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PDF Proficiency at Your Law Firm
A PDF (Portable Document Format) is an electronic file format that captures all elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view, navigate, print or forward to someone else. Its importance within the legal industry continues to grow as more and more of our colleagues, as well as the courts (both Federal and State) require lawyers to produce output in a PDF format. In fact, as of December 2010, most, if not all of the Federal District Courts required all court filings electronically in PDF format. With this fact comes the realization that most legal professionals utilize less than 10% of the features and functionality included in the Adobe Acrobat product suite. This article hopes to shed some more light on how law firms of all sizes and complexities can make better use of this Adobe technology they probably already have.
Formats Matter
Of late, most courts require the filing of documents in a new “flavor” of PDF, known as PDF/A. The “/A” stands for archiving and aims to preserve the static visual appearance of electronic documents over time, as well as support future access and future document migration needs. Since the courts are currently requiring PDF/compliance, Adobe Acrobat makes it as simple as using FILE>SAVE AS>PDF/A.
Don't Cut Corners
We strongly advocate that legal professionals invest in Adobe' Acrobat Standard or Professional and not solely rely on the free Acrobat Reader software. Although Adobe is adding a few new features to the Reader, the most important distinction here is that with Reader only, your firm will be severely limited in what you can do with PDF output, most importantly the fact that you cannot create them.
Keys to PDF Success
Scanning. Typically, if your firm scans in paper at a centrally located and/or desktop scanner, the scanner software creates a PDF image. This type of PDF creation usually creates an exact replica of what you would see on paper. Unlike “PDF Printing” (see below), if you want a scanned document's PDF results to be text searchable, you will need to “OCR” your PDF. The OCR process layers and stores a list of words it interprets from the PDF image making it text searchable. Acrobat Reader does not include OCR capabilities.
Printing. You may print to the virtual PDF printer (except Acrobat Reader) to create an exact replica of the original document. Printing to the virtual PDF printer includes that hidden layer of text for making your PDF searchable by default. PDFs created from other computer programs (like Microsoft Word) are usually text searchable as well.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.