FYI for July 2009

Secrets to Success With CaseMap® ReportBooks

Are you making the most of today’s flexible CaseMap ReportBook capabilities? A ReportBook compiles any number of CaseMap reports packaged with optional elements such as a cover page, a table of contents and report-specific title pages. Litigators are discovering a variety of ways they can use ReportBooks to build greater success:

• Produce a ReportBook shortly after client intake to show clients that you have captured their concerns
• Compile a ReportBook to present your case to investigators, judges, arbitrators and other key decision makers
• Save your ReportBooks in PDF and link them to correspondence saved with your case

The quick tips below explain how to accomplish all this and more with ReportBooks.

Also find out how firms are using ReportBooks, along with a variety of features within CaseMap fact and issue management software, by reading the Kashi, Spence & Buckler, and Lone Investigator case studies at law.lexisnexis.com/casemap/case-studies

Quick Tips: Using ReportBooks to Your Advantage

Produce a book shortly after client intake to show clients that you have captured their concerns

• First, complete the Intake Interview Jumpstart process. CaseMap automatically creates a ReportBook with all related information.

• To access the ReportBook, just go to Reports > ReportBooks > Intake Interview Jumpstart Results.

Compile a ReportBook to present your case to investigators, judges, arbitrators and other key decision makers

• Just go to the Reports menu, choose ReportBooks, click Manage ReportBooks, and then click the New Button. A wizard will walk you though the steps: (1) adding the spreadsheets you want to include; (2) setting options, such as a title page, confidentiality statement, table of contents, introduction and title pages; (3) naming your ReportBook.

• CaseMap already provides eight default ReportBooks, so chances are you may not even need to create one of your own. You can always modify an existing ReportBook. To do so go to Reports > ReportBooks > Manage ReportBooks and click the Modify button.

Save your ReportBooks in PDF and link them to correspondence saved with your case

• Why not convert your ReportBooks to PDF files and attach them directly to your CaseMap case? To save as a PDF, just open (preview) the ReportBook and click the PDF icon at the top of the screen.

• When you choose Print to PDF, you can save the file wherever you need it. If you choose Print to PDF (Email), CaseMap software will set up the ReportBook PDF as an attachment using Microsoft® Outlook®. You can just address and send it.

More ReportBook Tips

Change ReportBook Default Fields

ReportBooks offer a slightly different approach than the usual “What you see is what you get” printing provided with CaseMap spreadsheet reports. Instead, ReportBooks have a default set of fields (columns) already established.

There are a couple of ways to change these default sets. One is to go to Reports > ReportBooks > Manage ReportBooks. Highlight the ReportBook in question and choose Modify > Reports. Double-click the spreadsheet in question and click the Fields button. You can then choose exactly what fields to include in the report.

Create a Report from the Current Spreadsheet View

This feature comes in handy if you’ve created an advanced filter to display only critical information in a ReportBook. To create the report using the current view, go to Reports > ReportBooks > ReportBook Tools > Create Report from current view.

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TextMap® 5 Is Clearly Superior to LiveNote™

With the release of TextMap 5 software earlier this year, the most flexible, affordable transcript management tool on the market got even better. With TextMap 5, it’s fast, easy and affordable to:

• Automatically link transcripts to key case exhibits

• Synchronize video depositions with transcript text to increase the impact of key testimony

• Create and share PDF reports with embedded exhibits and documents

Not only is TextMap 5 one of the most feature-rich, yet simple-to-use transcript management solutions out there—it's available at only a fraction of the cost of other tools. You can gain significant savings over a LiveNote™ subscription.

As you read last month, Philadelphia-based Anapol, Schwartz, Weiss, Cohan, Feldman & Smalley, P.C. decided to migrate from LiveNote to TextMap 5 to address concerns about cost and the need for remote access to transcript databases. After using TextMap 5 on a trial basis, they were convinced it was the superior product.

Shareholder Mark LeWinter stated, “TextMap was so clearly superior to LiveNote on two principal levels. First, the pricing model for TextMap was far more attractive than what we had in place with LiveNote and it created a scenario where the value proposition was a no-brainer advantage for TextMap. Second, I personally found TextMap to be much more conducive to the realities of life for a busy litigator who spends a lot of time on the road. TextMap is very portable and much easier for our paperless work environment.”

Read the case study to understand more about why this firm found TextMap 5 to be the better solution.

