TechnoLawyer: TL NewsWire

Originally published in our free TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TechnoLawyer NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

How to Bill Your Time Before You Forget About It

What do all the world's greatest creative minds have in common? They jot down their ideas lest they forget them. For example, Albert Einstein always asked for a pencil and notepad to keep by his bedside whenever he spent the night away from home. There's a corollary in the legal profession. If you record your billable time as it occurs, you eliminate the possibility of forgetting to bill that time, resulting in more revenue for your law firm. One of the most popular accounting and billing applications for law firms has taken it upon itself to help lawyers prevent billable time from slipping into a proverbial black hole.

LexisNexis PCLaw Version 11 … in One Sentence
LexisNexis PCLaw Version 11 is an integrated accounting, billing, and practice management system with a new mobile component for recording billable time on the go.

The Killer Feature
Ten years ago, syncing seemed like magic. Today's syncing is a problematic technology prone to errors because it involves two or more data stores. By contrast, a single data store is a much more bulletproof and modern way to make your data available anywhere on any device.

That's the approach LexisNexis has taken with its new PCLaw Mobility service. Basically, PCLaw resides safely and securely on a server in your office. When you're out of the office — say at a client meeting — just whip out your smartphone or tablet after the meeting ends, launch your mobile Web browser, log into PCLaw, and enter the amount of time you just spent with your client.

Your time doesn't get recorded onto your mobile device and then synced. Instead, your time gets entered directly into PCLaw in your office. Thus, your data always resides in one location that you access securely via end-to-end encryption.

PCLaw Mobility employs Microsoft's Windows Azure, a secure cloud computing platform used by organizations such as 3M, General Mills, and NASA — and now your law firm too. The PCLaw Mobility service works on Android smartphones and tablets, iPhone and iPad, BlackBerrys, etc.

"The new PCLaw Mobility service meets the growing need of attorneys and billable staff to stay connected when they are out of the office, but without detracting from the office staff's productivity," LexisNexis Vice President Jonah Paransky told us. "In doing so, PCLaw Mobility helps all members of the firm increase their effectiveness."

Other Notable Features
Back in the office, PCLaw v11 is brimming with new features. For example, enhanced security protocols help prevent unauthorized access to your data. LexisNexis has improved the data export to QuickBooks for financial reporting and tax preparation purposes. Got a ScanSnap scanner? You can now scan directly into PCLaw and automatically associate scanned files with a client and matter.

Other features include QuickBill for faster bill creation (consumer-based law firms can hand a client a bill on the spot), credit card processing for faster bill payment, LEDES-enabled billing for corporate legal departments, trust accounting with rules you can apply depending on your jurisdiction's requirements, and ADP-powered payroll (extra charges may apply).

What Else Should You Know?
The PCLaw Annual Maintenance Plan entitles you to receive PCLaw Mobility service free of charge, as well as telephone technical support and exclusive access to Anytime Training on the Web. Learn more about LexisNexis PCLaw Version 11.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TechnoLawyer NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

A New Search and Collect Pricing Model for eDiscovery

A litigator recently suggested that lawyers should treat electronic documents like conversations and thus eliminate their production during discovery. His joke served as a poignant commentary on the spiraling costs of reviewing increasing volumes of data, some of which such as Facebook Posts didn't even exist a decade ago when the famous Enron email messages first put eDiscovery on the map. To make matters worse, litigators not only face an ever-growing number of products to choose from, but a bewildering array of pricing models that are difficult to compare. Last week, a new product emerged designed to save litigants boatloads of money on eDiscovery.

PowerSearch … in One Sentence
DATAssimilate's PowerSearch is a desktop eDiscovery application with a unique pricing model that enables you to identify and collect relevant electronically stored information.

The Killer Feature
PowerSearch has something rare in the litigation software industry — a clever and memorable slogan: Cull before you collect. Its slogan underscores its unique pricing model.

You can download as many copies of PowerSearch as you want free of charge. So you can give everyone in your legal department or law firm a copy without having to crunch any numbers.

To use PowerSearch, you point it at a collection of electronic files such as an Outlook PST file, and then conduct searches to find relevant documents. Once you identify the documents you ultimately want to collect, you pay DATAssimilate only for those documents.

Thus, instead of paying to collect all of a custodian's documents even though you know that most will prove irrelevant, you instead pay after your review for only the relevant documents. Cull before you collect.

