TechnoLawyer: Business Productivity/Word Processing

Coming today to Answers to Questions: David Stuckel reviews the Philips Pocket Memo 9360, Ann Donovan reviews Fastcase for legal research, Richard Hackerd discusses the expectations of law firms within the context of Amicus Attorney, Julian Garcia discusses KVM switches and reviews LogMeIn, and Jim Uschold shares his two main complaints about WordPerfect after 20 years of daily use. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Corey Rich reviews the Firefox extension ScrapBook for capturing and saving Web pages, Jeff Schlueter discusses file format and device options for spoken audio as well as some thoughts on audio discovery, and Julian Garcia explains why you should avoid long file names. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: B.J. Cowen compares VNC to Remote Desktop and provides several tips for setting up multiple monitors, Jonathan Warshay shares how he customized buttons and the toolbar in Word, and Marty Barrack reviews Intermedia's Microsoft Exchange hosting service. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Leslie Shear responds to a recent SmallLaw column about bar associations and shares her experience as a family law practitioner in California, Michael Kelly reviews Novabrain Business Explorer, FileCenter, and ProjectTrack, Thomas F. McDow discusses ActiveWords and how it competes against Microsoft, Kerry Hubick provides some helpful Microsoft Word tips, and Richard Ure explores the logic behind the Mac versus PC debate. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: John Starkweather shares his theory on why Prolaw doesn't get much "air time," Larry Southerland discusses the best word processor for law students and offers some advice regarding outline preparation, Erin Baldwin provides tips for securing a workstation and changing user access on a network, James Shenwick reviews MessageSave, and Steve Schiffer discusses a cheap way to use two computers with one monitor. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers real estate automation software (see article below), an application for local and remote backups, and a Web clipping service with an optional iPhone counterpart. Don't miss the next issue.

Automate Your Real Estate Closings
By Neil J. Squillante

In today's real estate market, buyers and sellers want their lawyers to work more efficiently to reduce costs. That means you can either wring your hands and reminisce about the good old days or you can streamline your closings so that you can undercut the competition without reducing your profitability. If you choose the latter strategy, you'll need some help from your trusty PC.

Easy HUD ... in One Sentence
Easy Soft's Easy HUD real estate closing software automates the entire real estate closing process, enabling you to enter information once and create all the statements needed for a transaction, including HUD-1 and HUD-1A.

The Killer Feature
For real estate lawyers, the job doesn't end when the parties sign the closing documents. Other responsibilities include disbursement of and accounting for client trust monies and reporting sales proceeds to the Internal Revenue Service on form 1099-S.

With Easy HUD, you can electronically file 1099-S forms, and also print copies for the seller. This automation reduces the risk of error while also eliminating the time required to re-enter closing data.

Other Notable Features
Easy HUD doesn't only fill in forms for you, but performs calculations as well for more than 40 jurisdictions (if your state is not included, Easy Soft will add it for you). Easy HUD can handle just about any situation, including transactions with two loans, and up to 8 buyers and 8 sellers.

If you handle many similar transactions, you can create templates for HUD-1 and HUD-1A and share them throughout your firm. You can output completed forms in PDF or Word format. A case log lists all transactions and their status.

An integrated ledger can automatically adjust for pre-disbursements, earned deposits, and mortgage yield spread premiums. You can combine or split checks, print checks, and print an itemized ledger for each real estate closing.

Easy HUD integrates with two other offerings from Easy Soft — Easy Trust for managing client trust accounts, and 1099-S electronic filing service.

What Else Should You Know?
According to Easy Soft, Easy HUD's automation can reduce the time required for preparing closing documents by 70%. Easy HUD runs on Windows and costs $149.50 for a one year license with tech support and upgrades. Additional annual licenses cost $49.50 each. Learn more about Easy HUD.

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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers document comparison software that extends beyond Microsoft Word (see article below), a time-billing program with conflict checking, and a Web-based discovery review and litigation analysis application. Don't miss the next issue.

Compare Apples to Oranges
By Peter R. Olson

While the human eye may not be able to discern the difference between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, being unable to see what opposing counsel changed in the agreement you're drafting is no laughing matter. Technology usually comes in two varieties — must have and nice to have. Document comparison resides firmly in the must-have category. But what happens when opposing counsel throws you a curveball and returns the agreement in PDF format, or worse, faxes it back to you?

pdfDocs compareDocs 3.1 ... in One Sentence
DocsCorp's pdfDocs compareDocs enables you to compare any two versions of a document regardless of their respective formats.

The Killer Feature
Many document comparison tools use their own proprietary format for the file in which you review, accept, and reject the changes. By contrast, compareDocs outputs the changes in your choice of Word or PDF format — the two major document format standards.

For example, if you compare two Word files with compareDocs, you review the changes in Word. As a result, you can continue to work in the document. You won't have to switch between documents or applications.

Other Notable Features
compareDocs can compare two versions of a document in different formats. It works its magic thanks to its inclusion in the pdfDocs Suite, which includes robust PDF tools. Thus, if you send opposing counsel a Word file and receive a PDF file back, compareDocs can convert your original file to PDF format to facilitate the comparison. An optional OCR component even enables you to compare two PDF documents and output the marked up document as a Word document.

compareDocs 3.1 adds support for the .docx format in Microsoft Office 2007. It also includes better handling of tables, headers, and footers. The comparison engine also runs faster.

compareDocs has long integrated with document management systems such as Interwoven, Open Text, and Worldox. The new version adds Web-based document management system NetDocuments to this list.

What Else Should You Know?
As noted above, pdfDocs compareDocs 3.1 resides within the pdfDocs Suite, which sells for $189. The suite also includes pdfDocs formFiller and pdfDocs Desktop, the latter of which provides law firms with PDF creation, collation, redaction, file splitting, bates numbering, automatic document binding for closing or deal books, and other tools. pdfDocs OCR Server is available for an additional charge. Learn more about pdfDocs compareDocs 3.1.

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 September 18, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Andrea Cannavina reviews the Olympus DS-4000 and DS-2300 as well as the Philips Pocket Memo 9600, Howard Walker reviews Amicus Attorney 2008 Small Firm Edition (plus a response from Gavel and Gown Software), James Vernon reviews Prolaw READY and how it stacks up against its competitors, Kathy Burnett offers a courtroom presentation tip, and J. J. explains why one word processor will always have the edge. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming September 11, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Julian Garcia provides some password security tips and reviews Whisper32 and Billeo, John Pierce reviews Synergy for using one keyboard and mouse for multiple computers, Paul Lepine shares a recent conversation with Copernic Inc. about a change in pricing, Paul Mansfield clarifies a recent Post about Time Matters 7 and offers his views on upgrading, and Deborah Spanic reviews SplashID for BlackBerry. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming September 12, 2008 to Fat Friday: Marina Pavicevic reviews i-TOOLS for document processing and production, Steven Brower discusses the real problem with eDiscovery and he reviews Nuix for searching email, Andrew Weltchek shares how permission based spam control works for him, Tom Trottier responds to a recent TechnoFeature about applying Toyota's Production System to law firms, and Brent Blanchard discusses his Word-WordPerfect hardships. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.