TechnoLawyer: Collaboration/Knowledge Management

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a client portal you can add to your Web site (see article below), a new BlackBerry smartphone, a line of iPad and MacBook sleeves with handles, an online application for managing discovery in federal cases, and a service that can speed up your law firm's Web site. Don't miss the next issue.

Make Working With Your Firm More Convenient for Clients

We've covered many Web-based applications in this newsletter, but what about your firm's Web site? Is it still just a glorified brochure, or have you "appified" it to better serve your clients? Not too long ago, adding client collaboration tools to your Web site would have cost tens of thousands of dollars or more, which explains why most law firms — especially small law firms — don't offer "client portals." But the competitive advantage a client portal provides is undeniable. Look no further than your online bank account. Plenty of inexpensive online collaboration services exist, but they don't reside on your site, and are typically operated by companies without an appreciation for the attorney-client privilege.

LexisNexis Client Center … in One Sentence
LexisNexis Client Center is a hosted portal that you can add to your existing Web site through which you can securely collaborate with your clients.

The Killer Feature
Most lawyers share documents and information with their clients via email. Although a growing number of email applications offer threaded messaging, this technology is no match for the many messages with different subjects that accrue over the lifetime of a matter. If your clients don't diligently file every email message and attachment, they will become frustrated when they cannot find a message or document quickly or at all.

LexisNexis Client Center enables you to provide your clients with a single Web page on which they can access all their matters, including the documents you share with them. In addition to providing your clients with a convenient location for their case file, it also reinforces your brand and relationship every time they visit.

Other Notable Features
LexisNexis Client Center goes beyond records management. It also features collaboration tools. For example, you can assign tasks to your clients such as reviewing a brief or contract. Your client can download a document, mark it up, and upload a new version. Thanks to an integrated calendar, you can also assign tasks with dates (e.g., Show up for your deposition).

With LexisNexis Client Center, you can more securely communicate with clients, including sending your bills. If you send an errant message, you can retract it. Clients can receive an email alert when you send them a document, message, task, etc. to let them know they should login. LexisNexis Client Center provides an audit trail, enabling you to track everything you share.

What Else Should You Know?
LexisNexis Client Center is included free of charge with a LexisNexis-created site for your firm, including the Site Essentials, Site Edge, and Site Exclusives packages. You also receive a free subscription for Firm Manager, LexisNexis' online practice management system. Learn more about LexisNexis Client Center.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a cloud-based legal project management application (see article below), an online service for Twitter direct messages, an iPhone GPS navigation app, an online store for volume iPad and iPhone app purchases, and a free social media strategy planning tool. Don't miss the next issue.

Legal Project Management Meets the Spreadsheet

Lawyers are world class crunchers. Litigators crunch facts and legal issues. Transactional lawyers crunch clauses. And all lawyers crunch dates, time, and lots of other data. So why do lawyers always wax poetic about word processors but not spreadsheets? After all, the latter excel (pun intended) at data crunching. The answer may lie in math — that is, the average lawyer's aversion to it. Because finance types were the first to adopt them, spreadsheets still have a reputation as tools for number crunching, not the type of data crunching — a.k.a project management — lawyers perform. One company hopes to change the way lawyers think about spreadsheets.

Smartsheet … in One Sentence
Smartsheet is an online project management system.

The Killer Feature
Smartsheet uses a spreadsheet metaphor for project management and other forms of data management. You essentially work in tables that look like spreadsheets. For example, with one click you can add a column specifically designed to contain dates. You can then sort your sheet chronologically. Smartsheet can display your data in a variety of formats, including calendars and Gantt charts. You can also generate reports.

Other Notable Features
Once you create a new sheet, you can share it with colleagues and clients — and also assign tasks and attach relevant documents. The Change History screen provides an audit trail of all work performed on a shared sheet. Smartsheet also features tools for email alerts and discussions. You can organize your sheets using client/matter folders.

