Windows 7 pre-orders start today. While the software itself will not ship until October, you can get a great deal if you order it now.
I wrote down my first impressions of Windows 7 earlier this year. Unlike Vista, I think Windows 7 is a necessary upgrade for every Windows user, especially those still using XP. 7 is fast, and adds a lot of great productivity features, like the awesome new taskbar.
Law firms and law offices should order Windows 7 Professional at least. Windows 7 Ultimate—on which you cannot get a deal right now, unfortunately—adds BitLocker encryption, a valuable option for anyone storing business files on a laptop. (You could always just use TrueCrypt, but BitLocker is a more elegant option.)
You can pre-order your upgrade to Windows 7 at Amazon now.
In this tough economy, perhaps the most frequently asked question I get from my business development coaching clients, as well as attendees at my marketing CLE’s is “Should I be doing anything differently now?”
The answer is basically no. Now is the time you simply cannot afford not to market. You need to reconnect with former clients and jump start your networking efforts with acquaintances, both professional and personal, who could become potential clients or referral sources.
With that said, there are two things that make this environment unique and are worth mentioning.
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PDF is the document format of choice for a number of reasons, but not everyone with whom you decide to share a PDF will be able to modify it (which is kind of the point). For those who need to, CometDocs is a free, online file converter with the ability to convert between over 50 different file types, including PDF, ODF, DOCX, HTML, RTF, XPS, and a variety of image formats.
File conversion with CometDocs is pretty simple, and if you want high-quality image-to-text OCR support, there is a paid, premium version (although the free version does support some primitive OCR). One nifty feature is the ability to discern the file type of a file with a misplaced extension.
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Lawyerist has great contributors, posting every day on marketing, careers, practice management, tech, and more. And we have great readers who often provide great information through the comments. To facilitate the building of a Lawyerist community, we started the Lawyerist Forum, where bloggers and readers can exchange information, practice tips, stories, and more.
A forum is similar in some ways to a list serv, but localized, instead of clogging your e-mail inbox. At the Lawyerist Forum, you can follow the Yodle Challenge, get help with your technical issues in the Community Tech Support forum, exchange GTD tips and tricks in the Getting Things Done forum, and more.
Join now, introduce yourself, and start a conversation!
The new Apple iPhone 3G S is certainly the gadget of the moment. With a new operating system, faster processor, and video capabilities, like a lot of folks, I wanted to upgrade. One problem, however, was frequent concern about the upgrade price. Many tech blogs were reporting it would cost as much as $500 to upgrade to the 3GS. I just got one for under $15. Here is how I did it:
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For the most part, rude or obnoxious behavior between attorneys does not result in an ethics violation. But sometimes, lawyers can just go too far. An excerpt from the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Decision in In re Greenburg (May 5, 2009):
“During the hearing, Mr. Greenburg suggested that “some hanky-panky” on the part of Mr. Lewis might well justify an award of attorney’s fees to Mr. Greenburg’s client. The following exchange then occurred:
Mr. Lewis: Here we go again, Your Honor, the former D.A. is always suspect—
Mr. Greenburg: Your Honor, I’m going to object right now—
Mr. Lewis: —or somebody . . . the law—
The Court: Gentlemen, quiet.
Mr. Greenburg: —and ask that this jackass—
The Court: Gentlemen, quiet. Quiet, gentlemen.
Mr. Greenburg: —quit bringing up anything—
Mr. Lewis: Jackass?
Mr. Greenburg: Jackass.
Mr. Lewis: Your mother is a jackass.
The Court: Hey, hey, hey. All right, y’all are both in contempt.
“Following the exchange of profanities, Mr. Greenburg grabbed Mr. Lewis’ suit jacket and both men fell to the floor.“
In addition to each being cited for contempt, Greenburg was convicted of battery against Lewis. The Court suspended Greenburg for a year and Lewis for six months, although all but 30 days of Lewis’ suspension was stayed.
So remember, when you’re arguing with opposing counsel, leave his or her mother out of it.
Yesterday, I sat down with Mike DeLuca, Yodle’s Senior VP of Sales & Marketing. I tried recording the video chat, but Pamela let me down. I feel badly about that, because Mike is a nice guy and I think he was pretty excited to have the chance to get me back for being so mean about his sales team, but I totally cannot do his wit justice by reporting his zingers myself.
Instead, here is a summary of our conversation. We touched on four main topics: Yodle’s strategy for advertising itself, the breakdown of fees for Yodle’s services, how Yodle is different than other services, and what kind of results Brea can expect to see.
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Most meta data is straight-up boring: author’s name, number of revisions, date created, etc. However, this information also includes tracked changes in your document, your revision history, and deleted comments. All word processors attach meta data by default, including Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org, and Corel WordPerfect.
The discovery of a document’s meta data could be detrimental to your case or contract negotiation. Several states have deemed the searching of meta data to be unethical. Others have placed the burden of removing such data on the document creator. Regardless of your jurisdiction’s practice, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Fortunately, removing meta data from your documents is a piece of cake.
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A week and a half in, our Yodle Challenge guinea pig, 
There is a good deal of postulating in the blogosphere about the types of ethical trouble a lawyer can get into by using social media. The nattering nabobs of negativism warn us to be careful when using social media like Facebook or Twitter, lest we unwittingly disclose client confidences, improperly solicit new clients, or misrepresent facts or law.
