by Matthew Pitts
I'm not talking about the kind that you lace up! In the technical world strings represent characters of text. In the legal world, we manipulate strings extensively. When we write motions, client letters, notices, etc. we are basically manipulating strings. It is for this reason that string manipulation is essential to a real elawyering application.
Personalization
When it comes to personalization in elawyering applications I am an extremist. In order to implement extreme personalization, you have to know how to manipulate strings in a way that delivers a dynamic and personal experience. For example, if you were sitting there and reading questions to your clients from a standard intake form, you would try to personalize the experience. Instead of asking "How long has the child lived in the State of Washington?", you would ask "How long has Adam lived in the State of Washington. See how easily manipulating strings can make a service more personal?
Dynamic Presentation
Dynamic presentation is tightly coupled with extreme personalization. if we manipulate strings in the proper way we can account for differences in presentation based on the facts of a particular client's situation. For instance, if we asked the question above for more than one child, how would we account for the extra punctuation and length of the string? This is where dynamic presentation comes in. In an elawyering application, I might determine the number of children and modify the string accordingly.
Beautiful Integration
When done correctly, proper string manipulation in elawyering applications can make a world of difference. As a legal professional and a programmer, I see the powerful possibilities of dynamic string manipulation. Of course we programmers must unleash our full arsenal in order to make a full-fledged elawyering application work. This requires artful integration with strong attention to intelligent personalization and tight user interface design.