IADC 2013: where advocacy meets innovation.

• Author: Urquhart, Quentin F., Jr.
• Position: International Ass'n of Defense Counsel - President's page

In his recent biography on Steve Jobs, Walter Iassacson eloquently describes how Jobs was able to make Apple into an innovative force that transformed entire industries:

He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology, so he built a company where leaps of imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering. He and his colleagues at Apple were able to think differently: They developed not merely modest product advances based on focus groups, but whole new devices and services that consumers did not yet know that they needed. As civil defense lawyers, we have all had to adjust to profound technological changes that have impacted our profession. Just consider the simple act of sending a written communication to another lawyer. Twenty-five years ago you dictated a letter to your secretary (that's what they were all called back then) who typed it up on an IBM Selectric[R] typewriter using triple-form carbon paper. Because the letter could not be stored anywhere, you worked hard to get it right the first time so that your secretary did not have to re-type it again from the beginning. Once the letter was physically signed, the original was sent to your firm copy center where it (along with any enclosures) was "Xeroxed" many times over to cover your service obligations. The letter was then mailed using the U.S. Postal Service and typically arrived at its destination two or three business days later. Today, that same process can be completed by a single lawyer in less than 10 minutes with almost instantaneous speed of transmission, unlimited enclosure capacity and at virtually no cost. And, not a single tree was harmed along the way.

The development of personal computers and user-friendly software, the growth of the internet and the creation of wireless networks that allow us to "stay connected" 24/7 have fundamentally altered the way we practice law. But just as important is the realization that these innovations have also changed the subject matter of our practices. Twenty-five years ago no one was litigating the scope of electronic discovery, arguing about the...