Why MidwestMidwest Getting In Sync
Most trial presentation software features the ability to create video clips - excerpts of digitally recorded video depositions that can be used to dramatically impeach a witness, not only with his/her own words, but with his/her own words out of his/her own mouth AND scrolling below the picture in damning print. The shifty-eyed deponent, larger than life on the screen, revealing the attorney-coached, cleaned-up version now on the stand as a bald-faced liar. It doesn’t get any better than that! Video clips can also be created to send to experts for review, as part of mediation submissions or settlement presentations, and, with court permission, for use during opening and closing arguments.
How do you get there from here… First, you need to commit to videotaping some, if not all, of your depositions. Adverse parties, key witnesses and adverse experts are possible first choices for video. Cost sharing among parties can cut costs. Be sure to either request the video in a format compatible with your trial presentation software or be aware that conversion charges might apply.
Getting the video and the text of the deposition is only part of the process, however. In order to easily create those video clips, it is necessary to synchronize the video with the text. Syncing can be done by the court reporter at the time the deposition is prepared/produced, however, that process is sometimes deferred due to cost constraints. Vendors are available to perform the syncing later, perhaps on a subset of depositions that might be used during trial. Creating the clips is then simply a matter of selecting the beginning and ending points in the transcript, and the synchronized portion of the video will play. Contact Midwest with your video syncing needs.
Midwest Receives National Accreditation!
National WBE Certification was awarded to Midwest Paralegal Services, Inc., by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
Midwest began the complicated and very thorough process of becoming certified as a WBE corporation. (Woman-Owned). Midwest completed a very detailed application process, which included a site visit and interview by a representative of the national accrediting agency. Midwest was approved in November 2007 for Minority Status.
Several of Midwest’s clients and government agencies look for this certification when awarding contract and minority vendor contracts. If this is of value to your team, contact Kenny Olley for a copy of the certification.
Midwest Tests AL-Coder
Consider the use of algorithms to track a document type and extract data which is properly put into pre-defined fields. Imagine that you provide enough formulas and word searches that the equipment can make an educated review of documents and automate the coding process. Well, you don’t need to use your imagination, since the software that will accomplish this is now available.
That is the next phase that Midwest is evaluating with the AL Coder product line. Our initial testing has resulted in very positive results. The speed of turn-around takes what is done manually in hours to completion in minutes or, at times, seconds. As we build the modules that define what a document type is and identify key personnel for clients with multiple cases for the same client, we can see a huge time and cost savings as the software perfects the parameters we feed it.
Using OCR from paper scanned documents and the edata from electronic productions, the software is able to pull out all key names, identify a document title and correctly identify dates related to the document.
It is our belief that even if this process only accomplishes 60% of the coding/indexing currently done manually, it will still be well worth the processing time and cost. Not only will attorneys have faster access to the raw data in fields they can manipulate, but paralegals can turn to other substantive work which is more important to a cases’ progress.
We will keep you posted on the progress of this dynamic tool. Clients with document pools that are appropriate for AL Coder processing will be impressed with the speed and accuracy of the product. Please contact Glenn Hertel, if you feel you have a production that may be a good candidate.
Certificates Earned
Shawn Olley, Rick Stieghorst and Dana Huck successfully completed the User training session for Concordance held in New York, September 5-6.
Dana Huck has also successfully completed the Concordance Certified Trainer session for User and Administration consoles. The training took place in Chicago, IL the week of November 26th. (See training info this newsletter)
Roland Johnson and Shawn Olley successfully completed the Certified Trainer course for Trial Director in Phoenix, Arizona the week of November 26th.
Rick Stieghorst completed the Advanced E-Discovery Certification Course at Kroll Ontrack in Eden Prairie Minnesota the week of November 9th.
Midwest Paralegal Increases Bandwith
To better serve our clients with On-line Hosting, Midwest Paralegal has upgraded its internet connection. We have added two additional full T1 lines for an extra 3 MB of bandwidth. Combined with our current connection we have a total of 9MB downstream and 3.6 MB upstream. We also added an extra layer of redundancy with a RADWARE Linkproof load balancer, and two new Cisco service routers. We now have multiple layers of internet redundancy. The new equipment purchase also lets increase bandwidth quickly (up to 25 MB up and down) allowing us to meet the future needs of our clients.
MMSD Scanning
This past year Midwest Imaging was contacted by Scott Royer, General Manager of Veolia Water Milwaukee, LLC to do an on-site imaging project bid for Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District (MMSD) that they were successfully awarded. Midwest completed the scanning job within the timeframe that the client needed the project to be completed. Two high speed scanners were set up at MMSD and were completed within a few days. Royer said, “I was impressed how professionally you and your staff ran this project.” For on-site scanning or any other imaging needs please contact Ron Kroes at 414-764-2772.
eFiling Update
The eFiling system at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin previously had a document size restriction of 2 mg. Since November, it has been expanded to 5 mg.
- Rick Steighorst, Dana Huck and Shawn Olley successfully completed the Concordance user training in New York, NY in October 2007.
- Dana Huck successfully completed the Concordance Certified Trainer Coarse in Chicago in November 2007. Glenn Hertel and Roland Johnson were also trained in Concordance.
- Roland Johnson and Shawn Olley successfully completed the Trial Director Certified Training program in Phoenix, AZ in November 2007.
- Midwest was highlighted in the vendor spotlight on the Lexis/Nexis Concordance web page in December 2007. Thanks Concordance!
- Midwest Imaging was a vendor at the Wisconsin Association of Legal Administrators Annual Seminar in November 2007.
- Midwest Paralegal Services was a highlighted in Class Action a quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Association of Legal Administrators. To see the article check on Midwest’s web page. www.midwestparalegal.com.
- Susan Wishaw a recent return to Midwest, has taken a position in the IP department of Michael Best & Friedrich. Midwest wishes her the best with her new employer.
- Midwest Paralegals Trap Shooting Team had a great time this Fall. Unfortunately we didn’t win the championship. We’ll get ‘em next year.
- Midwest would like to welcome Anne Platt Atherton to its ranks. Anne has eighteen years experience as a paralegal most of it spent at American Family Insurance. Anne has an undergrad degree from Northern Illinois University and her paralegal certificate from Roosevelt University in Chicago.
- Dawn Malachuk is a new member of the Midwest Paralegal staff as well! Dawn has twelve years experience in the corporate and real estate area. Dawn has her undergrad from Illinois State University and her paralegal certificate from Roosevelt University in Chicago.
- Midwest is happy to announce the addition of Carey Stebbins to the Midwest Paralegal team. Carey brings experience with the State Public Defender’s office and extensive experience in the healthcare industry. Carey has her undergrad from University of Colorado at Boulder.
- Midwest Imaging has added Lisa Sprengel to its staff. Lisa is an experienced scanner and eDiscovery processor. Lisa will be assisting the IT staff in project flow and productions.
- Midwest welcomes Lauren Wosilait to its staff in January. Lauren has her undergrad degree from Florida State University and her paralegal Certificate from Carthage. She most recently worked at Gray and Associates in Milwaukee. Lauren will be assisting in general litigation.
