TechnoLawyer: Business Productivity/Word Processing

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a communications solution that integrates desktop faxing and PDF creation, a free Web analytics tool, and a free Web-based productivity suite. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Double Your Productivity
By Dennis Kennedy

Many lawyers want a desktop faxing tool. Many lawyers also want a PDF creation tool. As digital technologies converge, you can see the overlap between these two tools. Once we scan a document, we should be able to fax it and email it — with one click.

Equisys' Zetafax Duo 2007 integrates the popular Zetafax with Zetadocs PDF. The result is what it calls a visual document builder that enables you to create and combine documents into PDF files that you can can fax or email, whichever makes the most sense for you and the recipient. And you can do all of this from Outlook.

With the Zetadocs PDF component, you can merge documents created in different programs or scanned using any TWAIN-compliant scanner into a single PDF file (e.g., a cover letter created in Word and a bill created in your time-billing software). You can also apply your letterhead, logo, etc., attach existing PDF files, and archive every file you fax and email. Best of all, for routine tasks that you perform over and over again, you can create "automation commands" (macros) that perform a series of tasks with one click (handy for distributing a client newsletter).

With the Zetafax component, you can send and receive faxes using the Zetafax client or, as noted above, Outlook. Because faxes are routed over your law firm's network, they remain secure from sender to recipient. Zetafax 2007 integrates with Microsoft Office 2007 and Exchange 2007, but also supports prior versions of both products. Zetafax 2007 also integrates with just about any other mail sever via its optional email gateway, and many popular CRM programs such as ACT!, Goldmine, and SalesLogix.

Zetafax Duo 2007 installs quickly and takes advantage of Windows Group Policy to let you roll out client software from a central location rather than visiting each desktop. Zetafax Duo pricing starts at $1,295 for 5 users (upgrades start at $795). Learn more about Zetafax Duo 2007.

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

Coming May 25, 2007 to Fat Friday: Martin Dean reviews Acrobat 8 Professional from a lawyer's perspective, Arthur Smith discusses why he thinks CLE providers shouldn't sell course in MP3 format or permit those who buy such courses to share them with friends, Channing Strother puts Barron Henley's advice about Dell to the test, Richard Hackerd explains how his paper-less solo practice works, and Al Greene warns against buying a computer with Vista pre-installed (plus we point you to every available Vista printer driver). 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 May 24, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Gray Strickland reviews dtSearch and explains how to use it in conjunction with a document management system, Christel Burris reviews Worldox, Susan Billeaud reviews her new Compaq Presario laptop, Adam Drennen offers some suggestions for securely erasing a hard drive, and Dan Whittle reviews SpiritWorks Software's Activity & Expense Tracker for expert witness billing. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 May 18, 2007 to Fat Friday: Blake Bailey shares his thoughts on Preservation Demand letters and other issues associated with amended Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, Ruth Sternglantz responds to a recent post on practicing public interest law, Charles Beach laments about the shortcomings of smartphones and proposes an alternative, Kevin Svec explains how to end the Word v. WordPerfect debate once and for all, and Peter Shafran provides an update on the saga of criminal defense lawyer Joseph Caramagno. 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 May 10, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Erin Baldwin compares PCLaw and Worldox for document management, Mike Millen reviews his experience using Kodak Imaging for Windows (now G360) to manipulate TIFF files, Edd Schillay reviews Windows Vista after using it for a month, Frank Brancato reviews PaperPort 10 for converting PDF files to WordPerfect documents, and Gray Strickland offers up a few solutions to rendering a hard drive useless to snoops. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers software for managing client trust and escrow accounts, online sticky notes, and a free service for sending files too large to email. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Stop Losing Sleep Over Client Trust Accounting
By Dennis Kennedy

A surprisingly large percentage of disbarments and disciplinary actions against lawyers arise out of the mishandling of client trust funds. The rules for handling trust funds can seem arcane — especially for bookkeepers and accountants not experienced with law office trust accounting and ethical rules. To make matters worse, many general business accounting programs either do not handle trust accounting or provide only rudimentary or limited options.

Easy Soft's Easy Trust software enables you to take charge of your firm's trust and escrow accounting needs, and comply with the applicable rules in your jurisdiction. Easy Trust can track and reconcile receipts and disbursements for each of your clients separately while providing tight controls and an audit trail.

