TechnoLawyer: SmallLaw

Originally published on August 17, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

Lawyers are intimately familiar with the need to harness time. Even those who work on a contingency or flat-fee basis know that timesheets and expense records are the lifeblood of the profession. But does billing have to be so prone to error and subject to endless second-guessing? Can we ever have 100% confidence that our bills won't be challenged?

Not as it stands now. Sure, software is available to help tame the billing monster, but choices are limited and none of the major vendors offers a true solution. The most popular tool is an electronic stopwatch of sorts, but if you still enter time manually on a computer or mobile phone then you haven't solved the problem. The only reliable way to truly harness and accurately track the billable hour is to empower our office equipment (fax machine, phone, computer, printer, copier, scanner, smartphone) to become timekeepers.

The Problem

Soon after becoming a lawyer I learned firsthand that billing was not about time so much as it was managing client expectations. Billable time and chronological time often do no relate to one another at all. How else could you explain the fact that a document drafted in 6 hours can generate more fees than a real estate transaction that takes the same amount of time to negotiate and close? It's enough to make you wonder whether there's any point in keeping time records at all. And for those willing to try, a number of barriers exist:

1. It is virtually impossible to track everything you do.
2. Some events are just too short to track at all.
3. Keeping records interrupts your workflow.
4. Records are only as good as your stopwatch.
5. Ensuring the accuracy of records is challenging.
6. Predicting the future follow-up time is difficult.

There is a payoff for keeping good records despite the odds. By the time your firm issues invoices the underlying work is usually a fuzzy memory. If clients want to question their bill or delay payment all they have to do was demand proof that a particular event occurred (or at least that it took as long as the bill says it did). Only a solid set of records can address such questions.

Unfortunately for my first employer, he chose not to invest in defensible timekeeping methods so most of the time he had no way of supporting his invoices. I vowed to do better when it was my turn to run a practice.

The Non-Solution

In 2000 I started my own firm and deployed a system to gather time electronically. At first the results were a revelation. Even with 5 timekeepers (3 lawyers, 2 paralegals), I could issue and collect invoices in a fraction of the time it had taken my former employer and still be confident that they were accurate.

Before long however, it became apparent that the system was only as good as the timekeepers: garbage in meant garbage out. Invoices could still be attacked, and employees could still short-change the office by failing to record time. In fact, the more timekeepers we had the more mistakes, duplicates, and stray entries I had to clean up. Eventually the billing process consumed five days per month and I had to admit that the system was broken. I needed a smarter solution.

Web 2.5 to the Rescue

In 2004 Flickr, Digg, Blogger, and others showed us that Web-based applications could thrive by doing one thing well instead of being all things to all users. As innovative as they were however, such Web 2.0 sites did not address the practical needs of small law firms.

In the last few years however, products like Basecamp, Bill4Time, Caseload, Clio, Rocket Matter, Tempo, and others have developed Web-based applications that apply directly to our practices. What's more, applications such as AirTime-A4P, Chrometa, Element55, RescueTime, MonetaSuite, and WorkTRAKR automatically track activity, eliminating the need for you to enter your time. While you must make sense of all the activity captured and convert it into time entries, you won't have to worry about forgetting any activities or having incomplete records should a client object.

Can this group of next-generation time-capture solutions solve our billing problems? My answer is a definite "maybe." But that's okay because whether the winning application is one of the contenders listed above or just an idea taking form in the mind of a software engineering student at Stanford, we already know enough to know that automatic time capture represents the future of hourly billing. The only question is which product(s) will emerge as the killer app in this category — much as WordPerfect changed legal writing in the 1980s. Until we know, we will all just have to keep billing the old fashioned way.

Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on August 3, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

The BigSolo trend continues to grow. More and more large firm emigrants and refugees have opted out of large firm practice (or have had that choice made for them). The "good old days" appear to have been little more than economic sleight-of-hand, akin to clever David Blaine-esque street magic. More and more large firm attorneys are hanging shingles, summoning their inner entrepreneur.

Some will succeed. Many will not. With the top-down, bottom-up shock that running a business may bring to lawyers whose mission in life involved warping the space-time continuum to pump out 2,500 billable hours per year, opportunities for failure abound.

While some SmallLaw readers have criticized my observations, my perspective stems from the crucible of in-the-trenches reality. Actively helping a number of BigSolos start their practices, I'm living the experience first-hand, not just theorizing from a safe distance. Today's column revisits this world to explore five ways BigSolos can ensure failure of their new practices. I've seen all five myself — they're not pretty.

1. Let Sexy Technology Seduce You

Spend weeks agonizing over apps to download for your shiny new iPhone 3GS instead of focusing on drab, mundane technology for critical functions like system backup, secure WiFi, tailoring a case management system to your practice, automating routine documents, picking anti-malware software that won't destabilize your legitimate software, setting up your email system so that it syncs all your calendar/docket entries to your smartphone, etc.

You can also torpedo your new firm by not bothering to ask an accountant to review your new Chart of Accounts, make a coordinated transition from your old firm's Interwoven document manager to your new practice's Worldox system, or deploy legal software applications that integrate well and share client information because God knows how much you enjoy time-sucking duplicative entry.

