<http://science.howstuffworks.com/battery10.htm>.

Remember, it’s the exotic chemicals that help us, but we have to keep battery chemicals from leaching out in landfills when they are dead.

Adventures in PowerPoint

By Mark Lichtenwalter

My firm, Spesia, Ayers & Ardaugh of Joliet, had an exciting year for a couple of reasons—mostly because we moved into our own brand new office building. It was also the year the litigation section decided to toss out the old poster boards and use PowerPoint as a trial tool. This wouldn’t seem to be news to anyone reading this: PowerPoint has been around for a long time. However, at least in the Courthouses and conference rooms which we’ve worked, when we’ve brought in what I like to call “the big screen,” it draws attention from the staff and the opposition. Using PowerPoint to create trial presentations for the jury is still the exception, rather than the rule. I can’t emphasize the difference that it makes in the quality and professionalism of the presentation, not the mention the difference it makes in explaining complicated issues to the jury.

I Doubt that there is anyone reading this that doesn’t know what PowerPoint is. Just in case, however, “Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation program developed for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS computer operating systems. Being widely used by businesspeople, educators, and trainers, it is among the most prevalent forms of persuasion technology: according to its vendor, Microsoft Corporation, some 30 million presentations are made with PowerPoint every day”¹

Now, it appears a lot of people believe that Microsoft is evil,² and there are other graphic presentation programs out there. But, PowerPoint is the most popular program as well as the one we have used in our courtroom presentations, so I will restrict my comments to that particular program.

The thrust of this article, is clearly, that, in trying to persuade a jury or arbitration panel, particularly in a case involving complicated documents where you wish to focus on small notes in the documents, PowerPoint is a remarkably effective tool. Here’s a few tips that I can suggest:

1) Don’t go cheap. If you are going to do it, do it right, make the investment. We are a relatively small firm, so I understand the pain; yet. it is not advisable to be pennywise and pound foolish when it comes to technology. For our presentations, we invested in a “tablet” laptop³ an additional backup laptop, a screen that would make a Cineplex proud, and, most importantly, a high quality projector that puts solid, crisp images on that screen. We also use additional monitors for the opposing counsel table (we don’t like to, of course, but I suppose it’s only fair) and the Judge’s bench (necessity).

2) Read the freakin’ manual. The one that comes with all the equipment. And, perhaps even invest in “PowerPoint for Dummies.” (We did, I’m not too proud to admit). My inclination as a male is to just grab the new toys and start playing with them. I think this goes back to Caveman times. But it is an urge that should be resisted. I like to think that I learn more by just sitting down and trying things out. In fact, by doing that I was missing out on a lot of the nuances and helpful features of the equipment and the program. Granted, sometimes the instructions are written in languages that are not of this Earth. Still, persevere, and if you have to make a phone call and ask a question. It’s worth it.

3) Don’t hog the toys. Make sure multiple people know how to use the equipment. We’ve put together what basically amounts to a PowerPoint team, attorneys, paralegals and secretaries who either generally know how to use the program, or, sometimes more importantly, know how to set everything up in the usually short amount of time available before opening arguments. You certainly don’t want to be the only one who knows how to use the program if you have a technical issue arise in the middle of an argument. And, no matter how much you prepare, that is bound to happen at least once.

4) Talk to the Judge, let him or her know what your plan is and what you will need to put in the courtroom, in terms of cords, outlet use, etc. I know, I know, you’re thinking “I wouldn’t forget to do this.” Well, you might. And if the Judge is not used to someone coming in with a screen and a bunch of equipment into the courtroom, they won’t want to be surprised when you show up with your stuff.

5) Have a plan for your presentation. I won’t go into the ins and outs of making a presentation—hello, that’s why they have the manuals (see #2)—however, the key to a good PowerPoint presentation, as well as any presentation, is to sit down and put together a comprehensive plan BEFORE just tossing slides up into the program. Obviously, you want to put together a presentation that presents your theory of the case in the best possible light. You want to know which records go to your theory and what portions of those records should you blow up and highlight portions of. All of this takes time, but the end result is worth it.

