TechnoLawyer: Business Productivity/Word Processing

Originally published in the October 9, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: Given that the iPad now features dictation and remains far more portable than a laptop, it makes sense to invest in a quality word processor — preferably one that works with DOC and DOCX formats for better interoperability with Microsoft Office on your Mac or PC. In this issue of SmallLaw, legal technology consultant Brett Burney reviews three such apps. He evaluates their word processing features, file management tools, import/export options, and more. Don't shop until you know Brett's iVerdict. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for the magic revenue number small law firms must achieve to cross the chasm from hobby to real business.

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Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also links to helpful articles in other publications about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in the September 28, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: If teenagers across the country can efficiently churn out Big Macs that taste identical, certainly you can more efficiently churn out error-free legal documents. In this issue of SmallLaw, law firm technology consultant Ben Schorr explains how to use AutoCorrect and AutoText Quick Parts to build documents that contain specific words, phrases, paragraphs, and even pages. Because they're features of Microsoft Word you need not buy anything. You just need to learn how to use them by following Ben's instructions. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for a review of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Premium.

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Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also links to helpful articles in other publications about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers document assembly software that is itself automated (see article below), an iPhone app that can trigger actions in other apps with one tap, a mobile scanner that weighs less than a pound, a cloud application for culling, reviewing, and producing discovery documents, and a free marketing service for lawyers. Don't miss the next issue.

THE AUTOMATION OF DOCUMENT AUTOMATION SOFTWARE

Document assembly software enables you to create legal documents faster and without embarrassing errors that can occur when recycling previous documents. Let's call this Document Assembly 1.0, which has existed for about 20 years (maybe longer). In version 2.0, your document assembly software itself needs to become more automated so that you can create new templates just as quickly as you can create documents from those templates.

Pathagoras 2013.1 … in One Sentence

Launched this week, Pathagoras 2013.1 is a document assembly add-on for Microsoft Word.

The Killer Feature

Pathagoras has two claims to fame — the ability to create document templates using simple plain text variables such as "[Client Name]" and "[Client Address]" rather than a scripting language, and the ability to work within the familiar environment of Microsoft Word.

The new version adds a third crowd pleaser — Instant Database. As you complete templates, Pathagoras automatically stores all your variables and related information in its own database. This makes it faster to create new templates and also to enter and reuse case-related information. The company has also improved its Create Variables and Create Options wizards to further expedite the creation of new templates.

The company claims that these new features significantly shorten the time needed to create templates (e.g., a motion and an accompanying affidavit). You simply use the plain text variables from other documents to create the new templates, and reuse the stored client data to fill in the variables.

"While we continue to add more useful features and significantly more value to the product, we have remained true to our plain text underpinnings," President and Chief Programmer of Pathagoras Roy Lasris told us. "Our latest version is easier to set up and use than ever before.

Other Notable Features

Continuing with its focus on speed, the new Quick Picks feature enables you to create a custom menu containing up to 12 of your most frequently-used Pathagoras functions.

Similarly, new tools facilitate the creation of MultiChoice Lists for your documents. For example, you can quickly create a MultiChoice List of all 50 states, counties in which you practice, names of judges, etc. for rapid entry into any document.

Your clients can lend a helping hand with document creation. From Pathagoras you can send them an email message with a fill-in-the-blanks form. After they complete and return it, you automatically import the information into Pathagoras' Instant Database, which makes this data available for use in documents created for their matters.

Other features include improved connectivity with Excel spreadsheets (including for mail merges), tools for optional and conditional clauses, calendar and math variables, a text expander for entering boilerplate text with just a few keystrokes, new search and replace tools that work with variables and across multiple documents, and a new tool that can identify inconsistent variables among your templates.

What Else Should You Know?

Pathagoras 2013.1 works with Microsoft Word 2003 and later versions. Pricing starts at $379 for the first license. Additional licenses cost $250. Volume discounts exist starting at $799 for three licenses. Learn more about Pathagoras 2013.1.

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Originally published in the September 12, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: In his popular series of SmallLaw articles on the best iPad apps for solos and small law firms, legal technology consultant Brett Burney has tackled note-taking from several angles, including handwritten notes and audio-synced notes. Today he reviews three note-taking apps for lawyers who prefer typing to handwriting. In his review, Brett focuses on critical features such as simplicity, speed, syncing, and organization. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for a rundown the major players that provide law firms with prospective clients (leads).

