TechnoLawyer

Originally published on June 14, 2011 in our free BigLaw newsletter. Instead of reading BigLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

Last week Apple hosted its annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. WWDC enables developers to learn from Apple engineers, but is best known for the opening day "Keynote" at which Steve Jobs and his team usually unveil the next version of iOS, which powers the iPhone and iPad. Last week, Jobs and his team announced not only iOS 5, but also iCloud. iCloud in particular holds great promise for large law firms.

Always Be in Sync Without Syncing

iCloud essentially serves as a central repository for your data. It sends that data to all of your Apple devices — computers, smartphones, and tablets — plus Windows PCs. Both Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 will take advantage of the estimated 12 petabytes (a petabyte is one million gigabytes) of storage located in Apple's new $1 billion 500,000 square foot North Carolina server farm.

While iCloud makes for fun water cooler conversations for the average technophile like me, what does it mean for you and the "normal" lawyers at your firm? In short, it means always having your work in sync, no matter where you are or what device you're using — all without having to do anything such as sync.

Although Steve Jobs' keynote address focused primarily on using iCloud for music, photography, and word processing applications, iCloud's reach is far more extensive. Jobs alluded to the use of iCloud for storing two significant types of data — documents and key value data.

Regarding documents, the concept is easy to understand. If you create a document on your iPhone, it will be sent up to iCloud and then wirelessly "pushed" to all of your other devices such as your iPad, Mac, and Windows PC. You need not do anything because, as Jobs put it "iCloud is integrated with your apps, everything happens automatically … it just works."

Key value data is best described as user information (e.g., the appointments in your calendar) that doesn't reside in a single contained "document." The storage of key value data is significant in iCloud because it enables developers to transfer information and settings among all of a user's devices without requiring the developer to invest in their own expensive data server.

Until now, this issue has been a major impediment to small-time developers like me as well as law firms that develop their own enterprise apps.

Now, for example, I can incorporate iCloud storage and syncing into my Court Days Pro app, enabling lawyers to sync their litigation calendaring information and settings on all of their devices without me having to purchase and maintain a costly server. Apple not only provides the infrastructure and storage for iCloud at no charge (up to 5 GB per user), but also provides the software programming tools (called APIs) so that developers can easily incorporate the service into their apps.

What About Dropbox and Other Cloud Services?

Other services such as Dropbox (which I covered in BigLaw earlier this year) offer cloud storage and syncing of documents across multiple devices. However, as good as Dropbox is, it is not incorporated into the underlying operating system of the device and, therefore, requires quite a bit of effort by developers to effectively implement the service into their applications. GoodReader is an example of a document reading app that does a good job incorporating Dropbox.

iCloud seems like it may solve many of the problems associated with implementing cloud storage and document syncing in a lawyer's daily workflow. If I take notes at a court hearing, I want those notes on my desktop computer instantaneously so that I can work on them as soon as I return to my office. Likewise, if I revise a letter on my desktop word processor, I want those changes on my iPad. If I scan a document with my iPhone's camera, I want it seamlessly uploaded to my PC. And I want all of this done without me having to click or touch any buttons.

That's the idea behind iCloud. It's now up to developers to put this functionality into the legal and other apps on which your law firms relies.

Written by Dan Friedlander of LawOnMyPhone.com.

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Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Thomas RuBane, Review: Calibre For Managing EBooks

Sucha Ollek, Reviews Of SimplyFile And EZDetach

Laura Patton, Review: Pathagoras As A HotDocs Replacement

Donald Bayne, How To Bill Your Clients And Keep Them Happy

Raphael Frommer, A Tip For Law Firms Contemplating Cloud Apps

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

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a legal billing and trust accounting system (see article below), a new lightweight laptop, a case and stand for iPad 2. Don't miss the next issue.

Manage Your Practice, Not Your Billing Software

For most of computer history, horizontal integration ruled the roost. IT consultants and managers preached purchasing best-of-breed products and then integrating them. However, in recent years lawyers began experiencing the benefits of vertical integration — two or more software products made by the same company working seamlessly together. Time has essentially turned the tables as software companies that lacked the resources to focus on more than one core function in their early days eventually developed the ability to expand into other areas. And nowhere do lawyers appreciate this integration more than in the two components that serve as the foundation of their law firms — billing and trust accounting on the one hand, and practice management on the other.

