An iPad is not a substitute of a laptop, but it can be a great addition to your law practice.

The bad news is that the market is flooded with iPad cases, keyboards, folios, and products that claim to be all three. Even worse, many of the products I reviewed were pretty terrible.

The silver lining, however, is that there are a handful of very good to great products. Find out which products are the best fit for your practice.

The best keyboard

Truth be told, my two favorite keyboards are keyboards/cases, which is a sad reflection on many of the iPad keyboards on the market.

The Logitech Ultrathin (pictured) and the Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2 have great keyboards. The Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2 is a better keyboard, but the raised edges can get frustrating if you are typing a ton. At the same time, the keys are more comfortable and slightly more responsive.

Frankly, I don’t think you can go wrong with either keyboard. If you can get used to the raised edges on the Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2, it is a better keyboard. If the edges drive you crazy, there is plenty to love about the Logitech Ultrathin.

I’m giving an honorable mention to the Kensington Keyfolio Pro 2 for iPad 2. I graded it just a touch below the two Logitechs, as the keyboard is thinner and the keys are a touch undersized. On the plus side, it is by far the best detachable keyboard I reviewed. As an added bonus, it disconnects and reconnects through magnets, which is pretty nifty.

While the Kensington takes honorable mention in this category, it graded out numero uno for  . . .

The best case/folio

The Kensington Keyfolio Pro 2 (pictured) has a very nice keyboard, but it is also a folio and a stand. Hands down, it takes the cake for that type of case. The case is not the best-looking, but it is nice enough to pass muster in most situations.

What makes the case unique is a great detachable keyboard, and velcro that allow you to adjust the case to almost any angle.

Runner up for best case/folio is the Incipio Lexington. There is no keyboard, but it is a solid case/stand/folio. Unlike many covers, it also has magnets in the screen cover, so it will automatically turn on/off when you open and close the case.

You can also adjust the stand for multiple viewing angles. The biggest downside with this case is that it’s made of micro suede and upon close inspection, it looks like micro suede. At the same time, I’d much rather have a case that looks ok and works great versus the alternative.

The best keyboard and case

Hands down the Logitech Ultrathin is my favorite. The keyboard is just a hair behind the other Logitech keyboard. It’s not the only cover that attaches magnetically, but I believe it’s the only keyboard/case that attaches magnetically. A minor detail, but an important one nonetheless.

The case is very compact, but gets the job done. The only real negatives are that it only covers the screen, and the keyboard pushes up right against the screen.

That said, using this case will make your iPad almost as useful as a laptop, while still maintaining the size that makes an iPad so appealing.

The Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2 gets honorable mention (pictured at right). The case is bigger and provides more protection—if you live a rough and tumble life you can’t go wrong with this case. The only downsides are that it does not actually connect to your iPad—it wraps around it—and it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing. Then again, if you are using this case, aesthetics are probably not your main concern.

(photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/vectorportal/5020936842/)

The Best iPad Cases and Keyboards for Attorneys is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

For my money, investing in Apple products is well-worth it. Especially if you are a solo attorney with a tight budget, the longevity of Apple devices justifies the higher upfront cost.

The 13″ MacBook Pro (non-retina display) is a solid laptop that should provide years of usage.

What I like about the Macbook Pro 13″ (non-retina display)

If you’re reading a post by me involving an Apple product, it’s going to be a love fest, and this post is no exception.

To me, the number one most important feature for a laptop is that it runs fast, like really fast (and it’s an Apple). I cannot compare this computer to every computer out there, but I can tell you it is lightyears faster than my 2009 MacMini. If you are a nerd, this model has a 2.9 Ghz dual-core Intel Core i7, with 8 gigs of RAM. I don’t really know what any of that means, but I can tell you it is very fast. Noticeably faster than a three-year old MacMini (which also has 8 gigs of RAM).

When I say fast, it boots within about 2-3 minutes (and that includes Dropbox slowdown). Turn off Dropbox and it boot within about 1 minute. I usually have about 5-10 programs open and running, and there is no noticeable drag—which is a huge problem with my MacMini. It also has a ginormous hard drive—I ordered the 750 gigabyte, but it came with a terrabyte. I’m not complaining—although there is no way I would use either amount of space. The bottom line is that the guts are impressive.

Physically, it has the new MagSafe connector, an ethernet jack, two USB ports, Thunderbolt, and a headphone jack. It also has a Superdrive, which is one reason why it is noticeably bigger than a MacBook Air. I don’t plan on using the Superdrive, but I wanted the bigger hard drive at a lower price. The battery indicator has been moved to the side, which is way more convenient than the bottom of the computer (which is what my other MacBook Pro has).

Perhaps most importantly, Apple has made great strides in their cooling elements. I can type all night on my laptop without sweating, getting hot flashes, or putting some weird laptop cover on my legs. In other words: even when doing high powered processing, the computer only gets slightly warm.

In terms of battery life, when it’s fully charged, it usually lasts a good 4-5 hours. I know Apple claims longer than that, but 4-5 hours is what I consistently get. For days when I work from home, I usually can make it through the entire business day without charging it. Pretty sweet.

I’m obsessed with crystal clear resolution, so it was tough to not get a retina display. That said, the non-retina display is more than serviceable. I use a Thunderbolt display at my office, so I can notice a difference when I’m working from home. That said, I notice the screen size (13″ vs. 27″) more than the resolution.

What I don’t like about the MacBook Pro 13″

It’s a really good sign when you have to sit and stare at a wall to come up with negatives. Honestly, the biggest negative is that it’s not a retina display with a solid state drive.

I have a MacBook Air with a solid state drive, and I don’t notice any major differences. That said, there is a five year difference in the computers, so it’s not a very accurate comparison. I do miss the slim feel of my MacBook Air, but in some ways I prefer the thicker feel of the Pro.

Frankly, the biggest negative in my book is the price. I don’t shop for PC’s, so I have no clue what a comparable PC laptop would cost, but I’m quite certain a PC is cheaper.

A new fully-loaded MacBook Pro 13″ with a terrabyte hard drive is $1,599. I purchased mine refurbished through Apple for about $1,350. I have had no issues to this point, and refurbished Apple’s have the same warranty—so I would strongly advise trying to buy a refurbished one and saving that cash. You can also shop around at Amazon and other sites, which will usually save you around 6% off the retail price.

Compared to the new MacBook Pro 13″ with a retina display, I would still choose the non-retina display. The retina version has a solid state drive, but a slightly slower processor. If you need a big hard drive, you will end up paying through the roof. Don’t get me wrong, the retina displays are gorgeous, but a retina version of my MacBook is double the price—$2,999.

If you want to spend that kind of money, my advice would be what I did: buy the best non-retina 13″ MacBook Pro, and then buy a 27″ Thunderbolt monitor. Together, it still costs hundreds of dollars less than a maxed-out 13″ MacBook Pro with retina display.

Who should buy it

Anyone who likes Macs. Even if you don’t like Macs but want a rock solid laptop—this is for you.

Compared to a MacBook Air, you can get a faster processor and a bigger hard drive. You don’t get the same sleekness as a MacBook Air, but in my humble opinion, you can get a better computer for the same price.

Score

MacBook Pro 13″ Review is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

Even if you have a paperless law office, you still need a quality printer to generate documents.

Solo attorneys have a tendency to buy the cheapest tech they can find—like inkjets—which is a huge mistake.

Spend the extra money and get yourself a Hewlett Packard M401DW Laserjet Pro. It’s worth every penny.

What I like about the printer

Almost everything. This is one slick machine.

First and foremost, the print quality is great. The Hewlett Packard M401DW prints at up to 1200 x 1200 dpi. I could break that down technically, but suffice to say that things look good. My previous printer was 600 x 600 dpi, and this one produces noticeably better documents. To be fair, I don’t print anything involving graphics, so you may want to investigate that further if graphics are critical to your practice. It’s also monochrome—so if you need color then look elsewhere.

Second, this thing prints fast—like super fast—without any noticeable reduction in quality. My old laser printer was 20 pages per minute, this puppy screams at up to 35 pages per minute. Most of the time, the pages are literally hot off the presses (which can be annoying at times). When you are printing documents that are more than two or three pages long, you will absolutely notice the difference in speed. In addition, it warms up in less than ten seconds.

The Hewlett Packard M401DW also has wireless capabilities, which is really nice for someone like me that uses a MacBook Pro and a Thunderbolt display. If necessary, a client or another attorney can print directly from their computer. As an added bonus, it also supports printing from an iPhone or an iPad. It’s literally as simple as hitting print. I doubt I will use that feature often, but it’s nice to know that it works. It also offers duplex printing if you’re trying to save trees.

The physical size of the printer will not overwhelm your office. It’s about 14″ x 14″ by 10″—it comfortable fits on a small table or end table. I wish it was a bit smaller, but it’s small enough for a one-room office.

The printer retails for around $450, but you can grab it on Amazon for around $260.

What I don’t like about the printer

My biggest complaint is the touchscreen interface. It’s placed in an awkward spot—you have to reach towards the rear of the printer to use it. When you are using it, you will yearn for the touchscreen on your iPhone. You have to push really really hard for your input to register on the screen.

Given it’s relatively small size, it’s just an awkward experience. On the upside, I’ve only had to use it once—to find my wireless network and enter the password.

The other concern with the touchscreen is that it is allegedly quite fragile. A very common complaint in user reviews on Amazon is that the screen breaks off at the first sign of trouble. To be fair, I’ve bumped it quite a few times and it’s held up just fine. But it is something to be cognizant of.

Who should buy it

An attorney who needs a reliable and affordable laser printer. For the price, it offers high quality, fast output, and lots of nice features.

Score

HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401DW Printer Review is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

Making the move to a paperless practice can seem daunting. After all, you’ve spent your entire academic and professional career, however long that is, working with paper: books, legal pads, memos, pleadings, files. Paperless? How can you possibly do that? Well, the reality is, you can’t. Not really. You are going to need to deal with and produce paper, at least for the foreseeable future. But you can establish a paperless practice that has a digital file at its core. Here’s how.

Firm-wide buy-in

The reality is, you are going to need everyone to get on this band wagon if you are going paperless. You are going to need full buy-in to the process. You can’t have half the attorneys in your firm working with paper files and half with digital. And you don’t want to maintain fully duplicated copies.  The biggest barrier to going to a digital law practice is attorney and staff participation. You are going to fundamentally change the way you physically interact with your files. In fact, you are going to change what a “file” is. But don’t worry, you can make it so familiar in structure that it will be an easy transition.

