Taking Up Slack: What Lawyers Need to Know About the New Collaboration Tool

More and more lawyers and business owners are noticing and implementing the new collaboration tool Slack, described by its founder as “a messaging and search platform that creates a single unified archive accessible through powerful search.” But why is this particular application gaining traction among all other options including Facebook, LinkedIn groups, or even email? Furthermore, why should lawyers pay attention?

Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell noticed Slack gaining momentum in startups, nonprofit organizations, and even small and medium sized law firms, so they tried it. In their 2016 technology resolutions, Dennis and Tom both decided to learn to use Slack, and implement it in their management of this very podcast. So, after a couple of months, what was the result?

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis and Tom discuss the rise of Slack, its advantages and disadvantages, and what lawyers need to know about this collaboration tool. Dennis talks about Slack’s different communication mediums including channels, direct messaging, and starring or pinning conversations and whether these mediums can actually replace email. Tom explains that Slack shines by integrating with other applications like your calendar, to-do lists, and Dropbox. But he finds issue with the pricing models and limited control over user restriction. The hosts end the segment by emphasizing that  litigators and those in records management can’t ignore Slack in discovery.

In the second section of this podcast, Dennis and Tom lightly touch on the recent subject of back doors in Apple products, the FBI, and private encryption. How will Apple vs. the FBI affect data security and confidentiality? And why aren’t more lawyers using encryption today? As always, stay tuned for Parting Shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends.

Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow.

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