New Research Home Page

For some time now, I have been trying to develop a new Research Home Page.  The main point of this new page is to host our internal web site on Google Sites, as opposed to an old Windows server in Philadelphia as we have done for the last 15 years or so.  As a result, you will be able to access the site from anywhere, without having to be connected via VPN.

In order to prevent the site from being available to the public at large, you must be logged into your Google account to access the site.  If you are prompted for a name and password, just enter your firm provided Gmail address and Gmail password for access.

The new site will have a similar look and feel to the old one, with some significant changes.  Google Sites does not support the drop down menus that we used on the old page.  As a result, I have created a document that contains all the research links, broken up by the same categories that we used on the old site.  I have kept the site as simple as possible in order to maximize compatibility with the widest range of browsers and devices possible.

Most of the sub-pages are maintained as Google Documents.  This makes it much easier for us to update and edit these documents, keeping them as up to date as possible.  For most users, these documents are read only.  If you notice any mistakes or have suggestions for changes, just email them to me.

We are now ready to put this site into beta testing, which means I am making it available for everyone to view.  But it is still a work in progress.  Some pages are incomplete and there may still be a number of errors throughout the pages and documents.  Feel free to look around and let me know of any problems you encounter or suggestions you may have for improvement.

There is a link to the site on the old Home Page

You can also access the new Page directly at http://research.margolisedelstein.com

As I said, the new site remains a work in progress.  The old page will remain the default link probably for the next few months until we have worked out all the kinks on the new page.  Eventually we will retire the old page and make the new one the default page for accessing all firm links and resources.

HIPAA, Confidentiality, and Google

I start this post with a warning.  I am going to discuss a few aspects of HIPAA as it relates to our use of Google Apps for Business.  This is not meant to be an authoritative or complete analysis of the HIPAA requirements for protecting medical information.  As lawyers, you are ultimately responsible for taking any necessary steps to keep medical records confidential, as you are obligated to keep pretty much any client information confidential.  I am merely posting some thoughts that might help with your efforts to protect client confidentiality while using the firm's online resources.

Even if you do not deal directly with medical records, you may find parts of this article helpful in ensuring protection of client confidentiality in your storage and transmission of electronic records.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was designed, among other things, to create an obligation for heath care professionals and insurance companies to ensure the privacy of client medical records.  A law firm which handles such records is not covered directly by HIPAA, but is considered a "Business Associate" of those covered and therefore must take care to protect the privacy of medical records in our possession.

If you wish to read more about the HIPAA Privacy Rule in general, I recommend this page at HHS as a good place to start.  At its most basic level, the idea is that we take care to make sure that medical records are not disclosed to anyone who should not have them.  HIPAA seems to be maddeningly vague and exactly what level of security or care is really required though.  We often get questions about compliance from some of our clients.  We need to make sure that we comply with whatever the client requires of us.

On question that we sometimes get is whether our email system is compliant.  Gmail has a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement which Google says ensures compliance with HIPAA with the use of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive (including Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms), Google Sites, and Google Apps Vault services.  Notably, some Google Apps for  Business services including, Google+, Google Groups, and Google Voice are not covered by this Agreement.  Google also publishes an Implementation Guide which gets into more detail about what can be used and what settings best comply with privacy requirements.

Gmail

Some clients have asked about our ability to send and receive encrypted email communications. Gmail requires encrypted communications between our terminals and the Google servers.  This allows us to create or read an email over an encrypted connection.

However, when an email travels between any two different email systems, they must be unencrypted or else the receiving system will not be able to read the message.  HHS, which is responsible for enforcement of HIPAA, does not prohibit use of unencrypted emails.   (See, e.g., HHS FAQ).  Some clients, however, wish to have fully encrypted end to end communications with the firm.  To set up secured connections, we must have a shared encryption key with the other organization's domain. Gmail includes the ability to set up a shared key.  If a client demands this, I can work with their IT staff to get it set up.  Doing so would encrypt correspondence between our two firms.  However, anything sent to a third party would not be protected by this encryption.

Google Drive

Another important concern for many people is Google Drive (which includes Google Docs).  This can be a great online collaboration tool.  You can upload document to a drive, share it with others, who can then download them to their system.  With a limited document types you can even edit the documents online and work collaboratively.

There is relatively little written about privacy requirements here.  But certainly, when setting your share settings, you would not want to make the document public, which would expose them to anyone on the Internet.  There is an option to share documents to "anyone with a link".  This is essentially public, but hides the documents from search engines.  Someone could not simply run a search and come across your documents.  It would be pretty difficult to find those document without a clickable link leading directly to them.  But since you have not control over who might be forwarded those links, it is not a good idea to share any confidential data at this level.

