Forget about paperless trials. Most cases settle before ever reaching trial. When technology can and should make a difference is during discovery, when both sides struggle with boxes and files of paper. Management of the early stages of litigation is largely a matter of establishing proper paper procedures. How close are we to paperless discovery?
In a legal technologist’s fantasy, which is not coming soon to a theater near you, documents would still arrive at the firm, either in hard copy or via e-mail. The text would be scanned into a computer system once. The images of the documents would be captured so as not to lose the look of the original document or any handwritten notations.
