For more than twenty years, the ABA's Legal Technology Resource Center has surveyed practicing attorneys about their technology through the annual Legal Technology Survey Report.

The Survey Report is recognized as the source for information regarding the use of technology by attorneys in private practice, equipped with six distinct volumes and nearly 700 pages of detailed analysis and data.

This year, the LTRC decided to take one step further by inviting legal technology experts to dig into and analyze the results of the Survey Report. Uncover their observations, interpretations and predictions in the ABA TECHREPORT 2013.

Trends in Solo and Small Firm Hardware

Richard G. Ferguson

Solo and small firms—those made up of 2-9 attorneys—differ from larger practice groups in their selection and use of hardware technologies. Trends in Solo and Small Firm Hardware explores many of these differing trends, covering everything from smartphone and tablet use to external storage devices.

Navigating Through the Clouds

Dennis Kennedy

Cloud computing has become a major topic among lawyers in the past year. The 2013 Survey Report indicates lawyers’ attraction to the anytime, anywhere access of the cloud as well as low cost of entry and predictable monthly costs. Many lawyers and law firms have successfully transitioned to the cloud, but concerns about security and confidentiality remain as a deterrence for others.

Training Matters

Adriana Linares

D. Casey Flaherty’s recent audit exposed lawyers’ true technology incompetence. In order to stay ahead of the curve, lawyers and law firms must take the appropriate steps to become more tech savvy. Adriana Linares sheds light on the different types of technology training available, and where to find these opportunities.

Technology as an Investment: Budgeting and Planning

Nerino Petro

Technology should be planned and budgeted for by firms of all sizes. With technology becoming more and more important for lawyers and law firms, many questions are raised: Has technology budgeting gotten better or worse? Does firm size impact this trend? When do lawyers and firms replace technology, and who makes that decision? These questions and more are answered in Technology as an Investment: Budgeting and Planning.

Communicating in the Online Era: Blogging and Social Media

Allison C. Shields

With communications increasingly going digital, it is an expectation rather than differentiating factor for lawyers and law firms to manage not only blogs, but also social media profiles. These outlets can be perceived as successful ways to gain referrals and clients, or a waste of time - it all depends on how and how often they are being used. This TECHREPORT article evaluates the who, what, why and how of lawyers’ and law firms’ online interactions over the past few years.

Going Mobile

Tom Mighell

Within the past few years, lawyers have been happily adopting mobile technology for work purposes, and use of tablet devices is on the rise. With this increased use of mobile technology, however, comes new security concerns, as well as the need for policies on use of mobile devices in the law office. 

Finding the Right Case: Online Legal Research in 2013

Carole A. Levitt and Mark E. Rosch

With most print pieces going digital, legal research has moved online to sites such as Google, Casemaker, Fastcase, and Bing. Which of these sites is used most often for research? Will print books become extinct with more e-books being released? In this article, Carole A. Levitt and Mark E. Rosch take a look at how legal research is being conducting online in 2013.

The Tech Savvy Litigator

Paul Unger

Technology trends in litigation and the courtroom are fast-moving but fairly complicated. Tablets are being used for research and trial presentations, but firms are becoming more frugal in terms of electronic discovery requests. Explore how mobile devices, electronic discovery and paperless technologies have impacted these areas of the legal world in The Tech Savvy Litigator.

Security Snapshot: Threats and Opportunities

Joshua Poje

Security should be a major concern for lawyers and law firms in every aspect of their work, and new technology brings on many new risks. Lawyers must educate themselves on how to effectively secure their data whether it’s on the desktop, a flash drive, in an email, or on their mobile devices in order to minimize potential threats. Additionally, law firms must create specific policies for not only security, but also how they will deal with security breaches.

Big vs. Small: Learning From Each Other

Joshua Poje and Rodney Dowell

In order to stay ahead of the competition, many small firms spy on other small firms’ technology decisions, and the same is true for big firms competing with one another. However, many new lessons could be learned if a small firm broadened its perspective and looked at what some big firms are doing, and vice versa.