TechnoLawyer: Backup/Media/Storage

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.

Originally published on October 26, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

When I'm on the road speaking, people most often ask me about practice (case) management systems. Practice management systems focus on tying everything together. In doing so, they integrate with various other programs on the typical law practice computer system: billing systems, word processors, document managers, email accounts, and more.

As we approach the end of the first decade of this century, a growing number of law practices can finally achieve the "holy grail" of practice management systems — a single point of entry for all client and case file information. Below you'll find some of my favorite tips (or "hacks" in the SmallLaw vernacular) for pushing the practice management usage and integration envelope.

1. Does It All Connect?

Check all your key software systems for the ability to integrate with your practice management system. Most practice management systems tightly integrate with Microsoft Outlook, enabling you to tie email messages sent and received (and attachments) directly to client files. Most can also integrate with document management systems like Worldox, enabling you to connect every document created, received, scanned, etc. to client files.

Also, before you sign your life away on a new smartphone contract, make sure you understand how it will sync with the software you currently have or plan to implement. It does you no good at all to buy a shiny new BlackBerry Storm only to find that syncing requires two steps using Microsoft Outlook via some version of BlackBerry Professional or Enterprise Server. Or that your new iPhone can only sync in real-time with your practice management system via Outlook's ActiveSync system, which requires a Microsoft Exchange Server.

Regularly check the practice management program vendor's Web site for any updates and patches. Staying up to date will keep the links to all the integrated software you use in good working order.

2. Automate Your Time Entry

Enter all your time and your to-dos in your practice management system. Not only will you stay on top of all aspects of your open files, but it will also make it more likely you'll bill all your time, rather than have those little "tenth-ers" dribble away. Many practice management systems can then either automatically (or semi-automatically) convert to-dos, calendar entries, and case notes into time entries — automatic is good!

3. Save and Make Money With Your Smartphone

Most professional liability insurance companies still require duplicate calendars. Check with your carrier to see if using a smartphone's calendar that syncs to your practice management system will count as calendar number two.

And since you'll always have your smartphone with you, enter time on the road. Many legal billing systems offer handheld time entry capability directly or through add-on services like MonetaSuite, AirTime Manager, or Proximiti WorkTRAKR.

4. The Backup of Last Resort

Do you have my ultimate backup plan in place? If not, your smartphone may save you more than money. Using a smartphone or synced laptop/netbook is also a mini "better than nothing" backup for your practice management program. Keep your device with you and not at the office to safeguard your data.

5. Get the Right Training

Learn how to actually use your practice management and billing programs, the links between them, and how they interact with your portable tools: smartphones, laptops, netbooks, etc.

You could read the manuals yourself, but consider professional training as an alternative. Be very picky and selective about who trains you.

If you were accused of a serious crime, would you hire a first year wet behind the years criminal law rookie to defend you? Of course not — you'd hire the best criminal defense lawyer you could afford. Why wouldn't you take the same approach in finding and hiring a practice management system consultant/trainer?

Your practice management system will interweave itself into the very fabric of your practice. Allow plenty of time for implementation, training and learning. It won't happen overnight but is well worth the time invested.

Any practice management system, properly selected, and well implemented, will give any firm a sizable return on investment. But the converse is also true however — a poorly selected, badly implemented practice management system will become a sinkhole into which you pour otherwise billable time. So get it right!

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on September 28, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

On January 1st, I donned my Rosstradamus hat and robes, gazed into my crystal ball, and published 30+ legal technology predictions with a bent towards the solo and small firm world in which I spend much of my professional time. How have my prognostications played out after nearly nine months? Let's take a look at ten of them.

1. At Least 10% of the Amlaw 100 Law Firms Will Fold By The End of 2009

Fortunately for large firms, my prediction was somewhat overstated. Four significant firms failed: Thelen, Heller, Wolf & Thatcher, not the ten that I had predicted. However, the large firm landscape has clearly shifted, perhaps permanently (see #2 below). More than a few larger firms have delayed the start dates of new associates or announced moratoriums on new hiring. While all is not that well, I'm glad most of these firms avoided an apocalypse.

