ATHLEEN SULLIVAN TOLD MITCH DAVIS TO DREAM BIG, and he did. As a result, her vision of a "21st-century law school" is starting to come true. Davis, the law school's chief information officer, has teamed with seven leading technology companies—IBM, Sun, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Palm, Philips, and Sprint—to leapfrog mainstream applications and develop the law school as a testing ground for technological innovation in the teaching and practice of law. The product of this collaboration may prove revolutionary not only for how students learn, but for how attorneys practice.

IBM, the law school's original technological alliance partner, is working with the law school to build a digital video server and then, using IBM's Video Charger software, to stream video over the network and the Internet to locations around the world. By using voice recognition to build a database of the spoken information in the video, IBM's new software can create a text-sensitive, searchable digital video database. Using this technology, a lawyer researching a deposition could go immediately to the video segment he or she needed by typing in a key word or phrase, according to Davis. IBM also is working with the law school to help test and develop enterprise applications that run on a Linux platform. The law school is beginning to deploy Domino, Lotus Notes, and Learning Space using a Linux-based network to create an online simulated classroom. Students could simultaneously work on documents, exchange messages, check their schedules in real time, and discuss an issue brought up in class—all online.

Students could simultaneously work on documents, exchange messages, check their schedules in real time, and discuss an issue.

Sun Microsystems is working with the law school on a number of projects related to web access, so-called "thin clients," and remote authentication using Sun's technology. With the Sun system, Davis says, students working at externships away from Stanford could enter their Java wireless network authentication and encryption card into a computer, which would authenticate the students' network identities, log them into a wireless network, and immediately pull up their own desktop and e-mail on the screen.

Davis has arranged for the law school to serve as a beta site for Palm handheld computer applications, including WestLaw, Lexis, Martindale-Hubble, NetAlive, and Nearspace. When the system is in place, students and faculty will be able to access on their Palm pilots WestLaw's database, online books, and a map of the Stanford campus and law school.

Hewlett-Packard will also be working with the law school to provide printing solutions, network servers, software, and additional laptop options. Philips will be testing some of its latest digital flat panel displays (including a 44-inch screen in Sullivan's office), and Cisco is identifying ways to upgrade the law school's network capability, including both wired and wireless connections for faculty and students. "We are working with Cisco's general counsel's office to help bring their extensive library of corporate legal applications into the legal marketplace," Davis said.

Davis points out that while the law school clearly benefits from its early access to these innovative applications, there are significant benefits for the companies involved as well. "The law school is a perfect environment to test these applications, because our students come to Stanford from varied backgrounds and computer skill levels expecting to use some of the latest technology. If you come up with a product that will be used by future lawyers who have experience in the sciences, humanities, medicine, and many other disciplines, chances are good that you have a product that can be deployed universally," he said.