TechnoLawyer: Practice Management/Calendars

Coming today to SmallLaw: We have witnessed The Innovator’s Dilemma over the past 10 years as startups wooed tens of thousands of lawyers to cloud practice management software without much of a fight from the companies behind legacy products. Now, the disrupters face disruption themselves as a new wave of startups seek to offer “next-generation” cloud practice management software with the extensive customization and deep feature set of the legacy products. One such product is Centerbase. Does it deliver? Find out in this review by lawyer and legal technology consultant Seth Rowland. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week to learn why Google has become more important than your own website.

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 TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Philippe Doyle Gray, My Rig Features 54 Inches of Floating Glass (Including Photos)

Mark Olberding, A Photographic Tour of My Computer Rig: Lots of Tech in a Small Space

Caren Schwartz, Practice Management Options for a Law Firm Using Legacy Software

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

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. 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 TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Ian O'Flaherty, Like Winter, Software Subscriptions Are Coming (Including Maybe to Our Apps)

Donald Lowrey, The Coming Cloud Practice Management Shake Out

Patrick Lanius, Dragon Microphone Not Supported in iOS 11

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

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. 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 TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Neil Squillante, The Transformative Experience of an iPad Pro Back Case; Review of Luvvitt Clear Grip

James Nuss, My Rig (Including Photo): Surface Pro, Dual Monitors, and Much More

Rob Perelli-Minetti, My Rig: Lenovo T460p, Dual Dell Monitors, and More

Bruce Brightwell, Why an AMP Is Not the Same as a Cloud Software Subscription

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

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. 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 TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a popular cloud practice management system that now offers a full-featured mobile app, a chat system, and payment processing (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of a service that enables you to analyze IP portfolios for M&A due diligence, litigation strategy, and prior art research, on-demand service for capturing social media and other web evidence in accurate and defensible PDF documents, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.

In the early days of modern smartphones and tablets, lawyers complained about the lack of native companion apps for cloud practice management systems. When these apps arrived, lawyers discovered that they lacked key functionality, offering a watered-down experience. The dream of running your law firm from your phone requires a mobile app with complete feature parity.

Rocket Matter Atlas Gold Edition … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Rocket Matter Atlas Gold Edition (Rocket Matter) is a popular cloud practice management system with Android and iOS apps that now mirror the functionality of the desktop web app.

The Killer Feature

This identical functionality on mobile and desktop is exemplified by Communicator, Rocket Matter's new internal messaging system. Director of Sales Matt Nelson and Sales Operations Manager Alejandro Dao gave me a demo with one using an iPhone and the other a Mac. Channels organize conversations within Communicator into specific topics, while direct messages offer one-to-one communication. Rocket Bot, Communicator's artificial intelligence system, recognizes matter names and links to their file, offers to create an event when someone enters a date, etc.

"We've been using the desktop and mobile app," says Robin Cherkas of Bull & Reinhardt, PLLC. "We love Communicator here. It's seriously awesome. Everything is all in organized channels. It has eliminated people leaving Post-it messages on my desk. It has lived up to the word "communicator" with the whole firm communicating more effectively than we ever have."

With your entire firm in your pocket, state-of-the-art security is essential. You can now require two-factor authentication for the mobile app, which requires you to enter a PIN number in addition to your stored password when you login. For faster two-factor logins, you can enable Touch ID on iOS (Face ID on the iPhone X).

Other Notable Features

Rocket Matter has three core features always available — global search, sidebar navigation, and the contextual Add New button. The Dashboard offers a personalized view of your events, tasks, billing activity, and more across all of your active matters. Each matter contains its own dashboard within which you'll find the Matter Stream — a ticker listing all activity in reverse chronological order. Rocket Matter also enables you to view any aspect of a matter in isolation such as calendar, documents, email, invoices, and payments.