Technology

You will need some basic technology if you are going paperless. I practice solo and I’ve helped other small firms make the move to paperless, so my advice is going to be geared toward solos and small firms. Larger firms will have the same issues and needs, simply scaled up.

From an equipment standpoint, the basic components needed are a computer, a scanner and a printer. From a technology standpoint, you will need some basic applications and a cloud-based file storage system. Based on my experience, I would recommend the following:

Equipment

Laptop Computer:   Obviously you can go paperless using desktop machines, but really, what is the point? One of the major benefits to going paperless is the fact that, once implemented, your files are accessible to you wherever you are. Take advantage of that with a good laptop. Personally, I’m an Apple addict and have been for many years. Long before the iPhone and iPad, I found that Apple computers were reliable, rugged machines that simply work.  The addition of the rest of the Apple ecosystem and the interconnectivity and syncability of the iPhone and iPad simply drive the point home.

Scanner:  There are a number of options out there. You can choose one of the large networked copier/scanner combinations that lease for big money. However, I’ve found that most solos and small firms do better with multiple desktop scanners, 1 for every person in the firm. Desktop scanners assure that there is no reason not to scan everything, immediately.  You avoid the pile-up of items “to be scanned” that will pile up just like the “to be filed” pile in a paper based office.  For years I’ve recommended the Fujitsu Scan Snap as the best small footprint scanner on the market. They have just introduced a new model, the iX500. It is fast, does duplex (2 sided) scanning automatically, and comes bundled with a license for Adobe Acrobat X Standard. (More on Acrobat later.)  That bundle price makes the iX500 a good deal. If you already own a license for Acrobat, then consider the Epson Workforce series of scanners. I’ve used one of these for over a year now and I can attest that the Workforce is a work horse.

Printer:  Wait a minute! Aren’t we talking about going paperless? Yes we are, but you will still have to produce paper. To file with the court, to send to opposing counsel, for your clients. A good solid printer that is economical to own (which is not the same as the cheapest) is a must in every paperless office. What you won’t be doing is printing as much. Once you establish paperless workflows that fit your practice, you won’t be printing out the copy for your file, or the copy to markup, or the copy to take with you to that deposition. You’ll work with and review digital copies.

Software

Adobe Acrobat XI:  Let’s be clear: I am not talking about the free Acrobat Reader that may have been included with your computer. Acrobat is the gold standard for creating and working with .pdfs.  And .pdfs are the core of your digital paperless file. Every piece of document you would file away in a traditional case file is, instead, a .pdf that can be manipulated and used in any way that you could with a piece of paper. (Ok, you can’t make a paper airplane out of it.) With Acrobat you can redact, add sticky notes, highlight, fill out forms, add typed addendums, underline, etc. You can also make the document searchable by running the built-in optical character recognition (OCR).  There are other .pdf applications out there, but don’t bother with them.  Use Acrobat and you won’t be sorry.

Dropbox or other Cloud Storage:  By having your client files in digital (.pdf) format, it makes it easy to have your files available to you whenever you need them, wherever you are. My personal experience is Dropbox is simple to use, secure and extremely reliable. Dropbox has iPhone, Android and iPad apps so that you can access your files on your mobile devices.

How does Dropbox work? Dropbox creates a folder on your computer where you place your files. Those files stay on your computer. You have full access to them even when you aren’t connected to the internet. The Dropbox folder will get backed up by your backup regimen. But here is the nifty trick: anything in that folder will get synced to your Dropbox account. You can access your account from any internet access point, anywhere, any time. And you can configure Dropbox on as many computers as you want and that Dropbox folder will stay in sync across all computers. You can access your Dropbox account with apps for the iPhone, iPad,  and Android. Dropbox makes your paperless workflow accessible across platforms and devices and allows you to maximize your mobility and efficiency. Using Dropbox, or a similar product, you become a mobile legal warrior.

Those are the minimal products and services that you need to establish a paperless workflow. In my next post, I’ll outline how I leverage these products into my solo practice for maximum efficiency. In future posts I’ll concentrate on specific aspects of the workflow and tips and tricks I’ve learned.

(image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourgeoisbee/2037138203/sizes/z/in/photostream/)

Going Paperless: What You Need (Part 1 of 3) is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

Going paperless shouldn’t be about just scanning in the paper that comes into your office. To take full advantage of going paperless, establish a paperless workflow to increase your efficiency.

The first two considerations are establishing a workflow for incoming paper and one for outgoing paper. The goal is to minimize the steps required to deal with the paper and optimize your ability to access your digital file later. Also, by creating pre-populated file and form templates that you can simply duplicate whenever you establish a new client or matter, you can further leverage going paperless.

Incoming Paper

When going paperless, your incoming workflow is probably the easiest and most logical step. After all, you simply scan everything that comes into your office, right?  Well, yes, it is that simple. But then again, maybe not. What you want is to have everything that comes into your office scan immediately, so that everything is available in your digital file as soon as it hits your door.

Naming Your Documents

But there is a little more to it than simply putting a pleading or correspondence on the scanner and hitting the button. You then have to name the resulting document in such a way that you can easily find it. My suggestion is that every document be named starting with a date, followed by a description of the document. If you use the format YYYYMMDD.description then the document will always automatically be in chronological order in whatever folder it is placed in. Not so if you use the format MMDDYYYY.description. That will result in documents being placed together by month and date, thus jumbling documents from different years together.

By using this naming format and establishing a digital file of nested folders that mirrors how you organize the paper file you are accustomed to using, and you will be able to easily save and then locate your documents.

Tracking Your Tasks

Another important aspect of incoming workflow in going paperless is how you track what you need to do in response to the paper you receive. Do you need to write a letter in response, or file an answer to a pleading or respond to discovery? Are you one of those people that keeps track of those task by placing documents in piles on your desk? If so, you are not going paperless. What I suggest is a good “to do” or task application. There many available and reviewing them is a constant subject among legal bloggers. Suffice it to say that you should find one that fits your sensibilities and stick to it. My personal favorite is a Mac and iOS application called Omnifocus. Whether you follow the tenets of Getting Things Done or not, a good task management application is essential to going paperless.

Outgoing Paper

You may initially think that how you handle outgoing paper really doesn’t have that big of an impact on you or your file. After all, that is paper that is leaving your office, so what do you care? But think about it…lawyers keep a copy of everything that goes in and goes out. So how you handle outgoing paper is at least half the battle. But actually, you can reap the greatest efficiency benefits by tweaking how you handle the outgoing paper.

One obvious way to handle outgoing paper is to simply do with it exactly what you do with incoming paper. Once you print out the outgoing copy, scan it in and apply your file naming protocol. But you are wasting effort if you do that. There is a better way: print to .pdf or save as .pdf (depending on whether you use Windows or Apple OS.  By simply printing to .pdf you save the same copy you would have created by printing and scanning.

Digital Signatures

But what about signatures? Simple. You can either create a signature stamp in Adobe or, within Word, you can use a signature font. By using a signature font, you save yourself the step of actually signing pleadings or letters and you save the step of adding a signature in Adobe. I set up standardized correspondence and pleading templates with my signature font already inserted, as well as an automatically updating date.  With this set up, you can create your outgoing document without having to print out your document, unless you need to snail mail a copy. (Your Word “document” is only a draft. The .pdf version is the permanent document you will rely on in the future.  Word documents are always drafts, never final “documents”.)

Ditch the Physical Fax

You can further leverage this workflow by ditching your physical fax.  There are many options for “e-faxing” and almost any of them will be better than dealing with toner, paper and the cost of a fax machine and separate fax line. Some are: RingCentral, MyFax and eFax. By sending and receiving fax transmissions on your computer, you bypass using the fax machine and then scanning the resulting transmission into your system.

Optimizing Your Paperless Workflow

Once on the road to going paperless, be aware of all the ways you can eliminate creating and handling paper, and minimizing repetitive tasks. With a digital file, there are many techniques to accomplish this.

Form Templates

Don’t constantly recreate forms that you use regularly. Create templates of your often used forms  complete with signatures and automatically updating dates. Form templates go hand in hand with digital signatures. By pre-populating your form templates with your digital signature, you save time and effort.

Digital Letterhead

But what about letters you ask? You need to print to letterhead, right?  Wrong. Save time and money-ditch the pre-printed letterhead. The days of needing engraved letterhead in order to make a good impression are gone. Many, if not most, large firms have gone to digital letterhead. It is easy to do: Set up your letterhead in Word using the header and footer functions. Save a letterhead template and you can copy it and use it for all correspondence. Same thing for envelopes.

Client File Templates

To save time, create a standardized client file template, complete with preset subfolders with frequently used forms. Then, instead of recreating a client file every time you open a new case, simply copy the entire folder and rename it with the client’s name. Then you will automatically have all your needed forms in place when you need them.  Here is another example of How to Organize Paperless Client Files.

For more on this series, see Going Paperless: What You Need (Part 1 of 3), and Paperless Office Essentials

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/squage/1314691491/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Going Paperless: Workflow (Part 2 of 3) is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

Taking a vacation as a litigator (especially a solo litigator) can be difficult. Frankly, a vacation may not feel like much of a vacation.

In today’s technological wonderland it’s easy to work from anywhere. The bad thing is clients are increasingly expecting lawyers to work from anywhere.

In my opinion, the best solution is to compromise. Don’t ignore your practice while you are gone, but don’t immerse yourself either.

Business as usual

For many attorneys, vacation just means working from a different location. For example, if you run a solo practice, if you are a litigator, and/or if you have clients and cases the demand constant attention.

With a cloud service like Dropbox, you can access all of your files from anywhere. If you use a phone service like Google Voice, your business phone goes wherever you go. Although faxes are becoming extinct, an electronic fax service lets you send and receive faxes from anywhere.

In essence, the only thing you don’t have is access to your mail and a printer. If you work in federal court, however, everything is electronic and most attorneys that practice in federal court send everything (including letters) via e-mail or fax.

In other words: you can run your practice from faraway places. The kids can be at the beach and you can file a motion to dismiss from the hotel. Of course, if you are working 24/7 during your vacation, that’s not much of a vacation. Fortunately, there is a compromise that should allow you to enjoy the majority of your vacation and stay on top of things at the office.

