Coming May 15, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Charles T. Lester Jr. suggests three sure-fire ways to cleanly copy and paste from Word to WordPerfect, Stephen Hayes shares his tips for a more comfortable, productive office setup, James Zuffoletto shares his thoughts on using dual monitors and the option of multiple monitors in one stand, David Hudgens reviews Time Matters and PCLaw, and Michael Murray discusses the future of Macs in the legal profession. Don't miss this issue.
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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 May 14, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Jason Havens clarifies his position regarding practice management software installation and consultants, Robert McNeill shares several ways to research practice management solutions plus he reviews the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510, and Dean Birch reviews Xerox's DocuMate 262 scanner. 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 May 13, 2008 to TechnoFeature: Have you searched for years for the right document assembly software? Attorney Daniel Fennick has. He has tried several programs, never finding the perfect solution. In this article, Daniel reviews the latest version of Pathagoras. He discusses the various features, how he evaluated it in his law practice, tech support, and even some suggestions for improvement. Overall, is Pathagoras 2008 worth your time and money? Read Daniel's 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.
Coming May 16, 2008 to Fat Friday: Stephen Seldin discusses software design in the context of Microsoft Word using Apple as a counterbalance, Karen McCormick reviews Time Matters 8, Harold Burstyn shares his thoughts on associate tenure at large firms and how patent law firms differ, Steve Loewy reviews the BlackBerry Curve versus the Palm Treo 650, and Troy Harber seeks practical Word tips that he can apply to OpenOffice (and we deliver dozens). Don't miss this issue.
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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.
Intervals, Wrike, and OnStage — Special Online Project Management Issue
By Neil J. Squillante
Choosing an online project management system is a lot like getting married. Realizing you made a terrible mistake carries a great cost. And unlike marriage, project management systems don't offer the safety net of a prenup.
While the companies behind these services may promise that you can extract your data, you'll probably need to hire someone to use what you extract. In other words, choose your project management system even more carefully than you choose your spouse.
Previously in this newsletter, we covered the two heavyweights in this nascent category — Basecamp (see What's a Matter? in the 02-09-05 issue) and CentralDesktop (see Report to Desktop Central in the 09-18-06 issue).
Today, we cover three new contenders — Intervals, OnStage, and Wrike. What do they have that their predecessors lack? Find out in this special edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire.
INTERVALS: MEDIUM WEIGHT ONLINE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Intervals attempts to fill a void between lightweight project management applications that don't contain any analytical tools and complex applications that use Gantt charts and the like. With Intervals, you can enter predictions for the time and cost of a project, track both of these metrics, and then analyze how well your predictions fared when you complete the project.
Of importance to lawyers, the time tracking tool features timers, weekly timesheet submissions and approvals, reminders (nags) for those who do not submit their timesheets, and reports that present information in charts. You can also use Intervals to create and track bills. Intervals can even email clients automatically about overdue bills.
Intervals can track your tasks in addition to your time. You can receive email alerts every day listing what's due. If you assign tasks to someone else, you can receive an email alert when a status changes.
Most projects at law firms involve documents. Intervals offers document storage and sharing within projects. You can even associate a document with a task. Intervals supports versioning for revisions of the same document. You can share other file types as well such as photos and videos.
Intervals provides a number of useful reports that you can export in .csv format. For example, you can compare billable versus unbillable time, analyze employee productivity, compare actual hours billed versus your goals, and more.
Intervals offers four different plans that range in price from $20 to $175 per month. The difference among the plans concerns the number of projects and the amount of storage space — plus the two higher-priced plans offer encryption. A free plan also exists that limits you to one project and provides no storage space. Learn more about Intervals.
WRIKE: EMAIL'S LITTLE HELPER
According to Wrike, the world revolves around email. So rather than try to teach old dogs (you) new tricks, it has created an online project management system that integrates with plain old email.
