There are a number of trial presentation apps in the App Store for the iPad which have all of those features but the one feature every trial lawyer needs – callouts. Callouts are those boxes which zoom in on a particular area of a document. We’ve shown you an early look at TrialPad 2.0 which has them (and we’ve spoken with the developer Ian who has advised us that 2.0 has been submitted to the App Store) but unfortunately Exhibit A has beaten every other app to the punch with the release of v.1.3.0. Among other things, the new version of Exhibit A has true callouts, block highlights, redaction features, exporting of exhibits via email and a completely new interface. Let’s take a look at these new features.

CALLOUTS
Let’s just get to the guts of this update. Without the ability to do a callout of a portion of an exhibit, trial presentations on the iPad weren’t truly competing with anyone except for themselves. Now that we finally have an app which can do it, others will follow suit out of necessity. To create a callout in Exhibit A, you simply open an exhibit and select the “Tools” button to select the callout icon on the far right. Creating the callout is as simple as sliding your finger from where you want the upper left side of the callout window to start and sliding to where you want it to end. If you’ve ever used a trial presentation program on a PC, it’s exactly the same except you use your finger or stylus instead of the mouse.

As you can see the callout is presented beautifully, with the underlying exhibit greyed-out and the callout contrasted against the background, perfectly sized.

While it is nicely displayed, I have a few issues with the callout feature which I am sure will be addressed in future updates. First, the annotations made on an exhibit do not get “called-out”. For example, if I create highlights, draw marks or other annotations on an exhibit, and then callout that area, those markings do not show up in the callout as you can see below.

This is the sort of thing that happens in early versions of software and is missed by programmers since they don’t typically foresee this sort of usage of a tool. While it may seem minor, this is certainly something which must be fixed before using Exhibit A in trial or a courtroom setting.

BLOCK HIGHLIGHTS
This feature is pretty straight-forward but seems to be ignored by some other developers. Many times it is necessary to highlight portions of an exhibit and so other apps allow this by giving you a free-hand highlighting tool, which Exhibit A also provides. However, when highlighting lines of text or entire paragraphs, using the free-hand tool is cumbersome and to be blunt, messy. The inability to create nice blocks of highlighted text is definitely an issue in other apps and so the inclusion of this in the latest version of Exhibit A is most welcome. My only complaint about this feature is not really about the feature but in the way highlights in general are created in Exhibit A as well as most other trial presentation apps save for TrialPad. Instead of creating a highlight which increases the contrast with the text below, Exhibit A merely places a semi-transparent block of yellow on top of the text, thereby making it difficult to read the text below and negating the point behind highlighting, to call attention to a part of an exhibit. I have provided examples below of highlighted text in Exhibit A and TrialPad to better visualize this oversight.

Exhibit A

TrialPad 1.0

REDACTION
This works just like the block highlights, except allows the user to redact portions of an exhibit. For some reason developers keep putting this into their apps, probably because ‘redaction’ sounds like a legal term. In practicality, your exhibit should probably be redacted before trial using a desktop app. Regardless, it works as advertised, allowing for redacted areas to appear as either a block of white, black, red, green or blue. To use redaction, it is selected in the same tool area as highlighting. Problem, and this is a MAJOR one: when you redact an area, if you make a callout of it, the text below appears! Why? Because the callout feature does not callout annotations and the redaction tool is simply another annotation. This oversight makes the redaction feature incredibly dangerous and could potentially cause a mistrial. It must be fixed ASAP.

INTERFACE
I must say the new interface for Exhibit A is nice, albeit with a few quirks. Once you get used to how things are accessed however, most functions are quite seamless. As you can see below, the creation of cases is accomplished at the main screen, as expected. There is direct access to DropBox from this main screen which allows for creation of DropBox folders, downloading of multiple files and folders as well as uploading of exhibits from Exhibit A into DropBox.

This view provides a good overview of each case, displayed cunningly as a briefcase, as well, with a display of how many exhibits are in each case below the name of the case.

