TechnoLawyer

Originally published on August 9, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

At the risk of being accused of sexism, I suspect female SmallLaw subscribers are more conversant than readers of the male persuasion with the concept of "shopping in your closet." But with hard times for many solo and small law firms (not to mention your stock portfolio), "shopping in your software closet" may, at least in the short term, prove a wise option.

This particular trek down memory lane may revive not only fond memories of software long since abandoned, but in fact may restore to your consciousness a particular species of software much needed, but which was not yet ready for primetime when you originally purchased it at Egghead on floppy diskettes.

A History of the PIM and Super PIM

Take personal information managers for example. The DOS program Sidekick — a "TSR" (terminate and stay resident) program now long-since dead and buried — was perhaps the first widely used PIM, and although fairly rudimentary in its functions, it laid the inspiration for what was to come.

The ensuing history of PIMs is littered with the dead and dying remains of a special breed that actually went far beyond serving as repositories for addresses, telephone numbers, appointments and the like thanks to "customizability." With these programs, we could actually organize our information in a way that made sense for our law practice rather than in a manner dictated by the software publisher. Let's call these "Super PIMs."

Foremost among the now nearly extinct Super PIMs (more below on the survivors) may be the well-loved and greatly lamented Ecco Pro. Originally written by Robert Perez and Pete Polash, founders of Arabesque software, Ecco Pro was later sold to NetManage, which (despite Perez's continuing involvement) ceased further development of the software in 1997 (see the TechnoLawyer Archive for several Ecco Pro eulogies).

Ecco Pro was the finest, most versatile, and most powerful information manager easily accessible to the rank and file of computer users (as opposed to the technologically elite who could master the much steeper learning curves of more demanding idea and information managers such as Lotus Agenda — not to be confused with Lotus Organizer — and GrandView).

Ecco Pro was and, thanks to a cult following, remains a strong favorite of software cognoscenti. Although it served also as a repository for the usual contact and appointment information, its greatest value was found in its outlining function, which permitted assigning any outline item to nearly any number of "categories," which could (at the user's option) be shown as columns containing information of specified kinds (e.g., text, dates, drop-down choice lists, check boxes) about any (or all) individual items appearing in the outline, and could link any outline item to any external file.

Among its many other features, Ecco Pro installed an icon (the "Shooter") into other programs so that you can add text highlighted in the other program to your Ecco Pro outline. And better yet, the information stored in Ecco Pro could be synchronized with the then nearly ubiquitous PalmPilot hardware PIMs. The software has languished for more than a decade. Yet so fanatical are Ecco Pro die-hards that volunteers have continued to develop and update the program (including a 32-bit architecture), which remains available for download.

A visit to this page is worthwhile regardless of your interest in Ecco Pro as it will show you what really good software was like "back in the day," and will doubtless answer any questions you may have as to why so many thousands of very experienced users still quest for "modern" software that will live up to the standards of usability and value so long ago set by Ecco Pro.

The demise of Ecco Pro was blamed by many (including the publishers of Ecco Pro themselves) on Microsoft's decision to bundle Outlook with Office at no extra charge. And while that was undoubtedly part of the problem, Ecco Pro also failed by marketing itself as merely a fancy PIM to lawyers and others then lacking technological sophistication sufficient to permit them to appreciate that the value and functionality of the product went so far beyond that of supposedly "free" Outlook that the two might as well have originated on different planets.

Other legendary Super PIMs are similarly admirable, although not as realistically usable in today's law firm even if still available. For example, the remarkable DOS-based Lotus Agenda written by Lotus co-founder Mitch Kapor was described by Scott Rosenberg in his excellent article reviewing the evolution of PIMs, From Agenda to Zoot as the "granddaddy" of the free-form PIM. If you're still grokking DOS, you can dowload a copy.

Agenda was abandoned by Lotus after only a single upgrade in favor of the inferior (but more easily marketed to the masses) Lotus Organizer — a move that contributes to my view of Lotus as a company with the "reverse Midas touch" given the number of excellent programs that met their demise under the company's stewardship.

Symantec, another software publisher I regard as too often traveling in the wrong direction on the road between the ridiculous and the sublime, was also a player in the Super PIM arena with its 1987 acquisition from Living Videotext of the excellent outlining and information management software GrandView. Symantic, however, then beset by financial difficulties and the exodus of the founders of Videotext, discontinued the product in the early 1990s.

