by Robin Meadow

This article first appeared in Orange County Lawyer magazine in March 2008, Vol. 50 No. 3 ( 30-32). A Few of My Favorite Things: © Copyright 2007 Orange County Bar Association. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s). They do not necessarily represent the views of the Technology Tips for Lawyers Orange County Lawyer Magazine, the Orange County Bar Association or its staff. All legal and other issues should be independently researched. Who Write

I'm a software junkie. There . . . I've admitted it. ut I'm not writing this article because I want to kick the habit. As an appellate lawyer, most of what I do is Bwrite, and most of my writing is at the c o m p u t e r. The many software tools I've acquired over the years have made my work more efficient and less tedious. Turning back the clock would make it less enjoyable and more expensive. Neither my clients nor I want that to happen. So, although I'm going to share my story with you, it's not because I want your help. Instead, I want to get you hooked. You Can Do It. No software program or suite - not even Microsoft Office - does everything as well as it At its simplest, ActiveWords is a text nested four or five levels deep on the firm's net- might. But there is almost always a way to get replacement program - that is, it replaces a work, I simply create an “activeword” (the pro- your computer to do something you want it to code that you type with the text that you want, gram's name for the code you type to trigger it) do. You just have to ask. No, you don't ask the such as “covenant of good faith and fair deal- to take me there in an instant. To get to a web- computer; you go online and search for soft- ing” for “cgf.” It works much like Word's site, I type the name and I'm there, without even ware. There are thousands of programs, many AutoText and WordPerfect's QuickWords but, having to open a browser window. When I type of them free or very inexpensive, that fill the unlike those program-specific text replacers, “com,” “org,” etc., a window opens up to let me gaps left by the major software publishers. Just you can use ActiveWords anywhere–in Word, in insert the domain name, and the program takes type “shareware” or “” into Google WordPerfect, in email, in a spreadsheet, on the me there. I type “laweather” to get to and you'll see what I mean. Start by looking internet–anywhere you can type text. (There's weather.com's page for today's weather in Los for add-ins for your existing programs. The just one exception: At least on some computers, Angeles, “msft” to bring up Yahoo!'s page for Microsoft site has dozens of these for its Office ActiveWords doesn't like Internet Explorer 7C, Miscrosoft stock, and so on. programs, and there are countless more out on although it's fine with earlier versions of IE and A lot of ActiveWords' progamming capabili- the market that are free or cost relatively little. with Firefox.) So, for example, it's been years ties are built in. It's not that hard to build your A careful Internet search will get you there. since I typed “Cal.App.4th” in a document or in own special commands, but first look at the pub- Next, prowl shareware/freeware sites. A good a Lexis or Westlaw search; “ca4” does the job. I lisher's useful add-ins (e.g., a set of ABA codes for first stop is www.download.com, now part of don't have to remember client numbers for timekeeping) and other users' creations. I'm CNET (www.cnet.com). online searches, court docket downloads, or the deeply grateful to one user (whose name unfor- firm's timekeeping program–I just enter a tunately I can't find) for what he did for FindLaw A c t i v e Wo rds - www. a c t i v e w o rds.com. mnemonic code and the number pops up. searches: I enter a code, such as “ca4f” for “take If I had to pick one single utility to take to But there's much more, because me to Cal.App.4th on Find Law”; a window pops a desert island with my laptop (and a very long ActiveWords can also execute commands. Word up requesting the volume number; when I pro- power cord), this would be it. It simplifies vir- or WordPerfect will let you build complex vide that, a second window pops up asking for the tually everything I do with the computer, any- macros, but ActiveWords' commands will work page number; and when I provide that, the case where within Windows, to such an extent that I anywhere. So, for instance, it lets me easily opens up on Find Law. Very, very easy. feel almost disabled when I have to use a com- navigate both my firm's network and the Warning: As simple as it is to use this pro- puter that doesn't have the program installed. Internet. If I regularly visit a directory that's gram, some users find the learning curve a bit

