PDF for Lawyers

Adobe Reader on your smartphone?

If you yearn to read PDFs on your smartphone there have been various options (not all of them great); but today Adobe announced that its Reader program is available for use on Android phones. It supports portrait and landscape mode, and pinch to zoom. Even better is the 'reflow' mode that makes it easy to read the text on the phone. Best of all the app is free.

When will Adobe Reader be available for the iPhone? Who knows. Adobe says it plans to develop the Reader for 'other platforms,' but given the animosity between Adobe and Apple right now I wouldn't hold my breath.

Barrier to scanning #001

One of the biggest barriers to scanning is the notion that you need 'the orignal' paper later on, when in reality you won't.  If you think you need to keep the 'original' you'll be less inclined to scan that paper, thinking 'why bother? I need to keep the original anyway.'

Fact is, if you scan you don't need to keep as much paper as you think.

When I buy anything I scan in the receipt.  I've never had a problem presenting a printout of the receipt when I wanted to return an item to the store where I bought it. I'm not saying you should do this, but I'm just telling you that I have NEVER had a problem and I've been in this situation many times

Of course, in practicing law we've all been used to using copies of documents at depositions, hearings or at trial.  The rule is that you need to use 'the best evidence.' If the other side doesn't object to a copy, and they usually don't since they plan to use copies as well, then there is no issue.  The only time an issue comes up is if there is a question about the authenticity of the document; if this happens then you have to use the 'best evidence' you have (which can be a copy if you don't have the original).

Given the technology we have today, a scanned document is more likely to be available when needed than an original. I've been involved in two cases where a critical document that would make a lawsuit go away immediately was missing.  The other side in that situation will never stipulate that the document exists; so the case drags on and ungodly amounts of money are spent attempting prove something that would easily be proven with a scanned copy.

Originals can disappear in all kinds of ways.  Scanned copies can be backed up to the cloud.  Even if they're "lost" on a hard drive, they can be found by using a text search. The fact is if you really want to keep something you're better off scanning it.

In the past couple of years I've had clients call me on at least five occasions and say "hey, do you remember that old case where blah blah happened and there was document that said blah blah? Do you think you can find a copy of that document?" Each time I've said, "yep, I'll send it to you in a few minutes."

It takes me about 1 minute to find the document and attach it to an email and then send it. Then in a few minutes I get an email back from the client saying "oh my god, you rock!" 

When was the last time you did something that was purely ministerial and had a client say "you rock!"

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 go paperless - a case study.

There's a great article in ABA Law Practice Today entitled 'Our Paperless Office,' about how one law firm transitioned to being almost completely paperless.  Anyone who is thinking about making the switch should read this article.  There are a couple of key points made in the article that are worth emphasizing:

1. The law firm spent time planning the transition
2. They opted to use PDFs as their digital format 
3. They implemented the process for new cases first 
4. They created a written procedure for scanning
5. They adopted a file-naming procedure that began with the date and then a description 
6. They developed a redundant and comprehensive backup system. 
7. They used Adobe Acrobat Professional to manipulate their PDFs  

Obviously, I believe in using Adobe Acrobat, but it's worth pointing out that many lawyers try to save money by using various third-party tools to do some of the things that Acrobat can do.  That's fine if you are just toying with the idea of going paperless.  But if you're really committed to going paperless then you have to use Acrobat as your main PDF tool.  

And you could use the free Notepad tool to do word processing, but you wouldn't do that if you were serious about creating professional looking documents.  Saving money is obviously an important goal, but chintzing out on an important software tool is going to cost you: time, money or maybe even an important advantage.

One last thought about this article:  the authors explain that they "continue to open a physical file folder for each new matter."  I predict that in one or two years they will discontinue this practice.  The cost of storing paper is too high, and there is really no point to it. But it's not unusual behavior for companies that make the switch.  For some reason, we cling to the notion that keeping the paper is 'something we are supposed to do.'  

Maybe it's a primitive urge that's welded into our DNA.  But, whatever it is, evolution will eventually route around that pesky inefficiency.

Using Acrobat to put Exhibit stamps on digital documents

Okay, this is a major PDF breakthrough for lawyers.  If you want to be able to stamp your digital documents with Exhibit labels and then have them numbered (or lettered) you need to go read this post right now.  Installing the plug-in is easy as pie.  If you do e-filing in federal court you need this.  If you prepare documents for trial you need this. If you're a lawyer and you use PDFs you need this.

And for his excellent work, I hereby nominate Rick Borstein for the Nobel Prize in PDF Technology!

What's your preference, sir?

Remember this joke?  Guy goes into see the doctor, and the doc asks "what seems to be the problem?" The guy says "Doc, it's my arm.  It hurts when I do this." And then the doctor says "well, then don't DO that!"

