TechnoLawyer: Trade Show Reports

Vendors and Attendees Say It's "The Best Damn TechShow in Years"

From a spectator's point of view this year's show was the largest and most complete in years, in terms of attendees, seminars, and vendors.

The crowd of attendees streaming into the Hilton may have come for a good time, but they stayed for the tremendous variety of products and players on the exhibit floor. And that crowd included both local lawyers and those who had flown in from around the country to find out firsthand what was on the technical horizon.

Most of the attendees with whom I conversed were small-firm lawyers or sole practitioners who had taken precious time away from their schedule, and in many cases had spent thousands out of their own pockets to be there. Every last one also declared that they would do so again next year.

But this year was about more than head-count or event vendor enthusiasm. TechShow 2008, under Tom Mighell's direction, brought something truly new to the equation — TechShow Buzz — a technological detente between traditional public relations and alternative media, including blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, news aggregators, and even microblogging tools like Twitter. Taken together the use of these tools by the ABA signals a sea change in how lawyers practice, the effects of which will be felt for years.

In addition to looking at TechShow through a spectator's eyes as I had for years, this year I put on my journalist hat and spoke with vendors of all stripes — application service providers (once an exotic breed now here in force), the research giants, veterans, and new arrivals. All of them said that this was the most engaging, best attended, and in terms of their ability to connect with prospects, simply the best TechShow in years.

Congratulations on Doing Things Right. Welcome Law 2.0.

I have a feeling that the success of this year's TechShow owes much to the trends we've witnessed over the last two years; namely, the trend towards lighter, more manageable technology in place of the expensive hardware and software of a few short years ago. So while we saw Web 2.0 burst onto the legal technology scene with a flourish last year, TechShow 2008 demonstrated how these Web 2.0 technologies will combine with traditional technologies and give birth to Law 2.0. As Martha Stewart would say, it's a good thing.

Then Again Nobody's Perfect, So a Few Suggestions

I have a few thoughts for TechShow 2009:

1. If it Ain't Broke
TechShow Buzz and the Concierge Desk (see photo above) are both great ideas. Keep them but don't stop looking for ways to make them more effective. And continue to tap LPM section members for other innovative suggestions.

2. Get (Inter)Active
Keep attendees and LPM members engaged year-round by soliciting suggestions, ideas, questions, and feedback on technology issues in every communication. And speaking of communication, remember that you can't do enough so more is better. Often the best suggestions will come when you least expect them.

3. Can You Hear Me Now?
For the love of all that's holy, arrange for more WiFi, set up more computer terminals equipped with Microsoft Office (or at least Word), provide more work spaces, and give attendees half a chance to be productive.

Remember, most of the people at the show are self-employed practitioners for whom communication with the home base is critical. I positively felt a chill each time I descended onto the exhibit floor because I knew it would mean a total communications blackout. That's just crazy.

4. Give Diversity a Chance
Seek out, encourage, and accommodate small vendors by lowering exhibitor fees, letting vendors share booth space (alternative days, time), providing more opportunities to showcase products via continuous mini-seminars, and so forth.

By giving small companies a chance you open the door to a generation of practitioners marginalized by their inability to purchase big iron. Of course this means taking some focus away from the larger vendors on whom the show depends, but you'll thank me in a few years as the new relationships you've cultivated bear fruit.

5. New Media Can Be Your Friend
Want to double or triple your audience over-night? Deliver seminars to paying attendees via podcast and Webinar, creating a new tier of attendance in the process — "media only."

And Webcast from the exhibit floor to the whole world. Subsidize the cost of doing so by selling advertising on the video feed.

And last but not least, actively solicit bloggers and journalists to cover TechShow. Our coverage, no matter how complete, will encourage more people to attend.

Final Thoughts on TechShow

My sincerest thanks to TechnoLawyer for publishing my reports and opinion pieces on TechShow, all the members of the board for their hard work, the generous speakers, the attendees, and the exhibitors.

I guess that does it for TechShow 2008 ... for me. Now, it's time for your firsthand reports. Just click the Comment link below. TechnoLawyer will fast-track your TechShow report for publication in its Fat Friday newsletter. I'm especially looking forward to reading someone else's reports for a change!

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

Presenters: Carolyn Elefant and David Masters
Friday, March 14 at 8:30 am

A small firm or solo attorney could hardly ask for more. Before me, on the second day of what was already shaping up to be the most interesting TechShow in years, sat a pair of legends in solo practice — Carolyn Elefant and David Masters.

