How is technology affecting LITIGATION? Looking for an overview of
broad themes that I can summarize in bullet form. Need info Thursday
morning 5/29/03 and it doesn't have to be deep or thorough to be
acceptable, just something I can quickly review and summarize. Looking
for how new products and trends in technology impact a litigator's
life both pre-trial and during trial.

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Since you say that time is of the essence in this project, I will
provide small snippets to some of the articles I will cite to save you
time. But I highly recommend that you read them in their entirety to
get a better perspective.

The following are the effects brought about by technology on the
litigation practice.

- “Prior to litigation, a proper document management system should be
in place, with policies on periodic purging of electronic media and
archival retention, where appropriate.”

- “Once litigation has commenced, your defendant/client should be
advised on how to adequately preserve relevant electronic evidence in
order to avoid possible sanctions or a negative inference at trial.”

- “When preparing for a discovery, consider the potential types and
sources of electronic communications and electronic records, such as:
wordprocessing documents, the electronic drafts of any otherwise
relevant hard copy document, electronic spreadsheets, accounting data,
sales and inventory data bases, computer programs source code, e-mail,
voice mail backups, computerized diaries and scheduling programs.”

- “Our courts have also been caught up in the technology wave.
Computers are being used during trial for such purposes as
presentation of computer generated demonstrative evidence. Animations
have been accepted in both criminal and civil trials(5), as
demonstrative evidence and this has given rise to a whole new area of
specialty - the independent technology consultant to law firms.”

“THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON LITIGATION”
http://www.cummings.ab.ca/paper.htm 

- “Post-trial interviews with jurors confirm what studies have long
shown: visually delivered information is 650 times more effective than
just oral argument; remembering and understanding testimony is the key
to believability. Jurors have frequently commented to researchers on
how helpful visual aids were in their decision process.”

“Using Litigation Technology Successfully”
http://www.visevidence.com/Journal/ULTS1.asp 

- Digital Imaging: “The ability to share document images across a wide
group of users quickly and at low cost creates synergies that win
cases. Copy sets can be created faster, more cheaply, and with 100
percent accuracy, a significant advantage in multi-counsel or other
multi-copy cases.”

- Data Extraction: “After digital imaging, the next step to
effectively managing documents is to extract meaningful data for
searching purposes.”
 
- Electronic Discovery: “Attorneys can now review client's electronic
e-mail and other data, select relevant files and then create images or
print to paper responsive documents for production to opposing
counsel.”

- Data Management: “Digital images and thorough data extraction do no
good if you have no way of accessing the information. Countless firms
have spent fortunes only to find the data management tool (typically
database software) is underpowered, or is ill suited for the task at
hand.”

“Make the most of new technology in litigation”
http://massbar.org/publications/lawyersjournal/article.php?c_id=4066&vt=2

- “Now, options exist that allow lawyers to collaborate not only on
the same floor, but around the world, via Extranet Web sites. Lawyers
in Phoenix and Philadelphia can see new database additions and each
other's work instantly.”

“Web-based Document Repositories”
http://ltn-archive.hotresponse.com/august00/litigation_support_p39.html

--------------
Our next articles meanwhile will deal with technology trends in legal
practice.

“5 Trends in Law Office Technology”
http://www.lawcommerce.com/info/5technology_trends.asp 

“Predictions for Legal Technology in 2003”
http://www.denniskennedy.com/pred03.htm 

“TRENDS AFFECTING THE LEGAL PROFESSION”
http://www.abanet.org/lawfutures/report2001/report_trends.pdf 

“PART III: THE CHANGING FACE OF PRIVATE LAW PRACTICE”
http://www.abanet.org/lawfutures/report2001/report_practice.pdf 

“BUSINESS TRENDS IN THE LEGAL COMMUNITY”
http://www.ssa-lawtech.com/wp/wp4-2-3.htm 

Our last links provide some samples of software and web tools for the
legal professional.

Summation Legal Technologies
http://www.summation.com/ 

Dataflight
http://www.dataflight.com/cpl_administration.html 

Versus law
http://www.versuslaw.com/ 

Search terms used: 
litigation technology effects            
litigation tech trends
                
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                
Thanks for visiting us.                 
                
Regards,                 
Easterangel-ga                 
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by shikibobo-ga on 29 May 2003 07:02 PDT

easterangel, you might also be interested in open question #209647. -shikibobo

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 29 May 2003 07:07 PDT

Hi shikibobo-ga! Thanks for the nice rating, kind words and for the
tip! I will try to find something about that other question. In the
meantime I will keep it open since I will try to think first on how to
approach it.

Thanks! :)

This is beautiful, man.