The Perils of Technology
Understand and follow all rules on access, use, privacy, security, and Internet access. Do not use the firm’s network or e-mail system for recreational or personal purposes. Even then, do not distribute jokes of whatever subject and taste you forward to friends during school. Do not sent around large “exe.” files, video clips, music, etc. It is not worth the candle to debate whether this is right or wrong or infringes on your 1st Amendment or privacy rights - if you “get into it” with the firm you lose. Game over (but thanks for playing).
Telephone / Blackberry — Your firm may give you a Blackberry or smart phone for the summer. Use it with common sense. Follow whatever rules the firm has for its use - especially those about e-mails, use of non firm e-mail accounts, web surfing, downloading those fun apps you love to play with, sending, receiving or storing audio or video clips or images of any kind.
Don’t use the Blackberry as a tool or fashion accessory. Wearing it, whipping it out during meetings, checking your e-mail publicly and conspicuously accomplishes nothing except to make you look like a techno-jerk. Turn off the ringer when you go into a conference room or a meeting with another attorney. Don’t check your e-mail “discretely” while you’re in a meeting with a client or a lawyer.
Don’t leave it in a taxi, restaurant or somewhere else where the village idiot can scroll through your e-mails and files because you’ve left the device unlocked. You may live and die by text messages to your crew - but I would not send even one on the firm’s device. Ask the former Mayor of Detroit - it’s not a career-building move.
Availability - You may be in a firm or on a matter where you are supposed to be available 24/7. That’s what you signed up for - so have your Blackberry charged and available at all times so that the lawyers on your team can reach you. If you don’t like that level of access - find another firm after you graduate. Yes, some lawyers engage in passive aggressive control freak behavior with their electronic toys to whistle up younger colleagues for false emergencies or assignments that really don’t need to be done at 10 p.m. Your job is to be aware of the culture and practices of your firm and to adapt to the environment.
Footprints - Every where you walk in the electronic world you leave footprints. It will not advance your career one whit to have to defend your Internet habits during your exit interview. Everything sent or received on the firm network resides on back up disks or tapes. Many networks have screening systems to flag when an attorney is using the firm network to ❏ send or receive obscene or inappropriate messages ❏ log on to Internet sites unrelated to the firm’s business. Are firms Orwellian? Nope. Are they trying to monitor your personal life? Nope, again. They are protecting the interests of the firm and its clients. In a world where almost anything can be discoverable, firms must be scrupulous about managing electronic communications and records.
Your Own E-Mail & ISP —Be equally cautious about logging on through the firm network to access your own E-mail or ISP. If you access Hotmail or Yahoo from the firm your ‘anonymous handle’ won’t protect you - every keystroke from your desktop passes through the firm's systems and filters and can be traced easily
Voicemail —Be prudent with voice mail. No funny greetings. No forwarding messages which you think are funny to fleets of summer associates. No playing with bugs on the firm’s phone system.
Security — Law firms are zealous about viruses, hackers, unauthorized access to the firms’ networks, and damage to the firm’s records. Follow the rules on copying disks, uploading or downloading files, shareware, use of laptops, macros, and all the rest. It goes without saying that you do not want to be the summer associate who loses a firm laptop or documents outside the office. For further detail, invest $9 and watch Changing Lanes.
Cutting Edge —Law firms are in the midst of an expensive technological revolution. Your firm may be ahead in some areas and behind the curve in others. Do not gripe if your desktop or laptop lacks the bells and whistles of your machine at home or the one “they have over at Brown & Williams.”
The technological revolution is most expensive change in the practice of law in the past fifty years (aside from attorney compensation). Firms struggle to stay current without incurring astronomical costs. The firm that is ahead of the curve today may well fall behind next year because firms cannot afford to constantly upgrade and change their equipment.
Electronic Habits — Do not assume that all lawyers love e-mail. Some lawyers do not use it at all. Others only use it from time to time. Take time to learn the preferences of the lawyers with whom you work. Some will be voice-mail junkies. Others will happily practice in a world where legal pads and pens suffice. If you bury someone in annoying e-mails or voice mails to someone who lives on a different electronic planet you will irritate them. Face-to-face visits with colleagues should not be a lost art and passive aggressive e-mails should not become an Olympic sport.