join now
newsletters
topics
topics
advertise with us ABA Journal Blawg 100 Award 2009 ABA Journal Blawg 100 Award 2008
Subscribe (RSS Feed)TechnoLawyer Feed

Reviews of Dictamus, Nextiva, Google Apps; Carbonite, Mozy, TimeSolv; Essential Dictation Accessories

By Sara Skiff | Thursday, October 21, 2010

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Bill Ogden, Review: Dictamus for iPhone for Dictation (Plus Accessories)

Traci Hinden, Review: Nextiva, Comcast, and Vonage VoIP Services

Grady Glover, Review: Google Calendar, Gmail, and Google Docs

Richard Herndon, Review: Carbonite v. Mozy for Online Backup

Howard Lenow, Review: TimeSolv for Time-Billing

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Backup/Media/Storage | Business Productivity/Word Processing | Coming Attractions | Dictation/OCR/Speech Recognition | Email/Messaging/Telephony | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | Online/Cloud | TL Answers

Reviews of PCLaw, Quikscribe, LawCharge; Software for a New Firm; PEOs; Amicus Attorney Data Export; Much More

By Sara Skiff | Thursday, October 21, 2010

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Doug Stewart, Review: PCLaw, Quikscribe; Technology Recommendations for a New Law Firm

Mark Olberding, Review: LawCharge for Ethical Credit Card Processing

Joel Bair, Review: The Pros and Cons Of Using a Professional Employer Organization (PEO)

Alan Schaaf, More Thoughts on Wiping a Hard Drive

Aaron Craft, Tip: How to Export Amicus Attorney Data to Excel

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Backup/Media/Storage | Coming Attractions | Dictation/OCR/Speech Recognition | Email/Messaging/Telephony | Law Office Management | Online/Cloud | Practice Management/Calendars | Privacy/Security | TL Answers

A CIC Reflects on Switching From Time Matters; Credit Card Tips; How to Truly Erase a Hard Drive; MediaWiki Review

By Sara Skiff | Thursday, October 21, 2010

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Tom Caffrey, Switching From Time Matters: A CIC's Perspective

Robert Browning, How (and Why) Our Firm Handles Credit Card Payments

John Blatt, A Computer Forensics Expert's Advice on Securely Erasing a Hard Drive

Kurt Garnjost, Review: MediaWiki for Free Knowledge Management

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Collaboration/Knowledge Management | Coming Attractions | Online/Cloud | Practice Management/Calendars | TL Answers

Ethical Credit Card Processing; Reviews of Westlaw, Loislaw, TrialDirector, Tabs3; Archiving Case-Related Outlook Email

By Sara Skiff | Thursday, October 14, 2010

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Beverly Michaelis, How to Accept Credit Cards Without Violating Ethics Rules

Ay Uaxe, Review: Westlaw and Loislaw

Edward Zohn, Tip: Another Way to Archive Case-Related Outlook Email

Edward Schoenecker, Review: TrialDirector and Total Recorder

Michael Jones, Review: Tabs3 for Time-Billing

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Backup/Media/Storage | Coming Attractions | Email/Messaging/Telephony | Legal Research | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | Presentations/Projectors | TL Answers

Reviews of BlackBerry Tour, PBWorks, Stamps.com, SimpleCertifiedMail.com; WebDAV Tips; Time Matters

By Sara Skiff | Thursday, October 14, 2010

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Andrew Weltchek, Online File Sharing Services and Client Confidentiality

Andrew Weltchek, Review: Stamps.com and SimpleCertifiedMail.com

Susan Cox, Review: Syncing BlackBerry Tour With Outlook

Craig Yaris, Review: PBWorks for Cheap Knowledge Management

Mark Manoukian, Tips for Using WebDAV Locally and Over the Internet

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Collaboration/Knowledge Management | Coming Attractions | Email/Messaging/Telephony | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | Networking/Operating Systems | Online/Cloud | Privacy/Security | TL Answers

ProTempus: Read Our Exclusive Report

By Eliza Sarasohn | Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an integrated practice management system (see article below), risk management software, and a PDF smartphone app with annotation capabilities. Don't miss the next issue.

Boost Your Firm's Revenue by 25 Percent

PTU-1-NPP-450

The Beatles famously sang about it. So did Pink Floyd. Other rockers like Cyndi Lauper and Liz Phair also sang about it (with less chart success). Chances are your law firm wants "it" too. Money that is — the more, the better. Fortunately, as a lawyer you don't need a hit song to make more money. You just need to record all your billable time. A reliable and easy to use practice management system is the key to capturing more billable hours, which means bigger paychecks for you and your colleagues. Investing in such software practically puts money in your pocket. Thus, we thought you might want to learn about an integrated practice management system that recently came to our attention.

