Cutting costs with computer technology.

Saving time and money is essential to survival in an increasingly competitive legal profession. The latest in computer technology can help lawyers do both.

Remember that old adage that it takes money to make money? It also takes money to save money, but with attention to detail, a little can go a long way. One of the exciting things about lawyering today is the ready availability of inexpensive technology that can slash case preparation costs and increase product quality.

This article focuses on the interaction of three cost-saving technology tools--Amicus Attorney Pro (a case-management program), the Visioneer PaperPort Scanner (a document-scanning system), and WestlawPRO (a research service).

Amicus Attorney Pro

Amicus Attorney Pro is a personal information manager that allows lawyers to conveniently and efficiently manage their cases. For about $250,(1) a personal computer (PC) can become a "virtual law office." When the program is opened, a Daily Report lists deadlines, overdue projects, and other tasks needing attention.

The calendar, which can be printed out in daily, weekly, or monthly formats, lets users link calendar entries to case files, telephone numbers (these may be automatically dialed from the entry), and related events. Each day includes a task list, sortable by priority or by customized criteria.

Calendar entries and task items are linked to a timekeeping function, which keeps track of time spent on each task. This function can be merged with a billing program like TimeSlips or used to analyze how much time is spent on various aspects of litigation. Calendar entries are easily transferred from one date or time to another.

The Files function permits the creation of a file for each case. Contact information for all individuals involved in the case can then be linked to the file.

When a file is opened, the lawyer can dial a contact by clicking on it. A telephone screen opens, permitting the lawyer to take notes during the conversation. The length of time spent during the conversation is automatically recorded in the case file. Each file, then, has a chronological record of all telephone calls.

The telephone screen can also be accessed without first opening a case file. This is helpful when the lawyer receives a call. While talking and taking notes, the lawyer can click on the case file to ensure that the record of the call is stored in the correct file.

Each file includes sections for maintaining case summaries and general notes. Scheduled events--like depositions--and tasks--like motions filings--are listed chronologically and "grayed out" as they are completed. A detailed record of all time spent on a case can be generated with one click of the mouse.

The attorney can also develop customized field information by case type to record specific information. For example, in my police misconduct file, I have created fields in which to record, among other things, the date of the underlying incident, whether a prelitigation presentment is required under the state tort claims act, and the names of the municipality and individual defendants involved.

Another important feature is the system's capacity to allow users to link to any file-related documents, including word-processed documents like pleadings, scanned documents received from an opponent in discovery, documents downloaded from computer fax programs, and ".htm" documents saved from the World Wide Web. Documents then can be organized according to case type.

Thus, with the help of a scanning program, a fax program, and the Internet, all documents connected to a case can be retrieved when the lawyer needs to review several documents quickly--while drafting a motion, for example. This feature can eliminate hours of time wasted searching for documents in paper files.

Two final features of the Files function that are worth noting are its ability to generate new documents by linking to a word-processing program template and inserting case-specific information (like party names and addresses) and the Precedents feature, which permits creation of a case plan for specific types of cases.

For example, standard tasks like preparing interrogatories, requests for documents, and deposition notices can be included in a Precedent that then can be incorporated in any case file of the same type. As each task is completed, the next is automatically scheduled and inserted into the calendaring system task list.

The Amicus program is user friendly and quickly mastered. To maximize its effectiveness as a cost saver, the lawyer should use it as the exclusive access point for all case work, so that all events are properly recorded, all telephone calls are memorialized, and all documents are linked. It is prudent, of course, to back up these and all files on the computer to ensure their survival in the event of a computer crash. Once mastered, the program increases a lawyer's ability to move from task to task and from case to case during the workday, thereby saving money by increasing productivity.

Visioneer PaperPort Scanner

For less than $150, any lawyer can have a sheet-feeding scanner at the keyboard. The Visioneer PaperPort Scanner, which includes a piece of hardware and easily installed software, allows rapid computer storage of paper documents so they can be retrieved and printed as necessary.(2)

I scan every document I receive as soon as I have reviewed it. A scanned document first appears in a PaperPort file, where I label it and, if appropriate, print out a copy for the client. I can annotate it, if needed, in the PaperPort program. I then export a copy to the case file in my hard-drive directory and link it to the relevant Amicus file. When I later open that file in Amicus, I can instantly retrieve the document.

I consider the scanned document my primary copy and the paper document the backup. Having made this practice a habit, I no longer lose time looking for a misplaced document.

The PaperPort program permits me to fax a document directly from my computer using my WinFax Pro program.(3) I store copies of some court forms with information like my firm's name and address entered in the appropriate places. I can then easily fill in case-specific information using the program's Form Typer feature.

I find PaperPort's optical character recognition (OCR) capacity particularly useful. It allows a document to be scanned and converted into a word-processed format. A clean document can be converted with a high degree of accuracy, eliminating the need to retype, for example, an adverse party's interrogatory questions when preparing an answer.

