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Empirical SCOTUS on Judge Brett Kavanaugh Plus 47 More Must-Reads

By TechnoLawyer | Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 48 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

President Trump Announces the Nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to SCOTUS (Video)

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Majority Opinions

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Concurring Opinions

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Dissenting Opinions

David Lat on Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Go to the Scene and Go the Extra Mile

"Private" Facebook Posts Are Discoverable

Congratulations to Dr. Adam Feldman of Empirical SCOTUS on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: Expect Kavanaugh To Shift the Court Right. How Far No One Knows.

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

Microsoft Word Secrets for Litigators Plus 39 More Must-Reads

By TechnoLawyer | Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 40 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

How Have Courts Addressed Proportionality Since the FRCP Amendments?

Who's Paying for Your Litigation?

May a 30(B)(6) Designee Review Documents During a Deposition?

Court Refuses Disproportionate Production of "Every Shred" of Evidence

Congratulations to Joseph Regalia of Appellate Advocacy Blog on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: Technology Should't be a Legal Writer's Trigger Word

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Business Productivity/Word Processing | Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

When to Choose Mediation and Tips for a Successful Result

By TechnoLawyer | Monday, June 18, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Most lawsuits settle but relatively few by means of mediation. This often overlooked tool can result in better or at least more predictable outcomes than arbitration or trial. For this issue of LitigationWorld, lawyer and journalist Chris Freiberg talked to several lawyers and mediators with decades of experience to inform you about which cases work best, how to choose a mediator, when to begin mediation, and much more. Also, don't miss the LitigationWorld Pick of the Week for a study on using negativity in legal writing.

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. LitigationWorld also features in-depth litigation product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings, as well as links to the most noteworthy litigation articles in other publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

Litigation Boutique Offers Flat Fees Plus 46 More Must-Reads

By TechnoLawyer | Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 47 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

BriefCatch Offers a Shortcut to the Perfect Brief

The Demand Letter: A Legal Writing Exercise Using BriefCatch

Witness Preparation for Depositions and Trials Are Not the Same

The Best Structure for Creating Trial Graphics

Congratulations to Stephanie Russell-Kraft of Big Law Business on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: Women-Led Trial Firm Remakes Old Model

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

BriefCatch Offers a Shortcut to the Perfect Brief

By TechnoLawyer | Monday, June 4, 2018

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a Microsoft Word add-in that scores your briefs and offers a spellchecker-like tool which suggests corrections and stylistic improvements (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of cloud software for paperless deposition exhibits that gives you precise control over what the deponent sees and which can generate a hyperlinked report of all marked exhibits, billing and task management software designed to handle any financial model you devise, including the option to outsource drudgery such as mailing bills, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.

You may have the talent to write the perfect brief, but can you afford to spend that much time on it? Can your client? Why do all this work yourself when you can have one of the country's top legal writing experts edit your work? While you could hire this person, it'll cost you a lot less to use software that embodies his skills.

BriefCatch … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Legal Writing Pro's BriefCatch is a Microsoft Word add-in that scores your briefs, memos, and other documents, and suggests corrections and improvements.

The Killer Feature

Lawyer Ross Guberman built a successful legal writing consultancy, but he wanted to help more lawyers than time permitted. So he spent 18 months working with software developers to incorporate his legal writing knowledge into BriefCatch. Guberman also obtained input from 350 judges.

Much as Guberman himself might start a one-on-one session with an overall assessment, BriefCatch starts by scanning your document and assigning five different scores — Reading Happiness, Sentence Length, Flow, Punchiness, and Plain English. BriefCatch uses a scale of 100 for each score. As you edit your brief on your own or by accepting BriefCatch's suggestions, you can monitor the improvement in your scores.

BriefCatch also generates a Narrative Report — essentially a written report card that explains the pros and cons of your document and how BriefCatch will help you improve it.

"BriefCatch offers instant access to the skills I've long taught at top firms and courts, the tips in my bestselling book for advocates, and the insights I've gleaned from polling hundreds of judges and clients," says Guberman.

Other Notable Features

After gazing at your scores, it's time to get to work with BriefCatch's help. Guberman tells me that BriefCatch is more comprehensive than competing products. For example, BriefCatch identifies inconsistent serial comma use, language lawyers like but judges hate, unusually long sentences, commonly confused words (e.g., breech, statue), repetitive transitions, citation errors, and much more (see the entire list).

This level of detail gives the impression of a nuanced approach that belies the cudgel-like nature of most software. This is best exemplified by BriefCatch's ability to flag passive voice except for certain phrases that lawyers purposely use.

BriefCatch highlights all the potential problems in yellow and displays a spellchecker-like panel to the right. The panel explains why it flagged the word, phrase, or citation, and in most cases offers several alternatives instead of just one. You can accept the suggestion, ignore it, or ignore all such suggestions throughout the document. BriefCatch lists a running total of "changes" versus "ignores."

During my demo, BriefCatch caught a misuse of the word "belies" (unlike my correct use above) in a recent DOJ brief. BriefCatch suggested replacing it with "reveals" or "shows," either of which I can confirm would have corrected and clarified the sentence.

"This product is sublime," says Chris Bayh, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg. "Each time it gives me a couple dozen great notes, making a big difference in flow and punchiness. It also helps to make the next brief better the first time."

What Else Should You Know?

