TechnoLawyer

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new eDiscovery program for litigation matters with a relatively small number of electronic documents (see article below), a Google Calendar enhancement for meetings, a Microsoft Office-compatible productivity suite for Android smartphones, and an email signature design service for law firms. Don't miss the next issue.

Affordable Electronic Discovery on the Desktop

While both large and small firms differ in some respects and certainly differ from corporate legal departments to an even greater degree, litigators in all three environments routinely handle relatively small matters. But you wouldn't know it given all the big iron products in the electronic discovery market. Even if a law firm has one of these expensive products, it might be overkill to use it for a lawsuit involving a handful of witnesses and a few thousand email messages and other documents. We recently learned about an eDiscovery program designed specifically for this common scenario.

Digital WarRoom Pro … in One Sentence
Gallivan, Gallivan & O'Melia's Digital WarRoom Pro (DWR Pro) is an all-in-one desktop eDiscovery program designed for litigation matters involving up to a million documents.

The Killer Feature
General counsel often complain about the spiraling costs of electronic discovery. These costs start from the very beginning because litigation service providers typically charge per gigabyte for the the initial processing of documents from key custodians. Even a small case can become costly with such processing — plus you're paying to process a lot of documents that will eventually prove irrelevant.

DWR Pro eliminates this cost. You literally drag and drop the custodian's documents into the program, which automatically handles the processing. For example, DWR Pro will preserve all the metadata, threading, and attachments in email files, unzip a collection of documents from .ZIP or other container files, and then index and create a searchable review database.

I met GGO's CEO Bill Gallivan at LegalTech New York earlier this year. "An estimated 70-85% of all matters involve smaller volumes of data," he told me. "The industry focus on high-end tools and custom processes has tended to disregard the cost and technical challenges faced by corporations, sole practitioners, and larger law firms alike when handling small and medium eDiscovery matters. DWR Pro levels the playing field. An individual litigator or litigation support professional can install DWR Pro, create a matter database, and conduct eDiscovery review on several gigabytes of documents within a few hours."

Other Notable Features
As Bill noted, DWR Pro doesn't just process email and other electronic documents, it also enables you to review this information. The "Robust Search" feature supports Boolean queries. Its "stemming" technology returns all words that use the same root (e.g., searching for "view" will also return documents with words like "viewing").

The "Find Similar" feature offers concept searching. Sort of like a thesaurus on steroids, it uses cognitive synonyms (synsets) to help you find documents with related key words that you may not think to enter in your search. For example, searching for "content" will also pull up documents containing words such as "photograph." You can toggle this feature off when you know exactly what you want.

When you start reviewing documents, you may not yet know the key witnesses. DWR Pro's "Who to Whom" technology graphically displays patterns of communications involving key words, enabling you to quickly identify the key custodians as well as other people of interest whose email and documents you may not yet possess.

Other features include de-duplication, issue code tagging, "Electronic Binders" for organizing key documents for depositions and productions, an activity and decision log to help demonstrate that you conducted your review in a defensible manner, unicode and multilingual support, and 30 reports to help you stay within your budget and on deadline.

What Else Should You Know?
DWR Pro runs on Windows and costs $895 for a single desktop license. You can use it for an unlimited number of matters, each of which can contain up to one million documents. There's no annual maintenance fee. If a case grows in complexity, you can move it from DWR Pro to one of GGO's products for larger cases — DWR Server (onsite) or DWR Remote (SaaS). Learn more about Digital WarRoom Pro.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: The PDF format has become the lingua franca for documents in the legal profession — and many PDF programs exist from which law firms can choose. Competition is good since it generally results in lower prices and better products — but it makes choosing a product much more difficult. In this TechnoFeature, legal technology consultant and Solo Practice University faculty member Caren Schwartz reviews Nuance's PDF Converter Enterprise 7, the latest version of its enterprise-class PDF software, which sells for about $150. From conversion to redaction to Bates stamping to OCR to Web capture to Microsoft Office integration and more, Caren thoroughly evaluates the features lawyers care about most. If you're searching for PDF software, start by reading Caren's exhaustive review.

