TechnoLawyer: Online/Cloud

Coming today to TechnoFeature: And now for something "completely different" in law firm practice management — HoudiniESQ, a new practice management system developed from LOGICBit. You can host HoudiniESQ on a Windows, Mac, or Linux server, and use it in any Web browser. Sounds good, but how well does it work? In this TechnoFeature, practice management and document assembly specialist Seth Rowland, Esq. takes HoudiniESQ for a spin and presents his findings — in considerable detail as always.

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Coming today to Answers to Questions: Britt Knuttgen discusses three considerations when choosing Software as a Service and reviews PracticeMaster, Robert Browning reviews the USPS Shipping Assistant, and Ronald Cappuccio reviews Phoneslips. Don't miss this issue.

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an online billing application (see article below), a tool for creating your own Android and iPhone app, a PDF-to-Word conversion utility, a service for logging your mobile calls and archiving your text messages, and software that tracks the time you spend working on matters on your PC. Don't miss the next issue.

Don't Just Bill, Get Paid

It's easy to invoice, but hard to collect, especially when clients can blame the economy (never mind their new Z4 parked right outside your office window). While we don't recommend showing up to your client's office with an offer they can't refuse, you might want to think about using technology to make your invoices easier to review and more difficult to avoid paying.

Ballpark … in One Sentence
Ballpark is an online application for estimate and invoice creation and management.

The Killer Feature
Because your clients must log into Ballpark to view invoices, Ballpark records their activity. Thus, you'll know when your client viewed your invoice. You can attach documents to your invoices such as your client's retainer letter.

Clients can pay your invoice directly from Ballpark using PayPal. Alternatively, they can download your invoice in PDF format for submission and processing.

Below each invoice is a discussion thread for communicating with your client. Thus, your clients can ask questions about their invoice and you can respond. When you or a client posts a message, you receive an email alert.

Other Notable Features
Ballpark's Dashboard enables you to review all activity across your firm, including estimates and invoices sent, payments received, and new messages. You can collaborate on estimates and invoices with colleagues before you send them to clients.

Ballpark works in your Web browser, but you can install a companion desktop program (Mac only) that notifies you of new activity so that you need not keep your browser open. Also, Ballpark has an iPhone-friendly version of its site.

What Else Should You Know?
Ballpark offers four plans — Freelancer ($6/month), Studio ($24/month), Agency ($49/month), and Corporate ($99/month). The plans differ regarding the number of users who can use Ballpark and the number of invoices you can create each month (Corporate has no limits). Learn more about Ballpark.

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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.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Ed Zohn shares the details of his mobile setup, Joseph Travaglini adds one more step to Mazyar Hedayat's small firm success strategy, Donald Jemela compares hosted Microsoft Exchange from GoDaddy and Rackspace, Ruth Curcuru explains how she prints TimeMap timelines, and Michael Jones reviews Acrobat Pro for lawyers. Don't miss this issue.

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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 Fat Friday: Paul Mansfield reviews the Fujitsu ScanSnap with Rack2-Filer software, Roy Greenberg offers a fix for BitDefender when it stops working after a Windows restore, Tim Dix clarifies a point about SaaS storage in a recent TechnoFeature, Lane Trippe shares some further thoughts on the health care debate, and Harold Burstyn explains why he won't shop at Amazon ever again. Don't miss this issue.

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 TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new online legal research service (see article below), a Web-based document assembly tool, an iPhone app for legal research, a content management system for law firm Web sites, and an online forum for anonymous legal product reviews. Don't miss the next issue.

What's Next in Online Legal Research?

The more advanced a technology, the simpler it becomes to use. For example, using an online legal research service once required buying dedicated hardware. That hardware eventually gave way to software. Now, lawyers use their Web browser. So what's next for online legal research? That's what one of the major players asked a few years ago — and answered this week.

WestlawNext … in One Sentence
West's WestlawNext is a "reimagined" online legal research service designed to make it easier and faster to find what you need.

The Killer Feature
In case you hadn't noticed, West has given its iconic legal research service a new name to underscore the improvements it has made. "This is no mere cosmetic redesign," writes Bob Ambrogi of Lawsites. "WestlawNext completely changes the search interface and the search engine behind it."

A global search box enables you to enter a broad search using natural language or Boolean search terms. WestlawNext returns all documents and information ranked by relevance. You can then drill down into specific data sets such as statutes, cases, secondary sources, news, etc. You can also filter results by West key number, topic, court, judge, party, etc. In other words, you no longer have to select what to search before you search.

