Equipping Legal Road Warriors: The High-End SystemBy

MicroLaw, Inc.
825 S. 60^th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53214
rkodner@microlaw.com
www.microlaw.com

©1999 Ross L. Kodner, Esq. All Rights Reserved

More and more lawyers have moved away from stationary PCs and towards dockable portable systems for daily use. These materials are focused specifically on directions for equipping your true "Road Warriors" - the small percentage of lawyer/users who push their systems in terms of hardware demands and software usage.

Let’s take a very realistic approach. The format for this document is oriented around a hypothetical consulting analysis and set of recommendations for a busy, traveling litigator who also has outside business interests. Our subject, "Andrea M. Jefferson" is a senior partner in a personal injury boutique - her practices takes her routinely across North America taking depositions, interviewing prospective witnesses and talking with clients. Andrea also has quite the entrepreneurial spirit and has several outside business interests including part ownership in a Scandinavian manufacturing concern - this business involvement requires European travel at least 4 times a year. Overall, she travels by air at least once a week, all year long. Back in Andrea’s office her firm of 15 lawyers and 25 staffers uses a modern Novell NetWare-based network system. In terms of application software the firm is "suite ambidextrous" using both the Microsoft Office 97 Suite and the Corel WordPerfect 8 Legal Suite. Andrea has recently begun to use voice recognition products to maximize her efficiency as well.

In fact, here’s Andrea’s profile:

Name: Andrea M. Jefferson, Esq.
Firm: Jefferson, Gaines & Goldberg, P.C.
Practice: Complex personal injury and products liability litigation with specialty in mass torts and class actions
Hours logged last year: 2650 (yes, she tracks her time in a contingent practice!)
Frequent Flyer miles last year: 190,000+
Last Books Read: "The Road Warrior’s Survival Guide" and "Linux for Lawyers"
Favorite Airline: Midwest Express--100% first class seats and she’s learned to protect her laptop when they serve the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies
Favorite Drink: Starbucks Dark Roast in any airport

With that said, let’s dive in and advise Andrea on her needs as a busy legal Road Warrior:

"For me, ease of use when away from the office has to be a paramount concern - with a prioritization above and beyond fancy bells and whistles.

"An understanding of what Andrea can, and will do with the system when away from the office - you mentioned that the machine will be used largely for communication with the office via e-mail and using e-mail as a transport mechanism for moving documents to and from Andrea, wherever she may be. I suspect that there will be other uses Andrea will find valuable as well, given the travel you described. Several examples include using the Web for looking up travel schedules and location information at sites like TheTrip.Com (my personal favorite Internet travel agency--I travel about 40% of the time and use them exclusively instead of a live travel agent--far more efficient) or City.Net (great to check on hotel information at your destination as well as dining and entertainment options in other cities - and the weather too).

"Function over form. This can’t be overemphasized. I’ve seen all sorts of lawyers who, for example, insist on fancy leather cases for their laptops. One of two things happens to them: 1) they get stolen in an airport because such cases practically scream "there’s a $4000 laptop inside--please steal me!", or 2) they strain their back or shoulder muscles lugging around a too-heavy unit with a laptop case that is not physical comfortable to carry.

"My emphasis in these recommendations is to pass on my "street smarts" after years and years of being a laptop-toting mobile lawyer/Road Warrior to help Andrea get the most practical combination of components so that she can be more efficient and productive when away from the office with a minimum of support required.

"Lease the recommended equipment - ideally for 24 months with as high an end of term buyout as possible. At the end of the lease, plan on turning in the laptop and re-leasing a then-current unit. Laptops obsolete more quickly than stationary PCs and are comparatively non-upgradeable. With leasing, NEVER, EVER fall for the leases advertised by laptop manufacturers--those are high interest "sucker" leases that provide significant profit for those companies (i.e. Dell, Compaq, Gateway, etc.). Instead, using an experienced equipment leasing company who, in many cases have no-interest or very low interest leases with higher end-term buyouts (because they sell the off-lease components to brokers and thus, make their profit mostly at the back end of the leases). Locally throughout the U.S. there are dedicated leasing companies that are experienced specifically with technology leases. These lessors tend to have a better understanding of the key end-term buyout options - banks and other lessors tend to be less interested in end-term options and as a result, tend to be more costly.

