It's important for Proskauer to have the latest technology, says Gurwitz. After all, many of the firm's clients are tech-savvy companies in the entertainment industry, cable and broadcast, and technology industries, many served by Prokauer's large patent group. "We want to be able to think like they think so we can serve them better," he says.

Gurwitz tapped Malcolm Collingwood, head of information services at Proskauer, to oversee the company's transition to a state-of-the-art computing and video conferencing environment with the iPad as an endpoint. The idea was to give lawyers a choice between a Hewlett-Packard laptop or an iPad and desktop.

(Eventually, more than 500 of Proskauer's 700 lawyers chose the iPad-desktop combo.)

Before Collingwood could roll out the iPad, many questions needed to be answered. Will lawyers pay for apps? Will iPads come pre-installed? What apps will be mandatory? Can iPads also be for personal use? And if so, can the lawyers download movies at work? What will be the impact on the corporate network? How will you manage the fleet of iPads?

"We had no template to work from," says Kayman, whose technology committee helps to grease the communication wheels between lawyers and the IS department. "Every time we thought we turned the corner, another issue would come up."