Is Your Firm Ready to “Wage Litigation”   in the 21st Century?
By Jason Park

The number of technological weapons available to the 21st Century Litigator is almost dizzying. Automation and technology have affected each and every aspect of litigation and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. Will your Law Firm be ready to wage litigation in the next millennium? 
Typically Law Firms are responding to the changing landscape of technology in the Litigation arena in one of three ways. First, by hiring full time experienced Practice Support Managers. This approach is more common in the very large firms .Second, some firms hire consultants to help them win a specific battle/case. This seems to be more prevalent among Litigation Boutique Firms. At this time, the third and most common approach is to give greater technological decision making powers to the more technologically gifted paralegals. This allows the smaller to medium sized multi-practice firms to keep abreast of change in the least costly manner. 
What does this trend mean for you, the paralegal? GOOD NEWS! If it hasn’t already happened, you will find yourself needing to be more computer literate than ever, and you will have more responsibility for technical decisions as we go into the new millennium. As if the paralegal’s life wasn’t stressful enough already! 
Let’s look at the phase of a Litigation Matter where the typical paralegal is more pressed for time and more stressed than usual-Trial Time. 
Here’s how you can actually make your life less stressful, while allowing you to take more control of your situation. Employ Technology at Trial Time. One of the biggest advantages to utilizing Trial Presentation Technology from a paralegal’s perspective is the flexibility it affords you. Essentially you are in control of all your demonstrative evidence for a change, because it all resides on your computer. Images of documents, depositions, audio, video, time lines, their exhibits, your exhibits and on and on. Everything you need to wage effective Litigation in Court resides on your computer. This is the kind of control you could only dream of before. 
The following are a few common scenarios which sometimes face a Litigation Team at Trial time. Think for a moment after reading each scenario and evaluate how you currently solve the challenge and how much time and money it would take to master the situation. Following each scenario will be the typical “manual solution” and also a suggested “automated solution” using technology. 

Scenario One: Your attorney has isolated ten key documents and wants exhibit boards made Sound familiar? 
A Manual Solution: Call your copy company and have them enlarge and mount the boards for you. Cost: Approximately $750.00 ($75 per board). 
An Automated Solution: Image the paper documents and display the imaged documents at Trial using Trial Presentation Software. Cost: Approximately $2.50 (if outsourced.) You may pay $0.25 per page to have documents imaged. However, most firms already own scanners If all you have is a few pages, just go down to the folks in word processing and ask them to image the documents for you. 

Scenario Two: It’s Sunday night before trial. Your attorney decides that a few of the black and white exhibits would look better if certain portions of the document were enlarged further (like a zoomed out box) and other portions also need to be highlighted in yellow. Furthermore, they need to be at the Courthouse by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.) 

A Manual Solution: Drink a bottle of Maalox. Call your copy company. Pray that they’re open. Have them provide color exhibit boards. Cost: Several dollars for Maalox and approximately $150 to $250 per board. 

An Automated Solution: Use your computer to pull up the already imaged document. Highlight and zoom the document on your screen. Save the changes on your computer. Cost: About one minute of your billable rate and you don’t have to buy the Maalox! 

Scenario Three: You’re in Trial. Your attorney is examining a witness and wants to refer to an exhibit. You reach into your trusty folder and the document is not there. (Hopefully you haven’t experienced this one!) 

A Manual Solution: Search frantically while trying to remain composed. Mutter something about it being “right here” while you wipe a bead of perspiration from your brow. Dust off your résumé. Cost: Damaged credibility and an irritated Judge and Jury. 

An Automated Solution: Using a barcode reader, swipe a barcode and your exhibit appears “magically” on the screen for all to see. Cost: About five cents to print the barcode. Plus you don’t have to dust off your résumé. 

Judges and Juries alike appreciate the efficiency that using Trial Presentation Technology brings to the Courtroom. More and more Judges are beginning to mandate paperless trials. They’re changing the rules of engagement for “Waging Litigation”. It might be worth your while to investigate this technology sooner rather than later. You might find yourself in a real life situation like this one which happened to a paralegal I know. An envelope arrives on your desk. It’s from the Judge presiding over an upcoming trial .Inside you find a polite letter informing you that his/her Court is “paperless”. Also, would you please watch the accompanying videotape which shows the layout of the Courtroom and the equipment you’re to use. If you’ve already begun using this technology, you won’t have that awful panicked feeling that the paralegal on the other side of the case is feeling at that exact moment. 

In closing, I’d like to leave you with the words of an attorney with whom I recently had a conversation. We were discussing Trial Presentation Technology. The following are his words (not mine.) He said: “I always use it. I’ll never take a knife to a gun fight!” 

Jason Park is an Information Management Consultant with the LIT Group, a technology-based Litigation Support Firm. He may be reached for further clarification of items discussed here via email at: jasonpark@litgroup.com or by phone at (214) 698-0020