The check in method

This is my preferred method when I’m out of the office or on vacation. I’d love to tell you that I feel comfortable shutting off my phone and ignoring e-mail for a week. But my firm’s income is my household’s only source of income, so that’s just not happening.

What I typically do is turn my office phone to “do not disturb” in Google Voice. That means all calls go straight to voicemails (and the transcriptions are e-mailed to me immediately). If I’m gone for more than two days, I change my voicemail to say I’m out of the office and will have limited access to voicemail and e-mail until ________.

I don’t turn on an autoresponder for my e-mail, because I check it a couple of times a day. If it’s important, I can deal with it immediately. If not, I can ignore it until I get back, or at least until I am not sitting on the beach. After the kids go to bed (or are napping), I’ll turn on my computer and deal with my inbox.

Do I constantly think about work while on vacation? Yes. Would I think about it if I didn’t check my e-mail? Yes. To me, ignoring everything would be more stressful than checking in a few times a day.

Admittedly, I spend the two weeks prior to vacation dealing with everything possible and even telling opposing counsel I will be gone. That means that I rarely (if ever) have to deal with a massive issue while I am gone. By massive issue, I mean motion practice, hearings, etc.

For the most part, the check in method allows me to keep tabs on my practice and handle some client intake while I am gone. And when you run your own business, that is a good thing (in my humble opinion).

The check out method

I look forward to the day/vacation where I can turn off everything and not worry about it. I can do that for a few days (like a weekend), but not during the business week.

I see a number of issues with completely checking out. One, even if you think you wrapped up everything before you left, you may have missed something. Maybe the court needs something. Maybe opposing counsel is taking advantage of your vacation and filing a motion. If you completely ignore everything, it could be a big problem. Of course, I suspect a court would be somewhat sympathetic to a solo practitioner taking a vacation. Somewhat, but not entirely.

Two, if you completely ignore your client intake for a week or more, I suspect those individuals will forever be potential clients, and never actual clients. Sure, some of them will wait for you. But in my practice, I am many times the legal equivalent of an ER doctor. My clients need legal assistance, and they need it quickly. If I cannot help them, they will go find help elsewhere.

Three, I suspect that many people check out for part of their vacation, and then check in halfway through. Then they see an overflowing inbox, ten thousand things that need attention, and completely freak out. That’s why I prefer to keep tabs on things throughout the day—I’d rather spend an hour each day dealing with stuff as opposed to spending an entire day at the midpoint of my vacation.

I’m not the first lawyer to take family vacations—what works for you?

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kisho_h/4278896830/)

(Not) Working on Vacation is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

Trial Notebook by TabLit is a trial organization app for the iPad. While there are some issues, overall I was pleasantly surprised to find it is a solid app that does a good job. If you are accustomed to working with a paper based trial notebook, you should give Trial Notebook a try. I tested it out on a recent deposition road trip and found that it is certainly worth using.

Trial Notebook starts by having you set up a—surprise—Notebook for each case. That process is helped along by the aptly named “wizard” function, that walks you through the basic questions needed to set up the Notebook.

Once in the Notebook for your case, you are presented with 3 default sections: Case Document, Master Checklist, and Case Contact. You can add additional sections, which I will discuss below.

Case Document

This is where you store your relevant case documents: pleadings, discovery, documents, basically anything you will need in trial. You have the option to download files from the web, import pictures from the Photo app or record audio. However, the most likely way you will import material is the way I did: by connecting to a cloud service. Trial Notebook gives you the option of connecting to Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync or Box. I used Dropbox and the process was flawless.  I linked to the entire file for my case, so it downloaded everything.  My entire digital file was in Trial Notebook.  In most cases, that is probably a good thing. My only suggestion here is that there doesn’t appear to be a way to download selected portions of a file. Basically, you have to chose one file as your “case document.” The glitch for me came in the form of a large number of radiology files that, while it downloaded them, were a complete waste of space because I could not link to an app to view them.

Case Contact

The name is self explanatory. This is the tab where you will store all your contact information: opposing counsel, client, witnesses, judge, etc. It links to your iPad’s Contacts application, so there is no need to re-enter information. Very nicely done and usable.

Master Checklist

The Master Checklist Section contains all the checklists and evidence sections you have added to the notebook. Basically it is a summary overview with direct access to the following, if you have created them:

Notebook Sections

On creation of a Notebook section, you are given an option to Title the Section, title the Tab and select whether the content will be a Checklist or an Outline. When you go through the process of creating the section, it will appear in the main case list, along with the Case Document, Master Checklist and Case Contact sections. When you tap on the section, the tabs you’ve created show up on the right half of your screen.

Checklists

These allow you to create checklists. You create or modify the possible “value” which you can modify.  By default, it is set up to track evidence (with “admitted” or “excluded” options) and motions in limine (with “granted”, “denied”, and “reserved” options). You can add your own checklist options.

Outline

This section appears to be intended to use to create the many types of outlines you would use in a typical trial: witness testimony, opening, closing, voir dire and others. Also included is what I would refer to as the “notes” section of the outline.This is a section off to the right of the screen where you can enter notes separate from the outline itself. I find that this is a really useful feature that would allow you to make notes during trial or deposition. Very useful indeed!

All together, I think TabLit has put together a solid app in Trial Notebook. It gives you what you would expect from an app of that name. It doesn’t have a long learning curve.

Suggestions/Complaints

My suggestions/complaints are actually few in number.

Undo

Especially in the initial stages of working with the app, I found myself wishing for an easily accessible “undo” button. It may be there somewhere, but I didn’t find it. I think this is a must.

Edit Tabs

In a similar vein, I think you need an easy way to easily edit the tab names. Particularly when you are first setting up a notebook, you may not know what you want to call a tab. And trial prep is a dynamic process. Your thought process and focus will change as you refine your case, and you need to be able to make those changes.

Two Way Dropbox Integration

As it stands now, anything you download from Dropbox isn’t linked back. So once it’s there, any changes you make in other applications won’t be saved in Trial Notebook. It appears that TabLit is in the process of adding this feature. An absolute must.

I also question the lack of basic PDF annotation features, however, after giving it some thought, I think adding these in might just make for feature bloat. PDF annotations are notoriously quirky. Annotations you make in one app may not show up when viewed with another app. And since Trial Notebook is not a trial presentation app, I doubt I’d want to use annotations that I couldn’t present.

Bottom Line

Trial Notebook is a good trial organization app. While I’m sure upcoming updates will address minor issues and add features, it is a good app as it stands. It’s pricey at $69.99, but only in the context of iPad applications. We have gotten so accustomed to the 99 cent app, that anything over $9.99 we instantly view as expensive. But in context, think about the long term value. For years (before I went paperless) I swore by Bindertek binders for case files and trial prep. I bought them in bulk because I knew they were well crafted and I could use the over and over again. At about $14 each, they weren’t cheap, but they were worth the money. Trial Notebook is the cost of just a few good binders. Easier to carry too!

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Trial Notebook for iPad Review is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

Disasters can occur on a community and a personal level. They can be big or they can be small. It is a stretch to call what happened to me a “disaster,” but it made me realize just how critical a paperless/digital/mobile practice is to surviving disasters, big and small.

A paperless practice, whether as part of a brick and mortar office or a true virtual practice, will allow you the flexibility to respond in the event disaster strikes.

My personal “disaster” came about early in the evening last New Years Eve. I slipped while rushing down the stairs to walk our dogs before getting ready to go out for  dinner with my family.  I didn’t actually fall, which is the weird part. Rather, I slipped and caught myself on the next step, landing on my heel with my knee bent. Apparently when you are a large guy (which I am) and you do that, bad things happen.  In my case I tore my quad tendon completely off knee cap. Clean. Off. To put it mildly: Ouch!

So … I spent New Years Even in an emergency room. Ten days later I was in surgery to repair the tear. For the next 8 weeks I was in a straight leg brace, unable to drive and with limited mobility. It gets worse. Just when I was coming out of the brace and working hard in physical therapy to regain lost function, the darn thing tore again. Yep. Clean. Off. I’m back to virtually square one. What was going to be a 4 or 5 month recovery suddenly turned in to 8 or 9. So for me, on a personal level, this was a minor disaster.

In the days before I took my practice paperless, this would have been a not-so-minor disaster for my practice. How the hell would I have gotten in to the office every day to work? I couldn’t drive–my injury was to my right knee so no way I could work the gas and brake with my leg in a straight brace. So my ability to access my files, to work on my cases, everything would have been in jeopardy.  I would have been forced into a near sabbatical.

But with my paperless practice, I can say my actual downtime was limited to a few days after each surgery. (Practicing law under the influence of post-surgery narcotics is certainly a bad idea.) Because I have a fully outfitted virtual office in my home, my commute consisted of the (slow) hobble down the stairs to my office. Because I use Ring Central’s VOIP phone system, I was able to practice without anyone even knowing that I had suffered an injury. My office simply scanned my mail in as it arrived and I accessed it as quickly as if I was the one opening the mail.

Of course, if I couldn’t get in to the office, I couldn’t get into court, a problem for a litigator.  But, without fail, opposing attorneys and judgess on my cases were understanding and accommodating. Some appearances had to be rescheduled. Others were conducted remotely by telephone, Skype or FaceTime conference. One trial had to be rescheduled due to my second surgery, but all things considered, I have been able to carry on my practice with little impact on my ability to service my clients and with little impact on my bottom line. My decision to go paperless and to establish a highly mobile practice, was the key to my practice surviving my personal “disaster.” But that fact got me thinking about how beneficial a paperless, digital, mobile practice would be in the event of a natural disaster.

Disasters are constantly in the news. Hurricane Katrina. Super Storm Sandy. Closer to home for me were the devastating tornados that struck Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. In all these situations, homes and businesses were destroyed, including law practices. I can only imagine the horror for an attorney who realized that all his work–his case files, vital evidence, critical documents–was washed or blown away. A lifetime of work could be eliminated in the course of a few minutes.

The backbone concept of a paperless practice is that all of this information is stored digitally and can be remotely accessed from any place with an internet connection. Sure, computers could be destroyed. But with your digital files safely backed up to a cloud service, such as Dropbox, you can access that information from any computer, any where.  You can even do it from a smartphone. If you don’t have internet or phone service immediately, the data will still be there when you do. And when you do, you can hit the ground running. As soon as you can purchase a couple of new laptops, you and your staff will be back in business. The same is true for a VOIP phone system as opposed to a traditional phone system.  Equipment destroyed in a fire or flood? A disaster yes, but with a VOIP system everything can be directed to your cell phone. Your practice will be up and running, probably before you are even ready for it. With a VOIP system a move into temporary offices can be accomplished by simply plugging your phone into your network.

