Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
Our Panelists:
Alexander Paykin (AP), William Goren (WG) and Dennis Kennedy (DK).
What legal technology or practice management book(s) is on your list for this summer?
AP: “The Client-Centered Law Firm” by Jack Newton, the founder of Clio. Considering how data-driven he is, I imagine it will have a lot of factual insight about practice automation that actually benefits the client. All of his keynote speeches that I have attended have certainly proved to be very enlightening.
WG: Dennis Kennedy and Allison Shields’s how to make LinkedIn work for you.
DK: I’m all about innovation, new business models and collaboration these days. This summer will be a tough one to choose books in these categories, given all that’s changed since the beginning of the year. I’m planning to look to webinars and podcasts for the freshest thinking and approaches on these topics. There are definitely books in these categories that will stand the test of time, but I guarantee that any book that you read is going to feel like it’s missing the impact of the pandemic.
Do you read paper books or e-books, and why?
AP: Both. It really depends on whether I have easy access to a paper copy. I turn to the screen if I can’t find a physical copy of the book I want to read and Amazon can’t get me one in the time frame I have in mind…
WG: Paper. Much easier on my hands to read that way.
DK: E-books. Once you get to the “age of presbyopia, paper books are not as easy for me to read as the consistent experience of e-books with fonts set to my own prefence.
Which blogs are your “go-to” sources for legal tech or law practice management topics?
AP: Legal Technology Today (shameless promo)
WG: Lexblog is a great blog aggregator. Sometimes, I will find really useful stuff that way.
DK: Legal tech, especially, and even law practice management mean so many things to so many different people. My list these days skews toward international, corporate law departments, new tech, innovation, and futurists. That works for me, but it probably won’t work for you. I suggest going back to what we did in the early days of blogging – checking out blogs mentioned and liked by your favorite bloggers, authors and speakers. Explore!
What are your top Twitter feeds for legal tech this year, and how have they changed over the past year?
AP: I avoid Twitter like Covid-19.
WG: I don’t use Twitter. Too much noise for my taste.
DK: I have a well-curated and extensive list of people I follow. My interests in legal tech, at this point, are likely to be very different from your interests. And that is the key point I want to make. Going through the exercise of organically creating a list of feeds that interest you and provide value is by far the best approach. Starting with @ltrc and the feeds of the people in this roundtable is a good idea. My changes have definitely been in adding more international, access to justice, and innovation feeds in the last few months.
What other sources do you look to for legal tech or practice management information, other than books, blogs, and Twitter?
AP: I religiously attend ABA’s Tech Show and Clio’s ClioCon to see what new vendors and technologies appear there each year and I have my Google personal news feed configured to show me all sorts of news articles regarding tech generally and legal tech in particular…
WG: N/A
DK: Podcasts! Tom Mighell and I started The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast in 2006, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. LinkedIn has become a great resource me because of the people I’m connected to and how their updates make it to my LinkedIn newsfeed. In the past few months, webinars and webcasts have also become a great resource.
Aside from practice management and legal technology, what kinds of books will you be reading this summer? Any specific titles that you’re looking forward to?
AP: I am seriously considering re-reading Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, where the world famous science fiction comedy writer and the world famous zoologist travel to various distant locations in the hope of encountering species on the brink of extinction. The book is both hysterically funny and intelligent in discussing the plight of various highly endangered species.
WG: Currently reading The Last Trial by Scott Turow. Justice Gorsuch’s book is next on my list.
DK: Books on antiracism and Black Lives Matter, systems thinking, innovation, online teaching methods, pandemics, history, and, of course, detective novels.
How will your summer reading be different this year as a result of the pandemic?
AP: I will have less time for it, as I tend to do most of my reading on long haul flights to far away destinations. At home, there is almost always something more ‘important’ to do than sit back and read a book…
WG: No change.
DK: Like other things, reading will be happening within a background of anxiety, uncertainty and poor sleep. I have noticed that I’m “reading” a lot more audiobooks. I expect that to continue.
