RedactIt Software

Last month I received an email from, Jessica, a representative of Burk & Company LLC, asking me if I would do a review of a software application called RedactIt.  At the time I was getting ready to go on vacation so I asked that she contact me after vacation and I would look into it.  As promised, Jessica emailed me when I got back and we scheduled a meeting with a representative of RedactIt.  The meeting took place over another application called GoToMeeting, and because I work a full-time job and cannot be available during the day while I’m at work (I don’t think the boss would appreciate it) we scheduled it for Good Friday.  I know, I know, not very christian of me.  But one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do.

I want to thank all that were present at the meeting for taking the time on a holiday weekend to walk me through the application, which I have to say; looks amazing.

For about one hour I was able to see and experience a small sample of what the software is capable of and came away not regretting my decision to agree to do the review.  So why have I not done a review yet?  I still have not had the time to download the application onto my computer.  I am hoping to do that this weekend and then test it for 15 days.  Jessica did mention that if I needed more time I could just call and they would allow me more time on my trial period.  I intend on taking full advantage of the application and provide you with a thorough review of it. Just give me a few weeks.

My initial thoughts?  Well, during the meeting I was advised that the software is not Mac compatible and although I can download Parallels on my Mac, I do not want to go that route.  In this house we are Mac people and the only PC I currently own is a notepad that I absolutely hate.  I stressed that this is a very important upgrade for me and if it is important to me, some of my readers may feel the same way.  Despite this Mac compatibility problem my first impression of the application is good and I am looking forward to testing it on my own.

 

So, what’s been going on?

It feels like forever since I’ve been here.  There has been so much going on which should not be an excuse but…. since this is my blog I’ll make it an excuse just so I can feel better about not being here .

I want to thank all of you who have stuck around waiting for the next post and I promise that this time it will be coming very shortly.  I’m working on doing some software reviews and will be doing some reviews of Apps on the iPad.  I may even review some fun apps just because I can.

Seriously, though.  I have been really busy at the office and even though I probably could have found the time to post here, I have to admit that I am so tired by the time I get home that I am not able to think of anything to talk to you about.  We have had a few paralegals leave to pursue other opportunities and for a while there we were trying to hire as well as keep up with the influx of work.  It looks like we’re ok now and my head is finally above water.

It has been a really busy couple of months in the financial industry.  1) a lot of the laws that were passed due to the financial “fiasco” have come to fruition this year, so we are being bombarded with regulations and audits; 2) Because the economy is bound to get better (keeping my fingers crossed) we are positioning ourselves to take advantage of the upturn as soon as it happens and this leads me to why the past 4 months have been feeling like I was run over by a Mac Truck.

An opportunity presented itself for me to take on a new type of work.  Currently, along with being the paralegal supervisor and the lead paralegal on all regulatory matters I have also developed a new role as a corporate and foreign registration compliance paralegal.  The position never existed at the firm and I have been lucky enough to make it into what I want.  Although I’m having a really good time with it and learning a lot, I am exhausted by the time I get home.  There are a lot of things to learn and plans to put into practice.  I am hoping to be able to write a couple of posts about it but still don’t know exactly how to do that.

Anyway, I just really wanted to say hello to all of you and thank you for sticking around.  Please feel free to come by and kick my tired butt so I get on here, Facebook and Twitter more often.  After all, I really do enjoy talking to you all and should make the time to do it.

For now, I’m going to have some dinner and I will try to work on a post for next time.

Ana

 

Facebook and Right to Privacy

Most of us use Facebook or other forms of social networking.  We put up cute pictures of ourselves, our pets and our family members.  Most of us even go through the trouble of marking some of our postings private in the hopes that they don’t fall into the wrong hands.  However, does private really mean private?

According to a decision by the New York Appeals court on October 27, 2011, Paterson v. Turner Construction, an employer does not have the right to see all that is on an employee’s Facebook account, but not because it’s private, because the demand by counsel was not specific enough when making demands for production in order to build the case.

The postings on plaintiff’s online Facebook account, if relevant, are not shielded from discovery merely because plaintiff used the service’s privacy settings to restrict access (Romano v Steelcase Inc., 30 Misc.3d 426, 433-434 [2010]), just as relevant matter from a personal diary is discoverable (see Faragiano v Town of Concord, 294 A.D.2d 893, 894 [2002]).

