Clarity Legal - Customer Spotlight
Peter Zavaletta, Partner
The Zavaletta Law Firm
605 E. St. Charles St.
Brownsville, Texas 78520
www.zavlawfirm.com

Peter, what kind of practice do you have?
I am the principal and owner of The Zavaletta Law Firm - a Plaintiff-only personal injury and commercial litigation trial firm in Brownsville, Texas.

What size is your practice and how many employees do you have?
I am the only attorney, and I have two assistants.

What technical setup do you have at your office (number of machines, etc)?
My Legal Assistant has an intel iMac on her desk. My Case Assistant uses a unibody, Aluminum MacBook. On my desk, I have a MacBook Air with SSD drive, which I regularly connect to an Apple 24" LED Cinema display. On my credenza, I have an 20" intel Aluminum iMac which I use for video work, and as a secondary Mac.

What suggestions do you have for people using technology in their practice?
Get the fastest Mac you can afford. Master the software. Have a plan for its use at trial. Jurors expect and, frankly, deserve a 'CSI' type presentation.

What bag of tricks or software do you use the most in your practice?
In addition to Clarity's suite of software (DepoSmart & TrialSmart), tools that have revolutionized my practice are: 1) DropBox, which allows me to have all client files with me, all the time; 2) ScanSnap, which, with DropBox, pours any case document into the Mac, affording me access to my entire client file wherever I may be; and 3) Circus Ponies Notebook, which has quickly become my repository for outlines, notes, images and thoughts, as well as my law library where I keep legal research, cites, PDFs of cases, etc, that I can then quickly search and instantly retrieve.

Is there a special feature in any of the software packages that you like the most?
Once you develop a workflow that affords you instant retrieval of authoritative information, you're leveraging technology for your client's benefit. All your depositions should be in DepoSmart. Being able to do a word search on any witness on a moment's notice without lugging around a transcript is both powerful and liberating.

What advantages do you have over your competition as a result of the way you employ technology in your practice.
By mastering these tools, I am always prepared, and always ready. In fact, my law firm brand - "Prepared to Win" - reflects this.

Do you record your own depositions for trial?
Yes. We have our tripod and HD video camera, and we videotape in house, every deposition we take, no matter where the deposition is taken.

What equipment would you recommend for recording depositions?
Here is what I use and can highly recommend:
Canon Vixia HV30 (mini-DV HD video camera)
Canon DM-50 Directional Stereo microphone
Tripod
Apple iLife '09

Once recorded, how do you manage your video deposition inventory?
Every deposition we videotape is poured into my iMac within 24 hours, where it is kept and cataloged in iMovie. Once imported, we either upload the movie to my firm's MobileMe web gallery, or to DVD, or to my iPhone or MacBook Air for viewing any time I want. By doing our own video in house, I know exactly what and how a witness testified within 24 hours of the deposition's conclusion, long before the court reporter prepares the transcript. In that way, I'm steps ahead of my opponent in amending my pleadings, preparing follow-up discovery, or conducting post-deposition investigation.

What trends do you see in legal technology?
One trend that is beginning to catch on is the paperless office. A couple of years ago, this seemed like a foreign concept for a law office. However, with the broad implementation of electronic filing systems in state and federal courts, the idea of a paperless law office has become a reality.

What challenges to do you face in your practice?
It is a heck of a lot tougher now than it was even 5 years ago on the Plaintiff's side to settle a case, and if you don't know your case, inside and out, you're out of luck, and Defense counsel will pick up on that right away.

What Clarity Legal products do you use the most?
DepoSmart.