Author Archives: Maureen

Quarterly Feature Roundup | 2025 Q1

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Welcome to the LINK App Feature Roundup, where you can find information on new, enriching features of the LINK App.

You can learn more about these and other new features by visiting our Feature Roundup page, or by clicking the links to the Quick Tips noted below.

Import a Newly Created Document from a Microsoft Office App

Now you can create a new document in one of the Microsoft Office Apps (like Office M365, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) and import that document to either LINK files or your DMS.

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Check-in a File Shared in a Teams Channel to DMS

There are multiple ways you can check in a file shared in a Teams Channel to your DMS workspace. The simplest way allows you to do so from within the LINK app, saving you from having to open the Teams app separately.

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UI Enhancements for Email

There are multiple improvements to the look of the email UI. The most noticeable differences are a redesign of the address selector (when you are writing an email and selecting email addresses) and a redesign of the attachments overlay that pops up when you are attaching a file to an email.

With the new Attachment Overlay, easily navigate all available file repositories, including iManage, NetDocuments, OneDrive, Emails, Notes, and more. You can add multiple files at once by using the multi-select feature – simply tap the checkboxes next to the files you want to attach. You can also choose the format of each file you attach.

UI Enhancements for DMS

There are a few navigation improvements in our iManage app. First, we have added quick action buttons to send emails or edit a file in iManage. Second, we have added a button at the top-left that allows you to quickly bring up the root of the iManage work area so that you can switch from wherever you are browsing to Recent Docs, My Matters, etc. We’ve also added a list of recent items to the homepage of iManage and recent and favorite items to the homepage of NetDocuments.

Microsoft Outlook Configuration Features

Our LINK Email integrates with Microsoft Exchange and has many beneficial features, including the ability to open NRLs, establish predictive email filing to DMS, and more. Some law firms have opted for a configuration of LINK that instead uses the Microsoft Outlook app for email. In these cases, we implement the “open in hook” to connect the MS Outlook app to the LINK app. The following are common workflows that illustrate this configuration.

Open an NRL in the Microsoft Outlook App

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Email Multiple Files via the Microsoft Outlook App

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Import an Attachment from Email to iManage

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Compare an Attachment to a File in iManage

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The LINK App is designed to make working easier for lawyers. This roundup is just a snapshot of the newest features to improve productivity and user experience. There are even more ways to use LINK to optimize your workflows.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our Resources page, book a demo, or send your questions to [email protected].

Security & Data Protection in LINK: On Achieving SOC 2 Type 1 Compliance 

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As our customers know, security and data protection are core priorities of the LINK App. Designed to handle highly sensitive documents and emails, the LINK App ensures the highest level of data security—whether for high-stakes M&A, litigation, or healthcare matters. 

We are proud to announce that Mobile Helix has successfully achieved SOC 2 Type 1 compliance. This rigorous security framework evaluates an organization’s policies and controls to ensure robust data protection. 

We view earning SOC 2 Type 1 compliance as a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to designing secure products and maintaining strict operational controls to safeguard data confidentiality and privacy. This achievement required the dedication of our entire team, and I am grateful for their hard work.  

As we continue to strengthen our security practices and regulatory compliance, protecting our customers’ data remains our highest priority.  

– Seth Hallem, Co-Founder & CEO, Mobile Helix

2024 US Legal Market Growth Trends

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Each year, I watch for the Thomson Reuters Report on the State of the US Legal Market. No entity has a broader look at the legal market than Thomson Reuters. This report is the best source for data on growth and trends in the US legal market.

Here I focus the report’s data on law firm economic performance and demand data.

Legal market historical demand growth

After the roller coaster since COVID, legal saw two years in a row of growth. In 2024, demand growth was up 2.6%, which is strong. From 2007 to 2023 annual demand growth averaged 0.1%. The 2024 increase is on top of the 0.8% growth in 2023. The strongest year in recent history was 2021 at 3.7%. Of course, the 2021 growth was in part due to the negative demand growth of -1.6% in the peak pandemic year of 2020.

Practice demand growth

Nearly every practice group saw an improvement in demand. Bankruptcy saw the largest decrease in demand. The counter-cyclical practice of Litigation lead with 3.3% year-over-year growth. The other large practice, Corporate, experienced a recovery with 2.0% growth while Labor grew 1.9%. Litigation, Corporate, and Labor are the three largest practices in US Legal. Their growth helped to float the overall market.

Worked rate growth

Ah, yes, the annual law firm billing increase. Law firm billing rates increased by an average of 6.5%, which is the fastest growth rate since the fiscal crisis of 2009 to 2010. Am Law 100, Am Law 200, and mid-sized firms all experienced bill rate growth. This is real growth, beyond the rate of inflation.

