Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a popular cloud practice management system that now offers a full-featured mobile app, a chat system, and payment processing (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of a service that enables you to analyze IP portfolios for M&A due diligence, litigation strategy, and prior art research, on-demand service for capturing social media and other web evidence in accurate and defensible PDF documents, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.
In the early days of modern smartphones and tablets, lawyers complained about the lack of native companion apps for cloud practice management systems. When these apps arrived, lawyers discovered that they lacked key functionality, offering a watered-down experience. The dream of running your law firm from your phone requires a mobile app with complete feature parity.
Rocket Matter Atlas Gold Edition … in One Sentence
Launched recently, Rocket Matter Atlas Gold Edition (Rocket Matter) is a popular cloud practice management system with Android and iOS apps that now mirror the functionality of the desktop web app.
The Killer Feature
This identical functionality on mobile and desktop is exemplified by Communicator, Rocket Matter's new internal messaging system. Director of Sales Matt Nelson and Sales Operations Manager Alejandro Dao gave me a demo with one using an iPhone and the other a Mac. Channels organize conversations within Communicator into specific topics, while direct messages offer one-to-one communication. Rocket Bot, Communicator's artificial intelligence system, recognizes matter names and links to their file, offers to create an event when someone enters a date, etc.
"We've been using the desktop and mobile app," says Robin Cherkas of Bull & Reinhardt, PLLC. "We love Communicator here. It's seriously awesome. Everything is all in organized channels. It has eliminated people leaving Post-it messages on my desk. It has lived up to the word "communicator" with the whole firm communicating more effectively than we ever have."
With your entire firm in your pocket, state-of-the-art security is essential. You can now require two-factor authentication for the mobile app, which requires you to enter a PIN number in addition to your stored password when you login. For faster two-factor logins, you can enable Touch ID on iOS (Face ID on the iPhone X).
Other Notable Features
Rocket Matter has three core features always available — global search, sidebar navigation, and the contextual Add New button. The Dashboard offers a personalized view of your events, tasks, billing activity, and more across all of your active matters. Each matter contains its own dashboard within which you'll find the Matter Stream — a ticker listing all activity in reverse chronological order. Rocket Matter also enables you to view any aspect of a matter in isolation such as calendar, documents, email, invoices, and payments.
Speaking of payments, Rocket Matter now integrates with LexCharge legal payment processing, enabling your clients to securely pay invoices or replenish their trust account by e-check or credit card. You can also enter payments manually. The new Recurring Payments option facilitates alternative business models such as a monthly subscription, or letting struggling clients split payments across time.
For document management, Rocket Matter integrates with Box, Dropbox, and Office 365, the latter of which supports versioning. Or you can upload documents directly into Rocket Matter. ScanSnap integration enables you to scan directly into Rocket Matter. The mobile app one-ups the desktop app in one regard — you can use your device's camera for scanning on the go.
What Else Should You Know?
"When Rocket Matter launched in 2008, we introduced something truly novel to the legal industry," Rocket Matter CEO Larry Port tells me. "Nearly 10 years later, our team remains relentlessly inventive and continues to provide revolutionary features that help law firms significantly boost revenues and operate more efficiently." Rocket Matter costs $65 per user per year on the annual plan (you can pay monthly). This includes the new payment processing features. Learn more about Rocket Matter Atlas Gold Edition.
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.
