TechnoLawyer

BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is a free eBook in PDF format. Actually, it's two eBooks in one.

BlawgWorld enables you to explore and discover legal blogs (blawgs) without spinning your wheels. It features the best essays of the year from 77 of the most influential blawgs.

TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide uses a question/answer format to help you find solutions to problems commonly encountered by law firms. It contains 185 solutions organized into 58 topics.

Thanks to the eBook's inspired design, you're never more than three clicks away from what you want to read. BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide has received glowing reviews from many publications. For example, LLRX writes:

"The substance of both books is exceptional, while the eBook format is innovative and inviting.... [The eBook] was designed to open in just about any PDF viewer and it worked very well in my various tests.... The best part of the entire eBook is that it is free."

Download Your Free Copy Now
BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is truly free — no registration hassles.

So please download your copy now (PDF file).

And then enter our sweepstakes.

Coming October 5, 2007 to Fat Friday: Anita Evans provides some Styles tips for Microsoft Word, Ben Schorr reviews Treo 700WX with Windows Mobile 5, Roy Greenberg explains how he sends email to a client who doesn't use email, "Mr. Paper LESS Office" Ross Kodner discusses his love affair with paper and why that's not at odds with his teachings, and Ronald Cappuccio uses a clever analogy to describe Dell's upselling tactics (but our publisher chimes in with his own analogy). 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 October 4, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Paul Purdue compares PracticeMaster, Time Matters, and Amicus Attorney, Brian Garves reviews RoboForm for password management, Pamela Coleman provides four helpful tips for printing temperamental documents, Anthony Vrsecky shares his firm's approach to trust accounting with QuickBooks, and Matt Baker sends in an update on his firm's clean install of Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 and its impact on PCLaw's performance. 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 October 3, 2007 to TechnoFeature:

How to Recruit an Assistant for Your Law Practice
By Pat Nemish
You need to hire an Assistant, but of all the resumes you receive how do you choose the best person for the job? In this article, legal technology consultant Pat Nemish discusses key items to look for and important questions to ask when interviewing and evaluating a potential Assistant.

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

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new network scanner (see below), robust e-discovery software, and search engine technology for your Web site. Don't miss the next issue.

Smaller, Faster Network Scanner
By Taeho Lim

The copy machine revolutionized legal practice, enabling lawyers to share documents. Nowadays, digital copiers enable lawyers to convert paper documents into digital files over their network. But several problems remain — the price and size of these machines limit their deployment throughout a law firm, and they tend to have inscrutable user interfaces.

Canon's just-released ScanFront 220 and 220P network scanners address these shortcomings. Measuring just 12.2x9.21x6.22 inches, you can place these compact scanners just about anywhere. And with an MSRP of $1,995 and $2,195 respectively (and lower street prices), you can place them in more locations, including your office if you scan a lot of documents.

As for the interface, can you say touchscreen? A large 8.5 inch screen consumes most of the ScanFront 220's face. The screen displays four main buttons that enable you to scan to email, shared folders, an FTP server, or a USB flash drive that you've inserted. Simple and straightforward.

You can store email addresses and other scanning destinations in the ScanFront 220 or access any shared LDAP address book. The ScanFront 220 also supports groups for distributions to multiple recipients. Using a Web browser, you and your colleagues can set up your own private address books and groups. That's also how your network administrator sets up user accounts, adjusts scanner settings, etc.

The ScanFront 220 can scan up to 26 pages per minute.  Resolution ranges from 100 to 600 dpi. The scanner has an automatic document feeder as well as a manual feed. It can scan in black and white, grayscale, or color, and features built-in duplexing. The ScanFront 220 has a daily duty cycle of 1,000 scans.

You can save scanned files in PDF format and encrypt them with a password if you wish. For added security, you can set the ScanFront 220 to securely wipe its memory after each scan.

The ScanFront 220P differs from the 220 in two respects. It features biometric fingerprint authentication for convenient login (both models also feature more traditional password login). Also the ScanFront 220P has an "Ultrasonic Double Feed Detector," which means it can handle a stack of different paper weights and sizes without any misfeeds.  Learn more about ScanFront 220 and 220P.

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 September 25, 2007 to TechnoFeature: One of the definitions of "concordance" is agreement  — something all litigators hope to gain from judges and jurors during trial. Fittingly, a year after acquiring Dataflight, LexisNexis has released Concordance 2007. In this review, litigation support expert Paul Easton evaluates Concordance 2007's significant new features and minor tweaks  — and of course rates it using our TechnoScore system.