Amicus Premium Billing 2011 … in One Sentence
Gavel & Gown Software's new Amicus Premium Billing 2011 adds billing, collections, and trust accounting to Amicus Attorney Premium Edition 2011 practice management software.

The Killer Feature
Integration has three faces. As noted above, you can try to integrate products made by different companies. Alternatively, you can integrate products made by the same company. Amicus Premium Billing takes a third approach — it uses the same database as Amicus Attorney Premium Edition. Essentially, you simply turn it on via a license and it appears.

A single database eliminates the need to sync, and prevents problems such as duplicate entries. It's also more efficient. You never have to decide where you would prefer to enter data or enter data twice. Perhaps most importantly, a single database also means a single user interface. For any client and matter, you can toggle back and forth between the billing data and practice management data with one click.

"We are excited to offer lawyers a billing program designed for lawyers and not just bookkeepers," Gavel & Gown Software's President and Founder Ron Collins told us. "Amicus Attorney has always helped legal professionals capture more billable time. Now, with Amicus Premium Billing, we not only make it easy to catch that time, we make it easy to bill for it too in keeping with the Amicus way."

Other Notable Features
Amicus Premium Billing enables you to create bills that include both fees (contingency, fixed, hourly, etc.) and expenses. You can create bills from anywhere such as a client file or contact card. It also features trust accounting to ensure compliance with ethical rules when handling retainer fees, including interest tracking and warnings when disbursements exceed the available balance. Productivity reports help you evaluate your lawyers and other timekeepers. The Dailies dashboard enables you to quickly review the financial health of your law firm.

Billing is just half the game, review and collections comprise the other half. Billing Reminders, which you can set to display whenever you open Amicus Premium Billing, identifies various issues such as delinquent and unsent bills, and matters with too much work in progress. You can specify the thresholds for the various billing alerts (e.g., review bills within 10 days, send dunning notices 10 days past due, etc.). You can customize the look of your bills and subsequent notices using templates, and batch send both.

What Else Should You Know?
Like all of Gavel & Gown's software products, Amicus Premium Billing runs on Windows. It requires Amicus Attorney Premium Edition, and at your option integrates with QuickBooks for general ledger accounting. You can purchase an Amicus Premium Billing license alone or in conjunction with an annual maintenance or technical support plan. Learn more about Amicus Premium Billing 2011.

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Coming today to TechnoFeature: Every TechnoLawyer subscriber eventually gets it drilled into their heads that their law firm needs a practice management system. But once you buy into this advice, the obvious question emerges — which practice management system? Accordingly, we try our best to review all the major products, including new versions. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Charlotte real estate lawyer and veteran legal software reviewer Richard Belthoff shares his thoughts on Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition 2011 after using it for a few months. Richard's review covers all the new features, and offers buying advice for those who use prior versions and those who use competing products or nothing at all.

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Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on June 21, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

Another day, another article about lawyers using the iPad, right? Wrong! And yes, I'm back baby! I'm the founding columnist of SmallLaw (originally called Crazy Mazy). My "reunion" column is not so much about how lawyers use or should use the iPad, as it is about my experience using it as a suburban middle-aged founding partner of a small law firm. Something tells me most SmallLaw subscribers fit this same profile.

First, by way of full disclosure I own more than one iPad, Mac, and iPhone. Don't let that fool you though. Read my previous SmallLaw columns and you'll find that I'm no technology pushover. I'm not some Apple fanboy with a photo of Steve Jobs over my fireplace and a collection of black mock turtleneck shirts. I'm a managing partner just like you — a ping away from the disaster du jour at my law firm. I'm not looking for another way to surf the Web, exchange messages, connect with clients, or watch videos.

Did I need to buy an iPad 2? Should you consider buying one? As it happens, my answer to both questions is yes because this device is a game changer. It's to this decade what WordPerfect was to the 1980s when many of you started law practice (or started thinking about becoming a lawyer).

