By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Coming today to TechnoFeature: You need a new practice management system. Or do you? Before you spend thousands of dollars, spend a few minutes reading this TechnoFeature article in which practice management expert Katrina Curfiss provides a to-do list for law firms considering replacing their practice management system with a competitive product. The article explains how to create a "needs analysis score card," and addresses all the factors your score card should contain.
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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.
By Neil Squillante | Monday, July 6, 2009
Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 50 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
Choosing Practice Management Software (Debut Podcast)
In Praise of Law Firm Layoffs
A Few Thoughts (Or Complaints) About Law Practice Sites
This issue also contains links to every article in the July 2009 issue of Law Technology News. Don't miss this issue or future issues.
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Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Friday, June 26, 2009
Coming today to
Fat Friday: Mark Raby reviews his first week using the Palm Pre, YouLaw columnist Gerry Oginski reviews Avvo from a lawyer's perspective, Philip Franckel discusses running Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Linux, Ann Byrne discusses Microsoft Response Point and Aastra telephone systems, and Harvey Ash shares some news about the new Palm Pre's ability to sync with iTunes. Don't miss this issue.
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Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, June 25, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Kenneth G. Miller reviews using Amicus Attorney on his iPhone, Channing Strother shares his latest struggles with Nuance software and support, Lee D. Cumbie shares some Bates stamping shortcuts, Julian Garcia explains how to switch word processors, and Wandal Winn reviews magicJack. 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 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.
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 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.
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 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 Sara Skiff | Thursday, May 7, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Roger Neils reviews the Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9500 with SpeechExec Pro Dictate, Paul Purdue reviews Carbonite for online backup, Frank Lanigan reviews PDF Converter Pro and Nuance's customer support, Elizabeth Travis explains how to create a macro in Word 2003, and Michael Schwartz offers a money-saving Time Matters tip. 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 | Thursday, April 30, 2009
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Leon Gary reviews the BlackBerry Storm, Kevin Dunn reviews Time Matters 9.0 and LexisNexis' tech support, Harrell Z. Browning shares his experience switching to a MacBook Pro (and how he still runs his PC-only programs), Edward Zohn reviews ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, and Carol Gerber provides an update regarding which Table of Authorities software that LexisNexis supports. 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.
