Master Microsoft Word at the Harris County Law Library's Legal Tech Institute

The Legal Tech Institute at Harris County Law Library is offering a free CLE program this Thursday, November 17th, at 12:00 pm. Join us as we present Microsoft Word for Lawyers and Other Law Types, and ramp up your productivity in just one hour. Learn time-saving tips for drafting legal documents more efficiently. Automate routine tasks, and eliminate the frustration of using Word in your daily practice. Become a Microsoft Word power user!

This practical, skills-based presentation will be customized for the needs of today's legal professionals and is guaranteed to make your work easier. Please join us!  For details and to register for this course, please visit the Legal Tech Institute Events page.

Announcing the Legal Tech Institute @ Harris County Law Library

The Harris County Law Library is excited to announce the launch of our Legal Tech Institute, a collection of free learning opportunities focused on the tech that you need to work more efficiently. A new learning session will be offered every month, with content designed for a diverse audience of legal tech beginners and experts. For details, visit the LTI webpage.

On the LTI webpage, you'll find links to affordable practice management solutions; organizations, networks, and institutes for innovation; and legal media outlets where podcasts and blogs on the latest in legal technology are featured. You'll also have access to legal news via our archived collection of Tech Tuesday blog posts. The LTI Course Catalog contains our upcoming legal tech programs, including a seminar in November on Microsoft Word for Lawyers, and another in December on Blending Your Legal Research. December will also feature a Vendor Talk on Lexis Advance.

We'll be adding more content to the LTI page as the Institute develops, including short video tutorials on basic tech tasks such as converting a Word document to a PDF, inserting tables of contents, and using the Find and Replace feature as well as other tips and tricks for creating and managing your documents more efficiently. 

If you have any ideas for content that you'd like to see included on the LTI page or added to the Course Catalog for a future LTI program, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in attendance at our upcoming programs!

Social Media for Lawyers, a free CLE at the Harris County Law Library

The Law Library is offering a free, 1-hour CLE program this Thursday, October 27th, at 12:00 pm. Please join us! The program will cover the basics of social media -- what it is, why it matters, and how solo and small firm attorneys can leverage it effectively to reach potential clients. 

Assistant County Attorney, Kristen Lee, will address the ethics of using social media for promotion and advertising, as well as the restrictions imposed by the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Conduct.

Deputy Director of the Harris County Law Library, Joe Lawson, will discuss social media as evidence, and Assistant Law Librarian, Heather Holmes, will present the mechanics of using various social media platforms, providing examples of how to maintain accounts in Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. She will also discuss strategies for building connections with clients and professional peers. 

For additional program details, please visit our Events page. To attend, RSVP at http://tinyurl.com/hmrvqp7

Ex Libris Juris Recognized by Texas Bar Top 10

We are thrilled to announce that a recent Ex Libris Juris blog post, Learning Tech -- Deliberate Practice and Benefits of Proficiency, was recognized in last week's Top 10 Blog Posts on Texas Bar Today, a publication of the State Bar of Texas. We're grateful for the recognition and very proud to be in the company of so many excellent Texas law blogs.

For more legal tech news, keep following our posts on Ex Libris Juris. Our Tech Tuesday feature brings you a new tech-related post each week, and our Latest and Greatest feature presents recent additions to the the library's collection. Other topics of interest to the Harris County Law Library community are presented throughout the month, including topical information related to our monthly theme -- October is Immigration Law Resource Month -- and news of upcoming library events, one of which, Social Media for Lawyers, is soon approaching. Don't miss it! 

Learning Tech -- Deliberate Practice and Beneifts of Proficiency

Last week, on the ABA Journal website, two "Legal Rebels," Darth Vaughn and Casey Flaherty of Procertas (famous for developing the Legal Tech Assessment), co-wrote a column about the necessity of learning how to use technology in the practice of law. "Sorry," they say, "technology isn't easy -- you take the time to learn, or you lose."

No advanced skills are required to conduct a basic Google search or to compose a simple document in Microsoft Word, but for attorneys and other legal professionals, sophisticated tech abilities are a must. As Vaughn and Flaherty say, "We actually need to work at becoming proficient with the standard technology tools of our trade."

Developing technological competency as a lawyer is mandated by the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and being aware of the limitations and potential risks of technology's applications is just as critical. The adage about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice may not apply, but familiarity with standard issue software and expert-level skill in managing email, manipulating spreadsheets, and conducting advanced legal research is increasingly essential.