TechnoLawyer: Collaboration/Knowledge Management

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new Web-based time and billing application (see article below), a suite of server-based PDF applications, and a hosted wiki service for collaboration and document management. Don't miss the next issue.

Pay Me More
By Neil J. Squillante

If a typical software application has 100 features, but most people use only 10 of the features, should the software company jettison the 90 features that only a minority of people use? Yes, according to the growing number of software companies creating lightweight, Web-based applications.

One such company, Logic Design, recently launched PayMo, a Web-based billing application for lawyers and others who need to track their time. PayMo doesn't do as much as its more mature competitors — by choice. Instead, the company focuses on a few core features and a lickable interface that looks like something from Apple.

To get started, you set up clients and projects (matters), and then simply track the time spent on tasks within those projects. PayMo has two types of users — managers (such as managing partners and office managers) who can see everything, and individual users who can see only their own time entries.

PayMo can track the time you spend on a task with a stopwatch and then create a time entry. You can edit time entries anytime before submitting them. The stopwatch shows you how much time you've billed for the entire day and week, not just the task at hand. If you don't like the idea of tracking your time in a browser, you can install a lightweight desktop application for Mac or Windows with much the same functionality.

Managers have access to many more functions. From a single dashboard, you can access and review everyone's time-sheets. Thanks to an array of charts, at a glance you can gauge overall performance and spot slackers. You can view time by client, employee, and project, and you can drill down further for more details. At any point, you can generate bills and send them to clients via email. You can also save bills and reports in PDF format.

PayMo is free for up to three users. Otherwise, it costs $3.99/user/month. If you have 30 or more users, you can choose to pay a flat fee of $150/month. Learn more about PayMo.

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Presenters: Carolyn Elefant and David Masters
Friday, March 14 at 8:30 am

A small firm or solo attorney could hardly ask for more. Before me, on the second day of what was already shaping up to be the most interesting TechShow in years, sat a pair of legends in solo practice — Carolyn Elefant and David Masters.

They needed no introduction to the standing-room-only crowd that had packed the Hilton meeting room that morning. Nor do they need an introduction to any of us who believe in the Internet as the great leveler. They were here to discuss how to make smart technology decisions as a small firm and solo practice lawyer. They wasted no time setting out the factors to consider:

• Cost
• Mobility
• Ease of Use
• Available Support
• Compatibility
• Security

With these in mind, technology decisions can be narrowed down to:

• Mac v. PC
• Laptops v. Desktops
• Multiple Monitors
• Multifunction Machines
• Handheld Computers
• Software
• Collaboration
• Adobe Acrobat
• Backup Strategies
• Communications Tools
• Email Tools

Mac v. PC

Proponents of the Mac will tell you they are more stable, virtually virus-proof, easy to use, intuitive, and have more third party applications being built for them all the time. PC people on the other hand point out that PC's have a lower overall operating cost, are slightly less expensive to acquire, have far more third party applications available, and simply represent the flagship of business computing. Since neither side has been proven 100% right or wrong yet, the speakers suggested an integration strategy. Since PCs and Macs can coexist on the same network, bi-curious practitioners should mix and match to determine which system works better for them.

[They can also co-exist in the same computer with virtualization software like Parallels and Fusion.]

Laptop v. Desktop

David was quite clear about his preference for a laptop, citing its inherent mobility, fewer moving parts to damage, synchronization with your home office, and the drop in price in recent years. Desktops on the other hand remain the champs when it comes to power, applications, and configuration options. In the end, all that extra RAM and ROM will secure the position of the desktop as ruler of the law office until laptops establish an insurmountable advantage or can't-do-without-it set of features (MacBook Air anyone?).

[While tablet PC's were not discussed, I'd bet money they will be on next year's agenda].

Note: When selecting a laptop, look for

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
• At least 1 GB of RAM
• At least 80 GB Hard Drive
• CD/RW-DVD capability
• At least a 14" screen

Multiple Monitors

Dual monitors were generally acknowledged to increase productivity and therefore ROI. In that regard the UltraMon utility was recommended by David. The point is to situate programs on the various screens (one or two per monitor) and reduce the number of clicks it takes to complete a task or switch between tasks. There was really no dispute from those present.

