TechnoLawyer

Coming today to Fat Friday: Bryan Keenan compares the iPhone to Windows Mobile, Emery Wang reviews PracticeMaster, Robert Rice explains how RAID saved his bacon, Tom Trottier shares a TimeMap diagram and illustration tip, and Frank River discusses how practice management software can boost your growth. Don't miss this issue.

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.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Bryan Keenan compares the iPhone to Windows Mobile Phone, Emery Wang reviews PracticeMaster for document assembly, Robert Rice explains how RAID saved his law firm, Frank Rivera compares off-the-shelf practice management systems with homegrown systems, and Tom Trottier shares a tip about the best format for diagrams that you export from TimeMap or similar programs. Don't miss this issue.

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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a portable scanner (see article below), an online meeting app for iPad, a project management system for electronic discovery, a book about knowledge tools, and a gadget to improve your sleep. Don't miss the next issue.

A Scanner With a Heart

Small and cheap — not always a good combination. However, for mobile computing gadgets it's an ideal to which companies aspire. But what about scanners? Thanks to the dimensions of paper, they might never fit in your pocket, but they should not weigh you down or consume too much space. That means no power cord. And perhaps no automatic document feeder to further reduce size and weight, especially if your mobile scanning needs are light. If you could find such a scanner, would you mind if it had a heart-shaped button?

Doxie … in One Sentence
Apparent's Doxie is a portable sheet-fed USB scanner.

The Killer Feature
Doxie scans into JPEG, PDF, and PNG formats. It also integrates with both desktop and Web applications. For example, you can scan documents and photos directly to EverNote, Flickr, Google Docs, Scribd, etc. Alternatively, Apparent offers its own cloud-based storage service for Doxie users.

Other Notable Features
Doxie measures 11.5 x 2 x 1.6 inches, and weighs 10.9 ounces. It scans at 12 seconds per page at 200 dpi. It can scan at resolutions up to 600 dpi, albeit at lower speeds.

Doxie does not have a document feeder, but you can scan documents with multiple pages — it combines them into a single file. Doxie can scan any size document from a business card up to legal, including A4 and letter.

What Else Should You Know?
Doxie works with Macs (10.5 or later) and PCs (Windows XP or later), and draws its power from the USB cable. It comes with a carrying case. Doxie costs $129. Learn more about Doxie.

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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a legal-specific credit card processing service provider (see article below), an alert service for important email messages, a network storage appliance, an eBook reader, and a legal dictionary for the iPad. Don't miss the next issue.. Don't miss the next issue.

Take Charge and Get Paid Faster

Most businesses don't think twice about accepting credit cards. They just do it because it increases sales and reduces collections. But most businesses don't have to worry about regulations — like all those ethics rules that govern law firms. For this reason, many law firms have concluded that the costs of accepting credit cards outweigh the benefits. But what if you could minimize those costs?

Law Charge … in One Sentence
Designed by lawyers, Law Charge is a credit card processing service that offers legal-specific merchant accounts designed for law firms bound by trust accounting rules.

The Killer Feature
Accepting credit cards through a traditional service provider typically involves a cumbersome process for lawyers. That's because most credit card processors remove the discount and transaction fees from the amount you charge so that you end up with less than the transaction amount in your trust account. Thus, you need to write a check in the amount of these fees and deposit it in the trust account. You may also need to write another check for the monthly maintenance fees.

As a workaround, some firms deposit all funds into their operating account, then write a check for the transaction amount and deposit it into their trust account. Unfortunately, this method may fail an audit because it commingles funds if only for a short time.

Law Charge eliminates this dilemma. Depending on the nature of a charge, you can deposit the funds to your operating or trust account. If you deposit into your trust account, Law Charge places the transaction amount in the trust. It separates out the transaction fees and deducts them from your operating account at the end of the month.

Other Notable Features
Law Charge does not charge a monthly processing fee, inactivity fee, or any other "junk fees" as Law Charge CEO and lawyer Tracy Griffin characterizes them. "Clients are holding onto their cash because they just aren't sure whats coming next in this economy. Therefore, more and more lawyers are offering their clients the choice to pay by credit card," she added.

You can process transactions in the manner that best suits your firm — point of sale terminal, telephone, fax, Internet virtual terminal, and/or your own Web site (online store). Additionally, Law Charge integrates with Clio and VLOTech, popular Web-based practice management systems.

What Else Should You Know?
Costs depend on the type of processing you need. Learn more about Law Charge.

