The Hytech Lawyer | Exploring Technology Solutions for the Modern Lawyer

The Hytech Lawyer Recommends Thirty-One Great Apps for Lawyers – SUMMER 2013

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Bill

Here it is– the latest, greatest list of iPad Apps recommended for lawyer use by the hytech lawyer. They are grouped by category. These are my favorites,and I have left out some perfectly acceptable alternatives to keep the list manageable.

Document Editing and Management

1. Goodreader ($4.99 App Store)

One of the all time best selling non-Apple apps for iPad. This App allows you read and in most cases mark-up PDFs and many other varieties of documents. Also has a well designed document management system which permits multi-level document files (i.e., organizing documents by case/matter). Integrates well with Dropbox, email and many other applications. Aggressive development team constantly refines and updates the application. A must have for the serious iPad lawyer.

2. Documents To Go Premium ($ 16.99 App Store)

Another must have application for the serious iPad lawyer. Allows you to open, edit, save, email and create documents in the most popular word processing and spreadsheet applications to include MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and WordPerfect. The “Swiss Army Knife” of iPad document apps.

3. Pages ($9.99 App Store)

Apple’s proprietary word processing program. Most robust word processing App for the iPad. Converts Word documents for editing and then can convert them back to Word or PDF. Documents created in Pages can be converted to MSWord or PDF and shared by various means. If you plan to draft documents on the iPad, you will want this App.

FILE STORAGE AND TRANSFER

4. SpiderOak (Free up to 2 GB App Store)

SpiderOak does everything that Dropbox does, and more (allows cloud storage and sharing files between computers, smart phones, iPads, etc.), but is much more secure. Your files are encrypted and SpiderOak does not have a key. SO DON’T FORGET YOUR PASSWORD. To start out, you install the desktop app and select folders you want to backup. Once backed up, you can sync them to other computers/devices or create “Share Rooms” to share files with other users. Use SpiderOak for cloud storage (after 2 GB charges based on storage size), file transfers and collaboration with others. SpiderOak recently introduced SpiderOak Hive that works just like Dropbox—only much more secure. In my opinion, a “must have” App.

5. Dropbox (Free up to 2 GB APP Store)—NON-CONFIDENTIAL FILE USE ONLY

In some respects, Dropbox is a fantastic App. It allows cloud storage and sharing of files between computers, smart phones, iPads, you name it. With this App, you can make a file available to all your devices by moving it to the Dropbox on any of your other computers/devices. Incredibly easy to use. The problem—there are serious questions about the security of files stored in Dropbox and access to them. Further, the terms of service are such that Dropbox can pretty much do what it wants to with your files. In my opinion Dropbox is not suitable for storing or transferring confidential and/or privileged materials. However, it is probably true that using Dropbox to simply transfer files, and then deleting the files from Dropbox post transfer presents minimal risk. I use it frequently for transferring nonconfidential files because many applications are designed with Dropbox capability.

HANDWRITTEN NOTE TAKING

6. UPAD (4.99 App Store) (most natural handwriting and note taking)

UPAD allows you to use your iPad as a notepad for handwritten notes. I use it every day (with a stylus) in place of my yellow legal pad (although UPAD has yellow legal pad templates for those who wish to honor tradition). I have tested most of the popular handwriting Application (Penultimate (old #1 choice), Note Taker HD, Noteability, PaperDesk, PhatPad 7Notes HD Premium) and have found UPAD to be the easiest to use with the best file storage functionality and most natural writing feel.

7. Audio Note ($ 4.99 The App Store) (syncs audio with your handwritten or typed notes)

This is a particularly useful app that allows you to take handwritten or typed notes and audio record at the same time. The recording is synced with your notes. On playback select a word from your notes and the audio occurring at the time the note was taken is played back, with the corresponding text being highlighted. Great for witness interviews, depositions, meetings and classes. Caution:—remember the ethical issues related to recording others without their knowledge.

8. Smart Writing Tool- 7Notes HD Premium (App Store 9.99) (Best handwriting to text conversion)

7Notes is reasonably capable at converting handwriting to text. This App has been updated multiple times and has evolved into a practical note-taking tool. My handwriting is horrific, yet 7Notes converts almost every word correctly. It does this by using a predictive language engine, which while generally accurate, struggles with proper names.

You have the option of having your text converted as you write, making corrections along the way, or converting to text later. In our testing, the text conversion was much more accurate in the “convert as you go” mode as compared to using the “convert later” feature.

7Notes allows for the exporting of documents by Email, DropBox (under the print function) or direct upload to Twitter or Facebook. Right now the export is in text, image, or PDF file formats, but the developer is reportedly working on an export to Word feature that could be useful. The App also integrates with Evernote with in App purchase. This integration was not tested.

Audio Recorder

9. Twisted Wave ($ 9.99 The App Store) (Best pure audio recorder)

Twisted wave is a professional quality audio recorder app that provides surprisingly clear sound recordings. It has an intuitive interface, which is easy to use and full of powerful exporting and editing features. Caution:—remember the ethical issues related to recording others without their knowledge.

