TechnoLawyer Blog: TL NewsWire

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an automatic time capture app for smartphones (see article below), litigation support software with predictive coding, an online wealth management service, and an iPad app for intraoffice messaging. Don't miss the next issue.

AUTOMATIC TIME CAPTURE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE

Early this century, people began ditching their landlines because cellular service had become good enough and far more convenient. Modern smartphones accelerated this development. Today, the concept of a "home" telephone seems quaint. While most lawyers haven't ditched their office telephones yet, they use their smartphones a lot — even when they're in the office. Of course, a smartphone isn't just a telephone. It's a computer that can run apps, including one that may persuade you to ditch your "work" telephone.

Calls Accountant … in One Sentence

Launched earlier this year, Executive Business Services' Calls Accountant is an Android app for automatically tracking your billable time.

The Killer Feature

Law firms often charge different billing rates depending on the matter, task or person. Calls Accountant enables you to enter a standard billing rate for all telephone calls or a different rate for specific clients. Additionally, you can use the same rate or create a different rate for in-person meetings and other activities. After the initial setup, Calls Accountant doesn't require any input from you to record a billable telephone call. Tracking in-person meetings or other activities ("sessions" as the app refers to them) begin calculating with a tap.

Other Notable Features

When you make or receive a call, Calls Accountant automatically tracks the time spent if you have designated that person as a billable contact. The app enables you to record the exact time or round up to the next minute depending on your law firm's policies.

Since you typically always have your smartphone with you, Calls Accountant can also track other billable time such as meetings and travel with one tap. As intimated above, you can set a different rate for these billable activities than for telephone calls if necessary.

You can add notes to your time entries, including with the help of one of the many macro apps available for Android so that you can type just a few letters to add a standard description or UTBMS code. Calls Accountant provides real-time reports so that you can see the amount billed (time and dollars) for any contact, period of time (day, week, month, etc.), or activity (calls, meetings, etc.).

"As busy professionals, lawyers are always on the move and spend a lot of time on the phone," Executive Business Services CEO Joseph Shurance told us. "This equates to lots of inbound and outbound calls. With so many deadlines and tasks on their minds such as court appearances, deal closings, etc., lawyers often forget to track each call and its duration. This leads to lost revenue. Calls Accountant takes care of tracking this billable time so that lawyers can focus on their work and get paid for it."

What Else Should You Know?

When you're ready to bill clients, Calls Accountant enables you to export your time entries in CSV format for importing into your billing system. Depending on your preference, you can email this file, copy it to your computer or save it in a cloud storage account such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Some export methods may require another app (e.g., the Dropbox app for exporting to your Dropbox account). Calls Accountant costs $9.99. Learn more about Calls Accountant.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an iPad note-taking app that takes security seriously (see article below), an iPhone app for creating lists (including checklists), a service for paperless deposition exhibits, and client relationship management software. Don't miss the next issue.

THE LEGAL IPAD

Most people stop taking notes in their last class in college — well, at least fast and furious notes. By contrast, many lawyers take notes in this manner for their entire career. While the legal pad and other paper note-taking "systems" are not yet in the hearse en route to their grave plots between the addressograph and typewriter, an increasing number of lawyers take notes on their iPads. As the apps improve, more lawyers ditch their pens for styluses.

Penultimate 4.1 … in One Sentence

Launched last month, Penultimate 4.1 is an iPad note-taking app.

The Killer Feature

All smart lawyers protect their computers, including their iPads, with a login. But a single login is insufficient to protect sensitive information — like your notes for example. Realizing this security need, Evernote added an optional passcode lock feature to the new version of Penultimate.

In addition to securing your notes, this feature enables you to create multiple accounts. Thus, you could share an iPad with someone or more likely create an account for each client or at least one for work and one for personal use.

Other Notable Features

Penultimate is part of the Evernote empire. The app is free but unlocking all of its functionality requires an Evernote Premium account, which costs $45 per year. For example, only those with Evernote Premium accounts can use the new passcode feature.

Also, Penultimate includes three paper styles. If you have an Evernote Premium account, you can use all seven collections. Otherwise, each collection ranges in price from 99 cents to $2.99 via an in-app purchase.