2. The Rise of BigSolos

I've received flack for coining this term, but I'm not sure what else to call them — emigrants, escapees, laid off, downsized lawyers from megafirms who decide to go the solo or small firm route.

My prediction was right on the money. More and more BigSolos continue to stake out their self-shingled territory. I'm working with several, helping them make the transition from mega-office to being on their own.

3. Software as a Service Makes Serious Inroads

Again, I was correct — just look at the continually growing success of SaaS practice management systems such as Clio and Rocket Matter, as well as billing management like Bill4Time and Web-based eDiscovery products. Expect the SaaS market to heat up, especially for smaller and more frugal firms throughout the next several years to come.

4. Twittering Will Eclipse Blawging for Small Firm Marketing

Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, social media use for business development has exploded. Who would have expected blawging to feel almost passe in comparison?

5. Windows Vista Will Quietly Disappear From the Scene

Windows 7 will be released in October. No one will mourn the death of Vista. It deserves to die.

6. Netbooks Will Replace Ultralight Laptops in Small Firms

Netbooks have indeed virtually destroyed the pricey ultralight laptop marketplace. I see more and more small firm lawyers using netbooks with port replicators as desktop replacements. Running 3-4 major apps with 2 GB of RAM seems to work surprisingly well — and the pricing is spot on for these troubled economic times.

7. Practice Management Systems Move Past 10-20% Adoption

This was more a hope than prediction. There is definitely a renaissance period underway for all practice management systems, whether newer generation SaaS tools (see #3 above), or more traditional locally installed systems (especially STI's PracticeMaster as it continues its Tabs3-fueled rise in market share and reputation). More small law firms than ever now see the light, acknowledging that not having a practice management system is tantamount to … well, insanity.

8. More Firms Will Get a Clue About Data Backup and Learn That Online Backup Alone Is Not Adequate

Sadly, I think we've made little progress in this regard. Online backup systems have matured, not in a necessarily positive way. Maturity can mean outsourcing of tech support offshore, creating nightmarish situations in which backups don't work reliably, and worse, restores don't occur. My revised prediction — backups will come full circle to local, full system backups but with smarter devices that simultaneously replicate and mirror data offsite.

9. Virtual Law Practice Will Rise in Popularity, Especially Among Solos

I couldn't have been more accurate as more and more small firm lawyers share office space, take advantage of executive suites offered by Regus and others, or set up a home office. It's all about cutting costs to maintain, or ideally, maximize profits. Expect more of the same for small firms that often just don't have any real need for traditional office space.

10. Interest in CLE on Legal Technology Will Increase

Speaking from my own experience, I see larger and larger turnouts at practice management and legal technology-oriented CLE programs. Polling of attendees shows, admittedly anecdotally, that the majority of audience members work in firms with fewer than 20 lawyers.

It seems that small firm lawyers are taking the time to bone up on smarter ways to run their practices, as opposed to just cramming on substantive CLE. Most attendees seem driven by a desire to minimize non-billable administrative time, and maximize billable/salable time.

Not Too Shabby

Overall, my nine month old predictions fared well. Let's hope for continued progress among all solos and small law firms as we head into 2010.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: W. James Slaughter provides a solo's guide to a paperless office, Jeffry Pritt reviews Norton 360 for online backup, and Jo Mingo reviews WestCiteLink for creating Tables of Authorities in Word and WordPerfect. Don't miss this issue.

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.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Yvonne Renfrew reviews Drobo for redundant hard drive storage, Bill Hodes discusses the legal ethics of lawyer ranking systems like Avvo, Ron Kramer responds to Gerry Oginski's YouLaw review of his video, Ed Schoenecker explains how to change a case name in TrialDirector 5.2, and Michael Jones discusses RAID drives. 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.

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.

Originally published on August 24, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

I'm back again with five more technology hacks for small law firms. While technology is not necessarily a bastion of hope in these dark economic times, it can give the small firm practitioner a leg up on the competition and level the playing field for client service and communication compared to a larger outfit. If you missed my first five hacks, you can find them on TechnoLawyer Blog.

