Tom Mighell has been at the front lines of technology development since joining Cowles & Thompson, P.C. in 1990. Mighell is a published author, noted legal technologist, and runs his own blog, Inter Alia. He is currently senior consultant for Contoural, Inc., working with corporations to improve their records management and e-discovery practice, and he has served as chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.
This legal podcast covers 3D printing, what it is, how to get started, and why lawyers should be interested in this growing technology.
This podcast provides tips for traveling with technology like iPads, laptops, and phones, and a couple handy travel apps.
This legal podcast discusses the advantages of video conferencing for lawyers.
Dennis and Tom define what a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is and why it might be a good idea to invest in one to ensure your online information is secure.
Dennis and Tom talk about what ABA TECHSHOW is, what they did at this year’s conference, and what to look for at the show in 2018.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss Snapchat, Instagram, and their role in legal marketing.
What does blogging for lawyers (or blawging) look like today and what are the best tools to start one.
Dennis and Tom discuss troubleshooting, including their own four step approach to fixing technology problems.
Dennis and Tom discuss the potential uses of voice-enabled technology like Amazon Echo and Google Home for legal professionals.
In this episode of the The Kennedy-Mighell Report, hosts Dennis and Tom talk about their 2017 New Years tech resolutions.
In this “Pardon the Interruption” style episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis and Tom disagree about everything!
Tom and Dennis discuss how search engines have changed over time, semantic and voice search, and the impact of mobile search over time.
Dennis and Tom discuss change management techniques that can help attorneys improve their law practice.
The recently distributed denial of services attacks that disrupted hundreds of websites and how lawyers can better defend themselves against cyber attacks.
Dennis and Tom discuss their nine years together creating podcasts and provide a few tips for attorneys interested in creating their own podcasts.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the risks and benefits of upgrading your software and the recent rumors that Twitter will be acquired.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the cloud, how it has changed, and whether it is more important for lawyers to implement or learn about new tech.
ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing and ABA LTRC Tech surveys, current tech trends, and how law firms can use this information to gain an advantage.
Dennis and Tom discuss future tech innovations, the ways technology is currently failing us, and the rumors that the new iPhone 7 has no traditional headphone jack.
In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss whether it is beneficial to take a break from technology and if increased tracking of consumers through their technology is inevitable. Dennis and Tom were both recently on vacation and during this time of seclusion Dennis started to rethink his relationship...
Dennis and Tom discuss the increased popularity of artificial intelligence, the usefulness of chatbots, and how both innovations impact the practice of law.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell talk about recent developments within the mobile applications industry.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell help lawyers improve email hygiene and talk about how to dispose of your old miscellaneous computer parts.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss bots and how attorneys can utilize them to improve their everyday lives.
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss virtual reality, the current tech on the market, and how this tech could be used in the courtroom.
More and more lawyers and business owners are noticing and implementing the new collaboration tool Slack, described by its founder as “a messaging and search platform that creates a single unified archive accessible through powerful search.” But why is this particular application gaining traction among all other options including Facebook, LinkedIn groups, or even email?...
The technology lawyers use at home can differ greatly from that at work, especially in medium or large law firms. This can result in two separate technology worlds that are at best difficult to manage. Many lawyers have multiple smart phones, calendars, computer operating systems, or even versions of Microsoft Office. For some, commingling systems...
Notifications and reminders are useful when they remind you about your daughter’s soccer game, an upcoming meeting, or a software update. But are lawyers (and everyone else) being bombarded with too many notifications all day long? There is a difference between a calendar alert and having Omnifocus remind you what you haven’t accomplished today. Furthermore,...
Even lawyers start the new year with at least a few resolutions. Some are predictable, falling into the usual categories like exercise or diet. However, creating legal technology based resolutions can really help your practice and overall happiness. Have you been thinking about trying a new app or learning to use one you’ve already downloaded?...
In 2015, we were introduced to a plethora of tools designed to make lawyers’ lives easier. However, not every legal professional has the same technological needs, and not every lawyer knows how to find the most useful tools for him or herself. In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell ring...
