[blindlaw] Entering solo practice

Susan Kelly Susan.Kelly at pima.gov
Mon Oct 3 15:17:06 UTC 2011


Paul - 

I can't say I have small firm experience (public defender), or long-term
experience being visually impaired (vision was more or less correctable
to at least driving ability until about 3 years ago), but my division
here at the PD's has been great about scanning disclosure and
transcripts to the network for me, using Adobe and an OCR program.  This
is much more feasible for reading multiple pages of print than the CCTV,
where I would frequently lose my place, etc.  I pretty much only use it
now for forms and other documents that require filling out by hand, or
signatures.  

The other problems that I have run into are being much slower than I
used to be when I could still read directly, and annoying prosecutors
who will hand me disclosure and other paperwork in court.  I obviously
can't read them in that form, and the portable video magnifier just has
not been sufficiently efficient for that.  The State Voc. Rehab. program
is proposing getting me a KNFB reader, which would read it to me through
an earpiece - we will see if that handles it.  The other problem is an
office one, as we are going to case management system (Just Ware) which
is only marginally accessible - JAWS reads it fairly well, but there is
huge conflict in the keystrokes for both programs.  We shall see on
that.

In the mean time - best of luck!

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Paul Sullivan
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 7:10 AM
To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindlaw] Entering solo practice

Greetings,

I am a visually impaired attorney living in the Philadelphia metro
area.  I graduated law school and passed the bar in 2008, but due to
the unfortunate economy, I've been unable to find a job in the legal
field.  For the last few years I've made a living as a working
musician, all the while applying for what few jobs are out there.
Recently, a good friend decided to open his own practice, and he's
invited me to work with him.

While the practice of law is intimidating enough for someone with
limited experience post law school, I'm most concerned about what, if
any, visual limitations I might encounter.

Right now, I use Jaws and can use a CCTV.  However, using a CCTV for a
large quantity of paperwork isn't very feasible for me.

I'm very curious if the attorneys on this list would be willing to
share with me what types of problems they've encountered, especially
in small firm or solo practice, where resources are limited.  What, if
any, technology should I be looking at and considering investing in?
Having worked as a musician for several years, I feel a bit behind the
times in terms of technology.  Any thoughts, especially as they relate
to the practice of law would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Paul Sullivan

_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/susan.kelly%40pima
.gov






More information about the BlindLaw mailing list