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 September 28, 2007 to Fat Friday: Steven Schwaber implores general counsel to hire more small law firms, Mazyar Hedayat shares his thoughts on the new lawyer-rating Web site Avvo, Anna Marie Sossong reviews the Cirque Touchpad, Philip Franckel describes his document naming system, and Joyce Kawahata explains why her firm uses both WordPerfect and Microsoft Word. 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 September 27, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Gerard Stubbert reviews his Sony Vaios as well as his son's HP Compaq Tablet PC, Peter Bender reviews Amicus Small Firm, Michael Dowden provides three helpful tips for more secure WiFi in a law firm, Corey Rich explains how to use Acrobat 8 Professional with transcripts, and Cynthia Zook explains how to fix a WordPerfect X3 bug when comparing documents. 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.

I've gone on record as declaring the PDA dead. My declaration might be a wee bit premature thanks to Apple's introduction of the iPod touch, which touched down at stores this weekend.

Children treat Blue's Clues, Sesame Street, etc. as entertainment, but they also learn from these shows. Likewise, people who buy the iPod touch for its iPod will find that they also get a PDA as part of the deal — contacts and calendar — plus Safari, a real Web browser.

Safari is the star attraction, especially since the calendar application is crippled (you can add/remove/edit contacts on the iPod touch, but not appointments). A number of Web services already exist with iPhone-optimized interfaces. For example, you can create Word documents with gOffice, manage your tasks with Ta-da Lists, and check your email via Yahoo mobile.

Palm tried to attract people interested in personal productivity — not a mass market as it turned out. Maybe Apple has found the key to mass market success with a PDA — attract people looking for entertainment and slip them some personal productivity in the process.

I declared the PDA dead because why buy a PDA when you can get that same functionality in a phone? I personally wouldn't trade my iPhone for an iPod touch, but a lot of people already carry an iPod and a phone and don't seem to mind. Plus, the iPod touch has no camera so you can bring it to any courthouse.

Is the iPod touch a suitable PDA for lawyers? No, though many lawyers will buy one primarily for the iPod and Web browser. But the iPod touch has a lot of blank space for applications on its home screen. Make no mistake about it — Apple has created a new platform that could someday become the ultimate personal productivity tool — with or without a phone. I suggest you watch the iPod touch (and iPhone) closely. Perhaps the device that's truly in danger of becoming irrelevant ten years from now is the laptop.

See also: Is the iPhone Ready for Business?

Photo by Josh Mobley.

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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an online expense report service, stylish software for accounting, case management, and time-billing, and a business process integration tool that can communicate with just about any legacy system a law firm might have. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Control Your Practice in Style
By Taeho Lim

Once upon a time no one seemed to care about user interface design. Then Apple released a music player with a breakthrough interface. Software companies changed their tune and focused their energy on simple, elegant interfaces. World peace ensued. Life was good. The end.

Of course, the story doesn't really end like that. Lots of bad software design still exists. But some software companies have embraced interface design as a competitive advantage. One such company is ESI Software, which recently released ESILAW 2007 (pronounced "easy law") — "time, billing, accounting, and client control software for law firms."

One of the most notable new features is not a feature per se, but a "Follow Me" help system that guides you through the functions of the program. Also new is the "QuickStart Navigator," which helps you set up the software. After setting up ESILAW, you'll find the "ESILAW Navigator," which takes you to any function in the program with one click. You can also create your own toolbar for even faster access to the functions you use the most.

If you bill your time, you can use ESILAW 2007's Timetracker to keep track of it for you. It features time codes, timers, an integrated spell checker, and more. You can also email your time entries when on the road and import your time from other programs such as Amicus Attorney. ESILAW 2007 also supports task-based billing, including UTBMS codes.

As a full-fledged accounting program, ESILAW 2007 contains many features you would expect such as check writing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, etc., and a few you might not such as expense tracking and cost recovery. In addition to entering expenses such as travel, you can also automatically capture equipment costs from virtually any cost recovery system, including Equitrac, PrintAudit, and Copitrak.

As you would expect, ESILAW 2007 enables you to generate many reports, including work-in-progress and collection realization. You can generate all your bills from a single screen. If you don't finish in one session, ESILAW 2007 will save your place so you can return later.

What the company calls "client control," you probably refer to as case or practice management. In this regard, ESI significantly beefed up its calendar in ESILAW 2007. At a glance, you can see your appointments and tasks. You can also create time entries from calendar items. Sharing calendars across your firm doesn't require any additional software.

Like many programs, ESILAW 2007 integrates with Outlook so that you can associate email with clients and matters. But ESILAW 2007 takes this integration one step further with an option to add Quickfile4Outlook, an Outlook add-on that enables you to file incoming and outgoing email into client/matter folders. Quickfile4Outlook can also archive and print email by matter.

ESILAW 2007 is compatible with Windows Vista as well as Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It sells for $249 by itself or $348 if bundled with Quickfile4Outlook. Learn more about ESILAW 2007.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that briefly discusses and provides links to three hot new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. You can subscribe here.