Visiting a client
I often find that taking my laptop when I visit a client is more trouble than it's worth. First, there's the inconvenience of having to find the room to set it up and then finding a power outlet so that you don't have to interrupt anyone when your battery runs down. Next, the mere fact that you may be taking notes on a laptop is distracting and tends to make people feel like you're not really paying attention to them.

For this reason, unless I expect a marathon session, I normally take notes during meetings using my Palm Portable Keyboard and one of the many available word processors for the Palm platform. Even the built-in memo utility that comes with the Palm device can work.

I also find it useful to bring transcripts of depositions and hearings that may be relevant to discussions with my clients. Using the software I outlined above, it's a very simple matter to convert a transcript received from a court reporter in ASCII format into a Palm-readable document. Even if you have the paper copies of a transcript, the Palm version is very useful for pinpointing specific sections you're interested in.

Another document I usually find useful to bring with me, especially when visiting a new client, is a schedule of my firm's fees. For obvious reasons, I'm always wary of quoting a fee for a service without double-checking our fee schedule. With the Palm device and Documents to Go, I know that I always have the most up-to-date fee schedule loaded and can be confident I won't quote the wrong fee.

Conclusion
I hope this article has provided a starting point for many of you who are looking for better ways to use your PDA to manage your legal practice. No doubt, the tips I've outlined above have just scratched the surface of what can be achieved by legal professionals with Palm devices.

Ury Fischer is an attorney at Lott & Friedland, P.A., an intellectual property law firm located in Coral Gables, FL. Mr. Fischer specializes in patent and trademark litigation and is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He may be contacted at ufischer@lott-friedland.com or at 305-448-7089.