PDF for Lawyers

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 presentation is at noon on February 13th in the Pan-American Life Bldg, downtown New Orleans.  To register contact Michael Goldblatt at 504-841-0900, or by email (michaelgoldblatt[at]aol.com).  The registration fee is $15.

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.

Visualizing evidence & presenting evidence

Armed with simple spyglass Galileo relentlessly studied the heavens, eventually discovering a magnificent truth: the Universe didn't revolve around the Earth.  But then he found out that discovering a difficult truth is not as hard as explaining it to those who didn't discover that truth for themselves.   Trial lawyers can relate to this problem.

Today's courtroom veterans have at their command many sophisticated tools, but the problem is not one of tools. The problem is technique. And for those interested in learning how to present visual evidence, I highly recommend Edward Tuffte's Beautiful Evidence.  He explains his objective clearly in the Introduction.

"Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates empirical information.  Beautiful Evidence is about how seeing turns into showing, how empirical observations turn into explanations and evidence."  This is an outstanding book, a treasure trove of practical ideas on how to improve your visual presentations.  No one should be allowed to use Powerpoint without having read this book first. 

If he were still alive, Galileo would certainly recommend it.

Portable projectors for Lawyers

People ask me sometimes what kind of portable projector I recommend.  Truth is, I don't know the whole spectrum of projectors so I can't say I'm the best person to recommend a projector.  But having said that, I use an Epson like this one (an older model with 200 less lumens) and I love it!  The Epson S-3 got good write-ups and a lot of other techies seemed to like it, and so that's why I bought it.  I'm pretty sure that the S-4 model is even better than the one I have.

Presentation Tools

One of the little known features of Adobe Acrobat is the ability to do Powerpoint-like presentations.  If you manage your trial exhibits in Acrobat then it's probably easiest to use Acrobat to display the documents.  You can set the display mode to full-screen, which is pretty stunning.  We'll say more about this feature down the road.  For now, we have this recommendation: buy a portable, easy to use display projector.  If you have your own projector you'll always be ready to present, without worrying about if the equipment will be supplied.  Also, you'll be familiar with a key component of your presentation (you wouldn't go to court with a laptop you just borrowed from a friend would you?)  So, what kind of projector is good?

I can heartily recommend the Epson Powerlite S3 LCD Projector ($699 at Amazon). It puts out 1600 lumens (a measure of brightness), which is darn good and certainly more than you need in almost any setting you might encounter.  This projector gets great reviews, and after using it I can see why.  It comes with a nice travel case and all the add-ons you might need.  The one thing it doesn't come with, but which you should always have with you if you do a presentation is an extension cord, preferably a long one (just in case!).