My Best Teacher
Posted: July 24, 2010 at 6:03 am | by wdelliottFiled under: Uncategorized
The question came to me the other day – who was my best teacher? Before I can select my best teacher, I need to compile a listing of all my teachers.
Compiling the list of all of my teachers is a daunting task. There are the six years of grade school at Fairview Elementary, Sherman, Texas. Then there were the three years at Dillingham Junior High School, and three years at Sherman High School. Then began four college years followed by the three years of law school at SMU and finally my time at New York University School of Law. That is a total of 20 years of education.
How many teachers have there been? The elementary school years are fairly easy to compute. There were six years and six teachers. In addition, we had a music teacher, Mrs. Davis. The first time I ever heard a violin played was by Mrs. Davis. That would be seven teachers.
Junior high school is more difficult because we started the practice that lasts for the remaining 12 years of my education of having different teachers for the various courses. The teachers remain in their classrooms and the students move around. Mr. Robert Sheets taught world history. He is clear in my memory. One of my classmates told me this week that he recently talked to Mr. Sheets, who lives in Colorado. A fair estimate is that there would be at least four, perhaps five, teachers per year. Physical education teachers, the band teacher, Mr. Garza, would be extra. Let’s say then that there were 12-15 teachers in junior high school.
Senior high school is quite the blur. Mr. Sonnenberg was my band teacher. I remember him clearly and dearly on account of the impact of music on my life. I did not remain in the band once rock n’ roll took over. Once you have played rock n’ roll and even were paid to play it, you never went back to marching bands. In fact, the entire high school curriculum was stodgy after you experienced rock n’ roll. I’ll concede, though, that marching down the street in a marching band, in formation, playing a John Philip Sousa march is quite a rush. I never fail to stop and listen whenever I hear a marching band.
Norman Bennett stands out as my math teacher. Mr. Bennett became an film actor and is remembered fondly by almost all of us.
In High School, like Junior High, there were, say, 4-5 teachers per year, plus band, Mr. Sonnenberg. Over three years, the total teachers would be 12-15 teachers.
At this point, the difficulty is remembering the teacher. Many of my high school classmates can remember our teachers, but I have more difficulty. Sometimes I wonder if I was even there. I cannot remember my sophomore year hardly at all.
The humorist Dave Barry has written about high school that despite the great teachers, wonderful facilities, parental support, all he remembers from high school are the lyrics to “Louie Louie.” I agree with Dave Barry. I understand why my Dad was dismissive of my rock n’ roll years. But playing rock n’ roll was a great deal of fun (and still is).
From grades 1-12, estimating the total number of teachers produces a total count in the 37 range. Elementary school: 7 teachers. Junior High School: 15 teachers. Senior High School: 15 teachers. I’ll round the number up to 40 teachers from grades 1-12.
Then, my attention turns to college. There is no way I can remember my college teachers. In high school, you would see the teachers around town, at church, or at the grocery store. You and your family and the teachers all know each other. Even after going away to college, you stay in touch with many of your teachers when you come home. Teachers in the college years were transitory. After the one class, you never saw the teachers again. At least I have a high school annual enabling me to look at the picture of my teachers and try to remember them. In college, I cannot even remember the faces of my teachers. My college yearbooks would not help since I can’t remember even the slightest detail or names of the teachers.
To compute the number of college teachers, start with each academic year, which has about 30 academic hours. Each course is either two or three hours. Over four years, there would be 120 academic hours. Assuming three hours a course, that is 40 teachers. If the courses were two-hours each, then that 60 teachers. Let’s average the number of college teachers is 50 teachers.
So far, then from grades 1-16, the total number of teachers is 90 teachers.
Law school is more memorable for some reason. I could probably recreate my entire roster of law school professors. I was in law school for four years (SMU and NYU), with both two and three hour courses. Assume again 30 academic hours a year, times four years, the total course hours equals 120 academic hours. If all courses were three academic hours then there would be 40 teachers, but if two hour courses then 60 teachers. If you average the two and three hours, then assume 50 teachers in my law school education.
The grand total of teachers from grades 1-20 is 140 teachers. Good grief! Who were all of those people who taught me? What ever happened to them? Do any of them remember me?
Who was my best teacher out of this group of 140 persons that taught me over 20 years of formal education?
Starting with runner up: Mrs. McGraw in my sixth grade stands out. She took me to the principal’s office to be sure, but her comment on my report card has remained with me. She wrote “Has promise”. I can still see her handwritten challenge to me in my mind. More importantly, I can remember my parent’s reaction, especially my father’s reaction, to her message. Yes, Mrs. McGraw is number two.