Google indicates it is acceptable to share confidential files to specific authorized users.  When you set a share for a specific email address, the user will receive an email with a link to the shared document or folder. The email address of the other users need not be a Gmail address, but the user will have to register his or her email address with Google, if not already registered, in order to access the documents.

Typically, you would only give a user read only access unless you are working collaboratively. Otherwise, the user can edit or delete your files.  Even if a file is read only, the user can still download the file and make changes to a copy offline.  They simply cannot edit the online version of your document.

Secure Your Devices

Even if Google remain secure, if you end device, (your laptop, phone, or tablet) is not secured, you are creating a major security hole.  Make sure your devices are protected by a finger print or password if you receive or maintain any confidential information on that device.  Also, firm cell phones are secured with Mobile Device Management.  If your phone is lost or stolen, we have the ability to wipe the contents remotely.  Be sure to tell us if a device is missing.  We need to wipe the data before the carrier cuts off service to the device.  So call us before Verizon.

Auto forward your calls

Our phone system now offers a variety of ways to forward calls.  I have already described in an earlier post how to make and receive office calls from any smart phone, tablet, or PC using Communicator.  But if you do not like Communicator, you can simply forward calls from your office phone to any other phone number.  There are a variety of options:

Call Forwarding Always can be enabled if you are going to be away for a while and want to receive calls on another phone, or have someone else at the firm answer all your calls.

Call Forwarding Busy forwards your calls only when you are on another call.  Enabling this will mean that you will not see who is calling and have an opportunity to put the other person on hold and answer.

Call Forwarding Not Reachable forwards your calls after a certain number of rings.

Call Forwarding Selective is handy as you can have your phone forward calls from certain numbers to another phone, such as your cell or home phone

In addition to forwarding options, you have the ability to received certain notifications. Call Notify will send you an email when a call meets certain criteria.  Typically you would set this for certain important numbers that may require immediate attention.  This is different from receiving emails with a message.  This option allows you to receive an email, even if the caller does not leave a message.

Another handy option is Priority Alert, which can set a different ring for certain callers.

Selective Call Rejection allows you to block certain numbers entirely.  The caller receive a recording that you cannot be reached.  This would be for people that are harassing you and with whom you never want phone contact.

All of these options can be set in the cloud portal, or the help desk can set up any changes for you.

Voice Dictation On Your Laptop

For many years now, I have been a big fan of the dictation capabilities of Android and Apple smartphones and tablets. These devices, and I think Android is slightly better than Apple at this, do an excellent job converting my speech to text. This is in contrast to the dictation software built into Windows or even third party programs such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The Windows speech software is just terrible and messes up far too many words. Dragon does a better job but is cumbersome, can slow up the computer, and does not integrate well with many programs.

Now, Google has made dictation available on my laptop when I am using Google Docs. I have tested the dictation features on my laptop using the microphone built into my laptop. In fact, I am using it right now to dictate this blog post. It has made very few mistakes.  I can review my work in real time as I go along.  It works with the same quality I have grown to enjoy on my Android phone and tablet.

One big limitation on using this service is that you must be connected to the Internet in order for it to work properly. keep in mind that you can work on your  smartphone using your 4G connection so that you don't need to be tied to WiFi.  Laptops are WiFi only.

For those of you who like to dictate I strongly encourage you to give it a try. All you need to do is start a new document in Google Docs. Click on the Tools button and select Voice Typing. A microphone will appear on the left side of your screen which you can turn on or off with a click of your mouse.

This can be very helpful for dictation of any document. You may find it preferable to using a voice recorder which then needs to be sent away for transcription. With Google dictation, you get instant results and have your document as soon as you say the words. You can edit as you go along. If something does go wrong. just start using the keyboard to make whatever changes you like then click on the microphone again to continue dictating.  Combine the ease of use with the fact that you are saving the firm transcription costs and this technology can be a win - win.

Because Google Docs is interactive with your computer, phone, or tablet, you can begin a document on any one of those devices and then continue later with whichever device happens to be handy at the moment.

In addition to simple dictation, Google Docs also handles a variety of voice commands that allow you to do some simple formatting and editing without ever touching your keyboard. If you are interested in learning more about the voice commands you may take a look at the options at this link.

Despite its convenience and ease of use, I have not recommended using Google Docs for the creation of many legal documents because the ability to format a page can be difficult.   Certain advanced formatting options are just not available in Google Docs. Drafting legal documents including letters briefs, or anything else that requires more than minimal formatting is probably still best done using Microsoft Word or Word Perfect.

Of course, you may want to dictate the bulk of your document using Google Docs then save your work as a Microsoft Word document, or cut and paste the text you dictated into a Word Perfect document.  From there, you or your secretary can format the document as needed.

