TechnoLawyer: Post

It all started in Fat Friday, and has since become a long running thread there and here — courts that ban cell phones and PDAs. TechnoLawyer member Grace Lidia Suarez writes in with the latest report from the trenches: "I think the real reason is that judges have gotten completely sick and tired of phones going off in the courtroom. No matter what they say (even if they seize the phones) it still happens. And because cameras are strictly verboten, the guards are required to check cell phones to make sure they don't have cameras. BTW, the federal courthouse in San Francisco permits cell phones (but not cameras or cell phone/camera combinations) but the INS (okay, ICE or BICE, or whatever they call themselves this week) prohibits all cell phones AND has no place to hold them (beware!)"

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Regarding our ongoing discussion in Answers to Questions about Macs in the law office, TechnoLawyer member Gina MacDonald writes: "I use a Mac at the Office, with OS X and Microsoft Office for Mac 2004. All the Office features to date (4-5 months) work flawlessly both originated by me or by others with comments/corrections from me, for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Outlook does not come for the Mac, but Entourage does, which I think is a better program than Outlook. You have a choice of Apple's Safari browser (exclusively for Mac), Firefox or IE, or can use all 3. I love my Mac — I have the 12" G4 PowerBook and recommend it highly. I am still using my IBM ThinkPad because I love my contact management program I have been using for years — Lotus Organizer. Except for that, I would be totally a Mac person." Microsoft ceased development of Internet Explorer for the Mac about two years ago. Therefore, you won't want to use it as your primary browser. Also, Entourage has very good contact management and calendar features — Gina should try those modules so that she can use just one computer.

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Recently, in Answers to Questions, Kirby Knight discussed how his firm uses a Travan tape drive for its backups. TechnoLawyer member Ross Kodner sent us this response: "Regarding the recommendation about using a Travan class backup unit, I would implore you to read the section on it in my CLE materials on data backup on the Practicing Safely page at the Legal Tech CLE section of MicroLaw. DO NOT EVER use a Travan drive for backup purposes. Ever. Never. Really."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

This Wednesday's edition of Answers to Questions contains a detailed review Time & Chaos as a case management solution. In the meantime, TechnoLawyer member David Tang writes in with this Quip on the same topic: "I use Time & Chaos daily. It's an address book/calendar that's a good value. It is a shame that WordPerfect is not supported in v.6, but v.5 is still available for purchase. I hate to recommend switching word processors, but if you want to take advantage of the v.6 mail merge, you need to use MS Word. Amicus Attorney is another case management program that is very popular. It's in the same arena as Time Matters in terms of capabilities and price. Good luck on your search."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

This Thursday's edition of Answers to Questions contains a detailed review of PCLaw used in conjunction with Time Matters and the Treo 600. In the meantime, TechnoLawyer member Peter Conway offers this Quip on the same topic: "I have been using PC Law for a number of years and a Treo 180 and now Treo 600 for the past few years. I had PCLaw help me set up the synchronization link and it has worked just fine. I only enter a handful of timeslips into the Treo each month (generally when I am in court)."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Regarding a recent issue of Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer member Martin Pagel has a quick tip for Outlook 2003 users: "Outlook 2003 has a single dialog for reminders and you can even use context menus (through right clicking) to flag items as complete."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Regarding the recent debate in Fat Friday about why courts ban cell phones, TechnoLawyer member Kevin Grierson weighs in with his take: "As a former litigator, the answer to why cell phones are not allowed in courtrooms is quite plain: judges don't like to be interrupted. The courts in which I practiced had originally allowed pagers (before cell phones were common) provided that the pager was set to vibrate only. Unfortunately, there was always some knucklehead who forgot, and the thing would ring right in the middle of a hearing (of course). The judges grew tired of admonishing (or even fining) attorneys and other courtroom attendees for violating the rules, and finally simply banned both pagers and cell phones for everyone but police officers and deputies. Crazy as it sounds, there are even courts down here where you can't bring a PDA or computer into the courthouse unless you have special permission from the judge."

TechnoLawyer member Steven Schwaber practices in a friendlier court system, writing: "How about this, then: In the Central District of California cell phones are welcome and indeed, in a sense encouraged, to facilitate communication with clients, etc. But only if the phone does not have a camera built into it. Any other feature, fine, but they will confiscate any camera with any kind of built-in imaging until you leave the building. No reason is given for this. If security is the issue, then God help us one and all, since all they do is ask me if the phone has a camera and they take my response at face value (as if a terrorist would level with them). Go figure."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

In response to Blair Clark's review of WordPerfect 12 in Fat Friday, TechnoLawyer member Daniel Fennick writes: "I used WordPerfect 9, got version 10 and discarded it. I've just switched to version 12 and like it a lot. I don't know how anyone can use Microsoft Word. It's far more expensive, made by a company with monopolistic tendencies, and doesn't have reveal codes. It's also snobby in that it won't read WordPerfect files."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

We regularly publish in-depth reviews of PDF bates stamping utilities in our Answers to Questions newsletter. TechnoLawyer member Dennis Pulver writes in with this mini-review: "I've used CutePDF for adding bates numbering to PDF files. It has worked well and is very inexpensive."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Recent issues of Fat Friday have contained lots of advice about and reviews of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). TechnoLawyer member Michael Vorel adds this graphic explanation of their value: "A few additional comments regarding UPS units. Imagine writing on your paper tablet when the lights go out and a big book is slammed down on your fingers before you know what happens. Physical damage may occur to your media with your "saved" files somewhere on the platters. This is the affect many hard drives endure when power is lost or fluctuates greatly. Often a CPU, RAM chips, or even the power supply can be cooked when power surges back on. A good UPS filters and supplements power as well as allows power sources to be shut off gracefully."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, we place Quips here in TechnoLawyer Blog and also in our TechnoGuide newsletter, but they appear in TechnoGuide first. TechnoGuide also contains exclusive content.