6) Index, Index, Index. As you are preparing for trial, new ideas, new theories, new arguments, and new documents all lead to new slides. Organization is key. In trial, we make a master index to our PowerPoint slides which are constantly updated. If an ideal pops into lead counsels head and he wants a certain document at a certain time, there’s very little delay in finding that document thanks to the index. Change is good. The ability to alter the presentation on a whim is a great asset to using PowerPoint at trial rather than an unflinching posterboard. But if you make a change, make be organized about it. Once you get 300 or more slides in a presentation, you’ll see the difference it makes.

7) Finally, if your opposing counsel is from a firm in Joliet named Spesia, Ayers & Ardaugh, forget all of this advice. I really don’t know what I’m talking about. Use the posterboards…really all this technology stuff is just too much trouble.

When I started to write this article, I thought it would be more about using the program itself. In fact, I there’s plenty of information available once you make the decision to use the technology. More attorneys (except, well, see #7) should be encouraged to use some type of presentation technology in their trial work. It’s an effective tool and one that, as time progresses, we will be seeing more and more jurors who grew up in the 90s who, frankly, will come to expect it.
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1. See <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPoint>.

2. Not me, of course, if anyone from the evil empire is reading this. Of course, a Web search on PowerPoint for this article brought up a lot of sites stating basically, “Microsoft is evil,” so I feel safe in the above statement.

3. A “tablet” laptop has the really cool feature whereby the attorney can take a “pen” and write on the lap screen as the documents are being displayed, which then projects over the image on the screen. It can be used to highlight certain points, make lists, basically whatever you would do with the old posterboard and markers. One drawback, be ready with a backup laptop though, for some reason we seem to have battery issues with the “tablet.”

VoIP

By David B. Yavitz

I. What is VoIP

VoIP replaces traditional land line phone service with a connection over the Internet.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Using a VoIP account you can connect your analog telephone and convert your voice to digital data, the 1s and 0s understood by computers, and talk over a high speed or “Broadband” Internet connection. VoIP can turn your Broadband Internet connection into a virtual telephone company to place your phone calls at a fraction of cost of conventional Ma Bell phone companies. With VoIP you bypass the phone companies and their charges.

A. Internet Service Provider (ISP).

A High-Speed Internet or Broadband Internet account is required for VoIP service. The idea is that today everyone has or should have either a DSL or Cable Broadband high speed Internet connection. If you only have a “dial up” Internet connection you can’t use VoIP and you should probably change your service if for no other reason than by using a Broadband Internet service and VoIP telephone service your overall monthly costs will in most instances be less than the combined costs you are now paying to your telephone company and dial-up ISP.

B. Equipment Needed.

When you open a VoIP account, you will receive a router. A router is a computer networking device that receives and transmits data over an Ethernet network and allows you to connect more than one piece of equipment to your DSL or Cable modem to share a single Internet connection. The router is encoded with a (MAC) number that is unique to your account. Your VoIP service provider will send you a router with your account’s MAC number installed. Install the VoIP router by first unplug the cable from the network out port on your DSL or Cable modem, the one that attaches to your computer or other network router, and plug that cable into the network in port on the router. Then attach a cable from the network out port of the VoIP router back into your computer or other network router. On the back of the VoIP router there is one or two RJ-11 (telephone jacks), plug your telephone into these line out jacks. At this point you should have a dial tone on the telephone and you can start making and receiving telephone calls over the Internet.

