What 5th Grade Vocabulary Can Tell Us About the Practice of Law – Part 2 – ‘Associates’

Last week, I posted on how my daughter's fifth Grade class was using sentences about the legal profession to learn how to use their vocabulary words. That first post discussed the word "aggressive." The next vocabulary word my daughter learned about was the word "associate." Her sentence read: "From the newest associates to senior partners, lawyers must research cases to find ways to support their arguments. For this reason, they often spend long hours in law libraries." That one made me chuckle a little bit. As is true for a lot of professions, technology has brought about sweeping changes in the way law is practiced and researched. The days of the law library are nearly gone and now most legal research is conducted on the computer. At Bordas & Bordas, we are at the cutting edge of this technology and have available to us very powerful research tools that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. This technology allows us to quickly and accurately identify the cases, statutes, and rules to help our clients win on important issues. Our use of mobile technology puts these powerful research tools in the hands of our attorneys even if they may be out of town at a hearing or trial. I have experienced firsthand how useful these tools can be, even in the middle of a complex argument.

Beyond legal research, we also have the technology to present our clients' cases in the most effective manner possible in the courtroom. We have the tools and expertise to display to judges and juries, in "real time," the documents and records necessary to help our clients win. We have the ability to show deposition video clips during a trial. If a defense witness attempts to change his or her story during trial, we have the ability to show, on a screen in the courtroom, the same witness swearing to a different story earlier in the case. A number of our cases involve working with experts to create medical illustrations to help the jury understand the full nature of the injuries and losses experienced by the victims of a catastrophic injury. We have even created and developed a computer-generated animation that recreated an industrial gas explosion. This animation allowed the jury to visualize a complex set of engineering information and to see what impact the explosion would have had at the time.

The days of the law library may be fading away, but the door is open to the use of technology as a powerful tool to help us fight for justice for our clients. We embrace those opportunities at Bordas & Bordas.