TechnoLawyer: Online/Cloud

Coming today to SmallLaw: QuickBooks gives many small law firms a proverbial heart attack because of its lackluster time-tracking tools. But they can't stomach a heart transplant so they search for a bypass instead. In this issue of SmallLaw, New Jersey lawyer Edward Zohn reviews Minute7, a cloud application that enables you to record billable time and expenses in desktop and mobile web browsers and send it to QuickBooks for bill creation. It sounds good in theory. Thanks to Ed's extensive testing, you'll learn how well it works in practice. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for another tip on using BCC effectively, this time for introductions.

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 November 28, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: You're reading this issue of SmallLaw on a PC, Mac, iPad, smartphone, etc. Right now it's working well. But someday it will fail. Hopefully, you will have replaced it before then. Below you will read about a cascade of failures (including one involving Dropbox and another an iPad) that beset a radiologist who relies on technology as much as we all do nowadays. After discussing these recent events, she provides some advice on how you can prevent a technology nightmare from occurring in your solo practice or small law firm. In other words, advice for how to ensure sweet technology dreams. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for tips on how to prevent your law firm from its own fiscal cliff.

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 November 13, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: Abe Lincoln quipped about time being a lawyer's stock in trade decades before Hale & Dorr invented the billable hours business model. Talk about prescience. But if Abe practiced today, he'd be in the same boat as you — how best to track and bill for your time. In this issue of SmallLaw, Atlanta business construction lawyer Al Malena reviews Bill4Time, a cloud-based legal billing application. Al started testing Bill4Time one month after founding his own solo practice alongside a competing cloud product, resulting in a more informed review. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for the top 12 technologies for solos and small law firms (written by TechnoLawyer of the Year winner Bryan Sims).

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.

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Bruce Berls, Review: CloudBerry Cloud Storage

Tim Callins, Tips for Using Two Monitors

Ronald Cappuccio, Review: PHONEslips 12

David Gleason, Options for Running Flash Files on the iPad

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

How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, 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 TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a time- and expense-tracking application for QuickBooks (see article below), a driving app for Android and iOS, an iPad app for QuickBooks Online, and a tool for creating and tracking proposals. Don't miss the next issue.

QUICKBOOKS' MISSING SYNC

If QuickBooks had a grandmother, she would talk your ear off about him ("Have I told you about my grandson, the best-selling accounting software?"). But if you asked her about time tracking, she'd probably look at her watch and suggest that "it's getting late." Notwithstanding this weakness, QuickBooks remains a mainstay at many law firms. These firms should, however, consider using better technology to track their billable hours.

Minute7 … in One Sentence

Minute7 is a cloud application for tracking time that integrates with QuickBooks.

The Killer Feature

It's relatively easy for cloud products to share data with other cloud products since they're all on the web. And with a little elbow grease, Windows applications can share data with other Windows applications.

Minute7 offers a happy medium. It integrates with the Windows version of QuickBooks but is itself a cloud application that works on your PC, Mac, iPad, and smartphone. (It also works with QuickBooks Online.)

Other Notable Features

Minute7 enables everyone at your firm to enter time and expenses. It uses a timesheet metaphor with a number of fields you can customize.

As the administrator, you can accept, reject, or modify time and expense entries, and review everyone's entries in the activity log. You can also designate access privileges for everyone in your firm, and set up automated reminders for your team to enter their time and expenses.

Minute7 offers advanced search functionality (e.g., find all time for a specific client or matter), customizable reports, and batch editing of time and expense entries.

What Else Should You Know?

Minute7 costs $8.33 per user per month ($4 if you just want to track time and expenses and don't need the QuickBooks integration). Learn more about Minute7.

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 Answers contains these articles:

Thomas F. McDow, Why I Couldn't Switch Plus Using Word and WordPerfect Side by Side

Nathan Davis, Review: Metrofax

Fred Hopengarten, How I Name My Documents

Andrew Willinger, Tip: How to Backup and Sync Your Google Calendar

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

How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, 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 TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

Neil Squillante, Review of Aereo as an Emergency Television Service

Scott Bassett, Review: TextAloud (Plus First Look at Speak It)

Lawrence Husick, Google Drive: Lawyers Beware

Steven Schwaber, Formatting Existing Documents: WordPerfect v. Word

Jonathan Warshay, How to Migrate Data From a Palm to a Modern Smartphone

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.

Originally published in the November 6, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: You walk into a networking event and see one person standing alone, two people conversing, and a group of four. Whom should you approach for client development purposes? RainmakerVT provides the answer to this and many other scenarios along with exercises and tips through its unique online course for solos and small firm lawyers who want to improve their sales and marketing skills. For this issue of SmallLaw, estate planning lawyer Chandra Lewnau took all of RainmakerVT's courses. Is RainmakerVT worth your time and money. Chandra answers this question in her review. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for advice on how middle-aged solos and managing partners can reverse a slowly failing law practice.

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 October 31, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: Remember how Mikey hated cereal until he liked one. One product can change someone's mind about an entire category. In this issue of SmallLaw, New Jersey lawyer Edward Zohn reviews Credenza Pro, which transforms Microsoft Outlook into a practice management system. Ed's the perfect lawyer to review this add-on because he loves Outlook but has never used practice management software — pretty much the target market for Credenza Pro. In his review, Ed evaluates all of Credenza Pro's core features as well as some undocumented features that he discovered. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for Jim Calloway's guide to equipping a small 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 October 16, 2012 issue of SmallLaw: In August 2012, Pennsylvania litigator and long-time TechnoLawyer member Thomas Groshens published a thoughtful article in the Legal Intelligencer about the future of cloud computing in law firms using Evernote as an example. Though not legal-specific, Evernote is well suited to two common activities among lawyers — taking notes and storing information such as legal research. Because the Legal Intelligencer requires a subscription, both the publisher and Tom were kind enough to permit us to reprint his article in this issue of SmallLaw. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for five simple steps you can take to prevent fraud at 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.