Welcome to our Blog This weblog is intended primarily for the members of the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists. Please keep in mind, though, that it can be read by members of the public and is thus neither private nor confidential. If you would like to create a new post in our blog, please email the ACFLS webmaster, Bonnie Riley. Anyone may comment after supplying their email address (which will not be posted with the comment) and waiting for a moderator to approve. Enjoy!
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The moral of this story is that, however cute you may find it to blushingly admit you can barely pull up your own email, however tenaciously you may cling to the velcro-fastened athletic shoes and legal-sized yellow pads that serve as tangible evidence of your old fogey status, failing to keep up with computer and wireless technology puts your clients and your practice at risk.
The article that inspired me to write this piece appeared last week in the Wall Street Journal, but the link is ephemeral unless you have a subscription, so this will be followed by a summary and some related resources, as well as some related cyber-issues.
The main point the article makes is that it is extremely easy to track the location of a spouse or family member via their cell phone usage; indeed, this service is offered by most cellphone carriers:
The cellphone industry says location-tracking programs are meant to provide a useful service to families, and that most providers take steps to prevent abuse. Mike Altschul, chief counsel for wireless-telecommunications trade group CTIA, says recommended “best practices” for providers of such services include providing notification to the person being
tracked.
[Husband/stalker]‘s wife had received such a notification, by text message, from AT&T. A spokesman for AT&T Inc.
says it notifies all phone users when tracking functions are activated. But users don’t have the right to refuse to
be tracked by the account holder. Turning off the phone stops the tracking.
While the tracked person is required to be notified, he or she has no power, absent an order from law enforcement, to deactivate the tracking. In addition to the service provided as a service by wireless providers, safety and law enforcement personnel have special access to tracking of the GPS units that are contained in virtually all cell phones. Warrants are generally not required. The article goes on to state, though, that anyone who has the cell phone number, a computer, and a basic understanding of how the system works, can track another person’s location.
Interestingly, I searched the word “tracking” on the website of my own cell phone carrier, AT&T, and found that it is not only family members you can track. See this ad:
NEW! Save money and get the most out of your field equipment and portable assets with the TeleNav Asset Tracker.
Key Features and Customer Benefits*
GPS Tracking with Alerts
See what happens in the field every minute of the day:
* View employees’ locations, stop history, and current status on a map
* View the status of a dispatched job in real-time
* Managers can view field personnel location from their handsets
* Get alerts for speeding violations, stops, geofence entry/exit, or other parameters you define
In other words, you can stalk your own employees if you like.
If you don’t happen to share the cell service provider of your potential victim, you should not lose heart:
[A]s GPS phones proliferated, tech companies found other uses for the tracking data. Software called MobileSpy can “silently record text messages, GPS locations and call details” on iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android phones, according to the program’s maker, Retina-X Studios LLC. For $99.97 a year, a person can load MobileSpy onto someone’s cellphone and track that phone’s location.
Craig Thompson, Retina-X’s operations director, says the software is meant to allow parents to track their kids and companies to keep tabs on phones their employees use. He says the company has sold 60,000 copies of MobileSpy. The company sometimes gets calls from people who complain they are being improperly tracked, he says, but it hasn’t been able to verify any of the complaints.
The article also reports that domestic violence shelters, receiving complaints from clients that they don’t understand how their abuser seems to know their whereabouts at all times, now routinely dismantle cell phones. The WSJ article goes on to show that GPS tracking was implicated in two recent tragedes where fathers killed their children and themselves after discovering the family’s location via the mother’s cell phone.
Facebook/Twitter in the courtroom
A fellow family law attorney with whom I served on a Section committee for many years reported that an opposing party was shown up in an embarrassing manner when her son’s Facebook entries demonstrated that mom had dragged him into the merits of the pending dissolution, forcing him to review case documents. He’s not the only one. Last year Time magazine published an article warning divorce litigants about washing their dirty laundry on Facebook. Even the ABA has weighed in, claiming that Facebook is the “unrivaled leader” in online divorce evidence, citing as one example a man whose photograph, showing him with a joint between his lips and a beer in each hand, was posted after he had assured the judge in his child custody matter that he had reformed.