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Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on February 15, 2010 in our free BigLaw newsletter. Instead of reading BigLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

Through mergers and acquisitions, many of today's larger firms find that they need to recreate chains of command and reporting lines. This scenario can create tension and competition, sometimes intentionally, until a new order is established. But whatever the size of your firm, and whatever the flavor of your political tension, following the ten tips below could prove key to your survival.

1. Do Your Job and Do It Well

Add business value. Make it your primary objective — always. If you catch yourself spending time getting caught up in matters related to interpersonal politics, and unrelated to your ability to get your job done, it's time to refocus.

2. Enjoy Yourself

Smile. Having a positive mindset not only makes work more pleasurable for you, but it also makes it less likely that people will take your off mood personally. A good attitude has the added bonus of making your co-workers want to be around you, and even want you to succeed.

3. Promote Yourself

Don't assume that everyone has noticed your efforts and understands the value you bring to the firm. Don't boast or brag or openly angle for credit. Self promote through an agenda of good work and make sure that body of work is widely known, especially outside of your department or practice group. If your boss is the only one who understands your value, then your job is only as secure as that of your boss, and you only hold your job upon your boss' good will.

4. Be Forthright

Nothing undermines your reputation faster than being caught in a lie or a half-truth. And as the offenses grow larger or more involved (e.g., trying to cover up something you've done), your chance of surviving a discovery of such transgressions decreases.

5. Admit Mistakes

Failing to admit when you've missed the mark in one way or another is a close second to lying. Conversely (though not necessarily intuitively), nothing earns respect faster than being willing to stand up and take it on the chin when you've erred.

6. Be Respectful of Everyone

Don't gossip about fellow employees. Leave your personal life at home. And leave discussion of others at the door. Remove yourself (non-judgmentally) when others are doing so by letting folks know you need to get back to work.

7. Listen to People

Make eye contact. Stop thinking about what you're going to say next. Attentive listening earns you points with someone quickly. And failing to listen will erode their opinion of you just as fast.

8. Observe the Chain of Command

The first stop in resolving a problem with another employee is to talk with them directly. If this strategy fails, be aware of your respective places in the chain of command. It may be necessary to have your boss communicate with theirs. But don't let them meet without all parties present. The situation can easily be misunderstood by those not directly involved, or could even be swept under the rug.

9. Communicate

Don't leave people wondering or out of the loop. Nothing raises flags in the minds of people who might be suspicious of your motives than cutting them out of a discussion, or failing to notify them about a meeting, a decision, or a change in plans.

10. Be the Bigger Person

People generally aren't malicious. But they often operate from fear. Sometimes the source of their fear is clear — job security. Often, the source is trickier to identify. Perhaps their self-esteem is on the line, or they have personal issues at home. No matter the source of their perceived malice, it's always better not to take things personally and stay above the fray. If you can do so and remain objective, not only will you have the moral highground, but you will also avoid getting dirty yourself from having been involved in mudslinging.

Conclusion

Given human nature, it's inevitable to find yourself in situations in which politics and power struggles affect your quality of life at work. When it happens, focus on the basics as outlined above. You can't change the people around you. But if you focus on doing the right thing yourself, I can promise that at the very least you will sleep better at night.

Written by Matthew Berg, Director of IT at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C..

How to Receive BigLaw
Many large firms have good reputations for their work and bad reputations as places to work. Why? Answering this question requires digging up some dirt, but we do with the best of intentions. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, BigLaw analyzes the business practices, marketing strategies, and technologies used by the country's biggest law firms in an effort to unearth best and worst practices. The BigLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 136 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:

Review: Logitech K750 Solar Powered Keyboard

New Site Provides Database of Mobile Apps for Law

Why So Many Lawyers Moonlight Nowadays

Can Snooki Save Your Law Practice?

Don't miss this issue or future issues.

