Sharon D. Nelson is president of the digital forensics, information technology, and information security firm Sensei Enterprises. In addition to serving on numerous noted legal organizations including the ABA’s Cybersecurity Legal Task Force and the ABA’s Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems, she is president of the Virginia State Bar.
In this legal podcast, Jim McCauley talks about ethical issues lawyers face and how the Virginia Bar is helping to educate lawyers on how to handle them.
Shantelle Argyle discusses low bono legal services and their impact on the access to justice movement.
The CEO of GlobalMac IT discusses how cybercrime has evolved and what Mac using lawyers can do to protect their information.
This legal podcast covers the shift of the legal industry from a seller's to a buyer's market.
Sharon and John talk to Craig Ball about the intricacies of preserving digital evidence.
This legal podcast defines artificial intelligence and what its growing popularity means for lawyers.
Andrew Arruda, CEO of ROSS Intelligence, talks about how artificial intelligence assists lawyers, not replaces them.
A discussion on why it’s important to promote women’s roles in the legal industry and what specific characteristics women have to improve the tech field.
Guest Charles Patterson talks about TSCM and how this extra level of security can ensure a lawyer's private information stays private.
In this episode of Digital Detectives, Sprint's Joe Hamblin joins hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek to discuss Smishing and other cyber security threats.
Sharon and Jim discuss legal writing with Gary Kinder, founder of the editing program WordRake.
Recent law school grads discuss rising student loans and what this means for new lawyers.
Executive orders on immigration, veterans initiative, the ABA Blueprint web tool, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, and Law Day 2017.
In this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek discuss ransomware with the CEO of LMG Security, Sherri Davidoff.
David Beech, CEO of Knights discusses his professional services firm with a successful alternative business structure (ABS) in the U.K.
On this Digital Detectives podcast, we discuss governmental cyber security policy under Obama and how policies might change under the Trump administration.
Practice Management Advisor Sheila Blackford advises lawyers on client trust account management.
Executive producer Laurence Colletti interviews your favorite Legal Talk Network hosts about how they’re spending time during this holiday de jure
The ABA Future of Legal Services commission, the data found in that study, and how those findings can help lawyers improve and prepare for the future of law.
Sharon and John sit down with SiteLock President Neill Feather to discuss the importance of website security and data breaches in law firms.
John Mitchell, a law firm diversity coach, talks about the difference between diversity and inclusion and explains diversity fatigue.
Cindy Cohn discusses domestic surveillance, encryption technology, and how lawyers and law firms can protect themselves and their clients from cyber attacks.
PayneGroup CEO Donna Payne talks about ways attorneys can better handle their metadata.
Sharon Nelson and John Simek speak Jim Calloway about ways small firm and solo attorneys can improve their cyber security.
This time On the Road at the 2016 ABA Annual Meeting, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek speak with Electronic Frontier Foundation Executive Director Cindy Cohn, United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Federal Judge James Jones, and Chairman and Associate Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School Mohammed Hafez...
Sharon and Jim speak with Legal Technology Consultant Andrew Adkins about his time as chief information officer for the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC.
Board certified trial lawyer Craig Ball talks with Sharon and John about information technology competency and the 2016 Georgetown Ediscovery Training Academy.
Clark Hill PLC Of Counsel David G. Ries discusses data security, Mandiant’s M-Trends, and Verizon’s Data Breach Investigation Reports.
Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway talk with The Remsen Group President John Remsen, Jr. about the benefits of creating a firm-wide business plan.
Nuix Chief Technology Officer Stephen Stewart sits down with Sharon Nelson and John Simek to discuss the Panama Papers, the world’s largest data breach.
Jack Newton and Larry Port discuss cloud computing and the new cloud security standards for legal professionals released by the Legal Cloud Computing Association.
Friend of the show Linda Klein talks about how she has used technology in her legal practice over the years and why lawyers should pay attention now.
As technology continues to become ever more integrated into our daily lives, the challenges that law firms face grow and evolve. Many tech savvy clients are not only concerned with a lawyer’s ability to represent them but also their ability to protect their files and privileged communications. With more instances of data breaches and hacking...
Recently, the legal publishing company Fastcase received a takedown notice from the parent company of another publishing company, Casemaker, claiming they had exclusive rights to distribute, for commercial use, the Georgia Administrative Rules and Regulations. Fastcase CEO Ed Walters was surprised by this demand, because public law is not copyrightable. As a response, Ed decided...
