TechnoLawyer: TL NewsWire

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud practice management system designed to work just as well on your smartphone as on your Mac or PC (see article below), a chat service you can add to your website to transform visitors into leads, and two practice management systems that announced new features today at ABA TECHSHOW. Don't miss the next issue.

If you build a cloud practice management system today, you have the advantage of knowing that virtually all lawyers have an iPhone or Android phone and expect your product to work on it. Many lawyers also have an iPad with similar expectations.

LexRex … in One Sentence

Launching today, Cerno Technologies' LexRex is a cloud practice management system built for use on both desktop computers and touchscreen mobile devices.

The Killer Feature

LexRex uses the same vertical scrolling design for both the desktop browser app and the Android and iPhone apps. According to VP Business Development Ray Priddle, this simplifies navigation, reduces the number of different screens, and enables you to find what you need faster.

The smartphone app offers the same functionality as the desktop app plus several device-specific features. For example, the app can automatically prompt you after a call to assign a case and post a time entry. Additionally, you can upload any document on your phone to a case.

"LexRex has been designed to work just as well on a smartphone as on a desktop," says Priddle. "The increasing use of touch screens means that applications need to be designed with touch as a key input and navigation method. Also, with the significant amount of business undertaken on smartphones it's important to fully use the technology lawyers always have with them."

Other Notable Features

LexRex groups together under Custom Settings everything you need to get off the ground such as adding users with default billing rates. Most notably, Case Categories enables you create a custom template for each of your core practice areas to standardize your workflows, prevent errors, and improve case outcomes. For example, a case category for medical malpractice cases can require incident dates during intake.

The heart of LexRex is the Case Summary, which lists all associated activity such as calls, meetings, court dates, documents, email, tasks, notes, expenses, time entries, invoices, etc. You can connect anything in LexRex to a case. LexRex's Dashboard gives you a head's up about your day and looming deadlines across all cases.

LexRex lavishes a lot of attention on your calendar, email, telephone calls, and tasks given their importance. Calls have their own time entry slip and are grouped together for reference. Tasks enable you to add multiple time entries as you work towards completion.

LexRex connects directly to Exchange, Google, IMAP, Office 365, etc. for your email and calendar. You can save email messages to cases. When you compose an email in LexRex, it automatically captures the time and files the message in the corresponding case. Likewise, LexRex can automatically bill meetings on your calendar.

The Billing system enables you to create invoices and send them to clients via email (PDF), mail, or their client portal (see below). When creating a bill, you can make adjustments such as overriding the billing rate for any line item, adding a late payment penalty, etc.

What Else Should You Know?
LexRex's secure client portal enables clients to pay bills with a credit card, access documents that you make available, upload documents that you request, and add notes. LexRex costs $35 per user per month when paid annually ($42 when paid monthly). Learn more about LexRex.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers ediscovery software designed to help corporate counsel assess disputes and conduct internal investigations more quickly and at a lower cost (see article below), an app that automatically reminds clients and others of appointments with you, a checklist app for your firm's workflows, and an iOS task management app. Don't miss the next issue.

Litigation budgets most often get blown in discovery. Corporate counsel can minimize costs by assessing disputes faster internally and culling the amount of data in the event the matter requires outside counsel. The same goes for internal investigations, subpoenas, and other potential budget busters.

Digital Discovery Pro … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Zapproved's Digital Discovery Pro is ediscovery processing and review software designed for corporate legal departments.

The Killer Feature

After creating a new matter in Digital Discovery Pro, you add users and ingest the data at issue. Digital Discovery Pro processes this data at a rate greater than one terabyte per hour. Additionally, you need not wait until processing ends, but can instead begin reviewing documents as soon as they're ready — often less than 30 seconds. By contrast, traditional ediscovery software can take weeks to process one terabyte. CEO and Founder Monica Enand tells us that Zapproved achieved this speed breakthrough by combining its software prowess with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform (Zapproved is an Amazon Advanced Technology Partner).

The use of AWS has an additional benefit — Digital Discovery Pro costs at least 65% less than competing services according to Enand. A subscription includes unlimited storage, exports, and technical support.

"With Digital Discovery Pro, we've broken three important barriers to corporate legal teams processing their own data for discovery: speed, ease and cost," says Enand. "The software was designed with the needs of corporate legal in mind so it's easy to use. Economies of scale gives us the ability to be compellingly affordable and predictable with our price, making it easy for organizations to right size their solution to data volumes big or small."

