In the beginning, law office automation was targeted toward the secretarial and support staff. Then came the push to install computers on lawyers' desktops, empowering them with document assembly, voice recognition, litigation support, group calendars, handheld devices and more. Which brings us to the pager, a low-tech device that has almost been forgotten in the cell phone age.
Timing is everything in litigation.
But many things cannot be done without first consulting the client. Every office that does plaintiffs trial work runs into the client who is hard to reach. Sometimes a client's telephone is disconnected. Sometimes clients move and do not leave the new number. Sometimes they are not home.