Dynamic Alternatives
P.O. Box 59237
Norwalk, CA 90652
562 802 1639



November 26, 2002

04 00074 60 02112602




Mr. Rod Welch
rodwelch@pacbell.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
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Subject:   CaseMap 4 Software for Case Management

Dear Rod,

CaseSoft [see FYI below] has a series of products intended to provide information support for legal cases.
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Since some features of SDS are predicated on legal practice, some of the features incorporated in these products might prove of interest.
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What caught my attention in this newsletter was their integration with Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files.
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The Plug-in also automatically creates an entry in the fact's Source(s) field that's linked back to the specific page and line in the Acrobat file. Later, as you view the fact in CaseMap, one click of the source will reopen the linked file in Acrobat and select the proper section of the document.
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Here is a proof-of-concept that there is a way to do this sort of thing. Their intent in this case is much like ours - to provide links into the content of originating documents. This renews my interest in attempting to do similar things.
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The pdf files on features called out in the newsletter may prove of interest.

http://www.casesoft.com/download/WhatsNewInCM4.pdf

http://www.casesoft.com/download/WhatWentWhereInCM4.pdf
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The timeline picture at http://www.casesoft.com/download/Pretrial_timeline.jpg is interesting.

Thanks,
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Sincerely,



Garold L. Johnson
dynalt@dynalt.com





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Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 3:04 PM

From:   CaseSoft FYI [mailto:casesoftfyi@casesoft.com]

To:     Garold L. Johnson
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Subject:   CaseSoft FYI - November 2002

Dear Mr. Johnson:

Interested in a simple idea for making the most of client interviews (one that doesn't even require the use of our products)? Please read 5 below.
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Use Adobe Acrobat PDF files? Get our Send to CaseMap Acrobat PDF Plug-in for free. Again, details below.

CaseSoft FYI is our monthly e-mail newsletter providing updates and tips for CaseMap, TimeMap, NoteMap, and TextMap users. To unsubscribe, follow the instructions at the bottom of this message.



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CaseSoft FYI November Contents
  1. Creating Timelines of Pretrial Events
  2. Learning the New Features in CaseMap 4
  3. Using CaseMap 4's Live Spell Checking & AutoCorrect Features
  4. High Stakes Case? How About a CaseMap Jump-Start Session at Your Offices?
  5. Get Our "Send to CaseMap" Acrobat PDF Plug-In For Free
  6. The Benefits of our Extended Maintenance Plan
  7. Client Interview Best Practice: Make Them Open-Ended
  8. Organizing Case Issues in CaseMap

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  1. Creating Timelines of Pretrial Events

    TimeMap makes it incredibly simple to create timeline graphs -- so simple that you can use these charts in dozens of new ways. Many TimeMap users now create graphs that illustrate the flow of depositions, hearings, etc., preceding trial. This type of timeline is great for communicating with both client and trial team.
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    Click here to see an example of this type of visual ...

    http://www.casesoft.com/download/Pretrial_timeline.jpg

    If you're not using TimeMap already, please visit www.casesoft.com to learn more about this tool and to check out the full-featured trial version.
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  2. Learning the New Features in CaseMap 4

    CaseMap 4 is already hard at work at 1000s of firms and government organizations.
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    The best way to learn the new features in CaseMap 4 is to read "What's New in CaseMap 4" and "What Went Where in CaseMap 4," a document that explains which CaseMap 3 features have been moved, renamed, or eliminated in CaseMap 4.
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    You'll find both of these topics on CaseMap 4's Help menu. You can also obtain PDF versions of these document by clicking ...

    http://www.casesoft.com/download/WhatsNewInCM4.pdf

    http://www.casesoft.com/download/WhatWentWhereInCM4.pdf
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  3. Using CaseMap 4's Live Spell Checking & AutoCorrect Features

    CaseMap 4 offers live spell checking just like that found in today's word-processing programs. As you type, CaseMap flags any words not found in one of the on-line dictionaries. Right-clicking words underlined with red wavy lines displays a pop-up menu with suggestions for possible corrections.
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    To increase the effectiveness of CaseMap 4's spell-checking feature, we've procured a legal-term dictionary and a medical-term dictionary. When you install CM4, these dictionaries are automatically placed on your computer along with the standard American English dictionary. The legal-term dictionary is on by default, the medical-term dictionary can be turned on by clicking Spelling and Autocorrect Options on CaseMap 4's Tools menu.
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    CaseMap 4 offers AutoCorrect, another feature found in word-processors, but rare in database programs. As you type, CM4's AutoCorrect feature can fix common typing errors. For example, if you type "teh," CaseMap automatically corrects this transposition error, replacing it with "the." CaseMap 4 also corrects dual capitals typed accidentally at the beginning of word.
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  4. High Stakes Case? How About a CaseMap Jump-Start Session at Your Offices?

