Is the World Wide Web unethical for Florida attorneys? Or, why the popular websites break the rules.

I grumble like an old man so often to other people about the state of websites for lawyers and how they are used.  A colleague of mine, a worthy adversary in court, got to talking one day regarding the low public opinion of attorneys and he blamed it on one thing, and said it was "Advertising"

A third person was talking about her ex-husband saying "He's in a profession that is held in lower regard than an attorney."  Both of us chimed in at the same time, and said, "What is he, a used car salesman?"

Then my worthy adversary began complaining like an old man:  "Back in the 1970's there was a ruling and suddenly attorneys could advertise all over the place.  When this competition started happening, it was no longer based on the past experiences of clients and word of mouth, but instead, it was about who could give the best impression that an attorney can give them an edge.  Something about this soured the whole profession."

The decision was Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977).  It highlights the flipside of the argument my adversary presented.  Word of mouth makes things just too difficult to find an attorney.  An absolute ban on attorney advertising is probably too much.  Along with this decision, the many states have come down with rules regarding attorney advertising.

Attorney commercials on television are a running joke.  In states like Florida, where the ethics are strictly regulated, attorney commercials are often considered a joke.

"The music is always so boring," one friend said.
"So, if it suddenly turned up with some heavy metal in the background, would you hire them as an attorney?
"Well, no."
"What's a better idea then?"
"To make it less sucky, I don't know,"  was her reply.
I then went on to bore her with conversations about attorney advertising regulation, and the fact that in Florida, attorneys were not supposed to use exciting music, and how in Mississippi, I saw an attorney using the phrase "turn your wreck into a check" and another who used the phrase "We get the money you deserve," as their tagline until they realized what they were saying and changed it to "We get you the money you deserve."

Rule 4-7.5 limits any background sound other than instrumental music.  Instrumental music isn't by definition boring.  See, i.e. Explosions in the Sky (Texas 2003).  However, one wonders how the commercial reviewers at the Florida bar would react to some of the raucous feedback of the howling Marshal stacks if someone where to somehow obtain a license to use a song by Jimi Hendrix, or Sonic Youth.


Florida Ethics Rules regarding Social Networking Sites

The Florida Bar Standing Advertising Committee has come down with ethics decisions regarding the use of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other websites.  These rules are available in full text here:  Florida Rules Regarding Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In   I will attempt to itemize them, in some sort of statutory form, but also in the style of the twelve commandments, even though there are only three.


1.   I am the Bar, by God, which has understanding that you might use social media for personal reasons, but if you shall ever use it to promote your law firm, in Egypt:
a)  Thou shall not invite, add, or friend request persons not in your current contact list, unless they are an attorney.
b)  Thou shall not send out "public messages" from social media sites, which contains links designed to generate business or solicit legal services.
c)  Thou shall not violate rule 4-7.2

Section b) of my pretend statute above, will ultimately require an expansion.  I fully intend to tweet a link to this article, when I am done writing.  Now, most of this will only be of interest to attorneys, so I am sure I am OK when it comes to this particular article.  It will be a public tweet, but only my followers will get my requests.   It seems as if using the "@" symbol behind someone else's twitter name without their permission could get you in trouble, if you are promoting a link or a website.  What about hash tagging a very popular trend?  What about hash tagging something relevant so that people can find information?  It seems as if this "public post" rule will need further clarification as technology progresses.

However, it also seems to exclude public posts, which would be searchable in twitter, which are not specifically pointed towards anyone

Inherent Pitfalls in Social Networking Sites

Linkedin

Attorneys are not allowed to declare themselves experts in a field.  They can, however, be board certified.


When I signed into my linkedin account today (which is incredibly rare) I noticed that it was telling me that my profile was at 87% completeness.  It gave me a progress bar as an indicator, which had a yellow sickly look, and desperately itched to turn green and show a stick and two goose eggs next to the percent sign.

