Category Archives: Technology

Should You Be Using Grammarly?

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Do you rely on Microsoft Word’s grammar check to clean up your writing? You may want to make the switch to Grammarly, the online writing assistant.

Grammarly promises to help you write mistake-free in Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other app you use including text messages, your browser, and Microsoft Word. The basic version is free, with premium plans starting at $11.66 per month.

Security and Client Confidentiality

Grammarly data is encrypted and stored in the United States on a private, secure network. As to data access and client confidentiality:

Grammarly has a set of policies and technical controls that prevent employees from accessing customer data that is stored or processed by Grammarly systems. Where appropriate, Grammarly uses private keys and restricts network access to particular employees.

While Grammarly may track anonymized, aggregate statistics by website domain, Grammarly doesn’t collect browsing history from specific users while they browse the web. Information such as web server access logs or IP addresses is collected only for a limited time and only to provide specific services to the user, such as fraud prevention.

How Does Grammarly Work?

To learn how Grammarly works, we turn to Ayesha Siddiqua from Blogging Filter. Ayesha’s post covers all the details, including features, benefits, platforms, and plan specifics.

‘To err is human,‘ and that’s where the need for grammar checker tool emerges. I have curated this review post to let you know all about Grammarly, …

Grammarly Review: Is It the Best Grammar Checker Tool

All Rights Reserved 2020 Beverly Michaelis

Creative Legal Marketing Ideas – Part 4

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Our final installment on marketing during COVID-19 comes courtesy of Nifty Marketing. Review these suggestions and choose three that appeal to you. Set aside times in your calendar to implement each idea. Copy and paste the details or link from the original post to refresh your memory when the appointment day arrives.

Commitment

Committing to a calendar date increases the chance you will actually follow through. This is critical because our first instinct in a crisis is to ignore marketing altogether. Unfortunately this isn’t a realistic long-term strategy. Eventually you will run out of work. Better to jump start the process now of reaching out to potential new clients.

Taking Action

Speaking of taking action – if you haven’t embraced specifics from any prior post this month, then schedule time to do so. Make time on your calendar to skim through the ideas again. Pick three that make sense for your practice and schedule out implementation dates.

Regaining Control

By committing to six marketing ideas – three from today’s post and three from prior posts – you are taking back the future of your practice. Action produces results. It spurs on more action, and we feel better for it.

Today’s Marketing Ideas

  • Figure out ways to give back
  • Serve when possible
  • Learn how to be a storyteller and share via videos
  • Utilize your Google posts feed
  • Localize your Google My Business (GMB) page
  • Update your GMB hours of operation
  • Help other attorneys
  • Create a Facebook ad

Read about the details here. Don’t forget to copy and paste the relevant text (or the link) into your calendar when you create an implementation appointment.

All Rights Reserved 2020 Beverly Michaelis

How COVID-19 Will Change Solo and Mid-Size Law Firms

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A recent report by Clio assessing the impacts of the coronavirus on the legal industry and consumers found that the virus has created a 40 percent drop in the number of new legal matters opened per week. Almost half of the polled consumers said that if they had a legal issue, they would delay seeking legal help until after the virus subsided. Further, 22 percent of consumers indicated they were under the impression that attorneys stopped working altogether because of COVID-19.

From our friends at NW Sidebar.

This post focuses on how COVID-19 is likely to affect small to mid-size law firms. I encourage you to read the full post. Here are some key points of interest:

Life is different and also the same. Clients expect you to cater to their needs. Put yourself in their shoes and you will do well.

All Rights Reserved 2020 Beverly Michaelis

 

Apps to Help Law Firms Reopen

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In our discussion about COVID-19, we’ve reviewed phase one guidelines and specific steps to take in reopening your firm. One of these is whether to screen employees before returning to work. Sounds reasonable, but how exactly should you go about it? Today we take a look.

Thermal Imaging Cameras, Digital Thermometers, and Self Evaluations

Feever

Feever is an artificial intelligence (AI) based, non-contact thermal imaging technology that detects individuals in a crowd with an elevated temperature. Utilizing a thermal imaging camera and the AI based mobile app, Feevr automatically alerts users when a scanned person’s temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold, allowing for immediate intervention. At a price point of $3250 it isn’t cheap and probably better suited to venues that need to easily screen large groups of patrons. Nevertheless, if this solution sounds appealing, do your research. At least one group has severely criticized Feev’rs accuracy.

Feevr PreCheck

Feevr PreCheck is a more economical “sister” product of Feevr, priced at $299.99. The app lets employees take a temperature reading at home – a far more appealing approach for everyone.

With PreCheck employers would give each worker a digital thermometer connected to a smartphone. Readings would be relayed automatically to the firm through the app. Anyone with an elevated temperature would be instructed to stay home.

Everbridge

Everbridge uses a different approach, based in crisis management communication. Their app allows employers to blast messages out to all employees, one of which includes a COVID-19 self-evaluation. Workers are asked if they have symptoms or if they’ve already had the disease and recovered. They can tap the answers into a smartphone, and the employer can use the results to decide who comes into work and who stays at home. Everbridge calls this “IT alerting,” with licenses costing between $32 and $50 per month.

ProtectWell

ProtectWell is a free app developed by Microsoft and UnitedHealth. Like Everbridge, it uses a COVID-19 self evaluation. Here’s how it works:

Employees are invited to download the ProtectWell app.

Before starting work, employees use the symptom screener to answer a few quick questions.

Employees are instantly notified if they are ready to work, need to stay home and manage symptoms or get tested (where available).

To learn more, consider watching the ProtectWell demo (two minutes you won’t regret). Have questions? ProtectWell promises a next business day turnaround on their contact submission page. They also offer free return to work guidelines that are worth checking out. On the contact page, under “How can we help?” select “I would like a free copy of Return to Work Guidelines.”

Six More Apps to Screen Employee Health

Visit the Human Resource Director blog to read about six more apps to screen employee health.

Legalities

You’re the lawyers. If you’re not sure what you can or cannot do, get advice. Oregon’s employment law bloggers have been busy, as a Google search reveals. You can also chat directly with a colleague. (Ask friends for referrals if you don’t already know someone with the right expertise.)  Government websites are also your friend:

What Should I Do Next?

Using a symptom-checker or self evaluation app is a no-brainer. I can’t imagine why firms wouldn’t use ProtectWell at a minimum. Asking employees to self evaluate for a series of symptoms is more accurate than relying exclusively on the presence of fever.

Whatever you do, stay safe.

All Rights Reserved Beverly Michaelis 2020