The folks at Rocket Matter conducted video interviews at the recent ABA TechShow, with such internet stars as Carolyn Elefant, Finis Price, and even little ol' me. Larry Port and I discuss my law practice, how I got into blogging, what I was doing at TechShow this year, and my thoughts on some of Rocket Matter's new features. (Note: my interview begins at the 7:24 mark)
I was honored to be interviewed last week at TechShow by LexConference. If you pay close attention, you might catch wind of my big announcement coming in the near future:
Ben Stevens has been practicing law in South Carolina for 15 years. He publishes three blogs, including The Mac Lawyer, and will be debuting an iPad for lawyers blog soon. Ben presented two sessions at TechShow: Mac Software for the Law Office and iPhone Tips for Lawyers.
Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?
Ben Stevens: I speak a lot on using Mac technology for attorneys so it’s kind of a good fit for me to plug in with these guys. I was one of the first speakers at the first Mac sessions three years ago and we’ve grown from Saturday morning with a couple Mac sessions to a full day Mac track this year. Hopefully there’ll be more programming next year.
KB: What is your fascination with Macs?
BS: It’s more or less just the ability to get things done effectively and enjoy doing it. I used to look at PCs as something I had to use. I look at Macs at something I enjoy using. We work together. The stability and simplicity of the operating system. The fact that it just works and it works quickly. My wife still uses a PC so we’ll go and look something up on the Internet. She’ll open hers and it’ll take two minutes bumping and grinding and fans coming on and it’ll eventually start up. I just open my lid and I’m typing away.
KB: You’re launching an iPad for lawyers blog in a few weeks. What do you envision the impact of the iPad will be on lawyers?
BS: I think the iPad, just from the Internet connectivity standpoint and the form factor, is going to be great for attorneys to have something more usable than a netbook. I’ve had netbooks before and the problem was the keyboard was too small and cramped to type on. So having something bigger, but not too big, that’s light and that’s intuitive, like the iPhone is. Just to be able to use the Safari component will be one thing but then when you integrate the ability to view and edit .pdfs and mark them up and documents and emails and all the other things. Before you get into all the apps that are out there now, I think it’s going to be a game-changer for attorneys.
KB: Do you think the iPad will be a technology that will be readily embraced?
BS: I do. If you think back to when the iPhone came out, there was this big question about, “Is it going to be as good as they say?” or “Are people going to buy it?” And then when it came out, people are standing in lines and camping out overnight and now everyone’s got one. Now the only complaint is the network’s not great. It’s not the phone’s not great. It’s the coverage. You take that same technology and put it into something a little bit bigger. I really think it’s going to change the way people practice law.
Source: "Ben Stevens of The Mac Lawyer: LexBlog Interviews" by Kelliann Blazek, published at LexConference.
One of my readers informed me earlier this week that The Mac Lawyer was one of the featured sites in "60 Sites in 60 Minutes" presented at the Special Libraries Association's 2009 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO held in Washington, DC this past June. The speakers at this seminar were Gayle Lynn-Nelson from LexisNexis and John J. DiGilio, MLIS, JD from Reed Smith, LLP. I truly appreciate being included in this prestigious list along with two other blogs, The Common Scold and Mashable. You can download the seminar handout, which includes all 60 features sites, by clicking here or here.
The Mac Lawyer – Family Attorney Turned Apple Guru
A Spartanburg-based family attorney is making a name for himself nationally. Ben Stevens is the Mac lawyer, the No. 3 blogger in the American Bar Association Journal's Blawg 100. On April 2-4, he headed two technology seminars at the annual ABA Techshow in Chicago. In addition to www.themadawyer.com, Stevens of Stevens-MacPhail PA shares his thoughts at www.scfamilylaw.com, fully embracing technology within the legal profession.
GSA Business: For starters, how did you become this guy enthralled with Mac computers?
Ben Stevens: The Mac part came about out of frustration in dealing with PCs. With the expense and downtime we got to the point we couldn't afford to have them in a busy practice.