II. Advantages

A. Cost

Traditional telephone service is based on how much you use your phone and where you call. VoIP service typically has a flat monthly rate not tied into where you call and if you select the unlimited plan, not tied in to usage. One of the biggest VoIP service providers is Vonage. Vonage has two plans for non-business services, the Basic 500 plan costs $14.99 per month and gives you 500 minutes of calls to anywhere in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. The Premium Unlimited plan gives you unlimited calls to anywhere in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico for $24.99 per month. VoicePulse has an unlimited plan for the same $24.99 per month and unlimited local calls plus 200 minutes of long distance calls for $14.99 per month. For business users Vonage offers the Small Business Unlimited plan for $49.99 per month or a 1500 minute plan for $39.99 per month. In addition to low domestic rates, VoIP can provide international calling at low rates, as an example Vonage charges 4¢ per minute for calls to London, Italy, France and Hong Kong, 5¢ to Israel, Sydney and Germany and 6¢ to Ireland, Japan and Portugal.

B. Savings over traditional Bell telephone companies

How much you will save varies on where you live, how many minutes you use for local and long distance phone calls, but in most instances the savings will be substantial. As an example, SBC offers residential monthly telephone service with 400 minutes of local calls for about $40 per month and for about $50 per month you can have unlimited local and long distance service. If you compare this to Vonage’s Premium plan at $25 you save half. True, you also will have to have a Broadband Internet account, but in all likelihood you probably have that anyway.

C. Area Code Selection.

Since your VoIP telephone is connected through the Internet and not through a local land line that goes through the neighborhood switching center, your phone number and area code does not have to match the area code and local exchange where the phone is located. This means you are no longer tied to your “local area code” and can select any area you want. As an example, if you live in Illinois, you can request a California telephone number. Assume you live in Northbrook, Illinois where the area code is 847 and the local exchange is 480, if you so desire when you establish your VoIP service you can request a 312 area, downtown Chicago, or any other area code in the country. If your 80 year old mother lives in Des Moines Iowa and she likes to call you every day but you worry about her long distance bills, you can have your phone number be a 515 area code so all of your mother’s calls to her favorite child are local for her. Further, because you have unlimited outgoing calls it does not cost you anything more to call others from your “Des Moines” area code. This ability to select a virtual area code is useful for a business that has a lot of customers in other states, select a San Francisco 415 area code to service your California customers. The only problem with these virtual area codes is the 911 emergency phone calls. The FCC has now required VoIP service providers to have a 911 dialing feature where you register the street address where the VoIP phone is physically located so if you dial 911 from that VoIP telephone call is directed to your local emergency response center and the emergency services such as the fire department and police will know where the call is coming from. This registration of your address requires you to update that registration if you move to a new address. Vonage has announced that an enhanced 911 service is coming that will automatically be able to detect and deliver your location and callback number to the 911 response center.

D. Portability

Unlike traditional phone lines, you can take your VoIP telephone anywhere. Suppose your employer decides to send you to Denver for six months training or you opt to winter in your condo in Florida. Instead of establishing phone service in Denver or Florida. Vonage has a small phone adapter. Simply unplug the adapter and take it wherever you want it anywhere in the world. Just plug it into any broadband Internet connection, connect a phone, and your VoIP line is ready to go.

III. Disadvantages

If your Internet goes down, so does your VoIP phone service. However, since today practically everyone has a cell phone, the loss of either a land line or VoIP phone service is less troublesome. The quality of the reception and transmission of VoIP telephone calls is directly dependent on the quality of your Broadband Internet connection. If your ISP service is poor your phone service will suffer. Another disadvantage is that in order to have VoIP, you must also have a Broadband Internet connection. If you consider having a high speed Internet connection a disadvantage, than technology is really not your thing and you can always go back smoke signals and snail mail.

