PDF for Lawyers

Extracting key pages from a PDF transcript

Recently, I needed to copy pages out of a hearing transcript and create a new PDF with just those pages. If the pages were sequential I would have known to use the EXTRACT PAGES command (under the DOCUMENT menu in Acrobat 9). But I wasn't extracting contiguous pages. I was extracting these pages: 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 64, 65, 66, 67, 88, 89, 96, 97.

Some of the pages were contiguous, but most were not. I could have extract the contiguous ranges and then assembled them into one PDF using the Combine function, but that seemed like too many steps. The optimal solution would be to pull just the pages I needed and, in one fell swoop, create a new PDF with just those pages.

I emailed Rick Borstein who works for Adobe and publishes the excellent blog Acrobat for Legal Professionals. He quickly replied that what I wanted to do was easily done using the Combine function, as he had outlined in this blog post. The key is just to pick the option for selecting pages when you get the Combine dialogue box (see below):

It's counter-intuitive that you can use the Combine function for this, but it's actually simple and works really well. And by "well" I mean "fast."

I'm sure that there are other lawyers out there who, like me, often need to extract certain pages from a document (usually a transcript). If you're one of those lawyers make sure to remember to use the Combine function as described by Rick here.

iPhone 3Gs as a portable scanner that creates PDFs

For years I've toyed with the idea of getting a portable document scanner like the Fujitsu S300 for those few times when I'm in court and need to copy a few pages of a case record.  The local state court here in New Orleans charges $1.00 per page, which is of course ridiculous.  But the real hassle is that it takes an incredibly long time to get the copies made, and then pay for them.  Hence my motivation to find a way to scan a few pages here and there.

The problems with using the Fujitsu are: (1) it costs $240, which means I'd have to do a lot of scanning to justify it, and (2) it has to be hooked to a computer, which means I'd be lugging a lot of hardware just to do a few scans.  And that is why I've never been able to justify buying that scanner.

Now, thanks to the improved camera on the latest iPhone, there is another option that is perfectly acceptable, and costs only $10.  I've been testing an application called DocScanner, and I now report that it does a perfectly acceptable job of creating PDF images using the iPhone 3Gs. And let me emphasize that I am not suggesting that it would do as well with the iPhone 3G, because I think you need the focusing ability of the new phone to get acceptable images.  Here is an example of a receipt that I was able to 'scan' using the application. As you can see it's very good quality:

DocScanner lets you create multi-page PDFs simply by continuing to take pictures.  Once you're done you can choose to save the resulting PDF to your iPhone, or you can email it to yourself or anyone in your address book.

The process of creating the PDF can be slightly tricky the first few times you do it, but once you get the hang of it you can do it without much hassle.  The images as displayed on the iPhone seem low quality, but when you email them to yourself and examine them on a full computer screen the quality is usually quite impressive.  

Obviously, the trick is to get a good photo, which means having plenty of light and also holding the camera steady while you take the picture.  In that vein I might suggest that you also try these two applications: iFlashReady (which adds light to a dark image), and NightCamera (which is a sort of self-timer for the iPhone that delays taking the picture until your hands are most steady). So, if you use these applications to take pictures, how do you get them into DocScanner?  Easy. DocScanner lets you use images from your Cameral Roll.  So you'd just take the pictures of the pages you want to have, then apply the light adjustment (if needed) and then use DocScanner to convert them to PDFs which you can then join together into a multipage PDF that can be emailed or saved.

So, if you've been looking for a good way to create PDF scans of a few pages here and there you may have the solution you're looking for.  If you own an iPhone 3Gs, that is.  As I said, I don't think it will work very well with the older iPhones.  And I wouldn't try to do more than a few pages with it because I think it would get kind of frustrating.  For small jobs like receipts and expense reports, though, it's perfect!