Importing into Exhibit A is performed either by accessing the DropBox icon at the main screen or by opening a case and selecting the “My Photos” button for images already on the iPad. Subfolders are available to sort your exhibits, thus recreating the standard structure of folders used in the courtroom for trial. Exhibits can also be added via WiFi, FTP, iTunes or email and will appear in this area once imported.

One perhaps most overlooked feature of Exhibit A is the laserpointer feature. available when an exhibit is shown, the tool displays a nice bright red laser looking pointer which follows your finger as you drag it across the exhibit. This is quite helpful given the drowning out which occurs when a laserpointer is used on a television screen or projector screen. Often times the only solution is a much stronger or brighter colored laserpointer which can potentially harm jurors’ eyes.

While I definitely like Exhibit A and applaud their effort at being the first among the iPad trial presentation apps to provide us with all of the necessary tools for effectively presenting exhibits at trial I cannot yet recommend Exhibit A for one reason, speed. When creating a callout from an exhibit, there is a noticeable and almost agonizing delay between letting go of the callout area and the rendering of the callout. This delay is so long in fact that I was able to capture two screen captures as the callout was rendered. This delay, while mildly annoying while trying out Exhibit A, is a deal-breaker for use in front of a jury. This is not a limitation of the iPad in any way, I can assure you, since I have developer version of two trial presentation programs which both handle callouts with ease and without any delay. Until Exhibit A fixes this, the new callout feature is just a nice breath of fresh air. Of course, once fixed, Exhibit A will become the trial presentation app of choice until the others can catch up.

There are 18 different educational tracks for lawyers, so you will have a diverse selection of sessions concerning attorneys and law firms using technology.  Be sure to visit the amazing exhibit hall where my favorite case management software Rocket Matter will have a booth along with many, many other amazing products.  You can download the conference guide here.

Rather than leave social media as largely uncharted territory, lawyers can reap the benefits of learning to harness the true power behind these types of sites to further their own careers. These attorneys tend to raise their profiles in the eyes of existing clients and prospective clients alike, which has an overall positive effect on business.

Here are some ways a progressive attorney can utilize social media:

Social Networking

The object of social media sites like Twitter is to gain followers. As a lawyer, you really don’t want to accumulate followers who might potentially need to come to you for advice one day. Instead, you want to connect and network with those professionals who are likely to refer people they know to you.

This means finding a way to increase the number of followers you have who are from a legal or business network. One way to do this is to follow other attorneys and subscribe to blogs that interest you. Leave comments that help to engage the blog owner or other respondents in a conversation.

Once they are following you, it’s up to you to use other forms of social media to let them know about your field of specialization.

Blogging

Using a dynamic platform like a blog can be an ideal way for a lawyer to offer credible legal opinion and expertise. WordPress can be installed easily on a private or corporate domain and makes blogging quick and simple. A blog allows you to establish a professional online presence, whether you have your own firm, or whether you’re working as an employee for a larger firm.

Many employers worry about their attorneys blogging under their own name, as they fear this may detract from the company itself. However, if the message being posted on the blog attracts the right audience, it can be a draw-card for large companies to contact that lawyer as an individual and eventually become a client for the firm.

Insights and Opinions

It should be noted that any legal insights or opinions you do decide to share on social media sites should never be confused as actual legal counsel by your readers or followers.

Wherever necessary, display a disclaimer on your blog, on your Twitter profile or on your Facebook profile. Say something akin to: “Opinions posted to this blog (or feed) do not constitute any form of legal advice”.

Personal or Professional

Perhaps one of the reasons many lawyers avoid social media sites for professional purposes is that these platforms are often seen as being more of a personal nature. However, there are many attorneys who can successfully inject a personal insight or a level of their own personality into their blog posts.

This gives readers a reason to continue coming back to read more, as these types of personalized professional blogs aren’t all about trying to drum up more business. Instead, they highlight that there is a real, living, breathing person behind all that legal talk. This can actually help to instill a sense of trust in your as an attorney, which may be beneficial for attracting new clients in the long run.