Keystroke-loggers, cell phone jammers, email encryption
Many of you are familiar with Martin Dean, aka “Mr. Smarty” who created and went a long way towards filling a niche, keeping attorneys up-to-date on technological developments that may affect their practices and their clients’ interests. We cannot afford to ignore the potential danger to our clients’ safety, privacy, and our own reputations posed by underestimating the impact that internet and other modern technological developments have in the modern world. How many of us would think of warning a client not to read his wife’s email because of the danger of a domestic violence accusation? Marriage of Nadkarni (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 1483, 93 Cal.Rptr.3d 723. Jamming cell phone reception may be illegal, but a simple internet search turns up dozens of vendors. Should we be adding cell phone tracking, keyboard-logging, or phone jamming under “other” when requesting injunctive orders?
Old dogs, new tricks, maybe, but you owe it to your clients to ensure that someone–a tech savvy associate, your IT guy or gal, an outside consultant–keeps you up to speed with technological developments.
 This is my third attempt to write this blog from the new iPad WordPress app. The ACFLS blog and website are constructed using WordPress, so I was excited to download the app. Last week my first attempt to blog from Finney was scuttled when WordPress asked for a setting change for the site. Webmaster Bonnie Riley (by day she is a lawyer editing family law producers at CEB) tweaked the settings. Today I had no difficulty logging on from Finney the iPad (Note to Apple– women associate the name with a personal feminine hygiene product, not a legal pad. I cringe when I say or write IPad. Finney was my childhood neighborhood library).
So I wrote a detailed blog and tapped “save.” the post vanished and couldn’t be recovered. So I began again. Now “save” works just fine. In fact, I began this post from my family room and I am finishing it in a booth in Dos Arbolitos, while waiting for my huevos rancheros.
So where was I? Oh yeah, i am writing this on the onscreen keyboard. For long projects the external keyboard is better, but I have to have a stable surface or the iPad wobbles and looses it’s seating on the USB mount. Usually it is more convenient to just use the touchscreen. I do find that I do not use all of my fingers when typing. Even with the click sounds activated, I am looking at the keyboard since it is on the same screen as my text. I still hit the m or n instead of the spacebar too often.
I have now learned how to move documents back and forth between Finney and my computer via iTunes, mounting Finney wirelessly as another drive using the Airshare app, posting documents via MobileMe to my iDisk, or using the Goodreader app. Pages on the iPad doesn’t recognize the Word docs, so I may find myself using Google docs. From what I have read, use of a newer version of the Pages program on my laptop may be the answer.
I prefer Finney to paper, Kindle or the laptop screen for reading documents. Today I’ll be reading the Elkins Family Law Task Force report in PDF. There are apps that let you annotate a PDF.
One really, really disappointing feature is cut/paste/copy. One can’t mark a start and stop place. Either one applies the function to a single word, or to the entire document. There isn’t even the option of cutting/pasting/copying by sentence or paragraph.
In my last post, I said one can watch TV at Hulu.co, but Hulu uses Flash video rather than HTML5, and iPads do not run Adobe’s Flash. Apple says Flash uses too much battery life. The techie websites indicate that there are conversion options on the horizon. The most annoying Flash issue arose when I subscribed to the e-edition of the L.A. Times. The Times failed to disclose that this is a Flash based service that cannot be read on the iPad. My email complaining and canceling has not been answered. On the other hand, KCET (the local PBS station) announced that one can watch it’s shows on the iPad.
Mac Mail and Calendar are enhanced and beautiful on the iPad — searchable versions of a paper Daytimer-like book. They sync in the background via MobileMe. I’ve read that Google Calendar is another good alternative.
So I do my morning email on Finney and read the online newspapers. I’m particularly enjoying some news aggregators — Fluent News and SkyGrid. I also really like Instapaper, which lets one save articles for off line reading. I carry Finney with me for reading, calendar, and notetaking. It is instant on, instant off. No booting up a computer or waiting for a program to load. The battery life is astonishing. I think I’d be comfortable using it on a motion hearing with the key docs in PDF form (unusually bring the laptop to hearings as we scan all pleadings and I prefer not to wrangle multiple Bindertek volumes for most things.
