Legal Andrew

Legal Andrew is a blog dedicated to "productivity ideas for the legal world". A man after my own heart. He's got all manner of tips, links and helpful ideas for improving your productivity and for making technology work for the lawyer.

Check it out.

He's an advocate of killing your mouse, which sounds either cruel or kinky - but is in fact merely about how to get along with just your keyboard. A policy that I think has much to recommend it for speed and efficiency. (It's also good if your Logitech rechargeable mouse has failed to recharge... something that is always happening and makes me grind my teeth with frustrated rage. Stupid Logitech.)

Even if you don't want to go all the way there are still a lot of helpful keyboard shortcuts to absorb.

Yeda v Rhone-Poulenc in the House of Lords

I know you all love the mindmaps.

So here is Yeda v Rhone-Poulenc [2007] UKHL 43 in the House of Lords.

As a Mindmap. (Right click and "save target location".)

And as a webpage.

Enjoy.

Two heads are better than one

Not too long ago my friend Tom complained: Why, he mused, would someone as keen on gadgetry as I am not have two monitors? Of course, I made it clear that I was not interested in simple indulgence. Each and every one of my "investments" in technology had to be justified by the gains in productivity that they created. Tom was clear, however, that a second monitor was not merely showing off but extremely practical. It allowed you to place two pieces of information side by side at resolutions sufficient to allow them both to be read.

So I bought one - or rather a second one. Now I have two monitors side by side and it is fantastic. The two monitors can function both individually and as one larger screen. So if I drag a program off the left hand monitor's right hand side it appears on the right hand monitor. Unfortunately my two monitors are both different dimensions and different resolutions - so the full functionality of dual-screens is not yet mine. With identical screens you can stretch the windows of applications over the two monitors without seeing any distortion.

Even so, no longer when I am copy typing do I need to keep switching between the documents. I can simply put one on the left screen and the other on the right. When I want to check my diary whilst still making notes I can pull up my diary from Outlook, then open it as a separate screen and move it across to the other monitor. Its good for the environment too, (I speculate), because it means I don’t need to print out papers in order to have easy reference to them at the same time as drafting a document on screen. (Of course you have to ignore the energy and other costs of having a second monitor running.) If you want to have reference to a diagram at the same time as looking at a description of the diagram - like with a patent specification - open the same document on two screens. No wonder that the boffins at Microsoft have discovered that adding a second screen can raise your productivity between 9 and 50 percent!

It was easy to do too. Windows XP is set up to handle dual monitors and my computer already came with twin video sockets - one digital and one analogue. I just plugged the second monitor in and fiddled around briefly in CONTROL PANEL> DISPLAY> SETTINGS.

The only thing I didn't like was that the task bar at the bottom of the primary screen was not replicated on the second screen. That meant that I couldn't easily switch between applications with the mouse on that screen. I also wanted to have an easy way of moving programs between screens other than just dragging them between the monitors. I found all this in ULTRAMON. It was annoyingly expensive at $39.95 for a single-license given that I really only wanted it for its most basic functionality - functionality that I felt Microsoft should have included in XP anyway. But it was necessary. There is a free download so if you go down the dual monitor route - and really I can't recommend it enough - you can try before you buy.

Can't afford a second monitor? - try this piece of software that lets you divide up your current monitor.

Tom, by the way, has three monitors. And a laptop.

Top Ten Things I hate about Windows

In no particular order:

1) Grey-outs:
There you are happily working on something when your computer decides that your attention is required elsewhere - so you end up typing half your password into a new email message you didn't know you wanted.

Nothing persuades like a demonstration

Here is a sample of a mindmap that I produced from the judgment in Dyson v Registrar [2007] RPC 27.



I have included two versions - the Mindmap as a web page . Or here is a PDF version.

I havent yet worked out how to make the full mindmap available for download. Which is a shame because - although you would need the reader - only then will you see the full functionality - and potential - of the mindmap.

If anyone has any suggestions for how to make the full mindmap available let me know. (Or indeed any comments on my Dyson v Registrar map).

Mindjet Mindmanager

One of the programs that I have used the most is Mindjet Mindmanager.

Its software that allows you to create Mindmaps or "spider diagrams" - a note taking method popularised by Tony Buzan.

The interface is well-designed and easy to use with both mouse and tablet pen. I have some minor niggles with it - the inability to fully personalise the menu bars for example - but these are minor.

So what can you use it for? I use it for two things mainly - simple note-taking and presentations.