ProTempus … in One Sentence
ProTempus is an integrated practice management system for law firms that handles all your front and back office tasks.

The Killer Feature
What if you could increase your billable hours an average of 25 percent? ProTempus claims that its customers typically boost their billable hours by that percentage when they start using the software thanks to its user-friendly billing and invoicing system that "far exceeds the industry standard."

For example, ProTempus captures the time of each phone call with a built-in timer you initiate by clicking on the telephone icon in the toolbar. At the end of each call, one click bills the client for your time, inserting your brief description of the call. For flat-rate and contingency cases, you can log and track the hours spent working on the case in the client's activity history.

When you're out of the office, you can similarly track and bill your time from your Internet-capable smartphone using its Web browser. ProTempus syncs with Google Calendar, giving you real-time management of your calendar over the air. ProTempus also syncs with Outlook if you already have a real-time connection between your Outlook calendar and your smartphone.

Other Notable Features
In addition to capturing your time, ProTempus can also create and send your invoices using email or postal mail, as well as manage accounts receivable, including retainers and credit card processing. ProTempus optionally syncs with QuickBooks to provide complete accounting needs.

ProTempus integrates with Microsoft Word and WordPerfect for document assembly. You can create templates and fill in blanks using client and case information stored in ProTempus.

Other features include integrated contact database, shared calendars, task management, case management, document management, email integration, instant messaging, integration with scanners, and access from remote computers via the Internet.

What Else Should You Know?
ProTempus runs on Windows PCs. ProTempus charges a monthly fee based on the number of "time-keepers" (attorneys and paralegals) — $100 per month for the first time-keeper plus $40 per month for each additional time-keeper. Administrative staff can use ProTempus at no charge. There are no up-front purchase fees or contracts to sign. The monthly service fee includes perpetual upgrades, unlimited customer support, and unlimited training. ProTempus can import your data from most other software packages at no charge. Learn more about ProTempus.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire

Clio: Read Our Exclusive Report

By Eliza Sarasohn | Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an online practice management system (see article below), eDiscovery software with a new feature that makes document collections more portable, and an iPad text editor. Don't miss the next issue.

Stay in Sync

THM-9-NPP-450

Online applications (or software as a service — SaaS) have forever changed the lives of lawyers, enabling them to work from absolutely anywhere — at the courthouse or poolside. But all this game-changing mobility would become meaningless if you could not trust that you have the most current data and all of it. This problem becomes compounded as you increase the number of online applications with overlapping services. Fortunately for law firms, one company is hard at work to ensure you stay in sync.

Clio … in One Sentence
Themis Solutions' Clio is a Web-based (SaaS) practice management system designed for sole practitioners and small firms.

The Killer Feature
Business Insider recently reported that Google's suite of online office applications, Google Apps, attracts one million new users per month. Many small law firms rely heavily on Google Apps for email, but also for its Calendar and Contacts now that so many smartphones offer Google Apps integration.

An increasing number of small law firms also use Clio, one of the pioneers of Web-based practice management, which we first covered in this newsletter nearly two years ago. Clio also handles your calendar and contacts, tying them to your clients and matters, which Google Apps cannot do since the tools are not designed for law firms.

The use of two online applications creates a classic technology problem — duplicate data, or worse, scattered data. Released today, Clio Sync for Google Apps solves this problem by synchronizing your Clio data with your Google Calendar and Contacts. Enter a meeting in Clio and it'll also appear in your Google Calendar and vice versa. Clio is the first Web-based practice management system to integrate with these Google Apps.

"Synchronization is crucial to efficient workflow — especially for mobile lawyers," Clio President Jack Newton told us. "Many of our solo and small firm customers rely on Google Apps in addition to Clio to power their practices. An integration between the two cloud-based products was a natural fit, and an important step in helping to ensure Clio continues to provide value and boost practice efficiency for all subscribers."

Other Notable Features
Clio Sync for Google joins Clio Sync for Outlook, which Clio added one year ago. Clio Sync for Outlook enables you to access your Clio calendar, contacts, and tasks online or offline in Outlook, re-syncing any changes you make offline the next time you're online.

Clio has added a number of other features since our initial coverage. For example, an email "dropbox" enables you to enter a special email address into the BCC field of an email message to automatically file that message and any attachments in Clio under the corresponding client and matter. This technology works with any email program such as Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird.

