Post by Gustavo Rocha, lawyer and consultant in management, IT and quality for law firms. He’s the author of Gestão.Adv.br (content in Portuguese only):

“The client knows best”, this is an adage not always true and ought not to be interpreted in its stricto sensu.

What is the client’s dream is another issue. Dreaming is good, it is free, but one needs to “keep it real” so the dream can come to be. If a client looks for a wreckless quest, should I play along so I can prove him wrong. What about the lawyer’s ethical code, then? Is a client’s dream any good, if it means to work in the German market, which is known for its demands for price and quality, when he is not up to those standards?

We have to put the clients inner yearns and hopes along side with the facts of reality, possibility and professionalism.

Being a lawyer and consultant and psychologist and entrepreneur, is what Being a Lawyer is all about. The market demands for professionals with business strategies, calculated legal risks included. In this mind frame, to be a lawyer is to be a strategist. Not just a petition clerk, but a real Guru for clients.The one they look for guidance in rough moments, through hard times.

The same goes for lawyers who deal with individuals. Employees in any company. To be aware whether  the company they work for is compliant with the legislation, their rights and duties (not only the rights,
like many love to stress) are all fundamental by the time to decide  whether or not to stay working in the present job.

Clients do not always know best.

Dreams do not always come true.

Recurring to the law is not always the best move.

In any of the above cases, a lawyer who has a strategic overview of the market, who is sensible to human interactions and has a good knowledge of the law, can provide an outcome closer to justice and the truth.

Post by Nuno B.M. Lumbrales, lawyer, partner at Lumbrales & Associados and LawRD user. He is also the new LawRD Blog contributor:

The use of any technology always goes through distinct stages that can be longer or shorter, depending on the technology in question and the specific geographical features (cultural, technological, etc) it is deployed into.

Several countries are living exciting times, typical of the recent findings (Portugal included) in IT, or to be more precise, its use in certain areas of the Legal and Public Administration fields.

Actually, political powers have been passing legislation in order to be in some cases mandatory and artificially advantageous in others (i.e. benefits of a doubtful justification when it comes to judicial costs), the use of electronic means for submitting legal suite elements, namely via the Internet and the “Citius” platform managed by the Portuguese Ministry of Justice.

Investing in IT and updating IT in Courts and the Justice system at large is not wrong at all. Using artificial incentives through legislation in order to constraint the judiciary actors to the immediate and exclusive use of a tool not yet fully reliable when it comes to ensure integrity,management and preservation of lawsuits, doesn’t make much sense tough!

In deed, problems are frequent concerning the certification of digital signatures, transferring data among complex and autonomous IT systems, and so on, not to mention the constitutional issues raised up by some magistrates (unfortunately in vain) as to the fact that they are being coerced to using an IT system that is managed and run by the executive power and not by the judicial magistrature itself.

Jurists are known for being conservative by nature, not so much into the newer tech trends, more of  “sheet of paper” fans…

That’s true, and for good reasons too, you know, paper does not “crash”.