Note-taking: Mindmapping requires real discipline because it is difficult to include large screeds of information without making the mindmap unreadable. This forces you to narrow in on the key concepts and to actually summarise and focus as opposed to simply copying out large chunks of information without discrimination.
The graphical layout of the notes means that the connection between concepts and pieces of information can be made much clearer. The only bore used to be that you would have to draw long connecting lines when a new connection became clear or even redraw the map if you realised that you had grouped concepts incorrectly. With this program the re-organisation of the topics is quick and easy so that chore is gone.
In addition it is easy to include images and colours to make the grouping of concepts clearer and to aid retention of information.
Of course, sometimes, you do need the detailed information that the mindmap format just doesn't permit. Fortunately, you can do this in Mindmanager through expandable notes section, through hyperlinks to other documents and web pages and even to other mindmaps.

Presentations: The joy of the mindmap's graphical presentation is that it instantly makes clear the topic areas of the issue under discussion. Furthermore, you can include images and links to other data that are relevant to your presentation whilst keeping the base notes simple. Mindmanager includes a presentation mode that allows you to move through the topic areas focusing and refocusing the screen each time. As a result you can provide visual aids to your talk that are simple, dynamic and involving in a way that makes it hard to fall into the Powerpoint trap of densely written slides.

Tempted? The people over at gottabemobile have some webinars showing off the product and what it can do. Or try the free trial.

Cross-references

Other kinds of linking are very useful to master. For example, consider situations where you want to refer back to another paragraph in a skeleton you are drafting. Unfortunately you haven't yet finished writing the document so there is a danger that you will find the paragraph number changes. What do you do? Leave it blank for the moment and hope that when you come back at the end you remember which reference you wanted? Put in the paragraph number now and hope that nothing changes?

Better is to put in a cross-reference. It couldn't be simpler. Put your cursor where you want the cross-reference to be and click INSERT > REFERENCE > CROSS-REFERENCE. A new dialog box will pop up and you can select different types of cross-reference to insert. Sticking with our example you want the settings to be for NUMBERED ITEM and PARAGRAPH NUMBER. Then just highlight the paragraph you are interested in and click INSERT.

The final stage is to ensure that all the fields are updated when you finalise the document. This updates the cross-reference in case anything has changed. Select the whole document ( CTRL + A) and then press F9. Every field in the document is then updated.

The power of hyperlinks!

Most people are familiar with hyperlinks from browsing the web. They allow you to connect together related web pages in a convenient way. They have the added advantage that they are informative yet unobtrusive because they are part of the normal wording of the document rather than a separate addition.

It struck me that such a useful technique might be incorporated into my written work. There were two areas where I thought it might come in useful: hyperlinked content pages for long documents and hyperlinked cross-references to original data.

The key to hyperlinks in documents is creating markers within the documents to indicate a location for a document to go to. There are two kinds, general reference points that identify points within a document but otherwise have no distinguishing feature, and specific reference points for identifying locations with a particular quality - e.g. section headings, authority references and so forth.

Creating general reference points in word is easy. Place the cursor at the point in the text where you want to insert the bookmark and then go to the top menu INSERT> BOOKMARK. You will be prompted to enter a bookmark name. I suggest that you be as descriptive as possible so that you can easily identify from the name what the bookmark points to. Since the bookmark name cannot have any gaps in it you may wish to use underscores to make it more readable.

You can set the bookmarks to be visible or invisible - change their status in TOOLS> OPTIONS> VIEW. If they are visible then you will see them either as a grey I bar or as brackets around the selected text. Though they are visible on the screen they will not print out.

Now that you have these reference points inserted there are all manner of things that you can do with them. If you simply want to jump to a particular bookmark then go to INSERT> BOOKMARK and the pop up menu will show you a list of all the bookmarks in the document and you simply need to highlight the one that you want and then click GO TO.


Much more useful is to create hyperlinks that lead to the bookmark. This you do by highlighting the reference text and then hitting CTRL + K or going to INSERT> HYPERLINK. This brings up a menu that identifies a number of possible hyperlink destinations. For present purposes assume that the hyperlink is an existing file. Browse to the file you want and highlight it. Then click PLACE IN THIS DOCUMENT, which will bring up a list of the identifiable locations in the document. This list should include your pre-prepared bookmarks. Highlight the one that you want and click OK. Now your highlighted words should turn blue and act like a hyperlink.

