Sometimes, building stuff works out: Roy Kinsella got to play catch with his dead father<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other times, not so much: The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was, um, rather shaky<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lawyers love to tinker.\u00a0 Especially solo and small firm lawyers, whose businesses are so completely in their own hands.\u00a0 If they can\u2019t find a system that works for them, they build one.\u00a0 I once met a lawyer who kept a 40-year-old computer in a closet in his office, and that\u2019s how he managed his practice.\u00a0 He kept it up and running, like an old Dodge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a long time, it was hard to find useful software that was built for lawyers.\u00a0 So, lawyers jury-rigged their own.\u00a0 Even now, attorneys are still comfortable working with what they have.\u00a0 Many use productivity software for case management.\u00a0 If they can\u2019t find a better way to store emails, they\u2019ll PDF them and save them to their desktop.\u00a0 I mean, any database can be replaced by a spreadsheet, amiright?<\/p>\n

I certainly understand how the mindset developed.\u00a0 If a professional is unable to find what he needs on the market, he creates his own solution.<\/p>\n

But, the times they have a-changed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade the ramp-up on legal technology has been absolutely phenomenal, to the point where we are talking about artificial intelligence<\/a>.\u00a0 At this point, the point is that lawyers no longer have to create what they need, because it already exists.\u00a0 Case management systems can deliver the majority of basic functionality that law firms require.\u00a0 Document automation tools are sprouting in a field where professionals have trafficked in documents for years.\u00a0 Even CRM tools are being developed for the legal market.\u00a0 And, there\u2019s no end in sight; not only is development continuing apace, but venture capital funding continues to pour into the legal sector. \u00a0Once a factor in choosing to build, rather than rent<\/a>, buy-in on cloud-based products, charged on a monthly subscription basis, has made high-level software cost-effective for solo and small firms.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re trying to cobble together your own technology solutions, stop wasting your time.<\/p>\n

Get online, and find some information about what\u2019s out there.\u00a0 And, if you get overwhelmed or can\u2019t decide, a consultant can help you to make the right choice.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

Liner Notes<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018If I Were a Carpenter<\/a>\u2019 by Bobby Darin<\/a><\/p>\n

This is my all-time favorite version of this song<\/a>.\u00a0 Though, I also like what Johnny and June do with it<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, building stuff works out: Roy Kinsella got to play catch with his dead father. Other times, not so much: The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was, um, rather shaky. Lawyers love to tinker.\u00a0 Especially solo and small firm lawyers, whose businesses are so completely in their own hands.\u00a0 If they can\u2019t find a system that works<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,46],"tags":[129,133,52,132,131,123,134,130,127,128],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Building.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1427,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions\/1427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}