It appears that when you sign up for Facebook you sign an agreement that states that although you may mark your documents private the chance of them coming into the public domain is not unforsseable.

In a 1967 case of Katz v. United States of America the court opined that fourth Amendment’s right to privacy “protects people not places.”  Keep in mind that the internet is a place and as such it is not protected by the Fourt Amendment’s Right to Privacy according to the Katz court.

As paralegals we all know what it’s like to draft a demand for discovery.  Sometimes you just know that if you can get your hands on such and such document you will be able to find what you need.  You go ahead and request everything under the sun.  Well, here it appears that the court is saying that, although you may have the right to the discovery you are requesting, make sure you are not going on a fishing expedition.  Make sure you know what you’re looking for and that you have a reason to request what you’re requesting.  Fishing expeditions are burdensome to everyone and no one wants to waste time going through documents that will lead to absolutely nothing.

So, for us paralegals there are two things to take away from this decision:  One in my opinion is more a professional matter and the other is more of a personal matter;

1. Make sure that when you are drafting your demand for production of documents you know why you’re asking and that what you’re asking for will provide you with the information you are seeking.  Formulate your requests in a manner that will make allow your adversary to provide you with the documents you need without wasting yours and your adversary’s time; and on a personal note;
2. Remember that just because you post something on the internet and marke it private – Privacy is really not privacy.  Once in the public domain (internet) it becomes public whether or not you set up your privacy settings.

Just as a reminder, I am not an attorney.  The above are just my opinions and my review of the court’s decision.  Nothing in this article or any of the articles by The Paralegal (me) should be construed as legal advice.

And on that note, I hope you enjoy my articles and take a minute to subscribe and check out the other blogs I read on a regular basis.  Let me know what you think.  I really enjoy reading your comments and try to respond to all of them so why don’t we have a chat?

 

From the Paralegal Convention

Today, as most of you know, I attended the New Jersey Paralegal Convention. The convention is an annual event and this year it was held at the Renaissance Convention Center in Islin, New Jersey. The venue has been reserved for next year as well. The Center was great. Very nice open area with lots of vendors. There were vendors that would have interested any type of paralegal professional. There were court reporters, process servers, global document filing and retrieval, this last one being really popular with everyone trying to go green but still having to keep in compliance with document retention policies. There was a lot to keep you busy as well as a lot of little “toys” that they all brought along. I got a baseball bat (a miniature one), the obligatory pens (lots of those), letter openers, note pads, can never have enough of those around and the coolest thing ever…. a bag that turns folds onto itself into the size of a golf ball (will be great for my commute).

Needless to say it was a great day spent to lots of people that do what I do and a great chance to network. If you ask me, and this is just my humble opinion, every paralegal should belong to a paralegal organization. There is no better way to stay abreast of the industry and learn what others are doing.

I was going to try to film some video but I was told I was not sure if it would be ok with the venue and the organization since I had not cleared it with them before the event. Therefore I have only a very short video which I will post right here.

In addition, I used my iPad throughout the entire event. I used an application called NotesPlus and recorded the sessions at the same time as I was taking notes. I will be reviewing this application once I have the chance to see how it performed under pressure. Obviously, you will all the first ones to know how it performed.

The day was great.  Lots of learning, lots of networking and lots of great ideas for future goals and directions to take.  Can’t wait to get started.

 

Pages on the iPad

It’s Tuesday, and as such, I’m going to talk to you about my iPad. Have I told you how much I love it? I guess in a way there is a love hate relationship. I love it because I’m never without something to do and I hate also because I’m never without something to do.

In my efforts to go green I currently download all my documents to my iPad. All the large regulations that I need to be analyzed (these go into Goodreader) all the articles that need to be read and organized, my email (these go into Evernote) my books and now with Pages and Keynote I have created additional ways to stay busy.

Today I’m going to tell you about Pages.

I’m sitting on the train, typing this article in Pages. Before the iPad, I would either have to carry my laptop or wait until I got home to write my articles. Now, that’s no longer an excuse. I have convinced myself that I have one hour of uninterrupted time to write. When I get home I insert pictures and links on the post (eventually, WordPress will figure out how to allow me to do this from the iPad). So that’s the reason for the love hate relationship. I no longer have to carry the laptop in order to feel productive but I also no longer have the excuse that I don’t have the laptop and therefore I don’t have to be productive. It’s a daily battle of wits with myself.