3 0 ORANGE COUNTY LAW Y E R steep. And even if you don't, you have to invest breeze - you just move things around by click- graphical depiction of the events and their tem- front-end time creating your “activewords.” ing and dragging. The capabilities are too poral relationships. Of course, you can do this But if you need help, support via the website is numerous to mention here, but I can tell you manually on a yellow pad, if you don't mind just a click away (including active user that nothing in Word or WordPerfect comes constantly adding, erasing, discarding and re- groups). In addition, there's always a chance close. In fact, often the very first thing I do with writing. Or you could struggle through a that Buzz Bruggeman, one of the company's a new case is to start up a NoteMap outline. graphics program where you have to place cofounders (and a Duke law grad), will call you The program isn't perfect. Its interface is each element manually. But a good single- up and walk you through everything you need out of date (among other things, it never used purpose program makes the job a breeze. I've to know. He did this with me a number of years all of the Windows menu conventions); its used TimeMap (www.casesoft.com) and Time ago, and he still sometimes does it for new exporting facilities are limited (it won't create a Line Maker Professional (www.timeline- users. pdf - although there are other ways to do that - maker.com). They both do the basic job quite well, You don't want to give up your AutoText or or export to any version of WordPerfect later but Time Line Maker has more features, is more QuickWords collections that you've developed than version 9); and its formatting capabilities flexible, and is a little cheaper. Maybe most impor- over many years? No problem–the ActiveWords are too limited for it to be useful in formal pre- tant, it has a simpler data-entry interface and can staff will help you convert them to activewords. sentations. But these are minor gripes. My out- import data from other programs. Multiple computers? Also no problem–in fact, lines are mostly for my own use, not for an it's a lot easier to copy a set of activewords than audience. Writing Tools your Word or WordPerfect codes. A different kind of program, and one that's Now you have to get the words on paper. a little hard to describe in words, is Mind ActiveWords will speed up the job. Here are a Thinking Tools Manager - www.mindjet.com. Picture a flow- couple of other nifty little programs that do what Before I write, I've got to organize my chart or organization tree and you'll have an no other program seems to do. thoughts. This process used to start with my idea of what it looks like. As with NoteMap, you Have you ever noticed that with certain pulling out a yellow pad and putting each topic can simply throw ideas on the screen and later kinds of documents - web sites, pdfs, and others - on a separate page. Then, I'd write down my move them around to create relationships when you copy text into your thoughts for each topic. Then, I'd shuffle the among them. But MindManager goes well you get a hard return at the end of every line? pages around to get some kind of organization, beyond NoteMap because you can establish Maybe you've developed a macro to get rid of always discovering during the process that relationships among items that fall under dif- those. That's fine, but what if you want to copy something on the Topic A page belonged with ferent topics, and the fact that the program dis- it into an email? To the rescue: eCleaner Topic C. Then, I'd write up an outline - which plays information graphically can often illu- (ecleaner.tripod.com, by Steve Chin - no “www” of course kept getting restructured as I thought minate the relationships. It also means that for this address). Originally developed to strip through the case's issues. Erase, rewrite, start the program can yield effective presentations out the extra characters that some email pro- over on a clean page. Misplace one of the which I've used to good effect in several semi- grams insert to set off earlier messages in an pieces on my desk, lose time looking for it, ulti- nars. And yes, you can generate a Word outline email thread, it also strips out hard returns. The mately re-create it. You know the drill. from the program. sequence is simple: You highlight and copy the At some point both Word and WordPerfect These two programs illustrate my earlier text you want to fix; you open eCleaner (basical- introduced outlining capability, but by then I point: You can't expect any program to do ly a customized version of Windows Notepad - in had found a much better solution. In the mid- everything you need as well as you need. I find fact I use it instead of Notepad); you press a but- '80s, a DOS-based program called ThinkTank NoteMap much easier to use than Mind ton; and the text is imported and cleaned. Then emerged on the scene. This was outlining on Manager for quickly getting my thoughts up on you copy and paste it into whatever application steroids, even under DOS. It was succeeded by a the screen in an easy-to-read format. I also you want to use it in. much-improved version called GrandView, still find that, even with NoteMap's limitations, it's But what about rich text formatting - DOS-based. But as Windows evolved they dis- easier to generate an outline for use in Word or fonts, special characters, italics, etc.? Suppose appeared, apparently overwhelmed by Wo r d WordPerfect. But Mind Manager is far better at y o u ' re copying text from a heavily format- and WordPerfect. There were a few Windows revealing relationships among ideas and devel- ted document and you want it to adopt the programs - I used Ecco Pro for a while - but oping presentations for group discussion or formatting of your word processing docu- none nearly as good. Then N o t e M a p seminars. ment? The “paste special” command will ( w w w.casesoft.com) came along (recently Yet another kind of thought organizer that get you there, sometimes - but unpre- acquired by Lexis). It does just one thing - out- can be almost indispensable at times is a time- d i c t a b l y, and not in every p r o g r a m . lining - but does it extremely well. I can't rec- line maker. This is a standard trial tool for P u r e Text ( w w w. s t e v e m i l l e r.net/puretext, by ommend it too highly. Instead of separate making sequences of events clear for juries, but Steve Miller) does the job better. Again, you high- pages of a yellow pad, I toss my ideas up on the it can be useful in other contexts as well. When light and copy the text. Then, you switch to the computer screen, where they're automatically a case's complexity makes it hard to keep an application you want to use, press a hot key com- placed into an outline format. I don't have to important sequence of events in mind, I like to bination that you can choose, and voila!–the text think about structure until later, and then it's a have a cheat sheet readily available–an instant is pasted with no formatting at all. (Note, how-