Back to the Future: Today's Super PIMS

While the Super PIMs never attained mass market appeal, they paved the way for Super Specialized PIMs — databases with a friendly user interface designed for a specific type of information. For example, LexisNexis' CaseMap is a Super Specialized PIM on which I rely to manage the information in my litigation matters. Sadly, the price of CaseMap has rocketed into the stratosphere, and thus unattainable for many new solos.

But what if you're not a litigator? Or what if you are a litigator who needs to store non-litigation information? Fortunately modern-day Super PIMs of the general variety still exist. You may not have heard of these products, but it's likely that one of them could boost your productivity at a relatively low cost.

Among present-day heirs apparent, look for Zoot XT soon (TL NewsWire will no doubt keep you apprised of its launch). Zoot was very slow to blossom into the Windows era (having long retained a rather DOS-like look and feel), and has only just recently become a 32-bit product now that we live in a 64-bit computing world.

Zoot is pretty much a one-man-show — that man being Tom Davis of Vermont. While this might seem like a downside at the outset, Zoot's survival suggests that big-company backing may not be such a big plus after all. And Zoot certainly enjoys strong (nearly cultish) user loyalty and support. I will review Zoot XT here in SmallLaw shortly after it becomes available.

What's that? You use a Mac? Once in a while, a software program makes me question my dedication to PC over Mac. OmniGroup's OmniOutliner is just such a product. Catering to my Ecco Pro nostalgia (but in the most thoroughly modern way), OmniOutliner permits the creation of columns, each of which can contain different kinds of information (e.g., pop-up list, checkbox, numerical value, dates, duration, text, and even calculated values) concerning the corresponding outline item. You can separately format rows and columns. And a batch search will instantly collect all instances of a specified search term. You can embed or link to any type of file online or off. The Pro version even records audio. In short, OmniOutliner is the 2011 reincarnation of Ecco Pro — only better.

Obviously, I have hard choices in my immediate future. Should I buy a Mac for this killer app, and install and run VMware Fusion for all my Windows software, or just use the iPad version of OmniOutliner, which in its present iteration, falls far short of its Mac counterpart?

Software Lessons for Small Law Firms to Heed

The moral of this story is that "newer" is not always "better." "Old" software need not necessarily be abandoned on an ice floe — at least until a truly capable replacement arrives to save the day. And most importantly, good ideas never die though they may take a decade or two to realize their full potential and attract a large enough audience to support them.

Written by Yvonne M. Renfrew of Renfrew Law.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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Originally published on June 7, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

There are many things my mother didn't tell me that I had to learn the hard way — that is, in real life. In all fairness, however, my mother was not a lawyer so I cannot hold her accountable for not better equipping me for law practice when I was starting out. Having now practiced since Moses was a baby, I impart here a few handy hints (a la Heloise) from which lawyers starting their own practices who take heed will benefit greatly over the years. However mundane or retro these tips may sound right now, you'll thank me later.

1. Your First Purchase

You won't believe me, but your most important acquisition (definitely long before Black's) should be a business card scanner — preferably a small one that you can have at hand all the time, including when you go to conventions, professional programs, etc.

DYMO, which acquired CardScan, sells a variety of these with appropriate software that capture the information printed on the card, an image of the card, and your notes. The more annotations you add to each card the better (where you met the person, anything they said of note, brief physical description, existence or name of wife or kids if mentioned) because (1) you will not remember later, and (2) this information — and more importantly this store of information — will prove invaluable over the years.

If you're smart, you will not waste any time after the meeting dropping your new acquaintances an email (or even an old-fashioned snail mail note), and then from time to time stay in touch.

Of course now "there is an app for that" since iPhones (and others) can scan cards using their camera as the scanner. Just make sure the $5 app you buy works as reliably as the gold-standard CardScan. Either way, get back to your hotel room as quickly as possible to scan each business card before you forget anything.

2. Don't Run a Paper-Based Office, but if You Do …

A. Paper Punching

Buy one (or better yet two) GBC 150-sheet Electric Punches if you can find them. You can vary the punch location, so I bought two, set one up as a 3-hole and one as a 2-hole punch to avoid the annoyance of constantly changing punch locations. When I made the purchase, I suspected I might be losing my mind — nearly $600 with tax for a hole puncher! But I often thought over the years those had been, in the final analysis, two of my most astute purchases because they permitted my small law office to prepare (including punching) expeditiously huge paper submissions, and huge trial exhibit sets, for huge cases that we could not otherwise have handled.

