technology & law BY MICHAEL R. ARKFELD A Portable Device for Your Legal Toolbox

ONE OF THE fastest-growing hardware buys is the handheld PCs Synchronizing and downloading the that are starting to proliferate in the legal and corporate world. It is office’s general calendar and other applica- Michael R. Arkfeld is estimated that more than 1 million handheld PCs are sold every 10 tions is easy with the handheld because it an Assistant United weeks and that there will be more than 19 million by the year 2003. sits in a cradle that is connected to your States attorney in Handheld PCs are gaining popularity because they are easy to carry desktop machine via a USB or . Phoenix. He is the to meetings and good for personal or business travel. Though prima- The Palm Pilot comes with a calendar, author of The Digital rily used for calendaring and contact list management, use of hand- address book, “to-do” application, memo Practice of Law (4th held PCs for other applications, such as e-mail, faxing, paging and pad, and an expense tracker. It is estimated edition) and a frequent web access, is growing daily. They will not replace the for that more than 80 percent of lawyers using speaker and columnist serious document work, but are used as a portable personal infor- handheld PC devices use the Palm Pilot. on the practice of law. mation manager and communication device. More than 23,000 programmers are He can be reached at Electronic organizers have been around since the ’80s, when writing programs for the Palm OS (oper- [email protected]. products like the Sharp Wizard, a handheld device with calendar ating system) and more than 10,000 soft- and phone book features, came on the market. The product had so ware programs now run on the Palm Pilot. many limitations that it never really caught on. However, in approx- For approximately $299 you can buy a imately 1996, the Palm Pilot™ made its debut. (www.palm.com). high-speed modem and web access costs for In addition to an excellent contact management system and around $40 a month (www.omnisky.com). calendar, it had the capability to share information with a desktop If you are considering purchasing a Palm and synchronize information on both machines. handheld or are a current user, be sure to Since that time handheld PCs have developed into miniature visit the following web sites: for Palm users and wireless communication devices. You can now use with law-related needs and interests visit them to access the web, research the U.S. Code, store and read the www.palmlaw.com. Also try www.memo- Federal Rules of Evidence and Civil Procedure, provide data for ware.com, a site that generally provides free your time and billing programs, receive and send e-mail, handle practice tools such as federal sentencing personal finances and edit legal documents. rules, regulations, etc. For non-legal mate- These devices can perform many other functions, including rials visit www.peanutpress.com. Other accessing electronic books, dictionaries and, encyclopedia; notable web sites for an assortment of Palm faxing, paging, accounting and calendaring; and operating stan- hardware and software add-ons include dard computer applications, including word processing, spread- www.palm-central.com, www.palmpara- sheets and database applications. dise.com, www.palm-gear.com, and Because of their size, handheld PCs are not ideal data-entry www.tucows.com. devices. Users often download large amounts of data or web Handspring, Inc. content from a into the handheld PC for has joined the hand- later use. Handheld PCs generally come with a keyboard and held PC market by a stylus pen tool, and some have handwriting recognition soft- introducing the Visor. ware built in. However, limited handwriting recognition capa- It is generally priced bility and on-screen keyboards can make entering information below the comparable a challenge. Various third-party accessories such as Palm units. The Visor expandable keyboards make data entry easier. was designed by former Palm employees who MICHAEL’S WEB

www.palm.com www.palmparadise.com www.omnisky.com www.palmgear.com www.palmlaw.com www.tucows.com www.memoware.com www.handspring.com www.peanutpress.com www.pocketpc.com www.palmcentral.com www.avantgo.com

12 ARIZONA ATTORNEY NOVEMBER 2000 WWW.AZBAR.ORG have licensed the Palm OS operating soft- ware so any program that will run on one will run on the other. Visor has a “springboard” expansion slot that lets a user add memory and a battery-powered modem. See www.handspring.com. Not to be outdone, ’s recently released software, Windows CE 3.0, runs Pocket PC devices made by Casio, Compaq, and Hewlett Packard, among others. This software and accompanying devices will mount a strong challenge to the Palm strong- hold over the next several months. Pocket PC devices come with a calendar; contact management software; “pocket” versions of Word, Excel, and Money; WindowsMedia; Internet Explorer; and a voice recorder. You can balance your checkbook, get your e-mail, listen to your favorite music and dictate a letter to a client with a Pocket PC. See www.pocketpc.com. As you compare the handheld PCs, consider the following primary features: full e-mail capa- bility, full web browser capability, integrated AvantGo web content service (www.avant- go.com), color and screen resolution, on- board memory, modem capability, processor speed, industry-standard expansion slots, synchronization, USB connection, modem protocols, handwriting and voice recognition and recording. Other handheld product features to consider are a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS), an infrared port that lets users beam business cards or schedules to one another wirelessly. Also look for an alarm clock, pager, , encryption, built-in camera capability, money management software, mapping software, music capability, an electronic book reader, and games. As you would suspect, the cellular phone companies are beginning to integrate the Palm and the other handheld PCs into a combination phone/PC. This will allow you to access phone calls, voice mail, e-mail, web content, paging, faxes and various computer applications from one central communication device along. The handheld PC market offers significant application potential for the legal market. Attorneys and the court could instantaneously set and beam new court dates in real time, research the law, respond to e-mail minute orders, fax materials to clients, edit settlement documents, perform damage calculations and perform a variety of other legal functions. Handheld PCs are taking us another step toward a truly wireless legal system.

OCTOBER 2000 ARIZONA ATTORNEY 13