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| CaseMap 2.0 | Knowledge Management Litigation Support |
 Since the beginning
of my litigation practice, I have use yellow legal pads to make lists of what I have to
prove and what I don't in order to win the case. When I represent a plaintiff, one such
list usually starts after I receive the answer to the complaint. I list what was denied
(what I have to prove) and what was admitted (what I do not have to prove). Having
attended ATLA and many CLE seminars over the years and somewhat adopted various forms of
their "trial notebooks," I also make lists of admissions garnered from
correspondence, contracts and other documents, as well as lists of questions that pop into
my mind from reading these documents. At some point, I create master lists of admissions, facts to be proved and so forth, indicating for each the source of the proof (witness or document). Although this is all done on a computer word processing program, and such programs are extremely powerful these days, they pale in comparison to the capabilities of CaseSoft/Decision-Quest's CaseMap program. DecisionQuest's roots are in litigation support. In CaseMap 2.0, DecisionQuest has a highly flexible database allowing facts, issues, questions and their sources (witnesses, depositions, documents, etc.) to be entered once, and then queried again and again to examine and re-examine the relationships between the facts and their sources, the facts and the issues, or any other relationship that is important to you in the case. In short, CaseMap replaces the yellow legal pad. The first step in using CaseMap is to enter the facts of the case, the issues, and the witnesses and the documents. Associations (called links) are then created between each fact and its source. Document references can be linked to the actual document and viewed from the program. So, for example, you would link a fact admitted in the answer with the answer. You can then view the text of the answer (or a picture of the answer via a .pdf file) from within the program. By associating each fact with its sources and issues, you can create as many lists (called "reports" in the program) as you like without the risk of multiple cut-and-paste-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. Like most databases, CaseMap creates reports by sorting the data you enter by the criteria you request. You can sort on any criteria you like. The main window of the program presents you with four tabs: Fact, Object, Issue and Question. Facts are entered, modified and viewed under the Fact tab. Witnesses, depositions and other documents are entered, modified and viewed under the Object tab, and so on. Each tab has predefined columns. The predefined columns are well- thought out, useful and will suffice in many cases. If not, you can create whatever other columns are useful to you. The program also allows you to view your data graphically. If the facts of your case took place over a period of 15 years, a bar graph representation of these facts depicts the activity in the case. Clicking on one of the bars in the bar graph gives you further detail on the facts encompassed therein. The tabs also contain columns for evaluation of the data by your trial team. A consensus of the evaluations for each fact can then be viewed graphically. The old computer adage "garbage
in, garbage out" is apt here. CaseMap 2.0 doesn't decide what to associate with what.
If you associate a fact with the wrong issue or source, your reports will simply be lists
of your mistakes and bad choices. Likewise, if you This is a wonderfully specialized database for the legal profession. The program is feature-rich and can be used in a highly customized way. This is a thinking lawyer's tool. If you are disciplined and organized -- or want to be -- this program can be enormously useful to you. And it is not limited to litigation. It could be just as useful in the negotiation of a contract, or in any other situation where you want to be able to view facts and the relationships between them in many different ways. From a mechanical point of view, the program is not difficult to learn and use. From a conceptual viewpoint, however, learning how best to implement the program will take some time. Fortunately, since facts, objects, issues and questions only need to be entered once, implementation is relatively painless. CaseMap is network capable. The program's database file resides on your server, and can be modified by all the members of your trial team. This file can be copied onto a notebook computer. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to synchronize the database modified on your notebook computer and the database resident on your server so that the case cannot be worked on simultaneously in and out of your office. |
CaseSoft, a division of DecisionQuest (904) 273-5000 www.casesoft.com Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 $495 Reviewed by Steve Schmidt, attorney, Singer, Smith & Williams, Albuquerque, N.M. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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