PowerSearch uses a token system. Each document you want costs one token. Pricing ranges from .05 cents to .001 cents per token (document) depending on how many tokens you purchase. The minimum purchase is 1,000 tokens (documents) for $50. By creating a business account in the token bank, you can share tokens among multiple computers. According to the company, PowerSearch can reduce your collection costs by 80% or more over traditional pricing models.

"We designed PowerSearch to give the legal industry an easy and affordable way to access data," DATAssimilate CEO Girts Jansons told us. "There is no cost to deploy or use the robust features of PowerSearch, and users pay only fractions of a cent for files they ultimately decide to save. We have received very positive responses from beta testers."

Other Notable Features
PowerSearch doesn't just search files, it indexes and searches through them fast. For example, Jansons told us that PowerSearch performed a complex search on those famous Enron email messages in less than two seconds. Before you can search, you must of course index. PowerSearch indexes across a 100 MB network at a speed of 500 files per minute. As an added bonus, the optional OCR technology converts document images to searchable text at a rate of 45 pages per minute.

DATAssimilate claims that PowerSearch requires minimal training. You just follow the navigation tabs through the workflow to select, index, analyze, search, and then save relevant files. Context-sensitive help provides best practices as you move through each step.

PowerSearch handles a wide variety of file types in their native format as well as file bundles such as NSF, PST, and ZIP. Other features include the ability to search within search results and filter your search results, generate reports, export using various options such as retaining email attachments and folder structures, and produce a defensible audit trail.

What Else Should You Know?
PowerSearch runs on Windows PCs. As noted above, it costs nothing to download and use. You pay only when you want to pull relevant documents from a data source. Learn more about PowerSearch.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TechnoLawyer NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

The Legal Information You Need Is Now at Your Fingertips

Before the Internet, you could count on your adversaries knowing just as little as you. But with the explosion of information now available, blissful ignorance is no longer an option — especially for New York lawyers who want to succeed. Like Mulder in an X Files episode, you know that critically important information is out there, but where? And can you trust what you find? Mulder believed everything. But you're smarter than that. One of the most trusted brands in the legal industry just launched a professional news Web site and mobile app that offer everything you need to know about your jurisdiction and practice areas.

Thomson Reuters News & Insight Legal/NY … in One Sentence
Thomson Reuters News & Insight Legal/NY is a new Web site and mobile app that offers New York-focused legal news from Reuters integrated with primary and secondary legal materials from Westlaw.

The Killer Feature
In 2008, Reuters was acquired by the Thomson Corporation (owner of Westlaw), marrying one of the world's leading news organizations with legal research (among other services). Launched in May, Thomson Reuters News & Insight Legal/NY demonstrates the synergies of this merger.

In addition to major legal-related news, the site and mobile app offer specialized legal news geared to New York practitioners. New York case law and jury verdicts also figure prominently into the coverage. Plans are underway to add more jurisdictions and practice areas, eventually offering a daily starting point for everyone in the legal profession.

Leading the expansion of news for legal customers at Reuters are Amy Stevens, formerly deputy page one editor and legal columnist at The Wall Street Journal and deputy editor at Conde Nast Portfolio, and Eric Effron, former executive editor of The Week magazine and editor and publisher of Legal Times. Additional journalists and lawyers on the team previously worked at Bloomberg, American Lawyer, Businessweek, Law360, The New York Observer, The New York Law Journal and The National Law Journal.

"We've created a new approach to professional news," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler told us. "We're delivering value by offering our customers world-class journalism combined with the necessary tools to stitch together the common threads of isolated events, so they can identify opportunities that will drive their success."

Other Notable Features
Each jurisdiction and the securities practice area pages highlight just-released germane lawsuit filings via the Web site's Court Wire feature, and court opinions of note, as well as news and analysis. To delve deeper into the offerings, you'll find three navigation links at the top of the page — News, Insight, and Legal Materials.

Thomson Reuters told us that Court Wire sometimes lists new cases even faster than the courts where they're filed, potentially giving you a leg up on contacting unrepresented defendants. Court Wire may also enable you to break the news of a lawsuit to a client before the process server does.

In addition to what you would expect from news, you'll also find reporting on your peers in the New York legal scene, including you, perhaps — lateral moves, winners and losers at trial, and more.