IV. Services Available

Most VoIP providers offer all the traditional services that traditional phone companies offer. As an example, Vonage’s packages include caller ID with name, call waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling, area code selection, call transfer, return call (*69) repeat dialing and voicemail. For additional monthly charges you can establish a toll free 800 phone number or have multiple lines. As mentioned, you can have a virtual phone number. A Virtual Phone Number is a way for people outside your local calling area to call you for the price of a local call if you choose a virtual phone number in their local calling area. Vonage charges $5 per month for this service which gives you an additional phone number for incoming calls only, so they ring to your primary VoIP line. You can even have a United Kingdom, Canadian or Mexican virtual phone number if it meets your needs. In a business setting you can you can have business cards with New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles satellite office numbers for less than $5 per month each. Now local clients can dial you without dialing long distance and you get the local presence without all the expensive overhead. Most companies also provide Internet account management and billing review.

V. Road Warrior

One of the optional features I liked the best was the soft phone offered by Vonage. Vonage SoftPhone installs on your laptop computer a virtual telephone that provides software interface that works just like your telephone keypad. You can make a call, receive a call, and pick up your voicemails on your laptop. The cost of this service is about $15 per month. I recently used this SoftPhone on a trip to Germany and Italy. My VoIP account had a Chicago 312 area code phone number. With the SoftPhone software installed on my PowerBook all I had to do was connect my laptop to the high-speed Internet connection in my hotel room and I could make unlimited calls back to the U.S. for free. My family and office was able to dial a local 312 phone number to reach me in Frankfurt or Rome. It is great having the ability to speak on overseas phone calls without keeping an eye on the clock worrying how much this call is costing. Of course, you had to pay for the hotel Internet connection, but it was a lot cheaper to pay for that than to pay the very expensive overseas telephone rates from Europe. I would imagine the savings is even greater if you are in Asia or Australia. SoftPhone also sent me e-mail notification of any voicemail messages left on my VoIP phone. This e-mailed notification allowed me to listen to voice mail message on my PowerBook. If you travel a lot a VoIP account can be a real money saver. I even suggested to one of my clients who lives in Europe that she get a VoIP account with a local US area code to be able to call the States and have her family contact her for $25 per month.

Conclusion

My entire office has had VoIP telephone service since 2004 and the telephone costs are much lower than what I previously paid. The quality of the sound is good and you cannot tell the difference from a traditional phone service. When I was in Europe the sound qualify was not the best but I attribute that to the quality of the broadband Internet service in Europe. While our sound quality is better in the states, the European VoIP calls were acceptable and you could be clearly heard and understood. VoIP is a great way to save money and give you some features that traditional phone companies cannot provide.

Mastering and managing documents in the state-of-the-art law office

By T. Roe Frazer¹

Document management is the most daunting challenge for today’s law office. Regardless of the size of the law firm, mountains of file folders and forests of paper are piling up every day in every law office. Traditionally, the answer to this challenge has been the hiring of more clerical staff, more paralegals, more attorneys, and out-sourcing.

This response has been less than optimal because the knowledge base of the documents and, in the area of litigation, knowledge of the evidence, has become disparate and widely distributed across many individuals. More desirable is a “system” whereby each person tasked with knowledge of a particular matter knows all the vital information and critical documents.

Consequently, the only way to master the evidence in a meaningful way is through a document management software or web-based system. These systems give each member of a law practice group or litigation team easy access to the same knowledge base. One main goal with document management software is to eliminate endless search missions for the documents or files, and especially the proverbial “needle in the haystack.” There is immediate relief from carrying boxes of documents. Instead, your laptop gives you instant access to every document, even in cases involving millions of pages of documents.

Time is precious and fleeting in most law firm environments. The typical law practice is deadline oriented yet must be flexible enough to meet varying dynamic situations arising daily. Thus, a law firm should not only seek a document management solution that will enhance productivity but also one that is dynamic and user friendly.

There are countless examples of law firms that decide to invest in document management technology only to find later that learning to use it is much too time consuming. Training time is ridiculously long, and most lawyers and staff do not have weeks of time to devote to learning a system. The features, while certainly attractive, are hard to use and remember. Functionality may be based on archaic architecture and complicated by legacy issues. These shortcomings all conspire to make some software document solutions utterly unusable except by a few, seasoned, tech savvy persons.