One particular course and the teacher of that course stands head and shoulders above all the rest. In the summer of 1971, I took basic income tax. Those of us in that law school course that summer were not enthusiastic. Summer school is a downer. A law school course in the summer is particularly bad. Income tax in the summer is unbelievably horrible. You meet everyday, instead of once a week. The reading and work was immense. You meet in the morning and then spend the rest of the day preparing for the next day. There is no relief. Not only that, the substance of the course was income tax. Good grief. How much was stacked against that course being successful?
The professor that summer was Victor Zonana, who was visiting from NYU law school, graduate tax program. I do not know what brought him to SMU law school that summer, but Professor Zonana left behind an extraordinary legacy, at least for me. Out of all of my 20 years of education, my 140 teachers, Victor Zonana was my best teacher. And he taught basic income tax in summer school.
Part of Professor’s Zonana’s success is attributable to the NYU teaching method. As I learned later when I attended NYU law school graduate tax program, they have mastered the business of teaching tax law. The problem method is the core teaching method at NYU. Instead of reviewing cases, which is the pattern for regular law school, the problem method confronts factual problems prepared by the professor. The graduate tax program at NYU is the premier tax law education. Zonana therefore knew how to teach tax. What we did not know when the course started, but learned that 1971 summer, is that Victor Zonana knew how to teach, knew tax law, knew how to teach tax law and was enthusiastic. He set me and those of us in that class that summer on fire. His ability to engage me in the face of so many obstacles is the reason I honor Professor Victor Zonana over all the rest of my teachers.
Also relevant to my selecting a tax professor as my best teacher is the fact that tax has become my life’s work. But in the first tax class, I did know tax would remain my constant companion.
Unquestionably, his enthusiasm for teaching and the course material was palpable and infectious. When he walked into the class everyday, you could feel his desire to impart the material to you. He was exciting and as a result, we became excited. I became so excited, in fact, that I decided to become a tax lawyer that summer.
When I attended the graduate tax program at NYU School of Law in 1973-74, I took two courses from Professor Zonana. He had the magic all right. He was part of an extraordinary faculty: James Eustice, Carr Ferguson, George Zeitlin, Charles Lyon, and so many more. All of them were fabulous teachers, unique personalities and tax law experts.
But as I reflect over the 20 years and the 140 teachers, one teacher stands out. Yes, Victor Zonana was my best teacher.
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Side Bar Comments
Posted: June 8, 2010 at 1:39 pm | by wdelliottFiled under: Uncategorized
Probably from the first time first lawyers appeared opposite one another in a courtroom, a regular part of that theater has been the side bar comments. Snide remarks, ripostes, veiled intimidation, wise cracks, and verbal jousting all form a part of the tapestry of courtroom law. Beneath the surface of side bar comments, though, is simmering tension, possible anger, and inevitable conflict, even the prospect of physical violence. Presiding over all of the byplay among the lawyers is a judge, somewhat like a NBA referee, trying to keep order in the midst of controlled chaos of highly charged performers. Like NBA referees, judges are sometimes strict and occasionally loose, all of which affects the outcome of the side bars. Lawyers, or at least the better ones, seem to appreciate their boundaries, but even then are willing to cross the line.
David Evans of Fort Worth tells of a case he was trying, which was characterized by a greater than usual abundance of ripostes with opposing counsel. For several days, the air in the courtroom was filled with biting remarks, sometimes directed to opposing counsel or back to him. Evans and his counterpart had a running skirmish for the first days of trial. As the trial progressd, the volume and intensity of side bars increased. Finally, shortly before the noon lunch break on the third day, the judge had enough and called Evans and opposing counsel to the bench.
“I’ve had it with you two engaging in excessive side bars with each other. From now on, the first time I hear a side bar from one of you, I’m going to impose a fine of $20. The next time, the fine will be fined $40 and so on. I’m going to continue doubling the fine until both of you get the message to stop it. Understood?”
Evans and the other lawyer nodded.
Over the lunch hour, Evans went over his bank and obtained $3,000 in twenty dollar bills and placed the currency in his inside suit pocket.
As the afternoon trial session commence, Evans commenced a cross-examination of the opposing party in the case. Hardly an hour had passed when the opposing counsel stood up to object to one of Evans’ questions and threw in a remark questioning Evans’ level of intelligence. Evans shot back.
