South Carolina Bar News April 2012 : Page 24

BAR BYTES iPad Q&A with The Hytech Lawyer BY COURTNEY KENNADAY, PRACTICE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM DIRECTOR WILLIAM H. LATHAM, A PARTNER IN THE COLUMBIA OFFICE OF NELSON MULLINS, IS SOMETHING OF AN EXPERT ON THE TOPIC OF LAWYERS AND IPADS. He writes about iPads and other technology for lawyers on his blog, The Hytech Lawyer http://hytechlawyer.com. Having seen Bill demonstrate his iPad at CLE seminars, I recently sat down with him to find out more about his iPad fascination. CK: So Bill, how long have you been practicing law? WL: Twenty years in August—mainly complex business litigation and class action defense. My cases are all over the country, so mobile technol-ogy solutions are of great interest to me. CK: When did you get your first personal com-puter—and do you remember what it was? WL: In about 1979, I purchased the Timex Sinclair 1000 with hard-earned paper route money. It weighed only 12 ounces, had 4K (yes, K) of memory and hooked up to your TV, which served as the monitor. A separate cassette tape recorder served (poorly and slowly) as a storage drive. I eventually delivered enough papers to purchase the 16K expansion module for this “behemoth” of a computer. It was great fun, but there was little practical use for it. CK: Wow. Comparatively, the most basic iPad2 has 16GB of memory! How did you choose the iPad over other tablet options on the market? WL: I am on my firm’s Technology Committee and was part of a subcommittee assigned to test the iPad’s suitability for use by our lawyers. CK: Had you used Macs before the iPad? WL: My wife has a Mac, which I have used spo-radically. Most of my work is done on PCs. CK: Just curious—what kind of cell phone do you use? WL: iPhone4S—it’s a great combo device with the iPad. CK: What’s your ultimate goal behind your blog, The Hytech Lawyer? WL: The blog is dedicated to the exploration of the use of technology to enhance the practice of law. I try to write on new technology that has real practical benefits for working lawyers. CK: Of course, everyone wants to know: what are your top five iPad tools, tricks or tips? WL: The first tip I’d offer is to make sure you have the latest version of IOS. To do this, go to the “Settings” icon and select. Next, push the “General” icon. Then select “About.” Then look for the “Version” under “About.” As of the date of this conversation, the version should be 5.0.1. Version 5.0 and 5.0.1 were major upgrades, and you’re missing out on significant iPad functional-24 April 2012 | SC Bar News | www.scbar.org

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Ipad Q&A With The Hytech Lawyer By Courtney Kennaday, Practice Management Assistance Program Director William H. Latham, A Partner In The Columbia Office Of Nelson Mullins, Is Something Of An Expert On The Topic Of Lawyers And Ipads. He writes about iPads and other technology for lawyers on his blog, The Hytech Lawyer http://hytechlawyer.com. Having seen Bill demonstrate his iPad at CLE seminars, I recently sat down with him to find out more about his iPad fascination. CK: So Bill, how long have you been practicing law? WL: Twenty years in August—mainly complex business litigation and class action defense. My cases are all over the country, so mobile technology solutions are of great interest to me. CK: When did you get your first personal computer— and do you remember what it was? WL: In about 1979, I purchased the Timex Sinclair 1000 with hard-earned paper route money. It weighed only 12 ounces, had 4K (yes, K) of memory and hooked up to your TV, which served as the monitor. A separate cassette tape recorder served (poorly and slowly) as a storage drive. I eventually delivered enough papers to purchase the 16K expansion module for this “behemoth” of a computer. It was great fun, but there was little practical use for it. CK: Wow. Comparatively, the most basic iPad2 has 16GB of memory! How did you choose the iPad over other tablet options on the market? WL: I am on my firm’s Technology Committee and was part of a subcommittee assigned to test the iPad’s suitability for use by our lawyers. CK: Had you used Macs before the iPad? WL: My wife has a Mac, which I have used sporadically. Most of my work is done on Pcs. CK: Just curious—what kind of cell phone do you use? WL: iPhone4S—it’s a great combo device with the iPad. CK: What’s your ultimate goal behind your blog, The Hytech Lawyer? WL: The blog is dedicated to the exploration of the use of technology to enhance the practice of law. I try to write on new technology that has real practical benefits for working lawyers. CK: Of course, everyone wants to know: what are your top five iPad tools, tricks or tips? WL: The first tip I’d offer is to make sure you have the latest version of IOS. To do this, go to the “Settings” icon and select. Next, push the “General” icon. Then select “About.” Then look for the “Version” under “About.” As of the date of this conversation, the version should be 5.0.1. Version 5.0 and 5.0.1 were major upgrades, and you’re missing out on significant iPad functional Ity if you are not up to date. In fact, once these upgrades are installed, future upgrades are wireless. I have been amazed at how many lawyers I encounter who are still running iPad software versions three or more upgrades old. Second—Have you updated all your apps? If your App Store indicator has a number on it, then the answer is no. Select the App Store icon and then select “update all.” You will be asked for your Apple password; however, application upgrades are free. This is the beauty of the App Store. You can always have the latest version of the application. It is also important to install these upgrades because this is how bugs are fixed by the developers. Screenshots—Did you know that you can take a screenshot of whatever is on your screen? Briefly push the home button and power button at the same time, and a picture will be taken of your current screen. You can find the picture in your camera roll with your other photos. You can then export the picture by e-mail, insert it in other documents, etc. Shortcuts—Do you find yourself typing out lengthy e-mail addresses, conference call instructions, addresses or other repetitive information? Did you know that one of the improvements of IOS 5.0 is a shortcut feature that allows you to type a few letters for a long phrase? To activate, select the “Settings” icon. Go to the right side toward the bottom and select “Keyboard.” At the bottom you will see “add a new shortcut.” Select it, and then add the shortcut, (e.g., “em” for your “longwindedemail address.com”). Now, whenever you type “em” the long e-mail address will pop up as a choice that you can select by simply pressing the space key. Resetting Malfunctioning Applications—No need to reset your whole iPad when an app hangs up or malfunctions. Simple double click the home button. Locate the offending app among the icons presented at the bottom. Push and hold the icon of the app you want to close until the icon starts jiggling, then push the “-” to the left of the icon. This closes (but does not delete) the app. CK: Those are really good tips! I’m sure you read a lot of stuff online. What is your favorite legal technology blog (other than your own, of course)? WL: I can't narrow it to one—Here are five of my favorites: www.iphoneJD.com (iPad and iPhone with lawyer focus) www.electronista.com (the latest gadget news) www.inter-alia.net (legal technology) www.Kevin.lexblog.com (law blogs and social media) www.lawyertereview.com (consumer technology for lawyers) CK: Everyone will want to know, what are your favorite apps for lawyers? WL: Once again, I can't name just one. Here are my favorite five: Goodreader ($4.99—best PDF reader/organizer) DocsToGo Premium Office Suite ($16.99—to open and edit all kinds of files) UPAD ($4.99—my favorite handwriting, notetaking app) DropBox (Free—file transfer between all your devices; non-confidential only) Google search App for iPad (Free—allows Google search using voice similar to SIRI) CK: Will you be getting the iPad3 when it comes out? WL: Most likely, if the enhancements are significant improvements over the iPad2 I have now. However, I am also curious about the new Windows 8 Tablet that should be coming out this summer. I appreciate the iPad, but I have an open mind.

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