Save the Numbers file to your desktop or other location you can find.
8. Merge in Pages to create the client’s document. Now go back to your form document in Pages and do the following:
   1. Click Edit;
   2. Click Mail Merge;
   3. Click Numbers Document and choose your fill-in Numbers document by clicking Choose and navigating to it if not already shown;
   4. Select Merge to New Document;
   5. Click Merge, and Pages creates a new Pages document by merging the client’s variable information into the Pages form.

So, this worked for me. I just discovered it today. So these instructions are still in beta, even if Pages and Numbers are not. Let me know if this works for you or if you have any tips or tricks of your own to make this work better. Thanks.

Jim Martin
St. Petersburg, Florida
March 27, 2010 

This article was originally published by James W. Martin at his Florida Lawyer Blog and is published here with his permission.

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Ultimately, you, the user, will have to determine if this “working in the cloud” is for you. Legitimate and less-legitimate concerns about the safety of your data and the security of your confidential information will be a topic for debate in another article. Consider, though, how much of your confidential life is already online—banks, insurance information, credit cards—and realize that security is generally as good as your passwords are. The tools for breaking free of the desktop--safely, securely, inexpensively, and collaboratively—are all there. The question is, do we want to use them.

Paul Meyerson has been a Macintosh consultant in the NYC area for more years than he wants to admit. His new company, www.macsupport.com, aims to take care of any and all Macintosh issues for the home or small business users. Using a combination of telephone support and remote control software, Macsupport.com is able to deal with a variety of home users’ issues quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

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Finally, for all the data flotsam and jetsam we accumulate, there’s an application to make your online life searchable. Evernote gives you a central database to keep accounts, passwords, bookmarks, notes, recipes or whatever you want. It stores them securely and keeps it all easily accessible in numerous ways. Evernote is an application you install on whatever platform you’re on (Mac, PC, iPhone, or access it via the web) and, using a free account, synchronize it all together.

Of the three Cloud applications I’ve discussed here, this is the one I use all day, every day. Although there is a free version (ad sponsored), the inexpensive pay account ($45/year) is a must if you intend to use this to its fullest extent. Evernote wants to consider itself your searchable filing cabinet, and its tools do exactly that. Tag notes with tags that you make up on the fly and then sort the whole system via those tags, or search for any text you might have in a note.

Many online applications have the ability to store notes and search them, there are two things that set Evernote apart: Integration into a browser and the ability to take pictures of anything and OCR it automatically. The picture part, although it’s very cool, I don’t use much. You use your iSight or iPhone camera to photograph nearly anything and save it to Evernote. When the item gets to Evernote’s servers they perform some impressive OCR voodoo to make those photos searchable. If there’s text, a general search of all your normal text documents will also find the photos with the text somewhere in them. For example, a picture of a map that had the words “New York” on it would show if you chose to search for the term “New York.”

The second exceptional feature of Evernote puts a small Elephant-shaped button right into your browser bar. Come across a page you want to have available to you later? Click this button and the entire page—pictures, text, whatever (not flash or other embedded things) as well as most of the formatting will pop right into a new Evernote note, along with the Title of the page and the link to the original. Unlike simply bookmarking a page in a browser, doing it this way makes that page completely searchable. Bookmarks are one thing, but this is far beyond.

Paul Meyerson has been a Macintosh consultant in the NYC area for more years than he wants to admit. His new company, www.macsupport.com, aims to take care of any and all Macintosh issues for the home or small business users. Using a combination of telephone support and remote control software, Macsupport.com is able to deal with a variety of home users’ issues quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

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If viewing the changes after a document is saved is not fast enough for you, how about an application where people can share a document and see the changes AS THEY HAPPEN? This, among many other things, is a killer feature of Google Documents. Some of the features of this indispensible tool are:

• Totally free.
• Work on the same document at the same time in real-time collaboration.
• Replicate all of the expensive Microsoft Office applications for free with Google versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Save the documents locally if you need to (as either Word, HTML, PDF, or many other formats with no conversion necessary), or leave them in the cloud.
• Give access to any document to anyone you choose, and decide whether they can read/write or delete each document.
• Use a built-in revision history to keep track of multiple versions of the same documents.

Trust me, you haven’t worked on a spreadsheet until you’ve seen the cursor moving around on its own as you’re editing other cells and colleagues are editing their own info at the same time. It’s almost creepy (but in a good way!)

Paul Meyerson has been a Macintosh consultant in the NYC area for more years than he wants to admit. His new company, www.macsupport.com, aims to take care of any and all Macintosh issues for the home or small business users. Using a combination of telephone support and remote control software, Macsupport.com is able to deal with a variety of home users’ issues quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

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Dropbox, completely free for 2 GB of space, a pay service if you need more space ($10/month for 50 GB), appears just like any other folder on your local computer. However, the folder is actually a live, shared folder on the dropbox servers. With the help of an integrated menu bar application, you can give read only or read/write access to anything that’s in the box, be it folders or individual files. You can access your own dropbox through the web, iPhone, desktop or laptop, via Mac or PC. Others can access it in the same way if you’ve given them access.

Think of it as file sharing without having to set up the server. Working on a collaborative project? Share out that folder with people and give granular access to files and folders in the project. The folder automatically checks to see what’s been updated locally and updates the folder accordingly. Need to get someone changes to a document or a series of documents? Don’t email them—just work out of the drop box and everyone will see your changes immediately after you save the file.

Paul Meyerson has been a Macintosh consultant in the NYC area for more years than he wants to admit. His new company, www.macsupport.com, aims to take care of any and all Macintosh issues for the home or small business users. Using a combination of telephone support and remote control software, Macsupport.com is able to deal with a variety of home users’ issues quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

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The typical model of how people store and access documents is changing as “cloud computing” makes its way to the Mac environment. Basically, cloud computing means that software is stored not on the user’s desktop, but on a server or many servers somewhere on the Internet (hence, “cloud.”)

Alternately referred to as SaaS (“Software as a Service”), the basic concept is the same—you don’t buy your software, you subscribe to it. In many cases, this is a paid service. In some cases, most notably through Google, it’s free. In all cases of Cloud Computing, though, it’s using the tools we’ve taken for granted on the desktop and moved them onto the Internet.

Economically, this makes good sense. Why spend big chunks of money on databases or word processors when the same software is available online for a nominal monthly fee (or, for free!)? Perhaps more importantly, why deal with the headaches that come with locally stored applications, including installation and upgrades when you could just open your browser and do about 98% of what you normally do?

However, with all of these good reasons for using cloud computing, I’d like to discuss a different one: Functionality that is ONLY available in a “cloud.” Three applications specifically exemplify this: Dropbox, Evernote and Google Docs, and each will be addressed in a series of posts over the next week. Stay tuned...

Paul Meyerson has been a Macintosh consultant in the NYC area for more years than he wants to admit. His new company, www.macsupport.com, aims to take care of any and all Macintosh issues for the home or small business users. Using a combination of telephone support and remote control software, Macsupport.com is able to deal with a variety of home users’ issues quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

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The following Guest Post was written by one of my readers, Michael Yurkanin, and it reviews several wireless microphones to address their use with MacSpeech Dictate Legal:

There have been many articles written about the latest version of dictation software by MacSpeech, MacSpeech Dictate Legal. To use the software requires a microphone. The majority of the microphones recommended by MacSpeech are wired and plug directly into a USB port. MacSpeech, however, now endorses two wireless microphones which they sell on their website, the Samson AirLine 77 Wireless USB and the Revolabs xTag USB Wireless Microphone.

These microphones eliminate another set of wires crossing your desk and are also convenient if you have to step away for a moment since you do not have to remove a headset. On the negative side, both of these microphones are quite expensive compared to a wired microphone. Aside from the cost consideration, the two microphones are significantly different from each other. This review will provide you with information to consider before purchasing so that you will choose the wireless microphone best suited for you.

(MacSpeech recently added the Plantronics Calisto Headset + Bluetooth USB Adaptor which is not included in this review.  This headset was originally designed by Plantronics for use with the Plantronics Calisto Pro Home Office Phone which is sold online and at office supply stores. I have used the Home Office Phone Bluetooth headset and it works well as a phone. The modified Calisto Headset for dictation will be reviewed in a forthcoming article. One item to note is that the Plantronics Calisto Headset uses Bluetooth technology and will have a much smaller range than the other two units.)

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Technology and Business seem to have a rite of passage. When the business starts, a few computers are purchased and the firm makes sure they can access the internet. The assumption is to become a real business requires purchasing your own server. Everybody needs one, right? And thanks to Apple and Microsoft, they are so affordable!

There was a recent blog entry about the new Apple Mac Mini Server. This is a good little product, but I felt it was important to discuss the benefits, costs, and risks of owning such a device. If a server makes sense, I think it can be a great solution. Just don’t be seduced by the apparent “low cost deal” without considering other factors.

There are good reasons to own an in-house server:

1. Apple’s Server product includes a simple Wiki and Blog engine for teams. Perhaps you have a team performing some research. Perhaps you need to develop a corporate knowledge base. The Wiki makes this simple. No programming required.
2. It provides simple file sharing. Do you have a document you want to save so others can access it? Put it on the server. A Mac or PC can easily share files.
3. iCalServer. This provides a shared calendar location for all employees. iCalServer has its quirks, but it has definitely improved in this version.
4. The Mac Mini Server has two 500 GB hard drives inside. That would allow you to create a RAID-1 (mirror) to protect your data. This only prevents downtime in case one hard drive fails in the middle of your workday. It is not a substitute for a good backup strategy.