I’ve outlined how to go paperless in the past and talked about some of the advantages. I’ve outlined my paperless workflow. But when my small disaster struck, I realized that probably the biggest advantage is one I had never really considered–peace of mind. It was only weeks later, after I had gotten used to the temporary changes in my life that my injury had forced on me that I realized that I had never had that moment of panic that certainly would have stricken if I’d had a traditional office and practice model: “What am I going to do?” Not once did I worry about that. I knew that I could continue to serve my clients. That peace of mind was priceless.

Being Paperless is an Advantage When Disaster Strikes is a post from Lawyerist.com

Why “Top 5 iOs Apps I Can’t Live Without” and not “Top 10 iOS Apps I Can’t Live Without”? 5 reasons.

1. 10 is too many. You can always come up with 6 or 7, but more than that and you are padding.
2. 5 forces you to think about it and actually leave one or two you really like off the list.
3. Duh! All the lists in High Fidelity were Top 5.
4. Actually, I can only think of 3 reasons.

So here are the five iOS apps that I use day in, day out, multiple times a day. 

Zite

Zite is an iOS news reader that is described as an “intelligent magazine” and that is an apt description. When you first launch Zite it has you enter your interests. Then it presents you with a “magazine” of articles from the web that are representative of those interests. The app notes when you launch an article and read it. You can also indicate whether you like or dislike a particular article, author or topic. The result, within a short period of time of using it regularly, is a “magazine” containing dozens and dozens of articles in multiple topics that you are likely to enjoy. The more you use it and the more you utilize the like/dislike feature, the better the “magazine” becomes for you.  It comes with multiple pre-defined categories like Business, Movies, Apple News, Gadgets, Technology, Politics and many others. You can also add custom categories. Zite is absolutely an iOS app I use almost every day.

Dropbox

The bottom line is I couldn’t run my practice without Dropbox.  At least I don’t want to try. Dropbox allows me to sync my client and other files across multiple devices: my Macbook Pro, my iPad and my iPhone and my family iMac. Like my Mac, Dropbox just works. And for me that is high praise.

Fantastical

Fantastical is a recent addition.  A few months ago this certainly would not have been on my list. Before I tried Fantastical, I didn’t realize how irritating Apple’s Calendar could be.

Fantastical is a simple calendar iOS application that syncs with and usurps Calendar. It is available for both your Mac and your iPhone. It allows “natural language” entry of calendar items. For example, it understand that if I enter “Lunch next Tuesday with Sam” to set up an appointment on the appropriate date and time.  I can preset multiple default reminders. (When Apple introduced Mountain Lion it totally castrated the “snooze” feature on Calendar’s alerts to a single 15 minute snooze. Which does you no good if you want a reminder of something 10 days before an event so that you can start prepping for it. Apple screwed that one up and at least with Fantastical I can set multiple default alerts that can make for a work-around for the snooze feature.)

My only complaint about Fantastical is that it really doesn’t have an iPad app.  Oh sure, you can install it on the iPad, but what you get is a tiny iPhone sized application. Not what you really want on your iPad. But I use both the iPhone and Mac versions all day, every day.

Kindle

A few years ago when I started on my paperless path, I realized that I needed to adopt paperless practices in my personal as well as professional life. One thing I realized I needed to do was find an alternative to traditional books. Books were taking over my house. I’m an avid reader. I am always reading something. The Kindle and iBook apps let me buy e-book versions of most new books. In fact, some books are now only available as e-books. These apps certainly help in lugging around whatever I’m reading. In the past I’d bring 2 or 3 books on a vacation. Lugging multiple books was always a pain.  With e-books, I can literally carry dozens of books with me. And my house no longer looks like a literary version of Hoarders.

Now why Kindle rather than iBook? A couple of reasons. One: Price. Kindle books are almost always less expensive than iBook versions. Two: Selection.  The selection on Amazon.com in Kindle books seems much more extensive than the iBook store. Three: Sharing. Amazon makes it possible for you to loan your Kindle e-books for short periods of time. It is also possible to simply download the e-book to multiple kindle devices or iPad Kindle apps using the same Amazon account. The logical use for this is sharing the books among family members. The sharing thing is something that Apple doesn’t do at all. At least I’ve never come across that option. For that reason, I find myself using Kindle more often than iBook.

Human Anatomy Atlas

I am a trial lawyer and I primarily represent plaintiffs in medical malpractice and medical product liability cases. Thus, I am always on the lookout for anything that will enhance my ability to educate myself and others with regard to anatomy issues. And the Human Anatomy Atlas, from Visible Body, is a great iOS app for this. It allows you to view all aspects of human anatomy, broken down by systems, such as digestive, circulatory, nervous, skeletal, muscular and others. And you can view the systems in conjunction with each other. It allows you to zoom and rotate, viewing the organ or structure from any angle. It also allows you to fade out other systems and highlight structures. It is a great tool.

I own several other anatomy apps and most limit themselves to a particular system. There are a couple that do a stellar job in displaying the skeletal system, something I find particularly useful in orthopedic malpractice cases. However, Human Anatomy Atlas brings them all together. It allows you to project to a a monitor or projector and you can e-mail yourself .pdfs to use as paper exhibits. This one app can easily replace hundreds of dollars worth of anatomy illustrations for a single trial. In the context of several trials, you’ll save thousands of dollars. One of the best apps for a frugal lawyer.

Instapaper

I find the Instapaper service and its accompanying iPad and iPhone iOS apps to be invaluable in a paperless practice. Rather than printing off web pages and articles to read later, I simply utilize the Instapaper app.  A button or tab is added to your browser and if you click on it while in a web page that article or page is then saved to Instapaper for later viewing on your iPad. If you are like me you find multiple articles every day that you want or need to review. Rather than going down the rabbit hole that can end up with you having wasted several productive hours of your day surfing the internet, click on the article and review it later. Really valuable time saving application.

That’s my top five

Wait a minute, that was six! Did you ever notice in High Fidelity that the top five lists rarely actually contained five items? While staring at the camera reciting whatever important, angst-ridden list that was called for at that point in the script, Rob Gordon would be interrupted and the list would only contain 3 or 4 items. Other times he would go on and on, apparently unable to count to five. So my Top 5 list actually contains six. I could have edited out Dropbox because it is so ubiquitous, but it is ubiquitous for a reason.  Kind of like the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in a list of Top Five Songs about Death. Just can’t leave it out.

(image: http://mixtressrae.blogspot.com/2012/12/high-fidelity-2000.html)

Top 5 iOS Apps I Can’t Live Without is a post from Lawyerist.com

I’ve already dispelled a number of myths about solo attorneys: from their alleged inability to get another job, to how much they work and how much they make.

After writing that post, I was confronted with more misconceptions about solo attorneys that need correction.

Solo attorneys have offices, they’re not afraid of big law attorneys, and often have better (and cooler) technology than big law.

Myth 1: solo attorneys work out of their cars

It’s possible I’m overly sensitive. It’s also possible that when you’re a solo attorney, you get asked lots of stupid questions. One of my favorite questions is “oh, you have your own practice, do you have an office?” Pay attention: I don’t get asked where my office is, I get asked if I have an office.

Yes, yes I do. I also have a furniture, a website, a full caseload and I run a business in my spare time. I even wear big boy clothes when I go to court.

Ok, I admit, some solo attorneys do not have an office. In this day and age, however, I would say those attorneys are in the minority. At a minimum, nearly every solo attorney I know at least has a virtual office. Even so, that still counts as an office and virtual offices are usually just a placeholder for new solos starting out.

All of the solo attorneys I know with full caseloads have actual offices. I need an office because I have a full caseload, but I also think I have a full caseload because I have an office and spend lots of time there. Go ahead and debate the chicken and egg theory, if you will.

The bottom line is that the next time you meet a solo, please don’t ask them if they have an office.

Myth 2: solo attorneys are scared of big law attorneys

Nope. Not at all. Some big-name partner might “handle” my case, but I usually deal with a young associate. Said associate is usually younger than me, less experienced in the venue, and less knowledgable in the substantive law. Advantage: me. In other cases, it’s obvious that the other side is churning the case (billing time in order to bill time). I’m trying to win it. That’s always going to work out to my advantage.

Even in situations where I went toe to toe with Joey Joe Joe, that went to blah blah law school and worked on important case and is partner at the firm of somebody I don’t know and someone I’ve never heard of, I’m not scared. The rules of civil procedure don’t change. I present CLE’s on my area of law—opposing counsel calls it the Fair Collection Practicing thingee. Advantage: still me.

I had a case last year where I represented a consumer against a debt collector. One of the big firms in town represented the debt collector. At the pretrial, the Magistrate came out and said “nice to see you again Mr. Ryder.” The Magistrate then turned to an allegedly high-ranking partner from the big firm and said “I’m sorry, what’s your name?” The Magistrate then proceeded to tell the partner that his client should settle the case, because “Mr. Ryder knows what he’s doing.”

On another case (different big firm), a partner sarcastically asked me why I was bringing my FDCPA case in federal court, because the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over these cases. I politely informed them that it’s a federal statute, so I’m fairly certain a federal court will hear the case. At the pretrial, I asked them to explain to the judge why the pleaded lack of subject matter jurisdiction as an affirmative defense in their answer. All I heard was crickets chirping. I believe the case was resolved shortly thereafter.

But go ahead and keep thinking I’m afraid. Let me know how that works out.

Myth 3: solo attorneys use outdated technology

Of course they do, they can’t even afford to have a real office. Oh wait.

By and large, solo attorneys use technology that is at least as cutting edge, if not more cutting edge, than big firms. I recently visited someone that worked at one of the large firms in town, and they complained about how lousy their computers and technology were. I think his laptop was running some outdated version of Windows. I’m pretty sure he drooled when he saw my MacBook Pro and Thunderbolt monitor.

Big firms have technology committees and IT departments. I’m guessing the members of those committees read Lawyerist for advice on law firm technology. Take note: Lawyerist was started by a solo attorney writing about technology. Take another note: most of the articles written on technology are still written by solo attorneys.

I can only imagine the intense debates about if/why/how the firm should move away from BlackBerrys to iPhones or other smartphones. I’m assuming the debate took quite some time, which is why it took most firms years to start using iPhones.

