Paul Otlet - Lawyer, Father of Information Science, Grandfather of Search Engines

Otlet (far left) looking like he wants to get back to work already

Today marks the 70th anniversary of Paul Otlet's death. Responsible for the standardization of the 3" x 5" index card for the card catalog, creator of the Universal Decimal System, inventor of analog Google (Repertoire Bibliographique Universel), and pioneer in microfilm's use in the library, Otlet is kind of a big deal. His vision of what a library would and could be has changed the way we research, gather, and store information. Thanks to him, you could do a quick Wikipedia search and learn more about this lawyer turned information scientist!

Legal Fiction Writing Contest

 

Call for legal fiction writing . . . just in case anyone is interested.

iPad Apps for Lawyers - Part VII: Trial Evidence Prep and Presentation

PowerPoint and KeyNote are popular go-tos for presentations, but there are other, more courtroom oriented ways of presenting your case.

ExhibitView: Useful for organizing case exhibits and presentations. ExhibitView enables users to organize, create sub folders, take notes and create white boards. Presentation tools include call-out features, highlighting, a freehand pen tool, laser pointer, and control of your output to TV or projection device. Additionally, there is a PC version! This is particularly nice, for creating presentations on your PC and saving to an iPad come trial time.

TrialDirector: With TrialDirector you can create a case folder, add exhibits to your case through OneDrive, Box, Dropbox, WebDAV or iTunes, and interact with evidence using annotation and presentation tools. As with ExhibitView, tools include call-out, freehand writing, highlighting, and laser pointer. For being FREE, it's a really powerful app and comparable to some of pricier apps that do the same thing.

TrialPad: TrialPad, obviously works very similarly to TrialDirector and ExhibitView; call-out sections of documents, highlight text, compare documents side-by-side, edit and show video clips, add exhibit stickers to documents, and search document text. File formats supported include PDF, JPG, PNG, TIF, TXT, and all audio/video formats that are supported by iPad. You can import multiple files at once, keeping file and folder structures intact, via Box, Dropbox, Citrix ShareFile, Transporter, WebDAV.

Timeline 3D: Different from the above apps, this one focuses on timelines. Enter events and images, movies, or PDFs, then Timeline 3D does the rest for you. Notes, weblinks, and tags can also be added to timelines. There's a variety of backgrounds or styles to choose from, and timelines can be exported to PowerPoint and Keynote.

And that, wraps it up! I hope that this was helpful, if even just a little. Please, feel free to borrow an iPad from us and give these apps a whirl.


Be Aware: While the apps discussed in this series are helpful tools, they are in no way meant to replace official law sources. Please, rely on your McKusick Law Library or certified government websites for reference.

iPad Apps for Lawyers - Part VI: The Jury

Gentlemen of the Jury by John Morgan

Darlings of USD,

Jury selection apps - they make collecting juror information and jury selection a little more organized.

iJuror: It has an intuitive, simple interface. You can navigate your jury either by seating arrangement or name. Adding and dismissing jurors is as easy as "dragging-and-dropping," because that's exactly what you do; drag, and then drop. iJuror allows you to share and email information with colleagues, add notes throughout the trial, and store all your trials in one location.

iJury: Provides you with metrics (graphs) based on how you score each jurors questionnaire responses and demographic information. This can alert you to potential gender, race, wealth bias to help you pick your best jury.

JuryTracker: This is where we deviate from jury selection to jury observation. JuryTracker uses gestures and emoticons to streamline note taking observations. Typed notes can also be added to the report. All notes are time stamped so they can be cross referenced with the transcript to better understand what jurors were reacting to. JuryTracker includes reports that can be saved for later review, or emailed. Reports include juror responses sorted by juror, by party presenting, by type of response and in chronological order.

I don't need to preach to you about the importance of preparation, but as a friendly reminder - keep them tech skills sharp. Learning about and using apps like these can only help as technology in the courtroom changes.

In our next, and final installment of the iPad apps for lawyers series we'll talk about evidence preparation and presentation. Move over PowerPoint!


Be Aware: While the apps discussed in this series are helpful tools, they are in no way meant to replace official law sources. Please, rely on your McKusick Law Library or certified government websites for reference.

December at the Law Library

iPad Apps for Lawyers - Part V: Research Tools

USD Law Library circa 1934

Because for the rest of forever, you'll be doing research, here are some mobile options for your information gathering needs. 

LexisAdvance: If you've already got a subscription with LexisAdvance, you'll probably want the app as well. As always, you can annotate and highlight to your hearts content, but you can also work online or remotely, and sync documents with your other devices. You'll also have access to Shepard's through this app, ensuring "good law" research on the go.


WestlawNext: Basically the same thing as LexisAdvance, but with WestlawNext. (You'll also need to have an account with Westlaw already to use this app.)

LawStack: A FREE LEGAL LIBRARY! LawStack comes with the U.S. Constitution, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. However, should you want even more resources, they offer an embedded collection of  the Code of Federal Regulations, United States Code, and multiple codes from individual states as well. It provides offline access to downloaded doc.s, highlighting capabilities, and "killer full-text search" (their words not mine).

LawLibe: Brought to you by the Legal Information Institute [LII] at Cornell Law School, this app is also a legal library like LawStack. It's free and fully offline. It comes loaded with the U.S. Constitution, and then you can pick and choose what other references to add. One drawback for this app (which is currently being worked on) is that it has limited state code offerings, with only California, New York, and Texas being available thus far.

Fastcase: Is a searchable library of cases and statutes from all 50 U.S. States. One of the features they highlight and that I particularly appreciate is that you can search effectively in Boolean keyword, in natural language, and by citation. It's free, and updated daily.

Fed Courts: Full text of all of the federal rules of procedure and the local rules for every federal court in the country and provides access to PACER. Not a lot of bells, whistles, and features; just basic access to information.




Be Aware: While the apps discussed in this series are helpful tools, they are in no way meant to replace official law sources. Please, rely on your McKusick Law Library or certified government websites for reference.

iPad Apps for Lawyers - Part IV: Depositions

Law Scholars,

Deposition of George Rheims from the National Archive

It's time to get down to brass tacks. Below is a modest compilation of deposition apps, and some of their features. As always, if you know of, or are using something you can (or cannot) recommend, please share.

TranscriptPad: Automatically organizes by deponent name and date, making it easy to locate a transcript. Import and highlight, notate, markup, and review transcripts. And you can send along entire case reviews to other TranscriptPad users in PDF, TXT and Excel.

Westlaw Case Notebook Portable E-Transcript: This is a fairly popular app, though it's been a while since its last update, which is needless to say, the cause of some complaint. This app is most useful for those who are using Westlaw Case Notebook, but it would be handy should a .ptx file come your way - immediate access to transcripts without needing access to a PC.

eDepoze:Though eDepoze can do some limited doc review, it really is made specifically for depositions. Users can mark and share exhibits in real time, and those being shared with can review, annotate, and save their own personal copies to their private accounts. You can also chat with team member through eDepoze and view live feed transcription from the court reporter.

iCVNet: Is a bare-bones app for viewing transcription from the court reporter in real-time. There is the ability to mark and highlight within the transcript, but as far as I could tell, no way to annotate. Attorney's gain access to it via a secure WiFi network that is password protected and controlled by the court reporter.

And here's a thing I know nothing about: edepo. If you by chance request and receive an invite, tell us how it is.


Be Aware: While the apps discussed in this series are helpful tools, they are in no way meant to replace official law sources. Please, rely on your McKusick Law Library or certified government websites for reference.