Last Chance for IoGear Digital Scribe Giveaway!

Link: Futurelawyer: Mobile Digital Scribe - A Pen For All Of Us Have you entered to receive a free IoGear Digital Scribe pen yet? The entries close at the end of October. The IoGear Digital Scribe converts normal handwriting into digital form. If you take notes (and what lawyer doesn't?), and you have ever tried to make sense of them at a later time (and who hasn't?), you know the feeling. IoGear is giving away several free Digital Scribes to FutureLawyer readers, who tell the funniest, weirdest stories about losing handwritten notes, or being unable to decipher them at a critical time. The FutureLawyer's worst nightmare almost happened when I tried to read handwritten notes for a closing argument once. Ouch. Tell your story in the comments section below. Judging will begin on November 1st. Good luck.

Comments

[Eric Z.]

As an administrative law judge, I take bench notes to supplement the case transcripts. In one case I guess I was taking notes too quickly and sloppily. About 45 minutes into a witness's I wanted to ask about something the witness had said. I wrote, "the clerk had a medium head and had bread," and I started to read my notes aloud as a preface to my question. I got about half way through before I realized that there was no way that my notes could be correct, so I asked the witness to repeat his description which was that the "clerk was of medium height and had a beard." Everyone had a good laugh (although I was feeling a little embarrassed). Good thing we have transcripts (although there have been some loo-loos on those, too).

[Adam P.]

I am currently working three different angles of the legal profession: I am a law student, I clerk for a Judge, and I work at a law firm. Needless to say my roles require me to take a LOT of notes and the likelihood I’ll lose something important increases with every page. I already use OneNote and I am a self-proclaimed geek so I can assure you I’ll put this to good use. I really need a Digital Scribe.

Everyone here has memories of the Socratic Method. 1Ls cannot help but be intimidated by the seemingly barbaric initiation into law. Like all good – and scared – law students, I prepared thoroughly before coming to class by taking brief notes on my laptop, but for Torts I prepared differently. For Torts, I bought a special notepad and in it I briefed the case, the notes and questions, and the footnotes because everything was fair game. The notepad allowed me to enter notes without being distracted by the internet, and it enabled me to stand holding my notes instead of looking at my computer screen. My professor, who I’ll call Prof. Joe, HATED unprepared students. There were no excuses and no exceptions. At random he would call on a student, and then question, grill, insult, embarrass, and harass the student for the entire hour of class. The first week, he made a girl cry. After that everyone was prepared – always.

The day finally came when he called my name. I nodded at him and then reached into my bag to get my Briefs notepad but it WASN’T THERE! Panic set in: my palms got sweaty and I thought the whole class could probably see me shaking. With only a vague memory of the case I read at 11:30 pm the night before, I stood and gave the longest and slowest possible recitation of the facts. All I needed to do was stall as much as possible to give him the least opportunity to question me.

Unfortunately, he saw right through my scheme and initiated what some have called his most creative line of questioning ever. He quickly breezed through the procedural analysis, issue and holding, and then utilized the remaining time to make an example out of me. He asked me things that were buried in notes two or three pages after the case, demanded full analysis of the majority and the dissenting opinions, and wanted page references to supporting footnotes. For the rest of the hour he waited impatiently as I frantically flipped the pages of my book hunting each answer, while the rest of the class watched me suffer.

Since that day I have recorded all of my notes and briefs for school on my laptop, but I always struggle with being distracted by the internet, email, and blogs, etc while in class. Further, I cannot take my laptop with me into the courtroom and I will not use it in client meetings so I still face the threat of losing my written notes again. This pen would allow me to take notes on paper, free from the distractions of the internet, and it is suitable to be carried into a law firm, courtroom, or class. Please send me a Digital Scribe!!

[Sam T.]

Giving this story a little background, I am a recent medical school graduate working as an intern at a local hospital while making gradual progress with an online JD degree. As one can imagine, an Iogear Digital Scribe would be indispensible to my daily routine! Now, onto my story:

On my first night on call as a new medical intern, I was already anxious about taking care of all the patients in the unit by myself. I took great care throughout the day to write down things that needs to be done for the night.

The pace picked up and I was running back and forth from one room to another to check on patients. I handled myself so well that I felt proud when things quiet down. I thought to review my list and make sure everything got done. I had a panic attack when I reached for my pocket and the list was not there.

I don't know where I left it. I immediately rushed to rooms I have been to to look for the list. A kind nurse I befriended earlier in the week noticed that I had a worried look to my face. She asked and I told her what happened.

The next thing I knew, she yelped to other nurses, "anybody see a sheet of paper lying around? The young doctor lost a to-do list." As nurses scuffled through charts and patients peer out of their rooms to see which doctor it is, I felt so embarassed that I wanted to hide.

One nurse ultimately found my list. I learned from this night on to obsessively check my pocket to make sure the list is there. I now find myself looking for my list at home and during family gatherings. This scribe will hopefully solve my obsession.