PC to iPad Extended or Mirrored Screen

10. Air Display ($9.99 App Store)

In my office, I have a dual monitor set-up I find to be very useful. You purchase the iPad App and download the PC host software for free. When on the road, I carry my laptop PC and an iPad2. Air Display allows me to use my iPad as a dual monitor for my laptop over a common WiFi network or via an ad hoc network. You can have an extended screen (screen view) or a duplicate screen. The iPad functions as a touch screen for your Windows PC. This gives you the option of using your iPad as a remote control for your PC or vice versa.

The duplicate screen mode could be also be used to display documents to a witness in deposition prep. The Lawyer on the PC and the witness with the iPad.

Meeting And hearing Presentation Application

11. Keynote ($ 9.99 The App Store)

Apple’s answer to PowerPoint for the iPad. You can create presentations on the iPad, but I have found it more practical to prepare presentations in PowerPoint and then email them to my iPad. Keynote will convert PowerPoint presentations to Keynote. As you might expect from Apple, Keynote has some neat effects for transitions, etc.

Trial Presentation Application

12. Trialpad ($89.99 The App Store)

In my opinion, Trialpad is the best trial presentation application available for the iPad. It is also the most expensive (although cheap compared to the cost of preparing even one foam board exhibit). Trialpad allows you to organize documents and display them via a projector or monitor system. You can highlight, redact, mark, and enlarge documents on the fly. It also has the capability to organize and share video and has a whiteboard feature. Documents are transferred to the iPad via Dropbox, e-mail, or iTunes sync. Trialpad is intuitively designed and easy to use.

13. Exhibit A ($14.99 The App Store)

Exhibit A has been improved over the years. It has the basic trial presentation functions (callout, highlight, marker and laser pointer). If you are not willing to shell out the dollars for top in class TrialPad, then Exhibit A is distant second choice trial presentation App for the iPad.

14. Explain Everything ($ 2.99 The App Store)

Originally designed for educators, “Explain Everything” is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere.

Create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage. Add new or existing photos and videos. Import PDF, PPT, DOC, XLS, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and RTF files from Evernote, Dropbox, Box, GDrive, WebDAV, Email, iTunes, and any app that allows you to open these files types using “Open In…”. Export MP4 movies, PDF documents, PNG images, or XPL project files directly from your iPad.

Explain Everything records on-screen drawing, annotation, object movement and captures audio via the iPad microphone. Import Photos, PDF, PPT, and Keynote from Dropbox, Evernote, Email, iPad photo roll and camera. Export MP4 movie files, PNG image files and share the .XPL project file with others for collaboration.

The potential uses for this app are only limited by your imagination. You can create an animation showing the direction of travel of automobile involved in an accident. You can import and crop photographs, add graphics such as arrows, shapes, etc. You can also introduce typewritten text or handwriting. In a nutshell, with the app, you can put most anything on the screen and manipulate it in real-time, while the same time recording it for later presentation in movie format. The animations can be displayed from the app or uploaded into Keynote or PowerPoint.

Best Timeline App for iPad

15. Timeline 3D ($10.99 App Store)

When it comes time present a time line or chronology, creating a compelling and comprehensible exhibit can be a challenge. Recently, I was consulted on a high dollar commercial dispute submitted to binding arbitration. The lawyers, being cutting edge types, wanted to use iPads in their presentation. There were about 200 key documents, and key dates were critical to the disputed issues. I recommended they use the Timeline 3D App for iPad to display their key dates and documents.

Timeline 3D (App Store $7.99) is a stunning timeline presentation tool that provides both a 2D and 3D perspective. Seeing is believing. What follows are stills and video from a Demo presentation that took me only 25 minutes to prepare, all on the iPad:

Presenter’s Screen:

2D view

3D view

But still pictures do not do the App justice. Take a gander at Timeline 3D in action in a recorded presentation. LINK

For those true MacLawyers, the $65 Mac Version allows you to create a timeline and then integrate it with iPad Keynote so only your imagination is the limit on what you can put on each slide. The 3D animation effects are preserved as you move from slide to slide, and you still have the full capabilities of Keynote to add any other content or media to the presentation. Amazing!

Research

16. Fastcase HD (Free. The App Store)

Fastcase HD is a free legal research application, putting the American law library in the palm of your hand. Fastcase contains cases and statutes from all 50 states and from the federal government. You can search by citation, keyword (in Boolean or natural language), or browse statute collections. You cannot print or copy in this free version, but great for on the fly research.

17. WestlawNext (Free, but need a WestlawNext account. The App Store)

Access WestlawNext features including, WestSearch™, KeyCite™, Folders, History, document notes and highlighting, browse database content and more — all redesigned for the iPad multi-touch screen.

18. LawStack (Free. The App Store)

LawStack is a portable rules library. It comes preloaded with :

US Constitution
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure
Federal Rules of Evidence
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure

You can buy additional references for a fee, e.g., USC Code.

