Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers litigation software for organizing exhibits, automating exhibit references in documents, and creating ebriefs (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of software for mining your firm's work product, a practice management app for Android and iOS, a legal research service that makes it faster to find relevant cases, a Word add-in for finding common errors in the contracts you draft, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.
Lots of software exists for managing citations and creating a table of authorities. But what about exhibits? In fact-intensive documents, they become just as numerous and therefore tedious to manage. This problem begs for automation.
ExhibitManager … in One Sentence
Launched recently, Causasoft's ExhibitManager 5 is litigation software that integrates with Microsoft Word for organizing, reviewing, and referencing exhibits in briefs and other documents.
The Killer Feature
ExhibitManager provides a spreadsheet-like view of the exhibits you import. With a click, you insert a reference to an exhibit in one or more Word documents as you draft. At any point, another click automatically updates the exhibit numbers across all documents so that they're in numerical or chronological order within each document. You can update exhibit numbering as often as you want.
ExhibitManager can also generate a table of exhibits that likewise gets updated to match the exhibit numbering in the document. You can customize ExhibitManager to display exhibit references to comply with the style requirements of a particular jurisdiction.
"Exhibits often have to be numbered in multiple documents such as with a brief accompanied by witness statements and/or expert reports that all refer to the same exhibits," Managing Director Simone Pestalozzi told me during an online demo. "With ExhibitManager's automation technology, lawyers have more time to concentrate on case strategy instead of time-consuming administrative work."
Other Notable Features
ExhibitManager offers bulk importing of exhibits in many common formats such as PDF, Word, Excel, etc., including OCR processing if necessary. You can also import email messages and attachments. If you know an exhibit exists but you don't have a copy yet, ExhibitManager enables you to create a placeholder that you can reference in the meantime.
The main table in ExhibitManager features sortable columns that each user can move. Columns include metadata such as the exhibit number, type description, ID, date, etc. You can also apply tags to and annotate exhibits, both of which then become visible in their own respective columns. To the right of this table is the Preview area for viewing any exhibit you select.
When you need to use exhibits at a deposition or in court or share them with a client, expert, opposing counsel, etc., ExhibitManager can export a Bundle. The Bundle Assistant walks you through the process, enabling you to select the exhibits to include, apply a stamp with the exhibit number to the first page, apply Bates stamps to every page, add pagination, etc. ExhibitManager outputs all the selected exhibits to a folder, also creates a hyperlinked reference document.
ExhibitManager also automates the creation of ebriefs, obviating the need for a service provider. The eBrief Assistant offers options such as adding hyperlinks from the exhibit references in your brief to the exhibit. If you're sending an ebrief to a client or expert for review, you can include your exhibit annotations. You can efile an ebrief as a ZIP file or submit it on a CD or flash drive depending on your jurisdiction.
What Else Should You Know?
ExhibitManager works with Word 2007 and later and runs on Windows 7 or later. It costs $295 per user per year with volume discounts available. This includes all software updates and telephone support. There's an additional one-time cost for setup. Learn more about ExhibitManager.
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