2. Go Ahead, Represent Yourself Pro Se

Because you've spent years pouring through technology ads in the Sunday paper, you're a 23rd Level Grand Wizard of Legal Technology. You should make your own decisions about what technology to use, and how to configure your practice/document management, billing, and financial systems.

Then hire the charming counter guy from the nearest Radio Shack (now just The Shack) to build your new server using parts you've frugally scrounged from Overstock.com. Yes, that's the ticket to a stable law practice technology platform to support your livelihood and entrust your confidential client work product.

3. You've Been Using Word for 15 Years — There's Nothing More to Learn

After all those years in a world-class AmLaw 250 law practice, there couldn't possibly be anything you could learn about using technology tools as pedestrian as Word, Outlook, or Acrobat. Or Summation, CaseMap, and Sanction for your trial practice? You're a fourth degree black belt, right? And if you know you're a master of those garden variety regulars, how tough could it be to climb to the top of the practice-management system ladder after clicking "install?"

So by all means, don't waste your time learning the "proper" way to use Styles in Word. Forget about using PDF Packages in Acrobat Professional — especially since Acrobat Standard is good enough. You know best after all.

4. Outsource Everything (The Four Non-Billable Hour Week)

Being a BigSolo is going to be just like your previous gig, but better, right? Your plan is ingenious — you'll create a one lawyer megafirm. You loved the "do anything to keep the lawyers billing time" model that worked so well for you at your old firm.

You can't bear the thought of subsidizing all that administrative staff. So go ahead and outsource everything. Practice law and don't waste otherwise billable time running a business. Entrust everything to outsiders — people you barely know here and overseas who will most certainly have your best interests in mind.

5. Clients Want Old-Fashioned Substance and Web 2.0 Fluff

Return to your roots and use Courier 10 point type for all your documents. That will set you apart from your competitors.

Also, what's the matter with a Blogger.com site for your new practice? And why can't it contain some of your vacation photos? You clients will love the "personal touch." Why shell out one cent for a marketing and branding guru? Who knows you better than you?

Conclusion

If you take my counter-advice above, the odds of abject failure are certain. Want to succeed as a BigSolo and achieve more than you hoped for in law practice? Then run, don't walk, from the above suggestions and do the precise opposite of everything I've suggested.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on July 27, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

Small firms do not have to be at a technological disadvantage compared to their multinational brethren. Those proprietary systems and bloated methodologies can actually hinder an individual attorney's productivity. Flexibility is the key to appropriately leveraging technology for a more efficient and enjoyable practice. Below I have laid out five legal technology hacks to level the playing field.

1. Texter: Save Time With Text Substitution

Texter is a free text substitution application that will save you countless keystrokes by substituting user-defined abbreviations for commonly typed blocks of text.

Once downloaded and installed, Texter resides in your system tray and integrates with any program that accepts text input (virtually any program). You'll find this tool helpful if you find yourself writing the same phrases over and over again such as salutations, addresses, canned email responses, and form letters.

For example, each time I write a form letter, I type "addy" at the beginning of the letter and my entire name and address will be substituted in its place. To begin a commonly long salutation, I type "sal."

2. Mindmeister: Conduct Legal Research and Case Planning

Mind mapping software helps you to brainstorm by appealing to both the left (colors, images, creative) and right (text, analytical) sides of the brain. Doing so facilitates better data retention, more efficient note taking, and an aesthetically pleasing graph easy for others to follow.

Mindmeister is my favorite online mindmapping application, as it enables simultaneous collaboration in real-time, creation of mind-maps via email, PDF conversion, and online storage for ubiquitous access with a Web browser. Premium accounts cost $4/month per user and add features such as unlimited mindmaps, SSL encryption, and offline editing, to name just a few. The number of viable uses is limited only by your imagination.

3. Acronis True Image: Create Clones of Your Primary PC

Few technology mishaps will chill you to the core like a complete system failure of your primary office computer. We all know the benefits of backing up important data at regular intervals. However, even though all your documents and data may be backed up, your entire operating system must still be reinstalled.

It doesn't matter if the OS is Windows XP, Vista or Microsoft's latest baby, Windows 7, reinstalling and configuring the operating system to match your pre-crash specifications can take hours. Hours that you could otherwise bill.

What's the solution? Create a clone of your entire hard drive. Acronis True Image is a Windows based disk imaging utility that will create an exact replica of your PC's current state as it was before the crash. Restoration takes minutes as opposed to hours.

4. Backup Your Google Docs With GDocBackup

Many small firm and solo attorneys use Google Documents, Google's online word processor, for collaborative document drafting.

Even though Google stores your created documents indefinitely, I like to keep a copy on a local hard drive for safekeeping. You can always download or copy and paste the Docs straight to your desktop, but that's tedious.

Fortunately, GDocBackup exists — a simple utility that enables you to quickly and easily download your entire directory of Google Documents straight to a local hard drive.

GDocBackup even gives you the option to backup and download all the files in PDF format — perfect for attorneys following fellow SmallLaw columnist's Ross Kodner's famous "Paper LESS" law office.

