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By Neil J. Squillante | Sunday, December 4, 2022

You're in the wrong place but just one click away from the right place. Visit www.toplaw.news now and sign up for one of our free award-winning email newsletters for lawyers and law firm personnel.

About TopLaw

All information, legal and otherwise, falls into one of two groups — primary or secondary source. TopLaw newsletters aggregate, curate, and categorize secondary sources — "news and opinion" in the vernacular.

As depicted in the above illustration, there's far more secondary source material than primary. Given your busy schedule, you don't have time to sift through everything, which means you may rely on just a few publishers. This can lead you astray.

TopLaw solves this problem. Neil J. Squillante founded TopLaw and serves as its publisher. As a young litigator working on a high-profile trial, Neil witnessed the discrepancy between what happened in the courtroom and what the media reported. Neil created TopLaw to provide fellow lawyers and law firm personnel with the most reliable information available.

We at TopLaw carefully find the "top" source for everything you should know about in your law practice. Sometimes a major news organization has the best analysis but often it's an indie blog or even a tweet or a video. Sometimes we're the top source such as our in-depth TechnoLawyer reports on new legal products.

TopLaw newsletters save you time and unearth information you would never otherwise find. It's like having a personal research assistant.TopLaw is free so you have nothing to lose.

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Topics: TopLaw

Easysoft Online's New Interface, Features, and Integrations Makes Real Estate Closings Easier and Faster

By Neil J. Squillante | Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is cloud-based real estate closing software with built-in title searches and integrations with real estate financial platforms (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including cloud-based timeline creation and case document storage software designed for the legal profession. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

For a while, it seemed like the cloud would bypass real estate closing software. Then last year one of the leading companies shipped a cloud version that we covered in TL NewsWire. Fast forward to the present and it remains the only cloud-based real estate closing software — with a bunch of new features added since our initial reporting.

Easysoft Online in One Sentence

Easysoft Online is cloud-based software for Closing Disclosure (CD) and HUD real estate transactions, including a new user experience, templates, and third-party integrations.

The Killer Feature

Easysoft Online works in desktop and mobile web browsers. The company adds new features every week, which you can read about from within the application. You can also submit feedback and feature requests, chat with technical support, and search the knowledge base.

Regulations have made the closing workflow notoriously dense with a lot information crammed into relatively few pages. Easysoft Online mirrors these same pages for familiarity but recently implemented an accordion-style interface so that you can open only relevant parts of a page at any given time (e.g., Origination Charges, Total Loan Costs, Prepaids, Initial Escrow, etc.).

"I've used the program already on one closing and it's working great," says Felix J Mendigutia, founding partner of Law Office of Felix J. Mendigutia. "I like the fact that I can access it from home. I worked on a closing that required me to redo the documents late at night since the lender was in California. They were working late and I was able to redo the docs without having to go to the office."

Other Notable Features

Among the major new features, you can now conduct title searches from within Easysoft Online. Other recent additions include automatic calculation of taxes and government fees for all 50 states, more options for calculating tax proration, support for Balloon Payments and Range of Payments for projected payments, and a bidirectional address book so that you can add new contacts from a deal document. Easysoft Online has also improved its Ledger by enabling you to combine or split checks.

Easysoft desktop users who migrate to Easysoft Online can now import their templates as well as all their data and prior deals. You can also create new templates in Easysoft Online, which saves time if you often deal with the same buyers, lenders, etc.

Cloud-based software has an advantage when it comes to integrations, and Easysoft Online is adding them at a fast clip. It launched last year with an InfoTrack integration for 1099-S filings. More recently, it added an integration with RynohLive for managing escrow transactions and fraud protection, Fidelity National Financial for title services, and Dropbox for securely saving and sharing the final closing documents in Word or PDF format. CosmoLex and QuickBooks users can import financial data from Easysoft Online for trust accounting.

What Else Should You Know?

