LONGING FOR THE PAPER TALE

The practice of law has changed over the years. Paper has become almost obsolete--replaced by everything electronic. Court and regulatory agency pleadings and exhibits are filed and served on parties on line. Briefs are read on a computer screen. Communication is by e-mail. Laptops replace legal pads. And legal work can be performed anywhere there is a wireless connection available.

Oh, where has paper gone? Perry Mason frequently won his cases when Della rushed into the courtroom at the last moment with some secret document. Today, would the moment be as dramatic, if she appeared breathlessly with a tweet on her hand held?

In Miracle on 34th Street, Santa Claus' attorney was able to prove that Santa was the real thing when the Post Office dumped hundreds of kids' letters addressed to Santa on the judge's bench. If the Post Office, a federal agency, deemed this person calling himself Santa the real thing, then it had to be true. Today, the Post Office does not deliver text messages, e-mails or tweets--only hundreds of obscure, unwanted catalogs would be dumped on the judge. Santa's attorney would be out of luck.

Even the concept of a "brief case" seems to have become obsolete. When I was a law student clerking at a law firm one summer, I was assigned to organize and carry the trial attorney's brief case. Then during the trials, it was my job to pull out of the brief case and hand to the attorney at the correct moment any written motion, exhibit or trial brief that he needed. Now, that was real paper work! Later, as a practicing attorney, I carried my own brief case, filled with papers and, discreetly, my lunch. Today, laptop cases have replaced brief cases.

A few years ago, I represented a wastewater utility accused of discharging treated effluent to a small stream in excess of certain limits. There was so much paper involved--regulations, exhibits, monitoring reports, test reports, studies, articles, caselaw, etc.--that my entire car trunk was filled. I did not have enough brief cases to carry all of it into the hearing room, so I loaded all of it into grocery store shopping bags, which client staff helped to carry in. Perry Mason eat your heart out--now that was dramatic!