The Kennedy-Mighell Report

What kind of year was 2011 for legal tech? What were the big developments and trends that you need to know? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell pay tribute to ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" and adopt its format for a fast-paced and fun discussion of what transpired in legal technology in 2011. After you listen, be sure to check out Tom & Dennis’ co-blog and book by the same name, The...

Many social media users have been surprised recently by changes to the design and user interface of the web pages and apps they have been accustomed to using with these services. These changes have been happening for quite a while, but this round of revision seems to have created a backlash from longtime users. Are these kinds of changes fair or foul? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighel...

'Tis the season for gift-giving. And the season for technology gift lists. The latest technology is always a great present - especially for lawyers. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell roll out their own technology gift guide for lawyers, give some of their favorite buying tips, and give you plenty of suggestions for your own wish list! After you listen, be sure to check out Tom & Denn...

Forty-eight hours of video is added to YouTube every minute. Second graders make professional-quality movies using inexpensive cameras and standard software. It's no surprise that lawyers are tentatively beginning to think about using video in connection with their practices. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the growing use of video by lawyers, survey the tools for creating...

From IBM’s Watson to Apple’s new Siri to the growth of predictive coding in e-discovery, it’s been a heck of a year for computers catching up to humans. Lately, there’s been a lot of discussion about the question, "Can software take the place of lawyers?' Can it, or will it? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the latest software advances and the likely impact on lawyers, how l...

iPads are making serious inroads into the work environment, even for lawyers. What role might the iPad play in the daily lives of busy legal professionals? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell are joined by special guest David Sparks, author of the new book, iPad at Work, to discuss the potential benefits of using an iPad in legal work, practical iPad tips, and how the iPad and iPad app...

Amazon has just announced a new generation of Kindle devices, including a touch version and the Kindle Fire, a low-cost tablet device. The new Kindles start at $79. Are these iPad competitors, a new category of devices or another harbinger of the Post-PC era? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss how the new Kindles might help lawyers, whether the platform is now the message, and...

Why are more lawyers than ever using two (or more) monitors at their desks? Others use surprisingly simple tricks to make their days more productive and their lives a little easier. Once you’ve learned some of these techniques, you often think that they are "obvious" and something you should have implemented a long time ago. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss a few simple prod...

From 9/11 anniversaries to hurricanes to earthquakes to power outages and much more, recent events are causing us to consider how our new technologies impact our behavior in emergency situations. Technology, especially mobile technology like smart phones, has obvious benefits in emergencies and disasters, but our reliance on technology has raised a whole new set of issues. In this episode, Dennis...

Solid, actionable data on what law firms are actually doing with technology can be surprisingly hard to find. In the medium and large firm space, the annual ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey provides detailed and comprehensive data about what law firms have been implementing and planning. The good news is that the 2011 Survey has just been released. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and...

If you speak on a regular basis, you’ve undoubtedly found yourself in a situation where you have less time left than material to present. If you’ve ever been in audience where the speaker is running short on time, you’ve probably suffered as the speaker has tried to cope with (or even ignore) the problem. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell draw from their own speaking experiences to s...

With social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ capturing the lion’s share of attention and discussion, what is the role of blogs for the legal profession in 2011 and beyond? Does it still make sense to start up a new blog or continue an existing blog? Has blogging reached a crossroads? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell draw from their many years of blogging to t...

Google’s new social networking tool, Google Plus has burst onto the tech scene like a supernova. Are you already on it and thinking about abandoning Facebook, Twitter and all previous social networking tools? Is there still time to take a deep breath and a measured response? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell talk about Google Plus – both the tool and the phenomenon, its potential imp...

There are times when it feels like everyone is saying that all lawyers must use social media for marketing. And there are times when it seems like marketing must be the only possible use for social media. Is that really true? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell talk about what else social media can do for lawyers, and whether it’s time to open up the ways lawyers think about using soci...

We used to focus on new Windows announcements and the software we installed on our PCs. Times have changed. The recent Apple announcements about iOS 5, Lion and most important, iCloud, have captured most of the headlines. The action is increasingly happening outside Windows and outside PCs. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell talk about the recent Apple iCloud announcement, the possibl...

Over the last few years, legal technology has become a field, even a career for some. You will often hear the term "legal technologist" used to describe those in this field. How does someone get started in legal technology and what does it take to be considered a legal technologist? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the history of legal technologists, how to get started in th...

Should you really be checking your BlackBerry while I’m having a conversation with you? Do you need to reply to every email, text message, cell phone call and Twitter direct message? When is it OK to unfriend people on Facebook? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss the evolving notion of "digital etiquette," where people are most likely to make missteps in digital manners, and t...

As the number of legal technology options and platforms have increased, management of legal technology has become more complicated than ever before. Routine recommendations are changing because of smartphones, use of Macs, Web 2.0 and other changes. In important ways, our view of technology and even the Internet has become more personalized and less universal. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and T...

The newest, the latest, the greatest. Yesterday's new technology is today’s old news. And we are already transfixed by next month's technology, let alone what we are hearing is in the works for 2012. Does our obsession with what's new have negative consequences? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss our seeming obsession with new technology, dealing with the pace of rapid technol...

It seems the cloud is everywhere these days. Amazon, Microsoft and others have announced new, low-cost initiatives for online file management and storage. File management services like Dropbox have already gotten a lot of attention and praise. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss a specialized part of the cloud that might provide value to everyone, the advantages and disadvantag...

Despite all the talk about "search' on the web, the simple fact is that we’d trade all the "search" in the world for a lot more "find." The good news is that there are some developments that will help us get the information we want when we want it. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss what comes after traditional keyword search, new tools and techniques like recommendation engin...

The first iPad was incredibly successful and the launch of the iPad 2 has created a fresh surge of interest in the tablet category. Is the iPad 2 the tablet device that lawyers have been waiting for? In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss their experiences in line at the Apple Store on Opening Day attempting to get the freshest information for their audience, talk about their earl...

Everyone (well, we hope everyone) knows data backup is important. That’s why we always vow to be more diligent after we lose more data at an inopportune time. Data backup has become more complicated over the past few years as our data moves out from our computers to the cloud. We know what to do, so why don’t we? In this episode, co-hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss current good practic...

Lawyers can’t go a single day without hearing how they need to be using social media. Social media, however, is a big topic and there are lots of social media tools. The tool lawyers most commonly use is LinkedIn, but are they really using it to good advantage? In this episode, co-hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell take a look at the growth and evolution of LinkedIn, how lawyers are successfully...

You're starting a new firm, or you want to revamp your existing firm's technology. What approaches and strategies make the most sense for the 10-20 lawyer firm in 2011? Is the "cloud" part of your firm's immediate future? In this episode, co-hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell take a look at some of the technology options for smaller firms, the long term strategies and short-term tactics that sho...