Significant Investment in New and Improved Technology for the Legal Tech Institute

The Harris County Law Library is excited to announce a significant investment in new and improved technology — a 70 inch, wall-mounted digital monitor — for our Legal Tech Lab, the home of the Law Library’s Legal Tech Institute Hands-On Legal Tech Training program.

The Lab is fully integrated into the Law Library's research space and provides the perfect setting for participants to learn the tech skills they need to get legal work done at the Law Library and downtown courthouse complex. With seating for nine, the Lab also provides opportunity for participants and instructors to interact closely, ensuring individualized attention. Now, with last week’s installation of an impressive and much improved display screen, the Legal Tech Lab is even better equipped to offer legal tech training to attorneys, self-represented litigants, and members of the general public.

Consult our 2019 Course Catalog to find out which classes might interest you. Then, register online for the course of your choice, or drop in any Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm at the Harris County Law Library Legal Tech Lab. Texas attorneys will earn one free hour of CLE credit for each hour of class attended.

Harris County Law Library on The Geek in Review Podcast

Harris County Law Library Deputy Director, Joe Lawson, recently appeared on The Geek in Review podcast to talk with hosts Greg Lambert and Marlene Gebauer about the kinds of services and resources the library provides on a daily basis to the residents of Harris County, most of whom are self-represented litigants.

As discussed in the podcast, “Lawson believes that there is a duty of the law library to help train lawyers, not to just be more efficient in their personal practices, but to help them have more capacity to help assist pro se litigants. Lawson’s calculation is that a 3% increase in capacity, through advancements in technology usage, could help eliminate a majority of the pro se issues in the county.”

Tune in to hear Joe share his thoughts on how the Harris County Law Library and our Hand-On Legal Tech programs in particular can help train lawyers to assist the burgeoning number of pro se litigants who are filing suit in this, the third largest county in the United States. .

How to Practice Artisanal Law on National Let's Laugh Day 2019

Today is National Let’s Laugh Day, 24 hours dedicated to jokes, laughter, and all things funny. In honor of this silly day, which happens to fall on Tech Tuesday, we at the Harris County Law Library are turning our attention to legal humor with a tech focus. Instead of highlighting a new development or trend in technology, however, we’re calling for a moratorium on tech (just for today) with a reminder to remember a simpler time when artistry, craft, community, and tradition still mattered. Reclaim this heritage, slow your pace, and embrace your inner Luddite. Claim your title as an “artisanal lawyer” as the authors of the following articles have done.

• How to Practice Artisanal Law (Big Legal Brain)

• I Am an Artisanal Attorney (McSweeney’s)

• In Which the Artisanal Lawyer Dismisses Google (BitterLawyer)

For further laughs, try the following, two analyses of laughter at the United States Supreme Court.

• Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court (Tonja Jacobi, Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law & Matthew Sag, Loyola University Chicago’s School of Law) (2019)

• Laugh Track (Jay D. Wexler, Boston University School of Law) (2005)

Happy National Let’s Laugh Day 2019!

Click for a Laugh!

Texas Supreme Court Requires Attorneys To Know Legal Tech

On February 26, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court took an important step in the advancement of legal ethics in Texas by amending Paragraph 8 of the comment to Rule 1.01 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. The rule, which addresses the duty of all Texas attorneys to be competent and conscientious in providing effective legal representation, now requires that practitioners also be aware of “the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.”

By adopting this amendment, Texas has joined 35 other states who also require a duty of technology competence for lawyers. The significance of this new development cannot be overstated. By order of the Texas Supreme Court, attorneys must become aware of, if not proficient in, using technology to best serve their clients.

If you are a Texas lawyer who needs to brush up on your tech skills and learn more about recent developments in legal tech, the Harris County Law Library can help! Our Legal Tech Institute offers a variety of learning opportunities including our popular Hands-on Legal Tech Training courses every Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm in the Law Library’s Legal Tech Lab. We also provide access to free online CLE courses via our On-Demand Learning Opportunities page.

To find out more about what the Harris County Law Library offers through our Legal Tech Institute, visit the LTI page on our website. With so many free learning opportunities at your disposal, it will be easy (and fun!) to comply with the new Texas Supreme Court requirement.

New CLE Course from the Legal Tech Institute: Digital Legal Research Refresher @ 2:00 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2019

We at the Harris County Law Library recently announced the publication of our Legal Tech Institute 2019 Course Catalog, which includes five new programs on a variety of legal tech topics. The second new class, Digital Legal Research Refresher, will be offered this Thursday at 2:00 pm the Law Library’s Legal Tech Lab. Texas attorneys will earn 1.0 hour free CLE credit for attending.

For details and to register, please visit the Hands-on Legal Tech Training Events page. While you’re there, take a look at additional upcoming programs including the following:

• Fastcase & Casemaker

• Microsoft Excel for Legal Work

• Android for Legal Work

The Harris County Law Library offers Hands-on Legal Tech Training every Thursday at 2:00 pm in the Law Library’s Legal Tech Lab. A number of other learning opportunities are available, including on-demand CLE videos, which can be viewed at any time from the comfort of your home or office.

We hope to see you this Thursday, January 31, 2019, at 2:00 pm for Harris County Law Library Tech!