TechnoLawyer: Online/Cloud

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers the new version of a popular transcript management program, a time tracking solution with four versions, and an online service for tracking your favorite blogs. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Search, Annotate, Summarize, and Print Your Transcripts
By Dennis Kennedy
When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras, right? This aphorism derives from Occam's Razor — the simplest solution is usually the correct solution. So then why do lawyers often tackle specific tasks with ill-suited tools?

LexisNexis CaseSoft's new TextMap 3 aims to bring the discipline of Occam's Razor to deposition and trial transcripts. Recognizing that most litigators perform just a few tasks with transcripts — search, annotate, summarize, and print — LexisNexis CaseSoft designed TextMap 3 to do exactly that.

Unlike previous versions of TextMap, the new version exists as a free-standing tool, not part of CaseMap. That said, you can still use TextMap with CaseMap. In fact, LexisNexis CaseSoft has improved TextMap's integration with CaseMap, including the popular "Send to CaseMap" functionality.

TextMap 3 has a new Microsoft Outlook-based user interface that most lawyers should find familiar. It also sports enhanced annotation and reporting features. For example, you can annotate (select for display in a report) non-contiguous portions of a transcript and add notes to your annotations.

When you generate a report, you can print it or save it as a PDF file. In addition to the new annotations report, you can also generate a report that shows a search term in surrounding context. And as always, you can also generate a "condensed" report with 4 transcript pages on each page.

TextMap 3 doesn't only integrate with CaseMap, it also integrates with third party products such as LiveNote and Concordance with full import/export capabilities for transcripts and your annotations.

TextMap 3 sells for less than $150 per year for a three-year subscription that includes all support and upgrades, including major ones like TextMap 4 and TextMap 5. You can try it for free for 30 days. TextMap 2 users can upgrade for free. Learn more about TextMap 3.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers an online form creation tool, an online event planner, and a new approach to collaborating on Word files. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Your Online Law Form
By Dennis Kennedy
Law offices run on forms. Nothing makes law firms run smoother than good form. Unfortunately, creating forms is never easy enough and often falls to the bottom of the priority list.

Infinity Box's Wufoo is an online application for helping you design and build Web and intranet forms of all kinds. Wufoo also does the heavy lifting for you. It builds the database and scripts you need to create useful forms. As a hosted application, all you need is your browser and a little imagination.

Wufoo's Web site lists a huge number of forms you can create — contacts, mailing lists, surveys, job applications, event calendars, registration forms, and even tests and quizzes. The Web site offers a large gallery of useful sample forms to get you started and inspire you.

You start with the form manager tool for publishing, analyzing, and editing forms. You create forms with a drag-and-drop form builder tool. Wufoo also offers e-mail integration and a theme builder to customize the look of your forms. Advanced users can tweak their forms using CSS and XHTML.

Once you collect data, Wufoo offers a variety of output options, including CSV and Excel. You can also generate reports and graphs, and make your form data public or private. You can have Wufoo host your forms or integrate them on your own site and intranet.

Wufoo offers a number of plans, including a free version. Monthly plans range from $9 to $199/month, based on the number of forms you use, the number of entries, storage space needed, and other factors. Learn more about Wufoo.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

Coming October 27, 2006 to Fat Friday:  Mazyar Hedayat waxes poetic about the future of law and technology, Jeff Lisson responds to criticism of his "False Economy of DIY Technology" TechnoFeature, John Mavridis reviews NetDocuments for Web-based document management, Tim Hughes comments on Denise Howell's termination from Reed Smith, and Glenn Curran reviews Copernic Desktop Search (plus he points to a helpful desktop search handbook). Don't miss this issue.

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Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers the latest version of a popular litigation support suite, the latest version of a popular document comparison and security suite, and a free teleconferencing service. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Blazing New Trails in Litigation Support
By Dennis Kennedy
The growing importance of electronic discovery has resulted in an increasing number of choices among litigation support tools. But which of these tools will endure as the market inevitably consolidates and shakes out? No one can say for sure, but CT Summation and its Blaze LG, Blaze LG Gold, and iBlaze tools seem like a safe bet for several reasons — a long track record, a large installed base, and parent company Wolters Kluwer's financial commitment.

The CT Summation Blaze LG product family features tools that enable you to store, organize, and search scanned documents, electronic documents and e-mail, transcripts, case chronologies, and more. The product family also has robust OCR and PDF capabilities. And now, just in time for the new electronic discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, CT Summation has released version 2.8 of Blaze LG, Blaze LG Gold, and iBlaze with new capabilities for quick review of electronically stored information.

You can allocate documents into discrete review sets for each reviewer, and then you can use the new quick review to consistently identify, classify, and organize documents with mere clicks. The classification tools include category "tags" (e.g., author, responsive, or type of document) and issue "tags," which you can apply to documents instantly. Also included are "Folders" for organizing these documents. You can define Folders however you please — your own collection, by team, for a specific deponent, etc.

