TechnoLawyer

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Bob Leonard, Review: Dictate + Connect and SpeakWrite

Matthew Appleton, Review: Lookeen

Steve Loewy, Review: X1

Brad Pearce, Charging for Overhead; Replacing Paper With iPads at Depositions

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to SmallLaw: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 51 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our SmallLaw Pick of the Week.

Three Insurance Pitfalls for Lawyers

10 Ways to Avoid a Legal Fees Dispute

Eight Steps to Build Your Image

Five Tips for Online Advertising Success

Congratulations to John Remsen of Wisconsin Lawyer on winning our SmallLaw Pick of the Week award: 10 Golden Rules to Make New Clients Happy

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small law firm, big dreams. Written by successful small-firm founders, managing partners, administrators, and legal technology and practice management experts, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in solo practices and small law firms. Additionally, SmallLaw features comprehensive reviews of legal products with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles, podcasts, and videos about solo practices and small law firms. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers PDF software available in four different versions depending on the needs of each individual in your law firm (see article below), a private cloud service for law firms, a contacts manager that integrates with the major email services and social networks, and a cost recovery add-on that prevents printer security mishaps and waste. Don't miss the next issue.

MODULAR PDF SOFTWARE FOR YOUR LAW FIRM'S SPECIFIC NEEDS

PDF software has become as essential as word processing software in law firms with one key difference. A much larger choice of PDF software exists, which makes it more likely you can find a product that suits your firm's needs. Even better, you can find a product that suits the needs of each person in your firm. That's the goal of a company taking a modular approach to PDF software.

Soda PDF 7 … in One Sentence

LULU Software's Soda PDF 7 is a PDF application for Windows available in a variety of configurations at lower price points than Adobe Acrobat.

The Killer Feature

Soda PDF comes in four versions — Standard Package ($59), Professional Package ($99), PRO + OCR Package ($129), and Business Edition ($139). You can purchase any combination of licenses online or over the phone depending on the various needs of the lawyers and staff at your firm. Prices drop at 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 200+ licenses. The Business Edition includes all possible features. Each version includes technical support. LULU Software ships a new version of Soda PDF each year. An optional maintenance plan enables you to upgrade to new versions at a lower cost.

Other Notable Features

All four versions of Soda PDF enable you to create, view, and edit PDF and PDF/A documents, apply Bates stamps, and convert PDF documents into Microsoft Office, plain text, and HTML formats. Soda PDF integrates with scanners and can also take screenshots.

The Professional Package adds review tools for commenting, highlighting, and document comparison. Other features include tools for creating forms and importing data (including invoice creation from your billing system), securing documents with encryption and a 256-bit password, and digitally and securely signing documents.

As its name suggests, the PRO + OCR Package enables you to make scanned and other image PDF documents editable and searchable via optical character recognition technology powered by industry leader I.R.I.S. You can automatically apply OCR when scanning documents. The Batch Recognition feature can convert a large number of documents unattended.

The Business Edition adds an Outlook plugin for email archiving, redaction, PDF to PDF/A conversion, enhanced digital signatures, online PDF creation from any device, and premium support. LULU Software offers a datasheet comparing the Business Edition to Adobe Acrobat Professional.

What Else Should You Know?

The company's complimentary Enterprise Management Console helps you centrally deploy Soda PDF throughout your firm and manage your licenses. If an employee leaves, you can use it to reassign a license to someone else. You can try Soda PDF for free. Learn more about Soda PDF 7.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 54 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week.

Checklist Apps for Lawyers

How My Smartwatch Saved the Day in Court

The Fastest-Growing Business App Ever

Digital Eye Strain Report (2015)

Congratulations to Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal on winning our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week award: The Best Smartpens and Styluses Currently Available

How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of both legal technology and mainstream technology of interest to the legal profession (e.g., monitors, smartphones, scanners, the iPad, and more). But not the only coverage. BlawgWorld enables you to stay on top of all the noteworthy legal and mainstream technology articles (and podcasts and videos) published elsewhere without having to hire a research assistant. Even when you're busy, you won't want to miss each issue's Pick of the Week. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Brad Smith, The Undocumented Cost of a DIY Document Management System

Neil Squillante, The Holy Grail of Cloud Practice Management Apps

Thomas Stirewalt, How to Run Old DOS Software Safely

Blair Clark, Defending WordPerfect; Review of Perfect Authority

Michele Ballagh, Tip: Create, Assign, and Track Tasks in Outlook

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Donald Coker, Review: Tabs3 and PracticeMaster's Tech Support

Jerry Gonzalez, How to Copy Deposition Testimony Into Word and WordPerfect

Lynn Johnson, Why Law Firms Should Start Document Names With the Date

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud practice management system that can replace OS X and Windows for document management (see article below), a cloud application for reviewing and producing ediscovery, a calendar, contacts, an email app for Android and iOS, and a bookkeeping service with its own project management software. Don't miss the next issue.

PUT DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT WHERE IT BELONGS

A practice management system should include all the information you need to manage your firm — including documents. However, many law firms still store documents in the operating system because their organizational system requires multilevel (nested) folders. This creates information silos. The new version of a leading cloud practice management application seeks to end this bifurcation.

MyCase … in One Sentence

MyCase is a cloud practice management system that this week launched Folders, which provides multilevel folders within matters for document management.

