Featured Pro: Evan Walker

Staying within the Apple ecosystem helps him stay on top of all his cases, his browser shows up on all his devices, he uses apps like Shortcuts to boost his productivity, and Notes to keep track of to-do’s like evidentiary issues that need to be dealt with, and ideas for closing argument. Everything he needs for his practice is available, synced on every device, all the time. In Evan’s practice solo truly means solo, and paperless truly means paperless - there’s no pen or paper to be found. The three apps in the LIT SUITE are especially important, being purpose built for legal practice. Evan finds he relies heavily on the LIT SUITE for every one of his cases. He tells us, “In my practice, I don’t have the luxury of resources and time, I have to be fast and cost-effective.”

Working Up a Case - Important Information Snowballs

Evan has been using LIT SOFTWARE apps since before the LIT SUITE was released, and the biggest difference for him has been the hugely improved import process in the LIT SUITE. He can now use AirDrop to import last minute documents, but the ability to compress and import files from the cloud has greatly impacted the efficiency of his practice. Now, bringing all his files into DocReviewPad takes seconds. He then uses DocReviewPad to reference discovery responses and pertinent documents during the deposition and discovery phase of his matters, constantly building out the Case File with new information.

Evan tells us he uses TranscriptPad more than any other app. At the outset of a case, he’ll take a deposition and review it once in TranscriptPad, make notes, add issue codes and highlights. Then, as he begins to depose the next few witnesses, he’ll refer to the reports generated from the first witness to prepare for the next one, and so on. In this way the important information not only rises to the top, but snowballs. The next step is ADR, and he is ready with all the most salient testimony to copy and paste for a brief, or motion, or presentation.

The LIT SUITE in Trial - Competent, Controlled, Organized, and Prepared

The iPad allows Evan to be more nimble than his large-firm opponents, often outpacing them in real time. In a recent case with about 30 depositions, TranscriptPad was crucial to organize and designate testimony for use in the courtroom. As he cross-examined a witness, Evan had the potential impeachment testimony in front of him in TranscriptPad for every question. Each time he would reference the testimony, the team at the defense table was flipping through pages of paper depositions, trying to keep up. The Judge and jury noticed, and soon Evan found that even the defense attorney “looked to me for the transcript references. With TranscriptPad you’re competent, controlled, organized, prepared, and always ready to go”.

In California, Evan finds that using TranscriptPad with a 776 witness is particularly effective. The witness is always adverse, and impeachment in that scenario is especially impactful to the jury. Evan tells us that a big part of the impact during examination of a 776 witness, is that he is always ready with the testimony in TranscriptPad, and impeachment is “just so clean.”

Evan uses TrialPad as a trial notebook during the course of trial. He creates a Case File for each case, and a separate folder for each stage of trial, accessing what he needs as the trial proceeds. Often he will rely on TrialPad to reference and display prior rulings during an objection. For example, in a recent trial, Evan objected to testimony from a particular witness that referenced evidence that had been excluded in a Motion in Limine. The jury was excused, and Evan pulled up the motion, and the written order before the court. The ability to pull up and display in seconds anything he might need to reference, is an example to the judge of being prepared, in control, and organized. Evan tells us, “I have taken a case to trial with just my iPad. Compare that to a large defense team with hired tech support, and wires and monitors everywhere. I have to be in control of the information in my case, and I make it as simple as possible to do that. TrialPad allows me to do that.”

COVID shutdowns were particularly challenging to Evan’s practice. The courts were shut, and no trials were being set. His legal opponents knew that for the most part COVID hardships were on the part of plaintiffs and their clients, and so there was little incentive for large insurance companies to settle. Keeping fixed costs low, and efficiency high allowed his practice to make it to 2021, when trials began to be set again.

In October, Evan will mark seven years of solo, paperless practice. Being mobile and efficient with his iPad and the LIT SUITE “Doesn’t allow me to take on more cases, but I can work up the cases I have better, faster, and more efficiently.” He looks forward to maintaining his uniquely small and focused practice in Southern California, and proud of representing every client personally, and passionately.

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