Author archives

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, intuitive web-based law practice management software for the modern law firm. She is also the author of the ABA book Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at [email protected].

LegalTech’s AI Race: A Sign of What’s to Come

Nicole L. Black notes the milestone of Thomson Reuters announcement that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Casetext, a legal research software company, for $650 million. For the past decade, Casetext has provided a legal research platform grounded in AI technology. The company consistently developed innovative features that utilized AI technology to streamline legal research and brief creation, most recently releasing CoCounsel, a generative AI legal assistant tool powered by GPT-4, which is the same technology that powers ChatGPT Plus.

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Subjects: AI, KM, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Online Legal Research Services

ChatGPT: What It Is And Why It Matters To Lawyers

Attorney and legal technologist Nicole Black cautions user that ChatGPT is a great start, but that’s all it is. No matter what you’re using ChatGPT for, whether for personal or professional reasons, you’ll need to have a full understanding of the topic at hand and thoroughly review, edit, and supplement the draft language it provides you.

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Subjects: AI, Education, KM, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Technology Trends

For 2023, which tech tools might help your firm flourish?

Nicole L. Black’s actionable checklist begins with an end of year review of your law firm’s achievements and challenges to determine issues and new requirements moving forward. The review will include conducting an audit of your workflow and technology to identify process gaps and ensure efficiency and profitability in the new year. When the audit is completed, identify and implement technologies and service providers that will bridge the gaps identified and establish the foundation for success.

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Subjects: Information Architecture, Information Management, KM, Legal Technology

The Post-Pandemic Law Practice: What Lawyers Need to Know

Nicole L. Black’s third article in a series discusses the value of an expansive new report from the ABA, Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward: Results and Best Practices from a Nationwide Survey of the Legal Profession. The results cover a broad overview of topics ranging from the impact of the pandemic on the legal profession to post-pandemic expectations and recommendations for both legal employers and individual lawyers.

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Subjects: Communication Skills, Healthcare, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Profession, Management

The Case for Law Practice Management Software

The software that lawyers relied on to run their firms used to be premise-based, but as reported by Nicole L. Black, in 2021 cloud computing software is the most prevalent. In fact, even before the pandemic, lawyers were adopting cloud-based legal software at higher rates than ever before. According to the 2020 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report, 59% of lawyers surveyed were already already using cloud-based software pre-COVID. Notably, the results of another survey conducted by MyCase in mid-2020, showed the social distancing requirements of the pandemic have only served to accelerate this trend.

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Subjects: Case Management, Communications, Information Architecture, Information Management, KM, Legal Technology, Technology Trends

The Next Social Media Frontier For Lawyers: Clubhouse

Clubhouse is an audio chat platform that is available as an iOS app and is invite only for now. It consists of user-created drop-in audio chat rooms. You can form your own chat room or join rooms created by others. These chat rooms can be created spontaneously or scheduled ahead of time. Nicole Black identifies how the app provides lawyers with opportunities to showcase your expertise, connect with professional colleagues who might be potential referral sources, and generate exposure for your law firm.

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Subjects: Communication Skills, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Marketing, Legal Profession, Social Media

Top 5 legal technology stories of 2020

Nicole L. Black discusses the wide ranging effects on the legal technology space from the pandemic across all corners of the legal technology world. The shift to remote work had a dramatic impact on both the practice of law and the business of law, resulting in the rapid—and singularly remarkable—adoption of technology at rates never before seen. In some cases, the transition was a smooth one, and in others, it was a spectacular disaster. Good or bad, the results of the pandemic’s impact were undoubtedly notable—and newsworthy. In her article Black focuses on a few topics that especially resonated with her tech savvy readers and colleagues.

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Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, Conferencing Software, Gadgets/Gizmos, Legal Marketing, Legal Profession, Legal Technology, Technology Trends, Telecommuting

2020 in review: Legal software for working remotely

Attorney and legal technology expert Nicole L. Black has written throughout 2020 about cloud-based legal technology tools and their relevance to legal practices. Whether your law firm has already begun the shift to a cloud-based law practice or is planning to do so in the new year, you’ll undoubtedly find some or all of the software Black has covered over the past year to be useful. This article is a timely and actionable roundup of all of her articles on this topic from 2020.

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Subjects: AI, Case Management, Communication Skills, Communications, Email Security, Legal Marketing, Legal Technology, Presentation Skills, Technology Trends

Book Review: A Short And Happy Guide To Advanced Legal Research

Nicole L. Black’s review highlights this book’s breadth of coverage and its format, information about a variety of free online tools, including public records databases, newsletters, and encyclopedias, and case law and statutes, fee-based legal research tools, as well as traditional case law and statutory research tools, and cutting edge AI-based legal research and data analytics software.

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Subjects: AI, Book Reviews, Legal Research, LEXIS, Online Legal Research Services, Reference Resources, Westlaw
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