Other electric two-hole punches will function only to place two holes at the top of the paper (as needed for court-filing), but will not place those two holes on the long edge of the paper (as is needed for European File systems and the like). But the GBC monsters can handle anything.

Nowadays, of course, your court filings can be uploaded to a service leaving all the pesky punching and tabbing to others, but at a significant financial cost. Similarly, you can engage services to assemble (copy, punch, tab, and insert in notebooks) your trial exhibits — but again at a rather fancy price.

Those who cannot afford such services will ultimately come out way ahead by investing in the GBC monster punches or their modern day equivalents.

For those with more modest budgets, high capacity manual punches are available, such as the Swingline Heavy-Duty High Capacity Hole Punch at $264.99 from Staples. Alternatively, for 3-hole punched trial exhibits and the like, purchase pre-punched papers and (assuming you have your exhibits already imaged) print your trial exhibits onto the pre-punched paper.

B. Exhibit and Declaration Tabs

Can't tell how much money you have invested in pre-printed exhibit pages that eat up storage space and yet never seem to include all the exhibit designations you actually need?

Buy what used to be called Redi-Tags and are now sometimes marketed as Medi-Tags. Each individual tab consists of (1) an area on which you can print (yes, with your printer or God forbid type) your exhibit or declaration designation, and (2) a gummed portion which can be invisibly affixed to the appropriate page in your papers, for either bottom or side tabs. These come in various sizes (suitable for just letters, numbers, or longer "Exhibit "#" or "Declaration of "#"). Because you can print them yourself, you can always have exactly the right tabs, and your entire collection takes up just a smidgen of space in a single drawer instead of an entire file cabinet.

3. Avoid "Groundhog Day" Scanning

For those who have switched over to scanning instead of squirrelling away paper, but have not yet fully succeeded, avoid the scanner's "Groundhog Day" trap of not knowing for sure (especially in the long run) what has already been scanned, and thus repetitively scanning documents "just to be sure."

The cure is simple. Buy an inked stamp (I use one which is just a red star). When a document has been scanned, stamp it with a red star on the front. If the document is "original," "certified" or otherwise unsuitable for stamping, then stamp a small post-it with your red star and staple the stamped post-it to the front of the document.

4. In Praise of Labels

While shopping at DYMO or the like, get yourself two printers (or a DYMO Turbo, which is essentially two side-by-side label printers in a single chassis) that you can set up so that your mailing labels print out on the left, while your postage stamps (from Endicia) print out on the right.

And now for the tip that will save you the most money and grief over the course of your electronics-buying career! While you are still dropping bucks at DYMO, buy yourself yet another label printer that creates vinyl labels with peel-off backs. Then, every time you purchase a computer or other electronic device, immediately (i.e., before you let yourself sit down and play with it) print and affix a label to every single cord and other accessory and miscellaneous piece — including most importantly the AC power adapter — that came with your new toy.

That label must show the name of the main product to which this piece is appurtenant, and its function. And do not forget to label the main gadget, including its serial number, and other essential information. This regime is the only cure known to man or woman for the calamity that will ensue when you move or otherwise need to store and later re-connect equipment.

5. Your Own Private Law Library

When conducting legal research on a particular point, I often stumble across really fabulous authority for other and different points which are likely to arise, either next Tuesday or a year from next Tuesday. For a while I deluded myself into believing that I would be able easily to find these authorities again. Not so — and especially not if the point appears nested in language that contains few distinctive words providing fodder for a future search. And even when I could find the desired authority again, it was only with the expenditure of significant additional time.

I constantly express thankfulness in my prayers for the day that it finally hit me that I should create a special directory that I could treat as my own personal law library (e.g., \LEX). Now I don't know about you Westlaw folks, but on Lexis.com I can download and save the single case authority containing my newly discovered nugget, and can do so without interfering with my ongoing research on the original point.

So now I save that little gem of authority while I have it in front of me. But think through and adopt a naming convention for your collection of downloaded cases, the idea being that you should make them easy to find by a simple file-name search when you need to locate "that great case that held X" or which "dealt with procedural scenario Y."

