TechnoLawyer: Networking/Operating Systems

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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a document automation tool with built-in case management, a utility for setting up Windows networks, and a utility for managing and monitoring your network once you set it up. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Document Automation Catches Up to George Jetson
By Dennis Kennedy

Lawyers of my generation periodically daydream about George Jetson's job — push a few buttons and then put your feet up on the desk the rest of the day. That vision of the future didn't pan out and probably never will, but technology can make the lives of lawyers easier — most notably document automation software.

Unfortunately, while many lawyers crave automation, many also fear it because of a feeling that such systems are difficult to set up. This concern is especially prevalent among smaller firms. Easy Soft's EasyDocs aims to address this concern by focusing not only on an easy way to create document templates, but adding case and document management to the mix as well.

In the EasyDocs world, your practice revolves around the case documents you create. Thus EasyDocs enables you to automate standard forms and commonly-used documents, and manage your work on your cases at the same time. EasyDocs uses a case-oriented approach with which lawyers are familiar.

You can organize and display your templates by practice area, state, or categories. EasyDocs is network-friendly so you can store these templates centrally on a file server for everyone in your firm to use.

You can assemble your documents for output in either Word or PDF format. You can use your existing document templates and forms or create new ones. The history tab enables you to see all the documents in your case and regenerate a document with a single mouse click. EasyDocs is especially attractive for certain types of real estate practices because you can automatically import HUD-RESPA information.

The most unique feature of EasyDocs is the way it combines document preparation, document management, and task tracking into a single tool, making a lawyer's job, well, easy. For example, by default, all documents related to a case are stored in the same client folder. And each case has its own task list. The Case Log provides a dashboard so you can view all the document-related activity associated with open cases in one place.

EasyDocs costs $499 for a single-user license or $199 for a single user annual term license. Additional seats cost $99 each. Learn more about EasyDocs.

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 5, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Adam Drennen suggests two more ways to secure your wireless network (but also discusses their vulnerabilities), James Boatman reviews IntelliPDF BATES Stamp and provides some tips no matter which utility you use, David Bernier provides some PracticeMaster tips, Debbie Westwood shares how she made the jump from paralegal to litigation support specialist and how others can do the same, and Christopher Largay reviews his firm's upgrade to Time Matters 8.0. 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.

Over the years, people have raved about various Windows experts. While I respect these Windows wizards, I never became a follower. That changed recently when I stumbled upon Paul Thurott who serves as the editor of SuperSite for Windows and also hosts a podcast entitled Windows Weekly. If you manage the Windows computers in your firm, he is worth a look and a listen.

SuperSite for Windows

Windows Weekly

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.

Two weeks ago, I poked fun at legal technology predictions.

But that's not to say I don't like reading them. How timely then that Dennis Kennedy has issued his latest predictions in a report entitled: Seven Legal Technology Trends for 2007: Widening the Digital Divide in Law Practice.

Of note, Dennis predicts that:

• BlackBerry usage may have peaked among lawyers.

I disagree, particularly in light of RIM's push into the small business market. I do believe that Treo usage may have peaked because I think Apple's iPhone will grab market share from Palm. I don't think the iPhone will have as much impact on the BlackBerry.

• A sizable number of lawyers will begin using MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks since they can run Windows.

I agree, and hope to see some enterprising legal technology consultants add Windows installation on these notebooks to their repertoire (it's not trivial to install Windows).

• The growth of all-in-one electronic discovery tools for smaller cases that law firms can handle in-house.

I agree since even your run-of-the-mill slip and fall case involves electronic evidence nowadays (such as email admissions).

• A shift from Yellow Pages advertising to search engine advertising among law firms.

I agree. Yellow Pages has not kept up with the times. No one under the age of 30 Fewer people use the Yellow Pages now than during its heyday 20-30 years ago. I use a Yellow Pages as a laptop stand.

Read Dennis' Seven Legal Technology Trends for 2007.

What do you think of his predictions and predictions in general?

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 March 15, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Steve Enfield advises the best current method for securing your wireless network, Paul Billings reviews the Sanyo ICR-B150 digital dictation recorder, Michael Shaikun reviews his IBM ThinkPad X41 laptop, Emil Chang enters the fray by sharing his experience switching from WordPerfect to Word, and David Bernier reviews PracticeMaster's ability to track telephone calls. 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 February 16, 2007 to Fat Friday: Dave Markowitz reviews his experience using a Brother HL-2070N printer with multiple operating systems, Enrico Schaefer explains how taking his practice paperless boosted his profits, Susan Billeaud offers up several etiquette tips for using a cell phone in public, Gregory Landry issues a call to arms for public interest lawyers, and James Walsh shares how a recent TechnoLawyer NewsWire article helped him join the world of multiple monitors. 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 February 2, 2007 to Fat Friday: Joe Sewell discusses the security benefits of Linux, William Lloyd shares how he avoid eyestrain despite using three monitors, Ernest Marquez discusses setting up Amicus Accounting and its pricing, Matthew Gould reviews Time Matters' support policy, and Mazyar Hedayat offers up his thoughts on making your work (or life) public on the Web. 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 January 11, 2007 to Answers to Questions: D. Paul Dalton discusses the "build or buy" software dilemma, Caren Schwartz explains how to enter deposits to trust accounts in QuickBooks, Timothy Cleary reviews two estate planning tools, Michael Commins offers up a quick fix for slowly performing legal software on a network, and Stanley Tomlinson suggests a simple way to archive case-related e-mail. 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 a suite of security utilities for your laptop, an online personal finance tool that taps into Metcalfe's Law, and a network appliance that enables everyone at your law firm to securely send and receive large attachments. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Transfer Large Files Securely Without Attachment Limits
By Dennis Kennedy
In the old days, sending a large document meant using a FedEx Pak instead of a FedEx Envelope. Nowadays, sending large electronic files poses more of a challenge than simply choosing the next size up in packaging. Notwithstanding multi-gigabyte mailboxes, many e-mail servers (including Gmail) impose limits on the size of file attachments. Plus, e-mail servers are notoriously lacking in security (by design actually). Free file transfer sites can handle large files, but also lack sufficient security. So what's a law firm to do? Dust off its FedEx number and send CDs and DVDs?

No way! Accellion's Courier Secure File Transfer Appliance (SFTA) Version 5.0 provides law firms with a secure option for sending and receiving large files both internally and externally. Accellion has a history of providing secure file transfer solutions on a global basis to enterprises of all sizes. As a dedicated appliance for business file transfers, SFTA requires minimal IT administration and support.

When you use SFTA to send files to third parties, they receive a secure download link. To send or receive a file, all you need is a Web browser. Your firm can set up accounts for its employees and clients in minutes. Accellion claims that some firms may witness an 80% reduction in e-mail load.

New in version 5 is the ability to send and receive entire folders, thus preserving a directory structure (especially useful for your client's discovery documents). Version 5 can handle files and folders up to 10GB in size.

New administrative tools enable you to control usage throughout your firm. Like previous versions, SFTA simply plugs into your network and starts working. SFTA uses the SSL standard, and generates an audit trail. Much easier to use than even FTP and SFTP, which require software on both ends, SFTA works with your existing network and software. Optional plug-ins exist for integration with Outlook and Lotus Notes, which enable you to use your e-mail program instead of a browser.

SFTA comes in a wide array of configurations, starting at $3,500. You can start small and add capabilities as needed.  Learn more about Accellion Courier Secure File Transfer Appliance (SFTA) Version 5.0.

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.