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.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Living the good life is all about balance. For example, how can you appear serious but not boring? Stylish but not frivolous? Tech savvy but not nerdy? In this TechnoFeature article, lawyer and technologist Edward Zohn explains how lawyers can combine "chic" with "geek" when shopping for gear. Zohn then recommends chic geek products in ten categories — tablets, smartphones, netbooks, laptops, feature phones, Bluetooth headsets, office ergonomics, wristwatches, pens, and keyboards and mice.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
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 April 19, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

In today's economy, "law firms must run lean and mean to remain competitive and profitable." However, according to the University of Florida Levin School of Law's "2010 Perfect Practice Legal Technology Institute Study" (PP-LTI Study), small law firms have largely failed to implement technologies that would help them achieve this goal. Furthermore, despite prevalent concerns about client confidentiality and security, small firms often fail to embrace technologies that address these very issues.

Legal Technology Institute director Andrew Adkins says that the original goal of the PP-LTI Study was to determine how many legal professionals use practice management software, but it expanded to cover other technologies as well.

Small Firms Fail to Adopt Basic Technologies

Among the results that the PP-LTI Study authors found "surprising" was the failure of legal professionals to adopt simple technologies, which cost relatively little but can boost efficiency. For example, dual computer monitors.

Adkins was also "amazed" that more small firms have not implemented document management systems. A similar study, conducted in 2000, concluded that 50% of legal professionals were not using DMSs. The PP-LTI Study shows that 52% of those surveyed still do not use the technology. Small firms are significantly less likely to use document management systems than those in larger firms as 80% of the respondents who reported using a document management system worked in large firms.

Similarly, the study's authors were surprised to find that — despite concerns about client confidentiality and security — many small firms do not use metadata cleanup software or email encryption. Again, larger firms lead the way: 61% of small firms said that they did not use metadata cleanup software. Of the 25% of respondents who reported using email encryption, only 20% were at small firms.

Large Firms Have a Significant Lead Over Small Firms

It is clear from the PP-LTI Study that size matters. Overall, small firms lagged behind their large firm counterparts in the adoption of common technologies. For example, while tools for routing and notifications of paperless workflow seem to be catching on across the industry, they're much more prevalent at large firms. Also, nearly 50% of small firms reported using a practice management system (such as AbacusLaw or Amicus Attorney) versus nearly 83% of large firms.

What are the perceived barriers regarding the use of practice management systems? Respondents — especially those in small firms — were most likely to explain their non-use with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rationale, noting that their current systems were working and "not worth changing."

While the "cost of maintaining" a practice management system was a close second, respondents also identified concerns about integration with other technologies, the inability to "see the benefits," and the "cost of computer upgrades" as primary barriers to adoption. Although there was consensus, among survey respondents about the issues that stand in the way, small firm lawyers were significantly more likely than their large firm counterparts to express concern about each.

Of course, it is no surprise that small firm users are more concerned about cost, maintenance, and integration issues. Compared to their large firm counterparts, small practitioners lack the financial and IT "buffers" that help smooth the way for the adoption of new technologies. However, the PP-LTI Study found that those firms without a practice management system estimated its cost as more than double what those who do use such software actually paid.

Read our companion article, New Study Shows Large Firms Behind the Technology Curve.

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:

First Review: TrialDirector 6

Can Gizmodo Win the iPhone Legal Battle?

The Am Law 100 for 2010: It Could Have Been Worse

Why Did You Lose a Client?

This issue also contains links to every article in the May 2010 issue of Law Technology News. Don't miss this issue or future issues.

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. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on March 01, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

At ABA TechShow, which kicks off later this month, you can learn about blogging, eDiscovery, social media, and other hot topics. But over the past few months, the usually unsexy topic of legal research has emerged as the hottest topic of the year. Recent developments may impact every small firm in the country. Here's why.

Beginning in late 2009, a decades-old question re-emerged for the first time in years: What technology will power the future of legal research? Thanks to several new competitors, legal research looks like a crowded field rather than a duopoly — a good thing, right? After all, competition encourages companies to retain existing customers and win new ones by being faster to market, ensuring a low cost-structure, and introducing a better product — and maybe even by doing all of the above.

Over the years I have sampled and — for at least some time — actively used each of the principal services. For me, the results have been underwhelming. I am among those who yearn for a future with better legal research technology.

