Improving the quality of legal work and saving money with new technology.

Technology, over the last 10 years, has irrevocably changed the way law is being practiced. Clients weary of increasing legal fees and costs from the 1980s were hit hard by the economic downturn of this decade. With everyone's eye on the bottom line, clients are insisting that their legal expenses be controlled. Advances in technology are an important way corporate legal departments and law firms can achieve quality while cutting costs.

One of the largest areas where technology has helped to provide cost-efficient, speedy and up-to-the-minute legal information is in the arena of computer-assisted legal research. A survey done in 1993, shows that on-line research is almost universal at larger law firms. On-line services such as LEXIS and WESTLAW can help cut costs by speeding up legal research. Imagine being able to pull together pending legislation in all 50 states on any topic within a matter of minutes. U.S. Supreme Court cases are available in hard copy within hours of a decision without the costs of sending someone to a law library.

On-line services are unparalleled for information about companies, industries, statistics, market share, investment analysis, litigation history, backgrounds and writings of experts and more. The on-line services are also getting easier to use with plain-English commands. Pricing is becoming more flexible with several different pricing options offered by many on-line companies.

CD-ROM technology is another potential cost-saver. Lawyers and corporate legal departments can occupy less space by replacing law library materials with CD-ROM. Court decisions from all 50 states and statutes from over 40 states are available in CD-ROM format according to Arlene Eis, editor of the "Directory of Law-Related CD-ROMs". Legal publishers such as Matthew Bender, Bancroft Whitney and others make their annotated practice forms available on CD-ROM, as well as specialized treatises. With a CD-ROM format, an attorney can "cut & paste" sections to be transferred into word processing software to then be inserted directly into a brief, saving valuable, billable time. Forms can be used and customized according to client need. Statutes, court rules and treatises can even be loaded onto the hard disk of a laptop computer to take to court trials.

All the new technology is not without its own problems. There is still no standardization of software; different communications software has to be used for each product. While CD-ROM reduces on-line database costs for searches, browsing and printing cases, etc., the on-line research services must still be used to verify that there have been no new developments in the area being researched.

How many of us, in the administration of our business, are always looking for papers or documents and can't remember which file they are in? Law firms are using document management software to efficiently search for deposition documents or the contents of documents in a large case file. This software creates the equivalent of a library card catalog entry for document and computer files. Some of the best text searching programs are "ZyIndex", "ZyImage", "PC-Docs", "Soft Solutions" and "Saros/Mezzanine".

Document assembly software, according to the Chicago Kent Survey of large law firms, is used by 76% of the 500 largest law firms. Firms use these software programs to store and retrieve the contents of prior work product such as forms, briefs, research memos and agreements, so they don't have to reinvent the wheel every time certain projects need to be done. This is a system that is always being updated as the laws continually change.

Electronic mail systems continue to improve communications between lawyers and clients. Money spent on messenger services or special mail delivery can be eliminated when a firm can use systems such as "Microsoft Mail", "Word Perfect Office", or "CC:Mail" to network based E-mail systems. Precious time is saved when documents can be transferred electronically back and forth with comments and corrections between counsel and client or co-counsel. Another expanding use of an E-mail system is to foster communications between attorneys who wish to share information. LEXIS "Counsel Connect" provides in-house and outside lawyers with electronic space for document exchange, expert commentary, or mundane queries about experts in a subject area or experiences with certain judges which, again, can be very helpful in the expeditious solving of a client's problem.

How are firms in the Los Angeles legal community actually using all of the technology described above? Ann Fields, the law librarian for Valensi Rose & Magaram shared that her firm is rapidly converting its library to a CD-ROM environment in deference to space considerations, as well as efficiency. Attorneys use computer products that enable them to cut and paste pertinent materials into their briefs and documents.

"I have noticed a big difference from my early days as a lawyer. Research can be done from your desk, without the need to go to the library," said Lisa Norlander, the administrative partner of the litigation firm of Belin, Rawlings and Badal. "If you need to cite language from the case, you can down load it to your computer and insert into the brief immediately. If you are looking for a document or deposition testimony in a case, you can search a database which contains all of the documents produced in the case from your desk. This reduces the need for deposition summaries and reduces the time spent searching the selected testimony," she said. "Also, all of your work product is maintained with a document management system so that it can be accessed."

Norlander said she and her firm are exploring even more ways to introduce technology into the workplace. "We are looking into flat rate contracts with the on-line services which may result in significant savings in on-line charges from WESTLAW and LEXIS," she added. "Certainly, if the firm recognized these savings, we would pass these savings on to the clients."

Some future technology trends that attorneys and clients can look forward to in the next several years are:

* Increased use of CD-ROM technology to interface or replace network based document management systems. Look for increased use for saving costs of off-sight storage.

* Video conferencing costs will decrease, so travel time and expenses can be cut.

* More voice-activated interface with on-line research databases, saving time for those attorneys who can't type.

The success of using technology in the legal workplace and client demands for lower fees and costs has had a definite impact on the way an attorney bills clients for his/her professional services. Many attorneys are still unsure about how to pass on savings technology savings and/or the cost of putting all the changes into place at a law firm. What is the fair compensation for an attorney who has spent a hundred hours perfecting a document that can easily be customized on the computer?

While not all questions have an easy answer, businesses should ask certain questions when retaining outside counsel or evaluating their corporate legal department:

1. Does the lawyer have a computer on his/her desktop and, if so, how does he/she use it?

2. Is document generation software being used to prepare documents?

3. Is the lawyer on a local access network (LAN)?

4. Does the lawyer have an E-mail system?

5. Is there a mark-up on computer on-line databases and CD-ROM services?

6. Are you being billed a flat fee or an hourly rate for certain services?

Cookie Lewis, MSLS, is a law librarian and president of Sherman Oaks-based InfoMania, an information brokerage firm that provides legal and business research to law and accounting firms and companies.