The New Normal

Let's begin with the obvious — the iPad2 is the bomb when it comes to content. Text, audio, video, whatever — it all looks better on the iPad 2. And thanks to its incredibly slim, light form factor I can experience my favorites in ways I previously couldn't.

Once I got used to the way in which the iPad 2 connected my content, I started to expect the same fluidity from all my information sources. But nothing came close to the effortless way in which I could find all three media — audio, text, and video — in one place on my iPad. In short, I felt entitled to a better information experience across the board.

But something was still missing. Don't get me wrong. The Safari Web browser is impressive. Clio's optimized Web site looks gorgeous for example. But as good as Safari is, dedicated native apps are even better.

Just then, as if on cue, one publication after another started to retrofit or radically alter its format for the iPad 2 in the form of native apps (though I'm still waiting on TechnoLawyer — ahem). At first it was form over substance, but soon the publications learned to make the most of the iPad format. The iPad 2 literally created the new normal, which I prefer to the old normal.

Apps such as The Daily, FlipBoard, Newsy, Qwiki, The Economist, and TrialPad take full advantage of the iPad 2. By serving up content in native apps, they kick the iPad 2 into overdrive.

So how does the iPad 2 compare to print, eReaders, TV, the iPhone, or my iMac? Let's just say that none compare. I refuse to read books and magazines in print. No more squinting my way through a post on my iPhone or hunching in front of my iMac to browse the Web. Sure, an eReader like the Kindle or Nook is great for books. But that's like filling up on breadsticks before going out for dinner. The iPad 2 simply has so much more to offer that mere eReaders simply don't rate.

The Hardware Is Slick, but the Software Is Genius

Granted, the content-management and display superiority of the iPad 2 has caused a seismic shift in the way I consume information. But has the iPad 2 "changed everything" as Steve Jobs likes to say? Has it made a difference in how I deal with information? Or is it just an overgrown iPhone?

After all, the just-released Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a crisper displays and smaller dimensions than the iPad 2, while the Kindle and Nook are even smaller and lighter. In fact on nearly all counts you'll find tablets that are competitive with Apple's — hardware-wise.

So what makes the iPad 2 a big deal? In a word: Apple's iOS. Of course it's hard to give credit to an operating system when the hardware on which it resides is so damned cool, but iOS is what makes all the difference when it comes to what you can do with your iPad 2. It makes the hardware melt away much like you don't notice the piece of paper you're reading, just the printed words on it. The only difference is that with a few simple gestures I can annotate, highlight, save, share, or jump between sources without leaving the page (or the couch).

What About Law Practice?

The iPad 2 is not yet ubiquitous. But with more than 25 million units sold already, it's off to a much faster start than the PC. Judging by the number of apps that transform our iPads into trial assistants, telephones, secure workspaces, deposition readers, eDiscovery tools and more, law practice has already changed. Thanks to the plethora of remote control apps such as iTeleport, you can even control your PC from your iPad if a substitute app doesn't yet exist.

Expect this trend to intensify. Thus, my advice is to get your hands on an iPad 2 to see if it doesn't enhance your own reading, browsing, surfing, viewing, and listening experience. You may want to pick up Tom Mighell's new ABA book as well, iPad in One Hour for Lawyers. As I said at the outset of this SmallLaw column, my bet is that you will find the iPad 2 transformative. If I'm wrong, feel free to complain to this fine publication.

Written by Will County bankruptcy lawyer Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

How to Receive SmallLaw
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Originally published on June 14, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

Watch the Video

TechnoScore: 1.5
1 = Lowest Possible Score; 5 = Highest Possible Score

It's all about Me! Family law lawyer Sheryl Moore has created a technically beautiful video. Nice background music, fast pace, good lighting and audio all packaged in just under one minute. She even uses some black and white images as B-roll footage.

The problem?

She continually refers to herself or her firm. Some examples:

"I'm a small law firm."
"I give small law firm service."
"I give big law firm results."
"I practice …."
"I focus mainly …."
"I believe that I'm a zealous …."
"I'm also compassionate."
"I'm very involved in …."
"I sit on the CLE committee …."
"I think it's very important that …."

