Small
Business Cloud Computing
Lawyer: Cloud computing implementation
can provide edge in courtroom
This guest article is written by Clarke Dummit of The
Dummit Law Firm and is
the fourth in a series of legal IT experts, attorneys and IT consultants
who share their expertise on how legal firms can successfully and securely
integrate IT into their practices.
In this day and age, being a smart and experienced trial
lawyer, or “courtroom lawyer,” is not enough to be a great advocate for your
client. You have to be cutting edge in the use of technology, or you are
just not practicing good law. Not only is staying current the best
business practice, but it will give you the slight edge in a courtroom, which
is what out clients are hiring us to do.
Office technology and practice
issues
A large part of the practice of law is the collection,
organization, and then communication of facts and legal concepts; cutting edge
technology allows this process to flow smoother, and allows more minds to
participate in the process; and you know three heads are better than one.
An aggressive firm must work swiftly to move as much as possible into the
cloud, then reorganize the information into collaborative venues so all three
heads of the beast can communicate effectively: the client, the staff and the
attorneys.
This is a constant work in progress as technology is ever
evolving. We have been utilizing Google Apps for many of these
integrations; however Google is not yet 100% developed. We are still
working on the best project management tools within Google Apps to integrate
the Email, projects, calendar, and tasks. Our intra-net is hosted at
Google put under our own domain so we have internal site, calendar, and
resources available in the cloud. We are open in two cities in North
Carolina and expanding into a third. Practicing good business and
resource usage is critical to effectively representing our clients.
However we are still waiting for better security in the cloud before we move
our client database and case management our into the cloud. We expect
that is still 6-9 months out.
Legal IT and Courtroom Technology In
Practice
The Dummit Law Firm is utilizing Zoom tablets for mobile video
conferring directly from the courthouse, and developing our in house
video editing so we are using tablets in the courtroom to display video clips
as attorney’s used to use photos. We lock down just the portion of the
police video as we wish to use, then maintain it in a sub-file and only play
that portion (directly from the tablet), during cross examination, as most
effectively proves our point. This gives our trail attorneys control over
a video clips in the courtroom is a way that the opposing counsel, cannot
control. It is only if your law firm invests in, learns, trains, then
utilizes technology that you can use it well under pressure in a
courtroom.
The most exciting development on the horizon right now for
our practice is the development of using juror’s mobile devices in
the court room during trials. In a very short time, relatively, we will
be asking jurors to pull out their phones, and follow along on
their personal device, as we lead a witness on the stand through an
exhibit or video on a tablet. Yes, that day is still a little way out,
not technologically, but in terms of acceptance in the courtroom. We want
to be leading the pack, not following.
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