1. Track Your Time Writing Emails With MonetaMail

MonetaMail is an Outlook add-on that tracks the time you spend on email activities.

MonetaMail is inspired by the following facts:

Email is the most popular communication tool. Much email activity is of short duration (certainly under the 6 minutes for the 0.1 hour minimum time tranche). Many users do not actually know how much time they spend in email and usually grossly underestimate their email activity time. Moreover, users do not want to leave the workflow of reading and replying to email to track their time.

The solution, prior to MonetaMail was to either ignore or forget about billing for email time, make some wild guesses, or sift through your Sent folder and reconstruct what happened.

MonetaMail tags, tracks, and reports your email time by two different user-selected descriptors (you need set up a descriptor only once per email address). The basic idea is to track the time that slips through the cracks by seamlessly integrating into Outlook. The reporting function enables you to evaluate email productivity by client, project or time-period, on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The captured time should eclipse the $99 price.

2. Send Video Emails With Eyejot

Even in the hands of a gifted writer, the written word can prove difficult to decipher. Enter video messaging service Eyejot.

Eyejot enables you to send video messages by simply signing up, logging in to your account, uploading or recording your video, and clicking "Send." There is no software to install or download. It works with all major browsers.

A free account enables you to send an unlimited number of 60 second email messages, and provides support for RSS feeds and iTunes, and a visual address book. Upgrading to the Pro version for $29.95 per year extends the video length to 5 minutes and provides an inbox perpetual in duration (the free account stores email for only 30 days).

For $99.95 per year, the Pro Plus version enables you to add your own logo and color scheme to Eyejot's notification elements, receive alerts when recipients view your video messages, and attach documents to your video messages.

3. Tweet From Outlook

Twinbox is a free Microsoft Outlook plugin that seamlessly integrates with Outlook to enable Twitter users to update, reply, archive, search, and receive their friends' tweets.

After download and installation, simply visit the "Options" menu and enter your Twitter username and password. What sets this app apart from stand-alone Adobe Air based Twitter applications such as TweetDeck is the ability to archive, manage, group, and search your tweets the same way you manage your email. You can also upload photos and Outlook attachments and automatically download all tweets matching the keywords you specify, similar to a supercharged Google Alerts for Outlook. Thus, Twinbox enables you to monitor what people are saying about you and your firm.

4. Backup Your Browser Settings With FavBackup

FavBackup is a free portable utility (meaning it does not have to be installed, just executed) that will backup your browser preferences, passwords, extensions, and sessions.

It works with all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Google Chrome. Backing up is as simple as running the downloaded file and following the guided prompts.

5. Set Up Advanced Voicemail With YouMail

YouMail is a free voicemail service that will blow the pants off your cell phone carrier's default voicemail package. Think Google Voice without the extra phone number.

YouMail provides visual voicemail, personalized greetings based on the caller, voicemail sharing, caller blocking, and voicemail alerts by email and text. For a fee of $3.99/month, you can have voicemail messages transcribed and emailed to you. Another nifty feature is the ability to make folders to organize your voicemail messages as you would your email. You can also download your voice messages in .mp3 format.

What better way to organize client communications, send notes to yourself, and compartmentalize all communications? Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Written by Will Geer of JDhacker.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

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: Diana Brodman Summers shares her secrets to being a happy and successful solo, Douglas Simpson compares GoToMeeting with LogMeIn Rescue for remote access, Lawrence Husick discusses Macs in the law office, Michael Jones reviews Acrobat Pro's Portfolio feature, and George Vie explains why his backup software failed to save the day. 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 Fat Friday: Gary Garland shares the details of his comprehensive backup system, Bryan Morin discusses local versus big box PC vendors, Craig Humphrey discusses Adobe's ConnectNow, Ronald Cappuccio explains why legal vendors should list their prices online, and Mark Sullivan responds to a recent Question of the Week about background checks. 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.