Other Notable Features

Digital Discovery Pro has four major components, each of which has a tab at the top of the screen — Dashboard, Ingest, Review, and Exports.

As Digital Discovery Pro processes data, the results appear on the Dashboard — number of duplicates and NIST files, document types, documents per custodian, etc. Charts enable you to visualize the data. As you review documents, the dashboard keeps you apprised of your progress. Ingest contains an audit trail of imports.

You'll spend most of your time in Review. Tools include search, saved searches, search history, document preview, native view, and bulk tagging. You can conduct natural language searches or enter queries such as Boolean and proximity.

Digital Discovery Pro enables you to export all data or a subset using parameters such as custodian, reviewer, tags, saved searches, etc. You can export in any load file format so that outside counsel can review the data.

What Else Should You Know?

Digital Discovery Pro integrates with sibling products Legal Hold Pro and Data Collect Pro. Legal Hold Pro helps you automate legal holds and make them defensible. Data Collect Pro copies data from computers, cloud storage accounts, social media, etc. in a forensically sound manner. Learn more about Digital Discovery Pro.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers ediscovery software priced to disrupt the marketplace (see article below), a Bluetooth pen that captures handwritten notes, an iOS audio recording and editing app, and an ediscovery suite with analytics tools for assessing case strength. Don't miss the next issue.

Ediscovery software may conjure up images of Enron-size cases and expensive gatekeepers who talk jargon to keep prices high, but a democratization is underway on several fronts such as price and user experience.

Digital WarRoom Private Cloud 8.8 … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Digital WarRoom Private Cloud 8.8 is an end-to-end ediscovery platform for processing, reviewing, and producing discovery documents.

The Killer Feature

Software has always benefitted from having little marginal cost for each additional unit sold. But only in recent years have both storage and bandwidth also declined in price.

With Digital WarRoom Private Cloud, Digital WarRoom has set out to "disrupt" the ediscovery software industry on price. The service costs $1,995 per month for up to 500 GB of data, access to all features of the software, unlimited cases, training, and support. Each additional gigabyte beyond the 500 GB costs 50 cents.

"As President and General Counsel of Digital WarRoom, it is my goal to shake up the status quo by offering all-in-one enterprise software that is accessible anywhere at a price point that is de facto disruptive," Justin Farmer tells us. "Gone are the days of excessive costs. We are about 100% transparency."

Other Notable Features

You access Digital WarRoom Private Cloud either through a remote desktop app or a web browser. You begin by creating a case, and using a wizard to "ingest" the data you or your client has collected. Processing occurs next, which involves removing garbage files and duplicates, extracting metadata such as document dates, email participants, document authors, etc. You can automate processing by setting up a Policy. Digital WarRoom Private Cloud supports several languages, and includes translation technology so that you can get a sense of documents.

The customizable review environment displays documents and email as they would appear in their native program. You can sort documents by Relevance Score, Custodian, Date, or practically any other parameter. You redact by drawing a box with your mouse. Initially gray so you can still see the material within, the box changes to black when confirmed. You can apply tags such as Nonresponsive, Responsive, Hot, etc. Search tools include fuzzy, proximity, stemming, and synonyms.

A number of advanced tools exist for large data sets. For example, data visualization of email can identify connections you didn't know about. You can also reveal "Who-to-Whom" connections in social media data. Gist, the company's predictive coding technology, runs in the background. If you mark a document responsive, Gist functions much like Amazon (you may find these documents responsive too). It does this by scoring documents from -100 to +100 based on your designations. For an added charge, you can use Gist to automate these designations once it has acquired enough data from your manual review to finish the job with a satisfactory confidence level.

Digital WarRoom Private Cloud includes a number of reports, chief among them the Document Control Log and Privilege Log. The former lists all the activity on a case from import to production. This can help justify an invoice, get a new paralegal up to speed, etc. The Privilege Log eliminates the need to use Microsoft Office since you can edit and finalize this report in Digital WarRoom Private Cloud.

What Else Should You Know?

A wizard walks you through the production process, including Bates numbers, metadata, and OCR. Binders enable you to export a selection of documents with slip sheets and a hyperlinked index for use in depositions or to give an expert witness. Learn more about Digital WarRoom Private Cloud 8.8.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a practice management system that offers a desktop experience in your web browser (see article below), an online backup service with Dropbox-like functionality, a NetDocuments add-on for electronic signatures, and an iOS app for tracking packages. Don't miss the next issue.

Practice management software resides at the center of your practice. However, your practice is not always centered at your office. Therefore, it has become essential for practice management software to travel with you — but without you giving up any functionality.

