An Old Proposal [for better import]

A while ago, I suggested a new use for Scrivener: scrapbooking and trial binders (or case files) for attorneys. The reaction was less than overwhelming. Here’s a company that took the idea and ran with it. They’re charging $150/month. The price goes up from there. I still think that with a good template and better file import–especially two-way pdf’s–this could be another Scrivener use. Here’s there URL: Digital Trial Binder for Solo and Small Law Firms | Align

Have you looked into using Obsidian? It’s free (costs a wee bit for sync service), very easy to set up and you can link anything to anything else.

I recently had to do extensive research into case management systems for our legal team. They all provide this functionality and then some. I don’t see how any law practice would pay this kind of fees just to organise their material, especially when there are plenty of options for less money.

For this purpose, Obsidian uses links rather than permitting inclusion of the actual file in a scrapbook or a trial binder. If the links are local, you can’t share the file at all.

A case management system is very different from a trial binder or a scrapbook.

Most case management systems include both. For example:

and

I jate to think what these cost. A simple scrapbook would do the trick. A time and billing add-on? Sweet baby Jesus.

It depends how you set it up. I have an Obsidian setup on my Mac that includes any attachment (including images, videos, PDFs, etc) into a designated folder inside the Obsidian vault and the whole thing is synced using Obsidian’s sync service. So all the attachments are synced to other devices. Also, there are a myriad of custom plugins for Obsidian.

You should drop David Sparks (MacSparky) a line and ask him. He was a practicing attorney for many years, and is also an expert in productivity software.

In case it’s not obvious, you’re paying for litigation-scenario secure servers.

1 Like

Well, they are for legal practises, so any cost is recouped from clients, with interest :smiley:

I do have pricing for most of them, to my surprise, many are very affordable. I do have the price for most of them, that was part of my research, but it’s work related so am not going to look the file up during the weekend. I can provide my summary of the various options during the week if you want.

Anyway, since most practises already use case management system of some kind, paying extra for just a trial binder & scrapbook doesn’t make sense (in my opinion). I’m not a legal professional, but I can’t see any value for money in their offering.

  1. This is called a diary.
  2. I’ll look and see if there’s a way to include external files in Obsidian. There is still a need for a digital scrapbook.
  3. You’d be surprised to see how many lawyers work.

Not sure what you are thinking, but if they are electronic (PDFs etc.), just create a (sub)folder or as many as you need on the vault and place them there. You can then link to them in your notes.

Out of curiosity, I had a search for plugins that may be use to you:

And couple forum threads that may help you:

I didn’t know you could add a folder of files to Obsidian.

Obsidian is basically a bunch of folders with files. (And a bit of magic to make it look like it’s not.)