Easysoft Online costs $69 per user per month. "For over 30 years, Easysoft has been a leading legal software provider trusted by real estate closing professionals nationwide, says Managing Director Jeanette Knight. "Easysoft Online eliminates the need to manually calculate complex calculations by automating the calculations for you. Using Easysoft Online make you more efficient so you can make more money from your work." Explore Easysoft Online and bookmark the website.

About TL NewsWire

So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: TL NewsWire | Transactional Practice Areas

Create Timelines for Your Cases to View, Share, and Edit From Any Device

By Neil J. Squillante | Friday, May 10, 2019

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is the first cloud-based timeline creation and case document storage software designed for the legal profession (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including cloud practice management software designed to get your firm up and running quickly while also offering a seamless path to more advanced functionality when needed. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

Time plays a critical role in many criminal and civil cases. Therefore, displaying key events on a timeline is essential for depositions, settlement conferences, and trials — not to mention for your own analysis of the facts. Most legal timeline software remains bound to your PC, but a new timeline product runs in the cloud.

TrialLine in One Sentence

Law Father's TrialLine is cloud-based timeline creation software for lawyers that includes digital case document storage.

The Killer Feature

Travis Luther's wife needed to create timelines for her law practice but could not find a modern web app. So Luther, Law Father's founder and president, created a simple app for her. Other lawyers began asking for access. Sensing a market need, Luther spent several years developing TrialLine. Users of the software like it so much they refer to their timelines as "TrialLines."

Luther realized that lawyers need more than one timeline view so TrialLine offers four — Relative, Carousel, Slide, and List.

Relative View shows events in a temporally precise manner (the time distance between events), making it suitable for demonstrative evidence. TrialLine offers granularity down to the second so you can use it for injuries and other split-second incidents.

Carousel View displays events side-by-side in equal succession, while Slide View blows up events to consume the full screen similar to a PowerPoint presentation. List View offers a text specific spreadsheet-like experience that enables you to sort and filter by columns and isolate select events related to an issue of law or those that may require review by an expert witness. You can save various searches and views for later reference.

TrialLine offers two export options — export the Carousel View in a high-quality PNG image format for poster board printing or export your data in Word or Excel documents for full or category-specific case summaries.

"I discovered TrialLine while preparing an employment retaliation case for trial," says Sam Cannon, founder of Cannon Law. "Using TrialLine really helped us visualize the temporal relationship between my client's protected reports of sexual harassment to the retaliatory acts. In addition, by adding the defendant's pretextual justifications for its adverse actions as separate categories, we could display the lack of a temporal relationship between them and the adverse actions. This helped us simplify the trial."

Other Notable Features

TrialLine's event creation tool includes fields for the date and time, case-specific categories, Bates numbers, Exhibit numbers, professional providers, bills, text descriptions, and tags. You can also upload corresponding documents and videos and attach them to specific events. Your TrialLines display symbols on events to let you know they have associated categories and files.

As a case progresses, you and your colleagues can collaborate and append notes and comments to events. Additionally, "TrialLines can be easily shared online with clients and experts, allowing them to monitor case progress and contribute new or requested information," says Luther. Sharing occurs via a link in an email message. TrialLine displays all sharing history on one page, enabling you to easily revoke access.

What Else Should You Know?

For one user, TrialLine costs $9.99 per month for the software plus $9.99 per case per month for the document storage. Larger teams receive a discount (see the pricing page). The ability to store the entire case file in a HIPPA-compliant manner eliminates the need to use a digital archive provider like Iron Mountain. TrialLine splits the software and storage fee so that you can recover the latter from clients. Explore TrialLine and bookmark the website.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: Litigation/Discovery/Trials | Presentations/Projectors | TL NewsWire

Actionstep Express Offers a Fast Start for Practice Management and a Seamless Path to More Advanced Functionality

By Neil J. Squillante | Friday, April 5, 2019

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is cloud practice management software designed to get your firm up and running quickly while also offering a seamless path to more advanced functionality when needed (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including a cloud CRM platform that enables law firms to capture leads and nurture them into clients. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

With dozens of settings and even more features, a modern cloud practice management system can seem daunting. It's difficult to know where to start. Many features may go unused for months or even forever depending on the needs of your firm. Ideally, you'd be better served by a product with only the essentials that also offers a path to more advanced features when you're ready for them.

