I was in danger of becoming a tech dinosaur!

When I was a much younger lawyer (been doing this 23 years now) I happily embraced technology. I had a computer monitor with multi-colour, not just one colour display. I used a laser printer, instead of dot matrix and I hopped on the CompuServe bandwagon faster than you could say AOL.

Our firm has always embraced computerized research, billing and file management. We recently even added the ability for lawyers and paralegals to dictate on their phones and send the encrypted dictation to the firm.

I was feeling pretty smug about how tech savvy we were. Gloating silently when old school lawyers talked about using typewriters and libraries and then it happened. I almost became a tech dinosaur.

Thankfully our newest associate, Eduji Ofori (who has been doing this 8 years) joined our firm and opened our eyes to more efficient ways of using technology, particularly on the corporate documentation side of the practice. We are now firmly embracing more technology and that is a great thing for everyone.

However, this did make me think: it’s easy to get used to your comfort zone in technology and it’s important not to shut yourself out of possibilities of learning new ways to accomplish tasks. That applies to all businesses, not just law.

This week I once again begin mentoring Ryerson LPP Candidates and I am very much looking forward to not only mentoring them, but learning from them so I never become that close to being a tech dinosaur again. Because let’s face it: there were no amazing, business lawyer dinosaurs with a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marco and I shouldn’t be the first one !

Inga B. Andriessen JD (Juris Doctorate, not Justa Dinosaur)