No objection to this Handheld PC

Profile: Lawyer leverages time and keeps important information on hand in court, at clients' offices and on the road.

It is 8:00 a.m. at Palm Beach County Courthouse. The alarm of my HP 320LX handheld PC goes off, reminding me that I am due at a hearing in Judge Cook's chambers. Forgetting which chamber Judge Cook is in, I check my contact file. I keep this and other contact information in Pocket On-Schedule, an advanced contact management program that allows me to maintain separate databases for various contacts. On-Schedule tells met that Judge Cook is in Room 9c. It lists all of the Judges I deal with, their room numbers, phone numbers, and the names of their judicial assistants.

Since access to the court is on a first-come first-serve basis, I arrive 45 minutes early for my hearing. After signing in, I wait in the hallway to be called by the bailiff. At ten of nine he orders the first six groups into the courtroom. As we walk in my opposing counsel shoves into my hand a memorandum in opposition to a motion of mine.

In the back of the courtroom, I review his memo and compare it to my bulleted comments on the case that I keep in a Pocket Word document. Stretching the law, the opposing counsel cites a portion of the Florida Rule of Civil Procedure. I have a full-text version of this on CD ROM back at the office, and had already copied several sections of Florida Statutes and the Rules into my H/PC for on-the-fly research.

I review the full-text of the Rule my opposing counsel cites, note the flaw in his argument, copy the relevant quote from the Rules and use it in my winning argument. Unlike a laptop, which would be a distraction in the courtroom, The H/PC is very inconspicuous (except when colleagues pester me about what I have).

While waiting for the Judge to fill out the order, I open my time log file and record the client's name, file number, a description of the matter and the time I spent on it (in hours). At the end of the day I print out my time log so my secretary can input the time into our office system. The time log is a simple excel spreadsheet and I use the sum function to keep track of my daily totals so as to maintain my firm-required 7 hour day minimum.

On the way back to the office I listen to my voice mail on my cellular phone. An important client leaves an emergency message but no phone number. Finding his phone number and returning the call is easy, thanks to my contact file with over 1,000 entries. I just have to remember to record phone numbers so that my 320LX will always be up to date.

Later I arrive early at a client's office. I have to wait for five minutes to see him, but I don't waste the time. I load the 260 page great American novel I'm writing into Pocket Word, for some quick editing. I use a 4 MB Compact Flash memory card in the 320LX. I can store hundreds of pages of textual information on the card. Without it, I would always be worried about running out of file storage space on the 320LX. I also have a desktop PC Card reader for fast file transfers, as my novel now consumes 450k of space.

I finish with the client, get back in my car, and immediately get a frantic call from my secretary saying that I have to call a new client immediately. I grab my 320LX, switch to Pocket Paint (a drawing tool from Microsoft's PowerToys package (do not load PowerToys on a Windows CE Version 2 H/PC as it may cause damage to your H/PC!), available for free on www.microsoft.com/windowsce/hpc/software/powerr.htm). Using the freehand drawing tool, I quickly scribble the new client's name and phone number down on the H/PC's screen while balancing the phone on my ear and avoiding traffic. It is at times like this that I am envious of the Philips Velo with its voice recording capability.

I finish talking with the new client, and continue my drive home. Traffic on the freeway is, again, bumper to bumper, with frequent stops. I don't let it bother me -- waiting for cars to move is the perfect time to play a few quick hands of black jack on my H/PC, one of the games included in the MS Entertainment Pack. I also love the freeware Infocom reader that allows me to play my old favorite text adventure, "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy."

My HP 320LX travels with me wherever I go. During the week it is parked in the right pocket of my coat jacket or on my desk. On weekends it sits in a case originally purchased for $15 for my no-longer-used paper day planner. To protect my 320LX I've lined the case with pieces of foam and cut-up mouse pads.

I am writing this profile sitting on a beach chair in Captiva, Florida. The beach and sand are to my right and my son is in the pool straight ahead. Despite a laptop in my beach villa, I use the H/PC. The screen visibility of the HP 320LX in bright sun is fine. It's a natural outdoor companion, in the car, between clients, and even the beach.