M A R C H 2 0 0 8 3 1 ever, that “rich text” formatting doesn't include for specific purposes, and you can add and delete the clunky way it comes out if you do a copy- hard returns and some other features. So I often them at any time. X1 generates a single index and-paste from within Outlook. end up using eCleaner and PureText together.) for all files, and I haven't found a way to change IT people tell us to use secure passwords for what it indexes without deleting the index and website and other logins - meaning at least eight Keeping Track of Information starting over. So, for example, if I need to find characters mixing letters, numbers and symbols Have you ever been bothered by the fact it something in a directory of a lawyer who left the –and not to use the same password repeated- takes just an instant to search billions of websites firm a year ago, I can set up dtSearch to index l y. Only a mathematical savant has any hope worldwide, but you can't find the brief you wrote just that lawyer's materials, without having of remembering more than a handful. with that great quotation about equity? What those materials get in the way of other searches. RoboForm (www.roboform.com) does the job about the email that you know you wrote early in There are many other solutions, and for you. You right click on an icon in your sys- the case and that you know must be somewhere some of them are free. If you want to explore tem tray, a list of logins pops up, you click on the in Outlook, but it takes half an hour for the area from scratch, I suggest you buy The one you want, and RoboForm takes you to the Outlook's primitive search engine to find it? Search Handbook (shop.office login page and enters your login information. It's taken a while, but desktop searching watch.com/dsh/), an electronic book that you Although once in a while it doesn't recognize a has finally caught up with the speed of the can download (including updates). At the insti- login page, it does the job 98% of the time. Internet. With the right programs, you can tutional level, both Westlaw and Lexis have ser- There's also a utility that lets you keep the same search everything on your desktop or your firm's vices that will index as much of your firm's net- information on your handheld and update it network just as quickly and effectively as you can work as you want, with the results searchable whenever you synchronize, and another that lets search the Internet. My personal favorite, and a through the regular Lexis and Westlaw pro- you keep everything on a USB key for when you close second to ActiveWords as a program I never grams. Another well recognized player is Isys travel. want to be without, is X1 (www.x1.com). For (www.isys search.com)–but at $1,000 for the But what if you create a login at your office $50, you get a program that will search every- entry level version, it may be out of reach for and you need to use it at home? No problem - thing on your hard disk and firm's network, with small offices. (Isys does offer a standalone email use G o o d S y n c ( w w w.goodsync.com) by instantaneous results. It's particularly useful for program for $30–see www.isysemail.com.) RoboForm's publisher, Siber Systems. Yo u email. I keep every case-related email I send or At the other end of the spectrum, both install it on one computer (probably home), log receive in a case specific folder. This means that Google and Yahoo! offer free desktop search in to the other (probably office desktop), click a at any given time I'll have something like 25,000 engines; Yahoo!'s is a limited version of X1 (the button, and all of your RoboForm logins are syn- email messages. With X1, a narrow enough last time I checked, it would only index a local chronized. And it will work with other content, search (Boolean operators plus several other drive, not a network). I don't see an advantage too. I have a directory on both my home and search-narrowing techniques) can yield a single to either–I'd rather have the full X1 program, office computers where I keep links to the docket pertinent email in a split second. It's the same and I don't much like the way Google displays pages for every appeal I'm working on. way with data files. I have over 66,000 files search results. I also don't know whether either GoodSync ensures that the link I created at home (some 11 gigabytes) on my firm's network, program connects you to the Internet in a way also resides at the office. including thousands of archived emails for that might trigger privacy concerns. These are just a few of the programs that closed cases. Again, with the right input, X1 can make your computing life easier. Don't be instantaneously pulls up a short list or even a Saving Time intimidated by the time and effort it takes to fin d , single document. You can see how quickly the Every lawyer needs to do this. The time you install, and learn programs. It definitely gets eas- program works by its search-as-you-type display: waste doing mechanical tasks on the computer ier with experience, and I guarantee that you'll a list starts when you type the first character, and could be better spent analyzing a case or talking find the investment worthwhile. keeps getting shorter as you type more. X1 also to a new client. All of the tools I've described indexes Outlook's contacts, calendar and tasks. help me save time, but here are two that are (Can't remember the name of that great Indian designed solely for that purpose. restaurant on First Avenue? Enter “First Avenue” A n a g r a m ( w w w.getanagram.com), an and you'll find it right away.) X1 updates its Outlook add-in, is one of those gems that does ______indexes in the background on a schedule you just one thing very well. You highlight a name Robin Meadow is a partner with Greines, can set, so it's always ready to do your bidding. and address in an email, in a letter, on a web- Martin, Stein & Richland LLP, which limits its I use another program that I got before X1 page, wherever; you hit a hotkey; and Outlook practice to appellate law. He is a member of came on the scene and have kept up to date, opens up a new contact form with all of the the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers because it provides somewhat different features information in the proper fields. It's not infalli- (serving as president in 2005-2006) and a than X1 for searches on my firm's network. ble, because not everyone formats their contact Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Unlike X1, with dtSearch (www.dtsearch.com) information in the same way, but it works well Lawyers. He has also served as president of the you have to update indexes manually, which can enough to save a lot of typing. It also gives you Los Angeles County Bar Association (2003- take some time. On the other hand, dtSearch lets a way to paste contact information into an email 2004) and has chaired its Appellate Courts you prepare multiple indexes that you can tailor or other document so that it looks nice instead of Committee (2002-2004).

3 2 ORANGE COUNTY LAW Y E R