My Life as a Road Warrior: Or How I Got a PDA, Got Wireless, and No Longer Needed an Office

Once upon a time, my law firm was a conventional one: it had a 3-dimensional office with walls, desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and other accoutrements. Now, with my PDA (with a wireless modem), portable keyboard, cell phone, and other gadgetry, there is almost no place I cannot call my "office." Let me explain.

It all started several years ago with my purchase of a Palm, first an early one (I think a Palm III), which I eventually upgraded to a Palm Vx.

Next, I went wireless, initially purchasing an Omnisky modem, and signing up for Omnisky's monthly service. This was fine while it lasted but, as the Omnisky modem (as least the one I had) surrounded or wrapped around my PDA, I could not use the portable, collapsible keyboard, as is my preference, and be on line at the same time. That meant typing my work on my PDA offline and then transmitting when I went online with the keyboard removed so that the Omnisky modem could be attached thereto - a process really not much different than typing my e-mails/work into my PDA during the day while I am mobile and then sending them at night or whenever I happen to hot sych to my desktop - definitely NOT COOL. The solution was to find a PDA, which could accomodate, the portable keyoard and be online (wireless) at the same time - definitely cool. (Of course, I could attempt to accomplish the same thing with a land line but, if you are in a public place working, finding an available land line to tap into, as opposed to say merely finding an electrical outlet to juice up and recharge my PDA, is not easy - and, again, it is not cool to not be wireless!)

While I am sure there are other models out there that will do the job, I came across the Visor Prism and its accompanying Visor Phone (through which I can do my e-mail wirelessly) and have not looked back since. With the Prism and the Visor Phone (which also can serve as a cell phone), I can use the portable keyboard and be on line at the same time as I am at this very moment. Cool!

Now, where to work?

I always liked the tranquility in such places as Barnes and Noble - there is just something about all those books that is inspirational. It is not very difficult to find a table and set up shop in such a place and that is what I typically do even though I have a "real" office with a "real" secretary on terra firma.

Getting my work printed is not a problem (I won't get into portable printers for PDA's, or print and fax software for the PDA now but that, too, is an option worth exploring although you will need access to a nearby fax or printer (with an infra port or an adapter to create one).

All I have to do is type my work up and e-mail it to my secretary who is stationed at and sadly (at least in my view) tethered to her desktop at my non-cyber space office. When I finally decide to come up for air or "land", as it were, in my real office, she will have copy/pasted the e-mail I sent her into, say, Word Perfect, will have spruced it up and will then present me with a finished product for my signature or whatever. Moreover, if I am satisfied that the particular item I e-mail her is sufficiently urgent to justify sending it out without my actual signature (or if I simply have no plans to "land" that day), I will instruct her to email me back a draft and, upon my say so, then fax out the finished product.

So, you ask, how does all this work in practical terms? Let me give you one example that happened recently.

I am defending a major corporation in a litigation action pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. My client has moved for summary judgment (which in this case did not stay discovery because the judge so ruled) and there was an outstanding discovery motion I had made that all sides had incorrectly thought had been adjourned sine die.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I got a call on my car cell phone from chambers, advising me that the motion was on for the next day. However, no problem for a PDA "road warrior", who is wireless like myself.

It was just a matter of finding a nearby Starbucks (no Barnes and Noble around) and setting up a momentary shop there, sending out the necessary e-mails (to all counsel, chambers and my secretary who faxed it around to be extra safe) and the problem was easily handled. Worried about having a paper trail just in case things don't work out? Well, I always instruct my secretary to print and save for the "hard" file a copy of whatever I e-mail to her.

There is a lot more to say but I think even Starbucks, where I am now, closes shop at the end of the day. With the rent I pay them, I cannot complain.

If you would like to join others in chatting about this article or sharing a similar experience, join our discussion board at this thread:www.pdajd.com/vertical/forums/read.php?f=5&i=72&t=72

Michael J. Siris, born New York, New York; admitted to bar, 1971, New York; 1975, U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Education: Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1967); New York University (J.D., 1970). Author: "OSHA Evidence in Products Liability Litigation," Arizona State Law Journal, Vol. 25, #3; New York State Bar Journal, Summer, Vol. 65, #5; New York Law Journal, May 6, 1993; "N.Y.'s Freedom From Information Law, " Albany Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 4. Adjunct Professor, Legal Writing, Touro Law School, Huntington, New York, 1999-2000. Former Member, The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Member, Transportation Committee, 1984-1988. Member: Nassau County Bar Association; New York County Lawyers Association (Member, Admiralty Committee, 1982-1984).

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