Now I am not, of course, talking about saving cases saying that it is possible to demur to a complaint, but rather cases (and statutes) which either (1) deal with points which have a high recurrence rate in your practice, or (2) which might prove difficult or even impossible to find again in the future. Even so, my own "private library" now contains over 3,500 cases and statutes.

Once again — you will thank me later.

Written by Yvonne M. Renfrew of Renfrew Law.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on April 12, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

TechnoScore: 4.0
1 = Lowest Possible Score; 5 = Highest Possible Score

ExhibitView Solutions' ExhibitView 4.0 is a trial presentation program for the rest of us. It's effective for displaying and annotating exhibits at trial, and can be mastered in well under an hour. In this respect, ExhibitView is far more user-friendly than programs such as Sanction and TrialDirector, which while excellent, and with more bells and whistles, require far more intensive (and expensive) training, and are less useable when you're conducting a trial alone without assistance. For this issue of SmallLaw, I put ExhibitView on trial at a trial.

PowerPoint and Projects

ExhibitView is well integrated with (shudder) PowerPoint, so that all of you PowerPoint addicts should now be pleased as punch, while non PowerPoint addicts can simply ignore this aspect of ExhibitView's capabilities. Thus, ExhibitView has much to recommend it — especially in the context of trials with relatively few exhibits. As a bonus, ExhibitView Solutions provides outstanding support, is extremely responsive to user needs and comments, and seems driven by a genuine desire to produce the best possible product.

Some shortcomings and glitches exist in the version of the program I used, but the company responds quickly to feedback.

My first small complaint concerns opening Projects. If you do not select as an option "Show Project Wizard at Startup," ExhibitView automatically starts up by loading the "Sample Project" that comes with the software (something you probably want to keep for future reference, but do not want to greet you every time you use the software).

If, on the other hand, you select the option to "Show Project Wizard at Startup," be prepared for a small disappointment. You will be shown a splash screen with a list of recently worked on Projects (and the Sample Project). If you (intuitively) highlight the Project you want, and then click on "Open Project," the highlighted Project will not open. Instead you will be presented with Windows Explorer in which you must navigate your way to the directory location of the desired Project.

The only way to open the Project you want is to double-click on the desired Project in the Project list. Obviously, the program should automatically open (or should at least give you a "Preference" option to open) the most recently used Project.

ExhibitView Solutions has since addressed this issue.

Displaying Your Exhibits

In principal operation, the software presents two screens — one for you and one for your audience. Your screen contains not only a large "Display" area, but also various working elements invisible to your audience. The audience sees only items in the "Display" area, and then only when you have decided to project them.

To the left of your Display area you will find on your screen a sidebar with thumbnails of all Exhibits you imported into the Project, grouped into Slides, Documents (most ordinary Exhibits), Images, Audio/Visual and Web Pages. Above your Display you'll find icons for indicating how you wish to use the Display area (e.g., full screen, divided screen for displaying two documents side-by-side, etc.). You can dynamically change the layout on the fly.

Also above your Display area are straightforward markup tools with which you can annotate, highlight, and zoom in on all or portions of an exhibit in the Display area. You can use these tools in advance of the live presentation, and then capture the result as an image for later use.

Finally, above the Display area is a "Projector" switch that controls when to send items in your "Display" area to the projector, and hence to the audience. From a reliability and ease of use standpoint, this control is the best I have seen in any presentation program — a point of considerable importance since when the Judge says "kill the image," you had better do so pronto.

Below the Exhibit sidebar is a "Find" box with which you can search for the particular exhibit you want to display — assuming you have a naming convention that permits you to rapidly recall at least the first several characters of the file or alias name (probably the exhibit number). Under the "Find" box are two buttons — one to "Display" the "found" exhibit, and one to "Preview" that exhibit.

In theory at least, you can display exhibits in one of two ways: (1) physically drag and drop the thumbnail of the exhibit from the sidebar onto the Display area, or (2) use the "Find" box to locate the exhibit you seek, and then click on the "Display" button located just under the "Find" box. The "drag and drop" method is tried, true, and always works. Navigating to the correct exhibit using the sidebar, however, becomes cumbersome and impractical when working with a large number of Exhibits. In such circumstances, the utility and usability of the "Find" box is of considerably greater importance.