The challenge is that many will fail to consider these additional factors:

1. Apple’s Server product (and Microsoft’s) include a built-in email server. Don’t use it. Just Say No! If you’ve got a technology consultant talking you into it, find another one. They are trying to make money on regular maintenance! Email is a very complex, always changing beast. Would you try to run your own telephone service?
2. Now that you’ve saved all your data to your server’s disk, how are you going to protect it? What is your backup strategy? What is your off-site backup strategy? I’ve had clients experience office fires, theft, and employee stupidity. Data without an off-site backup plan will be gone someday. Factor that expense into your solution.
3. Servers are computers that work many hours of the day. They never get turned off. The two most common failure points in any computer (Mac or PC) are the hard disks and the power supply. Many large servers have built-in dual power supplies because this is such a common issue. That is also why most servers utilize redundant disks (RAID-1). The Apple Mac Mini Server can handle the disk issue, but perhaps you should consider an additional extra Mac Mini power supply. Plan for the day something fails, because it will.
4. On-Going Monitoring and support is another cost factor to running your own in-house server. Who will make sure that one of the disks hasn’t failed? Who will guarantee that the backups were successful? These are not complex tasks, it is just important to not assume everything is OK.
5. The server itself may have some other hardware failure at a most inappropriate time. This is one of the primary reasons to never run your own email server. Email is too critical a communications medium to have any downtime.

There are many great solutions today that provide “Software as a Service” or SaaS. Some refer to this as “cloud-computing”. There are many factors in choosing a software partner. Several vendors have written guest columns for this site. Solutions exist for Practice Management, Calendaring, Email, Data Sharing, and Electronic Whiteboard. The list is endless. These may ultimately be more secure and cost effective solutions for your firm.

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Faxes are a fact of life for lawyers, and that’s something that’s unlikely to change in the near future. As long as contracts require amendments and signatures, forms need to be filled out, required documents still exist solely in paper form, etc. lawyers will need a way to send and receive them quickly.

If you’re still using a fax machine, you’ve probably noticed that faxes throw a bit of a monkey wrench into your plans for greening the office. There is another alternative, though: an Internet fax service. These services allow you to send and receive faxes either through your email account or a secure online server. Here are some of the reasons you may want to make the switch now.

• Paperless.  When you receive a fax through an Internet fax service, it arrives as an attachment in your email or the online user interface. Most lawyers use PDFs, although better services will give you a choice of file formats. Once you receive it you can save the attachment to any location you want on your hard drive or network (most likely an individual client folder). That way it’s always available to you without the need to carry around a stack of papers. And you never have to worry about losing or misplacing a fax. On the other side, sending a fax is as easy as sending an email. If it already exists electronically you don’t have to print it first and then run it through a fax machine.
• Greater mobility.  An Internet fax service allows you to send and receive faxes anywhere you can get an Internet connection. That’s a feature Andy Ullucci of Ullucci Law Associates in Rumford, Rhode Island felt was essential in starting his practice. His vision from the beginning was to run the entire business off his laptop instead of having a formal office. With MyFax, Ullucci says he can send and receive faxes from a client’s office, a local coffee shop, a hotel lobby or dozens of other locations. It’s essential in keeping things moving forward while he’s out of his home office – which is most of the time.
• Lower cost. There are a lot of additional costs associated with a fax machine. There’s the machine itself, which you generally have to replace once every year or two. There’s the second phone line needed to have a dedicated fax number. Then there’s the paper and toner, not to mention the electricity to run the machine 24/7 in case you need to send or receive a fax. With an Internet fax service you eliminate the cost of the machine, second phone line, toner and electricity to run it. You also seriously reduce your paper costs because you choose which pages you print – and use your regular printer to do it. Finally, you don’t need extra filing cabinets and space as you do with paper faxes; all the pages are stored electronically.
• Always available. Fax can machines jam, grab two pages at once, run out of paper or toner, lose power, get busy signals or suffer other issues that prevent faxes from being sent or received efficiently. Internet fax services don’t have any of those issues. If you’re sending a fax through an Internet fax service and it gets a busy signal, it will keep trying, usually for 24 hours. If a fax fails to go through for any reason, you receive an email notice so you can remedy the situation right away. Since there’s no paper or toner involved you’ll never run out. And if you have a power loss you can simply go anywhere there’s an Internet connection; if you have your faxes coming in to your smart phone you may not even have to move.

When you look at that list, it really makes you wonder why you’re using that old fax machine at all!

Luc Vezina is product marketing manager for MyFax, a provider of Internet faxing services for individual home users, small businesses, and large corporations. MyFax has won a number of awards in head-to-head competitions for ease of use, reliability, and best overall value. He can be reached at lvezina@protus.com.

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The following Guest Post is from one of my readers and fellow attorney, Kurt Gibson, in response to the current "anti-Mac" ads being run by Microsoft:

I just saw the Microsoft ad (for the hundredth time) where the announcer states that the buyer gets a budget to purchase a laptop. The buyer looks at the Macs and says they are too much money, or too small, or not enough memory, or she is not cool enough to be a mac person, etc. The buyer purchases the PC with the announcer's money. I am sure you have seen the commercials.

I suppose everyone would purchase a windoze computer if Microsoft gave it to them free. I would do the same thing, but the following day I would put the brand new computer on eBay and use the money toward the purchase of a Mac.

Apple should run a knock-off ad where the buyer takes the announcer's money, adds a few hundred from his or her pocket, and buys the better laptop -- the Mac.

Kurt Gibson opened his practice in Anderson, SC in 1995, and he focuses on bankruptcy and litigation. His law practice uses Macs exclusively, although he must use Parallels and Windows XP for one bankruptcy program that does not have a Mac flavor.

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The following Guest Post is from Joey Heape, Director of Media & Tech for the South Carolina Bar:

At South Carolina Bar, I normally work in a Windows environment and use Remote Desktop that comes as a part of Windows XP Pro to access workstations, administer our local servers and our web server. While I use a PC at the office I use a MacBook Pro or a Mac Pro when I’m at home or on the road. So how do I do this? Well, I use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection for the Mac. Microsoft has had this product for a number of years and it works quite well. It’s a free download and works great if you are using a Mac to control a PC.

South Carolina Bar is mostly a Windows environment. However, we have eight Mac workstations and three Mac laptops in our environment too. Those that work from home using Macs have to be able to access their Mac workstations with a Mac from home. There are many companies that offer remote control products like GoToMyPC , MobileMe or some subscription based model where you access your destination computer through a third-party. While these are easy to do they cost you a monthly subscription.

Enter Apple Remote Desktop. Since I’m the system administrator at South Carolina Bar, we have purchased Apple’s Remote Desktop product to manage the Macs on our network. We can update software and do many administrative tasks with this program. But did you know there is a scaled down version of Apple Remote Desktop that comes with Mac OS X? It’s called Screen Sharing.

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Today, I am pleased to present another Guest Post from Larry Port, "How and Why a Lawyer Should Implement a Getting Things Done System":

Yesterday, as part of our weeklong Legal efficiency-fest, we introduced the Getting Things Done productivity system at a high level, including its advantages and general ideas. Each day, from here to the end of the week, we’ll write guest posts at prominent legal blogs exploring the system in more detail.

In a profession such as law, where time is quite literally money and losing track of tasks and events incurs significant penalties, an organizational system such as GTD is key. The current economic downturn places even more emphasis on streamlining operations and gaining efficiencies.

Granted, you may have your own system that works wonders. But if “the art of stress-free productivity”, as the GTD book is subtitled, seems compelling, and you’re wondering what exactly GTD is, take a look at my first post here. But let’s say you’re ready to take the plunge. How do you start?

The good news is, you don’t need your entire firm’s buy-in. You can come up with your own GTD system just fine.

Start Capturing

For stress-free productivity, you need a capture device. Get all of the noise out of your head out and into a system that can be reviewed. This means capturing anything you have to do, whether it’s prepare a motion, send a fax, call a client, or lookup a case on Westlaw.

The whole trick is to organize your to-do’s as a series of “next action” items. They can’t be vague or unclear. According to GTD, you want to write down the next possible step you can take to execute the task. It’s not enough to write “Do Research”. Instead, write “Research related case precedent for relevance to bankruptcy case”, a specific and concrete action you can perform.

Organize

Next action items need to be categorized for easy reference. This sounds obvious, but here’s the interesting twist: you might not want to label them as you have in the past. Instead of organizing your tasks by what they are, organize them by where you can perform them. If you have a list for “Courthouse”, “Phone”, or “Computer”, then you can always know what to work on based on where you find yourself.

Schedule a Weekly Review

Getting organized is one thing, but staying organized is another. It’s easy and invigorating to roll up one’s sleeves every once in a while and organize the office and write up a to-do list. The hard part is maintaining that level of focus on a day to day basis.

The GTD weekly review is designed to keep practitioners on course. Once a week, block off a an hour or so on the calendar. Make sure all lists are updated and reviewed. Like most things in the system, the weekly review is a simple yet powerful technique.