    Are you using CaseMap to work up a high stakes matter? If so, you may want to consider having a member of CaseSoft's Support Staff visit for a daylong case file jump-start session.
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    We'll work with your team to customize the case file and to get the cast of characters, issue outline, and fact chronology rolling. We'll also provide case-specific training.
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    These daylong sessions are $1500 plus travel expenses. If you're interested in learning more about this offering or setting up a session for a particular case, please contact our Training and Support Manager, Julie Parker, at (904) 273-5000 x246 or jparker@casesoft.com.
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  5. Get Our "Send To CaseMap" Acrobat PDF Plug-in For Free

    Do you use PDF files? If so, you may be interested in our free "Send To CaseMap" Plug-in for Acrobat.
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    The Plug-in works with the full version of Acrobat and with the free Acrobat Reader. It requires CaseMap 3.2 or later, but it works better with CaseMap 4 (only kidding).
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    Here's what the Acrobat Plug-in does:

    If an Acrobat file contains text, use the text selection tool to select a text chunk of interest and, with one click, send it to an open CaseMap case as a new fact. The Plug-in also automatically creates an entry in the fact's Source(s) field that's linked back to the specific page and line in the Acrobat file. Later, as you view the fact in CaseMap, one click of the source will reopen the linked file in Acrobat and select the proper section of the document.
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    The Plug-in also works when the Acrobat file contains images, but not the associated text. When you find a page containing an important fact, click the "Send To CaseMap" button our Plug-in adds in Acrobat. A new fact is created in CaseMap with a source that's linked back to the proper page in the Acrobat file. Please note that as there's no text in the Acrobat file that can be sent to CaseMap as the fact entry, the Fact Text cell will be empty. You'll need to enter your own synopsis of the fact in CaseMap.
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    The Plug-in is available at ...

    http://www.casesoft.com/adobe.shtml
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    LINKS TO OTHER APPLICATIONS:

    In addition to these new links with Adobe Acrobat, CaseMap already links to these other excellent litigation support tools: Summation, Concordance, LiveNote, e-transcript binder, TrialDirector, Sanction, Doculex, IPRO, and Opticon.
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  6. The Benefits of CaseSoft Extended Maintenance

    Is your organization on our Extended Maintenance Plan? Being on CaseSoft Extended Maintenance offers numerous benefits, including some new features we've added for 2003.
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    -- Simplicity: One critical advantage of Extended Maintenance is that it saves the time and energy needed to make separate purchase decisions regarding each upgrade, each phone training, and each support call.
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    -- Free Product Upgrades: When you firm is on our Maintenance Plan, all upgrades are provided at no-charge. While our development plans for 2003 have not been finalized, we're expecting to release a number of important upgrades in the coming year.
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    -- No-charge Phone Support: Maintenance covers the cost of all support inquiries by you and your users.
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    -- Phone Training, Even For License Transfers: When you're on Extended Maintenance all users are eligible for no-charge phone training sessions, even when you're transferring an existing license to a new user. If you're not on Maintenance, phone training for license transfers is $200 per session.
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    -- Free Advanced Training at CaseSoft Florida Offices: In 2003, firms on Extended Maintenance are eligible to send one or more staff members to our Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Headquarters for a day of Advanced CaseMap training. We'll waive the normal $1500 fee for this session.
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    Cost: CaseMap Annual Maintenance is $120 per user license. Annual Maintenance for TimeMap, TextMap, and NoteMap is $50 per user license. Please contact us at (904) 273-5000 for a Maintenance quotation on your organization's licenses.
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  7. Client Interview Best Practice: Make Them Open-Ended

