Larry Port

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Is Your Law Firm Ready For the Singularity?

by Larry Port on February 25, 2011 in Legal Technology

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Watson, the computer battling it out with humans on the game show Jeopardy, is causing some nervous twitches among those of us casting a wary eye at the rise of machines.

For those not paying attention, Watson is considered one of the biggest advances in computer science since the field of study began some sixty years ago. It annihilated top Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter by more than $50,000, leveraging impressive artificial intelligence advancements in order to do so.

Those not familiar with computer science may not realize the true implications here.

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Inexpensive, Scalable Phone System

by Larry Port on November 11, 2010 in Legal Technology, Practice Management, Starting a Law Firm

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Scalability—from the phone system to other information systems—is often the last thing on an attorney’s mind as they start a small or solo law firm, especially if they haven’t run a business before. It’s easy enough to put systems in place to get the job done for one or two people, but it’s a different ballgame to plan for a growing firm.

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Business Needs Lawyers, Too

by Larry Port on September 21, 2010 in Law School, Legal Careers

businesses need lawyers11 Business Needs Lawyers, Too

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I’m not a lawyer; I’m an entrepreneur. But I’m distressed to see the despair of recently anointed law school graduates from a distance. The lack of opportunities is no longer just the talk of legal blogs and trade publications. CNN recently profiled a law school grad with 60K in student loans working at a coffee shop to make ends meet.

I can imagine that if you’re in this situation, especially if you graduated recently, you have the sense that the rug was pulled out from under you. It’s terrible luck that during your tenure as a student the entire industry not only contracted, but changed. What used to be a sure thing is no longer a sure thing. You took out loans with the promise of an easy layup and all of a sudden you’re faced with Shaq.

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Why is Most Software Mediocre?

by Larry Port on August 5, 2010 in Legal Technology

mediocre software1 Why is Most Software Mediocre?

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If you’re alive and breathing in the 21st century, you’ve probably had a miserable experience with software at some point in your career. Your frustrations were most likely compounded if you’re using niche software, such as a business to business (B2B) application, or, dare I say, legal case management software.

Software applications have come along way, that’s for sure. Microsoft Windows crashes less since the days of ’95 as a general rule. Apple paved the way for amazing user interfaces and product experience, and Google raised the bar in web applications with ground-breaking tools like Google Maps.

However, these beautiful, mainstream applications only highlight the limited nature and ugly look-and-feel of much B2B software. In all fairness, some applications go the extra mile and truly rise above the rest. But as a software engineer, I’d like to share a little inside information on why so many software products are poor.

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Project Management the Agile Way

by Larry Port on July 9, 2010 in Practice Management

agile software sprint11 Project Management the Agile Way

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Agile project management has a lot to offer legal case management. Imagine you could continually wring out the inefficiencies in your law practice. Picture having the luxury to step back from the trees and see the forest.

It may sound crazy, and, in the case of removing every single efficiency, perhaps pie in the sky. But you can get close, and it takes a lot less effort and time than you think if you embrace something we software folks call a “Sprint.”

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Welcome Larry Port, Lawyerist Contributor

by Larry Port on July 8, 2010 in General

Want a great blog on Lawyerist's network of blogs? Get a great one for just $99/month from Lawyerist Sites.

I became a fan of Lawyerist years ago when I first read one of Sam Glover’s hilarious and insightful posts, probably at my own expense.  I look forward to participating in one of the freshest, leading forums on the business of law and I am honored to be in the company of its contributors.

lp headshot 166x25011 Welcome Larry Port, Lawyerist ContributorIn my postings on Lawyerist, I will introduce new productivity, efficiency, and operational concepts to the business of law drawn from my experience in the law practice software industry.  True, we technology people do not deal with judges or opposing counsel on a daily basis (hopefully), but we do share some critically important head-scratchers:  a zero-tolerance policy for making mistakes, the need to constantly become more efficient, clients relationship management, and all while attempting to maintain a work-life balance.

So hopefully, you’ll hear some fresh ideas, and prescriptive, actionable techniques where you might say to yourself, “hmmm…that just might work in my firm.”

A little bit about me:  I’m currently Founding Partner and Chief Software Architect for Rocket Matter, an online legal practice management and time and billing software solution for attorneys. It’s been fun engineering a next-generation legal saas product, but I love to write for legal publications, including Legal Management, Law Technology News, Law Practice Today, ILTA’s Peer to Peer, FindLaw, Chicago Lawyer, and others. I also conduct free monthly webinars on emerging topics for attorneys and speak at bar association CLEs around the country.

Prior to starting Rocket Matter, I worked as a web application developer for Ultimate Software, in Weston, FL, and Morgan Stanley, in New York, NY. In my previous professional life, I worked in film and photography. More of my professional career is available on LinkedIn.

I look forward to starting a dialog with Lawyerist readers, and hope to make it lively!

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Rocket Matter Practice Management Software for Sam’s Law Firm?

by Larry Port on May 7, 2010 in Legal Technology, Practice Management

larry port rocket matter1 Rocket Matter Practice Management Software for Sam’s Law Firm?

First of all, let me point out that it’s an honor to be considered by Sam to use Rocket Matter. It wasn’t long ago that Sam, a very tech-savvy lawyer, intended to handle his IT needs himself.

Managing IT is one thing when you’re a one man band. But as firms scale, those that embrace a holistic practice management system end up saving themselves a lot of time. First, they maintain focus and conserve precious minutes by not having to switch between applications to look up client contact information, the status of a case, where they are in their billing, and how their matters are coming along. Second, the more moving parts you have in a system means the more things can break, resulting in more firm downtime.

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Getting Things Done for Lawyers

by Larry Port on July 16, 2009 in Practice Management

Getting Things Done Inbox111 Getting Things Done for Lawyers

Do it, defer it, and delegate it; the two minute rule; and organizing your practice

In our GTD for lawyers series so far we’ve discussed the basics of GTD, and introduced important concepts. We looked at writing your to-dos as “Next Action” items, and aggressively capturing all “open loops” (incomplete items). Now it’s time to start looking at organizing and prioritizing.

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