TechnoLawyer: TL NewsWire

Coming June 29, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire: In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about the new version of a popular document management and scanning solution, a slim and trim 5 megapixel digital camera that comes in white, orange, or gray as opposed to the usual silver, the equivalent of sunglasses for your laptop, the latest and greatest KVM switch, and stereo and home theater speakers that will knock you — but not your bank account — out.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Do-It-Yourself Legal Graphics and Trial Exhibits
By Brett Burney

Juries and even clients have difficulty understanding legal jargon, and often find verbal testimony boring. To more effectively communicate legal concepts, you could hire an artist to create snazzy, professional graphics and demonstrative evidence. Or you could save a lot of money by using SmartDraw Legal Solution instead.

If you can "drag-n-drop" with a mouse, you can use SmartDraw Legal to create accident diagrams, calendars, crimes scenes, evidence charts, family trees, floor plans, flowcharts, forensic diagrams, Gantt charts, maps, medical diagrams, organizational charts, patent diagrams and illustrations, storyboards, and the always-popular timelines. Simply select the shapes you need and drop them where they belong. You can add text into a variety of shapes that will automatically expand as you type.

SmartDraw Legal Solution bundles thousands of ready-to-use symbols, templates, shapes, lines, and arrow styles. Additionally, it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office and other applications. For example, you can convert images (such as photos) from other programs into a SmartDraw graphic, and you can copy and paste completed SmartDraw graphics into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even Visio. SmartDraw also works with leading litigation support software, such as Sanction, Summation, and TrialDirector

If you lack artistic talent, SmartDraw Legal Solution will take you by the hand with step-by-step tutorials, tips, and wizards. If that's not enough, SmartDraw offers 100% free live technical support. When you perfect your masterpiece, SmartDraw Legal Solution gives you the option of printing it in poster size for mounting on foam board. If you don't have a large-format printer handy, SmartDraw has partnerships with AlphaGraphics and Sir Speedy — you can send your job to your local branch directly from SmartDraw Legal Solution's print dialog box.

SmartDraw Legal Solution works with Windows 98 and later. A single license sells for $449, but has an introductory price of $297 with volume discounts available. You can also download a free 30-day trial version. Learn more about SmartDraw Legal Solution.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 15, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire: In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about a new software program for creating litigation-oriented graphics, a Web-based collaboration and project management tool, the world's smallest Windows PC (think palmtop, not laptop), a scheduling solution for your firm and its conference rooms and other shared facilities, and a new PDF-friendly document management system.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Every Timeline Tells a Story
By Brett Burney
When discussed verbally, the events within even a simple case can overwhelm clients, judges, and especially juries. Instead, these people have a much easier time comprehending such events when displayed on a timeline. But lawyers are wordsmiths, not artists. Five years ago, CaseSoft solved this problem with the first version of TimeMap, its popular timeline creation software. This month, it has released version 4. Like its predecessors, TimeMap 4 enables lawyers, paralegals, and investigators to begin creating timelines in minutes, but the new version won't disappoint longtime power users. Among the new features, TimeMap 4 now offers vertical timelines -- the most requested feature among users. In addition, TimeMap now supports timelines up to 100 pages tall or wide (a 500% increase over the previous limit of 20). In addition to its increased flexibility, TimeMap 4 also creates better looking timelines thanks to professionally-designed templates with title and introduction pages, and gradient fills, which "add pizzazz to flags, timescales, and backgrounds." Once you create a timeline, you can use it in a variety of ways. For example, one click will convert your timeline to PDF format (no need for Acrobat), and three clicks will send your timeline to PowerPoint. TimeMap 4 also provides enhanced integration with Sanction. TimeMap 4 sells for $199; upgrades sell for $99. The software comes with CaseSoft's one year money-back guarantee. You can also download a free trial. Learn more about TimeMap.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 1, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire: In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about a new and improved version of a popular timeline graphing tool, the latest version of a popular backup and synchronization utility, a secure e-mail server that seeks to challenge Microsoft Exchange, a wireless home alarm system that you can control over the Internet, and a new way to share your Web bookmarks with others. In the meantime, enjoy the Memorial Day weekend!

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming May 18, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

TL NewsWire: Podcasts for the People — and Other Hot Products
By Brett Burney
In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about a program that enables you to produce your own podcasts, a free P2P service for securely sharing large files with clients over a private network, a free service through which you can send a text message from your PC to any cell phone, a way to send customized greeting cards without ever leaving your desk, and a network appliance that increases the speed and security of your firm's virtual private network (VPN) and wide area network (WAN).

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

The Power of Acrobat Standard at One-Third the Price
By Brett Burney
Need all the features of Adobe Acrobat Standard, but don't want to pay full price? Take a look at Nitro PDF Desktop, a brand new legal-oriented PDF utility from ARTS PDF. Nitro PDF Desktop bills itself as a "full-featured PDF creation and editing product." With Nitro PDF Desktop, you'll have access to many features previously available only in Acrobat Standard, including the creation of annotations and comments (highlighting and sticky-notes), bookmarks, digital signatures, hyperlinks, stamps, and watermarks. With Nitro PDF Desktop, you can make use of drawing tools, fill our forms, and edit text. Nitro PDF Desktop also includes macros for single-click PDF creation directly from Microsoft Office applications, and you can use it to merge a collection of files together into a single PDF file. If security or document tampering concerns you, you can specify whether readers can edit, print, or copy material from your PDF file thanks to Nitro PDF Desktop's security settings. Best of all, Nitro PDF Desktop sells for $99 — a price tag that should appeal to lawyers at small and large firms alike. If you couldn't afford (or refused to pay) for Acrobat Standard, your patience has paid off (literally). Learn more about Nitro PDF Desktop.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming May 4, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire: In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about a hot new legal-oriented PDF utility for creating, editing, compiling, securing, and adding comments to PDF files, a free image-viewing and editing application, a free contact and calendar program (PIM) that rivals its more costly competitors, a business-oriented blog service that could give TypePad a run for the money, and a service for conducting Web surveys.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Improve Your Outlook
By Brett Burney
Lots of lawyers use Outlook, but so do lots of nonlawyers. As a result, Microsoft usually doesn't place lawyer feature requests high on its to-do list. That's okay because You Software does. The company recently released You Perform, a set of "15 indispensable Outlook add-ins" designed to improve the efficiency of lawyers and other knowledge workers. Among its most lawyer-friendly features, the "Reply to All Monitor" prevents you from inadvertently sending a private message to a group, and also removes your address from such replies to help eliminate inbox clutter. The "Save Attachments" add-in provides for a rules-based system through which you can automatically or manually move attachments from your e-mail messages into designated client/matter folders for safekeeping. The original message provides a link to the saved file. If you eventually delete the original message, You Perform asks if you also wish to delete the accompanying file. Mobile lawyers will appreciate "Add Appointments by Email," which enables you to create new appointments via e-mail from your cell phone or PDA. On the other hand, deskbound lawyers will like "Quick Text Hotkeys," which enables you to assign frequently-used text to hotkeys. Other You Perform add-ins can eliminate duplicate messages, contacts, and events, prevent you from mistakenly omitting attachments, hide fax numbers when you compose messages, and transform e-mail addresses into contacts. You Perform works with Outlook 2000 or later, and sells for $49.95. You can download a 15-day free trial. Learn more about You Perform.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming April 20, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire: In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about a new set of Outlook add-ins designed to increase your efficiency, a Web site that compiles all the best deals on tech gear, a Google-like search engine that facilitates searching public records, a new service for cyberspace meetings and collaboration, and an intuitive e-mail filtering system.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.