They needed no introduction to the standing-room-only crowd that had packed the Hilton meeting room that morning. Nor do they need an introduction to any of us who believe in the Internet as the great leveler. They were here to discuss how to make smart technology decisions as a small firm and solo practice lawyer. They wasted no time setting out the factors to consider:

• Cost
• Mobility
• Ease of Use
• Available Support
• Compatibility
• Security

With these in mind, technology decisions can be narrowed down to:

• Mac v. PC
• Laptops v. Desktops
• Multiple Monitors
• Multifunction Machines
• Handheld Computers
• Software
• Collaboration
• Adobe Acrobat
• Backup Strategies
• Communications Tools
• Email Tools

Mac v. PC

Proponents of the Mac will tell you they are more stable, virtually virus-proof, easy to use, intuitive, and have more third party applications being built for them all the time. PC people on the other hand point out that PC's have a lower overall operating cost, are slightly less expensive to acquire, have far more third party applications available, and simply represent the flagship of business computing. Since neither side has been proven 100% right or wrong yet, the speakers suggested an integration strategy. Since PCs and Macs can coexist on the same network, bi-curious practitioners should mix and match to determine which system works better for them.

[They can also co-exist in the same computer with virtualization software like Parallels and Fusion.]

Laptop v. Desktop

David was quite clear about his preference for a laptop, citing its inherent mobility, fewer moving parts to damage, synchronization with your home office, and the drop in price in recent years. Desktops on the other hand remain the champs when it comes to power, applications, and configuration options. In the end, all that extra RAM and ROM will secure the position of the desktop as ruler of the law office until laptops establish an insurmountable advantage or can't-do-without-it set of features (MacBook Air anyone?).

[While tablet PC's were not discussed, I'd bet money they will be on next year's agenda].

Note: When selecting a laptop, look for

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
• At least 1 GB of RAM
• At least 80 GB Hard Drive
• CD/RW-DVD capability
• At least a 14" screen

Multiple Monitors

Dual monitors were generally acknowledged to increase productivity and therefore ROI. In that regard the UltraMon utility was recommended by David. The point is to situate programs on the various screens (one or two per monitor) and reduce the number of clicks it takes to complete a task or switch between tasks. There was really no dispute from those present.

[Incidentally, the University of Utah just released a study finding that a 24 inch monitor is ideal for maximizing productivity. It did not study dual monitor use. See Ben Worthen, Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity, Wall Street Journal.]

Multifunction Machines

The topic of multifunction machines that print, scan, copy, and fax went without much fanfare. Who could object? In fact the very idea of a single-use machine seems archaic nowadays — although David expressed his wistfulness for some fine machines from his past. Added features to keep in mind include 2-sided printing and scanning, as well as faxing both in "hard copy" form and electronically (though electronic faxing is generally done from the desktop via software such as eFax and WinFax).

Handheld Computers

There was much to discuss here, with the debate centering on whether a PDA needs to be bundled with a phone and whether its true purpose is to unify communications, enhance mobility, un-tether users from the office, or act as a low-resolution laptop replacement. At this point an audience member asked whether anything inhabited the space in-between handhelds and laptops. Enter the sub-notebook. Another audience member had one to show. In the end the speakers ticked off a list of suitable units including:

• iPhone
• Palm Treo
• BlackBerry
• Sony
• Motorola Q

Software

Nowadays software is everywhere and nowhere. Lawyers can't work without good software, but often try to make their software do what it can't. Stick to the basics:

Word-Processing
The usual suspects here include Microsoft Word (2003, 2007, etc.) and of course Corel's sentimental favorite WordPerfect product. Less traditional but more interesting alternatives include OpenOffice (now NeoOffice) and Google Docs. There is an abundance of choice in this department.

Digital Dictation
Again, the standards were trotted out here including Dragon NaturallySpeaking and (surprise!) outsourcing in India or even near-sourcing in the U.S. by using a digital dictation and transcription service.

[Last year at TechShow, a company called QuickSek had a booth. This company transcribes overnight or even the same day — you can dictate by phone. No booth this year.]

Practice Management
Amicus Attorney, Time Matters, PracticeMaster, and ProLaw were mentioned by the speakers; and although Outlook 2007 appears to be creeping into the space traditionally occupied by such products, it was specifically not recommended as a practice management solution. The speakers were clear on that.

Time and Billing
In this category Timeslips, Tabs3, and PCLaw were the favorites.

[Again, Outlook was not mentioned although the Journal feature includes a timer. Also missing was new market entrant Bill4Time, a Web application.]

Collaboration

The speakers mixed things up a bit here, beginning with the more traditional concept of the Extranet and proceeding to the more exotic offerings from BaseCamp, Zoho, Google Apps, and the wonderful world of Wikis. It's no coincidence that the ABA just published an entire book on this subject. For the audience at this event however, there was no need to go into any great detail. Any of the suggested solutions was adequate for the needs of a small firm or sole-practitioner.

