New York State Bar Association

Legal TechAid
 

 Please click to enlarge - as far as we know, this image is public domain, please feel free to use it.
The Association Of The Bar Of The City Of New York New York County Lawyers' Association
 

Disaster Relief for New York Lawyers
Sponsored by the New York State Bar Association with assistance from MicroLaw, Inc.

HOW TO GET HELP

Press and Other Releases       Breaking News      Displayed Lawyers' New Locations     Relief Agencies     Volunteers       Purchasing       Resources       Configurations       Needs       Data Recovery       Listserve       Discussion Board

Updated 1-29-2002, 11:59 a.m. EDT

FROM: Ross Kodner
RE: Disaster Relief for New York Lawyers and Law Firms
DATE: September 17, 2001

The horrors of September 11th in New York have changed the face of America, as well as New York’s legal community. As Americans all we can do is find ways to help each other through this most difficult of all periods in our history, and to ultimately prevail over the forces of evil that perpetrated these heinous acts.

For those of us in the legal community there is something we can do. We can mobilize our efforts to help our brethren in New York who are unable to practice law because of the disaster of last week. According to the New York State Bar Association approximately 14,000 lawyers were displaced last week and unable to visit their offices and answer their clients. The reasons run the gamut from damage or destruction to their office buildings, proximity to “ground zero”, or inaccessibility to lower Manhattan. I have personally been working with the New York State Bar Association to help develop and coordinate disaster relief efforts for the lawyers and law firms so affected.

The New York State Bar Association will make available a broad range of web resources and will serve as a clearinghouse of information about replacing computer systems and recovering data and reestablishing law practices interrupted by these acts of terrorism. This information will be available shortly, if not already, at the New York State Bar Association website at www.nysba.org.

To assist to the extent that we possible can, we have endeavored to create a “mirror page” for this same kind of information at MicroLaw.com.

The following information was prepared over the weekend of September 14-17th with the aid of many volunteers across this nation.

Special acknowledgment goes to Dale Tincher, the President of ConsultWebs.com located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dale selflessly volunteered his time to help us build this emergency web page, literally working all night long on the evening of September 16th.  Dale continues to provide the regular updates to this page - kudos to him.

What you will find below includes a broad range of resources, tips, purchasing guidelines, references to office start up procedures and disaster recovery resources available on the internet. Nearly 40 of the nations leading legal technology consultants have volunteered their time, pro bono, to assist law firms that have been affected by last weeks circumstances. We hope you find the following information useful. If you know anyone who could have been directly affected by the New York tragedy and could make use of this information, I would ask you to please find some way to contact them. First, they should look at the New York State Bar Associations website to find this information which will be updated regularly. Our own information should be considered starter information in the meantime.

I wish you all well and God Bless America!



Ross Kodner

Back to Top

Update letter: 1-29-2002: PRACTICING LAW AFTER THE WTC DISASTER
INCLUDING TIPS FOR THE SINGLE PRACTITIONER by WTC Victim Leona Beane © 2002

URGENT PRESS RELEASE:
September 17, 2001, Albany,
New York State Bar Association
State Bar Association Ready To Help Victims of Terrorist Terrorist Attacks On World Trade Center

PRESS RELEASE:
Friday, September 21, 2001
 New York State, city and county bar associations announce collaborative effort (MS Word)
New York State Bar Association
LAWYERS COALITION READY TO PROVIDE DIRECT LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES WHOSE LOVED ONES ARE ENTOMBED UNDER WTC

RELEASE: REQUEST FROM ATTORNEY REGISTRATION OFFICE AT OCA FOR HANDLING OF ROUTINE INQUIRIES ABOUT ATTORNEYS
Thursday, September 27, 2001
STEPHEN GALLAGHER" <sgallagher@nysba.org>
Director, Law Office, Economics and Management, New York State Bar Association

RELEASE: LEXIS/NEXIS DEVELOPS HOTDOCS ONLINE TEMPLATES OUT OF THE FORMS THAT NEED TO BE COMPLETED FOR ISSUANCE OF THE DEATH CERTIFICATES. Thursday, September 27, 2001, 5:30 P.M.

Back to Top

U.S. Red Cross - Click to donate or learn more. Please take this image and use it.
 
The "I Love NY" Logo is a Trademark of the New York State Department of Economic Development

Relief Agencies

Click to enlarge

Listing of Legal Technologist Volunteers

NYSBA WTC Volunteer Discussion List (Listserve)
Free and open listserve for those affected by the September 11th tragedies to tap into a network of over 60 volunteer legal technologists willing to assist with your questions and rebuilding efforts.