 I looked for the portion that was incomplete:

Now I remember why I left this part blank.  It says "Skills & Expertise."  The reason I include the screen capture of this is solely because it can be funny to lawyers who understand the logical use of the word AND and OR, not to mention the ampersand symbol.   The grayed out words in the middle say, "Enter your skill OR expertise."  Florida bar prohibits the use of the word expert, or expertise, to describe services but would most likely accept "skills."   Logically, if it is an "or" Statement, then it is either a skill or an expertise, or both.  The ampersand, standing for "and", means it is BOTH a skill and an expertise.  This is how it would be seen by the general public.  Therefore, I believe, that putting criminal law or any other words in this section is inherently unethical, unless an attorney wanted to add truly unrelated skills such as kung fu or linux administration.

Facebook

First, let me confess that I don't really "get" facebook.  I honestly don't know where features are within the interface, but this isn't from a lack of computer knowledge, it is instead from a lack of Facebook use.  The most intriguing part about Facebook to me is that it is cataloging a massive database of the human experience, ranging from the exciting exchange of new ideas and information, to what someone had for breakfast that morning.  This exchange of personal information and ideas will ultimately lead to great change.


My friends on Facebook rarely see any activity from me.  My personal Facebook is a mixture of random people that friend me, real friends, and people I friend-ed.  Sometimes, if I read an article about someone that is interesting and they have a Facebook, I will send them a friend request.


While I do make good attempts to keep a clean line between my personal time and my business time, I have never made such attempts when it comes to my personal facebook and my business facebook.  I have created a business page, but that is about as far as I got. 

Needless to say, writing a script that targets people who use the term DUI in a public post, or car accident, and then reaches out to message them on facebook regarding legal services, would be improper.   The technology of http://weknowwhatyouredoing.com/ could readily be applied to this unethical enterprise, to seek out people complaining about their daily lives.  Ambulance Chasing/Facebook chasing.  Potential search terms "Hospital" "wreck".  See Danny DeVito in "The Rainmaker"



Legalzoom

The legality of Legalzoom and Quicken Family Lawyer has been decided by a number of courts to not be an unlicensed practice of law.   Legalzoom and other form sites like it, following their success, they were emboldened to go even further, and offer attorney services directly from their website.  They have set up a buffer, in the form of an attorney referral company.

The form market is a big business.  The attorney market is a big business.  Companies like legalzoom have attorney Robert Shapiro pitching for them on TV, as a spokesperson.  Their website tries to make very clear that they are not attorneys.  They are more worried about sales of a form, than whether a form will fit a particular purpose.  There is no customization of a legalzoom form other than what they permit.   Rocketlawyer, falls to this same pitfall, as do most others.




SEO Ethical Issues

I readily admit to doing stupid word link based SEO on my own sites, where I am permitted to control the content.  On other blogs, if I posted a comment, I wouldn't even think of creating a link, except to my page, but not by including a search term.

On this blog, I have noticed many attorneys who hire SEO companies to make comments like (Thank you, this will really help with my legal research) and then sign it "houston criminal attorney".  I have traced the IP's back to China.  So, there are some attorneys out there who are hiring SEO Companies who are in turn hiring chinese citizens to write blog posts using fake names and creating links to help search engine optimization.  Based on some of the comments, and their lack of relevance to blog posts, these Chinese SEO subcontractors likely don't have even a rudimentary grasp of English.

Customer Reviews

I see some law firms with 30+ reviews on sites like google places and yelp.  I do not care what kind of success rate a person has, most people do not take the time out of their day to comment about the services their attorney is providing.  How many of these reviews were solicited?

Any attorney has always known that word of mouth is the most powerful tool for bringing in business.  As things progress, "Word of Mouth" will have less to do with what is spoken, and have more to do with what is typed or otherwise recorded online.

Avvo

Don't even get me started on avvo.  I don't think that they are doing anything directly unethical, but the "Rating" system is off kilter.  Then again, I think that the Martindale-Hubbell rating system is off kilter as well.  Some attorneys have no clout in a community, and are unknown by judges and other attorneys.  These people still have and serve clients.  The best thing that Avvo has done, it has all but destroyed what used to be an over simplistic monopoly.  It adds in, for at least some portion, client satisfaction.

"Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings were created in 1887 as an objective tool that would attest to a lawyer's ability and professional ethics, based on the confidential opinions of other lawyers and judges who have worked with the lawyers they are evaluating," said Mike Walsh, President and CEO, U.S. Legal Markets at LexisNexis.  - Quote lifted from http://www.donleylawpc.com/about.html 

And since I used his research, I will willingly plug him with one of those nasty links.  colorado springs probate attorney  I don't know him, but he seems like a good enough guy.  He's AV rated, so he must be right?

The way that the quote is worded,  it makes it seem like it was designed to help judges discuss whether a lawyer was able or ethical.  But let there be no mistake about it, Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review ratings were designed for the public, for the purposes of advertisement, and seem to me like they should be included in rule 4-7.2 's restriction on the characterization of services.

It also seemingly promotes the "good old boy" system where the losers and winners are picked from within the community, and not by the consumer.

A new commandment should be issued:

d) Thou shall not use a scale from one interval to another interval, to define the characteristics of an attorney.

Avvo is based on a game theory, to achieve the goal of a 10.0, or a level 15 contributor, and has many attorneys running around like hamsters in wheels.  The whole thing smacks of role playing.  "My attorney is a level 15 contributor to avvo with 40 hit points, 10exp and 1 magic."  I know you're thinking I'm a role playing geek right now, but I am proud to say I was thrown out of every role playing game I was ever asked to participate in.

The Solution

I see so many emerging websites and dangerous trends for attorneys on the web.  Some of these amount to very complicated profit splitting. None of them are truly adequate.

What is needed is a website where an attorney will be able to control his content, sell his own forms, and offer his own services for review, cutting out the middleman.  Advertising alone could be worth hundreds of thousands.  It could combine the best of all services, but provide for content from attorneys, allowing them to interface with the public and sell their own materials rather than reviewing a legalzoom contract or a rocketlawyer contract.

Preferrably one with a consumer only based rating system or none at all.  Rating the FORMS of an attorney should be much better than rating the CHARACTER of an attorney.

And now that I look back on the post, I am already a little wary of my Avvo rating slipping from negative commments, and Martindale-Hubbell not letting me be peer reviewed.

Building a Solo Office with a Megafirm Infrastructure and Low Overhead

Building a Solo Office with a Megafirm Infrastructure

The purpose of this article is to inform and inspire ideas in developing tools and techniques to reduce the overhead and maximize the infrastructure of solo legal and small firm practitioners.  


It was written two years ago, and I have adapted new technology, and massively improved this setup. I also didn't really take the time to edit this article for grammar or continuity.


But, this is what got me going in the beginning. I decided to stick some more information in places, like my change of Voip provider.

Many of the software tools discussed in this article are free and easy to use, and the rest are free or cheap and require a tech savvy background to properly deploy and administer.  All of the hardware discussed is intended to offer suggestions and to provide a real operating environment example.  


This is not a suggestion of hardware or services, but instead outlines solutions for creating low overhead within the law office. Much of the hardware was selected by the author solely because it was available or otherwise inexpensive.  


Total investment is around 4,000.00-5000.00 for two computers, a scanner, and a network printer.
Total conservative monthly overhead is around $250.00 or $300.00 for a firm with 3-5 people. ($200 for good internet and $50.00 for phones).


A web or cloud based accounting system, with low overhead, that follows all rules of trust accounting in all states, and allows for the printing of checks, does not exist at the time of this writing. No one has created a cloud based accounting system which would have lower overhead than a standard edition of quickbooks, and no one provides cloud invoicing which would allow you to specify whether a clients credit card payment was to be deposited into a trust account.


Another thing I would like to see is automatic scanning recognition and filing.  With the widespread adoption of e-filing and service of legal documents by e-mail, a potential piece of software could be made to automatically file documents into a directory structure.


Case styles (a.k.a. the thing at the top that makes a paper look like a legal pleading) are somewhat standardized. These could be indexed and automatically matched with incoming documents for party names and case numbers and counties and automatically arranged.