Finney doesn’t replace my computer (I work on a MacBook Pro). Finney doesn’t replace my iPhone. But Finney does many things better than either and is carving out a new role for itself in my workday and recreational life.
Some of you sent emails after my last iPad blog. Please consider posting a comment instead by clicking on “Comment” below.
So now that I have composed this post on Finney, I find that WordPress gives me no clue how to upload it. If you see the blog, you’ll know that I figured it out.
P.S. I forgot to say that I solved the instant messaging issue. I turned notifications on for AIM in settings, and then set my preferences in AIM not to log out for 24 hours. Now when I’m using Finney, any instant messages pop up and give me the option to view them and respond. My new MacBook Pro with the current version of iWork arrived today. When I finish getting several more tasks done, I’m going to migrate from the 2006 MacBook Pro to the brand new 2010 MacBook Pro. My CrashPlan harddrive also arrived today. As soon as the new MacBook is working smoothly, I’ll be backing it up to CrashPlan’s hard drive, shipping it back to them and then updating via the cloud whenever I am on line.
 Here are my thoughts about the iPad after a week of using it. My keyboard dock arrived today, and makes typing much easier. I am writing this on my lap using the keyboard dock. The screen keyboard is much easier to use than contemplated, but I have a bad tendency to hit the m and n instead of the spacebar. That doesn’t happen with the dock, and the dock works more conventionally. One cool thing about the screen keyboard, though, is that it changes configuration to match the task at hand. I did most email on it for almost a week until the keyboard dock arrived today.
What is it? It isn’t a computer running the Mac OSX or Windows. It isn’t a big iPhone or iPod Touch. It isn’t an e-Reader like a Kindle, Nook or Sony Reader. However, it does many of the functions that each of those devices do, in a new and incredibly easy fashion.
It won’t replace your laptop, but you can tote it easily in many settings where you don’t need the full computer. In Court, I am now able to take notes: access my calendar, emall and address book: read any file documents I’ve downloaded to the iPad; do legal research; access the web; read anything on my Kindle or the iBooks app; read newspapers and magazines; play client ed videos or do online CLE, etc.
I’m likely to bring the iPad to CLE programs and to meetings where I plan to take notes. I’m likely to do some writing on the iPad, but not major briefs or legal documents.
One major frustration is the absence of multi-tasking. I can only use instant messaging for example, when all other apps are closed. That means I don’t know if someone is trying to IM me. This will be solved in the Fall with the upgrade to the iPhone OS (they will update the iPhones in the summer and the iPads in the fall, per Apple’s announcement).
The absence of a visible file/folder system is confusing. Applications simply recognize and list documents that can be read by that application. The new OS will also let you see some sort of file folder structure.
When the iPad comes out of the box, one must connect it via USB to a Mac or PC with iTunes. I had not updated my MacBook Pro to OSX version 10.5, so I had to do that first. I was already having difficulties resulting from lack of space on my MacBook Pro, so this was a full day enterprise, culminating in a trip to the Genius Bar in the nearby Apple store when the updated iTunes didn’t recognize the device. While I was there, the genius fixed a malfunction of my Mac Mail program, but failed to back up my preferences. So I had to manually set up all of those preferences over the next few days. Rumor has it that the new MacBook Pro’s hit the stores this week. I’ve been waiting to upgrade for the new intel chips, so I’ll be on the new computer soon.
But I have been enchanted by the iPad since the Genius got it up and running. It makes my MacBook seem cumbersome — large and slow. There is no boot time on an iPad. It is instant on, instantly working. Similarly, it takes no time to start up an application or open a file. Applications close instantly with whatever document or activity you were engaged in saved. Websites open at the speed of light.
I have the 64 gig version with wifi. I did not buy the 3G model because I intend to use the Mifi cellular hotspot device which lets me have five devices (my iPhone, my iPad, my MacBook Pro and two friends) on line at the same time. The first one Sprint shipped was defective, but the new one is here and ready for me to configure.
