TechnoLawyer: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture

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.

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Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud billing application (see article below), an iPad app for voir dire, a PDF watermarketing utility, database software, and a collaborative multi-platform notebook. Don't miss the next issue.

Cloud Billing Application Emphasizes Efficiency

Does the world need another cloud billing application? What if Bill Gates thought the world already had enough word processors? Or if Steve Jobs decided that plenty of smartphones already existed? There's always room for new products that break new ground or have some other competitive advantage. Cloud applications are particularly appealing to entrepreneurs because they're easy for lawyers to try and have low switching costs. Into this milieu arrives a new entrant contending for the legal billing crown.

CaseFox … in One Sentence
CaseFox is a cloud billing and trust accounting application.

The Killer Feature
Nowadays, even small firms use contract lawyers. CaseFox enables you to create different role-based user accounts. For example, you might give partners access to all matters, associates access only to their matters, and contract lawyers only the ability to enter their billable time.

You need not create these privileges each time you set up a new user. Instead, you define user types (roles) when setting up CaseFox. You then place each new user into the appropriate role, automatically restricting each user according to that role's predefined settings.

Other Notable Features
CaseFox's developers assumed that lawyers track their time in different ways ranging from paper to timers to automatic time capture programs. Thus, instead of creating time-tracking tools, the developers instead focused on making time and expense entry and bill creation as efficient as possible.

Entering time and expenses requires just a few clicks. The application supports UTBMS codes plus you can create your own custom shortcuts. Billing partners can transform approved time and expense entries into invoices in two clicks. If not submitting electronically via LEDES, you can export invoices in PDF format for emailing or printing. Bills can display trust account balances, past due amounts, partial payments, discounts, and more.

In addition to its core financial feature set, CaseFox also offers document and practice management. Each matter can have associated calendar events, contacts, documents, notes, and tasks. If you use Google Apps, calendars, contacts, and tasks can sync with your Google account.

As you would expect, CaseFox offers a customizable dashboard. The application uses 256-bit encryption, and works in both desktop and mobile web browsers.

What Else Should You Know?
CaseFox offers four plans — Basic (free), Silver ($10 per month), Gold ($20 per month), and Platinum ($35 per month). The latter three plans differ by the number of matters, but they all provide for unlimited users (the free plan is limited to 1 user). Learn more about CaseFox.

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Today's issue also contains links to every article in the March/April 2012 issue of Law Technology News. Don't miss today's issue or any future issues of BlawgWorld.

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Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a practice management app store (see article below), a secure cloud storage service for iPad and iPhone, a secure mobile office suite, a document assembly add-on for Microsoft Word, and a social media management and marketing application. Don't miss the next issue.

The World's First Practice Management App Store

Lawyers often complain about the complexity of practice management systems. Ironically, this problem stems from software companies eager to accommodate requests from their customers. Accordingly, each new version of their software contains new features that only a few law firms want. With each new feature, the clutter increases and the learning curve steepens, resulting in complaints. A more modern approach to pleasing customers without this downside is to focus on core features that all law firms need, and build a platform on which other companies can offer optional specialized solutions — or "apps" as we now call them.

Total Attorneys App Store … in One Sentence
Launching today, Total Attorneys App Store enables you to add first- and third-party apps to Total Attorneys (a cloud practice management system), thus enhancing its functionality to suit your needs

The Killer Feature
Earlier this year we reported on Total Attorneys, which costs just $1 per user per month. This price point created quite a stir. Today, the company has dropped another disruptive shoe on the practice management world.

At launch, Total Attorneys App Store features a number of third-party apps with more en route. For example, you can set up a Fastcase account for legal research ($95 per month). Capital Payments enables your clients to pay you via ACH, check, or credit card. You can also schedule automatic recurring payments. All transactions occur through Total Attorneys' client portal.

Also available is LegalEase for outsourcing work to contract lawyers ($350 for 10 hours) and paralegals ($150 for 10 hours), Legal Web Experts for marketing services such as web site creation and search engine optimization, LawQA for client development (respond to inquiries from consumers seeking legal help), and Google Calendar Sync.

