It’s August and that means three things: it’s very hot here in Texas, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have already lost a football game, and it’s time for my annual “Cool Tech” for in-house counsel blog post. As you can imagine, I am pretty excited about the last one. Not so much the first two. Regardless, this is the seventh year in a row where I will be sharing technology and tech-related ideas that can make life easier for in-house counsel (well, at least better). If you want to check out past editions (and I hope you do), you can find them here:
If you have followed this blog and my posts on LinkedIn, then you already know that I am a big believer in the power of technology to improve the capabilities of the legal department and, more importantly, help show the value generated by the legal team. That said, for my annual Cool Tech edition I generally try to discuss technology that is free (or very low cost) and adds immediate value. So, if you are looking for an evaluation of e-billing systems, matter management systems, document management systems, electronic signatures, and so forth, you’re at the wrong movie. If you do want to read about this type of “big tech’ (and all in-house lawyers should), I suggest the annual LawGeex 2021 contract technology buyer’s guide or Deloitte’s technology in the legal department guide.[1] Packed with great information, they are both free! But, for today’s purposes, we’ll stay small and focused, i.e., technology you can buy and start using today, some of which is free. As usual, I received nothing for recommending this technology to you. I just think in-house lawyers will find the technology useful. I also realized as I was writing this that because I am spending so much time working from home (thanks Delta variant), a lot of my suggestions work especially well for your home office. And with that, let’s dig into Cool Tech for In-House Lawyers 2021 Edition:
Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel® 