Sunbelt Blog

The Legal Pad Goes High Tech

Still taking notes on a legal pad? While The trusty legal pad has its place, transcribing your notes is tedious and time consuming. Digital pens are changing the way many professionals take notes. These gizmos store your written text within the pen. Simply take notes, draw diagrams, or even record audio (if equipped) and then transfer the notes to your computer. Once transferred, your notes and drawings can be stored or shared with others. Depending on the type of pen you have, you can convert your written notes to text and import the text into a word processor.

Digital pens are certainly neat, but how might you put your pen to good use in your practice? After all, you already have computers, audio recorders, and PDAs. However, it's not always practical to lug a laptop into meetings and audio recorders are often challenging to find nuggets of information. Equipped with an audio-capable digital pen such as the LiveScribe SmartPulse, you can take notes while recording audio. Once recorded, simply tap a word on the page and hear the recording at that point in time.

Digital pens are terrific for those times when a computer is either inconvenient or inappropriate. For example, when meeting with a potential client for the first time, storing your notes on a laptop puts a barrier between you and the client. Instead, imagine jotting down notes on a simple legal pad as normal. Only in this case, you'll later be able to transfer your notes to your computer and convert them to text! If your digital pen has audio, you can also record the session, marking crucial information with an audio bookmark on the page. For instance, when you ask the client, "What happened?" write down the words "What happened" on the page. When the client is discussing her medical bills, write down the words "medical bills" on the page. Later, when you need to review your notes, tap the words on the page related to what you need to review and hear the audio.

Another excellent use of digital pens is for diagramming. Imagine drawing a diagram of an accident scene and knowing that your diagram has been digitized. Later you can upload your drawing to your computer and share digital copies with your partners, client, and other parties via email.

Some digial pens allow you to write directly on computer images, working much like graphic tablets. When giving a giving a presentation, this type of digital pen allows you to draw images, write text, or otherwise emphasize key points onscreen.

While the possibilities may capture your imagination, digital pens are not created equal. Some require special paper while others work beautifully with a standard legal pad. Some come with handwriting recognition software; others do not. Some digital pens record audio; most do not. Most digital pens connect to a computer via a USB connection though Bluetooth connectivity is starting to become more readily available.

Before you purchase a digital pen, consider how you will use it in your practice. Do you want to combine text with audio recordings? Do you need handwriting recognition or are digital copies of your written notes sufficient? Do you want to be able to write on any type of paper or are you okay with purchasing specialty legal pads? If possible, demo a unit before you buy because each digital pen has its pros and cons. For example, pens that require special paper are far more accurate than those that use plain paper because the special paper uses a sophisticated grid and infrared camera to digitize your pen strokes. The plain paper pens digitize your pen strokes through the use of a transmitter and receiver. If the reciever is bumped, the electronic writing area is also bumped which can cause lines of text or graphic drawings to be distorted compared to the original.

The legal pad has gone high tech. How will you put this technology to use in your practice? Share your ideas with us!