Actionstep Express in One Sentence

Launching this week, Actionstep Express is cloud practice management software designed for a quick start while offering more advanced features if or when needed via sibling products Actionstep Practice Pro and Actionstep Enterprise.

The Killer Feature

Actionstep was the first cloud practice management product when it launched in 2006. What is now called Actionstep Enterprise differentiated itself with its Workflows technology, enabling law firms to automate their business processes. Because of their flexibility and power, Workflows can require a significant investment of time to create.

Actionstep Express ships with a collection of pre-built Workflows for common practice areas. This eliminates having to build them yourself. Because no two firms are exactly alike, you can add your own custom tasks to each Workflow. Designate tasks as required or optional, calculate due dates based on triggers such as the completion of a prior task, and create and auto-assign tasks to members of your team. When someone completes a task, Express can create a time entry.

"Actionstep Express works out of the box, including pre-configured practice-area Workflows," says Founder and CEO Ted Jordan. "Firms can fine-tune the workflows by adding automated tasks at each step. Express is the best of both worlds -- all the advantages of workflow, without the setup hassle. Seamless upgrade paths mean that firms will never outgrow Actionstep."

Other Notable Features

Express provides you with everything you need to get up and running on one screen such as adding your firm's details and logo, creating accounts for your team and setting their permissions, and entering your billing and trust accounting preferences. If you currently use another product, Actionstep offers a data migration tool and can assist you with the move.

The dashboard in Express keeps you apprised of your tasks and calendar events as well as recent activity on your matters. The activity feed can also alert you about new prospects if you use Express' customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Visually track prospects from initial contact through engagement and add them to a mailing list to nurture them.

When a prospect wants to retain your firm, the conflict checker -- the same as the one in Enterprise -- can search all records with one click or construct an advanced query. Export the results in Excel or PDF format for point-in-time proof of no conflict.

Express includes several technologies designed to improve productivity and help your firm grow. For example, the Intelligent Timesheet lists events and tasks without a corresponding time entry. The Mass Billing tool lists all clients with unbilled items -- one click batch generates all the bills and emails them. Express offers many reports for analyzing your firm's finances and other data.

What Else Should You Know?

Express integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero for accounting, Office 365 and G Suite for calendar syncing, and Word and Outlook for saving documents and email in matters. Express costs $49 per user per month with an annual commitment ($59 per month otherwise). If you outgrow Express, you can upgrade to Actionstep Practice Pro or Enterprise (the company also offers a "data back guarantee"). Explore Actionstep Express and bookmark the website.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Automation/Document Assembly/Macros | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire

Automate Your Firm's Prospect Pipeline From Lead Capture to Engagement

By Neil J. Squillante | Friday, March 22, 2019

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is a cloud CRM platform that enables law firms to capture leads and nurture them into clients (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including a cloud practice platform that eliminates the need for QuickBooks and other third-party products thanks to its expansive suite of features. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

Many law firms use practice management software to manage client relationships. But far fewer use software to manage the delicate time-frame prior to engagement. Customer relationship management (CRM) software can keep your pipeline of new clients humming along in a predictable manner, especially if it's geared to the needs of law firms.

Zola CRM in One Sentence

Zola CRM is a cloud-based CRM software platform developed exclusively for law firms (you can use Zola CRM with or without Zola Suite, the company's cloud-based practice management software).