Per TR, the increase in rate growth may be related to a recent hiring trend. For the past two years firms have focused more on hiring experienced laterals and less on new associates. An increase in the percentage of non-equity partners and decrease in the percentage of associates may account for some of the growth. Changing law firm composition is an interesting topic throughout the report which I do not cover fully here.

Profit per lawyer growth

One of the most prized metrics in legal is Profit per Lawyer (PPL). 2022 was a poor year for PPL. Firms stopped the pain in 2023. In 2024 firms returned to nearly the same PPL as during the transactional practice boom of 2021. In the report, TR says that PPEP (profit per equity partner) was even higher, above 11.6% YOY growth.

2025?

You will not find predictions for 2025 from me here. We know that 2025 will be a year of not only change, but of surprises. At best, we may benefit from this 2024 growth trend in the first few months of 2025. Beyond that, I am not wagering. But I will see you here in a year after the next Thomson Reuter’s annual report.

-Maureen

Register to download the Thomson Reuters 2025 Report on the State of the US Legal Market. This well-researched report is produced by Thomson Reuters in conjunction with the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law.

Quarterly Feature Roundup | 2024 Q4

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Welcome to the LINK App Feature Roundup, where you can find information on new, enriching features of the LINK App.

You can learn more about these and other new features by visiting our new Feature Roundup page, or by clicking the links to the Quick Tips noted below.

Emailing a File in Multiple Formats

In LINK you can email a document as a copy of the original format, as a PDF, or as link (NRL). In addition, you can easily attach multiple versions of the same file – for example, a PDF and NRL link – to your email.

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LINK Notes App Sync to DMS or OneDrive

LINK Notes is our built-in application for taking and organizing notes. Now with a new streamlined UI, LINK Notes can easily be synced to DMS, OneDrive, or Windows File Shares per your IT team’s configuration.  

Learn More

Share a File to a Teams Channel from DMS

The use of Microsoft Teams is widespread and growing among law firms, as it allows users to share files and work together in real time. With LINK’s DMS and Teams integration, you can easily share a file from your DMS to a Teams channel, making collaboration simple.

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Email Search Filters

With our latest email update, search your email more accurately and faster with filters for From, To, and Any. You can search emails with a partial keyword or quickly narrow your search by sender or recipient.

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The LINK App is designed to make working easier for lawyers. This roundup is just a snapshot of the newest features to improve productivity and user experience. There are even more ways to use LINK to optimize your workflows.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our Resources page, book a demo, or send your questions to [email protected].

LINK’s SDK Integration for iOS and Android

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Have you ever wondered what’s behind the unique and secure annotation capabilities in our LINK App? Read on to learn how one of our key partners helps us to offer this feature that has become so popular with our users.

If you’re familiar with LINK, you know that the technology we’ve developed allows lawyers to efficiently work on mobile devices like iPads and smartphones while maintaining the high security and privacy needed to manage sensitive legal documents. During development, we needed to integrate our app with existing document management systems to ensure seamless communication and data integrity across different platforms. We also needed to meet strict security standards to protect client confidentiality and avoid vulnerabilities that could occur when transferring documents between apps.

By incorporating Nutrient’s mobile SDKs for iOS and Android, we were able to allow lawyers to annotate documents directly within their existing DMS or email attachments. This eliminated the need for file transfers between applications, thus simplifying how user documents are managed and reducing the risk of errors. The integration also enhanced LINK’s security by keeping all documents and annotations within a secure, encrypted environment – critical for maintaining client trust and complying with legal data protection standards. To top it all off, the SDKs improved responsiveness, allowing our customers to work more efficiently and meet the fast-paced demands they encounter in their daily work.

Ultimately the SDK integration from Nutrient in our LINK App helps us to empower lawyers to work securely and effectively from mobile devices in any setting. And since our mission is to make it simple for lawyers to work securely from anywhere, we couldn’t have asked for a better fit.

Read more about our SDK integration here: https://www.nutrient.io/blog/mobile-helix-nutrient-sdk-ios-android/

New from NIST: Improve Your Security, Rethink Password Policies

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Passwords remain a major risk to enterprises. This is true even though safe password practices have been widely promoted for a decade. Nearly half (49%) of incidents cited in Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report involved compromised passwords.

Enter NIST’s new Digital Identity Guidelines, SP 800-63-4. In the new report, NIST advocates for dropping onerous password requirements and focusing on the practices which are most effective. Let’s look at a few of the updated guidelines.