Most notably, an Evernote Premium account enables you to sync your notes so that you can access and search them in Evernote, which is available on every platform (unlike Penultimate). Yes, you read that right — Evernote can make your handwritten notes searchable.

What Else Should You Know?

Penultimate's core note-taking features don't require an Evernote Premium account. These include multiple pen tips and colors from which you can choose, notebooks into which you can place notes for organization, and the ability to email or export notes in PDF format. Learn more about Penultimate 4.1.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud time-tracking application for lawyers (see article below), an add-on for Microsoft Office 2010 and 2013, an automation app for iPad and iPhone, and an email marketing and newsletter service. Don't miss the next issue.

BILL YOUR TIME IN REALTIME

Notwithstanding all of the management consultants trying to kill it, the billable hour has proven durable. Therefore, instead of trying to replace it, law firms may find themselves better served by mastering it. Some claim the secret lies in contemporaneous time capture. But jotting down notes on paper is prone to error not to mention unbecoming of a modern lawyer.

Attorney Timekeeper … in One Sentence

Launched last month, Attorney Timekeeper is a cloud time-tracking application for lawyers.

The Killer Feature

Attorney Timekeeper lists your most recent matters on the right side of the screen (you can edit this list and add new matters). To the left is a timer and below is a text box into which you enter a description of your work. This text box has two other tabs — one for for internal notes, and one that lists a history of all your time entries.

You keep Attorney Timekeeper open all day so that you can contemporaneously capture your time. It works in mobile web browsers so instead of using your desktop web browser, you can use an iPad or smartphone. You can export time entries in CSV format for importing into your accounting or billing software for creating invoices.

Attorney Timekeeper is designed to minimize clicks (or taps). For example, if you're drafting an agreement for the Smith matter and you receive a telephone call about the Jones matter, one click will stop the timer on the former and start it on the latter. After the telephone call, you click on the Smith matter and resume work on the agreement. Attorney Timekeeper automatically enters the last description for the Jones matter, which you can change if necessary. Instead of switching from matter to matter, you can stop the current timer when you need to take a break, write an internal note, etc.

Other Notable Features

With Attorney Timekeeper, you can automatically import time spent on mobile telephone calls from your AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon account. You then decide if each call is billable or not. The company is working on support for other carriers.

Attorney Timekeeper enables you to customize each matter. For example, some clients may require UTBMS task and activity codes on their bills while others may not. Other settings include the time increment, whether the timer should start when you click on a matter or require a second click on the "Start" button, whether to enter time manually instead of using the timer, etc.

The application offers a number of reports, including Billing Effectiveness Percentage, which is total billed hours divided by total hours worked. You can give everyone access to this report to create a friendly competition. There's also an Annual Planner so that lawyers with an annual billable hours quota can track their progress.

What Else Should You Know?

The "Hide" and "Unhide" buttons enable you to quickly hide and restore your screen for privacy. If you leave your office, you can lock your screen, which requires your password to make visible again. Pricing ranges from $34.45 to $49.95 per month per timekeeper depending on the number of timekeepers. Annual plans also exist at a lower monthly cost. Learn more about Attorney Timekeeper.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an iPad app for analyzing your web presence and comparing it to law firms with which you compete (see article below), a WiFi surveillance camera, a searchable online database of tens of thousands of rates for legal services, and software for accessing the file system of iPads and iPhones. Don't miss the next issue.

COMPARE YOUR WEB PRESENCE TO THAT OF YOUR COMPETITORS

Having a web site nowadays is just table stakes. For your web site to help you win new clients, it must rank well in Google and other search engines. You should also leverage legal directories and social media. To prevent wasting time and money, you must continually analyze data to identify areas for improvement. Furthermore, online marketing is a zero sum game so you must also keep track of your competitors. Large law firms hire one or more people for their market intelligence needs. By contrast, most small law firms can't afford these salaries. Fortunately, you can track all of this data and more with a new iPad app.

Martindale-Hubbell Competitive Essentials … in One Sentence

Launched in March, Martindale-Hubbell Competitive Essentials enables you to analyze your law firm's web presence, and compare it to that of your competitors.

