By Neil Squillante | Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers software that automatically captures billable activities (see article below), a new smartphone, a case management and accounting system for large law firms, an online technical support service, an iPhone app for storing passwords and other confidential information. Don't miss the next issue.
Don't Track Your Time, Capture It Instead
In the old days, working on a client's matter involved fetching a folder from a file cabinet. While you might receive a phone call about another matter, multitasking as we know it today didn't really exist. Thanks to the combination of email and computers that can run many programs simultaneously, you fly from task to task on different matters, making it challenging if not impossible to accurately track your billable time using old-fashioned methods. It's time to track your time differently.
Chrometa 1.1 … in One Sentence
Chrometa 1.1 is a billing program that automatically captures and categorizes the billable time you spend on your PC.
The Killer Feature
Although time tracking for many lawyers has long since moved from a ledger to computer software, the method remains the same. Lawyers must actively enter the time they spend on tasks. Timers can help, but they too essentially operate manually.
Chrometa takes a different approach. You just work. And Chrometa watches in the background. It logs all your computer activity and also tracks the time.
For example, if you spend three ten minute sessions working on a Word file named Smith Motion, it'll list the name of that document, display your three sessions and the time for each, and also provide the 30 minute total.
"Our product was built to prevent law firms from leaving revenue on the table by enhancing and even replacing some of the antiquated methods for time tracking," Chrometa founder Brett Owens told us via email.
Other Notable Features
Chrometa logs all computer activity, including time spent on documents, email, and online research. However, Chrometa does not log keystrokes or any other content, thus preserving confidentiality — plus you can block certain applications from being tracked. To create a time entry, you apply a client/matter tag to a captured activity.
Chrometa doesn't just track your computer activity, it also learns from your input. For example, after you tag the time spent on a document or its folder with a client/matter, Chrometa automatically assigns any future work on that document to that client/matter.
Chrometa doesn't just live on your PC. You can export data into Excel, so that administrators such as your assistant or your bookkeeper can access your logs. You can also generate a wide variety of reports for internal purposes as well as audits.
What Else Should You Know?
Chrometa starts at $49 for a single user license. The company also sells team licenses ($229 for 5 users, $439 for 10 users, etc.). The team license includes network tracking. All licenses include email support. Learn more about Chrometa.
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By Sara Skiff | Thursday, May 28, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Miriam Jacobson shares her firm's paperless office secrets, Joanne Frasca reviews ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4, Douglas Folk reviews Trend Micro's OfficeScan, Ronald Cappuccio reviews Phoneslips, and Kathleen Hunt reviews Timeslips Remote. Don't miss this issue.
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Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, May 21, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Bobby Abrams discusses the future of PCLaw (and other LexisNexis products), Adam Drennen explains how to use Windows' fax capabilities and reviews a USRobotics modem and the Brother MFC-7820N, Doug Jacobs reviews Folder Guard for password protecting folders. Don't miss this issue.
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Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, May 14, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Erin Baldwin reviews Stamps.com, Richard Keyt calls for an end to the Word/WordPerfect debate and suggests more productive topics of discussion, Paul Purdue explains discusses Tabs3 for time-billing, Stephen Seldin reviews CrossEyes for revealing formatting code in Word, and Perry Bulwer reviews the Samsung SyncMaster 226BW 22' monitor and WinTV. Don't miss this issue.
How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Ross Kodner | Monday, May 4, 2009
Originally published on April 27, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.
In my last column, I introduced the idea of the MDTR — the "Minimum Daily Technology Requirements" for every solo and small firm's technology needs. My first column discussed hardware needs. This column focuses on the application and utility software a small practice needs.
MDTR: Major Applications
Beyond the choice of either or both Microsoft Office 2007 and the Corel WordPerfect X4 suite (both if you wish to be "word processing ambidextrous" which can make a great deal of sense for many firms), the following categories of applications comprise the Minimum Daily Technology Requirements for the standalone PC:
Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro: Not some ersatz Acrobat-wannabe, the real thing — get it bundled with your PC, or with a scanner to save money on this item.
Practice Management System: Any practice management system is better than none. After 24 years of thinking about this, I am now ready to unequivocally state that every law practice needs one (even if you don't realize it!).
If you have clients and cases, you have information that needs to be managed, period. Outlook is just not capable enough so look into Amicus Attorney, PCLaw, PracticeMaster, Time Matters, or even the Web-based Clio, Rocket Matter or VLO systems. Find a well-referenced, solidly-credentialed independent consultant to help you decide and then implement.
(My only remaining concerns about Web-based, or SaaS (Software as a Service) systems is the general lack of ability to function entirely offline, if you lose Internet connectivity. Clio has taken the first step in this direction with offline time entry, but this isn't enough as far as I'm concerned.)
Document/Email Management: Practicing without a DMS means self-inflicted torture in terms of wasted otherwise billable time when you cannot find prior work product or are inundated with massive amounts of email. Worldox leads the pack after 20+ years in cost-effective ($395/person) small-firm friendly document/email management that tightly integrates with the major practice management systems (which might have some built-in document/email management abilities, but these are insufficient for most firms).
Legal Billing/Bookkeeping: Ideally, your billing system should work with your practice management system — with the PracticeMaster/Tabs3 combination being the standout because Tabs3 as the billing component outdistances the abilities of competitive systems and their built-in billing modules. Kudos to the Web-based products for solid and simple billing/bookkeeping as well. Second best would be the PCLaw system, which is more simplistic on the practice management side, but still a reasonably-priced integrated contender. Systems that integrate with QuickBooks Pro can be a major plus if your accountant wants QuickBooks data files to keep your accounting costs down.
