President's Perspective
Roads Converge: Law and Technology
By Leonard L. Loeb
What's ahead in the year 2000 and beyond? Law and technology will
intersect to change the practice of law - from the way documents are
created and stored and how meetings are held, to the way attorneys,
clients, and others in the judicial system communicate.
As attorneys, we will be faced with many
technology options. We will need to determine which path is right for
our practice. Our comfort levels are different. We have members who are
technology gurus and are "ahead of the curve," and others who run their
practices without a computer. No matter where you are on the spectrum,
technology should be on your mind.
Many of us wish we knew more about technology trends and had more
time to study them. In fact, more than 50 percent of the respondents in
the 1998
State Bar Technology Survey said that lack of time to research and
implement is their biggest barrier to bringing computer technology into
their practice.
What is the State Bar doing to address these needs? The Bar has
designed and is making available to us lawyers hands-on training courses
in computer and software skills. The primary training need identified by
respondents in the survey is learning how to conduct legal research on
the Internet. The State Bar has worked closely with the Law Librarians
Association of Wisconsin to make this initiative happen. The series of
courses, to be held in the State Bar's new Technology Center, are aimed
at educating attorneys and the entire law office team.
The Bar's first courses debut in February 2000 and range from basic
Internet legal research to advanced research techniques, including
public records and corporate information, Wisconsin-specific resources,
and federal resources on the Internet. Based on member interests,
training likely will be expanded in the fall of 2000 to include hands-on
software training, including WordPerfect and Microsoft Word for the law
office, and time and billing programs, just to name a few. Do you have
other suggestions?
The State Bar is committed to helping attorneys, and their staff,
make better, more efficient use of their time as we move forward into
the new millennium. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding
the State Bar's technology training courses, please contact the State
Bar at (608) 257-3838 or (800) 728-7788 nationwide, or visit the Bar's Web site.
Wisconsin Lawyer
