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but couldn't remember enough detail to be able to find it using the native Interwoven search tool. In IUS, he typed in his name, "intellectual prop- erty," and "loan agreement." Arbuck scanned the relatively short list of client names in the search results and imme- diately spotted the one he had forgotten — and along with it, the document he wanted. "The whole process took about 15 or 20 seconds," says Gillies. Lawyers more often search because they hope someone else in the firm has produced something they can use. Gillies recently did a search to find information on the difference between negligence and gross negligence in a matter relating to liability for serv- ing alcohol at private Christmas par- ties. He quickly found several helpful memos. "When I entered the same search terms with the DMS's native HP MINI 2140 powerful and with bigger screens and keyboards than PDAs. There are dozens of netbooks on the market now. The HP Mini 2140 ($450 to $750) is the latest from Hewlett-Packard. The main reason for wanting a netbook? It's easier to carry than a laptop. This one, which is bigger than some, measures 26.14 x 16.62 x 2.67 cm and weighs 1.2 kg. And with its near full-size QWERTY keyboard and 10.1-inch widescreen display, it's far superior to any PDA for Web surfi ng, e-mail, and text entry. The unit I reviewed features the 1.6MHz Intel Atom N270 CPU. With the 2GB of L memory included, that's easily enough computing power to run Windows XP (a more stable and less memory-hungry version than the current Windows Vista) and most applications. That said, the Mini 2140 was sometimes noticeably a little slower than a modern full-size laptop, but that's the nature of the beast — netbooks are a compromise solution. Many don't even have a hard drive, just camera card-type fl ash memory. This one, however, has a 160GB hard drive — one reason it's bigger and heavier than some. It also has more ports than most, including two USB, wired network (as well as built-in 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi), external monitor and A/V out (for display on a TV). The 10-inch display is a little bigger than many netbooks, as is the keyboard, which makes the Mini 2140 comfortable enough for touch typists to enter moderate volumes of text. Tired of carrying a laptop, but your BlackBerry doesn't quite have what you need — GB for mobile computing? Try a netbook. ast year, we reviewed the Asus Eee PC, the fi rst of a new class of mobile computers — netbooks — that are smaller and lighter than laptops, but more search tool, it hung — nothing hap- pened," says Gillies. It's not just that the native Interwoven search function doesn't work and IUS does. Smart search tools do more than simple keyword searching. Their mak- ers use sophisticated math-based tech- niques to help deduce meaning and rate importance of documents. They claim their products find more of the good stuff and less of the dross, and place the best stuff closer to the top. Controlled testing bears this out. IUS also makes it easier for users to quickly determine if search results are in fact relevant. It shows the first three lines of text in each document right in the search list. It provides a preview function that allows users to quickly open a document without having to launch its associated application. It also tailors results based on users' profiles, which include their practice group, to ensure the most relevant doc- uments appear first. And it highlights authors of multiple documents in a search list to make it easy to spot the most likely colleagues to turn to for help. Cassels Brock didn't develop a for- mal business case to justify the invest- ment in IUS. Gillies is skeptical of such exercises anyway. "A whole lot of guesswork goes into [them]," he says. "You can tinker and make them say pretty much whatever you want." But behind the decision were ever-present concerns about competitiveness and client retention. "Clients expect their law firm to be able to find its own work product," Gillies points out. "It's embarrassing to have to go to a client and say, 'Do you remember that docu- ment? Do you have a copy because we can't find it?' You just can't be in that position." There is enough anecdot- al evidence to satisfy him the project was a success. Lawyers stopped him in the hall and sent e-mails saying how much they loved IUS. One partner wrote that he had used it the first day and couldn't "believe how much time I saved just this afternoon." Gilles says, "Joshua Fireman from ii3 told us he can't remember any implementation where users voluntarily sent compli- mentary e-mails." Cassels Brock still hasn't taken advantage of all that IUS has to offer. New technology from Autonomy will soon be integrated, making the product even more effective. And the firm will eventually implement some nifty Web 2.0 features that allow users to rate documents for importance, "tag" them to group them by subject, and attach comments. Won't these features accomplish the same thing traditional knowledge man- agement methods do? It sounds like it to us. And without the need for dedi- cated KM workers. Gerry Blackwell is a London, Ont.-based freelance writer. He can be reached at gerryblackwell@rogers.com www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JUNE 2009 23 Gadget Watch