Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | Trial

The password is 'Mac': it will get you into a low-profile club of trial lawyers whose offices run on computers known for their resistance to crashing and viruses. Here's why you might want to join.

Article Excerpt
Like many other industries, the legal world relies largely on a complex, confusing, expensive, and easily exploited personal computer (PC) operating system called Windows. Instead. I have used Macintosh computers since I started practicing law in 1994.

I work with two other lawyers in a small general practice with five support staff and a receptionist. Each person has a Macintosh at his or her desk, and the Macs are linked to two servers. We also use two PCs to run three applications that do not have Macintosh counterparts. Everything else we do on the Macs, which I believe are the best computers for a law office. Here's why.

I am no slouch when it comes to technology: I was programming in 6502 assembly language (the processor in the original Apple II and Apple II+ computers) before I graduated from high school. But I use the Macintosh because it is simple. Now that my technical know-how has faded and been replaced with case law, statutes, juror psychology, and closing arguments, I need a machine that works straight out of the box. I need a computer that does not come with a huge learning curve for every new application I try.

When Apple developed the Macintosh, it imposed the strict requirement that software developers adhere to its basic interface layout so that all programs have the same look and feel. That is, what the user sees on the screen appears similar in layout and design, regardless of the program.

With the Macintosh, I can move freely among the 20 different applications I use regularly. For example, on a typical day at the office I might use eight applications, and switching among my calendar, a database program, a word processor, and a spreadsheet is just like flipping between one window and another within one program on a PC, except these are all different applications.

PC users would find it difficult to gain much proficiency in 20 disparate applications. I use three programs on our office PCs: Demand Expert to tailor demand packages lot insurance companies that use Colossus (www.sequoiavisions. com), TrialDirector for multimedia presentations in court (www.indatacorp. com/software/trialdirector.asp), and The Crash Zone for accident reconstruction (www.cadzone.com/index_crash.htm). Each program has a different interface, and none is particularly intuitive.

The manuals for the Mac programs I use sit in pristine condition on a shelf in my office; I have never read them. (Also, most Mac documentation is available online in searchable PDF format.) Next to them sits my Trial Director manual, which is dog-eared and marked up from reference.

Law offices often experience a high rate of staff turnover: About 20 people have joined...