Like Nolo Press, the Desktop Lawyer allows people to handle or learn about divorce, landlord-tenant issues, and trusts and estates. An American edition of Desktop Lawyer may be rolled out soon, says Grahame Cohen, chief executive officer of Epoch Software in London, which established the company. Only two of the thirty sessions touched on this new way of providing legal services, and both times with fear. This is a shame. Any technology provides an opportunity.
Lawyers can become a part of the process, or stand like deer in the headlights.
At this conference, the deer were out in abundance. Of course, there were high points. It's still a delight to frustrate the equipment on the exhibit floor, where the software can be confused by background noise. But three attorneys are actually using voice recognition in their practice, emphasizing the importance of a good microphone, and in completing the stupid exercises to train the machine to your voice. Bruce L. Dorner, of Dorner Law Offices in Londonderry, New Hampshire, Wells Anderson, of Wells Anderson Legal Tech Services in Minneapolis, and Richard Georges, a sole practitioner in St. Petersburg, Florida, excited the crowd about the possibilities, in time- saving and efficiency, presented by voice recognition.