Adobe Acrobat

David Masters wrote the book on Adobe Acrobat for lawyers. No, really; he wrote The Lawyer's Guide to Adobe Acrobat, now in its second edition. So it was no surprise that David considers Acrobat to be the most efficient document format in the market, as well as the standard for e-filing and scanning. He recommended using a sheet-fed, flatbed scanner for best results.

Backup Strategies

Already the source of much confusion and fear, backing up is essential. With that in mind both Carolyn and David suggested:

• Daily backup is essential — develop the discipline.
• Make sure you're catching relevant files in each backup.
• Make sure you can restore reliably using this system.
• Backup off-site as well as on-site.

Communications Tools

Sure, voice over IP (VoIP) is less expensive than using traditional telephone lines and cell towers, but is it time for a small-firm or sole-practitioner to take the plunge? According to these speakers yes — the time has come. In addition, users now have an unprecedented choice of Internet-based calling, messaging, and communication options including:

• Free Conference Call
• Grand Central

Email Tools

As the price of email technology and storage has plummeted the small-firm and solo attorney has been deluged with the same range of choices as a big-firm practitioner: desk-based, Web-based, POP3, IMAP, Exchange, etc. The point is to use the safest alternative and always get a good spam filtering system.

Conclusion

At the end of presentation the audience gave the speakers a well-deserved ovation. Also, I'm guessing they left better off than they arrived. I know I did. Unfortunately however, I had to be in court by mid-day so this was the end of day two of TechShow for me. Still, if I had to pick only one session to attend this was it.

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

Presenters: Sharon Nelson, Timothy Johnson, and Dan Pinnington
Thursday, March 13 at 5:15 pm

You'd think that a session held at the end of a very long first day of the TechShow would be a drag, right? But you'd be wrong. Timothy Johnson, Executive Director of the Law Practice Management Publishing, Sharon Nelson, President of Sensei Enterprises and Chair of the Law Practice Management Publishing Board, and Dan Pinnington, Director of practicePRO and Chair of the Webzine Board for Law Practice Today, delivered a helpful presentation for the prospective authors in attendance.

Publishing a Book

The speakers demystified the book publishing process by breaking it down into five simple steps:

1. Informal Proposal
Propose an idea to Sharon and Tim. It's probably a good idea to review what the ABA's Law Practice Management Section has already published. If they think your proposal has merit and it does not duplicate something already in the works by another author, you are off to the races.

2. Proposal Form
Complete a proposal form on the ABA's Web site. Your proposal will then be reviewed by the Publication Board and, if approved, then you are on your way to being immortalized in print, ABA-style.

3. Write the Book
Now, for the hard part. To help you with the process of actually writing your book, the ABA will assign a Project Manager-Editor. Hey, someone has to keep you on schedule. At this point you'll:

• Sign an authorship agreement.
• Propose a timeline (usually 6-12 months).

And remember, this isn't a law review! It's a practical way to share your knowledge and best-practices with lawyers like yourself. Don't forget to include such value-added features as:

• Checklists
• Diagrams
• Lists
• Practice Pointers
• Charts
• Tables
• Data, data, and more data

Once your oeuvre is complete, the time until publication will be about four months. The ABA retains the copyright.

4. Marketing Your Book
The ABA does its share of marketing on your behalf, but it doesn't hurt to sell, sell, sell. Turn to fellow authors, bloggers, Internet talk-shows (podcasts), and don't forget online publications like TechnoLawyer.

5. Royalties
Watch the royalties roll in at the rate of 10% of gross sales. Most books don't make it past their first edition, which is generally about 1,000 copies (although this ranges from as few as one hundred to several thousand). Who knows, maybe you'll become the Stephen King of the legal world, but 1,000 copies is still a good return on investment.

Additional Publishing Opportunities

The ABA has a number of other publications as well, including:

• Magazines
• eZines
• Podcasts
• eBooks
• Blogs
• Form Banks

Magazine Publishing

Law Practice is the flagship publication of the Law Practice Management Section.

• Submissions should be about 1,500-2,000 words.
• Topics should be informative and practical too.
• Circulation of the magazine is 20,000+.
• Authors are not paid.
• The magazine retains copyright (or right of first refusal).

eZine Publishing

Dan Pinnington encouraged people to contact him to discuss submissions to the ABA's eZine, Law Technology Today.

• Submissions should be about 1,000 words.
• Topics should be educational and practical.
• There is usually quick editorial turnaround.
• Expect good exposure due to high traffic.
• Authors are not paid.

Party Time?

And with that, day one of TechShow ended ... at least the official part. At 6:30 in the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Hilton the ABA hosted a wingding of sorts known simply as TechShow After Dark. In addition, a series of working social dinners assembled around discrete topics. As for your humble reporter, I had a quick look around upstairs and went home to write. It was a long day.

