This discusses survey results from food and agriculture lawyers regarding technology choices. Presentation used for Technology Roundtable at the 2013 American Agriculture Law Association Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin.

1. Survey of Technology Used in the
Food and Agriculture Law Office
American Agriculture Law Association
Technology Roundtable
November 2, 2013
By Cari B. Rincker, Esq.

2. Who I Am
• Food and agriculture lawyer
based in New York City
• Grew up on a beef cattle farm
in Central Illinois
• Solo practitioner
• Client range from small to
mid-size agribusiness,
farmers, and start-up food
entrepreneurs
• Chair of the American Bar
Association, General Practice
Agriculture Law Committee

3. Survey to Food & Agriculture Lawyers
• 3 day survey from
October 3-5, 2013
– Advertised on the AALA
Listserve, ABA GP Solo
Agriculture Law
Committee Listserve &
Social Media
• 35 Responses

4. How Many Lawyers Are In Your Office?
Number of Lawyers
Solo
2 to 4
5 to 10
11 to 25
26 to 75
76 plus

5. Do You Use a Mac or PC?
Mc
PC
Both

6. How Many Computers Per Attorney?
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
3 plus
2 computers
1 computer

7. Do You Have a Virtual or Physical Brick and Mortar Office?
0
5
10
15
20
25
Virtual Physical Hybrid Other

8. What kind of billing program(s) do you use?
(You may select more than one)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

9. What Email Program Do You Use?
0
5
10
15
20
25
Outlook iMail Other

10. What Techniques Have You Used to
Manage Email?
• I use folders and sort by client and
matter.
• Electronic filing to customer files
• Flagging, saving to file
• Delay send/receive function.
– Only check it 4 times a day
• Maintain an inbox by client
• E-mail is like telephone calls.
Done each day.

11. What Techniques Have You Used to
Manage Email?
• 1 hour block of time each AM.
• Sub folders in inbox, batch saving
emails as PDF
• I use filters to sort e-mail.
• Archiving
• Folders
• File emails in subject matter
folders
• Creating rules in Outlook;
separate email for news

12. What Techniques Have You Used to
Manage Email?
• Prayer

13. What method(s) do you use for calendaring deadlines and
task lists? (May choose more than 1 answer)
0
5
10
15
20
25
Outlook Time
Matters
Amicus
Attorney
PC Law Practice
Master
iCal Things Other
Other responses: Mostly Google calendar or
Paper calendar

14. Which of the Following Forms of
Administrative Help Do You Use?
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Virtual Legal
Assistant
Legal Assistant at
Office
Both Neither

15. What Kind of Phone Service Do You Use?
Answer Number of Responses Response Ratio
I answer my own phone! 23 63.8%
Live in-office receptionist 14 38.8%
Phone answering services
(e.g., Ruby Receptionist)
1 2.7%
Google Voice 2 5.5%
Receptionist in Office Suite 3 8.3%
Other 3 8.3%

16. How often do you use Skype or other video
conferencing techniques with clients?
• 68.5% - Rarely, if ever
• 20.0% - A few times a year
• 5.7% - A few times a week
• 2.8%- A few times a month
• 0.00% - Everyday

17. Which of the Following Conference
Call Systems Do You Use?
GoTo Meeting
ATConference
Free Conference Call
Skype
Google Meeting
Other

18. What are Your Most Regularly Used
Applications on Your Smartphone?
• Emails
• Text Messages
• Social Media applications
– Facebook
– Twitter
– LinkedIn
• Westlaw Next
• Google Maps
• Casemaker

19. What program do you most frequently
use for word processing?
Microsoft Word
Word Perfect
Pages
Other

20. Which of the Following Best Describes
Your Use of a Scanner?
0
5
10
15
20
25
Never use it Only scan a few
select
documents
I use it as much
as possible
Other

21. Which of the Following Payments
Methods Does Your Firm Accept?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Looks like a few attorneys take baked goods,
Fruits/Vegetables, chickens or other bartering

