This discusses survey results from food and agriculture lawyers regarding technology choices. Presentation used for Technology Roundtable at the 2013 American Agriculture Law Association Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin.
Survey of Technology Used in the Food and Agriculture Law Office
1. Survey of Technology Used in the
Food and Agriculture Law Office
American Agriculture Law Association
Technology Roundtable
November 2, 2013
By Cari B. Rincker, Esq.
2. Who I Am
• Food and agriculture lawyer
based in New York City
• Grew up on a beef cattle farm
in Central Illinois
• Solo practitioner
• Client range from small to
mid-size agribusiness,
farmers, and start-up food
entrepreneurs
• Chair of the American Bar
Association, General Practice
Agriculture Law Committee
3. Survey to Food & Agriculture Lawyers
• 3 day survey from
October 3-5, 2013
– Advertised on the AALA
Listserve, ABA GP Solo
Agriculture Law
Committee Listserve &
Social Media
• 35 Responses
4. How Many Lawyers Are In Your Office?
Number of Lawyers
Solo
2 to 4
5 to 10
11 to 25
26 to 75
76 plus
10. What Techniques Have You Used to
Manage Email?
• I use folders and sort by client and
matter.
• Electronic filing to customer files
• Flagging, saving to file
• Delay send/receive function.
– Only check it 4 times a day
• Maintain an inbox by client
• E-mail is like telephone calls.
Done each day.
11. What Techniques Have You Used to
Manage Email?
• 1 hour block of time each AM.
• Sub folders in inbox, batch saving
emails as PDF
• I use filters to sort e-mail.
• Archiving
• Folders
• File emails in subject matter
folders
• Creating rules in Outlook;
separate email for news
13. What method(s) do you use for calendaring deadlines and
task lists? (May choose more than 1 answer)
0
5
10
15
20
25
Outlook Time
Matters
Amicus
Attorney
PC Law Practice
Master
iCal Things Other
Other responses: Mostly Google calendar or
Paper calendar
14. Which of the Following Forms of
Administrative Help Do You Use?
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Virtual Legal
Assistant
Legal Assistant at
Office
Both Neither
15. What Kind of Phone Service Do You Use?
Answer Number of Responses Response Ratio
I answer my own phone! 23 63.8%
Live in-office receptionist 14 38.8%
Phone answering services
(e.g., Ruby Receptionist)
1 2.7%
Google Voice 2 5.5%
Receptionist in Office Suite 3 8.3%
Other 3 8.3%
16. How often do you use Skype or other video
conferencing techniques with clients?
• 68.5% - Rarely, if ever
• 20.0% - A few times a year
• 5.7% - A few times a week
• 2.8%- A few times a month
• 0.00% - Everyday
17. Which of the Following Conference
Call Systems Do You Use?
GoTo Meeting
ATConference
Free Conference Call
Skype
Google Meeting
Other
18. What are Your Most Regularly Used
Applications on Your Smartphone?
• Emails
• Text Messages
• Social Media applications
– Facebook
– Twitter
– LinkedIn
• Westlaw Next
• Google Maps
• Casemaker
19. What program do you most frequently
use for word processing?
Microsoft Word
Word Perfect
Pages
Other
20. Which of the Following Best Describes
Your Use of a Scanner?
0
5
10
15
20
25
Never use it Only scan a few
select
documents
I use it as much
as possible
Other
21. Which of the Following Payments
Methods Does Your Firm Accept?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Looks like a few attorneys take baked goods,
Fruits/Vegetables, chickens or other bartering
22. How Do You Most Frequently Bill Clients?
Via Email
Mail hard copy
Other
23. What Type of Contact Management
System Do You Use?
0
5
10
15
20
25
24. If You Use an Email Marketing
Program, Which Do You Prefer?
• Very limited responses
– Constant Contact (1)
– Mail Chimp (3)
– Aweber (1)
25. If You Use an Email Marketing Program, How
Often Do You Send Updates?
• Few responses
– A few times a year (6)
– Once a week (2)
– Once a month (1)
• Comments
– “As issues arise, usually 6 times per month on
average”
– “Typically through seminars to trade group who is
a client of the firm”
26. Which of the Following Back-Up Cloud
Devices Do You Use?
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Mozy Carbonite Dropbox External
harddrive
only
Other
27. What Type of Hand-Held Tablet Do You
Regularly Use?
• Few responses
– iPad (12)
– Android (4)
– Kindle (1)
28. How Do You Use a Hand-Held Tablet in
Your Law Practice?
• “Presentations, spreadsheets, mobile computing”
• “Email, preparing documents, attending meetings”
• “Email communication, research tools, meeting notes”
• “Trial, work at home”
• “Document review while traveling”
• “Email, task list, review documents”
• “Email, research, reading documents”
• “Mostly to read news/blogs”
• “I use my phone on house calls with no WiFi”
29. If You Remote Into Your Work
Computer, Which Program Do You Use?