As with the Amicus program, effective use of the PaperPort Scanner may require the development of new work habits, but the payoff in efficiency and reduced costs can be significant.

WestlawPRO

For $150 a month, a sole practitioner can have access from his or her desktop to the statutes, pending legislation, and state and federal cases in the jurisdiction in which she or he practices. WestlawPRO's powerful natural-language search engine permits the identification of cases and statutes relevant to any particular issue and quick access to a specific case or statute.

Users can look up a decision and jump to other cases named in it by clicking on them. Users can also use the West Key system to identify additional relevant cases in that jurisdiction or in others (additional charges apply to multi-jurisdiction searches). Decisions can be printed out or downloaded. Cases that have been reversed or distinguished in later decisions are flagged by a red or yellow icon. For an additional charge, users can link to the KeyCite program for historical details or identification of other cases that have relied on, distinguished, or reversed the primary case.

The law library is accessible by modern from either a local or a toll-free number through a WESTMATE program licensed to the user or via the Internet at West Group's Web site (http://www.westlaw. com). An important feature of these services is immediate access to libraries less frequently used but occasionally important in a case, including case law and statutes of other states. This access is provided at an additional cost over the flat rate, but it is well worth it in appropriate circumstances.

The ability to save time doing legal research, download and keep copies of important case precedents in electronic case files, and cut and paste from court decisions in preparing legal memorandums allows users to cut costs and improve the quality of their work. Of all the advances in technology since the PC found its way to my desk, I can think of no other that has had as great an impact on the quality of my lawyering.(4)

Exemplary savings

To illustrate how these programs can save time and money, let's look at how they would apply to preparing an opposition to a motion for summary judgment in a police misconduct case. I will compare the time spent and cost of using the programs to the time spent and cost of doing things the "old-fashioned" way.

My own time is the most costly investment in any case. For ease of analysis, I have valued my time at $120 per hour, less than half my usual hourly rate. I have also overestimated the time I would spend using the technology and underestimated the time I would spend using nontechnological methods.

In the first few minutes after the defendant's motion is received and reviewed, using the technology saves money. The typical memorandum in support of the motion is 20 pages. I feed it into the scanner and link it to the appropriate Amicus case file in about 2 1/2 minutes, which at about $2 per minute is worth about $5. The memorandum now can be retrieved in seconds each time I need it, which, on average, would be about 5 times in preparing the answer. If I used paper copy exclusively, it would take me, on average, 1 minute to retrieve the memorandum each time I needed it. Therefore, the "old-fashioned" way would cost $10.

I do an OCR conversion of the memorandum as I am studying it. This permits me to extract particular sections to cut and paste into my draft response. It takes me a second to initiate the conversion.

It typically takes me a half hour to study the defendant's memorandum, make notes, and identify issues of fact and law. I then pull relevant documents from the Amicus case file, including answers to interrogatories and documents previously provided by the defendant.

Typically, I will retrieve 6 sets of interrogatories, averaging 12 pages, in 30 seconds, and I will spend another 3 minutes entering and linking the 72 pages to the summary judgment opposition. The total cost of this task is $7. It would take me 6 minutes to retrieve the paper versions--total cost, $12.

The paper file of materials obtained through discovery contains 16 sets of potentially relevant documents, 40 pages in all. It would take me 40 minutes to retrieve, review, tag, and photocopy the 6 documents I ultimately use--cost, $80. It takes me only 10 minutes to find, review, and print out these documents using the Amicus and PaperPort programs--cost, $20.

The foregoing examples illustrate relatively small savings. But because these activities are repeated, the savings add up.

The big savings, however, are realized in legal research. I pay $150 per month for WestlawPro and typically conduct about 6 hours of research each month, so I value the online charges at $25 per hour.

I typically spend an hour and a half online researching the issues in our sample motion. This includes searching for relevant cases and downloading them to the computer. The total cost for my time and online time is $217.50.

If I were to go to the law library instead, I would eat up an hour in travel time and four hours in research time (reviewing digests, pulling down reporter volumes, reading cases, either making notes of or photocopying cases, and Shepardizing). I would have to be particularly careful and attentive to detail, because if I missed a full citation or a case, I would have to return to the library. I also would incur certain out-of-pocket costs--$15 for photocopies, $10 for parking, and $5 for mileage. "Old-fashioned" legal research costs $630.

Cost savings continue through the drafting stage. With cases on computer to cut and paste and scanned portions of other briefs, I can easily draft in 6 hours what would have taken 8 hours using photocopies and notes. The savings--$240.

Adding it all up, producing my opposition to summary judgment the "old-fashioned" way costs $1,752. Producing it with the technological tools costs $1,029.50, an estimated savings of more than $720. The total cost of the Amicus ($250) and PaperPort ($150) programs and the monthly WestlawPRO fee ($150) is $550. All have more than paid for themselves in a single litigation event.