Tickler Files

Law firms, whether they realize it or not, use tickler files as a matter of necessity. They constantly calendar ahead court appointments and deadlines. But usually, that’s as far as their advance calendaring goes. GTD is a big proponent of maintaining tickler reminders, which is a very powerful technique for following up with prospective customers or referring attorneys.

What Organizational Tool Should I Use?

One of the cool things about GTD is it’s more of an idea that anything, and is “platform agnostic” as we say in technology circles. You could invest in technology, 3 x 5 index cards, Moleskine notebooks, or any other organization tool.

We designed Rocket Matter, with its new task functionality, for attorneys to leverage a full-blown GTD system. Tasks are quickly added and organized, can be associated with matters, and funneled into invoices.

On the other end of the technology spectrum is the Hipster PDA, a 3 x 5 index card system. Take a look at DIYPlanner.com for some cool templates to get you started, and Levenger sells a great leather index card holder to give it a little class.

The David Allen Company, in addition to providing educational material, offers their own paper-based organizers here.

Stay Tuned

We’ll be delving into these topics in further detail throughout the week. So stay tuned for tomorrow, where we’ll explore how to turn your “stuff” on the horizon into Next Action items.

Purchase “Getting Things Done” at Amazon.com.

Larry Port is a Founding Partner and Chief Software Architect for Rocket Matter, LLC.  You can follow him on Twitter here.

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The following Guest Post is from one of my readers, Marissa Clake, who is an International Business Management major at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China:

Watching movies is an essential part of my leisure life on weekends. Having tons of DVDs, I had been using DVD Hunter to organize them on my Mac.  Unfortunately, this program required me to insert each DVD disc every time I wanted to watch it.

Fortunately, I discovered a terrific program called DVD-Library for Mac which enables me to backup my commercial DVDs.  It is a beta version, so it is not perfectly stable, but its main functions work quite well and it is free.  

I use it to make ISO file for all my encrypted DVDs, and because it doesn’t remove the protection, I don’t worry about breaking the law.  With only a few clicks, I can watch the backup movies on my Mac conveniently, and the quality of the ISO image is as good as the original DVDs.

This software has enabled me to built a virtual library for my DVDs on my Mac.  Because it records the information about each movie, I can easily find the movie I want to watch. It’s really cool software. You can find out more about it and/or download it for yourself by clicking HERE. 

Below is a quick tutorial for this software, but you can find a more detailed tutorial at the developer’s website.

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EasyTime [ + & - ] by Mark K. Funke

About two months ago I entered PC hell. My four year old XP machine started giving me random memory access error messages that just didn't sound good, most of the attachments coming into my email inbox ended up corrupted, and to top it all off, the server no longer recognized any of the tape drives. That was it. I needed a new system. My office-mate had updgraded all his machines to Vista with the usual horror stories. I instead blew $4,000 at the Apple Store, and I was up and running fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, I had not researched the question of billing software for Macs. With my XP machines dead or dying, I really didn't have much time to think about it. I did about 4 hours of research and concluded that EasyTime from Bright Light Software looked the best for me. I downloaded it, spent perhaps 30 minutes with it, and immediately paid the $99.00 registration fee. I didn't have much of a choice, as billable work was stacking up.

After one month of using EasyTime, I have listed my current thoughts below, mostly in comparison to Billings from Marketcircle, which I also briefly thought about purchasing.

Positives about Easytime:

1. I love the simple interface. It's easy and fast to enter time and a description. One of my complaints with Billings is that it seems cumbersome to quickly add new billed time and new lengthy descriptions in your slips. With Billings there are too many "clicks" required to finalize the slip - not so with Easytime. This was probably my biggest selling point. I have a habit of meticulously and quickly tracking my time.
   
2. Similarly, the setup with new cases, and clients and the general layout of the program is easy to use, and IMHO better than Billings. I like the idea of the color coded invoice tracking.
   
3. As a law specific application, the Retainer billing function makes more sense than Billings.
   
4. The developer is extremely responsive and helpful in fixing any problems you may have. That's just absolutely awesome!
   
5. I like the report function and the simplicity of many of the reports; similarly I like the way it saves PDFs of your past invoices in the support directory.

Negatives about Easytime:

1. Starting with the website where you download the program and all the way through the general interface of the program - it's not as, shall we say "refined" as Billings or as pretty. Mac users like pretty; I want pretty.
2. Some of the program functions, such as postage tracking, organizing files for individual clients, etc. appear useless to me. They aren't well-refined enough to use. For example, I doubt anyone uses the "schedule phone call" function. I believe that it's way easier just to use iCal. I suppose those functions are slightly beta, and I am waiting for a more comprehensive approach in version 2.0.
3. The the simple and the standard invoice form is just fine, but the customization is somewhat lacking. It would be nice to have 5-10 sample invoice forms that come with the program. In general, I like the concept of "pretty invoices" as Billings has, but the Billings invoices are a little too childlike for me. I would like better designed invoices, but with a professional look. Perhaps it would make sense for the developer to hire a graphic designer to design a few invoices.
4. The user manual is not complete. The program is very intuitive, which is good. It's easy to use, but the user manual could be more specific. There are several buttons and functions that I have no idea what they do or where to even look up that info.

If you are a current or past EasyTime user I would love to hear your thoughts on the software. I can be reached at mark@funkelaw.com.

Mark K. Funke is an attorney in Seattle, Washington, whose practice emphasizes commercial real estate transactions.

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The following Guest Post is from Dale Strauss, and it is written in response to my recent post about the iPhone vs. Blackberry debate.  Let it never be said that I'm not willing to air both sides of a debate, even if one of them is not pro-Apple (LOL).  I hope that you find it helpful and informative, and I'd like to thank Dale for allowing me to publish his great article:

Reading Ben’s references to the great articles by Jeff Richardson and Lee Rosen gave rise to one of my long-winded comments, which Ben graciously suggested we turn it into this Guest Post. I would like to make a plug for a different alternative to the iPhone, the Blackberry Bold. No doubt the Storm is RIM's direct analog for the iPhone, however I believe the Bold is a more compelling alternative, particularly for lawyers.

I've tried the iPhone 3g twice (and my son has my original iPhone) so I believe I've given it a fair shake. It is undoubtedly one of the best electronic gadgets ever invented. It has no equal as a media device, whether music, videos, gaming, or even the internet. I hesitated a bit on that last one, because Safari on the iPhone is the best internet experience on a phone size device, but it is still too small. No matter how good the interface and translation of a full page may be, it is still an annoying WINDOW on the real thing. Even netbooks at 8" stretch the true usability of the internet. No device with a 3" +/- window on the internet world delivers the goods.

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As my long-time readers may recall, my friend and fellow blogger, David Sparks of the MacSparky blog, attends the Macworld Expo every year, and he has been kind enough to report his findings to my readers.  The following are David's thoughts on the 2009 Macworld Expo: 

In addition to my job at Macsparky (the business card really does say "Chief Slacker"), I have another job that actually pays money as a business attorney. So every year in addition to looking for things new and geeky at Macworld Expo, I also take a look for tools useful in the practice of law. Here is this year's take:

Daylite Touch

Marketcircle's Daylite has become the “go to” applicaiton for running your law practice. This year they had a strong presence at Macworld including numerous demonstrations, presentations from the David Allen company, and previews of their soon to be released iPhone client. It supports full synching with your Daylight database. This is excellent news for Daylite users.

Livescribe Smartpen

Livescribe’s Pulse Smartpen is coming to the Mac. This is, essentially, a computer in a pen. It records all pen strokes and then recreates the pages on your screen. It also records audio while you are taking notes and indexes it to your notes. You must use their paper (printed with the required microdots to give the computer context) but I could use this every day in my practice. This could also be a nice gift for any university students in your life.

FileMaker Pro 10

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What a year for web-based legal practice management!  After so many years of the same desktop-based options, in 2008 the field was broken wide open by Rocket Matter and other new online, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for law firms.

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Today, I am pleased to present the following Guest Post from Marnï "The MacAngel" Melrose, which she discusses Marketcircle's outstanding productivity suite, Daylite:

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Last week, Ross Kodner published an article on the TechnoLawyer Blog which cautioned against using Macs in your law practice.  As you might imagine, Mr. Kodner's post generated a good bit of discussion in the Macs In Law Offices forum, and I am pleased to present the following response from MILO member Brian Sajdak:

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I am pleased to present the following Guest Post from Blake Boyd, who is one of the premier Trial Technologists and Legal Presentation Specialists in America:

Since the advent and rise in popularity of the internet, the general public has changed the way we all gather our news, research and general information.  This electronic age has trickled it's way into the courtroom.  Many major cities in the United States are adding courtroom A/V expenses into their budgets.  Newly constructed courthouses are almost guaranteed to at least include a projector, screen, and sometimes individual monitors for the Judge and Jury to view.  Have you found yourself wondering how you can take advantage of these visual tools?

As the technology has become more popular so has the usage of Trial Technologists.  When I started helping present evidence in trial 8 years ago, the major fear of most attorneys was they would look "too flashy".  Other attorneys in the courtroom would joke saying, "Are you going to show us movies?  Do we get to watch you play games?  What is all of this for?"  I would sit back and smile as they didn't understand how powerful it is to explain the issues of a case visually to the Jury.  Now those same attorneys are trying their hardest to incorporate audio visual presentations into their case.  