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

Presenters: Adriana Linares and Catherine Sanders Reach
Thursday, March 13 at 4:15 pm

Every year the LPM Section includes a series of "roundtable" sessions designed for attendees to share real-world experiences with colleagues. However, these roundtable sessions are presided over by speakers with a great deal of experience.

This session featured uber-trainer and TechShow board member Adriana Linares of LawTech Partners and Catherine Sanders Reach of the ABA's Legal Technology Resource Center, both of whom shared their insights on one of the most ubiquitous and vexing of all office applications — Outlook.

The discussion/lecture covered Outlook 2003 and 2007 based on a 50/50 show of hands from the audience — meaning presumably that nobody in the audience used an older version than that, or was willing to fess up if they did. In any case I was lucky to be seated up-front because it was a packed house with the speakers and the audience engaged in a rapid-fire exchange. The allotted hour hardly seemed adequate for the number of useful tidbits flying from the speakers or the many questions lobbed from those in attendance. I've tried to capture the highlights of the discussion by topic for the benefit of our readers. Enjoy.

Searching

The principal difference between Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 when it comes to searching is that the latter has search built-in, while the former uses the anemic search utility that comes bundled with Windows. Outlook 2007 even highlights search terms automatically and with a simple right-click can accommodate some of the most common searches such as "related messages" and messages from a particular sender or conversation thread. Popular add-ons for searching in Outlook include:

• Google Desktop
• Copernic Desktop
• X1
• LookOut (Outlook 2003 only)

Another useful practice is to save and re-use effective search strings and put the results into a particular folder, such as "Today's Mail," "Messages from Mom," etc. Using pre-written searches in conjunction with follow up flags, deadlines, tasks, and labels (aka 'tags' by name, event, etc.) will provide the most effective search results.

Backup

When backing up items related to you look for your particular .pst file. You can download a Personal Folder Backup tool at the Outlook Web site that automatically backs up your .pst's. Yet another backup technique involves creating a shortcut to your .pst folders (once you find them 7 levels deep in the file hierarchy) and periodically backing up to that location. The resulting backup folder can be password protected for security and saved to a CD for permanency. The speakers suggest keeping all personal information in such folders, including not just email but calendar items, contacts, tasks, etc. so that you can restore your identity in the event of corruption, destruction, damage, etc.

Archiving

Yet another way to use .pst files is to archive and remove all messages, calendar items, tasks, and contacts related to a closed case. The speakers pointed out that archived files should be saved as searchable PDF documents rather than in native format to ensure longevity. One advantage of using PDF in such situations is that it preserves the attachments as well their host email messages. But be sure to keep it uniform — for example, Outlook 2003 saves archived items as PDF files while Outlook 2007 saves them as more complete (but space-intensive) PDF packages.

Sorting

A truly useful alternative to searching for items is to sort them to a reliable location in the first place. That's where the use of Outlook Rules comes in. Adriana Linares suggests using Rules retroactively as well to gather all like messages, contacts, calendar items, and tasks in a single place. But before you set up a gaggle of rules that could actually counter-act one another, consider this handy scenario proposed by Adriana Linares:

• Add a "To" field in your Inbox to identify items sent directly to you by name as opposed to those sent to a group of which you are a member, a discussion forum, your company, etc.

• Further categorize messages by color-coding or sorting, with only the ones sent directly to you visible up-front (or identified in an eye-catching color).

Simple but effective. Likewise, consider this tip for viewing multiple or like calendar items on the same page: hold down the Control key and select multiple items or dates with your mouse to display your schedule for all of those items on a single page (which you can print, or save as a custom calendar view).

Contacts

To take advantage of the built-in contact relationship management (CRM) feature in Outlook, drag all the items (calendar, task, etc.) related to that contact into their "notes" panel. While it is tempting to including documents related to a contact in this easy-to-use drag-and-drop area, the speakers strongly counsel against it. Once you've done this you can keep related items connected going forward by using the "related contact" field.

To speed the process further hold down Alt K and put in portion of a contact's name — Outlook finds the rest and fills it in for you. After that you can spread your own contact information by including vCards in your email messages and downloading vCard attachments from those with whom you communicate. Once a contact has been included in your system the process of connecting them to the right items and staying connected begins all over again.

Outlook as Case Management System

On this topic the ABA will soon publish a series by Ben Shore. Until then the question remains whether Outlook can be used as a kind of case-management system. According to the speakers: short answer is "no ... but" and long answer is "yes ... if." Got that?