The judge stopped the trial and called both lawyers to the bench. “I thought I told both of you a couple of hours ago to stop these incessant side bar comments. I told you that the fines were going to start at $20 and continue doubling until you stop it. Did you understand me?”
Opposing counsel replied to the judge that he understood.
Evans said that he understood also. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the stack of $20 bills and placed the money on the judges’ bench.
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Outlook Appointments and Changing Time Zones
Posted: May 10, 2010 at 5:36 am | by wdelliottFiled under: Uncategorized
This entry concerns a tricky little point in Outlook, which could cause you to miss your flight. When you enter an appointment in Outlook, the system assumes that you are entering the appointment in the same time zone you are in. I recently traveled to Washington. While sitting in Dallas (CST), I entered the time of my return flight from Washington Reagan as 11:10 am, meaning that the flight was 11:10 am EST. When I arrived in Washington, my phone automatically changed the time zone in the phone to Eastern time. This is nice, but the tricky part of that efficiency is that the time of my appointments changed also. Thus, my 11:10 am (EST) return flight changed to 12:10 pm! That is because I failed to specify in Outlook that my return flight of 11:10 am was Eastern time. The computer thought that 11:10 was CST, when I intended that it was EST.
A good explanation of this possible mistake is found in http://www.slipstick.com/calendar/timezone.asp.
Older versions of Outlook don’t have an option for ‘in what time zone?’ so that you could make an appointment for 2 PM and select Pacific time zone and it would show up as 5 PM in your calendar when the computer is using the Eastern time zone. Outlook 2007/2010 allows you to select the time zone the appointment will be held in.
Click the Time Zone button to show the time zone selectors.
When you create an appointment, be sure to make the appointment in the intended time zone, using the time zone button. When I entered the time of the return flight as 11:10 am I could have and should have selected 11:10 am EST. Then, the time of the appointment would have remained 11:10 EST even when my phone time automatically changed.
I made my flight, but just barely.
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Absurdity of Class Actions
Posted: March 29, 2010 at 3:15 pm | by wdelliottFiled under: Uncategorized
In today’s mail was a notice of settlement of a class action, which starkly points out the absurdity of class actions. I had a brokerage account with A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. for many years, which has been taken over twice and is now Wells Fargo. I hear from my broker, who is responsible for my money, so little that I had to confirm today’s name of the brokerage company. Tomorrow, it very well might another name.
Apparently, a class action was filed about 5 years ago complaining about the brokerage firm, A.G. Edwards, not Wells Fargo, taking payments from mutual fund companies into which the firm placed their customers. This complaint sounds like a kick-back. I did not know about the business practice, nor the class action. The company denied the complaint, But here arrives a notice of settlement. The company was apparently willing to settle the case, which they denied was true.
The settlement is for $60 million of which $26,000,000 is in cash and $34,000,000 in vouchers. My share of the settlement is $24.65 (in the form of a voucher against Wells Fargo fees) for one account. The plaintiff lawyers get $21 million. You might want to re-read the prior two sentences. The disparity in amounts is so absurd as to be laughable. The plaintiff lawyers get $21,000,000 and I get a $24.65 voucher.
Is this a joke? Apparently not. A set of three law firms brought an action purportedly representing me, along with others. I did not know of the action, nor ever communicated with the law firm. I certainly never asked them to represent me. Such as it is with class actions. Now, five years later, the case is settled. The plaintiff lawyers enriched themselves to the tune of $21 million cash and my lawyers arranged for me to receive $24.65 in a voucher.
I wonder if my lawyers, so to speak, discharged their legal duty to me. Have my lawyers represented me competently and loyally? Did my lawyers place my interests first?
This situation invites wonder about our legal system. I recall the famous expression of Nora Ephron, the playwright, director, producer, who supposedly said, “I used to be cynical, but I ran out of time.” As I carry my $24.65 voucher with me for the rest of the day, I will pause and reflect Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have forgotten about all of this.
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Could It Be?
Posted: February 16, 2010 at 3:48 pm | by wdelliottFiled under: Legal Humor
My father, Ralph Elliott of Sherman, Texas, was a Texas District Judge at the end of his career. He sat in the 59th District Court, which spanned two counties, Collin and Grayson Counties, for the first few years of his service on the bench. Dad would therefore sit in in McKinney and Sherman, Texas.
