ABA Journal Reviews New BlackBerry and Uses For Lawyers

The ABA Journal's online eReport, today, has this story comparing the new BlackBerry 8800 to the upcoming Apple iPhone.  Links to the story were also sent via an "abanet" email entitled, "Is new BlackBerry good for lawyers?"  ["Good" in what sense?, I wonder.]  Their ambiguous query reminded me of a glossy ad that I saw in the California bar magazine in the late 1980s touting the newfangled Pager with the scenario:  You are an associate in a law firm, it is a Friday evening, you just left the office, and a partner is looking for you.  How can you live without this new device called a Pager?  As an associate at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison at the time, I recall seeing the ad and reacting out loud:  Worst. Ad. Ever.

The eReport also features a review of new Adobe Acrobat 8's features that are lawyer-friendly, like redaction and Bates numbering.  (Alternatives in PDF to Adobe are then reviewed here.)  I also vaguely recall, during long days and stacked boxes of document production, wondering whether the term "Bates stamping" was a euphemism for the bad luck that befell Scarlett O'Hara's sister in that Psycho shower.

[Alan Childress]