The Killer Feature

"With Zola CRM, you can intelligently manage your prospect pipeline and automate intake," says Zola Media founder, CEO and Chief Product Architect Fred J. Cohen, J.D. This starts with contact management. Zola CRM includes a mobile-friendly form you can embed on your website for lead capture (no setup required if you have a WordPress site). You can also manually create leads such as those from referrals and phone calls.

Zola CRM's dashboard lists all leads and related data such as Created Date, Source, Expected Close, Lead Owner, Conflict Cleared, Probability, Value, and Status. Statuses help you organize your leads and quickly assess which prospects require your attention or follow-up (e.g., Not Contacted, Rejected, Qualified, Retainer Sent). One-click filters list only those leads with a specific status. You can further sort this list using the other parameters listed above.

When a lead converts and becomes a client, Zola CRM's intake form seals the deal. As part of the intake process, Zola CRM can generate a retainer agreement. Integration with RMail enables new clients to electronically sign your engagement letter.

If your firm uses Zola Suite for practice management, Zola CRM appears in the main navigation. Zola Suite automatically creates a new matter, files the signed engagement letter in that matter, and imports each new client's contact information for immediate use. Zola Suite, which includes trust and financial accounting, can even bill the new client for a retainer fee and accept payment via credit card.

Other Notable Features

Zola CRM's dashboard contains several charts above the contact list. The Lead Pipeline visually displays leads in a sales funnel by status so that you can identify problem spots (e.g., too few new leads, too many unsigned retainers, etc.). Donut charts enable you to analyze leads using any metric such as leads by source or practice areas. The Dashboard also lists the value of your pipeline as well as the number of new leads and conversions over a configurable period of time.

Zola CRM has a built-in email client for Office 365 and G Suite so that you can email prospects from your own email account and track all communications. Zola CRM also includes notes and tasks. These email messages, notes, and tasks eventually get stored in Zola Suite if you use that product for a complete record of all communications and activities from first contact.

What Else Should You Know?

Zola Suite Enterprise ($79 per user/month) and Enterprise Plus ($89 per user/month) include Zola CRM. As a standalone product, Zola CRM is free for up to 100 leads, including unlimited lead capture and intake forms. Pricing for unlimited leads depends on the number of users. Zola Media offers optional services such as website and blog design and hosting, logo and stationery design, and legal content for your practice areas that you can edit and publish. Explore Zola CRM and bookmark the website.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Is This the Most Robust Practice Management System of Them All?

By Neil J. Squillante | Thursday, January 24, 2019

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is a cloud practice platform that eliminates the need for QuickBooks and other third-party products thanks to its expansive suite of features (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including an Android and iPhone app for capturing billable time on the go, including multiple timers, voice-to-speech, and other shortcuts. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

The branch of mathematics known as chaos theory posits that unpredictable events are normal, not out of the ordinary. Busy, growing law firms know this all too well, always expecting the unexpected. This explains why many seek practice management software to bring as much order to this chaos as possible. The more your software can do, the better equipped you'll be.

Zola Suite in One Sentence

Zola Suite is a cloud-based practice management platform that offers billing, financial and trust accounting, matter and document management, full email capabilities, and much more.

The Killer Feature

"Zola Suite is a fully-unified practice management system on which you can run your law firm without having to juggle multiple integrations," says founder, CEO, and Chief Product Architect Fred J. Cohen, J.D. Cohen often uses the word "robust" to describe Zola Suite. The Add New Entry button at the top of every screen serves an apt metaphor for this characterization. Unlike similar buttons in competing products, this one gives you access to all major functions instead of just a handful.

Zola Suite's robustness results in several key differentiators, the most unique of which is its built-in email and calendar apps -- an endeavor few competitors have attempted. Zola Suite works with Office 365, G Suite, and other services. You can encrypt messages using RPost (included at no cost), automatically save them to the corresponding matter, and record a time entry, all from a single screen. The calendar sends standard invites that recipients can accept in all major email and calendar systems. You can continue to use Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, etc. as you do now.