With that said, there are several factors I have looked at in determining which products to recommend for Andrea. These are as follows:

"Light weight. Can’t be overemphasized. When you’re running through an airport to catch a plane carrying your overcoat, a briefcase, a carry-on and your laptop case, the difference between a 6 pound and a 9 pound laptop is amazing - the latter feels like a load of bricks. Been there, done that and learned my lesson.

"Serviceability is key. If Andrea is on the road, nationally and internationally, she needs a major brand laptop that can be fixed literally anywhere. Toshiba is the world’s most sold laptop brand and it’s what I’ve used for over a decade. The international service network is the largest of any manufacturer, making it the best choice (not to mention great competitive features and equally competitive pricing). In the box with every Toshiba is a document offering warranty service upgrades that get you faster on-site support--this is very important. It’s not expensive and we think it’s essential.

Toshiba’s Tecra 8000 notebook

"Manageability. Others in the firm are likely to end up with laptops as well. Selecting a product from a line with many options allows you to create basic "prototype" software setups and distribute them to newly acquired laptops--and also the importance of management via the DMI 2.0 specification. The attraction of the recommended Toshiba Tecra 8000 series is the broad range of specification levels from mid-priced 233 MHZ Pentium II systems to the high-end 300 MHZ Pentium II units with larger displays and larger hard drives. The fundamental hardware consistency in such areas as BIOS, motherboard, video system and display drivers, and the built-in modem makes it possible to create and distribute a single base prototype system.

"Communication capability when away from the your home office area. You mentioned Andrea not has U.S. travel but also travel to Europe, and specifically to Sweden. The key to communication via e-mail (which also allows you to move documents around via the attachment process) is having a reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP) with local connections or 800-number service from wherever you go. It also means having the physical ability to plug your laptop into both AC and modem outlets that use different plugs than we do. We’ve taken all this into account in the following recommendations.

"Being prepared to generate printed output whenever you need it. My approach is two-pronged. First, it is always more desirable to be able to plug the laptop into someone’s laser printer. This means having enough common printer drivers pre-installed so that Andrea can just click on the right printer and go. I recommend carrying a portable printer cable to make this easy to do. In addition, she can also carry a small portable printer that is adequate for printing out shorter documents.

Canon’s tiny BJC-50 Portable Printer

"Being prepared to generate printed output whenever you need it. My approach is two-pronged. First, it is always more desirable to be able to plug the laptop into someone’s laser printer. This means having enough common printer drivers pre-installed so that Andrea can just click on the right printer and go. I recommend carrying a portable printer cable to make this easy to do. In addition, she can also carry a small portable printer that is adequate for printing out shorter documents.

"Working on planes. The key here is getting enough operational power to make long flights productive. There are two ways to do this. If Andrea travels transatlantic with either first-class or business-class seats, more and more planes have special "Empower" power adapters built into the seats. I’ve listed the special cable she would need to use to tap in. I also recommend having at least one, if not two spare batteries. With the laptop I’ve recommended, you have the ability to have two high-capacity Lithium Ion batteries installed at the same time - I have the identical laptop and I’ve gotten about 5 hours out of a dual battery configuration. Carry another easy to insert battery in your bag and that’s another 2.5 hours.

"Internet connections. I think Andrea needs two separate accounts given your description of where she travels. For North American use, I recommend one of the major national ISPs - Mindspring or Earthlink are the best bet, both offering unlimited access for about $20 a month with local access numbers all over the country. This is what Andrea would use for daily use when she is anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. For overseas use, Compuserve is the best international choice--especially for European access where often it is the only option. I recommend a limited use account since Andrea will not spent a lot of time connected--this should cost less than $20 a month.

So with those factors in mind, my recommendations follow. Note that I have direct hands-on experience with every item I’ve recommended--this laptop is identical to the one I use. Of the 20 or so laptop models I’ve had over the last 15 years, this is the first one where I’ve really felt it was a perfect replacement for a desktop PC--no compromises. It is Toshiba’s top-of-the-line model and bristles with the latest features and cutting edge physical packaging. The reasons I like this particular laptop for myself, and for Andrea are:

"It’s proven itself in four months of heavy use with me with a number of travel situations already

"Toshiba is the world’s leading laptop maker with service sources in most developed countries worldwide

"While very powerful, it is superbly designed at only 6.4 lbs - as much as three pounds lighter than comparably equipped Dell or Compaq models