Consequently, the first software selection hurdle to clear is to find document management software that is so simple to use lawyers will actually use it in their everyday practice. Simplicity of use translates into actual usage. Simplicity of use equals less training time and less lost billable hours and productivity. Simplicity of use makes any person in the practice group a master of all the documents and evidence. With firm utilization increased due to ease of use, lawyers and staff should be able to master millions of pages of evidence in a click of the mouse.

Simplicity of use involves functionality as well as the style of the interface. The system should enable the administrative or document store manager to have a greater degree of control and flexibility over the design and implementation of the document store. The administrator should have the flexibility to create new user fields, assign them to categories, generate lookup lists for fields, specify format rules, as well as assign icons to categories. The look of the interface should be inviting and familiar, and the real estate easily navigable.

After you clear the simplicity of use hurdle, you want to ensure that you have selected software that will quickly and efficiently collect, organize, annotate, and research electronic media, documents, images, etc. You want to be able to word search or field search your entire database. You want to be able to customize your database(s). Scanning your documents into the desired place on your desktop should be quick and easy.

From a features standpoint, the software’s document stores should support an unlimited number of named user fields. User fields should be capable of being defined to contain a certain type of data (e.g., numeric, date, text, etc.) as well as format enforcement and lookup list creation. User field usage should be streamlined and simplified by not re-using the same user field to store different kinds of data between multiple categories.

Law firms have several fields that are very commonly needed. Those should be included as standard or built-in fields, such as Title, Document Type, Case Name, Case Style, Cause Number, Jurisdiction, State, Party, Name, Attorney, Firm, Received Date, From, To, Subject, and Attached To. These fields should be capable of being removed or configured in the same way that the other user defined fields are.

The document management software should feature speed in document retrieval, searching, indexing and editing speed. System capacity should easily accommodate millions of documents while simultaneously reducing the hardware requirements on the server and client machines.
It is useful to have a system that easily shows documents that have not been read in a different look than documents that have been read. All documents returned by either a quick or saved search can appear as unread until the user has viewed the document relative to those search results. In other words, if the same search were executed again, all of the resulting documents would appear as unread again. This helps the user keep up with what documents in the search results have been viewed and which have not. Users should also be enabled to “mark” documents as either read or unread.

Another feature to consider is the document viewer or previewer within the software system. What is the time it takes to open and display a PDF document? Will users be able to highlight regions to place notes without a full version of Adobe Acrobat? This can be accomplished if the highlights and notes are stored by the system in the document store, rather than within the PDF document itself, making it more secure and easier to produce the original documents without mark ups. Another desirable feature is the ability to select a region with the underlying text so it can be copied to a clipboard for transferring information to document fields or other applications. A handy viewer also includes standard tools for searching, navigating, rotating, zooming, printing, saving and sending via e-mail.

Viewers should enable users (with the appropriate rights) to mark rectangular regions for redaction. The regions should remain visible until they are published, where they can be “burned in” to the resulting document images. The originals, however, should remain preserved and unchanged. Versatile software should automatically convert documents to HTML for previewing when no suitable software is installed on the user’s computer. The original document is not altered. Optionally, the user should have the flexibility to specify that certain document types be converted to HTML for previewing purposes, even when a suitable viewer is installed on their computer. Document text search hits should be capable of being highlighted in all types of documents including Word, WordPerfect, Access, PowerPoint, and any other type of searchable document even if that user has no software installed capable of displaying that document type.
Document publication should include the ability to convert document formats, document page stamping, watermarking, redaction burn-in, third-party application load file generation, and removable media (CD/DVD) sets. Any Document Stamping feature should be flexible enough so that it can be a static value or a calculated value based on values stored in the database or any combination. Examples of this are the ability to create: (1) a Document Number, a sequential value incremented per document produced; (2) a Document Label, a sequential value describing the document as “Document # of #”; (3) a Page Number, a sequential value incremented per page per document produced; (4) a Page Label, a sequential value describing the document as “Page # of #”; (5) a Folder Name, the name of the folder that the document being produced resides in; (6) a Store Name, the name of the document store that the document is being produced from; (7) a Store ID, a unique identifier assigned to a document store when it is created; (8) a Username, the username of the user creating the publication; (9) a Group Name, the name of the practice group that the user creating the publication belongs to; (10) a Short Date, the date of publication in the format MM/DD/YYYY; (11) a Long Date, the date of publication in the format Month DD, YYYY; (12) Data Values, values derived from information stored about the documents and the activities performed on those documents, including Filename, File, File Path, Full Path, Storage Path, Bates Start Prefix, Bates Start Number, Bates End Prefix, and Bates End Number; and (13) Field Values, values that users have entered during data entry.

