ExhibitView: Trial by iPad

ExhibitView were kind enough to let me have an evaluation copy of their new iPad app.

For the uninitiated, ExhibitView originates from the USA and it is aimed at trial attorneys (which means I am not really the target audience as I never go to Court).

It replaces the traditional paper bundle of exhibits and allows the laptop (or iPad) wielding attorney to hook up to a large screen or projector in Court and walk the Judge and Jury through the relevant exhibits.

I don't know how IT savvy the UK Courts are (maybe one of my readers can answer this), but I presume that the same setup would be possible over here.

The iPad app allows documents or folders to be imported from a DropBox acccount, but I understand that the PC version of ExhibitView will be updated shortly to allow presentations created on the PC to be saved to the iPad.

I mainly tested the iPad version using documents, but it will also display images and audiovisual media in the same way.

It was fairly straightforward to get ExhibitView up and running on the iPad... just hit the familiar DropBox icon and import whatever files you need.

There is no need to own the desktop version either as you can simply import files in Word, PDF or whatever format. This isn't just a "companion" app and could be used as a standalone product.

Once you have the files imported you can re-order and annotate them using the various tools available.

However, ExhibitView really only comes into its own when you use it with an external display (it is worth noting that you need the appropriate adaptor for the iPad's dock connector to achieve this - luckily I have my Apple VGA Adaptor to hand).

When you connect the iPad to an external screen or projector and fire up ExhibitView it launches in "projector off" mode, which simply displays the ExhibitView logo on the external display (a nice touch as you know the connection is working and it keeps the projector powered up!).

Everything else is displayed on the iPad screen only until you hit the (red) button to switch on the display. I quite liked this as you can shuffle through documents or mark them up behind the scenes and display them only when you are ready.

You can see the basic interface and how it looks from the iPad end in the screenshot (click on the image for the full-sized version).

One issue I had is that when the external display is enabled the document on the iPad screen shrinks to a tiny size which means it is hard to read or annotate (this could be something to do with my external display setup).

You can pinch to zoom in or out in the normal way, but this also affects the document on the external display. It would be useful to be able to zoom just the iPad screen so that you choose text to annotate or magnify without affecting the external display.

Once a document is loaded (and either before or after it is displayed) you can highlight text using a marker tool or draw lines or circles around it. You can also choose a specific area to zoom in on and fill the screen, which is very useful where only part of a document is relevant.

I would like to also see a laser pointer feature using the iPad screen (as featured on Apple's KeyNote iPad app) so you could point to specific pieces of text. I also couldn't figure out how to change the highlighting colour although I'm sure there is a way to do so.

Generally I thought the iPad app was intuitive and easy to use and I can see how it would help a trial lawyer to work more efficiently.

I would really like to see a review of the package from a UK lawyer who specialises in litigation who could shed a bit more light on how it would work in practice in Court.

I also tested the PC version. The basic principles are fairly similiar, but it is clear that the desktop version is more powerful, but inevitably more complex.

It does come with a wealth of tutorials and documentation though which I'm sure would help to get to grips with it quickly.

I did have real problems with my monitor setup as I use a dual screen system with Ultramon. For some reason I found it impossible to prevent ExhibitView from treating my second screen as an external display and blanking it out. I'm sure some time spent with the documentation would sort this out.

The PC version would also benefit from a UK-centric review from an actual trial lawyer. Whilst it was impressive at first glance I really don't know enough about the use case in Court to give it a fair crack.

All in all, ExhbitView seems like an impressive tool for the forward thinking trial lawyer.

Personally, the simplicity and bulllet-proof nature of the iPad app is very attractive. This is the same reason why I like using the iPad to present using Keynote... it is "plug and play" in the true sense with none of the worries about settings, compatability etc. which I always seem to get when using a laptop.

However, the power user may well find that using the PC app to create presentations and then saving them to the iPad makes more sense.

If any readers who are involved in litigation work would be interested in producing a more detailed review then do give me a shout and I will see if I can hook you up with the developers.

ExhibitView for the iPad is available from the App Store priced at $29.99.

Update on Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 3:09PM by Peninsulawyer

A quick follow-up from the developers on a couple of points I raised:-

1. The size shrink when projecting is an iPad issue (which they hate too) and are looking at workarounds.

2. On the PC version you can get your second monitor back by hitting Alt+F12

Microsoft Office for the iPad?

This post is an expanded version of my comment on the Tablet Legal blog.

