Should Lawyers Use Online Apps? An Introduction

We’re in for a treat today. For the last few weeks, two very smart guys have been working on a debate that’s constantly generating controversy on attorney message boards, on email lists, at CLE seminars, and at cocktail party conversations. It might even be a topic of internal debate with many TIS readers, looking to open a solo practice on but spend as little cash as possible. And today, The Inspired Solo is proud to present the outcome of that work – an exclusive series you won’t find anywhere else.

Our Question For Debate

The debate topic:

Lawyers should use online applications such as Google’s suite of office products (Google Documents, Google Calendar, etc.), Basecamp, or the like: yes or no?

Meet The TIS Debate Team

W. Paul Slough is a brand new solo practitioner and power user when it comes to computers and online applications (apps for short). When he’s not working on opening up his new solo practice, he’s busy blogging about law office technology at his “Linux Law Office” blog. Paul’s taking the “pro” side of our debate.

Aaron Rittmaster says he’s an “attorney by vocation, computer geek by avocation.” Licensed in Missouri, Aaron definitely knows his stuff: he’s also the IT guy for his wife Miriam’s solo practice. And he’s taking the “con” side.

How The Debate Team Got Started

As with many brilliant ideas, it began with an email posted to Solosez, the ABA-sponsored listserv for solo practitioners. Actually, not just one email, but several, get posted to the list regularly regarding law office technology and online apps versus traditional offline programs; it’s a common theme on the list.

As I read the back-and-forth comments of various participants, it occurred to me that new solos and even those who’ve been out for awhile but are interested in exploring additions or changes to their tech setups would benefit from an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of online apps. This blog seemed the ideal place for such an exploration. Just one problem: who would write it? While I often write about technology, I am decidedly not a tech writer – that’s a special skill, and I needed a writer who had legal experience and the requisite tech writing abilities to communicate the pros and cons to an audience with highly diverse backgrounds and levels of familiarity with these technological concepts.

That’s when it hit me – maybe I didn’t need a writer. Maybe I needed two. So I sent out a request to the list myself for two people willing to write either the pro or the con side to the question. I wanted these two to work together, exchanging their article drafts so the other would have a chance to respond more fully. Aaron and Paul accepted the offer, and right away I could tell that they were definitely up for the challenge. Each had an easy, concise writing style that I knew would be right at home here at TIS.

And so Aaron and Paul got to work.

Some Background on Online Apps

The first order of business, once Aaron and Paul had graciously agreed to help my readers explore this issue in depth, was to come up with a definition of “online app” – what, exactly, were we talking about? Were we all talking about the same kinds of applications?

You might think, “C’mon, easy. Online apps. Google Docs! You know – apps you use online!” OK, maybe that was just me. I confess, I didn’t realize the issue was so nuanced! A series of emails between Paul and Aaron, which they graciously copied to the less educated member of the debate team (that would be me), set me straight in a hurry.

It actually started with a comment sent to me by yet a fourth Solosezzer:

I was wondering if you could have your debaters comment on the option of self-hosting a web-based app on a LAN [ed. note: Local Area Network - see this article at Wikipedia for more info], where the LAN is not accessible over the internet. Would that be more secure? I’ve always wondered.

Excellent question. I forwarded the email to Paul and Aaron, and Paul responded:

I’m glad [the email writer] brought this up – it was something I planned on discussing and I wanted to make sure we are all defining a “web-based application” the same way. You can really draw some fine distinctions here (for example, a web-browser based application running on a single computer and not attached in any way to the internet or a network). My definition of a web based application is just that: any application that is used through the web-browser. I’m not going to focus on how many computers are attached or whether its on an intranet or the internet; I’ll touch on the differences but for the most part I’m going to focus on the broader benefits and security concerns, regardless of setup. Let me know if this definition works.

I wrote back, “Yes, I think that’s what most people have in mind when they think of online apps.” Cool, I thought. That was easy.

Not so fast, Aaron replied:

I’d take exception to that definition – largely because that’s not the way that “IBS” (Internet Business Service) products are marketed. An IBS is generally defined as a service offered by an “ASP” (Application Service Provider). The interface seems to me to be almost irrelevant – heck, half of of the Microsoft Money interface (if not more) isn’t much more than a packaged XML browser. What is key is the method of delivery. My objection (and the reason I’m interested in writing the con side) to ASPs have to do primarily with two broad areas:

1. Data ownership and security
2. Reliability (often due to WAN issues)

By contrast, I’m a big fan of client-server model computing within the LAN. That covers both of my major categories of objection. But just being client-server doesn’t make a software package an ASP. Far from it. Client-server programs on the LAN are often the best alternative to a WAN-based ASP.

“I definitely have the right two writers,” I wrote back, and left them to it.

Flash forward a few weeks, and we have the finished products. You can find Paul’s “Pro” piece here, and Aaron’s “Con” piece here.

It’s my hope that this format helps lawyers understand both the advantages and disadvantages of online apps by exploring the question in a format they’re familiar with, but I hope too that this isn’t the end of the debate. Aaron, Paul and I would all love to hear your comments, so drop us one, in the Comments section under either of the three posts.

And if you’ve got a topic that’s just begging for the TIS Debate Team treatment, drop me a line at theinspiredsolo at gmail dot com, or click here and fill out the contact form! But be prepared for me to ask you if you want to participate on the team …