19. FedCtRecords ($9.99 The App. Store)

This application that allows you to easily navigate the Federal Court Pacer system on your iPad. The application allows you to select the court you are interested in from a menu. All you need is your Pacer ID and either the case name or civil action number. You can pull up all general Pacer information and filed documents. Documents can be viewed and emailed from the Application. Once entered a case can be stored for future menu shortcut access. This App is easy to use and well designed.

Document Scanning

20. DocScanner 5.0 ($4.99. The App. Store)

With DocScanner, you can turn any document into a PDF by snapping a photo. The App can also accurately convert typed documents to text. I have found this “portable copier/scanner” to be very useful.

Teleconferences

21. Skype for iPad (Free. The App Store)

The new iPad App for use with the popular video calling service Skype. Call, video call, or instant message anyone on Skype for free. Plus, you can purchase Skype Credit enabling you to call landlines and mobiles at really low rates.

22. GoToMeeting (Free App iPad Store—requires subscription)

This is my favorite iPad application for video teleconferences. This is a subscription based service from Citrix. Very intuitive. Allows for control of the meeting to be transferred among the participants. Now possible to host a meeting from an iPad.

Teleprompters

23. Teleprompt+ ($14.99. The App Store)

Teleprompt+ is a simple yet powerful professional grade teleprompter for the iPad. Perfect for speeches and presentations where you have a fixed script. You control the speed of the scrolling. I love this App but have only had occasion to use it three times in the year I have owned it.

Travel

24. TripIt (Free. The App Store)

Allows you to manage and share your travel itineraries. Upgrade available by subscription that provides real time flight change, travel advisory and gate information. However, the free version is very useful.

Photography, Video and Creativity Apps

Whether for fun or for work, there are several iPad applications that allow the creative minded attorney to produce high quality photographs, videos, audio, slide presentations and art work that a few years ago would have required sophisticated equipment and help from experienced engineers and/or graphic artists. Here are a number of my current favorites I have used and can wholeheartedly recommend:

25. Haiku Deck (App Store-Free with optional in app purchases) – This App allows you to create stunning slide-show presentations similar to PowerPoint and Keynote without all the frills. What makes Haiku Deck special is its ability to retrieve beautiful high resolution images based upon the key words in your slides. The App by its nature does not allow lots of bullet points or excessive text, so it forces the user to conform to what are considered slide presentation best practices. See demo video.

26. Video Downloader Pro (App Store- $ 3.99) – Allows you to capture download videos from the web and save in your iPad or iPhone photos folder. Once downloaded the video files can be edited in iMovie or Pinnacle Studio. I use the App to download copies of offending advertisements in my false advertising practice.

27. 360 Panorama (App Store $ .99)—

This App is incredible– allows you to create an interactive 360 degree photograph with your iPhone or iPad. This could be an invaluable tool for mapping out an accident site or crime scene. You can see an example photograph of the cul-de-sac in front of my house I created in about five minutes using my iPhone. These images can be shared, flattened, etc.

28. Snapseed (App. Store $ 4.99) – My favorite photo editing suite for iPhone and iPad. Allows the basic editing and enhancement of photographs and applying limited special effects. Easy to use and great for basic photo touch-up.

29. Lapse It (App Store – Free) – “Lapse It” is an award-winning full featured app for capturing amazing time lapse and stop motion videos (Available for iPhone, iPad and Android). It is easy, fast and intuitive. I have had lots of fun with this App, capturing cloud movements, traffic patterns, an ice cube melting, etc. Could be useful for a litigator seeking to demonstrate movement patterns over time.

30. Slo-Pro (App Store – Free) –

SloPro captures footage at 720p 60fps, giving you twice as many HD frames to work with. You can toggle slow motion on and off while shooting for engaging fast/slow effects. You can also edit the fast/slow points after shooting. The app allows sharing directly to Facebook and YouTube. Upgrade to export to your camera roll and email. Pro users can also export raw 60fps footage via iTunes. This is great for capturing sporting events, analyzing golf swings and studying batting posture.

31. Pinnacle Studio (App Store– $12.99) –

Pinnacle Studio is an intuitive video/audio App for the iPad. The app allows editing of audio and sound, transitions, titles and special effects. You can share your completed project directly to YouTube, Facebook and Dropbox. For video editing two separate audio tracks are available allowing for a music track and a voiceover track. I have used the App in my litigation practice to create quick and dirty deposition highlight reels.

*****

The Lawyer’s Toolbox— How to Create Stunning 3D Timelines on the iPad

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Bill

Most successful trial lawyers have the knack for simplifying the incredibly complex so that the core issues are easily grasped by whatever audience is at hand– be it client, judge, jury, arbitrator, mediator, or opposing counsel. Part of the simplification process is putting the facts into proper temporal context (in human speak– a timeline). A good practice is to begin constructing a case chronology of key events during your initial review of the file– vigilantly building on as more facts become known.