The Defending Champs and Their Challengers

Westlaw and Lexis — the leaders in legal research — need no introduction. They built their reputations lawyer by lawyer, reporter by reporter … before being acquired and then acquired again. Today Lexis and Westlaw are often mirror images of one another in many respects. Despite their rivalry for the hearts and minds of the profession, the two companies keep one another under constant surveillance and compete for the same AmLaw 100 accounts more or less … plus whatever smaller players their sales armies can catch.

So is there really a difference? I have found a few. Westlaw has a slightly more graphic-intensive and less confusing interface than its rival. Moreover, its natural-language search capabilities are more robust than those of Lexis, especially given its recent launch of WestlawNext. Meanwhile, its databases are nestled within one another so effectively that researchers can get to searching rather than running the gauntlet of choices that Lexis users must navigate. Unfortunately, when it comes to billing Westlaw shows less flexibility than it used to, and less than Lexis. I attribute this change to the influence of Thomson and Reuters.

Lexis has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to information — traceable to its roots as an information vendor, not just a legal information company. It also possesses a dynamic internal structure that frequently causes it to operate less like a unit and more like a federation of independent businesses. The results can be downright exciting, and Lexis has aggressively acquired a number of cutting-edge companies in the legal field over the past decade. Too bad the company took its eyes off the legal research prize. It seems like LexisNexis can't decide what it wants to be when it grows up: application vendor, news source, social network, etc.

Loislaw was one of the first serious challengers to the domination of legal research by Westlaw and Lexis, but never grew beyond its original sandbox in terms of interface or databases. The key feature Loislaw sought to exploit was its ability to access public records for free and add value by linking the pieces into a network. It also offers a citation service. But it seemed to me like Loislaw never finished integrating the pieces with one another. Nonetheless, the alternative research market is Loislaw's to lose, which it may to Fastcase.

Fastcase seems like the real legal research alternative for my money. To begin with, the service really does deliver information fast, using an easy to grasp, easy to use interface, ties results to the right sources, is available online or on your iPhone, and does it all for free. At first the strategy was to have bar associations pay for the service and pass it on as a member benefit, which worked out fine. So how surprised were they when free became the new way to market? The rest is history. I credit Fastcase with preventing "free research" from being synonymous with "lousy research."

I have the least direct experience with Bloomberg Law for the obvious reason that this service is new and not trying to upend the overall market or serve all lawyers. Quite the contrary, Bloomberg aims to simplify the life of large firm lawyers, securities lawyers, and corporate law departments. The strategy at Bloomberg is simple: limited databases, limited services, high priced premium access for a well-defined market. Bloomberg may take business away from Westlaw and Lexis, and represents a breath of fresh air in this rarefied atmosphere, but you can't use it to shore up your average child support motion.

In November 2009, Google announced that it would offer state and federal court opinions through Google Scholar, including Supreme Court opinions back to 1791. Since then it has become apparent that Google Scholar updates its databases in real-time (a Google hallmark), and continually adds services to enhance its growing case law and statutory law stash. However, the real strength of Westlaw and Lexis stem not just from the number of information sources they boast, but from editorial oversight and connections among those databases to bring forth added value. At the moment, Google Scholar offers no such added value, and there is no indication that it will. Maybe it really just does just want to add another dimension to the searches conducted by ordinary people.

And the Winner Is …

This fight is just getting started. The winner could become your next legal research provider. One way or another we all have a horse in this race, and we should all let the big providers know where we stand. I think I just did. How about you?

Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

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.

Originally published on April 28, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

We've all heard that bad things happen in three's. I'm tired of negativity. Why not focus on the positive? With today's column, I'm kicking off a series of monthly columns, each of which will offer three tips to help your small firm tackle a technology hurdle. Today, let's explore whether it makes sense to move to Windows 7. Is it safe? Should you upset your reasonably stable Windows XP apple cart? Can you avoid the nightmare otherwise known as Vista?

Vista Be Gone

I have written extensively about the product I quickly came to refer to as Windows Vista or MOPH (My Own Personal Hell), and the time it wasted, the angst it engendered, and the outpouring of public vitriol at the sheer callous offensiveness of the product.

Continuing to berate Vista serves no practical purpose, largely since with the release of Windows 7 in October 2009, Microsoft seems to have made a comprehensive mea culpa for the errors of its previous operating system ways. These included:

• Incompatibility With Peripherals: The inability to reliably use even relatively recent vintage printers, scanners, and other devices confounded more than a few Vista victims.


• Unreliability: Vista was so bloated with running services and its own clumsy applications that its raison d'etre as an operating system was short-circuited. It just didn't really … operate.


