Practice Technology

Man gets 46 months for email scam that told lawyer to send client’s $250K to 3rd party

An Ohio man was sentenced this month to 46 months in federal prison for sending a spoofed email that tricked an upstate New York real estate attorney into sending $250,000 from a client’s real estate transaction to a third party. Paul Lacey, 56, was also ordered to pay $337,002.64 in…

Feb 24, 2016 2:10 PM CST

US Marshals Service used Stingray cellphone tracking devices nearly 6,000 times

The Baltimore police department is no longer the most prolific known user of Stingray technology, which can track suspects’ cellphones by impersonating cellphone towers. Baltimore police have used Stingrays 4,300 times, according to court testimony, but that’s less than the usage by the U.S. Marshals Service, USA Today reports. The…

Feb 24, 2016 11:37 AM CST

The bad business of ignoring the justice gap

Roughly two-thirds of those eligible for legal aid in Massachusetts (read: people in extreme poverty) are turned away because there aren’t enough legal aid attorneys. Approximately 80 percent of all individuals in civil court represent themselves—in matters that will change their lives in drastic ways. Whether our law schools have…

Feb 18, 2016 8:00 AM CST

Law firm paid $2,500 to get its data back

A Florida law firm was unable to access any of its digital files in December after a hacker broke into its computer system. Technology specialists working on the problem told the Brown Law Firm in Jacksonville it had two choices: Pay the hacker’s ransom demand of $2,500, or lose access…

Feb 16, 2016 2:02 PM CST

Bank worker saves law firm from $73K loss by blocking unauthorized account transfers

An unidentified Michigan law firm got lucky after an overseas criminal tried to steal $73,000 from its account last week. An employee of Traverse City State Bank noticed the suspicious activity taking place Feb. 5 and blocked the 17 wire transfers before they were completed, police told the Traverse City…

Feb 10, 2016 12:55 PM CST

Avvo offers fixed-fee legal services through an attorney network in 18 states

Expanding on a fledgling plan to offer fixed-fee legal services through a network of lawyers, Avvo has announced that it is rolling out the program in 18 states beginning Tuesday. “The beauty here is we get them the customer, we get the cash up front, and they don’t have to…

Feb 9, 2016 4:40 PM CST

An hour spent on security checklist will help block hackers, WSJ tech columnist says

An hour spent on a security checklist developed by a newspaper columnist can significantly enhance the chance of avoiding hack attacks, he contends. Published in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), the checklist by personal technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler guides the reader through software updates, password improvements and browser privacy,…

Feb 3, 2016 4:35 PM CST

Texas police turn into ‘mobile debt collectors’ with license-reader program

A company that makes license-plate readers is offering free use of its equipment to Texas law enforcement agencies in exchange for a 25 percent surcharge on outstanding court fines collected through its database. The deal turns Texas police in to “mobile debt collectors,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation says at its…

Feb 1, 2016 6:15 AM CST

Databases create access to police misconduct cases and offer a handy tool for defense lawyers

Vidya Pappachan, an attorney for the Legal Aid Society in New York City, had little time to prepare for a client's arraignment on a felony drug charge. But she had a tool at her disposal that allowed her to quickly look up information about the arresting officers.

Feb 1, 2016 3:00 AM CST

‘Plastic payments’ have their risks and their rewards

If you are a millennial, there's a good chance you're making payments with the digital wallet Venmo. Techies have a soft spot for bitcoins. And more than 100 million companies accept PayPal, Apple Pay or another electronic form of payment to run their businesses.

Feb 1, 2016 1:40 AM CST

Legal startups seeking seed capital are sprouting

Graphics by Stephen Ravenscraft. This article originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of the ABA Journal with this headline: “Self Service: Legal startups seeking seed capital are sprouting.”

Feb 1, 2016 1:20 AM CST

Richard Susskind Q&A: ‘The competition that kills you ... may not look like you’

In anticipation of author and legal consultant Richard Susskind’s visit to the U.S., he and Paul Lippe discussed the impetus behind Susskind’s new book (co-authored with his son, Daniel), The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts, and the challenges facing law and all…

Jan 28, 2016 8:30 AM CST

Profession at a crossroads: Will lawyers lead, follow or get out of the way?

In October, I wrote about Richard and Daniel Susskind’s new book, The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts. The Susskinds will be visiting the U.S. (Cambridge and New York City) in a few weeks, so I thought it would be worth a little…

Jan 28, 2016 8:30 AM CST

US uses hacker technique to catch child-porn offenders; was search warrant too extensive?

The federal government is using hacker techniques to identify child pornography offenders, raising concerns among privacy advocates. The Washington Post explains how the government used the techniques in its investigation of people using the Playpen child-pornography website. Armed with a warrant, the government seized Playpen and installed malware on computers…

Jan 22, 2016 9:11 AM CST

Axiom expands into Canada by acquiring part of Cognition

Axiom has made a big move into Canada by purchasing the general counsel business of Cognition, one of the largest legal services providers in the Great White North. Cognition, an alternative legal services provider and law firm, represents corporate clients with law departments and small businesses that don’t have internal…

Jan 14, 2016 3:15 PM CST