Here’s it works at a solo law firm: “oh that looks helpful, it will save me time, I’m going to buy it.” Then we’re off to the races. I use technology efficiently as I can, because I need to use it that way. I don’t have a secretary that files all of the documents in various cases, or a paralegal that can compare a revised document to a previous version. But I can use systems and programs to do those tasks efficiently and quickly.

And I don’t need an IT person to tell me whether or not Dropbox is a security risk. As noted above, I wear big boy pants. I read the rules, I read advisory opinions, and I decide if it’s appropriate or not (yes—Dropbox is perfectly acceptable).

Solo attorneys are pretty awesome

That’s not a myth, it’s a reality. The sooner you figure that out, the better.

At the same time, it’s pretty fun being the underdog. So maybe you should keep thinking I work from my car and use a dot-matrix printer.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/6009453238/)

Three Myths About Solo Attorneys (Part 2 of 2) is a post from Lawyerist.com. The original content in this feed is © 2013 Lawyerist Media, LLC. This feed is provided for private use only and may not be re-published.

MobiLit is the newest entry into a crowded trial presentation field that is dominated by TrialPad and Exhibit A. What makes it different? It is designed to wirelessly project its presentation to other iPads. Additionally, it can send images to a projector or even a TV with an Apple TV or direct wired connection. While this may be convenient, it is unclear why it is necessary. Other than possible use in mediation, I haven’t come across a situation where this is going to be useful. And as a trial presentation app, it falls flat. The bottom line is, it doesn’t seem to bring anything significant to the game and doesn’t appear to match up to the standards set by TrialPad for trial presentation.

MobiLit ($9.99) is, at its most basic, simply a .pdf presentation app. That’s it. It doesn’t do video, it doesn’t do depositions in other formats, it doesn’t do other document formats such as .jpg or .tif. It is, to put it simply, a one trick pony. And, according to the limited documentation (provided only under the “Help” tab under “Settings”) it doesn’t do higher definition .pdfs well. MobiLit indicates that it may bog down on 600×600 dpi .pdfs–which is unfortunate since many attorneys will obtain trial graphics in this higher definition setting, which is preferable for projecting large images in trial.

MobiLit includes basic markup tools (line, highlight, pen, erase) but no  advanced presentation functions. It claims to do call outs, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to access this feature. Even the video tutorials on the MobiLit website didn’t address any of the markup functions, so how (or whether) it works is a mystery to me. That’s it–no arrows, no circles, no boxes, nothing else–just highlighter, line, pen and erase. In today’s trial presentation app market that is simply nothing to get excited about.

There are other quirks. The interface isn’t particularly intuitive as to how to get documents into what MobiLit calls “projects.” At this point in app development this basic function should be obvious and intuitive. Its not in MobiLit. I actually had to find seek out the “help” section in order to figure it out. Here is a tip for MobiLit: “import” is much more accurate and intuitive than “edit” when you are importing documents or folders.

On the plus side, MobiLit does have Drobbox integration.  It can also import files from email and iTunes. And the price is a plus. As opposed to other, more expensive options, MobiLit is only $9.99.   But this doesn’t make up for its lack of features. To me it simply is a bare bones app. I don’t want bare bones when it comes to my trial presentations–I want the bells and whistles.

The bottom line is I simply don’t very many situations where I would be able to control having everyone involved in a case with an iPad. Even if they did, I would have to ask them to install the free MobiLit Viewer. Add the need to have everyone on the same WiFi network and it really creates logistical problems.  Its a neat idea, but I simply don’t see a practical application for it. If I had an unlimited budget, I guess I could have 5 or 6 iPads available to hand out to the judge, witnesses and opposing counsel and have the a projector involved, but that simply doesn’t seem realistic.

Score

MobiLit iPad Trial Presentation App, Review is a post from Lawyerist.com. The original content in this feed is © 2013 Lawyerist Media, LLC. This feed is provided for private use only and may not be re-published.

Even if you have a paperless law office, you still need a quality printer to generate documents.

Solo attorneys have a tendency to buy the cheapest tech they can find—like inkjets—which is a huge mistake.

Spend the extra money and get yourself a Hewlett Packard M401DW Laserjet Pro. It’s worth every penny.

What I like about the printer

Almost everything. This is one slick machine.

First and foremost, the print quality is great. The Hewlett Packard M401DW prints at up to 1200 x 1200 dpi. I could break that down technically, but suffice to say that things look good. My previous printer was 600 x 600 dpi, and this one produces noticeably better documents. To be fair, I don’t print anything involving graphics, so you may want to investigate that further if graphics are critical to your practice. It’s also monochrome—so if you need color then look elsewhere.

Second, this thing prints fast—like super fast—without any noticeable reduction in quality. My old laser printer was 20 pages per minute, this puppy screams at up to 35 pages per minute. Most of the time, the pages are literally hot off the presses (which can be annoying at times). When you are printing documents that are more than two or three pages long, you will absolutely notice the difference in speed. In addition, it warms up in less than ten seconds.

The Hewlett Packard M401DW also has wireless capabilities, which is really nice for someone like me that uses a MacBook Pro and a Thunderbolt display. If necessary, a client or another attorney can print directly from their computer. As an added bonus, it also supports printing from an iPhone or an iPad. It’s literally as simple as hitting print. I doubt I will use that feature often, but it’s nice to know that it works. It also offers duplex printing if you’re trying to save trees.

The physical size of the printer will not overwhelm your office. It’s about 14″ x 14″ by 10″—it comfortable fits on a small table or end table. I wish it was a bit smaller, but it’s small enough for a one-room office.

The printer retails for around $450, but you can grab it on Amazon for around $260.

What I don’t like about the printer

My biggest complaint is the touchscreen interface. It’s placed in an awkward spot—you have to reach towards the rear of the printer to use it. When you are using it, you will yearn for the touchscreen on your iPhone. You have to push really really hard for your input to register on the screen.

Given it’s relatively small size, it’s just an awkward experience. On the upside, I’ve only had to use it once—to find my wireless network and enter the password.

The other concern with the touchscreen is that it is allegedly quite fragile. A very common complaint in user reviews on Amazon is that the screen breaks off at the first sign of trouble. To be fair, I’ve bumped it quite a few times and it’s held up just fine. But it is something to be cognizant of.

Who should buy it

An attorney who needs a reliable and affordable laser printer. For the price, it offers high quality, fast output, and lots of nice features.

Score

Making the move to a paperless practice can seem daunting. After all, you’ve spent your entire academic and professional career, however long that is, working with paper: books, legal pads, memos, pleadings, files. Paperless? How can you possibly do that? Well, the reality is, you can’t. Not really. You are going to need to deal with and produce paper, at least for the foreseeable future. But you can establish a paperless practice that has a digital file at its core. Here’s how.

Firm-wide buy-in

The reality is, you are going to need everyone to get on this band wagon if you are going paperless. You are going to need full buy-in to the process. You can’t have half the attorneys in your firm working with paper files and half with digital. And you don’t want to maintain fully duplicated copies.  The biggest barrier to going to a digital law practice is attorney and staff participation. You are going to fundamentally change the way you physically interact with your files. In fact, you are going to change what a “file” is. But don’t worry, you can make it so familiar in structure that it will be an easy transition.

Technology

You will need some basic technology if you are going paperless. I practice solo and I’ve helped other small firms make the move to paperless, so my advice is going to be geared toward solos and small firms. Larger firms will have the same issues and needs, simply scaled up.

From an equipment standpoint, the basic components needed are a computer, a scanner and a printer. From a technology standpoint, you will need some basic applications and a cloud-based file storage system. Based on my experience, I would recommend the following:

Equipment

Laptop Computer:   Obviously you can go paperless using desktop machines, but really, what is the point? One of the major benefits to going paperless is the fact that, once implemented, your files are accessible to you wherever you are. Take advantage of that with a good laptop. Personally, I’m an Apple addict and have been for many years. Long before the iPhone and iPad, I found that Apple computers were reliable, rugged machines that simply work.  The addition of the rest of the Apple ecosystem and the interconnectivity and syncability of the iPhone and iPad simply drive the point home.

Scanner:  There are a number of options out there. You can choose one of the large networked copier/scanner combinations that lease for big money. However, I’ve found that most solos and small firms do better with multiple desktop scanners, 1 for every person in the firm. Desktop scanners assure that there is no reason not to scan everything, immediately.  You avoid the pile-up of items “to be scanned” that will pile up just like the “to be filed” pile in a paper based office.  For years I’ve recommended the Fujitsu Scan Snap as the best small footprint scanner on the market. They have just introduced a new model, the iX500. It is fast, does duplex (2 sided) scanning automatically, and comes bundled with a license for Adobe Acrobat X Standard. (More on Acrobat later.)  That bundle price makes the iX500 a good deal. If you already own a license for Acrobat, then consider the Epson Workforce series of scanners. I’ve used one of these for over a year now and I can attest that the Workforce is a work horse.

Printer:  Wait a minute! Aren’t we talking about going paperless? Yes we are, but you will still have to produce paper. To file with the court, to send to opposing counsel, for your clients. A good solid printer that is economical to own (which is not the same as the cheapest) is a must in every paperless office. What you won’t be doing is printing as much. Once you establish paperless workflows that fit your practice, you won’t be printing out the copy for your file, or the copy to markup, or the copy to take with you to that deposition. You’ll work with and review digital copies.

Software

Adobe Acrobat XI:  Let’s be clear: I am not talking about the free Acrobat Reader that may have been included with your computer. Acrobat is the gold standard for creating and working with .pdfs.  And .pdfs are the core of your digital paperless file. Every piece of document you would file away in a traditional case file is, instead, a .pdf that can be manipulated and used in any way that you could with a piece of paper. (Ok, you can’t make a paper airplane out of it.) With Acrobat you can redact, add sticky notes, highlight, fill out forms, add typed addendums, underline, etc. You can also make the document searchable by running the built-in optical character recognition (OCR).  There are other .pdf applications out there, but don’t bother with them.  Use Acrobat and you won’t be sorry.

Dropbox or other Cloud Storage:  By having your client files in digital (.pdf) format, it makes it easy to have your files available to you whenever you need them, wherever you are. My personal experience is Dropbox is simple to use, secure and extremely reliable. Dropbox has iPhone, Android and iPad apps so that you can access your files on your mobile devices.