5. MobileTM: Access Time Matters Data on Your Smartphone

The iPhone is quickly becoming the smartphone of choice for small firm attorneys. No one can deny that it is a magnificent piece of hardware, but it does have one shortcoming — the inability to sync with Time Matters. The same is true of other smartphones. They are limited to information that Outlook can understand plus the data is not accessible in real-time unless you use a Blackberry Enterprise Server or Microsoft Exchange Server.

Enter OTB Consulting's MobileTM, covered last year in TechnoLawyer NewsWire but worth noting again. A Time Matters add-on, MobileTM provides real-time data access to your Time Matters information through your smartphone's browser without the need for an Exchange Server.

Smartphone users who previously could only access To-Do's, Events, and Contacts can access Billing Records, Notes, and Client Matters. The icing on the cake is the ability to see all records associated with a contact or client matter, a feat not capable with Time Matter's integrated syncing technology. The software is a bit costly at $400 per year for a single user and $100 extra for each additional user. Also, you can only "read," not "write" data (it's one way).

Written by Will Geer of JDhacker.

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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.

Originally published on July 20, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

If you hung out a shingle at a leisurely pace with cash reserves, strong credit, a book of business, and no regrets, dust off a copy of How to Start and Build a Law Practice by Jay Foonberg. The rest of you might want to keep reading, however. This installment of SmallLaw addresses the swelling ranks of the newly unemployed (law firm layoffs) and involuntarily self-employed (178 law schools, 40,000 graduates) who thanks to this year of breathtaking economic free-fall have decided to go solo.

Top 10 Solo Traps to Avoid …

As you read through the list below, keep these common traps in mind, as they represent the most palpable and often the most fatal blows to would-be sole practitioners:

10. Isolation, insecurity, fear.
9. High-maintenance clients.
8. Unrelenting competition.
7. Technology whiplash.
6. Employee nightmares.
5. Nowhere to turn for advice.
4. Underestimating costs (software and services).
3. Ethical quagmires.
2. Notoriously uneven cash-flow.
1. Deadbeat clients.

The Envelope Please …

By and large I've organized these tools based on cost, coverage, and effectiveness. I encourage you to try as many as you can and share your experience with your fellow solos. So let's get started.

Web Sites

The .com revolution ended over 10 years ago, so why is Web site development and hosting still a mystery? Explore free and low cost Web site resources before you agree to pay (and pay, and pay, and pay) for a site.

My Recommendations: Avvo, Justia, Template Monster.

Social Networks

When it comes to reaching prospects and other lawyers on social networks, I've lectured, written, and given presentations until I was blue in the face and worked up a whopping case of carpel-tunnel. So I guess one more mentioning won't hurt.

My Recommendations: Avvo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, JD Supra.

Blogs

Blogs developed from outlets for pure self-expression into "premium" services run by "legal blogging experts" (whatever that means). Frankly, I'm not convinced, so I split my vote between free and paid services. You be the judge.

My Recommendations: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, LexBlog, Justia.

Software as a Service

Today you can manage complex recordkeeping, file management, billing, calendaring, task management, communications, and a dozen other vital functions on your iPhone. Ten years ago they said it would never happen, but we proved them wrong! Thanks, Google.

My Recommendations: Google Apps, Basecamp, Zoho, Clio, Rocket Matter, OpenOffice. (Bonus: Microsoft Office 2010 online next year).

Custom SaaS

In a perfect world you would only use tools suited to your practice. But the world isn't perfect. Luckily, customizable SaaS enables you to add, subtract, and modulate applications so that you don't have to pay for features you never use (Are you reading this Microsoft?).

My Recommendations: Google Apps, Basecamp, Advologix/Salesforce.com, Zimbra.

Research

Remember when the price of gas went down last summer? Remember when the cost of legal research subscriptions went down? Me neither. Even the Saudis get it so how come it costs more to review a Supreme Court decision today than it did 10 years ago?

My Recommendations: My Findlaw, Lexbe, LII (Cornell), Fastcase.

Communications

From email to instant messaging, conference calls to faxing, message management to call routing, the telecommunications market has proven to be almost as stubborn as the legal market when it comes to change. But change it has, and there are now more choices than ever.

My Recommendations: eFax, Google Voice, Free Conference Call, GoToMeeting.

Prospecting

Lawyer marketing often offends older lawyers used to a more genteel approach. Of course they didn't have to compete with 30,000 other unemployed graduates. Since you do, check out these sites designed to help you get a jump on the competition.

My Recommendations: LawFiles, Avvo, LegalMatch, Twitter (yes, Twitter).

Billing

Sure it takes money to make money. But why so much? Since the days of Red Gorilla (bonus if you remember that .com darling), Web-based billing has been the fevered dream of a madman. Or at least it was until a surge of do-it-yourself timers and time-keeping services hit the market.

My Recommendations: Tempo, Clio, Rocket Matter, Bill4Time, TimeSolv, Chrometa, MonetaSuite, Proximiti. (The last three are experimental but worth trying.)

Document Backup and Sharing

Making files ubiquitous has proven to be harder than it sounds. Limitations on bandwidth, file-size, extensions, and a variety of other factors have conspired to keep file sharing clumsy and uninspired. Luckily, you have options.