Smartsheet essentially provides you with a blank slate, which gives you the flexibility to create exactly what you need. But why reinvent the wheel if it already exists? Smartsheet offers a number of templates for specialized project management tasks such as event planning, issue tracking, new hires, task lists, and more — including legal-specific templates.

To further lighten your load, Smartsheet offers what it calls Smartsourcing — integration with Amazon's Mechanical Turk. You can use this feature to outsource menial work such as data collection.

What Else Should You Know?
Smartsheet integrates with Google Docs and can import Excel spreadsheets. An iPad app is in the works. Pricing ranges from $15.95 to $149 per month depending on the number of sheet creators and sheets you need. All plans provide unlimited sheet users. Learn more about Smartsheet.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Thomas Stirewalt, Cloud Storage Reviews: IDrive V. Dropbox V. SugarSync

Mary Conn, Review: ChaosHost For Running Chaos Intellect On An IPad

Alex Lesberg, Review: Windows Easy Transfer For XP To 7 Upgrade

Bobby Abrams, Review: 1099-ETC For Payroll

Corey Rich, A Low Tech Postage Solution; Certified Mail Tip

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

How to Receive Answers to Questions
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Coming today to TechnoFeature: What happens when your firm's managing partner asks you to build a modular intranet that works like iGoogle? Yikes! Google likely spent millions of dollars building its popular portal. Even a large law firm doesn't have that kid of cash for a single IT project. Fortunately for von Briesen & Roper, its CIO William Caraher is an open source advocate and legal social media expert. He not only undertook this seemingly impossible challenge, but rolled out the intranet envisioned by his firm's managing partner in less than six months. In this TechnoFeature, Bill discusses the software and process he used to achieve this feat — most notably open source software Dropthings. If your firm needs a better way to share information internally and likes the idea of not spending much money, read Bill's incredible story.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

John Drisdale, Review: Google Checkout Versus Credit Cards for Law Firms

Simon Laurent, Review: BrainKeeper for Memorializing Office Procedures and Workflows

Clayton Hasbrook, Our Cloud-Based Law Firm; Reviews of AdvlogixPM and NetDocuments

Carrie Bekker, The Mortgage Mess: An Opportunity for Lawyers

Jason Morris, Review: HoursTracker iPhone App

Question of the Week: Have Files and Folders Outlived Their Usefulness?

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

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 TechnoFeature: Many lawyers feel like an endangered species. Forget the werewolf in London. There's a werewolf in the legal industry too busy eating your lunch to hang out at Trader Vic's. Even lawyers who still have a job feel downward pressure on fees. Competition seems overbearing, both within the profession and from without. Clients, pinched themselves, demand price concessions. The upshot? Brace yourself for a sustained period of fee deflation. How can your law firm prosper in this environment? Document automation and knowledge management expert Marc Lauritsen has some good news and bad news. The bad news is that there's no silver bullet that can save your law firm and kill the werewolf. The good news is that by following Marc's five-step plan you can outrun the werewolf, pull a 180, and stick your tongue out at him.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on April 19, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

When two or more individual lawyers, or two small law firms, join forces, the combination typically is driven by a desire to expand, better serve existing clients, and attract new clients. Joining forces should enhance economies of scale and collaboration for greater service quality, which in turn should mean more revenue.

This outcome can only occur if a cultural fit exists among the lawyers — common values and goals that facilitate the exchange of ideas, the education of one lawyer by another, positive social interaction, and a feeling of bonding with others in the firm. Ideally, the lawyers or law firms should have complementary practice areas that enable cross-selling thanks to the expansion of legal services the new firm can offer.

The lawyers in the combined firms typically concentrate on the "tinsel and glitter" of integration — deciding the new firm name, the location and configuration of office space, management responsibilities, and staff allocation. But too often an important element for economies of scale and service collaboration is neglected or even forgotten — technology.

The Key Technologies to Discuss During Due Diligence

Assessing the current state of technology used by the lawyers or firms, including the age of the hardware and software and their replacement cycle, should be — but rarely is — central to the merger due diligence.