A War Story From My Use of ExhibitView in Trial

I ran into a problem with ExhibitView's search box at trial. It worked fine for the first exhibit search, but thereafter the search box held onto the original search name so that the only way to search for a second or subsequent exhibit was to physically select and clear the text previously entered into the search box so that the next exhibit's identifier could be entered. Obviously this workaround is not conducive to the rapid access to exhibits required at trial.

Amazingly, when I contacted ExhibitView Solutions mid-trial on a Friday to complain about this problem, it immediately got to work and managed to provide me with a new installation file containing the proposed "fix" just after 4 am on the next court day (Monday). The responsiveness of the company, and its genuine eagerness to improve its product is pretty much unparalleled in my experience.

Unfortunately, however, this emergency "fix" was not a complete fix. Although ExhibitView solved the problem of more quickly clearing the "Find" box after an initial search, the entry of a new and different exhibit number into the now-empty "Find" box did not move the focus to the sidebar thumbnail of the "new" exhibit so as to permit you to easily locate and drag that exhibit to the display area. Furthermore, even though the identifier of the "new" exhibit is now in the "Find" box, clicking the "Display" button will not display the newly designated exhibit to your audience.

You can, however, bring the "new" exhibit up as a "Preview" by clicking on the "Preview" button, but this does little more than highlight a still further problem with the software, which is that once an exhibit is in "Preview," there is no obvious way effectively to change its status from "Preview" to "Display." In fact, I will go out on a limb here and say that in this build of the software after the first "Find" there was no way — other than physical drag and drop — to "Display" any exhibit located through a second or subsequent "Find" operation. And even the "drag and drop" option was made difficult by the fact that second and subsequent "Find" operations do not shift the focus to highlight the thumbnail for the second or subsequently found exhibit.

ExhibitView Solutions has continued to work on its "Find" technology, which now works better than it did during my trial.

An Effective Trial Presentation Tool That Will Improve

Don't make too much of ExhibitView's shortcomings. In cases with fewer than 100 exhibits, its problems are not deal-breakers. Also, thanks to your intrepid SmallLaw columnist, ExhibitView Solutions has already made many of the issues in this review non-issues. You can try ExhibitView for free and take advantage of free weekly training on the Web. The software currently retails for $749.

Written by Yvonne M. Renfrew of Renfrew Law.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on December 6, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

With admitted fear and trepidation, I recently upgraded my XP computer to Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit version. The conversion was prompted by many considerations, including a desire to leave behind what had degenerated into 15-plus minute boot-ups (no matter how many times I ran my registry cleaner), and other tell-tale signs exhibited (as with my body) by an aging operating system.

The Pros and Cons of PCmover

There is reportedly no direct in-place upgrade from XP to Windows 7 (at least without an intermediate installation of the hated Vista), but this conventional wisdom is not entirely true. Laplink software has updated and is now again separately marketing the venerable PCmover software.

With PCmover, you initially decide whether to transfer only "settings" to a new machine (or to a machine with a newly upgraded operating system), or whether to transfer as well part or all applications to the new operating environment (PCmover being the only package widely acknowledged to successfully transfer applications).

In the OS upgrade scenario, PCmover is first installed on the machine while it is still running XP, and then the program transfers all specified settings and applications to a virtual "moving van" that is then stored elsewhere (e.g., on an external drive). The new operating system is then installed along with PCmover, followed by "unloading" the pre-existing settings and applications from the "moving van" into the new OS environment.

Whether to use PCmover versus a clean install of Windows 7 is a personal call. The PCmover routine can take a very long time if your PC is loaded with programs, to the extent that there might not be much time savings over a clean installation of the OS followed by reinstallation of at least your most essential programs. I began with PCmover, but found a system problem with the "Fourth" step described below and so ended up using a clean install.

Preparation

You can (maybe) avoid uttering profanities if you make proper advance preparation for the OS switch-over including:

1. Make a full-image backup of the "old" XP machine useable to restore your computer to its starting condition should anything — or everything — go to hell in a handbasket.
2. Run a good audit program like the free Belarc Advisor on the "old" XP machine. It will provide you with a detailed profile (audit) of your installed software, hardware, including installation license keys for many (but not all) of your software packages.
3. "Deactivate" software packages like Acrobat, Microsoft Office, etc. from companies that keep tabs on the number of installs under each License Key, since that will likely permit you a much easier activation of the package under your new operating system using the existing License Key.
4. Double check that your principal drive (usually C:) is recognized by your system as Drive 0 (zero). If it is not you may run into other complications and should probably avoid PCmover in favor of a clean install after correcting this problem so that the system recognizes your "C" drive as Drive 0. Go to "Administrative Tools" > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management where you can ensure that what your system sees as "Disk 0" actually is your C Drive.

