Livescribe Pulse Pen

Every once in a while, I happen on something that makes a major impact on how I do my work. While wandering through Target recently, I saw a display for the Livescribe Pulse SmartPen, and it was love at first sight.

The Pulse SmartPen is a pretty amazing bit of technology. The pen, when used with the special micro-dot paper, is capable of recording every key stroke made. Pretty nice, but wait ... there's more. The pen also contains a sensitive audio recorder. When connected to the computer, both the digital image of the notes and the audio connected to those notes are uploaded to the computer and synced.

As if that weren't enough, if you touch text that you wrote while recording audio, the pen will replay exactly that audio. Seriously, just touch the pen to the paper, or if you've uploaded it, click on that spot on the uploaded page. That's all it takes.

I took my Pulse SmartPen with me to the California Bar Association Meeting in Monterey, California, last month, and it performed like a champ. I recorded every minute of the 20 hours of seminars I attended (the 2G pen will hold about 200 hours of notes and audio), and found that, relieved of the necessity to concentrate on my notes, I was able to concentrate on what the speakers were saying. Oh, how I wish I had had the Pulse SmartPen in law school.

I have also started using the pen extensively in my law practice. Of course, I do ask for my clients' permission before recording, but I have yet to have a client who was adverse to having either the meeting or the teleconference recorded. Again, because I don't have to worry about getting every word of the conversation down on paper, or missing a digit in a phone number or address, I can spend more time really listening to what my client is saying.

The pen also contains a built-in calculator, which has come in handy more times than I can count, and additional programs (such as language translators) are in the works. But, even without additional functionality, I simply love my Pulse SmartPen!!

Now, before you complain about the need to use "special paper" in order to use the Pulse SmartPen, let me note that replacement notebooks (each standard notebook is 200 pages) are only about $5.00 each, which is what you would expect to pay for a plain paper notebook at most stores. There are also lined and unlined hardback journals available.

The cost of this marvel?? The 2G version is just about $200, the 1G version is about $150. It is available through Target, Amazon.com, or directly from Livescribe.com. In my personal opinion, it is well worth the additional $50 to get double the memory.

Do I have any complaints about my new toy?? Well, yes, one: if there is a way to turn off the introductory "music" that plays when first starting up the Livescribe Desktop software, I have yet to find it. But otherwise, this is the best piece of tech to come along since someone decided to slice the bread before they sold it. My Adesso Cyberpad is now history.

What are they trying to teach me??

I wasn't planning to post tonight, however, as I walked out my front door (to take out the trash), I had a clear sky overhead, an amazing thunder and lightning storm building to the Northwest, when very suddenly a meteor streaked overhead and broke up right before my eyes.

I took all of this as a sign that I should post something. Hey, it's my sign, if that's what I want it to mean, that's what it's going to mean.

So, let's take a look at the educational process with special emphasis on law school. Throughout most of a student's schooling, they have some inkling of what it is that they will be expected to know. If you are studying the American Civil War, you can be fairly certain that you will need to memorize names and dates from American History from the early to mid-1860s. If the course is called "Algebra" it will probably involve algebraic equations.

Is it the same when you attend law school?? Take, for example, a typical law school course, Contracts. Would you assume that the idea would be to teach the student all about current laws regarding contracts? If you did, you'd be wrong. And that can be a big problem for an incoming law student, they expect one thing when they are really getting another.

The law is constantly changing, everywhere, and all the time. In the United States, a particular law could be a bit different in every one of the (currently) 50 states. And, why is it that the professors have the students readings laws from 17th century England?? Especially when it's a case that states laws or ideas that have long since fallen out of use? But, if the point of the law school courses is not to teach the student "the law" then what exactly is the point?

The point, simply stated, is to teach the student the skill of "legal analysis." They seldom come right out and tell you that legal analysis is what they are trying to teach you, but that's the truth of it. No matter what they call the course, the skill being taught is the same ... only the elements you need to use in your analysis change.

Why read ancient case law? First, because the professors want you to see something of how courts (old and modern) applied legal analysis. Sometimes the court does a horrible job. Sometimes the court doesn't even bother to do any analysis at all, which is what brings me to the second reason. Second, because the professors want you to understand the legal process; the how and sometimes the why of how the common law evolves. Third, they want you to learn the elements of each type of matter.

The elements themselves are not that difficult to learn, memorize, and retain. However, just being able to rattle off a list of bullet points is not going to make you a stellar student or a great attorney. It is learning how to do the analysis that will make all the difference. I will be writing on this topic in some detail in later posts, so please keep tuned.

An Introduction

The idea behind my starting a blog is that I may be fairly termed an expert in several areas of the general living experience, and, short of writing a book (which I may do someday ... just not today), a blog seems a great way to get my expertise out to a good portion of the general public (who can then decide for themselves if anything I have to say is worth a further price of admission).

For the most part, however, I will be writing on the following topics:

1. Surviving law school (and rising to the top 5% of your class) without driving yourself and others around you completely crazy;

2. Incorporating technology effectively into your law practice; and

3. Creating and maintaining a more or less "cat proof" home.

I'm not joking in the least about this last point. I am horribly allergic to cats, love them dearly, and live with 20 of them (as well as two beautiful dogs to which I am also allergic).

As for the first point, I graduated from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 1988 in the top 5% of my class. During law school I worked full time at American Red Cross in charge of "Reagent Production." I was on the Dean's List every quarter, won some prestigious scholastic awards, and was an editor on one of the school's law reviews. During that time I created a learning system which worked extremely well for me and which I hope I will be able to pass on to the readers of this blog.

In addition, during law school I became proficient at building computers, and after law school at implementing technological solutions to common problems facing law practices of all sizes. In 1992, having decided that big firm practice was not what I wanted, I started a solo practice in San Diego, California. In 2005, I moved my home to Texas, although my practice is still based in California. In that setting, it is imperitive to have technology work efficiently for me, so that I can best serve my clients while retaining a personal life.

So, there you have it. I won't be posting on just those three topics, because none of them exists in a vacuum. There will be technological tips in the posts about law school, and upholstry ideas in with the cat care. That's why I call it what it is: "Life: A Practical Survival Guide."