A state-of-the-art document management system needs to include a diversified Document Format Conversion, so that documents can be converted as they are published from PDF to any of the scores of formats commonly encountered. Similarly, it is necessary to have versatile Load File Generation so that generic and third party applications and specific load file formats can be generated during the publication process. Destination Media Settings are also important so that the user can specify the destination media that the publication will eventually be produced to. The publication feature should automatically segment the output files so that they will fit on the destination media type.

One feature to look for is a process whereby users can mark an “Issue” or other like category as available for all to see without regard to what workgroup of which the other users are a member. This is further demonstrated by “issues” which are automatically generated lists for retrieving documents without having to perform a search such as “Documents: Added Last Month; Added Last Week; Added This Month; Added This Week; Added Today; Added Yesterday; Edited Last Month; Edited Last Week; Edited This Month;” etc.

Searching for documents should be simple, easy, and powerful. Users should be allowed to let other users to see and execute their searches. The document text searching should be capable as being performed as an “Any words”, “All words”, or “Boolean search”. Adding or acquiring documents should be simple, such as using a “Drag-N-Drop” feature that automatically extracts the To, From, Subject, and Body to the user specified fields. The User should be able to select multiple files in their desktop or Internet application and select “Copy,” and then navigate to the desired folder in the document management system and “Paste” those documents into the document store.

An exciting timesaving feature to look for is the Doculex Goby Capture Integration where documents can easily scan, OCR, convert to PDF, and/or be added to a document store by pressing a single button on an MFP. Scanned documents that appear in that folder are automatically and instantly processed and routed to the appropriate document store.

Any excellent document management system should adequately address user management and security. The software should provide multiple security levels or roles such as Edit Filenames, Print Documents, Publish Documents, Index Manager, Store Manager, Category Manager, Document Redaction, View Recycle Bin, Empty Recycle Bin, and Restore Recycle Bin. Also the system should make it easy for an administrator to create a new user based on the settings of one that already exists in the document store. Third Party Application Integration and Support is also a vital function of any document management software. Generally this means full integration or partial integration or support of popular legal professional software applications such as TrialDirector, Sanction II, CaseMap, and others.

There are really only a handful of products on the market for any law firm to consider. Nonetheless, efficient document and evidence management is THE state of the art law practice. The right software will empower attorneys in depositions, instill confidence in court hearings, and be the decisive edge needed at trial. It also will make the in-office practitioner more productive and more “hands-on.” The document challenges facing today’s law office can only be mastered with document management software.
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1. T. Roe Frazer is CEO and General Counsel for CaseLogistix. Frazer is a graduate of Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Cumberland Law Review. A member of both the Mississippi and Alabama Bar Associations, Frazer was named the Outstanding Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association in 1993, and worked as a civil trial attorney in Jackson, Mississippi, for 20 years. An active member of his southern Mississippi community, Frazer is a frequent lecturer on legal and technology issues, as well as an enthusiastic coach of AAU youth basketball.