• VPN (8)
• GoToMyPC (2)
• TeamViewer (1)
• LogMeIn (1)
• Other (4)
– Citrix
– VM Ware View
– Microsoft Web
30. What Program Do You Use For
Postage?
Stamps.com
I use a machine
I use stamps
I was the lone survey taker who answered
Stamps.com. No responses for Dymo or
USPO ClicknShip
31. If You Have a Blog, What Platform Do
You Use?
• Not many bloggers took
the survey
– Wordpress (7)
– Typepad (2)
– Blogger (0)
– Tumblr (0)
32. Which of the Following Describes Your
Use of Facebook?
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
I don't use FB
I have a personal page & business page-
promote business on both
I have a personal page & business page-
only promote business on business page
I have a personal page for family and
friends only
33. Which of the Following Social Media
Platforms Do You Regularly Use?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
34. What Have You Done to Help Build Search Engine
Optimization for Your Food & Agriculture Law Practice?
• A few people hired
outside consultants
• A few responses about
blogs and backlinks
• Lawyers.com
• One survey taker thinks
SEO is a scam
35. What Are Your Biggest Challenges with Technology
While Running Food/Ag Law Practice?
• Availability of wifi & cellular service in rural community
• Learning so many new programs
• Staying informed of all the tools available!
• Understanding what our IT folks are saying
• An old dog constantly trying to learn new tricks
• Choosing wisely
• Hardware failure & broadband failure
• Keeping website up-to-date
• Nothing stands out as a big challenge.
• Getting boss who has practiced 40 years to update
36. What Are Your Biggest Challenges with Technology
While Running Food/Ag Law Practice?
• Document management, online research
• Keeping up with advances
• Content content content
• Cost and maintenance
• Case management system.. getting it up and running
• Costs! I'm new: overhead must be minimal!
• Client's lack of access to reliable Internet
• Client information security Email management; doc
management
37. Please Stay in Touch
• Send Me Snail Mail: 535 Fifth Avenue, 4th
Floor, New York, NY 10017
• Call Me: (212) 427-2049 (office)
• Email Me: cari@rinckerlaw.com
• Visit My Website: www.rinckerlaw.com
• Read My Food & Ag Law Blog: www.rinckerlaw.com/blog
• Tweet Me: @CariRincker @RinckerLaw
• Facebook Me: www.facebook.com/rinckerlaw
• Link to Me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/caririncker
• Skype Me: Cari.Rincker
38. Oh, P.S. – I Just Wrote a Book
Cari B. Rincker & Patrick B.
Dillon, “Field Manual: Legal
Guide for New York Farmers
& Food Entrepreneurs”
(2013)
Available at
http://www.amazon.com/Fi
eld-Manual-Legal-Farmers-
Entrepreneurs/dp/1484965
191
…and that’s marketing.
Work from home - no actual office Offices in Sacramento (main), Stockton, San Francisco, Roseville and Reno NV. Retired and I work from my retirement office. I make house calls. Most of interaction is through e-mail
Other- abacus law, practice masterIn house- no billing!
Most of the Other responses were for Gmail 1 response for GoDaddy, Zimbra, Workspace webmail, Zimbra, BB
Lots of responses for filers
63% - OutookOther- Fantastical4 Google CalendarAbacus Law3 Paper Calendar- Index Card File Pend CalendarEvernote
GoToMeeting – 10 responsesFree Conference Call – 9 responses Skype – 7 responses Google Meeting- 4AT Conference – 2Other – WebEx, Law Conferencing, Soundpath, Universal Conferencing Center, Bundled telephone service from telephone company
85% - Microsoft Word8.5% - Word Perfect1 response- Pages0 responses for MS WorkOther- Google Docs, Box.net
Every day I generally don't need the scanner as most documents are already in electronic form. I mostly have used the scanner to convert hard copy documents to electronic for purposes of document production in litigation. I don't personally scan documents, but our staff scans all documents to a central network.Comment- document productions only
80% - check, money order40% - cash25%- Mastercard, Visa, Discover14.2% - AmEx20% - Other17%- PayPalOnly 2 responses for Google CheckoutOther- Square readerOther – baked goods, fruits & vegs/ cropsPay advance for AdroidHave been known to barter
31.4% said via email48.5% said mail hard copyNobody said email invoices through PayPal11.4% said otherComments-We don’t billDepends on whether the client uses email Used to send hard copies, which was the only time I ever used paper in my practice. Clients alleged they were not receiving their bills, so I switched to digital to avoid those types of dodges.
63.6% said outlookOther – Google, salesforce, Microsoft access1 person said none
14 people said externalharddrive only Comments – Google DriveNetworkSkydriveDropbox is used to move documents between attorneys. A wireless 2 terabyte hard drive is used locally for deep storage
No responses for Dymo or USPO ClicknShip
9 people said they had a business page – about half said that they only promote business on that page10 people said no FB13 people said personal page for family and friends only