TechnoLawyer: Presentations/Projectors

Coming September 4, 2008 to Answers to Questions: David Giuffrida shares some tips for saving and filing case-related email plus he reviews MessageSave, Matthew Cockman reviews SherWeb's hosted Exchange service, Ron Murphy reviews TrialSmart trial presentation software for the Mac, Edward Still reviews Eudora, and Douglas Thomas explains the difference between Word and Excel for calculations. Don't miss this issue.

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Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an appliance and accompanying software for finding evidence on backup tapes during discovery or for compliance purposes (see article below), a practice management suite with a document assembly engine for law firms in high-volume practice areas (e.g., personal injury, real estate, etc.), and deposition and trial presentation software that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Don't miss the next issue.

Nixon's Not the Only One With Secrets on Tape
By Peter Olson

Remember backup tapes? Thank goodness hard drives have largely replaced them. Or so you thought. Lots of backup tapes still exist, many created with backup software that no longer exists. If you haven't yet received backup tapes from your clients during discovery, give it time. It's bound to happen sooner or later.

Index Engines' Tape Engine 2.5 aims to take the time and hassle out of retrieving backed-up data by searching offline tape data locked in unsupported, old back-up formats. Tape Engine unlocks the data contained on backup tapes, making individual files and email easily accessible, whether for discovery purposes or regulatory compliance.

A hardware appliance with proprietary software, Tape Engine indexes tapes and makes the data immediately searchable. Importantly, you need not restore the backup tape using the original backup software. In other words, no need to hunt for old software (and a computer to run it) on eBay.

The scanning operation begins when a backup tape is mounted into a tape drive connected to Tape Engine. Tape Engine also works with virtual tape libraries. The indexing software reads through the contents of the tape, and creates full content and metadata indexes for files, email, and other electronic documents.

Tape Engine supports many backup formats, including CA ArcServe, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec, and EMC NetWorker. Indexing occurs at tape speed (there's no getting around the laws of physics), but the footprint of the index is just 5-8% of the size of the original data, which translates into speedy searches.

Each Tape Engine can scale to 200 million files or email messages with clustered configurations available for larger environments. It supports common unstructured file types such as documents, spreadsheets, text, HTML, and PDF files, as well as Microsoft Exchange and other email systems.

Tape Engine uses a Google-like search interface that returns queries in one second or less. Dynamic de-duplication means that every file listed is unique. You can search specific parameters such as name, date, email address, etc. Once you find what you need, you can extract only those files. Learn more about Tape Engine.

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Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming May 23, 2008 to Fat Friday: Heather Hoganson shares her thoughts on CLE courses, Brent Blanchard explains why he thinks Microsoft is guilty of restraint of trade practices, Edward Schoenecker walks through the steps for importing an IPRO file into TrialDirector, Yvonne Renfrew reminisces about CaseMap co-founder Greg Krehel, and James MacMillan discusses his experience ordering from Dell. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming April 15, 2008 to TechnoFeature: There are some things in life you can't choose — your birthday, your shoe size, who your daughter marries ... But when it comes to trial presentation software, the choice is up to you. Gulp. Trial consultant Timothy Piganelli understands that this choice can seem daunting so we asked him to provide his top ten tips for choosing trial presentation software. From features to stability to learning curve, learn what the modern litigator should know before taking the trial presentation software plunge.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

One of our favorite contributors, trial consultant Lynn Packer, posted a YouTube video two days ago that showcases his DepoDisplay paperless deposition system.

Lynn has written several TechnoFeature articles for us in which he recounted his struggle to modernize courtrooms in Utah. Therefore, it's encouraging to see his vision up and running, albeit not in a courtroom, but in a forward-thinking Utah law firm.

More impressive than the courtroom gear is the DepoDisplay deposition system, which features a large screen at the foot of the deposition table for displaying exhibits and two operator-controlled cameras for capturing all the action. Watching this video is like traveling forward in time to a deposition in 2015 (click here if you can't see the video below).