Keeping your data safe and in your office

By Adam Nelson

There is an exciting new technology that has recently been offered to both law firms as well as consumers. It has been around for a few years and it has great import for both internally in your firm as well as externally for your clients. It is called “Extrusion Prevention” and it is going to receive a lot of press soon, you all should be aware of it.

An extrusion prevention application will stop the unauthorized transmission of data from your firm to the outside world. This is done, depending upon the application, in real time or close to real time.

However, I think that I should begin this review with a few definitions: An “extrusion” for the purpose of this article is the outbound transfer, usually unauthorized, of data or digital assets from a corporate network, and “Extrusion prevention” includes the automated identification, monitoring and blocking of sensitive data across a network boundary (such as documents leaving my law firm’s network and sent to a client’s network via e-mail).

How extrusion prevention applications work, is that, after they are installed on your system, they monitor all traffic being transmitted off of your network. You say “Oh, but we can track the document transfer now with firewalls and other monitoring devices.” Yes, logs and firewalls may stop some documentation and they will eventually inform your IT personnel what has been transmitted from the system, but this is long after the data is gone.

Before I begin, let’s talk first about computer security and privacy in general. Realistically, how many of you have a security plan for your firm? How many of you have completed a security assessment on either your servers or your partner’s computers? Do you have an “Acceptable Use” policy for the firm’s computers? Do you allow your associates to store music on either their computers or the firm’s system? Do you allow your employees to bring USB or “Thumb” drives to work? An iPOD can hold up to 40 GB of data. If someone decided to remove data from your firm, 40 GB storage drive and a bad attitude can be significant.

According to the Gartner Group, a technology industry think tank, most security breeches occur by the unauthorized use of equipment by insiders. The recent FBI/CSI Computer Security report stated reported that most of the damage to organizations was from trusted insiders “leaking” sensitive data accidentally or purposefully. Most security issues are from the inside out rather than the more commonly accepted (and protected against) outside in.

In fact, many law firms do not have any method that can be used to determine what is being transferred externally, in real time, from their network. However, extrusion prevention enabled systems will allow your firm to check all documentation sent from inside your firm to any and all external entities not only by your traditional e-mail (Lotus Notes and Outlook) but also including the back channels traditionally missed by e-mail scanning software. This back channel tracking includes most instant messaging such as those provided by Yahoo and AOL as well as P2P programs like Kazaa and Webmail. This is very unique and not traditionally covered by standard security systems.

Several companies have extrusion preventions products, such as Vontu, Reconnex, Vericept, iLumin and Fidelis. Fidelis’ Datasafe, Vontu and Reconnex iGuard products, for example, monitor against extrusion prevention in real time. When they are installed on the law firm’s network, the applications can track each and every e-mail, IM and data transfer on the network. This can be done by either document type or content depending on the application configuration. It will also alert the security personnel when an inappropriate transfer of protected data is sent. Extrusion prevention systems can also block the data transfer and shut down the data exchange.

The exact technical mechanisms of how this works is beyond the scope of this review. For example, DataSafe uses something called “multimodal content recognition technology” which evaluates the contents of every communication by the use of statistical analysis, pattern recognition, and exact matching to identify sensitive and private information. This technology then analyzed the transmission for protected information such as personally identifiable information or protected health information.

Extrusion prevention applications can be useful for any financial case, family matter or virtually any type of confidential data matter. So if a trusted insider has access to sensitive information and would like to get around the law firms controls by transferring it over some back channel like instant messaging or Web mail; these applications will still find the sensitive data and block its transfer.

These products are generally easy to install and configure, however they can be costly and, therefore, are typically employed for firms who have at least 10 employees. The programs can run from several thousand to more than $100,000. Because most of these companies are relatively new, they usually are willing to negotiate to get the product into the marketplace.

These products are extremely useful for any law firm to both understand what data is passing through your system as well as what data might be leaving your system. Any law firm’s internal security schema will not be complete without it.