Second Opinions

We Want To Catalog Experts Data

By Guy Wiggins

FORTUNATELY, there are a number of products on the market that answer this need, and a number of approaches. The software most often used in law firms to search for information in documents is document management software. For networked firms, a DMS is indispensable for saving, retrieving and managing documents. It helps a firm turn its documents (and the language and ideas they contain), into an easily-searchable library that combines the power of a structured database with the full-text searching flexibility of a service such as Lexis or Westlaw.

For example, a new lawyer could sit down at a computer, and with a minimum amount of training, find every brief that was ever written in the firm on the issue of "granting a summary judgment."

This bit of technical magic is possible thanks to two features: "document profiling" and "full text indexing." A document profile screen appears the first time a user saves a document. It generally contains the author's name, client, matter, the document type and a long descriptive name of the file. (Think of a profile as a "library card" that automatically categorizes the document.)

Any of these fields can later be used to search for documents by any firm lawyer. A DMS helps users find documents using any word or combination of words in the document itself via full text indexing and searching. This powerful one-two punch makes it virtually impossible not to find the document you are looking for.

The three most popular DMS products in use today are Docs Fusion from Hummingbird Ltd., iManage from iManage Corp. and Worldox from Worldox Corp.

Of these three, iManage and Docs Fusion are high end and expensive systems that run on complex SQL databases that are better fits for larger firms. Worldox is less expensive and less complex to setup and maintain, and the better answer for smaller firms or firms without any SQL expertise in house.

Index Server

However, given the explosion of inexpensive Web-based technologies available today, there are also ways of creating a searchable knowledge bases without implementing a formal DMS. One of the best tools to investigate is Microsoft Corp.'s Index Server. Index Server is a powerful full text search engine that can be used to index both HTML documents and standard Word processing documents such as Microsoft Word and Excel files. The purpose of Index server is to make your internal documents and Intranet pages searchable via a Web browser, just as you might go to a Web-based search engine (such as Google) to search for documents on the web.

Index server is a powerful tool with many options. You can perform a number of advanced proximity and boolean searches using its advanced search language, and one of my favorite features is the preview it creates that permits you to view the terms you've searched for highlighted in red in the context of the surrounding text. The best part ­ it's free if you own an NT or Windows 2000 server. In NT 4, you need to download a service pack to install it, whereas in Windows 2000, Index server is closely incorporated into the operating system itself.

We've incorporated Index server into our firm-wide Intranet, which permits our users to search both content on our Intranet and any documents on our network simultaneously. We've also created advanced search pages that allow our users to search for very specific types of clauses or documents. This is made possible by using keywords in HTML meta tags or Microsoft Office document properties and writing some custom HTML and ASP code. This makes it possible to create pinpoint accurate searches ­ perfect for when you need to create a knowledge base of frequently used forms and documents.

But, like all powerful technologies, there is a catch. In order to leverage the true power of Index Server, you need someone skilled in advanced HTML and ASP coding. If you don't have a programmer in-house, you will have to hire a consultant to help you set things up. However, with Windows 2000, the basic power of index server is available to anyone with standard computer skills. For more information on Index Server, go to Microsoft.com and do a search on "Index Server".

Guy Wiggins is director of practice management at the law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner, L.L.P. in New York City.