Case Management Systems with two-way Outlook integration:

• Amicus Attorney
• Tabs 3
• ProLaw
• Time Matters

Third party plug-ins that almost make Outlook into a Case Management System:

• Anagram
• LinkedIn Toolbar
• Hiddenbcc
• SpeedFiler
• QuickFile 4Outlook - Lawyer's Edition
• GTD Plug-In for Outlook
• Payne Metadata Assistant
• Xobni (currently in beta, look for coverage in TechnoLawyer NewsWire when released)

[I myself suggest Agendus and 4Team.]

Finally, oh ye of little faith behold: Outlook now synchronizes with Google Calendar! Hallelujah! Also worth noting in this department is Plaxo, which has attempted to become your universal online calendar, contact manager, and social networking hub — and yes, it synchronizes with Outlook, Google, MSN, AOL, and the rest of the Internet alphabet soup.

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

Presenters: Brett Burney and Dominic Jaar
Saturday, March 15 at 8:30 am

It turns out I already knew one of the speakers at this seminar. Dominic Jaar works at Bell Canada and has been a correspondent of mine on FaceBook for a while.

Brett Burney started us off with a joke and led seamlessly into Dominic's first demonstration: sending a presentation to the projector wirelessly via his BlackBerry. That was met with a well-earned round of applause, and was a great way to demonstrate what this session was all about — remote control, mobile style.

With that, the panel launched into the meat of the presentation: an assessment of what was out there for the road warrior. The discussion focused on the most popular and powerful hand-held multi-task devices:

• BlackBerry
• Treo (and Palm)
• iPhone

BlackBerry

According to Dominic Jaar the Blackberry is the "default phone" for mobile lawyers. Device manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) provides a number of ways in which users can make BlackBerry their own and enhance productivity including:

1. Customizing the look and feel.

2. Customizing the ring tones.

3. Full suite of built-in options.

4. Gaggle of 3rd party applications.

BlackBerry presentation tools such as the one demonstrated by Dominic include:

• BBScreenStream (real-time stream and record)
• Jl_Cmder (wiping out sensitive information)

Joining a user community can also enhance and extend the BlackBerry experience. Some of Dominic's favorites include:

• PinStack
• CrackBerry
• BlackBerry Cool
• Berry Review

If you're going mobile then you've got to use digital dictation. Regardless of the system you choose the idea is to record and send wirelessly. Dominic uses a combination of RDM Plus, VR+, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking to dictate and send documents directly to his desktop for later editing or right to his secretary/assistant for real-time productivity.

Speaking of documents, BlackBerry does not use the Microsoft Office suite. Instead RIM has prompted a number of third party vendors like e-Office whose products allow you to create and even edit documents on the fly. You can send the output wirelessly to a Bluetooth enabled printer or fax machine.

In fact honest-to-goodness mobile lawyering requires Bluetooth in abundance: from phones and ear pieces to printers and computers. This means that you can skip the bulk by using peripherals wherever you are as long as you have plenty of onboard storage (such as a 2 GB memory stick) or are "tethering" — that is, constantly connected to a virtual private network (VPN) at the office. But the real advantage to tethering is when you start with an unlimited data plan then use your BlackBerry as a modem to interact with the VPN and its members. For now tethering is a large-firm technique but as costs come down its use will continue to grow.

When it comes to saving money and making the BlackBerry (or any mobile solution) affordable, it's hard to beat solutions that use voice over IP (VOIP) to replace toll-calls with calls via fixed-fee data plans (often at a fraction of regular cell service).  Such applications include:

• Iskoot (best — as it uses Skype)
• Jajah
• Eqo
• Raketu

BlackBerry's email capabilities are legendary, but dealing with voluminous mail is another story. To cleanly and painlessly review reams of email (or just check your messages from a week ago), Dominic recommended:

• SmartView
• Empower

Google is Here and BlackBerry May Never Be the Same

While its suite of lightweight applications is ideal for the BlackBerry, Google was long rumored to be coming out with its own mobile "phone." That is, until it turned out that rumors of the gPhone had been greatly exaggerated and the real deal turned out to be "Android," Google's mobile platform designed to allow innovative small companies to create applications (much like RIM has done with BlackBerry itself).

Compare Apple's proprietary iPhone and its recent release of its software development kit (SDK) to developers to Google's commitment to open standards. Despite the cachet of the iPhone, Google and RIM may take the day — consider Google's current mobile platform — maps, mail, documents, calendar, RSS reader, the so-called Google Mobile Updater (really an all-in-one update), mobile search, and more.

Palm

Palm has been around the longest and is responsible for the beloved Treo line of smartphones such as:

• Treo 680
• Palm Centro [highly recommended]

One interesting note about Palm-enabled devices is that they can connect to the Internet without having to rely on WiFi by using applications such as those offered by June Networks. Both of these give you a choice of Sprint/Verizon or AT&T and, like all devices running the Palm operating system (OS), integrate with Palm Desktop as well as Outlook.

