TechnoLawyer: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture

Coming June 5, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Dixon Robertson reviews PCLaw and ponders its future (and LexisNexis responds), Cynthia Zook suggests a tip for converting PDF files to Word/WordPerfect and also reviews OmniPage Pro for OCR, Theodore Odom shares his tips for creating a comfortable workspace (and we point you to additional resources), Roy Greenberg reviews Nuance's product line and customer support, and Paul Easton reviews PdaNet in conjunction with your Treo and laptop. Don't miss this issue.

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Published 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 an alternative word processor, a utility designed to automate the formatting of legal documents, and software that automates time capture (see article below). Don't miss the next issue.

Stop Tracking Your Time and Start Capturing It Instead
By Peter R. Olson

As a lawyer, you may not love living your life in painstakingly quantified six minute time increments, but until some of the so-called "alternate billing" options become mainstream, the billable hour (more like the billable one-tenth of an hour) remains your meal ticket. So instead of wasting your time (money) complaining, how about automating your time capture as much as possible?

IntApp's Time Builder 2.2 is a time capture solution that tracks your time keeping by directly monitoring email, smartphones, phone systems, calendars, and document management systems. Time Builder aims to reduce the time spent entering time.

Rather than scribbling down your time notes for later entry into a separate accounting or billing program, Time Builder provides you and your colleagues with a "journal" of all your billable activity. From this report, you can quickly create time entries in your billing software.

Using Time Builder's Web-based configuration interface, your administrator chooses specific applications for continuously monitored time tracking. Time Builder can email everyone's journal daily, weekly, or not at all (your choice) with your time breakdown. Time Builder enables you to exclude peripheral activities like personal email messages and phone calls.

By presenting this information directly within your existing time entry applications, Time Builder makes it easy for lawyers or their secretaries to review, edit, and then approve billing entries. You can configure Time Builder to send journal reports via email or to present information directly into your existing time entry application so you can review, edit and submit entries through a single, consolidated interface that you already know how to use.

Time Builder's time monitoring integrates with Microsoft Exchange, BlackBerrys, Windows Mobile phones, Avaya and Cisco VoIP phone systems, Interwoven, Open Text/Hummingbird, Lexis InterAction, Elite WebView, Advanced Productivity Software's DTE, Sage Carpe Diem, and Aderant CMS. Learn more about Time Builder.

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 an appliance and accompanying software for finding evidence on backup tapes during discovery or for compliance purposes (see article below), a practice management suite with a document assembly engine for law firms in high-volume practice areas (e.g., personal injury, real estate, etc.), and deposition and trial presentation software that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Don't miss the next issue.

Nixon's Not the Only One With Secrets on Tape
By Peter Olson

Remember backup tapes? Thank goodness hard drives have largely replaced them. Or so you thought. Lots of backup tapes still exist, many created with backup software that no longer exists. If you haven't yet received backup tapes from your clients during discovery, give it time. It's bound to happen sooner or later.

Index Engines' Tape Engine 2.5 aims to take the time and hassle out of retrieving backed-up data by searching offline tape data locked in unsupported, old back-up formats. Tape Engine unlocks the data contained on backup tapes, making individual files and email easily accessible, whether for discovery purposes or regulatory compliance.

A hardware appliance with proprietary software, Tape Engine indexes tapes and makes the data immediately searchable. Importantly, you need not restore the backup tape using the original backup software. In other words, no need to hunt for old software (and a computer to run it) on eBay.

The scanning operation begins when a backup tape is mounted into a tape drive connected to Tape Engine. Tape Engine also works with virtual tape libraries. The indexing software reads through the contents of the tape, and creates full content and metadata indexes for files, email, and other electronic documents.

Tape Engine supports many backup formats, including CA ArcServe, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec, and EMC NetWorker. Indexing occurs at tape speed (there's no getting around the laws of physics), but the footprint of the index is just 5-8% of the size of the original data, which translates into speedy searches.

Each Tape Engine can scale to 200 million files or email messages with clustered configurations available for larger environments. It supports common unstructured file types such as documents, spreadsheets, text, HTML, and PDF files, as well as Microsoft Exchange and other email systems.

Tape Engine uses a Google-like search interface that returns queries in one second or less. Dynamic de-duplication means that every file listed is unique. You can search specific parameters such as name, date, email address, etc. Once you find what you need, you can extract only those files. Learn more about Tape Engine.