How to (successfully) switch to a paperless practice

In the three years that I've been practicing as a solo lawyer I have been completely paperless. Before that, when I worked in a large firm, I kept the files that I worked on by myself in a completely paperless form. So, when I hear people say that it's impossible to be completely paperless I know that's not true. In addition to my own personal experience, I know several lawyers who have completely paperless law practices.

It's true that some lawyers prefer not to become completely paperless (for various reasons). But, it's not because it would be extremely difficult; it's simply a matter of choice. What seems to be difficult, for many lawyers, is making the first step toward becoming paperless. Typically, a lawyer will buy a scanner, tinker with it, but then hit a small snag and get completely derailed.

Why is that? From my experience, there are a few common problems—none of which are hard to solve or expensive.

First, it's important to have a strong commitment. But sometimes commitment isn't enough.  For example, if the attorney is not technically skilled he or she can quickly run into small problems that seem insurmountable.  Getting the right scanner can help you avoid most of the technical snafus that plague most people.  That's why I always recommend that people start out by buying the Fujitsu ScanSnap 510  (If you have a Mac get the 510M version).

You may be tempted to get a different model, or you may say "well, I already have a very high speed office scanner/copier." Believe it or not, these are the statements that I often hear from those who have failed to make the transition. The Fujitsu ScanSnap has the highest rate of success because it's easy to use and easy to set up. Even so, it can be daunting for a beginner to learn how to set up the ScanSnap, and also to develop a basic scanning workflow.

So, my advice to people who want to start scanning is ALWAYS to: (1) get a Fujitsu Snap 510, and (2) hire someone to help you set it up and teach you how to use it.  The first step is easy (even though many people try to improvise away from it).  The second step, though, is the really important one.  Because, even folks who buy the ScanSnap sometimes hit snags.  

The first snags are about how to set the scanner up.

For example, what resolution setting should you be scanning at? Should you scan everything in color, or should you let the scanner decide whether to scanning color or black-and-white? Or should you force the scanner to always scan in black and white? [ANSWER: usually, you should scan to black-and-white]

Once you get all the settings tweaked properly, then you face the issue of adopting a new workflow. This is another delicate turning point, which can easily lead to failure. I'll discuss this issue next time, but for now let's review the two key points.

1.  You need an easy to use scanner it's also easy to set up. You need the Fujitsu ScanSnap (If you have a Mac get the 510M version).  You need this even if you have a scanner already—unless you are tech-savvy and highly motivated. 
2.  If you are not technically skilled and motivated, then you will need somebody to help you set up the scanner and learn how to use it. (You will also need someone to coach you on how to develop a digital workflow, which is something I'll talk about in the next post).  

  Who can you hire to help you?  Well, I can't say unless you live in New Orleans.  If you live here then I'd recommend Becky Diamante.  She has helped many small businesses and law firms become paperless.  She's not only good at setting up the scanner but also very good at getting people comfortable with using it (in most small businesses this is more important than setting up the scanner) 

Becoming paperless isn't hard and it isn't even expensive. But you probably do need some help.  You may not need help, but if you do then don't be afraid to get it.  It might mean the difference between success and failure.

Using PDFs for legal research

The Delaware Employment Blog offered up some excellent tips on how to use PDFs in when doing legal research.  I have been using this method for years, and find it much superior to saving caselaw in Word or Wordperfect format.  After all, you're not going to be editing the cases are you?  I posted a comment to the the blog to explain how I address the issue of copying and pasting.  Anyway, go read the post if you want the scoop on using PDFs for research. 

Some quick PDF tips

Here are some down and dirty tips that involve use of PDFs.  This list is worth bookmarking, or (dare I say it?) printing out.

Print less, save more, be happier, and help the planet

The less you print, the less paper you have to wrangle. And the less paper you have the less stress you have. But, in addition to your self-centered reasons, there is a benefit to the world if we use less paper—especially the completely wasteful use of paper.

Ever print out a web-page and find that your print output included an extra page or two that you had no interest in? You just toss that into the waste basket, don't you? This is the kind of needless waste I'm talking about.

