Essential Law Office Technology for Working Remotely Post-Pandemic - COMBO

Key disaster avoidance tools in view of the Coronavirus pandemic

Friday, October 16, 2020
9:00 am – 4:15 pm via webinar

Who should attend: Lawyers and legal support staff looking for smarter tech solutions to everyday remote law office issues

Learning level: All levels

Working Remotely Post-Pandemic: Establishing a Flexible Office for the Long Term (9:00 am - 12:15 pm)

After the initial shock of working remotely and general business disruption has eased, there is now an opportunity to take what we've learned to strengthen and fine-tune remote work practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to business interruption on a global scale and many law offices scrambled to establish remote work arrangements for their staff to an extent that many businesses had never contemplated before. Now that we’ve had some experience with our new work reality it is a good time to consider the efficiencies of establishing a more permanent flexible office.

This presentation featuring technology expert, Barron Henley, will provide you with practical guidance on how and what you need to set yourself up with a flexible, efficient and secure practice. Even if you are feeling comfortable with the new normal, you’ll get many new ideas from this seminar for further improvements.

Topics will include:

• specific hardware recommendations including laptops, tablets, scanners, printers, screens, docking stations, and other mobile hardware
• how to upgrade your web meeting game from all angles
• mobile communications, hosted VoIP phone systems
• remotely accessible billing & accounting
• case management systems for centralized remotely accessible client information
• digital signatures and remote signing technology
• required elements for a complete electronic client filing system (much more on this in the afternoon seminar)
• cybersecurity and protecting client data
• how to get complex documents drafted when you’re separated from support staff
• home workspace considerations

Electronic Filing Systems, Paper Reduction, and PDFs for Lawyers
(1:00 pm - 4:15 pm)

Arguably the most important element in being able to work from anywhere is the establishment of a secure electronic client filing system. Such a system would hold all files (word processor, PDFs—scanned or otherwise, email, and attachments to email), and would be equally accessible inside or outside of the office.

Nearly every law office has scanners and some means of storing electronic files. In spite of that, lawyers often complain of being buried in paper, unable to find the documents they need, and generally feeling disorganized from a client-data perspective. If your law office is dealing with these issues, this seminar will explain how to resolve them. The future of efficient client file management does not involve banker's boxes and file rooms. However, we are not talking about a paperless office; we're talking about having less paper.

Join Barron Henley by webcast in the comfort of your office or home for this seminar as he:

• explains multiple methods for creating electronic filing systems (one size does not fit all) for your law office
• makes specific recommendations for the necessary hardware, software, and processes
• demonstrates how it all works

The second half of the seminar will deal with PDF files. As you may have noticed, PDFs are everywhere in the practice of law. They are used for trading documents with clients and other attorneys, electronic case filing, forms, and paper reduction systems (among other things). However, there are risks associated with PDFs, and mistakes can be costly. Barron will cover the skills you, the practitioner and your support staff, need regardless of the PDF program used. He will discuss PDF redaction, Bates numbering, security issues and metadata removal, electronic case filing considerations, locking PDFs to prevent editing, ascertaining and reducing PDF file size, creating fillable PDF forms, and many other topics. This program assumes no pre-existing knowledge about law office technology or PDFs, so everyone will be able to follow along regardless of where they are on the technology spectrum.

Law Society of BC CPD Hours:  6 hours (this course will include a minimum of 6 hours of professional responsibility and ethics, client care and relations, and/or practice management)

Course Instructor
Barron K. Henley — Affinity Consulting Group, Columbus, OH

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CLEBC Program Coordinator 
Jessica Hodgins
jhodgins@cle.bc.ca