When it comes time to present your chronology for purposes of persuasion, creating a compelling and comprehensible timeline exhibit can be difficult if there are a large amount of events to be chronicled. Recently, I was consulted on a very high dollar commercial dispute submitted to binding arbitration. The lawyers, being cutting edge types, wanted to use iPads in their presentation. There were about 200 key documents, and key dates were critical to the disputed issues. My recommendation was that they use the Timeline 3D App for iPad to display their key dates and documents.

Presenter’s Screen:

2D view

3D view

But still pictures do not do the App justice. Take a gander at Timeline 3D in action in a recorded presentation. LINK

For those true MacLawyers, the $65 Mac Version allows you to create a timeline and then integrate it with iPad Keynote so only your imagination is the limit. Amazingly, the 3D animation effects are preserved as you move from slide to slide, and you still have the full capabilities of Keynote to add any other slide or media to the presentation. Amazing!

Lawyer’s Toolbox— How to Give Your iPad 1Tb of Memory and to Transfer Files via USB Cable From iPad to Other Computers

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Bill

From a lawyer’s perspective, two shortcomings of the iPad are the limited memory of the available versions of the devices (16 GB, 32 GB, 64GB, 128GB) and the inability to transfer data to or from the iPad by USB thumb drive, memory card, or CD/DVD. Now there is a solution to both of these problems, albeit not an inexpensive one. I have been using the Seagate GoFlex Mobile Wireless Plus 1TB mobile drive since it first became available in February of this year ($199.00). The drive won Best of Show at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2013. See Video Ad.

The Wireless Plus is a mobile 1TB hard drive that allows up to eight computers, tablets and/or smart phones (Windows, iOS, Android, Kindle, Nook) to access and store content on the drive, at the same time, via the drive’s own mini WiFi network. That’s right, the Wireless Plus creates its own Wi-Fi network; no outside internet connection is needed. You can allow password protected access by eight devices to the content on the drive in the middle of the jungle (or in a rural courtroom) with no other WiFi access. If there is a WiFi network available, the Wireless Plus can access it and provide internet through its private network with access to the drive contents. The drive can also wirelessly backup the content of the files on your iPad.

Data uploaded from the iPad can be transferred to other computers by a USB cable that plugs into the drive.

The 1 TB capacity of the drive allows you to store your entire file to the drive. No need to worry about poor WiFi connectivity in isolated venues—you still have access to your entire file. The rated battery life of the drive is 10 hours, although I have been getting closer to 8 hours. An AC power cable is included.

I find that the drive generally performs well. There were some glitches with the companion iPad App, but these seemed to have been worked out as the drive is working well for me now.

Bottom line: The Seagate GoFlex Wireless Plus Drive is an outstanding tool for the mobile iPad Lawyer.

The ABA Tech Show– Disneyland for the Hytech Lawyer

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Bill

I am in Chicago attending my first ever ABA Tech Show. It has been one of the best CLE/tradeshow experiences I have had in my 20+ years of practicing law. First, there are many kindred spirits here working with great enthusiasm and determination to develop and/or implement technology solutions to enhance the ability of lawyers to practice law and better serve their clients. Second, there is a deep fundamental understanding among this gathering that technology is changing everything about the practice of law.

Last night, I participated in the popular Taste of Tech Show dinner group program. The concept is small groups of conference attendees going to dinner with some of Tech Show’s thought leaders. I was in the iOS application group and my dinner companions did not disappoint. The group “leaders” were noted iPad expert and author Tom Mighell and iPhone JD Blogger Jeff Richardson. Among the many interesting folks in the group were Ian O’Flaherty developer of the best-selling Trial Pad App, “Picture it Settled” attorney and developer Don Philbin, Texas lawyer Karl Seelbach, developer of the newly released deposition sync app eDepo, and North Carolina Technology Consultant Pegeen Turner. The dinner conversation was tech heavy and very interesting in a geeky sort of way. I felt quite at home.

New iPad accessory find of the day the Book Book iPad case from 12 South. This case truly looks like an old book (Pictured at top of post).

Thanks to Florida attorney and fellow Tech Show attendee Mick Moore for showing me this nifty case. Now its time to get back to Tech Show [more to come].

The Lawyer’s Tool Box: Video Demo of Dragon Naturally Speaking 12 (with Service Pack 12.5) made with Camtasia Studio 8

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Bill

We have previously presented a video demonstration of Dragon Naturally Speaking 12 (“DNS”) on this site. This video demo has received over 10,000 views, so there is apparently great interest in the real world capabilities of of the DNS dictation software. A service pack has been issued for DNS 12 (12.5). After installing the service pack, DNS seemed to have a higher accuracy rate. This presented an opportunity not only to do another DNS demonstration, but to also show off the new Camtasia Studio 8 desktop video production application.

Camtasia allows you to create high quality recorded presentations from your desktop. More than a simple screen recorder, Camtasia gives you the tools you need to truly customize and edit your videos. Record on-screen activity, add imported media, create interactive content, and share high-quality, HD videos that your viewers can watch anytime, on nearly any device. It comes with a fantastic editing suite and an extensive library of tutorials. It’s a bit pricey at $299.00, but nonprofit and educational use discounts are available. To test Camtasia, I took advantage of their 30 day free trial offer. It was easy to produce this first video with no training, although clearly I did not even scratch the surface of the application’s capabilities. An actual review of Camtasia will be coming in the near future. Click for the Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Demo Redux.