The original Tablet Legal post commented on reports by The Daily that a version of Microsoft Office will be launched for the iPad during 2012.

I thought I would expand my comments a bit after reading David Sparks' excellent MacSparky post on the subject this morning.

David's view (which I agree with) is that Microsoft Office can't be limited to Windows tablets. If Android and iOS users:-

“...realise they don’t need office on their tablets, its utility on their desktops will also be questioned. Ubiquity lost.”

Have Microsoft also had this insight? I don't know, but if we do see Office on the iPad I hope it won't look much like the desktop version we all know.

The desktop version has so much functionality (much of it totally redundant for what lawyers use it for) that it would be impossible to build a managable UI to control it all on a tablet.

The different menu levels, tables, numbering, styles and formatting options are painful enough on the desktop. On the iPad the experience would be simply hellish.

What I hope Microsoft will realise (and where Apple dropped the ball with their Pages iPad app in my view) is that the starting point has to be a viewer which allows .docx files to be viewed on the iPad as they should actually look on a PC / Mac version of Windows.

Not even Goodreader does this on the iPad properly with heavily formatted legal docs and Pages certainly doesn't.

The best player at the moment is actually Documents to Go. Whilst it doesn't give a full WYSIWYG representation of a complicated Word document, it does preserve all the formatting intact so that the document looks the same when transferred back to the desktop.

I hope Microsoft will go further and build in editing features which will work for lawyers (maybe creating new paragraphs using styles which are already in the document and deleting and inserting text in tracked changes).

The key is to keep all formatting intact, but to only allow you to create and work with the items which can work intuitively in a tablet environment.

An example might be that you can drag table borders to resize columns and rows, but not access the full suite of “create table options”.

For Office on the iPad to work the ethos needs to be:-

"create on the desktop, view and tweak on the tablet”

This isn’t really that different from Documents to Go, but that app doesn't handle creating tracked changes.

If Microsoft can deliver this and a full WYSIWYG view for complex documents it should give them a real foothold in the legal market (and for business users generally).

The killer feature here for Mac users would be iCloud integration for seamless sharing of documents across the Mac and iOS versions of Office. I guess it is too much to hope for this with the PC version!

One side note… I think the “there is no way of doing tracked changes on the iPad” issue will actually go away in the near future.

By the end of 2012 there will be apps for the iPad which let you upload the original and edited versions of the document to the Cloud and download a redlined comparison in PDF format (which is preferable to using Word tracked changes anyway).

I still don't know whether we will see Office on the iPad in the near future, but Microsoft have a great opportunity to position Word for the iPad as the first choice for business users.

If they build something along the lines I described then it could happen. This seems like the kind of solution I would expect from Apple, but which they failed to deliver with Pages on the iPad.

Maybe Microsoft have the chance here to out-Apple Apple?

My gut feeling is that they will try to shoehorn in a full version of Word, and end up with an app that nobody really wants to use, but I would love to be proven wrong.

OmniFocus for lawyers

In my recent(ish) post about InboxZero I mentioned OmniFocus.

I have flirted with a lot of task management systems over the years from Outlook tasks to iPhone apps and even paper index cards.

OmniFocus is the best solution I have found. It is perfectly suited to implementing GTD methodology and syncs seamlessly across the various devices I use (other than my Windows laptop of course, but nothing new there!).

What is OmniFocus?

According to The Omni Group:-

"OmniFocus is designed to quickly capture your thoughts and allow you to store, manage, and process them into actionable to-do items."

In practical terms, the look and feel of OmniFocus is dependent upon whether you are using the version for Mac, iPad or iPhone.

These three versions are quite different and follow a (roughly) descending order of complexity. The iPhone app will look familiar to anyone who has used an iPhone to-do list or task management app, whilst the Mac version is complicated enough to be pretty daunting for the first-time user, but has a huge amount of flexibility built in.

Whichever version(s) you use, OmniFocus is much more than a to-do list.

The Mac version is the most powerful and complex, but I actually find myself using the excellent iPad app for most of my day-to-day task management (in no small part because my Mac sits on my desk at home whilst I always have the iPad on hand) and saving the iPhone app for dropping in new actions when I am out and about, checking shopping lists etc.

OmniFocus actually syncs your data across all these devices using a variety of services such at MobileMe, OmniGroup's own server or a WebDav server of your choice, which means that the latest version is accessible from any device.

What's the big deal?

I assume that most lawyers already use some kind of task management system... whether this is Outlook tasks, a Case Management System or even just a paper and ink "to do list". So why spend your time and money on this one?