Amicus Attorney Premium 2016 … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Gavel & Gown Software's Amicus Attorney Premium 2016 is a popular practice management system with a new focus on remote access.

The Killer Feature

The new version of Amicus Premium offers full access from any web browser, including on Windows, Mac, and iPad. Your firm's data remains on-premise at your firm.

Amicus Premium in the browser offers the same features as the core Windows program with an optimized user experience. For example, on an iPad interaction elements are sized for fingers rather than a mouse pointer. When you login, the main dashboard displays appointments, telephone messages, unbilled activity and unposted time entries, tasks and deadlines, and a tip.

Other Notable Features

During a demo, Gavel & Gown president Ron Collins said that law firms want to reduce the number of products they need to buy and manage. To this end, Amicus Premium offers significantly enhanced document management. New features include versioning so that you never lose any work, preview and zoom for viewing documents in hundreds of formats, and check-in/out for preventing changes while you work on a document.

Searches list the current version of documents by default, but you can also search prior versions. With Amicus Premium's famous "Do" button, you can now launch Word, time your work, and save the document to the appropriate matter. Integrations with Microsoft Office further enable you to capture all email and documents in Amicus Premium.

Gavel & Gown also lavished a lot of attention on communications. Amicus Premium now groups calls, email, and internal messages. Related features include rules-based auto-filing, and a filter for finding messages by date, matter, to/from, etc. Integration with Office 365 and Exchange powers the email functionality.

A new Client Portal with your firm's logo and letterhead enables you to exchange secure messages with clients, have clients complete forms for documents, and share documents.

Other new features include improved mass billing, support for LEDES billing formats, client receipts, an Apple-like installer, and automatic updates. In all, you'll find more than 35 new features plus of course the core practice management functions — contacts, calendars, matters, billing, notes, research, etc.

"Amicus Premium 2016 is packed with features and enhancements to help legal professionals stay ahead of the ever evolving demands being placed on them," says Collins. "We focused on simplifying workflows, saving our users valuable time while equipping them with the necessary tools to beat the competition."

What Else Should You Know?

Amicus Premium supports Office 2016 and Windows 10 as well as earlier versions. Pricing starts at $849 with upgrades at $649. Learn more about Amicus Attorney Premium 2016.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a practice management app with a new billing component and deep integrations (see article below), an app for tracking referral fees vis-a-vis other lawyers, a cloud dashboard for New York lawyers, and a business book summaries service. Don't miss the next issue.

One of the underappreciated benefits of cloud applications is their ability to integrate. This becomes especially powerful when the integrations are among first-party applications.

Firm Central … in One Sentence

Thomson Reuters' Firm Central is a cloud practice management application with a new billing component.

The Killer Feature

Firm Central integrates with a growing number of Thomson Reuters services. These exclusive integrations give Firm Central bragging rights as a one-stop practice management system for small law firms.

For example, you can search Westlaw from Firm Central, and access recent research. When using Westlaw, you can save research to a matter in Firm Central. Citations in documents stored in Firm Central contain live KeyCite flags.

Other key integrations include Deadline Assistant, Doc & Form Builder, Case Notebook, CaseLogistix, and Practical Law. Deadline Assistant calculates court deadlines and enters them into Firm Central calendars. With Doc & Form Builder, you can auto-populate forms with client data from Firm Central.

Third-party integrations also exist, chief among them Microsoft Office. You can save Word documents to Firm Central, and move email directly from Outlook into integrated Firm Central matters and folders. The email messages you move into these folders become accessible in Firm Central.

"Many of the features we've added in recent months came as recommendations directly from our customers," Managing Director, Small Law Firm Segment Karl Florida tells us. "The result is a highly intuitive, customizable, and affordable product that offers integration with Westlaw, Practical Law, and much more — all wrapped within the utmost security for our customers and their clients."

Other Notable Features

When you first log into Firm Central, a customizable Home dashboard displays your calendar, tasks, notifications, and recent activity. You can pin integrated services such as Westlaw and Practical Law along the side. Universal search and buttons for adding contacts and documents reside on all screens.

New in Firm Central is Time & Billing. A timer facilitates contemporaneous time entries. You can use the timesheet for multiple entries. Firm Central includes standard ABA billing codes (you can create your own custom codes). A dashboard displays all matters and their status such as outstanding balances. Settings enable you to customize billing parameters.