  • Do not require users to change passwords periodically, only mandate change when there is evidence of compromise.
  • Require passwords with a minimum of eight characters. The recommended length is minimum 15 characters.
  • Do not impose other composition rules, e.g., requiring mixtures of different character types.
  • Do not prompt users to use knowledge-based authentication, e.g., “What was the name of your first pet?”

Mandatory password changes are ingrained in enterprises. But NIST considers mandated changes to be outdated. Research has found that frequent password changes lead people to make minor changes which fit into a pattern, e.g., MinnVikings56 is followed by MinnVikings57. These patterns are often quickly cracked by algorithms. NIST recommends changing passwords only when there is evidence of compromise.

To make passwords safer, NIST recommends long passwords, at least 15 characters. A 12-character password takes 62 trillion times longer to crack than a six-character password.

Per NIST, passwords should consist of random characters or phrases.

There is an inherent challenge with requiring passwords to be long and strong. Long and strong passwords are difficult for humans to remember. To accommodate our limited memories, people devise hack-able workarounds. LastPass reported in 2022 that 65% of those surveyed use mostly the same password or a variation.

NIST has a recommendation for humans and our fallible memories.

Verifiers SHALL allow the use of password managers. Password managers have been shown to increase the likelihood that users will choose stronger passwords, particularly if the password managers include password generators.

Leading password managers include LastPass, 1Password, and Dashlane. In volume, the highest-rated password managers cost four or five dollars per user, per month.

You can improve your company’s security posture by starting with these two NIST recommendations:

  • Adopt the counter-intuitive practice of not mandating password changes.
  • Provide password managers to help employees use long and strong passwords.

And please, don’t ask me for the name of my first pet.

-Maureen

Maureen Blando is the President and COO of Mobile Helix, makers of the LINK App for lawyers.

NIST Definitions

Authenticator: Something that the subscriber possesses and controls (e.g., a cryptographic module or password) and that is used to authenticate a claimant’s identity. See authenticator type and multi-factor authenticator.

Shall: The terms “shall” and “shall not” indicate requirements to be strictly followed in order to conform to the publication and from which no deviation is permitted.

Should: The terms “should” and “should not” indicate that among several possibilities, one is recommended as particularly suitable without mentioning or excluding others, that a certain course of action is preferred but not necessarily required, or that (in the negative form) a certain possibility or course of action is discouraged but not prohibited.

Subscriber: An individual enrolled in the CSP identity service.

Verifier: An entity that verifies the claimant’s identity by verifying the claimant’s possession and control of one or more authenticators using an authentication protocol. To do this, the verifier needs to confirm the binding of the authenticators with the subscriber account and check that the subscriber account is active.

Embracing AI in the Legal Industry

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AI and machine learning are revolutionizing the legal industry with predictive analytics and Generative AI tools, enabling lawyers to anticipate case outcomes, evaluate risks, and automate various tasks for greater efficiency. The willingness to foray into this new paradigm, however, has been met with some resistance as concerns over accuracy, data security, and privacy remain high. Thomsen Reuters recently released a report on adoption of AI technology in the legal industry. Here we’ll break down where the legal industry stands at this moment in time and how far we must go to embrace the transformation AI is sure to bring to our industry.

What we’re embracing now

AI and machine learning are disrupting the legal world. Thompson Reuters reported that corporate legal departments were the most likely of all respondents to believe GenAI could be applied to their work (88%) as they saw a number of use cases for the technology. One such use case is in legal research and predictive analytics. By digging into tons of historical case data and legal precedents, these tools help lawyers predict case outcomes more accurately. They use complex algorithms to spot patterns and trends that might not be obvious through regular research. This means lawyers can better guess how different legal strategies might play out, giving them useful insights to guide their decisions. As a result, they can offer better advice, craft stronger arguments, and plan more effectively for litigation.

AI and machine learning tools also boost legal efficiency and cut costs. Automating routine tasks like document review and legal research frees lawyers to focus on more complex, high-value work. This not only ramps up productivity but also lowers the costs tied to manual processes. By streamlining these tasks and reducing the need for hands-on work, AI helps law firms run more smoothly, pass on savings to clients, and use their resources more effectively.

Thomson Reuters reported that respondents from the legal industry emphasized GenAI’s potential for reducing costs, allowing professionals to dedicate more time to high-value tasks, and assisting with quality control checks. One law firm partner noted, “It will, if used correctly, make it possible to provide more efficient legal services and advice and at a higher quality and speed. Access to justice has been a growing problem since I started practice over 20 years ago and this could be a game changer.” Of the respondents, 51% of law firms and 62% of corporate legal say GenAI should be applied to their work, and the top reason given was cost savings (Figure 8).