Speaking of payments, Rocket Matter now integrates with LexCharge legal payment processing, enabling your clients to securely pay invoices or replenish their trust account by e-check or credit card. You can also enter payments manually. The new Recurring Payments option facilitates alternative business models such as a monthly subscription, or letting struggling clients split payments across time.

For document management, Rocket Matter integrates with Box, Dropbox, and Office 365, the latter of which supports versioning. Or you can upload documents directly into Rocket Matter. ScanSnap integration enables you to scan directly into Rocket Matter. The mobile app one-ups the desktop app in one regard — you can use your device's camera for scanning on the go.

What Else Should You Know?

"When Rocket Matter launched in 2008, we introduced something truly novel to the legal industry," Rocket Matter CEO Larry Port tells me. "Nearly 10 years later, our team remains relentlessly inventive and continues to provide revolutionary features that help law firms significantly boost revenues and operate more efficiently." Rocket Matter costs $65 per user per year on the annual plan (you can pay monthly). This includes the new payment processing features. Learn more about Rocket Matter Atlas Gold Edition.

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.

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Jeffrey Wilens, What Time Matters Needs

Fred Kruck, Review of Daylite for Practice Management

Douglas Thomas, Review of CaseMap Plus PDF Linking Tip

Hector Perez, Review of Amicus Attorney

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

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. 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 TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

John Creahan, Review of PhraseExpander

Michael Kelly, Software Subscriptions Are Fine If the Price Is Right: Reviews of Office 365, Asana, Acrobat DC

Connie Brooks, Software Subscriptions Come in Two Varieties, One Good, One Not

Tom Trottier, Four Questions to Consider About Software Subscriptions

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

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. 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 TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a practice management system with a large forms library that automatically captures the billable time you spend on document drafting and email (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of a cloud practice management and accounting system that now includes free credit card processing via LawPay, a cloud practice management system with a new document management component that works locally on PCs and Macs like a network drive, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.

Accurate time tracking empowers law firms. Those that bill by the hour can maximize earnings while those that charge fixed fees can evaluate their profitability and staff efficiency. But how can you prevent lost billable time given human nature?

Smokeball … in One Sentence

Smokeball is a practice management and document assembly system that recently gained a new automatic time capture feature.

The Killer Feature

Attorney and Smokeball Legal Technology Content Manager Joshua Taylor walks me through a typical stretch of time in a law firm, drafting documents, sending and receiving email, etc. He then clicks on the AutoTime button in Smokeball's toolbar.

Not only does Smokeball capture the time spent on this work, but it creates nearly final time entries. Smokeball itemizes each task, connects it to the corresponding matter and creates a description of the work (e.g., Letter to Law Office of Arthur Kirkland). You review these entries, make any necessary edits, and post them if you bill by the hour. Every night, Smokeball emails you a report listing all your captured time for the previous day broken down by matter.

Early adopters of Smokeball's automatic legal time tracking software feature have captured 34% more time on average. "Smokeball has increased my law firm's profitability by over 30%," says Joshua Boehm, partner at Cottonwood Law Group, LC. Smokeball's Law Firm Insights report enables you to measure the impact of automatic time tracking at your firm, and prove time worked in the event a client transfers his case to another firm. The report breaks out time spent and cost for each employee.

Other Notable Features

Smokeball is a hybrid product, combining the capabilities of a native Windows client with the convenience of unlimited cloud data storage. This gives you the ability to work without an internet connection. The Windows client allows for tight integration with Microsoft Office. When you open a potential matter, choose from more than 250 Matter Types with all the information fields you're likely to need. Smokeball also runs a conflict check. Smokeball's mobile app gives you access to your practice on the go.

Smokeball's Legal Tasks and Workflows enable you to capture your firm's processes. A Workflow consists of a set of tasks, each of which is assigned to an attorney or staff member. You can create task dependencies, and generate due dates based on triggers.

