TechnoLawyer

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

David Long, Review: Acronis Plus Help Wanted for Backup Software That Just Works

Jim Montgomery, Review: TrialDirector Plus Trial Presentation Tips

Jeff Nichols, Heresy: Why I Don't Use Dates in My Document Names

Christian Onsager, Heresy: The Case for Just One Monitor

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 practice management system for small law firms with a new mobile time-tracking technology (see article below), a cloud document management system, an iPhone app that increases reading comprehension and speed, and a cloud collaboration application. Don't miss the next issue.

Bill Your Time Everywhere Your Practice Takes You

The best billable time-tracking tool is the one you have with you in your pocket — namely, your smartphone. But you can't run your entire law practice on your smartphone. There's no app for that. Accordingly, your firm's billing and practice management system and your smartphone seem like two silos with regard to time tracking. Instead, they should function as an integrated system.

Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition … in One Sentence

Launched recently, Gavel & Gown Software's Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition (Amicus Small Firm) is a billing and practice management system with a new mobile billing technology.

The Killer Feature

Amicus Small Firm runs on a server, but the hardware requirements are modest — a low cost Windows PC is all you need. The server facilitates the use of Amicus TimeTracker, a new billing technology that works in mobile and desktop web browsers, including the iPad and iPhone.

With Amicus TimeTracker you can create new time entries, edit previous time entries, and see a list of time entries with running totals for each day, week, and month. You can also view time entries by client and file (matter). To facilitate faster time entry, you can create shortcuts.

When you create or edit a time entry, Amicus TimeTracker uses bank-grade encryption to update your Amicus Small Firm database at your office (if you don't have an Internet connection it updates as soon as you have one again).

"We're very excited about Amicus TimeTracker, which is only available in the 2013 versions of our products," Gavel & Gown President Ron Collins told us. "Lawyers receive so many calls and email messages on their smartphones that it's essential to track that billable time. The fact that Amicus TimeTracker pushes these time entries to your firm's practice system enables you to work out of the office for days yet still get your bills delivered on time."

Other Notable Features

Gavel & Gown describes Amicus Small Firm as being designed "from the lawyer down, not the technology up." For example, the Time Entry Assistant lists all your unbilled activities so that nothing slips through the cracks. Amicus Dailies enables you to stay on top of your agenda and, if you work in management and have full administrative privileges, the entire firm. The software even suggests client development opportunities based on your data, thus enabling even solo practices to benefit from "business intelligence" just like much larger law firms.

Other features include legal calendaring, document and matter management, tasks based on triggers such as court rules or a prior dependent task, and the ability to create automated time entries upon completion of designated tasks. Amicus Small Firm's "Do" button enables you to automate some of your work from dialing telephone numbers to creating documents.

What Else Should You Know?

Pricing for Amicus Small Firm starts at $399 for the first license for new users and $299 for those upgrading from prior versions. Additional user licenses sell at a significant discount. You can add Amicus Small Firm Accounting for an additional charge or choose from a number of third-party accounting programs that integrate. Amicus TimeTracker is included at no additional charge if you're on an annual maintenance plan. Learn more about Amicus Small Firm.

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: HotDocs recently shipped HotDocs Developer 11 for creating document assembly templates and HotDocs User 11 for using these templates. In this issue of SmallLaw, independent legal document assembly consultant Marc Lauritsen reviews HotDocs 11 from the perspective of both first-time and long-time users. He focuses primarily on the new features since the last major upgrade three years ago. Find out if HotDocs 11 can help your law firm automate your document creation. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for a tip on how to more quickly access the Acrobat functions you use most often.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to SmallLaw: The ABA Model Rules suggest that all lawyers perform pro bono work. But that's a much easier commitment for a junior associate at a mega-firm to make than a solo practitioner or a partner at a small law firm. In this issue of SmallLaw, Gadsden, Alabama lawyer Clark Stewart tackles this issue within the context of his popular A Lawyer's Life series. By chronicling his own positive and negative pro bono experiences, he may help you strike the right balance. As always, you'll find Clark's adventures entertaining and moving. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for the pros and cons of starting a law firm in the first place.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 107 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

How to Build a Mobile Law Library With GoodReader (Video)

Getting a Brain Injury Animation Admitted the Hard Way

Shock and Awe Ediscovery: Combatting Asymmetrical Costs

Trending Toward Service of Process via Facebook

Congratulations to Ted Brooks of The Court Technology and Trial Presentation Blawg on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: Tips for Using Video Depositions at Trial

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld 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 163 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.

QuickBooks for Law Firms: Trust Transactions

Which Is the Safest Seat on an Aircraft?

Excerpt From Susskind's "Tomorrow's Lawyers"

How to Find Ideas for Blog Posts

Congratulations to Joe Dysart of ABA Journal on winning our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week award: Are Mobile Legal Apps Tools or Toys?

Don't miss today's issue or any future issues of BlawgWorld.

