TechnoLawyer: Law Office Management

Coming August 18, 2006 to Fat Friday: Glenn Curran shares his thoughts on multiple monitors, Channing Strother reviews the Shure E2c earphones plus offers up some purchasing tips, and Douglas Thomas discusses age discrimination and the unique way lawyers can circumvent it. Don't miss this issue.

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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 mobile billing solution for solos and small firms, a Web-based tool for tracking vacations and other time off, and a new multifunction inkjet copier/fax/printer/scanner. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Mobile Billing for Small Firms
By Dennis Kennedy
Time sheets are the bane of existence for most lawyers, especially for lawyers on the move during the day. Solos and small firm lawyers are among the most mobile in the legal profession because they usually spend more time in court and with clients. Often, these lawyers don't have a timesheet handy to record activities. During a hectic day, they may forget about activities that add up to a significant amount of time.

The all-too-common result is that lawyers "lose" billable time because they forget to record it or underestimate what time they spent on projects.

AIRTIME-Manager's AIRTIME-Professional helps lawyers contemporaneously capture time entries wherever they are by using their BlackBerrys, Treos, and Windows Mobile devices.

Originally available as AIRTIME-Enterprise for larger firms, AIRTIME-Professional is a new version designed for solos and small law firms.

AIRTIME-Professional enables you to record time entries immediately after you finish an e-mail or phone call by popping up a reminder entry screen on your mobile device so you can enter time for the activity. You can also enter time no matter where use a mobile device. Thus, on-the-go lawyers can capture time that is often forgotten or underestimated when they return to the office and get to a traditional timesheet.

AIRTIME-Professional also "remembers" and aggregates small amounts of time spent on e-mail and phone calls. When these small amounts reach a pre-determined threshold, say fifteen minutes, you will be notified and can make a decision about whether to bill that time rather than "lose" those small amounts.

AIRTIME-Professional has some nifty features designed specifically for solos and small firms. For example, it integrates with most time-billing software. Thus, lawyers can synchronize their client/matter numbers as well as their billing codes. And of course, they can export the time captured by AIRTIME-Professional into these programs for final processing.

AIRTIME-Professional has two components — the client software on your mobile device and a Web-based component for managing your time entries and synchronizing with your time-billing software.

AIRTIME-Professional costs $25/month for solos or $100/month for five lawyers. Other configurations also exist. No contract is required, but if you sign up for a year you receive two months for free.  Learn more about AIRTIME-Professional.

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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 August 8, 2006 to TechnoFeature: Does the word "budget" make you want to run for the hills? Sure, creating a budget can seem overwhelming and scary — but so can not meeting financial goals. In this article, CPA and law firm specialist Richard Puzo outlines the basics of budgeting for a law practice. Rick will show you how to assess your firm's needs and create an adaptable financial plan that will yield big results. He almost makes it seem ... easy.

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.

Coming August 1, 2006 to TechnoFeature: So excited about your office move that you have focused more on the wall color than Internet access? Or has planning to move your firm proven so overwhelming that you don't even know where to begin? In this article, legal coach and consultant Edward Poll takes you step by step through the moving process and offers up some important factors to consider. Whether you just need help prioritizing or you've just begun contemplating a new space, Ed will lead the way.

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.

Most lawyers wouldn't admit getting fired to their friends much less blog about it, but that's exactly what Denise Howell (former IP Memes contributor) did last week after being fired from Reed Smith. Her Post in her Bag & Baggage blog has sparked a flurry of supportive Posts from fellow bloggers. Notwithstanding this publicity, the facts remain a mystery — and may never see the light of day. Will this event become a turning point in the way law firms handle sensitive personnel issues? Only time will tell.

Read Denise Howell's Post, Have Aeron, Will Travel. Read what other bloggers have had to say.

And speaking of large firm antics, two weeks ago we reviewed Billable Hours, an amusing spoof about partners in large law firms. About 1,000 of you got to see the film before it was yanked from YouTube for reasons we don't know. Fortunately, we found another copy of the film. Watch it while you still can.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming July 28, 2006 to Fat Friday: Steve Bondy discusses the risks involved in hiring amateurs, Bob Walsh reviews how his firms uses multiple monitors and FileCenter to achieve a paperless office, and Miriam Jacobson shares her thoughts on age discrimination in the legal profession. 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 July 21, 2006 to Fat Friday: Matthew Gould shares the details of his quest to find the perfect practice management solution, Kate Murphy discusses the best advice she ever received for her legal practice, and Josh Friedman reviews his new Brother HL-5250DN laser printer. 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.

David Cardon, a lawyer at Cardon & Goodman in Hampton Roads, Virginia, has produced and released a short 4.5 minute film entitled Billable Hours. A spoof reminiscent of the cult classic Office Space, Cardon's film depicts large law firm lawyers as boorish middle-aged men more interested in gossiping about attractive coworkers and plotting free lunches than their work. The highlight of the film consists of a summer associate interview in which two partners ask a series of psychological questions approved by the hiring committee. Some people will find Billable Hours offensive. Locker room humor abounds — don't show it to your kids and don't play it at work. A more experienced filmmaker might have provided a moral compass by making the partners even more cartoonish and preposterous. However, to his credit, Cardon does provide one grounded character — the law student — onto whom we can project our own sensibilities. As someone who conducted countless law student interviews during my tenure at a large law firm, I found Billable Hours amusing. I applaud Cardon for taking a chance (comedy is not easy), and hope his film inspires other lawyers to create their own films about law practice.

Update: If the above link no longer works, you can watch the video on Cardon's MySpace page.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming July 14, 2006 to Fat Friday: Danny Wash reviews Info Select for case management, Martin Dean shares his list of grievances with a recent TechnoFeature article about law firm technology outsourcing, and Brian Garves reviews his experience ordering books from Thomson West. 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.

Like many tech-savvy lawyers, Joshua Stein, a partner at Latham & Watkins, has had to rethink the way he works with his assistant in recent years. In an article published in ALI-ABA's The Practical Lawyer, he discusses a clever method for quickly delegating items in his e-mail inbox. Specifically, Joshua forwards action-oriented e-mail messages to his assistant with a one letter code in the subject line. For example, "N" means add the person to his Outlook contacts. Read the article.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.