The Killer Feature

When you open the app, you see a dashboard with all your key metrics. For example, the number of visits to your web site, Lawyers.com and Martindale-Hubbell profiles, and Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. At a glance, you can also see your domain authority and search engine rank for key web pages (including inbound links, the most important "signal" Google uses for ranking). If you haven't completed your Lawyers.com and Martindale-Hubbell profiles, the dashboard informs you as to how much remains unfinished and provides optimization tips.

Other Notable Features

From this dashboard, you can begin drilling down further. For example, you can see how your web site ranks on Google for keyword searches (e.g., Hamptons real estate lawyer). You can also obtain statistics for your social media accounts, and see how many leads you've obtained and their origin.

As its name suggests, Martindale-Hubbell Competitive Essentials enables you to compare your web presence to that of your competitors. You start by finding your competitors and saving them to your account. You can quickly add law firms you already know about, and then find others by searching within your geographic area and by practice areas. Once you create a list of competitors, you can compare all of your statistics (see above) to theirs. Once you know your relative status, you can take action to improve.

"The ability to easily see where your law firm ranks online against your competition can help you understand which aspects of your marketing plan are working well and where you need to engage in some fine-tuning so that you can bring in more new business," LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Director, Acquisition Marketing Lydia Pickens told us.

What Else Should You Know?

You can download Martindale-Hubbell Competitive Essentials from the App Store for free. However, the app requires a Lawyers.com Professional Profile (as opposed to a free Lawyers.com profile) so you'll want to create a Lawyers.com Professional Profile first if you don't currently have one before using the app. Learn more about Martindale-Hubbell Competitive Essentials.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a document and records management system (see article below), an iPhone keyboard case, a cloud file server, and a text automation app for the iPad and iPhone. Don't miss the next issue.

GO PAPERLESS FASTER THAN EVER

Document management is so important for every law firm that it has spawned more cliches than a politician. For example, law firms "drowning in paper" desperately want to go "paperless." Many of the solutions designed to help law firms get from one cliche to the other cost an "arm and a leg" and require you to be a "rocket scientist."

FileCenter Professional 8 … in One Sentence

Launched this month, Lucion Technologies' FileCenter Professional 8 is a document management system with PDF and scanning tools that doesn't require a consultant to set up.

The Killer Feature

Many document management systems support scanning as an afterthought if at all. By contrast, FileCenter Professional captures all your documents, including those that arrive on paper. Accordingly, it offers multiple scanning technologies, each of which is aimed at a particular need of law firms.

For example "In-Place Scanning" enables you to scan directly into a designated client/matter "drawer" in image-only or searchable PDF format (FileCenter Professional uses a file cabinet metaphor). "Scanning Profiles" automate scanning jobs by applying presets such as resolution, optical character recognition, document format, and where to file scanned documents. It can even name your scanned documents automatically.

Scanning Profiles works in conjunction with "Document Separators" to automate large scanning jobs. Using this technology, when you scan a stack of documents, FileCenter Professional automatically splits them apart and files them for you, naming each document appropriately.

"Our new scanning features stem from spending many hours talking to lawyers who use previous versions of FileCenter Professional, and studying their scanning workflows," Lucion CEO Jeff Pickard told us. "As lawyers ourselves, we understand that law firms have unique requirements so we crafted FileCenter Professional 8 to be the most elegant and efficient tool available to meet these needs."

Other Notable Features

Also new in FileCenter Professional, you can edit and clean up your scans. The new image editing tools work on any PDF or TIFF scan, including those you scanned prior to using FileCenter Professional. The new Inbox provides a flexible workspace into which you can import documents from virtually any source — digital cameras, network scanners, portable scanners, etc.

FileCenter Professional requires minimal configuration because it overlays your current file and folder structure while enhancing functionality beyond that which Windows provides. For example, the software has long provided filename templates and reusable folder layouts. In the new version, you can also set up "Custom Lists" of common terms to draw from when you name a file. Thus, you can build filenames for new documents faster.