The Pre-Bills workflow enables you to apply discounts, write-offs, and other adjustments. QuickBooks Online integration eliminates double entry when invoicing and applying payments. Firm Central's trust accounting, including three-way reconciliation and reporting, gives you the ability to track retainer deductions and balances.

A secure client portal enables you to share documents, deliver invoices, and even assign tasks. Before accepting a new client, Firm Central's conflict checker searches all contacts, matter information and the full text of documents (including stored legal research). The resulting conflicts report features live links to relevant documents.

What Else Should You Know?

Firm Central offers three plans — Core ($40 per user per month), Essential ($65 per user per month), and Premier ($105 per user per month). Essential adds the new Time & Billing component, while Premier adds Deadline Assistant. All plans include KeyCite. Learn more about Firm Central.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a curated collection of resources for transactional and in-house counsel (see article below), an app for notarizing documents, a cloud practice management system, and an ediscovery processing and review service for legal departments. Don't miss the next issue.

Your job as a transactional lawyer or in-house counsel is to complete projects and tasks as accurately and efficiently as possible. It makes sense then that your legal research service should organize the resources you need in a way that aligns with your todo list.

Practice Point … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Thomson Reuters' Practice Point organizes resources for transactional lawyers and in-house counsel by practice areas, projects, and tasks.

The Killer Feature

Practice Point offers a collection of Thomson Reuters' legal resources curated and organized by a team of experts in collaboration with practicing lawyers.

For example, let's say your client wants you to negotiate a joint venture. When you browse Practice Point by task, you can choose Joint Venture. From there you can choose subtasks such as Get Oriented, Structure & Considerations, Draft & Negotiate Joint Venture Agreements, etc. At every turn you'll find the resources you need for that particular task.

These resources include primary law, Reuters News, Practical Law (checklists, practice notes, standard documents, What's Market), Westlaw Forms, Business Law Center, Company Investigator, State and Country Q&A, and more. Practice Point also offers relevant Rulebooks such as the Securities Act. You can search for rules by their common names rather than their citations (e.g., Rule 144A).

Other Notable Features

Practice Point offers a number of productivity tools to save you time. You can "Favorite" projects, tasks, practice areas, and specific resources for one-click access in the future. You can also make any page your Start Page. The interactive breadcrumb tracks your path through Practice Point. One click takes you back to any page. Alerts keep you apprised via email about updated resources and related news.

The My Folders feature enables you save documents and selected text as you review various resources for the task at hand. These are the same folders that Westlaw uses so the folders you create and items you save become accessible from both services. The same goes for your History.

"Practice Point is designed to be the touch point for your practice or legal department, directing you to the precise resources needed," Thomson Reuters Vice President, Global Workflow Solutions Emily Colbert tells us. "The result is legal guidance, research, and know-how, plus time-saving tools — all conveniently integrated into one solution."

What Else Should You Know?

You log into Practice Point using your OnePass password. This ensures access to all the resources to which your organization subscribes. Practice Point works in all major web browsers on Macs and Windows PCs. Learn more about Practice Point.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers cloud ediscovery software designed with the help of litigators that includes free processing (see article below), a practice management app with integrated online payments, a project management app with automated workflows, and an over-the-top television service for news junkies. Don't miss the next issue.

The rise of ediscovery added an additional layer of complexity for lawyers and their teams. Faced with abstruse technology and pricing, some lawyers ignored ediscovery altogether, missing out on all the juicy evidence in email and social media. Fortunately, technology marches on, and what used to be complex and time consuming becomes simple enough for litigation support, paralegals and lawyers to handle themselves.

eDiscovery Point … in One Sentence

Launching this week, Thomson Reuters eDiscovery Point is a cloud ediscovery processing, review, and production platform with a focus on speed and user experience.

The Killer Feature

With eDiscovery Point, you pay per gigabyte only for the smaller data set you choose to move to review after processing and filtering. This means that your unlimited access to eDiscovery Point's processing and pre-review tools don't cost anything to use.

After creating a new case, you can upload up to 10 GB of collected data via your web browser or FTP. Alternatively, you can ship the data to Thomson Reuters on physical media (similar to Westlaw's reference attorneys, eDiscovery Point has a support team available 24/7).

eDiscovery Point automates processing tasks such as de-NISTing, de-duplication, metadata extraction, virus detection, and conversion and indexing of scanned documents. The processing engine starts returning documents within minutes so you can start working on them as well as your case strategy.

eDiscovery Point offers do-it-yourself Data Assessment tools to help you find potentially relevant documents and email for review. You can run searches and filter documents by custodian, file type, date range, and email fields such as TO, CC, and BCC. You can also view data by source path or PST structure. For large data sets, you can use eDiscovery Point's five-step predictive coding wizard to save time eliminating non-responsive data.

