Double-amputee Gary Verrazono lost his right arm and leg in a tragic accident in 2012 while working at a racetrack. Google Glass is a game changer for him, allowing him to share the challenges of his daily life with his Fennemore Craig attorneys.
Verrazono is part of a pilot program, called “Glass Action,” which was launched in January 2014 when personal injury attorneys James Goodnow and Marc Lamber equipped several business and personal injury clients with the new technology before it was publicly available. Now, firsthand, live-action experiences are shared in real time between Fennemore Craig attorneys and their clients, creating new mechanisms to convey evidence to juries, judges and mediators.
“It’s the experience of the client unfiltered,” says Goodnow. “Jurors will now be able to see the nuances of a victim’s daily challenges firsthand.”
Glass Action’s potential to change the face of law has gained national media attention. The Wall Street Journal wrote “Google Glass chronicles personal injury struggles” and Business Insider noted, “It’s interesting to think how devices like Glass — and other wearable tech like the Oculus Rift — might one day change the legal process.”
Verrazono has been using the firm-provided Google Glass for the past four months. He can stream his life as it unfolds, send a text or email, record video, teleconference with his attorneys and photograph, exchange and distribute legal documents — all with a simple voice command or blink of an eye.
When Verrazono struggles to wash his dishes with one hand or to move a grocery cart through the store while pushing his wheelchair, the technology streams those first-person accounts directly to Fennemore Craig attorneys or pushes them to the cloud for later retrieval. Lamber and Goodnow can then use the material in court or other legal proceedings. FOX 10 News in Phoenix aired some of these first-person video accounts during a live interview with Verrazono and Goodnow.
“Glass Action” comes on the heels of the firm’s innovative use of the Apple iPad, which Lamber and Goodnow used to elevate client communication and invent new workflow processes for the firm. Their novel use of the iPad caught the attention of Apple, which profiled them in a case study.
Lamber believes that Fennemore Craig has just scratched the surface of what Google Glass can do for its practice. The firm is now testing the technology with expert witnesses and in mock trials.
Goodnow and Lamber have been widely recognized by the media for their use of technology. The ABA Journal named the attorneys to its list of “America’s Techiest Lawyers.”