How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. BlawgWorld enables you to stay on top of all the noteworthy articles (and podcasts) published online 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. The BlawgWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:

Henry Reckler, Review: GoToMyPC iPad App

Mark Deal, The Case for Servers in All Law Firms

Richard Schafer, Biometric Security and Password Software

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

How to Receive Fat Friday
Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. 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 Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TL NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

A SCANNER AT HOME IN YOUR BAG AND IN YOUR OFFICE

Paper remains the gold standard in certain situations, many of them involving law practice. For example, regulations often require mailing a paper version of a document. Perhaps most importantly, paper remains the cheapest and easiest way to share documents at closings, depositions, and other legal settings. Notwithstanding paper's persistence, it's easier than ever to go paperless thanks to the increasing mobility of scanners.

ProductName … in One Sentence

Launched last week, Canon's imageFORMULA P-208 "Scan-tini" (imageFORMULA P-208) is a portable document scanner.

The Killer Feature

Most portable scanners spend their time in a drawer when you're not traveling because they lack the power and speed you expect to have in your office. The imageFORMULA P-208 has desktop-class features in a small package, making it feasible to use both in your office and on the road.

For example, it has a 10-page automatic document feeder, scans duplex at up to 8 pages per minute (16 images per minute), provides a maximum resolution of 600 dpi, features embedded optical character recognition technology for creating editable and searchable documents, accommodates the ISIS and TWAIN standards for connecting to legal-specific and other software, and has a daily duty cycle of 100 scans. In addition to paper documents, it can handle business cards, driver's licenses and other plastic and embossed cards, and photographs.

Other Notable Features

The imageFORMULA P-208 measures 1.5 x 12.3 x 2.2 inches when closed and weighs 1.3 pounds. It connects to your PC or Mac via a single USB cable. You can scan wirelessly as well using the optional WU10 Wireless Adapter and Battery Pack. And with the CaptureOnTouch Mobile app, you can scan to an iPad, iPhone, and Android device.

Speaking of software, you can start scanning out if the box with no setup thanks to the embedded CaptureOnTouch Lite software. For more control over various settings such as document format, resolution, and output location, you can install the free CaptureOnTouch software on the PCs and Macs with which you primarily use the scanner. Canon also bundles Presto! BizCard business card software.

The imageFORMULA P-208 has a number of advanced technologies designed to improve quality and speed and eliminate problems, including deskew, elimination of blank pages, and automatic color, page size, text orientation, and double-feed detection.

What Else Should You Know?

The imageFORMULA P-208 has a list price of $229. In addition to the optional WU10 Wireless Adapter and Battery Pack, Canon also offers an optional soft carrying case. Learn more about imageFORMULA P-208.

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.

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Yvonne Renfrew, Review: Directory Opus

Rodrick Enns, Why You Should Use an Email Disclaimer on Privileged Email

Nicholas Bettinger, Why You Should Start File Names With a Date

Douglas Thomas, Tip on Archiving Client-Related Email

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.

Originally published in our free TL NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

SEND YOUR CLIENTS INVOICES THEY'LL PAY FAST

Many lawyers mistakenly believe that the secret to clients paying on time and without complaining lies in performing quality work for them. That's certainly one factor, but the ability to send detailed, professional-looking bills in a timely fashion is equally important. Making it easy for clients to pay you also helps.

Chrometa 4.5 … in One Sentence

Launched this week, Chrometa 4.5 is an automatic time capture application with new invoicing capabilities.

The Killer Feature

After finalizing your time sheet for one or more clients and matters for a period of time such as a month, you can create a bill with one click, and then email it to your client with a second click. Most law firms send more than one bill per month. Chrometa features batch processing so that you can email multiple bills with just one click.

Chrometa's new invoicing technology integrates with LawPay (a credit card processor for law firms) and PayPal. At your option, you can include live payment links on your bills so that clients can pay them with a credit card or via PayPal. You can toggle these payment options on or off on a per-bill basis.

Chrometa worked with a graphic designer to create professional-looking invoices. By default, the standard invoice template includes your firm's name and address assuming you've previously entered this information into Chrometa. You can further customize the template, and even create one or more templates. The customization tools function like a word processor. For example, you can add your firm's logo, and also add information such as your firm's payment terms, the partner overseeing the matter, and other such information into the header or footer.

"For the past four years we've been busy working to perfect passive time capture," Chrometa CEO and Co-Founder Brett Owens told us. "Now that we've accomplished this mission, we resolved to close the loop on billable time by helping you get paid for it fast."

Other Notable Features

Chrometa 4.5 retains all its core functionality, including automatic capture of the time you spend on your Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, and/or Android smartphone.

A new report lists all your unbilled captured time so that you can quickly assign it to a client and matter. Other tools that help you process the time you capture into time entries more quickly include plugins for Outlook and Gmail, filters that automatically categorize captured time, and intelligent timesheets.

What Else Should You Know?

Four of Chrometa's six plans include the new invoicing tools — Plus ($29 per month), Premium ($49 per month), Team Plus ($29 per user per month), and Team Premium ($49 per user per month). The invoicing tools are optional since Chrometa integrates with many third-party applications such as Clio, QuickBooks, PCLaw, and Rocket Matter. You can also export your time entries and import them into virtually any accounting or billing application. Learn more about Chrometa 4.5.

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.