Transliteracy & Technology Research to create a Legal Learning Commons Elizabeth Farrell Katie Miller FSU College of Law

If you build it...

Asking Lawyers 3 surveys

University of Fla. Legal Technology Institute CASE, MATTER, & PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM STUDY January 2010

Our informal survey

Legal practice technologies

Do you think law students need training using law practice technologies?

Which types of legal practice technology should students be exposed to prior to entering practice?

“... it is critical to be able to use case management software appropriately to document the progress of each case.”

“Electronic discovery is increasingly important and should be part of the curriculum.”

CASE MANAGEMENT 70.2% RECORDS/DOC MANAGEMENT 53.2% LITIGATION SUPPORT 44.7% TRIAL PRESENTATION 46.8% BILLING 42.6% CONFLICT CHECKING 34% METADATA REMOVAL 25.5% REDLINING 21.3% SMARTPHONE APPS 19.1% Which technology should an attorney have exposure to before they enter the legal world? * 10.6% responded that students need NO specialized tech skills before beginning their practice.

CASE MANAGEMENT 70.2% Which technology should an attorney have exposure to before they enter the legal world? Is case/practice management software available at your firm? *Data from ABA study 50.6% 34.6% 14.8%

CASE MANAGEMENT 70.2% *Data from ABA study 29.7% 36.3% 17.6% Indicate the software you personally use for law- related tasks: Case/Practice management

RECORDS/DOC MANAGEMENT 53.2% METADATA REMOVAL 25.5% REDLINING 21.3% Indicate the software you personally use for law-related tasks

CASE MANAGEMENT BILLING Which technologies were most difficult to learn? “I probably have a tough time with all of them” None of them

RECORDS/DOC MANAGEMENT TRIAL PRESENTATION BILLING REDLINING What law practice technologies were easiest to learn?

Legal Research What law practice technologies were easiest to learn?

Practical use of the data

What to buy & what to teach

Software for specialized subject matter

Addressing the critics

“These are training issues that should be the responsibility of the new lawyer and his/her employer. They should not be part of the law school curriculum.”

“Most of the admin. work is done by assistants. Students ought to focus more on substantive research. Not to mention that such software differs from one practice to another.”

“A lot of this should be part of the paralegal courses, not substantive legal courses.”

“The world is so different now from when I went to law school in the late 70’s that I don’t think it would have done much good”

“I think it would be difficult to select one or a few programs on which to train law students. There are so many programs and it seems every law firm uses a different suite of programs”

“Frankly, they are not that cumbersome to use or learn. Most who are computer literate pick up the concepts after a few short hours of training.”

GOAL = TRANSLITERACY

What is transliteracy?

“Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.”

Why transliteracy & libraries?

What transliteracy looks like in our the legal world

“Exposure to what is in the marketplace might be helpful. I am not sure the value of learning one particular application.”

“Students should learn about metadata issues and e-discovery but may not need to know a specific software.”

“Its not just the technology. If students are exposed to casemap and timemap they begin to learn how to efficiently organize and analyze facts before being handed a casefile for the first time.”

Laws schools & law practice technologies

Status Quo

How many current graduates know anything about law practice technologies? 0-25% 26-50% 51-75% % 65.5% 20.7% 6.9%

LAW SCHOOL CLINICS 54.8% LAW PRACTICE TECH COURSE 23.8% WORKSHOPS or TRAINING 14.3% ALR * 26.2% responded that his/her school does not offer any opportunities to learn law practice technologies Where is the learning happening? EXTERNSHIPS TRIAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT COURSE LIBRARY BLOG “SKILL LAB COURSES” LIBRARIANS in DOCTRINAL COURSES

What are they learning?

Who is teaching law practice tech?

Looking forward

Is your school planning on/considering expanding opportunities for students to learn about law practice tech?

Teaching the teachers – opportunities for learning about law practice technologies

Conferences and Professional Associations

People resources

Implementation ideas

Clinics

Law Practice Management Courses

Learning Lab or Learning Commons Model

Study Space

Multi-purpose

Collaboration, Independent & Guided Learning

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