In addition to organizing your scans, FileCenter Professional also organizes the documents you and your colleagues create in Microsoft Word and other programs as well as client-related email. And it can eliminate the need for standalone PDF software thanks to advanced PDF tools such as combining PDF documents, annotating and editing them, digital signatures, form filling, and more. Other features include the ability to view documents in virtually any file format, and search the full text of your documents using advanced tools such as Boolean queries.

What Else Should You Know?

FileCenter Professional costs $199.95 with volume discounts available. FileCenter, which lacks some of the features in the Professional version, costs $49.95. Learn more about FileCenter Pro 8.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers business intelligence and cost recovery software for your printers (see article below), an application for defensibly capturing evidence on the web, a task manager for teams, and an iPhone communications app. Don't miss the next issue.

TAKE CONTROL OF PRINTING COSTS

Many lawyers misunderstand cost recovery technology. They think it's only for law firms that charge separately for telephone calls, faxes, and copies. However, this data has many other uses, including determining hourly or fixed fees, identifying your costliest clients, matters, and employees, tracking the time spent on telephone calls for accurate billing entries, and more. This is called business intelligence. Until now, one activity has flown under the radar despite its growing cost — printing documents.

The Count for Prints … in One Sentence

Launching today, Lex Systems' The Count for Prints tracks the usage of all the printers in your law firm.

The Killer Feature

The Count for Prints works with both network and standalone printers. It doesn't just track the number of printouts by client/matter and user. You can also create rules and restrict access to optimize printer usage and reduce costs. For example, you can route jobs to designated printers depending on their nature — number of pages, draft or final version, type of paper, client/matter, user, etc.

If you charge for prints or use the data to bake the costs into your hourly or flat fees, The Count for Prints includes a pricing table for assigning a value to each print job according to your firm's policies. Pricing can vary depending on the attributes enumerated above. The Count for Prints can keep your lawyers and staff apprised of their printer usage so that they print more judiciously.

"In the early days of PCs, users would just print their work product," Lex Systems President Owen Rice told us. "Nowadays, lawyers also print documents they used to duplicate using a copier thanks to the popularity of scanners and the paperless office movement. Accordingly, printer usage has increased. By controlling access to each printer, routing large jobs to high-capacity printers, and accounting for all print jobs, The Count for Prints reduces paper usage and toner costs, making printing more cost effective."

Other Notable Features

In addition to The Count for Prints, Lex Systems also offers The Count for Copies, The Count for Faxes, and The Count for Calls. All modules consist of software that runs on off-the-shelf PCs. There's no proprietary hardware to license or purchase. Lex Systems guides you through the installation process and provides training.

To track an activity, you can enter client/matter and other required information from your computer or from a PC or tablet connected to a device such as a copier or printer — whichever makes more sense. You can use a mix of both input options.

The Count integrates with all major accounting systems, eliminating the need to export and import data. All captured data remains within your law firm on a central server. Lex Systems claims that anyone can learn how to use its administrative tools (you need not be an IT professional). However, the company provides unlimited support and training at no additional cost if you need help.

What Else Should You Know?

Lex Systems charges an annual fee for The Count that depends on which modules you use. Learn more about The Count for Prints.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers PDF software with functions many law firms require (see article below), a cloud dictation workflow system with support for digital recorders and smartphone apps, an encryption utility for Dropbox and other cloud storage services, and a web application for streamlining the recruiting process. Don't miss the next issue.

PROFESSIONAL PDF SOFTWARE AT A BASIC PRICE

Disruptive products usually begin modestly. In the software world, they often cost nothing. Then — bam — they eventually provide robust features while keeping their price low (albeit no longer free). This scenario plays out repeatedly in the hyper competitive world of PDF software thanks to Adobe's decision to make PDF an open standard.

Foxit PhantomPDF Business 6 … in One Sentence

Launched last month, Foxit PhantomPDF Business 6 is PDF software.

The Killer Feature

Foxit originally launched a free PDF viewer, which still exists and is also now at version 6 (Foxit Reader). However, the new version of Foxit PhantomPDF Business offers many "professional" features law firms need.

Chief among these is the ability to create PDF documents, including with one click directly from Microsoft Office. You can also use Foxit PhantomPDF Business for scanning paper documents into searchable PDF documents thanks to the built-in OCR technology. The software also offers batch processing and drag-and-drop PDF creation. It supports all PDF variations, including PDF/A, which some courts require.

