What's coming in 2007?

While many of us are trying to think of resolutions for the new year (yes joining a gym and working out is still a noble goal), it is a good time to make some predictions for 2007. My predictions for 2006 were about 50/50, so I am going to make 2 predictions this year, double down so to speak, and hope for best.

This will be the year of EDD:

Perhaps it is a given with the rule changes going into effect, but I believe that this year will see significant interest in EDD on both the legal side and the corporate side. I have seen very little interest from each as to the significance of the problem. I believe that primary barrier to more EDD is a result of hesitant trial lawyers who are still a little weary at the idea of diving into EDD issues. I believe that once the trial lawyers see the benefits of EDD and the inescapable benefits and necessity of same, we will see the flood gates open. Since it is usually corporations and defendants who hold the majority of ESI, defendants still seems very comfortable just tabling the issue also.

RSS is in, keeping your head in the sand is out:

I have found that the aspect of legal tech that turns off most legal professionals is the shear volume of information that is out there. The information is constantly evolving and changing. It seems that you either need to dedicate at least a couple of hours every day or week to ongoing issues, products and developments; or you might as well just stay out altogether. I suppose it is the same with many dynamic areas of interest, i.e. sports or politics, where the topics of interest are constantly changing. If you don't know what's going on, you may feel that your time is better spent in other areas. Well, RSS feeds, which have been around for years, have now become common place and hold the answer for the age long problem of finding more hours in the day. RSS feeds allow you to quickly keep up to date on what is going on in legal tech websites, blogs, etc. Additionally, Microsoft's inclusion of an RSS reader in Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), makes the process even easier. For more information on RSS feeds in the legal profession, click here.