Internet Newsletter for Lawyers

The first industrial revolution, which began in the 1750s, lasted for between 80 to 100 years. The pace of technological change today encourages us to believe that the second industrial revolution (IR2) will be completed at much greater speed. So if we take the mid-1980s as a starting point, with the emergence of optical disk technologies into consumer markets, you would expect us to be well on the way to completion, 30 years into IR2.

Much has been written about the pros and cons of working in “the cloud”. Even in this Newsletter, if you search under “cloud computing” you will find 26 articles, written over several years! Just to re-cap, the essential concept is that data is stored in an online location which is accessible from an internet-connected device, as opposed to being kept on a local hard drive or portable storage medium. In theory, cloud computing enhances data security as logins are generally required for access, and it’s less susceptible to hard drive failures because of backup procedures. It also improves collaboration opportunities and makes data easier to access from multiple locations and devices.

In the last issue, I started looking at the issues of cloud computing and some of the data protection issues. This article continues that analysis.

Everyone has their favourite, “go to” legal website for information or research, but this compilation hopefully cuts across personal preference and offers a wide-ranging selection of some of the best legal resources for lawyers of all persuasions.

For law firms, word of mouth continues to be the principle generator of work. Firms historically tried to leverage its power using “thought leadership” marketing, through “offline content” such as newsletters, white papers and articles. Today, however, this is no longer enough.

Target audiences have moved online, expanding the reach of word of mouth to the multitude of web channels. The challenge this presents firms is that they need to do more than just have an online presence. They need to be active, contributing content to the right online space, at the right time, to be consumed by the right people.

Ireland’s first dedicated Data Privacy Law app has been launched by leading Irish firm A&L Goodbody. The Irish Data Protection Commissioner supports this useful tool as it is aimed at senior management, privacy law professionals and in-house lawyers who need to respond to an increasing number of data protection requirements and challenges that data security [...]

On 30 April 1993 CERN published a statement that made World Wide Web (“W3”, or simply “the Web”) technology available on a royalty-free basis. By making the software required to run a web server freely available, along with a basic browser and a library of code, the web was allowed to flourish. British physicist Tim [...]

Nick and Delia’s new CPD courses will soon be available, starting with Solicitors and the Internet 2013 in June which qualifies for 5 hours CPD for solicitors and legal execs. It includes chapters on: Competition in the legal market Business development for the firm Developing the firm’s web site Marketing on the web Cloud systems [...]

Launched in 2003, Skype was one of the first mass market freely available forms of internet video conferencing. It took advantage of early developments in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to allow users to communicate with each other using their microphones and webcams. Previously video conferencing had been prohibitively expensive for the general public and was largely only used by companies. The burgeoning popularity of broadband over the last few years has led to an increase in the use of a constantly improving VoIP and a surge in the popularity of Skype.

(with Chloe Dennis)

How many types of device might you view a website on during the course of your week?

We are becoming used to accessing the internet anytime and anywhere on whatever device we have to hand. Our choice of device at any time depends on personal preferences, availability and the ability to use the device in various situations.

If you’ve recently used any government service online you will probably have been directed to GOV.UK. On 17 October 2012 it replaced Directgov and BusinessLink as the place to go for government services. And on 15 November the first government departmental and agency websites started their migration to the Inside Government section of GOV.UK. As of 4 March, 13 of 24 government departments and 30 of 300+ agencies and other public sector bodies have migrated; all departments are due to have moved by April 2013 and (with exceptions) all other public bodies by April 2014.

I can remember the days when computer storage meant a stack of punched cards and disk drives were measured in kilobytes rather than petabytes; when offsite storage meant the boot of the office manager’s car. I am not very old.

Now, even the smallest law firm uses computers and it is possible to run a business from a PC, unlike the dedicated IT requirement of 30 years ago. Lawyers, however, still like keeping things whether it be paper files or electronically stored materials and our nature means that we are reluctant ever to destroy anything … just in case! Whilst my litigation colleagues will advise that indefinite storage is both a blessing and a curse – e-discovery may not turn up exactly what a party might have wished – ready and instant access to whatever is needed, from any location, is a fact of the modern legal world. No longer does one need to arrive at a meeting or at a distant court to find that the all-important document is languishing on one’s desk or, my particular hang-up, waiting to be printed from the remote printer that I have omitted to visit before rushing off.