Tip #1: Nobody Cares About You

I've said this for years. Stop talking about "Me." Really. Nobody besides your family and close friends care about you.

So why would you spend your time and resources telling people you don't know all about you, your philosophy, your approach to practicing law, and how you represent your clients? How does that differentiate you from your colleagues and competitors?

Assume for a moment that a good friend of yours from law school has similar credentials and experience, and that you both compete with each other (on a friendly basis).

If a prospective client were to come into your office and ask how you differ from your good friend whom they are also considering hiring, would this video would provide them with an answer?

The inherent problem with this style of video is that it fails to take into account the typical person searching for a family law lawyer in Florida. It fails to understand what these people seek.

Tip #2: Message Before Method

The most important component of a video is not the production values, although clearly that's important. Instead, it's the content contained within your message. If you have the wrong message, no one will watch your video.

Successful videos have four critical components:

1. People must find your video when searching for the type of law you practice. Understanding how to optimize your video so that people can find it either on Google or YouTube is vital.

2. You must write a compelling title for your video. What is compelling about a title with the name of an attorney and the geographic area and type of law they practice? Not much.

3. Your video must be engaging and interesting. If your video is boring, few will watch it and nobody will watch it till the end.

4. You must have a call to action. What is the purpose of creating a video? To persuade a prospective client to contact you. It's not for recognition, or to win an advertising award, or to promote yourself. It's to get more clients. What action you want the viewer to take next?

Tip #3: People Want Information

People who need a lawyer want to better understand their problem. They want answers. They want to find someone who can help them.

The problem for us as lawyers is that we cannot create an attorney-client relationship with the people who watch our videos. Nor can we dispense legal advice in a video. We do not want a viewer to rely on information in our video since they may apply it incorrectly or may not understand how and when it applies. Alternatively, the content we provide may be outdated by the time someone watches our video.

"If I can't talk about the law and I can't talk about myself, what can I talk about?" That's what every lawyer asks me. You need to change your perspective from "Me, me, me" to "You, you, you." Then you'll better understand what to discuss in your videos.

Till next time, see you on video!

The Back Bench

Certified Family Law Specialist and online video producer Kelly Chang Rickert says: "Ms. Moore tripped up her most important line — "I give big law firm results" — she actually stuttered over it, but had no problem talking about herself as a "small law firm." Okay, I will be blunt. I found her presentation to be monotone and boring. There is absolutely nothing worse than a boring talking head, except a boring talking head talking about her family law firm. The music was also distasteful and boring. And the video marketed Findlaw more than it did her firm. Sorry, but it's a pass for me."

TechnoLawyer publisher and online video producer Neil Squillante says: "Sheryl Moore's video lacks compelling content, and contains a bunch of platitudes. Nonetheless, it may work for her. Why? Moore's video is extremely well-produced, while Moore herself is articulate, attractive, and well-dressed. Polish and poise matter in marketing — especially in video marketing."

Written by Gerry Oginski of The Lawyers' Video Studio.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw 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 86 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:

Top Five Tips for New Solo and Small Firm Practices

30 Percent of US Lawyers Use an iPhone and Other Statistics

Why GCs Are Growing Increasingly Dissatisfied With Your Work

How to Market Your Law Firm Through Community Involvement

This issue also contains links to every article in the July 2011 issue of Law Practice Today. Don't miss this issue or future issues.

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Today's issue of Answers to Questions contains these articles:

Russell Swartz, How I Use Three Monitors to Work With Clients; UltraMon Review

Paige Anderson, Review: Olympus Digital Dictation Recorders

Caren Schwartz, Review: HP Laserjet P3005DN

Del Stein, Review: Pathagoras

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

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, 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 Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on May 31, 2011 in our free BigLaw newsletter. Instead of reading BigLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

I wish it were otherwise, but malware isn't going away. If your midsize or large law firm doesn't have a comprehensive and layered defense in place to prevent infections, you run the risk of your firm's data being exposed, the personal (and too often financial) information of your employees being compromised, your billers losing valuable time from the infection itself or its remediation, and the malware "cleanup crew" in your IT Department developing nervous twitches.