Many law firm tasks involve document automation. Smokeball offers more than 14,000 legal forms and can help add your own during the onboarding process. Smokeball automatically enters information from the extensive set of matter fields. You can email completed documents directly from Smokeball and generate a PDF with one click. A clever feature lists the contacts associated with the matter, which saves time and prevents misaddressed messages. Alternatively, you can attach documents in Smokeball from Outlook. Either way, Smokeball saves all email in the matter, including replies.

What Else Should You Know?

"Smokeball helps small law firms increase the profitability of their matters," said Jane Oxley, Smokeball's President. "By providing our clients with features like full visibility into matter profitability and the most robust Microsoft Outlook and Word integrations in the industry, we help attorneys spend less time on administrative tasks, and get back to practicing law." Learn more about Smokeball.

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.

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Neil Squillante, Review of Vonage Business Essentials Phone Service

Tom Stubbs, Review of Nozbe (Project Management)

Jim Zadeh, Review of Time Matters

Ken Laska, Apple Pencil Support Clarification

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

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. 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 TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud practice management system with a new document management component that works locally on PCs and Macs like a network drive (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to the previous 11 TL NewsWire features, including our coverage of a new payment processor with a flat fee per transaction that deposits funds overnight, a Microsoft Word add-in for drafting litigation and transactional documents with a new document assembly engine, forms library, and machine-learning tools, and much more. Don't miss the next issue.

Cloud practice management has many virtues but concerns about document management prevent some law firms from taking the leap. These firms understandably don't want to give up their network drives and folder hierarchies, manually upload documents, or change the way they work.

Centerbase … in One Sentence

Centerbase is a cloud practice management system that now offers document management which functions like a local network drive.

The Killer Feature

CEO John Forbes tells me I'm the first person outside of the company and a few early adopters to see Centerbase's new document management technology. A product CEO who spent years as a reseller, Forbes has a Steve Jobs-like enthusiasm.

Documents in Centerbase function on your PC or Mac like a network drive even though they actually reside on secure servers in the cloud. Centerbase uses WebDAV, a standard file protocol for Internet file sharing.

During initial setup, Centerbase's support team uploads your entire document library, and can help you map document folders to the correct clients and matters in Centerbase. Forbes tells me about a firm that imported 3.6 million files.

"After setup, you use your files and folders like you always have in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder," says Forbes. Any changes to documents are automatically reflected in Centerbase and vice versa. Forbes describes this as a "1:1 correlation." An optional add-on makes Centerbase files and folders available offline with changes automatically synced when you're back online. For new matters, Centerbase can automatically generate a set of folders.

"Centerbase has made transitioning to a cloud product for document management seamless," said Tait Johnson, paralegal at Sharpe & Associates, PLLC. "We no longer have to maintain our own file server, and we can now access our documents from anywhere."

Other Notable Features

You can view documents in Centerbase from multiple locations. The Documents File Explorer gives you access to all mapped documents. Navigate your folder hierarchies or run a search. Alternatively, you can access relevant documents in other areas of Centerbase such as in Matters, Contacts, and Billing. For example, each matter contains a Documents tab listing all related files.

Centerbase's Microsoft Word integration and Workflows (document assembly combined with project management) bring further automation. Workflows take you from Centerbase to Word to automatically generate a document that gets saved to the correct matter when finished.

At your option, you can create document profiles to track type of document and other metadata to improve search results. Centerbase enables you to keep every version of a document in case you need to revert. You can restrict access to documents. Also, documents lock when colleagues work in them. If you need more robust document management, Centerbase integrates with NetDocuments.

What Else Should You Know?

Centerbase launched several additional features since our initial report. Matters Templates enable you to create customized layouts for each of your practice areas with all the requisite data fields. Thus, a bankruptcy matter can track creditors, while an accident matter can track medical records and police reports. The new Report Builder offers the ability to create custom reports. Forbes showed me a report that lists matters comprising 80% of a firm's business. Finally, Centerbase's iPhone app now includes mobile time entries for billing on the go. Centerbase costs $52 per user per month. Learn more about Centerbase.

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.