The McKinney, Texas courtroom at the time was old-fashioned, with a high, elevated, judicial bench. Part of this construction was to give the judge a vantage point to see all that was going on in the courtroom, except for that area immediately in front of the bench. While the judge was sitting, he could see everything, but not the area below the front edge of the bench. Normally, that limited view would not matter since lawyers and their clients stood out from the bench a bit, in full view.
One day, Dad was listening to lawyers argue a paternity case. A woman had brought suit against a man claiming he was the child’s father. Arrayed before Dad, as he sat back in his high chair on the bench, were the woman, the male defendant, that is, the putative father of the child, and their two lawyers. The four persons were standing out from the bench a few feet, in a line. Dad could see them, they could see him.
Procedurally, the process required Dad to ask openly to those within hearing, “Is there anyone else in the courtroom who claims to be father of this child?” Of course, there are very few people in a courtroom, typically, except for those awaiting their turn to come before him in the next case or cases. After Dad asked the open question, he paused, and then was turning his attention to concluding the paternity matter before him, when a small hand appeared at the front-edge of the judicial bench, with the fingers of the mysterious hand waiving vigorously. The hand appears something like a small child in elementary school trying to get the attention of the teaching by waiving the small hand. Dad could see the fingers and the top part of the hand, but not the body to which the hand belonged.
Not being able to see the person to whom the hand was attached, on account of the blind spot directly in front of the bench, Dad stood up and placed his hands on the top of his bench and leaned over on his toes so that he could look over the front edge of the bench. When he leaned over, he saw a little man, a midget, standing there, waiving his arms wildly.
Dad was surprised, to say the least, to see anyone there, much less a midget. Dad asked the little man, “What do you want?”
The midget responded, “Well Judge, you asked if anyone in the courtroom claims to be the father of this child, other than the defendant, and I’m speaking up.”
Dad asked, “Are you claiming to be father of the child, instead of the defendant?”
“Yes,” said the midget.
At this point, Dad, still perched over his bench, resting on his hands, looked up at the woman and asked, “Could it be?”
The woman smiled and replied, “Could be.”
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When to Retire?
Posted: February 16, 2010 at 3:46 pm | by wdelliottFiled under: Legal Humor
My father, Ralph Elliott of Sherman, Texas was a Texas District Judge at the end of his illustrious career, having been a lawyer in Sherman for over 50 years, former Mayor of Sherman, member of the State Bar Board of Directors, leading practitioner, and then District Judge. Towards the end, he was experiencing physical difficulties ranging from failing hearing, pain in his back, reduces endurance, and such other ailments that afflict the older person. His mental facilities were sharp, though and he enjoyed the courtroom.
And so it came as a little bit of a surprise when he told me he believed he would step down from the bench. I asked him, “Why are wanting to quit now, when you are at the top of your game, when your life-long legal experience makes you an great judge? You can handle the business of judging perfectly well.”
Dad then told me why he knew it was time to retire. He was listening to two lawyers argue over a boundary dispute. The arguments were going back and forth between them, with metes and bounds descriptions being thrown about freely. Dad would ofter sit back with his hear resting on his judicial chair, listening to the lawyers go on and on and on.
He said that the next sentence he heard one of the lawyers speak was, “Well, you wake him up, it’s your motion.”
He knew then it was time to retire.
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Law Library in 1936
Posted: November 8, 2009 at 8:05 am | by wdelliottFiled under: Grayson County, Legal Stories, Texas Legal History
Neilson Rodgers of Sherman, Texas recently died. Neilson started practice in Sherman in 1936 with the Webb & Webb law firm. In my oral interview of him, Neilson said that he was attracted to the Webb firm because it had one of the two largest law libraries in Sherman. The Head, Dillard, Maxey law firm had the other substantial law library. I have reflected on Neilson’s comments about the importance of a law library to the quality of the lawyer’s practice.
Today, with technological advances afoot, law firms migrate away from law libraries, its cost and effort to maintain. A solo lawyer with a computer can access all the law that there is.
In 1936, many and perhaps most lawyers did not maintain a law library. In the town of Sherman, Texas in 1936, with its vibrant business economy and legal community, I am surprised that only two law firms had law libraries of note.
In looking over the cases decided by the Dallas Court of Appeals that originated in Grayson County, Texas (Sherman), from the period from WWI to WWII, the vast majority of appellate cases involved lawyers from the Webb & Webb law firm and the Head, Dillard, Maxey firm. The Webb firm was predominately a plaintiff’s firm and the Head, Dillard, Maxey was a defense firm. Neilson said that this was about the time when the general exception method of trying cases changed to a special issues method. This change placed a premium on a learned understanding of the legal underpinnings of a case. To preserve a trial court judgment on appeal required a studied examination of the underlying law of a case.