My Recommendations: Dropbox, Google Docs, Docstoc, JD Supra, Microsoft Live Office. (Bonus: Office 2010 will have a free online component.)

Collaboration

"Collaboration" sites let you display information like a Web host, share and exchange documents like Google Docs, and interact with one another like a social network. So why give them a separate category? Because most of the time these sites represent a useful compilation of features perfect for everything from ad hoc bar association groups to teams of lawyers working on a case with national scope.

My Recommendations: Basecamp, Clio Client-Connect, Groupsite, Google Sites.

Online Chat

With the aid of the ubiquitous instant messaging client, you'll never need to yell out the office door at your associates again. But you will anyway. Just saying.

My Recommendations: Google Talk, MSN, AIM.

Onward and Upward …

If I've left anything out I apologize, but I feel confident that this list should stand you in good stead, at least for now. If you have suggestions of your own please let me (and everyone else) know.

Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on July 6, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

Documents, documents everywhere. But can you always find them? Do they all exist in one consolidated location? Can you share them with clients, co-counsel, co-workers, experts, or the courts? All fundamental questions we ask ourselves every day. As lawyers we are awash in documents, both in paper and electronic form. Add to that an unending pile of email. Lately, we've begun asking another question — can I access these documents from my smartphone?

The Historical BigLaw Document Management Advantage …

I've always considered document management systems, whether standalone products or the similar functionality built into a number of practice management systems, to be one of the four cornerstones of mission critical law practice tools. The other three cornerstones are billing/financial systems, word processing/document generation, and practice management/case information tracking/docketing/calendaring systems. Practicing any type of law, in a small or large situation, would be practically impossible without these technologies.

Large and mid-sized law firms have had a traditional edge over smaller firm practitioners in the area of document organization, management, and retrieval. The majority of these firms have long used document management systems such as OpenText e-Docs (f/k/a PC Docs or Docs Open), Autonomy Worksite (f/k/a iManage), Worldox, and more recently NetDocuments (documents management in the cloud).

This collection of applications provides a consistent interface and organizational structure for all documents (and email/attachments), often in a simple, file cabinet-like, client/matter format. They allow nearly instantaneous searching of work product — with full-text searching and searches based on "profile information" (i.e. client name, matter title, document type, area of practice, etc.).

But What About Smartphones?

Many smaller firms don't have a document management system — at least not small firms populated by lawyers who didn't come from larger practices that had long relied on such systems. But many small firm lawyers use smartphones — and increasingly they want access to their documents on these devices — a need that may result in a golden age for document management systems.

Let's say you have a shiny new smartphone — a new iPhone 3GS, or a Blackberry, a Treo, or Windows Mobile device. A client calls while you're driving (you of course answer via the Bluetooth connection built into your car), and asks for your opinion on the latest draft of a contract.

You just need quick access to see what your client is seeing. Safety dictates pulling over, but then what? If you have the small-firm friendly Worldox document management system and its Worldox/Web Mobile extension, you can securely access every single case-connected document and email on your office system from your smartphone. You can navigate your client/matter structure and conduct full-text searches, just as if you were in your office.

So you pinpoint the contract, pull it up on your smartphone display, review the question, and if you have a multi-tasking smartphone, call the client back and responsively address their question. If you need to edit, forward it to yourself, then use a tool like Documents to Go to edit the Word file on the fly, and then email it to your client.

That's just one example. Shop around and ask both document management and practice management vendors about their smartphone integration.

Take Advantage of Your Competition and Stand Out …

Clients in this economy are worth their weight in platinum. Giving the impression of responsiveness, leveraged by your investment in technology, is priceless. But don't let your clients take it for granted. Tell them that thanks to your investment in the latest document management and smartphone technologies, you can serve their case handling needs from anywhere, anytime they need your input. Given the number of small firms that don't invest in technology, you'll stand out and recoup your investment.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on June 22, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

Last month I wrote about what happens when too many demands vie for the time and attention of your prospective clients, and referred to it as the recommendation economy. For this second installment, I promised you tips on how to use Twitter to establish a compelling presence online, resulting in press coverage and new clients. Here we go.

Twittermania Means Software Developers Are Busy

Getting the inside story from a trusted source can prove invaluable. That's why Twitter's ability to capture the public zeitgeist is priceless. Used in conjunction with its ever-growing list of free third-party applications, Twitter enables you to monitor multiple conversations at once, send and receive files instantly, limit conversations to a few participants or throw them open to the world, create instant communities, and more.

It would be easy to dismiss Twitter as kid stuff, but that misses the point. By inspiring an entire ecosystem of extensions, applications, and mash-ups, Twitter has motivated developers to create applications that enable:

• File sharing: TweetCube


• Research: Twitterlights


• Realtime search: Twitter Search


• Expense tracking: Xpenser


• Notes: TwitterNotes


• Community: Tatango


• Background control: Tweetbacks

With so many applications to choose from and more on the way, it's only a matter of time before you find one that suits you. I've compiled an ongoing list of lawyer-friendly applications on my blog.

How Many of You Are There?

Once you've decided which applications help you tweet better, it's time to show off. Start by reading what others have written. Once you find a discussion or post that interests you, offer an opinion or pass on a post by someone else. Follow tweeters that you like. In no time, you will have created a community of people who write about, or are interested in, what interests you.