    Here's a surefire way to make the most of client interviews: treat the interview as open-ended.
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    Rushing is both the most common flub made when conducting client interviews and the most critical one. Rushed interviews leave treasure buried and minefields uncharted. Rushed interviews can leave clients wondering if they made the right choice for counsel.
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    The rushed interview is typically the byproduct of thinking of the interview as a one-time, closed-ended event, e.g., the interview is Friday from 10-12. Big mistake. This approach means that the schedule drives the interview, when the interview should drive the schedule. The best interviews are open-ended -- they continue until they reach a natural conclusion -- a complete map of the critical case knowledge the client possesses.
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    Another major cause of rushed interviews is simply underestimating the time required to accomplish the task. This problem is easily rectified. Approximate the hours needed to conduct a detailed review of the client's case knowledge. Then double your estimate. Use this inflated figure to set the expectations for your team and your client. Tell them the interview process may wrap up before you've used all the hours in your estimate, but given the importance of the interview, you want to budget plenty of time. You should also point out that you take an open-ended approach to interviewing and that, as such, your estimate may prove to be low, not high.
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    Most clients believe the initial time they spend with you to be a critical step in developing the hardest-hitting case and, as such, are only too glad to let the interview process take whatever time you deem necessary. When that's not the case, setting client expectations re the length of the interview process keeps them from trying to rush due to their own busy schedule, due to a self-defeating desire to hide weaknesses in their case, or penny-wise/pound-foolish desire to limit billable hours.
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    Don't expect the interview to be completed in a single sitting. Plan to hold two or more sessions. The final meeting should be devoted to recapping the evidence the client has provided. Holding a separate session for this important task gives you time to organize the knowledge you've gleaned from the client and to do that most important part of your job -- thinking -- before you follow up with the client.
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    Determine how many meetings may be needed by taking your inflated estimate of hours the interview will require and dividing it by three. Why three? Because you'll conduct the interview in three-hour chunks. Anything less and you don't have time to get into the flow of the interview. Anything more and the quality of the knowledge you obtain plummets as participants fatigue. Schedule the appropriate number of interview sessions with your client. Keep the dates for the sessions close together so you'll minimize the time needed to get back into the flow of the interview.
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    Please try this double-time and opened-ended approach in your next client interview. We bet you'll end up with a far better understanding of the case and an improved plan of attack. You'll also show your clients just how serious you are about their case.
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  8. Organizing Case Issues in CaseMap

    Use CaseMap's Issue spreadsheet to create an outline of the major disputes at the heart of the litigation. Once you've developed this issue outline, the facts, documents, and witnesses organized elsewhere in CaseMap can be linked to your issues, making it easy to assess the evidence that bears on each key case dimension.
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    Here are some pointers for building your issue hierarchy:

    -- Create an initial Issue Outline as soon as you start your CaseMap file. You'll find it useful when educating your client and others on the trial team. And you'll find it an aid when developing a discovery plan.
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    -- The major claims in the case and the elements required to prove each claim should be the foundation of your CaseMap issue outline. Have the latest Amended Complaint and Amended Answer handy when you create your outline structure in CaseMap.
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    -- It's common for different members of the trial team to see the issues differently. Distribute copies of your initial issue outline to everyone on the trial team for feedback. Get buy-in on the basic issue outline before you start the process of linking facts to issues.
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    -- When you're early in case preparation, keep the issue hierarchy simple - no more than two levels deep. If your initial outline is three or more levels deep, it's likely you'll be spending unnecessary time reworking the outline as case thinking evolves.
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    -- When naming case issues, use the same nickname you'd use when discussing the issue with other members of the trial team. For example, would you ask someone, "What did you discover about the Did Smith Defraud Jones issue today?" No way. You'd say, "What did you discover about the Fraud issue today?" "Fraud" should be the name of the issue in CaseMap.
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    -- If you want to capture a formal statement of the issue, one that parallels what you expect to appear on the verdict form or special interrogatory, enter this statement in the Issue spreadsheet's Description field.
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    -- Most cases contain a number of key factual disputes. These are often the lynchpins in the factfinder's analysis of the case, i.e., if the factfinder resolves the dispute your way, the case goes your way. List key factual disputes as issues (if logical, list them as a sub-issue of the major claim on which they bear). This strategy makes it easy to organize the facts that tend to prove or disprove your view of each critical factual dispute.
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    -- Don't limit your issue outline to those issues tied directly to some legal claim. Include any important topic that might influence juror thinking. For example, if you are working for the defense in a products case, you might want to include a Plaintiff Greed issue. Even though you would never explicitly make such an argument, it would be interesting to see what facts point to plaintiff greed, allowing jurors to reach such a conclusion on their own.
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Thanks for reading! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The CaseSoft Support Team support@casesoft.com (904) 273-5000


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