For example, a law firm with up-to-date document processing and practice management software tools and a database of 4,000 contacts suggests that it has made an adequate investment in technology. Similarly, if a practice's technology has not been kept up to speed, the likelihood of realizing more value from the merger diminishes.

If the technology of the merger partners is up to date, it will make their combined practices more efficient. The time savings, efficiency, and commoditization of routine tasks and services afforded by electronic technology mean that legal services can be provided at a lower price with higher volume, which tends to produce higher revenues and profits.

But such benefits cannot be realized without adequate planning to integrate these technology aspects. Before you sign the dotted line, discuss the technologies below during due diligence.

1. Client Relationship Management Software (CRM)

For CRM to be effective, the merged practices must give up the "my client" mentality in favor of an "our client" approach — a task easier stated than accomplished. And even if lawyers are willing to share information, plenty of other issues remain regarding what data is entered, who enters it, and who verifies accuracy. The lawyers must create a standard classification system for each item in client or prospect records. Otherwise, CRM becomes a wasted investment with little useful return.

2. Knowledge Management Systems (KM)

The KM challenge mirrors the CRM challenge — creating a standard classification system for each lawyer's work product. If the document management systems of the merged practices are not integrated completely from the start, the result will be haphazard, after-the-fact efforts that doom KM efforts to failure. Not investing the time needed to update the knowledge management database weakens it — and holdouts diminish the value for colleagues and clients alike. A good KM system cannot ensure success, but it certainly tips the balance and makes it much more likely.

3. Finance and Accounting Software

Most law firms use some form of accounting technology (the days of the green eyeshade and paper ledgers are long gone). Some systems can produce extremely detailed assessments of performance to benchmarks, with far more data than the typical attorney can assimilate intelligently. A growing number of systems take an integrated time, billing, and accounting approach, while others are little more than electronic worksheets.

Whatever technology you use, unless the members of the new firm agree which financial benchmarks are most important and how to track and reward financial performance, the software system will never be an adequate management tool, no matter how sophisticated.

4. Communication Tools

The issues here are as varied as the tools themselves. For example, many firms and individual lawyers avidly pursue blogs as a business development activity. However, effective blogging requires dozens or even hundreds of billable hours per year. If all lawyers don't agree on the need for this expense, it can detract from other marketing activities or even from the practice itself.

Another example is email policy. If one lawyer or firm has been scrupulous about entering as billable all time used to send email to clients, while their counterparts have been lax about it, the new firm could lose much billable revenue. As in a marriage, small points of contention like this can drive newly merged lawyers or firms apart.

It's Common Sense, Not Rocket Science

Taking the time to assess and integrate technology concerns like those discussed above is essential to a healthy and growing law firm. A step-by-step process is the only way to ensure that technology will increase efficiency and quality of work in the life of the new firm. There is no one right way to combine technology systems and approaches, but there are clearly wrong ways. Paying due attention to the integration process will clear a path for harmony and profitability.

Written by law firm coach Edward Poll of LawBiz.

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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.

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Fred Kruck, Review: Hasler: The Postage Machine No One Knows About

Pam Haidenger-Bains, Tip: Document Management For Email Within Outlook

Thomas F. McDow, Review: CaseMap

Janis Cross, Review: Samsung Moment (Android)

Theodore Borrego, My Dual Monitor Setup (Document Nerds Take Note)

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

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.

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

Paul Tredoux, Tip: Using Dual Monitors to Collaborate on Word Documents; Topview Review

Michael Jones, Review: Copernic Desktop Search for Document Management

Barron Henley, Fujitsu ScanSnap: The Truth About the Bundled Version of Acrobat

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

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.

Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Gregory Harper, Review: Lenovo ThinkPad V. Dell Latitude Laptops

Jill Howard, Review: Needles

Paul Supnik, Review: CaseMap

Joe Dipierro, Review: PDF-XChange Viewer

Bill Baldwin, How To Store Client Documents And Email Together

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

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.