The screen is large, and clearer than any computer display I’ve ever seen. Television and movies are unreal on this device (you can get them thru the Netflix app, the ABC app, Hulu.com and the iTunes store). I’ve just tested the free TV at ABC and it is quite amazingly pleasurable to watch on this device.
How will I use it? Reading, websurfing, taking notes, writing short pieces, watching video, playing games, etc. It is seductively small, light, and accessible. Have I said clearly enough that everything is INSTANT! No waiting for things to open or close or download.
Email is actually easier on this device, but not for storage since you can’t set up dedicated mailboxes or save emails to client folders on a computer hard drive. All of that gets done on my computer, but I can read and respond on the fly with copies going to the computer for filing.
You can’t print directly from an iPad. You can move files to it via usb using iTunes, but you can’t use a flash drive or a physically connected external drive. Moving files is basically done through the cloud.
Apple’s Pages app theoretically recognizes word .doc files, but in practice has not located the .doc files that I have downloaded to this device via Apple’s cloud application — iDisk. I haven’t configured the Air-sharing app on the Mac yet — but that application which treats an iPad or an iPhone as if it was another drive on the computer may solve the problem. Apple touts iWorks, which includes a website for sharing, storing and collaborating on Pages documents. But I have an old version of iWorks on the MacBook, and am not going to upgrade there since I plan to get the new MacBook ASAP.
The QuickOffice App that imitates Microsoft products on the iPhone just crashes on the iPad. People are having good success with Google docs and various applications that work with that platform. I haven’t set up Google docs.
I can open and read .doc and .pdf files that I have moved to the iPad via iDisk using the GoodReader app. The iPad opens all document, spreadsheet and pdf attachments to email and lets me read them, but there appears to be no way to save them or edit them.
There is no way to add fonts to the iPad — one is stuck with the bundled font set.
There are a number of well-reviewed applications that let the iPad serve as a remote terminal for your PC or Mac. This seems to be the way to go if you need to access files or functions on the road.
When you set up the iPad, iTunes syncs your iPhone apps to your iPad and there is no extra charge for running them on the iPad. Some prove unnecessary because things just work better in Safari on this device — I took off the dedicated Huffington Post and Facebook apps, for example. Those sites are beautiful in Safari and don’t need the abbreviated apps. Other apps have improved iPad versions, so I deleted the iPhone clunky version and downloaded the dedicated iPad app.
All of my dedicated law iPhone apps, including the various versions of the California Codes and Rules of Court, work beautifully on this device. Fastcase lets me access every case and statute in the country. I haven’t tried Westlaw yet in Safari, but I don’t anticipate any difficulties. My apps that count court days and deadlines work beautifully. LawBox connects to various family law blogs — one can set it for the subscriptions one wants. There are a number of web-based judicial council forms sites that may be functional in a pinch.
This is my fifth e-reading device. I began with the RCA Rocket with its dialup modem. I still have a Sony Reader full of books. I’m on my second Kindle (a Kindle 2) and I also use the Kindle App on my iphone. But I’ve not used the Kindle more than once since the iPad arrived. Books on the Kindle app are more beautiful, display more content (meaning fewer page turns) and have color illustrations. The hyperlinks are fast and effective. The IBook app is also absolutely beautiful.
I haven’t found that the backlighting is causing any eyestrain. I like reading it in bed with the lights off. I love the color pictures and the hyperlinks. I still need my New Yorker subscription on the Kindle because the digital New Yorker is not user-friendly – one must keep zooming in and out. But I hear they are working on a tablet version. I plan to cancel my Kindle LA Times and NY Times subscriptions as I have been reading them on the iPad all week in their web incarnations.
So this device already seems indispensable because of size, speed and versatility. I lug my MacBook around to lots of places where the iPad will work well. Having an iPad in my purse instead of a Kindle gives me much more functionality. I can do most of the same things on the iPhone — but not all. And the iPhone now seems so small, cramped, awkward and slow.