For example, to create a task, you don't have to login. Instead, you can email Wrike directly or if you're assigning the task to someone you can email that person and cc Wrike. Wrike automatically creates a task. If you include a due date in your email message, Wrike can send a reminder to the person responsible for the task as the deadline approaches. At any time, you can log into your Wrike dashboard to see and manage all tasks.
In addition to creating tasks, Wrike transforms email messages about a topic into a Gantt timeline. It also stores your email messages so that you can easily find and search them. Wrike's "Flexible Structures" doesn't force you into the project paradigm. While you can group tasks by project, you can also group them by people, process, or any other system of your choosing — and you can apply multiple types.
Within Wrike itself, you can track time, share files, engage in threaded discussions, and view reports. The reports enable you to drill down to specific data points like a time entry.
Wrike works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari and includes free email support. Wrike costs $3.99 per user per month if you commit to the annual plan. The monthly plan costs $4.99 per user per month. Learn more about Wrike.
ONSTAGE: IT'S THE CALENDAR, STUPID
Chmura believes that project management requires a shared calendar. As a result, its OnStage online project management offering features a calendar at its heart. On the main calendar, you can create and view events, milestones, and tasks for all projects. When you enter a project, you see only the items related to that project.
In addition to the calendar, OnStage offers two other ways to view information — dashboards and reports. And within a project, you can share files, exchange messages, and create and manage contacts and tasks. File sharing includes versioning. You can assign tasks and create email alerts when the status changes. You receive messages via email, but they also remain in OnStage grouped in threads and fully searchable.
OnStage works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. The five different plans range in price from $10 to $135 per month. All of them provide SSL encryption so they differ only with regard to the number of projects and storage. A free ad-supported plan provides as many projects (20) and storage (750 MB) as the $20/month plan. Learn more about OnStage.
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 May 8, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Ed Detlie suggests a few case management software options for a workers compensation practice plus he reviews the ScanSnap s510, David Adamski reviews Loislaw for legal research and comments on adhesion contracts, Edward Zohn explains how his firm archives its Exchange/Outlook-based email, Harry Steinmetz reviews Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition and Amicus Accounting, and Thomas Hutto reviews Backpack and Google calendar for shared calendaring. 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 May 9, 2008 to Fat Friday: Debra Bruce reviews the Verizon XV6700 Pocket PC (and we comment on its successors), Wesley Y.S. Chang reviews ActiveWords and explains how he uses it in his practice, Stephen Seldin discusses how the Internet has affected CLE and how a different pricing structure could help, Christel Burris discusses the method behind the madness of Microsoft's various Office 2007 suites, and Michael Caldwell responds to the continuing discussion about biglaw associate salaries. 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 May 6, 2008 to TechnoFeature: Choosing practice management software is challenging, but it's actually a small part of the bigger puzzle. Once you have decided on the software, what do you do with it? In this article, legal technology consultant Katrina Hubbard walks you through the implementation process. In doing so, she provides ten helpful tips designed to get you from the pre-purchase stage all the way to becoming a well-oiled practice management machine. Whether you're just dipping a toe into the practice management waters or have already taken the plunge with a particular software package, Katrina will show you how to maximize your investment.
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.
Once again it's time for Battle of the Law Firm Videos. This time we'll channel the WWE and pit no fewer than four law firms against one another. (No hitting below the briefcase, gentlemen.)
The Big Levowski ...
We begin with Even M. Levow, a New Jersey lawyer who specializes in DWI cases. In his video, State vs. Chun: The Biggest Case in New Jersey DWI History (video no longer available, possibly because of this review), Levow discusses his involvement in the Chun case, which challenged the use of the Draeger Alcotest, a computerized replacement for the traditional breathalyzer.
Levow claims that his experience in the Chun case enables him to better defend you should you find yourself on the receiving end of that test. I believe him, but Levow doesn't explain what happened in the Chun case.
A Google search shows that one month before Levow posted his video, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the state police could use the Draeger Alcotest, but it imposed a number of requirements.
Perhaps Levow felt that this mixed decision was too complex for his YouTube video, but he talks up the Chun case to such an extent you can't help but wonder about its outcome.
