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| Virtual Partner | Litigation Support |
 Virtual Partner, from DATICON Systems, Inc., is
a comprehensive image-based, document-management program that handles the entire universe
of documents in any complex litigation, including: pleadings generated by both sides,
discovery documents that are imaged and coded, transcripts of court hearings and
depositions, videos and other graphics and electronic data. I have used it extensively as
a paralegal, and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) selected Virtual Partner
for use by its corporate legal team and all members of its law firm network (PLF). Unlike
other litigation support/document-management programs we've used in corporate and
commercial litigation, Virtual Partner allows us to handle the entire case from the
beginning of discovery through trial without switching software or doing elaborate
conversions.Morris, James, a 50-attorney firm based in Wilmington, Del., started using image-based, litigation-management software about seven years ago only for large document-intensive cases. Early image-based software was a huge improvement over subject binders, chronological binders and messy files of papers, but most image-based software could not handle transcripts (or required elaborate conversions). None of the software supported electronic data discovery--material straight from a computer such as e-mail -- and none was really useful at trial.
Virtual Partner brings efficiency and order to the litigation process at every step -- from the document production phase, to preparing for depositions, to assembling documents to support facts cited in briefs, to trial. During the document production phase, we use the Virtual Partner document review and production tracking system. Privilege review is done in Docfiler with the privilege review module. Documents coded as privileged will be retrieved in any relevant search, but unless the command is specifically given to print the privileged documents, these documents will not print. During the discovery phase, we rely on Docfiler, a key feature of Virtual Partner that distinguishes it from all other image-based litigation and document-management software. Docfiler allows creation of folders and sub-folders to organize documents for fact review, privilege review and use at depositions or in trial. Notes and comments can be left in Docfiler or synchronized to the main database so they are searchable later. Annotations, redactions and highlights can be set to appear on printed images or not, and these also can be set to be private -- seen only by their author -- or to be viewed by anyone who accesses the document image. Documents can be deleted from a folder without affecting the integrity of the main database and can be copied from one folder to another or many others. In preparing for depositions, imaged documents in a given folder, along with all the coding and annotations, can be printed or copied onto a laptop computer for the attorney's use away from the office, utilizing the Backpack module. Backpack retains all search and data management capabilities for full functionality on the road. This module allows the attorney to have the entire document universe on the laptop. Work done on the laptop can be synchronized to the main database. At trial, Virtual Partner is invaluable. Our trial team took an entire case on laptop computers into the courtroom, including the main database of imaged and coded documents, key pleadings, depositions going back more than 10 years, transcripts of many hearings and a Docfiler database consisting of folders of key documents and plaintiff's and defendant's trial exhibits. The team tracked the admission of each trial exhibit, was able to compare witness testimony at trial with testimony during earlier depositions and used document images projected on a screen when questioning witnesses. At the end of each day, that day's testimony was entered into the database for reference and rebuttal. The comprehensive nature and ease of use of Virtual Partner has changed the way we manage cases. Virtual Partner facilitates collaborative litigation efforts among multiple partners and locations. When Morris, James works on Dupont matters, the database may be created at Morris, James; Dupont may create the database in-house; or we may collaborate on the imaging and coding of the documents. Once the database is created, both our firm and Dupont have access to and utilize the database in Virtual Partner, allowing collaboration on document review, elimination of the need for two sets of files and immediate access to all discovery and pleadings by all members of the Dupont/PLF team. Virtual Partner allows us to handle the case as effectively as possible. DATICON Systems, Inc., the author of Virtual Partner, provides excellent technical and user support. All firms in the Dupont/PLF network will be upgrading to Virtual Partner 2000. In addition to improving an already excellent product, Virtual Partner 2000 easily will process documents produced in electronic format without having to convert to hard copy, image or code. I enthusiastically recommend Virtual Partner as the best imaged-based litigation and document-management software available to any law firm or corporate legal department. |
DATICON Systems, Inc. (860) 464-2215 www.daticon.com $3,000 - $5,000 per concurent user. Price dependent on modules selected. Reviewed by Gena DiSabatino, paralegal, Morris, James, Hitchens & Williams, LLP, Wilmington, Del. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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Two years ago, we purchased our first Virtual Partner licenses,
and now I encourage everyone to use this software for all corporate litigation matters
regardless of size. Using Virtual Partner, we image documents from our client and code
each document directly from the images. Documents produced from the opposing side are
imaged and coded, and we capture the source of each document and the Bates number to
eliminate doubts as to the origin of the document. Key pleadings are linked to the
database in a full-text searchable format as opposed to merely imaged. All hearing and
deposition transcripts are entered into the Virtual Transcript Library where they can be
full-text searched and annotated. These annotations become a part of the database and are
searchable later. Although we have not yet used it, Virtual Partner is capable of linking
audio and video files, and we will be using this feature for videotaped depositions.