[Incidentally, the University of Utah just released a study finding that a 24 inch monitor is ideal for maximizing productivity. It did not study dual monitor use. See Ben Worthen, Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity, Wall Street Journal.]

Multifunction Machines

The topic of multifunction machines that print, scan, copy, and fax went without much fanfare. Who could object? In fact the very idea of a single-use machine seems archaic nowadays — although David expressed his wistfulness for some fine machines from his past. Added features to keep in mind include 2-sided printing and scanning, as well as faxing both in "hard copy" form and electronically (though electronic faxing is generally done from the desktop via software such as eFax and WinFax).

Handheld Computers

There was much to discuss here, with the debate centering on whether a PDA needs to be bundled with a phone and whether its true purpose is to unify communications, enhance mobility, un-tether users from the office, or act as a low-resolution laptop replacement. At this point an audience member asked whether anything inhabited the space in-between handhelds and laptops. Enter the sub-notebook. Another audience member had one to show. In the end the speakers ticked off a list of suitable units including:

• iPhone
• Palm Treo
• BlackBerry
• Sony
• Motorola Q

Software

Nowadays software is everywhere and nowhere. Lawyers can't work without good software, but often try to make their software do what it can't. Stick to the basics:

Word-Processing
The usual suspects here include Microsoft Word (2003, 2007, etc.) and of course Corel's sentimental favorite WordPerfect product. Less traditional but more interesting alternatives include OpenOffice (now NeoOffice) and Google Docs. There is an abundance of choice in this department.

Digital Dictation
Again, the standards were trotted out here including Dragon NaturallySpeaking and (surprise!) outsourcing in India or even near-sourcing in the U.S. by using a digital dictation and transcription service.

[Last year at TechShow, a company called QuickSek had a booth. This company transcribes overnight or even the same day — you can dictate by phone. No booth this year.]

Practice Management
Amicus Attorney, Time Matters, PracticeMaster, and ProLaw were mentioned by the speakers; and although Outlook 2007 appears to be creeping into the space traditionally occupied by such products, it was specifically not recommended as a practice management solution. The speakers were clear on that.

Time and Billing
In this category Timeslips, Tabs3, and PCLaw were the favorites.

[Again, Outlook was not mentioned although the Journal feature includes a timer. Also missing was new market entrant Bill4Time, a Web application.]

Collaboration

The speakers mixed things up a bit here, beginning with the more traditional concept of the Extranet and proceeding to the more exotic offerings from BaseCamp, Zoho, Google Apps, and the wonderful world of Wikis. It's no coincidence that the ABA just published an entire book on this subject. For the audience at this event however, there was no need to go into any great detail. Any of the suggested solutions was adequate for the needs of a small firm or sole-practitioner.

Adobe Acrobat

David Masters wrote the book on Adobe Acrobat for lawyers. No, really; he wrote The Lawyer's Guide to Adobe Acrobat, now in its second edition. So it was no surprise that David considers Acrobat to be the most efficient document format in the market, as well as the standard for e-filing and scanning. He recommended using a sheet-fed, flatbed scanner for best results.

Backup Strategies

Already the source of much confusion and fear, backing up is essential. With that in mind both Carolyn and David suggested:

• Daily backup is essential — develop the discipline.
• Make sure you're catching relevant files in each backup.
• Make sure you can restore reliably using this system.
• Backup off-site as well as on-site.

Communications Tools

Sure, voice over IP (VoIP) is less expensive than using traditional telephone lines and cell towers, but is it time for a small-firm or sole-practitioner to take the plunge? According to these speakers yes — the time has come. In addition, users now have an unprecedented choice of Internet-based calling, messaging, and communication options including:

• Free Conference Call
• Grand Central

Email Tools

As the price of email technology and storage has plummeted the small-firm and solo attorney has been deluged with the same range of choices as a big-firm practitioner: desk-based, Web-based, POP3, IMAP, Exchange, etc. The point is to use the safest alternative and always get a good spam filtering system.

