Law Office Technology

Microsoft Vista, Is it all psychological?

 

Microsoft setup an experiment where they asked users their opinions on Vista and then showed them the "new" Microsoft Operating System, which it seems most of the users were pretty impressed with.  Then Microsoft revealed that they were just showing people Windows Vista. 

"The average pre-rating for Windows Vista was 4.4.  After they saw the demo, respondents rated Mojave an average of 8.5."

You can view the experiment here: "http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/"

Mastering E-Discovery: A Beginning

Mastering E-discovery:

Why is it so important?  There is a direct and undeniable correlation between the amount of electronic (and no less discoverable) information that you and your litigation opponents will be entrusted with over the coming decades AND the very serious obligation you will have to master skills necessary to interpret and manage it. This connection is not going away and, simply put, if you are currently, or if you're ever going to be, making a living by bringing or defending suits where any part of the evidence necessary to support your client's position exists in any number of intangible ("electronic") forms, then you will have an ever increasing need and, more importantly, obligation to understand how to handle it.  Concluding that the information is not in a tangible or printed form means it is somehow non-existent or non-discoverable will not cut it in this electronic, data-centric world.  So, where should you, or the unlucky associate assigned to become the E-Discovery guru, begin.......well, we submit that a quick reading of the following ABA article  is a great start.  If you're ready to heed the advice, then read on and digest Part II of the article online as well.  (Its Link is: http://www.abanet.org/yld/tyl/july08/cohen.html#)

-submitted by Garrett P. LaBorde

 

 

[original quoted content as follows:]

 

ABA Young Lawyers Division

E-Discovery

A Survival Guide For New Lawyers

David R. Cohen and Lynn Reilly

David Cohen is a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis and co-chair of the firm's e-Discovery Analysis & Technology (e-DAT) Practice Group. Lynn Reilly is a staff attorney in the firm's Seattle office and e-DAT Group. Contact them at david.cohen@klgates.com and lynn.reilly@klgates.com.

You have been assigned to a major new litigation matter. The senior partner has just informed you that she is entrusting you with the client's document collection and production, including e-discovery. What do you do now?

1. Panic. When you have a big problem, the first step is to admit it. Managing the record preservation, collection, review, and production process can be one of the most difficult, complicated, expensive, and thankless jobs in any litigation matter. It is a perilous area where pitfalls are plentiful, mistakes are frequent, and the possibility of sanctions is real. And when things go awry, as they often do, who do you think will be blamed? In the recent and noteworthy Qualcomm decision, even junior associates initially were found to be subject to sanctions for "monumental" discovery violations—though they were likely not the decision makers and likely would have had little ability to contradict partners' instructions. Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., 2008 WL 66932 (S.D. Cal. Jan. 7, 2008).

2. Take a deep breath. You may have drawn the short straw, but now you must turn this into an opportunity to prove yourself. If you handle this right, you could be a hero. In order to make that happen, make this project your number one priority and plan to spend most of your time on it. Do not compound the problem by pushing this difficult assignment to the back of your desk or trying to pass along the work to an unfortunate paralegal. You have to take responsibility—and there is no time to lose.

3. Assess the project. Fact gathering will be an ongoing process, but at the outset you need to understand the basics:

• What is the litigation all about? Understand the pleadings and the types of documents that are potentially relevant.
• Is an effective legal hold already in place? If not, immediate action must be taken. Parties have an obligation to preserve potentially relevant evidence as soon as litigation is reasonably anticipated. Be sure to track and document, in detail, your legal hold efforts and all other preservation steps you take.
• What can you learn about the court that may impact e-discovery? Are there applicable e-discovery rules in the jurisdiction (as there are in federal courts and some state courts)? Are there any local rules about e-discovery or does the presiding judge have particular practices he or she likes to follow?
• Who is opposing counsel and have they yet served requests for production? Are opposing parties likely to face discovery challenges comparable to those your client faces? If so, this circumstance often leads to negotiation and reasonable accommodations. Or is this a case with a discovery imbalance (e.g., a class action or individual plaintiff) where one side will have most of the leverage and little incentive to agree to limits?

4. Gather expertise . Understanding the law of e-discovery is not enough; you will also need practical advice and assistance. Find out if your firm has an e-discovery guru or practice group, e-discovery/litigation support specialists, or paralegals who frequently are involved in the process. If your firm does not have in-house e-discovery resources, you owe it to yourself and your client to get partner approval to bring in outside expertise, in the form of a knowledgeable consultant and/or special e-discovery counsel. Beware of relying solely on the advice of the same e-discovery vendors whose profits depend on your choices.

Your next critical steps are to understand e-discovery (including the terminology), make a preliminary plan, educate the partners, and manage the process (including containing costs.) For details on these steps, read part two of E-Discovery in the July issue online at www.abanet.org/yld/publications.html.

 

READY RESOURCES

• E-DISCOVERY FROM THE WAR ROOM! Program presented by the Tort, Trial & Insurance Section (cosponsored by YLD), Aug. 8, 2-5 p.m., at the Annual Meeting, Hilton New York. www.abanet.org/yld/annual08/details.shtml.

Amicus Premium 2008 SP1 is Here!

The first Service Pack for Amicus 2008PE has been released.  I have it live in one office and it is blazing fast.  I also noticed that the integration of email between Amicus and Outlook is a lot faster.  The Service Pack is around 400mb and is very simple to install.  It is a requirement for anyone who plans on using Amicus Mobile which should start shipping next week. 