Of course Palm Desktop has become a bit of a dinosaur. It was the company's attempt to create a proprietary personal information manager (PIM) but was virtually abandoned in the shadow of Outlook. Just as well though, since it turns out that the ability to send and receive email is what really drives the popularity of mobile handsets and operating systems (hence BlackBerry's reign). In short, PIM RIP.

As for documents on Palm, users appear to be more interested in viewing them than composing them. The speaker's choice in this department was "Documents to Go" from DataViz, which opens all Microsoft Office documents including Office 2007 documents, as well as PDFs.

When it comes to email, for large firms, the name of the game is not pull but push. That is, lawyers whose home offices need to send them information want to have the right documents and messages pushed out to them (such as by means of a Microsoft Exchange client). Small-firm and solo attorneys however, generally pull messages, documents, and other information from a server using a POP3 or IMAP format.  In any case, applications of note in this department include

• SnapperMail
• ChatterEmail ["pull" clients — check server]
• VersaMail by GoodLink ["push" clients — constant sync]

iPhone

Short on time, the speakers blew through this part of the presentation and had precious little to say about the iPhone as a business tool in any event, pointing out that use of Apple in the business context remained an open question. They did list the following pros and cons:

Negatives

• Cannot add memory.
• Cannot replace battery easily.
• Lack of business applications.
• Lack of third party partners.
• Must use iTunes.
• Must use AT&T.
• ATT's Internet access ("Edge") sucks.
• No copy/paste.
• No to-do list.

Positives

This section intentionally left blank ... well okay, it's really cool.

The consensus was that having an iPhone was a blast, but using it for business was a chore. Maybe the next-generation iPhone will get it right.

Download Dominic's presentation (ppt).

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

Presenters: Judge Herbert Dixon, Todd Flaming, Browning Marean, and Tom O'Connor
Thursday, March 13 at 9:30 am

This session delivered a solid combination of animated discussion and creativity (try that the next time you have an eDiscovery issue!). Basically this session provided an opportunity for a capacity crowd of confused (and perhaps a bit frightened) litigators to find out something (anything, really) about eDiscovery from a panel of pros, including a Judge — and the panel did not disappoint. Here's how they played things out in a courtroom drama staged for our benefit:

Players

Judge Dixon as The Judge
Todd Flaming as Counsel for the Plaintiff
Browning Marean as Counsel for the Defendant
Tom O'Connor as The eDiscovery Expert

Back-Story (Zubulake Redux)

Plaintiff, an employee of a certain age at Defendant corporation, had been terminated. Defendant is big, rich, and sophisticated enough to rely on an in-house law department and well heeled outside counsel when drawing up memos, holding meetings, and going on the record. As the story opened a motion was before the Court to discover electronically stored information (ESI) from within the Defendant's computer systems.

[Note: While nobody on the panel came out and said it, these facts track those in Zubulake v. UBS Warburg — the 800 pound gorilla of eDiscovery decisions — with a dash of Williams v. Sprint/United Management Co. and Qualcomm v. Broadcom Corp. In Zubulake, Judge Shira Scheindlin found that the defendant failed to comply with an eDiscovery request and instead tried to "scrub" data before handing it over. The Court awarded massive damages to the defendant. That decision gave birth to today's eDiscovery industry.]

Act I: Motion to Compel eDiscovery Compliance

The first act of the play was the Plaintiff's Motion to Compel eDiscovery. Before beginning, the Judge noted what the Attorneys should have done already [but as it turns out, had not done].

Exchange information regarding:

• Computers (number, location, users)
• Hardware/software custodian
• Network setup and custodian
• Document destruction policy
• Information storage policy
• Information backup policy

Discuss the following with respect to ESI:

• The scope of any eDiscovery requests.
• Formats for production of information.
• Native formats v. PDF, TIFF, etc.
• Privilege and redaction considerations.
• Reasonableness of information sought.
• The cost of access to that information.

The Judge heard arguments.

Flaming for the Plaintiff

• Plaintiff demands to see native files i.e. in their original format with metadata intact.

• Plaintiff's expert needed full indexing of systems in order to provide context for what it did find.

• The Defendant has been careful to hide telltale signs of culpability so the Plaintiff needs to look carefully to document its case.

• Plaintiff needs data going back a decade in order to support its claims of age-based discrimination.

Marean for the Defendant

• Plaintiff's discovery request was unreasonable in its scope (this was a big company after all ...).

• The cost of indexing the full system would be excessive on the Defendant.

• Established law sets out a 3-prong test for determining whether a discovery request is "reasonable" [a cost-benefit determination].

Going back 10 years (or even 6 or 7) would result in a mess of legacy systems, incompatible formats, and crippling expense.

