Quarterly was fine. Revenues up and eps in line with estimates.
Squeezing More From a Plugged-In Lawyer
By Pamela McClintock
Even James Bond would find enough to like in a new techno-toy hitting several Los Angeles law firms, a sweet little gadget called a BlackBerry that gives attorneys e-mail juice no matter where in the world they are.
The benefits of this revved-up pager appear to be many. Linked directly to a firm's e-mail system, the wireless device alerts its user of new messages, allows the user to read the e-mail on a tiny screen and respond directly. It also can serve as an electronic calendar and a link to voice mail or fax machines, and new versions promise Internet access.
Increasingly, law firm managers say, keeping pace with new technologies is a critical piece of the client-pleasing puzzle. It's also a key to showing young, tech-enthralled associates that old-guard firms aren't rigid in their thinking.
Among the first big customers of the BlackBerry anywhere are two of Los Angeles' largest firms: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. Both firms have begun deploying the devices on a mass scale over the past two months.
Greg Nitzkowski, the new co-managing partner of Paul, Hastings, already is a devotee, bordering on a salesman. He brags about the compact utility of the device, which, for him, replaces a laptop and palm-top organizer he used to lug with him.
Nitzkowski, a real estate lawyer based in L.A., got a crash course in the beauty of the BlackBerry when he left it in a cab on a trip to San Francisco. He still didn't have it when he boarded another plane, headed this time for the firm's New York office. "I brought an extra 10 pounds of crap on my trip because I didn't
have my 4-inch box," he says.
Paul, Hastings has committed to buying about 300 BlackBerries from the Canadian-based Research In Motion Ltd., according to Mary Odson, head of information technology for the firm. The firm began using them in early October on a pilot basis and intends to add about 50 a month.
"We plan to expand that to about 500 once the attorneys get hooked on them," she says. "One great thing compared to the Palm Pilot is that the BlackBerry allows you real-time e-mail."
What's truly remarkable about the little device is its apparent power to make high-level legal executives go practically giddy with techno-glee. Take Adam Bendell, chairman of the technology committee at Gibson, who's already collecting BlackBerry war stories.
Bendell says Jarrett Arp, an antitrust litigator in the firm's Washington, D.C., office was in a deposition when opposing counsel began asking Arp's client about a speech the client had given. Arp knew the speech was being mischaracterized by opposing counsel, who refused to share the speech with the witness. Arp had a copy of the text of the speech in his office but it wasn't feasible to halt the depo to retrieve it.
Arp discreetly sent off a quick e-mail to his secretary, not even sure the tactic would work. To his amazement, he had the speech within about three minutes. So armed, Arp was able to clarify the record on redirect. Talk about keeping clients happy.
"God, people love it," Bendell says. "It's really amazing."
Surpassing Paul, Hastings in its enthusiasm for the sleek techno-bauble, Gibson has signed an agreement with Research In Motion to buy BlackBerries for more than 500 attorneys and staff. The deal was so significant, the company announced it in an official press release Nov. 16.
The BlackBerry retails for around $400 but likely went for less by the bushel.
"We'll be done the end of January rolling them out. There are hundreds out there already," says Bendell.
The Los Angeles-based Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, known for its entertainment and intellectual property work, also is experimenting with the BlackBerry, albeit on a smaller scale. Steven Shapiro, a patent litigator and head of Mitchell's technology committee, says the firm began using the devices on an experimental basis three or four months ago. "We bought a few and got hooked on them," he says.
At this point, Shapiro says the firm hasn't decided exactly how it will proceed in the matter of the BlackBerry but says the underlying motivation isn't going away anytime soon.
"Technology maximizes our efficiency. More and more clients are expecting their attorneys to utilize these kinds of tools," Shapiro says. "In some respects, it's almost viewed as malpractice not to have these sorts of resources."
Nitzkowski says while it's easy to be wowed by technology, it would be a mistake to require all Paul, Hastings attorneys to use every new piece of equipment. "This isn't mandatory, since there are a lot of different styles of practice," he says. "Some people [within the firm] think it should be mandatory."
As with all such technological "improvements" in lawyers' lives, the sweet utility of the little BlackBerry has a dark spot. Added to the equipment belt of today's superlawyer, next to the pager, cell phone and laptop computer many firms supply their employees, the little miracle just removes one more barrier to working during one's private life.
"This," says Shapiro, "is the concern some people have -- how connected do you want to be? You can't escape." |