Vista 1 Year / 6 Months out

My Personal Experience (Using Vista for 1 Year)

I have been now using Microsoft Vista for 1 year now.  I purchased a brand new Dell Latitude Laptop last July.  It had a core duo 2 processor and 4 gigabytes of ram.  Here are some observations:

• It has only crashed once and that was because NetGear storage drivers were causing issues.  I put in the Vista disk and did a system restore and it resolved this problem
• I have not gotten any viruses and spyware is a minimum (I run trendmicro)
• Outlook 2007 is the most problematic program I run and I do have Autotask, Skype, Gotomeeting, Anagram,  NewsGator, and Adobe hooked into it.  Outlook does crash occasionally
• I like the sidebar
• It has not slowed down like XP would have.  I wiped my XP Machines twice a year
• SP1 noticeably sped the system up
• As the year went on, 3rd party applications became more reliable

My Clients Experience (Using Vista for 6 Months)

I have Vista installed at two client sites and those were sites that I junked everything they had and bought all new equipment.  All Clients are running Vista Business with SP1.  They are also using SBS Server 2003 R2 with Quad Core Xeon Processor and 4gbs of Ram, Dell Optiplex with dual core processors, 2gb of ram, gigabyte switches, ScanSnap Scanners, ect.

• Clients complain less about Vista then they did about XP
• They love the sidebar
• No Virus outbreaks (Again they also use TrendMicro)
• Some Printer Drivers issues, especially when sharing printers.
• It is for me to maintain (Meaning I charge my clients less for support)
• 3rd Party Support has gotten better as time has gone on
• Could not get Palm Hotsync to work

Conclusions

• Speed -  If you were to run two boxes that were exactly the same next to each other, one with vista, one with xp, the XP Machine would run faster.  And if you were to run and XP and Windows 98 Machine machines next to each other, the Windows 98 would probably be faster.  New software usually requires better hardware.  That is usually all the case.
• Security - Everyone bitched about security in Windows XP.  Microsoft came out with Vista, which in my experience is very secure.  I rarely here Vista critics bring up the security argument anymore.
• Software - 3rd Party software was problematic on Vista at first and it got better.  That is not Microsoft's fault.  It is going to take awhile for  
• Service Pack - Any VAR worth his salt always tells their clients to wait to SP1 comes out and then install the products.  Amicus 2008 SP1 really stabilized the products as did TimeMatters SP1.  That is a fact of life.  With a few exceptions I  did not install Vista until SP1 was about to come out and did not run into problems a lot of the earlier adopters did.

Legal Software:

I / My Clients have run Amicus Attorney 2008 PE, Amicus Small Firm, TimeMatters 8, PCLaw 9, HotDocs 2008, without and significant problems on Vista Machines.

Bye Bye Treo 750, Hello HTC Tilt

 



You might say I have been pretty loyal to the Treo Brand of Phones.  I have owned the Treo 600, 650, 680, and 750.  I started with the palm operating system and made the move to the Windows Mobile Treo.  I had a BlueTooth GPS Device and a wireless Keyboard that carried along with my phone as well as many spare batteries and chargers.  The Treo 750 was a great phone, but as I added more application to it, it became less reliable.  Towards the end, it seemed like I was hard resetting it once a month.     

I walked into the AT&T Store to purchase and additional battery last week and looked and the new phones they had.  After no careful thinking, I decided to purchase the Tilt, which is a Windows Mobile Device.  It gets its name because the keyboard slides out and you can tilt the screen so it mimics a laptop.

 

This spur of the moment purchases was one of my better notions because my smartphone is now increasing my productivity and not leaving me frustrated.

  It my next post I will cover the apps I have added to it.

Here are list of my improvements over the Treo and other Smartphone's:

 

• Large Screen

• Built in  WiFi

• Built in GPS

• Large Keyboard

• Built in Backup Software

• 3 Mega Pixel Camera

• Voice Dialing

• Fast

• Tons of space

CNET REVIEW:   http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/at-t-tilt/4505-6452_7-32638455.html?tag=pop

 

Technical Specs

• Weight 6.0 ounces

• Dimensions: 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.73 inches

• Talk Time: Up to 4 hours

• Standby Time: Up to 8 days

• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) support

• Stereo Bluetooth® 2.0

• Supports up to 6 simultaneous Bluetooth® pairings

• 3 MP camera with 10x zoom and autofocus

• Large 2.8" 240 x 320 64K tilting color touchscreen

• Powered by Qualcomm MSM7200 400 MHz processor

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

• 3.6 Mbps Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100

• 256 MB Flash ROM and 128 MB SRAM

• microSD expansion slot supports up to 2 GB expandable memory

• Built-in GPS for use with AT&T Navigator

• Warranty: One year warranty on new phones & accessories, 90 days on refurbished

• All talk, data & standby times depend on network configuration

Discount on Amicus for the month of July!

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• Manage appointments, tasks, deadlines and more
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• Easily manage your communication - email, phone calls and messages

Streamline your practice with Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition

CLE Speaking: How to Be a Professional While Not in the Office: PDAs, Laptops, and the Web Get a Life

Tom and I will be speaking in New Orleans at Ralphs on the Park.

 

Sponsored by the LSBA's Professionalism & Quality of Life Committee, this program will discuss how with today's technology of Internet access and collaboration tools, lawyers can now work instantaneously with clients and colleagues, whether they're across the hall or on the other side of the world and whether they are at the beach or at home. This session will help attorneys decide whether it's finally time to make a virtual law office reality, and the online services that can help make it happen. Tom O'Conner, Director of the Gulf Coast Technology Center, will also cover the ethical, professional, and due diligence issues attorneys must work through to keep the virtual office as safe as one made of bricks and mortar.

7/11/2008
Ralph's on the Park
900 City Park Ave.
New Orleans
LA
70119
(504) 488-1000
Credit Hours
Total Hours: 1
Ethics Hours: 0
Professionalism Hours: 1
LPM Hours: 0

 

http://www.lsba.org/2007cle/seminardetail.asp?CLEID=85