About
Brief Pilot is modern brief-writing software so you can succeed and earn more.
Passionate about client success
Our Mission
Our mission is to create a better life for attorneys by providing them elegant, modern software for their workday so they can succeed and earn more.
Our Vision
We imagine a world where we have lifted the resources of those representing the indigent to assure consistently excellent representation of all.
From The Founder
Welcome to Brief Pilot and thank you for taking an interest in our story.
In 2001, while an attorney at Cooley, I began the occasional pro bono work on behalf of indigent appellants. When I left Cooley in 2004, I continued work in this area through the California Appellate Project, Appellate Defenders, Inc., and the Central California Appellate Program. My wife did pro bono work, too, and when she left her big law firm, she also continued working with the appellate panels.
Alongside my appellate work, I founded two software companies. One reached #33 on the Inc. 5000 and the other raised $30 million in venture funding. My primary role at these companies was software creation.
With my software background, I was bothered in the appellate practice to be using Microsoft Word. I would ask myself, how much better would it be to write briefs in elegant, modern software that was designed for brief-writing? A team of engineers and I created that experience for me and you.
I hope you enjoy working out of the software as much as my wife and I do. If I can help you in any way, please reach me at tom@briefpilot.com.
Our History
The 153 year history of Brief Pilot
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Wow, typing is slick!
The first successful manual typewriter arrived. Typewriters didn't catch on until much later, with the invention of the "shift" key, which made it possible to type capital and lower-case letters with the same keys (1878) and the tab key, permitting the setting of margins (1897).
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IBM creates word processing
In the 1930s, IBM introduced a more refined typewriter, the IBM Electromatic, that increased typing speeds and quickly gained wide acceptance in the business community. In 1964, IBM coined the phrase "word processing" and released a typewriter that stored information so that a user could edit without having to retype everything.
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Wordprocessing goes mainstream
IBM introduced the floppy disk, which greatly improved the storage of typed data. In 1979, a student and professor at Brigham Young University created WordPerfect. In 1983, Bill Gates hired two former Xerox programmers to create and release Microsoft Word.
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Finally, software for brief-writing arrives
Why did it take 40 years to progress from generic applications like WordPerfect and Word to Brief Pilot -- modern software tailored for brief writing? We're not sure, but we are thankful. You will be thankful, too.
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