TechnoLawyer: Automation/Document Assembly/Macros

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a deposition transcript and video management program, automated document scanning software, and an Outlook add-on for sending email newsletters and email greeting cards (see below). Don't miss the next issue.

Use Outlook to Give Your Clients Steak and Sizzle
By Taeho Lim

In a perfect world, you would take every client out to a steak dinner every week. But that's not feasible even if you have only one client so your next best bet for staying in touch is an email newsletter. Or at least an annual holiday email greeting this time of year.

Just one wrinkle exists — how to email your clients en masse. Sending email to a group of people nowadays is fraught with risk because of spam filters. Outlook4Lawyers believes the answer lies right under your nose — use Microsoft Outlook in conjunction with its eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO, which adds email newsletter and email greeting card functionality to Outlook.

eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO uses a wizard to walk you through the process of creating and sending a newsletter or greeting card. It also adds a button to your Outlook toolbar so that you can easily get started. Because it resides in Outlook, you can access your address book, send attachments, and send your newsletter from any of your addresses. You can manage your mailing list in Outlook or in Access or Excel.

Among the notable features, you can personalize your newsletter to increase the open rate. For example, you can greet each recipient by name and list their company name in the subject line.

eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO can send plain text, rich text, or HTML email. The ability to use HTML means you can design and send visually-rich holiday greetings, thank you notes, invitations, and other communications.

To avoid spam filters, eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO sends each recipient a separate email message. In other words, it does not send bulk mail. Also, the Delayed Batch Sending feature sends the messages one at a time rather than all at once to further avoid traps.

eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO sells for $69.95. There is no limit on usage. It works with Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007.  Learn more about eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO.

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Coming November 16, 2007 to Fat Friday: Paul Easton reviews his Treo 680 and how it compares to BlackBerry and iPhone, Stephen Seldin discusses what he deems the fundamental problem with software, Paul Stanley reviews Password Keeper for BlackBerry Curve, Barry Weintraub has a tip for inexpensively automating estate planning documents, and George Wisely has a bone to pick with a recent TechnoRelease that contained a job opportunity for a lawyer to help build online applications for consumers seeking inexpensive legal services. Don't miss this issue.

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a "getting things done" Web application (see below), a utility for creating a table of authorities in Microsoft Word, and an online office suite. Don't miss the next issue.

What Is Your Next Action?
By Taeho Lim

Back in law school, you may have used mnemonics and acronyms like IRAC to help you with exams. Now apivision.com has a new acronym for lawyers looking to organize their daily routines and long-term projects: Nozbe, which stands for N(ext Action) O(rganize and Process) Z(ero Problems). Simply put, Nozbe aspires to keep busy attorneys like you looking ahead at all times

The first set of features for Nozbe revolves around looking at your Next Action. Nozbe enables you to quickly jot down digital notes and tasks and add them to your schedule. Next, you can group your tasks and notes into projects and matters. Move tasks and notes between projects as necessary and arrange your folders based on your preferences. Finally, just as pro athletes always say they play the season "one game at a time," Nozbe enables you to designate a certain task as the main one you need to complete next.

Nozbe also provides features to help you Organize and Process your work. Group your tasks under "contexts" so you know what to do next and where to do it. For example, you can designate what you need to do at Home, at the Office, or what Errands you need to run. In addition, Nozbe enables you to attach pertinent files to your projects. Finally, Nozbe provides a number of ways to access your account, including printing your to-do lists on A4, pocket, and wallet-sized paper, and logging in via iPhone and other smartphones as well as iGoogle and Netvibes. Mac users can download a Dashboard widget.

If Nozbe sounds like a system for David Allen's Getting Things Done that's because it is. Overall, Nozbe claims to make it easy to share and delegate work, as well as edit your actions. In addition, the API enables you to connect Nozbe to your existing applications. Those in need of further guidance can contact Nozbe founder Michael Sliwinski personally.

Nozbe offers a free account for up to 5 projects, a $4.95/month Basic account for 30 projects, a $9.95/month PRO account for 100 projects, and the high-end Super! account for $14.95/month for 1,000 projects. Learn more about Nozbe.

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a secure online storage service (see below), software that can digitize your paper forms and send the data into your legacy applications, and a practice management program for Mac users. Don't miss the next issue.

Three Steps to a Paperless Office
By Taeho Lim

You can never be too thin. That's a lie. Just ask Esther Canadas. You can never be too rich. That's also a lie if you don't want fame along with your fortune. You can never have enough storage or too little paper. Bingo!

