In an effort to provide the top resource covering the latest legal technology trends, the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center has launched the 2013 ABA TECHREPORT. This comprehensive publication is a compilation of 10 articles analyzing lawyers’ use of the latest technology, with data pulled directly from the 2013 Legal Technology Survey Report.
With the changes to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct recommended by the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission, lawyers are strongly encouraged to remain updated on technological developments in order to meet their basic obligation of competence under Model Rule 1.1. LTRC publications such as TECHREPORT and the Legal Technology Survey Report act as prime resources in helping lawyers meet this obligation.
Each of the 10 articles is written by a legal technology expert using relevant data from the 2013 Legal Technology Survey Report. Some of the topics covered include mobile, cloud computing, hardware, social media, litigation, training, security and research and budgets.
As an example, Tom Mighell, a senior consultant with Contoural Inc., where he helps companies address their records management, electronic discovery and litigation readiness issues, wrote the following in his article on mobile computing in law firms:
• Tablet use for law-related tasks has risen to 48 percent in 2013, more than tripling from 15 percent in 2011.
• Law firms are starting to adopt “bring your own device” policies.
• Although studies have shown that password protection alone is not sufficient enough to protect a mobile device, most lawyers refuse to use another method, such as encryption — 18 percent report using file/data encryptions and 13 percent use hard drive encryption.
