From the Legal Times: "Use Trial Technology but Don't Overdo It"--
Trial lawyers like the capabilities of the new litigation software, and many have grown quite comfortable going to the digital screen. As Robert Abrams notes, "It's not magic. It's what trial lawyers should know, or they're not going to be good trial lawyers." Legal Times interviews with D.C. litigators reveal that good litigators are also aware that high tech isn't always the best way to sway the jury. "The flash is not the goal," says Gregg LoCascio. "It's all about getting the message across."
The complete article, which includes short quotations from a number of lawyers, will give you lots of ideas for using (as opposed to over-using) technology at your next trial.
The other challenge of introducing technology like CaseMap to litigators and others doing document review is that the technology itself does not always follow the normal flow of work. Indeed, the biggest limitation of Casemap is that it requires the user to recognize linkages, and it requires the user to enter information in a prescribed way--otherwise the linkage fails. A new alternative to Casemap is Chronobuilder (see www.chronobuilder). The program was designed by two big firm attorneys with thousands of hours of document review experience--it has more powerful linkage and analytics than Casemap, allows the attorney to review documents and evidence in any order they want, and does the linkage for you without training, right clicking, etc.
And, for solos and small firms, Chronobuilder is available right now for a one time license fee. Check it out.
Posted by: California Lawyer | September 06, 2008 at 03:31 PM