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A simple tool for litigation
Litigation software has always been too expensive and too complicated to use in smaller cases. But that's about to change. qd documents software makes it simple.
According to surveys, most litigators don't use litigation support software. It's too expensive, they say, and it's too complicated.
"I can't take the time to learn software just to handle one case," they say."By the time I need it again, I've forgotten how to use it."
So instead litigators index their documents in Excel or Word and pack up boxes of documents to carry home, to court, and to depositions. And it isn't just lawyers in small firms that do this, it's also lawyers who handle smaller cases in big firms. Sure, they've got technical staff to handle part of the task, but it still comes down to the individual lawyer taking the time to learn a complicated tool.
We figured litigation software shouldn't be that hard to use (and we agree, it is hard to use), so we decided to do something about it. The result is qd documents, the simple tool for litigation.
Aimed at smaller cases...
We've aimed qd documents at smaller cases -- cases that have a few hundred or a few thousand documents -- not at cases that have a warehouse full of paper. As a result, qd is simple. It has all the basic functionality you need, but that functionality is easy to find and easy to use.
It can do a lot ...
Just because it's simple, don't assume it isn't powerful. On the contrary, qd does the things you need to do; we just didn't see the point in making those things hard to do.
With qd you can:
- Quickly and effectively search your database to find just the documents you want (and save your search results, if you like).
- Display and print images of your documents.
- Easily create indexes of all your documents and sort them on just about anything: date, author, document number -- even significance.
- Easily print formatted reports -- use the built-in qd formats or design your own layouts.
- Easily create and save special document sets -- witness books and privilege logs, for example.
- Analyze documents, adding your own notes and marking documents that are especially helpful (or harmful) to your case.
- Attach files to your documents -- video clips, spreadsheets, audio files, and word processing documents, for example.
- Index ("code") your own documents (we've built-in some handy tools that make this really easy); or import pre-indexed documents from a coding vendor.
- Create a new database. Some software leaves that up to the technical staff. In qd, you can do it yourself. It's a two-step process: 1. Name your database. 2. Press the "Create" button.
- Share your database with your paralegal or another lawyer.
qd does a lot more, too. Perhaps best of all, if you're a beginner, is that it teaches you how to build and use a litigation database.
It teaches you how ...
If this is the first time you've used a database in litigation, don't worry. qd is a learning tool, too.
First of all, built into qd is a tutorial and best practices for handling your documents in a small case. Every step of the way, qd will explain the best way to do things and, better still, it will tell you why that's the best way.
Second, qd comes with a sample database built in. You can poke around in that database and see how a real database looks and works, before you ever create a database of your own.
And third, qd walks you through anything that's the slightest bit complicated. So, for example, if you want to do a complicated search (maybe you've seen those searches that use AND, and OR, and NOT), qd will show you how.
At the same time, if you already know how to do those things, qd will just get out of the way and let you do them. That keeps qd simple, even for people who've been doing this a long time.
You won't have a long learning curve ...
qd doesn't have a long learning curve, so you can get up to speed quickly when you use it for the first time, and you won't forget how how it works if you don't need it again for a couple of months. (But we suspect that once you use it, you'll use it all the time, for even the tiniest case, where you never thought you'd need a database at all.)
You won't need a technical staff...
You won't need technical support just to create a new database in qd documents. That's a big problem with other litigation support software, lawyers tell us.
"It's just not worth the trouble," the lawyers say. "I only have a box of documents, but I've got to get somebody technical to set up the database for me. It's easier to just create a list in Word."
Well, in qd documents, it's even easier than that. All you have to do is name your database and hit the "Create" button. Two seconds later, you've got a database.
Let's take a look...
We can talk and talk about what makes qd a great database for small cases, but the best way to learn about qd is to see it in action. If you've got a few minutes right now, take a look at our video demo.
qd is cross-platform. qd documents is built on the powerful Filemaker Pro database platform, so it will run on both Mac OS X and Windows XP. (Note: The application is not yet compatible with Windows Vista.)
Requirements. The qd documents software requires either Mac OS X 10.4 or Windows XP SP 2. The FileMaker Pro 8 database engine is included with our product.
Pricing. The qd documents software is priced at $399 for a single license. Discounts are available for multiple-license purchases. See our discount schedule.
What is FileMaker Pro? FileMaker Pro is a powerful multi-user relational database that runs on both the Mac and Windows operating systems.