As always, questions and comments are welcomed.

Avoid Legal Malpractice— How to Select a Reasonably Secure Password

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Bill

Recently, several highly publicized security breaches resulted in the theft of password databases containing from tens of thousands to millions of passwords. Some of these password collections have been publicly disclosed and they provide a wealth of insight into the typical passwords chosen by consumers. It’s not a pretty picture.

Based upon the analysis of these real world passwords, there is general agreement in the IT security community that 98% of all passwords are woefully inadequate and can be cracked in short order with simple software and a $500 computer. The password collections also reveal that despite extensive reporting of the dangers, many people use the most obvious passwords (e.g., “password,” “12345″) that provide almost no protection. Also well documented is a thriving black market for lists of passwords (known as “rainbow lists”) used by “brute force” hacking systems to speed up the cracking process by trying known, commonly used, passwords first. Here’s the bottom line–If you do not take reasonable care in selecting the passwords used to secure access to your confidential client information, then it’s like leaving your office door unlocked at night—in both cases you are providing open access to your client files.

So what is necessary to fulfill the duty of reasonable care in choosing passwords? The ABA and numerous Bar Advisory Committees have opined that a lawyer should use “strong” Passwords. For starters this means having a password of at least 8 characters- longer passwords will generally be better. It should be obvious that use of any easy to guess derivations of your name, alma mater, phone number, Zip Code, street address, birth-date, etc., should be avoided. The more variation in letters, capitalization, numbers, and punctuation marks/symbols, the more secure your password is likely to be. It is also important to use different passwords (i.e., don’t use the same password for all of your accounts), and definitely use unique passwords for “high security” sites and accounts. Consider using an encrypted password keeper App to manage all these passwords. [PC iPad].

While randomly generated characters are the generally best choice for passwords, they are typically difficult to memorize. Common dictionary words, either with or without numbers are easy to remember but also easy to crack. One way to find a compromise password (and it is indeed a compromise) that is hard to crack, but easy to remember is to use a password generator that produces combinations of non-sequitur words, with variations in capitalization, symbols and numbers. See e.g. Simple Password Generator. If the password generator provides a password you find reasonably memorable, then you can test the strength of the password using Microsoft’s secure password checker, which will indicate the strength of the proposed password, but not retain a record of the password. If it is not strong enough, add a symbols or punctuation marks until it the tester indicates that it is “strong.”

While reasonably strong, but memorable passwords can be constructed from dictionary words, they will not be as secure as a password made up of randomly generated numbers, characters and symbols. If you would like to go this route, there are many random password generators available. For now, I am satisfied with the adequacy of my nine digit, machine generated, verified strong, memorable word combination passwords. However, hacking innovations could quickly change my view and bear watching.

We welcome your comments or questions.

Lawyer Alert– EVERNOTE IS HACKED– PASSWORD RESET REQUIRED

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Bill

Evernote, the popular cloud notebook service used by many lawyers, reports that it has been hacked. In a notice to customers, Evernote indicates that upon logging in they will be prompted to change their passwords as a security precaution. The complete notice is set forth below:

Dear Evernote user,

Evernote’s Operations & Security team has discovered and blocked suspicious activity on the Evernote network that appears to have been a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service.

As a precaution to protect your data, we have decided to implement a password reset. Please read below for details and instructions.

In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that any of the content you store in Evernote was accessed, changed or lost. We also have no evidence that any payment information for Evernote Premium or Evernote Business customers was accessed.

The investigation has shown, however, that the individual(s) responsible were able to gain access to Evernote user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts, and encrypted passwords. Even though this information was accessed, the passwords stored by Evernote are protected by one-way encryption. (In technical terms, they are hashed and salted.)

While our password encryption measures are robust, we are taking steps to ensure your personal data remains secure. This means that in an abundance of caution, we are requiring all users to reset their Evernote account passwords. Please create a new password by signing into your account on evernote.com.

After signing in, you will be prompted to enter your new password. Once you have reset your password on evernote.com, you will need to enter this new password in other Evernote apps that you use. We are also releasing updates to several of our apps to make the password change process easier, so please check for updates over the next several hours.

As recent events with other large services have demonstrated, this type of activity is becoming more common. We take our responsibility to keep your data safe very seriously, and we’re constantly enhancing the security of our service infrastructure to protect Evernote and your content.

There are also several important steps that you can take to ensure that your data on any site, including Evernote, is secure:

Avoid using simple passwords based on dictionary words
Never use the same password on multiple sites or services
Never click on ‘reset password’ requests in emails – instead go directly to the service

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We apologize for the annoyance of having to change your password, but, ultimately, we believe this simple step will result in a more secure Evernote experience. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Evernote Support.