For me, the most important factor is the fact that it is totally in tune with the GTD methodology, and in particular the emphasis on the split between project view (for capturing tasks and planning your individual matters) and context view (for actually executing them).

The simplest way to explain these is with an example. Let's say you have three client matters you are working on. At the beginning of each of these you will probably sit down and scope out each task which needs to be completed in order to progress the matter (which will be a mixture of things like phone calls, emails, research and drafting documents). This is where project view comes is useful.

You can define your own contexts, but generally if you are using GTD these will be based around locations or resources which are needed to action a particular kind of task. Let's say your firm's library is 3 floors up from your office so you have defined "Library" as a context.

Each of the research tasks on all your three matters will be in the "Library" context so if you are heading up to the library to do some research you would use the context view and select "Library", which will show you all the tasks across your three matters which need to be done in the library. Whilst you are in the library you aren't in a position to make phone calls so OmniFocus won't show you tasks which are in the Phone view (after all, what is the point in having them on your radar if you can't action them?).

This sounds basic, but actually it really helps with your productivity for a couple of reasons:-

1. Quite often it will make sense to schedule a block of your day for (say) phone calls or emails - using the relevant context gives you all the calls or emails you need to make in one view regardless of the matter they relate to

2. Stripping out the "clutter" of tasks which need to be done, but you can't do right now because you are in the wrong place or don't have the right resources cuts out distractions and helps you to focus.

It's important to bear in mind that these tasks which are "out of context" aren't forgotten about. They are just stored in your trusted system (another GTD concept) ready to be dealt with in the appropriate context or at the appropriate time. This is another area where GTD goes beyond task management and into psychology:- the fact that your brain knows the actions are in your trusted system actually does free you up from thinking and worrying about them.

In fact, the power of OmniFocus is really in hiding the stuff that you don't need to be doing as much as it is in showing you your "to do" list.

Further Reading

OmniFocus is a workflow geek's dream and the web is bursting with resources to help you get the most out of it.

A good starting point is Using OmniFocus or the official OmniFocus site, but I also follow the series of occasional posts on macsparky.com which deal with fine-tuning OmniFocus.

OmniFocus isn't cheap (I think I paid about £24 for the iPad version and £60 for the Mac version), but in terms of value for money it is one of the best Apps I have bought... and I am happy to pay for software like this if it means the developer will be around for a long time to come!

iPad Lawyer Posterous

I have decided to set up a new iPad Lawyer feed using Posterous to stop this blog from becoming overwhelmed with posts about the iPad.

"Proper" posts about the iPad in legal practice will still feature on Peninsulawyer, but I have found that there are quite a few little nuggets and mini-posts about iPad apps and news which I would like to share, but would drown out my other posts if I added them all here. Hopefully the Posterous should be a better vehicle for these.

I am also thinking about allowing other iPad using UK lawyers to contribute on the Posterous site (assuming there are some?!) so if you would be interested in this then please get in touch.

If you are interested in reading all of my iPad stuff then please check out http://www.ipadlawyer.co.uk

Other iPad lawyers

As well as writing about my own experiences of the iPad, I have also been keeping an eye on what others have been blogging about its suitability for lawyers. A quick roundup of the highlights so far:

Jason Plant has changed tack slightly on his No Option for Law Firm blog with a post entitled Stop printing your emails… the iPad's a game changer. Using Adobe Acrobat to turn his email inbox into a PDF folder for viewing on the iPad is a pretty creative idea - although I won't be able to try it without investing a hefty sum for Acrobat 9.

@ljanstis (a new Twitter followee of mine) has also shared his experiences in the iPad and legal practice on his Work Life Law blog, which highlights some interesting drawbacks and benefits. Apparently the most was inspired by an earlier piece by @neildenny on Lawyer1point9. and my own (much less eloquent) ramblings.

Finally, I also stumbled on a higher profile review in The Times by the eminent legal expert Richard Susskind (will lawyers find the iPad useful?). This was probably the least useful contribution and would have been a lot more relevant if it had been written by someone using the iPad in legal practice. For example, anyone who has followed my posts will see that using Pages to edit legal documents (as Susskind suggests) is pretty much a non-starter. Unfortunately, the moderators obviously didn't agree with me and my comment to this effect has ended up on the Times moderating room floor.

I'm sure there are other UK lawyers blogging on the subject so if you know of any then please give me a shout so I can include them!