Spearman Webb had such an approach as a plaintiff’s lawyer. Most plaintiff lawyers in the period before special issues practice approached a trial without a keen appreciation of the underlying legal principles. They just put on the case. The jury’s decision on the case was the end of it.
With special issues practice, learned lawyers, such as existed in the Head, Dillard, Maxey firm could defeat a trial court judgment on appeal by their intelligent use of assigning error. Only plaintiff lawyers with a law library, such as Webb & Webb, could defend a trial court judgment on appeal. Hence, the value of the law library in 1936.
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Tales from the Road: Airline Travel
Posted: July 23, 2009 at 6:32 am | by wdelliottFiled under: Uncategorized
Amidst the rough and tumble nature of airline travel, there are, to use the current phrase, “green shoots” of hope. On a recent trip to Vancouver/Victoria with my wife, Carol, we encountered the all too frequent occurrence of a canceled flight requiring us to spend the night in Salt Lake City with one of those airline vouchers experiences.
What was notable about the experience was the kindness of Delta Airline employees, who went out of their way to make our unfavorable experience palatable. Further, I relearned the important lesson that the front-line airline employees are not the cause of the problem and thus there is no reason to take out frustration on them. My wife Carol showed me the important lesson of being nice and the positive effect resulting from being nice.
The Delta airline person manning the desk at the Delta airline club found a way for us to get two of the last two seats on an early flight the following morning. Without her having done this, we would have been delayed another day. She was kind to us because my wife was kind to her.
We were provided with hotel vouchers, but the hotel shuttle bus was overrun and full. Thus, we were going to need to take a cab into downtown Salt Lake, needing a voucher for the taxi. The Delta employee handing out vouchers personally accompanied Carol and me to the cab stand to confirm that the cab would accept the voucher without difficulty.
Lost luggage is a by-product of canceled airline flights. The lost luggage Delta clerk at DFW, who must have one of the most difficult jobs on earth, was especially helpful and kind in facilitating our report on the missing luggage. She is technically required to wait before permitting Delta customers to file missing luggage reports, forcing harried travelers to stand around waiting at the luggage carousel, but she went ahead and called the luggage handlers to confirm that there were no more bags to be processed and accelerated our report so that we could leave the airport and go home. My wife was nice to her and she was nice to us.
Then there was the Delta flight attendant earlier in the day, when we were actually flying on a scheduled flight, who wrote hand-written thank-you notes to many of the passengers. If you are shocked at what I just wrote, re-read it. Yes, an airline flight attendant wrote thank you notes to the passengers.
The take away messages:
1. Being nice to others leads to them being nice to you. That rule sounds familiar – oh yes, “Do unto others as you would them do unto you.”
2. Front line airline employees are not the cause, but in fact are part of the solution. They can make your unpleasant travel experience passable. You only need to be nice to them.
3. If for no other reason than self-interest, when confronted with challenges, put on your smiley face and soldier on. My wife Carol taught me that vital lesson this past week.
4. Men travelers, let your wife do the talking.
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Clinging to Technological Change
Posted: July 4, 2009 at 6:19 am | by wdelliottFiled under: Uncategorized
One way to measure the speed of technological change is to pull all tech tools from my briefcase and evaluate those tools as of a clear moment, say September 11, 2001 (“911″). That date was some 7 1/2 years ago from this writing.
The following discussion looks at my tech tools on 911:
IPOD. The IPOD did not exist on 911. Apple introduced IPODs a month later, in October 2001. By 2007, Apple had sold 100 millions of them, and by 2009, the sales had risen to an astonishing 163 millions IPODs. Competitive products have not succeeded.
Laptop. Today, I use a Dell Latitude E6400, with 80g harddrive, 2.26 ghz, 2g memory, Intel core duo processor. This is my fifth laptop since 911. On 911, IBM offered a Thinkpad with 64 mb memory, 20g storage, 700 mhz processor, and featured a 3.5″ 1.44 MB floppy drive.
Wireless broadband. I use a wireless broadband device on my laptop. There was a slow, limited, expensive, wireless connectivity available, but nothing like today’s technology.
