Discovery requests till now rarely focused on text messaging. That’s changed. As the preferred medium for informal and increasingly business communications, we look at its challenges for litigants and the shift in case law, production and review.
The language lawyers use matters. And one commonality becoming rather more obvious each year is this: legalese is on its way out. Clients and judges alike have expressed a desire for straightforward legal communication, and while “terms of art” have their place, if you have not already made a conscious effort to begin writing in plain language, now is the time!
With e-filing becoming mandatory across state courts, federal district, appellate and bankruptcy courts, and administrative agencies, comes a new type of risk. In this article we look at common errors attorneys make when using online court filing systems and provide a few tips to avoid committing legal malpractice in this new era.
In any legal matter, the case chronology is paramount. And fact management is paramount for building your case chronology: you have no effective case chronology without facts. In this article, we dissect some properties of facts, look at why fact management is so critical, and finally what separates the right fact management solution from the rest.
Many terms describing legal software supposedly able to manage a litigation file throughout its litigation lifecycle are being bandied about. But can just any legal software manage case evidence, transcripts, production, key facts and chronologies, key issues, key people and key testimony from onset through depositions, motions, trial and appeals? MasterFile can.
Storytelling is a common topic in leadership and marketing, but many lawyers write off this skill as irrelevant. They see their jobs as providing well-reasoned, objective legal analysis, and, when necessary, making arguments that support their clients’ cases. But a compelling story is as critical a component of adequately and zealously representing clients. We explore why, and take a look at some famous cases.
For lawyers, the simple copy/paste task often ends up taking on a life of its own. Why? Formatting. MasterFile’s Drafting Minion drops perfectly formatted testimony into motions in one click.
Cross-examination, of course, makes for the best scenes in courtroom dramas. But successful cross-examination is not about charisma and oratory skills; rather, it’s about excellent preparation, or hard work, and following some time tested and simple tips.
Yellow Post-It notes worked for paper-based evidence mark-up because besides holding your thoughts, they also served as bookmarks to critical evidence. This bookmarking aspect, critical for evidence mark-up, doesn’t happen with electronic sticky notes and other techniques like point-to-point linking. In this short article, we show you how MasterFile is different.
Medical records are voluminous. We show you, the legal nurse consultant, how MasterFile automatically creates a detailed timeline of what took place when, and by whom, as you review. Topic chronologies, specific to your case and focusing on specific areas of concern are easy to isolate too — simplifying your analysis of common to care settings. You can filter events by issue, care, provider or treater, etc., easily transform events into custom reports, and with one click, into visual timelines, making complex series of events easy to grasp.