Like most men, I love gadgets. Unlike many lawyers, I’m not afraid to integrate new technology into my practice. Properly used, technology can often be what the military calls a force multiplier. That is, it can help you do more work than you can alone.
One such piece of technology that can definitely help a lawyer is the Pulse smartpen by Livescribe. This pen features a built-in infrared camera that when used with special “microdot” paper records the pen’s position for later transfer to a computer. This allows a digital image of what was written by the pen to be input, just as if you were to scan your handwritten notes.
The real bonus of the pen, though, is it’s ability to record sound along with the recording of your handwriting. I made a video to demonstrate.
To transfer your notes, you need the included USB cradle and the free Livescribe Desktop software that comes with the Pulse. Livescribe Desktop has a feature by which you can search your notes for certain terms. That’s right, the Desktop has handwriting analysis (provided your writing is neat enough). The fact that it can interpret my handwriting with some success is quite impressive since it is not unusual for me to not be able to read my own handwriting.
I can really see that the Pulse is going to come in handy. The primary use I foresee is to use it when taking notes while meeting with a client. I can record the conversation that occurs with the client, and that can come quite in handy later on when reviewing those notes. I think it would also be great to use in a deposition. The transcript from a “depo” obviously does not include verbal cues such as inflection that would be detectable with notes synced to a voice recording.
I’m really going to enjoy finding other ways the Pulse can help me out.
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You are not the first attorney to recommend the LiveScribe Pulse. When I met @ThatLawyerDude for dinner a few months back, he had nothing but rave reviews for the LiveScribe pen he had recently added to his tech arsenal.
I had forgotten about that meeting until reading your post and am now adding LiveScribe as the next gadget I buy/test.
Thanks!