Practice Blawg » Off the Clock

Quick and Dirty Redaction with Adobe Acrobat

Gregory Luce — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:52:36 +0000

This week’s order from U.S. District Court Judge Joan N. Ericksen (discussed here) has raised the issue of how to redact documents properly before filing them in court through the federal e-filing system. There are tons of resources, apps, and other advice out there to do this, including Rick Borstein’s excellent and thorough blog post “Rick’s Semi-Definitive Guide to Redaction in Acrobat.” It’s available here.

If you want a quick and dirty version of Rick’s post, you are in luck with screenshots I’ve added below. It should explain the very basics of using Adobe Acrobat’s built-in redaction tool (available only with the Pro version of Acrobat starting with version 8). But, keep in mind that Rick’s post also adds very useful preliminary steps that set up general preferences for your redacted documents and also provides instructions on how to create annotations or comments that describe all of the content redacted from the document. Useful if you have to explain later to counsel or the court what was redacted or why it was redacted. But, again, a quick and dirty lesson follows, which I completed using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.

In Adobe Acrobat Pro, choose "Advanced," then "Redaction Tool," then "Mark for Redaction."

Mark the text or material for redaction by dragging your cursor over the words or area.

Choose "Apply Redactions."

Warning text box that emphasizes that you are changing the document permanently, once it is saved.

Choose "Yes" to examine the document for additional document information, including metadata.

Choose to remove the metadata and other hidden data that Acrobat found.

Confirmation that the metadata and any other hidden or data has been removed.

Save the file with a different name than the original file. Once it is saved, the redactions are complete.

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Post tags: Adobe Acrobat, Redaction

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Practical Technology: an Upcoming CLE

Gregory Luce — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:19:19 +0000

I normally don’t plug things on the blog, though obviously when I like something I highlight it. That’s the case with a technology-focused CLE coming up in December. Though it’s $225 for the day for MSBA members, a day spent discussing technology with Barron Henley is well worth it. He’s a leader in law-firm technology and law-related tech resources and he’ll be leading the all-day CLE on “Practical Technology for the Hard-Working Lawyer.” I’ve attended CLEs with Barron as a speaker, and I also talked with him recently at a HotDocs user conference in Chicago. He’s humorous, deeply committed to making life as a lawyer more technologically manageable, and so engaged and entertaining as a speaker that the day will go by quickly. I mentioned the CLE at the last Off the Clock, and I’d recommend it if you have the funds to attend. Who knows, maybe we’ll spring for lunch on that day and you can drop by the MSBA office to chat.

Details of the CLE

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Post tags: Barron Henley, CLE, Technology

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Number 9: an Off the Clock Recap

Gregory Luce — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:32:54 +0000

It was another great and informal Off the Clock #9, this time in Hopkins at the Depot Coffee House, where we’ll likely return again in the near future. Here’s a quick recap about the topics and issues we covered, though I will follow up with more details on some of these topics in the next couple of weeks.

Backup and File Sync

We spent a good deal of time discussing and demonstrating Dropbox, probably one of my favorite “cloud-based apps” (more on the cloud a bit later). It does a seamless job of backing up and synchronizing your files among multiple computers. I no longer stress out at the end of the day trying to remember files I need to email to myself to work on later. All my files are already where I need them: in my Dropbox. Rick Glassman also suggested Mozy, which is a really nice backup system that works behind the scenes, basically unnoticed. It’s cheap (from about $4.95 month) and extremely easy to implement, though it does take a long time at the beginning to do an entire backup of your files. I use it at home and actually forget that I have it, it’s that unobtrusive.

For other options, I often refer to a blog post from about a year ago, which reviews 10 backup and storage options, including Amazon S3, SugarSync, Drop.io, Syncplicity and Dropbox. I’d also throw Box.net in there as well, though it’s not mentioned in the review.