These simple social media tips could be the key to broadening your professional online presence. Before long, prospective clients will begin to connect with you as a potential source of legal advice.

About the Author:  Lior Levin who works for an E2 visa lawyer that specializes in e2 visas for UK and German citizens.

Larry Port, Rocket Matter’s CEO and co-Founder, describes RocketCLE as a natural extension of the offerings by Rocket Matter through the years. He acknowledges the motivations behind RocketCLE being geared towards small and medium sized law firms, “…we’re beginning to offer small law firms even more quality resources to compete with larger organizations.”

The first five courses currently available on RocketCLE include an originally produced hour video, “Seven Ways To Make Your Law Firm More Effective”, which covers material from Larry Port’s Legal Productivity e-book. All courses are available for accreditation in Florida, while Illinois, California, Texas, and New York applications are pending and many more states honor reciprocal CLE credits.

“For the past few years, we’ve been conducting webinars, writing books, and participating in online discussion about ways to reduce risk of malpractice and boost profitability at law firms,” says Port. “RocketCLE is a natural extension of the resources we’ve been offering our customers.“

Customers using Rocket Matter’s legal practice management software enjoy 50% discounts off all online CLE content.

The following is the press-release issued this morning from Rocket Matter:

BOCA RATON, FL – January 31st, 2011 – Rocket Matter®, the leading web-based legal practice management and time and billing software for small to mid-sized law firms, today announces the launch of RocketCLE, an on-demand continuing legal education online store.

With RocketCLE, users can purchase and view entertaining and high-quality CLE courses over the Internet at anytime of the day. Initial content focuses on legal ethics and Rocket Matter’s core message of improved productivity and law firm efficiency.

“We’re excited to offer another high-quality service to the legal profession,” says Larry Port, the company’s CEO and Co-Founder. “We’ve always focused on providing excellent software, and now with online CLE we’re beginning to offer small law firms even more quality resources to compete with larger organizations.”

The first five courses include an originally produced hour video, “Seven Ways To Make Your Law Firm More Effective”, covering much of the material in the Legal Productivity e-book, published by Port in October 2009. All courses are available for accreditation in Florida, while Illinois, California, Texas, and New York applications are pending and many more states honor reciprocal CLE credits.

“For the past few years, we’ve been conducting webinars, writing books, and participating in online discussion about ways to reduce risk of malpractice and boost profitability at law firms,” says Port. “RocketCLE is a natural extension of the resources we’ve been offering our customers.“

Customers using Rocket Matter’s legal practice management software enjoy 50% discounts off all online CLE content.

About Rocket Matter, LLC
Rocket Matter, LLC (URL: http://www.rocketmatter.com) provides Rocket Matter®, an online legal practice management and time tracking application for small to mid-sized law firms. The benefits of Rocket Matter®, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, include increased security, business continuity, decreased technology infrastructure and maintenance costs, and improved return on investment for information technology expenses. Launched in February 2008, Rocket Matter’s corporate headquarters is in Boca Raton, FL.

Sliced Images

What sets BodyViz apart is that this process is as simple as inserting your client’s CD with the MRI or CT study and the application dynamically creating a 3D model of the data on the fly.  The user is then able to fly through and around the 3D model using a familiar interface with an XBox controller connected via Microsoft’s wireless PC adapter for the laptop.  This allows virtually anyone familiar with any of the modern shoot ‘em up XBox 360 games to immediately pick up the controller and begin manipulating the 3D model of their client’s MRI/CT Scan. This allows for amazing videos to be created with the software on the fly in a video deposition or pre-created for use in trial.