What has changed for lawyers in this “post-Snowden” world? Although this topic could be discussed for days, we lightly touch on the main themes in this Special Report with David Lat, Ben Wizner, and host Sharon Nelson. Lat and Wizner summarize their ABA TECHSHOW 2016 presentation titled “Can They Hear Me Now? Practicing Law in...
Excel is a powerful tool that is often underutilized in law offices, but lawyers shouldn’t be intimidated by it. Hosts Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek interview ABA TECHSHOW 2016 presenters Ivan Hemmans and Allan Mackenzie about how beginners and experts can better use Excel to improve their law practice. The conversation opens with...
During the investigation of the San Bernardino shooting the FBI obtained a company iPhone that was used by Syed Farook, one of the assailants. The investigators obtained a warrant to search the phone, but it’s currently locked and the FBI hasn’t been able to access the encrypted data. This prompted the agency to request assistance...
Digital Detectives hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek sit down with State Trial Court Judge Heather Welch and United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota Leo Brisbois in this Special Report to discuss the 2016 Judicial Clerkship Program. The goal of this program is to increase diversity in law clerk positions at court...
Digital Detectives hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek stop by our table at the American Bar Association’s Meeting 2016 for a conversation about California’s water and drought issues with experts Meena Westford, Carolyn Angius, Elizabeth Clark, Heather Riley, and Michael Kiparsky. Together, they discuss the state’s 5 year water shortage and its impact on agriculture,...
InfraGard, one of the longest running outreach associations, represents a partnership between the FBI and the private sector. Members include businesses professionals (including many law firm employees), people from academic institutions, and local participants who share their experience and expertise with the FBI to assist in crime prevention. In the recent climate of rampant cyber...
30 years ago, the legal community began to see the value in the intersection between technology and the law. Lawyers are now using new software and tech devices more than ever in their practices and the courtroom, making the ABA TECHSHOW’s 30th anniversary valuable to anyone working in the legal field. So what’s going on...
“The question is not can a machine exhibit empathy or judgement but instead for what problems are empathy, judgement, or creativity the solution?” -Richard Susskind After years of writing and thinking about the future of the legal profession, Richard Susskind began to run into legal professionals whose careers are being affected by technology. In addition...
With the data breaches and ransomware that has plagued law firms (and other companies) of all sizes recently, clients and firm managers alike are seeking more advanced data security. Certifications like the ISO 27001 provide guidelines and standards for how to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information your firm holds. But what...
Technology Assisted Review (TAR), also known as Computer Assisted Review, Predictive Coding, Computer Assisted Coding, and Predictive Ranking, has been around for 50 years, but is now becoming incredibly useful in the legal field. This technology can speed up cases of all kinds and greatly reduce discovery costs for their clients. But how do lawyers...
How do people find lawyers these days? Although many attorneys believe they are discovered through a Google or Bing search, legal service consumers are actually still taking recommendations from people they know and trust. But technology has added a multitude of new ways that people perform research and journey to find lawyers. Potential clients will...
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, French officials used metadata from a phone they found in a trashcan to gather information that made it possible to raid ISIS safe houses within a week. During these raids they were able to kill the suspected mastermind behind the operation, who was believed to be planning more attacks....
And we’re back with another year of gift ideas for the tech savvy lawyer. Whether you are looking for a Star Wars drone for… ahem… your children, a computer or printer that you can fit in your pocket, or a whiskey glass to bring to Mars, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway have the inside tip....
Although electronic discovery is increasingly important for court lawyers, only about 30 law schools nationwide offer e-discovery courses. To address the gap, Catalyst, an e-discovery service provider based out of Denver, has developed a practicum that aims to give law students the necessary experience to enter the workforce with adequate fundamental knowledge. So how does...
After the disaster that was Windows 8, many lawyers are hesitant to upgrade to Windows 10. But for those of you with Microsoft operating systems, the change is likely inevitable. Furthermore, Windows 10 has a free upgrade for a year! So what do lawyers need to know about the new OS? Are rumors of high...
The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) is a member organization that offers certification and a community for professionals working in the field of e-discovery, both in the public and private sectors. Recently, experienced e-discovery service provider and industry leader Mary Mack was named the executive director of ACEDS. What will change and what are...
