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Law Technology

South Carolina Trial Law Blog

Focuses on using technology to be a better trial attorney. Trial tips, techniques and ideas from a plaintiff's attorney's perspective.

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Last Entry: May 20, 2010 at 16:28:35

Lawsuit! the Board Game

Posted on August 24, 2008
I was recently sent a copy of Lawsuit! The Board Game. They describe the game as follows: is a fun and educational game for adults and children ages 6 and up. Players experience and learn about the law in a fun way as they make their way through law school, past the bar exam and into their own law practice and the courtroom...

What's the Game Plan for Your Practice?

Posted on August 23, 2008
I’ve been working with Cheryl Leone of Catalyst, Inc. for awhile. Cheryl is a very talented law firm coach. Cheryl has taught me to focus on the type of cases I take. In addition to traditional screening “Is it a good case?” but also is it a good fit for my practice and the resources in both staffing and money at the time...

What Do Your Reports Say?

Posted on August 18, 2008
There’s an old joke that goes “What time does your watch say it is?” and the response is “It doesn’t say anything. You have to look at it”. It’s the same way with reports and your cases. It doesn’t matter what reports you have or information you have on your cases...

Book Review: The Art of Learning

Posted on July 28, 2008
I just finished reading the Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin. Josh was the young chess prodigy that was featured in the movie Waiting for Bobby Fischer. Well, Josh has gone from winning a number of National chess championships to moving to Tai Chi, a martial arts...

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Some Thoughts on Interrogation and Questioning

Posted on July 26, 2008
I was an interrogator for the U.S. Army for 7 years and taught interrogation for 3 years. I learned a lot. Some of the things I learned that can be applied to being a trial lawyer:Proper Questioning: Ask the question you want the answer to. We speak in a lexical shorthand and are not as precise as we need to be...

Visiting Charleston, S.C., on the Cheap

Posted on July 26, 2008
The New York Times has an article on seeing visiting Charleston, S.C., on a Budget“WHEN celebrities and other well-heeled travelers fell in love with Charleston, S.C., drawn by its air of 19th-century elegance and its palm-fringed seacoast setting, the $400-a-night hotel room and the $100 dinner entree inevitably followed...

Attorney Reese Joye Dies

Posted on July 25, 2008
A lion of the Charleston bar, Reese Joy of the Joye Law Firm, died on Sunday morning. I didn’t know Reese well, but he was very well respected for how hard he worked and how prepared he was for his trials. Geoffrey Waggoner, tells a remembrance of Reese from his ‘early days’ of practicing law...

The Myrtle Beach Lawyer Gets in Shape

Posted on July 04, 2008
I know it’s off-topic, but being over 40, getting in the car wreck, having two children under the age of five, and being failry sedentary to begin with has taken it’s toll. I’ve decided that I have to do something about it. I’ve been doing cardio on a fairly consistent basis and that’s helped some, but not enough...

Effectiveness of MRI's on Diagnosing Spinal Problems

Posted on June 30, 2008
We have a guest post from David Ketroser. J.D., M.D. an attorney/doctor from Minnesota gives the following advice on backs and imaging: There is extensive literature documenting that spinal imaging is essentially worthless for anything but showing what is causing the radiculopathy after the clinical diagnosis of radiculopathy has been made...

Making Money by Not Taking Cases

Posted on June 21, 2008
I did a very difficult thing yesterday. I turned down a case of a friend’s son. The facts aren’t important, other than it wasn’t a good case. Liability and causation of injuries were not there. There was a significant gap in treatment and even pain symptoms and the young man worked in construction...

What is Your Average Case Settlement?

Posted on June 04, 2008
I’ve been working with Cheryl Leone of Catalyst Group and one of the metrics that she harps on is the average case settlement. After being an injury lawyer for a period of time, I’ve noticed that if I divide the cases into smaller, medium and more substantial cases that they tend to follow the same pattern...

Should Lawyer's Use Facebook?

Posted on June 02, 2008
A friend recently asked with the advent of social networking, whether he should be on Facebook and what good is it? Here's an example of the power of social networking from Seth Godin's Blog. The flipside? A friend got into college last week. The university gave her a list of the kids from our state who also got in...

What Do You Want From Your Employees?

Posted on May 18, 2008
I was at a practice management retreat where they posed a question. Looking for a new staff member, you have the option of choosing two great people. The first has 20 years experience and can hit the ground running, but is very expensive. The second has limited experience, is a fast learner is relatively inexpensive, but will require training...

What Operating Systems Do You Use?

Posted on May 18, 2008
I was recently asked whether I use Windows of Mac OS X at home. I use Windows (Toshiba R500) and Max OS X (MacBook Pro), my wife uses a MacBook and my 4 year old daughter kicks it with Linux (Asus Eee PC). Hmmm…….I didn’t realize we had that much going on...

Why People Don't Like Lawyers

Posted on May 16, 2008
A guest post from a friend: Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.So this lawyer is in a doctor's office in Mount Pleasant yesterday. She is asked to present an identification with a picture so that herinsurance card and use can be confirmed. She IMMEDIATELY begins toyell loud enough for my friend (and the other 20 people in the waitingroom to hear): "I am a lawyer and I know the law...

