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.

© Gregory Luce for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Adobe Acrobat, Redaction

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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.

© Gregory Luce for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blogging

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http://courtops.org/2010/09/28/empfees-jury-instrxn-error-under-adea-but-not-under-state-law-so-deft-not-pjdcd-atty-fees-generous-but-not-abuse/

Entered into goo.gl, it becomes http://goo.gl/Xaig and, as URL shorteners do, directs the end user to the same place upon clicking. Not bad. Plus, if you have a Google account, you can easily track the click analytics — basically, the number of hits and clicks on the link.

As Google explains, however, all of its shortened links and click analytics “are public and can be shared by anyone.” So not a good idea if you are counting on confidentiality. Though why would you be sending your client a public link anyway?

© Gregory Luce for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Google, Links, URL

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What’s Wufoo? It’s a cloud-based application that allows you to build online forms and collect information with those forms. But it’s so much more than that:

• it integrates incredibly well with Freshbooks, MailChimp, SalesForce and a slew  of other business applications, making your practice more seamless and efficient. It also integrates with PayPal and other online payment systems in case you are selling some law-related materials (or potentially charging for limited scope services);
• it allows you to download data in various formats, including an Excel spreadsheet, which in turn allows you to do some fancy mail merging to get potential client data instantly into a letter or other legal form;
• it’s intuitive, easy, and fun to use (yeah, I said fun – and funny);
• it is encrypted for paid monthly accounts, which I recommend;
• it has an open API that you can use to do a lot more fancy integration stuff (ok, got a bit geeky there but those who know what I’m talking about will appreciate it);
• importantly, if implemented on your site, it gives a potential client what they need most at the moment: responsiveness and a plan of action, all without you lifting a finger.

Doubt what I’m saying or not sure how it works? Come to the next Off the Clock to find out. Better yet, try out a Wufoo-generated form by clicking on and completing my fictitious Estate Planning Request form, courtesy of my fictitious pal C. Hank Peters. Fill in as little information as you want, but at least provide a name and email address so you can see what happens when you submit your info. Or fill out the form below, as Wufoo supplies the code necessary to copy the form and paste it into your website.

I’ve introduced Wufoo to Andrea, our resident practitioner here, and she questions whether it is affordable for most newly minted attorneys. I agree that, at $29.95 a month, it’s a bit pricey. But if the aim is to get your law practice “on-a-stick” and more responsive to potential online clients, in my mind it’s worth every penny.

© Gregory Luce for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: MailChimp, Software, WuFoo

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First up, SpicyNodes.  It promises to make your site “spicy” by organizing your site and allowing users to “scan large quantities of information and linger over the details important to them.”  It’s basically an interactive mind map.  On a law firm website, I could see using this to organize practice areas, information about the firm, or as an overall site map.  It’s free for individuals but there’s a monthly fee for businesses, and it’s still in Beta.

For anyone with Q & A on their site, try this nifty little FAQ.  It makes your Frequently Asked Questions more interactive by clicking on the question to see the answer.  See it at work on our mndocs site, though installation on your own site may not be for the faint of heart if the terms CSS and jQuery make you squeamish or itchy. It’s a free download from CSS Tricks, a great site that provides a lot of web design tips and resources.

Lastly, try Wordle.  Have you ever admired a tag cloud on a blog?  Now you can have a word cloud for any website with RSS or other text you enter.  Here’s the one for Practice Blawg using the option to pull words from any site with RSS:

And here’s an example of the option to just enter plain text with words from the MSBA Goals.

Use word clouds on a page of your website (maybe about your practice areas or law firm philosophy), or on marketing materials.  You can customize it with font, number of words, text and background color choices, shape of the cloud, and direction of the words.  Tagul is another similar service.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CSS, FAQ, Web Design

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