Reprinted from the February, 1999 edition of The Palmetto Blind, a publication of the NFB of South Carolina.
For the few blind attorneys practicing law in the
1950’s, productivity depended almost entirely on the assistance of sighted
people, such as secretaries or paralegals. Today, however, the practice of law
is much more accessible to the average blind attorney due to the advent of
various items that use computer technology. A blind attorney nowadays can read
documents and materials relating to a case with an optical character recognition (OCR) system. He/she can
generate documents such as correspondence and court papers—and even take his
file to court—with a portable note taker like a Braille ‘n Speak. The purpose
of this article is to discuss briefly how blind attorneys accomplish these
tasks through the use of currently available and reasonably affordable
technology.
For approximately $5,000, an individual can purchase an
IBM-compatible personal computer, an optical character recognition system, and
the speech software that will allow these items to be used effectively by the
blind. A practicing attorney can use these devices in the following ways: to
draft legal correspondence and documents, to research current law in the
preparation of a case, and to read correspondence and documents from other
parties.
Many people do not realize that the practice of law
involves more than appearing in court. It requires reading, obtaining, and
processing vast amounts of information. In fact, the practice of law involves a
lot of paperwork, and just a little court time. Therefore, the attorney who
uses this technology effectively has a good chance of establishing a successful
practice.
While nothing has yet been able to replace the human
eye in terms of efficiency, document scanners and the software that turns the
scanned images into text that can be spoken by a voice synthesizer, has made
reading the vast amounts of paperwork heaped on attorneys every day much
easier. Furthermore, since the scanned documents can be stored as files, the
blind attorney has a virtual file on his computer that he can access at any
time without assistance. For example, a client’s entire file can be scanned into
the computer and stored on disk for later reference. Similarly, documents like
court rules, cases, and statutes can also be stored in this way. It is no
longer necessary to sit down with a sighted reader to retrieve this
information, although sometimes it is still helpful.
The computer itself, equipped with proper adaptive
software for speech or large print, is a tremendous help to the blind attorney.
Not only can the computer serve as a convenient way to generate documents, but
it has also become the preferred means of legal research for both blind and
sighted attorneys. Information that once required a large library space to
store and keep current can now be stored on a CD-Rom or computer hard drive. In
addition, if the computer has a modem, various on-line information sources can
be accessed, providing up-to-the minute information on statutes, cases, and
even pending legislation.
Computer-assisted legal research has radically altered the
practice of law for everyone, but it is of particular help to blind attorneys,
who no longer need a reader to go to the law library with them and flip through
countless pages of legal texts. In short, a blind individual can enter the
practice of law with relative ease and be more competitive with his sighted
peers than ever before.
In addition to the devices and techniques described
above, portable technology like the Braille ‘n Speak and the Braille Lite can
be immensely helpful to a blind attorney, in much the same way a laptop
computer assists many sighted attorneys. It is not uncommon to see an attorney
carry his laptop to court, not only to retrieve information about the case, but
to do actual research and make arguments on a moment’s notice. A Braille ‘n
Speak or Braille Lite can be used in the same way.
In closing, while technology will never replace good
Braille literacy skills, it would be wise for anyone contemplating entering the
practice of law to become proficient in the use of adaptive technology. After
all, the sighted legal community certainly has. The leading firms of the
twenty-first century will be on the cutting edge of using advanced technology
in the practice of law. In order to stay competitive in today’s legal
professions, it’s a good idea to stay up-to-date with today’s technology.