Having worked with Macs in college and law school, I knew it was a stable platform, and we just decided as a firm to bite the bullet and make the switch. Since then our tech support and overhead has dropped to basically nothing. We do still have a (Microsoft) Windows server, so our computer guy comes every once in a while to do that. But as far as the Macs, they work and they keep us working.
GSA: I imagine some people would say you are limited in terms of software systems and compatibility.
Stevens: PC people have a lot of excuses why they shouldn't use Macs. And most of those are tech people who don't want to lose their jobs, and I understand that.
There are more programs written for Windows than Mac, especially in the legal software community. But there are two things.
One, most software is going Web based. The practice management software, our email and our electronic paper filing system are all Web based. As far as PC programs, we can run them virtually. I can do anything PC people can do and my Mac stuff, while they can just do their PC stuff.
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I will be in New Orleans this Thursday through Saturday attending the ABA Law Practice Management Section Spring Conference at the Hotel Monteleone. As I have mentioned before, I am on the editorial board of Law Practice Today webzine and serve as an advisor on the Technology Core Group, both of which will hold meetings at this conference.
In addition, I am planning to have dinner Thursday evening with Ernest Svenson (publisher of Ernie the Attorney) and Jeff Richardson (publisher of iPhone, J.D.). If any of my readers will be at this conference or in the New Orleans area between now and Saturday, please let me know and perhaps we can meet in person.
Earlier this week, I was interviewed by LexBlog about my two blogs (this one and the South Carolina Family Law Blog). If you are interested in learning more about me, how I got into blogging, and the benefits blogs provide, you can read this interview by clicking HERE.
Source: "Ben Stevens of The Mac Lawyer and The SC Family Law Blog: LexBlog Q&A" by Lisa Kennelly, published at Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs.
Ever wonder how popular your favorite legal blog (or even this one) is? The folks over at the Avvo blog have created an auto-updating list of over 300 legal blogs ordered by their Alexa traffic ranking. As of today, The Mac Lawyer is ranked at #74. You can check out all of the rankings by clicking HERE.
The March 2009 edition of Mac | Life magazine featured an article explaining 10 Reasons Your Small Business Should Run on Macs, which included a profile of me and my law firm. This article includes discussions of most of the major advantages Macs offer versus PCs, and it includes profiles of several other businesses as well. If your firm is not already using Macs, you should consider the following factors and make the switch:
iLife's Surprising Business UsesThis article included the following quotes from me:
Source: "10 Reasons Your Small Business Should Run on Macs" by Jason Whong, published in Mac | Life magazine.
I will be in Myrtle Beach, SC on Thursday, January 22, 2009, moderating the Law Office Technology Seminar at the South Carolina Bar's 2009 Annual Convention. I will be presenting a session on "Using Macs in a PC-Centric Legal World" and co-presenting "Fasten Your Seat Belts: 30 Law Practice Management Tips in 30 Minutes" with noted legal techologists Sharon Nelson and John Simek. I understand that some of my readers will be present at the Convention and attending my presentations, and I hope that they will seek me out and say hello.
Earlier this week, I posted about the "formal" launch of Rocket Matter, the premier web-based legal case management, time and billing program. Over the last few years, I have gotten to know the founders of Rocket Matter, Larry Port and Ariel Jatib, on a personal basis.
Some time ago, Larry coined the phrase "Power of Ben" in reference to the response Rocket Matter had received as a result of my mentioning it on this blog and in presentations. Like me, Larry frequently speaks on technology issues, and he recently sent me a link to the speech he gave at the Business of Software 2008 conference last September in Boston.
In his talk, Larry was very kind to mention me and The Mac Lawyer blog as key components in the early success of Rocket Matter. He discussed the following four principles in successfully launching a product:
His entire talk is only six minutes, and it's worth watching for lawyers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to grow his/her business. You can view the video at the following link, and I want to thank Larry again for all of his nice comments: http://blip.tv/file/1637563
I want to first wish all my readers a very Happy (though belated) New Year. I sincerely hope that this year brings great happiness, peace, and success to each and every one of you.