Challenges and concerns

There are some challenges to integrating AI into the legal field. Protecting data privacy is a big one—client information needs to be kept safe from unauthorized access and breaches. Also, there’s the risk of bias in AI algorithms, which could lead to unfair outcomes if the data used is biased. Tackling these issues means careful implementation and ongoing oversight to ensure AI tools are used ethically and responsibly. With the right management and continuous tweaks, the use of AI could really transform the legal industry, making it better and more efficient.

With these risks in mind, many respondents reported that their workplaces are somewhat hesitant on whether GenAI should be used across the organization. In the legal industry, 35% reported their organization is only considering using it and 40% have no plans to use it (Figure 10). Top concerns include potential for inaccurate responses (70%), concerns about data security (68%), and privacy and confidentiality of information entered into GenAI tools (62%) (Figure 16).

What’s next for AI in our industry In the end, despite their power, AI technologies are still simply tools. The most successful organizations and professionals will be those who use them to enhance their work, rather than replace it entirely. With careful management, continuous oversight, and a commitment to ethical practices, predictive analytics and GenAI tools have the potential to revolutionize the legal field. They could streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance the quality of legal services. The goal must be to harness these technologies in ways that make legal work more efficient and effective while upholding the highest standards of privacy and fairness.

– Melissa Franklin

Quarterly Feature Roundup | 2024 Q3

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Welcome to a new series – The LINK App Quarterly Feature Roundup – where we highlight feature favorites of the LINK App as well as the latest improvements and updates.

In this edition we’re giving you an overview of new, enriching features in LINK. You can learn more about each feature by clicking the links to the Quick Tips noted below.

Reply to an Email with a Calendar Event

Save time and effort with the option to send a meeting request as an email reply. When you receive an email that warrants a meeting, instead of tapping out of your email and starting cold from your calendar, simply send a meeting request as a reply to the email. This saves you a few extra steps and allows you to preserve important context for your meeting, as the body of the email will be included in the invitation.

Learn More

Calendar Categories

Being able to organize and color-code your calendar is vital to keeping up with essential meetings and reminders. LINK allows you to use the content categories created in your email tenant within the LINK App, so your calendar customizations translate seamlessly between your desktop and your mobile device.

Learn More

Export the Annotation Summary

With LINK, you can always see what annotations have been noted by utilizing the annotation summary. You can even search the annotations, see who made them, as well as when they were made so you can stay on top of the lifecycle of each document in your repository.

Learn More

Profile Photos in Exchange

A friendly profile picture can help people feel more comfortable working with each other and build trust from the very first interaction. LINK now personalizes the email experience by displaying M365 profile photos to the Inbox.

Learn More

The LINK App is designed to make working easier for lawyers. This roundup is just a snapshot of the newest features to improve productivity and user experience. There are even more ways to use LINK to optimize your workflows.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our Resources page, book a demo, or send your questions to [email protected].

Attorneys Love Their iPads. Must it be $2,000 Worth of Love?

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I work with many Am Law 100 (top 100 law firms in the US) who provide iPads to their attorneys. It’s public information that many of these firms achieve millions of dollars of profit per equity partner. Investing $2,000 to enable these profit-generating attorneys to work from anywhere and to be more responsive to their elite clients is a simple calculation.

iPads are fantastic. They are portable. The Pencil is fluid. It’s quick to get to work. Try comparing your time-to-work on an iPad with loading your Citrix desktop!

But what if your firm does not quite have the budget to put a $2,000 iPad Pro kit in each of your attorneys’ hands?

In 2024, there has been a new development in the iPad family. The processor in the iPad Air is now upgraded to the Apple M2, which puts it on par with the iPad Pro 2022. I’ve traveled with the 11″ iPad Air. The light weight is a breeze, and the screen size is perfect for my needs. I love it.

I sent this brief summary (below) of iPad Pro and iPad Air pricing to a law firm IT Director who is considering buying iPads. He told me that it presents possibilities. Feel free to share it, as it may open doors for you and your firm.

Sources: Apple Website and Tom’s Guide

The 11″ iPad Air starts at $599. However, that price is with 128GB of storage and supports WiFi-only. Above, I show relative iPad prices with 512GB of storage, where available, as I would not recommend anything below 512GB. I have also shown pricing for WiFi-only and Cellular-enabled models. The pricing above does not include cellular service.