Due to the changing landscape of legal services, small to medium sized law firms need to consistently update their financial management processes. Essentially, these firms need to provide affordable services to their clients while ensuring the owners get the compensation they believe they deserve. But without necessarily having an in-house financial manager, how do they...
“It is very difficult to conceive of a scenario — short of nuclear winter — where an agency would be justified in allowing its cabinet-level head officer to solely use a private email communications channel for the conduct of government business.” – Jason R. Baron to the New York Times On March 2nd, 2015, The...
Legal marketing has changed dramatically in the past 20 years as we have reached “the digital era.” Some lawyers have embraced this new world of social media marketing, engaging website content, and cloud-based computing. But those who have not, particularly solo and small firm lawyers, are missing out on an opportunity for increased client base,...
“33% of Fortune 100 Organizations will experience an information crisis by 2017.” – Gartner, an information technology research and advisory firm Recently, data breaches have become one of the most serious threats to companies worldwide, and as more corporate infrastructure moves online, studies suggest that the rising number of data breaches will cost 2.1 trillion...
Many lawyers work far more than 40 hours a week and still lack the time to work on firm marketing, practice management, and spending time with friends and family. Furthermore, with increases in technology, it seems as though lawyers should be more efficient, but this isn’t always the case. What are we doing wrong and...
John M. Facciola is a retired United States Magistrate Judge who formerly served in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He has authored over 700 opinions, many of them in e-discovery and in the impact of information technology upon Fourth Amendment principles. With an inside knowledge of how e-discovery directly affects...
The legal service industry has been changing rapidly, causing many lawyers to worry about the future of their practice. Many potential clients are now looking online for solutions to legal problems. Despite this, there is still a large percentage of the population without access to the legal services they need. In order to deal with...
In a recent blog post, Canadian lawyer and legal technology blogger Nathaniel Russell defined Lawmageddon as “the imminent confluence of events that will change lawyers’ lives forever.” This most likely includes technologies such as cybersecurity, cloud-based systems, encryption, and social media, which influence the legal sphere in a way that lawyers cannot opt out of....
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an incredibly popular term in marketing, but many lawyers (and most business owners) are still confused about what SEO is and how to hire the right SEO consultant. Furthermore, having an online presence is not all about SEO. Online marketing can be frustrating and confusing, but it is essential...
Many of our listeners will know the term Technology-Assisted Review (TAR) by it’s more common nickname, “predictive coding.” Lawyers and judges alike need to pay attention to TAR due to potential changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) coming up in December 2015. And since almost all courts accept when lawyers utilize TAR...
Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti interviews Digital Detectives and The Digital Edge host Sharon Nelson, Digital Detectives host John Simek, The Kennedy-Mighell Report host Dennis Kennedy, and ABA Journal: Asked and Answered host Stephanie Francis Ward at the 2015 ABA TECHSHOW. Each host briefly explains the topics discussed in their podcast and discusses preparation...
Most lawyers who listen to The Digital Edge are already aware of many benefits of tablet use in the courtroom. There are apps for note taking, document review, legal research, and, of course, trial presentation. But this is just the beginning! Having a tablet opens up many avenues of convenience for litigators, trial prep and...
From self-driving cars and drones to robotic surgeons and soldiers, humans are delegating more tasks to machines and software. But who is responsible when then these new innovations cause damage, injury, or death? Can we trust machines to prioritize preserving human life when accidents inevitably occur? Should we be thinking about sweeping regulations? In this...
Ten years ago, dictation and speech recognition were clunky, inefficient, and inaccurate softwares. As the technology emerged, lawyers tried programs like Dragon Dictation, but most decided that speech solutions were not practical or worth using. Today, these softwares are much more accurate and useful for many lawyers, but maintain a similar reputation. How have dictation...
There have been several programs looking at exoneration of people previously convicted of crimes. This includes The Innocence Project, currently boasting 325 DNA exonerations, and a project of the University of Michigan Law School that works on cases in which DNA is unavailable. The latter project had exonerated 1,553 individuals when we recorded this podcast....
Luddite: a person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology. As we’ve heard time and time again, many lawyers are averse to becoming knowledgeable about modern technology. Older attorneys often do not want to learn a computer-based management tool and feel as though they can hire someone to manage the security and encryption of their...