How does Dropbox work? Dropbox creates a folder on your computer where you place your files. Those files stay on your computer. You have full access to them even when you aren’t connected to the internet. The Dropbox folder will get backed up by your backup regimen. But here is the nifty trick: anything in that folder will get synced to your Dropbox account. You can access your account from any internet access point, anywhere, any time. And you can configure Dropbox on as many computers as you want and that Dropbox folder will stay in sync across all computers. You can access your Dropbox account with apps for the iPhone, iPad,  and Android. Dropbox makes your paperless workflow accessible across platforms and devices and allows you to maximize your mobility and efficiency. Using Dropbox, or a similar product, you become a mobile legal warrior.

Those are the minimal products and services that you need to establish a paperless workflow. In my next post, I’ll outline how I leverage these products into my solo practice for maximum efficiency. In future posts I’ll concentrate on specific aspects of the workflow and tips and tricks I’ve learned.

(image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourgeoisbee/2037138203/sizes/z/in/photostream/)

Going paperless shouldn’t be about just scanning in the paper that comes into your office. To take full advantage of going paperless, establish a paperless workflow to increase your efficiency.

The first two considerations are establishing a workflow for incoming paper and one for outgoing paper. The goal is to minimize the steps required to deal with the paper and optimize your ability to access your digital file later. Also, by creating pre-populated file and form templates that you can simply duplicate whenever you establish a new client or matter, you can further leverage going paperless.

Incoming Paper

When going paperless, your incoming workflow is probably the easiest and most logical step. After all, you simply scan everything that comes into your office, right?  Well, yes, it is that simple. But then again, maybe not. What you want is to have everything that comes into your office scan immediately, so that everything is available in your digital file as soon as it hits your door.

Naming Your Documents

But there is a little more to it than simply putting a pleading or correspondence on the scanner and hitting the button. You then have to name the resulting document in such a way that you can easily find it. My suggestion is that every document be named starting with a date, followed by a description of the document. If you use the format YYYYMMDD.description then the document will always automatically be in chronological order in whatever folder it is placed in. Not so if you use the format MMDDYYYY.description. That will result in documents being placed together by month and date, thus jumbling documents from different years together.

By using this naming format and establishing a digital file of nested folders that mirrors how you organize the paper file you are accustomed to using, and you will be able to easily save and then locate your documents.

Tracking Your Tasks

Another important aspect of incoming workflow in going paperless is how you track what you need to do in response to the paper you receive. Do you need to write a letter in response, or file an answer to a pleading or respond to discovery? Are you one of those people that keeps track of those task by placing documents in piles on your desk? If so, you are not going paperless. What I suggest is a good “to do” or task application. There many available and reviewing them is a constant subject among legal bloggers. Suffice it to say that you should find one that fits your sensibilities and stick to it. My personal favorite is a Mac and iOS application called Omnifocus. Whether you follow the tenets of Getting Things Done or not, a good task management application is essential to going paperless.

Outgoing Paper

You may initially think that how you handle outgoing paper really doesn’t have that big of an impact on you or your file. After all, that is paper that is leaving your office, so what do you care? But think about it…lawyers keep a copy of everything that goes in and goes out. So how you handle outgoing paper is at least half the battle. But actually, you can reap the greatest efficiency benefits by tweaking how you handle the outgoing paper.

One obvious way to handle outgoing paper is to simply do with it exactly what you do with incoming paper. Once you print out the outgoing copy, scan it in and apply your file naming protocol. But you are wasting effort if you do that. There is a better way: print to .pdf or save as .pdf (depending on whether you use Windows or Apple OS.  By simply printing to .pdf you save the same copy you would have created by printing and scanning.

Digital Signatures

But what about signatures? Simple. You can either create a signature stamp in Adobe or, within Word, you can use a signature font. By using a signature font, you save yourself the step of actually signing pleadings or letters and you save the step of adding a signature in Adobe. I set up standardized correspondence and pleading templates with my signature font already inserted, as well as an automatically updating date.  With this set up, you can create your outgoing document without having to print out your document, unless you need to snail mail a copy. (Your Word “document” is only a draft. The .pdf version is the permanent document you will rely on in the future.  Word documents are always drafts, never final “documents”.)

Ditch the Physical Fax

You can further leverage this workflow by ditching your physical fax.  There are many options for “e-faxing” and almost any of them will be better than dealing with toner, paper and the cost of a fax machine and separate fax line. Some are: RingCentral, MyFax and eFax. By sending and receiving fax transmissions on your computer, you bypass using the fax machine and then scanning the resulting transmission into your system.

Optimizing Your Paperless Workflow

Once on the road to going paperless, be aware of all the ways you can eliminate creating and handling paper, and minimizing repetitive tasks. With a digital file, there are many techniques to accomplish this.

Form Templates

Don’t constantly recreate forms that you use regularly. Create templates of your often used forms  complete with signatures and automatically updating dates. Form templates go hand in hand with digital signatures. By pre-populating your form templates with your digital signature, you save time and effort.

Digital Letterhead

But what about letters you ask? You need to print to letterhead, right?  Wrong. Save time and money-ditch the pre-printed letterhead. The days of needing engraved letterhead in order to make a good impression are gone. Many, if not most, large firms have gone to digital letterhead. It is easy to do: Set up your letterhead in Word using the header and footer functions. Save a letterhead template and you can copy it and use it for all correspondence. Same thing for envelopes.

Client File Templates

To save time, create a standardized client file template, complete with preset subfolders with frequently used forms. Then, instead of recreating a client file every time you open a new case, simply copy the entire folder and rename it with the client’s name. Then you will automatically have all your needed forms in place when you need them.  Here is another example of How to Organize Paperless Client Files.

For more on this series, see Going Paperless: What You Need (Part 1 of 3), and Paperless Office Essentials

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/squage/1314691491/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Taking a vacation as a litigator (especially a solo litigator) can be difficult. Frankly, a vacation may not feel like much of a vacation.

In today’s technological wonderland it’s easy to work from anywhere. The bad thing is clients are increasingly expecting lawyers to work from anywhere.

In my opinion, the best solution is to compromise. Don’t ignore your practice while you are gone, but don’t immerse yourself either.

Business as usual

For many attorneys, vacation just means working from a different location. For example, if you run a solo practice, if you are a litigator, and/or if you have clients and cases the demand constant attention.

With a cloud service like Dropbox, you can access all of your files from anywhere. If you use a phone service like Google Voice, your business phone goes wherever you go. Although faxes are becoming extinct, an electronic fax service lets you send and receive faxes from anywhere.

In essence, the only thing you don’t have is access to your mail and a printer. If you work in federal court, however, everything is electronic and most attorneys that practice in federal court send everything (including letters) via e-mail or fax.

In other words: you can run your practice from faraway places. The kids can be at the beach and you can file a motion to dismiss from the hotel. Of course, if you are working 24/7 during your vacation, that’s not much of a vacation. Fortunately, there is a compromise that should allow you to enjoy the majority of your vacation and stay on top of things at the office.

The check in method

This is my preferred method when I’m out of the office or on vacation. I’d love to tell you that I feel comfortable shutting off my phone and ignoring e-mail for a week. But my firm’s income is my household’s only source of income, so that’s just not happening.

What I typically do is turn my office phone to “do not disturb” in Google Voice. That means all calls go straight to voicemails (and the transcriptions are e-mailed to me immediately). If I’m gone for more than two days, I change my voicemail to say I’m out of the office and will have limited access to voicemail and e-mail until ________.

I don’t turn on an autoresponder for my e-mail, because I check it a couple of times a day. If it’s important, I can deal with it immediately. If not, I can ignore it until I get back, or at least until I am not sitting on the beach. After the kids go to bed (or are napping), I’ll turn on my computer and deal with my inbox.

Do I constantly think about work while on vacation? Yes. Would I think about it if I didn’t check my e-mail? Yes. To me, ignoring everything would be more stressful than checking in a few times a day.

Admittedly, I spend the two weeks prior to vacation dealing with everything possible and even telling opposing counsel I will be gone. That means that I rarely (if ever) have to deal with a massive issue while I am gone. By massive issue, I mean motion practice, hearings, etc.

For the most part, the check in method allows me to keep tabs on my practice and handle some client intake while I am gone. And when you run your own business, that is a good thing (in my humble opinion).

The check out method

I look forward to the day/vacation where I can turn off everything and not worry about it. I can do that for a few days (like a weekend), but not during the business week.

I see a number of issues with completely checking out. One, even if you think you wrapped up everything before you left, you may have missed something. Maybe the court needs something. Maybe opposing counsel is taking advantage of your vacation and filing a motion. If you completely ignore everything, it could be a big problem. Of course, I suspect a court would be somewhat sympathetic to a solo practitioner taking a vacation. Somewhat, but not entirely.

Two, if you completely ignore your client intake for a week or more, I suspect those individuals will forever be potential clients, and never actual clients. Sure, some of them will wait for you. But in my practice, I am many times the legal equivalent of an ER doctor. My clients need legal assistance, and they need it quickly. If I cannot help them, they will go find help elsewhere.

Three, I suspect that many people check out for part of their vacation, and then check in halfway through. Then they see an overflowing inbox, ten thousand things that need attention, and completely freak out. That’s why I prefer to keep tabs on things throughout the day—I’d rather spend an hour each day dealing with stuff as opposed to spending an entire day at the midpoint of my vacation.

I’m not the first lawyer to take family vacations—what works for you?

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kisho_h/4278896830/)

Startups and entrepreneurs in need of legal assistance are seeking alternatives to the traditional law firm model for convenience and affordability. Law firms are responding by providing unbundled legal services through different models, and doing so without sacrificing revenue.

I have written before about how lawyers can use unbundling as part of a marketing strategy for their law firms to differentiate themselves from traditional full-service law firms that stick to the billable hour model. Unbundling facilitates fixed fees and packaged legal services, and can be delivered online using secure methods. These alternatives to traditional delivery of legal services particularly appeal to busy and often money-strapped startups and entrepreneurs.

Take for example Cooley LLP’s Cooley Go. Pitched as a “mobile-friendly microsite,” the service of the firm caters to the startup and entrepreneurial set by providing unbundled legal forms and resources online, including a document assembly tool. Clients can take advantage of the Cooley Go’s unbundled services, and can connect with one of their lawyers for additional full-service representation. While this is no doubt part of a larger marketing strategy to attract cost-conscious and busy entrepreneurs and small business owners, this model still offers flexible payments and delivery.