I talk to many attorneys that are having trouble justifying the added expense of hiring a Trial Technologist, and while I'm an strong advocate of the usage of technology in the courtroom, some cases do, and some don't, justify that expense.  When trying to help them answer this question I tell them to think about these different options, each has their pro's and con's:

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After reading last week's Guest Post by Todd Juneau, Paul Meyerson submitted a comment suggesting some additional ways to get the most out of Boot Camp.  I asked him to expand his thoughts into a Guest Post, which I am now pleased to share with you:

As a Mac consultant in New York City for Templeton & Associates, I have a number of clients around the city that occasionally require Mac-PC interactivity.  If at all possible, we try to keep our users on the Mac side, but occasionally there is an application or two that just need Windows.  For those clients, I had been recommending Parallels, as Todd mentioned, although VM Ware's newest offering, Fusion v. 2.0, has me seriously leaning towards that application.  I've found in personal use that VM Ware is MUCH faster to boot, takes less of the Mac's resources (Parallels can slow the Mac to a crawl while it's trying to load up), and is just more compatible than is Parallels on a wide range of Windows applications.  However, ultimately, both are emulation software, and as a result are much slower than even an entry level PC -- even if that PC was running the languid Vista!  

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The following guest post is from Todd Juneau, a registered patent attorney in Alexandria, Virginia:

I wanted to share a recent experience I had loading Windows on my Mac machines.  In summary, I am very pleased with my Mac/Windows setup.  A few years ago, I switched from Windows to Linux to Mac OS.  After a few years, I wanted to install a law office practice management suite.  Unfortunately, the ones I liked, ran on Windows.  After much research trying to find a "work-around", I tried to load Windows on my various Mac machines.

I used Boot Camp to let me run Windows on my iMac.  It partitions the drive, lets you load Windows XP SP2 (or Vista), and gives you a way to switch OS's by re-booting.  Which (rebooting) by the way is extremely fast.  Apparently, iMac's are very happy running XP; my experience has been the same: fast.  I know that Parallels and other VM software lets you run both OS's at the same time, with fast switching, but I avoided this approach due to concerns I had about having a slow machine.

Once XP SP2 is loaded (you can buy XP SP2 at Best Buy), then you can run all your favorite Windows programs natively.  Of course, you'll need to do all the XP updates (SP3 works well on my iMac) and you'll need to get some antivirus software -- I used ClamWin since it is free and a fast download.  I didn't want my XP exposed to the internet without it - since Windows "announces" itself to networks, viruses can infect exposed machines within minutes, or less.

I'd recommend looking into getting the Mac Mini if you already have a flat screen and keyboard/mouse devices,  Get the bigger one (the bigger Mini), with more memory and better combo-drive.  Then, use your own flat screen, and a wireless keyboard/mouse set up -- check out Logitech EX110 -- it's about $40.  That way, you'll have a "Windows" keyboard, which works well on the Mac OS side, instead of a "Mac" keyboard that is missing some of the special Windows functions -- sound, shortcuts, etc.  It's all so very compact.

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The following guest post is from Gerry Oginski, a Mac-using medical malpractice & personal injury trial lawyer in Great Neck, New York:

As the internet has taken hold and more lawyers have recognized the benefits of marketing online, one marketing tool is defining the standard of advertising on the web. Online videos. It is the newest, hottest tool available for lawyers to communicate their message on the web. Admittedly, attorney videos are one-way communication, but they offer significant advantages over every other advertising medium.

Most attorneys have failed to understand the true value of video and how it can improve their chances of a potential client calling them over their competitor. Legal marketing experts agree that the sooner you start to see the value of video marketing, the sooner you'll see the results. Legal marketing expert Larry Bodine recently commented that putting video on your website is "...a great opportunity to present how you look, how you talk, what you're like, and make yourself more attractive to clients. It's a great business-getting technique." The key to encouraging a website visitor to call you, is with video. Static websites and fancy graphics just do not cut it any more, and fail to distinguish yourself from your competitor. Tom Foster, CEO of Foster Web Marketing says "If you get in early by putting video on your website, you can take advantage of good search placement on the video search engines."

If you thought that internet video was for the MTV crowd, you'd be wrong. If you thought that video for your website was only for geeky techno-lawyers, you'd be wrong too. If you thought that putting a video of yourself online was useless, you'd definitely be wrong. In fact, Google thinks you're so wrong that they recently paid one billion dollars to buy a video sharing site called YouTube. To give you an idea about the reach that internet video has, consider a ten minute video clip by comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham: his video has been viewed over 60 million times. Most attorney videos are viewed in the hundreds of times, but it shows the potential that video has. Plus, if done correctly, does not cost you anything more if it is watched 100 times or 100,000 times.

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The following Guest Post is from William A. Jackson, M.D., a Radiologist with Beaufort Medical Imaging at Beaufort Memorial Hospital:

Why is a physician writing on an attorney's blog?  First, I have been a Mac user for fourteen years, and this blog is about Mac use.  The inspiration for this particular post came from a discussion with a fellow physician who is currently involved in a medical malpractice case.  He was asked for the medical images involved in the case, which he provided on a CD.  The requesting attorney was unfamiliar with the viewing software on the CD, and he did not realize all of the images were there but needed to be scrolled through.  Accusations were then made that information was deliberately withheld, which had its own set of hearings and unnecessarily increased the cost, time and stress for all involved.  As an impartial party, I saw an opportunity to contribute information that could have prevented this misunderstanding and offer an advantage to fellow Mac users.

Modern digital medical images are stored in DICOM format.  DICOM (Digital Imaging and COmmunications in Medicine) is a standardized format based on a lossless JPEG format that can carry additional medical data about the images.  The data identifies the type of study, patient name and date, much like the metadata tags that people are now applying to their digital photos.  In order to view the DICOM images, you must have a DICOM viewer.  At the hospital (or office) that took the images, they will have PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System).  These systems can stores thousands of images and allow for viewing of the images at multiple locations.  The images can be printed on conventional film or burned onto a CD or DVD.  Due to cost savings and convenience, the CD/DVD format is preferred.  Most CD/DVD's will include a copy of a free DICOM viewer; however, most assume that a Windows PC will be used and that Internet Explorer will be the default browser, often with ActiveX turned on.

So what are Mac users to do?  Of course, they can opt to use Boot camp, virtualization or a spare PC, but they can still have problems based on the assumptions already mentioned.  The best option for Mac users is OsiriX.  OsiriX is an open source DICOM viewer for Mac OS X.  It can open CD's and DVD's that contain DICOM images.  This allows you to view the images just as a radiologist or other physician would view them on a PACS.  The settings can be adjusted and areas of interest measured if desired.  OsiriX has the capability if working as a 3-D work station which is likely well above the needs of most attorneys.  The most important aspect, I feel, is the ability to view the images in a familiar format.  If you rely on the software included on the CD/DVD, each will have its own user interface.  This means that you must learn multiple ways of doing the same thing, often with contradictory results for the same action on different viewers.  This consistent user interface will make you more efficient at handling the images and less likely to over look some of the images.

OsiriX can allow you to store a copy of the images so you will still have them if the CD/DVD is damaged or lost.  You can make your own discs to distribute to your colleagues or witnesses.  You can store the images on a hard drive, locally or networked.  You can then export the images in a variety of formats.  You can burn CD's or DVD's.  You can also export to other drives or iPods.  They can be upload to web servers or iDisks.  Images can be exported in standard JPEG for incorporation into presentations.

As a radiologist, I find OsiriX useful even though I work at a hospital with a good PACS.  OsiriX is better at finding the DICOM images than our PACS, although some of that is due to protective settings on the PACS.  OsiriX opens nearly every disc that comes in.  There is one office that formats the disc in such a way that I have to manually find and load the images, which is fortunately the rare exception.  In fact OsiriX is so powerful, that there have even been a couple of times when it saved the day.  A referring physician wanted the outside images loaded onto our PACS and even with a $150,000 imaging work station designed to import images,  I had to extract the images from the disc, burn a new one using OsiriX, and then we could load the images onto PACS through the work station.  Not bad for free software!

William A. Jackson, M.D.
Beaufort Medical Imaging
Beaufort Memorial Hospital

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The following Guest Post is from Jesmond Darmanin, a Web Marketer with GFI Software, and it explains the "Four Reasons for Archiving Email Correspondence":

Email is a primary source of documentation for many organizations and it has taken on an increasingly critical role in corporate court proceedings, regulatory compliance and legal discovery. Companies are realizing the importance of archiving their email correspondence, since being in a position to retrieve an old email could save them thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines, as well as their credibility.

The following are four legal reasons why companies need to archive their email correspondence:

1. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the '1934 Act') :: requires various entities to maintain records for five years and more. Failure to do so can result in severe fines.
2. The Commodity Futures Training Commission (CFTC) :: requires futures commission merchants to keep records for five years. Failure to comply can result in hefty fines.
3. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act ('Sarbanes Oxley') :: accountants must keep all audit or review workpapers for a minimum of five years. Violation of this rule can lead to a fine and imprisonment.
4. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD)) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) :: members are required to preserve records for no less than six years or they can be imposed with a civil fine.