I have found this process to be an extremely useful way of creating an index for a transcript. During a long trial it is necessary to have a way of quickly finding pertinent passages in the oral evidence recorded in the transcript. Traditionally the junior barrister toils away into the night creating a "transcript bash" - an index to the transcript that identifies useful passages. The problem I have always had with this process is deciding whether to quote the passage from the evidence in the index - accurate but often time-consuming to do and quickly becoming unwieldy in size - or to give a summary of what is said - which may not accurately reflect the evidence. I also wanted to be able to re-use the index when presenting final arguments to the judge, whether by inserting references to the evidence in the written closing submissions or as a table of references. The hyperlink proves to be the answer.

At the end of each day I receive an emailed version of the transcript. I save these in a particular folder specifically for the transcripts. As I go through the day's transcript I add bookmarks next to passages in the cross-examination that I think are of particular importance. I then create a separate document in which I list the issues within the case as subject headings and below them I put short references to relevant evidence passages. These short references are hyperlinked to the bookmarks. In that way the index document never becomes unwieldy but I can quickly reference exactly what was said. Then when I creating the closing submissions I can use the same bookmarks to insert hyperlinks to passages of evidence that I particularly want the judge to see. It is then a matter of burning a CD-ROM with the folder containing the transcripts on it and the closing submissions with the hyperlinks. The hyperlinks have dynamic file names so that the links are not broken when you move them from your hard disk to a CD-ROM.

Trust me, judges love it when you make things easy for them. If they just need to click a link to see the evidence you are referring to rather than dig out a file of transcripts and turn up the right page they are much, much more likely to do it. Remember, a funky bit of technical gimcrackery beats careful analysis of the evidence 9 times out of 10!

I reckon that I could expand this process to include scanning in all the written evidence, inserting bookmarks in those files and then performing the same process as with the transcripts.

Comments Welcome

I should reiterate that I am very, very keen to gather in the collected wisdom of the interweb - such as it is. If you have updated information or a different opinion from mine - please let me know.

Baby Steps

I bought my tablet PC just before Christmas 2005. After I finished stroking it and just doodling on it with the digitiser pen I set about prepping it for use.

First I went to the Microsoft website to make sure my software was up to date and to read their guides. The inbuilt program "Get Going with tablet PC" that came packaged with the tablet was a good introduction but was relatively limited in the information that it provided.

Then I got excited about all the software options available to me. My particular concern was note taking. My problem proved to be the range of choices available to me.

I started with trials of gobinder and onenote.

I'd tell you more about my trials and tribulations with them except that I suspect I am out of date. New editions of both programs are out. Perhaps they will solve some of my concerns with both of them.

Then I went on a general hunt for advice. In so doing I came across three websites that keep you up to speed on developments for the tablet pc.

Although ostensibly directed towards students much of the advice and suggestions applied equally to what I wanted to achieve with my tabletPC. They have a beginners guide and better yet a list of top tips and tricks.

I also discovered tabletpcbuzz. A forum full of good ideas and links for the tabletpc user.

Finally gottabemobile this site will keep you up to date with all the latest hardware and has some interesting, if a little basic, webinars on popular software.

What are you doing?

The primary aim of this blog is two-fold.

First, to pass on what I have learned about using a Tablet PC and in particular how I have adapted it to my work as a barrister.

Second, to encourage people to let me know what they have learned about using a Tablet PC and in particular how they have made it work for them in their professional lives.


What do I want to achieve with my tablet? I hope to use the Tablet PC to transform the way I work. Ideally I would like to move to a paperless office. Where once was paper let there be digital ink. These are the specific tasks that I think I should be able to use my tablet for:

Reviewing documents in a case: In my work I have to review, absorb and remember large amounts of information. Normally this information comes in paper form as witness statements, exhibits, disclosure documents, expert reports, patent specifications, prior art documents and so on and so forth. Even in a small case I can have several bundles of documents to master. I read them, I note them, I make notes on them, I mark them with post-it notes and tabs. They have to be carted with me to wherever I need them - home, the court, another barrister's chambers. If the indexing is updated by new documents I have to re-arrange all the files. I can only search them manually or by remembering where a particular passage is or by looking for a post-it note that I have left as a marker. With the tablet PC I can import the documents in scanned form and mark them up directly. Re-indexing them is no more than the moving of a file icon. No post-it notes will come unstuck between Chambers and the court. If I need to search I will be able to do so automatically rather than by trying to remember where in a 60 page expert's report a reference is to be found. It should be wonderful.