Pages is Apple’s word processing software and it has been formatted to work perfectly well with all the mobile devices. Since the iOS 5 it’s now on all my devices, the iPhone, the iPad and on my MacBook Pro. I can do everything on the iPad the same way i can on the computer. It’s intuitive and works very smoothly with the touch screen systems. I have not tried it on the iPhone and I’m not sure I will have a need to do that. However, I have looked up documents that I’ve created on the iPad on the iPhone and they look the same, only smaller, which is the reason I don’t draft or edit on the iPhone. I think I’d go blind trying to do that.

One of the best things about the application is that the documents can be emailed as Word documents to another computer. So if I’m doing something for work, such as a statement of facts or correspondence, I can do it while on the train and then email the document to myself at the office as a word document and finish working on it at the office. The only issue I have encountered with this are the fonts. We all know that Apple’s fonts do not match Microsoft’s fonts, so if the document is created with one of Apple’s fonts, it does not convert properly when you open it on a PC. Nothing you can’t fix, just have to play with the document a little and format it for the PC. But, in my opinion it’s still better than having to do everything from your desk at the office.

The other great feature of Pages on the iPad is that the document saves up in the cloud as you type. You never have to worry about saving as you go. This is great because normally, I’m still typing by the time I reach my destination. However, knowing that the document has been saving in real time I don’t have to worry about losing any of my work and I can just close the iPad and know it will be there when I open it again. Not only that, but because it is saved up in the cloud I can pick up any of my other devices and continue working on them. So for instance, let’s say this article is not finished before I get home tonight, I can just pick up my MacBook Pro and put the finishing touch on that and upload it. Very convenient right? Now do you understand the love hate relationship? There are no excuses.

Have I told you how much I love my iPad? Tell me how much you love yours.

 

New Jersey Paralegal Convention

This coming Friday, I will be attending the New Jersey Paralegal Convention, being presented by The Paralegal Association of New Jersey (PANJ) of which yours truly, me, was President and is currently a member.  If you are a paralegal in New Jersey you should make every effort to attend this event.  The event is being sponsored by DGR Subpoena Service, Hudson Court Reporting, Investigative Solutions and The Provident Bank.

The convention is a great time and place to network with other paralegals and other legal professionals.  It is open to members and non-members of the Paralegal Association of New Jersey it include vendors, whom I have to say, make our lives so much easier.  Ok…, ok, so you got me.  I think the vendors are really cool also because they have all the cool give-aways.

This is a great opportunity to brush up on your paralegal skills and obtain CLE credits for those of you that need them.  This year the topics being covered are:  Ethics, Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), Consumer Fraud (I think this is very timely), Advanced Legal Writing, Where do I find that?, Preparation for Jury Trial, Bench Trial and Mediation, Sexual Harassment, A day in the Life (this one is always the favorite), The CLA Exam (you can bet you will find me in this one), and Stress Management.

Please come by and say hello.  We would love to have you and if you see me, please stop me and let’s chat.  I love to meet all my readers.

Here is the Registration Page.

 

Paralegals and the Economy

I recently twitted that I may be gone for a while.  I said that although I love being a paralegal, currently I do not enjoy the circumstances under which I am a paralegal.

The economy is taking a toll on all of us.  We are all overworked and understaffed and for a paralegal supervisor this has got to be one of the most stressful situations.  The work seems to be coming in at a heavier pace than before, but I cannot increase my paralegal staff nor can I approve overtime.  So in a land of “something’s gotta give” I think that was the day I stood on the edge of quitting.

I didn’t quit.  I truly enjoy being a paralegal and as in all things I take the good with the bad.  But the bad is really starting to piss me off, for lack of a better description.  I’m here and I’m still a paralegal supervisor for the firm I have been with the past 5 years.  However, this does not mean that I’m happy about it the current situation.

I am going to spend the next few weeks or maybe months trying to figure out how to make things work with my ever shrinking paralegal department and attorneys who do not want to give up their work in fear of not being seen as needed members of the law department.  I will continue to post and, actually, I am in the process of picking up on my YouTube Channel where I left off.  I have also promised a series of articles about different types of laws where paralegals make a big difference and am working on a few of those posts.

Please, don’t give up on me.  We all go through some touchy times and this was my time.

Look for me on my next post, like me on FaceBook and Follow me on Twitter…. Ohhhh yeah and now I have a Google+ account too.  I’m just all over the place.