Other Notable Features

When you complete the pre-review process, you assign culled documents to your review team. The review workflow displays the document you're viewing on the left, information about the document above, and Document Coding options on the right. There's also a search bar that uses the same syntax as Westlaw to reduce your learning curve so you can quickly find what you need.

You can mark documents as responsive and privileged, assign issue tags, add notes, highlight key passages, zoom in and out, and apply Bates stamps. You can redact text with precision by selecting it with your mouse. For large areas, you can redact by drawing a box.

Assisted by an advisory board of litigation support professionals and litigators, the development team focused on making the tool easy to use. "We wanted to give control back to lawyers and their teams," says James Jarvis, Vice President of Product Management and Partnerships for Thomson Reuters Legal Managed Services. For jobs too large for your team, Legal Managed Services (formerly Pangea3) can do the work for you as well as provide a document review team.

What Else Should You Know?

eDiscovery Point works in all major web browsers on Macs and Windows PCs. You can login using the same OnePass password you use for Westlaw and other Thomson Reuters services. The company guarantees 99.99% availability, and stores your data in the United States. You can enable two-factor authentication for additional security. Learn more about eDiscovery Point.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a practice management system that can also power your law firm's website (see article below), an iOS app for capturing and organizing your handwritten notes, and two apps for discovery document processing and review. Don't miss the next issue.

The fewer moving parts in a small law firm, the better. More complexity tends to increase administrative costs. In the technology realm, the more your practice management system can handle, the more you can dispense with single-function products.

LEAP … in One Sentence

LEAP is a legal accounting and practice management system that encompasses both front and back office tasks.

The Killer Feature

For your front office, LEAP offers document assembly and management of contacts, calendars, documents, and email. For your back office, LEAP offers billing and IOLTA-compliant trust accounting. It integrates with QuickBooks Online for your general ledger.

LEAP is a hybrid cloud solution — you access it from a Windows desktop app but the data is securely hosted on U.S.-based servers. The LEAP mobile app for iOS and Android take advantage of your smartphone's capabilities. For example, you can capture telephone calls with clients for time entries, and scan a document into LEAP using the camera.

"LEAP is for small law firms wishing to become more efficient, more flexible, and make more money," CEO of LEAP Chris Stock tells us. "LEAP's integrated system enables small law firms to do more work with the same number of people."

Other Notable Features

Because LEAP is a Windows app, it offers deep integration with Microsoft Outlook and Word. You can start new documents and email messages from LEAP, and automatically record the billable time you spend on them. LEAP can convert documents into PDF format when you email them. The Outlook integration also extends to your calendars.

LEAP can manage all of your firm's information. For example, it captures and automatically files inbound email, and integrates with scanners. You'll want to start new documents in LEAP because of its forms and templates. The company continually adds templates in many practice areas plus you can create your own.

Other document management features include audit trails, versioning, document viewer, document comparison, and combination of PDF files. Perhaps best of all, rather than email a document to colleagues, you can email them a link to the document so that the final version remains in LEAP.

LEAP's electronic timesheet with autocomplete enables timekeepers to enter their time. LEAP also handles cost recovery and expenses with the ability to group disbursements into a single line item. You can output bills in Word or PDF format, and email them from LEAP so that they get filed in the corresponding matter. Trust accounting enables you to manage retainers and apply payments.

What Else Should You Know?

LEAP includes LEAP Websites at no extra charge. This service includes mobile-friendly templates from which you can choose, a WordPress blog, email newsletters, and search engine optimization. Some LEAP customers that already have a website use LEAP Websites for a second website around a practice area. LEAP starts at $129 per user per month with a 12-month money-back guarantee. The company reinvests $6 million per year into new features for LEAP. Learn more about LEAP.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers billing software designed to make billing your time and managing trust accounts easier (see article below), an email app for Android and iOS that integrates with Skype, a Dropbox alternative created specifically for law firms, and a security certification program for law firms. Don't miss the next issue.

Law firms face several conundrums. For example, your firm must bill time to generate revenue, but the administrative work involved in billing time consumes time. Also, retainers make it easier to get paid, but state bar compliance requirements make trust accounting an ethics minefield. Your legal billing software should minimize administrative overhead and risk.

