Case management: back to basics.

Worth noting

Setting the `alarm' feature on your electric calendar gives you a `tickler' that automatically notifies you of important dates.

Many lawyers have yet to take the plunge into the sometimes turbulent sea of real computing. Sure, most have mastered the basic word-processing functions of the computer, but let's be honest. That's a little like sitting in a cozy, waterfront restaurant, watching a yacht come into harbor, and saying, "I love sailing."

Case-management software will take you into the world of real computing, but as you set sail on your journey, you'll likely struggle with some or all of these questions:

* Which software package is right for me?

* Do I know enough about computers to take advantage of the product's features?

* Do I really need all the power and sophistication of the product?

* Will the benefits outweigh the startup costs of the initial licensing fee and data entry into the software?

* Will my staff like the product and use it on a regular basis?

Let me say upfront that I am a big fan of the case-management software being sold to attorneys. Ail lawyers can benefit from using one of these packages. But if you're something short of a power user of computer technology, you may have your doubts about your ability to master the beast.

The following is designed to help you create your own case-management system, using some of the basic functions of your office computer, rather than shopping for and learning to use one of the packaged products on the market, which is stocked with a dizzying array of choices.

Generally, case-management software performs three basic, but necessary, tasks: organizing names and addresses, keeping a calendar of appointments and deadlines, and managing documents.

* Organizing names and addresses. If you've been in practice for any amount of time, chances are good you already have a database of information telling you how to contact clients, expert witnesses, opposing counsel, court personnel, support resources, and friends and relatives. In most offices, it's called a Rolodex.

Why put one on your computer when you've already got one on your desk? That's a legitimate question from a computer novice, but you are interested in progressing toward automating your office, not maintaining the status quo, right?

The most beneficial reason to put this information into your computer is that once you enter a client's address, you'll never have to type it or other vital statistics again. The beauty of computing is that you can take information from one file and "paste" it into a separate document, saving you the time, the hassle, and the opportunity to make typographical errors.

In addition, you'll never have to hunt around the office for your Rolodex or one of its cards that someone else borrowed "for a minute" because your entire staff will have access to the electronic Rolodex from their own computers.

Still, you have to get all that name and address information from your paper Rolodex file into the computer. This is a tedious task and a relatively expensive one because of the time it takes. Since you've already got a hard-copy file, there's no emergency here. You can create the computer Rolodex "on the fly," entering the data day-to-day as circumstances come up.

When you get to the point where you are entering names and addresses directly into an electronic list rather than transcribing them from a paper Rolodex, it's important to regularly make a backup of the file or copy it to a disk. This advice also applies to the task of document management. It is also a good idea to periodically print out a copy of your name and address list and calendar. After all, files can accidentally be erased, and your computer can crash at a most inconvenient time.

* Calendaring. Trial lawyers live by the calendar. You've already set up a system that works for you, whether it's on a wall calendar, in a notebook, in your head, or in the head of a meticulous employee. Nothing wrong with that, but can everyone read your scrawls? Is your appointment-keeping whiz at lunch? Do you remember when the statute of limitations tolls on that important case you agreed to take? Is your desk blotter calendar buried under piles of paperwork, obscuring that "tickler" to pull a file today?

Being well organized can help transform a good trial lawyer into a better one. Using your computer for calendaring tasks will allow you and your office to become better organized. You'll know when critical deadlines are coming up, and other staffers will know your schedule because it's in the computer. You can't pile papers over your computer screen, so setting the "alarm" feature on your electronic calendar gives you a "tickler" that automatically notifies you of important dates. And, the computerized calendar will give you a clear record of events should you ever, for example, face formal accusations of missing a filing deadline in a case.

There are many easy-to-use software programs designed just for appointment-setting and to-do lists. For calendaring, a word-processing program alone is not able to handle the job.

