TechnoLawyer

Coming February 8, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Winlock Brown offers up some helpful suggestions for finding and displaying GIS data for trial, Mark Sargis reviews the HP 4345 and provides some tips for everyday use, Michael Mulchay reviews Tabs3 for time and billing, August Landi explains which word processor finally persuaded him to "upgrade" (if you can call it that) from his 26 year old IBM Displaywriter, and Jim Grennan reviews Send2Fax for online faxing. 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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers an email discovery appliance, PDF software for lawyers, and a free project manager. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

PDF for Lawyers
By Dennis Kennedy

Once upon a time, lawyers were grateful for PDF simply because of its ability to preserve the layout of the original document. Legal life was good. But then lawyers became more demanding of PDF, particularly when clients, discovery requests, and other aspects of their job became more demanding of them. Legal life was not so good.

Enter Bluebeam Software's Bluebeam PDF Revu, a "complete PDF solution," which means that in addition to viewing PDF files, you can also create, edit, and comment on them.  Bluebeam PDF Revu can also convert any file to TIF, JPG, GIF, BMP, PSD, PNG, EMF, WMF or PCL.

If you use Microsoft Office, you can use Bluebeam PDF Revu to create PDF files from Office documents with one click of your mouse. Even better, within Outlook you can automatically convert attachments to PDF upon sending the message. When converting Office documents, PDF Revu offers many security features (e.g., preventing the copying of images or text) plus you can apply watermarks and stamps such as date, time, document name, path, etc.

Other useful features include the ability to print any document to PDF, add images to PDF files, create bookmarks within PDF files, create PDF booklets with the "Bluebeam Stapler," copy and paste exactly what you want ("True Text"), and work on a Tablet PC.

That's all well and good, but where is the legal love? Bluebeam designed its new version 5 with lawyers in mind. For example, litigators can apply Bates stamps. You can standardize Bates stamping in your firm by creating Bates stamp templates with a prefix, suffix, and any number of digits.

With Bluebeam PDF Revu 5, you can also permanently redact text or images. The redaction tool doesn't cover the information. Instead, it actually removes it from the file. You can black out these areas if preparing files for discovery. If you're working on a document of your own, you can replace the excised material with different material.

Bluebeam PDF Revu 5 also has features for corporate lawyers, namely the ability to compare PDF documents. Bluebeam PDF Revu sells for $149 with volume discounts available. Learn more about Bluebeam PDF Revu 5.

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 February 1, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Karl M. Rowe shares his thoughts on the Word v. WordPerfect debate (you thought it was over?), Harold Goldner shares some iPod cassette adaptor tips plus he unknowingly sparks a debate on iPod sound quality with our publisher, Ronald Gossett offers advice for configuring your imageRUNNER 5000 to work with Adobe Acrobat, Brett Burney reviews his experience with Bluehost and lists a few other Web hosting options, and Bobby Abrams reviews his HP LaserJet 4 and offers up a first look at Windows Vista 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.

Coming January 30, 2007 to TechnoFeature: A picture is worth a thousand words — so where better to use visuals than a courtroom?  In this article, graphics consultant Nicole Matthiesen discusses why, in our increasingly media-saturated world, the lawyer who utilizes visuals in court wields a powerful, persuasive tool — and has a distinct advantage over opposing counsel.  She shares her recent experience creating graphics for the Enron case, and how they impacted the jury and strengthened the prosecution's argument. Read on to see why you should consider adding visuals to your trial bag of tricks.

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.

Coming February 2, 2007 to Fat Friday: Joe Sewell discusses the security benefits of Linux, William Lloyd shares how he avoid eyestrain despite using three monitors, Ernest Marquez discusses setting up Amicus Accounting and its pricing, Matthew Gould reviews Time Matters' support policy, and Mazyar Hedayat offers up his thoughts on making your work (or life) public on the Web. 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.

Dell has taken some heat from TechnoLawyer members over the past few years. I think Dell might be listening. A few days ago, Dell released an infomercial about how Davis & Wilkerson, a 32-lawyer law firm in Austin, uses Dell equipment and services. Since you can probably count on one hand the number of technology infomercials starring law firms, you may find this video of interest. Take a look (5:07) (click here if you don't see the video below).

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers new e-discovery review tool, an online backup service, and a free blog hosting service. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

E-Discovery Goes Native
By Dennis Kennedy

The new electronic discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures sounded the alarm for many lawyers. Among other things, the new rules place a strong emphasis on review of files in their native formats. In other words, Word documents should be reviewable as .doc files, not scanned and produced as .pdf or .tiff images. Native file format is uncharted territory for many litigators.

ACCESS Litigation Support Services' NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 seeks to provide you with a toolbox for handling native file review. In doing so, it addresses the criticism about native file review not being practical. Indeed, ACCESS claims that NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 costs less than traditional image-scanning in cases of all sizes, including those involving a massive number of documents.

NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 grew out of ACCESS's experience handling hundreds of millions of pages of data in large litigation matters. Built on .NET and SQL and housed in a data facility with multiple redundancies and virtually unlimited bandwidth, NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 is a secure, Web-based tool with review, search, annotation, and categorization tools designed for the average lawyer, not just power users. At its heart lies a native file review platform for large collections of documents.

Features include a centrally-managed rules-based workflow system with complete control over access rights, "smart auto-tagging" that groups related documents, customizable workspaces that enable you to view everything you need for a given task, the ability to search specific metadata fields, one-click translators for more than fifty languages, and the ability to append comments to documents in a thread-like manner and receive alerts when someone else adds to the thread.

NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 works like an electronic container for your documents and corresponding metadata. You can even customize a view to display a document with the relevant metadata, tags, and comments, or search specific metadata fields. Language translations are stored as comments that you can easily compare to the original text.

Administrative features enable you to set up roles and permissions to control a user's rights to work with documents, monitor workflow, and provide a secure way for multiple parties to review the data collection. Reporting and audit tools facilitate project management and tracking.

For more information about pricing, including data hosting options, contact ACCESS Litigation Support Services. Learn more about NatiView Analytics 2.0.

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.

Some of you have expressed concern about all the mergers and acquisition activity of late. I personally view such consolidation as the natural order of things, but I don't think you have anything to worry about.

We've received many inquiries lately from startup companies as well as from established companies making their first foray into the legal market (e.g., look for a cool new PDF tool making its debut on February 5th in our TechnoRelease newsletter).

Plus it looks like ALM's LegalTech trade show will feature hundreds of exhibitors next week.

Perhaps most telling, many independent legal vendors seem to be holding their own. For example, in its TechnoRelease last week, inData Corporation reported record 2006 revenue. As Timbuk 3 once sang, "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

What do you think of the current state of the legal technology industry?

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Just as James Brown was the hardest working man in show business, Sabrina Pacifici is the hardest working woman in legal research. In addition to her day job, Sabrina publishes LLRX, a monthly legal research and legal technology Webzine, and beSpacific, a daily legal resources blog that has become a must read for many in law and government. After ten years of LLRX and three years of beSpacific, Sabrina received a well-deserved four page profile in the December 2006 issue of Law Practice. Most interesting is the interview in which Sabrina discusses the origins of LLRX and refutes the lawyers as technology laggards stereotype.

Read Law Practice's Tech Profile: Sabrina Pacifici

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming January 26, 2007 to Fat Friday: Andrea Cannavina reviews Treo smartphones and its competitors, Kurt Schoettler discusses the importance of password strength (especially for lawyers), David Caracappa explains why winning the lottery would prompt a career change, Daniel Schultz explains how he makes use of a dual monitor setup, and Craig Humphrey takes a stab at defining Web 2.0. 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.