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Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Anthony Campbell, Review: Worldox GX2

Sam Mattern, Review: Acrobat Professional v. CVista PdfCompressor for Batch Processing

Ken Laska, The Sad Math Behind Suing Your Non-Paying Clients

Denise Yancey, File Naming Tips Revisited

Elaine LaPointe, Review: MessageSave For Archiving Emails

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new version of a popular document assembly program (see article below), an iPad app for signing PDF documents, an Android and BlackBerry app that automates conference calls, an online time-tracking service that integrates with QuickBooks, and a thermometer and accompanying iOS app that helps you cook steaks and other meat to perfection (though it won't fetch you a beer). Don't miss the next issue.

If You Can Drive a Car, You Can Use This Software

I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that the most popular legal software of all time is … "shelfware." For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it refers to software purchased with the best of intentions but quickly abandoned or never used at all. Many software purchases end up on the shelf because lawyers find them too complex or overwhelming. To use an analogy, a lot more people drive cars than fly airplanes. It takes very little time to learn how to drive a car. Airplanes require significantly more training. A software company in Virginia has a new product that attempts to make document assembly as easy to use as driving a car, which means you might actually use it instead of placing it on your shelf alongside that model airplane.

Pathagoras 2011 … in One Sentence
Innovative Software Products of Virginia's Pathagoras 2011 is a document automation system that works within Microsoft Word.

The Killer Feature
Are you a programmer? If not, you're in luck. Pathagoras requires no programming. Instead, you create document variables by typing simple "from the keyboard" characters.

Your templates contain "variables" such as "testator." These variables enable you to quickly assemble highly personalized documents by simply replacing these variables with names and other such information.

You can save the values you assign to your variables for reuse in any number of other documents. The company refers to this method of saving and resusing variable/value pairings as an "Instant Database" because there's no setup involved.

"From the first day I began programming Pathagoras, my goal was to create a fully functional yet easy to use document assembly system," Innovative Software Products of Virginia founder Roy Lasris told us. "I knew that that more power, more functions, and complex setup don't lead to more use. So, with the KISS principle firmly in mind, I created Pathagoras to operate wholly within the host word processor using simple variables."

Other Notable Features
Pathagoras 2011 offers a number of other new features. For example, it now automatically creates data collection and interview forms so you can literally create documents in realtime with your client sitting in front of your desk.

Pathagoras' popular Drop Down Lists now support up to 10 folders located anywhere — locally, on a network drive, or on a cloud storage service. These folders store your most-frequently used variable clauses.

Before you can "assemble," you must disassemble. Thus Pathagoras enables you to deconstruct existing model documents into their component clauses, saving you time when you want to use Pathagoras to create a new document type.

Other features include administrative controls for organizing and renaming your growing collection of clauses, document management from with Microsoft Word, and a new version of Pathagoras' "Absolute Basics No-Setup Guide" for new users.

What Else Should You Know?
Pathagoras runs on Windows within Microsoft Word. The first license costs $379. Additional licenses cost $250 each. The company also offers a "3-pack" for $799. Technical support is unlimited without any annual maintenance fees. You can try it for free for 90 days. Learn more about Pathagoras 2011.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: As children, we all used the not-so-persuasive argument, "Because." Since the 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, many litigators have successfully used two adult variations of this argument to escape demands for electronically stored information (ESI) — "It's too expensive" and "It's impossible." But the times are changing. In this TechnoFeature, eDiscovery expert and lawyer Josh Gilliland explains why judges increasingly find such arguments unpersuasive. If you want to obtain ESI from your adversary, Josh offers essential tips on how to overcome an "unduly burdensome" claim. On the flip-side, if you want to escape an ESI request, Josh explains what you need to show beyond the above two catchphrases.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on February 8, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

No doubt about it. The fun part of opening a law practice is buying the technology. Honestly, what provides more of a thrill than walking the electronics store aisles with a clear intent to buy. The latest in laptops and touchscreen tablets. And that new technology smell. You just know that whatever you carry out those doors will enable you to start a successful law firm.