Soft Tissues Revealed

However BodyViz is not only creating a 3D model of the data from the CD inserted. Using the data provided with the scan, BodyViz is able to peel away layers from the model, such as muscle and skin. Thus enabling the viewer to present an organ, such as the heart, with the surrounding soft tissues visible at first for identification of the area by a lay person and then remove the extraneous soft tissues to reveal the target area. From there, BodyViz allows the user to rotate around a fixed point, zoom in and out and place virtual trocars. This is particularly useful when trying to visualize surgeries involving improper placement of medical tools when a 2D film does not adequately present the 3-dimensional aspects of a procedure.

Also available is the ability to take the 3D model and begin slicing pieces of the  scan away to reveal the internal structures of areas.This is quite helpful when placing virtual trocars to visualize the external and internal images of the area. Coupling this feature with the removal of soft tissues allows for an attorney to present the client’s MRI/CT Scan study in a way that allows the viewer, jury or otherwise, to immediately understand what is being displayed and allows for the complex data stored in the study to truly “come to life”.

Soft Tissues Removed

Besides offering an interactive experience, BodyViz also offers the ability to create surgical “paths” which are used to have the viewer fly through a preset path. Obviously, this technology is a boon for medical schools and surgeons preparing for procedures, but BodyViz’s abilities are as equally beneficial to attorneys seeking to create a more interactive and visual display of their client’s injuries.  The true power of BodyViz was shown to me when I was presented with a frontal view of a patient’s CT SCan which showed what appeared to be a normal pelvis. Once I was given the controller and allowed to rotate around the skeletal system of the patient I was shocked to see a massive fracture of the pelvis which, due to the 2D view normally seen, was simply not seen or properly appreciated by untrained eyes.

Due to the obvious graphics processing requirements of BodyViz, this is not the kind of software you can run on just any computer. BodyViz recommends 1GB of video RAM along with some other system requirements.  Due to this, BodyViz offers a complete package which includes a laptop, software installed and an upgrade plan.  With prices below $10,000.00, BodyViz certainly brings technology which was previously relegated to physician schools within the budget of most law firms.

TechnoEsq Presentations is currently in the process of purchasing the equipment and so have first-hand experience with the staff of BodyViz.  All of our questions concerning the software and hardware were answered promptly and the process of purchasing the hardware and installing BodyViz is a seamless one with BodyViz purchasing the hardware and customizing it prior to shipping out. We are really excited to be using BodyViz as it will allow us to create stunning 3-dimensional models of attorney’s client’s MRI and CT studies, placing them into our trial and mediation presentations at an affordable cost.

iPhone and iPad for Lawyers: Apps You Need to be Using
Summary:
iPhone and iPad – nifty tech toys or useful resources for you in your law practice? Perhaps you already use these applications efficiently in your practice. Maybe you’re among thousands who are trying to decide whether using these devices would be a worthwhile investment. From either perspective, join in the discussion and learn more about which apps are popular with lawyers and how to best use… [more]

Presenters:
Finis Price
Finis R. Price, III has successfully assisted thousands of injured clients recover the compensation they deserve. Through the effective use of technology, the Law Offices of Finis Price provides clients with a unique experience granting them… [more]

Program Agenda:
5 minutes – Introduction
60 minutes – iPhone and iPad for Lawyers: Apps You Need to be Using Presentation
10 minutes – Live Q&A with the Speaker

How To Attend:
Join the live program from your office, home, or hotel room using a computer for the web portion and telephone for the audio portion. You may ask questions, participate in surveys, and post comments from your computer during the program. You may also invite colleagues to watch the program from a shared computer or projection screen and speakerphone. Please note that credit is only provided to registered attendees participating at their own computer and phone. Simple instructions with a link to the program will be sent when you register.

Credit:
If applicable, you may obtain credit in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously for this program (see pending/approved list below). Registrants in jurisdictions not listed below will receive a Certificate of Attendance that may or may not meet credit requirements in other jurisdictions. Where applicable, credit will be only awarded to a paid registrant attending the live program at their own computer and phone. Please note: CDs may not qualify for credit; please check with your accrediting body to verify.