Version 2.8 was designed in response to user feedback and emphasizes improved usability. For example, other new features include spell-checking in the database fields to reduce errors, autosave, the ability to correct/re-unitize images, an "Update Bates Range" tool to automatically add new Bates numbers, improved loading and export tools (including the ability to validate load files before loading documents and the ability to export data to Microsoft Excel), redesigned online help and user documentation, and much more.

Learn more about Version 2.8 of the CT Summation Blaze LG Family.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers three sweet suites — an e-discovery suite designed to expedite the review process, an e-mail archiving suite for securely storing and searching your e-mail, and a suite of online services to help you manage your firm's Web site. Don't miss the next issue.

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

The Truth Is in Here
By Dennis Kennedy
The new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have lawyers working feverishly to assemble their electronic discovery tool kits. Many have found an overwhelming number of different electronic discovery tools and that electronic discovery involves much more than just searching.

MetaLINCS claims to integrate the core electronic discovery tool sets of search and document review with extensive guided analysis, giving those involved in electronic discovery a powerful, efficient, and complete approach to today's electronic discovery projects. The software addresses multiple phases of the electronic discovery process, from data acquisition to production.

MetaLINCS uses its patent-pending search algorithms to move you beyond plain old search with a unique set of visual tools. These tools combine leading capabilities of social network analysis, thread analysis, related concepts, and dynamic directory. You can sort results by topics, threads, people, and concepts.

In addition to advanced search, MetaLINCS offers you a collaborative platform on which your team can review documents efficiently and less expensively. You can prioritize review, highlight high value data, de-duplicate documents, review and flag key documents, and generate useful statistics on the process.

MetaLINCS also guides users through the review process with a set of visual automated analysis features. You might find relevant information before manual review starts or spot key communications and other patterns, helping you make better strategic decisions.

Because you can organize content by topic, conversation, timeframes and other categories, you can review discovery materials more efficiently, reduce mistakes, and manage workflow by matching materials with reviewers who have the appropriate experience and expertise.

You can use MetaLINCS either as a stand-alone Windows application or through a Web interface. The Web interface uses AJAX technology, which powers much of today's Web 2.0 applications. This technology makes Web applications behave like more like a desktop application. Learn more about MetaLINCS.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

Coming October 3, 2006 to TechnoFeature: You may have heard the radio ad: A businessman forgets a key file at the office and saves a long trip back to the office (and a lost sale) thanks to this miraculous service called GoToMyPC. However, the GoTo suite of online products and services provide much more than remote file access. In this article, technology consultant Seth Rowland reviews this "secure desktop sharing" technology and then evaluates each of the individual products, focusing specifically on whether and how they fit into the practice of a busy lawyer.

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Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's special edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers three unique time-billing solutions that take a new approach to this age old activity. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Track Your Activities and the Time Will Follow
By Dennis Kennedy
Why do so many lawyers still track their time on paper? PensEra set out to answer this question, and found that most time-billing software takes more time to use than a pen and paper. Using a pen and paper is also less distracting.

So did PensEra abandon all hope? Not quite. Instead, the company developed its TimeKM family of products, which include TimeKM Time and TimeKM Mobile. This software resides in just one location — on a server at your firm. Lawyers and their assistants access it via Web services. PensEra claims that TimeKM usually requires less than 15 minutes of training.

TimeKM provides lawyers with a variety of ways to capture time. Each method is designed to integrate into a lawyer's workflow. For example, at the office, after working in a Word file, just drag the file onto the TimeKM Time icon in the Windows Deskband. TimeKM will capture the name and date of the document, and enable you to enter the time spent. The idea is to quickly capture time now (thus creating a placeholder) and worry about the details later. Similarly, when you compose an e-mail message, you can cc TimeKM or forward the message to TimeKM to capture that activity.

TimeKM Mobile, used on your BlackBerry, Good device, or Treo, works similarly. You can use the "jot-it-down" tool for activities that cannot be tracked (such as your time in court) and the "tag-and-send" tool for activities that can be tracked (such as telephone calls). You can even set up reminders with the "Remind Me" feature. Making entries is quick and easy thanks to programmable codes. For example, type "mwc" and "Meeting with Client" appears on your screen.

At the end of the day, week, month, etc., you or your assistant can flesh out these "placeholders" and transform them into full-fledged time entries. You can then send these time entries to your accounting or billing system. Speaking of which, TimeKM integrates with just about any accounting or billing software, including Elite, Juris, QuickBooks, Timeslips, SAP, etc.

Pricing for TimeKM Time starts at $249/user. Pricing for TimeKM Mobile starts at $139/user. PensEra offers volume discounts. Learn more about TimeKM.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a new time-billing and accounting package with a user-friendly interface, a service that enables you to add search capabilities to your Web site, and a Web-based suite of collaboration and project management tools. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Your New Friend in Accounting
By Dennis Kennedy
Lawyers live in the front office. Most don't like to deal with back office issues. They often feel that operating the business of a law practice gets in the way of practicing law. From handling trust accounts to editing pre-bills, lawyers dread nearly every back office operation.