"We recognize that an attorney's worst nightmare is being surprised by a piece of information that they could have found through a legal search," WestlawNext's vice president of product development Mike Dahn told us. "We've created a new legal research system that delivers the confidence that when legal research is complete, it's complete."

Other Notable Features
When you know what you want to search, you can just enter it along with any other search terms. For example, the parties of a case, the name of a treatise, a jurisdiction, the title of an article, etc.

As you work in WestlawNext, you can customize your screen. For example, if you're researching cases, WestlawNext displays a "case summary" for each opinion that summarizes the case and shows your search terms in context. When you click on a case, WestlawNext lists negative citations if any and related secondary sources for you to explore. The "reading mode" removes all these tools so you can focus on the document.

WestlawNext tracks your search history for up to one year so you can retrace your steps. You can save searches by client/matter, and search within searches to narrow them. You can also save the documents you find in folders (My Research Folders), as well as annotate documents and highlight important passages. When you paste from a document, WestlawNext includes the citation in Bluebook or another standardized format of your choosing.

What Else Should You Know?
West offers WestlawNext in a variety of configurations to suit your needs. It works in all major Web browsers on Macs and PCs. Learn more about WestlawNext.

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.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 71 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:

Legal Sites Plan Revamps as Rivals Undercut Price

Is the Apple iPad the Tipping Point?

Flat-Fee Contract for Law Firm Debunking Myths

The Ups and Downs of Rating Sites

This issue also contains links to every article in the February 2010 issue of Law Technology News. Don't miss this issue or future issues.

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Coming today to Fat Friday: Diedre Braverman reviews AdvologixPM, Tom Trottier discusses laptop security and passwords, Steve Pena shares his thoughts on forced obsolescence and online music subscriptions, Ed Detlie provides some ideas for making calls using a MiFi, Harry Steinmetz has a few words for Smart Invoice's pricing plan, and our publisher lays out a use case for Apple's new iPad. Don't miss this issue.

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 Answers to Questions: Randy Gold reviews Carbonite for online backup, Jim Browning reviews Needles for case management and discusses his firm's experience with a Needles consultant, Susan King reviews Endicia's Dazzle online postage service, Miriam Jacobson compares Time59, Timeslips, and RTG Bills, and Bryan Sims shares his thoughts on accepting credit cards. Don't miss this issue.

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 TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a shared online contact management system (see article below), an accounting and billing application, an online tool for scheduling meetings, a hosted blogging service, and an iPhone time-tracking app. Don't miss the next issue.

Contact Management in the Cloud

Even if you work hard to keep all of your important contacts in Outlook (or whatever you use), invariably you'll need to contact someone whose information you lack — perhaps a new client or a client who usually works with a colleague of yours. Whatever the reason, a firm-wide address book would solve this problem — and you may as well make it accessible from anywhere while you're at it.

Customer Manager … in One Sentence
Many law firms find QuickBooks indispensable, but also frustrating because of all the client contact information locked inside.

Intuit's Customer Manager is a shared online contact management application.

The Killer Feature
Many law firms find QuickBooks indispensable, but also frustrating because of all the client contact information locked inside.

Customer Manager syncs with QuickBooks, enabling you and your colleagues to access and edit QuickBooks contact information from any Web browser — and also add new contacts.

Customer Manager also displays financial data for each client, including the current balance and open invoices. Given the sensitive nature of this financial information, Customer Manager will soon enable you to apply user permissions so that you can restrict access.

Other Notable Features
In addition to syncing with QuickBooks, you can import contacts into Customer Manager from Excel and Outlook. Customer Manager also has a search engine for finding contacts using any information such as a phone number. You can add custom fields to Customer Manager such as client and matter numbers.

In addition to managing your contacts, Customer Manager also provides a shared calendar, shared tasks, and groups. You can use the calendar to schedule team meetings, reserve conference rooms, etc. Shared tasks enable you to view work in progress, and assign tasks to subordinates. The groups tool can filter information. For example, you can view all clients with overdue invoices.

What Else Should You Know?
Customer Manager for Mobile is a free companion app for BlackBerry and iPhone. Customer Manager costs $9.95/month for up to five simultaneous users. Intuit sells customized plans if you have more than five users. Learn more about Customer Manager.

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.