TechnoLawyer: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture

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.

Coming today to Fat Friday: David Hirsch discusses Macs in the law office, Thomas Daly shares the details of his comprehensive backup routine, Tom Trottier explains the differences between laptops and smartphones and what hybrids he'd like to see in the future, Alan Schaaf discusses the ROI of building versus buying your firm's PCs, and Robert Copeland reviews upgrading to Time Matters 9.0. Don't miss this issue.

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.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Thomas Hutto reviews AdvologixPM for online practice management, Michael Schley explains three ways to archive Outlook messages, Wandal Winn reviews Google Calendar for client appointments, Robert Johnson compares the BlackBerry Storm to the iPhone while musing about the yet-to-be-released Palm Pre, and Robert Levinson reviews several Nuance products. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Bob Walsh shares the details of his firm's paperless workflow and backup strategy, Ivan Frockt reviews RTG Bills, Eric Harris reviews the Workrite Sierra adjustable desk, Brooks Miller explains how to create table of authorities in WordPerfect, and Michael O'Byrne shares his top four reasons to upgrade to digital dictation. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Wendy Parker discusses the security risks of fax-to-email services, David Herdman shares another way to hide your desktop when connecting to a projector for a courtroom presentation, Caren Schwartz reviews QuickBooks for time-billing on a Mac or PC, Caldwell Hancock reviews ABBYY PDF Transformer Pro, and Creston Parker explains how Mac users can easily archive a Web page for future reference. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a Windows time and billing application (see article below), a software solution for early case assessment, a Mac time and billing application, a new suite of productivity software, and a mobile reference app that contains the entire Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Don't miss the next issue.

Bailout Your Lost Billable Time
By Neil J. Squillante

Still waiting for your bailout? Don't hold your breath. You're small enough to fail so the government doesn't care about you (except when you run payroll). You're going to have to save yourself. To do that, you need to prevent billable time from slipping through the cracks.

Easy TimeBill ... in One Sentence
EasySoft's Easy TimeBill is a desktop application that enables you track and enter billable time, create bills, receive payments, and manage your bank accounts.

The Killer Feature
Do you plan to break free of the billable hour and charge flat fees instead? Good for you. But you'll still need to track your time.

Easy TimeBill enables you to track time for fixed fee matters so that you can assess their profitability. Eventually, you'll be able to adjust your rates so that you earn more than if you billed by the hour.

Other Notable Features
If you still need to bill your time, Easy TimeBill can handle that as well other forms of billing such as contingency. It also manages retainers.

Multiple timers enable you to track your time as you move from one task to another and back again. You can post time entries individually or on a weekly basis.

Although each lawyer at your firm can use Easy TimeBill, your firm can alternatively use just one license to enter time for an unlimited number of timekeepers.

Easy TimeBill also offers basic accounting features. You can reconcile bank accounts, create and print checks, record, payments, etc. If you use EasySoft's Easy Trust software, you can also view balances in client trust accounts.

What Else Should You Know?
Easy TimeBill runs on Windows. The first license costs $199. Each additional license costs $99. You can download a demo before buying the software. Learn more about Easy TimeBill.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: D. Paul Dalton reviews Samsung's 2243BWX 22" widescreen LCD monitor, Toon Goedhart shares some tips for scanning medical images, Douglas Dweck of Bill4Time responds to a question, Carol Bratt discusses WordPerfect, Word, and the importance of training, and Tom Rowe explains why Time Matters 4.0 won't sync with Timeslips 2008. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a practice management system (see article below), billing software for BlackBerrys, and three holiday time wasters. Don't miss the next issue.

What's in Your Law Firm's Wallet?
By Neil J. Squillante

Law firms should always have a good understanding of their business, but it's especially important nowadays. Enter the practice management dashboard. It shows you how much clients owe you, how long it takes them to pay you, the status of your open cases, who's working hard and who's slacking off, etc. While some law firms can access this information in various places, few can do so in one place.

Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions ... in One Sentence
Virtual Bottomline Systems' Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions is a practice management solution that includes an accounting and billing system, a contact and case management system, a document management system, document drafting tools, and network faxing.

The Killer Feature
A holy grail is something cherished but unattainable. Like a winning lottery ticket. Or better yet painless billing for disbursements.

Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions can transform this pipe dream into reality thanks to its intelligent disbursements technology.

For example, whenever you print or fax a document, receive a fax, print postage or an overnight courier label, or scan a document, Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions asks you if you would like to bill that disbursement to the client. One click and you're done.

Other Notable Features
Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions can also handle your hourly billing no matter how complex. For example, it handles fee splitting, includes timers, enables you to apply rates by both timekeeper and task, and much more.

Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions also features trust accounting, including automated deposit slips, check production and control, and reconciliation and statements.

You'll also find everything at your fingertips because of the automation and linking technologies. For example, you can create templates for documents you frequently draft. When you create a document, it's automatically filed in the matter. If you email it to a client, the email message is also filed in that matter. Etc.

Other features include network contact management, network faxing, customizable reports, conflicts checking, and much more.

What Else Should You Know?
Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions sells for $699, but is currently on sale for $349, including the network fax option. It runs on Windows. The company offers remote installation and training. Learn more about Virtual Bottomline Firm Management Solutions.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a practice management system, billing software for BlackBerrys (see article below), and three holiday time wasters. Don't miss the next issue.

Automatically Capture Time Spent on Calls and Email
By Neil J. Squillante

You may think you get paid for your legal work, but that's not really true when you think about it. No. You get paid when you record the time you spent performing legal work and send your clients a bill. If you don't bill, you don't get paid. Here's the thing though. What happens when you get so busy serving your clients that you don't have time to serve your own needs?

Time+Expense ... in One Sentence
Post Time Solutions' Time+Expense automatically captures the time you spend on email and phone calls on your BlackBerry, and enables you to create other time entries as well.

The Killer Feature
Do you and your BlackBerry spend a lot of time together? How much time? "Uhm ..."

Yes, that's a painful question for many lawyers. It's painful for managing partners who want to maximize revenue, and it's painful for associates trying to hit their billable targets.

Time+Expense prevents this time from slipping through the cracks. After every phone call, it displays the time you spent and asks you if you want to create a time entry. It performs the same function for email messages you send.

Other Notable Features
In addition to capturing time spent on your email messages and phone calls, you can also record other time entries in Time+Expense so you need not wait to get back to the office.

To get started, you set up clients and matters, which you can change anytime. You can also set up a schedule and have Time+Expense email your time entries to your PC in an Excel spreadsheet. From there, you can post them to your billing system.

Time+Expense does not require an accompanying server. It resides only on your BlackBerry, which means you can use it with any BlackBerry, not only those tied to BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

What Else Should You Know?
Time+Expense sells for $150 plus an annual support fee of $25, which includes unlimited updates and technical support. You can try it for free for one week. Learn more about Time+Expense.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Chris Gibson reviews BlackBerry Professional (and we discuss mobile practice management applications), Paul Mansfield reviews the HP Pavilion tx2513cl tablet PC, Paul Nosek explains how to buy a custom PC without knowing how to build one, Gary Preble shares some important rules of thumb for written communication, and Kevin Grierson reviews the Swopper office chair. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.