TechnoLawyer: Litigation/Discovery/Trials

Coming July 3, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Neil Packard reviews Screen Pass and provides two methods of securing network folders, and Steven Brower discusses the issues firms face when handling electronic data during discovery, including clueless adversaries. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 30, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Paul Easton reviews PaperPort and Nuance's technical support (plus shares his thoughts on paid support in general), and Philip Franckel reviews Canon's ScanFront 220P and LexisNexis CaseMap. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers redaction software (see article below), an online backup and file sharing service, and an online conference call service. Don't miss the next issue.

For Your Eyes Only
By Peter R. Olson

From the Bay of Pigs to Watergate to Valerie Plame, we've always had a fascination with our nation's clandestine service. But if you've ever bothered to make a FOIA request, you'll often find page after page of supposedly declassified information redacted. Annoying. But certainly understandable since you often use this same tool in your own practice to protect confidential client information — but hopefully not with white tape.

Redact-It Desktop 1.0 from Informative Graphics provides a number of automated redaction tools designed for computer files. You can use Redact-It Desktop to remove sensitive contents from briefs, exhibits, and more before sharing them with courts, government agencies, or another party.

Redact-It Desktop includes predefined macros that automatically redact names, social security and credit card numbers, and other such items. You can also create customized macros to search for and redact words, phrases, and images. You can review recommended redactions, modify them if necessary, and produce a new redacted file for distribution.

To further simplify the redaction process, Redact-It Desktop includes easy-to-use pop-up lists to select standard search items. Redact-It Desktop highlights the terms you want to redact for easy review. Best of all, it does not alter your original file. Redact-It Desktop can add Bates stamps and watermarks too.

In addition to redacting documents, Redact-It Desktop also removes metadata (hidden information such as authors and revisions). Redact-It Desktop outputs your redacted document in PDF or TIFF format, or in Informative Graphics' Content Sealed Format (CSF), which provides additional security as they cannot be altered. Recipients can download the free Brava viewer to open CSF files.

Informative Graphics offers a free trial version of Redact-It Desktop. Pricing starts at $195 for a single-user license. Learn more about Redact-It Desktop.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a document grouping application to expedite the early stages of discovery (see article below), a service that enables law firms to accept credit cards, and an online store that can digitize your old photos, film, records, video tapes, and more. Don't miss the next issue.

Group Therapy for Discovery Documents
By Peter R. Olson

Let's face it — having your most junior paralegal handle the first cut of documents in your cases is probably not a good idea. But who else higher up in your firm would volunteer for this critical but grueling chore? No one is the likely answer. You need someone like Mikey — that kid who hated everything except Life cereal or in your case document review. Good luck.

Instead of searching for someone who doesn't exist, Clustify from Hot Neuron can help you with this task. Clustify groups similar documents into groups or clusters, providing quick insight into the contents of each document set. These clusters enable you to make decisions one cluster at a time instead of one document at a time, streamlining the document review that you and your experienced personnel conduct after the initial cut.

Whether used in Clustify's own user interface or within your preferred document review platform, Clustify identifies document keywords and then groups documents by keyword sets. You can sort by specific keywords, phrases, or even long passages. Clustify labels a "representative document" for each cluster.

Clustify offers a number of review tools. For example, you can compare specific documents side-by-side with Clustify's document comparison tool. Clustify highlights the changes for you. Clustify also offers custom tagging to categorize documents as you review them. Apply a tag to a single document, all documents in a cluster, or all clusters containing a certain combination of keywords. You can tag hundreds of documents with a single mouse click and link documents to other documents. This automated categorization improves the quality of document review because you can assign related documents to a single reviewer instead of having reviewers skip from one topic to another.

Clustify supports most document formats you're likely to encounter, including PDF, Microsoft Office, WordPerfect and HTML. Clustify runs on Windows and Linux. Learn more about Clustify.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a video email service, and Outlook plug-in that makes your email messages more useful and easier to find (see article below), and a Web-based suite of tools to help you assess and improve the document review process. Don't miss the next issue.

Fall in Love With Email All Over Again
By Peter R. Olson

Email. You can't live without it, but living with it has become a challenge because email today doesn't look a whole lot different than email a decade ago. But you use it differently. And because it has become much more important, the volume of messages you need to process has ballooned. Time for an upgrade don't you think?

Xobni ("inbox" spelled backwards) is an Outlook plug-in that analyzes your email messages to supply you with the information you need. For example, Xobni offers "lightning fast search." Xobni begins to display results as you type and separates contacts, messages, and attachments. Xobni also groups your messages into threaded conversations — even if the subject of a related message has changed.

Xobni doesn't just search and group, however. It also transforms Outlook into a Facebook-like social network except with no setup required and no annoying email alerts informing you that a friend just ate a lightly-buttered English muffin.

Select a message and instantly see useful data such as past sent and received email involving that contact along with an email frequency ranking, and a time of day chart that tracks when the contact typically sends email. Xobni also provides a detailed view of all past document exchanges for each contact. You can even discover shared friends.

Tired of copying and pasting information from email signatures? Xobni extracts telephone numbers from messages and automatically displays them for each contact. With one click you can add phone numbers to your address book. Xobni also facilitates the scheduling of meetings. One click creates an email message listing your available times based on your Outlook calendar. You can of course edit the message before sending it out.