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 May 15, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Charles T. Lester Jr. suggests three sure-fire ways to cleanly copy and paste from Word to WordPerfect, Stephen Hayes shares his tips for a more comfortable, productive office setup, James Zuffoletto shares his thoughts on using dual monitors and the option of multiple monitors in one stand, David Hudgens reviews Time Matters and PCLaw, and Michael Murray discusses the future of Macs in the legal profession. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 May 14, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Jason Havens clarifies his position regarding practice management software installation and consultants, Robert McNeill shares several ways to research practice management solutions plus he reviews the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510, and Dean Birch reviews Xerox's DocuMate 262 scanner. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 May 8, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Ed Detlie suggests a few case management software options for a workers compensation practice plus he reviews the ScanSnap s510, David Adamski reviews Loislaw for legal research and comments on adhesion contracts, Edward Zohn explains how his firm archives its Exchange/Outlook-based email, Harry Steinmetz reviews Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition and Amicus Accounting, and Thomas Hutto reviews Backpack and Google calendar for shared calendaring. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 April 24, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Mark Manoukian discusses the benefits of open source software (and how you might use it every day and not know), Brad Jensen explores whether reformatting your hard drive provides enough protection from snoops, Craig S. Clark reviews Passwords Plus as well as the Treo 700wx, Daniel Fennick reviews his experience using PracticeMaster and Tabs3 together, and Theo Yates reviews PDF995 PDF converter plus the Wayback Machine. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 April 17, 2008 to Answers to Questions: David Hudgens explains how to use dual monitors with a laptop and discusses whether a bigger monitor trumps dual monitors, Leslie Shear discusses fax-to-email security, Francis Jackson shares his thoughts on de-duplication technology (or the lack thereof) and a promising vendor entering this arena, Aaron Craft reviews Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition, Amicus Accounting, and QuickBooks, and W. David Case reviews AirSet for online calendaring. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 an online application for managing your firm's relationships with car services, technology that enables your firm to pursue new business and lateral hires even when ethical conflicts arise (see article below), and a new wireless keyboard and mouse. Don't miss the next issue.

Good Walls Make Happy Clients
By Neil J. Squillante

Raise your hand if this scenario occurs at your firm. A large public company wants to hire your firm. To ensure that no conflicts exist, everyone at the firm has to fill out a questionnaire about that company — stock holdings, previous employment, etc. If a conflict arises, you have to figure out a way to reassure the company that you can still handle the matter and safeguard confidential work product from the tainted few.

The problem is that every employee can access your document management system, including contract lawyers. You don't have real safeguards, just an ad hoc honor system. Sorry, but that won't cut it nowadays in these highly regulated times. Sarbanes-Oxley anyone?

Enter IntApp's Wall Builder 3.2, a Web-based application that enables you create ethical walls to isolate certain people from certain information, enabling your firm to take on new cases and even pursue lateral hires.

Wall Builder's wizard-driven interface enables you to construct and configure these walls. It also creates an audit trail so that you can prove (if necessary) that so and so never had access to such and such.

Wall Builder integrates with Interwoven and Open Text/Hummingbird so that you can restrict access to documents. It similarly integrates with other applications with sensitive data such as accounting, billing, CRM, records, search, portals, etc.

Wall Builder doesn't just do what you tell it to do. It also "learns" in a manner of speaking. For example, if you handle matters for two adverse clients and you work on a document for one of these clients, Wall Builder will prevent you from accessing the other client's files.

As you might imagine, Wall Builder has layers of security, enabling your firm to delegate wall creation to certain members of your staff with oversight by more senior management. Wall Builder can scale to accommodate up to 150,000 client records and 700,000 matter records. If you need more coverage than that, God bless you. Learn more about Wall Builder 3.2.

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 April 11, 2008 to Fat Friday: Debra Bruce lists five reasons why general counsel choose big law firms (plus she offers suggestions for reducing attrition rates at large firms), Barbara Norris reviews Spector Software for billing your time (it's surveillance software), Colleen O'Donnell shares her wish list for future legal technology trade shows, Michael Schwartz responds to a recent TechnoFeature about hiring a legal assistant, and Nathaniel Barber challenges the claim that WordPerfect is a "Rosetta Stone." 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.