But what about prospects, you ask? Meeting prospective clients on Twitter is even easier than exchanging views with other lawyers because the minute you offer relevant information and solutions to their problems, they will find you. Better yet, be proactive — search Twitter for keywords relating to your practice area, and then follow those tweeters. It could be that your niche is just waiting for you to fill it.

The only catch to all this Twitter happiness is that you need to decide which audience you want to address or at a minimum you'll need to separate your tweets so that you're not boring your colleagues or confusing prospective clients with jargon. Personally I use multiple Twitter identities to keep my discussions separate. Increasingly, other lawyers are doing the same, creating a personal identity for friends and family, a professional identity representing their office, and an identity within a group so they can seek advice from other members of the profession.

Keep These Tips in Mind — and Remember to Breathe

Despite the potential of it all, don't try to conquer Twitter in one sitting or even one week. Give it time and build your follower-base one interesting person at a time. While you're at it, here are some of my suggestions to keep things interesting:

• Consider a "secret identity" to find out what people really think.


• Mix it up — private conversations versus public ones (which work better?).


• Broadcast your professional accomplishments and cheer on your followers.


• Create a firm "identity" on Twitter consistent with your Web site and blog.


• Use your Twitter background as a business card, a news source, a wish list.


• Use your Twitter background to promote causes that deserve your support.


• Post questions and then post answers — prospects will appreciate your advice.


• Search for your name, your firm, and phrases related to your practice area.


• Be generous with less experienced users — be fast to cheer and slow to criticize.


• Don't just make friends, make the right friends; numbers don't tell the whole story.


• Follow the leader, but not too close. Soon enough you will be the leader.

There Is No Wrong Tweet

Ultimately there is no "wrong" way to use Twitter. Whether you want to take advantage of its hyperactive network to gauge the public mood about a politician, share files, brag about your favorite Ska band, or find killer dim sum, Twitter can meet all your needs because it is what you make it. By the same token, you can be whatever you want on Twitter — but be careful what you wish for. You might get it.

Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on June 8, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

As the first-time parent of a college-bound freshman (freshperson?), one of the many questions to address before bundling young Master Kodner off to school is what kind of computer system he should use. I suspect that many of you are grappling with the same question right now for college or perhaps even law school so I thought I'd offer some thoughts to help you shop smart.

While you can never spend too much time conducting research, if you're pressed for time, consider these four key factors:

• Campus Support: What does the college recommend or support?


• Durability: Even careful kids are going to be tough on a laptop because they'll bring it everywhere.


• Portability: A big 17" machine will be tough to lug around with all those textbooks.


• Core Software: What software does your son or daughter need for their coursework? It may depend on their planned courses (e.g., computer programming).

The Best of Both Worlds for My College-Bound Son

After analyzing these issues, I gave my son a 13 inch MacBook for his high school graduation present.

Apple just replaced its line of notebooks today with new models, but I didn't buy my son a "new" machine. Rather, I took advantage of a 15% discount by selecting the system from Apple's "Refurbished Mac" link (look at the lower left corner of the store's Web page). The Apple factory refurbished systems carry the same warranty as new systems and go through a rigorous testing process before being made available for sale. I see no disadvantage in purchasing this way.

He'll be running Windows XP Pro under Parallels Desktop 4 and its "virtual machine" environment. He's a bit of an operating system junkie so he'll have his favorite Ubuntu Linux available via a dual-boot process using Apple's Boot Camp utility. He'll have MS Office 2007 Ultimate via Microsoft's $60 deal they call "The Ultimate Steal" (specifically for bona fide educational purchasers with a .EDU email address) and the free OpenOffice 3 suite.

Also, it's a good idea to include an Internet protection suite with three or, if possible, four years of pre-paid update subscription to get your student through undergrad life (let your kid pay for their own when they're in grad school!).

Laptop Brands That Stand Up to Students

Laptop brands I would consider durable enough with good enough support include:

• ThinkPads by Lenovo — built like tanks (especially the value-priced SL series)


• Apple MacBook and MacBook Pros


• Panasonic Toughbooks (extremely rugged, but expensive)

That's my short list for machines that would have a chance of making it through all four years of undergrad life. Be sure to equip them near the high-end, specification-wise, so you have the best chance of getting through four years with one laptop purchase. Most certainly, research available student discounts through the school as well — they may (or may not) be cheaper than smart shopping on the open market (and may include a campus IT support package). For example, Apple specifically has an online educational store for many listed colleges.

What about netbooks for college students? As much of a netbook nut as I am, I just don't see them as practical for a primary machine. Many programs require more hardware horsepower than a netbook can deliver. Also, the need to store lots of data, especially for scientific and artistic types, may exceed the 160 GB maximum hard drive size of current netbooks. Also, smaller keyboards might hinder the ability to take rapid real-time notes in class.

Make Backups Automatic or They Won't Get Done

Don't forget backups — and acknowledge that my normal backup advice for your law practice doesn't apply . My own son is about the most responsible kid you could ever meet. But I can't trust him to do backups unless I'm on his back about it. So this is the one area where I think backup is best done automatically. Here are some options:

• An initial image backup with Acronis True Image Home for Windows or SuperDuper for the Mac (which TechnoLawyer uses to clone its Macs) that you keep on a drive at home and on an external portable drive he/she takes with them.

