Back in 2012, the American Bar Association adopted an amendment to the duty of technological competence comment in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (ABA Model Rule 1.1, Comment 8), noting that it is the duty of a lawyer to maintain competence not only in the law and its practice, but also in relevant technology. However, there is no handy toolkit and no definitive checklist of required technological competencies for lawyers. Still, it’s commonly held, with various ethics opinions to back it up, that there are some basic competencies for which attorneys should demonstrate proficiency.

Hardware

Attorneys need to be able to use a computer competently. At the very least, they should be able to access email, conduct research, create documents, back up files, schedule meetings, use tools like email and scanners, and enter billable hours.

Applications

Whether for case management, timekeeping, client communication and document assembly and sharing, legal research, the attorney must demonstrate basic proficiency with applications used in law practice management and the attorney-client relationship.

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Legal Research

Attorneys should be familiar with the firm’s legal information resources like Lexis and Westlaw and other, more specialized resources. The American Association of Law Libraries offers Principles and Standards for Legal Research Competency to support legal professionals in their career-long commitment to good research. Legal research can be complicated so attorneys should turn to their expert legal information professionals and law librarians for support.

Cloud-Based Tools

Searching the Internet requires some knowledge of browsers and search engines in order to navigate the vast range of information and resources. Cloud-based resources enable collaboration between users via chat and conferencing. Attorneys’ facility with social media sites helps them not only track clients, issues, and competitors but also demonstrate thought leadership. Mobile apps and smartphones enable remote work and client contact. Finally, cloud computing, email, and internet research all have vulnerabilities so the attorney should be aware of data security and encryption in order to avoid hacking and data breaches.

Luckily, our readers have access to a vast array of continuing education and training opportunities to support the development of technological competence. The law librarians at your law firm are excellent guides to everything from ethics opinions to available CLEs to your firm’s information resources.