Conclusion

At the end of presentation the audience gave the speakers a well-deserved ovation. Also, I'm guessing they left better off than they arrived. I know I did. Unfortunately however, I had to be in court by mid-day so this was the end of day two of TechShow for me. Still, if I had to pick only one session to attend this was it.

Read more firsthand reports from ABA TechShow 2008.

About TechnoLawyer Trade Show Reports
Even in today's wired world, trade shows continue to play an important role. But not everyone can attend trade shows. Hence, our trade show reports, which bring trade shows to you. You can find our trade show reports here in TechnoLawyer Blog, and also in TechnoGuide, a free newsletter that also contains exclusive content. Learn more about TechnoGuide.

Coming February 26, 2008 to TechnoFeature: In today's fast-paced legal environment, electronic calendars and contacts are a must. However, providing others access to that information can seem challenging particularly if your calendar is a living, breathing, rapidly-changing organism. In this article, legal technology consultant Christel Burris reviews the latest edition of ClearSync, an application for accessing and sharing calendars and contacts at the office and on the go. In this comprehensive review, Christel covers everything from installation to tech support plus an overall TechnoScore.

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an online service for tracking rivals (see article below), a content management system for blogs, wikis, and internal discussions, and a Firefox plugin for tracking online forum threads of interest. Don't miss the next issue.

Spies Like Us
By Neil J. Squillante

If you operate a gas station at a busy intersection, it's pretty easy to keep tabs on your competitors on the other three corners. Just walk outside and take a look through your binoculars. Because neither you nor your clients work at a gas station, you'll need a more sophisticated strategy.

Enter RivalSoft's RivalMap, a Web-based service that enables you, your colleagues, and your clients to share information about other organizations of interest — especially rivals.

You start by setting up profiles of the organizations you want to track. You can categorize as needed. For example, you might organize rival law firms by the practice area in which you compete for business.

Once you complete the set-up process, you and others can post comments such as anecdotes, links, etc. You can also share files such as brochures, proposals, photos, briefs, and anything else that comes into your possession (legally of course).

If a rival engages in an action that troubles you or a client, you can create a "Concern" and then track that particular issue separately from more general posts. A "Concern" could of course result in legal action, which means RivalMap could help you generate more business.

RivalMap features a number of "social bookmarking" tools. For example, the bookmark tool creates a live link. The clipping tool enables you to quickly capture and share the relevant portion of a Web page. To facilitate finding all the information associated with a given issue, you can apply "tags" to your posts. You can also search RivalMap using Boolean queries.

Like many knowledge management products nowadays, RivalMap provides a dashboard so that you can see the most recent and most urgent information at a glance.

RivalMap comes in five versions — Free, Small Team ($49/month), Team ($99/month), Company ($199/month), and Enterprise (price varies). The versions differ regarding the number of users and storage space. Also, the Free version lacks encryption. You can upgrade or downgrade anytime, and need not commit for longer than one month. You can try any version for free for 30 days. Learn more about RivalMap.

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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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a multifunction network appliance for small law firms (see article below), mind mapping software that integrates with Microsoft Office, and backup software that can backup anything to anything. Don't miss the next issue.

Internet in a Black Box
By Taeho Lim

In Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," a black monolith taught the apes everything they needed to made the jump to humanity. That black monolith was the first network appliance.

Plustek's MultiServer MFA 1000S looks a lot like one of those monoliths — a black tower that sits between your network and the Internet, and provides your firm with today's essential services, including a router, email server, Web server, anti-virus and anti-spam protection, firewall, FTP, QoS, VoIP telephone service, SMS messaging, file server, and DNS.

MultiServer MFA 1000S runs on Linux, the popular open source operating system mostly used on servers. For email, MultiServer MFA 1000S supports IMAP and provides SSL encryption so that you can send and receive email securely even when using a mobile device. You can access email using clients like Outlook or via your Web browser. It can even handle multiple domains.

In addition to scanning email for viruses and spam, MultiServer MFA 1000S can also archive email and monitor it for certain keywords or domain names. Storage is unlimited as you can add additional hard drives as necessary.

