TechnoLawyer: Litigation/Discovery/Trials

Coming April 29, 2005 to Fat Friday: David Umbaugh reflects on how technology has enabled him to reduce his staff by nearly 50% over the past three years, Richard Siferd serves up three tips for buying legal software that will surely generate some controversy, Spencer Rhodes explores the shortcomings of the two leading image formats (PDF and TIFF), and Derek Stolp adds his two cents to the recent debate over using cheap PCs in a law firm. Lastly, Steven Finell responds to my comment about last year's presidential election with an essay that belongs in the Washington Post though we're happy to have it in Fat Friday. Don't miss this issue.

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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 April 26, 2005 to TechnoFeature: During the Robert Blake murder trial, M. Gerald Schwartzbach and his defense team called upon trial and technology consultant Ted Brooks to assist with the trial presentation. In this article, Ted shares his perspective, and provides a behind-the-scenes look at this widely-followed celebrity trial. In particular, he contrasts the trial presentation methods used by the defense and prosecution.

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Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

This past week in TechnoRelease:

• Anthony Vlahos of LexisNexis used lyrics from Radiohead's critically-acclaimed album OK Computer to discuss the increasingly time-constrained and gadget-dependent legal profession. He then explained how lawyers can use Lexis Nexis Time Matters 6 as part of a "personal action plan" to regain control over their life and practice.

• Fios announced a free April 19th Webcast entitled Understanding the Proposed FRCP Amendments — with Adam Cohen of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Listen in as Adam discusses everything from planning for and dealing with damaging e-mail to the ease of manipulating and altering electronic information.

• Insys Development introduced Escrow Organizer, which enables you to manage the receipts and disbursements of client funds. Insys is offering a $35 discount to TechnoLawyer members until April 30, 2005.

• CleanerInbox.com invited TechnoLawyer members to try its Postini e-mail filtering, which "provides comprehensive protection effectively eliminating threats before they impact your network." CleanerInbox.com is offering TechnoLawyer members a discount plus free setup.

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TechnoRelease is a weekly newsletter in which legal vendors tell an ongoing story about their products and services, often providing freebies, discounts, and other special offers to TechnoLawyer members in the process. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming April 15, 2005 to Fat Friday: Quite possibly the best Fat Friday newsletter ever, Kevin Grierson explores whether legal blogs are worth the effort, Yvonne Renfrew discusses Acrobat's 7's little-known killer feature for lawyers, and David Swanner sets forth 12 technology tips for trial lawyers (most of the tips apply to all lawyers not to mention law firm administrators). 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 April 12, 2005 to TechnoFeature: Trial presentations were complex long before the technology revolution of the 1990s, but since that time, the choices for presenting e vidence in the courtroom have multiplied considerably. Despite having more options available, the fundamentals of trial advocacy remain unchanged: you must present a believable story to a jury using relevant evidence, and convince them to decide in your favor. In this article, trial presentation expert Barry Brian Wheeler takes a look at the considerations necessary for choosing and using technology that can turn a good trial presentation into a winning trial presentation.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Let this E-Discovery Guide Lead the Way
By Brett Burney
Today's litigator faces a Mount Everest-like challenge — find the key documents and e-mail messages from among the tens of thousands that reside on the computer hard drives at issue in a discovery request or subpoena. Just as you would not try to tackle Mount Everest without the help of a Sherpa, you probably won't want to tackle a discoverable hard drive without the help of Sherpa Software's Discovery Attender. This electronic discovery tool enables you to conduct "dynamic keyword searches" (including Boolean queries and wildcards) on any electronic media. Discovery attender can also perform searches by age, type, sender/recipient, and many other parameters. In addition to searching the content of Microsoft Office and other such documents, Discovery Attender can also search Exchange mailboxes, Outlook PST files, and Lotus Notes mailboxes. A wizard-like interface makes this powerful tool easy to use. When Discovery Attender finds the keywords you seek, it summarizes the information and places both the summary and a link to the original item in a detailed report. Importantly, Discovery Attender searches in a nondestructive, secure manner that preserves the metadata associated with each document. In addition to its search capabilities, Discovery Attender can also copy files, messages, and attachments to a repository for safe-keeping. Discovery Attender works with virtually all versions of Windows, and can search Exchange 5.5 and higher and Outlook 98 and higher. Learn more about Discovery Attender.

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.