All PC’s operating in this environment are running a Microsoft OS, but the underlying infrastructure is heavily based on Linux based hardware.

I also assume that you are starting from scratch. Customized law firm software often provides a resistance to change. Database importation can be a pure headache.


Before You Even Have An Office

Practice Management Software

Do I use Pro-Law, Amicus Attorney, or Time Matters?  What about Google?

All practice management software should perform certain tasks including:  Conflict Checking, Calendaring, Contact Database, and keeping track of Client Matters and Files.  Any Gmail account from Google includes a calendaring system, and a Contact Database that can be used for conflict checking.  

The contact database is even more amazing, when you know you will also be placing most of your phone calls for free, all over the country, for very little overhead, and plenty of room for expansion, and potentially from anywhere in the world with an internet or WiFi connection.  Also, notes regarding phone calls, if answered and entered into the system, can be instantly shared between staff.

For most solo and small practitioners, a spreadsheet, placed into Google Docs, can be a File Management System.  Be sure to create a Client-File (1000-001) numbering system that makes sense, include the current status of the cases, and county case numbers.


Collaborative Gmail Account

Most solo and small firm practitioners have the same problem- the ability to share information quickly and freely with the one or two people they have backing them.  This model is essentially a secretary-boss type model, but here we can consider it to be a paralegal-attorney type model.  

This model is scalable, and can be used not only by solo practitioners, but also small practices who use a standard paralegal-attorney type model.  Not only team accounts can be used, but one master account could be used to link all the teams together.
The idea is to create a “team” or a collaborative Gmail account at http://mail.google.com.   For example, team1@gmail.com where team1 is an identifier.   This could theoretically be graham-lucy@gmail.com, or graham-secretary-lucy@gmail.com or whatever the team name would be.

After creating the new Gmail account, you can instantly enter in your contacts that you will share among the team.  Gmail can import from a wide variety of databases and allow you to share among them.

This collaborative Gmail account also gives you access to Google Voice, which you can use as a Phone Number for the Team.   Sign in and create a google voice account at http://voice.google.com/

A dedicated web browser is not needed, because you can just use the browser you are most comfortable with, however, I suggest using Google Chrome as a stand alone practice management tool.  You can set the default windows to open in Google Chrome to the following pages automatically:

Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Voice  

You now have:
1) A calendar that can be shared, updated, and seen by anyone you wish that has a Gmail account.  
2) Calendars and Contacts that can automatically sync with an iPhone or other Exchange enabled device (Windows, Android, various Smartphones, iPad, iPod Touch, etc.) (You should Use the Exchange Method to sync calendars and contacts, not Imap or the built in Gmail account Settings, See http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740)
     
3) A phone number that can be used solely as a contact for the team, or a main office number (for security and porting, your main office number should be a non-google voice number, forwarded to a google voice number).  
4) A log of all incoming calls on the Google Voice number with the ability to enter notes.
5) Transcription service of incoming voice mail messages.
6) The ability of the “team” to accept text messages to their Google Voice Number.
7) The ability to initiate calls directly from the web browser.
8) The ability to share a Google Doc spreadsheet which contains all your case numbers, client information, case status, etc.

After creating a team collaborative Gmail account, each user can create an individual Gmail account (i.e. syfert@gmail.com and lucy@gmail.com).  The collaborative Gmail account should be set up to forward all e-mail to the individual team members, so that Google Voice notifications, if desired, forward to all team members.   

Through using Google Voice features (Such as * to forward an incoming calls to Google Voice enabled phones, useful for forwarding after someone answers the call, 4 to record an incoming call, and the ability to transcribe and text voicemails to cell phones) you can effectively have an operational office, with a Paralegal-Attorney type scheme, all operating remotely from different locations.

Depending on your cell phone provider, your cell phone plan, and your Google voice setup, if you have unlimited calling to and from certain numbers, you can use Google voice to receive and to place all of your office calls for free, from your cell phone, without exposing your true cell phone number.