To subscribe:
1) send a message to join-wtc-tech@lists.nysba.org
OR
2) Send a message to lyris@lists.nysba.org with the following in the body of the message:  subscribe wtc-tech

To post, send to:
wtc-tech@lists.nysba.org

Click to enlarge. Click on your browser back button / icon to return. Carolyn Thornlaw and Debbie Foster assist a displaced attorney during LegalTech, New York, September 24th and 25th.  The attorney was without space and resources.  Another attorney, for example, contacted the NYSBA needing a laptop and space.

The "Technology Triage" was made up of leading technology consultants from all over the country who volunteered their time and expertise to affected firms with questions and concerns about their firm's technology.
Steven Gallagher, Director, Law Office
Economics and Management, New York State Bar Association (left), Ross Kodner of Microlaw (right) at New York LegalTech "Technology Triage" booth.  Several consultant volunteers from across the United States helped staff the booths.  The exhibit was available at no charge during NY LegalTech.  Click here for additional NY LegalTech photos including the Technology Triage booth and volunteers.		 Click to enlarge. Click on your browser back button / icon to return

Purchasing Technology

Back to Top

Resources

Purchasing Guidance by Ross Kodner of Microlaw

Purchasing guidance from some of Ross Kodner's CLE programs:

Suzanne Rose, Tennessee Bar Practice Management Advisor, has two great checklists/outlines:

American Bar Association

  • The ALA has a whole range of resources and publications for disaster recovery including a sourcebook at http://www.alanet.org/education/mrc/facility.html - Madeline Parisi at mparisi@alanet.org may be able to arrange free copies and/or discounts for those in need. The most important book they have is the "DISASTER RECOVERY YELLOW PAGES" by Stephen Lewis.
  • Tons of legal technology articles as well as high-quality electronic legal forms available at LawCommerce.com
  • The ABA Law Practice Management Section is just rolling out a new edition of its terrific book called "Flying Solo." A massive compendium of startup advice for small firms, there is a great deal of useful technology information for larger firms as well. Contact at ABA LPMS is Director Rosemary Shiels at RShiels@staff.abanet.org and Publishing Director Bev Loder at bloder@staff.abanet.org, Section Chair is Bill Gibson at bgibson@cnnw.net.
  • West Group
     http://www.westgroup.com/aboutus/support.asp
     West Group Crisis Response Team of research, product and technical specialists to be available around-the-clock to help West Group clients and friends who practice law in lower Manhattan and Washington, D.C. get back on their feet.
    West Group - Preserving Freedom - log into West Group's     new (no charge) database titled Preserving Freedom, Protecting America
    (WTC-ALL) for access to selected documents and materials relating to last week's tragedy and associated events.
     http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/us/terrorism/ (terrorist attack information)
  • Intuit (Quickbooks)
     http://www.quickbooks.com/misc/rebuilding.html (800) 750-8771
    $1,000 grant (written application required for security), assisted customer support from Intuit through December 21, 2001, at no charge to help them with World Trade Center disaster-related issues, a free copy of the most current version of QuickBooks to replace their affected edition of the product and more...
  • Internal Revenue Service
    The IRS established a special toll free number for tax questions arising from the 11 September terrorist attacks. The number is 1-866-562-5227. Assistance in English is available Monday - Friday 0700-2200 EST and in Spanish 0800-2130 EST.
  • Jerry Lawson's Netlawtools MVP Sites.  The Main Site Includes Numerous Ideas and Resources.  This NY LegalTech Aid site was chosen as the Netlawtools, Inc. October MVP Site.
    http://www.netlawtools.com/som.html
  • Coalition for Commercial Tenant Assistance
    New York City real estate providers recently formed the Coalition for Commercial Tenant Assistnace (CCTA) to help displaced small and mid-size tenants. CCTA is providing tenants expedited services on an at-cost basis. CCTA includes real estate brokers, space planners, general contractors, furniture and furniture providers, and communications specialists. Assistance is available at a toll-free number - 866.834.1118. The phones are open weekdays from 8:30a-6:30p. Their website is www.nyccta.org.