Other Notable Features

Foxit PhantomPDF Business also provides editing tools that go beyond minor touch-ups. You can edit entire paragraphs with your document layout reflowing automatically. You can also insert and edit images, change headers and footers, and even adjust the margins and other page layout properties.

You'll also find commenting and drawing tools, including the ability to track who made which annotations when multiple people review a document. Foxit PhantomPDF Business integrates with Evernote and SharePoint, but perhaps more importantly it enables you to email a document directly from the application.

Other features include organizational tools for moving and removing pages, changing page numbering, etc. Bates stamping, watermarks, document comparison, full-text searching, form creation and filling, digital signatures, and document security settings (including password protection).

What Else Should You Know?

Foxit PhantomPDF Business runs on Windows XP and later (including Windows 8), and integrates with Microsoft Office 2003 and later. It costs $129 with volume discounts available. If you don't need some of the professional features, the Standard version costs $89. Learn more about Foxit PhantomPDF Business 6.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud file server and remote desktop service (see article below), a stand for the iPad and iPad mini, an iPad keyboard case, and an email management app for the iPhone. Don't miss the next issue.

A FILE SERVER SANS THE SERVER

Once fearful about cloud services, law firms have since embraced them. And right on cue, bar associations have started providing cover much like with email back in the day. However, most cloud services seem built for individuals rather than for teams. Therefore, using them is like taking a step back for law firms that once used a file server.

Pertino … in One Sentence

Launched this year, Pertino is a cloud file server and remote desktop service.

The Killer Feature

File servers essentially provide access to your documents from anywhere, the downside being that you need to buy a computer, set it up, and maintain it — or more likely, hire a consultant for these tasks.

Pertino provides the same benefits without the expense of hardware and the hassles of configuring it. For example, it doesn't use an IP address for your login. You don't need to create a VPN. Etc. Instead, you create a volume and then invite people to whom you want to give access. Each person creates a login and password using Pertino's software.

You can create as many "networks" (volumes) as you want and remove people anytime. For example, you can create a temporary network for exchanging exhibits during a deposition and a permanent network for your everyday work. Pertino uses bank-grade encryption.

Other Notable Features

Pertino works like a file server. Everyone with access sees the same folders and files. Users can create new documents, edit existing documents, and delete documents (you can limit how users can use a network using the administration tools). Pertino currently offers a Windows client with a Mac client en route soon. The company will offer apps for the iPad and smartphones later this year.

Pertino facilitates other network services as well. For example, you can use it for remote desktop access. Thus, employees working from home can use Microsoft Word or any other application on their work computer via Pertino. This eliminates the need to buy additional software licenses.

What Else Should You Know?

Pertino offers two plans. The Personal Plan is free. It limits access to three users and three devices per user. The Professional Plan costs $10 per month per user with a cap of 250 users and three devices per user. Learn more about Pertino.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TL NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

BECOME THE STEVE JOBS OF TRIAL PRESENTATIONS

It's a time-honored tradition to hand witnesses a document in court (and in depositions) so that you can ask them questions about it. But a trial is as much about optics as the facts and law. Imagine handing a witness your iPad displaying a document that the jury could also see on a large display. You'd look like the Steve Jobs of the legal profession. This coolness factor is now within the reach of any litigator.

ExhibitView iPad 4.0 … in One Sentence

Launched last month, ExhibitView iPad 4.0 is an iPad presentation app.

The Killer Feature

Tech-savvy litigators who use trial presentation software still hand witnesses paper documents for two reasons. First, if you're using traditional software it's awkward to hand a witness your laptop. Second, even if you're using an iPad, you can't risk the witness pressing the home button, displaying a different document, etc. You can display a document on a screen and have the witness testify about it, but this technique doesn't enable a witness to mark it up and lacks the psychological impact of tactile handling of the document.

ExhibitView iPad 4.0 features a new Deposition/Witness mode. It enables you to hand your iPad to a friendly or hostile witness without having to worry about them viewing anything but the displayed document, photograph, illustration, etc. The app also features a whiteboard on which you or the witness can draw and create demonstrative evidence on the fly — again, locked down.