I must confess that I still use my paper-based appointment calendar in court when a judge wants to schedule an appearance for further proceedings. I do not wish to test any judge's patience by asking everyone to wait a few minutes while my laptop computer "boots up" so I can get to my electronic calendar--particularly when the opposing attorneys and the judge already have their appointment books open in front of them. There may be a day when all of us have computers on our laps, but that day isn't here yet.

* Managing documents. For me, this is the most important aspect of case management by computer. Trial lawyers must be able to find documents quickly. Computerized document management enables you to reach a file from your desk instead of having to search the office because someone forgot to sign out a paper folder from the file cabinets. Even the most computer-phobic attorney ought to be able to master my organization plan for document management in 15 minutes or less.

But first, a quick lesson in computer basics. When you start up your computer, you will be looking at what we call the "desktop"--the first screen, which presents icons, or pictures, that you can click on with your mouse to activate various computerized tasks. Windows and Macintosh software uses a system of "folders," which allows you to save documents pertaining to a specific case or client in an electronic "folder" to keep all related files together. This system also allows you to put folders within folders, which will help you keep an efficient and organized desktop.

For example, your desktop could show a folder marked "Clients." By double-clicking on that folder (quickly tapping on the mouse button twice), you might see three folders within the "Clients" folder labeled "A to K," "L to Q," and "R to Z."

Let's assume that I am your client and, among other matters, you are handling my personal injury case, "Paul Bernstein v. ABC Trucking." Having double-clicked your way from the "Clients" folder on your desktop to the "A to K" subfolder, you now find a folder marked "Paul Bernstein's matters." This process of going from folder to subfolder is known as "drilling down."

Double-click on the Paul Bernstein folder and see subfolders within, perhaps marked, "Paul Bernstein real estate sale," "Paul Bernstein wills and trusts," and "Paul Bernstein v. ABC Trucking." You click on the latter folder and find more folders labeled: PB--Pleadings; PB--Discovery requests; PB--Motions and responses; PB--Correspondence; PB--Settlement negotiations; PB--Specials; PB--Medical reports; PB--Police reports; PB--Notes: Privileged.

Let's also assume that your task today is to prepare responses to the defendant's interrogatories in my case. By double-clicking on the icon (a graphic of a subfolder) that is labeled "PB--Discovery requests," you find a number of document files, one of which is labeled "PB--Defendant's Interrogatories#1." (As an aside, in the Windows 95 system, 255 characters are available to name files, so you may want to be more specific and call it "Paul Bernstein v. ABC Trucking; First set of interrogatories from defendant received April 30, 1997.") Call up this file and you're ready to type in the answers to the interrogatories.

If you are already using a commercial case-management software program, you may ask, "Why is Paul recommending this folder-within-a-folder method? A case-management program offers a system that organizes the documents even more simply and quickly."

The reason is that many lawyers are still not choosing to use case-management software. However, all lawyers can understand the concept of folders-within-folders and the idea of "drilling down" so that, in a minute or less, they can find the exact file they are looking for.

To be sure, there are many shortcuts to finding a subfolder or file holding the information you need, but knowing about and learning to use these shortcuts come with hands-on use of a computer. My hope is that learning to use the computer for case management will lead inquisitive minds, over time, to seek out quicker and better ways of getting the job done.

If you have been slow on the uptake when it comes to using computers, you are not alone, but the world is passing you by. Today, lawyers who use computer technology are likely to be more efficient, productive, competitive, and profitable--and have more time to spend with family and friends.

If the computer "fear factor" has stopped you from taking the PC plunge, spend 30 to 45 minutes with another lawyer who is already plugged in and can help you out. Chances are that you will not only become comfortable with the computer--and hooked on its benefits--but you will start to "play" on your own, using your newly acquired knowledge to nudge you further into the computer world.

It's a pretty good alternative to going to the store, pulling out a credit card, and instantly adopting the prepackaged suggestions of others.

Paul Bernstein is a practicing attorney and law office automation consultant in Chicago. He can be reached on the Internet at [e-mail].