Wufoo

I have to admit, I like saying Wufoo and I like the reaction I get from attorneys when I say it. Wufoo is a powerful and flexible online form development application. I blogged about it earlier here and will soon provide a video overview of how it works and integrates into other services, such as Freshbooks. While I got all stoked about how Wufoo works, Rick Hendrickson brought me back down to earth when he asked, “So, how many solo attorneys are using this?” I had to answer none that I know, but that ended up evolving into a conversation about the bar supporting solo attorneys who want to set up systems that implement and use a lot of the services we talk about in Off the Clock. Great idea, and I’m thinking we may hear more about it later as we chew on the concept.

goo.gl

We talked about URL shortening services, though we really just concentrated on goo.gl, one of the newer services now available through Google. I blogged about that earlier here and I’d refer to that post for more information. Of all the URL shorteners out there (and there are a lot), goo.gl for me takes the cake–it’s simple and easy to use, a hallmark of most Google products.

join.me

I threw this in there as a neat little application that is still in beta and does not yet have its pricing set. But it’s a great and lightweight application that allows you to share your computer screen with others without a whole lot of hassle. Just sign in to join.me, establish your own URL and give people that URL whenever you need to share your screen. They then click on the link, “knock” to let you know that they are there, and you let them in. It’s really that simple, which is why it’s a great new app.Try knocking on my door here to see if I’m around.

Dual Monitors and Microsoft Word

I posted on this topic here in July, but this time we had the chance to demonstrate how to set up dual monitors. I’ll also follow up with a brief demonstration, either by video or screenshots. Discussion of dual monitors evolved into how to use split screens in Microsoft Word, which the MSBA’s Dick Ericson demonstrated. I’m thinking a few screen shots showing this would be helpful as well. Ultimately, though I’m a proponent of dual monitor work, some folks prefer a less hardware intensive workout.

Cloud-Based Apps

I started out quickly at the session assuming most people knew what I meant when I said “cloud-based.” My assumptions about what other folks already know is often wrong, which is an occupational hazard of computer geeks. Luckily, I didn’t regress further and say something like “it involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources,” which is how Wikipedia describes what it is. Think of the cloud as computing power that exists “out there” and in the clouds, outside of your own computer. Mozy actually does a better job than most at explaining cloud computing in a simple infographic, available here.

LegalZoom

As seems inevitable with me these days, LegalZoom often comes up in my law-related conversations. It did again tonight. My point? LegalZoom is here to stay and, as attorneys, we need to figure out how best to deliver legal services that consumers can access and understand easily and quickly.I posted on this a bit earlier with my “Law-on-a-Stick” post, but we spent a decent amount of time discussing the impact of the DIY movement, non-lawyer services that compete with lawyers, and what the bar can do to help solo practitioners. It’s a fascinating topic, and we’ll be coming back to it often at Off the Clock and in posts on the Practice Blawg. So, stay tuned, we hear you.

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Post tags: Cloud-Based, Dual Monitors, LegalZoom, Mozy, WuFoo

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Update: Next Off the Clock is October 20 in Hopkins

Gregory Luce — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:15:54 +0000

We earlier announced a “save-the-date” of October 14 for the next Off the Clock. Well, lack of openings in several venues prompted us to reconsider. Now, we’ll be traveling to the Depot Coffee House in Hopkins on October 20 for Off the Clock #9 where we’ll demonstrate dual monitors, bother you some more with cloud-based apps, and hob nob with some real down to earth people — you.

If you already received an invite, apologies for a second notice (that happens sometimes with our subscribers, who get first dibs at upcoming sessions). But if you haven’t registered or received an invite, click on the Register Now button below to grab a free seat. The event starts at 4:00 and typically ends around 6:00. We hope to see you there.

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Post tags: Dual Monitors, MailChimp, WuFoo

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Want Super Simple Blogging? Try Tumblr

Gregory Luce — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:59:35 +0000

I’m a WordPress nut, and at times my devotion makes me believe it can solve the world’s problems. OK, not really, but I do think a self-hosted WordPress site is inexpensive, easy and powerful, plus a lot of fun. But it does have its quirks and, for some, self-hosting is a tad bit too complicated if all they want is an easy and super simple blogging platform. Enter Tumblr.

Though it’s been around for a few years, the momentum to use Tumblr as a blogging platform seems to be gaining speed. Why? It’s super simple. And it also combines some of the best elements of social media, like:

The ability to follow other Tumblr users, and list your followers on your Tumblr site;
Having a wide range of default media to add to your blog, including text, photo, quotes, video, chat, and audio;
Integration with Twitter and other social media, including importing RSS feeds (and thus your other blogs) directly into your stream;

I view Tumblr as an easy to use platform that allows you to collect ideas, post them, and also add easily to your social media stream of consciousness. Is it applicable to a law practice? Sure, in the same way you use Facebook or Twitter or other social media: as an extension of your personality and a way for people to find you — an attorney — interacting in the real world. Try it out here and follow me on my Tumblr blog here, which I’m using to experiment and to have a bit of fun.

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