"We have worked very hard building the most comprehensive web-based practice management platform for small and solo firms," founder and chairman Ed Scanlan told us. "Total Apps Store is a huge step in accomplishing our goal of simplifying law practice management so that law firms can better serve their clients and achieve greater financial success."

Other Notable Features
Total Attorneys App Store contains first-party apps as well (apps created by Total Attorneys). Live Virtual Receptionist combines technology with a human touch. A live operator answers your phone, eliminating the need to add a receptionist to your payroll. Messages appear in your Total Attorneys account plus you can receive email alerts.

Legal Leads helps you grow your clientele. You receive your first 10 leads for free. When a lead becomes a client, you convert the lead into a client file in Total Attorneys.

What Else Should You Know?
Earlier this month, Total Attorneys released free iPad and iPhone apps. On other platforms, you access Total Attorneys from any web browser. The base price for the core practice management system remains $1 per user per month. Apps vary in price. Learn more about Total Attorneys App Store.

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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.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 103 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week.

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Today's issue also contains links to every article in the March/April 2012 issue of Law Practice. Don't miss today's issue or any future issues of BlawgWorld.

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Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 117 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week.

CaseFox for Time Tracking, Billing, and Trust Accounting

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Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a time and billing application (see article below), a practice management and accounting system, a trial presentation iPad app, a remote control app, and a task management program. Don't miss the next issue.

Harvest Your Billable Time and Expenses Wherever You Work

In early 2006 I attended the first Barcamp. No, it's not a bar exam prep course involving tents. It's a free conference for programmers in which anyone can give a presentation. I attended because I'm always looking for talent. In fact, I unsuccessfully tried to recruit John Resig who was a college student at the time, but has since become a rock star in web development. I also met Danny Wen who was running a web design studio. Unhappy with all the time and billing products available then, he pivoted shortly after Barcamp to develop a product that has since become a leading player. It's about time I report on how his company's product helps lawyers track and bill for their time.

Harvest … in One Sentence
Harvest is a time capture and billing solution used by small to midsize law firms in more than 100 countries.

The Killer Feature
Recognizing that lawyers need to capture billable time anywhere they work or risk underestimating or even forgetting about it, Harvest goes wherever you go (it also records expenses).

For starters, Harvest works in any web browser. Some lawyers prefer native software. No problem. Harvest offers lightweight desktop applications for Mac and Windows.

What about when you're out of the office? Harvest has Android and iPhone apps plus it'll work in mobile web browsers on other smartphones. You can even record your time via text message, email, and Twitter (private direct messages).

Other Notable Features
The Harvest applications all feature start-stop timers that tightly integrate with your device. For example, if a client calls you on your iPhone, you can start a timer with one tap before answering the call, not only ensuring that you capture the time but eliminating the need to create a manual time entry. Of course, sometimes you need to manually enter time. Harvest offers a weekly timesheet designed to speed up this task.

Most lawyers work in teams. Harvest enables you to review and approve your staff's timesheets, and automatically remind them to submit their timesheets so that you can send out bills and get paid.

Speaking of invoices, Harvest can create them for you. Alternatively, you can generate reports using various filters (e.g., approved billable time and expenses for a specific matter), and export it in common spreadsheet formats for importing into your billing or accounting system.

Harvest offers a number of reports with visual panache that facilitate data analysis (remember, these guys started out as designers). The newest report shows you all time and expenses that your firm has not yet invoiced.

Harvest uses bank-grade encryption, and backs up all data twice a day. TRUSTe has certified Harvest's privacy policy.

What Else Should You Know?
Harvest offers three plans — Solo ($12 per month for 1-3 users), Basic ($40 per month for 4-10 users), and Business ($90 per month for unlimited users). You can try it for free for 30 days. Learn more about Harvest.

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Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Douglas Folk, Reviews Of IPad Note-Taking And Handwriting Recognition Apps

Ronald Siegel, LAWS/Pro: A Cloud Practice Management System With Confusing Pricing

William Ebben, Tip For Upgrading From Windows XP To Windows 7

Anthony Padilla, Review: Worldox Technical Support

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