If You Have Technology, You Must Have a Law Firm

So, Day 1 of your new practice, you get back to your just-moved-into office. You've got a desk, a big executive chair, maybe even a conference table. But still, the walls seem a little empty.

You unpack your new computer. You place the multifunction printer/scanner/copier/fax in just the right place, a crisp executive-chair swivel away from your designated but still as yet unused desk work zone. Now your office is beginning to look like a real law office. Clearly, you are a lawyer.

You turn on the computer for the first time, with its lightning-fast response and virginal hard drive. You set up your Internet access, smartphone, wireless network, email client, practice management system (I use Clio), Adobe Acrobat Professional (everyone says you need it), portable hard drive, online backup, eFax, and maybe even a little voice recognition software because you can't afford a legal assistant … yet.

That takes all of Day 1 and Day 2. It's fun. You probably even stay late. The technology is something you can control. It's your system, the foundation of your soon to be overwhelmingly successful practice. And, you tell yourself, these aren't toys. Not like all your other gadgets and gizmos. These are the powerful tools of the trade, not for idle gaming, music, and videos, but for the advancement of noble justice … and, while you're at it, for making gobs of money.

A Reality Check on What Truly Makes a Law Firm a Law Firm

So you come in Day 3. Man, the technology really brings the office together. You sit in your executive chair … and do what?

That's when you feel it in your stomach — the feeling kids have Christmas night, the feeling compulsive shoppers have after they realize their latest expensive purchase didn't change a thing in their miserable lives, the feeling many of us got when our first Palm Pilot turned out not to be the grand life organizer we dreamed about. You know what I'm talking about.

The letdown. That's when you have your first, but trust me, not your last, "What Have I Done?" moment.

I'll tell you what happened. You've been seduced by sweet, beautiful technology.

It turns out computers and iPhones can't bring in clients. Technology can't craft an argument or walk you through the endless and bewildering court procedures. Sure, a computer can read to you. But it can't explain what the words mean. Technology without purpose is just a toy, or worse, a waste of money. And right now money's not something you've got.

Hence, the lessons I learned from my first year of practice.

Lesson One: Technology is the great equalizer for small law firms. Or perhaps it's more apt to say that it keeps us in the game. It reduces start-up costs. Just about anyone with a JD can give it a go. A lawyer can now carry his or her practice in a briefcase. Research, communications, client files. Everything. It's absolutely remarkable. But technology has not changed that age-old requirement in the practice of law — drumming up business.

Lesson Two: It takes Google a while to actually find your new Web site. Get started on that early, create a Google Webmaster account, and submit a sitemap. But understand that even an award-worthy law firm Web site won't have clients beating a path to your door. Instead, you've got to get out there and, well, indulge in some good old-fashioned white collar begging. You've got to secure referrals. You've got to take just about everything. But not everything.

Lesson Three: Don't take everything. There are some clients and cases even a starving lawyer should refuse. Step away from the computer. Latch yourself to an established attorney. Ask questions. If available in your area, volunteer at a legal assistance center (you probably have the time). Join community organizations. Study. Eat a few fees knowing that you'll be paid with experience.

Final Lesson: Establish a retainer policy and get the money up front.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 133 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:

The Most Reliable Legal Technology Study Ever

Why I Still Don't Love My iPad and Why the iPad 2 Won't Help

What America's Lawyers Earn

The Truth About Guest Blogging

This issue also contains links to every article in the February 2011 issue of Law Practice Today. Don't miss this issue or future issues.

How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

Miriam Jacobson, Small Firms and Cutting-Edge Technology: Mutually Exclusive?

Rick Borstein, Fujitsu ScanSnap Scanners, Adobe Acrobat, and TWAIN

Ian Page-Echols, Amendment to Lee Rosen's Personal Hygiene Mistakes

Question of the Week: Whom Did You Hire and Why?

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Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.