Special to South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Among the 2,400 attendees of the American Bar Association’s recent TechShow 2014 was Spartanburg family law attorney and self-described “technologist” Ben Stevens, a regular TechShow speaker since 2008. A champion of all things Mac — author of tech blogs and cofounder of the Macs in Law Offices group — Stevens’ presentations this year brought attendees up to speed on the latest and greatest iPad gadgets, made a business case for firms going all-Mac and spoke to “lone wolf” Mac lovers doing business in an all-PC firm.
Stevens said one of the technologies that most impressed him at the TechShow was Viivo, file encryption that allows users to safely share and store sensitive files in public cloud-based environments such as Dropbox and Box.
“Attorneys are always looking for ways to increase their productivity and there is an ever-increasing number of cloud technology services and iOS apps to assist them in securely doing so,” Stevens said. “It’s great to see more attorneys embracing the many benefits that these providers and services offer.”
Topics at the event included everything from mobile apps to data security, including subjects such as basic Microsoft applications, e-discovery, Facebook in the law office, the future of legal research, and avoiding data spills by properly managing mobile devices.
Keynote speaker for the TechShow was Rick Klau, a veteran leader of Internet startups and current partner at Google Ventures. There, Klau helps lead Startup Lab, a private program dedicated to nurturing new companies and contributing to their success.
Stevens described Klau’s address as “very impressive” and feels lawyers can definitely benefit from the knowledge he shared. “Think big,” Klau said. Data, he opined, is greater than opinion.
“He stressed the importance of obtaining metrics, listening to them and learning from them,” Stevens said. “One shouldn’t fear failure and it shouldn’t be stigmatized. Instead, be embarrassed only if there is nothing to be learned from failure.”
The conference wrapped up with two “60″ presentations: the 60 most useful apps (iOS, Windows, Android and Blackberry) and “60 Sites in 60 Minutes,” an hour-long tour of the top 60 websites for attorneys. For the first time, the TECHSHOW panel took top website votes from the crowd which, fittingly, cast its virtual ballot via social media.