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Richard S Demarest, JD
AdvocatesResources
Colorado, USA
Excerpts from presentation to NACDL's 2007 Midwinter Seminar
San Diego, CA, February 21 - 24, 2007
MasterFile is the new boy on the block - a relative newcomer to the litigation arena. The concepts it espouses seem at first to be hackneyed ... until you use it. And then you believe. MasterFile is the first alternative to CaseMap but with an integrated document repository comparable to Concordance/Summation along with document management ala Worldox, all at less than 1/4 of the price.
Before proceeding, a personal observation. Rarely does one find documentation about a product as readily available as is to be found on MasterFile's website. You will find not only the promotional material you would expect to find, but a complete set of white papers about the product, and more important, tutorials and videos that guide you ... not toward the goal of purchase, but to understanding the product and how to use it before you buy.
WHAT WE HAVE WORN OUT OUR IRON-SOLED SHOES SEARCHING FOR IN VAIN
MAY COME TO US WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST EFFORT -- Chinese proverb
RULE OF THUMB - With MasterFile, you find it without searching
MasterFile touts, and reality demonstrates ... you can find virtually any document within the collection with three keystrokes. MasterFile eliminates the file-cabinet organization and instead categorizes by date, author, recipient, document type and issue/topic. That's it. When viewed, the documents are sorted and categorized and this reduces "searching" to just browsing, but with a quicker result.
MasterFile does not differentiate between evidentiary documents and work-product. In reality they are the same - necessary to your case. It is therefore incumbent you be able to find them as needed - without having to open a different application to find them. MasterFile accomplishes this by having all materials - documents, extracts, analyses, etc., within a single repository eliminating the need for separate third-party document management systems. The various views within MasterFile permit you to control the categorization of evidence and work product by date, author, issue, document type, comment, etc., such that two or three mouse-clicks can locate what you need.
Replication and Synchronization
Many applications keep the data separate from the document. As long as you are connected between the two, there is no problem. The problem arises when you distribute the case. When you ship the case data, you also have to ship the case documents. The recipient must then make sure that the relationship between the data and the document, i.e., the path is exactly the same. This is complicated when the database creator stores documents in different folders, e.g., pleadings, discovery, photographs, transcripts, etc. If one path is incorrect, the relationships are gone. MasterFile eliminates this problem by storing both the documents and the data in one database file container. An entire case can be backed up by simply copying one file.
MasterFile is different where cases require the need for many individuals to access the material, either within the same office, across several offices, or even across the country. MasterFile is unique in that the repository containing your case can be bi-directionally synchronized. Assume that your computer contains the "master" or parent copy of the case. If you have three associates you would make three copies and distribute them. Everything is fine until one or more associates add to or modify their copy. As soon as this happens, no one on your team is on the "same page" with the case. In the past, to get everyone on the same page, each copy of the case you distribute (child copy) must be collected and then synchronized with the parent copy - your copy - and then redistributed. This is fine if there is no communication between your team, but communication is fundamental to a case. These repeated distributions, retrievals, re-mastering, and re-distributions of the case are inefficient and breeds potential errors, all to the possible detriment of your client. To solve this, MasterFile permits bi-directional synchronization with every team member. Each member of the team can update to and from the parent copy as needed over the Internet.
Linking
A CHAIN IS NO STRONGER THAN ITS WEAKEST LINK,
AND LIFE IS AFTER ALL A CHAIN. -- William James (1842-1910)
The life of a litigator is in his or her cases and connections must be made. MasterFile provides two kinds of link:
- First, there's the ability to link a document, extract, or fact to an issue or subject index outline which is like a cross between a table of contents and an index.
- Secondly, MasterFile uniquely lets you set out your argument and link to the substantiating evidence, point by point, with just a couple of mouse clicks - faster than you can draft and substantiate on paper or in a word processor.
Pleadings
"O! BE SOME OTHER NAME: WHAT'S IN A NAME?
THAT WHICH WE CALL A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET"
-- William Shakespeare
So, just what is a pleading? Before a document is filed with the Court is it a draft, proof, motion, brief, etc. It is the same thing after it is filed as it was before. Why then do attorneys so often re-categorize the same document and place it in several different locations, e.g., pleadings and motions when the basic document itself hasn't changed? The type of document doesn't change with its filing. But when it is filed it seems to take on a different persona. One reason might be that because it was dated one day and filed the next.
MasterFile looks a document the same way before and after it is filed, so locating it is as basic as browsing the database by date, title, type, author, etc. It is this simple. The document type didn't change and the author didn't either, so why not find the document by what it is - the document type, or by who authored it - defense, prosecution, plaintiff, defendant, respondent, etc.?
MasterFile refers to a use of a document as a "disclosure," i.e., what is being done with the document. This simple, but previously unrecognized-by-the masses function makes sense.
CaseMap Conversion
CaseMap, however, doesn't store documents - it links to them. When you go mobile or create a replica of the master database the links don't go with it. Each computer requires having the documents in the same location or path, otherwise, the linked document can't be found.
CaseMap uses a Master copy which can be "duplicated" with replicas distributed to other members on the litigation team. Synchronization requires the replica be "re-absorbed" in the master and then a new replica created. This process is quite unlike MasterFile's bi-directional synchronization.
CaseMap users looking for full litigation support without the cost of Summation or Concordance can simply use MasterFile's CaseMap Importer to quickly switch to MasterFile's integrated fact and document repository, In fact, MasterFile is the first and only system capable of importing CaseMap v4 and v5 files. MasterFile is preparing an update to manage CaseMap v6 importing. Due to CaseMap's limitations, only documents stored as regular Windows files, and identified as "linked files" in CaseMap, as well as CaseMap authorities and extracts are imported into MasterFile.
Once CaseMap's spreadsheets are imported into MasterFile, CaseMap is no longer required. You continue working in MasterFile creating new facts and documents, doing subjective analysis and objective comparison as you need. Then, using MasterFile's argument drafting system, link the facts-supporting document in line with MasterFile's doc-link functionality, as all documents and extracts or other facts are ready for linking to the facts, and argument you are working on.
The "C-Pen"
Here's the scenario. You have your laptop in the law library and in reviewing a treatise you find a particularly relevant passage. Here are your choices:
- Type the text on your computer
- Photocopy the page and type the text on your computer later (oops, the copier is broken!)
- Use C-Pen
MasterFile's extract repository stores key passages which can be linked directly to your case. Normally you would type the text into your computer, but with C-Pen it scans it directly into the repository. A little larger than a highlighter, you merely click on the C-Pen and the MasterFile extract profile window appears. Now pass the tip over the desired text - just like a highlighter. The line you have passed over is automatically collected in MasterFile, one line at a time until the entire passage is captured.
Think of the flexibility of having a means to capture relevant text from a case reporter, newspaper, magazine, or other document. And, the C-Pen will automatically scan text into an open Word document too!
The Internet
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE
Research on your case is no longer limited to time-consuming treks to the law library thanks to the Internet. Assuming you have verified an Internet search result by finding the same information on at least two other websites, you might come to the conclusion you have on your computer screen the smoking gun you need. How do you get it into your case?
Well, you could print it and then type the information into your case, or you could print it, scan it and then import it as a document. MasterFile has a better way. MasterFile will capture the website and automatically print it with MasterFile's PDF printer to the application's Watch Folder. This folder automatically loads documents as you create them - from a word processor, other applications or the Web. The document you printed from the Internet is right there, ready to include in your case or link to other existing data.
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