The Evernote Team

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For support requests, please contact us by going to our support page.
Evernote Corporation, 305 Walnut Street, Redwood City, CA 94063, USA

The Lawyer’s Toolbox: Review of WordRake an Impressive Automated Proofreader Designed by a Lawyer for Lawyers

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Bill

Executive Summary: WordRake is an impressive automated proofreader for lawyers.

Many of us are guilty of the same offense – we write like lawyers. To be precise, we often make word choices that hinder our ability to convey the point at hand in a concise and intelligible fashion. My prose is often wordy, and when I’m under the gun, it is not unusual for more than a few typos to find their way into my final draft. If time permits, I will often have a colleague proofread my work. However, this is not always possible if there is a time crunch or if I am working late at night on a blog post that must go out quickly to be timely.

Since I profess to be the hytech lawyer, it is only natural I would seek a technology solution to my proofreading need. First, I tried the grammar features of Microsoft Word and Apple’s Pages. While these programs catch basic spelling, tense and punctuation errors, they do not supplant the function of a good proofreader. I then tested two Windows based software solutions that purport to do just that; Grammarly and WordRake. Both of these products offer a free trial, which I took advantage of. Both products are sold on a subscription basis. Grammarly costs $ 139.00 per year for an individual subscription. WordRake is $99.00 per year for an individual subscription. Both offer other pricing plans based upon subscription length and number of licenses.

To demonstrate the programs, I ran them against the first rough draft of this post. Grammarly caught two grammatical errors, offered no suggestions to tighten the writing and identified many perfectly appropriate word uses as errors. However, because it found two significant grammatical errors, it was marginally helpful. A feature of Grammarly is it states the rule it is applying for each identified error and provides an example. This reiteration of proper grammar rules can, at least in theory, improve the skills of the writer as they work through the corrections. Grammarly also provides the option of selecting the appropriate level of strictness for the type of writing, e.g., general v. technical v. business v. creative v. casual, etc. It also has a plagiarism alert feature that offers a suggested citation to keep you out of trouble if your writing is too close to another source out on the Web.

On the surface, WordRake is not as full featured and does not address as many grammar issues as Grammarly. Instead, it seems designed to catch the typical word choice and grammar mistakes made by attorneys—just what I needed. WordRake does not explain its correction proposals, but I found most of the proposed changes to be good suggestions or least reasonable. WordRake integrates with Microsoft Word, but not Microsoft Office. Therefore, if you want to grammar check your emails, you must “cut and paste” the text to Word and run it through the program. That said, I appreciated its straightforward design and found it easier and much faster to use than Grammarly because it offers suggestions for each error, where Grammarly often just quoted the grammar rule with an example, leaving me to figure it out.

Both programs had features I found useful, but WordRake substantially improved my writing; catching many issues missed by Grammarly. If I had to choose one of the two it would definitely be WordRake, although ideally I would use them both if time and finances would permit.

The reports from the respective programs are below.

WordRake

WordRake offers concrete suggestions to improve and tighten the wrd choice. I was quite impressed.

Grammarly

This program did not address any of the style issues. It did find two legitmate grammar issues. This passage may not have been a good one to show Grammarly’s full capabilities.

The Future of Education– it’s not your Daddy’s Classroom

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Bill

We are living in a time of tremendous technological change. For the first time in history, most of the useful accumulated knowledge of the human species can be accessed by a child on a smart phone. Thousands of students can be taught by a master teacher in a virtual class room half-way across the world. Students can also be tutored by virtual teachers that have the time to ensure mastery of the material. Attached is a link to a video entitled The Future of Education commissioned by the phone manufacturer Ericsson. It rings so true to me that I have viewed it at least 5 times. I trust you will also find it enlightening and informative as well.

The Future of Education

Lawyer Ethics- Is Your Head in the Cloud?– The Ethical Implications of Using Dropbox and Other Cloud Services

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Bill

Executive Summary: Before an attorney uses cloud based services to transfer, store or process confidential client information, the attorney must exercise reasonable care to ensure that the cloud service provider will handle the information so as to comply with the attorney’s ethical obligation to preserve client confidences. This includes, among other things, a review of the provider’s terms of service and privacy policy, assessment of the sufficiency of the provider’s security provisions and the use of reasonable precautions by the attorney when accessing the cloud services. Based upon a review of the Dropbox privacy policy, the hytech lawyer does not use Dropbox to transfer or store confidential client information because Dropbox’s current privacy policy and terms of service do not provide adequate assurance that user data will not be disclosed to third parties without notice to the attorney. For information that is not considered confidential DropBox appears to be sufficiently secure.

clouds

Dropbox is, without question, one of the most useful and easy to use applications available to the mobile lawyer—especially those using iPads. Nevertheless, serious questions persist as to whether it is secure enough [without additional encryption by the user] for lawyer use and whether its terms of service provide adequate protection for confidential client information.