The 64-Bit Question

64-bit Windows has the substantial advantage of being able to use more than 4 GB of memory (RAM). Not only is increasing RAM the single best way to improve PC performance, but RAM is dirt cheap. I just purchased 8 GB from Crucial.com for a total of around $167 — and don't ask me what I used to pay for 1 GB unless you want to see a grown lawyer cry.

Certainly if you use your machine for such demanding applications as trial control and trial presentation, get the maximum RAM you can cram into your machine. Frankly, I had anticipated a lot of problems not only in changing operating systems, but also in going to the 64-bit version of Windows. So far, problems have been few and far between. Almost all peripheral manufacturers and software publishers now accommodate both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 operating systems, and if not, many can be run in "compatibility mode."

Create a Software Library

Many of the above transitions (and innumerable other scenarios) will proceed more smoothly if you adopt my practice of maintaining on a network drive a "Software Library."

Virtually all software packages permit you to maintain a backup copy of the software. These backups fill my Software Library, which has a sub-directory for each general class of software (e.g., Word Processing and Text Tools, Trial Presentation Tools, etc.) with breakdowns for each package within that main category (e.g., Microsoft Office).

Within the final category breakdown, each package and/or update appears in its own sub-directory, the name of which begins with the date (YYYY-MM-DD) so there is never any doubt as to which is most recent, and ends with the License Key. Thus, the lowest level directory (which holds the installation software itself) will look something like this: "2010-11-19 Fancy Program Version 6.4 — KEY R79021JJK" — much easier than trying to keep track of all of those CDs and CD cases with License Key stickers. (You will thank me later.)

One warning though. A few software programs will not later reinstall from your network directories, but demand to be loaded from a CD or DVD. You can of course either image (rather than merely copy the contents of) the installation CD to your Software Library in the first place, or you can burn your Software Library directory content to a new CD or DVD for purposes of the reinstall.

All's Well That Installs Well

While an OS makeover is certainly not something you should embark upon the night before trial, absent any such exigency a switch to Windows 7 (preferably the 64-bit version, hopefully accompanied by a modest investment in additional RAM) probably falls into the "sooner the better" category for all small law firms not planning on shutting down within the next 12 months. It's like having a brand new computer, but a heck of a lot cheaper.

Written by Yvonne M. Renfrew of Renfrew Law.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on October 18, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

A modern solo practice or small law firm requires rethinking (1) technological tools, (2) procedures, and (3) workspace. We start here in this issue of SmallLaw with the most fundamental and low-tech of these, yet one of critical importance to lawyers, especially those working from "home offices" — your workspace.

From a Traditional Office to One Less Office

It was serendipity that forced me to focus on workspace considerations. I broke, and then re-broke my foot, resulting in being in a boot/cast contraption for nearly a year. Until then, I had thought ideal my move to a downtown loft with living space upstairs and a huge (essentially traditional) office workspace downstairs. Suddenly, "downstairs" sounded like the other side of Mars. And it was not immediately apparent that I could set up an even temporarily efficient workspace in the far more accessible but relatively miniscule upstairs living area.

However, using a four and one-half foot square area in the corner of the living room, I was able to establish a workspace so efficient and so perfect for a technologically advanced practice that the downstairs remains essentially abandoned, except as the parking place for large printers and production scanners, all of which I use less and less as I'll explain in future columns.

Central to the workspace setup is, of course, the desk, and I owe TechnoLawyer my thanks for pointing me to Heckler Design which is the manufacturer of "OneLessDesk."

Heckler Design's desk, constructed of steel, is actually two separate desks forged of metal into the shape of an inverted "U." The larger has a footprint (including sliders) of approximately 39 x 14.5 inches with the other small enough to be snuggled completely within the shelter of the larger piece. The larger piece has what is, from the front, an invisible shelf which is ideal for out-of-sight storage of AC adaptor blocks and electrical cords, among other potential uses. When in use, the smaller desk slides out thus providing a two level workspace.