"It has a vivid and bright 14.1" screen - more display space than a typical 15" desktop monitor

"The hard drive is the largest available in any laptop - 8.1 gigabytes and you can carry along a second hard drive which can be used for backup (that’s what I use it for) - there are both 4 and 6 gigabyte secondary drives available (each weighs only about 12 oz. - I carry mine around is small padded carrying case)

"It uses the fastest laptop processor available today--Intel’s 300 MHZ Mobile Pentium II and also has a great audio system for presentations and even a TV-out port to connect to a regular television for display purposes (such as plugging into the TV monitor available in more and more courtrooms) in addition to the usual ability to connect to an external PC display - lots of flexibility

"The built-in modem is a fast 56K model and the built-in CD-ROM is the fastest available in any laptop today--24x speed

So with that said, here’s the list of components I recommend for Andrea - note that the pricing listed is commonly available street pricing as of early January 1999:

Toshiba Tecra 8000 Model 300/8.1 laptop $3979.00

(As described above with 64 meg of RAM, 8.1 gig hard drive, 56K modem, 24X CD-ROM, 14.1" active-matrix display, 6.4 lbs., Lithium Ion battery - SelectBay to hold second hard drive or second battery or internal ZIP or LS-120 drive or floppy drive)

Toshiba Additional Items Recommended:

2^nd Internal Battery Pack $239.00

4 Gigabyte 2^nd Internal Hard Drive for Backup $529.00

Other Items Needed and Recommended:

Upgrade to 128 meg of RAM $179.00

Road Warrior Kit $139.00

(This is a group of essential accessories contained in a small padded carrying case that should go everywhere the laptop goes. It includes a laptop surge protector, a retractable 8" modem cable, a compact 3' parallel printer cable, an all-important modem line tester to use every time before plugging into a phone jack to make sure the voltage is not at a modem-damaging level and a Kensington MicroSaver locking security cable)

Port Ultra-Thin Universal AC Adapter $109.00

(Well worth it--this replaces the standard Toshiba AC "power brick" with one that is half the weight and half the thickness- I love mine) (www.port.com)

Port Modem/Power Connector Kit - European Version $189.00

(Includes AC power and modem line connectors for all European countries - note that the laptop’s accessory Port Universal AC adapter already has multi-voltage capability)

Port Auto/Airplane AC Adapter Cable $99.00

(This allows you to plug into the internationally standard "Empower" outlets found on more and more commercial aircraft--especially transoceanic flights--and also into auto cigarette lighter outlets)

Logitech WheelMouse for Notebooks $37.00

(A great portable external mouse--nice short cord to save space and weight - this mouse’s design is physically very comfortable to hold) (www.logitech.com)

Canon BJC-50 Portable Bubblejet Printer $349.00

(Of the several portable printers on the market, this is my favorite (I’ve tried them all and wasted money on several I wish I hadn’t bought). I like it because it’s quick enough (but not about to win any speed awards--it prints black text at about 3-4 pages per minute) ,quiet, the paper is easy to feed, it’s really light and battery-powered and the output quality both in black and color is beautiful. It’s also small enough to fit in either of the laptop carrying cases I mention below. You’ll want to keep a supply of black and color ink cartridges too since they are not very big and don’t last as long as you might be used to with an office laser printer - the black/color cartridges run $31 each) (www.usa.canon.com)

Canon Lithium Ion Battery Pack for BJC-50 portable printer $89.00

Visioneer Paperport Strobe portable scanner $329.00

(I recommend that this be carried along if Andrea needs the ability to be able to take hard copy documents and either e-mail them back to the office or FAX them--the Paperport Strobe scanner, smaller than a carton of eggs, can do this very easily--literally stick in any size paper up to 9" wide and it effectively photocopies it onto the laptop’s hard drive--a perfect image of the original that can then be stored, saved, FAXed, e-mailed, etc. Normally I don’t carry mine in my laptop case--I pack it in my luggage. The unit with it’s AC adapter weighs about 2 lbs. The cost includes two essential pieces of software--the Visioneer Visual Explorer/Paperport Deluxe 6.0 scanning software and the Xerox Textbridge Pro 98 text recognition software upgrade that can turn documents that are good "candidates" into editable text) (www.visioneer.com)

Carrying Case Directions

Port’s Innovative EasyRoller Case	Kensington’s Practical Saddlebag Laptop Backpacks