For the uninitiated, Dropbox is a cloud-based service which allows the user to transfer files from one of their computer/mobile devices to their other computer/mobile devices on which Dropbox is installed by simply dragging and dropping the file into the Dropbox folder on one of the devices. For example, I have Dropbox installed upon my desktop PC at home, my Mac Mini at home, my work laptop, my iPad, and my iPhone. If I move a file, such as document, into the Dropbox folder on any of these devices, the file is replicated in the Dropbox folders on all of my devices. Dropbox is available for practically every consumer computer device, and therefore is essentially operating system and device agnostic. Better yet, the service is free for the first 2 GB of data. Sounds useful huh? So what is the problem?

When you move a file into the Dropbox folder, it is automatically uploaded via the Internet to a remote server maintained by Dropbox. Copies of this data are then downloaded to any Dropbox folders that you may have installed on your other devices. This data resides on your individual devices and on the Dropbox servers. Because the data maintained on the Dropbox servers is now in the hands of a third party (Dropbox) and maintained in remote servers out of the control of the lawyer, the lawyer needs to have an understanding of how the cloud service provider, in this case Dropbox, will treat the data entrusted to it.

Think about it in more conventional terms— would an ethically responsible lawyer send a confidential client file out to a copy service for reproduction without having in place a written confidentiality agreement with the copy service, or at the very least a clear understanding that the client’s documents are to be safeguarded, kept confidential and reasonably protected from disclosure? Likewise, what responsible attorney would hand a confidential client file to a well dressed stranger on the street and ask them to deliver it, for free, to someone at another location without knowing something about the stranger’s background and without at least having an understanding with the stranger that the information will be maintained confidential and secure?

Compare these last two analogies with cloud service providers such as Dropbox, whose service is at its most basic level offered free and where there is no agreement between Dropbox and the attorney other than the unilaterally imposed terms of service required by Dropbox to access the service. If the attorney uses Dropbox without a commitment or agreement with Dropbox that reasonable precautions will be taken to protect the client’s data, then is the attorney acting with reasonable care? Recent ethics opinions from 15 states suggest the answer is no.

The ethics opinions addressing whether it is acceptable for an attorney to use cloud computing and online document storage for the transmission, storage or processing of client information and files have uniformly opined that an attorney must use “reasonable care” when selecting a cloud or Internet service or product. The American Bar Association has compiled a very helpful map and summary of 14 of the 15 state bar ethics opinions on the topic as of the time of publication.

The most recent cloud services opinions is Proposed Advisory Opinion 12–03, issued by the Professional Ethics Committee of the the Florida Bar. The Committee opined:

This Committee agrees with the opinions issued by the states that have addressed the issue. Cloud computing is permissible as long as the lawyer adequately addresses the potential risks associated with it. As indicated by other states that have addressed the issue, lawyers must perform due diligence in researching the outside service provider(s) to ensure that adequate safeguards exist to protect information stored by the service provider(s). New York State Bar Ethics Opinion 842 suggests the following steps involve the appropriate due diligence:

Ensuring that the online data storage provider has an enforceable obligation to preserve confidentiality and security, and that the provider will notify the lawyer if served with process requiring the production of client information
Investigating the online data storage provider’s security measures, policies, recoverability methods, and other procedures to determine if they are adequate under the circumstances;
Employing available technology to guard against reasonably foreseeable attempts to infiltrate the data that is stored.

Id. (emphasis added).

Citing an Iowa ethics opinion, the Florida Advisory Committee provided the following additional guidance as to what a lawyer should look for in a cloud provider:

[L]awyers must be able to access the lawyer’s own information without limit, others should not be able to access the information, but lawyers must be able to provide limited access to third parties to specific information, yet must be able to restrict their access to only that information. [The Lawyer should also consider] the reputation of the service provider to be used, its location, its user agreement and whether it chooses the law or forum in which any dispute will be decided, whether it limits the service provider’s liability, whether the service provider retains the information in the event the lawyer terminates the relationship with the service provider, what access the lawyer has to the data on termination of the relationship with the service provider, and whether the agreement creates “any proprietary or user rights’ over the data the lawyer stores with the service provider.

Id.

Given this guidance, let’s take a look at the pertinent provisions of the Dropbox security provisions, terms of service and privacy policy.

System Security

In a “security overview” on its website, Dropbox states that it:

Encrypts the user files stored on Dropbox using the AES-256 standard, which is the same encryption standard used by banks to secure customer data. Encryption for storage is applied after files are uploaded, and Dropbox manages the encryption keys.
Uses Amazon S3 for data storage. Amazon stores data over several large-scale data centers. According to Amazon, they use military grade perimeter control berms, video surveillance, and professional security staff to keep their data centers physically secure.
User files are sent between Dropbox’s desktop clients and its servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, the standard for secure Internet network connections.
User files are sent between Dropbox’s mobile apps and its servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL encryption where supported.
Dropbox and Amazon keep redundant backups of all data over multiple locations to prevent the remote possibility of data loss. In the unlikely event that this redundancy were to fail, Dropbox folders linked to a desktop computer client will still contain copies of your files (except files you’ve chosen not to sync using Selective Sync).
“We guard your privacy to the best of our ability and work hard to protect your information from unauthorized access.”
“Dropbox employees are prohibited from viewing the content of files you store in your Dropbox account, and are only permitted to view file metadata (e.g., file names and locations). Like most online services, we have a small number of employees who must be able to access user data for the reasons stated in our privacy policy (e.g., when legally required to do so). But that’s the rare exception, not the rule. We have strict policy and technical access controls that prohibit employee access except in these rare circumstances. In addition, we employ a number of physical and electronic security measures to protect user information from unauthorized access.”