Fax Machine

I have struggled with many different fax services, and ideas for receiving faxes.  The best solutions are efax services.  They provide you a dial-in number which you can put down as your office fax number, and then they can e-mail to selected accounts.   

http://www.myfax.com/ is one such service that provides economical faxing for personal and small business, usually around $10-12 per month for 500 pages of faxing.  That’s one ream of faxing for $10.00 per month.  

You can set up your e-fax service to point to your collaborative Gmail account, and the fax will show up in lucy@gmail.com, grahamsyfert@gmail.com, as well as team1@gmail.com or graham-lucy@gmail.com, or whatever the collaborative gmail account is.   

Use of Google Talk Between Computer Workstations

Since both Attorney and Paralegal have Gmail accounts, it is only natural that they can communicate between computer workstations by using a text chat program.  If they are both working remotely, text communication between two computer workstations, can be used to inquire about availability to take an incoming call.   If the Attorney chooses to accept the call, the remote answering paralegal could hit * and then do an assisted transfer to the Attorney on the other end.

Google Talk is found embedded within the Gmail window and allows a user to send text messages to cell phones, and text messages to other Gmail users.  It also allows for video and voice conferencing between Attorney and Paralegal, if their workstations are so equipped.  

iPhones, iPads and iPods

After setting up and worrying with the attorney trust account, you of course wish to be able to accept credit cards.  There are many various methods of accepting credit cards, and a million people trying to sign you up for their merchant services.  

Deals are one thing, but convenience can be another.  Also, can I do credit card deposits to both my trust account and to my law firm operations account?

Using an iPhone or iPad, or iPod touch credit card solution is one way to accept credit cards, and all you need is access to WiFi.  Solutions for credit cards are available from Intuit to interface directly with your Quickbooks, and allow you to accept credit cards from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.  One potential solution to the credit card trust accounting dilemma was to sign up for two different merchant service accounts available through the iPhone.

In addition to being able to accept credit cards, iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches are useful for calendar and contact syncing with your collaborative Gmail account. http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740

If setup correctly, when the paralegal makes a schedule change, or adds a phone number to a contact on her iPhone, the attorney’s iPhone contact is automatically updated with the changes the paralegal made.

Of course, you can use your iPhone with your Google Voice account by adding your mobile number to your Google Voice account.   It is also possible to use an iPad or an iPod Touch 4th Generation or later with your Google Voice account, with the iPad being akin to a high quality speaker phone.

Thanks to the iPhone and Google, your basic office infrastructure is in place, and you do not even have an office.  This gives you time in setting up your office that you might not otherwise have available, and saves you from being at the mercy of the phone and internet installer.  It also creates a nearly fool proof method of not missing incoming communication, if you have the right support base.


Building the Office

Most offices come equipped with cat5 ethernet cable, which allow for computers to be plugged in to each other using routers, hubs, and switches.  I cannot express enough the need and desirability of this method of network creation over Wifi.  Wifi is fast, and is reliable, and will likely improve by leaps and bounds over the upcoming years.

Regardless of that, nothing compares with not relying on WiFi, and so far, nothing is faster than actual wires.  Almost all headaches with internet, server disconnections, slow internet speed, etc., in an office environment, stems from use of WiFi.  That being said, for the devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, any office should have WiFi.

You have called your internet service provider, and they have provided you with a place to plug in a computer, or they have provided you with a place to plug in many computers, and sometimes a WiFi access point built in.  If you have been provided with a place to plug many computers, you might have an internet device which has a STATIC IP.   These devices are not preferred.  Tell your internet company that you prefer a DSL Modem or a Cable Modem, and not a DSL Router or Cable Router.  These devices usually have a DYNAMIC IP.   

For the purposes of ease of setup, a dynamic IP, with no ISP router, is preferred.

Selecting Your Network Router, Backbone, The Core, Etc.

The main device fueling your network and sending signals to all your computers and devices is the network router.  Rather than use the one provided by the ISP, you want to have one that passes the internet IP directly to the router and does not use a NAT (see above regarding ISP provided routers for multiple computers).  