If you want to save money and help the planet, try Green Print. It's a simple plug-in that works with Windows or Mac computers. If you like it after trying it out for free you can buy it for $29. Over the long haul, you'll recoup the money. And you'll feel better for having done a good thing.

TIFFs versus PDFs - which is preferable?

Back in 2000 when I started becoming more intense about scanning documents I was told by many people that TIFF files were preferable to PDFs, mostly because the business-class scanners were configured for TIFF output. Once I discovered PDFs, I found them preferable in many ways. Still, there are many people (mostly vendors) who argue for TIFFs. The other day I was sent a white paper comparing the two formats, and I think it nicely sums up the advantages and disadvantages of each format.

The quick and dirty conclusion: PDFs can do a lot more than TIFFs (security, searchability etc), but sometimes PDF files wind up being a little bigger. But, with digital storage costs plummeting each year, this is not a major deficit. Obviously, I prefer PDFs. Otherwise this blog would be called "TIFFs for Lawyers."

Creating PDFs - a reader's suggestion

One of our readers emailed to express his appreciation of a tool called PrimoPDF.  He gave permission to reproduce part of that email, which explains why he likes this product.

We use Adobe Reader 8.1, but it does not have many bells and whistles.  We use the 2003 versions of MS Word and Outlook.  I like the PrimoPDF because it is easy.  Once it is downloaded, PrimoPDF shows up as one of the printers on the “print” dialog box.  You choose it as your printer and “print.”  It then asks for the output file name, and it gives you 4 choices for output quality ranging from “Screen” (basic) to “Prepress” (best), plus a custom option.  For my purposes, I use the “screen” quality, which prints out as clearly as most attorneys would ever need.  There are other bells and whistles which I haven’t needed yet.  The whole process takes maybe 15 to 20 seconds.  I use it to save documents and e-mails that I don’t want to be changed.

PrimoPDF is a free download, and works with Windows Vista.  Of course, I always recommend that lawyers spring for the full version of Acrobat 8.0, which allows PDF creation as well as many other things such as bates-stamping and document redaction (to name just a few things).  It's not free, but you can download a fully functioning version and try it for 30 days.

If you can't afford Acrobat, and need to convert documents to PDF, then PrimoPDF is a good place to start.  Start archiving all of your outgoing letters to PDF.  Eventually, you'll want to get a scanner and the full version of Acrobat, but at least you've taken one important step on the road to becoming completely paperless.

Do you have any good tips on using PDFs in your practice that you'd like to share with other readers of this blog?  Well send 'em in, and we'll post those tips next Friday.  Thanks!

Free online file conversion service

If you have a file that's 100 Mbs or smaller and want to convert it to another format, check out a free online service called Zamzar.  You upload the file and pick the output format and then they'll email you the resulting file.

E-filing - More thoughts on scanning problems

So the post about keeping the file size down generated a lot of good comments and feedback.  Many people are surprised that lawyers are scanning entire documents just so that they can have their orignal signature appear on the document that they e-file.  I'm not; lawyers are comfortable with signatures and they like them.  I'll bet their are lawyers out there trying to figure out how to apply sealing wax to their e-filed documents.

Anyway, as we mentioned, the federal courts don't need your signature.  But, if you really must, have something that appears to be your signature on your e-filed documents consider this option:

1. scan your signature
2. create a table in Word/Wordperfect
3. place image of scanned signature in document
4. Save the signature block for re-use
5. Later, rinse, re-file

One thing that I didn't mention is that scanning the whole document isn't a bad idea just because it creates a larger file size.  It's also a bad idea because it will annoy some court personnel.  If the document is text-based then they can search inside of it.  If it's an image then they can't (unless they OCR it, which they probably can't do).  So, do yourself and the clerks at federal court a favor and stop scanning your documents to PDF.

And move away from the sealing wax.  (You know who you are).