Among the Insights columnists is acclaimed legal journalist Alison Frankel, whose "On the Case" column will offer a daily take on the most important lawsuits and litigators in the United States.

What Else Should You Know?
While you can, of course, bookmark Thomson Reuters News & Insight Legal/NY, the company offers several other methods of access — email newsletters, RSS feeds and an iPhone app. Learn more about Thomson Reuters News & Insight Legal/NY.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers new features of a popular legal research service (see article below), a new E Ink eBook reader, software for reviewing prebills electronically, an application that creates a Facebook-style social network within your law firm, and an iPad app for converting and saving online videos. Don't miss the next issue.

Legal News on the Move

Those of you with a touch of gray might remember a time when conducting online legal research required a dedicated computer in a red housing. Back then, the ability to search through court opinions seemed like magic. Today, it's just business as usual — and that red computer has since given way to your Web browser on any computer. But the brand behind that red computer has remained a force in legal research through both refinement of its offerings as well as new breakthroughs. Today we report on some of the latter.

Lexis.com … in One Sentence
LexisNexis' lexis.com is an online information service for legal research, legal news, legal treatises, public records, and more.

The Killer Feature
With trusted brands like American Lawyer, National Law Journal, Legal Intelligencer (not to mention our frenemy Law Technology News), ALM Media is a legal news powerhouse. However, the company also curates legal research materials such as practice-area treatises and forms, and a comprehensive collection of jury verdicts and settlements for use in early case assessment.

As of this month, lexis.com became the exclusive licensee of ALM Media's content. So if you want to search through all that helpful material while also conducting legal research, lexis.com is now the place to go.

Other Notable Features
In recent months, LexisNexis has added other new content to lexis.com and also improved its functionality. For example, SmartLinx enables you to search through billions of public records. As its name suggests, the summary report links to the underlying records and portrays the data graphically, enabling to identify connections that may have otherwise eluded you.

Related Content is another relatively new offering that incorporates materials from Matthew Bender, ALR, BNA, newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and briefs, pleadings, motions, and court dockets. Lexis.com's Related Content feature lists these secondary sources automatically when you search for case law or statutes.

What Else Should You Know?
Lexis.com offers a number of ways to search its growing collection of materials, including the two standbys — Boolean and Natural Language. A number of subscription options exist. Learn more about lexis.com.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an Android tablet (see article below), an email archiving system, PDF software, a calendar utility, and an iPhone app for service of process. Don't miss the next issue.

To Boldly Go Where Only One Tablet Has Gone Before

Currently, six blogs exist devoted to using the iPad in law practice (we link to their best articles each week in BlawgWorld). No such blogs exist for Android tablets. Usually, startup companies lead the way with larger companies content to wait for a proof of concept, and then crush their smaller rivals with superior distribution, marketing, and sometimes even products. In the tablet market, however, one of the world's largest companies struck first, changing the usual dynamics. Other tablet makers now face a tough road, but one company has a fighting chance because it creates many of the key components tablets require, enabling it to compete with Apple's iPad on price. This company's first 10 inch tablet launches in June.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 … in One Sentence
Already in the hands of technology journalists, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is an Android-based touchscreen tablet computer.

The Killer Feature
Do people buy tablets based on their hardware specifications? Samsung sure hopes so because while the Galaxy Tab and iPad 2 have an equal processor and 10 hour battery life, the Galaxy Tab's other specifications give it the edge over the current iPad.

It weighs .09 ounces less. Its screen is 0.4 inches larger and has a higher 1280x800 pixel resolution (it plays 1080p HD video). It has surround sound speakers. It can connect to 4G cellular networks. And it has an 8 megapixel rear camera with a flash and a 2 megapixel front camera (both cameras shoot stills and video).

Other goodies include an Accelerometer, Bluetooth, Assisted GPS, a Gyroscope, and WiFi, all of which the iPad 2 has as well.

Other Notable Features
Of course, some people care more about the software than the hardware. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 runs Google's Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" tablet operating system. As a result, you'll find lots of Google apps such as Android Browser (with Flash), Gmail, Google eBooks, Google Maps (including navigation), Google Calendar, Google Talk, YouTube, etc.

The Galaxy Tab can run most of the apps designed for Android smartphones as well as apps designed specifically for Honeycomb.