MultiServer MFA 1000S features a system recovery feature, enabling you to roll back to any point in time. Thus, you can easily retrieve a mistakenly deleted message or undo any incorrect settings. You can manage MultiServer MFA 1000S via your Web browser, including downloading and applying updates. MultiServer MFA 1000S supports Chinese, German, French, and Japanese in addition to English. MultiServer MFA 1000S carries a street price of approximately $975. Learn more about MultiServer MFA 1000S.

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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.

No company can succeed without early adopters. In our case, we lucked out in that we had contributors and readers from day one, and clients as soon as we started selling marketing opportunities.

One of our earliest clients was CaseSoft, now LexisNexis CaseMap. At the end of the year, Greg Krehel, CaseSoft's co-founder, will retire.

(Unfortunately, because so many companies use words like "retire" as euphemisms after layoffs, reorgs, mergers, and so forth, people always wonder. However, in this context, its true meaning applies. Greg really is retiring. The decision was his. He just announced it recently.)

Greg Krehel along with his partner Bob Wiss shook up the legal industry by creating new categories of litigation software, raising the bar for customer service at a time when many software companies had begun cutting back, and using new marketing techniques, including the Internet, to reach lawyers. I'm proud to have played a small role in this inspirational American success story.

I spent the summer of 1998 developing TechnoLawyer's first service — an email advertising vehicle called TechnoRelease Tuesday (now just TechnoRelease) and an accompanying methodology for using it called Serial Storytelling. In August, I released our first media kit and legal vendors immediately started buying TechnoReleases. But I could not persuade anyone to try Serial Storytelling.

That same year I saw an article about CaseMap 2.0 in Internet Weekly magazine. Impressed, I wanted to meet the person who convinced an Internet magazine to publish an article about legal software. Soon enough I met Greg Krehel. Actually, he sought me out.

TechnoLawyer had no office space at the time so he met me outside my apartment building and we walked to a Starbucks. To this day, I don't know why I didn't just meet him at Starbucks to better disguise the fact that I had no office. Nonetheless, he still ordered a year's worth of TechnoReleases. It was our biggest sale ever at that point in time. And it was CaseSoft's first of nine consecutive one year campaigns in TechnoLawyer (including 2007, its first year as LexisNexis CaseMap).

Greg proceeded to roll out several campaigns using my Serial Storytelling methodology. I don't think I ever told him it was just a theory of mine that no one had ever put into practice, but fortunately it worked — in large part because Greg is not just a talented entrepreneur, but also one heckuva copywriter.

One particularly memorable campaign was a series of tips on creating case chronologies that Greg wrote over the course of seven TechnoReleases. He later used these tips as the basis for a popular white paper entitled Chronology Best Practices still available to this day.

My favorite campaign of Greg's was the very successful launch of TimeMap in 2000. You can get a clear sense of the story he told just by reading some of the TechnoRelease titles (note how he alternated between offers and tips, advertising and content):

Countdown to TimeMap: T Minus 1 and Counting

Two More Demonstrative Evidence Ideas

TimeMap Done; Download Final; 7 Days Till Special Price Kaput

Why Thinking Backwards is Forward Thinking

If TimeMap Doesn't Live Up to Our Claims, Get it for Free

Using Chronology Graphs in Briefs

Designing Effective Visuals: Choosing Fonts and Colors

Greg often credits TechnoLawyer with CaseSoft's early success, but I think the converse is the truer statement. Though small, CaseSoft was the larger company by far. Greg's validation of TechnoReleases as a cost-effective marketing vehicle helped pave the way for our success. At the time, Google had not yet sold a single advertisement. Advertising on the Internet and especially in email newsletters was perceived as risky or at least untested, especially in the conservative legal industry. Many people have forgotten those days. Not me.

By my count, Greg wrote 230 TechnoReleases from 1999-2006. I enjoyed reading and publishing each and every one of them. I doubt anyone else will ever write that many. Even more impressive is the fact that Greg's TechnoReleases represent just one facet of the terrific job he did as CEO of CaseSoft.

The legal industry won't be the same without Greg, but it will continue to benefit from his vision and the products he created. On behalf of everyone at TechnoLawyer and our many subscribers who enjoyed reading his TechnoReleases, we wish Greg much happiness and thank him for all the great memories and for his help and friendship.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

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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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a comprehensive eDiscovery suite (see below), a new case management program for small law firms, and a Web-based intranet/extranet application. Don't miss the next issue.