Other new features include multiple calendars (including a firmwide calendar that everyone can access), support for drag and drop within the calendar, professionally-designed billing templates for creating customized branded invoices, mobile browser support on the iPhone, Palm Pre, and most Android-based and BlackBerry smartphones, and the Clio Status Dashboard to keep you apprised of the status of Clio's growing number of services.

What Else Should You Know?
A Clio subscription costs $49 per lawyer and $25 per non-attorney support user. The monthly subscription includes the new Clio Sync feature and other all other new features that Clio regularly adds. Learn more about Clio.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Online/Cloud | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire

"Conviction" Movie Review; iPad Review; PDF Converter Enterprise 7; LexisNexis Annual Maintenance; Your Knowledge Gap

By Sara Skiff | Friday, October 8, 2010

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

Tom Tuft, Review: iPad in a Law Practice; FileMaker Go

Channing Strother, Tips for PDF Converter Enterprise 7

Kelly Chang Rickert, Movie Review: Conviction

Bruce Brightwell, LexisNexis Annual Maintenance Plan for PCLaw and Time Matters

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Fat Friday
Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Business Productivity/Word Processing | Coming Attractions | Entertainment/Hobbies/Recreation | Fat Friday | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | Law Office Management | Practice Management/Calendars | TechnoLawyer | Technology Industry/Legal Profession

Mobile Apps Doomed? Document Assembly a Must? Reviews of Tabs3, AbacusLaw, Balans and Embody Chairs

By Sara Skiff | Thursday, October 7, 2010

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Tom Rowe, Mobile Apps v. Mobile Web: No Contest

Mark Deal, The Case for Document Automation Technology in Every Law Firm

Michael Jones, Review: Tabs3 for Time-Billing

Allan Tiller, Review: AbacusLaw for Practice Management

Tom Trottier, Review: Balans Backless Kneel Chair (Plus Herman Miller's Embody)

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Automation/Document Assembly/Macros | Coming Attractions | Furniture/Office Supplies | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | Online/Cloud | TL Answers

ADERANT Practice Manager: Read Our Exclusive Report

By Eliza Sarasohn | Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a Web-based practice management system (see article below), an ergonomic mouse designed in conjunction with New York City's Hospital for Special Surgery, an iPhone app for tracking your mandatory CLE credits, a Web application for managing conflicts of interest within your law firm, and an app that enables you to create and edit Microsoft Office documents on an iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Don't miss the next issue.

Reclaim Your Time and Better Manage Your Practice

ADR-5-NPP-450

When it comes to practice management software, small firms might envy their larger counterparts. Maintaining a state-of-the-art practice management system requires space, money, and constant attention from trained technicians — resources in short supply or nonexistent at small firms. However, inefficient practice management results in time-consuming administrative work. If you regularly find yourself working overtime juggling various billing, accounting, docketing, and other tasks, you need to streamline your operations with a practice management system. But can you afford one?

ADERANT Practice Manager … in One Sentence
ADERANT Practice Manager is a Web-based (SaaS) practice management system designed for small law firms.

The Killer Feature
For over 30 years, ADERANT has served the practice management needs of many of the country's largest law firms, helping them to improve productivity, get paid faster, and increase profits. With ADERANT Practice Manager, the company brings these same large firm technologies to the small firm setting — without the need to install and maintain software onsite.

Deployed as a cloud-based Web service, ADERANT Practice Manager enables you to access functions such as time capture, bill creation, expense and disbursement tracking, calendar, and contact and task management in a single integrated online solution.

ADERANT takes care of adding new features, backing up and securing your data, and scaling as usage within your firm increases. You don't need an IT department to use ADERANT Practice Manager.

Other Notable Features
ADERANT Practice Manager enables you to capture your time using a variety of methods such as direct entry and use of timers. You can edit, split, and allocate time entries. You can also capture expenses, batch send single- and multi-matter invoices, manage trust accounts and retainers, and keep track of accounts receivable.

Additional features include a general ledger for accounting, contact management by client and matter, conflicts searching, a calendar that supports docketing rules, task management, and many customizable reports.

What Else Should You Know?
You can import data into ADERANT Practice Manager as well as export your data. ADERANT Practice Manager uses 64-bit SSL data encryption. You can restrict access by user and/or group. ADERANT houses your data in an "SAS 70 type II" secure facility. Learn more about ADERANT Practice Manager.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Online/Cloud | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire
 
home my technolawyer search archives place classified blog login