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Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also links to helpful articles in other publications about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to SmallLaw: For now, Microsoft Word on the iPad remains a dream, not a reality. You live in reality, not a dreamworld. Therefore, you would like a solution now for viewing and editing Word documents on your iPad and iPhone, including redlining (tracking changes). Fortunately, iPad for lawyers expert Jeff Richardson has written a guide for you in this issue of SmallLaw — his first of several. As publisher of iPhone J.D., Jeff has tried virtually every iOS product so you'll benefit from his vast experience. In each guide, you'll learn not only which collection of apps and related products currently work best, but also what to avoid and what shows promise. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week to learn about four caveats when starting a law firm with one or more partners.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

Robin Meadow, My Ever-Evolving IPad Productivity Apps For Notes And PDF Documents

Neil Squillante, A New Year's Resolution For Law Firms: Responsive Web Design

Thomas F. McDow, Why You Should Track Your Time Even If You Charge Flat Fees

David W Marshall, Microsoft May Not Get It But WordPerfect Still Does

John Knoll, Amen Brother Harvey: Long Live WordPerfect

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

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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 SmallLaw: When you conduct forensic reviews of German financial documents as part of your law practice, you tend to be detail-oriented and a demanding user of software. Meet New York lawyer Robert Harvey who in this issue of SmallLaw discusses his frustrations with Microsoft Word and other Microsoft products upon which he relies in his practice. You'll probably find yourself nodding in agreement as you read this epic rant, but if you know of a hidden feature that can help Robert and other small law firms please reply and let your fellow SmallLaw subscribers know about it. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for 13 useful law practice tips disguised as New Year's Resolutions.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in the August 31, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: Still jotting down random notes on scraps of paper or stickies? What happens when you're not in your office and need some information on a stickie? In this issue of SmallLaw, law firm technology consultant Ben Schorr unveils "Daily Journal," a note-taking technique he recently developed as a result of the questions he often receives from lawyers about Microsoft OneNote. With Ben's tip, you'll transform OneNote into a knowledge management tool available everywhere you go. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for a sales tip on how to persuade prospects to retain your law firm.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also links to helpful articles in other publications about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in the December 14, 2012 issue of TL NewsWire. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

In 2012, we reported on 205 new products in TL NewsWire. In what has become an annual tradition, today in this year's last issue of TL NewsWire we present to you the TL NewsWire Top 25 Products of 2012. You'll find commentary on the Top 10 products, a list of the next 15 products, and links for all 25 products.

How do we determine the winners? We don't. You do. Each TL NewsWire article about a new product contains a link to that product's web page. We anonymously track everyone's clicks on these links to help us figure out which types of products most interest TL NewsWire subscribers, and also to create the annual TL NewsWire Top 25 Products.

THE 10 HOTTEST TL NEWSWIRE PRODUCTS OF 2012

Congratulations to the 10 hottest products in the TL NewsWire Top 25!

1. Total Attorneys App Store

After raising a significant round of capital, Total Attorneys came out swinging this year with two cleverly framed blockbuster announcements.

Several companies announced "application programming interfaces" or APIs this year, which enable other products to more easily integrate with theirs. To its credit, Total Attorneys chose not to use this term given that most lawyers are not programmers and therefore don't know what it means.

Instead, Total Attorneys announced an app store. Thanks to Apple, everyone knows what that means! Using this colloquial term vaulted Total Attorneys App Store to the top of the TL NewsWire Top 25. So congratulations to Total Attorneys not only for the add-ons it announced, but also for how the company framed this announcement.

2. Total Attorneys

Before launching its app store, Total Attorneys relaunched its cloud practice management system. This alone would have likely earned it a spot on the TL NewsWire Top 25. But Total Attorneys also announced an incredibly low price of just $1 per user per month, which explains its second place ranking.

Total Attorneys isn't crazy. Instead, like Amazon's strategy of selling its Kindle tablets at or below cost and later earning a profit on ebooks and other content, Total Attorneys essentially gives away its practice management system with the hope that you'll purchase apps such as credit card processing.

3. CitePin

When we reported on CitePin, we called it the "Evernote of the Legal Industry" as it's a cloud application designed to keep track of legal information such as legal research in a freeform manner but with legal-specific features.

CitePin clearly excited many of you. Just one caveat. This company reminds me of the Pink Floyd song, Is There Anybody Out There? We could not find an email address. We filled out the contact form requesting a screenshot to no avail (our thanks to LawSites for letting us use one of its screenshots).