Digital Detectives host Sharon Nelson interviews ABA President William C. Hubbard about current legal issues in the United States at the 2015 ABA Midyear Meeting. Hubbard discusses current and future ABA involvement with legal representation concerns in the areas of unaccompanied minor immigration, domestic violence, and criminal justice. He talks about the problems with overincarceration...
The Digital Edge host Sharon Nelson interviews Zoe Linza, Vice President of the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE), at the 2015 ABA Midyear Meeting. Linza explains how NABE is an association for leaders in bar associations and discusses why eligible leaders should join. In addition to being Vice President of NABE, Zoe Linza is...
Digital Detectives hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview Andrew Schpak and Lacy Durham about the ABA Young Lawyers Division at the 2015 ABA Midyear Meeting. As chair of the division, Schpak discusses his plans for the year, future meetings, his health and wellness initiative, and his public service project in Portland called Project Street...
Joe Looby recently released his documentary The Decade of Discovery about the United States versus Philip Morris tobacco lawsuit in the early 2000s and email e-discovery issues. The film also discusses the emergence of the Sedona Conference as a think tank and forum for discussion about cooperation in e-discovery. Many prominent federal judges were interviewed...
In November of 2014, hackers infiltrated Sony’s computer network lifting terabytes of corporate data, human resources information, internal intel, films, corporate emails, and other valuable information. This led the corporate world to question how protected we really are from cyber attacks. In the 1990’s, the only computer issue was viruses, but the attack vectors have...
The ABA TECHSHOW is an annual legal technology conference in Chicago, sponsored by the Law Practice Division of the ABA. The goal of the conference is to educate lawyers, legal professionals, and law firm employees on using technology in their practice. The 2015 conference will be held April 16th through the 18th, and will feature...
As lawyers, we hear a lot about the technological advances in e-discovery and information governance. How do you describe the current state of e-discovery from an opportunity and growth perspective, and how does this market opportunity impact the pulse rate of mergers, acquisitions, and investments? For lawyers purchasing e-discovery packages, there are several types of...
The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has been released and, according to these lawyers, it finally lives up to the standards of a laptop. It is lighter and more mobile than even the lightest laptop, which makes it better for travel. However, this tablet can download the software and applications that many lawyers use in business...
Are you a lawyer who always has the newest tech products and apps? Do you already have a drone even though most people think they are only in sci fi movies? Are you looking for a holiday gift for your tech junkie spouse? In this edition of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway...
“A cyber attack on the World Trade Center would be 10 times more financially damaging than the 2001 attack.” Data breaches like the ones at Target, JP Morgan, and Home Depot have recently been all over the news and are usually organized by hackers working towards financial gain. But there is cyber war happening with military...
Discovery, as all lawyers know, is the process of collecting and exchanging information about the court case to prepare for the trial. Traditionally, this was done by many lawyers over countless billable hours in which every page of potential evidence was examined for important information. Because of this, the more information existed in reference to...
There are many exciting new Apple products available now or launching in the near future. Many lawyers love to use Apple products in their practice and personal lives and are often eager to learn about the newest change in the technology or services. The iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iOS 8 were released in...
Lawyers now have the option to purchase Microsoft Office 365 for their small, medium, or big law firms. Microsoft Office 365 is a collection of products and services that can be purchased individually or in bundles known as stockkeeping units (SKUs). The products available include Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Lync, Yammer, Office Suite 2013,...
In 2006, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure rule-makers developed and put into practice amendments dealing with electronically stored information (ESI) and e-discovery. However, most of those involved believed these amendments did not adequately deal with lost or missing ESI or “the spoliation issue.” In 2014 the rule-makers proposed Rule 37(e), which deals with the...
Wearable technology like the smartwatch is the next in a long line of new technological advancements that are embraced by some, but viewed skeptically by most lawyers. Judges already discourage smart phones in court and many clients worry about a decrease in information security. But if used properly, a smartwatch can actually increase the productivity,...
Despite all the attention that e-discovery has received over the last decade, it is still a relatively new part of the litigation process. For those lawyers who were never exposed to e-discovery in law school or their formative years of practice, the systems and products involving data collection and analysis can be overwhelming and complex....