Help is on the way. Gavel & Gown, the company behind the ever-popular Amicus Attorney, now offers Amicus Accounting, a time-billing and accounting package designed specifically for law firms. Amicus Accounting builds on the reputation of Amicus Attorney for simplicity and ease of use.

For example, Amicus Accounting enables you to handle time-billing and accounting in a single package. When used with Amicus Attorney, you benefit from a truly integrated front and back office — the so-called holy grail of law office technology.

Amicus Accounting uses the familiar graphical interface of Amicus Attorney 7, which emphasizes common workflows. It handles all of the back office chores in a law office: timekeeping, expenses, bill generation, receivables management, payables, check writing, general ledger, trust accounting, report creation, and a variety of client matter details and inquiries, including the ability to track transactions by client and matter.

With Amicus Accounting, you can track billable and non-billable hours with multiple rates per timekeeper, issue checks and allocate expenses to matters in one step, prevent trust account overdrafts, process hourly, split and flat fee billing, implement UTBMS task-based billing codes, customize billing templates, process 1099s, support three accounting methods (cash, modified cash and accrual), generate more than 50 reports, access all client data and account information in one location (you can even drill down for more granular information), and much more.

Amicus Accounting sells for $249 per user. Learn more about Amicus Accounting.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers an online alternative to Microsoft Office, a free service for tracking your wealth (and comparing it to that of your peers), and an Outlook add-in that enables you to organize and archive your e-mail by client and matter. Don't miss the next issue.

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

An Office Without the Overhead
By Dennis Kennedy
In this new Web 2.0 world, expensive desktop applications may end up going the way of the dodo thanks to simple Webified versions — word processors, spreadsheets, and the like. These low-priced or free tools can serve as economical alternatives to programs such as Microsoft Office in certain settings.

Silveroffice offers up such a tool with gOFFICE, an online office suite that enables you to quickly create documents using just your Web browser. gOffice has four modules — word processing, desktop publishing, presentations, and spreadsheets. You create all four types of documents in your Web browser.

Each module features many templates. For example, the word processing module features more than 1,000 letter templates, making it easy to create a professional-looking letter. When you complete a document, you can export it to PDF format. gOffice handles the conversion so you do not need a copy of Adobe Acrobat. You can also email and fax documents directly from gOffice (faxing is limited to the United States).

You can use gOffice from any computer with an Internet connection, and you can store your files online or locally. Alternatively, you can host gOffice on your own server at your firm. gOffice works in Firefox (Mac and Windows) and Internet Explorer (Windows).

Like other Web 2.0 tools, gOffice offers limited functionality and customization compared with desktop applications. But because gOFFICE makes it easy to produce nice-looking documents, you may find it an acceptable trade-off. gOFFICE costs 99 cents per month. Learn more about gOFFICE.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a hosted e-mail service for small and mid-sized law firms, a new expert witness online research service, and a free Firefox plug-in that enhances Google. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Got E-mail? Get Archived.
By Dennis Kennedy
Still managing your own e-mail server? Or perhaps you host your firm's e-mail at an ISP. If so, your e-mail may lack advanced applications such as BlackBerry support and archival and search capabilities.

Here to help small and mid-sized law firms and legal departments is NTT America, a division of NTT, the world's largest telecommunications company (more than $100 billion in revenue).

NTT America's new service, Email Archiving Solution, aims to provide law firms with peace of mind with regard to all aspects of e-mail infrastructure. In addition to providing traditional POP and MAPI e-mail, Email Archiving Solution coupled with hosted Microsoft Exchange also provides for wireless e-mail via RIM's BlackBerry and Microsoft's ActiveSync (Treo and other Windows Mobile smartphones).

You also get the benefit of the latest in anti-spam and anti-virus protection (say goodbye to the deeply flawed Bayesian filters and highly annoying challenge response technologies of yesteryear).

Living up to its name, Email Archiving Solution also provides you with advanced archiving capabilities, which you can configure by mailbox (both incoming and outgoing messages). NTT America claims that this service can meet any regulatory or internal compliance requirements.

Even if you have no compliance needs, this archiving technology has other benefits. For example, a powerful search engine enables administrators to search for and retrieve lost messages and entire mailboxes — much faster and with more certainty than restoring a backup.

Email Archiving Solution also addresses another problem with traditional e-mail systems — storage costs. Thanks to some nifty technology, NTT America has figured out how to reduce such costs and pass along the savings to law firms. For example, its "single-instance" technology means that it stores just one copy of an identical message (such as those group messages sent to everyone in your firm).

NTT America's service level agreement (so-called "SLA") guarantees a 99.9% uptime thanks to its secure and highly redundant data centers. When you do need help, you can get it 24/7. Email Archiving Solution does not require any software, licensing, or maintenance fees, IT staff, or on-site servers. Instead, you just pay a low monthly subscription. Learn more about Email Archiving Solution.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.