I always come away from the Solo & Small Firm Institute with book and software recommendations. This year’s institute did not disappoint. Below are a few of the software and apps discussed at the institute that are definitely worth checking out:
- Office Lens. This free Microsoft app lets you use the camera on your mobile device to take pictures of documents and whiteboards. The images can then be converted to PDF, Word, or PowerPoint files, or saved to OneNote. The app also crops the results and makes the text searchable using OCR.
- How Secure Is My Password? This handy website lets you type in your password and tells you how long it would take a computer to figure it out. For example, apparently a computer would require about two sextillion years to crack the password 10thDoctorDavidTennant. (Apparently the tool, sponsored by Dashlane (see below), was not created by fans of Doctor Who.)
- Dashlane. Dashlane is a password manager app that helps you create “super strong passwords,” keeps track of your passwords, and automatically logs you in. Dashlane also has a secure digital wallet feature to securely store payment types to use when shopping online. Both free and premium ($39.99/year) versions are available.
- Lawcountability. This app was created by Ari Kaplan, a featured presenter at the 2016 SSFI. Lawcountability is a “cloud-based software platform designed to help lawyers network more effectively for their business and professional development.” It is a subscription service that offers online presentations and assigns tasks to help lawyers apply what they learned in the presentation. The tasks have point values to “promote gamification and benchmark performance.” For a solo attorney, Lawcountability is $39/month. There are other plans available with pricing tied to the number of users.