When he first began at the Riverside District Attorney’s Office straight out of law school, Luigi Monteleone (’08) found himself turning into a “paperless” prosecutor. After watching students use tablets for note-taking in classes for three years, he wondered if he couldn’t put the same technology to use as a practicing attorney. So, instead of lugging files of case notes to and from work each night, he began scanning them, and eventually moved to using his tablet almost exclusively to take notes and keep every file organized and at his fingertips.

A few years later, in 2011, Luigi began thinking about what kind of training he could provide to other lawyers about his workflow after finding that other technology trainers seemed to miss the most important strengths of working with tablets. Most trainers knew what tablets were capable of, but because they’d had no courtroom experience, they did not know how to harness it most effectively for practicing lawyers.

It wasn’t until 2013 that his idea fully came to fruition within his own office, where he began sharing his workflow. He also started a blog with the hope of helping more lawyers and began offering MCLE trainings across the state. By 2014, Microsoft had caught on to his trainings and asked to film a case study video, which can be viewed on the Microsoft Devices Blog. Luigi also provided a blog post explaining his use of the education software OneNote for his work. To Luigi, using education technology is simply part of the job: “In the practice of law, we are students of the case. When we get to the trial stage we become teachers of the case,” he said.

Since beginning his tablet use, Luigi said he’s become entirely paperless, and has inspired many of his coworkers to do the same. He regularly presents MCLE trainings statewide, covering topics such as how to use electronic tools or the ethics behind using technology to practicing lawyers. In July he taught a seminar to District Attorneys from throughout California on how to make the most of technology in their own offices.

Read more about his partnership with Microsoft OneNote.

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Above: Alumnus Luigi Monteleone was featured on the Microsoft Devices Blog for his use of electronic tablets to turn his office completely paperless.