Using Multi-Media at Trial

Posted on May 01, 2008
Here is a guest post from Brian White. As a Multimedia Trial Site Specialist, the general rule of thumb has always been that a "seamless" presentation plays best in front of a Jury. This means, in part, avoiding the use of on-screen toolbars and minimizing vocal communication between the presenting attorney and the tech specialist...

How to Ace a Job Interview with Me

Posted on April 17, 2008
I’m willing to give away a few secrets. Here is how to ace a job interview with me: Read this Blog Post – One of the first questions I ask is “What do you know about me?” It amazes me the number of people of people that don’t even take the time and effort to type my name in Google and see what pops up...

Give Your Staff Friday Afternoon Off

Posted on April 15, 2008
I got this idea from Cheryl Leone in Raleigh. At the beginning of April, we started leaving the office at 1:00 p.m. on Fridays. We cut the lunch hour from an hour to half an hour and came in half an hour early each day of the week. Then we work through lunch on Friday and leave at 1:00 p...

A Better Way to View Images on the Internet

Posted on April 14, 2008
The picture doesn’t do justice to how cool PicLens actually is.PicLens is a FireFox or Explorer add-on (yes, it also works with Safari) that allows you to scroll through pictures very quickly. Install it, go to Google Images and type in ‘herniated disk’ then click on the little > Play icon, and you will see a wall of herniated disks...

Once You Have the Answer You Want. Leave it Alone.

Posted on April 13, 2008
Some excellent advice from Evan Schaeffer at the Illinois Trial Practice Blog: Once you get good testimony at a deposition, you're best to leave the testimony alone. Take the good answer from the witness and move on.It seems like obvious advice, but some lawyers can't wait to read the good answer in the printed transcript...

SmartAdvocate New Case Management System on the Block

Posted on April 12, 2008
I am very interested in SmartAdvocate. It’s a new case management system that’s coming out on the market. It’s specifically geared towards, plaintiff’s personal injury work. It is an off-shoot of the in-house program that Parker & Waichman has been using...

New Laptop Toshiba Portege R500

Posted on March 26, 2008
I finally broke down and got a new laptop. For those who are long time readers, they know I’ve been searching for a laptop for awhile. I dearly loved my Japanese Panasonic Y2 but after three and a half years, it was time for an upgrade. After the third system failure in nine months, it really was time to get a new one...

What Cases Do You Take?

Posted on March 17, 2008
I was talking with a friend recently about case selection. He said he was taught to take the following cases:Limited Damages with Very Clear LiabilityTough Liability with Significant DamagesThat’s a good rule of thumb. It takes an awful lot of time and effort to gear up for trial, and you typically want significant damages to be cost effective, but if there’s very clear liability, you can do that with lesser damages...

Small, Lightweight VideoCamera that's EASY to Use

Posted on March 13, 2008
For years, I’ve bought computers with dvd-burners and looked at video editing software and have never been able to make anything work. All I want to do is do a 5–10 minute interview with my client and then pull 15 second clips out of the full length video...

Using iMacs to Build a Better Windows Network

Posted on March 06, 2008
Okay, this is going to sound a bit odd, but my tech guy is using Apple iMacs to build a more stable, easier to maintain Windows network. About 2 years back, Apple started using the Intel processor in it’s computers, which is the same processor that Windows machines use...

Explaining Being a Plaintiff's Lawyer to a 4 Year Old

Posted on March 04, 2008
I was going to a mediation yesterday morning and was pulling everything together. My daughter wanted to know what I was doing. How do you explain being a lawyer to a small child? The conversation went something like this: Jessica: “What are you doing?”Me: “I’m preparing for mediation...

Court TV to Televise Horry County Murder Case

Posted on March 04, 2008
The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports: truTV - formerly Court TV - will be stationed in the Horry County Courthouse to televise a pair of murder trials over the next two weeks.A trial for Richard Gagnon, accused of killing his estranged girlfriend's parents in 2006, is scheduled to start March 10...

How Fast Can You Make Your Case?

Posted on March 01, 2008
I go to a lot of seminars and conferences on how to be a better trial lawyer. There are always better ways to build your case, but they almost never focus on practice management on how to you can build your case faster. I’ve been talking to Cheryl Leone and she has emphasized this point...

Two Books on Building Cases

Posted on March 01, 2008
In a recent discussion, Kenn Suggs recommended the following books:The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making by Scott PlousLegal Blame by Neil FeigensteinKen’s not only a past President of AAJ, but also a helluva trial lawyer. So when he takes the time to give advice, I listen...

Calculating Witness Fees in South Carolina

Posted on February 27, 2008
In a recent discussion, John Nichols, reminded everyone where to find the current federal mileage rates Method of Calculating Mileage according to Rule 45(b)(1); andState Mileage Rate – which the SC Budget & Control Board generally follows the federal rate for "official travel of State officers and employees"...

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