Continuing with this "robust" theme, Zola Suite includes an accounting system that eliminates the need for products like QuickBooks. You'll find small touches like showing the Sent Date on invoices as well as major timesavers like the ability to bulk email invoices, trust requests, and statements of account. Thanks to its ability to connect with banks, you can import bank and credit card transactions for faster reconciliations.

"We are a mid-sized firm and Zola definitely helped us grow," says Thomas Dunlap, founder of Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC. "It's a fantastic cloud-based solution for a firm with multiple locations and attorneys that need to collaborate on a single platform."

Other Notable Features

Similar depth exists across Zola Suite's other functions. For example, the trust accounting system prevents you from assigning more than a matter's trust balance to an invoice even if the underlying bank balance is larger, the billing system can track hard and soft costs, and the task management system has features like multiple assignees and subtasks typically found in project management systems. Reports include all the ones you'd expect plus proprietary reports like Timekeeper Productivity and WIP-AR-Trust for greater visibility.

Zola Suite also has features for your clients. The company's Caseway secure portal enables clients to pay invoices, scan documents, and communicate with your firm. Zola also offers a white-label mobile app that can be customized with your firm's branding. Clients can download your app from the Apple or Google stores.

What Else Should You Know?

Zola Suite offers three plans -- Core ($59 per user per month), Enterprise ($79), or Enterprise Plus ($89). The optional branded app has a one-time setup cost of $99. Zola Suite integrates with sister product Zola CRM for managing your marketing efforts. Explore Zola Suite and bookmark the website.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Email/Messaging/Telephony | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire

Capture Billable Time on the Go as It Happens and Before You Forget

By Neil J. Squillante | Thursday, January 10, 2019

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is an Android and iPhone app for capturing billable time on the go, including multiple timers, voice-to-speech, and other shortcuts (see article below). Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

Lawyers lead increasingly complex and harried lives. One unfortunate side effect is lost billable time, especially when out of the office. While there's no escaping the laws of physics and adding more hours to the day, you can prevent lost time by capturing it on your smartphone. And now there's a new app for that.

PCLaw Go in One Sentence

PCLaw Go is a new timekeeping app for Android and iOS devices that enables users of the popular legal billing and accounting system PCLaw to post billable time entries from their smartphone while out of the office.

The Killer Feature

The designers of PCLaw Go set out to eliminate barriers between you and capturing billable hours. The built-in timer enables you to contemporaneously record a billable activity and enter that time on the go. You can run multiple timers simultaneously and switch among them. You can also enter time manually after the fact.

Either way, the matter lookup in PCLaw Go quickly finds the applicable matter in PCLaw for the associated time entry. When tapped, the Explanation Field expands to consume most of the screen for comfort and context when writing a detailed description of the entered time. PCLaw Go takes advantage of underlying technologies in Android and iOS such as voice-to-text for dictating your description.

When the explanation field is collapsed, the time entry screen displays the date, duration, matter, client, task code, explanation code, and rate (including exceptions). Your firm can select which fields in addition to the duration and matter are required versus optional.

When you're done with the time entry, one tap sends it to your PCLaw software. The app confirms receipt. If you use Time Matters, LexisNexis offers Time Matters Go offering similar functionality.

Other Notable Features

PCLaw Go can remind you to enter time daily, on weekdays, or on a specific day using your smartphone's notification system. You also choose what time you want to receive your reminder notifications.

You can save a time entry in progress as a draft. The Drafts screen also lists paused timers. One tap from Drafts takes you to History, which serves as a dashboard. At the top is a calendar. Tap on a day to view all the time entries for that day and the total time captured.

"There is a high demand for busy professionals to stay connected, even when they are on the go," says Scott Wallingford, Vice President of Strategy and Product Management for LexisNexis Law Firm Software Solutions. "PCLaw Go allows users to capture their time from anywhere, reducing time loss and increasing revenue. We've incorporated useful features like voice-to-text, a built-in timer, and automatic spelling correction to ensure that this app is both easy to use and convenient."