The Decision

The Judge took the state of ESI search technology into account, including the need to keep files in original (native) format as well as the use of the decades-old keyword search and the more cutting-edge concept search. In the end the Judge split the electronic baby down the middle, ruling that:

1. The Lawyers should meet again to craft a mutually agreeable eDiscovery schedule.

2. The concepts of keyword and concept searching should be kept in mind.

3. The Defendant was to produce at least the following in their native formats:

• Spreadsheets
• Meeting minutes/handouts
• Reports
• Emails with full threads and attachments

Act II: Motion to Preserve ESI

The play's second act presumed that certain types of ESI had been made available for examination by the Plaintiff's expert. The scene opened with Tom O'Connor on the stand, being questioned by Plaintiff's Counsel.

Response to Plaintiff's Counsel

• Data was not given in its native format.

• Data had been scrubbed by Defendant.

• Evidence of data scrubbing included:

- Lack of metadata in any document.
- No formulas found in the cells of spreadsheets.
- Documents hyperlinked to other documents were missing.
- The word "discriminate" was nowhere to be found (too clean).

Response to Defense Counsel

• eDiscovery software used was not Unicode Compliant and therefore could have missed information in non-traditional languages or using non-traditional symbols.

• Without access to the Defendant's privilege log the Plaintiff's Expert could not decipher much of what he was examining, much less put it in the proper context.

Following the Expert's testimony Plaintiff's Counsel asked that an adverse inference be drawn with respect to the Defendant (the kiss of death to a jury) and that appropriate monetary or other sanctions be applied. Counsel for the Defendant was quick to blame the problem on the Expert, implying that his examination had not be thorough enough.

The Decision

The Judge first warned that an over-inclusive order could hobble the business of the Defendant, doing more harm than good, while a watered-down order would allow potential destruction of vital evidence. The balancing of interests undertaken by the Court in such situations would have to include

• The need for preservation of evidence, versus
• The possibility of a loss of information, versus
• The potential damage of a broad order, versus
• The potential for damage in a restrictive order.

In the end the Judge relied on the credibility of the Expert. On that basis the Defendant had violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. In the final analysis however, the Court's position was restrained and provided that:

1. Further searching of the Defendant's computer records was needed.

2. Even though no sanctions would issue this time, they remain a possibility if:

• Scrubbing is determined with certainty to have taken place.

• The Defendant fails to produce evidence it is legally required to keep on file.

• The Defendant can be shown to have acted in bad faith.

• The most damaging evidence was destroyed/scrubbed.

Curtain Call

In the end, Judge Dixon wrapped up by advising attendees to refer to materials on the ABA's Web site as well as those of the Federal Judicial Center, the National Conference of State Court Judges, and of course the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, all of which are useful in determining how to deal with the evolving field of eDiscovery. He also suggested reading Guidelines for State Trial Courts Regarding Discovery of Electronically-Stored Information, and Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges.

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

TechShow board members Paul Unger of HMU Consulting and Debbie Foster of inTouch Legal spoke to a capacity crowd of small-office and solo lawyers, many of them refugees from large firms who needed to unlearn then relearn a host of practice skills.

Using a short but informative PowerPoint presentation, the speakers explored the following paperless office topics:

Return on Investment
Eliminate the need to retype pleadings. Scan all your incoming documents, and scan and store existing documents. Pay attention to storage and security for all your files. Searching for files versus finding them.

Formats: PDF (Portable Document Format) Versus TIF (Tagged Image Format)
PDF for office use, TIF for trial presentations. Use JPG for photographs and graphics. TWAIN functionality in your scanner ensures interoperability.

Hardware Options
Fujitsu ScanSnap ($350-$500) — entry-level model.
Fujitsu 6140C ($1,500-$2,000) — fastest, quietest.
Canon ScanFront 220 ($1,800-$2,200) — new kid on the block, no computer needed.

Paul prefers scanners connected to a computer because of increased functionality. He listed the Canon ScanFront 220 to solicit feedback from the audience, but typically uses the Fujitsu line with his clientele.

Examples
1. Typical Workflow: Begin with a Fujitsu ScanSnap or any good sheet-fed scanner (200-300 dpi). Convert to PDF and recognize text via OCR (e.g. Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 or OmniPage). Send output to a document management tool (e.g. Worldox) or search for what you  need later using Google Desktop Search or Copernic.

2. Scan for Efficiency: Start with all incoming mail on a given day and scan/OCR it into a dedicated, dated mail folder for each firm member. The folder should reside centrally or be available online so it can be accessed anytime by the firm member who can  then review and distribute mail to those who need to process it. Do the same with phone message slips, sticky-notes, etc. to render them  electronic and searchable.

As an aside and as someone whose small law firm uses such a system, I suggest tagging each scanned document to organize and search later via Google Desktop or Copernic.