Email archiving can help companies to abide by all four requirements mentioned above, because emails are archived at server level, so no matter if a copy is deleted by the end-user from his/her computer terminal, once an archive exists with all correspondence entered into by the company then the emails are searchable and retrievable and can be presented in court or as requested.  Moreover, one is also able to offer the assurance that the email was not tampered with or altered in any way, thus making it a legal and binding document that could save a company or organization a lot of money in a legal situation. Companies that are unable to provide email documentation that is requested by the courts or other legal body could be subject to hefty fines, as they would be in breach of legal requirements.

A more in depth article on e-mail archiving can be found HERE.

Jesmond Darmanin  ::  Web Marketer  ::  GFI Software

GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. With award-winning technology and a strong focus on small-to-medium sized businesses, GFI is able to satisfy the need for business continuity and productivity encountered by organizations on a global scale.

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Today, I am pleased to present another Guest Post. This one comes from one of my readers, Dale Strauss, an attorney with Bullock, Scott, Neisig, Morgan, Leeton & Strauss, P.C. in Midland, TX:

Like many of Ben's readers, I have been a gadget geek for years. I have tried most every line of smartphones that has been available on Sprint or AT&T, including the Treo 300/600/750, Samsung i500/Blackjack/Blackjack II, Cingular 3125, AT&T Tilt, and RIM Pearl/Curve. What I have been searching for is a jack of all trades that has to master four areas: (1) good phone quality, (2) email, (3) PIM function, and (4) web browsing. The iPhone 3g is the first to solidly hit three out of four.

Phone Quality: The iPhone 3g is as good as any smartphone in call quality and signal acquisition. The 2g tended to have muffled audio and low volume speakerphone quality. The 3g delivers clear audio and loud speakerphone volume even in EDGE network areas.

Email:  Exchange Activesync says it all. The 3g delivers email from our Exchange Server even before it hits my desktop. The delivery and updating of email, calendar, and contact information is every bit as fast as Blackberry Exchange Services on my Curve. Add to this the alternative push email capability of MobileMe (whoever chose that name should be fired) for those without an Exchange Server, and RIM should be very worried. Together these extend push email to small and medium businesses with far less pain than BES administration (and server downtime). The Achilles heel (see more in next section) is lack of notes and tasks syncing. This, however, is a problem for all Mac users whether using the built in programs or Entourage.

PIM: This is the weak area for the iPhone 3g, and a significant advantage for RIM. Notes and tasks do not sync with your Outlook information on Exchange Server. This is particularly a problem for Mac users, as even the vaunted Blackberry cannot sync these with Entourage or the built in applications. However, the quality of the new App Store and vendors who are writing for it will fill this gap shortly. WebIS plans to bring PocketInformant to the iPhone, which is the leading PIM for Windows Mobile. Likewise, Datavis is porting Documents to Go, and will deliver a rich Microsoft Office environment to the iPhone.

Web:  Nothing compares to Safari on the iPhone 3g; nothing. Palm, Microsoft, Opera, and others have all tried to translate the Web to the small screen, and all have failed to varying degrees. Even Opera Mini, a fair improvement, will wear your thumbs out trying to scroll its viewing window over a representation of a web page. The Safari experience, with the touch/pinch interface, duplicates the desktop Internet experience out of the box. The 3g network is truly less than 10-20% slower than a WiFi connection.

Upgrader Thoughts:  As I switch from iPhone 2g to 3g, there are a few important observations

• I thought I would hate the plastic back, and in fact I like it better than the aluminum as it fits in the hand better than the old form.
• Durability looks to be even better than the 2g; check out PC World's torture test where they wash the 3g with soap and water under a running faucet; also repeats the baggie and keys scratch test from the 2g with flying colors.
• App Store -- The iPhone is truly a new computing platform. I can't wait for PocketInformant and Docs to Go. The games are every bit as good as any handheld game player my kids have had, so my guess there are no limits to what we'll be doing with this thing in six months. Given this wealth of application development, 16gb is a requirement, not a luxury.
• GPS is as accurate as my Curve, and TomTom is still promising the crown jewel of turn by turn navigation.
• In the "What Were They Thinking Category": No cut and paste (which appears to be the big hold up with both PocketInformant and Docs to Go), no MMS, and no replaceable battery. This last one may be Achilles heel number two. The 3g network and all that web surfing just kills a battery, and although it has longer battery life than any other 3g smartphone (again, thanks to PC World for testing that) it will still require a midday charge on busy days.

What Apple has now delivered is a new computing platform. As developers (and Apple) continue to fill in the gaps, the iPhone 3g will become the communication tool of choice because it balances all areas better than any current device. It is not perfect, nor could it be, but it is the closest approximation I have seen since starting my computer career with a 1986 Toshiba 1100 Plus notebook.

Dale K. Strauss
Midland, TX

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The following is a Guest Post from Lianne Gaunt, the System Administrator for Hutchinson, Cox, Coons, DuPriest, Orr & Sherlock, P.C., a law firm in Eugene, Oregon that primarily uses Macs.  Her post explains how her firm has operated using Macs and integrating them with PCs when necessary.  Thanks to Ms. Gaunt for her post.

We are an 11-attorney firm where all attorneys, legal assistants, and other staff (with the exception of our accounting department) use Macs.   But sometimes even in a Mac office, you just need (or want) to use a Windows program.  We have been using Macs since the early 90's.  The first emulator I ever came across was SoftPC.  One of our attorneys brought it in and we played with it.  It worked fairly well, as most programs back then were not too complicated, but we really did not have much use for it.

A few years later we switched our time and billing software to a Windows system that allowed for remote time entry, but only with a proprietary Windows program.  Because the idea of computer time entry was so appealing, we installed VirtualPC with Windows 95 on all Macs used by timekeepers.  This initially worked for us, as the time entry program was simple and Windows 95 was fairly simple as well.  However, as often happens, the time entry program became more complicated and we needed to upgrade our VirtualPC operating systems to Windows 2000 or higher.  Once this happened, things went from bad to worse.  Load times for VirtualPC were ridiculously slow and crashes happened often, sometimes requiring a complete install which of course meant that individual would lose all their timekeeping history.  Frustration increased and many wanted to go back to writing out their time and having it hand entered.

I had been looking into Windows Terminal Server for a while, but the cost was quite high as it includes not only the hardware, but Windows Server, Terminal Server and Terminal Server client access licenses for each user, and at the time the cost just did not seem to be justified.   However, after a while the problems just made it almost impossible to continue on the way we were going, and we went ahead and purchased a new server and installed Microsoft Terminal Server, which was by far one of the best decisions we ever made.  The Remote Desktop software is a small program that loads quickly and can be minimized to the dock when not in use.  The timekeeper (with a few workarounds) works just fine on the Terminal Server, and time entry can be done at the same speed as if sitting directly in front of a PC. 

The other advantage for our firm to the Terminal Server is that we had been using Outlook for Macintosh as a client to our Exchange Server.  With the move to OS X, Microsoft stopped making an Outlook client, and while Entourage is a great product (and is proving quite useful in allowing our iPhone users to sync up with the Exchange server), task sharing is not an option.  We use the task list for our tickle system, and legal assistants need to be able to see and create tasks on their attorney's task lists.  We used Outlook for Macintosh running in classic mode until we implemented the Terminal Sever and began using Outlook for Windows.  As we have been upgrading to the Intel Macs, running classic is no longer an option, and the Terminal Server has enabled us to continue to use Outlook without having to search for an alternate solution.

Our Mac users also have access to a few additional Windows programs that were originally only used by our accounting department, including direct access to the time and billing system.  Our PC users can access our Mac created documents as well, so it does not matter which computer you are sitting in front of, whether it be Mac or PC, as long as you have user permissions there is no document or application that is unavailable.  People always ask me how come we continue to use Macs when everyone else uses PC's.  I always tell them it is because so far there is nothing we have wanted to do that we have not been able to do while sitting in front of a Mac.  Perhaps using the Terminal Server is cheating a bit, but if it keeps those users in this office who are comfortable using a Mac continuing to use their computers, then it is well worth it.

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The following guest post is from fellow Mac-using lawyer, G. Ware Cornell Jr.:

For more years than I would like to count, I started every jury trial with a legal pad (the 14 inch variety) and turned it ninety degrees and drew five or six lines down it. I would do this on several pages, sometimes drawing six or seven lines and sometimes less, depending on the configuration of the courtroom. With my pad turned sideways I would frantically write the name of the juror, his or her jury number and the seat number assigned by the judge.

This process was pretty easy to screw up. Sometimes it was my fault, such as when I omitted a prospective juror, and sometimes it was the fault of the court who might summarily excuse a member of the panel before any lawyer voir dire.

Once jurors were in the box, I would frantically write down answers to standard (which means important) questions. Then at the very bottom I would put in the stuff that wasn't standard. Finally I would take my pad and, based on what I could read or remember, select a jury.

Ten years ago, when I first started bringing laptops to trial, I tried to create jury selection template in Excel. I failed completely, but every time some new version of Excel came out I would try again, and repeat my failure.

Last fall I was in trial in Miami. I had just downloaded a trial version of iWork'08. There was some problem with the venire, and as a result I had a little time to kill. I decided to see if Numbers would do what Excel couldn't. To my amazement I had a very functional juror selection form in about ten minutes. Since then I have refined it a bit, but it is still basically the template I made in that courtroom.

My table has 22 rows, and in the first column I put what are (for my employment law practice) standard questions going down the row. The final row is for individualized notes. Given the ease with which templates are created or modified in Numbers, the questions are easily adaptable to specific practice issues. I also took advantage of slide and drop down menus to answer common questions like cities of residence.

