Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud practice management system designed to work just as well on your smartphone as on your Mac or PC (see article below), a chat service you can add to your website to transform visitors into leads, and two practice management systems that announced new features today at ABA TECHSHOW. Don't miss the next issue.
If you build a cloud practice management system today, you have the advantage of knowing that virtually all lawyers have an iPhone or Android phone and expect your product to work on it. Many lawyers also have an iPad with similar expectations.
LexRex … in One Sentence
Launching today, Cerno Technologies' LexRex is a cloud practice management system built for use on both desktop computers and touchscreen mobile devices.
The Killer Feature
LexRex uses the same vertical scrolling design for both the desktop browser app and the Android and iPhone apps. According to VP Business Development Ray Priddle, this simplifies navigation, reduces the number of different screens, and enables you to find what you need faster.
The smartphone app offers the same functionality as the desktop app plus several device-specific features. For example, the app can automatically prompt you after a call to assign a case and post a time entry. Additionally, you can upload any document on your phone to a case.
"LexRex has been designed to work just as well on a smartphone as on a desktop," says Priddle. "The increasing use of touch screens means that applications need to be designed with touch as a key input and navigation method. Also, with the significant amount of business undertaken on smartphones it's important to fully use the technology lawyers always have with them."
Other Notable Features
LexRex groups together under Custom Settings everything you need to get off the ground such as adding users with default billing rates. Most notably, Case Categories enables you create a custom template for each of your core practice areas to standardize your workflows, prevent errors, and improve case outcomes. For example, a case category for medical malpractice cases can require incident dates during intake.
The heart of LexRex is the Case Summary, which lists all associated activity such as calls, meetings, court dates, documents, email, tasks, notes, expenses, time entries, invoices, etc. You can connect anything in LexRex to a case. LexRex's Dashboard gives you a head's up about your day and looming deadlines across all cases.
LexRex lavishes a lot of attention on your calendar, email, telephone calls, and tasks given their importance. Calls have their own time entry slip and are grouped together for reference. Tasks enable you to add multiple time entries as you work towards completion.
LexRex connects directly to Exchange, Google, IMAP, Office 365, etc. for your email and calendar. You can save email messages to cases. When you compose an email in LexRex, it automatically captures the time and files the message in the corresponding case. Likewise, LexRex can automatically bill meetings on your calendar.
The Billing system enables you to create invoices and send them to clients via email (PDF), mail, or their client portal (see below). When creating a bill, you can make adjustments such as overriding the billing rate for any line item, adding a late payment penalty, etc.
What Else Should You Know?
LexRex's secure client portal enables clients to pay bills with a credit card, access documents that you make available, upload documents that you request, and add notes. LexRex costs $35 per user per month when paid annually ($42 when paid monthly). Learn more about LexRex.
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