practicehacker

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Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

As Kevin Spacey noted, speaking as Kaiser Soze in The Usual Suspects, “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Couldn’t agree more. 2 years ago the ABA Journal rolled out its Legal Rebels Project in an effort to convince lawyers that the American Bar Association was more than an aging, superfluous institution or a lapdog to the AmLaw 100. The first Legal Rebels chosen in 2009 included

a lawyer-turned-consultant (I guess those who can’t do, teach)

a lawyer-mommy, who blogged about food and recipes too!, and

a coffee-shop owner dispensing Espresso with advice on the side.

In fairness, that initial list of 50 honorees also included people who really had contributed to the national dialogue about the profession by blogging, starting an innovative company, or finding a better way to do things. But they were too few and far between to give the project credibility in my eyes. As far as I could see, the ABA was still trying to curry favor with BigLaw partners and associates by featuring bite-sized, cutesy profiles of lawyers doing their own breezy thing. Wee!

So how has the project fared in 2011? Let’s just say that the Journal has returned to what it does best – sucking up to BigLaw – by focusing on the unsung heroes trying to change the system from within: BigLaw rebels. Which makes total sense, because real change only comes from people who bill 3000 hours a year and are driven by an insatiable urge to make partner. Way to go ABA Journal. It takes guts to swallow what BigLaw is dishing out, then ask for seconds… but you pulled it off.

Look, just watch the Staff of the ABA Journal descirbe the Legal Rebels Project in their own words and feel the rebellion welling up in your throat. I certainly did.

10

09 2011

by practicehacker
posted in ABA, ABA Jounral, Article, Avvo, Blogging, careers, comments, committee, community, crowdsourcing, current-events, FindLaw, law, law office, legal marketplace, lists, media, news, practice, practice management, review, the business of law, tips, Video
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my presentation at the ABA tomorrow

My slides for panel on Social Networks, Blawgs & Podcasts #abachicago tomorrow at 3:00 PM

View more presentations from Mazyar Hedayat.

For more information see http://new.abanet.org/annual/pages/Schedule.aspx

Follow the 2009 Annual Meeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/abachicago

29

07 2009

by practicehacker
posted in ABA, Blogging, business, careers, collaborative tools, committee, community, competition, conference, current-events, disruptive technology, employment, enterprise, ESI, facebook, feedreader, friendfeed, Google, jobs, knowledge management, law, legal marketplace, lifestreaming, linkedin, lists, LPM Section, mcle, Meeting, microblogging, Mobile device, moblogging, Notice, PDA/SMARTPHONE, PDF, Podcast, Podcasting, practice, practice management, rss, search, slideshare, social networking, software, technology, Telephony & Voice Over IP, the business of law, tips, twitter
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ABA TechShow: The Video

Thought I’d share some choice video from TechShow 2009 featuring all 4 of the Best of Show winners that I wrote up in TechnoLawyer, plus interviews with some of my heroes such as Bob Ambrogi, Jay Funeberg, and Kevin O’Keefe, as well as sightings of legal blogging all-stars like Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighelle. I’m still excited.

See related videos here and find me on YouTube as practicehacker.

Tags: Clio, Mozy, RocketMatter, TechShow 2009, Total Attorneys

16

04 2009

by practicehacker
posted in .mobi, ABA, Adobe Acrobat, ALM, Amicus, antitrust, apps, Avvo, Blogging, bookmarks, browser, business, Career and Job, careers, collaborative tools, committee, community, competition, conference, cool stuff, corporate counsel, courts and, crowdsourcing, current-events, disruptive technology, document automation, document exchange, DRM, e-discovery, e-filing, e-mail, employment, enterprise, ESI, facebook, federal courts, feedburnerfeed101, feedreader, finanancial, FindLaw, firefox, FRCP, free, friendfeed, Google, Government, great conversations, hacking, in house counsel, india, ipod, iPod Nano, jobs, judiciary, knowledge management, law, legal marketplace, legislation, Lexis-Nexis, linkedin, lists, litigation, LPM Section, management, manager, Marketing, mcle, Meeting, microblogging, Microsoft, Mobile device, moblogging, money, myspace, news, Notice, outside counsel, outsourcing, PCLaw, PDA/SMARTPHONE, PDF, Podcast, Podcasting, practice, practice management, privacy, records, recycling, remote, review, rss, SaaS, search, security, SEO, social networking, software, Sponsor, storage, tags, technology, Telephony & Voice Over IP, the business of law, tips, twitter, unbundling, Video, Videoblog Notebook, web 2.0, website, Westlaw, widget, wiki, work, youtube
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ABA TechShow 2009 – Short and SaaSy

We're the ABA Damnit! We own you!

This was my 10th year at ABA Technology Show in Chicago. This year was particularly cool. Here’s why:

Meeting The Heavies: To me, seeing people like Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighelle, Bob Ambrogi, Jim Calloway, Kevin O’Keefe, Brett Burney, Andy Atkins, Jay Foonberg (!) and the rest of my pretend blog friends … I mean pretend LinkedIn friends … is like reconnecting with long lost relatives. Exciting and a little intimidating. But all of them were really great and down to earth. Except that Kennedy. Such a prima donna. I kid, I kid.

Meeting Canadians: Who can forget meeting the Great Librarian of Upper Canada! Beat that. Then there was Phil of the Future (my name for him), Steve Matthews (nice guy), Brett Burney (I think he’s Canadian), Dominic Jaar (vive la Quebec libre!), the boys from Clio (or as I called them, the Booth Babes), and a host of other talent from the Great White North. It was great to meet you all: now go back where the ice doesn’t melt until July.