This program has been approved for or is pending credit in:
AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, IN, KY, LA, MO, MT, NV, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WY

It has been well documented that the Droid stores Exchange passwords in an unencrypted text file (what forensics examiners call ‘in the clear’), however researchers at Black Hat 2010, a technical security conference, have shown the security problems with the Android is much worse than originally thought. This is because the exploits they have found which allow unfettered access to all of the data in the phone result from the ‘open market-place’ which is the main selling point of all Droids. The openness of the Android marketplace has resulted in apps allowing known exploits to be installed on customer’s phones, including the EVO 4G (on Sprint), Droid X (Verizon), Droid Incredible (Verizon) and older models of Droids. Despite the cell phone carrier’s knowledge of the exploit for over a year, the open marketplace has resulted in free apps utilizing the exploit since no one is on watch.

These malicious apps gain access to passwords, browser history, subscriber ID with the phone carrier, SIM card number and text messages and for this information to be transmitted to the creator of the malicious code without the user even knowing anything has occurred. This is because the permissions given to the app, while disclosed to the user when installed, are very cryptic and most users are not aware of what their response should be. Thus the app can gain complete control of the phone with the user having no idea of the security breach of their Droid. This type of exploit goes above and beyond the alleged exploits in the iPhone because a computer forensics examiner, with years of training and hardware, can recover data off of an iPhone if they have unfettered access to the phone itself. There is no such requirement to even touch a Droid to obtain complete access to both the operating system and the data on the phone. As the company who released the news of the Droid’s vulnerabilities stated when referring to the Droid’s exaggerated security, the free app Jackeey Wallpaper, which has been downloaded millions of times, can gather passwords, browser history, the subscriber ID and SIM card numbers and text messages and send them remotely to anyone else.

This certainly should cause any lawyer to have serious concerns about purchasing or using an any Android based phone such as the Droid X or EVO 4G for their business use.

By Front9Technologies, iJuror is a graphical app which first allows the attorney to select the layout of the jury pool by specifying the number of potential jurors in columns and rows. Once done, a jury pool is shown which allows the lawyer to select a potential juror and enter standard data such as Name, employer, hometown and notes. However, where iJuror really shines is in quickly entering other data. At the top of the screen is an area which makes a dropdown scroll-wheel style menu allowing for quick input of age, sex, race, marital status, children, education, whether police are in the family, prior arrests, whether the potential juror was a potential victim and past jury experience.

With a few flicks of the finger, an attorney can record a great amount of information for a civil or criminal trial and make better informed decisions in jury selection. Options are also available to decide whether to utilize strikes on each juror, what opposing counsel chose and those for cause. (Peremptory Us, Dismiss for Cause, Peremptory Them).

As the app was developed with the help of attorneys, it is filled with other useful features, including:

• Simply tap the seats to add juror information
• Quicker than pen & paper
• Share with your colleagues
• Store all of your trials in one location
• Look for patterns over time
• Email the jury information to any email address
• Easily print the email for access anywhere
• Configurable for seating arrangements of up to 60 jurors
• Add notes as the trial goes along
• Name view provides quick access to name and notes right at your finger tips
• Drag and drop to choose jurors
• Drag and drop to choose alternates
• Drag and drop to dismiss jurors

At $9.99 (limited time sale) this app is certainly a bargain. As a trial lawyer, I can tell you how difficult it is to attempt to write down so much information, not to mention how distracting it is while attempting voir dire on your own. Given the small size of the iPad and ease of entering complex data, iJuror allows an attorney to use the iPad on a lectern simply using their finger to enter juror data while maintaining a conversational atmosphere while talking with the jury pool. Our recommendation is to buy it here.

Needless to say, I am extremely honored to be asked to speak at such a prestigious conference and am looking forward to sharing the knowledge I’ve gained in using my iPad and iPhone in my practice. While I have been asked recently by individual practitioners what iPad apps can assist them in their practice, this will be the first time I speak on the iPad since it’s debut and I cannot wait to share my insights.

If you are going to be in Vegas or can make it on August 23, 2010, please come by and say hello.