December 02, 2005

During the last decade, we have seen exponential growth in information management and data presentation technology in the litigation arena. What once occupied a “war room” with boxes of documents, deposition transcripts, summaries, and foamboard enlargements, now fits on a small laptop computer, making it mobile and easily modified.

The following technologies assist Lathrop & Gage trial attorneys in effectively managing client cases, assisting with analysis and information sharing and enhancing case presentation.

• Basic document management programs such as DOCS Open provide for efficient organization and maintenance of documents. The documents can be shared among team members and searched by case name or issue. Documents can also be easily shared with clients via electronic means.

• Managing mountains of documents and transcripts is now easily done with litigation support programs such as Summation Blaze LG Gold. Summation provides a core database to gather and organize evidence. It can store large amounts of electronic or imaged documents and data that can then be searched and managed. Its main features include high-capacity document, transcript and OCR databases with powerful search and retrieve capabilities. Summation can also link to external document collections such as companion databases, electronic documents and e-mail. Summation also provides for word search capabilities and summary capabilities of deposition transcripts.

• Issue and theme identification and development are now part of the technology portfolio as well. CaseMap, for example, is a relational database software program that organizes critical data about the facts and issues in the case, provides tools to evaluate and explore the facts and issues, and helps communicate case information to the client and other joint counsel members. CaseMap is designed to capture information about case facts and issues and can be customized to handle the unique needs of any case.

• TimeMap is related to CaseMap and allows for easy and instantaneous graphic presentation of critical data.

• Sanction II is a powerful trial presentation software package used for displaying documents and pictures with enhancements and highlights, and video with synchronized deposition transcript and three dimensional computer modeling.

• Network access from remote locations and laptops also allow data access to all this information 24/7 from any location.

In several recent Lathrop & Gage cases, the trials were completely “electronic.” All exhibits were imaged, and all deposition transcripts and videos were on a laptop. This allowed for flexible presentation of the evidence, all by clicking a mouse. Combined with the declining costs of imaging documents and the easy integration of electronic data, we can now present a case for less cost and more effectively, saving our clients both time and money, all while enhancing the result.