Tabs3 Version 18 … in One Sentence

Launching this week, Tabs3 Version 18 is legal billing software that focuses on streamlining billing, trust accounting, and payments.

The Killer Feature

Tabs3 now automates payment from trust accounts. You can set up this feature so that it complies with your state's ethics rules. For example, you can apply payments to current work and accounts receivable or just one.

While you can print checks, Tabs3 supports electronic funds transfer (EFT) for faster payment. You can combine multiple deposit, EFT, and check transactions into a single item for simplified reconciliation. However you combine them, Tabs3 tracks all transactions for reporting purposes. The bills you send clients show these automatic payments.

Other Notable Features

Tabs3 has also improved its reconciliation tools for bank accounts, trust accounts, and credit cards. The start screen enables you to enter interest and service fees for the month. You can then import transactions rather than enter them manually (most financial services companies offer transactions for download via your online account).

For trust accounts, Tabs3 offers a Three-Way Reconciliation report. Considered a best practice, this ensures that the bank balance, check register, and each client's trust account all match up. It's difficult to pull this off without software like Tabs3. Other new features include streamlined month-end procedures, greater flexibility in financial reporting, and improved fee and cost entry.

Tabs3 Connect, which offers secure access to Tabs3 from a smartphone and tablet, now supports macros. For example, if your firm sets up text macros in Tabs3, you can now use them in Tabs3 Connect. PracticeMaster, the company's practice management app, also sports new features. Chief among these, the new Fee Recap tool enables you to identify days with unbilled activities. PracticeMaster integrates with Tabs3.

What Else Should You Know?

Tabs3 offers a number of "strategic" integrations with third parties. With the new integration with ProPay, you can start accepting credit cards within minutes. ProPay offers low processing fees compared to other options for law firms, and a simpler payment process that obviates the need to ask your clients for credit card security codes (regulators frown on storing these). Other integrations include Chrometa, HotDocs, PenSoft, ScanSnap, Symphony OCR, and Worldox. Learn more about Tabs3 Version 18.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a case and matter management system that can automate your practice and integrate with the products you already use (see article below), speech recognition software for legal teams, an add-in for Word that enhances Track Changes and fixes common formatting problems, and an online meeting service. Don't miss the next issue.

Lawyers tend to specialize as this gives you deep insight into a given area of law and thus a competitive advantage. Your case and matter management software should go just as deep so that it can track every aspect of your work, and keep your team informed and on the right track.

LawBase 12.5 … in One Sentence

Launching this week, LawBase 12.5 is a popular case and matter management system known for its depth and integrations, the newest of which involves automated court rules.

The Killer Feature

LawBase CEO Phil Homburger describes LawBase as "adaptable and configurable." The distinction lies in LawBase's architecture — a sandboxed database that holds all your firm's data and each user's settings.

Instead of adding just a few custom fields here and there, LawBase enables you to design automated workflows that interact with other products and online services when necessary. Think of it as a hub for all the work performed by your firm.

LawBase includes a number of templates for practice areas such as general practice, insurance defense, mortgage refinancing, mass tort, personal injury, government agencies, corporate legal departments, etc. You can work with the company to build a custom implementation if needed.

"We have provided case and matter management software to the legal industry for more than three decades," Homburger tells us. "In this time, we have found that the flexibility offered in LawBase adds tremendous value to our clients. This flexibility extends to the integration with a myriad of other products which has proven the benefit of our best-of-breed approach."

Other Notable Features

Contacts, calendars, matters, and whatever other data types you track each reside in a Cabinet. Each Cabinet contains nested Smartfolders that contain all the data. The "smart" in Smartfolders refers to tools such as searching and filtering, user access controls, notifications, and statuses. Cross-referencing enables you to access the contents of one Smartfolder from another.

Workflows and integrations also reside in Smartfolders. The newest integration is with Calendar Rules. Just about any other software product can integrate with LawBase according to Homburger. Popular integrations include Microsoft Outlook, iTimeKeep, Carpe Diem, HotDocs, iManage, NetDocuments, Tabs3, Juris, Timeslips, and Worldox.

As an example, a LawBase workflow could generate a Word document using a HotDocs questionnaire, store the final version in Worldox, email it through Outlook to a client, efile it with an agency, and post a time entry to Tabs3 — all without leaving LawBase.

What Else Should You Know?

The Report Generator within LawBase enables you to create every imaginable report without the need for a separate product. You can host LawBase in your firm or through virtual desktop providers such as LegalWorkspace, mindSHIFT, and Uptime Legal Systems. Learn more about LawBase 12.5.

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