Outlook 2007: This industry-standard application should be your emailer of choice, integrated with a practice management system. Attempting to handle your email needs inside of any practice management system will quickly overwhelm that program's database. Let Outlook do the heavy-lifting for email management and "connect" case/practice-related emails from Outlook to your practice manager via Worldox's extraordinary, click, drag, click approach to doing so.
MDTR: Utilities
Utilities — little programs that tie everything together:
Protection Suites: Trend Micro Internet Security suite (or the Pro version). Why? It's the least likely to interfere with legitimate program operation. Avoid Symantec/Norton and McAfee products — by far the most intrusive and system-destabilizing of such products. Your software firewall will come from this suite, or firewalling will come from a router/switch/firewall hardware product (watch for my "MDTR: Networks" suggestions in a future column).
Moffsoft Freecalc: This free calculator replaces the brain-dead Windows calculator. It has a scrollable "tape" — the missing link.
7Zip: This free utility handles ZIP/UnZIP file needs.
Zscreen: Need to capture information from screens to include in your Word and PowerPoint files? Grabbing charts and illustrations from Web sites? Windows Ctrl-Prtscn function has an IQ in the high single digits, able to capture only an entire screen. Zscreen, also free, has many of the advanced features of more costly screen capture tools such as Techsmith's excellent $50 SnagIt tool.
Metadata Assistant and Numbering Assistant: At $160 for the pair, both are essential "Word Sanity/Safety" tools for metadata removal and sanity in using auto-paragraph/bullet list/outlining functions in Word.
CrossEyes: From Levit & James, this utility adds "Reveal Codes" functionality to Word ($30).
Anagram for Outlook: This $35 utility adds names and addresses in your email to Outlook (which can then sync to your practice management system) literally with two keystrokes. Build up that address book for marketing/business development purposes as well as pulling this information into labels, envelopes, and correspondence.
Xobni: This utility adds several functions to Outlook that Microsoft should have built. These include the ability to group all the messages in a conversation together, instead of having to hope to find them while scattered across multiple mailboxes, and the Inbox and Sent Items folders. In addition, you can see all the attachments received from any sender. Add some fascinating statistical tracking about the people who send you messages and the ability to generate "smart scheduling" messages to send to any sender, and you've got the makings of an invaluable Outlook tool. And free is tough to argue with.
TweetDeck: This free Twitter-focused utility makes participating in the growing social networking phenomenon practical. It replaces the bare-bones native Twitter interface with a multi-columned Twittering tool that makes the micro-blogging system's constant flow of 140 character "Tweets" manageable. You can have columns showing the Tweets of all those you "follow", as well as Replies, Direct Messages and the most powerful element, Tweets that match a specific Twitter "search." So you could have a column showing all Tweets that mention your name or firm name. Don't Twitter without Tweetdeck.
OutTwit and FBLook: From TechHit, OutTwit adds itself to the Outlook toolbar to enable sending Tweets and receiving/organizing them inside of Outlook. This is a further step towards making Outlook a comprehensive communications hub. FBLook lets you update your Facebook status, see your friend statuses, and see the number of new requests without having to open a browser. Both products are free.
In my next column, I'll wrap up my MDTR recommendations with a look at electrical protection, smartphones, virtualization of a small practice's resources, outsourcing, and using consultants effectively.
Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.
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Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Coming today to TechnoFeature: You've seen the commercials. The Mac is hip while the lovable loser PC bounces from one crisis to another. Do these commercials reflect reality in the legal world? Should you take the leap and make the switch? Family lawyer Ben Stevens, founder of The Mac Lawyer blog, answers these and other questions in this look at the state of Macs in the law firm. Thanks to his lawyerly ways, Ben remains grounded in reality throughout the article without an accompanying distortion field.
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By Neil Squillante | Monday, April 27, 2009
Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 48 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
Track and Capture Time Spent on Email
What Litigators Can Learn From Susan Boyle
Legal Pros Should Consider Both Twittering and Tweetlaw
This issue also contains links to every article in the April 2009 issue of Law Practice. Don't miss this issue or future issues.
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By Sara Skiff | Friday, April 24, 2009
Coming today to Fat Friday: Ross Kodner discusses the downside of Software as a Service practice management, Jay Geary reviews NEC's PBX digital phone system and the vendor his firm used, George Lazar reviews Amicus Mobile, Aaron Morris shares a workaround for using WordPerfect on multiple monitors, and William Tait explains why lawyers should leave the technology tinkering to the IT professionals. Don't miss this issue.
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By Sara Skiff | Thursday, April 16, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Don Grassmann compares OnlineBackupVault, MozyPro, and IDrive for online backup, Jeff Bennion shares three conclusions about the Word versus WordPerfect debate, John Fitzpatrick reviews Word 2007, Ay Uaxe discusses the accessibility of legal software and what the future may hold, and Caren Schwartz reviews Trend Micro antivirus software. Don't miss this issue.
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By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Coming today to TechnoFeature: After a year in beta, Rocket Matter has rocketed into the practice management world, offering law firms a Web-based system for managing their practice. But is all the hype justified? That's what we asked technology consultant and practice management specialist Seth Rowland, Esq. to find out. The result is a comprehensive review of Rocket Matter based on several months of use. Thinking of strapping your practice to Rocket Matter? Read Seth's review for all the details.
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Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
