[blindLaw] OCR Software

[ALBERT ELIA]

Syed – Congratulations on the firm gig.

With respect to OCR software, it is a matter of preference. I haven’t 
used Windows software in years, but in the past I liked using Kurzweil 
1000 because it not only provided full accessibility of all features, 
but also offered a choice between two recognition engines (ScanSoft and 
ABBYY), since different engines have different costs and benefits with 
respect to time and accuracy. Kurzweil also offered better navigation 
and precise location information within an OCR’d document than other 
programs. Many folks don’t ask for K1000 because of the price tag, but 
one of the things I learned when I went to a firm is that any technology 
that makes you a more efficient biller is easily justifiable and cost 
effective after only a few weeks. After all, you are the most expensive 
resource there.

That said, while I know that OmniPage and ABBYY are frequently used by 
folks on this list, I personally prefer ReadIris. I am only familiar 
with the mac version, but there is also a Windows version, and it has 
some really nice features that recommend it: First, it is fast. Much 
faster, in my experience, than ABBYY, with similar accuracy. Second, if 
you purchase the corporate version, you can configure it to 
automatically watch a directory and batch-OCR every PDF that you drop 
into that folder automatically. That way if you get a bunch of PDFs you 
need to convert, you just drop them into that folder and do other work 
while ReadIris processes them in the background without you having to 
check every few minutes and start the next document. ReadIris also lets 
you specify whether you want to process an entire document or only a 
page range when you import a file. That can be important when you’re 
dealing with massive PDFs (we had a 3200 page PDF in a recent case), 
where trying to process the entire PDF at once may crash the OCR system 
and potentially fill up your hard drive with temporary files.


Finally, I want to reiterate what others have said regarding befriending 
the legal assistants and paralegals, and asking for eyeball-assistance 
where needed. In most cases, we have each gotten to where we are by 
being self-reliant and not asking others to see things for us. Certainly 
that independence is important in any career, including law. However, 
sighted attorneys, including senior partners, rely on paraprofessionals 
to proofread their work and format it for the particular requirements 
of, say, this or that court’s margin/spacing/font rules. That is not 
to say you can just blithely ignore formatting, spelling, and the like: 
It simply means that requesting such  assistance is not likely to 
reflect poorly on your competence, and you may want to request it 
earlier in the process (before, say, sending it to a supervising 
attorney for review).

On a note unrelated to OCR, you may want to ask what systems the firm 
uses for case, file, and practice management: Most of those systems have 
access barriers. Others on this list may be able to provide tips from 
experience on using such systems.

I hope this is helpful to you and others. Congratulations again, and 
best of luck!

Yours,

/Æ