Technology

Today's Tech: How Biglaw Litigators Use iPads To Make Their Case

How do lawyer incorporate their iPads into their practices in typical ways?

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In my last few columns, I’ve written about how attorneys at the oldest and second-largest law firm in Arizona, Fennemore Craig, have incorporated wearable technology and 3D printing into their practices. These posts were based on interviews with Marc Lamber and James Goodnow, two partners at the firm. Today’s column is Part 4 in that four-part series and explains how this Biglaw injury law practice group uses iPads in ways you might not expect.

You already know that iPads and other tablets have been around since 2008 and lawyers using them as part of their day-to-day practice. But as you’ll soon learn, Marc and James use iPads on behalf of their clients in an unusual–and very effective–way.

But before we explore how they do that, let’s take a look at how they incorporate their iPads into their practices in more typical ways, since that information can be useful to other attorneys as well.

According to James, they often use apps to increase their productivity and increase mobility. “There are a million apps available and ways to use iPads and sometimes we use them just as other lawyers do,” he explains. “For starters, I create all my deposition outlines on an iPad using Notes and during depositions I typically have a separate iPad that’s linked to the court reporter. We use proprietary software with the court reporter so that the testimony is transcribed in real-time as the deposition is occurring. Using that software I can see the transcript live and I can take a quote and use it in my questioning instead of asking the court reporter to read it back. It allows me to ask more precise questions which makes it much more valuable.”

This is a great way to use iPads, and other firms may be doing this type of thing as well. But it’s the way the firm uses iPads prior to initiating a lawsuit that really impresses me.

According to James, iPads have been instrumental to settling cases before they’re even filed. “In 2011, about a year after the iPad was released, we started putting video demands onto iPads. Before a lawsuit is filed, lawyers typically write their demands in letter form and if you’re an opposing lawyer, insurance adjustor, or mediator you typically skip to the end to see what they’re asking for rather than reading the letter,” he says. “We wanted to make sure that the opposing party understood our position and heard from both our client and the expert so we started using video discovery to make the decision-makers watch a video in order to get to the punchline.”

This means that the firm is laying out their clients’ cases from the outset. But James contends that it’s a risk worth taking. “Sure we’re basically putting on our trial out of the gate and we have clients talking about damages and liability and experts lined up talking about their observations and conclusions. And we even have lawyers actually making their argument. Some ask why would you give opposing party a roadmap to your case? Because we feel very confident in the product we’re putting together and are trying to put the opposing party in the position to resolve the cases early on.” He continues, “Even if we’re tipping our hat, we show that we’re willing to devote the resources to create a product like this. It’s the shock and awe factor We let them know we’re really to roll.”

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How exactly do they pull this off? James explains: “We send 5-10 iPads in metal briefcases with Bose noise-canceling headphones. We’ve actually heard stories that at opposing firms they’ve actually gathered around it to listen to it. We love to hear that! As a lawyer—that’s so valuable. I’m not just a letter in a pile. Instead, we have everyone’s attention—our client has their attention—and that’s a huge deal.”

Importantly, they don’t cut costs when creating the videos: “We also work with animators and have reconstructions and animations put into the video. We have a director that we work with to present it in best way. So like a Dateline NBC episode there are a lot of pieces of information coming together. We even have a former Disney animator working on these so that also helps us put together our case in the strongest way possible.”

According to Marc, this strategy has paid off. “When we send along iPads at the pre-litigation stage, we let them be the judge. Everything is packaged on the iPad including the exhibits and documents. It’s environmentally friendly and allows the decision-makers to process the information in a way that’s more interesting instead of a 50-page demand letter. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the years from opposing lawyers and they tell us after the fact that it was very effective for case resolution.”

Of course, it’s not without risks, but Marc explains they take a tough stance when it comes to retrieving their iPads: “We’ve had a few iPads that haven’t been returned but we can track them and if someone tells us they thought they sent it back and we can see it’s right in their office,” he laughs. “After playing that card, typically we get them back.”

I’ve never heard of other litigators using iPads in quite this way. It’s a great example of lawyers thinking outside the box when it comes to using technology to provide the best representation possible for their clients.

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With this post, I’ll be ending this series. I hope you enjoyed reading about how this firm innovates and provides the best representation to their clients using technology as much as I’ve enjoyed learning about it from Marc and James.

And, as always, if you or an attorney you know is using technology in a creative or unusual way in your law firm, drop me an email at niki.black@mycase.com. I’m always looking for new attorneys — or judges — to feature in this column.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at@nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

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