As a law student (rising 3L!) and future lawyer (hopefully), I am enamored and excited about the widespread use of technology in law firms and courtrooms across the country. Growing up, I remember going to work with my dad and witnessing him lug around boxes of case files and statutory codes to and from his office. Multiple trips from the courthouse to his office were a must; he couldn’t fit all of his files for the day in his car when he left his office in the morning. Today, case files, statutory codes, and a myriad of other legal documents are stored on laptops, tablets, or even in the cloud. Lawyers are showing up to courtrooms equipped with tablets and laptops containing all of the necessary legal documents, easily accessible with a quick touch of their finger. Technology is changing the way law is practiced. Technology is also improving depositions.

The complete switch from paper-intensive, inefficient processes to more efficient technological solutions is inevitable, and the change is rapidly occurring. According to the 2012 ABA Legal Technology Survey, the number of attorneys using cloud-based software increased from 13% to 21% between 2008 and 2012. “I believe we are just beginning to see a wave of new mobile applications that will help attorneys increase the efficiency of their law practices,” said Tom Mighell, Senior Consultant and author of iPad in One Hour for Lawyers and iPad in One Hour for Litigators.

Indeed, the wave of new mobile solutions and technologies is here. The number of law-related applications available on Apple’s App Store is in the thousands and 33% of all attorneys now report using a tablet for law-related tasks, according to the 2012 ABA Legal Technology Survey. Paperless law offices and judicial chambers are becoming increasingly popular and it’s only a matter of time before that becomes the norm and standard in the legal field. The desire to minimize costs and increase efficiencies throughout solo, small, and large firms has led to lawyers ditching the pen and paper for a tablet or laptop when interviewing clients, billing clients, presenting evidence in trial, managing case files, and oh— conducting depositions. Paperless solutions—like the one provided by AgileLaw—are prime examples of technology making monotonous processes more productive and efficient.

I’m fortunate to be a member of the AgileLaw team and am thankful for the opportunity to witness the growth of our startup as we seek to change how depositions are conducted. It’s pretty exciting to be working on something that will impact the way my classmates and future colleagues will practice law. That’s one of the many reasons why I’m fascinated by technology; it changes the way we live and operate (usually and hopefully for the better). We here at AgileLaw hope to make a tremendous impact on the legal field and help increase efficiencies, save attorneys countless hours of time, and lower costs nationwide.

The purpose of this blog is to identify technological advances in the legal field, facilitate discussions about legal technology in general, and to provide attorneys with practical advice about depositions and cloud-based software, specifically deposition software. Our goal is to promote and encourage the use of productive, time-saving technologies for lawyers across the nation. A lawyer who isn’t encumbered with inefficiencies and unnecessary irritations associated with paper-intensive processes can better serve his or her clients.

Thanks for joining us on this ride.

May 31, 2013

Posted by Carlos Carrasco

AgileLaw is located in Austin, TX and was founded in 2011 to provide cloud-based mobile solutions for attorneys. Its flagship product enables attorneys to manage the entire deposition process by replacing the stacks of printed document exhibits in depositions with a tablet device. The workflow of revealing, marking, annotating, and distributing documents is similar to paper-based depositions, but now all participants can view the exhibits in the deposition using a laptop, iPad, or Android tablet device. To learn more about AgileLaw and our deposition exhibit solution, please visit our website at www.agilelaw.com

Carlos Carrasco is a student at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Carlos graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in Economics and Finance in 2007. Follow him on Twitter @ ccarrasco_II