January/February 2007 Table of Contents

As a longtime LexisNexis CaseMap user and aficionado, I could not wait to get my hands on CaseMap 6 when it was released in May (days after CaseSoft announced it had been acquired by LexisNexis). CaseMap 6 doesn’t disappoint. It continues the CaseSoft tradition of responding to users’ wants and needs, expanding integration with other core litigation software and improving its award-winning flagship product.

To fully take advantage of all of the best new features in CaseMap 6, you must have Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional. If you already have made this worthy investment, you will enjoy several added benefits. My favorites are the new and improved “Send to CaseMap” utilities. Available in Acrobat from a new CaseMap toolbar and as a standard toolbar menu item, these new tools can perform an array of CaseMap functions, some from directly within Acrobat. For example, you can add an Acrobat file as a new object (or to update an object) and then a new fact (or to update a fact). You can show or go to the linked CaseMap record and send multiple files to CaseMap if you use Acro­bat 6 or higher. CaseMap 6’s “Bulk PDF Linker” indexes and updates PDFs (the documents themselves and any Bates numbers) without creating duplicates.

CaseMap also now has an optional Bates Stamper, which is a must-have feature for only $149 per user license. This is particularly valuable because Bates numbers created with other products are not reliably detected in CaseMap.

With the CaseSoft Bates Stamper, you can number PDFs using the CaseMap icon on the toolbar. Standard Bates-numbering options are included, such as prefix, font, font size and style, vertical and horizontal positions, and the ability to adjust the increment. Because optical character recognition is extremely difficult once the CaseSoft Bates Stamper has been applied, be sure that all documents are OCR’d prior to applying Bates numbers. I was mildly disappointed that the Bates numbers are limited to five because I have become accustomed to using six numbers (harkening back to the original mechanical Bates-number stamper).

Another stellar new feature is the “Import From Outlook” tool, which CaseSoft recommends as appropriate for smaller cases only. It isn’t compatible with Outlook Express. E-mail handling ability is a welcome addition, and is easy to set up via one of CaseMap’s many new wizards that make most tasks a breeze, even for the novice.

Power users will appreciate the advanced functionality of the “Intake Interview Jumpstart” wizard, which provides a modifiable initial client interview template (in Microsoft Word 2000 or later format) that can be e-mailed to new or prospective clients to request information about people, organizations, events, facts and documents. The information returned can be imported into a new or existing CaseMap case, providing a great database jumpstart. A CaseMap case can handle up to five intake interviews, so adding parties later is no problem.

Lastly, the new summary judgment analysis tools are unique and useful for civil litigators and paralegals. Once issues in a case have been linked to facts, producing a Summary Judgment Report is a snap, allowing you to identify summary judgment opportunities and risks, organize factual disputes, and prepare the statement of contested (or uncontested) facts that usually is required on summary judgment motions. The automatically generated report can be sent to Word or Corel WordPerfect, or be viewed in HTML format.

CaseMap continually improves, evolving into an indispensable litigation tool with each new release. I like the new Microsoft Office 11 look and feel, and the one-click link to LexisNexis Total Litigator. While there are several comparable software solutions, CaseMap’s overall value and utility are incomparable. It’s my first choice for managing critical case data and documents.