4. TheFormTool PRO

According to the CEO of TheFormTool, the TechnoLawyer Network, including TL NewsWire, enabled the company to grow much faster than it originally anticipated.

TheFormTool PRO adds document assembly functionality to Microsoft Word without the need for programming skills. Because of the intense interest in TheFormTool PRO, we reviewed it twice from two perspectives in our BigLaw and SmallLaw newsletters.

5. MobileScan Pro 100

It would shock me if a scanner didn't make the TL NewsWire Top 25. In many law firms, scanners have become as essential a peripheral as printers. In fact, many law firms find that they need several types of scanners — high-volume, network, desktop, and mobile.

Ambir's new scanner garnered so much attention from TL NewsWire subscribers because it's the Batman of scanners — highly mobile with a dual personality. It functions as both a sheet-fed scanner and as a wand scanner. Also, it can scan without any cables to a Micro USB card.

6. Workshare PDF Professional Plus 2.0

Workshare PDF Professional 1.0 ranked second in last year's TL NewsWire Top 20. And here is version 2.0 ranked sixth in this year's TL NewsWire Top 25. Acrobat XI Pro also made the list this year but it's further down. That's because while PDF software is a hot topic, PDF software designed specifically for lawyers is an even hotter topic.

You probably found Workshare PDF Professional's support for PDF/A and its file size shrinking technology of interest given that many courts require this format and have file size limits. Version 2.0 also offers integrations with Autonomy Worksite and Microsoft SharePoint, two popular document management systems used by midsize and large law firms.

7. eBillity

eBillity has interesting origins. One of its co-founders used to work at Bill4Time, a cloud legal billing software pioneer. As a result, the two products share a number of features, chief among them an iPhone app as well as desktop widgets for Mac and Windows. Also, the pricing for Bill4Time and eBillity is identical.

Perhaps because of its late entry into the marketplace, eBillity has teamed up with larger companies. For example, it powers Thomson Reuters' new Time and Billing product. And when Intuit abandoned its cloud billing product, it recommended that its customers switch to eBillity.

8. Harvest

Harvest serves the billing needs of several industries, including legal. It offers both iPhone and Android apps, thus covering the majority of TechnoLawyer members (49% use an iPhone; 28% use an Android smartphone). For law firms with three or more timekeepers, Harvest costs less than rival products.

9. CaseFox

Clearly, TL NewsWire subscribers like cloud billing software as CaseFox also falls into this category. We cited CaseFox's ability to accommodate temporary contract lawyers as its Killer Feature. CaseFox also falls on the less expensive end of the pricing spectrum.

10. PDF Converter 8

We covered three new Nuance products this year. Not surprisingly, its PDF software received the most attention.

PDF Converter 8 is practically a word processor given its editing capabilities. That's why you'll find some of Nuance's Dragon speech recognition technology built into the software. Like Workshare PDF Professional, PDF Converter 8 integrates with a number of products popular among lawyers, including CaseMap and Worldox.

THE NEXT 15 HOTTEST TL NEWSWIRE PRODUCTS OF 2012

Congratulations to the 15 remaining products in the TL NewsWire Top 25 Products of 2012!

11. OmniOutliner for iPad

12. Leap

13. Amicus Attorney Premium Edition 2012

14. Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover

15. HoverBar

16. Acrobat XI Pro

17. Apollo

18. Standzfree

19. TranscriptPad

20. Disconnect

21. DocMoto

22. Amicus Cloud

23. Samsung ML-2165W Mono Laser Printer

24. iPad 3

25. SwingHolder

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TL Research: TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante answers the following question: Can the iPad mini make you and your law practice more productive? Unlike reviews in the mainstream media, Neil's in-depth TL Research report evaluates the iPad mini as a serious productivity tool, including extensive reviews of several productivity apps with accompanying screenshots. For example, Neil wrote this TL Research report on his iPad mini so that he could tell you which plain text word processing app works best. Download your free copy of TL Research Guide to the iPad mini as a Serious Productivity Tool (Second Edition) now.

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Our flagship newsletter offers in-depth buyer's guides and other helpful research reports for everyone in the legal profession. Written in plain English by leading experts, these reports combine exhaustive research with sound statistical techniques to provide you with reliable analysis, data, and insights. Just as importantly, TL Research reports often include benchmarks, charts, and other visuals that bring the information to life. TechnoLawyer members regularly use TL Research reports at strategic planning meetings. The TL Research newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.