• False Security: Absurd and thinly veiled attempts to create a false sense of digital security through a series of marketing-driven warnings and notifications in the form of the dreaded UACs (User Account Control) messages. Some users could literally see 50+ of these permission requests in an hour of work. And the technology behind the "warnings"? Often nothing more than a fraudulent intent to create a sense of security where none really existed.

We could go on, but to what end? Microsoft effectively acknowledged its colossal mistake by continuously extending the life of Windows XP. Enterprise buyers refused to drink whatever minimalist Vista Kool-Aid Microsoft offered and stayed away in droves. To its credit, Microsoft routinely indirectly acknowledged Vista's inadequacy, largely by rapidly accelerating the development and release of its successor, Windows 7. After perhaps the largest and longest public beta testing process this side of Google's products, Windows 7 rolled out after months of positive reviews of its surprisingly stable "release candidate" versions.

Tip One: Windows 7 Actually Works

Let's explore the conclusion first. Yes, Windows 7 is reliable and worth the upgrade/migration process. It works. Finally an operating system from Microsoft that does in fact … operate.

It's safe. Safer to use earlier in its life than any Microsoft operating system in memory. It's actually good enough to draw semi-positive comments from Mac users (i.e., "It's actually not that bad" — yes, that's high praise from any Mac user when referencing a Microsoft operating system).

Tip Two: The Best Things About Windows 7 Are Substantive

Vista, may it not rest in peace, supplanted substance for fluff — silly eye candy that was both superfluous and insulting in its utter lack of respect for a user's ability to accomplish anything of functional value.

Windows 7, however, excels in several distinct areas including the following, all of which could be said to be the virtual opposite of corresponding Vista functions:

• Reliable access and exploitation of systems with more than 2 GB of RAM courtesy of a more compatible 64-bit version than Vista offered.


• Less intrusive sub-applications and less menu clutter.


• Feels more "XP-like." That it is a compliment of the first order, referring to the perception of workmanlike operability of XP.


• Peripheral compatibility is dramatically improved. Windows 7 also benefits from years of driver automation and refinement.


• Performance — Windows 7 is smart enough to know when to get out of its own way. About time Microsoft — and frankly, nicely done.

Tip Three: Best Practices for Windows 7 Upgrades

The best approach is to move your practice to Windows 7 by buying it pre-installed on new, Windows 7-certified/compatible/friendly PC systems. If you're a Windows XP user, just wait out the lifecycle of those systems and retire them. If you're a Vista victim, by all means, rescue yourself as soon as you can. However, going the upgrade route is possible.

Upgrading to Windows 7 for most law practices will involve a "bare metal" process on an existing Windows XP system. Windows 7 cannot perform a direct upgrade from Windows versions earlier than Vista — a fresh installation is required. However, as part of the process, the prior Windows system is saved under a Windows.Old file structure — the older files can still be accessed, although the older version of Windows cannot run (unless of course the system's drive is partitioned and the prior version of Windows is maintained, with a dual-boot structure being created).

As always, performing an operating system upgrade is cleaner and much less problematic when a fresh installation is involved. The process of overwriting a prior operating system with "in place" upgrades has virtually always yielded a digital mess — the detritus of the old operating system tainting the reliability of the new. So even Vista users — the few out there in a law practice situation — should serious consider clean installations rather than in-place upgrades.

Windows uberguru Paul Thurott recommends a three step process for a Windows 7 upgrade on non-Vista systems.

1. Backup your crucial data and settings using Windows Easy Transfer (it's on the Windows 7 Setup DVD). Make note of the applications that are installed, because you'll have to manually reinstall them again after the fact.


2. Perform a clean install of Windows 7 using the upgrade media.


3. Restore your crucial data and settings using Windows Easy Transfer (part of Windows 7) and then reinstall your applications.

Microsoft has a helpful online resource to help small businesses through the upgrade consideration process. You'll find un-Microsoft-like simple explanations of the volume license process when five or more systems are involved, and learn about the upgrade compatibility/compliance testing to determine the success likelihood based on your present hardware platforms.

Written by Ross Kodner of MicroLaw.

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 Fat Friday: David Hudgens reviews the Sennheiser BW 900 Bluetooth headset, Samuel Hasler reviews HotDocs for document assembly, Michael St. George reviews the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and Evernote, Andrew Weltchek discusses choosing the solo life, and Yvonne Renfrew shares a TimeMap printing tip and reviews the product's new search capability. Don't miss this issue.

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.