With the introduction of the iPad and other tablets and now touch screen computers like the Surface Pro and the Apple Pro, we seem to be moving further away from an exclusively keyboard/trackpad existence. Furthermore, with the introduction of Stylus Pens for tablets, is the keyboard on its way out completely? With an increase in...
On the Internet, content may be king, but monetization through advertising runs a close second. But today’s ads seem more aggressive, intrusive, and annoying than ever. We’ve recently seen a return to a category of tools long known as ad blockers. What are the implications of ad blockers to lawyers and will they change the...
Apple recently announced the new and larger iPad, Pro which many in the tech community are considering a direct competitor to the Microsoft Windows Surface Pro 3. With Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 available soon, is this a new battleground for Apple and Microsoft? Which of these devices makes more sense for lawyers in their personal...
The 2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey and the 2015 ABA Legal Technology Survey results are in! These surveys highlight the interest of IT professionals and lawyers in current technology. Listeners can use these results to analyze where they stand when it comes to technological proficiency and what competitors might be focusing on. Paying attention to...
From Fitbits and Apple Watches to robotic exoskeletons, we have entered the age of wearable technology. While this development has definite implications for a lawyer’s ethical duty of technology competence, it will also change how lawyers use technology in their practices. Having a health app can improve standard of living, but does your Apple Watch...
While sunbathing on the beach, on vacation, or on a lazy summer weekend many people (including lawyers) read technology books, nonfiction, literature, or, if we’re like Tom, post-apocalyptic science fiction. Due to technology like Kindles and iPads, many people have changed how they read, but is technology affecting the summer reading tradition? In this episode...
In the last couple of years, the number of great podcasts has exploded. Many people today not only know the word “podcast,” but can give you several examples of their favorites. Podcast experts (those of us who have been listening to them for years) have cautiously begun to suggest that we have entered the “Golden...
Lawyers have been paying attention to the Microsoft Surface Pro and how the combo or hybrid laptop/tablet might be an ideal combination for a law practice. The release of Windows 10 is impending (skipping Windows 9) and some have called Windows 10 the “last release” of the operating system. What does this mean? As lawyers,...
“Artificial Intelligence is a means of designing a system that can perceive its environment and take actions that will maximize its success.” -Tom Mighell Developments in Big Data, machine learning, IBM Watson, and other advancements in technology have brought back the cyclical discussion of what artificial intelligence might mean for lawyers. Has anything really changed,...
“Invisible apps” are background programs that automatically trigger functions without being opened. Therefore, the app interface is less important than the underlying function. These invisible apps might include automatic notification or emails based on a trigger, a personal concierge, or a password manager. Rather than a calculator or camera app waiting to be opened, invisible...
In August 2005, Dennis and Tom took part in a discussion called “Between Lawyers Roundtable: The Future of Legal Blogging” on the ABA Law Practice Today website. This marked the burst of energy for legal blogging, or blawging, in 2005. Ten years later, lawyers have decided to examine the landscape of law blogs. Bob Ambrogi...
ABA TECHSHOW 2015 was recently held in Chicago from April 16th through the 18th. This popular legal technology conference featured presentations about a paperless office, the iPad, security, marketing, the cloud, Microsoft Office, and much more. At ABA TECHSHOW, Dennis and Tom presented, hosted and participated in podcasts, attended sessions and events, toured the exhibit...
On the first day of the 2015 American Bar Association TECHSHOW in Chicago, Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti, and hosts Adriana Linares and Tom Mighell sit down with ABA Techshow Chair Brett Burney and his successor, Steve Best. Together, they discuss highlights from the first day including tracks about Microsoft Office, cloud computing, and...
The history of legal technology projects, both in specific firms and generally, is too often a showcase of half-completed and failed projects. In a recent blog post called “The Human Barrier to LPM Technology: Will Lawyers Get to the Future?” Pam Woldow and Doug Richardson assess and analyze this history and the reasons for it....
Hillary Clinton has been all over the news recently for having a personal email server, an action rather ominously referred to as “shadow IT.” Shadow IT is a blanket term for when employees utilize technologies or systems that are not approved by their IT department. This is not often a malicious act, but rather efficient...