Based upon these representations, Dropbox appears to be reasonably secure from a technical perspective. However, as we will see, the same cannot be said when it comes to the adequacy of its its privacy policy.

The terms of service contain the following pertinent provisions:

To be clear, aside from the rare exceptions we identify in our Privacy Policy, no matter how the Services change, we won’t share your content with others, including law enforcement, for any purpose unless you direct us to. How we collect and use your information generally is also explained in our Privacy Policy.

So far so good– now to the Privacy Policy.

The Privacy Policy contains the following pertinent provisions:

Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement Requests; Protection of Dropbox’s Rights. We may disclose to parties outside Dropbox files stored in your Dropbox and information about you that we collect when we have a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with a law, regulation or compulsory legal request; (b) protect the safety of any person from death or serious bodily injury; (c) prevent fraud or abuse of Dropbox or its users; or (d) to protect Dropbox’s property rights. If we provide your Dropbox files to a law enforcement agency as set forth above, we will remove Dropbox’s encryption from the files before providing them to law enforcement. However, Dropbox will not be able to decrypt any files that you encrypted prior to storing them on Dropbox.

Id.

The glaring absence of any commitment by Dropbox to notify the user in the event that Dropbox needs to protect its “property rights” or if legal process is served upon it purporting to require the production of the user’s information is troubling. The absence of a policy of notification prior to disclosure is one of the reasons I do not use Dropbox for storage or transfer of confidential documents, for fear that an errant subpoena could cause protected documents to be disclosed without the opportunity for a challenge.

Let’s compare Dropbox’s policies with the privacy policy of another cloud provider SpiderOak [FTC disclosure—The hytechlawyer is a SpiderOak affiliate and derives some nominal advertising income from the link on this site]. I have long been an advocate for the SpiderOak cloud-based storage service because of its emphasis on security. As an initial line of defense, all data on SpiderOak is encrypted but the key to the encryption resides on the user’s machine. SpiderOak does not have access to the key and cannot un-encrypt the data. This is called “zero knowledge” which means third parties not have access to the contents of the client files even if they acquire the actual data. Second, SpiderOak has a policy not to produce user data to third parties without prior notification to the user, unless such notification is prohibited by law. The SpiderOak privacy policy expressly states in pertinent part: “SpiderOak’s policy is to notify a user of a request for their personal data stored on our servers prior to disclosure unless prohibited from doing so by statute or court order [e.g. 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b)].” See SpiderOak Privacy Policy at DISCLOSURE.

SpiderOak has further explained the privacy policy on its Blog site:

Posted by Linzi Oliver at Jun 27, 2012 8:54 AM.
SAFE & SECURE
YOUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY

Judging by the popularity of criminal investigation and justice TV shows, it’s safe to say our society loves courtroom drama. In real life, although rare, we do receive a request from a law enforcement agency asking us to supply them details about a users. We publish the number of times this happens along with more information in our transparency report. Most of the time, the request isn’t even accompanied by a subpoena. The truth is, some companies immediately give the agents whatever they are requesting without making them go through due process. At SpiderOak however, when we get a request like this, we always tell them we only give user data in response to a subpoena from a court with proper jurisdiction. We also inform them of our Zero-Knowledge Privacy Policy which means our users’ data is encrypted such that we can’t decrypt it. Furthermore, unless they have the user’s encryption keys, they won’t be able to either. To date, this has always concluded the inquiry. In the event we need to comply with a subpoena we would notify the user prior to disclosure unless prohibited from doing so by statute or court order. To make this step more official we recently added this clause to our privacy policy. While the inside of a courtroom looks exciting on a late-night episode of Law & Order, we have yet to make any appearances.”

SpiderOak June 2012 Newsletter https://spideroak.com/blog/20120627085429-spideroak-june-2012-newsletter

So compare and contrast: SpiderOak gives customers notice of any attempt to compel production of their data [unless prohibited by law], and even on the rare occasion where the data is produced, it remains encrypted. SpiderOak cannot decrypt the data it even if legally ordered to do so. DropBox’s Privacy Policy, on the other hand, does not indicate that it provides notice to its customers of requests for production and acknowledges that data is produced decrypted.

While Dropbox was the example discussed here, the same analysis should be applied to other cloud based services before lawyers use these services to store, transfer or process confidential information. Even where the terms of service and privacy policy do not meet the confidentiality standards, this does not necessarily preclude the use of the service altogether since much of the typical client file is not truly confidential (e.g. pleadings, some exhibits, public documents, etc.). The challenge for law firms that allow their attorneys to use Dropbox and other similar cloud based services is one of education so they are sensitive to the ethical issues.