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Creating and Using Issue Analysis Memos

Why should you analyze case issues, and what’s the best way to do it? You can apply the principles outlined here to creating an issue outline with CaseMap® fact and issue management software.

Go to “Creating & Using Issue Analysis Memos” article.

Other informative articles available on case analysis include “Chronology Best Practices,” “Creating a Great Cast of Characters” and “Better Visuals Via Brainstorming.”

Review our other think pieces and save PDF versions.

“Creating & Using Issue Analysis Memos” offers 12 guidelines for creating an issue analysis work product and reviews nine ways to put issue analysis memos to work on your behalf.

Here’s a quick example of one of the guidelines:

The World of Issues and Arguments Isn’t Flat

Issue analysis memos should be formatted as outlines, not as flat lists.

An outline makes it easy to capture the hierarchical relationships among legal claims and their elements. Visual presentation mirrors legal reality: elements appear nested below the claims to which they relate.

In contrast, a flat list masks the connections between parent claim and child elements. Consider a fraud claim. Proving fraud requires a showing of these elements: intent, reliance and loss. In a flat list of issues, the intent, reliance and loss elements would be displayed on equal footing with the fraud claim—a counterintuitive presentation for those who understand the law and an extremely misleading one for clients and others who don’t.

An outline structure also provides the best way to organize thinking regarding arguments and themes. Arguments are typically marshaled in support of our position on a claim or one of its elements. In an outline, arguments are easily binned under the claim or element to which they relate. A flat list conceals the relationship between an argument and the legal issues.

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The CaseMap® Intake Interview Jumpstart Feature

More and more litigators are using the CaseMap Intake Interview Jumpstart feature to collect valuable case information from clients and then transfer it to CaseMap. How can you do it?

Just e-mail a CaseMap Intake Interview Form (word-processing document) to clients or prospective clients. They can use it to provide background information about the persons, organizations and facts in their case and share questions they may have regarding how you’re going to handle their matter.

When clients return the completed form to you, a software wizard imports it into CaseMap, filling in five spreadsheets and jumpstarting the creation of a new case file—or augmenting the information you’ve already collected. CaseMap software even automatically creates a ReportBook that summarizes the information your clients provided and lays out the next steps in the case analysis process.

The result of the Intake Interview Jumpstart? You get a case file up and rolling with incredibly little work. At the same time, you honor your clients by involving them in the case analysis process in a valuable way.

The Intake Interview Jumpstart feature works well with numerous types of clients, including corporate counsel, who frequently live with a dispute for months or years before it turns into a piece of litigation.

If you want to see this feature first hand, check out our 17-minute online tutorial that shows the Intake Interview Jumpstart feature in action.

You can also check out the input and one of the outputs from the Intake Interview Jumpstart process:

View a PDF of the default Interview Template Form that CaseMap sends to your clients.

View a sample of the Intake Interview Jumpstart ReportBook that CaseMap creates.

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30-Second Skill Tuning: Selection Mode in NoteMap®

It is often necessary to format an entire level of a NoteMap outline with the same font, text color, etc. Selection mode in NoteMap makes this task a breeze.

Selection mode allows you to select all of the notes on a given level. To select a level, go to the Edit menu. From the Edit menu, choose Select and then choose the level you want. You can also click the selection mode button, which is the first button on the Levels toolbar. Then, click the number button for the desired level.

Once a level is selected, you can change the font and other properties in the same way that you would change those of a single note.

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Below is our CaseMap training schedule. To register for a class, please fill out a registration form and return it at least one week before the start date.

In response to client demand and the current economic climate, we are now offering more online training opportunities. Another great way to minimize training costs is for us to come to you with our popular and affordable on-site training and “Jumpstart” consulting sessions (contact us for more information).

Course Descriptions

CaseMap for Attorneys: This course is designed with attorneys in mind—it’s quick, targeted and online. You’ll learn to quickly build a case, analyze and link your data, and run pertinent reports.

FastTrack: This course is designed to help new CaseMap customers learn the essentials of the program. Topics include CaseMap strategies, sorting and searching techniques, creating great work product, and using the Send to CaseMap feature in Adobe® Acrobat® and other tools.

To register, fill out and submit a registration form.

To learn more, visit our Web site law.lexisnexis.com/casemap/training

Or contact litservtraining@lexisnexis.com or 425-463-3546.

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