Lawyers often focus on the core elements of hardware technology: computers, tablets, and smartphones. However, the best experiences with hardware are driven by and dependent on the way we accessorize and personalize them. Most people choose their technology accessories based on word-of-mouth recommendations from friends, family, colleagues, or other connections. So what are lawyers using...
Over the past 20 years or so, lawyers have consistently seen the paperless office as the Holy Grail of legal technology. Unfortunately, most attempts to find that grail have ended under a stack of papers. Despite early setbacks, a new flurry of interest in the paperless office. Within the series of revisiting old legal technology...
As a great show for seeing what’s new and happening in legal technology, learning about new products from vendors, and networking with other attorneys, LegalTech New York is the big place to launch new legal technology products and services. For the 2015 event, host Dennis Kennedy braved inclement weather and flight cancellations in order to...
Over the past 20 years or so, lawyers have been simultaneously intrigued and frustrated by speech recognition technology. While different experiences yielded different results, the technology was never efficient enough to be practical. Over time, speech recognition started to disappear off the radar for most lawyers. Recently, with Siri and Google Now, smart watches, and...
Lawyers, even solos, are constantly working with experts, opposing counsel, court officials, and colleagues. Dennis and Tom like to keep an eye on new developments and the current state of collaboration tools and technologies, which they consider one of the most important, yet under-appreciated, areas of legal technology. In 2008, they wrote a book together...
Every new year brings a new opportunity to “start fresh” and get something done that you might not have accomplished in the previous year. As we look ahead to 2015, we start to think about our legal technology resolutions for the coming year. There are often new technologies for lawyers that did not exist in...
As we reach the end of 2014, it’s time to look back at the world of legal technology and some of the best advancements, worst fails, popular trends, and developments of the year. Using this information, trends and events can be predicted for 2015. What are the odds that two or more state bar disciplinary...
As friends, colleagues, and clients documented their Thanksgiving holiday on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, it was made clear how big a role social media plays in the personal and professional lives of lawyers. Because it is so prevalent and necessary, social media can also be very overwhelming for many who are trying to maintain their...
There has been recent talk of a “Podcast Renaissance,” in which podcasts are better than ever and people have begun to appreciate the value of the podcast medium for education and entertainment. Who are we to disagree? There are educational podcasts, political podcasts, legal podcasts, technology podcasts, entertainment podcasts, and podcasts that combine subjects. There...
Recent statistics indicate that there will be more than 100 billion app downloads in 2014. Although there are more than a million apps available for download on the iOS and Android platforms, most users tend to rely on a core set of around two dozen apps. Lawyers have been using fewer legal apps in their...
The College of Law Practice Management recently held its 2014 Futures Conference at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. This conference brings together members of the College of Law Practice Management and young innovative lawyers to discuss what the future of law practice might look like and how the attendees might provide an influential voice....
Most of us assume that lawyers are slow adopters of technology because that’s what we hear all the time. ILTA’s InsideLegal Survey and the ABA Technology Survey are annual surveys of lawyers that provide some data about the actual usage of technology by lawyers. Because these surveys are voluntary, they give a big picture of...
With fall fast approaching, you can be sure of two things: football games and new phones! Apple and other vendors recently announced new editions of their phones, as well as some interesting new gadgets. With new options like the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Watch, iOS 8, and Apple Pay, Apple-using lawyers need...
Because lawyers often need to get up to speed on a topic quickly, most find that they can learn almost anything on the Internet, provided they can find the appropriate tools and resources. In the short term, lawyers often need to do quick research for a speech, webinar, or to talk to a specialist about...
“All right, Mr. Demille, I’m ready for my close-up.” Video phone calls have been talked about for many years, from the time this famous line appeared in the movie Sunset Boulevard. Videoconferences are becoming widely used in law firms and other businesses; many lawyers, legal professionals, and HR departments are using them to provide the...
While preparing for a trial, gathering documents for a transaction, or simply running errands, most lawyers face each day with an overwhelming number of things to get done. From simply remembering them all to putting the list into proper priorities, every legal professional could use some help. How can technology play a role in bringing...