Companies and firms can spend hundreds of thousands on these devices, and tens of thousands of dollars for certain features such as VPN or Virtual Private Network connections.

In consumer models, these features are not present, however, they usually do provide built-in Wifi support.

Luckily, there is no need for spending that much money to get a feature rich router.  
DD-WRT is a linux based firmware which is free and installs on many models of routers, and is also available pre-installed on a number of routers from Buffalo.

Information and devices supported regarding DD-WRT is available at:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/

I purchased a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH, with DD-WRT pre-installed for around $70 near the time of this writing.

Whether you are completely tech savvy, or not very tech savvy, purchasing a router that is running dd-wrt will save many headaches regarding connectivity issues.  Even if you have to pay a neighborhood kid to set it up, it is worth running to eliminate connectivity issues.

With DD-WRT you will be able to remotely connect to your service via VPN, if you configure it properly.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/VPN_%28the_easy_way%29_v24%2B

And, to make it easier to remember the IP address of your office system, and for the PBX you might want to install, you should configure a Dynamic DNS system in the DD-WRT router.


A Nearly Free Phone System

For someone looking at starting up a small firm or solo practice with multiple employees, the phone system is one of the most costly and biggest worries.  It is also the vein of your business and essential to client communication.   Adding a line for a new employee could be a rather large expense on a traditional telephony system.

Voice over IP telephony is the perfect solution to the telephone scalability issues.  And, incorporating your Google Voice account, you can purchase an IP telephone and for around $20 per month, have unlimited long distance and incoming calls and two lines.

A simple two line phone system can be created using IP telephones (i.e. Polycom 550, Polycom 300, Cisco SPA942) and signing up for an account with http://www.callcentric.com/ I

I now use SipStation for 24.99 a month, because you can add multiple numbers inexpensively and it helps with call routing.


You can program the Polycom 550, or any other IP phone, to interface with Callcentric, providing you with a local phone number that allows for unlimited dial-in for around $8.95 per month and dial out at 1 cent per minute.  However, if you use Google Voice to initiate your outgoing calls, Callcentric will see all those outgoing calls as incoming and will therefore be free.

With Free PBX, your Google voice account may be sufficient to allow each person to have their own account. However, you would need to ensure that the Google Voice account routed to their workstation is not the google voice account that they would use on a daily basis to check their e-mail.

iPhones, iPads, Computers, and iPod Touch 4th Generation devices can be used as telephone extensions using a variety of Voice over IP telephony programs.  iPads and iPod touches can be used directly with the Callcentric accounts using programs like Acrobits, http://www.acrobits.cz/, and Google Voice accounts using programs like Talkatone, http://www.talkatone.com/.  



A Nearly Free PBX Office Telephone System
(Advanced Computer Users Only)

Once you get comfortable configuring IP telephones for use with Callcentric, you may be willing to tackle the core of every large office communications hub.

PBX in a Flash is available for free download at http://pbxinaflash.com/

Installation of PBX in a flash is simple and straight forward, however, for documentation on configuration and installation, as well as scripts to allow for easy configuration, it would be suggested to head over to http://nerdvittles.com/ and look at their information on Incredible PBX.  http://nerdvittles.com/?p=712

Incredible PBX is an add-on to PBX in a Flash which contains scripts that allows for free outbound Google Voice dialing (you can use the Google Voice account you set up in the collaborative Gmail account).

For my small office, I purchased an Aspire Revo for $189.00, in accordance with the Nerd Vittles instructions, and installed Incredible PBX.  These machines now sell for $400.00 or more, but a wide variety of computers can handle FreePBX with ease.  While PBX in a Flash and Asterisk server administration are not for the faint of heart, once it is configured, it is hands off.  It will handle the Callcentric accounts that you setup for the Voice over IP office phones. (see freepbx, trixbox instructions at callcentric)    

The Callcentric accounts you created (or, “voice over ip phone lines”) or any other Voice over IP providers you wish to use can be added as trunks of the PBX system, and can allow for dial out, as well as dial-in ringing multiple phones at once, allowing for transfers, for individual voicemail, and just about any other feature you might want in a phone system, including things that you would never use in a solo/small firm situation.