What Else Should You Know?

PCLaw Go requires PCLaw 14.2.2 or higher. Getting up and running involves two steps. Your administrator installs a utility on your PCLaw server and configures PCLaw Go. Invited users receive a link to the PCLaw Go app via email. The app is also available for download from the App Store for the iOS version or Google Play for the Android version. PCLaw Go honors all the same security settings as PCLaw, and PCLaw Go transmissions are encrypted (none of this data is stored by LexisNexis). Explore PCLaw Go and bookmark the website.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | TL NewsWire

Practice Management Software That Spans the Entire Client Lifecycle

By Neil J. Squillante | Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is cloud practice management software that tracks "opportunities" in addition to matters, namely your sales pipeline prior to when clients engage your firm (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including a litigation analytics product that enables you to analyze the historical record of experts and judges to inform your case strategy and brief writing. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

Remember when you were a young lawyer and wondered where clients come from? Eventually, your boss sits you down, tells you about the facts of life, and asks you to pitch in with rainmaking efforts. Most practice management systems don't accommodate this aspect of your legal career, but one company seeks to change this.

matters.Cloud in One Sentence

matters.Cloud is a practice management system that covers the entire lifecycle of your clients, including prior to engagement when they're prospects.

The Killer Feature

Typically, practice management systems use a new client or matter the starting point for data collection. This skips the critical marketing and sales phase during which prospects contact you. matters.Cloud includes this initial phase, eliminating the need for separate customer relationship management (CRM) or intake software.

You enter organizations as you see fit. You can then add notes and tasks to help you close the deal. Assign tasks to colleagues and add other details such as contacts, addresses, etc. as you obtain more information. At this stage, there's no "matter" so instead you create an "opportunity" -- a term of art in CRM software that means a potential sale. You can track time spent on opportunities to analyze your rainmaking activities. Make your most important opportunities "Favorites" for fast access from the Dashboard.

matters.Cloud recently added a visual pipeline much like you would find in CRM products to better visualize your sales process. The pipeline functions like a Kanban board in which you move opportunities through each stage. To assist your sales outreach, matters.Cloud integrates with Mailchimp for email marketing.

"matters.Cloud utilizes the latest technology allowing lawyers to collaborate, interact with clients and get an up to date picture of their matters from initial intake to completion," says founder Fraser Mayfield.

Other Notable Features

The Dashboard in matters.Cloud befits the modern era with a Google Scholar search box and your favorite Twitter feeds alongside your most relevant matters and opportunities, monthly billable hours, upcoming and overdue tasks, and the time entry tool. matters.Cloud integrates with the popular writing service Grammerly to ensure clear and concise time entries.

The calendar in matters.Cloud shows your time entries for each day. Days without any time display the time entry tool for quick input. The matters.Cloud mobile app for Android and iOS also helps you stay up-to-date on time tracking, including the ability to initiate a call from the app and have the time recorded. "The mobile app has all the same functionality as the desktop web app," says Mayfield.

Given its emphasis on the entire client lifecycle, matters.Cloud offers conflict checking via its global search. Just as importantly, you can track all contacts associated with your matters and their relationship — opposing counsel, parties, service providers, etc. You can also create custom fields to track anything else of importance. Everyone with whom you've ever dealt will arise in your conflict searches.

What Else Should You Know?

Whether it's your state bar or GDPR, matters.Cloud enables you to comply with any applicable data privacy regulations. Thanks to matters.Cloud being built on Google Cloud, you can choose to store your data in the United States, Australia, Europe, or India. The company isolates your database and encrypts all data at rest and in transit. matters.Cloud costs $25 per month per user. Explore matters.Cloud in more detail and bookmark the site.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: Law Firm Marketing/Publications/Web Sites | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire

The Lawyer's Guide to a Well-Appointed iPad (Third Edition)

By Neil J. Squillante | Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Notwithstanding its immersive nature, ease of use, and large app library, the iPad suffers from a misperception that it's a toy not suitable for real legal work.