Fenwick and West LLP created Fenwick Flex as a way to provide unbundled legal services and in-house counsel where legal assistance can be purchased by the number of hours a project might need. A startup needing a lawyer to assist it in a specific acquisition or other event might want to retain the unbundled services on a project basis, rather than retaining the traditional firm on the billable hour model for full-representation.

What both of these online models demonstrate is the law firm reaction to the market need by startups and entrepreneurs for unbundled and convenient legal assistance. What is also clear is that these services are not being offered at the detriment of the law firms, but rather as a creative way of inviting a target market base into their firm’s trusted fold. The projection of choice and flexibility that these models provide for clients is what sells the law firm. The use of technology, in the case of Cooley Go’s document assembly tool, allows their lawyers to offer services unbundled without sacrificing time or charging the same billable hour for standard documents.

This is an important lesson for law firms, because other online legal services such as UpCounsel are already on the scene attracting startups, small business owners, and entrepreneurs with affordable and convenient unbundled legal services. As the ABA Partners with Rocket Lawyer on pilot projects to connect members with clients through their platform, we will see unbundling occurring in more practice areas.

For solos and small firms, you will want to find ways to collaborate with companies like Rocket Lawyer and UpCounsel to connect with clients who desire unbundled legal services. Larger law firms will want to look at ways to create unbundling departments within their existing business model, such as those at Fenwick and Cooley. Lawyers will not have to sacrifice legal fees to offer unbundled services if they take note from the business models that work best.

A shift to unbundling in the legal profession will lead to greater access to legal assistance across most practice areas. The Legal Services Commission already acknowledged the benefits of unbundling and mobile delivery to increase access to justice in its 2013 Report of The Summit on the Use of Technology to Expand Access to Justice. The ABA House of Delegates adopted a Resolution 108 on Unbundling in 2013 encouraging the practice.

While the unbundling trend may be starting out with larger firms for startups and entrepreneurs, it will make its way to down to smaller sized firms and encompass many more areas of law. All lawyers can benefit from learning techniques for unbundling and using technology to deliver services online.

Making the move to a paperless practice can seem daunting. After all, you’ve spent your entire academic and professional career, however long that is, working with paper: books, legal pads, memos, pleadings, files. Paperless? How can you possibly do that? Well, the reality is, you can’t. Not really. You are going to need to deal with and produce paper, at least for the foreseeable future. But you can establish a paperless practice that has a digital file at its core. Here’s how.

Firm-wide buy-in

The reality is, you are going to need everyone to get on this band wagon if you are going paperless. You are going to need full buy-in to the process. You can’t have half the attorneys in your firm working with paper files and half with digital. And you don’t want to maintain fully duplicated copies.  The biggest barrier to going to a digital law practice is attorney and staff participation. You are going to fundamentally change the way you physically interact with your files. In fact, you are going to change what a “file” is. But don’t worry, you can make it so familiar in structure that it will be an easy transition.

Technology

You will need some basic technology if you are going paperless. I practice solo and I’ve helped other small firms make the move to paperless, so my advice is going to be geared toward solos and small firms. Larger firms will have the same issues and needs, simply scaled up.

From an equipment standpoint, the basic components needed are a computer, a scanner and a printer. From a technology standpoint, you will need some basic applications and a cloud-based file storage system. Based on my experience, I would recommend the following:

Equipment

Laptop Computer:   Obviously you can go paperless using desktop machines, but really, what is the point? One of the major benefits to going paperless is the fact that, once implemented, your files are accessible to you wherever you are. Take advantage of that with a good laptop. Personally, I’m an Apple addict and have been for many years. Long before the iPhone and iPad, I found that Apple computers were reliable, rugged machines that simply work.  The addition of the rest of the Apple ecosystem and the interconnectivity and syncability of the iPhone and iPad simply drive the point home.

Scanner:  There are a number of options out there. You can choose one of the large networked copier/scanner combinations that lease for big money. However, I’ve found that most solos and small firms do better with multiple desktop scanners, 1 for every person in the firm. Desktop scanners assure that there is no reason not to scan everything, immediately.  You avoid the pile-up of items “to be scanned” that will pile up just like the “to be filed” pile in a paper based office.  For years I’ve recommended the Fujitsu Scan Snap as the best small footprint scanner on the market. They have just introduced a new model, the iX500. It is fast, does duplex (2 sided) scanning automatically, and comes bundled with a license for Adobe Acrobat X Standard. (More on Acrobat later.)  That bundle price makes the iX500 a good deal. If you already own a license for Acrobat, then consider the Epson Workforce series of scanners. I’ve used one of these for over a year now and I can attest that the Workforce is a work horse.

Printer:  Wait a minute! Aren’t we talking about going paperless? Yes we are, but you will still have to produce paper. To file with the court, to send to opposing counsel, for your clients. A good solid printer that is economical to own (which is not the same as the cheapest) is a must in every paperless office. What you won’t be doing is printing as much. Once you establish paperless workflows that fit your practice, you won’t be printing out the copy for your file, or the copy to markup, or the copy to take with you to that deposition. You’ll work with and review digital copies.

Software

Adobe Acrobat XI:  Let’s be clear: I am not talking about the free Acrobat Reader that may have been included with your computer. Acrobat is the gold standard for creating and working with .pdfs.  And .pdfs are the core of your digital paperless file. Every piece of document you would file away in a traditional case file is, instead, a .pdf that can be manipulated and used in any way that you could with a piece of paper. (Ok, you can’t make a paper airplane out of it.) With Acrobat you can redact, add sticky notes, highlight, fill out forms, add typed addendums, underline, etc. You can also make the document searchable by running the built-in optical character recognition (OCR).  There are other .pdf applications out there, but don’t bother with them.  Use Acrobat and you won’t be sorry.

Dropbox or other Cloud Storage:  By having your client files in digital (.pdf) format, it makes it easy to have your files available to you whenever you need them, wherever you are. My personal experience is Dropbox is simple to use, secure and extremely reliable. Dropbox has iPhone, Android and iPad apps so that you can access your files on your mobile devices.

How does Dropbox work? Dropbox creates a folder on your computer where you place your files. Those files stay on your computer. You have full access to them even when you aren’t connected to the internet. The Dropbox folder will get backed up by your backup regimen. But here is the nifty trick: anything in that folder will get synced to your Dropbox account. You can access your account from any internet access point, anywhere, any time. And you can configure Dropbox on as many computers as you want and that Dropbox folder will stay in sync across all computers. You can access your Dropbox account with apps for the iPhone, iPad,  and Android. Dropbox makes your paperless workflow accessible across platforms and devices and allows you to maximize your mobility and efficiency. Using Dropbox, or a similar product, you become a mobile legal warrior.

Those are the minimal products and services that you need to establish a paperless workflow. In my next post, I’ll outline how I leverage these products into my solo practice for maximum efficiency. In future posts I’ll concentrate on specific aspects of the workflow and tips and tricks I’ve learned.

(image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourgeoisbee/2037138203/sizes/z/in/photostream/)

Going Paperless: What You Need (Part 1 of 3) was originally published on Lawyerist.com.

Going paperless shouldn’t be about just scanning in the paper that comes into your office. To take full advantage of going paperless, establish a paperless workflow to increase your efficiency.

The first two considerations are establishing a workflow for incoming paper and one for outgoing paper. The goal is to minimize the steps required to deal with the paper and optimize your ability to access your digital file later. Also, by creating pre-populated file and form templates that you can simply duplicate whenever you establish a new client or matter, you can further leverage going paperless.

Incoming Paper

When going paperless, your incoming workflow is probably the easiest and most logical step. After all, you simply scan everything that comes into your office, right?  Well, yes, it is that simple. But then again, maybe not. What you want is to have everything that comes into your office scan immediately, so that everything is available in your digital file as soon as it hits your door.

Naming Your Documents

But there is a little more to it than simply putting a pleading or correspondence on the scanner and hitting the button. You then have to name the resulting document in such a way that you can easily find it. My suggestion is that every document be named starting with a date, followed by a description of the document. If you use the format YYYYMMDD.description then the document will always automatically be in chronological order in whatever folder it is placed in. Not so if you use the format MMDDYYYY.description. That will result in documents being placed together by month and date, thus jumbling documents from different years together.

By using this naming format and establishing a digital file of nested folders that mirrors how you organize the paper file you are accustomed to using, and you will be able to easily save and then locate your documents.

Tracking Your Tasks

Another important aspect of incoming workflow in going paperless is how you track what you need to do in response to the paper you receive. Do you need to write a letter in response, or file an answer to a pleading or respond to discovery? Are you one of those people that keeps track of those task by placing documents in piles on your desk? If so, you are not going paperless. What I suggest is a good “to do” or task application. There many available and reviewing them is a constant subject among legal bloggers. Suffice it to say that you should find one that fits your sensibilities and stick to it. My personal favorite is a Mac and iOS application called Omnifocus. Whether you follow the tenets of Getting Things Done or not, a good task management application is essential to going paperless.

Outgoing Paper

You may initially think that how you handle outgoing paper really doesn’t have that big of an impact on you or your file. After all, that is paper that is leaving your office, so what do you care? But think about it…lawyers keep a copy of everything that goes in and goes out. So how you handle outgoing paper is at least half the battle. But actually, you can reap the greatest efficiency benefits by tweaking how you handle the outgoing paper.

One obvious way to handle outgoing paper is to simply do with it exactly what you do with incoming paper. Once you print out the outgoing copy, scan it in and apply your file naming protocol. But you are wasting effort if you do that. There is a better way: print to .pdf or save as .pdf (depending on whether you use Windows or Apple OS.  By simply printing to .pdf you save the same copy you would have created by printing and scanning.

Digital Signatures

But what about signatures? Simple. You can either create a signature stamp in Adobe or, within Word, you can use a signature font. By using a signature font, you save yourself the step of actually signing pleadings or letters and you save the step of adding a signature in Adobe. I set up standardized correspondence and pleading templates with my signature font already inserted, as well as an automatically updating date.  With this set up, you can create your outgoing document without having to print out your document, unless you need to snail mail a copy. (Your Word “document” is only a draft. The .pdf version is the permanent document you will rely on in the future.  Word documents are always drafts, never final “documents”.)

