Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an intrgrated accounting, billing, and practice management system (see article below), a location-based weather forecast app for iPad and iPhone, two portable scanners, and a dedicated podcast app for iPad and iPhone. Don't miss the next issue.
Capture All of Your Billable Time All of the Time
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a survey conducted by LexisNexis regarding the gap between the number of hours lawyers work and the number of hours they bill. While billing partners will always adjust invoices for various reasons, the disparities uncovered by the survey go far beyond mere write-downs. Instead, the survey found that most lawyers fail to capture significant portions of their billable time. This explains why The Wall Street Journal jumped on the story. It also explains LexisNexis' latest product.
LexisNexis PCLaw Version 12 … in One Sentence
Released last week, LexisNexis PCLaw Version 12 is an all-in-one accounting, billing, and matter management software system for law firms.
The Killer Feature
PCLaw 12's new Time Entry Advisor helps you capture time that you might otherwise forget. Because PCLaw is an integrated system, it has a deep understanding of pretty much everything going on in your firm.
Accordingly, the Time Entry Advisor monitors and keeps track of all unbilled activities in PCLaw such as documents, email, events, tasks, telephone calls, etc. At the end of the day, it reminds you to bill for these activities. It can also alert you when you don't bill for an activity, displaying days for which you don't have any time entries in a spreadsheet format.
Those of you involved in the firm's financial management can generate reports to see all unbilled activities by date range, lawyers, matters, and other parameters.
"The new Time Entry Advisor in PCLaw 12 helps law firms to reduce the loss of billable hours and improve cash flow," LexisNexis' Vice President and Managing Director of Legal Business Software Solutions Mike Lipps told us. "Given the challenges faced by law firms in today's tough business climate, we strive to deliver innovations that help firms of all sizes grow and more easily manage the business side of their practice."
Other Notable Features
In addition to preventing lost billable time, PCLaw 12 has improved general retainer handling of client overpayments. For example, it can warn you about client overpayments and automate their handling such as moving overpayments into a trust account or issuing a refund.
The significantly enhanced practice management technologies in PCLaw 12 are especially apparent in the redesigned calendar. You can now view it by day, week, or month, color code different types of events, set up a tickler workflow of deadlines based on an anchor event (such as a lawsuit filing), and create time entries directly from events and tasks.
To reduce the risk of data loss and and also reduce your costs, you can run PCLaw 12 in the Microsoft Windows Terminal Server environment. This setup enables you to enforce settings across your firm, apply software updates to all versions in use, and provide remote access for your staff from anywhere. You'll also find field-level security options in the Client Manager, Contact Manager, and Matter Manager.
Other PCLaw features include automated past due email notices for overdue bills, time entry notes that won't display on pre- or final bills for communicating additional details internally, more robust client records and conflict checking tools, and simplified conversion from previous versions. PCLaw 12 integrates with a variety of software, including Time Matters, Microsoft Exchange 2007 and later, Amicus Attorney, QuickBooks, HotDocs, and ScanSnap scanners. Its Mobility service enables you to access PCLaw from your iPad and from smartphones with modern web browsers.
What Else Should You Know?
PCLaw 12 runs on Windows PCs. A new purchase includes the first year of an Annual Maintenance Plan (AMP) subscription. The PCLaw AMP provides software upgrades and service packs, live technical support, online training, and the Mobility service. Learn more about PCLaw 12.
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.
