The Mac Lawyer : Ben Stevens : Using Macs In The Practice Of Law

The Self-Presenting Presentation combines three great Apple software functions to automatically present and narrate each slide of a Keynote slideshows adapted for its use. Specifically, this application uses AppleScript, Keynote, and Text-to-Speech to begin playback of the presentation; initiate the transitions, build-ins, and build-outs of the slides; and speak the contents each slide’s notes field.

How can this software be incorporated into your practice?

• Create demonstrative presentations to give to insurance adjusters in personal injury cases to get more favorable settlement offers;
• Produce informational slideshow to display in your lobby to tell potential clients about yourself and/or your practice; or
• Design a case summary to give a mediator prior to mediation to provide him/her with an overview of your case.

You can download and view the Self-Presenting Presentation application from Nyhthawk Productions, which uses itself to give an eight-minute tutorial which outlines how the application works. Basically, you create your Keynote presentation, install the Install Test Script script, and add tags to your notes to "direct" the application.

Thanks to "The Self-Presenting Presentation" by Christopher Breen, published at Macworld.com, for his article about this application.

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Apple's website contains a case study which discusses how one lawyer organized video testimony into a concise digital presentation using Apple’s iMovie 2 and iDVD 2, and then presented the video clips in court using his Mac laptop computer. If you have a trial practice, you should read this case study, Using iDVD in the Courtroom, to find out how these programs can work for you too.

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You have probably seen Apple's commerical touting the fact that although there were 114,000 known viruses for PC's last year, there were none for the Mac. If you know someone who is still using a PC, odds are that you know someone who has been exposed to a virus.

The simple fact is that PC's are susceptible to having its operating system modified by a virus, often without the operator even knowing it is happening. On the other hand, Macs require you to type in your password before it allows any significant changes to be made.

PC users are compelled to purchase virus protection software to minimize the risk of attack. Even worse, this software is expensive, and it must be constantly updated. Many Mac users (myself included) have no separate virus protection software. I have never had any virus issues with my Mac.

I understand the need for security, but I believe that OS X's security features are more than sufficient for my needs. Macs allow you to save money and have peace of mind. To find out more about Macs and viruses, read "114,000 viruses? Not on a Mac" at Apple's website.

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In case you haven't already heard, Apple issued a recall today for 1.8 million notebook batteries because they pose a fire hazard. Although none of the affected batteries have exploded (as was reported with a Dell (PC) notebook), there have reportedly been nine reports of batteries overheating, including two reports of minor burns, but no serious injuries.

The affected lithium-ion batteries were manufactured by Sony and were used in 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4, and 15-inch PowerBook G4 notebooks sold between October 2003 and August 2006. Apple issued the following statement: "Consumers should stop using the recalled batteries immediately and contact Apple to arrange for a replacement battery, free of charge. After removing the recalled battery from their iBook or PowerBook, consumers should plug in the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives."

To find out if your battery is affected by the recall, request a replacement battery, or get more information about this situation, you can visit the Battery Exchange Program webpage Apple has created.

Source: "Apple Recalls 1.8M iBook and PowerBook G4 Batteries" published at AppleInsider.

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Would you like to have the ability to turn a web page or a text file into an eBook to use on your iPod? The iPod Notes Packager will handle this transformation for you quickly, easily, and free. You can choose any website or any text file, upload it to this site, and within a few seconds have your very own eBook.

This site could be used for Court rules, statutes, legal outlines, "to do" lists, client names and addresses, or many other uses for attorneys. Even better, it can serve as a legitimate reason to justify purchasing an iPod through your firm. And did I mention that it's free? You can check out The iPod Notes Packager website by clicking HERE.

Source: "Make eBooks for Your iPod" published at LifeHacker.com

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Apple recently released its Mac Pro desktops, which feature two Intel Dual-Core Xeon processors running at speeds of up to 3.0 GHz. With this release, Apple has completely transitioned its line from Power PC chips to Intel chips.

The reviews have generally been positive, and you can read several reviews of the new Mac Pro at the following sites:

• Ars Technica
• Anandtech
• ZDNet
• Bare Feats
• MacInTouch
• Epic Empire

Source: "Apple Mac Pro Review Roundup" published at Engadget.

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I believe that MarsEdit is the premier weblog editing software for Macs. Before beginning to use this program over a year ago, I did a good bit of research into all the available options and concluded that it best fit my needs.

One of the main things that I like about MarsEdit is that it resides on your harddrive, not online. This gives you the ability to draft and edit posts at your convenience, whether you are online or not. The other key features that appealed to me (then and now) are:

• Ease of use -- both novice and advanced users can use it without a steep learning curve.
  
• Importing -- easy importing of information from web browers and/or newsreaders to use in your posts.
  
• Uploading -- files and images can be easily uploaded to your blog.
  
• Preview -- ability to see in real time what your post will look like on your blog.
  
• Other -- assign one or mulitple categories and sends pings with each new post.

MarsEdit runs on Intel and PowerPC Macs, and a single license costs $24.95. The developer offers a fully functioning 30 day demo, and I urge you to check it out if you're interested in blogging software.

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Mac OS X (Tiger) contains many useful PDF functions as a core component of its operating system. On the print menu in every program is a PDF drop down menu that gives you options to save, fax, and/or email any document in PDF format. This option is available with word processing documents, photos, and web pages (full or partial). Here is a screenshot which shows the PDF drop down menu and the various options it offers:

I use the "Mail PDF" function all the time, as it makes it extremely easy to email a copy of any documents to my clients. One nice feature is that when you select that option, Mail automatically opens with the PDF inserted, saving time and energy. Also, the PDF that is created is sort of a "temporary" type file, in that it can be emailed and used by the recipient, but you do not have to save it anywhere. Clients love being able to receive updated information so frequently, and I love being able to do so so quickly.

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Wouldn't it be nice to have a lengthy section of text automatically summarize itself for you? Mac OS X (Tiger) has this capacity built right in, called "Summary Service" -- although for some reason, it receives little fanfare.

This function is found under the "Services" menu, and it is therefore available in most programs. Summary Service allows you to automatically summarize any selected text in most software programs. It works in all Apple products (Pages, Keynote, Safari), most web browsers, but not Word.

Better yet, you have the ability to adjust the length of the summary on the fly to make it as long or short as you want. You also have the option of displaying the summaries in either paragraph or sentence mode, which can be particularly useful with longer summaries.

I have found this feature to be particularly helpful for summarizing affidavits, online appellate decisions, and even medical research. While not perfect, it does a surprisingly good job of including the most important content in its summarization.

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After several weeks in development, I am pleased to begin publishing this new blog, The Mac Lawyer. While there are many excellent legal technology blogs online, none are specifically devoted to using Macs in the law office. I hope that this blog will become a useful resource for its readers, and I look forward to bringing it to you. If you have any comments, tips, suggestions, etc. that you would like me to address in future posts, please don't hestiate to contact me. Thanks.

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