A Litigator's Guide to Thriving in the Digital Age -- Recap of Division 1's Lunch Program in Austin

What applications should I buy?

How do I try a case without carrying 4 boxes everyday? 

Email - love it and hate it, how do I find a balance?

Karl, Rob, Drew, and Tom gave answers to D1 members in Austin.

Karl Seelbach, Rob Ruesch, Drew Harris, and Tom Dunn

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Rob Ruesch, Division 1 Steering Committee Member, the lunch program for Divisions 1 and 2 at the Fall Meeting in Austin, Texas.  The topic maxed out the occupancy of the room given to us and there was active participation by the attendees during the program.  

During the presentation, Karl Seelbach talked about technology and the mobile litigator.  He highlighted the "go to" applications. I asked Karl to recap his presentation for Division 1 members who could not join:

Attorneys who want to stay organized and get a leg up on the competition should use technology to their advantage. Consider using a task management app (e.g., Todoist) to organize your projects, assign tasks to your entire team and monitor their progress. Stop printing reams of paper and carrying heavy boxes to depositions. Instead, use electronic exhibits (e.g., AgileLaw) to go paperless. Stop writing your notes on paper. Instead, use a note taking app (e.g., Evernote) to make your notes searchable and shareable with team members. Or at the very least, scan your handwritten notes for safekeeping (bonus:  some apps convert your handwritten notes to searchable text). If you’d like more free tech tips or a list of recommended apps for attorneys, contact me at karl@doyleseelbach.com or sign up for my monthly newsletter at http://www.doyleseelbach.com/. 

Drew Harris walked us through Trial Director for ipads.  He demonstrated the "must have" tools for a trial attorney's toolbox and conducted a live demonstration of trial he recently conducted.  By the end of the presentation, the vast majority of the attendees raised their hand that they will consider using an ipad for their next trial.

I (Tom Dunn) spoke about email practice management.  I went through the answers to the 10-Question survey of Division 1 members and shared my own experience / strategies to manage and control email and not let it control me.  Click HERE to view my presentation.  

Thank you to all of the Division 1/2 members who attended the meeting.  If you want access to some of the written materials provided at this program (or past programs), please contact Nick Holmes (nholmes@devinemillimet.com), Division 1 Chair, for access to the Division 1 dropbox account.  

If you come across new applications or strategies to deal with the "digital age" as a litigator or trial attorney, please contact one of the editors of The Dispute Resolver and we may be able to share it with Division 1 members.

#ABAConstruct #FCLAustin #TheDisputeResolver

Effectively Tracking Labor Productivity

Many contractors say that they have lost productivity due to change orders, sequencing issues, overtime, or trade stacking.  But how can we as lawyers go about proving that lost productivity?  

Peter Vosbikian is a Certified Cost Engineer and Certified Forensic Claims Consultant with over twenty years of experience in construction claims consulting.  For the past ten years, he has worked with Forum Sponsor Greyhawk. Peter has provided three tips on how to document and prove labor productivity claims.  

Effectively Tracking Labor Productivity

Many of us have heard the adage, ‘If it’s not written, then it didn’t happen.’  We’re all aware that productivity is an important concept in our industry.  Low productivity can result in delays and damages, which can lead to disputes and claims.  Effectively documenting the work progress and monitoring productivity can provide stakeholders with the necessary visibility for tracking whether or not they are working towards a successful bottom line.  It can also help in situations involving damages caused or alleged to have been caused by productivity loss.  While appropriately documenting the information is important, the daily demands of managing a construction project can shift focus away from such daily data compilation, and this in turn could result in challenges to being able to effectively demonstrate the causation for actual losses incurred.  The following summarizes some of the data that may be helpful for stakeholders to better track their actual productivity.

 
1.  DOCUMENT material quantity installed

How much material was installed?  Track the quantity of material installed, or work completed on an operation and crew basis.  The units used to track production for a given material should remain consistent throughout the life of the project (whether they are cubic yards, cubic feet, lineal feet, or other).  For example a concrete contractor may track its production in cubic yards.  Therefore this unit of measure for tracking the installed quantity should remain the same unless unique circumstances dictate otherwise.  The installed or completed quantities should be tracked no less than once per day or shift.  Ensure that the tracked quantity is consistent with the time and labor units expended on that specific material or operation.

2.  DOCUMENT labor expended

How many man-hours were expended performing the work corresponding to the material installed?  Document the labor that was expended to install the materials noted.  The labor expended reflects the required resources to perform a given amount of work or achieve a specific amount of output.  Record the number of working laborers, man-hours for each, and the work shift specific to the operation and crew.  It is equally as important to track downtime, or the number of hours that labor was assigned to work a specific task or operation, but couldn’t.

3.  DOCUMENT impacts and disruptions

What delays or impacts were encountered in performing the work and what were the causes?  Record any impact or disruption to the work.  In particular, any start and stops, suspensions, interruptions to the operation, remobilizations, or any slowed progress.  Record any disruption (disturbance or problems that impacted the work) or any events that caused the work to not be performed in the fashion or manner intended.  Any record of such work disruptions should be accompanied by an explanation or photos of what event(s) or impact(s) that resulted in the lower productivity.  For example, merely noting an effect only description, “The installation of conduit was delayed”, may be insufficient.  Rather, a cause and effect description of, “The conduit installation on the first floor was impacted during the AM shift because of a design change that required rerouting previously installed conduit”, may be more helpful in establishing causation.

For us lawyers, this is a good guide to the kind of information we should be asking our clients to provide to us when they want to make a claim for lost labor productivity. It is also the information that we should request in discovery when faced with such a claim.

Peter is glad to answer any questions you may have regarding this article.  If you do have a question, please e-mail him.