As shown, you can opt for a 13″ iPad Pro with 512GB and Cellular-enabled for $1,699.
Or, an 11″ iPad Air with 512 GB, also Cellular-enabled, is $1,049.

With any iPad, a Pencil is a must-have. The ability to take notes and mark up documents and images with a Pencil is one of the joys and conveniences of working with an iPad. The Apple Pencil Pro is $129, the Apple Pencil is $79.

I also consider a keyboard necessary for real work. The Apple brand keyboards are pricey with the Apple 13″ Magic Keyboard at $349. There are many highly rated aftermarket keyboards, starting at $39. The Zagg Pro Keyboard with Case lists at $170 (13″) and $110 (11″). They are frequently discounted at 30% off.

In summary, let’s look at two options:

13″ iPad Pro, 512GB, Cellular-enabled, Pencil Pro, aftermarket keyboard ($170) = $1,998

11″ iPad Air, 512GB, Cellular-enable, Pencil Pro, aftermarket keyboard ($110) = $1,288

The delta is ~ $700 per kit.

You don’t have to rely on my analysis – read Jeff Richardson, aka, iPhoneJD. Jeff is an appellate attorney and an avid iPad Pro user. He also writes the best product reviews that any legal user could wish for. Jeff publishes a weekly “In the News” blog which you can subscribe to and receive in your inbox every Friday morning.

Here is the summary from Jeff’s May 2024 review of the new 13″ iPad Pro. For his practice, he prefers the 13″ iPad Pro, but he recommends the iPad Air to “most attorneys.”

With the nice new improvements to the iPad Air, very few users will have a reason to say that they truly need the iPad Pro versus the iPad Air. But anyone who enjoys using an iPad and does so regularly will have a reason to want a new iPad Pro because it is simply a better overall experience. The core of using an iPad is holding a screen in your hand and interacting with it. Making the iPad thinner and lighter, making the screen better, and giving you new accessories that improve the interaction with the screen are all improvements to the most important parts of the iPad. Add to that the M4 chip for even snappier performance and the other improvements and there is simply a lot to love. I’m sure that many people will decide to save several hundred dollars and go with an iPad Air, and that is a perfectly reasonable choice. It is even the choice that I would recommend to most attorneys. But if you are OK with spending more money for a premium experience, the new iPad Pro is not just the best iPad ever, it is one of the best Apple products ever. The iPad Pro 13″ M4 is incredible.
– Jeff Richardson, iPhone J.D.

Jeff captures it well.

It’s certainly worth it to take another look at the iPad Air.

-Maureen

Cybersecurity: The Workforce Gap & the Career Opportunity

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Recently, I came across a LinkedIn post from a friend who was #Hiring for a cybersecurity role. It got me thinking – just how challenging is it to find and crucially, to retain, experienced cybersecurity staff? According to my friend, it is very challenging. Intrigued, I decided to take a dive into the numbers.

World Economic Forum

71% of organizations are currently unable to fill cybersecurity positions, leading to a concerning skills gap in the workforce. This issue has been highlighted by The World Economic Forum, which warns of the potential impact on infrastructure and society as a whole.

2023 Global Cybersecurity Workforce Gap – ISC2

Globally, there is an estimated 4 million person cybersecurity workforce gap. According to ISC2, the shortfall in the United States alone amounts to half a million roles.

Per Fortinet’s 2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report, 68% of leaders agree that cybersecurity skills shortages create cyber risks for their organization.

An overwhelming 90% of leaders show a strong preference for hiring individuals with technology-focused certifications per the Fortinet report. Their study also brings encouraging news that 90% of leaders are willing to invest in their employees by covering the costs of certification. In alignment with this, the World Economic Forum advocates for the crucial processes of “reskilling and upskilling,” emphasizing the importance of narrowing the cybersecurity skills gap.

So, the next question is, what does it take to obtain an affordable cybersecurity certificate? This option seems promising: Google offers a Cybersecurity Certificate through Coursera suitable for these roles:

  • Cybersecurity analyst
  • Security analyst
  • SOC analyst
  • Information security analyst
  • IT security analyst
  • Cyber defense analyst

According to Google, this course can be finished in six months with less than 10 hours of part-time study per week. After a free 7-day trial, Coursera charges a monthly fee of $49, resulting in a total cost of just under $300 for the certificate.

If you’re considering a career change, be encouraged by the fact that the demand for cybersecurity professionals is high. There are even relatively low cost ways to achieve a Cybersecurity Certificate.

Good luck!

-Maureen

P.S. – Google says that the median salary in cybersecurity (with 0-5 years of experience) is $115,000 per year. 🙌