By way of example, I have sitting on the higher desk a dual 20" monitor set up, a USB postage scale, a Dymo LabelWriter Duo, and a Dymo LabelWriter Twin Turbo that prints mailing labels with one of its two print heads, and postage (using Endicia) with the other. There remains enough real estate on the larger component of the desk to place the charger for my Bluetooth mouse, to lay my iPhone while recharging, and other minor junk.

Various NAS (near area storage) devices, including a wonderful Drobo, fit neatly under the desk yet in plain sight and easily accessible.

The smaller slide-out component of the desk holds my gigantic Lenovo W700 laptop along with its docking station, a Polycom phone speaker, an external LaCie 1TB Drive, and myriad additional pieces of junk.

With OneLessDesk you can forget about the three most dreaded words in the English language — "minor assembly required." Nothing is required other than to unpack the components of your OneLessDesk, and then (which even I can do) screw on the non-skid sliders that permit the desk to move easily over any surface where the desk meets the floor.

Anthro Minicart and Verte Chair

I actually have two "OneLessDesk" sets (a total of four desk surfaces) that I have placed at a 90 degree angle, thus creating an "L" shaped work area. Because I wanted to fully use these desk areas, they do not overlap, which means I have a small square area in the "V" between the two desks into which fit perfectly a small Anthro "MiniCart" (under $300) to which I added an extra bottom shelf.

The MiniCart holds my ScanSnap, telephone base set, an extra large Bluetooth keyboard in its charging stand, another sizeable gizmo, a laser printer, a network switch, an external LightScribe CD/DVD burner by LiteOn, and a Vonage adapter (into which my phone base is plugged).

Rather than using a MiniCart to hold additional equipment, you can place your printers and/or scanners on Heckler Design's "OneLessStands," which is shaped precisely like the components of its "OneLessDesk," but small enough to be snuggled completely within the shelter of the OneLessDesk. Although I prefer always if possible to work with electronic documents, for those who cannot completely cut the cord to paper, or who are forced to deal with paper, Heckler Design also sells a "OneLessFile," which provides Pendaflex storage that fits neatly under the OneLessStand. After happily working for years without them, I have just now ordered both the Stand and File, which will increase my available workspace without adding to my 4.5 foot square "office" footprint.

Such a classy setup demands, of course, the perfect chair. For quite a while I used a Herman Miller Aeron with this set-up, and both functionally and aesthetically, it worked wonderfully. I have now moved on, however, to the Verte Chair sold (but apparently not manufactured) by Anthro, which is a bit odd-looking, in an industrial torture contraption sort of way and expensive ($1,500), but well worth it, especially to anyone with back problems.

Cost and Caveats

Heckler Design has bundled its OneLessDesk ($699), OneLessStand ($299), and OneLessFile ($149) into what, not surprisingly, it calls its "OneLessOffice" ($1047), all prices inclusive of shipping charges.

All of Heckler Design's office components appear incredibly well made and good value, and have that edgy industrial chic appearance so much in demand, but I have a few warnings: Do not stub your toe on the edge of the desk, and do not pinch any part of your body between something else hard and that edge, or it will hurt. In other words, not for klutzes. Also, the desk feet do not have levelers.

Creating a workspace like mine not only solves common space problems in a hip eye-pleasing way, but also encourages economical practices while discouraging reliance on "old-school" routines such as accumulation of paper and post-its and the bad work habits that inevitably ensue.

Written by Yvonne M. Renfrew of Renfrew Law.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on August 16, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

The FCC defines Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as "a technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line." I define it as a way for small law firms like ours to reduce our telephone costs. In this issue of SmallLaw, I'll tell you everything you need to know about making the switch to VoIP.

GETTING UP AND RUNNING

I use multiple flavors of VoIP, but let's speak in terms of some of the more standard services such as Vonage, which you may find less daunting for your initial entry into the world of VoIP.

Think of Vonage as a replacement for your "regular" phone company. You sign up with Vonage (while leaving some overlap with your regular old phone service — often referred to as POTS for "Plain Old Telephone Service") just to be on the safe side until everything is up and running well.