The Lawyer's Guide to a Well-Appointed iPad sets the record straight, and will help you better leverage your iPad. Co-authored by seven iPad experts — all lawyers — it offers a carefully curated collection of apps, accessories, and power user tips.

Don't have an iPad? Chapter 1 guides you to the best iPad model and configuration for your needs.

The ebook is in PDF format, and designed such that you can read it on your iPad without having to squint or pinch-to-zoom. It also looks great on desktop and laptop monitors.

Download your free PDF copy of this ebook now.

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Topics: Coming Attractions | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | TL Research

Get Inside the Heads of Experts and Judges Using Their Own Historical Data

By Neil J. Squillante | Sunday, December 16, 2018

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product enables you to analyze the historical record of experts and judges to inform your case strategy, including an expert's track record on Daubert challenges and citations your judge prefers (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including cloud billing software for solos and small firms with new trust accounting and other billing productivity tools. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

Everyone engages in mind reading. It's human nature. But it's not a good idea when it comes to the expert witnesses and the judges in your cases. You're much better off analyzing actual data.

Context in One Sentence

Context on Lexis Advance is a new litigation analytics product that enables you to visualize and leverage the historical record of experts and judges to draft better arguments.

The Killer Feature

Context grew out of Ravel Law, which LexisNexis acquired in 2017. Ravel Law garnered attention for its judge analytics offering, enabling lawyers to get inside the head of a judge before starting a legal research project.

With access to the vast store of legal knowledge on Lexis Advance, including more than 380,000 expert witness profiles, the Ravel Law team has achieved a breakthrough they call "case-law language analytics" -- the ability to transform unstructured documents into actionable data.

This has paved the way for Expert Analytics. Search for an expert and Context displays a dashboard with charts showing that expert's case volume by year, area of law, and jurisdiction, and another chart showing the hiring party breakdown. You'll also find current and past curricula vitae, contact information, and more.

Click the Analytics tab and you see the practical results of case-law language analytics. The Challenges Outcome Analysis chart lists the expert's Daubert challenge history, including the percent of testimony admitted, admitted in part, and excluded. An accompanying table lists each case, the basis of the challenge (methodology, qualification, relevance, or procedural), and the outcome. To the right, you'll find the corresponding court opinions for exploring these challenges in more depth.

"A resource like Context enables an attorney to better strategize," says Diana Witt, Director of Library Services at Akerman LLP. "Leveraging its analytics increases the probability of winning a case."

Other Notable Features

Context also brings case-law language analytics to bear on judges with Judge Analytics. After entering the name of your judge, the dashboard provides the judge's biography, contact information, etc. High-level charts break out opinion volume by year and area of law.

The Analytics tab takes you to the judge's Motion Outcomes chart, which compiles the percentage of motions granted, granted in part, and denied by 100 different motion types. You can filter by area of law, court, and motion type. Click on the type of motion that interests you and Context lists the applicable court opinions and outcomes.

Context also provides Citation Patterns for the judge you're researching. This means you can cite opinions in your brief that your judge is likely to find persuasive. A chart lists the judges most frequently cited by your judge (including self-citations). Cards that resemble those in Lexis Answers group related citations by point of law and display the key language from each case for you to copy and paste into your brief.

What Else Should You Know?

"With a few keystrokes, Context delivers the critical insights and analysis attorneys need to more quickly and successfully prepare their cases for court," says Jeff Pfeifer, Vice President of Product Management. "When attorneys know what specific language a judge regularly uses, or how well an expert's testimony will stand up to judicial scrutiny, they are empowered to argue more persuasively and effectively on behalf of their clients. Only Context delivers this level of insight, right from the very start of the litigation process." Explore Context on Lexis Advance and bookmark the website.

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Topics: Legal Research | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | TL NewsWire
 
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