22. How Do You Most Frequently Bill Clients?
Via Email
Mail hard copy
Other

23. What Type of Contact Management
System Do You Use?
0
5
10
15
20
25

24. If You Use an Email Marketing
Program, Which Do You Prefer?
• Very limited responses
– Constant Contact (1)
– Mail Chimp (3)
– Aweber (1)

25. If You Use an Email Marketing Program, How
Often Do You Send Updates?
• Few responses
– A few times a year (6)
– Once a week (2)
– Once a month (1)
• Comments
– “As issues arise, usually 6 times per month on
average”
– “Typically through seminars to trade group who is
a client of the firm”

26. Which of the Following Back-Up Cloud
Devices Do You Use?
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Mozy Carbonite Dropbox External
harddrive
only
Other

27. What Type of Hand-Held Tablet Do You
Regularly Use?
• Few responses
– iPad (12)
– Android (4)
– Kindle (1)

28. How Do You Use a Hand-Held Tablet in
Your Law Practice?
• “Presentations, spreadsheets, mobile computing”
• “Email, preparing documents, attending meetings”
• “Email communication, research tools, meeting notes”
• “Trial, work at home”
• “Document review while traveling”
• “Email, task list, review documents”
• “Email, research, reading documents”
• “Mostly to read news/blogs”
• “I use my phone on house calls with no WiFi”

29. If You Remote Into Your Work
Computer, Which Program Do You Use?
• VPN (8)
• GoToMyPC (2)
• TeamViewer (1)
• LogMeIn (1)
• Other (4)
– Citrix
– VM Ware View
– Microsoft Web

30. What Program Do You Use For
Postage?
Stamps.com
I use a machine
I use stamps
I was the lone survey taker who answered
Stamps.com. No responses for Dymo or
USPO ClicknShip

31. If You Have a Blog, What Platform Do
You Use?
• Not many bloggers took
the survey
– Wordpress (7)
– Typepad (2)
– Blogger (0)
– Tumblr (0)

32. Which of the Following Describes Your
Use of Facebook?
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
I don't use FB
I have a personal page & business page-
promote business on both
I have a personal page & business page-
only promote business on business page
I have a personal page for family and
friends only

33. Which of the Following Social Media
Platforms Do You Regularly Use?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30

34. What Have You Done to Help Build Search Engine
Optimization for Your Food & Agriculture Law Practice?
• A few people hired
outside consultants
• A few responses about
blogs and backlinks
• Lawyers.com
• One survey taker thinks
SEO is a scam

35. What Are Your Biggest Challenges with Technology
While Running Food/Ag Law Practice?
• Availability of wifi & cellular service in rural community
• Learning so many new programs
• Staying informed of all the tools available!
• Understanding what our IT folks are saying
• An old dog constantly trying to learn new tricks
• Choosing wisely
• Hardware failure & broadband failure
• Keeping website up-to-date
• Nothing stands out as a big challenge.
• Getting boss who has practiced 40 years to update

36. What Are Your Biggest Challenges with Technology
While Running Food/Ag Law Practice?
• Document management, online research
• Keeping up with advances
• Content content content
• Cost and maintenance
• Case management system.. getting it up and running
• Costs! I'm new: overhead must be minimal!
• Client's lack of access to reliable Internet
• Client information security Email management; doc
management

37. Please Stay in Touch
• Send Me Snail Mail: 535 Fifth Avenue, 4th
Floor, New York, NY 10017
• Call Me: (212) 427-2049 (office)
• Email Me: cari@rinckerlaw.com
• Visit My Website: www.rinckerlaw.com
• Read My Food & Ag Law Blog: www.rinckerlaw.com/blog
• Tweet Me: @CariRincker @RinckerLaw
• Facebook Me: www.facebook.com/rinckerlaw
• Link to Me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/caririncker
• Skype Me: Cari.Rincker

38. Oh, P.S. – I Just Wrote a Book
Cari B. Rincker & Patrick B.
Dillon, “Field Manual: Legal
Guide for New York Farmers
& Food Entrepreneurs”
(2013)
Available at
http://www.amazon.com/Fi
eld-Manual-Legal-Farmers-
Entrepreneurs/dp/1484965
191
…and that’s marketing.