What Else Should You Know?
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will cost $499 for 16 GB and $599 for 32 GB. Samsung will release the smaller Galaxy Tab 8.9 later this summer. Learn more about Galaxy Tab 10.1

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TechnoLawyer NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

How to Make Email the Sunshine of Your Law Practice

In yesterday's issue of TechnoFeature, Mazyar Hedayat joked that affectations like eye contact and firm handshakes would become historical relics in another 20 years. However, it's no joke. And it won't take 20 years. A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece praised email for dramatically reducing one of the most annoying aspects of life — telephone calls. A legal technology guru once marveled in his podcast that even if he took several weeks to reply to someone's email message, they didn't seem to mind. Just as teens once plastered London with "Clapton Is God" graffiti, many of us feel the same way about email. It's the killer app of all killer apps — and a far larger social network than Facebook (it's completely open too). But email can get out of control. Those of you who use Outlook listen up.

ClearContext Professional 5 … in One Sentence
ClearContext Professional 5 is an Outlook add-on for email management.

The Killer Feature
Outlook contains many useful features, but in true Microsoft fashion most people don't use them because they're too difficult to figure out and in some cases even find. Take rules, please — clearly built by programmers for programmers, not normal people.

ClearContext Professional provides the functionality of rules without having to create any. For example, it can file email from automated senders such as online stores into a folder for later review. ClearContext Professional can also learn from you. File a message from a client once, and the software will file all future messages automatically

Other Notable Features
The new version of ClearContext Professional goes beyond rules. You can defer email messages with one click. They disappear from your inbox and return later at a designated time. You can receive a reminder if you send an important message but don't receive a reply.

ClearContext Professional also performs an electronic alchemy of sorts — it can convert email messages into appointments or tasks. In fact, it includes a Task Organizer that accommodates David Allen's "Getting Things Done" system. Even better, you can delegate email to those unfortunate enough to report to you and track their progress.

What Else Should You Know?
ClearContext Professional works with Outlook 2003 and later. It costs $89.95. Learn more about ClearContext Professional 5.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an accounting and practice management system that integrates with Microsoft Office (see article below), a Web-based transcription service for audio files and telephone calls, an online project management tool, a private realtime location sharing app, and a trip planning and management app. Don't miss the next issue.

Gain Greater Insight Into Your Law Firm

People say technology should be invisible. For example, when you write an email message in Outlook, you're not aware of Outlook. You're just writing to a client or colleague. Many law firms eschew legal-specific accounting, billing, and practice management software because they feel it lacks this invisibility. But running your law firm without such software can lead to invisible problems, some of them catastrophic. One of the industry's leading integrated front and back office legal solutions has made its software more invisible by adding another office of sorts — deep integration with Microsoft Office (including Outlook).

ProLaw XII … in One Sentence
ProLaw XII, a Thomson Reuters solution, is accounting, billing, and practice management software that integrates with Microsoft Office.

The Killer Feature
Many companies toss around the word "integration," but not all integrations are of equal caliber.

ProLaw's developers used Microsoft's .NET programming language to create version XII. As a result, ProLaw integrates with Microsoft Office. It also better leverages Microsoft SQL Server as its underlying database.

This deep integration becomes evident when generating reports, all of which are interactive and run in realtime. The result is enhanced "business intelligence" — the ability to transform data into insights that can help grow your business and prevent problems. For example, ProLaw XII enables you to compare budgeted versus reported billable hours for each matter, view your top clients, and generate accounts receivable and WIP aging and rolled-up reports. Within many reports, you can instantly drill down to the details while maintaining the big picture. Also, many reports include charts and graphs that help you interpret and present information.

You can also edit existing reports and create your own reports by dragging and dropping information from any area of ProLaw. Even creating "What If" reports don't require any programming knowledge.

"Building ProLaw XII on the .NET technology extends a law firm's investment into the future," Elite's chief operating officer Cary Burch told us. "The use of .NET makes ProLaw less costly and more reliable, and enables ProLaw to leverage the interoperability between Microsoft applications, as well as the powerful reporting tools built into Microsoft SQL."

Other Notable Features
Regarding Microsoft Office, you can save documents directly to client/matter folders from within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

ProLaw XII solves a problem that many lawyers find vexing — client-related email and attachments. Your matter folders appear within Outlook — just drag and drop to file and share. The Outlook integration works both ways. You can attach any document stored within ProLaw to an email message without leaving Outlook. You can also save receipts of your email messages to record the date and time recipients open them.

