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The Cutting Edge: Keeping up with Technology

July 30, 2018

This post is part of our ongoing series exploring the impact of technology on legal issues. For an introduction to the series and a collection of the posts in the series, check out this post.

Lawyers often get a bad rap for being resistant to change and behind the times with technology. To combat this issue, states are beginning to require technology training as a part of continuing legal education to maintain a law license.

Many more states have already implemented technology-based requirements directly into their ethical rules. For example, Pennsylvania lawyers are required by the Rules of Professional Conduct to “keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.”

At Russell, Krafft & Gruber, technology is more than just an ethical requirement. We see technology as an essential tool to help us provide our clients with the best legal representation.

Here are just a few ways that our firm uses technology:

  1. Bi-weekly technology training for lawyers and staff, focusing on better use of existing technology. Through these meetings, we emphasize the impact of technology on client service and the legal services we provide.
  2. Use of a practice management system that ties together nearly all administrative processes of our firm, including file management, and billing. This system provides significant increases in the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of our services.
  3. Utilizing paperless solutions when possible.
  4. Routine discussions about security risks, highlighting new iterations of phishing and other scams that target lawyers and clients.
  5. Initial consultations and client meetings are available via video conference for clients who prefer this method of communication.
  6. Posting frequently on the Lancaster Law Blog about technology (a post about our firm’s technology as a part of a series about technology – meta, right?).

In addition to understanding the importance of utilizing more technology within the legal industry, the lawyers at our firm continue to value more traditional methods of delivering legal services.  Sometimes there is no substitute for an old-fashioned one on one client meeting or a paper copy of a contract, but when technology allows us to represent clients more effectively or adds convenience for the businesses and individuals we counsel, we will always look for opportunities to continuously improve.

How do you keep up with relevant technology, personally or professionally? Do you utilize technology more or less than your business competitors?  Have any ideas for how we could improve? Feel free to contact us.

Matt Landis is an attorney at Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He received his law degree from Widener University Commonwealth School of Law and works regularly with business owners and entrepreneurs. Matt is one of the founding members of the RKG Tech Law Group.