BriefCatch resides on Microsoft Word's Ribbon and runs locally, not in the cloud. It costs $240 annually per user (you can get a free trial before buying). Learn more about BriefCatch.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Litigation/Discovery/Trials | TL NewsWire

Don't Write "Like a Lawyer": Three Golden Rules of Legal Writing and Essential References

By TechnoLawyer | Thursday, May 31, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Of all the misinformation that exists in the legal profession, none is more destructive than anachronisms about legal writing. In this issue of LitigationWorld, New Jersey lawyer Ed Zohn uses recent examples from opposing counsel (with names removed to protect the guilty) to reveal three legal writing sins that many lawyers mistakenly consider virtues. Zohn then lets you on three golden rules that will set your legal writing on a better path. He also points to essential references, including one on writing email. Also, don't miss the Litigationworld Pick of the Week for a primer on rhetoric for practicing attorneys.

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. LitigationWorld also features in-depth litigation product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings, as well as links to the most noteworthy litigation articles in other publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

Five Cloud Startups Take on CaseMap Plus 46 More Must-Reads

By TechnoLawyer | Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 47 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

Creatively Harvesting Bluebook Data

What's in a Parenthetical?

Focus on Your Depositions, Not Arts and Crafts Projects

Slack in Discovery: A Challenge + Opportunity

Congratulations to Shannon Fitzgerald of Law Technology Today on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: The Legal Software Category You've Never Heard of: Fact Management

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

Focus on Your Depositions, Not Arts and Crafts Projects

By TechnoLawyer | Thursday, May 24, 2018

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers cloud software for paperless deposition exhibits that gives you precise control over what the deponent sees and which can generate a hyperlinked report of all marked exhibits (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of billing and task management software designed to handle any financial model you devise, including the option to outsource drudgery such as mailing bills, a major practice management update, including a new Android and iOS app that automatically captures time for calls and email, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.

For a discovery tool designed to elicit important testimony, depositions often resemble an arts and crafts project. Printing exhibits is time consuming and can get expensive. When you need to travel for a deposition so do your exhibits, which may require shipping them. Given that laptops and iPads have practically become a birthright, it seems like a good time to switch to paperless deposition exhibits.

eDepoze … in One Sentence

eDepoze is a paperless deposition exhibit service that works in web browsers and in a dedicated iPad app.

The Killer Feature

When you depose a witness, you want as much control as possible. You don't want a witness paging aimlessly through an exhibit you just handed out. It's also important to avoid creating a confusing record that fails to capture a witness' interactions with an exhibit.

eDepoze addresses both of these challenges. In presentation mode, you can control which page of the exhibit the deponent sees, and zoom in to make it easier for the deponent to focus on what you're asking about.

Annotation tools such as arrows, highlights, circles, and freestyle drawing can help clarify the deponent's testimony and create useful evidence. During my demo, Division President Jeremy Lindahl showed me how a deponent could mark on a photo where an accident occurred.

"Our goal at eDepoze is to change the way corporations and law firms approach the deposition exhibit process," Lindahl tells me. "Paper is outdated, limited, unsecure, extremely wasteful, and simply unnecessary. eDepoze gives you a better option. Features like Presentation Mode give you more control over your depositions."

"eDepoze actually makes me want to take depositions," says Joseph Baghat, managing attorney of The Privacy Firm.

Other Notable Features

Before your deposition, setup the case in the WebManager, designate the upcoming event (e.g., deposition, witness prep, arbitration) and create deponent case folders. Then upload your exhibits from your desktop or import from Box or Dropbox cloud storage services. In the iPad app, you can add photos from the Photos app. eDepoze supports PDF and text documents as well as common formats for audio, images, and video.

In the case folders for a deponent, choose which documents you may want to use during the deposition and arrange them to correlate with your outline. For physical evidence, eDepoze offers a placeholder so that you can record the exhibit number when introduced. If a previously unknown document surfaces at a deposition, you can add it on the fly. Some eDepoze users have a paralegal monitor the deposition remotely in case they need any additional documents.

During a deposition, you can stamp exhibits before or after you introduce them using any alphanumeric sequence. You can also pass control of eDepoze to other lawyers at a multi-party deposition. eDepoze offers a chat feature that everyone except the witness can use. This enables you to communicate with a colleague without leaving eDepoze. After each deposition, generate an Exhibit Log Report listing all the exhibits you introduced with hyperlinks to each document.

What Else Should You Know?

eDepoze offers two pricing options. You can pay $300 per deponent per day without any subsequent commitments. This makes it easy to bill your client for the eDepoze service as a flat cost. Alternatively, eDepoze offers an annual subscription with unlimited depositions that costs $400 per month. Learn more about eDepoze.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Litigation/Discovery/Trials | TL NewsWire

Micro-Symposium on Legal Writing Tips Part 1 of 2

By TechnoLawyer | Friday, May 18, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Most pens are not mightier than swords but the legal pen is. For this reason, most litigators eagerly seek legal writing tips to gain an extra edge. For this issue of LitigationWorld, we conducted one of our hallmark Micro-Symposiums and asked experienced litigators to share their best legal writing tips. Got tips of your own? We thought so. Next week we'll publish your legal writing tips in Part 2. Also, don't miss the LitigationWorld Pick of the Week for the impact of amended Federal Rule of Evidence 902 on the authentication and admissibility of electronic evidence.

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. LitigationWorld also features in-depth litigation product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings, as well as links to the most noteworthy litigation articles in other publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

Review of CaseMap 13 Plus 45 More Must-Reads

By TechnoLawyer | Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 46 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

Putting Justice Gorsuch to the Test of Three Legal Editing Programs

Ediscovery Work Moves In-House to Cut Costs, Survey Finds

Trial Lawyers, Relinquish the Clicker

Private Facebook Posts Could Be Fair Game for Discovery

Former Football Players Sanctioned for Failure to Produce

Congratulations to Daniel J. Siegel of Law Practice on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: Review of CaseMap 13

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld
 
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