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Running a Law Firm on Linux

decoded.legal

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Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#121

Post by andylynch »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #108
david422 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago I was using linux and created my resume in Libreoffice and sent it to various job postings as a Word doc. Never had any luck. Then years later I learned that what looked perfect (my resume) in Libreoffice looked pretty terrible when opened with official MS Word. I always wondered if that impacted my application. A guy that couldn't bother to format his resume appropriately.

I learned long ago to never send an editable format to anyone who's not going to edit it. Every device can open PDFs and see it exactly as it should be.

Mostly. Assuming you having the same font installed or embedded- to be sure about this you want to go further and use PDF/A

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#122

Post by rococode »

stackbutterflow wrote: post #106
massysett wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m glad this is working for him, but it’s only been three months. The most important thing Word gets me is an excuse. If someone sends me a Word doc and I open it in Word and something is screwed up, I can say “oh, um, maybe something is wrong on your end.” If I’m using anything else—LibreOffice, Pages, Google Docs, anything—then there’s a possibility that it’s the software’s fault. I can’t be messing around with th…

I'm curious to know how you and the parent comment came about to know about HN, what an IDE is, Debian. My friends working in non tech fields wouldn't even know that something other than Windows exists.

Keep in mind there are thousands of lawyers out there whose job is to write software patents or litigate for big tech companies. I'm sure there are plenty of lawyers not working in tech who know about tech stuff just out of curiosity, but the ones who are in tech definitely know much more than surface-level things.

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#123

Post by stefan_ »

Shicholas wrote: post #103
terminalcommand wrote: post #13

Also a lawyer here, I think the biggest hurdle is MS Word. MS word is the defacto IDE of the law world. We spend most of our time in Word. The drafting of documents won't be a problem with libre office. You can send a PDF to the client. But working with other lawyers/parties could be a challenge. I am not certain how Libreoffice could handle a 500 page memo being worked by 50+ people including thousands of track chan…

if only lawyers used git, sigh. fighting word is almost like fighting the system itself - some courts require filing in .doc!

Is Word the biggest mistake of computing ever? I get it, in 1980 when you are trying to get adoption of your obscure machine, it helps to emulate what is de vogue in the real world.

But now it's 2021, and there is zero reason anymore for anyone to "layout a letter" or similar nonsense like that. Computers are everywhere and the key to efficient processes, but we are stuck using them to make facsimiles of the World circa 1980.

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#124

Post by ncphil »

stackbutterflow wrote: post #106
massysett wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m glad this is working for him, but it’s only been three months. The most important thing Word gets me is an excuse. If someone sends me a Word doc and I open it in Word and something is screwed up, I can say “oh, um, maybe something is wrong on your end.” If I’m using anything else—LibreOffice, Pages, Google Docs, anything—then there’s a possibility that it’s the software’s fault. I can’t be messing around with th…

I'm curious to know how you and the parent comment came about to know about HN, what an IDE is, Debian. My friends working in non tech fields wouldn't even know that something other than Windows exists.

Retired lawyer (from the 80s and 90s). Second career as a sysadmin now with the lofty title "enterprise architect", which in my case is more like "a senior guy who can do all kinds of stuff".

Back in the day DisplayWrite and WordPerfect were the standards, with Word coming up behind fast. I used XyWrite in my own tiny practice. That said, Word Online under a Microsoft 365 sub would get you most of where you need to go, but I have to admit that some are going to be more comfortable with the desktop version of Word for the reasons given above. In that case... KVM virtual machine running Windows! So long as the host has sufficient horsepower (4 or 8 cores, 32 GB RAM), that can actually be an added benefit: two computers for the price of one.

On the scanner driver issue, I'm going to curb my natural urge to go into full on problem solving mode (an occupational hazard for both sysadmins and lawyers). Network scanners are a "hive of scum and villainy" if there ever was one. My own adventures with an HP MFP can be found in this gist: https://gist.github.com/plembo/1630c74806c1c97c2dcee03752865.... The TLDR is that HP supports SANE through their own proprietary api, which is probably not going to work with a different manufacturer's scanner (for example, Canon).

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#125

Post by RealStickman_ »

thepete2 wrote: post #88
jedimastert wrote: post #68

I guess I might have to try using Libreoffice again. Then again, I haven't made a "document" on anything but Google Docs for a pretty long time. If I'm writing for my website, I'm usually physically writing or using Docs so I can have it on my phone to fiddle with when I get a random minute. After that I'll transfer to markdown directly on my server. Does anyone know a reasonable way to edit text files from a server…

I find the Markor app (open source) great for editing text files, you can also customize it quite a bit. Then for uploading possibly syncthing would work. (I do this to sync my text files between my PC and phone, works great)

I personally moved to Joplin and have it sync with my Nextcloud instance using webDAV. It's been working very well for me so far.

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#126

Post by senkora »

mijoharas wrote: post #120
senkora wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that Zoom has a native Linux client that works well.

I would strongly disagree with you on the "works well" part. (it is hell on earth on a wayland machine. It can't screenshare unless you're on gnome or something, and on sway it seems to have a 50% chance of crashing every time it opens a meeting.) On the other hand, the web version is coming along nicely. I may uninstall the desktop app since it's such a PITA.

That’s fair. My experience is with Ubuntu, GNOME, and X Windows, which is probably the happy path for Linux support right now.

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#127

Post by earthscienceman »

terminalcommand wrote: post #13

Also a lawyer here, I think the biggest hurdle is MS Word. MS word is the defacto IDE of the law world. We spend most of our time in Word. The drafting of documents won't be a problem with libre office. You can send a PDF to the client. But working with other lawyers/parties could be a challenge. I am not certain how Libreoffice could handle a 500 page memo being worked by 50+ people including thousands of track chan…

As a scientist I'm really tempted to ask:

Why not latex and track changes? I already know the answer of course, but it's interesting how much of this type of thing is 'cultural' and institutional momentum.

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#129

Post by michnaugh1 »

Another lawyer here. I've been successfully running Ubuntu for my practice for the past five years. Currently on 21.10. Crossover Office takes care of the Word problem but I mostly use LibreOffice. Word is useful for appellate briefs and Table of Authorities. For Crossover, I need to be in X11, not Wayland. Otherwise, it's entirely boring and seamless. Brother ADS-1700W scanner works with Document Scanner. Thunderbird 91 is great for encrypted email. It's really not an inconvenience to use Ubuntu in an office.

Edit: Document Scanner not Scan.

Re: Running a Law Firm on Linux

#130

Post by david_allison »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #110

> A scanner still relies on macOS so, even though it's a virtualised macOS instance running atop Linux, it's still macOS. Many people believe this violates the macOS license. Do you have a different read on it? https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS1014.pdf

> A scanner still relies on macOS so, even though it's a virtualised macOS instance running atop Linux (on an Mac Mini), it's still macOS.

Note the parens. It's on Apple-branded hardware, so IANAL, but that's more likely to be kosher.

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