Vonage will give you a new number, which can be either a regular or "toll free" number. However, you can transfer your existing telephone number to Vonage. It may take a few days to accomplish, but from a practical standpoint you can make it appear to work immediately by "forwarding" calls to your temporarily-still-in-existence POTS line to your new Vonage number until the change-over is complete. Note also that there are cheaper and perhaps more satisfactory alternatives to obtaining an 800 number from Vonage that you can use while still using Vonage as your carrier.

Vonage will provide you with a small adapter (perhaps the size of two cigarette packages, if any of you remember those) that you plug into your Internet modem or switch. This equipment must remain on all the time for your phones to work, but individual computers on your network may be turned off. Also, most standard VoIP services (such as Vonage) provide voicemail so you can receive message in the event your Internet modem is inadvertently (or even intentionally) disconnected.

VOICE, FAX, AND COSTS

Once you have connected the adapter provided to you by Vonage to your Internet connection, you can plug any old phone or phone system into that adapter, just as you would previously have plugged such a phone or phone system into your POTS line. You could (but almost certainly should not) use an old fashioned regular "desk phone," which you could use only that one single location. More likely, you will want to plug into the adapter the "base" unit of a multiple handset phone system (the very same kind you would install in your home or small office if you wanted a multiple handset system, and plugged the "base" unit into a POTS line).

You then proceed precisely as if the base unit were plugged into a POTS line instead of into a VoIP line. If the telephone system you plug in would require you to go through some routine for the handsets to locate and recognize the base unit if plugged in to a POTS line, you do exactly the same if the base unit is plugged into a VoIP line.

Vonage will also supply you also with a fax line. Frankly, you would probably have reasonable success using a Vonage voice line for faxing, but Vonage says their lines intended especially for "faxing" are far better and more reliable for that purpose. With some Vonage plans, a fax line is a "free" included extra. With other plans, it costs an extra $10 or so per month.

VoIP is typically far less expensive that traditional POTS service. The basic monthly fee often covers unlimited calls to the U.S., Canada, and Europe — with calls outside those areas at a very low rate. Furthermore, if you want to travel with your small adapter, you can hook it up anywhere in the world and incur no charges beyond your monthly flat fee, and anyone can call you as though you were at home. If you get stuck, you will find that Vonage customer service and support will help you out.

AUTO ATTENDANT AND CALL HANDLING

Once everything is set up as aforesaid, using your telephone is, at least in theory, indistinguishable from using a "regular" telephone. In fact it may be even better. Some VoIP services function like a PBX service. You can set up an auto-attendant to answer, saying "Thanks for calling, press 1 to speak with Joe Lawyer, press 2 for directions to our office," etc.

There are many options for call handling, and these may be adjusted by time of day (business v. off hours), or even by individual Caller ID (send that pesky stalker straight to voice mail, or better yet, give him a message saying the phone has been disconnected and there is no new number). One of the very nice perks is that you can for a modest fee add "virtual numbers" anywhere so that residents there can call you for the same price to them as making a local call, and it will ring on your regular VoIP number. Good for Mom residing back East, or for distant business contacts for whom you would like to create the feel of a presence in their locale.

VOIP ISN'T PERFECT PLUS A FEW CAVEATS

You can experience variances in quality, dropped calls, etc., but such problems no longer occur as frequently as in the early days. They are not so significant as to prevent many businesses from exclusively using VoIP. However, VoIP is put completely out by the very rare Internet outage. Most VoIP services (including Vonage) however, will obtain from you an alternate number (e.g. cell phone) to use in the event of such an outage.

All in all, a VoIP system is pretty easy to get up and running, and once you have done so, the user experience is pretty indistinguishable from POTS (although you should bear in mind that some of the other services dependent upon the use of computers directly, rather than just a connection to the Internet — e.g. Skype — are quite different from what is discussed above.

I use Skype, and have heard good things about the usefulness of magicJack. But I would not consider using either as my primary business telephone service provider. You need to give consideration to your professional image and to the impression created in the minds of potential and existing clients, as well as other counsel and court personnel, when they attempt to communicate with you by telephone.

WHAT'S NEXT?

You will soon be able to (and to some extent and in some circumstances with some carriers already can) use VoIP services to carry on conversations over your cell phone. The upshot is that you can use the data capabilities from your cell provider for your calls, instead of using up (and paying for) cell voice minutes. Alas, having seen the future, many carriers have begun putting an end to unlimited data plans.

Written by Yvonne M. Renfrew.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.