Smartphone. My Samsung Blackjack II is not state of the art. On 911, in the developed world, some 58 out of every 100 persons had a cell phone. Today, it is 97 out of 100. The first internet use on a cell occurred in 1999. On 911, cell phones did not work on account of the overloading of the cell phone systems. Hand-held data only devices, (PDAs) such as Blackberry, Palm, pagers, did work. At that time, estimates were that 1 million data hand-helds were in use. At the end of 2007, there were a total of 3.3 billion subscriptions to cell phones, sending some 2.6 billion messages a day. In 2008, there are 4.1 billion subscriptions.
Today, the IPhone is transformative. The new, third, phase of the IPhone recently introduced is dramatic. One million people purchased the new IPhone in three days! Some 22 million IPhones have been purchased since June 2007, when it was introduced. Some 50,000 applications have been written and introduced for the IPhone.
Other popular technologies did not exist on 911. Facebook was invented in 2003. Today, it boasts 132 million unique visitors. In 2001, Windows XP had not been introduced; Windows 2000 was the standard. Shortly before 911, Apple released OS X. Netscape was a dominate browser. It does not exist today. Internet Explorer was at version 5.5. Firefox was barely developed at version 0.9. ITunes had been introduced earlier in 2001.
If all of this technological advancement, and more, has occurred in the last 7.5 years, what will be the state of technology in the next 7.5 years? The thought boggles the mind.
The trend towards individualized devices will almost certainly continue. Desktop computers will become less and less relevant. The vision provided by the IPhone will continue and accelerate. Web content will be delivered to the hand-held device. Consumers of web information will use a single device for most functions, from calls, photos, music, videos.
Lawyers will view continuing legal education in short bites. The three-day seminar in hotel ballrooms will continue to have their place, but more and more, CLE will be broken up into small segments, say 10 minutes at a time. Before entering a courtroom, a lawyer will view a 10 minute tutorial on his or her hand-held device, on cross-examining an expert witness, as a refresher.
The hand-held will download content without wires. The playback options from the hand-held device will be plentiful. Should I sit on the couch and play my hand-held content through the large TV monitor? While driving, should I play the sound track from the downloaded CLE content on my car sound system, with the hand-held connecting through a wireless connection?
Downloads and playbacks will be wireless and seamless.
The next 7.5 years wil be a time of terrific and wonder technological advancements.
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Helpful Technology – Digital Dictation
Posted: June 6, 2009 at 9:32 am | by wdelliottFiled under: Law practice management
A frequently-asked question is what technology do I find helpful. This is a occasional discussion of the technology that I use.
Digital dictation is fabulous and helpful hardware/software. In contrast to the old days, when tape-based dictation was used, in today’’s e-world, everything today is digital. Olympus is perhaps the leading vendor of digital dictation equipment, along with Phillips and Grundig. I use the Olympus DSS-4400, which is full-featured portable hand-held unit. My portable dictation unit sits in a cradle sitting next to my laptop docking station for recharging and syncing.
Digital dictation is receiving increasing attention. Nerino Petro has written an excellent article on this important subject. The reality is that most people talk faster than they type. Further, there are many messages that do not need to be typed. Recording remains ubiquitous. Even cell phones are beginning to have dictation capability, but the dedicated hand-held units are still the preferred dictation system.
I carry my Olympus 4400 with me at all times. It provides 5 segments or compartments for allocating dictation between your categories, such as instructions, business, personal, meetings, etc. The unit also allows to me to record in a conference or and conventional dictation. The conferencing recording picks up an impressive broad range of voices in a meeting or conference.
When dictation is finished, the unit syncs quickly to my laptop via a cradle or cable and then I e-mail the relevant dictation files to my secretary. She can then either return the typed material to me via e-mail or place on my desk for my return. Virtual transcription services over the web. Some of my digital notes are not transcribed, but remain on my computer’s hard-drive as part of the client file. Not all file material need be written.
The digital dictation is help for capture meetings, an alleviating the need for written note-taking. Of course, you should announce what you are doing so that recording the meeting does not offend.
Digital dictation allows for insertion of new dictation material into the middle of a previously recorded session. Special instructions can be added to a dictation file. The choices are seemingly limitless.
Conversion of dictation to type-written words, via software, is now available. I have not tried it, on account of the cost of the software, but the benefits seem interesting and useful.
The storage is generous allowing from 3 to 11 hours of recording. The battery life allows for about 3 hours of recording before recharging the battery.
This is an important tool for my law practice. Dictation might have faded a bit on account of the digital world, when everyone seems to be typing, but for the busy lawyer, the availability of a hand-held digital recorder is an effective tool.
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Attorney and Counselor