Frequently Used Software
Like people in many other jobs, litigators use computers for a lot of their work. In other posts, I’ve written about how litigators use legal research websites and document review software. And, of course, litigators use Microsoft Office to, among other things, draft documents, edit spreadsheets, and send emails.
But the day-to-day life of a litigator often includes several other pieces of software.
Why should you continue to read this post about litigation software?
You’re a lawyer from the 1950s and you want to see how the business has changed
You’re a lawyer from another jurisdiction and you’re curious to see the differences between the software Americans use and the software you use
Articles about tax software are too exciting for you
Document Management Software
Law firms often use document management software to store documents. Instead of saving documents in a folder or a shared network drive, law firms often allow employees to save documents on a system in which each document gets a unique ID number. The system then allows any other user to access the document.
Document management software has several benefits. The first is that it allows multiple users to edit a document. Next, the software usually has a feature called “version control,” that allows users to edit a document but also save a version of the document from their edits. This feature makes it easy to undo edits or to use a previous version of a document if a subsequent one becomes unusable. Also, the software enables users to find all of the documents that meet certain search parameters, such as documents made by a particular person, for a particular client, or containing certain search terms. This makes it easy to make a new document by finding a similar document from the past.
Document management software often integrates into other programs, like Microsoft Office, instead of operating as a stand-alone program.
A sign that a law firm uses document management software is a watermark on their documents, often at the bottom of a page, of a the document’s ID number.
At my firm, I used eDOCS for document management. But I have worked at firms that use similar software, such as iManage.
Time Entry Software
Lawyers often need to keep track of the amount of time they work on each matter. This is because it is common for lawyers to bill their clients by the hour for their services. And even for lawyers that do not bill by the hour, those lawyers may need to submit records of the time they spent on each matter in cases where they are permitted to seek reimbursement from other parties.
Although many lawyers keep ad hoc records of their time in written notebooks or other documents, I use an iPhone app called iBillable (which does not seem to be on the App Store anymore) to keep track of how long I work on matters.
Lawyers take their own records of their time and then input them into software that takes that information so that it can be used to make bills for clients. My firm uses software called Tabs3 for time records, but there are many other pieces of similar software, like Clio.
The lawyer tells the time management software how much time each day she worked on a particular matter. But she also writes a description of the work she performed on the matter that day. This way, when a client gets a bill, the client knows what work she is paying for.
Some time management software requires the lawyer to enter codes that describe the exact type of work the lawyer performed. For example code L130 can refer to time spent on expert discovery and code L330 can refer to time spent on depositions. This may enable a client to analyze the costs of various tasks, but in my experience, it is difficult to classify every task into pre-set categories. For example, a conversation with an expert witness to prepare for an oral argument about a document production could arguably qualify for three different categories.
Comparison and PDF Software
Litigators often produce and review PDF documents. As a result, attorneys often use the full version of Adobe Acrobat (or a similar PDF editing software, like Nitro) to edit PDFs and create new ones. PDF software allows lawyers to merge PDF documents together (which is useful when making a PDF with an introduction page that says something like “Exhibit A”) or make new PDFs that are excerpts from previous PDFs. It also allows lawyers to redact information from PDFs or to add Bates stamps or other watermarks to documents.
Some courts have very exact standards about the PDF files they accept. For example, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has several web pages advising litigants on compliance with its PDF requirements.
In addition to software that makes PDFs for others to review, I also use iAnnotate on my iPad to review documents and mark them up with my notes and export the markup as PDFs.
And lawyers often use comparison software to compare different versions of the same document. They do this often when an adversary or a colleague has proposed changes to a document. Small changes to the text of lengthy documents may have substantial effects, and while lawyers are diligent in looking for those changes, they use software to confirm that they have not missed something. The standard for comparison software is Workshare Compare. In addition to quickly showing lawyers the differences between two documents, the software produces files that highlight the differences. These files are often called “redlines” or “blacklines.”