The Killer Feature

MyCase's new Folders feature enables you to mirror whatever organizational structure you've created in OS X or Windows. MyCase offers the advantage of being able to group your folders and subfolders by client and matter. This enables you to access documents as well as all the other information associated with a matter in one place. Security is another benefit as your folders reside within MyCase, which encrypts all your interactions.

Folders behave as you would expect. You can create, name, rename, and delete them, and move multiple documents into, out of, and between them. MyCase also offers tags, which you can use in addition to or instead of folders. Tags enable you to essentially place a document in two locations without having to create a duplicate.

"With Folders, MyCase customers can easily and securely organize their documents through one central system," MyCase Founder and Vice President of Product Matt Spiegel told us. "Folders was the most requested feature by our customers leading up to its release. With Folders, MyCase users can easily and securely organize their documents through one central system."

Other Notable Features

MyCase also organizes contacts, calendars, reminders, tasks, time entries, bills, trust accounts, and more by client and matter. A client portal that can send email and mobile push notifications facilitates secure communication and document sharing with clients. Your clients can also pay their bills via MyCase.

MyCase has several new features other than Folders. Evergreen trust balances technology automatically notifies you when a client's trust balance falls below a threshold you set. Also new, you can include total hours billed on invoices, export batches of invoices as a single PDF file, and calculate dates using the Date Calculator at the bottom of every screen.

What Else Should You Know?

MyCase costs $39 per lawyer per month and $29 per non-lawyer staff per month. This price includes Folders and all the other new features. MyCase works in mobile and desktop web browsers. You can also use MyCase via the free apps for Android and iOS (both iPad and iPhone). Learn more about MyCase.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to SmallLaw: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 44 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our SmallLaw Pick of the Week.

Recommended Agencies for Virtual Assistants

Practicing Law in an Ocean Paradise

The Best Attorney Photos of 2015

Marketing Your Firm With Email Newsletters

Congratulations to Patrick Lamb of In Search of Perfect Client Service on winning our SmallLaw Pick of the Week award: Seven Myths About Flat Fees

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small law firm, big dreams. Written by successful small-firm founders, managing partners, administrators, and legal technology and practice management experts, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in solo practices and small law firms. Additionally, SmallLaw features comprehensive reviews of legal products with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles, podcasts, and videos about solo practices and small law firms. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 53 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week.

The Best Paper Shredders

Why the iPad Became My Main Computer

Another Review of Microsoft Outlook for iOS

How Lawyers Use Dropbox

Congratulations to Jeff Richardson of iPhone J.D. on winning our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week award: A Lawyer Reviews the New Outlook App for iOS

How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of both legal technology and mainstream technology of interest to the legal profession (e.g., monitors, smartphones, scanners, the iPad, and more). But not the only coverage. BlawgWorld enables you to stay on top of all the noteworthy legal and mainstream technology articles (and podcasts and videos) published elsewhere without having to hire a research assistant. Even when you're busy, you won't want to miss each issue's Pick of the Week. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an add-on for a popular document management system that facilitates access from any web browser (see article below), a task management add-on for Outlook, PDF creation and conversion software, a note-taking app for the iPad and Mac that integrates with OneNote, and a cloud practice management system for law firms in the United Kingdom. Don't miss the next issue.

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT ON THE GO

Advances in technology have freed software and thus lawyers from being chained to a single PC. Instead, modern software works on any device. Just login and resume your work. Your document management system in particular should function in this manner so that you need not worry about your ability to access and work on a document.

Worldox Web 2.0 … in One Sentence

Announced last week, World Software's Worldox Web 2.0 enables you to access your firm's Worldox document management system from any desktop or mobile web browser or the Worldox iOS app.

The Killer Feature

The new version of Worldox Web works with Worldox GX4 (also announced yesterday). It enables you to take advantage of Worldox GX4's new "Active Profiling" technology that simplifies saving and profiling of your documents.

Active Profiling creates a real-time profile of every Worldox user at your firm. Accordingly, when you log into your account using Worldox Web via a desktop or mobile web browser or Worldox iOS app, you'll find a navigation panel that provides quick access to the documents you most recently used. Specifically, this panel lists your Bookmarks, Favorite Matters, Favorite Files, and Workspaces.

With Workspaces, you can view Projects — groups of files from anywhere in Worldox, including across different clients and matters. For example, if you're working on two agreements during a particular week, you can add the files for both to a Project after which you can access them from the WorkSpaces Worldox Web navigation panel.

"We are pleased to announce the latest version or our mobile platform, World Software President Ray Zwiefelhofer told us. "Attorneys are more mobile than ever and expect efficient access to their content, wherever they may be. Many of our customers prefer their documents to remain on premise on a local server. Our new version of Worldox Web allows customers to enjoy speedy onsite document access while enjoying seamless access to their content while traveling or working remote."

Other Notable Features

If you need to dig deeper than the navigation panel, Worldox Web provides a search box on your dashboard. The Advanced Search page is one click away if you want to run a more specific query. Worldox Web also supports direct access to cabinets and documents — namely, drilling down your firm's folder structure manually to find a specific document.

Other tools include document sharing via email, document preview, download/upload, check in/check out and document statistics. The latter enables you to review metadata, read comments from colleagues, and access any version of a document.

What Else Should You Know?

Worldox Web sports a redesigned user interface that improves the user experience and facilitates faster access to key functions. Pricing for Worldox Web starts as low as $25 per month. Learn more about Worldox Web 2.0.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.