Lawyers often focus on how they can use technology to improve the efficiency and quality of their legal services. However, technology has additionally started to change what people in other professions provide to their clients, even to the point of changing the meaning of “services.” Professionals are now creating products that provide revenue in the...
According to a variety of surveys, the sales of tablets now exceed the sales of laptops and desktop PCs. In a few short years, iPads have made huge inroads into the legal market and are often part of a lawyer’s standard toolkit. In addition to using an iPad for texting, editing documents, consulting a calendar,...
Do you often do fresh searches on the same topics even though you’ve previously found good information? “Curation” is the word used to describe the process of collecting, organizing, and using good information you’ve found when you need it. Some people also think of this approach as personal knowledge management. This means having an archive of reasonably up-to-date...
Does the standard approach to the website homepage still make sense in the era of social media? Some feel that the role of the homepage on your website has so diminished in importance (and traffic) that it is no longer relevant. Is it time for a new approach? In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report,...
During their many years of public speaking, one of the biggest challenges Tom and Dennis have encountered is the webinar format. There are a lot of moving parts and some unique challenges. In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss how webinars differ from in-person presentations, how to prepare for...
Tom and Dennis do a lot of speaking, often as part of a panel. Most presentations these days take the form of a panel or other multi-speaker format. Presenting with others is quite different from presenting alone. In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the advantages and disadvantages of...
Hosts Tom Mighell and Dennis Kennedy have done a lot of public speaking at events like ABA TECHSHOW. Over the years, they’ve developed insights about using new platforms and how to avoid technology-related obstacles. On this episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis and Tom discuss recent presentation lessons, practical tips for novice and veteran presenters,...
Tom and Dennis recently attended ABA TECHSHOW 2014, one of the premier annual legal technology conferences. While there, they observed many interesting trends, saw innovative products, and met with numerous industry professionals. On this episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss TECHSHOW highlights, what interested them most, and their reflections on...
Since 2009, the FBI has warned that law firms have cybersecurity problems with potentially far-reaching consequences. Changes to ethical rules, as a result of the American Bar Association’s Ethics 20/20 effort, have clarified that keeping up with technology is a component of attorney competence. Where do ethics rules and cybersecurity measures intersect? In this episode...
Over the past few months, the legal industry has seen various conferences discussing innovation, disruption, and reinvention in the delivery of legal services. One of these events is the Forum on Legal Evolution, held this February in New York, at which Dennis was an attendee. In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and...
On any given day, we do a large number of repetitive tasks on our computers, tablets and smartphones. We also type the same email messages over and over, insert the same language into legal documents and open the same web pages on a regular basis. By automating some of these repetitive actions, we can become...
The rise of cloud computing has made it easier for lawyers to live in multiple tech worlds, whether it’s Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android. This phenomenon is becoming a trend that affects many people and is changing how we think about, talk about, and use technology. On this episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, hosts Dennis...
In a world of automatic updates and remote storage, are attorneys still controlling their practices? Are we forgetting valuable information as our machines take over? In this episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the pros and cons of trading control for increased productivity.
Is your legal practice less efficient because of out-of-date technology? In today’s world of accelerating change, it can be difficult to keep up with client expectations. In this edition of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, legal technology experts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss New Year’s tech resolutions. The topics include using instant messaging, implementing social media,...
The annual Q&A episode has arrived. In this edition of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell will answer the technology questions that listeners have sent in throughout the year. Topics include the addition of technological competence to the ethical rules, the death of certain social media platforms, tech trends for 2014, and Dennis...
Technology can be baffling. Some of legal tech’s toughest questions have been around for 20 or 30 years with no simple answer – but that doesn’t mean we stop trying to solve them. In this edition of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell will discuss legal-tech conundrums, how to answer them, and how...
As we approach the gift-giving season, the new iPads are here. Will you be purchasing the newest model for yourself or as a gift, or are you still wondering what’s different and new? In this edition of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the new iPad Air and iPad Mini with retina...
