PDF for Lawyers

PDF redaction gone awry

No matter how many times one explains the proper way to redact information from PDF files, there will continue to be major screwups.   What's a major screwup?  This would be a major screwup.  

Okay, once more: there are redaction tools built into Adobe Acrobat 8.0 and 9.0.  If your law firm doesn't have either of these versions it's time for an upgrade.  Oh, and don't forget to train your lawyers and staff on how to do proper redaction.

Paperless depositions

I don't use paper in depositions.  If I'm taking the deposition I cheerfully agree to have the deposition held in my opponent's office, asking him or her to make sure to have the case documents available and organized by bates-number.   If you can't count on an attorney to have lots of paper what can you count on?

I have my deposition notes set up in an outline on my computer.  When I get to a place that calls for me to talk about a certain document I inform my opposing counsel what the document bates-number is, and ask him to show it to the witness.  I have all the documents bookmarked in Acrobat.  It takes me about 3 seconds to get to the document, and I make good use of the time it takes my opponent to pull the document and show it to the witness.  I have notes superimposed on the PDF and I examine those and get ready to frame my questions.  At the end of the deposition I don't offer any documents as exhibits.  If opposing counsel asks me why I'm not doing that I tell him that the bates-numbers (which I announced on the record before starting my questions about each document) constitute sufficient reference.

If I'm attending a deposition it's even easier.  When a document is offered I ask what the bates-number is and I just pull it up, much more quickly than if I were to wait for it to be handed over.  Plus I have my PDF notes superimposed on my copy which helps me quickly figure out the relevance of the document to my theory of the case.   And of course I can add more notes on the fly if I want to.  I also bookmark the document and indent it under a main bookmark labelled for the deposition in question.  So when the deposition is over I have a listing of all the documents that were referenced in that meeting.

It's not as high-tech as this paperless deposition system, but it doesn't need to be.  Often the best solution is the simplest one, and I think that's true for Adobe Acrobat.  It does a lot of things pretty darn well, and since I use it all the time I'm very familiar with its organization.  Next time you take a deposition consider how much smoother it could be if you didn't have to deal with paper. 

Of course, if you have a deposition like this one it wouldn't matter.

Digital workflow for lawyers

I'll be speaking to the Lawyers Computer Group on 'Digital Workflow' in a couple of weeks.  The talk is about about using scanners and Adobe Acrobat to streamline your law practice (so you don't feel like this poor guy).

The written materials are pretty spare; I'll be posting links relevant to the talk here.  I think you have to register by February 8th if you want a spot.  Hope to see some of you there.

Fujitsu ScanSnap now comes with Acrobat 8.0 Professional

If you own a Mac and want to buy the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner, you are very fortunate.  Apparently, as this Macworld article mentions, the Fujitsu S510M comes bundled with Acrobat 8.0 Professional.  The Windows version only comes with Acrobat 8.0 Standard.  You can get the scanner here for $399.00 (after $50 rebate).  The retain value of Acrobat Professional alone is about $400, which means you essentially get the scanner for free.  Or the software.  Or both at half price.

Anyway you slice it, it's an amazing deal.  For Mac-users at least.

Controversy over the "Send to FedEx" feature in Acrobat

Last week we reported on the "Send to FedEx/Kinkos" function in Acrobat 8.1.  Now it appears that, because of complaints by printing organizations, Adobe and FedEx will no longer partner to offer this feature.  In October, when Adobe releases new versions of Acrobat and Reader, the 'Send to FedEx/Kinkos" link will be removed, although a separate version of Reader will be available from FedEx that will contain this functionality.  Hopefully, FedEx/Kinkos will also create a plug-in for Acrobat that enables the "Send to" feature.

"Send to FedEx/Kinkos" from within Acrobat

I just noticed that in Acrobat 8.1 (I have the Mac version, but it works with Windows too) I have the choice while viewing a PDF to "send the document to FedEx/Kinkos" for printing.  I have a FedEx/Kinkos about 5 minutes away from my house.  Sometimes I when I've needed to print out large document sets for discovery production, and the most effective way to accomplish this was to go to FedEx/Kinkos store.

Now I don't have to get in my car to submit my job.  I can just use the handy "send to FedEx Kinkos" option from within Acrobat.  How does it work?

Once your document has been uploaded your browser will be directed to the FedEx/Kinko's webpage where you can set print options, preview your document, select pickup and delivery options, and pay (of course).  The file size limit is 100 MBs, and it only works in version 8.1 of Acrobat.  They'll even ship the job to whomever you designate when the job is complete. Orders without special instructions take a minimum of 4 hours to produce, and orders with special instructions take a minimum of 10 hours to produce.

More Information: FedEx/Kinkos Webpage Explanation
                                   FedEx/Kinks FAQ Page

UPDATE:  It appears that, because of complaints by printing organizations, Adobe and FedEx will no longer partner to offer this easy solution.  In October, when Adobe releases new versions of Acrobat and Reader, the 'Send to FedEx/Kinkos" link will be removed, although a separate version of Reader will be available from FedEx that will contain this functionality.

Upcoming seminar on Acrobat - How to create forms

Rick Borstein and Mark Middleton putting on a free online seminar what will demonstrate the best ways of creating and using PDF Forms in the legal world.   The one hour seminar will focus on Acrobat 8, but most of the features will also work in Acrobat 7.  For more information about this August 9th event click here.

Free trial of Acrobat 8.0 Professional & other goodies

Just a reminder that you can try Acrobat 8.0 Professional free for 30 days by visiting the Adobe site.  You'll have to create an account with Adobe, but it's easy to do and doesn't take long.  For more information on Acrobat's solutions for legal professionals click on this link.  And lastly, be sure to visit the highly informative site Acrobat for Legal Professionals.  The post on 30 Tips for Using Acrobat is great, especially the tip (in the downloable PDF) on how to change the font when using the Typewriter Tool.

Scanning & OCR

Rick Borstein, who runs the Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog, has a great article on scanning and OCR with Acrobat 8.  The article appears at the equally wonderful LLRX.com site (run by Sabrina Pacifici).  Rick is extremely knowledgeable and his article is a must-read if you are interested in scanning.

OCR problems in Acrobat 8?

For some reason, I have run into a problem when doing OCR on my documents in Acrobat 8.  I don't think that it's an inherent problem with Acrobat 8 (Mac version) because I've been able to do OCR many times before without any problem.  I think somehow I've engaged a preference setting or changed something inadvertently.

Here's what happens.  When I run OCR everything proceeds normally until I look at the resulting file.  For some reason, the margins of the original document have been shrunk to the point that text along the bottom (e.g. the page numbering and the last line of text) have disappeared.  Obviously, this is not acceptable.

I plan to email the folks at Adobe to find out how to troubleshoot this problem, and when I have an answer to the problem I'll report back.   Meanwhile, if anyone else has experienced this problem, or if anyone has a solution please leave a comment.