I have a family member who is a lawyer and who has a similar type of software setup. The biggest obstacle I notice in the legal industry is that many simply don't care. They actively dismiss software as being unimportant even though they rely on it every day. It's a very bizarre case of the legal industry hating the very industry that could help them.

Note: perhaps my experiences aren't representative of the industry as a whole.

This is exactly correct. As a lawyer and a software developer, I long ago gave up on the idea of selling software to solve the problems of lawyers and/or law firms. Lawyers tend to be terrible customers of technology, if for no other reason than that they have established completely backward incentives that reward inefficiencies and information deficits.

The only "legal tech" that can succeed (in my opinion) is the kind that eliminates the need for lawyers, but then you're up against a different problem: people who think lawyers are magical wizards who can invoke spells to keep lawsuits and regulators at bay. It's really hard to convince many people that they don't need a lawyer, even though lawyers and law firms are almost never accountable for the advice they give.

I agree with eliminating the need for lawyers for most things, but the biggest problem about it is that in small cities/towns (maybe big ones too, I just have no experience in that domain) judges and lawyers are "buddies". People with the exact same charges can get radically different sentences depending on if they have a paid lawyer vs no lawyer or a public defender. There's a public defender in my town who also has his own private firm, and it's amazing how differently the judge and DA respond to whether or not you hired him or the town did. If all of that isn't bad enough, you can see the judge, DA , and lawyers all making backroom deals and exchanging favors. And they do it fairly blatantly in my town. I've rarely seen an objective case and it's a shame because law is perceived as a "sacred" domain where objectivity rules.

So you don't agree that 'the person who represents themself has an idiot for a client'?

If you're going to court, bring a lawyer. Courts are the domain of arcane procedures and common sense has no place there. My comments above refer to transactions, compliance, etc.

Probably smart to bring one to court with you but maybe not required for drawing up a standard will where the few assets you own should just go to your next of kin

This analogy falls apart pretty quickly. You can't compile legal work product and no one is accountable if it doesn't run, unless you're at the point where malpractice comes into play. Malpractice is really, really hard to prove, though.

But most judges are making subjective decisions and not just "running code". The US constitution is law; can you compile it into code such that a computer could tell you whether a particular piece of legislation was unconstitutional? If you could, why hasn't such a computer replaced most of the US Supreme Court?

One important thing to note is that, as far as I know, WhatsApp backups are stored in plain text. So to have secure messaging, you must disable backups and you must trust that the other people you're messaging have also disabled backups.

Like dang commented, I'm sure your comment was well-intentioned, so thanks for the "overly-hard slap on the back." And to respond to your first sentence: no. :)

This is profound, and I think you're correct.

Thanks, Maciej! (Current customer of Pinboard here). BTW, you're one of the people in tech I look up to most. Not because you're the richest or have the biggest company (SV dick measuring), but because I think you've figured out how to live best.

Thank you, and good luck to you!

That's a very good point. I've tried to be as modest as possible when talking to other people (e.g. "I'm working on a small software project" rather than "I'm building the biggest, best thing!"). I tend to roll my eyes when other people say stuff like that. Presentation is very important, though, and I'll certainly keep that in mind. Thanks.

Thanks for the comment. I know that most projects don't work out. The world doesn't owe anyone anything. I'm 100% okay with that. I'm just tired of other people shitting on me while I try my hardest.

I was always able to completely ignore the naysayers because it's a lot easier to judge than create. Still, it wasn't enough for success. I discovered it's the process of creation I really love, not creating technological things specifically like websites and apps. I recently started metalworking. I get the same satisfaction of creating, and at the end of the day, there's no button that will "delete" what I've created. But it's just something I do in my spare time. I'm also starting to believe that once you go from "hobby" to "job," you end up hating it because it's something you HAVE to do. Not something you WANT to do.

Well, it's kind of necessary in answering the question, "What are you doing with your life?"

I totally agree about the importance of honest feedback! Truthfully, it's something I'm not getting now and should work on.

Do a Show HN or share some of your work on Ask HN!