The Kennedy-Mighell Report

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. In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell take a look Microsoft and the Windows platform, what Windows-using lawyers can expect, and the potential pros and cons of using a Microsoft Surface Pro for your practice. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell analyze recent discussions about artificial intelligence and lawyers, try to separate myth from reality, and ponder whether AI can take over the work of lawyers. Together, they discuss the definition of AI, robotics, Technology Assisted Review, driverless cars, document assembly software, LegalZoom and how lawyers are assisted or threatened by these technologies. Dennis points out that lawyers are often worried about computer system mistakes but comfortable with the lower success rate of humans. Tom aptly explains that comfort in certain technologies stems from psychological acceptance. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Invisible apps” are background programs that automatically trigger functions without being opened. Examples include automatic notification or emails based on a trigger, a personal concierge, or a password manager. In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss invisible apps, how they might impact or benefit lawyers, and whether they are the leading edge of a much more significant mobile technology wave. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss recent commentary on the last decade of blawging, the current state of blawging, and the future of online interaction and marketing for lawyers. They discuss whether legal blogs are still popular, how the online landscape has changed for legal professionals, and what might be replacing the personal law blog. Tom notes that due to podcasts, social media, and general writing exhaustion, individual lawyers are updating less often or have stopped all together. Dennis talks about how there are more law firm and group blogs that are SEO optimized and targeted for marketing. They both agree that blawging is not dead, but has changed remarkably in the past ten years. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell reflect on their experiences at TECHSHOW 2015, share notes on legal technology trends and products, and have the aftershow discussion that they didn’t have time to have at the show. In a general overview, Kennedy discussed spending time at the concierge desk and catching up with old connections. Mighell commented on how the conference is about building relationships, gaining outstanding technology education, and interacting personally with vendors. The hosts also discuss top highlights from TECHSHOW, new products that excited them (pay attention for Legal Earth, Zola, and others), and the Appathon hosted by the ABA Legal Technology Research Center (LTRC). Finally, Kennedy and Mighell analyze whether similar conferences are still relevant as and how TECHSHOW might be adapted to a global legal community in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss why legal technology projects fail, the human element of legal technology, and why Woldow and Richardson’s blog post should launch some important conversations. When addressing the fundamental problems lawyers have with technology (a common subject) Kennedy believes lawyers seek an unachievable standard; they want something impossibly intuitive and easy to use that fills all management and accounting needs. He also mentions that efficiency technologies are counter-intuitive to the billable hour. Mighell believes that lawyers will only adopt technology through client or management pressure and encouragement. In the end, they both agree that technology can be used to streamline or automate busywork, leaving more time for quality legal analysis. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell explain why shadow IT happens, discuss implications to the company’s IT and legal departments, and suggest steps employers can take to resolve the prevalence of shadow IT in their own companies (hint: it doesn’t involve more regulations). Kennedy and Mighell describe the different forms of shadow IT that have been used over time, from personal instant messaging before companies introduced accepted ones, to current cloud-based softwares like Basecamp and Dropbox used for project management and collaboration. Mighell even suggests that backing up your email on a home computer can be considered shadow IT due to issues created in data preservation and discovery. Shadow IT causes issues for IT departments, because they can’t control the hardware and software being used, legal departments, because of regulatory issues in electronic discovery, and even human resources departments due to unseeable employee interactions. Tune in to hear what Kennedy and Mighell explain as a relatively simple solution to technology workarounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 and buying today? In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell talk about accessorizing technology, discuss some of their favorite accessories, and recommend ways lawyers can accessorize their smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Kennedy and Mighell have some favorites that they want to share and they would like to hear about your favorites too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell reexamine the paperless office, survey the current process of going paperless, and speculate as to whether the era of the paperless office might have actually arrived. Kennedy muses the “if it comes to you in paper, it stays in paper” mentality of lawyers. While he points out that many of the themes around going paperless are processor powers, speed, bandwidth, the cloud, smartphones, and apps, his true hangup is with storage and organization. With an optimistic mentality, Mighell discusses getting more lawyers to use scanners, making sure they are never presented with paper copies, and how apps like Genius Scan and Evernote can facilitate the process of going completely paperless. Both Kennedy and Mighell agree that the only way to effectively go paperless is to start with a process and build good habits. Luckily, it’s tax season! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Tom Mighell interviews Dennis Kennedy about LegalTech New York 2015, covering highlights from the show and what this year’s event might tell us about future trends in legal technology. As always, e-discovery was a big topic, with an estimated 54% of the vendors falling within the e-discovery category. Kennedy speculates that information governance will be a focus for 2015 as the legal community shifts toward records management, predictive coding, and TAR (Technology Assisted Review). This year boasted fewer new product announcements but many upgrades and new generations. Some interesting collaboration and matter management tools were announced, and Kennedy shares the coolest new thing he saw: an analytics tool that takes a dashboard approach with a user interface reminiscent of an app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices