Sanction vs. TrialDirector – The Battle Heats Up
It was announced
yesterday (June 4, 2012) that Sanction Solutions had been acquired by LexisNexis,
the rapidly-growing legal web and software giant. This adds to their current
software collection of over 80 applications, including Concordance, CaseMap®,
TextMap® and TimeMap®.
I have owned Sanction software for many years, although I’ve
only used it when there was some special reason to do so. One such instance was
a very large and notable trial which they (Sanction) referred to me, May-Carmen
v. Walmart. It’s just good business to use their product at that point. I’m
fine with that, and happy to do so. In the May-Carmen trial, Sanction worked well
for me, and we won a very high-profile defense verdict.
So, if Sanction works well-enough to help bring a high-profile
defense verdict, even under the added pressure of a very limited amount of
trial prep time (started work the weekend prior to trial), why do I still prefer
TrialDirector? As
indicated by a recent trial
presentation software poll taken on LinkedIn’s Trial Technology Group, I’m
not alone in my opinion.
While the two programs are more similar now, earlier
versions had some stark differences in how they were designed. TrialDirector
was in more of a database programmer’s comfort zone, while Sanction appealed
more to the “average” computer user, in that the user interface was simpler and
easier to learn. Simple is fine within reason, but when it came to dealing with
large complex data sets, TrialDirector’s power came through. With that,
paralegals and other “occasional” users would often prefer Sanction, while
full-time trial presentation folks and others who were comfortable with data
management would turn to TrialDirector.
Now, both are relatively easy to learn at least the basics.
What neither can do for you, however, is what is perhaps the most important
step in the whole process – getting the data organized and into a manageable format,
before importing anything to the software of choice. I have seen many a disaster,
usually a result of sloppy and inadequate data management. While this article
is not a “how-to” for the occasional user, I will just say that friendly and
descriptive file names might be nice when you’re looking at a limited number of
files and folders in Windows Explorer, but when you need to locate and present
an exhibit to the jury in about 3 seconds, it won’t work. Any longer than that and everyone
in Court will be looking at you, wondering what went wrong. That’s why they
call it the “hot-seat.”
I reviewed TrialDirector
6 when it was first released in early 2010, and then offered my thoughts in
a review of Sanction
3, which was scheduled for release in early 2011. By this time,
TrialDirector was clearly pushing forward into the Windows 7 environment, while
it appeared that Sanction had lost interest. While my first view of Sanction 3
looked promising, they had not had an update since Sanction 2.9, and missed
their announced release date by several months. In the same period, TrialDirector had
gone through 2 major releases and numerous minor updates. If you’re depending
on your software to help make a living, the lack of regular updates is not a
good sign.
Next, Sanction
gets acquired by Gallo Holdings, who then goes bankrupt
less than 3 years later. Again, if I’m depending on Sanction in a big way
here, my confidence is rocked. While I don’t expect they have increased their
market share, especially with newcomers such as ExhibitView and TrialPad now in the game, somehow they have
survived the storm. Enter the LexisNexis rainbow.
So, if LexisNexis reads this article (and I’m sure they
will), I would expect them to spend some time in the trenches with all of the
user groups, be they trial presentation professionals, paralegals, attorneys,
litigation support staff, or anyone else who may be a current, potential or former client. Rather than believing their own marketing or assuming they have the
best software on the planet, they might want to find out more about their perceived
strengths and weaknesses – from outside their own door. In the past, I’ve witnessed an attitude, if not
a degree of arrogance from the company (Sanction) via numerous postings on
public forums. Get over it, get busy and prove it with actions, rather than
words.
Competition drives us all toward perfection, so I welcome
this new start for Sanction, and expect it to be a good thing. Time will tell,
but with LexisNexis at the helm, we may be seeing more of Sanction.