COURT TECHNOLOGY AND TRIAL PRESENTATION

The Court Technology and Trial Presentation Blawg features articles, reviews and news of interest to lawyers and other legal professionals. This blog is published by Ted Brooks, a Trial Presentation and Legal Technology Consultant, Author and Speaker. Ted's trial experience includes the Los Angeles Dodgers divorce trial, People v. Robert Blake murder trial, and a hundreds of high profile, high value and complex civil matters.

All materials © Ted Brooks, unless otherwise indicated.

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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Updates: iPad & Android Apps, plus Trial Presentation Software

There’s been quite a flurry of activity recently, with updates to several apps and software I’ve reviewed here over the past few months. Links to all apps and software are located in the original reviews.

TrialPad has added Dropbox to version 1.5, and has shown what version 2.0 will look like. While it looks good, they are holding it back for release until they’re certain they have all of the bugs flushed out. I can’t blame them, although I would have expected to see it sooner – especially after showing it off at ABA Techshow. More supported file types, display of multiple pages and zooms are all on the list.

The Deponent App
One of the biggest drawbacks with this app was corrected shortly after I reviewed it and reported that the Public Folder in Dropbox was used to store trial exhibits. Now, a folder named “Deponent” is created, which prevents others from having potentially easy (no password required) access.

What's New in Version 1.1
The Deponent App Dropbox feature has been enhanced to create a folder named Deponent within the Dropbox folder instead of the public folder within Dropbox.
The Deponent App review

Exhibit A
According to the developers, version 1.3.0 has been submitted to Apple for approval, and should be out any day now. New features will include on-the-fly call-outs, block highlighting, block redacting, export to Dropbox & Photos, batch move & delete, and UI updates.

What's New in Version 1.2.0
Introducing New Features!
EMAIL: Email your exhibits to a colleague, the court reporter, opposing counsel, or anyone else with whom you want to share. Exhibits must be 10MB or smaller to email.
QUICK SEARCH: Find any exhibit by typing the first few letters of the exhibit name. Search results populate instantly as you type.
PROJECTS VIEWER: Have a lot of projects in Exhibit A? Now you can jump instantly to the desired project using the Projects Viewer to quickly locate and select your project.
EDIT PROJECT & EXHIBIT NAMES: When renaming Projects and Exhibits, you now have the choice between editing the existing name or entering a new name.
STABILITY ENHANCEMENT: Improved handling of very large PDFs resulting in significantly improved speed and stability when presenting these documents.

JuryTracker What's New in Version 1.1
New Features: Separate Time Entries listing under the specific day in Total Time Used Report Section to have more accurate Time Report.
Performance Enhancements : General performance enhancements in certain sections like Juror Info, Case Info, Juror Observation etc.
RLTC Evidence What's New in Version 1.1
Updated loading sequence allows instant refresh of document list when files are loaded via iTunes. Underline tool enhanced.
Jury Duty What's New in Version 1.01
Added Bluetooth support for transferring cases to another iPad. Added support for emailing juror information. Updated Misc. items & error fixes.
iJuror What's New in Version 1.26
Added a Juror Overview Map so you can easily see all of your juror information at once.
SignMyPad I saved a tree the other day, by signing an Agreement with this quick and simple app, rather than printing and signing, and then faxing back to the sender, which would require yet another printed copy. I was able to sign, save it back to Dropbox (or could have emailed it), and had it available to send via my regular email.

There’s now a Pro version available, which adds red ink for signatures. It can also input your GPS location into the meta data. It sells for $99.99. The regular version is only $3.99. Maybe it costs a lot to get the GPS data in there? According to Justin Esgar of Autriv (developer), "As for Pro - the reason for the price jump is that it's targeted for those who have businesses that require such a feature."

Android App Available
They also offer an Android version of this app, also $3.99, according to their website.
So, I nabbed a copy for my Nexus S Android phone (see my phone review here) and just signed another form. It's a quick and easy "green" method, using Dropbox or your email. You can also point the app to a website to download a form. I would recommend using a stylus (iPad-compatible) for this, but your finger can work.

Sanction 3 missed the announced release date of March 29, but it appears there is now a Beta version available for download. While this is likely to be close to a final release, unless you’re very comfortable working with new software that is likely to have bugs and issues (that’s what Beta testing is for), I’d recommend not running off to trial or upgrading all of your current databases with it just yet. A 30-day demo is available for free download now. While it’s a bit unusual to offer a Beta to the public, it can certainly help getting it in the hands of more users to try it and report any potential problems.
TrialDirector has also been busy in the coding room, and version 6.3 should be about ready for release. It is in Beta, but not yet available to the public. It has some great new features, including video editing updates and the ability to place several objects in the presentation window, and move or resize them as desired. Many of the updates have been suggested by current users, adding to this proven trial presentation application.

3 comments:

  1. Regarding SignMyPad. Why would adding GPS cost $99? Why don't you just take picture, with an iPhone of the client signing the document and you will have the GPS metadata in your iPhone picture data?

    ReplyDelete
  2. You could certainly do that, but then it wouldn't be actually in the PDF metadata. A photo is not a document. I was told it was designed for those that need it, so I'm guessing that there is a demand for it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ted, thanks for sharing the info on all the new updates to these IPad Apps. I (like you) am still reserving my judgment for how useful any of these presentation Apps are for trial, but I do think they have use in less demanding situations like mediation. I appreciate your posts on the subject.

    ReplyDelete

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