Every law firm can run into incidents of employee misconduct, data breaches, and intellectual property theft. In the age of modern technology, data breaches, insider trading, and other security problems require extensive technological forensics. Partners and firm owners, as well as lawyers working within the firm, need to understand why a digital investigation is needed,...
When a law firm breaks up or a lawyer leaves to start a new practice, there are always clients, contingency arrangements, and hourly cases to split up. It is important to know what ethical steps a lawyer or law firm should take when parting ways. If the firm splits up, who has the rights to...
All lawyers have an ethical obligation to employ security measures when sharing information and data with their clients. Whether that means encrypting all important emails or properly researching cloud based file-sharing services like Dropbox, it is incumbent on lawyers to understand the levels of security available. LexisNexis recently did a survey on what tools lawyers...
Many attorneys now use PowerPoint in trial to preview, highlight, and sum up the evidence for their arguments and organize their presentations. Effective PowerPoints garner the attention of court personnel and jury members and enhance their overall presentation. However, ineffective PowerPoints can be confusing, difficult to read, or distract the audience from the presentation’s overall...
On February 12th of 2008, the FBI announced that it had hired Lockheed Martin to build its Next Generation Identification system (NGI) to deploy multimodal matching to biometric data of US citizens. Today, NGI’s database contains several types of unique identifiers including fingerprints, iris prints, and facial recognition. On this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts...
There are a multitude of technology options to help run small firms and solo practices, but deciding on which ones can be a daunting endeavor. Mac vs. PC, practice management systems, and encryption of client data are among numerous issues attorneys must resolve. On this episode of The Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim...
Some experts believe that, in addition to being prohibitively expensive for law firms to manage, maintaining immense amounts of client data increases the probability that it will be exposed to the public through a security breach or hack. That is why many like-minded firms are outsourcing data management to companies that specialize in it. On...
Breaking all of its previous attendance records, ABA TECHSHOW 2014 will certainly go down as one of the most successful. True-to-form, many of the attendees were from small firms and solo practices. With the introduction of How-To sessions, lawyers will be getting more out of ABA TECHSHOW for many years to come. On this episode...
Some technology experts believe it’s not a matter of if law firm communications can be hacked, but when. With continuing reports of the NSA and foreign entities monitoring the privileged attorney-client communications of US law firms, lawyers may be required to take additional measures to protect client information. On this edition of Digital Detectives, hosts...
Of the 46% of judges using social media, 80% are on Facebook and over 30% are on LinkedIn, but activity on social media presents a number of ethical dilemmas for judges, attorneys, jurors, and litigants. In a recent case in Georgia, a judge stepped down after being scrutinized for sending a friend request to a...
From malware and hackers to BYOD and TYOD, the biggest threat to law firm data could be the attorneys themselves. On this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek interview data expert Ben M. Schorr and discover complex new threats to data security and the simplest solutions to reduce them....
In this edition of The Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway discuss check fraud with expert Dan Pinnington. Together, they reveal how lawyers are repeatedly falling into the trap of check fraudsters and what can be done to avoid it. Tune in for tips on how to spot a check fraudster in your...
In this edition of Digital Detectives hosts Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek invite Jason R. Baron, former director of litigation at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration to discuss Information Governance as it relates to e-discovery, privacy, record keeping and security. Baron connects the dots between all these areas and helps lawyers...
In this edition of The Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway invite Ernie Svenson, commonly known as “Ernie the Attorney,” to discuss his recently published ABA book Acrobat in One Hour for Lawyers and unveil all the abilities, outside of just viewing, that PDFs offer. Topics include the benefits of the professional version versus the...
Meg Spencer Dixon pulled three consecutive all-nighters before she began pursuing time management as a career. Now, she is a consultant in task management for legal professionals. In this edition of The Digital Edge hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway invite Dixon to discuss her top tips for legal professionals looking to master project management,...
The Honorable John M. Tran uses the terms digital natives and digital immigrants when referring to judges. Coined by author Marc Prensky, digital natives are those born into technology and digital immigrants are learning the field as they go. It’s not uncommon for judges to be digital immigrants, forcing them to confront issues on the...
On this edition of The Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson, Esq. and Jim Calloway invite lawyer, friend, and co-presenter Andy Perlman of Suffolk Law School to discuss the new technology audits for lawyers. D. Casey Flaherty of corporate counsel for Kia Motors developed a technology audit to measure how efficiently lawyers are using technology and...