This issue of BigLaw first lays out the basics for those of you in management (you can stop there), and then delves into some of the nitty gritty details for those of you in the IT Department.

The Basics: What You Need to Keep Your Firm Secure

A sound defensive strategy for your firm should include all six of the following protections at an absolute minimum.

1. Hardware firewall protecting your LAN.

2. Web-filtering server/proxy/appliance for all internal Web browsing. For example, Websense or Microsoft Forefront.

3. Anti-spam (and anti-malware) hosted email services (which can also queue your mail in the event you have an ISP or mail server outage). For example, Postini or Barracuda Networks.

4. Anti-malware client on all of your PCs. For example, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP), Symantec, Kaspersky, ESET, or Sunbelt.

5. A software firewall on all of your PCs. For example, Windows Firewall or ZoneAlarm.

6. User Access Control (or UAC) on Windows Vista and Windows 7 PCs. Learn it. It's your friend. Don't disable it.

Servers: 64-Bit Can Prevent a Performance Hit

Admittedly, some folks turn off UAC and the Windows Firewall because they "get in the way." I would humbly suggest that you can't afford to permit that. But what can get even stickier is whether you take it any further than these core defenses. The following four options are often skipped because of the CPU and I/O overhead they can introduce in the server and client environment respectively.

1. Anti-malware on Exchange.

2. Anti-malware on SharePoint (because of the high volume of user-originated content).

3. Anti-malware on other Windows Servers in your environment — especially file and Web servers.

4. An endpoint Web filtering/protection product on all of your PCs for safe-browsing off-LAN. For example, ZoneAlarm, or Websense's Data Security products.

I am not here to preach. Okay, well, I guess I am. As such, I strongly recommend reconsidering your decision not to have antivirus solutions in place on your most vulnerable server environments.

Once you make the jump to Exchange 2010, your 64-bit hardware should have more than enough juice to fulfill its own mission as well as carry a slight added burden of providing anti-virus scanning. If you absolutely refuse to install antivirus on your mailbox server(s), you can always install it on your edge transport server(s). Read some of Microsoft's own thoughts on the matter.

Clients: Microsoft's "Free" FEP v. The Competition

No matter the complexity or simplicity of your solutions and policies, the most critical (and vulnerable) component of your layered defense is ultimately where the rubber actually meets the road (or more accurately: the user meets the Internet) — the anti-malware client installed on your user PCs.

Why is the word "free" in quotes above? Well, if you want antivirus on your home PC, or if you have a home-based business, then Microsoft Security Essentials (same product as FEP minus the ability to centrally administer it via System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) is a truly free anti-malware product. If you fall into either of those two "home" classifications, go for it.

But importantly for this newsletter's audience, FEP is included under the Core CAL license (I assume that, as a medium to large firm, you have a volume licensing agreement including at least the Microsoft Core CAL license). If you are an Enterprise License customer, you are licensed for nearly the entire Forefront Architecture (Exchange, SharePoint, Lync Server, Unified Access Gateway, Exchange Online, etc.) minus only the Threat Management Gateway, which you must license separately.

But does FEP work as well as Symantec, Kaspersky, ESET, or any of the other products out there? From our firm's anecdotal experience, yes!

We have not discerned any observable drop in our protection since shifting to FEP from Sunbelt's Vipre. And even if we (hypothetically — which is not a foregone conclusion) lost a tick in performance, we would have made up for it in the improved manageability of having the updates all feed through our Windows Server Updates Services (WSUS) server and all administration and reporting effected through SCCM. (If you are already using SCCM then you could have FEP deployed today, by the way. The SCCM deployment packages for FEP are included on the install media you can download from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center.)

Anecdotally, we have encountered situations in which FEP found something that Vipre didn't, just as there were situations in which Vipre found something that Symantec didn't (back when we switched to Vipre) — and vice versa. But if you'd like more than anecdotal support for justifying the switch, I think you'll find that, performance-wise, while there are a handful of products out there with a better track record, FEP is better than most, and within easy striking distance of even the best.