With respect to residence in our courts, we do not often get specific residence addresses. However the community tin which a panel member resides gives important clues. When I was using a legal pad, I would rarely write out the full name of the city and use abbreviations like "FL" for Fort Lauderdale or "Hwd" for Hollywood. On my pad the residence information would not be in a line across the pad because other important information such as a trial scheduling issue might be covered before residence locations would be discussed. With the template every jurors residence is in one row, making access easier and more reliable.

I also used slide menus for age estimates in decades, since generally speaking asking a prospective juror her age is a recipe for disaster.

Note that in the example above age is reflected as twenty, but the juror has lived in South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties primarily) for twenty five years. Age is estimated in decades in this template.

Few residents have lived in South Florida their whole lives. Most judges will make inquiry about length of residence during the court's voir dire.  I use a slide response since it really doesn't matter if it is eight years or eleven, I am looking for the degree of ties to the community. For instance, over forty percent of South Florida residents today did not live here during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which was until Katrina the most destructive hurricane in history. In one case years ago, a witness claimed a certain event occurred on a particular August day.  In closing argument I showed a NOAA map recording the passage of Hurricane Andrew on that very day.  I wanted jurors who would remember how destructive that storm was and who would know how long it was before it was business as usual.

Other questions in my template are peculiar to my practice. However it is easy enough to change the questions to fit cases, and to save those changes as your own template using the "File" menu in Numbers.

One thing I like to ask at either pretrial or calendar call is how the court conducts voir dire. By this I want to know how big a panel will be ordered and where the jurors will sit, and in how many rows. If I have this information I can prepare my seating chart before I enter the courtroom. However, even if I don't the template allows me to easily create one even as the panel is being led into the gallery.

When you start a new document in Numbers, it creates a table with thirteen columns. Columns can be easily added or subtracted from the table, but most jury boxes put between six and nine seat in a seating row. Since each column represents a juror, I cut the number of columns to match the seat diagram with an extra column on the left for standard questions.

It is important to know where the first juror will sit. Juror number one will often be in the first seat of a row closest to the judge, but not always. Once I know where juror number one will be, I can give each seat a number. It is easy to delete or add rows in Numbers. As a result each table will represent one seating row. New tables are added simply by copying the first table, pasting and then adjusting the seating capacity of the second and/or third rows. This process works even when overflow jurors are placed in the court's seating gallery.

The following illustration shows sixteen prospective jurors sitting in two rows.  In this configuration the jury box is most likely to the judge's left. If it were reversed the numbering would be reversed as well.

Along the bottom of the screen, certain information may be highlighted in green or red. Based on a juror's overall response I give each panel member a quick overall assessment of suitability. A juror I really want will get a high enough assessment to get a "green light", where as the one's of whom I have the most concerned will get a "red light." The template automatically highlights these panel members.

Finally I have a question with a drop down menu to tract peremptory and challenges for cause. I have not attempted to create any capacity to automatically configure the jury box based on challenges. I presume it is possible, however given the prevalence of back-striking in our state courts (a practice generally disallowed in U.S. District Court) and the number of jurors that may ultimately be seated in federal court, I rely on my ability to count to help me visualize who will ultimately be seated in the box.

Jury selection remains a critical part of a trial lawyer's job. Years ago, lawyers were given basic information about a prospective venire a week or so in advance. Most trial lawyers today, except those who have tried highly publicized cases in which selection questionnaires were utilized, never see even the names of panel members until they are brought to the courtroom. What follows is an often hurried process in which selection error possibilities dramatically increase.

Templates cannot substitute for experience and skill during voir dire. But a jury selection template can simplify and routinize the process, and that creates a bit more time for a lawyer to focus on the panel with an eye towards selecting the best possible jury on any given day.

You can download a copy of the Jury Selection Template in Numbers format by clicking HERE.

G. Ware Cornell Jr. is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer in Weston, Florida where he primarily practices employment law with the firm of Cornell & Associates P.A. He is a graduate of Emory University, the University of Georgia School of Law, and served as the first senior law clerk for United States District Judge William M. Hoeveler in the Southern District of Florida upon his investiture in 1977. Mr. Cornell was recently selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyers' honorary society.

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I am pleased to present the following post from Illinois attorney Michael R. Grossman, who wrote about his re-conversion to Apple:

I've been thinking about going solo for a while now, and while I still haven't made the leap, I'm willing to invest in a new computer to support my decision making process. So, after much research and contemplation, I purchased a new 24" iMac.

Actually, there wasn't that much research and contemplation. It was a contest between a Mac mini with maxed-out RAM and a 23" Apple monitor, or a 24" iMac. Based upon my research, and some helpful emails from both Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths, I chose the iMac. I think it's a great bang for the buck, even though a lot of bucks are involved.

I've had a continuing relationship with Apple computers since 1981 when I began dating an Apple ][ in junior high school. We used to hold hands as I would stare at its pixilated games. I wasn't sure what to do with the buttons but I knew deep down there was an attraction building. Everything was new and I felt oddly empowered.

My parents gave me an Apple ][+ in 1982 for my Bar Mitzvah and I formed a close and meaningful relationship with this machine for a number of years. Eventually we brought a 300-baud acoustical modem into our relationship and that arrangement opened new and mysterious doors that even today I find exciting. These many years later I think fondly of the long hours I stared at the green screen and CAPITAL LETTERS.

While in my junior year of high school the Apple ][+ and I parted ways - I started to date an Apple ][gs. Color screen, fancy sounds and GUI. I was in lust - I knew enough to know the difference. Although my old Apple ][+ was solid and reliable, the gs offered me some excitement. I was mature compared to my mid-teenage geek friends and they didn't understand why I needed upper and lowercase. It was around this time I started drinking Mountain Dew and hanging out at Taco Bell and although I'm not one to make excuses, well... let's just say I don't talk to many people I knew during these days.

In retrospect, gs was bad for me - very bad. I felt empty after the experience. I should have never left ][+. gs didn't have the layers of naïve discovery that I was used to with that simple grey-brownish keyboard and 64k of memory. But, alas, ][+ was gone and I knew it was too late to mend those FENCES.

While rebounding and trying to gain my geek footing, I turned to a 286 PC for comfort. Maybe I did this as a form of self-punishment - I don't know. My therapists theorize that I couldn't see clearly at this time in life, likely blinded by green CAPITAL LETTERS still resonating in my eyes. I try not to blame myself for the actions I took during this time but it's hard not to do so.

I won't bore you with the whirring details of this period of my life except to say that I'm not proud. There was a 486 early on, a chunky machine named Gateway, and most recently a sleek black number that had a major hard drive crash.

I credit much of my recovery to my wife. When I first met her she was using an all-in-one Power Mac G3. It was heavy, sturdy and built like a tank. After my wife and I were getting serious in our relationship I started to feel a certain attraction to G3. I wasn't sure why, at the time, but it stirred up memories and feelings that were long dormant.

I tried to avert my eyes from G3, particularly when Gateway was in the room, but it was difficult. It saw me frequently staring and eventually I admitted my attraction. I suggested to my wife that we take things a step further. Reluctantly, she agreed, and we picked up a hot little G4 iMac in 2003. Things progressed quickly with a sleek G4 Powerbook following shortly thereafter.

As a criminal defense attorney often dealing with clients who are sobriety-challenged, I've learned that recovery is paved with setbacks. Certainly I haven't been immune to this cliché. A couple years ago when having a bad day as the result of a courtroom verdict, I filled myself full of gin-and-tonics and picked up an XP machine on the way home from the tavern. We partied a bit with Photoshop, of all things, but I knew it was temporary. My wife certainly wasn't pleased and eventually I just felt gross. The hard drive failed recently and that was it - I was done.

A couple of weeks ago, while walking down the street, I saw an old friend through a store window. Calling itself "Vista" now I walked away without saying hello. I was hoping it wouldn't notice me. I felt sad for it as too many years of blue screens had left it a heap of promised possibilities. I was there during those times - I know the stories first-hand. Yes, we had some fun together in college, but now after major cosmetic surgery it's hard to recognize what I was attracted to in the first place.

When I went to the store to buy the new iMac, I wanted to share with all of the perky sales staff and eager customers my story. "Gather round ye' all and I'll share you a tale of green screens and CAPITAL LETTERS..." but decided against it. They wouldn't really appreciate it and likely wouldn't be able to hear me through those white wires cascading from their ears - whatever those are. But I now feel sound and optimistic. Sound because I feel young, stable and excited about a computer again. Optimistic because I know that if I do begin a solo law practice, it will reside upon a dynamic and productive Mac.

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As you may recall, I published a guest post from David Sparks several months ago, in which he discussed his first few weeks as a Mac convert after being a PC user for over 20 years.  Today, Mr. Sparks discussues a problem that he encountered and solved related to his calendar:

Well its been a few months now since I chucked my PC laptop and bought my shiny Macbook Pro.  One problem that continued to pester me is one that is near and dear to the heart of all attorneys, the calendar.  My office uses a PC Network with a specialized legal application called "Timematters" which performs pretty well with one exception (*cough* regular email crashes *cough).  Timematters is a PC only application and one of the things it does well is sync with my Treo 650.  This way my secretary and staff is entering contacts, appointments, and task items which sync into my Treo.  This is very helpful to me.  The problem is when I want to look at my calendar at home on something other than the tiny Treo screen.  So therein lies the challenge -- sync my Treo with my Mac without screwing up the data when I return to my office.  (It would not be fun explaining to my colleagues how I managed to wipe out the contact database)  As an aside I was never able to successfully do this on my old PC laptop either.

