TechnoLawyer: TechnoFeature

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Every TechnoLawyer subscriber eventually gets it drilled into their heads that their law firm needs a practice management system. But once you buy into this advice, the obvious question emerges — which practice management system? Accordingly, we try our best to review all the major products, including new versions. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Charlotte real estate lawyer and veteran legal software reviewer Richard Belthoff shares his thoughts on Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition 2011 after using it for a few months. Richard's review covers all the new features, and offers buying advice for those who use prior versions and those who use competing products or nothing at all.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: You may enjoy litigating but your clients don't. You see a chess game. They see bills. Expedited litigation offers a happy medium. Mediation and private trials conducted by retired judges have existed for a long time, but they're not always ideal. Led by California, states have begun exploring expedited one-day jury trials. According to complex litigation and class action trial support consultant Ted Brooks, the less time you have in court, the more time you need to prepare. In this TechnoFeature, Ted explains how to lay the necessary groundwork, technology and otherwise, for all forms of shortened litigation. Trial presentation aficionados take note.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: If you sell technology, you'd better watch your back because affixed to it you will find a perpetual target. Have you used an Addressograph lately? By contrast, if you sell information, technology can help strengthen your hand. Thomson Reuters's WestlawNext offers a new way to search the company's renowned legal research and related materials. Like Westlaw, you access WestlawNext with a Web browser (there's also an iPad app), but the similarities end there. In this issue of TechnoFeature, intellectual property lawyers Al Harrison and Randy Claridge review WestlawNext's key features such as WestSearch, Folder Sharing, and Practice Areas.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Even lawyers chuckle when they hear about a mistrial because a juror got caught conducting their own factual and legal research online. But it's not funny when it happens in one of your cases. Let's face it — jurors have always considered more than just the evidence presented. But before the Internet they didn't leave such an obvious paper trail requiring judges to declare costly mistrials. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Linda Giles provides some recent examples of rogue jurors, places this problem in historical context, and then identifies the likely cause of the problem as well as a solution. It's always a good idea to listen to the judge — especially one with more than a decade of experience on the bench.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: What happens when your firm's managing partner asks you to build a modular intranet that works like iGoogle? Yikes! Google likely spent millions of dollars building its popular portal. Even a large law firm doesn't have that kid of cash for a single IT project. Fortunately for von Briesen & Roper, its CIO William Caraher is an open source advocate and legal social media expert. He not only undertook this seemingly impossible challenge, but rolled out the intranet envisioned by his firm's managing partner in less than six months. In this TechnoFeature, Bill discusses the software and process he used to achieve this feat — most notably open source software Dropthings. If your firm needs a better way to share information internally and likes the idea of not spending much money, read Bill's incredible story.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Many lawyers feel like an endangered species. Forget the werewolf in London. There's a werewolf in the legal industry too busy eating your lunch to hang out at Trader Vic's. Even lawyers who still have a job feel downward pressure on fees. Competition seems overbearing, both within the profession and from without. Clients, pinched themselves, demand price concessions. The upshot? Brace yourself for a sustained period of fee deflation. How can your law firm prosper in this environment? Document automation and knowledge management expert Marc Lauritsen has some good news and bad news. The bad news is that there's no silver bullet that can save your law firm and kill the werewolf. The good news is that by following Marc's five-step plan you can outrun the werewolf, pull a 180, and stick your tongue out at him.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Now that you've got a shiny new iPad, how best to deduct it from your tax return? Use it for documents! Draft contracts. Write letters. Review discovery documents. And tell the IRS to stick it because your iPad is no toy notwithstanding all those Angry Birds apps. There's just one problem — how can you move documents from your Mac or PC to your iPad and back again? In today's TechnoFeature newsletter, iPad and Mac consultant Brett Burney discusses four iPad document management methods, including recommended apps. He also hints at a fifth possible method that may surface next week. Bonus points if you read this issue of TechnoFeature on your iPad.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: An admission or other material on a Web page can serve as important evidence or help you impeach a witness. But people — especially the unethical variety — can easily change or delete Web pages. Also, the hard drive that houses a Web page can fail. Therefore, you should act quickly and capture Web evidence as soon as possible. But if you don't capture it correctly, you may find yourself unable to authenticate it in court. In this TechnoFeature, Web evidence collection expert Paul Easton explains the four steps involved in properly collecting and preserving Web evidence as well as software tools that can make these tasks easier. He also discusses an alternative method that takes much less time. Sooner or later virtually every litigator will need Web evidence for a particular case so every litigator should learn how to collect it in a defensible manner.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Ever since the financial crisis, a growing chorus of "experts" have admonished law firms to switch from the time-tested billable hour to some alternative (i.e., untested) business model. Ironically, even the brave few law firms that have switched still typically track their time for productivity benchmarking and other purposes. In other words, tracking your time still matters big time. In this TechnoFeature article, intellectual property lawyer Kevin Grierson reviews Chrometa, which tracks how you spend time on one or more computers (Mac and Windows), and provides access to that data along with various tools via a secure Web site. Kevin spent some serious time tracking his time with Chrometa for this timely review. Find out if Chrometa can help you better manage and, yes, bill more of your time.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: What happens when three of the legal industry's premier event planners team up and invite a dozen of the most dynamic lawyers and legal technologists to discuss innovation in law practice? You get an explosive TED-like event called Ignite Law 2011. With each speaker limited to six minutes, the presentations have a high signal-to-noise ratio (Ignite ain't your father's legal conference). In this TechnoFeature, Will County, Illinois lawyer and SmallLaw columnist Mazyar Hedayat summarizes each of the 12 presentations. Even better, he links to the video of each presentation so that you can virtually attend Ignite. Fasten your seatbelt and prepare for a thought-provoking 72-minute ride to the future of the legal profession.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.