All large firms today have volume license agreements in place with Microsoft. To do otherwise would be financially irresponsible when you consider the per-seat cost savings alone — never mind the additional training and support benefits that come with a volume licensing agreement.

So why not take advantage of what your firm already owns? Historically, the answer you might have given is "Because I can get a better product from …" (Symantec, Kaspersky, etc.). But Microsoft's new anti-malware product is, if not at the very top of the standings, at least a solid and legitimate player in the field. And the advantages of its tight integration with SCCM, WSUS, and your Windows-based PC's native Windows Update infrastructure, give it a true edge over the competition.

Written by Matthew Berg, Director of IT at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C..

How to Receive BigLaw
Many large firms have good reputations for their work and bad reputations as places to work. Why? Answering this question requires digging up some dirt, but we do with the best of intentions. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, BigLaw analyzes the business practices, marketing strategies, and technologies used by the country's biggest law firms in an effort to unearth best and worst practices. The BigLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new accounting and billing system (see article below), a document and records management system, a litigation project management application, a secure email message service, and a Windows troubleshooting utility. Don't miss the next issue.

Keep Your Cash Flow Positive and Your Clients Happy

Predicting the weather? Difficult. Predicting the level of interest in this article? Easy. From the associate just starting their career to the managing partner running the firm, every lawyer has a deep interest in billing. You see, lawyers spend so much time working that billing often gets short shrift. But if you don't bill your time, why work so hard? Hence, the deep interest in billing — specifically in finding software that makes it as easy as possible to record your billable time, identify missing time, and get paid on time. If you work at a midsize or large firm, this quest becomes an order of magnitude more challenging because of the increased complexity of a larger group of timekeepers.

Juris v2.5 … in One Sentence
LexisNexis' Juris v2.5 is an accounting and billing system for law firms with new technologies designed to shorten the time it takes to get paid and keep your cash flow in positive territory.

The Killer Feature

Looking at your law firm's income statement can make you feel like a million bucks. But then when you look at your balance sheet and see how much of your assets consist of receivables versus cash and short-term investments, you suddenly don't feel so wealthy. As any accountant will tell you, cash isn't king. Cash flow is.

The new Juris Suite Collections available in v2.5 focuses on improving your cash flow through automation and business intelligence. For example, the Centralized Account History enables you to locate all the salient details concerning a delinquent account, including whether anyone has bothered to contact that client.

Even better, the Communications Templates enable you to send a client-specific dunning letter with one click — including via email. You can customize the templates if you wish.

Juris Suite Collections also features customizable alerts and reports. The latter enable you to drill down as deeply into the underlying data as you want. You can have reports sent to you automatically, and also have alerts sent to whomever you designate (e.g., have your comptroller call the client if no payment is received after two dunning notices).

"In many law firms, information on who has done what to obtain payment from a client resides with multiple individuals, LexisNexis Vice President Jonah Paransky told us. "As a result, firms may duplicate their efforts, leading to a poor client experience. By enabling firms to document collection activities in a central location, the new Juris Suite Collections fosters internal collaboration and provides a better client experience, even in difficult situations."

Other Notable Features
You've heard of "the cloud" no doubt. The most secure type of cloud is your own at your firm. Thanks to Juris' support for Microsoft Windows Terminal Server, you need not install Juris on each desktop or laptop, reducing the support burden on your IT department. Juris also integrates with Microsoft Outlook 2010, enabling your users to share financial reports.

Other features include customizable dashboards that enable you to quickly assess your firm's financial health, support for LEDES and electronic billing, client-specific rules-based billing to prevent disputes and misunderstandings, and the ability to provide your lawyers with a real-time view of their billed hours versus their billable goals.

What Else Should You Know?
Juris features a built-in WebEx Web conferencing link for technical support so the technician can actually "see" the problem you're experiencing. Juris v2.5 is free for customers with an active Juris or Juris Suite subscription or current Software Maintenance and Technical Support Agreement. The new Juris Suite Collections module is included in Juris Premium subscriptions. Learn more about Juris v2.5.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.