Aside from death and taxes, the other certainty in life is that lawyers get paid to spin facts to suit the circumstances. And Levow is a lawyer. Levow should have simply noted that he helped impose certain requirements on the Draeger Alcotest, and that if the police don't follow these procedures you might walk. And just like that he could have explained the outcome of the Chun case.
Enough about the substance. Let's get to the mechanics. The video is well-produced. It shows Levow with a courthouse as a backdrop and his firm's phone number and Web address below. Levow clearly rehearsed. He handles himself well in front of the camera. At 1:52, the video might be a little long, but that's a minor quibble given Levow's good stage presence.
Regarding the accompanying copy, Levow lists his contact information, but because he fails to use the http prefix with his URL, the firm's Web address is not a live link. Also, the copy consists of one big paragraph — and it's poorly written — clearly not the work of a professional copywriter.
Is This a Legal Video or an Aaron Spelling Production?
This clever video features a slide show of bus, car, motorcycle, truck, and train wrecks while a funky soundtrack plays. Thanks to the photos and accompanying titles, we learn that Silvers handles just about every imaginable vehicular accident without any exposition by Silvers himself. Yes, he practices in LA. Did you have to ask?
Unfortunately, Silvers forgets the golden rule of Hollywood — don't screw up the ending. The video ends with a blurry photo of Silvers staring into the camera with a bookcase behind him. Given the slick nature of this video, Silvers should have used an action shot of himself — perhaps walking up the courthouse steps or maybe examining the scene of an accident.
The accompanying copy reads like a cheap classified ad, which is a shame given the creativity that clearly went into the video. Silvers does link to his firm's Web site.
Gomez, who looks a bit like Erik Estrada, makes a number of good points. For example, he tells viewers not to immediately accept blame for car accidents as he runs through a list of variables such as the sobriety of the other driver, road conditions, misplaced or missing road signs, etc.
Also, the video makes excellent use of graphics, including a split screen effect for bullet points and a title below Gomez that wouldn't look out of place on a CNN broadcast.
But at 3:18, the video is too long. Gomez doesn't have the screen presence to pull off such a long monologue. Worst of all, the opening title promotes the agency that created the video. Would BMW allow its ad agency to promote itself at the beginning of its advertisements? No, and neither should any law firm.
The accompanying copy is short and sweet, but it contains a typo (it uses "than" instead of "then"). Also, Gomez does not list his firm's contact information or Web address.
Ishtar, the Sequel ...
Steve Meshbesher of Meshbesher & Associates in his video of the same name has a lot of experience and good information to pass along, but he cannot make a convincing case thanks to poor production values. He sounds like he's in a cave. You can hear traffic outside his office. The camera faces his sun-filled office windows, resulting in a washed-out picture.
As for the script, it sounds extemporaneous, which is fine if you're Robin Williams. Steve is not. If he wrote the script, he didn't rehearse it enough.
Unfortunately, the accompanying copy is also a letdown. It contains a typo ("Meshbesher & Associates should be the Law Firm of you choose"). Who wrote this copy? Who proofread this copy? A 20-page brief will always contain a typo or two. But a typo is inexcusable in a 40-word blurb.
And the Winner Is ...
No one wants law firms to benefit from online videos more than I do. This explains my tough love in these ongoing reviews. Law firms should not create videos on their own nor should they hire posers who have clearly run up against the Peter Principle. Conduct due diligence and hire a true professional who will tell you to edit your script, rehearse, etc.
Michael H. Silvers is the winner today. His simple, slick video gets the job done better than the others. Just change that photo at the end and re-upload.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Coming May 2, 2008 to Fat Friday: David Giuffrida reviews Carbonite in conjunction with WinZip Pro for comprehensive online backup, Thomas Parker discusses where small firms fit in a general counsel's outside counsel strategy, David Long suggests a more accurate way to open WordPerfect documents in Word, Hugh Roberts reviews Wrike for email-related task management, and Ido Ilan reviews his Treo 680 and Agendus. 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.