Back to Top

PC Configurations

Profiles of the "sweet spot" for current desktop PC purchases for network workstation use would be as follows:

  • Speed: 1 gigahertz Pentium III, 1.4 ghz AMD Athlon, 1.4 ghz Pentium 4
    RAM: 256 meg at a minimum (Crucial.com is a great source for high-quality, low-cost extra RAM)
    Sound: Soundblaster Live Value Edition (Dragon-compatible)
    Monitors: 17" at least, 19" is better, flat-screen LCDs are ideal if the budget permis
    CD-ROM: 48x or 12/8/32x CD-RW
    Hard Drive: 20 gig if LAN station, larger if standalone (i.e. 40 or 60 gig) - get 7200 rpm drives
    Network Card: 3COM or Intel 10/100 ONLY - no cheapie network cards!
    Price: $900-$1500
    Brand: Whatever works for you! Check references if you go “generic”!

For laptops, the following is the present "sweet spot" in the market:

  • Speed: 850, 900 MHz and some 1 ghz models
    RAM: 256 meg to 512 meg (more is better)
    Sound: You have little choice in this - for voice recognition, use a USB headset such as those from Telex
    Monitors: 14.1" or 15" TFT only
    CD-ROM: 24x or internal CD-RW if possible
    Hard Drive: 12-30 gig
    Network Card: Built-in 10/100 or Xircom or 3COM 10/100 with NO DONGLE to lose!
    Weight/Size: A personal decision
    Price: $1500-$2800
    Brand: No Generic! First tier vendors like Toshiba, IBM, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, Winbook
    More detail in "The Mobile Lawyer: All the Tips, Tricks and Reasons" CLE materials at http://www.microlaw.com/cle/moblawindex.html

For network servers, there is tremendous variation, but the following would be a reasonable configuration for a primary file/print server PC to adequately function for up to 50 users:

  • Speed: dual 1.4 to 2.0 ghz Pentium 4 processors
    RAM: 1 gigabyte of ECC RAM
    Sound: Irrelevant - basic sound integrated into the motherboard
    CD-ROM: necessary - 48x to load software and patches
    Hard Drive configuration: Preferably a RAID Level 5 Array with at least three drives ranging from 18 gig to 36 gig each and preferably 10,000 rpm Ultra3 SCSI or FibreChannel for high throughput - also preferably 64-128 meg of RAM cache on the RAID Controller card (careful about 15,000 rpm drives - cooling is an issue)
    Network Card: One or more 3COM 3C905C or Intel 10/100 Etherexpress Pro cards
    Power Supply: Redundant 300 watt units
    Cooling: Redundant fans plus high-volume CPU coolers and also possibly a PC Cooling Systems drive bay temperature monitor/alert system
    Chassis: Big, accessible, lockable
    Brand: Stick with the majors and stick with mission-specific server systems including Dell PowerEdge, HP Netservers, Compaq ProLiants, IBM Netfinity, etc.
    Network Operating System: must be determined as part of overall strategic plan for technology platforms firmwide
    Data Backup: DLT1 tape drives in lower budget situations, DLT or AIT higher capacity drives (from 20 to 200 gig per tape - the HP SureStore series has been especially reliable)

The theoretical $5000 "Solo system" could include:

  • Sweet Spot PC: $900-$1200ish
    Printer: Brother MFC-9600 - $599
    Backup: Onstream 15/30 IDE tape backup & 3 tapes - $375
    Docs: WordPerfect 2002 Suite Upgrade - $110 or MS Office XP Small Business Upgrade - $240
    Billing: TABS III, Jr. - $295 and QuickBooks Pro 2001 for accounting (under $200)
    Electrical Protection: APC SurgeArrest Pro - $30
    Case Manager: TimeMatters 4.0 - $350 or CaseMaster 10 -$495
    Document Manager: Worldox - $410
    Legal Research: Lexis or Westlaw Small Firm Package
    Set Up and Training: Approximately $1500-$2500 for competent planning, setup and training
    If You Lease it All: Expect about $175-$250 per month for 36 months, FMV or 10% buyout

Needs

  • An attorney in New York has been working out of her apartment facing the WTC. She writes, "I was hoping that I could somehow obtain access to a computer or work space." Contact Christina Kallas, (212) 569-5779, ckallas@nyc.rr.com if you can assist of know someone who can.

Data Recovery

  • DriveSavers.com
    Data recovery services from damaged hard drives, backup tapes, etc. From the company "Until further notice, DriveSavers is offering free data recovery services to individuals and businesses affected by the World Trade Center attack. This includes computer hard drives or media that have experienced trauma such as fire, water, electrical surge or impact damage. DriveSavers will also pay for CD or DVD target media and return shipping by FedEx back to the customer."

Back to Top

Contact MicroLaw.

Page design by Consultwebs.com