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"That's silly," Partner Moore replied. "No
one is under pressure. There wasn't a light on when I left at
2 o'clock this morning."
- Time, January 24, 1964
Since the beginning of time,
or at least since 1964, lawyers have been trying to figure out
ways to squeeze 28 hours into a 24-hour day. Whatever happened
to the good old days (the early '80s) when we were promised that
the advent of technology would lead to 10-hour workdays instead
of 14-hour ones? Even better yet, whatever happened to those
unfulfilled promises that technology would supplant us as workers,
thereby leaving us with more mid-afternoon siesta time?
The Bar is uniquely positioned to develop and implement technology
initiatives on behalf of the profession. One of my goals for
this year is to bring an even more "disciplined" focus
and approach to new Bar technology initiatives. Without such
an approach, it is very easy to squander significant financial
and human resources on very sexy-looking technologies that provide
very little real value and return to the membership. With that
thought in mind, your Executive Committee has developed and put
in place a Technology Strategic Plan (plan).
The primary purpose of the plan is to provide focus, direction,
and discipline in the technology area as the MSBA assesses the
viability of newly proposed e-initiatives. Before, we looked
more to our sections and committees to take ownership for generating
new technology initiatives. Now, the primary responsibility
to propose, develop, and implement new technology initiatives
falls squarely on the doorstep of the Association's executive
director. Before the Bar engages in any new technology initiative,
the proposed initiative must, "in a meaningful and measurable
manner," meet one or more of the following criteria:
1. add significant value to members' practices;
2. reduce MSBA's operating costs and/or create greater efficiencies
in its operations;
3. enhance the relationship between members, the profession,
the judiciary, and the MSBA;
4. provide relevant information to the general public; and/or,
5. generate non-dues revenues.
After putting in place the Bar's technology strategic plan,
the Executive Committee developed and put in place a formal implementation
plan for launching new technology initiatives. Phase I of this
implementation plan, Idea Generation, requires the executive
director to directly solicit technology ideas from the general
membership before developing new technologies. Phase II, Idea
Analysis, requires that technology ideas submitted by members
be screened and assessed by a newly created Technology Committee
and the Bar's executive director. Under phase III, Project Selection,
the executive director then submits the members' top ideas to
the Executive Committee along with a detailed business plan(s)
discussing the feasibility and viability (or lack thereof) of
each top idea. The Executive Committee then approves one or
two of the top ideas for implementation under phase IV, Implementation.
I am very happy to report that we have just successfully completed
phase I of the Bar's technology implementation plan. In mid-October,
Tim Groshens sent an online survey via email to the general membership,
seeking input on existing and new technology ideas. Over 1600
of our members responded to the online survey. (The raffling
of two Palm Pilots may have played a miniscule role in the great
response rate.)
From this online survey, we learned that the Bar's most popular
existing online technology service is the Court Opinions service
and that your second favorite online Bar service is the Legal
News Digest. Many of you included comments saying that you were
pleasantly surprised by the multitude of online services that
are already included as part of your Bar membership. We often
heard, "Thanks for the information. I wasn't aware of all
the services you offer online." How about you? Are you
aware of all the free online services that the Bar offers its
membership? If you think so, I would like to challenge you to
take the Bar's technology Intelligent Quotient (I.Q.) test found
on page XX. You need only 80 percent right to pass.
In addition to your responses to the new technology initiatives
that we specifically asked about in the survey, we received over
750 suggestions from you for new technology services that we
should explore providing to our membership online. Wow, who said
lawyers don't know technology? One technology idea that received
a significant number of your votes was that the Bar should provide
Minnesota attorneys' appellate briefs and related documents online
at its website. Another very popular idea was placing the Minnesota
court rules online together with pertinent annotations to each
rule, such as, related court decisions, statutes, and articles.
You also suggested that the Bar provide some type of service
in the legal research area. Among other options, we are exploring
the value of creating a legal research purchasing co-operative
on behalf of Bar members. An MSBA co-op, based on the number
of its participants, would attempt to negotiate significantly
cheaper legal research rates from third party vendors on behalf
of Bar members.
The next step for the Bar is to narrow down some of your great
ideas and determine which ones are the most viable and feasible
based on a thorough business case analysis. By the way, if you
are interested in the technology area or would be willing to
serve as an online writer or editor in the areas of family law,
appellate law, court rules, employment law or marketing, I encourage
you to directly contact Executive Director Tim Groshens at HREF="mailto:tgroshen@statebar.gen.mn.us">tgroshen@statebar.gen.mn.us.
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JARVIS C. JONES is president
of the Minnesota State Bar Association. An attorney with experience
in business and in private practice, he now serves as an executive
with the St. Paul Companies, where he is responsible for a new
start-up business.
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