Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Vermont Bar Journal, Fall 2016, Vol. 42, No. 3 | Page 46

BOOK REVIEW

2016 Solo and Small Firm
Legal Technology Guide

by John Simek, Michael Maschke,
Sharon D Nelson
ABA Book Publishing, 2016, 431 pgs
Reviewed by David Polow
This is the 9th yearly edition of the Solo
and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide by
Sharon Nelson, John Simek and Michael
Maschke.
Why should you read this book? First, as
Jim Calloway notes in his introduction, the
ABA revised its Model Rules to require that
lawyers be competent with the technology
tools they must use today. Comment 8 to
Rule 1.1 of the ABA Model Rules states:
To maintain the requisite knowledge
and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast
of changes in the law and his practice,
including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage
in continuing study and education and
comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject.
I asked Vermont Bar Counsel Michael
Kennedy about this comment and he responded: “I consider the duty of competence to include a duty to keep abreast of
developments in technology.”
As I understand it, the Civil Rules Committee will recommend the adoption of
Comment 8 to Rule 1.1 to the Vermont

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Rules of Professional Conduct. However,
Michael is of the opinion that the duties
Comment 8 imposes are already a part of
Rule 1.1 when considering competence.
As most of you know, Michael Kennedy
blogs at “Ethical Grounds the Official Blog
of Vermont Bar Counsel.” Michael wrote a
blog regarding this issue entitled “Competence Includes Tech Competence” dated
November 9, 2015. It’s worth reading.
A second reason to read this book: if you
are starting a small firm or considering upgrades to your current system, the guide
provides a thorough overview of the hardware and software options that are now
available.
However, it becomes dated annually because an update is published every year.
Therefore, unless you can borrow it, it is
somewhat expensive at $89.95 through
the American Bar Association. Accordingly,
find a way to borrow it unless you intend to
open an office or upgrade in a given year.
The book provides a detailed summary
of virtually all options that make sense for
a smaller office, both in terms of hardware
and software. The book covers everything
that is necessary for a complete office starting from scratch, including but not limited
to, operating systems, peripherals, printers, scanners, monitors, smart phones, billing software, case management software,
document assembly and other hardware
and software options.
The authors make specific recommendations including hard drives, memory and
whether you should consider solid state
drives or not. The guide goes beyond
hardware and software by discussing cloud
computing, collaboration, remote access,
mobile security, utilities, social media for
law firms and other subjects that are not directly technology related.
Specifically, there are excellent chapters
on productivity software including Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, Adobe Acrobat, OCR software and voice recognition
software. The authors also include a chapter on security software and issues involving encryption, public computer usage and
smart phones.

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • FALL 2016

The book also contains a chapter on favorite utilities. Some of these may not apply to the small law office, but are worth
reviewing.
Finally, there is an extensive chapter on
iWin: iPad for Litigators. This chapter provides an introductory tour of iPad and why
an iPad should be used in the courtroom.
James A. Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Management Assis