Ditch the Physical Fax

You can further leverage this workflow by ditching your physical fax.  There are many options for “e-faxing” and almost any of them will be better than dealing with toner, paper and the cost of a fax machine and separate fax line. Some are: RingCentral, MyFax and eFax. By sending and receiving fax transmissions on your computer, you bypass using the fax machine and then scanning the resulting transmission into your system.

Optimizing Your Paperless Workflow

Once on the road to going paperless, be aware of all the ways you can eliminate creating and handling paper, and minimizing repetitive tasks. With a digital file, there are many techniques to accomplish this.

Form Templates

Don’t constantly recreate forms that you use regularly. Create templates of your often used forms  complete with signatures and automatically updating dates. Form templates go hand in hand with digital signatures. By pre-populating your form templates with your digital signature, you save time and effort.

Digital Letterhead

But what about letters you ask? You need to print to letterhead, right?  Wrong. Save time and money-ditch the pre-printed letterhead. The days of needing engraved letterhead in order to make a good impression are gone. Many, if not most, large firms have gone to digital letterhead. It is easy to do: Set up your letterhead in Word using the header and footer functions. Save a letterhead template and you can copy it and use it for all correspondence. Same thing for envelopes.

Client File Templates

To save time, create a standardized client file template, complete with preset subfolders with frequently used forms. Then, instead of recreating a client file every time you open a new case, simply copy the entire folder and rename it with the client’s name. Then you will automatically have all your needed forms in place when you need them.  Here is another example of How to Organize Paperless Client Files.

For more on this series, see Going Paperless: What You Need (Part 1 of 3), and Paperless Office Essentials

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/squage/1314691491/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Going Paperless: Workflow (Part 2 of 3) was originally published on Lawyerist.com.

Trial Notebook by TabLit is a trial organization app for the iPad. While there are some issues, overall I was pleasantly surprised to find it is a solid app that does a good job. If you are accustomed to working with a paper based trial notebook, you should give Trial Notebook a try. I tested it out on a recent deposition road trip and found that it is certainly worth using.

Trial Notebook starts by having you set up a—surprise—Notebook for each case. That process is helped along by the aptly named “wizard” function, that walks you through the basic questions needed to set up the Notebook.

Once in the Notebook for your case, you are presented with 3 default sections: Case Document, Master Checklist, and Case Contact. You can add additional sections, which I will discuss below.

Case Document

This is where you store your relevant case documents: pleadings, discovery, documents, basically anything you will need in trial. You have the option to download files from the web, import pictures from the Photo app or record audio. However, the most likely way you will import material is the way I did: by connecting to a cloud service. Trial Notebook gives you the option of connecting to Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync or Box. I used Dropbox and the process was flawless.  I linked to the entire file for my case, so it downloaded everything.  My entire digital file was in Trial Notebook.  In most cases, that is probably a good thing. My only suggestion here is that there doesn’t appear to be a way to download selected portions of a file. Basically, you have to chose one file as your “case document.” The glitch for me came in the form of a large number of radiology files that, while it downloaded them, were a complete waste of space because I could not link to an app to view them.

Case Contact

The name is self explanatory. This is the tab where you will store all your contact information: opposing counsel, client, witnesses, judge, etc. It links to your iPad’s Contacts application, so there is no need to re-enter information. Very nicely done and usable.

Master Checklist

The Master Checklist Section contains all the checklists and evidence sections you have added to the notebook. Basically it is a summary overview with direct access to the following, if you have created them:

Notebook Sections

On creation of a Notebook section, you are given an option to Title the Section, title the Tab and select whether the content will be a Checklist or an Outline. When you go through the process of creating the section, it will appear in the main case list, along with the Case Document, Master Checklist and Case Contact sections. When you tap on the section, the tabs you’ve created show up on the right half of your screen.

Checklists

These allow you to create checklists. You create or modify the possible “value” which you can modify.  By default, it is set up to track evidence (with “admitted” or “excluded” options) and motions in limine (with “granted”, “denied”, and “reserved” options). You can add your own checklist options.

Outline

This section appears to be intended to use to create the many types of outlines you would use in a typical trial: witness testimony, opening, closing, voir dire and others. Also included is what I would refer to as the “notes” section of the outline.This is a section off to the right of the screen where you can enter notes separate from the outline itself. I find that this is a really useful feature that would allow you to make notes during trial or deposition. Very useful indeed!

All together, I think TabLit has put together a solid app in Trial Notebook. It gives you what you would expect from an app of that name. It doesn’t have a long learning curve.

Suggestions/Complaints

My suggestions/complaints are actually few in number.

Undo

Especially in the initial stages of working with the app, I found myself wishing for an easily accessible “undo” button. It may be there somewhere, but I didn’t find it. I think this is a must.

Edit Tabs

In a similar vein, I think you need an easy way to easily edit the tab names. Particularly when you are first setting up a notebook, you may not know what you want to call a tab. And trial prep is a dynamic process. Your thought process and focus will change as you refine your case, and you need to be able to make those changes.

Two Way Dropbox Integration

As it stands now, anything you download from Dropbox isn’t linked back. So once it’s there, any changes you make in other applications won’t be saved in Trial Notebook. It appears that TabLit is in the process of adding this feature. An absolute must.

I also question the lack of basic PDF annotation features, however, after giving it some thought, I think adding these in might just make for feature bloat. PDF annotations are notoriously quirky. Annotations you make in one app may not show up when viewed with another app. And since Trial Notebook is not a trial presentation app, I doubt I’d want to use annotations that I couldn’t present.

Bottom Line

Trial Notebook is a good trial organization app. While I’m sure upcoming updates will address minor issues and add features, it is a good app as it stands. It’s pricey at $69.99, but only in the context of iPad applications. We have gotten so accustomed to the 99 cent app, that anything over $9.99 we instantly view as expensive. But in context, think about the long term value. For years (before I went paperless) I swore by Bindertek binders for case files and trial prep. I bought them in bulk because I knew they were well crafted and I could use the over and over again. At about $14 each, they weren’t cheap, but they were worth the money. Trial Notebook is the cost of just a few good binders. Easier to carry too!

Score

Trial Notebook for iPad Review was originally published on Lawyerist.com.

Disasters can occur on a community and a personal level. They can be big or they can be small. It is a stretch to call what happened to me a “disaster,” but it made me realize just how critical a paperless/digital/mobile practice is to surviving disasters, big and small.

A paperless practice, whether as part of a brick and mortar office or a true virtual practice, will allow you the flexibility to respond in the event disaster strikes.

My personal “disaster” came about early in the evening last New Years Eve. I slipped while rushing down the stairs to walk our dogs before getting ready to go out for  dinner with my family.  I didn’t actually fall, which is the weird part. Rather, I slipped and caught myself on the next step, landing on my heel with my knee bent. Apparently when you are a large guy (which I am) and you do that, bad things happen.  In my case I tore my quad tendon completely off knee cap. Clean. Off. To put it mildly: Ouch!

So … I spent New Years Even in an emergency room. Ten days later I was in surgery to repair the tear. For the next 8 weeks I was in a straight leg brace, unable to drive and with limited mobility. It gets worse. Just when I was coming out of the brace and working hard in physical therapy to regain lost function, the darn thing tore again. Yep. Clean. Off. I’m back to virtually square one. What was going to be a 4 or 5 month recovery suddenly turned in to 8 or 9. So for me, on a personal level, this was a minor disaster.

In the days before I took my practice paperless, this would have been a not-so-minor disaster for my practice. How the hell would I have gotten in to the office every day to work? I couldn’t drive–my injury was to my right knee so no way I could work the gas and brake with my leg in a straight brace. So my ability to access my files, to work on my cases, everything would have been in jeopardy.  I would have been forced into a near sabbatical.

But with my paperless practice, I can say my actual downtime was limited to a few days after each surgery. (Practicing law under the influence of post-surgery narcotics is certainly a bad idea.) Because I have a fully outfitted virtual office in my home, my commute consisted of the (slow) hobble down the stairs to my office. Because I use Ring Central’s VOIP phone system, I was able to practice without anyone even knowing that I had suffered an injury. My office simply scanned my mail in as it arrived and I accessed it as quickly as if I was the one opening the mail.

Of course, if I couldn’t get in to the office, I couldn’t get into court, a problem for a litigator.  But, without fail, opposing attorneys and judgess on my cases were understanding and accommodating. Some appearances had to be rescheduled. Others were conducted remotely by telephone, Skype or FaceTime conference. One trial had to be rescheduled due to my second surgery, but all things considered, I have been able to carry on my practice with little impact on my ability to service my clients and with little impact on my bottom line. My decision to go paperless and to establish a highly mobile practice, was the key to my practice surviving my personal “disaster.” But that fact got me thinking about how beneficial a paperless, digital, mobile practice would be in the event of a natural disaster.

Disasters are constantly in the news. Hurricane Katrina. Super Storm Sandy. Closer to home for me were the devastating tornados that struck Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. In all these situations, homes and businesses were destroyed, including law practices. I can only imagine the horror for an attorney who realized that all his work–his case files, vital evidence, critical documents–was washed or blown away. A lifetime of work could be eliminated in the course of a few minutes.

The backbone concept of a paperless practice is that all of this information is stored digitally and can be remotely accessed from any place with an internet connection. Sure, computers could be destroyed. But with your digital files safely backed up to a cloud service, such as Dropbox, you can access that information from any computer, any where.  You can even do it from a smartphone. If you don’t have internet or phone service immediately, the data will still be there when you do. And when you do, you can hit the ground running. As soon as you can purchase a couple of new laptops, you and your staff will be back in business. The same is true for a VOIP phone system as opposed to a traditional phone system.  Equipment destroyed in a fire or flood? A disaster yes, but with a VOIP system everything can be directed to your cell phone. Your practice will be up and running, probably before you are even ready for it. With a VOIP system a move into temporary offices can be accomplished by simply plugging your phone into your network.

I’ve outlined how to go paperless in the past and talked about some of the advantages. I’ve outlined my paperless workflow. But when my small disaster struck, I realized that probably the biggest advantage is one I had never really considered–peace of mind. It was only weeks later, after I had gotten used to the temporary changes in my life that my injury had forced on me that I realized that I had never had that moment of panic that certainly would have stricken if I’d had a traditional office and practice model: “What am I going to do?” Not once did I worry about that. I knew that I could continue to serve my clients. That peace of mind was priceless.

Being Paperless is an Advantage When Disaster Strikes was originally published on Lawyerist.com.