TechnoLawyer: Email/Messaging/Telephony

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.

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

Coming May 18, 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 11, 2007 to Fat Friday: David Ventker discusses how he reduced overhead expenses in his litigation boutique by going paperless, Daniel Fennick reviews CD ripping service Ready to Play, Thomas Beltran reviews his experience getting his Dell laptop repaired, Rob Howard reviews his Treo 700p and compares it to the iPhone, and JP Siou sets the record straight regarding Outlook's advanced search function. 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 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 April 27, 2007 to Fat Friday: Paul Lepine reviews his VXI Tuffset telephone switch box for telephone and dictation (an update on a Post from three years ago), Wells Anderson clarifies Time Matters' current support policy and points to some free Time Matters resources on the Web, Ben Schorr explains why Outlook has a size limit on Rules and how this limit has changed in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Stephen Adams reviews his experience with Dell tech support and laptop repair services, and Julia Gordon responds to a recent TechnoFeature article about hardware and software upgrades. 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 April 20, 2007 to Fat Friday: Dave Culbertson reviews and provides a comprehensive guide to getting started with the Fujitsu ScanSnap s500 in a law firm, Eli Nelson discusses the risks associated with clawbacks and sneak peaks during discovery, Joyce Glucksman reviews her Treo 650 after nine months of use, Andrew Shear reviews PasswordMaker, and Charles T. Lester, Jr. explains how to see a file's metadata using Windows Explorer. 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 April 17, 2007 to TechnoFeature: Do you only use your Treo as a phone and to occasionally check your email? Did you know that you can also use it listen to music, read books, review documents, share photos, and much more? In this article, attorney Bryan Sims details his top 12 Treo programs for the mobile lawyer (we tried to stop him at 10, but he just kept writing). Among his picks, you'll find both free and commercial programs, professional programs geared for productivity, and programs that just make a Treo more fun.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. 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 that enhances and adds features to Outlook, integrated network security software, and an online client development application. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Take Client Development to a Higher Level
By Dennis Kennedy

Lawyers often focus on cases and matters. But before a case or matter comes into existence, you must deal with people — both existing and prospective clients. The traditional address book doesn't give you enough horsepower for sales, and high-end customer relationship management software is overkill for most law firms. So where do you turn?

37 Signals designed Highrise as a new Web-based approach to capture the middle ground between address books and the big CRM packages. The focus lies in giving you just the tools you need to manage people and projects and nothing more. With Highrise, you can share contacts, assign tasks based on those contacts, maintain a contact history, and, most importantly, group together related people, companies, notes, and other information in a "case," a term that should appeal to lawyers.

You can use Highrise for your own contacts or search for contacts across your firm. Highrise also helps you move from contact list to action. You can act on your contacts by setting follow-ups, calls, meetings, thank you notes, reminders, and more. Highrise can even send reminders to your mobile phone. You can log calls, conversations, email, and other communications with your contacts. You log email by simply forwarding or copying Highrise.

You can also mine new information from your contact lists. See all communications with a group of people. Build a list of all the experts on a given issue. Generate a list of your clients with whom you have not had contact in the last year. Etc.

Highrise comes from the same company that produces Basecamp, a popular online project management tool that we use to write this newsletter. Highrise is available in a free version with limits on the number of cases and people you can set up, and in five other versions ranging from $12 to $149 per month. SSL security kicks in at $49/month, which most law firms would probably deem necessary. Learn more about Highrise.

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 13, 2007 to Fat Friday: Roy Allen reviews Interwoven's FileSite client for managing Outlook email, Paolo Broggi provides some Amicus Attorney-PDA syncing tips, William Kellermann responds to a recent TechnoFeature on software upgrades, Andrea Cannavina shares her thoughts on the place of technology in the law office, and Thomas McDow explains how he achieved a seamless paperless workflow. 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 April 12, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Leslie Shear shares how she managed case-related emails in Outlook and what has changed since switching to Apple Mail, Andy Satori explains the trouble with converting PDF to an editable format, Arthur Kamp reviews Worldox, Aaron Craft reviews several tools from Sysinternals including a disk-wiping utility, and Mina Diksies explains how to view two WordPerfect documents using dual monitors (one on each). 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.