As do many lawyers, I use a variety of iPad apps to manage my practice. As a trial lawyer, however, there is one app that I find to be particularly valuable – Transcript Pad for iPad.
Transcript Pad for iPad is a deposition transcript storage and review application. It truly does, as the designer Lit Software’s hype claims, “give you the freedom of sophisticated transcript review anytime, anywhere!”
Our office has long used Summation, and over the years I have tried different ways to review, annotate, and organize deposition transcripts. I now use Transcript Pad exclusively for all of these tasks and I have 24/7 access to every deposition transcript in every case, wherever I happen to be.
The process is simple:
- Order a ptx file from the court reporter;
- Save it to Dropbox;
- Import transcripts to the Transcript Pad. They are automatically organized into cases.
Where Transcript Pad really excels is in its review and annotation functionality. Transcripts are easily readable and can be highlighted, underlined, organized, and searchable by your pre-defined “issue codes.” For example, if you have assigned the issue code “2/23/10 Contract” to several areas of the transcript, a quick search will list all lines designated with that issue code and take you to those sections.
Transcript Pad also produces highly customizable reports, which can be emailed and saved in the app itself. Portions of the transcript can be emailed directly from the app. And Transcript Pad can search words or issue codes across multiple deposition transcripts. At a recent mediation in Florida, for example, I was able to respond to each and every argument set forth by the other side by quickly searching issue codes from multiple relevant depositions and reading back the actual testimony to the mediator.
Entire cases within Transcript Pad (all deposition transcripts with annotations and any reports created and saved) can be sent to anyone with the Transcript Pad app. The newest version can now directly export transcripts to Sanction for use at trial.
BOTTOM LINE: Transcript Pad is in a class of its own when it comes to deposition transcript storage, accessibility, review, and collaboration and is well worth the $49.99 price tag.
Stay tuned for my review of another nifty app – Trial Pad for iPad.