File123's eponymous online service promises the most elusive of all technology promises — the paperless law office. As its name implies, File123 boils the storage process down to three steps: transfer digital files from your computer via upload or email, scan, or fax your paper documents, and then organize and back up your vault contents.

The functionality of File123 revolves around its searchable, sortable, sendable, and secure online file repository. To search for the file you need, enter a keyword and File123 looks for that term(s) and lists the relevant files. Add more files via fax, scan, email, or Web browser, or just drop them into File123's network drive application. When you need to share files, choose what you want to send and either email your recipients an attachment or a link that leads to a secure download page on the Web.

File123 also features a "Dashboard" from which you can add files, review recent account activity, and manage your folders. You add, delete, and reorganize folders just as you would on your Mac or PC — just drag and drop files and folders. Finally, File123 features 256-bit browser security to ensure that no one but you can access your storage vault.

A File123 account gives you 1 GB of free storage. Upgrading to a 10 GB account costs $4.95/month. Other plans exist for those who need even more storage since, after all, you can never get enough. No word on an unlimited plan though. Learn more about File123.

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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.

BlawgWorld enables you to explore and discover legal blogs (blawgs) without spinning your wheels. It features the best essays of the year from 77 of the most influential blawgs.

TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide uses a question/answer format to help you find solutions to problems commonly encountered by law firms. It contains 185 solutions organized into 58 topics.

Thanks to the eBook's inspired design, you're never more than three clicks away from what you want to read. BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide has received glowing reviews from many publications. For example, LLRX writes:

"The substance of both books is exceptional, while the eBook format is innovative and inviting.... [The eBook] was designed to open in just about any PDF viewer and it worked very well in my various tests.... The best part of the entire eBook is that it is free."

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In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers an automated metadata removal utility, a database that doesn't require programming, and monitoring software designed to keep your servers up and running. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Metadata, Meet Your Match
By Dennis Kennedy

We regularly read news accounts of sensitive, confidential, or downright embarrassing information being exposed through poor metadata handling practices. Metadata is all that hidden data associated with your document files, including deleted text, comments, author name, date created, email addresses, and more.

We most often hear about it in connection with Microsoft Word documents, but metadata can also be found in PowerPoint presentations, and any other office suite that generates OpenDocument format (ODF).

3BView's 3BClean metadata management tool does what its name suggests. It helps you ensure that each document contains only the appropriate metadata or none at all if you prefer. When you email a document, 3BClean automatically monitors and cleans unnecessary metadata pursuant to your settings.

3BClean emphasizes automation. You can administer rules-based metadata policies for your entire office through a central administrator. No software is installed on user desktops and little or no user training is required. 3BClean can scale from single documents to thousands of documents. It also cleans email attachments sight unseen and even supports Webmail, BlackBerrys, and PDAs — a plus in this day and age as lawyers often send email with attachments when they are on the road, in court, or burning the midnight oil at home.

3BClean's smarts and versatility stem from the fact that it resides on a server. As a result, it also integrates with document management systems and works on Mac and Linux machines as well as Microsoft Windows. This centralized approach enables you to enforce firm-wide policies consistently both in and outside of the office.

In addition to metadata scrubbing, 3BClean can convert files, at your option, to a cleaned, secure PDF format for worry-free distribution. (Traditional PDF conversion does not remove metadata.)

In a new twist on the free trial, you can upload a document to 3BView's Web site to test 3BClean. You can also sign up for a free 2 week trial. Learn more about 3BClean.

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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers an easy-to-use document assembly program, a new case management program available online or in a client/server format, and a backup utility capable of backing up open database files. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

I Came, I Saw, I Created Legal Documents
By Dennis Kennedy

All legal documents are created in one of three ways — staring at a blank page, using an existing document as a model, or using document assembly software. A classic trilemma, staring at a blank page means you have to reinvent the wheel, using a model is prone to embarrassing copy and paste errors, and document assembly software is difficult to set up.

Fortunately, someone forgot to tell Esquire Innovations about document assembly software being difficult to set up. Esquire's iCreate 4.0 comes out of the box with many useful templates ready to go, including letters, memos, fax cover sheets, pleadings, agreements, Bates labels, address labels, envelopes, etc. You can easily tweak these templates as you see fit such as adding your logo and lawyers to your letterhead.