You tap a button to enter Deposition/Witness mode, after which the screen rotates and locks the orientation, and provides a set of markup tools along the top that the witness can use for annotations. You can save any annotations to the case file and submit it as evidence without altering the original document.

"ExhibitView iPad's new groundbreaking Deposition/Witness Mode stems from our roots in trial consulting," Co-Founder William Roach told us. "Our trial presentation applications for iPad, Windows, and Mac give litigators more choices, flexibility, and power for for their presentation needs."

Other Notable Features

Also new is Max Viewing Size, which keeps your documents at the maximum size while projecting them (i.e., documents consume the entire screen). This makes it easier for the witness, jury, and others to see what you're displaying. According to the company, competing apps don't use the entire screen of the iPad from edge to edge.

Other features include support for retina iPads, improved callout and freehand drawing tools, the ability to zoom in with a tap, and more printing options.

You can use ExhibitView iPad on its own, but it also integrates with the company's two other applications — ExhibitView for PC and DepositionPro. With the former, you can create presentations on your PC and then move them to your iPad via iTunes (many litigators find it easier to present from an iPad, especially if the case is too small to warrant a trial consultant). With the latter, you can review and annotate deposition transcripts (including video), and then export clips you want to present into ExhibitView iPad.

What Else Should You Know?

ExhibitView iPad costs $49.99. You can obtain a discount via Apple's Volume Purchase Program. Learn more about ExhibitView iPad 4.0.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TL NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

COMMUNICATE WITH PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS WHILE YOU SLEEP

The web giveth and the web taketh away — especially when you're away. Assuming you're mortal, you need to sleep and spend time with your family. It's likely that your staff has these same needs, which means your law firm lacks a 24/7/365 operation. However, people who need a lawyer often look for one at night and on weekends — when you're not around to field inquiries. A new service enables your law firm to respond to client inquiries immediately around the clock.

Web Visibility Solutions … in One Sentence

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell's Web Visibility Solutions is a law firm web site creation and marketing service that launched a new service called Martindale-Hubbell Live Chat (Live Chat).

The Killer Feature

When you add the new Live Chat service to your LexisNexis web site, prospective clients can initiate a chat any time of day from any page. LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell’s trained personnel respond to chat requests immediately. They don’t dispense legal advice, but instead collect information such as contact information and the general nature of the pr ospect’s legal needs.

You can customize the information that chat representatives collect to fit your case assessment workflow and client intake system. You can also provide specific information about your firm that the representative can provide to prospects. Live Chat works in both traditional and mobile web browsers. LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell stores all Live Chat transcripts so that you can review them before contacting prospects.

“Web Visibility Solutions with Live Chat can help consumers connect with consumers in various stages of their search for legal counsel,” LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell’s Director, Acquisition Marketing Lydia Pickens told us. “Search engine optimized web sites help potential clients find your firm when they search for a specific practice area and geography. The new Live Chat feature enables your firm to convert visitors into potential clients with 24/7 live help, which consumers cite as among the most important features of a web site.”

Other Notable Features

As noted above, Live Chat is a new option for law firms with Web Visibility Solutions web sites. LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell offers six web site solutions and various add-on services depending on your budget and goals.

For example, the Web Professional Presence solution consists of a web site with 10 professionallydesigned web pages about your law firm’s lawyers, practice areas, achievements, history, etc., a Google+ Local Profile so that your firm appears in local searches, a blog for adding thought leadership articles, press releases, and other written material to your site. Also, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell will optimize your web site for mobile web browsers such as those on smartphones and tablets, and provide lead tracking so that you can analyze which prospects contacted your firm via your web site (email, telephone calls, and web forms).

The services vary by solution. You can upgrade from one solution to another at anytime. The more advanced solutions include customwritten articles for your blog, link building to improve your web site’s rank in Google for keywords related to your geographic location and practice areas, building social media profile, and much more.

What Else Should You Know?

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell offers free consultations to analyze your current web presence and explain the various Web Visibility solutions so you can choose the one that best fits your goals and budget. Learn more about Web Visibility Solutions.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.