TECHNOLOGY PROPERTY Surviving the 24-7 Office It is 2022, and lawyers are returning to their offices en masse, leaving the comforts of home. Some are returning full-time; others have negotiated flexible schedules where they work selected days in the office. Over the past two years, lawyers armed with technology have been able to work from anywhere and at any time. With remote meeting technology, their client and colleague interactions have not been constrained by office hours. As a result, our clients and colleagues have been able to reach out to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and get a response. The resulting never-ending workday has caused disruptions in the work-life balance for many of us. Most lawyers have successfully outfitted the home office with the resources of the work office, but they remain tethered to their desktop or laptop computer. With the right balance of technology, however, you can cut the umbilical cord to your computer and gain some level of freedom. Armed with a cell phone, you can leave the “office” to attend your child’s baseball game, go to a birthday party, visit your in-laws, or go on a vacation, so long as there is access to 4G or WiFi connections. This article examines some of the technology that will allow you to cut the cord that binds you to your desk. It will be up to you to manage what level of Technology—Property Editor: Seth Rowland, Esq. (www.linkedin.com/in/ sethrowland) has been building document workflow automation solutions since 1996 through Basha Systems (www.bashasys. com), the consultancy he founded. He also helps law firms implement document management and practice management systems as a member of the 3545 Consulting Group (www.3545consulting. com).
Technology—Property provides information on current technology and microcomputer software of interest in the real property area. The editors of Probate & Property welcome information and suggestions from readers.
work your clients and colleagues expect from you outside of traditional office hours. Certain legal tasks will always require a dedicated computer with a large screen, such as document drafting and review. But many legal tasks require informed decisions that can be delivered asynchronously. It is these tasks that can be handled via a cellphone or tablet outside of your work or home office that we discuss in this article. Required Hardware The cellphone is an essential piece of equipment. Start with a current model Android or iPhone cell phone; the larger the screen, the better. The screen display should be at least 6”. If you can get an Apple iPhone 13 Max or a Samsung Galaxy S21+, the extra screen display area is well worth the extra cost. It is also good to have extra storage capacity to handle downloaded documents and all the applications you will be installing. Look for a phone with long battery life. In addition, purchase a high-capacity portable battery to use whenever you travel. If you are working with a phone older than two years, consider getting the battery replaced or just trade it in. Your cell phone provider is also important. You will want a generous data plan with 4G or 5G in the locations
you will be working. You will also want to be aware of the WiFi hotspots in the places you go outside your office. WiFi connections are usually faster. With the proper precautions, they can be used safely. With 4G/5G you will also want the ability to turn your phone into a mobile hotspot. In this way, should you need the larger screen and keyboard of your laptop, you can connect to the internet through your phone. Get a quality, noise-canceling headset. You will be making calls from locations where there is a lot of background noise. You will sound unprofessional shouting above the noise, and you will have difficulty hearing the other party on the call. The Apple AirPods Pro have acceptable noise canceling. However, you should also consider earbud offerings from Jabra, Samsung, Microsoft, Sennheiser, or Poly (previously Plantronics). If you expect to be in a noisy setting and have an iPhone, you might consider using an artificial intelligence-based noise cancellation application like Krisp. Required Infrastructure You must have a cloud-accessible Document Management System (DMS). Lawyers need to be informed when they talk to clients and colleagues. And this means having your documents at your fingertips to refer to in your conversation. VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology can work for a home office, but it will not work on your phone. And don’t ask me about using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) on a cell phone; the screen is too tiny to get anything done. Documents attached to emails can serve as a basis for discussion, but this approach is problematic. If a legal transaction is under intense negotiation, by the time you review the attachment,
Published in Probate & Property, Volume 36, No 1 © 2022 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
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