by Brian Focht | Sep 5, 2013
Human beings are social creatures; we need contact with other humans to feel fulfilled. While I’m certain that it’s not a need for “fulfillment” that drives most social media today, I thought that starting this post with something nice and philosophical would be appropriate. Now, to the meat grinder! Anyone who is advertising a good or service these days utilizes social media to some degree. (Notice that I did NOT say they utilize it effectively!) Whether simply keeping up on what your favorite celebrity is doing to destroy their own reputation, or actually seeking out new customers with innovative marketing initiatives, you’re relying to some degree on social media. Another interesting facet of modern technology is that you have to be able to both lead and follow your social media cohort from your mobile device!... read more
by Brian Focht | Aug 19, 2013
Although trials are where a litigator’s talents and skills are most visible to the public, any litigator worth their salt knows that cases are won and lost in deposition (and they tend to happen a LOT more often than trials). Yet, in spite of this fact, most of the attention given to mobile apps for attorneys discusses how useful those apps will be at trial. When I looked for opinions about the essential iPad apps for depositions, it was pretty slim pickings. As a litigator, I know that even though I absolutely love trying cases to a jury, most of my time will be spent preparing for, and taking, depositions. With that in mind, I give you my list of 8 essential iPad apps for depositions: #1. iAnnotate PDF (Branchfire, $9.99) Without question, iAnnotate PDF is the center of any deposition I take. With a deposition outline converted to PDF, and usually imported into my iPad through Dropbox or email, iAnnotate PDF allows me to take notes right on my outline without worrying about cluttering the page with handwritten notes, and without having to flip back and forth through a 17 page outline. The annotation features allow me to enter notes quickly into one category, then minimize those notes into a small icon on the page. Different options for the annotations allow me to distinguish between responses that I felt were sufficient and those that were either incomplete or raised new issues I had not anticipated. Bookmarks allow me to quickly navigate to different sections of my outline (for those rare occasions when the witness decides they want to... read more
