TechnoLawyer

Coming July 24, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Kevin Kirlin reviews his experience running Windows XP on a MacBook Pro, Ina Kay Zimmerman reviews Netmass for online backup, Ted Harper explains how to use multiple monitors with multiple computers (and why he still loves his old CRT), Nicholas Richter provides an update on his recent Question about whether he should upgrade to Amicus Attorney 2008, and Bertrand Zalinsky explains how to create a Paste Special macro in Word 2007. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 22, 2008 to TechnoFeature: De-duplication is a necessary but confusing concept in eDiscovery. Many vendors are quick to claim their expertise in de-duplicating a collection of email and electronic documents, but the results often disappoint. In this review, eDiscovery expert Brett Burney evaluates Equivio, which claims that its "near-duplicate" approach is much more efficient at culling down a document collection. How does this unique software work and what does Brett think about it? Read his comprehensive review to find out.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

The American Bar Association (ABA) recently published Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell's book The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together. Jordan Furlong, Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Bar Association's National Magazine, describes the book as "a thoughtful, comprehensive, strategic guide for 21st-century lawyers to understand and appreciate the significance of collaboration, and how it can be integrated into real-world legal practices." We also think it's terrific and a worthwhile investment. Thanks to the ABA and the authors, below you'll find a reprint of Chapter 17, which focuses on using Microsoft SharePoint as a collaboration tool. If you like this excerpt, you'll love the book, which you can order from the ABA.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a document assembly application that integrates with Microsoft Office (see article below), an online backup and file sharing service, and two new document scanners. Don't miss the next issue.

Recycle Your Work Product
By Peter R. Olson

If you work in higher education with its publish or perish rigors, allegations of plagiarism can bring stiff consequences. But as a practicing attorney, recycling forms, pleadings, clauses, etc. from court files, colleagues, and even other law firms can get you a pat on the back from the managing partner and your client. In fact, some practices would not exist without the ability to recycle previous work product because of price-conscious clients.

PowerReuse 1.0 by SoftPowerHouse caters to the legal document recyclers among us. A document assembly tool, PowerReuse has two core features — Project File and Content Library. You group related Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files into the Project File, and then use clauses and data fields from the Content Library to build your documents.

When you open Microsoft Office files in PowerReuse, the PowerReuse Pane pops up, enabling you to access its tools. You can share projects with your colleagues. The Content Library features drag and drop, making it easy to insert text into documents. Switch between different files by using tabs for navigation.

You can store just about anything in the Content Library, including your biography, letter salutations, engagement letters, contract clauses, etc. Instead of searching through many files and then using copy and paste, PowerReuse enables you to see your saved clauses in a tree structure for easy manipulation and insertion into new documents.

PowerReuse creates data fields for storing all commonly-used information such as client name. If you change a field, PowerReuse makes the same change in all documents in the project.

PowerReuse 1.0 works with Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 and costs $299 for a single-user license. You can try it for free for 30 days. Learn more about PowerReuse.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 15, 2008 to TechnoFeature: The American Bar Association (ABA) recently published Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell's book The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together. Jordan Furlong, Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Bar Association's National Magazine, describes the book as "a thoughtful, comprehensive, strategic guide for 21st-century lawyers to understand and appreciate the significance of collaboration, and how it can be integrated into real-world legal practices." We also think it's terrific and a worthwhile investment. Thanks to the ABA and the authors, below you'll find a reprint of Chapter 17, which focuses on using Microsoft SharePoint as a collaboration tool. If you like this excerpt, you'll love the book, which you can order from the ABA.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 18, 2008 to Fat Friday: Sam Gibson reviews Windows Small Business Server's Remote Web Workplace and LogMeIn for remote control, Brian Cluxton discusses why you may want to think twice about switching to Macs if you work in a small city, Carroll Straus reminisces about good and bad times with Microsoft Word, Mark Klarich reviews the Wacom CTE-440 pen tablet (especially for those with repetetive stress injuries), and Tom Trottier discusses three free alternatives to ActiveWords. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 17, 2008 to Answers to Questions: John Ahern reviews his firm's Xerox DocuMate 252 scanner as well as PaperPort and Snappy Fax, Aaron Craft reviews Cisco's Unified Communications 520 system for VoIP at the office, Gerard Stubbert discusses the technical issues lawyers face when dealing with native files during discovery, Jim Grennan reviews Trumba for case docketing, and William Lloyd reviews Eudora and discusses alternatives Penelope and Thunderbird. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a practice management application for Windows Mobile devices (see article below), software that enables law firms to offer financing to their clients, and a Web-based billing application. Don't miss the next issue.

Your Practice in Your Pocket
By Peter R. Olson

The problem with being out of your office is being out of your office. Despite significant advances in smartphones and PDAs, their bundled applications lack the legal-specific functions of case management software. Gavel & Gown has responded to this problem with Amicus Mobile, an add-on to Amicus Attorney 2008 Premium Edition, its desktop case management software.

Amicus Mobile runs on Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs. It offers two significant innovations — push synchronization and time capture.

It's hard to believe that synchronizing your smartphone with your PC using a cable once seemed revolutionary. Nowadays, it's a chore right up there with taking out the trash and doing laundry. Amicus Mobile eliminates the need for you to manually sync. Instead, it synchronizes automatically, instantaneously, and wirelessly over your carrier's cell phone network with your Amicus Attorney 2008 server.

For example, as soon as you record a time entry, enter a contact, write a note, create an appointment, etc. that same information appears in Amicus Attorney back in your office. Similarly, any changes made back in the office such as a corrected phone number appears instantly in Amicus Mobile on your Windows Mobile device.

Amicus Mobile also addresses another chore — time entry. Instead of making a phone call and then manually entering the time afterwards, Amicus Mobile asks you after each call if you would like to create a record of the call and optionally a time entry. Just click Yes or No, add a note if you wish, and you're done. Amicus Mobile already knows its duration and enters that information. You can exclude personal contacts such as your kids from these prompts, and all captured call records can later be reviewed and converted into time entries.

Amicus Mobile pretty much mirrors its desktop counterpart. You can access, modify, and create contacts, appointments, notes, tasks, call records, stickies, and time entries. You can even access your file index and basic file details. With stickies, you can exchange text messages with your staff and bypass the charges associated with SMS. Because Amicus Mobile uses ActiveSync, it also synchronizes with Outlook if you use that program (and who doesn't these days).

In addition to Amicus Attorney 2008 Premium Edition, Amicus Mobile requires Windows Mobile 5 or higher and Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 or higher. Amicus Mobile costs $149 per license. Learn more about Amicus Mobile.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 11, 2008 to Fat Friday: Ross Kodner responds to Martin Dean's recent rebuttal regarding email confidentiality, Bruce Vermeychuk provides a brief history of WordPerfect and points to a free eBook about the early days of the company by one of WordPerfect's founding fathers, Andrew Weltchek discusses spam and challenge response software, Paul Lepine points to a unique mouse and shares two tips for more comfortable mousing, and Thomas Fitzpatrick comes to Apple's defense regarding its cinema displays and the elusive built-in iSight camera. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 10, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Bob Moss reviews Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Professional and how it compares to the other versions available, Todd Taylor explains how to create a free document management system with Windows Explorer, Kerry Carroll discusses the pdfDocs Desktop suite as an alternative to Nuance's PaperPort, PDF Converter, and OmniPage, Ralph Oser points to a timely article about pasting unformatted text in Word and Outlook, and Sandy Bautch reviews QuickFile4Outlook — Lawyers Edition. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.