I have been in the process of moving homes for the last month, which is the primary cause of my having so few posts. Hopefully, I'll be settled into my new home in the coming weeks and can get back to a more regular posting schedule.
I am also proud to announce that this is my 401st post on this blog. August 14, 2006, seems like so long ago -- when I decided, on a whim, to start this blog because there didn't seem to be any legal technology blogs devoted to the Mac. Now, it's 400 posts later, and this blog has taken me all across the country with no end in sight.
Again, I want to extend my most sincere thanks to all of my readers and the many, many friends that I have made through this blog, MILO, and their progeny.
If you're reading this post, you've probably noticed that things look a little different around here. The Mac Lawyer underwent an update today, and it is now a part of the LexBlog network. I want to thank Kevin O'Keefe, Rob La Gatta, and all the great folks at LexBlog for their hard work on the redesign, and it's great to be a part of the family.
After listening to many people, including my friends and tech gurus Kevin O'Keefe and Grant Griffith, preach the virtues of Twitter for a long, long time, I finally decided to open an account for myself to see what the buzz is all about. My username is @TheMacLawyer (fittingly enough), and you can follow me at twitter.com/themaclawyer.
Twitter is one of those things that is a little hard to describe to others. The short definition is that it is a micro-blogging service, but that doesn't tell you much. Twitter describes itself as "a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"
To this point, I am still experimenting with how to best utilize Twitter, and the jury is still out. I have posted some personal views/opinions there, and I will post some blog/tech related items in the future. If any of my readers are on Twitter, please let me know and we can "follow" each other (in Twiiter-speak). I'll try to post here from time to time to let you know what I think about Twitter going forward.
Update 11-9-08: In the three or so days that I've been on Twitter, I've managed to pick up almost a hundred followers. So far, I think Twitter is pretty cool, and I'm enjoying the connections and interactions that I am having with everyone there. If you haven't done so, check me out HERE.
I am heading to Tucson, AZ today to attend the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section Fall Meeting at the The Westin La Paloma Resort. I was recently appointed to serve as an advisor to the Technology Core Group and a board member of the Law Practice Today
webzine, and both of these groups will hold meetings at this
conference. I have enjoyed my work in the past with the ABA, and I
appreciate being asked to serve in these additional capacities. If any
of my readers will be at this conference or in the Tucson area between
now and Friday, please let me know and perhaps we can meet in person.
Have you heard of Wordle? If not, you may want to check it out. Wordle generates
"word clouds" from text that you provide, with these clouds
giving greater prominence to words that appear more frequently
in the source text. You can "wordle" selected text, a whole document, or an entire website / blog.
In addition to just be a cool toy to play with, I think that Wordle can be an effective tool for attorneys interested in analyzing specific documents. For instance, if a personal injury attorney sends a demand letter to an insurance adjuster, he might be interested in first seeing what the focus of the letter is from the word cloud produced.
When I plugged in The Mac Lawyer, it produced the following word cloud:
So I'm reading the April/May 2008 issue of the ABA's Law Practice magazine over the weekend, and what do I see on page 21 but the following:
TheMacLawyer.com is a must-read blog for anyone using a Mac in the legal environment. It's written by ABA TechShow speaker Ben Stevens.
As it turns out, this blog was featured as one of this year's 60 Sites in 60 Minutes at TechShow. As you probably know, this session by Craig Ball, Tom Mighell, and Reid Trautz is always one of the best and most anticipated sessions each year. I attended this year's version in Chicago, but I missed the first few minutes when my blog was mentioned. I am flattered to have been mentioned, even though I am just now finding out!
Lawyers USA recently published an article addressing Web 2.0 services of interest to attorneys. The Mac Lawyer was interviewed for this article and cited as a reference with regard to online case management software. An excerpt containing my quotes is listed below:
Ben Stevens, who practices in a two-lawyer firm in Spartanburg, S.C., touted Rocket Matter's low price and accessibility from anywhere with an Internet connection.
