Technology at Mintz Levin
Technological Capabilities
Mintz Levin is at the vanguard of law and technology. The firm’s substantial investment in technology mirrors its commitment to efficiency and client service. All of our information systems are designed to provide secure, high-bandwidth, fault-tolerant access to documents, images, messages, research facilities, and multimedia resources. Applications are developed in an environment that encourages the sharing of knowledge and resources, and quick, reliable communications. Information is readily available to be shared across the firm and with clients.
Hardware
Reflecting Mintz Levin’s commitment to technology, we have invested in a high-end network infrastructure. The firm uses Cisco network equipment, and has desktops operating in a switched 100 Mbps network fabric. Running on HP Proliant servers, Windows Server 2003 is employed as our network operating system. On the client side, Windows XP operates on HP Compaq desktops and laptops. In addition, we offer all attorneys and paraprofessionals access from home, or virtually anywhere that they can reach the Internet or a phone line.
Lawyers are often one of the most on-the-go groups of professionals, meeting with clients, attending court, and traveling to a variety of locations around the country. Mintz Levin’s lawyers rely on e-mail to stay in touch. Mintz Levin uses BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds accompanied by Onset Technology’s METAmessage® application for document conversion. The result has been improved customer satisfaction, efficiency, and productivity.
Software
Mintz Levin utilizes a variety of software applications including Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Interwoven’s DeskSite, Symantec AntiVirus, LexisNexis, Thompson West, and Deltaview Document Comparison. The Mintz Levin technological infrastructure is constantly growing and evolving to meet both internal and external clients’ needs.
Exchange of Information
We exchange documents with clients via e-mail on a daily basis. Our e-mail application, Microsoft Exchange/Outlook, is integrated with our document management system as well as with the entire Microsoft Office suite and IntroSpect, the firm’s litigation support application. Mintz Levin provides unified messaging in all of our offices. Lawyers and staff receive all their messages in one place—through their Outlook e-mail account. This includes voicemail and faxes, as well as e-mail. Thus, a lawyer doesn’t need a phone to access voicemail or fax, simply a connection to the firm via a computer or a BlackBerry.
For videoconferencing, Mintz Levin utilizes state-of-the-art technology. All of our offices use a Tandberg videoconferencing system and internal integrated video switching. To ensure the fastest speed possible, all videoconferencing connections use IP connectivity as well as ISDN.
Knowledge Sharing with Our Clients
Mintz Levin is capable of providing secure extranet sites for clients to access document images and full-text and bibliographic information. Other information can be posted for clients to access at their request.
Litigation Support Applications
The firm also employs specific applications to meet specific practice needs. Litigation support software is used to provide cost and time savings for our clients, as well as a strategic advantage in the courtroom.
IntroSpect, one of the most revered relational database litigation support applications available, has seen much success at Mintz Levin. Documents can be imaged, annotated, categorized, and retrieved online. End-users can conduct full-text searches of both images and bibliographic information, locating information in minutes which would take hours of manual labor to find. Moreover, document productions can be managed electronically and assigned Bates numbers electronically.
The benefits of using an automated litigation support system such as IntroSpect are numerous. By giving everyone on the case team fast access to the same information, labor-intensive document management is minimized. Previously hard-to-find information is just a quick search away.
This comprehensive litigation support application has proved invaluable in our work for major corporate clients. In one case, over two million pages were organized electronically and made available to the entire case team. IntroSpect has played an integral role in the management of our litigation matters, and gives Mintz Levin a strategic advantage in the organization and analysis of important case information.
Mintz Levin also takes advantage of “Realtime” technology via LiveNote which permits attorneys to see written testimony on their laptops just seconds after it is given. Once offline, attorneys can use LiveNote’s full-text search engine to access specific testimony in seconds. Search results can be annotated and issue-coded for future reference. These features dramatically reduce paralegal and attorney time spent sifting through hundreds of printed deposition pages. Through effective use of LiveNote, attorneys are given a strategic advantage in managing important transcript information.
Electronic Discovery
Computer-based evidence is a rapidly growing issue in litigation. Mintz Levin has worked with leading electronic discovery consultants to ensure that our clients have proper control over the data discovery process. In one recent case, we worked with a consultant to create an electronic evidence database which was full-text searchable via Microsoft Internet Explorer. Documents were then annotated online by specific issue codes.
Mintz Levin attorneys are also able to incorporate electronic discovery into standard practice, whether in the taking and defending of technical depositions or in responding to electronic discovery requests. We can also help clients avoid expensive mistakes in this area and keep electronic discovery costs as low as possible.