Conclusion
Savings: Less on-site storage space can save thousands per year.

Low Cost: Convert documents to searchable PDF for as little as 3 cents/page if outsourced, and much less if you do the scanning yourself.

Software: Acrobat Professional, ABBYY FineReader, OmniPage

Search: Entry-level search choices include Google Desktop and Copernic Desktop Search.

Storage/Backup: Swappable hard drives onsite plus an online backup service for offsite protection in the event of a fire, natural disaster, etc.

Document Management System: Worldox or Interwoven WorkSite, etc.

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

So it's Friday night, getting late, and I've been at ABA TECHSHOW 2008 (hereinafter TechShow), sponsored by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association. In the past 48 hours I've been misdirected, lost, achy, breaky, sleepy, and mildly amused. But did I learn anything? No time for existential questions ... it's time give the legions of TechnoLawyer subscribers something to read and hopefully some useful tips in the process. In this first report, I'll try to give you a flavor of TechShow — the sights, sounds, smells ... you know the cliche.

Thursday, March 14, 2008

4:30 am: Unlike most attendees and speakers who have flown in from around the country and only have to fight jetlag, I live about 30 miles outside Chicago so I need to wrestle with traffic before setting foot in the hotel. It's a 2-hour commute into the city no matter what and the Thursday preceding St. Patrick's Day would be no exception. (Note to TechShow Planning Committee — please consider returning TechShow to April.)

6:00 am: You only get once chance to make a first impression. I chose a dark blue suit and a shirt with a fine windowpane check, paired with an orange tie and handkerchief. Yes, that's me in the photo. I also armed myself with a legal pad, Redweld file, a pen, a highlighter, my iPhone, a digital camera, and a digital recorder. By the time I walked out the front door, my pockets were swinging uncontrollably from the weight and momentum of my multiple devices. Worse, the messenger-style bag I donned for the occasion cut mercilessly into my shoulder. Now I was ready.

7:40 am: Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Well, almost comes together. TechShow chair Tom Mighell (of Inter Alia fame) was giving the keynote address at 8:00 so all I had to do was make it to the Sheraton by then ... and I was making great time. The Sheraton Chicago has been the home of TechShow for nearly 10 years. Funny thing though ... it turns out that the TechShow board wanted to shake things up, which included changing the dates and venue of the show. (Second note to self — always read the literature before you show up.)

8:00 am: As I sprinted to the registration desk at the Sheraton I couldn't help noticing the lack of ABA paraphernalia in the familiar lobby with its serene, elegant waterfalls. At first this seemed like a refreshing change — more subtle, less obtrusive. But the dark, unmanned desk was not reassuring.  Nor did it help that I had to haul 40 pounds of technology gear up and down the first, second, and third mezzanines until it dawned on me that maybe the party was going to be held somewhere else.

8:20 am: It's not that I missed the keynote: I was just fashionably late. And what I saw in the cavernous Grand Ballroom at the Hilton (the real venue of TechShow) was a capacity crowd and Tom holding forth about TechShow and the bright techno-future that awaited us.

8:30 am: With the keynote over, it was time to embark on the day's seminars. First however, I headed to the makeshift media-room set up by the ABA Division for Media Relations and Communication Services.

No sooner had I entered than one of the young staffers asked who the heck I was and what I was doing there. Despite this charming greeting, I was actually impressed by the fact that the LPM Section has included such features as:

• TechShow Blog
• Live blogging feeds
• Live photo sharing on Flickr
• Twitter feed! Wow!
• Group on del.icio.us

Of course it only took another 10 seconds before I remembered that the inclusion of such tools — cool as they are and useful as they can be — means squat when coupled with a population that by and large doesn't use them.

8:35 am: Time for my first seminar, Eliminating the Paper Chase: From Boxes to Bytes, a soup-to-nuts look at how to go paperless, if not entirely paperless, in an average law office. More on this seminar and all the others I attended in subsequent Posts.

My Initial Impressions

Making Tom chair of the TechShow was inspired: it shows that the ABA is acknowledging (if only a wee bit) that it needs to change the way it does things. At its best, TechShow is where a host of new, smaller, out of the way vendors get to present themselves each year and out of every new crop some make it and others opt out (legal is a tough market). This year was no different. If anything, Tom's influence will no doubt encourage a slightly different group of lawyers and vendors to participate, and that is de facto a good thing.

On the other hand, I loved the Sheraton, I don't care much for the space at the Hilton. It's literally in the basement of the building where the trucks dock — the signs are still up on the walls and the cinderblocks are apparent through the bad paint job. Come on ABA — you can do better. Even if you consider legal technology and LPM in general to be second-rate, you don't have to be so overt about it!

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.