"I think it's a revolutionary product for attorneys," said Stevens, who also blogs as The Mac Lawyer. "It's easy to maintain, easy to access and easy to use."
Stevens said there are other online services that provide billing and other functions, but none that pull together as many features as Rocket Matter.
If you are a subscriber to Lawyers USA, you can access the full article by clicking HERE. If you are not, you can visit their website for subscription information.
Source: "User-Friendly Technology Via The Web" by Dick Dahl, published at Lawyers USA.
I am leaving today for Chicago to speak at the inaugural "Mac Track" at this year's TechShow 2008, sponsored by the American Bar Association. If you are attending, I hope that you will stop me and say hello. One of my favorite parts of attending and speaking at these seminars is the opportunity to meet and talk with my readers. I will try to post from Chicago if time permits. If not, I will definitely do so when I get back home.
Award-winning legal blogger Jim Calloway published an article last week discussing sites for Mac-using lawyers. He had several nice things to say about this blog, saying it is "not to be missed." I sincerely appreciate Jim's comments, as I have read his blog for a long time. I urge you to check out his post for all of his comments about The Mac Lawyer and some other great blogs too.
Source: "Sites of the Week: Sites for Mac Lawyers" published at Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog.
I just noticed today that The Mac Lawyer and the Macs in Law Offices (MILO) discussion group were mentioned in the December, 2007 edition of the ABA Journal. An article profiling Michael Grossman's path to becoming a sole practitioner stated, "He hit the estate planning books and boned up on law office technology via blogs like the Mac Lawyer and an e-mail discussion list called Macs in Law Offices." If you haven't yet read A Conspiracy of One, you can do so by clicking HERE.
This has been a week for The Mac Lawyer. First, this very blog was chosen as one of the Top 10 Law Blogs by Greg May of The California Blog of Appeal. In commenting on my blog, Mr. May said that "anyone using a Apple Macintosh computer in their practice should check this frequently." While that is certainly one of my goals in publishing this blog, it is nice to hear someone else say it.
Then, I received an email yesterday that said "Your site rocks and has helped me a great deal over the last year." I spend a lot of time working on this blog, and comments like that make it worthwhile. The email I referenced was from Aaron Pelley, who publishes the Criminal Defense Law With An Apple blog. Mr. Pelley wrote a post yesterday called "Where do you get your information? (Part 2 - Blogs and Sites)" in which he said that The Mac Lawyer "is hands down the best blog for lawyers looking to set up a Mac-Firm." This was very high praise, and it is very much appreciated.
If you are not familiar with these two blogs, I urge you to check then out, as I believe they are pretty great themselves.
Sorry that I haven't posted anything recently. It has not been due to lack of interest, but solely due to a lack of time. I intend to resume regular posting, at least a few times per week. Thanks for bearing with me and for reading my blog.
I want to apologize to my readers for a snafu that I discovered today. For some reason, I had not received notice of any of the comments submitted over the last 3 to 4 weeks. As a result, they were not published and were just sitting there probably feeling neglected and lonely.
I have gone through all comments posted through today, and I have notified TypePad of this problem. Their technical support department has always been very responsive in the past, and I am hopeful that this situation will be resolved quickly. In the meantime, I will check the comment section every day or so.
I have always welcomed comments from you, and I hope that you will continue to submit them in the future. Your comments have been interesting and helpful, and I assure you that I learn as much from you as you do from me. In other words, keep those comments coming!
It has been a little over five months since I lauched this blog. I have received a lot of positive feedback and support from my readers during that time, and for that I am truly grateful. These comments have come from places such as California, Texas, and even the British West Indies. Here is a sampling:
Other comments from readers include:
While I don't write this blog in order to receive accolades, it is nice to receive them nonetheless. I am glad that this blog has found its niche and is fullilling a need for my readers. This week will see my 100th post, and I hope to continue publishing this blog for a long time to come.
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