This example uses rough approximations that will obviously vary from case to case. But the savings it exemplifies are real and the lesson obvious. Any lawyer who is not making extensive use of technology is wasting time and money.

Other programs with varying costs are worth the investment by any similar analysis. The point of this article is not to endorse any particular software product but rather to encourage the intelligent exploration of the array of products on the market and the development of a practical plan for integrating them into a law practice. In this exploration lies the key to survival in an increasingly competitive profession.

Notes

(1.) Demonstration copies of the Amicus program--by Gavel & Gown Software, Inc., 184 Pearl St., Ste. 304, Toronto, ON, Canada M5H 1L5, [phone]--are available at http://www, amicus.ca/. Automated Business Consultants--4838 North 25th Rd., Arlington, VA 22207, [phone]--which maintains a Web site at http://www.automatedbc. com, discounts the Amicus program to $250. The advertised single-user price for Amicus's highly respected competitor, Time Matters 2.0--from Data.txt Corp., 215 Commonwealth Ct., Cary, NC 27511--is $350. For information, visit http://www.timematters. com, or call [phone]. The retail price of the single-user version of the other competitor in this price range, Abacus Law--from Abacus Data Systems, Inc., 6725 Ridge Rd., Ste. 204, San Diego, CA 92121, [phone]--is about $300. Information about it is found at http://www.abacuslaw.com/.

(2.) See PC World's evaluation of low-priced desktop scanners at http://www2.pcworld.com/current issue/article/0, 1212,7893,00.html. Information about Visioneer PaperPort--from Visioneer, 34800 Campus Dr., Fremont, CA 94555, [phone]--is available at http://www.visioneer.com/dynahome. html. Flatbed scanners (300 x 600 dpi optical resolution) priced below $60 are available from the PaperPort 3000/3100 family.

(3.) WinFax Pro 9.0--from Symantec Corp., 175 West Broadway, Eugene, OR 97401, [phone] --is available for $109.95 at http://shop.symantec. com/wfx90buy, html.

(4.) As an alternative to WestlawPRO, LEXIS-NEXIS has an MVP program, which is currently slightly less expensive for the sole practitioner. Information about it can be found at http://www.lexisnexis.com/lncc/legal/Default.htm. I have tried both and prefer WestlawPRO. There has been considerable discussion of the pros and cons of each on ATLA NET's Small Office Practice Section discussion group. ATLA NET is at http://www.atlanet.org.

RELATED ARTICLE: ATLA's Exchange gives high-tech help with research

The Exchange is a vital litigation support and networking resource available to ATLA members. Its staff of legal researchers and lawyers uses cutting-edge computer technology to track information on more than 6,000 types of cases. The service also maintains an expert witness database, a deposition bank, and a document bank containing briefs, motions, complaints, and discovery materials.

The Exchange is now online at http:// exchange.atla.org. The site provides secure access to more than 300,000 records and documents in six text and three index databases. Members can explore the databases using key words, then view and download the information for immediate use.

The site permits searching for information such as names of inquirers (other members with similar cases), names of foreign attorneys, names of experts, case abstracts, and verdict and settlement results. Indexes of Exchange documents and deposition banks, ATLA speaker papers, and TRIAL articles and Law Reporter case summaries are also searchable online.

Other benefits include the following:

Special packets. Information gathered on particular topics is available from the Exchange Web site by clicking on the "Specials" page. For example, members can retrieve the popular "Year 2000 Packet" with 240 pages of bibliographic information on the computer glitch and the full text of 19 complaints filed in current Y2K litigation. This and other packets can be downloaded, saved, and printed directly off the Internet.

Document storage. At the request of an ATLA litigation group, the Exchange will set up a private Web page database on its site, accessible only by that group's members, using a double password (click on "Private Databases"). Each page will have a searchable database of stored documents, including depositions, pleadings, memoranda, letters, briefs, patents, and forms.

Members can search, view, or download documents immediately from the private page at no cost. (Litigation groups will, however, be assessed a minimum document uploading fee to cover ATLA's expense.) In addition, the Exchange will provide high-quality indexing and retrieval. Each document will be summarized and added to the searchable index.

Electronic submissions. For every three depositions members send electronically to the Exchange Deposition Bank, they will receive one free deposition. Documents will be accepted on computer disk or CD-ROM, or they may be e-mailed as an attachment in WordPerfect, ASCII, or PDF format to [e-mail].

Order forms for Exchange services are available from ATLA's free fax-on-demand service. Call [phone] or [phone] and order documents 1500 and 1503. For Exchange Web site instructions, tips, and guidance, request document 1511.

For assistance with your Exchange search or for more information, call [phone] or [phone], ext. 615.

Robert LeRoux Hernandez practices law in Malden, Massachusetts. Information about the products mentioned in this article is provided by the author and does not reflect an endorsement of any product by TRIAL or ATLA.