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

Coming March 27, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Nathaniel Barber discusses the role of technology in the grand scheme of being a good and competent lawyer, Gray Strickland suggests using VNC remote access software for accessing your server and also reviews his dual monitors, Erin Baldwin reviews the Defense Research Institute case database for finding expert witnesses plus a new LexisNexis service, Gregory Landry explains two ways to avoid showing your computer's desktop to the audience during a presentation, and Thomas F. McDow reviews Loislaw. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming February 28, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Legal Nurse Consultant Patricia Karalow reviews her experience running TrialDirector 5.1 on a Mac (plus we introduce you to three new Mac-related blawgs), Dave Culbertson discusses the history of Word and WordPerfect and what his crystal ball suggests for both products going forward, Julie Saliba suggests an easy fix to prevent showing your computer's desktop during a courtroom presentation (and we provide some alternative solutions), Mary Jo Toth reviews Nuance's PDF Converter, and David Bernier reviews his firm's experience using Tabs3 along with a few other products from Software Technology Inc. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming January 17, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Miriam Jacobson reviews PaperPort 11 in the context of her almost paperless workflow, Frank St. Claire introduces open source alternatives to the Word versus WordPerfect debate (borrowing ideas from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World), Yvonne Renfrew explains how to create a hard copy or electronic index of files for your paperless office, Edward Schoenecker reviews TrialDirector 5.1 and Visionary Discovery Management, and Richard Skilton shares tips for achieving truly integrated legal software. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming November 30, 2007 to Fat Friday: Ted Brooks explains how to manage your trial exhibits with TrialDirector, Wandal Winn explains how he digitized 3,000 family slides, Time Matters CIC Thomas Caffrey discusses why he won't join the Time Matters-Clarion discussion, Thomas RuBane offers a clever way to create strong passwords for free, and James Keuning reviews Best Skins Ever's iPhone skin. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers timeline creation software (see below), PDF software for power users, and redaction software. Don't miss the next issue.

One Click Timeline Charts
By Taeho Lim

Every picture tells a story. So does every litigator. A timeline enables lawyers to tell their stories visually — much like a picture does. Seeing is believing as they say. Regardless of whether a series of events transpired seconds, minutes, hours, or years apart, seeing them all in sequence in a timeline can have a tremendous impact on clients, jurors, judges, or colleagues.

Progeny Software designed Timeline Maker Professional 2.0 so that even computer novices can quickly create professional-looking timelines. To start, you simply enter events and then select the type of chart you want with one click. The event entry screen uses a table interface similar to a spreadsheet. A built-in legal spell checker corrects any typos. Alternatively, you can import events from other applications to further expedite the process of creating a timeline.

Once you've quickly mastered the basics, you can change the appearance of your chart with one click by selecting from the built-in library of graphic themes and styles. You can also define your own style by adding your logo and using your firm colors.

In addition to smartening up your timeline, you can enhance the events within it as well. For example, you can include photos, audio and video clips, and add links to PDF files or Web sites. You can also color code events to make them easier to follow (e.g., one color for your client and another color for the opposing party).

The purpose of a timeline is to show it to others. To help you do that, Timeline Maker Professional features a wealth of output options. You can print timelines on any printer at any size. You can export a timeline as a graphic (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG), or in PDF or HTML format. You can also integrate your timeline into any PowerPoint presentation with one click.

The built-in presentation viewer enables you to show your timeline using Timeline Maker Professional itself. And the "Package for Sharing" feature creates a .zip file that you can send to anyone for output or viewing with all the files intact. The free downloadable "Timeline Maker Viewer" means that others can view your timeline without owning a copy of Timeline Maker Professional.

Timeline Maker Professional runs on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. You can try it for free for 30 days. Pricing starts at $195 for a single-user license. The price drops significantly with each new user you add. Licenses come with unlimited free support and a 60 day money back guarantee.  Learn more about Timeline Maker Professional 2.0.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.