Xobni currently works with Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. The company plans to integrate Xobni with other email clients in the future. For now, Xobni is free. Learn more about Xobni.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 13, 2008 to Fat Friday: John Pierce explains how his mail server setup takes the hassle out of email, Carlton Barnes reviews SafeCopy 2.1 mobile edition, Steven Schwaber compares Word and WordPerfect and explains why he wants a word processor not artificial intelligence, Terry Flanagan suggests an alternative venue for LegalTech, and Brent Blanchard writes in questioning how TechnoLawyer handled a recent Post about a member's trouble with her Palm Treo (and we provide a clarification). Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers legal forms that come bundled with automation software (see article below), contact and project management software for Mac users, and a Web application for managing your eDiscovery workflow, including legal holds. Don't miss the next issue.

Smart Legal Forms
By Peter R. Olson

Law students daydream about writing perfect legal documents. But real lawyers don't have time to daydream, and their clients don't want them to reinvent the wheel. Thus, while a law student may fret over some inconsequential detail, lawyers just want to know — Who's got the best legal form?

Masterform offers customizable legal forms for lawyers that come embedded in a document automation program that looks like a word processor. The automation features help you transform Masterform's document into your client's document. Plus, you need to make your changes only once and the form does the rest.

Masterform's documents provide standard word processing tools, but the automation tools make the documents much more flexible. For example, the forms contain blue hypertext links in nearly every paragraph. When you click, a pop-up window appears from which you can select options such as paragraph numbering or a particular clause. Click on green hypertext links for pop-up "information windows" with hints and legal references.

Masterform legal forms also save you time by automatically renumbering paragraphs, changing clause references throughout the form, inserting data such as your client's name, and matching all gender-specific words. When you're done modifying your legal form, a single click removes the embedded hyperlinks to save or print a clean, professional-looking document. You can save it in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF format, or leave it in Masterform.

Masterform currently offers the following forms: Distribution Agreement, Consulting or Services Agreements, Employee Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete, Employment Agreement, Equipment Purchase Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Web Site Development Agreement, and Work Order Agreement.

Masterform's legal forms are free for three months. After this free trial period ends, you can purchase a registration key for unlimited use for $95 per form. Learn more about Masterform.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an appliance and accompanying software for finding evidence on backup tapes during discovery or for compliance purposes (see article below), a practice management suite with a document assembly engine for law firms in high-volume practice areas (e.g., personal injury, real estate, etc.), and deposition and trial presentation software that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Don't miss the next issue.

Nixon's Not the Only One With Secrets on Tape
By Peter Olson

Remember backup tapes? Thank goodness hard drives have largely replaced them. Or so you thought. Lots of backup tapes still exist, many created with backup software that no longer exists. If you haven't yet received backup tapes from your clients during discovery, give it time. It's bound to happen sooner or later.

Index Engines' Tape Engine 2.5 aims to take the time and hassle out of retrieving backed-up data by searching offline tape data locked in unsupported, old back-up formats. Tape Engine unlocks the data contained on backup tapes, making individual files and email easily accessible, whether for discovery purposes or regulatory compliance.

A hardware appliance with proprietary software, Tape Engine indexes tapes and makes the data immediately searchable. Importantly, you need not restore the backup tape using the original backup software. In other words, no need to hunt for old software (and a computer to run it) on eBay.

The scanning operation begins when a backup tape is mounted into a tape drive connected to Tape Engine. Tape Engine also works with virtual tape libraries. The indexing software reads through the contents of the tape, and creates full content and metadata indexes for files, email, and other electronic documents.

Tape Engine supports many backup formats, including CA ArcServe, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec, and EMC NetWorker. Indexing occurs at tape speed (there's no getting around the laws of physics), but the footprint of the index is just 5-8% of the size of the original data, which translates into speedy searches.

Each Tape Engine can scale to 200 million files or email messages with clustered configurations available for larger environments. It supports common unstructured file types such as documents, spreadsheets, text, HTML, and PDF files, as well as Microsoft Exchange and other email systems.

Tape Engine uses a Google-like search interface that returns queries in one second or less. Dynamic de-duplication means that every file listed is unique. You can search specific parameters such as name, date, email address, etc. Once you find what you need, you can extract only those files. Learn more about Tape Engine.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming May 23, 2008 to Fat Friday: Heather Hoganson shares her thoughts on CLE courses, Brent Blanchard explains why he thinks Microsoft is guilty of restraint of trade practices, Edward Schoenecker walks through the steps for importing an IPRO file into TrialDirector, Yvonne Renfrew reminisces about CaseMap co-founder Greg Krehel, and James MacMillan discusses his experience ordering from Dell. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming May 22, 2008 to Answers to Questions: John Starkweather reviews MasterFile litigation support software, Miriam Jacobson explains how she set up her scanner on a wireless network, Kendra Kleber shares the details of her office furniture setup and why it works for her, Douglas Folk provides a simple solution to keep power fluctuations from affecting legal software (and damaging hardware), and Andrew Willinger reviews Yahoo Calendar for law firms. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.