All-In-One eDiscovery and Document Review
By Taeho Lim

Wouldn't it be nice to tap into every type of document analysis or search tool available today? If you want to do that with your eDiscovery cases, you have two choices — use multiple single-function programs and hope you can get them to integrate with one another, or use a single multiple-function program that does everything. If the latter approach sounds better to you, check out Discovery360 from InterLegis.

Discovery360 aims to streamline the eDiscovery process by providing the functionality of multiple eDiscovery applications in one convenient package. Its functionality includes: eDiscovery culling and processing, document attribute and conceptual clustering, natural language search, Boolean search, similarity matching, metadata filtering, email threading, proactive relevancy alerts, native or TIFF review, real-time reviewer reporting, on-the-fly productions, bulk issue coding, and more.

With all these tools in one application, Discovery360 simplifies each of the steps in the eDiscovery process, enabling you to cull and process documents, store, manage, analyze, review, and produce them as needed.

For example, the new "DataMapper" module enables case administrators to cull relevant documents using a wide range of criteria — keywords, custodian, date ranges, concepts, relevant metadata, or just about anything else you specify. Culling can eliminate 20-80% of irrelevant files depending on the situation. DataMapper can find and eliminate duplicates, and can also run "What If" scenarios so that you can get a sense of how many documents a certain decision would remove before actually doing so. DataMapper provides real-time reports throughout the process, all the while giving you control of your data and saving money too.

Once you have your data set in place, Discovery360 makes all document attributes searchable, including keywords, concepts, all metadata, timelines, and document relationships. During this process, Discovery360 also places documents into concept folders, identifies and groups email threads and similar documents (near duplicates), etc. — all aimed at reducing your workload. You can also add relevant paper documents to the mix to maintain a single, normalized database. Learn more about Discovery360.

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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."

Download Your Free Copy Now
BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is truly free — no registration hassles.

So please download your copy now (PDF file).

And then enter our sweepstakes.

Read our latest coverage of CaseMap here.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers the latest version of a popular case analysis program, a financial forecasting and modeling program for law firms, and a freeware and shareware emporium that uses a problem/solution format to help you find products. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Case Analysis Never Looked So Good
By Dennis Kennedy

LexisNexis CaseMap, a litigation case analysis program, is a rare breed in that its user base consists of virtually everyone from solos to large firms to government agencies. What these litigation teams have in common is a need for a central location to enter facts, issues, and evidence, and then generate reports.

In the latest version, LexisNexis CaseMap 7.5, LexisNexis has lavished lots of attention on the reports — the program's public face. Reports and ReportBooks look a lot snappier now that you can add graphics to the title page, including your logo.

Also, a new Reports menu enables you to access all reports with one click. From this new menu, you can also configure Page Setup and Print options, insert a TimeMap timeline, insert a NoteMap outline, send a spreadsheet report to Word, WordPerfect, or a Web browser, export to Excel, and launch the Summary Judgment Report Wizard.

As for the all-important content within your reports, you can now include "By-Issue" reports in ReportBooks. These reports display records linked to an issue (e.g., all facts and documents associated with the breach of contract issue). You can use the default By-Issue reports that ship with CaseMap and also build your own custom reports.

LexisNexis has also beefed up CaseMap's "Link Summary" technology. As a result, you can now generate reports that show the number of documents a party, witness, or other key participant has authored (LS: Docs Authored) as well as the number of email messages sent (LS: Emails Authored) and received (LS: Emails Received). These reports should make deposition preparation much simpler. Just click the count to access all the documents or email messages. As for getting these records into CaseMap in the first place, it's easier than ever thanks to an an overhauled "Send-To-CaseMap" tool.

Other enhancements include live spell checking, the ability to add Facts (people, places, documents, etc.) on the fly, tighter integration with NoteMap, and case auto-logon, which enables you to side-step the login dialog when you're the only person working on a CaseMap case. Learn more about LexisNexis CaseMap 7.5.

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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.