Carl DeLuca's Law Review
By Carl P. Deluca, Esq.
Published June 1997
(Originally published for the Rhode Island Bar Association's 1997 Annual
Meeting-Computers for Increased Productivity Session Two - Intermediate)
A Day in the Life of an Intermediate (Attorney) Computer User
The intermediate (attorney) computer user wakes at 5:00 a.m., runs ten
miles in a half an hour, kick boxes for another half an hour, showers, shaves and is in
front of his home computer by 6:30 a.m. He spends an hour working on the novel he is
writing and then makes breakfast for his wife and children. Before he goes to court he
checks the voice-mail from his office, his Internet e-mail, and his intra office e-mail.
Had any of the voice-mail messages been an emergency, the voice mail program in his office
computer system would have instructed the caller to press a number that would have caused
him to be paged (or called at home) by the computer and alerted to the fact that there was
an emergency. Any messages taken for him at his office are typed into the e-mail system by
whomever takes the message and he is able to access the office computer and the messages
from home. At work he never has to see his secretary for messages as they automatically
appear in his computer via the conveniences of networking. Instead of having dozens of
little pink slips all over his desk, he sees a computer screen of names and numbers on
which he can click to see the detailed message. He can search the list for names, numbers
or facts, if necessary, and print out every message ever received from a given client.
He prints out his calendar for the next three months to bring with him to court and starts
the time and billing software in his office computer to record the time he spends in
court. (He deducts 15 minutes in advance for travel time since he doesn't like to bill for
travel time without having expressly said so in the retainer agreement. ((He is neurotic
as well as intermediate.))
He'd love to take his notebook computer to court with him, but it's very cumbersome and
he's generally the only one in court that has one. It's too bad, too, because he gets a
lot of work done while he's waiting for his case to be called and all the information he
needs is immediately available to him. He's tried hand held computers, which are very
convenient for calendaring and time and billing, but almost useless for getting real work
done. He sighs, hopes that the next generation of hand helds are better and heads off for
court.
While at court, he makes any notations that are necessary on his calendar printout, takes
notes as to any orders he must have entered and returns to the office. If he were an
advanced/wealthy computer user, he would have made calendar notations directly on his
ultra light notebook computer and printed out the appropriate orders on his ultra light
portable printer. But alas, he is only an intermediate user and of modest means. (In his
defense, notebooks and portable printers haven't yet reached the point where they are so
light as to be convenient in this capacity. However, a hand held computer could keep
calendar and time keeping information very well and be uploaded to the network when he
returned to the office.)
He returns to his office where he first stops the timer in his time and billing software
and then asks his secretary to prepare the orders and update his calendar. He generally
does not need to speak to her about messages, though she may point out some of the
important ones. He goes to his office where he checks for changes on his calendar and new
messages. He then logs onto the Internet and checks his Internet e-mail. After checking
his e-mail, he checks for news clippings on issues of interest to him that are generated
automatically for him. He then checks to see if a U.S. Supreme Court decision or First
Circuit Court decision he has been waiting for has been rendered, since they arrive on the
Internet within a half an hour of publication and may be downloaded free of charge.
When he checks his snail mail, (regular mail) he finds that he has been served with
interrogatories, in a particular case. He instructs his secretary to scan them into the
computer. She will place the pages of the interrogatories into the scanner which will OCR
(optical character recognition) the pages into his wordprocessor format. As a result, he
will have the questions preceding the answers when he prepares the responses, without
having to have his secretary type them in. It takes approximately 1 minute per page to
process the document.
His first appointment arrives and is a new client. His secretary had given the new client
an intake form and already entered his basic information into the computer. She hands him
a file folder with a cover sheet and label already prepared. The secretary has already
done a preliminary conflicts check in the computer and he will do it again once he has
received more information from the client. He starts the timer again to record the time
with the new client (whether he bills for the time or not) and takes notes directly on his
computer. He calendars any pending court dates for the new client and e- mails his
secretary with instructions or prints out a memo for her. Before the client goes he may
pull a copy of a relevant case or law from his CD based or online research service to give
to the client. With legal research so easily available and low cost or free, he finds
himself doing research more often but in much less time.
Once the client leaves, he or his secretary enters the retainer payment information into
the time and billing software. He then checks his electronic "To Do" list and
notes that he must begin writing a brief that is due at the end of the week. He starts the
billing timer again, and pulls up his opponent's brief which he has scanned into the
computer in his wordprocessor format. In another window he opens a new document and begins
writing a brief. He has found that he can type faster than he writes with the added bonus
that his work is actually legible when he is done. Since he reduces the overall time he
spend doing original work and cuts his secretary's work by approximately 80%, his
productivity has increased substantially.
He starts his research program, whether online or CD, and calls up the cases he needs. He
cuts portions of the decision from the case and pastes it into the brief. He then calls up
the ASCII version of a deposition, which he gets directly from the stenographer, and
excerpts portions of that, as well. While he is working on the brief, he receives a call
from a client. He starts a new timer which suspends the one he previously started, and
takes the call making notes of the call in the computer. He stops the new timer at the end
of the call and the previous one resumes. While he was doing the research, he was
downloading any relevant cases he found on the Internet into the matter's computer
directory or file folder. In the future, he will be able to search his own personal case
database without having to find them on line. He completes the brief and e-mails
instructions to his secretary. She will print out the usual labels, envelopes and
transmittal letters after proofing the brief and printing out a final draft. Turnaround
time has been virtually eliminated. Still at his computer, he presses a key (or two) and
faxes co-counsel a copy of the brief with a short message.
Because of his increased productivity, he is able to leave work at 3:00 p.m., in time to
take the children to the park and prepare dinner!