The new version of ProLaw also provides automatic time capture technology that works within Microsoft Office as well as other popular products such as Adobe Acrobat. When you complete a document on which you've worked, ProLaw prompts you to record the time it has captured for billing purposes.

What Else Should You Know?
In addition to integrated accounting to go along with its billing and practice management functions, ProLaw integrates directly with Westlaw, Westlaw Litigator, and Westlaw Legal Calendaring Rules (these require a separate subscription). Also available as an add-on, eBillingHub enables you to submit invoices from ProLaw in LEDES and other formats that corporate legal departments often require. Learn more about ProLaw XII.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a browser-based document assembly system (see article below), a deposition preparation app for iPad, an iOS app for practice management and marketing, a legal research app for Android smartphones and tablets, and a WordPress hosting service. Don't miss the next issue.

Automate Contract Creation Without an Engineering Degree

Do you think it was just happenstance that Professor Kingsfield in the classic law school film The Paper Chase taught Contracts? Everyone understands the concept of a contract because everyone enters into contracts. This fact likely explains why Kingsfield taught Contracts rather than Civil Procedure. Of course, while everyone understands contracts, drafting them is a different story. A new document assembly product promises to make the process much easier, resulting not only in the ability to draft contracts faster but also create better contracts that reduce the risk of litigation. After all, you don't want one of your contracts discussed in a Contracts class a decade from now.

ContractExpress DealBuilder 4 … in One Sentence
Released this month, Business Integrity's ContractExpress DealBuilder 4 is a browser-based document assembly solution for creating contracts and legal documents.

The Killer Feature
ContractExpress DealBuilder 4 includes ContractExpress Author, a Microsoft Word-based template authoring environment that eliminates the need to learn a programming language or hire template programmers to create templates.

Instead, the "subject matter expert" (that's you the lawyer) can create document templates using Microsoft Word. You simply place square brackets around items that will change from contract to contract — ContractExpress will determine the dependencies for you. Once installed, ContractExpress Author appears on the Ribbon in Word 2007 and 2010.

Templates consist of standard Word documents, which means you can format them and create styles as you normally would, including auto-numbering of clauses. Output formats for the generated documents include DOCX, DOC, PDF, XPS, and RTF.

"ContractExpress DealBuilder revolutionized the feasibility of document assembly by eliminating the need for template programmers," Business integrity President Tim Allen told us. "Now at version 4, it remains in a league of its own."

Other Notable Features
ContractExpress DealBuilder 4 boasts a number of new features.

For example, DocumentView displays your document in real-time as you complete the template questionnaire. The ability to visually associate changes made in the questionnaire with their effects in the document aims to make the drafting of documents a more fluid and efficient process. DocumentView also simplifies training for new users and allows for greater document ownership. "With DocumentView, document assembly is no longer a mysterious black box," noted Andrew Wishart, Business Integrity's CTO.

ContractExpress Drafter enables you to reconcile manual edits made to documents with any new information added to the document as a result of re-launching the questionnaire, thus eliminating conflicting language. Other features include iPad compatibility for drafting documents on the go and in your lap, and an intelligent document assembly engine that can react to user input by dynamically changing the questionnaire based on prior input.

You can host ContractExpress DealBuilder on your intranet, extranet, or SharePoint environment. Business Integrity also offer ContractExpress as a Web-based service (SaaS).

What Else Should You Know?
ContractExpress DealBuilder is designed for use not only by private practitioners and in-house counsel, but also legal publishers that provide forms. Learn more about ContractExpress DealBuilder 4

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new integrated accounting, billing, and practice management system (see article below), a utility for defensibly saving Web pages for use as evidence, an online contract drafting tool, an iPad app for presenting exhibits, and an online project management system. Don't miss the next issue.

Find Critical Client Information at the Speed of Thought

What do Facebook and Google know about you? A lot but don't expect them to tell you. The same could be said of many practice management systems. Thanks to all the data they collect, they know a lot about your practice, but it can seem like they don't tell you everything — or at least make it difficult to find what you need. Even worse, you may not know what you need to know. An industry giant has tackled this issue in the latest release of its practice management system, aiming to give you quick, intuitive access to critical client information.

Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Version 16 … in One Sentence
Software Technology, Inc.'s (STI's) Tabs3 and PracticeMaster together comprise an integrated billing and practice management system for solo, small, and midsize law firms (the products are available separately as well).

The Killer Feature
All practice management software improves on the piles of paper some law offices still rely upon (some firms never got the memo about the 1980s ending). According to STI, the newest release of PracticeMaster makes access to critical client and matter information so fast you can pull it up on the fly during a phone call.

Enter the new PracticeMaster Matter Manager, which gives you access to all contact information for everyone involved in a case. Even better, you can view all recent matter activity such as documents, email, meetings, and notes.

A "Convert to Fee" button enables you to create a billable time entry for any activity. Speaking of billing, you can also view current balance, last statement date, last payment, trust account balances, etc.

You access your favorite practice management tools via a customizable toolbar, which means you can add to Matter Manager's functionality to suit your needs. You can also use custom colors to make certain information such as deadlines more noticeable.

"Matter Manager is the best way to keep case information organized," STI Presdient Dan Berlin told us. "When a client calls and asks about the status of their case, Matter Manager displays all of the information you need so that you can answer their questions right away."

Other Notable Features
The new version of PracticeMaster includes additional timesavers such as Workflows to automate procedures and reduce risk. For example, PracticeMaster can automatically generate an engagement letter when you create a new client or matter.

Tabs3 also received its fair share of attention from the development team. You can batch email personalized statements to clients. The new Client Inactivity Report prevents cases from falling through the cracks by listing cases with no recent activity using parameters you define.

What Else Should You Know?
Tabs3 and PracticeMaster run on Windows. Pricing starts at $295 for a single user. Learn more about Tabs3 and PracticeMaster version 16.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TechnoLawyer NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

A Sharp-Dressed Online Document Management Service

Why does design matter? Because good design improves our lives. A well-designed suit can make you look better. A well-designed car can save your life (and its well-designed stereo can make ZZ Top's guitar riffs sound like pure gold). Well-designed software can make you and your colleagues more productive. More than a decade ago, a company launched a Web-based document management service. Right off the bat, this design decision made its document management service accessible. Last week, this company took the wraps off its latest redesign, which incorporates Web 2.0 technologies and a modern user interface.

NetDocuments R1-2011 … in One Sentence
NetDocuments R1-2011 is a cloud-based document management service accessible from desktop and mobile Web browsers.

The Killer Feature
NetDocuments' new interface is designed to make its functions easier to understand and faster to access.

For example, you can design a "workspace" within a client/matter. You might create a folder for correspondence, a folder for depositions, etc. However, with one click, you can change from this view to list all documents associated with the matter in reverse chronological order. Also, you can search both the names of documents and their contents. All of these functions and more appear on an integrated screen so you never have to click more than once.

To further enhance the user experience, NetDocuments fine-tuned its back-end to make it disappear. In other words, as you search for, open, edit, and share documents, you won't notice a lag. Instead, the company claims that NetDocuments feels like desktop software.

If you use Internet Explorer, you're in luck. A new plugin integrates NetDocuments with Microsoft Outlook, Word, and the other Office programs. As a result, you can open and edit documents from within your browser with a single click. Even if you use a different Web browser, you can view documents instantly without having to download them.

Other Notable Features
Beneath NetDocuments' new user interface, you'll find a true document management service. In addition to organizing documents by client/matter and type and the automatic indexing and Boolean search, you can require that all newly-created documents reside in NetDocuments by setting up firm-wide rules. NetDocuments also supports document numbering and versioning. When you're editing a document, NetDocuments locks other users out.

Because documents represent the lifeblood of your firm, NetDocuments includes automatic backup and a free restore service if needed. The company uses multiple data centers, including one managed by LexisNexis, a company with decades of experience managing data. For added peace of mind, you can locally cache your documents on a server at your firm.

What about sharing documents? You can create everything from folder for clients to access to a large extranet for multi-party litigation.

What Else Should You Know?
Whether you migrate from document management software or just a simple Mac or Windows file and folder system, NetDocuments can import all your existing documents and preserve your existing directory structure. This flexibility explains why NetDocuments has achieved success both among small firms as well as some of the largest such as Foley & Lardner and Dorsey & Whitney. Pricing for NetDocuments starts at $20 per user per month. Learn more about NetDocuments R1-2011.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.