For those of you who find typing difficult, or simply think dictation is faster and easier than typing, and simply don't want to wait for transcription services, this may be a great alternative for you.

Internet monitoring and blocking

Over the next couple of months, we will be installing new firewalls in most of the firm's offices.  In addition to standard security from outside attacks, the new devices will give us the ability to monitor and restrict Internet access to certain sites.

Before we start the new monitoring process, I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone about the firms Computer and Internet Use Policy.  If you are not familiar with it, you should be.  Violations of the policy can result in adverse employment actions, including termination.

A few of the key highlights to remember regarding Internet access:

• The firm reserves the right to monitor all of your activity.  This includes any access to personal web based email sites or other web sites you may think are private.
• The firm can view your activity if you are using the firm's Internet connection, even if you are on a personal device such as a phone, tablet, or laptop.  
• If you are connected via VPN from home, the firm monitors your activity just as if you were in the office.
• If you use a firm owned device, such as a phone or laptop, even off site and on another Internet connection, the firm may still be able to monitor your activity and reserves the right to do so.
• Firm policy prohibits using even a personal device with a personal internet connection for personal reasons when you are at work.  Talking, texting, or Internet access from your cell phone is not permitted.  Using any firm resources for personal use is also generally not permitted.
• If the firm logs you accessing inappropriate sites, including sites containing pornography or gambling, or even sites that have no obvious business reason, such as Facebook or a sports site, you may be called in to explain to Mr. McKenna the business purposes for you are accessing such sites.
• If you find a site blocked and you have a valid business reason to access that site, you may call the help desk to inquire about getting an exception.
• In short, don't do anything on the computer or through the firm's internet that you would not do if your boss was looking over your shoulder.  You should have no expectation of privacy when using firm resources.

Is someone ducking your calls?

As shocking as it may be to some, there are occasions when people try to avoid calls from a law firm.  Sometimes, this can require persistence to get through.

Our Vonage phones have a feature called Automatic Callback.  This can be set if a party you are calling is busy.  It will establish a call as soon at the other person hangs up.  Keep in mind that this only works if you are getting a busy signal.  If you are directed to voicemail, it won't work.  Because most phones now have call waiting and voicemail, this may not come up very often.  But if you find it useful, you can enable this option in the portal.  Once enabled, when you get a busy signal, you should see an option on your phone to enable a callback on this call.  As the other party hangs up, your phone and the other party's phone will both ring.

Suppose you have someone who is simply not answering the phone when you call.  They see your caller ID and let it go to voicemail.  Line ID Blocking hides your caller ID from people.  If you dial *67, your call will go out with an anonymous ID.  Unfortunately, this option is also of limited use.  Most phones today do not rely on the sender's caller ID to identify the call.  They  have their own database of numbers.  Similarly, if you call a cell phone of someone who has your number in their address book, it will identify you that way.

If you really want to be anonymous, I recommend making a call through your computer, using Google Hangouts, or using the Hangouts Dialer app on your smart phone.  Unless you have gone through the trouble of assigning a number and ID to your Google account, making a call this way will appear to come from a random phone number with no identification.

More on Faxes: Additional Ways to Send

In an earlier post, I explained how you can send a fax by logging into the fax2mail.com web site and uploading a file to be faxed.

For those who are interested, there are also several other ways to send a fax.

Virtual Fax Machine:

On the Fax2mail.com web site, there is a tab called "VFM".  This is a virtual fax machine that may be a little more user friendly.  You may browse for a file, and send through this device.

Alternatively, you may download the Virtual Fax Machine software to your computer.  Once  you have entered the login information, you can use this at any time to send a document.  You can even drag and drop a file right onto the application.  If you send many faxes, this may be a bit of a time saver.

Below is the link for the virtual fax machine application.

https://fax2mail.easylink.com/desktopfax/downloads/EasyLinkVFM.3.3.B6.exe

Print to Fax:

Also available on the fax to mail website are "print-to-fax" drivers that you can download and install on your computer.  Using this option will allow you to "print" to a fax from virtually any application (including WordPerfect).  Once installed, simply create a document and start to print as you normally would.  However, select the print to print-to-fax option from among the printers listed on your computer.  You will be prompted for the fax number and then hit send.  The one downside of this option is that there is no option for a cover page.  So you will want to make a cover page as the first page of the document you are sending if a cover page is needed.

Below is the link for the print to fax installer.

https://fax2mail.easylink.com/desktopfax/downloads/EasyLink_FL_GUI_Print2Fax.exe

If you send faxes regularly, or find the fax2mail.com web site confusing, you may want to give one of these options a try.