President’s Message by Doris Henderson Causey Access to the Cloud Store everything in the cloud experts tell us. It’s safe there. If you are like me, you go in search of the cloud and want to know exactly what it looks like and does. However, you soon fi nd out its invisible, which is even more troubling. What is a cloud? Well it has many defi nitions: (1) the white puffy water vapor fi lled things fl oating high in the sky; (2) a condition of gloom and doom, worry/trouble; and (3) invisible storage space on the inter-net. I tend to use all three defi nitions constantly. I get a little cloud when I can’t fi nd what I stored in the cloud on a day fi lled with clouds. The cloud, e-discovery, and en-cryption are all things we must know to practice law today. The practice of law is rapidly changing, largely because of technology and the way that we lawyers manage our practices. We must keep up with technology. All lawyers now have computers and most have smartphones. Many lawyers only use an I-pad to manage their entire practice. Learning the most effective and effi cient technology services for your practice is demon-strated at the VSB Annual Tech Show. And I encourage everyone to attend at least one CLE on technology to keep up with the changes. Sharon Nelson’s or Darius Davenport’s technology presentations will leave you shaken, awakened, informed, and hopeful. Each time I attend I learn something new and question myself on saving documents and sending any e-mails. Also, reading Rules 1.1 and 1.6 and LEOs 1871, 1872, and 1702 helps to keep us aware of guidelines and duties regarding technology. The VSB’s Committee on Technology and the Practice of Law is a great resource, and routinely has helpful information on the bar’s website. E-fi ling, video conferencing, electronic evidence, social media evidence, and computerized animation are technologies that have changed the courts. Most courts now have some form of video conferencing. Citizens do not always physically appear in court for arraignments and trial anymore. Jeff Taylor of Crossplatform DeSign has created a presentation on computerized animation evidence that is amazing. It clearly shows the advanced ways in which evidence is being presented. Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are used as evidence daily in court. My offi ce covers fi ve cities and fi fteen counties. Clearly, a fee of over $2,000 per year for just one attorney is not practical for legal aid offi ces. Access to Technology Though it often seems that everyone has access to technology, the reality is that everyone does not. Technology clearly helps us learn a great deal, but access has always been an issue. I look at it from the poverty side of things because many of my clients cannot afford a computer or Internet in their homes. It is remarkable how far we’ve come with the advancements in tech-nology. But in reality, advanced tech-nology is still a dream for many. Every day in the legal aid realm, I see the dis-parities. For example, many city school students are not issued laptops to keep and use for the school year, whereas students in affl uent counties are now routinely issued laptops starting in middle school. The use of laptops and advanced technology has a direct impact on test scores, achievement, and socioeconomic status — and the goal of every student having access to a laptop should be at the forefront of our educational aspirations. Although technology provides many benefi ts that help advance the legal profession, it is not cost effective for legal aid programs. The adoption of new technology is always based on benefi t versus cost. Currently, cost drives everything for legal aid pro-grams. Besides cost, another tech-nology challenge exists with OCRA (offi cer of the court remote access), which is used in many circuit courts throughout the state. OCRA is for civil cases only. The average fee to establish and maintain an account is $100 a year per attorney. If you are in a fi rm/ offi ce share, the fee is the initial $100 plus $50 per additional attorney or paralegal. OCRA is not statewide, and the fee is set by each circuit court. You must pay this fee per circuit in order to remotely access any fi les in that circuit. Legal aids would love to have OCRA. However, we cover a wide range of cities and counties. My offi ce covers Cloud continued on page 8 6 VIRGINIA LAWYER | August 2017 | Vol. 66 www.vsb.org