When was the last time that you attended a business meeting? If it was a regional one, chances are pretty good that it was by way of videoconferencing or conference call. But what about a meeting called with some of your business colleagues who are located on different floors? Will that be face-to-face or a conference bridge? Until the last few years, face-to-face meetings were the norm. Whether with friends, clients, colleagues in the workplace, service providers, and so on, the personal contact was both customary and critical. However, our work ethic is rapidly and dramatically changing. Face-to-face meetings are rapidly becoming a fond memory. Email and texting have replaced what used to be the traditional meetings and telephone calls. Even calling one another via Ma Bell has become a thing of the past. Let me explain. Today, email seems to have become the primary manner of communication, at least […]
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Disruptive technologies: A Canadian lawyer’s perspective on the evolution of law-practice technology
Disruptive technology continues to change the way we practice law. We have truly come a long way from the early days of practice in the ’70s when calculating Statements of Adjustment in real estate transactions required a four-function calculator if, in fact, the law firm was prepared to approve the then typical per unit purchase price of $1200-$4000. Otherwise, this arduous task was accomplished by borrowing a two function adding machine (sometimes manual, other times electrical) from the bookkeeping department. And always available, was the bound set of lookup tables that was used from seemingly historical times. Some might say that lawyers adopting technology is by itself disruptive. They would in all likelihood be correct – at least for those that graduated more than 20 years ago. After all, aren’t we discussing a profession schooled in Latin, and used to delegate downwards. Heck, we didn’t adopt Dictaphones until our legal […]
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