Then for regular backup:

• Online backup to one of the major providers — Mozy.com's home service (for Windows and Mac) is probably the best bet in terms of low cost ($4.95/month) and likelihood of staying in business for the next four years. The campus might have an approved or endorsed online backup provider with a student deal.


• If you want live on-site backup and you go the Mac route, I like the idea of Apple's included Time Machine backup system with a wireless Apple Time Capsule (again refurbished to save money). This is the setup I use with my MacBook at home — and Windows can backup wirelessly to it as well. Why a wireless Time Capsule? Because I couldn't trust my son necessarily to remember to plug in a cable to connect to an external USB hard drive. Again, think "automatic."

Extras to Consider

Theft: Laptops are prone to theft. Consider locking it up when student and laptop are separated with a DormVault. Also, Lojack for Laptops, which I've come to believe is essential for lawyers as well.

Laptop Bags: Let your student pick both a laptop bag they like or acknowledge they won't use a laptop bag and focus instead on a decent protective sleeve (neoprene lined) so that it can get tossed into another bag and not get trashed. One particular laptop sleeve/protector approach may trip your kid's green sensibility trigger — it's called the Act2 GreenSmart Laptop jacket ($45) and is made from recycled plastic bottles. Think also about plastic protective shields like these $50 models from Incase.

Electrical Protection: A quality surge protector to always plug into in the dorm room and a quality laptop surge protector to outfit his/her laptop bag — Tripplite Traveler, APC Notebook SurgeArrest, or the nifty one I use from Belkin with three outlets and two USB charging ports.

Printing/Scanning/Copying: When the number one priority is space-efficiency, consider the sleek and svelte SCX-4500w. While it might be best for your kid to get their color printing done somewhere on campus, if their assignments demand hard-copy color, the most physically compact color MFD I could find is another Samsung product, the CLX-3175FW.

I hope fellow parents of college-bound freshmen (freshpeople?) found this checklist helpful. Not a parent? Not to worry. I'll return to the world of SmallLaw in my next column.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on May 25, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

How did you pick your last office computer? Your doctor? Both decisions can have serious consequences, but one was probably preceded by research and comparison shopping, while the other was based on faith.

In fact the only thing these decisions probably had in common was that they most likely involved guidance from colleagues, friends, family, trade publications or, you guessed it, the Internet.

Welcome to the recommendation economy. Don't think for a moment that professionals can't be talked about, recommended into success or criticized into infamy. In the recommendation economy anything goes, and usually does.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Guess

Even the most independent among us constantly takes cues on how to behave, what to wear, and who to trust. Some cues arise organically from the environment. Others are specifically placed by companies to influence our decisions. The most influential cues of all come from ordinary experience with people who seem the most like us. It's a fact that most people who agree with us seem smart, and most who disagree seem stupid.

For instance, how do prospective clients choose a lawyer? Rates? Win/loss ratio? Articles published or seminars given? Most small firms and sole practitioners observe a "don't ask don't tell" policy on this point. And maybe that's best, because even when asked most clients don't know, aren't sure, or just lie about how they made their choice. So if you can't trust client answers, where can you go to get the straight story? Don't worry — the Internet is here to help.

Behold the Power of the Crowd

If the Internet is an ocean, Twitter is a raging, white rapids river of real-time impressions and feedback. It is also the rawest of feeds from the largest group of voluntary participants on the Internet. You might wonder (as I did) how this all came about. It's simple, really:

1. 25% of Twitter users are voyeurs.
2. 25% of Twitter users are exhibitionists.
3. The other 50% heard about it on Oprah.

In fact, since Oprah's announcement last month the service has grown at an annualized rate of over 1000% per year. Never mind that most of these new users will be casual at best and most likely move on to something else in a month. The point is that Twitter is becoming the focal point for a nation of increasingly vocal consumers that share, and expect, instant feedback. Reputations can now be made or lost in days instead of years.

Go ahead and try a search in Twitter.

Instant Karma's Gonna Get You

Of course your last client probably didn't learn about you on Twitter. Instead, they most likely got your name from friends or neighbors. Maybe it came from another lawyer, a family member, or a Google search.

As it turns out, these sources are only once or twice removed from your Twitter reputation. Each of them is influenced by, and influences, the service. And as Twitter and its spin-offs gain traction in every corner of search-engineland, their impact is felt still more. The result is a vicious or virtuous cycle — depending on whether you are the recipient of good publicity or bad.

Just imagine: more search engines returning more Twitter-related posts about a given lawyer, which reach more people than ever, who in-turn are free to Twitter about their experience, and so on. The "I told two friends" shampoo commercial of our youth is now more like "I told 10,000 followers."

The result is unmistakably viral. Those who "get it" shoot up and up faster than ever, while those who don't are buried further and further in the rankings at light-speed. Twitter doesn't leave much room for "in between" or "middle-of-the-road" reputations.