Thanks to a "simple, elegant interface," you can easily set up client ledger cards and enter transactions. You can create as many bank accounts or client ledger cards you need. Most importantly, Easy Trust prevents common trust accounting mistakes from occurring. For example, by default it guards against client ledgers having a negative balance.

Easy Trust also provides security and control. You can set up an account for each user with its own set of permissions limiting what that person can do in the program (e.g., transaction "entry only" permission without the ability to "print checks" or perform "bank reconciliation"). Other helpful features include overdraft alerts, bank reconciliation, and three-way reconciliation.

Easy Trust generates a variety of useful reports designed to simplify the audit and review process. For example, you can view the prior month's reconciliation reports, enabling you to easily match the reports with the corresponding bank statements. Various bank and client ledger reports can be produced with a single click. Also, users of Easy Soft's Easy HUD RESPA program can import settlement transactions directly from HUD-1 forms.

Easy Trust costs $499. Licenses for additional computers cost $199 each. Learn more about Easy Trust.

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

Coming May 3, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Charles Stokes reviews Microsoft Access for litigation support with a few important caveats, Yvonne Renfrew explains how to save Outlook email to a PDF file using Acrobat 7 (and we tell you how to do it with Acrobat 8), Edward Zohn discusses why it really doesn't matter which word processor you use, Kent Davis shares three document management options for a midsize law firm (120 users), and Andy Satori offers his suggestions for effectively wiping a hard drive. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 May 4, 2007 to Fat Friday: Mark Bassett reviews Any Password Pro for login and password management, Harry Steinmetz discusses the benefits of using PowerPoint properly, Michael Harnois shares his experience activating his Acrobat 8 Professional upgrade, Stephen Silverberg reviews Sony versus Olympus digital dictation recorders, and David O'Connell discusses the role of insurers in tort litigation. 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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a PDF solution with legal-specific features, a Word add-on for law firms, and a solution for administrating  stock and stock option plans without running afoul of regulations such as FASB 123R. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Not Just PDF, PDF for Law Firms
By Dennis Kennedy

With the number of PDF solutions growing like gangbusters, consumers have become pickier. While price remains important, it has become imperative for PDF vendors to further differentiate their products by focusing on the needs of a specific market such as legal.

A good example is DocsCorp's pdfDocs Desktop, which combines affordability with many features and an integrated desktop approach. PdfDocs Desktop enables everyone in your firm to create, secure, and manage PDF documents, and integrates with popular document management systems.

You can easily create PDFs by printing documents, spreadsheets, email, and Web pages to the pdfDocs printer. You can also create PDFs by dragging and dropping a document onto the pdfDocs Organizer workspace area. The program also handles PDF forms — both creating them and filling them out — a feature that has become "must have" for many law firms.

pdfDocs Desktop helps you secure your documents by both password protection and metadata removal. You can prevent readers from modifying documents, and control who can open and view them. You can also redact information from sensitive documents using a special redaction tool.

pdfDocs Desktop can merge documents created by different programs into a single PDF, rearrange documents, change the order of pages, insert page numbers, and add bookmarks, highlights, logos, watermarks, notes, and Bates stamps. In short, you can perform a wide variety of useful tasks that one-trick-pony PDF creation programs will not let you do.

Of special interest to law firms is pdfDocs Desktop's ability to integrate with popular legal document management systems from Hummingbird, Interwoven, Worldox, and others, enabling you can create PDF files easily with a right-click of your mouse from within those systems. You can also easily save your PDF files in the appropriate folders.

pdfDocs Desktop also integrates with Outlook to automatically convert email attachments to PDF format, and email multiple attachments as a single PDF file on the fly. pdfDocs Desktop also integrates with scanners.

Pricing for pdfDocs Desktop starts at $126 plus $24 per year for support, but volume discounts are available.  Learn more about pdfDocs Desktop.

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

Coming April 26, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Tony Fama provides detailed instructions for entering deposits into trust accounts in QuickBooks, Roy Greenberg discusses the various solutions he has found for editing PDFs, Richard Schafer explains how to switch your monitor from landscape to portrait, Jason Havens discusses the positive impact Vista may have on Microsoft's competitors, and George Ripplinger reviews Amicus Attorney and PCLaw. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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.