This is not as easy at it should seem.  The Palm desktop may be the worst program ever written in both its PC and Mac variants.  But I think the Mac version is particularly loathsome.  I try to sync with it and it takes FOREVER.  Furthermore, it doesn't always grab all the data and worse yet it seems to corrupt data when I send it back at work.   I also tried "The Missing Sync" to no avail (although a lot people swear by it). 

The good news is I've found a solution using Google Calendar and GooSync.  GooSync can be found at www.goosync.com and is made by a UK based company, Toffa International.  GooSync allows you to sync your Google Calendar with just about any cell phone that has a calendar app.  If you go to their site they have a list of supported phones.  With my Treo it actually installed a small palm application that, with a press of a button, allows me to sync my treo to my google calendar.  GooSync talks to my google calendar and sync's all changes on both the phone and those on google.  When I go back to the office it then integrates those changes straight into my windows based calendar software without a hiccup.

One nice feature of this is there are no cables.  You can sync your phone from anywhere.  I usually hit the GooSync button on my Treo as I drive home from the office and again in the morning as I head back in.  The free version of GooSync will synchronize for 30 days.  If you purchase a 1 year subscription at 20 pounds (which ended up costing me about $40, it will sync an entire year.

If you really want to go crazy, you can also buy Spanning Sync.  This program installs a system preference tool that works very similar to the .mac synchronization.  When you first set it up you can attach each of your google calendars to a separately created calendar in Apple iCal.  I've had it running on my MacBook Pro now for 2 weeks with no problem whatsoever.  Because it allows you to sync multiple calendars I can pull down my office calendar (uploaded with GooSync), my wife's calendar, the Google US holiday calendar, and any other public google calendar.   I can make adjustments to both calendars and the sync process puts it all together on both systems.

I've been very pleased with this program.  My wife still works on a PC and it allows her and I to keep up with each other.  This also lets me see my calendar, via google calendar, even when I'm away from my mac.  It also works fine on multiple macs.  I bought my daughter an iMac and the program works fine on my user account on her computer.  If you don't believe me then go to the website, SpanningSync.com.  They have a very nice video demonstration.

They offer a trial demonstration of 15 days.  They have an interesting license schedule, its $25 a year or a one-time fee of $65.  I bought the one year license.  I highly recommend this program if you have need of viewing and editing your calendar from other computers, or share calendar data with other users (especially cross platform).  It is a great little application that quietly does exactly what you expect it to every time.

The net result for me with these two programs is that my secretary, my wife, and I can all be looking at and changing my calendar from multiple locations and multiple platforms and at the end of the day everything syncs up flawlessly.  Since my calendar is constantly changing, this is a very good thing.

David W. Sparks is an attorney with George & Shields LLP in Irvine, California. He specializes in litigation and transactional practice.  He is described as a "creative thinker focused on precision, detail-oriented litigation preparation and strategic business planning to obtain the best possible outcome for clients."  David can be reached via email by clicking HERE.  My thanks are extended to David for his great guest post.

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I am pleased to present the following guest post from Craig Poff, a Mac-using attorney in Beaufort, SC:

I switched to Parallels for Mac last Christmas, and I have enjoyed nothing but smooth sailing.  I downloaded it straight from the company's Web site, it installed easily (luckily I already had a copy of Windows XP Pro, as you need it), I installed Windows XP as my Guest Operating System (although you could install Linux, I am told or even old versions of Windows, if you have the disks) and haven't had a single problem.  So much easier to keep Windows open as merely another open application on Mac, rather than shutting down and rebooting, as  required by Apple's Boot Camp.

Indeed, Boot Camp made your Mac more like a total Windows PC (in terms of running the DVD, CD-ROM, the printer ports, etc.), but I am only using Windows for specialized applications (Bankruptcy and Quicken) and don't try to play movies, run 3D games or even go on line.  Indeed, when Windows is running on your Mac, being a Bill Gates product, it will seek to "take over" control of your printer, USB slots, etc.  If it does so, all you have to do is close Parallels and Mac regains full control of all functions of the computer.

Just a note to say that anybody interested in trying it should take the plunge.  The Web Site offers a free 14 day full-function trial of the software.  I was anxious to put my money down well before the 14 days were up ($80 or so).

Craig Joseph Poff, Esq.
Law Office of Craig Joseph Poff
605 Carteret Street
Beaufort, South Carolina 29901
843-521-0995
843-524-2354 (fax)
craig@craigpoff.com

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I am pleased to present this following, insightful guest post from David Sparks:

I've been practicing business litigation and transactional law for 15 years.  For all of those years I've been using various iterations of Windows.  I've actually become quite adept at Windows.  I can defrag, de-virus, anti-spy, kill phish, and alt-cntrl-delete in my sleep.  But at a certain level it has always annoyed me how much time I need to spend just keeping the machine running. 

So about 3 weeks ago I was loading up my laptop with the third necessary anti-spyware program and a computer consultant I sometimes work with was telling me how I should not touch Vista until "at least" the first service pack release is out.  It got me thinking about how much time I waste just keeping my computers "running" and I began to think there must be a better way. 

I remember Macs from my college days.  The ones that had a built in handle and said "Hello" when you turned it on.  It's been 20 years, and I had given up on Macs when I first entered law school and was told I could NEVER use a Mac in any firm.  But I started looking into it.  I actually found Ben's excellent site first. 

Then I went in an Apple Store with a thumb drive loaded with several contracts and briefs in the midst of changes, powerpoints, and other files I regularly use.  The people at the Apple store are incredible.  Unlike every other computer store I've been in, these people do not look at you like an idiot when you ask basic questions.  They were very helpful.  I was running my work files on the store Macs in no time.

Making a long story short, after several visits and many questions answered, I found myself buying a brand new Macbook Pro 17".  I couldn't be more pleased with it.  I bought the machine with the extended warranty and several programs (iWork, Office:Mac, and .Mac).

I've had it for two weeks now and am happy to report quite a few things:

1. The Mac learning curve is very small.  It is a really well designed OS and the software fits it hand in glove.  I'm sure there is more for me to learn.  However, it boots up and I am "at work" in very short order.
2. MS Office to Mac:Office and back again.  Flawless.
3. The two windows programs I must have (Casemap and Textmap) do not work on "Crossover Mac" but with Parallels they work perfectly fine.  My goal is to see that windows logo as little as possible but when I do need it, it is there.
4. Keynote looks fabulous.  I can not wait for my next mediation/arbitration/trial where I make those powerpoint users look like cavemen scratching stick figures in rocks.
5. The Built in OS X encryption is perfect for my needs.  If someone were to pick up my Mac they will not get access to my client documents or my personal financial information.  It even encrypts my Quicken file.
6. I am working with an IT guy to get remote access to our windows based network.  He says it will not be a problem but hasn't really described the fine details to me yet.

Put simply, this elegant little machine does everything my PC did, only better, faster, and without crashes.

Now for the icing on the cake ... iLife runs circles around my PC suite of photo and dvd software for which I used to make the family picture/video dvd's.  Its so easy with the templates and the final product looks absolutely professional.  I've even set up a .web family blog.  My wife has a lot of relatives in the Philippines and my family is spread all over the country.   These things were virtually effortless to set up and has got everyone in my stretched out family excited.

Did I mention that in 10 days ... despite loading and unloading software and all the other nonsense a new owner puts a new computer through it has crashed exactly zero times?

When I first showed up at the office with it the IT people and other partners laughed and called me a geek.  I then booted up Parallels and their jaws dropped.  Wait until they see my first big Keynote presentation.

Having been a PC user for 20 years there are a few things I still can not get over.

1. Everyone says I don't need virus software.  That is difficult to wrap my mind around.
2. Everyone says I don't need to bother with the usual spyware, adaware, defrag, and other nonesense that I did on a regular basis with my pc.  Basically, I just turn it on and work.
3. I can't get over how NICE and HELPFUL people are at the Apple Store.  They want me to be happy.  They want to solve my problems.  Even AFTER they got my money!

To put it simply ... I am drinking the cool aid ... and it is delicious.  Switching to a Mac was something I should have done years ago.  I have a few old windows computers at the house, and I'm now in the process of selling those so I can put an iMac at home for my kids.  I knew they'd be good for something.

David W. Sparks is an attorney with George & Shields LLP in Irvine, California. He specializes in litigation and transactional practice.  He is described as a "creative thinker focused on precision, detail-oriented litigation preparation and strategic business planning to obtain the best possible outcome for clients."  David can be reached via email by clicking HERE.  My thanks are extended to David for his great guest post.

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On a general legal listserv to which I subscribe, someone recently stated that he was considering switching to a Mac and asked for feedback/suggestions.  Attorney Robert B. Ransom of Leventis & Ransom in Columbia, SC provided the answer listed below.  Because I was so impressed with its insight and thoroughness, I asked Rob to let me use it as a "guest post" here on The Mac Lawyer.  Rob graciously agreed, and here is how he answered that question:

First, you definitely should get a Mac.  I suggest the 17" MacBook Pro.  It is absolutely unstoppable.  Every time I show up in court or at a mediation with a laptop presentation, opposing counsel gets seriously jealous.  It's a lot of fun to sit and effortlessly run through my presentation using the MacBook Pro's remote control, and then watch opposing counsel fumble around like a blind old woman trying to get his/her stone-aged PowerPoint presentation to run correctly. 