I mention this joke because it's basically what happens when people fail to make any attempt to set the preferences for their applications.  Technology trainers are constantly hearing lawyers complain that Word wants to auto-correct certain words.  In the attorneys' view the problem is irresolvable; it's a bug in the program that simply can't be fixed.

The tech trainer usually wants to say something similar to what the doctor in the joke says: "if you don't like it when your computer does that then tell it not to."  Then the tech trainer patiently shows the lawyer how to set the preferences for that program.  Every program has preferences.  You knew that, right?

Maybe you didn't.  And, if so, then you wouldn't be alone.

Computers seem to make people dumb. Imagine picking anyone out of a crowd and telling them that they'd get to live in a mansion with a butler for a week.  The first time the butler does something that is annoying or not to their liking, do you think they'd be at a loss as to how to fix the problem?  No, they'd pipe right up and command the butler to do what they want. Even if they never had a butler before.

But these same people when they get a new program seem to think that the designers of the program have configured it just for them.  And so therefore they should expect it to work perfectly in the way that's most natural for them. If it doesn't then they curse the program.

Adobe Acrobat is an amazing program.  If you want to be 'paperless' then you should invest in Acrobat (preferably the Professional version) and you should take the time to learn how to set it up to your liking.  The reason you prefer paper is because you're used to working with it.  The reason you tend to feel less comfortable with PDFs is that they don't behave like the paper you're used to. So what are you going to do about that?

One thing you can do is to set up the preferences to how you like things to be.  Do you prefer to see one whole page from top to bottom when you open the PDF?  Fine, then set it up in preferences.  Maybe you like to view two pages side by side.  That's a preference choice too.  I could sit hear and describe all the preference choices for you, but that's not the optimal approach. You should open up the preferences and see what all your options are. If you have a Windows machine go to the EDIT menu (or select CTRL + K).  If you have a Mac the preferences are under the ACROBAT menu (shortcut: CMD + ,).

If you don't like how your computer acts, then change it.  You have the power.

Getting ready to be paperless (the easy way)

Many folks resist becoming paperless not because they don't want a paperless system, but because they dread the process of switching.  Granted the switch can be very challenging, but it doesn't need to be. How can you make it easy?  Read the short paper that's referenced here.

Technology webinars (how to go paperless & more)

Last December my friend Dane Ciolino and I put on a half-day seminar called Digital Workflow for Lawyers, which was very well received.  The point was to show lawyers how to make the transition from a paper-based law practice to a more digital one, with a strong emphasis on using PDFs.  

Now we'd like to do some online programs to help folks improve their tech-lawyering skills.  If you've already signed up for email notices at the Digital Workflow website that we set up then you'll be getting announcements as they are sent out.  But, if you haven't, and you're interested in getting notices about our seminars & webinars, then click here.

The nice thing about the webinars is that anyone can participate, even people outside Louisiana.  Basically, if you have a high-speed internet connection then you can join in (although we probably won't be able to offer CLE credit outside Louisiana).

And if there are particular things you want to learn about then send us an email with those suggested topics.  We have posted the written materials that we used at our seminar online if you are interested ind downloading them.  Just visit the website and click on any of the links along the left-hand side.

Bookmarking Tip for Acrobat

Knowing how to create bookmarks is important if you are going to efficiently navigate your PDFs.  This one of many reasons why you need the full version of Acrobat.  I talked to a patent attorney in Kansas the other day who reviews information from the Patent office that is made available in PDF format. But, he only has the basic Adobe Reader.  He obviously spends a lot of time navigating PDFs, and often returns to the same PDF later on to find information he has reviewed previously.

This is a person who needs the full version of Acrobat.  And he needs to learn how to bookmark pages so he can quickly return to them later on.  The first thing you should do when you get Acrobat (after setting up your default viewing preferences) is to learn the shortcut for creating a bookmark. In Windows it's CONTROL + B, and in Mac it's COMMAND + B.

Now here's the really cool bookmarking tip that you can use PDF you are in is text-based (i.e. 'searchable').  You'll know it's searchable if you can highlight a word or sentence of text.  So, let's say you've highlighted a passage and you want to tag that as a bookmark.  If you highlight it and then use the shortcut for creating a bookmark Acrobat will create the bookmark and name it with the text that you highlighted.

I'm not sure if this works in older versions of Acrobat, but I can say that it definitely works in Acrobat 9.0.  One way I use it is when I create a PDF of, say, a complaint or other document that has headings.  I can quickly go through the document and highlight each heading and create a bookmark.  Then when I open that document later on my bookmarks are essentially a table of contents of the main parts of that document.

How to bates-stamp using Acrobat

If you have the full version of Acrobat then bates-stamping documents is fast and easy.  The first time you do it you may be a little overwhelmed, but it's really not that hard.  First, you don't even have to have the documents you want to bates stamp open.  So, to make it easy I've created a PDF tutorial that you can download and view.  After you view it you'll know exactly what to do.  So here is the link  (Windows tutorial), but Mac is basically the same process).