Copy Machine

Having litigated a number of them, the last thing I wanted to do was sign a contract on a copy machine.  I did inherit one of those all in one flatbed copy machines with a sheet-fed scanner, but it was slow and bulky, so I needed a new solution.

My first purchase was a high speed sheet fed scanner.  And while I did not do all the shopping I could have, I purchased a Cannon ScanFront220 (roughly $1200.00) which I used to scan to my Gmail account and then I could print duplicates of the PDF on the all in one machine.

The next purchase was an HP LaserJet P3015.  The benefit of this particular model of printer, like many others, is that it accepts PDFs to be directly copied to the printer and then printed out.  The Cannon ScanFront220 was then setup to directly send PDFs to the printer, and so with the press of a button, one copy would pop out of my printer, and it was much faster than my all in one machine.  

Also, with the ScanFront220, I was able to simultaneously send a PDF copy to the server.  So, not only did I have an electronic record of every document I copied, if I needed multiple copies, I could simply open up the PDF and hit print and select the number of copies I wanted to print.  One scan, a key stroke and three clicks is as much work as a large copy job on a large professional machine.

File Server

Typically, all that is needed for a file server system is a shared folder that is accessible by many users.  If you have two or fewer users, a professional version of a Windows OS will allow multiple users to connect to a shared folder.

However, if you also want the ability to possibly be able to host your own website someday, you can go the next step and purchase a computer and install Ubuntu Linux or many other varieties.  http://www.ubuntu.com/

Like asterisk phone system administration, linux administration is also not done by the faint of heart.  However, the Ubuntu default interface is so user friendly, with the common tasks available (such as sharing a folder) through the GUI interface.  

Ubuntu was selected only because of the wealth of online documentation and howto’s that are available.

After the installation of Ubuntu, the program called Samba is what allows the server’s share to be seen by windows computers.

I have used multiple cloud backups with Ubuntu, to ensure that no data will be lost.   My current project is to incorporate those files into Google Drive and have a truly web based backend to all document editing.  It is ongoing, and I am awaiting google engineers to finish the google drive client for linux.

The biggest benefit behind a linux machine, is that any task you can dream for a server to do, can be accomplished with enough know how and effort.   However, the average user, just wants to make sure that the server is stable and can be used to share files.  Once the Linux machine is installed and available on the internet, freelance linux experts can be hired to do higher configuration, of webservers, domain name servers, and a variety of other services for which you would normally pay. I suggest


Web Server


Every office has an internet connection. Why pay hosting fees when you can host it yourself? Consider setting up an apache webserver on your linux machine.

Florida Family Law Attorney - New law firm opening

Christopher Taylor in Jacksonville FL has started a practice in Five Points, and it is located at 1529 Margaret St.   Chris has been practicing law for 12 years, and has now decided to open up a solo practice devoting himself to the area of family law.

In all candor, I must admit that this is a bit of an advertisement for his services by any person who finds my blog.  What is different, however, than most blogs by attorneys, is that I am not selling my own services.

I do family law, but only on a very limited basis.  I choose not engage in many family law situations for many reasons.   For all of those that trust me with their issues, this is an endorsement of Chris and a public well wishing to his firm to handle any Family Law issue from uncontested divorce to child support. It also will probably help with his search engine optimization, hopefully.

Odd Florida Holidays

Odd Florida Holidays:


Chapter 683, Florida Statutes, deals with Official Florida Holidays.  
Chapter 117, Florida Statutes, deals with Florida government employee paid holidays.  

Chapter 683 contains some surprising information pertaining to contract law when contracts happen to use the term "Legal Holidays."  There are a bunch which would qualify, which are not often celebrated.

Nu Image - Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver

Nu Image is now seeking settlements in a case in the Middle District of Florida.

As always, I can be contacted for representation.  Read my subpoena defense FAQ and our conversation will be much more efficient.

The lawsuit involves the download of the movie "Conan".