20 | October 30, 2009 THE LAWYERS WEEKLY BUSINESS CAREERS Masculine names help female lawyers get ahead What’s in a name? Shakespeare once queried. For women lawyers, there is apparently a lot banking on a name. According to a recent study, in South Carolina a woman lawyer makes more money and increases her chances of becoming a judge if she has a masculine name. While a quick review of American and Canadian top female judges with decidedly feminine names — Ruth, Beverly and Sonia — contradicts the study, one of the researchers was so swayed by the findings he and his lawyer wife decided to give their new baby a masculine name — Collins, reports The Vancouver Sun. Whether this move will help baby Collins remains to be seen. ALEX BROSA / DREAMSTIME.COM Pre good alternative to iPhone, BlackBerry

HI-TECH There’s a new in timesheets,” he says, mentioning ware on the Pre using a free tool so forth from free services such town, and it’s good enough to go Documents to Go and notes as called Classic, available via as Google Apps, as well as toe-to-toe with the BlackBerry other indispensable tools. Palm’s App Catalog, the analog Exchange. LUIGI and the iPhone. “I use notes for everything,” to Apple’s App Store. “There’s no install, no soft- BENETTON It’s the . The folks he says, “messages, short drafts, Which leads to the Palm’s ware management. It’s less com- who arguably invented the hand- the fact we’re speaking today. I greatest present weakness — the plex,” Ezor claims. held computing market are back can hit ‘Find’ to search through dearth of third-party Pre applica- Unlike Ezor, Lilenfeld isn’t with a redesigned combination my 8,500 notes going back to tions. (Law-specific apps are no impressed by this cloud-com- touchscreen and physical key- the 90s.” exception.) During my two puting setup. “Not everybody is board gadget. (Full disclosure: Palm recog- weeks with the Pre, the App Cat- there yet,” he says. Indeed, for I’ve owned several Palms nizes Ezor, the director for the alog passed the 100-app mark. some non-Exchange-using myself, and I was pleased to Touro Law Centre’s Institute for Even counting the legacy appli- lawyers, being forced to store start using a device that was just Business, Law and Technology as cations that Classic enables, business data outside a firm’s as easy to learn. (Palm aban- a “Real Reviewer,” or Palm evan- other smartphone application firewall could make the Pre a doned both its original Palm OS gelist. He tweets for the cause stores, to say nothing of Apple’s non-starter. and for its @PalmPreLawyer.) App Store, dwarf Palm’s current In a calculated gamble, Palm WebOS platform.) The Pre is close enough to app collection. made the Pre sync with Apple’s At first glance, the Pre rivals what David Lilenfeld originally popular iTunes — at least as I the iPhone in design simplicity. wanted (an iPhone, not available write this. When I first received It isn’t quite as radical, though: a from his firm’s carrier) that he the Pre, I plugged it into my physical keyboard, a smidge nar- bought his Pre in September. Is‘‘ there a feature Mac, and nothing happened. rower than that of a BlackBerry “The cards are just enough of After one particular update (the Curve, slides down from under a a positive,” says the partner at you need that the second to the Pre in the two bright, legible screen. An opaque Atlanta’s Manning Lilenfeld weeks I had it), I again plugged “gesture area” sits where Black- LLP. He also likes the multi- Pre doesn’t yet the Pre into my Mac. iTunes Berrys sport trackballs. tasking. “In the car, I have sprang up, recognized the Pre iPhone owners will quickly Sprint navigation and music have? Wait a week (albeit using the image of an out- understand the swiping and going,” he recalls. “When the of-date iPod) and synchronized zooming gestures on the Pre, but navigation tells me to turn, the or so — it may my media. they may be surprised to learn music fades out. After, the arrive in an update. Expect Apple to “update” that they can multitask, and not music fades back in.” iTunes soon to shut the Pre out yet just listen to music as they write My longstanding leeriness of again — and Palm to work around an e-mail. The button below the multitasking claims led me to that Apple defense in turn. screen “minimizes” the current download and run numerous This could severely hamper (The Pre also becomes a USB application so that it appears to applications at once. The Pre did the Pre’s market penetration. drive when you plug it into your be a “card” that can be swiped slow down under load until Other phones do what the Pre computer, so you can copy files to left or right to switch to other finally it told me to shut down does, and even if the Pre does it without needing other software.) active apps (also shown as applications I wasn’t using, but it many of these things just as or This Palm-Apple game of cat- cards), or swiped up to close the didn’t crash. more elegantly, Palm still needs and-mouse joins other signs as app. Those who distrust moving more third-party software titles evidence that, however reliable Palm also sent me the sepa- parts might look askance at the to lure consumers to the Pre. the Pre seems to be, its makers rate, custom-made TouchStone, slide-out keyboard. Ezor has lost Ezor expresses hope. “Palm is pushed it out the door somewhat a squat cylinder that sports an the plastic USB port cover sev- ramping up to support devel- half-baked. Is there a feature you angled top surface. It magneti- eral times. “I leave it uncovered,” opers.” need that the Pre doesn’t yet cally holds the Pre in place so it he says. In a break from previous have? Wait a week or so — it can be used as a speakerphone, Lilenfeld points to wonky text models, Palm does not ship may arrive in an update. all the while recharging it wire- selection procedures and a lack desktop software or enable direct Still, it’s a credible contender lessly. of video as other flaws. syncing with Microsoft Outlook. in the smartphone wars. Palm did Jonathan Ezor has relied on Long-time Palm users (Third-party software handles a lot right out of the gate. Now Palms and applications built for (including many lawyers) will be desktop syncing.) Instead, Pre it’s time for software developers TouchStone them for years. “As a lawyer, I happy to learn that they can use owners can have the phone pull and the market to determine the use TimeReporter for their old Palm OS-based soft- down mail, calendars, tasks and Pre’s fate. 

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