Annotate on the fly: One of the banes of a junior barrister's life is the creating of a "Transcript Bash". This is the process whereby after each day of trial the junior barrister takes the transcript of the day's proceedings (which usually does not arrive until 7pm) and reads through it making an index of useful evidence references in preparation for the following days proceedings. Depending on the day's events it is a task that can take several hours to finish. If, however, I could directly annotate the witness statement of the person being cross-examined and then take those annotations and automatically generate a neat and distributable document from the annotations the task could be completed much more quickly and virtually as the cross-examination was happening.

Handwrite: Although I can touch type faster than I can handwrite it is sometimes easier to handwrite - especially if the information is unstructured and coming at a speed dictated by another person - like an extempore judgment for example. With the tablet I can take it down by hand and convert it to text later if I want to.

Store all manner of notes: Some things are better done without the constraint of a word-processor. Mindmaps, brainstorming, diagrams, quick notes are all more easily and effectively accomplished by hand. Yet if I want to keep them the easiest way is as a digital image. With the tablet I will be able to do both.

Cart it all about easily: If everything I am working with is digital then it can all be carted about in something less than an inch thick and weighing less than a single text book. No more bicycling home with four lever arch files strapped to my bike. That means that I can work where I want and when I want. Sometimes it is good to get out of the office and away from the distractions of phones, email and internet - impossible if you have to drag five files with you - easy with the tablet.

So these are the things that I think will be useful about the tablet. Is there anything I haven't thought about?

(Obviously I also plan to use this blog to post up anything I please - that is the joy of vanity publishing.)

A blog? Really? Is that wise?

2006 was going to be a year of many firsts. Among them was to be my entry to the world of blogging.

So much for my grand plans. But better late than never.

What stopped me, and what has made me consider starting again, was the realisation people actually went to benetbrandreth.com. But not friends, oh no! Strangers. Worse than that - potential employers of my services. After all that means that these posts are not just little messages in a bottle sent off into the ether never to be heard of again. They could have real-world implications. Naturally, it gives one pause...

And frankly I have been left pretty bemused by the whole blogging experience. Why would anyone want to read the unregulated, unedited ramblings of nonentities? No-one would. Or at least no-one for whom time is a precious, precious commodity that is slipping away faster than booze at the end of a hard day. Certainly there was no way that I wanted to add to the mass of burbling on the interweb. If I was to write anything for public consumption it would be because it was worth reading not just because I wanted to get it out.

Why then do I think I am safe to start now?

Not all blogs are simply idiots gibbering into the ether. There are some worth reading - those that bring some particular expertise out into the open Michael Fumento or which, by dint of their quirkiness Memepool, offer some particular outlet for distraction. My blog is not intended to be the latter but it might manage to be the former. In particular I think it might have some insight to offer into how technology can be harnessed by lawyers to make their lives easier and their work more effective.

You might think that most lawyers would be pretty up to speed on modern technology. You would be wrong. But I am based in a set of Intellectual Property barristers [www.11southsquare.com]. A large part of our expertise is patent law and cases that concern technical matters like computer contract disputes. Indeed many members of chambers have PhD's in some scientific discipline or another. But more than that - a lot of us are geeks. I for one revel in the role of early-adopter. But I don't think this is typical of barristers. I suspect most still shy from Maplins with real concern. Perhaps an indication of the general level of computer knowledge is given by Bar Council publications on the use of technology by barristers that include the most basic lessons on how to use Microsoft Word.

So there seems to be some potential interest in the musings of a barrister who is actively trying to use technology to make his work easier and better.

Now enter the Tablet PC. Long have I wanted one. I love digital information. The ease with which it is stored, transferred and disseminated. You can search digital information so much more comprehensively. You can cross-reference information so much more easily. You can order it and control it in so many ways. Best of all there are no piles of papers mounting on your desk but elegant boxes tucked away behind a cupboard humming with knowledge.

Yet certain kinds of information are difficult to digitise - hand-written notes, post-it notes that you stick on the witness statements at the appropriate paragraph, underlinings on the patent specification. Furthermore, certain kinds of information are hard to record except by hand-writing, post-it notes or underlining - an extempore judgment, a thought that comes to you as you are reading the witness statement again on the tube home, a response from an expert witness in cross-examination. What I wanted was the ability to take hand-written notes, on documents if necessary, and be able to treat them as handwriting. The Tablet PC seemed to promise this.

So I bought one. It’s an IBM Lenovo X41 with a 40Gb hard drive, 512Mb memory, 1.5GHz Pentium M processor. This blog was intended to be about me learning how to use it to maximum effect. Of course I was distracted. By actual work. But the lessons I learned are still worth disseminating. So if you're interested stay tuned...

Right-Seeing

"A misfortune is only an adventure wrongly considered." - G. K. Chesterton