Tech Roundup - March 2005

By Gerry Morris

Just about every business I deal with in the course of a day utilizes some high tech gadget to make some routine task easier, quicker, or more efficient than doing it the way it was done five years ago. There’s a lot of technology out there now or on the way that can be utilized to help us be more efficient at what we do also, with the net result being delivering better legal services to our clients with less wear and tear on our nerves.

What I intend to do with this column in the coming months is discuss ways to put technology to work in a law office. The topics I’ll discuss will fall mostly into these broad categories:

• Office Automation; (paperless office, case management software, etc.)
• The Mobile Office; (access to office information and resources from outside the office.)
• Personal Information Management (cell phones, email, voice communication, etc)
• Data Management (Data Backup, Storage)
• General Computer Networking Topics (networking hardware and software, Virtual Private Network, etc)
In the articles I’ll:

• Identify a problem common to most of us in the legal profession:
• Discuss how specific technology can be used to address the problems
• Describe how the technology is actually used either in my office or that of a colleague.

The topic of this month’s column has to do with personal information management. More specifically I’ll talk about how my staff gets important messages to me when I’m out of the office.

It’s important for my practice that my staff be able to communicate critical information and phone messages to me on the occasions during the day when I’m out of the office. It of benefit for all of us to return client and potential client calls and other important phone calls immediately. As a general proposition, I find that small problems often turn into big problems if not dealt with immediately.

Several hours a week I’m at a courthouse, or otherwise out of my office. While at the courthouse, I spend a lot of time waiting or doing things other than actually being in a trial or hearing. Since I can’t answer my cell phone in court or in a meeting, the only way for my office to communicate with me in those circumstances is through text messaging. My staff already sends me my phone messages and other information to my desktop via Internet email so looked into a wireless device that I could use to retrieve my email from the courthouse or anywhere else outside my office.

I use case management and calendaring software that syncs with Palm handhelds, but not Windows based ones. I rely on my handheld to keep up with my calendar, contacts and to-do list. And, like just about every person in this country above the age of 14, I rely heavily on a cell phone to make calls when I’m away from a landline. I was already carrying a Palm handheld and a cell phone. If I added a device suitable only for wireless email and not also cell phone enabled and capable of syncing with my desktop software, I’d have my pockets full of gadgets every time I left my office. So, I decided to look for a device that would no all three. Those devices are commonly called smartphones.

I chose the Palm One Treo 650; the newest Treo model released just a couple of month ago. They are available from Sprint PCS and Cingular. I went with this Palm based smartphone, not only because I wanted Palm compatibility but also because of the excellent reviews the device has gotten from the likes of CNET and several respected electronics magazines. The 650 is a significant upgrade from the predecessor Treo 600, with the newer model offering better screen resolution, Bluetooth support for headsets, syncing, etc., and a removable battery, to name the most readily apparent changes.
The Treo 650 allows me to set up its email program to send and receive email through the servers of my Internet provider just like I can from my desktop computer. I can configure the email client software to periodically download email at set intervals or only on demand. I can set it to download only those messages received within a certain timeframe or all messages on the server. I can remove the messages from the server once downloaded or leave them there so my desktop computer can download them also.

Additionally, the Treo 650 sends and receives instant messages, short messages that can be sent from an email program, another cell phone or from the web site of my service carrier, Sprint. These messages are limited to 160 characters. If the message is sent from an email client such as Outlook, the allowable message is somewhat shorter. The instant message pops up on the screen of the Treo almost immediately, its arrival announced by a tone or a one-time vibration of the device, depending on your settings.

Here’s how we use the email and messaging capabilities of the Treo to communicate with me when I’m out of the office. If I’m likely to be in court or somewhere that answering a phone call would be impractical, my office sends me a text message either with the information they want to relay to me if its short enough, or with the message “check email” if it is a longer message. If the message is on my email, I go to the email client in the Treo and tap the “Get” button. The Treo connects with the Internet via the cell phone network and downloads the subject lines of my email. I have it set to download only the subject lines rather than download the full messages at this point so that the initial download takes less time. It takes about a minute or so to download 10 or 15 subject lines. I then tap the message that I want to read and tap the appropriate button to download the text. If the message contains a telephone number I can tap the number (it appears as a hyperlink) and the Treo automatically dials it. Phone numbers in instant messages also are hyperlinked for auto dialing. I can reply to the email using the small thumb keyboard on the face of the device.

The Treo works flawlessly for downloading and responding to email. The only glitch is the rare times when the Sprint PCS network is busy and I can’t reach the Internet. This equivalent to a busy signal happens infrequently. Usually, after a few minutes wait I’m able to connect.

The Treo 650 is also an excellent cell phone and performs as a handheld on the order of Palms latest models in the Tungsten series. In coming articles I’ll talk about some of the software and hardware available for the Treo 650 and how it can be used to the benefit of your practices.



E. G. “Gerry” Morris is a solo practitioner and has practiced law for over 27 years in Austin, Texas. He is certified as a Criminal Law Specialist by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. His firm web site is at www.egmlaw.com. Email your comments and questions to Gerry at tech@egmlaw.com.