So, how can you elicit recommendations rather than criticism? Provide your clients with quality work of course. But beyond that obvious strategy, I've developed some others that you and the other readers of this column can use to harness the power of Twitter and other tools to influence prospective clients before they pick up the phone. Stay tuned, and may the Tweets be with you.

Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on May 11, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

In my last two columns, I introduced the idea of the MDTR — the "Minimum Daily Technology Requirements" for every solo and small firm's technology needs.

Part 1 discussed hardware needs.

Part 2 discussed software needs.

This third and final segment explores some important ancillary subjects from electrical protection to choosing and using consultants.

MDTR: Electrical Protection

UPS and Surge Protectors

Round out the MDTR for hardware with a battery backup such as the cost effective APC Back-UPS 500 for around $100 to provide both surge protection and electrical backup in the event of power dips or short outages without crashing your PC.

Plug all other components like your printer into professional grade surge protection from companies like APC, Tripplite, or Belkin (general rule — if a "surge protector" is under $15, skip it — not enough protection — you want a stated rating of "surge clamping capacity" of 700 "joules" or better).

Mobile Surge Protectors

Mobile lawyers should always plug their laptops/netbooks into a portable surge protector. Three suitable models include:

Tripplite Traveler ($20)

APC Notebook SurgeArrest ($20)

Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger ($25)

MDTR: Routers, Switches, Firewalls and Such

A dizzying array of network gear exists for sharing Internet connections (routers and switches), and for keeping the "bad guys" out (firewalls). Some devices even offer the trifecta of shared Internet connectivity, firewalling, and WiFi wireless capabilities. So for simplicity's sake, we'll list one model and discuss the topic more fully at another time.

One possible approach (among many — I could write 50 pages on this subject alone) would be the Netgear FWG114p PROSAFE 802.11G wireless firewall 4 port 10/100 network switch and USB print server. Quite a mouthful, but the gist of it is that it provides Internet sharing, wireless capability, network firewall functions, and network connectivity for about $125.

Extend the network ports with any other 10/100 (Fast Ethernet) switch. If you have a larger budget and proper cabling throughout your firm, consider Gigabit Ethernet.

MDTR: Smartphone

Why would anyone want to practice law without one? Clients, especially in this tight economy, expect you to have this capability (like it or not). I don't care what you have as long as it integrates with the MDTR software list — integrating as easily as possible with your practice management system of choice and Outlook 2007. So whether it's a BlackBerry, an iPhone, a Treo/Centro/(soon to be available) Pre model from Palm, or a Windows Mobile-equipped device, any smartphone is better than, well ... a dumb-phone.

The ultimate selection criterion for any smartphone should be a positive answer to the question: "Does this device easily integrate/synchronize with my software systems?"

MDTR: Virtualize Yourself v. Adding Staff and Paid Services

Think about a Virtual Assistant — to help with anything and everything including your dictation transcription (yes, dictations can be efficient, especially with a digital approach). The be all, end all is probably LegalTypist, the brainchild of master virtual assistant Andrea Cannavina.

A laundry list of tools for your MDTR arsenal:

FreeConferenceCall.com: Never pay a cent for conference calling.

Internet-based PC Faxing: MaxEmail, MyFax, or RapidFax. You'll need a scanner to make the most of these services. Physical fax machines are so 1990s.

Phones: Skype (free Internet-based phone services). Also OneBox for a "virtual PBX" phone system (large firm phone functionality, small firm budget).

Jott: "Digital sticky notes for your brain."

Google Voice: Keeps you connected no matter where you are.

Google Apps: Gmail offers the best Web mail on the planet with the most storage and Google searchability.

MDTR: Daily Dosage of Legal Tech Smarts

Being a legal technopeasant in 2009 just doesn't cut it any longer — clients won't tolerate it or subsidize tech ignorance or lack of general sophistication.

In addition to continuing to read SmallLaw (thank you) and TechnoLawyer's other newsletters, check out the following resources as well:

• Get a free subscription to Law Technology News and scan it carefully each month.

• If you're an ABA member, join the GP|Solo Division and the Law Practice Management Section if for no other reason than to read their terrific magazines and ezines monthly.

• Also, look to the tremendous selection of practice management and technology books offered by the ABA Law Practice Management Section and the ABA GP|Solo Division.

• Subscribe to The Firm — otherwise known as the ABA's Solosez listserver for lively daily discussion of tech, practice management, and all aspects of small firm life with 4000+ fellow SSF lawyers and staffers. You don't have to be an ABA member to join.

MDTR: Putting It All Together

Find a capable, competent, legal-focused and legal-experienced consultant to manage a proper implementation. Don't attempt a DIY (do it yourself) approach. Do the economic math. Even in tight times, you can't afford it.

Practice smart, make more money, exceed client expectations with better work product quality and faster turnaround times at a reasonable price and above all, have more fun in practice. The MDTR will help get you there — cost-effectively — just the digital prescription for these tough and trying times.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.

Originally published on April 27, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

In my last column, I introduced the idea of the MDTR — the "Minimum Daily Technology Requirements" for every solo and small firm's technology needs. My first column discussed hardware needs. This column focuses on the application and utility software a small practice needs.