Plus, Mac has a presentation software called Keynote that is really just unbelievable in terms of simplicity of use and power of features.  I had one defendant offer to pay me an additional $5,000 at mediation if I would let its lawyer have a copy of my presentation.  Charts, text, motion, photos, video, you name it, it's drag-and-drop easy.  I won't even mention things like iTunes, iPhoto, Final Cut, Safari, etc. other than to say they are soooo much better than what you can get on a PC.

Second, you may have some technical issues to overcome interfacing with a Windows server, I have not tried that.  However, the new Macs with the Intel chip sets (Duo Core) are capable of running the Windows XP Pro operating system on the Mac hardware so it should work (don't know about Windows Vista, but hey, when is Vista actually going to get released??)  Right now, running XP Pro is done by downloading a free program called BootCamp. 

Mac is expected to release the latest version of its OS X operating system, called OS X Leopard, in March; Leopard will allow you to run XP Pro natively on the Mac so you don't have to download BootCamp.  This is extremely significant because right now the only plausible reason for buying a PC is that a Mac won't run all the Microsoft software products commonly in use by most offices.  Well, with Bootcamp / Leopard and the new Intel chips, that is no longer the case.  The Mac will run everything you can run on a PC, while the PC will not run anything that runs on a Mac.  So why buy a PC and rule out using a large universe of available software?  Plus, PC software sucks compared to what a Mac will do.

My own personal opinion is that Windows Vista will only be a cheap imitation of Mac OS X.  The reviews I have read all say as much.  Accept no substitutes.  Get a Mac, you will never look back.  It's like the difference between a computer and a stone tablet.  Viruses??  No such thing on a Mac.  PC crash and have to be rebooted repeatedly?  Almost never happens on a Mac.  Go to another office and want to make your laptop hook up to the wireless internet?  Good luck on a PC.  With a Mac, open the laptop and you're connected.  I could go on and on.

Rob "Mac" Ransom
Leventis & Ransom
Columbia, SC

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Today, I am pleased to present a guest post from one of my readers, Robert E. Nuddleman, Esq. of San Jose, California which explains how to protect files on USB "thumb" drives.  Robert has used Macs in his practice for about six years, and he says that he is "continually amazed with the performance versus Windows."  He is also a blogger, and you should check out his Employment Law Blog.  Without further adieu, here is Robert's guest post:

Many attorneys use USB thumb drives to transport files from one computer to another.  As the federal government can tell you, however, losing the thumb drive can have serious consequences.  You do not want to face disciplinary proceedings because that confidential memo was lost and recovered by someone savvy enough to get it into the wrong hands.  The best option is to encrypt the data on the thumbdrive.

While there are a plethora of programs and methods for protecting files on a USB thumb drive if you are using a Windows machine, there are very few options for Mac users.  You can find a third party program on versiontracker.com or you can create an encrypted disk image using Mac's native Disk Utility.  After I tried a couple of third party programs I was not satisfied so I decided to give Disk Utility a try.  After reading a few tutorials, I figured it out and it's a lot easier than I thought.

Launching into the how-to, it can be helpful to understand Disk Images.  If you ever downloaded a Mac program and installed it, you are familiar with Disk Images.  A Disk Image is a .dmg file that contains the applications or documents that you drag and drop into your applications folder. A Disk Image acts like a folder where you can put files, applications, folders, etc.  Disk Images have many uses, including creating an encrypted file that you can use to transfer confidential information.

So, here's how to create an encrypted Disk Image on your thumbdrive that you can use to easily transport confidential information.  Please note that I am running OS X 10.3.9, and the exact method may be a little different if you are running OS X 10.4.

1. Put your thumbdrive into your USB port.
2. Open Disk Utility (under Applications --> Utilities).
3. From the top menu, choose Images, then New, then Blank Image.
4. In the "Save As" box, choose the file name for your Disk Image.  I like to use the size of the Disk Image as a file name because I have several different-sized thumbdrives and I have a different Disk Image for each drive.
5. Choose where you will save the Disk Image file.  I like to save it right onto the thumbdrive, but you can save it to your harddrive and copy it later if you'd like.  If you are saving it directly to your thumbdrive, it may be a good idea to remove any files from the thumbdrive.
6. On the "Size" dropdown menu, I usually choose "Custom" and then designate the size of the file.  There are defaults for various sizes.  I like to make the Disk Image slightly smaller than the full capacity of the thumbdrive (i.e., if I have a 1 gigabyte drive I will make a 900 megabyte Disk Image).  That way I can transfer some files without using the disk image if I want.  You can choose any size file you want and you can place more than one Disk Image on your thumbdrive.
7. Under "Encryption", choose AES-128.  This is a fairly high level of encryption.  The federal government certified AES-128 for classified information at the secret level.  Top Secret requires AES-192 or AES-156, but 128-bit encryption is plenty powerful.
8. Under "Format", choose read/write Disk Image, then click on "Create".
9. Disk Utility will create the Disk Image and ask you for a password.  Choose your password carefully because if you lose the password you will not be able to recover the data.  You have to input the password twice to make sure you don't make any mistakes.  Secure passwords do not use words that can be found in a dictionary and are best if they have a combination of upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and symbols.
10. You can choose to add the password to your keychain, which will mean you do not have to input the password to open the file when attached to the computer you used to create the Disk Image, but you will have to input the password to open the file on any other computer.  If you do not add the password to your keychain, you will have to input the password every time you open the Disk Image even if you open it with the computer you used to create the Disk Image.
11. Your Disk Image is now complete so you can close Disk Utilities.

When you open the Finder, you will see the newly created Disk Image mounted on your system (i.e., it will have an eject button that will unmount the drive when you are done).  You can now drag and drop any files you want onto the Disk Image.  You can work directly off the Disk Image so you don't have to worry about copying the files back and forth. Simply open the files the same way you would as if it were on any other drive.

When you are done, you simply eject the Disk Image.  Note: You must eject the Disk Image before you eject the USB drive.  Otherwise you'll get a warning telling you that the Disk is in use.  You can now carry your USB thumbdrive without worrying about falling into the wrong hands.

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For many years, I have been a user of PCs - from DOS 3.0 on up to Windows 2003 Server.  This was not because I dislike Macs, but because my job has been taking care of Windows environments.  You see, I am the Director of Media & Technology for the South Carolina Bar, a position I have held for over 12 years.

Last November, a friend of mine told me of the many great things he was doing with a Mac PowerBook G4. I talked the Bar's Executive Director into purchasing one for me to "test drive."  Now, we already had five Macs in our Communications Division, so I have had some experience with them, but not as my main computer or main laptop. At any rate, I got a 15" PowerBook G4 with 2GB of RAM and 100GB HD with a determination to learn something new and form my own opinion.

The G4 is now the only laptop I use, and I'm having a great time learning all the stuff it can do.  I only wish it was a MacBook Pro, so I could experiment with running XP on it.  I now only carry a Windows laptop for our speakers using PowerPoint who are not comfortable with the Mac.  I have had little issue in learning the machine, and it only took about a week for me to get comfortable with it.

Last month, I purchased a Mac Pro for home (I do some video projects on the side) loaded with dual 3.0ghz Xeons, 5GB of RAM, a 250GB system drive, a 500GB secondary drive, and a 23" Cinema Display. I have Final Cut Studio loaded on it.  It is way cool.

I still have a PC at home, but I use Remote Desktop Connector (available on Microsoft's website) on the Mac to connect to it. In fact, I have Remote Desktop loaded on my PowerBook, and I can administer any Windows server here at the Bar building from almost anywhere. I still have Quicken and a couple of other windows things on the PC at home that I'm not quite ready to move to Mac yet.

My two Media staff members have until recently been editing all the Distance Learning and other video programming for the Bar on Windows machines with Adobe Premiere and the video suite.  However, I anticipate switching them over to Mac Pros next July. We bought one just like the one I have at home for them to use to learn Final Cut. 

I am convinced that Final Cut is a better tool than Premiere, even though we have used Premiere for the past six years. Apple seems to stay one step ahead of Adobe. Also, at some point, I plan to install an XSan for video warehousing and sharing, and I am anxious to get my hands on OS X Server.

The only thing I haven't found just yet for the Mac is a comparable program to MS Access. My friends tell me MySQL is the route for the Mac, and I have downloaded it and am just cracking it.  By the way, we just loaded LINUX on an old computer here at the Bar, and we are trying OpenOffice on it.

I read with interest Larry Bodine's article about the issues he claimed to have had with a PowerMac G5.  Even as a novice Mac user, I can't see why Mr. Bodine is having that much trouble, unless it is all on purpose.  It could have been a marketing ploy as you suggested, but in my opinion it was not a very good one.

If Mr. Bodine wants to trash his G5, I will be glad to roll my trash can to the end of his driveway to collect it.  I believe that you have to try new things with an open mind, and it sounds to me like he got the Mac with a predisposition.  Keep up the great work with your blog!

Joey Heape
Director of Media & Technology
South Carolina Bar

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