The World in His Palm A hand -held electronic organizer compatible with most office software has brought a revolution of sorts for one personal injury lawyer.

By Paul R. Kiesel

Years ago my mother gave me advice to live by - never balance your check book in pen. Her theory was that mistakes will be made, so give yourself an out by being able to erase. For the years I have been practicing law, I give my partners and associates similar advice - never write in pen in your calendar. Any litigator reading this column will certainly understand the wisdom of that advice, because our calendars are in constant motion. Depositions, trial dates, client meetings and lunches always have one thing in common - they rarely go forward as planned. The solution is to follow my mom's advise. However, I constantly try to find ways to improve efficiencies, while saving on natural resources. Five years ago, I was a big fan of the day planner, those large, somewhat ungainly notebooks that contain an address book, calendar and note pad. My life was in that book, and I carried it everywhere. Of course there were several problems to that solution, primarily that it was big and bulky. Additionally, each year I had to re-copy my address book into the next year's planner. Finally, the busier my practice became, the earlier I found a need for next year's calendar. Then came 1994, when I discovered personal digital assistants, which are more commonly referred to as PDAs. Mine was made by Sharp Electronics. It had a small, difficult to read, nonilluminated screen, but it was wonderful. I was able to throw away the day planner, carry all the addresses and phone numbers I ever needed with me and I had a calendar that went into the year 3000. I didn't foresee events to calendar out that far, but it never hurt to be optimistic. However, there were several drawbacks to this early technology. The old PDAs required one to use the hunt-and-peck method of data entry on a very small keyboard. Another significant drawback was its inability to integrate with any other computer programs. But in time, good things do come. When the PDA technology was purchased by 3Com - which initially called the gadget the Palm Pilot, but later changed the name to the Palm - the product kept getting better. Today, not only does the Palm integrate directly with its own proprietary software, but dozens of other case-management programs as well. Your office's case-management program, which has a calendar component and a "to do" task component, can download directly onto your Palm. Now, when I'm out of the office and a deposition date is changed, my secretary simply notes the change on the office's master calendar, and when I return to the office and synchronize my Palm with the master calendar, all of the changes are automatically updated. If I'm in court and the judge wants to know - today - if I have a conflict on June 2, 2000, the anticipated trial date, in less then three seconds I can pull that date up and advise the court of my availability. If the date is clear, I can simply enter the data directly into my Palm. The next time I synchronize with the office, the date will appear on the master calendar. But wait, there's more. Need the phone number of an obscure expert witness you used four years ago? If you put the number in your Palm, all you need to do to get the number is type in the first few letters of the expert's last name. Can't remember his last name? Simply use the find function to search for a term, such as "expert, bio-mechanical, voodoo science." Also, you can find lots of free software online for your Palm. One of my associates found the Bay Area Rapid Transit schedule that way, and he has also downloaded federal court rules, as well as the entire Federal Copyright Act. I currently use the New Palm V. It generally costs between $350 to $400, depending on the retailer. Try www.killerapp.com to find and compare the cheapest prices. The Palm V is small and has a clear, readable, crisp display. A cheaper version is the Palm III, which generally retails for $199. It has all the advantages of its more expensive sister, but the unit is about half as big, and the screen, while far better then the early versions, is not as awesome as the Palm V. If you do not have a Palm, get one. It will revolutionize your organization. You won't grow hair and people won't like you any more or less, but my mom's advice will still be going strong.