Technology Becoming Accepted: This year for the first time in memory I noticed a preponderance of grey hairs and the careful gait of partners scoping out potential buys for their offices. This was not the brash, flash-in-the-pan TechShow of the late-90′s in which the Internet was decried as a fad.

SaaS, Saas, and more Saas: Software as a service was all over the place, and by next year it will be pervasive. This year I was knocked out by the number and variety of kick-ass SaaS providers at the show including Clio, RocketMatter, and VLO Tech. Clio was my hands-down favorite for a number of reasons – I intend to use it in my own practice. Whatever your cup of tea, the idea of throwing away the IT department in favor of the Cloud is gaining traction fast.

Less is … Less: One lamentable fact about this year’s show – there was less of it than I’ve seen in a long time. Another casualty of the economy I’d say, but we shouldn’t overlook the fact that many legal technology vendors have been slaves to profit instead of boosters for innovation and the slow economy is making it painfully apparent what a royal screw job they’ve been giving lawyers all these years. Many players couldn’t make it ? Good riddance to bad company.

Other than that however, it was a great experience as always and one that I heartily recommend to one and all. If you haven’t been to TechShow, go there. If you have, come back. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

For more coverage see my SmallLaw Column in TechnoLawyer.

Check out Twitter coverage of TechShow.

As always, I’d love your thoughts. E-mail me at mhedayat[at]mha-law.com or tweet me @practichacker.

ttyl

07

04 2009

by practicehacker
posted in ABA, accounting, Adobe Acrobat, aggregator, ALM, Amicus, android, antitrust, Apple, apps, Avvo, bankruptcy, Bill Gates, Blogging, Blogroll, bookmarks, browser, business, Career and Job, careers, casestreaming, civility, collaborative tools, committee, community, competition, conduct, conference, cool stuff, Copy Right, corporate counsel, courts and, crowdsourcing, current-events, cybercontrols, de.licio.us, defamation, diigo, disruptive technology, document automation, document exchange, DRM, e-discovery, e-filing, e-mail, employment, enterprise, ESI, facebook, federal courts, feedburnerfeed101, feedreader, finanancial, FindLaw, firefox, FRCP, free, friendfeed, Google, Government, great conversations, hacking, IICLE, IL Bar Foundation, illinois supreme court, in house counsel, india, ipod, iPod Nano, jaiku, jobs, judiciary, knowledge management, law, legal marketplace, legislation, Lexis-Nexis, lifestreaming, lists, litigation, LPM Section, management, manager, Marketing, mass customization, mcle, Meeting, member perks, microblogging, Microsoft, Mobile device, moblogging, money, municipal government, myspace, news, Notice, outside counsel, outsourcing, PCLaw, PDA/SMARTPHONE, PDF, Podcast, Podcasting, Politics, poll, practice, practice management, privacy, radical transparency, records, recycling, referrals, remote, review, rss, SaaS, school, search, SEC Football, security, semantic search, SEO, slideshare, social networking, software, Sponsor, Steve Jobs, storage, tags, technology, Telephony & Voice Over IP, the business of law, tips, twitter, unbundling, Uncategorized, Video, Videoblog Notebook, web 2.0, website, Westlaw, widget, wiki, Wired, Wisdom of Crowds, work, youtube
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ABA TechShow 2008 – presentation materials available

13

05 2008

by practicehacker
posted in ABA, accounting, Adobe Acrobat, ALM, Amicus, Apple, Blogging, Blogroll, business, Career and Job, careers, civility, collaborative tools, committee, community, competition, conduct, conference, cool stuff, Copy Right, corporate counsel, courts and, crowdsourcing, current-events, de.licio.us, document automation, DRM, e-discovery, e-filing, e-mail, employment, enterprise, ESI, federal courts, feedreader, finanancial, FindLaw, FRCP, in house counsel, india, jobs, judiciary, knowledge management, law, legal marketplace, legislation, Lexis-Nexis, LPM Section, manager, Marketing, mcle, Meeting, member perks, microblogging, Microsoft, Mobile device, moblogging, money, news, Notice, outside counsel, outsourcing, PCLaw, PDA/SMARTPHONE, PDF, practice, practice management, records, recycling, referrals, remote, review, rss, search, security, SEO, social networking, software, Sponsor, storage, tags, technology, Telephony & Voice Over IP, the business of law, tips, twitter, unbundling, Video, web 2.0, website, Westlaw, wiki, work, youtube
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ABA TechShow 2008 – I came, I saw, I blogged …

Author’s Note: This year I got to blog the ABA Technology Show once again as I did last year in this pair of posts here and here. In addition, this year I was given the opportunity to publish my work in the prestigious publication TechnoLawyer. And on a related (and equally important) note, this was the second year in a row that I was sponsored by the august DuPage County Bar Association, thanks to the hard work of directrix and champion of technology, Glenda Sharp. To Glenda and this year’s bar President, Fred Spitzzeri, a great big Thank You! Here’s to doing it again next year …

I Attended ABA TECHSHOW 2008 and All I Got Was This Lousy Blog Post

Eliminating the Paper Chase: From Boxes to Bytes (Paperless Office Track)

A Real World EDD Motion Hearing (Litigation Track)

The Mobile Office: Take Your Desktop in Your Pocket (Mobile Technology Track)

Outlook Tips and Tricks (Roundtables Track)

So You Want to Be an ABA Author? (Special Session)

Beating the Startup Blues: A Tech Survival Guide (Solo/Small Firm II Track)

Grand Finale: 60 Sites In 60 Minutes

Crazy Mazy’s Best of Show: SQ Global Solutions

Crazy Mazy’s Best of Show: Legal Bar by BEC Legal Systems

Crazy Mazy’s Best of Show: Electronic Discovery

Crazy Mazy’s Best of Show: Adobe Acrobat Professional