Of course, you can also use iCreate to build your own templates for any document type. The design philosophy behind iCreate is to enhance Microsoft Word (and Excel and PowerPoint), not force you to learn something entirely new. Nowhere is this philosophy more apparent than with iCreate's iHyperstyles Toolbar, which iCreate adds to Word. The iHyperstyles Toolbar turns the daunting and difficult job of working with Styles in Word into a much simpler process that enables your firm to standardize its approach to document formatting.

With the iHyperstyles Toolbar, everyone in your firm can create, modify, apply, and manage styles and paragraph numbering in Word. From the toolbar, you can create new numbering schemes and save them for use on other documents, apply headings, simplify the creation of tables of contents and authorities, and of course apply formatting. You can also apply multiple styles and numbering schemes in the same document, automate the handling of paragraphs, and clean up manually-typed documents.

iCreate's other features include QuickMerge, which integrates with the address books of Outlook, GroupWise, Lotus Notes, and InterAction to make the insertion of contact information seamless, iCreate Label, which creates any imaginable label size, icCalendar, which can grab an Outlook calendar and place it in Word, and iBatesLabel for Bates stamping.

As you might expect, iCreate integrates with popular document management systems such as Hummingbird, InterWoven, NetDocuments, and Worldox.

The company offers two purchasing options. If you need a full-blown document assembly tool for creating templates, you can of course purchase iCreate, which includes the iHyperstyles Toolbar. If you just want to make Word's Styles easier to use and standardize them across your firm, you can purchase the iHyperstyles Toolbar by itself. Learn more about iCreate and the iHyperstyles Toolbar.

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.

BlawgWorld 2007 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is a free eBook. Actually, it's two eBooks in one PDF file.

BlawgWorld 2007 is the best way to explore and discover legal blogs (blawgs). It features 77 remarkable essays from 77 of the most influential blawgs. Each blogger handpicked their best essay of the year for inclusion in the eBook.

The 2007 TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is a revolutionary new way to find Solutions to Problems your law firm is experiencing. Specifically, it contains 185 Problems and corresponding Solutions.

Each Problem is written in the form of a question from the point of view of a law firm and organized by topic. Topics include case management, depositions, discovery, document management, legal research, time-billing, and many more — 58 topics in all.

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Coming June 28, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Steven J. Best explains how to prevent trust accounting gotchas, Thomas Stirewalt provides instructions for setting up multiple monitors with two PCs and a KVM switch, Matthew Hite discusses LexisNexis' Time Matters upgrade policies and his firm's plans, Bruce Avery reviews his firm's upgrade to Amicus Attorney 7, and Blair Janis offers a solution for those seeking a foreign language document assembly program. 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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a document automation tool with built-in case management, a utility for setting up Windows networks, and a utility for managing and monitoring your network once you set it up. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Document Automation Catches Up to George Jetson
By Dennis Kennedy

Lawyers of my generation periodically daydream about George Jetson's job — push a few buttons and then put your feet up on the desk the rest of the day. That vision of the future didn't pan out and probably never will, but technology can make the lives of lawyers easier — most notably document automation software.

Unfortunately, while many lawyers crave automation, many also fear it because of a feeling that such systems are difficult to set up. This concern is especially prevalent among smaller firms. Easy Soft's EasyDocs aims to address this concern by focusing not only on an easy way to create document templates, but adding case and document management to the mix as well.

In the EasyDocs world, your practice revolves around the case documents you create. Thus EasyDocs enables you to automate standard forms and commonly-used documents, and manage your work on your cases at the same time. EasyDocs uses a case-oriented approach with which lawyers are familiar.

You can organize and display your templates by practice area, state, or categories. EasyDocs is network-friendly so you can store these templates centrally on a file server for everyone in your firm to use.

You can assemble your documents for output in either Word or PDF format. You can use your existing document templates and forms or create new ones. The history tab enables you to see all the documents in your case and regenerate a document with a single mouse click. EasyDocs is especially attractive for certain types of real estate practices because you can automatically import HUD-RESPA information.

The most unique feature of EasyDocs is the way it combines document preparation, document management, and task tracking into a single tool, making a lawyer's job, well, easy. For example, by default, all documents related to a case are stored in the same client folder. And each case has its own task list. The Case Log provides a dashboard so you can view all the document-related activity associated with open cases in one place.

EasyDocs costs $499 for a single-user license or $199 for a single user annual term license. Additional seats cost $99 each. Learn more about EasyDocs.

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.