Next step: I plan to add Timeslips remote to my Timeslips program (running in Windows XP under Parallels on the MacBook Pro) and then download iSlips to the Kindle so that I can bill the work I do on this device. I’m also thinking of downloading the WordPress app for blogging rather than pasting this text into WordPress at our blog site.
It happens more often than you might think. A potential client approaches me about taking over/making changes to/creating his or her website. When I ask where it is hosted or who the domain registrar is, I’m confronted with the deer-in-the-headlights look, and the client tells me the former webmaster, who has stopped returning calls and emails, has that information. Here’s a useful article by a colleague in Arizona about how to avoid getting into this situation: When your webmaster takes a leave of absence, permanently.
In addition to what Kelley says, I would add that you need to tickle your credit card’s expiration date if you have set either your domain name registration or your web hosting to autorenew using that card.
We had a question on the Listserv yesterday regarding the date on which the California Supreme Court granted review in Marriage of Bonds. I decided to post the answer to this in more detail.
Information on all Court of Appeal and Supreme Court cases is available on the Court’s website. You don’t even need a case number; you can search by a litigant’s name. First, go to http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/. On the left side of the screen, you will see a list of links. The bottom link is “Appellate case information.”Clicking on that link takes you to the case information screen. There, you can select either Supreme Court cases or one of the Appellate Court districts, and if you don’t know the district, you can find it by the county that heard the case. Then, if you click on the “search” button below the court list, you will go to the next search page.
On the search page, you can search by Court of Appeal or Trial Court case number, by party, by attorney or by case caption. If you only know one party’s name, you can search by name and a list of possible cases matching the name will come up, so you can choose the correct one. When you select the case, you will reach the screen with the case information. There, you can find links to the case summary, the case docket, briefs, parties and attorneys, the disposition at the appellate level and the lower court information.
If you like, you can also supply your email address and you will be notified about various types of information regarding the case. There is a button at the bottom of each results page where you can request automatic email notification about the case.
I use appellate case information for various purposes. For our listserv poster, it would provide the date on which review was granted in Marriage of Bonds. When ACFLS files an amicus brief or depub request letter, it tells us that the letter or brief has been received and filed. It can let you know whether a new case you are citing is final or not (if review has been granted), who the attorneys are on a particular case so you can contact them for further information, and even give you access to briefing. I have my internet browser set to courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions as my home page so that every morning I can scan the just-published cases to see if there is anything of interest; that is how I find out about the hot-off-the-press opinions that I share on the listserv. There is also a link to unpublished cases where you can read all appellate court opinions for every case issued in the past 60 days.
The courtinfo site is your friend. Use it to keep up to date on new cases and find out details on older cases. -Dawn
 As a one-person law office, I could not do what I do without law office technology. I am also addicted to gadgets. Since I get so many questions about the hardware and other resources I use, I thought I would share some of my favorites and gripes in an occasional blog post.
My current absolute favorite, in the why-didn’t-I-do-this-years-ago category, are my multiple monitors. Instead of the usual one computer/one monitor, I have a three-panel display in front of me. I usually keep my email client (Microsoft Outlook) open in one monitor, whatever I am working on in another and my internet browser open in the third, usually with a research program on one tab. I can easily cut and paste from Westlaw or other document into whatever document I am working on without having to close and re-open windows in a single monitor. It is an incredible time saver. It also makes me feel geekily cool, like I am in the Control Center of Cheyenne Mountain or something.
Hardware-wise, I have three Dell 22″ flat panel monitors (not widescreen), models 220FP. Each comes with four additional USB ports so I have plenty available for other peripherals like backup drives and my ScanSnap scanner (which will be the subject of a later blog, I’m sure). I have a dual-monitor video card in my Dell Desktop computer, so I use a Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition splitter than connects all three monitors to the digital monitor input on the video card. The software that came with it stretches my Windows desktop across the three monitors and allows me to customize the settings for how the windows appear on the displays.
Not only am I much more productive with the new setup, but I don’t miss an urgent email — or a Facebook post. Now when I am working on my laptop I miss the other two monitors. If you still have a single monitor on your office computer, consider at least adding a second one and see if it doesn’t open up your workspace!
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