MDTR: Major Applications

Beyond the choice of either or both Microsoft Office 2007 and the Corel WordPerfect X4 suite (both if you wish to be "word processing ambidextrous" which can make a great deal of sense for many firms), the following categories of applications comprise the Minimum Daily Technology Requirements for the standalone PC:

Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro: Not some ersatz Acrobat-wannabe, the real thing — get it bundled with your PC, or with a scanner to save money on this item.

Practice Management System: Any practice management system is better than none. After 24 years of thinking about this, I am now ready to unequivocally state that every law practice needs one (even if you don't realize it!).

If you have clients and cases, you have information that needs to be managed, period. Outlook is just not capable enough so look into Amicus Attorney, PCLaw, PracticeMaster, Time Matters, or even the Web-based Clio, Rocket Matter or VLO systems. Find a well-referenced, solidly-credentialed independent consultant to help you decide and then implement.

(My only remaining concerns about Web-based, or SaaS (Software as a Service) systems is the general lack of ability to function entirely offline, if you lose Internet connectivity. Clio has taken the first step in this direction with offline time entry, but this isn't enough as far as I'm concerned.)

Document/Email Management: Practicing without a DMS means self-inflicted torture in terms of wasted otherwise billable time when you cannot find prior work product or are inundated with massive amounts of email. Worldox leads the pack after 20+ years in cost-effective ($395/person) small-firm friendly document/email management that tightly integrates with the major practice management systems (which might have some built-in document/email management abilities, but these are insufficient for most firms).

Legal Billing/Bookkeeping: Ideally, your billing system should work with your practice management system — with the PracticeMaster/Tabs3 combination being the standout because Tabs3 as the billing component outdistances the abilities of competitive systems and their built-in billing modules. Kudos to the Web-based products for solid and simple billing/bookkeeping as well. Second best would be the PCLaw system, which is more simplistic on the practice management side, but still a reasonably-priced integrated contender. Systems that integrate with QuickBooks Pro can be a major plus if your accountant wants QuickBooks data files to keep your accounting costs down.

Outlook 2007: This industry-standard application should be your emailer of choice, integrated with a practice management system. Attempting to handle your email needs inside of any practice management system will quickly overwhelm that program's database. Let Outlook do the heavy-lifting for email management and "connect" case/practice-related emails from Outlook to your practice manager via Worldox's extraordinary, click, drag, click approach to doing so.

MDTR: Utilities

Utilities — little programs that tie everything together:

Protection Suites: Trend Micro Internet Security suite (or the Pro version). Why? It's the least likely to interfere with legitimate program operation. Avoid Symantec/Norton and McAfee products — by far the most intrusive and system-destabilizing of such products. Your software firewall will come from this suite, or firewalling will come from a router/switch/firewall hardware product (watch for my "MDTR: Networks" suggestions in a future column).

Moffsoft Freecalc: This free calculator replaces the brain-dead Windows calculator. It has a scrollable "tape" — the missing link.

7Zip: This free utility handles ZIP/UnZIP file needs.

Zscreen: Need to capture information from screens to include in your Word and PowerPoint files? Grabbing charts and illustrations from Web sites? Windows Ctrl-Prtscn function has an IQ in the high single digits, able to capture only an entire screen. Zscreen, also free, has many of the advanced features of more costly screen capture tools such as Techsmith's excellent $50 SnagIt tool.

Metadata Assistant and Numbering Assistant: At $160 for the pair, both are essential "Word Sanity/Safety" tools for metadata removal and sanity in using auto-paragraph/bullet list/outlining functions in Word.

CrossEyes: From Levit & James, this utility adds "Reveal Codes" functionality to Word ($30).

Anagram for Outlook: This $35 utility adds names and addresses in your email to Outlook (which can then sync to your practice management system) literally with two keystrokes. Build up that address book for marketing/business development purposes as well as pulling this information into labels, envelopes, and correspondence.

Xobni: This utility adds several functions to Outlook that Microsoft should have built. These include the ability to group all the messages in a conversation together, instead of having to hope to find them while scattered across multiple mailboxes, and the Inbox and Sent Items folders. In addition, you can see all the attachments received from any sender. Add some fascinating statistical tracking about the people who send you messages and the ability to generate "smart scheduling" messages to send to any sender, and you've got the makings of an invaluable Outlook tool. And free is tough to argue with.

TweetDeck: This free Twitter-focused utility makes participating in the growing social networking phenomenon practical. It replaces the bare-bones native Twitter interface with a multi-columned Twittering tool that makes the micro-blogging system's constant flow of 140 character "Tweets" manageable. You can have columns showing the Tweets of all those you "follow", as well as Replies, Direct Messages and the most powerful element, Tweets that match a specific Twitter "search." So you could have a column showing all Tweets that mention your name or firm name. Don't Twitter without Tweetdeck.

OutTwit and FBLook: From TechHit, OutTwit adds itself to the Outlook toolbar to enable sending Tweets and receiving/organizing them inside of Outlook. This is a further step towards making Outlook a comprehensive communications hub. FBLook lets you update your Facebook status, see your friend statuses, and see the number of new requests without having to open a browser. Both products are free.

In my next column, I'll wrap up my MDTR recommendations with a look at electrical protection, smartphones, virtualization of a small practice's resources, outsourcing, and using consultants effectively.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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.