TechnoLawyer

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers an online legal research citation tool designed to save time, an online case management and time-billing application, and a new laser printer tailor-made for law firms. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Better, Faster, Smarter Citations
By Dennis Kennedy

Lawyers have used "hyperlinks" before hyperlinks even existed. In our vernacular, we called them citations. When we found a good case, we would then review the citations to that case, often finding even better cases and sometimes finding reversals, statutory supersession, etc. Nowadays, of course, online research services provide real hyperlinks to related cases. But even so, the number of citations listed can be overwhelming to review.

Wolters Kluwer's Loislaw, a leading provider of online legal research, has updated its GlobalCite feature to address this and other issues based on feedback from its customers. The result is a more powerful citation research tool designed to help lawyers find relevant cases, statutes, and secondary sources more efficiently than ever before. Specifically, Loislaw has added two major features to GlobalCite, each of which saves time and takes advantage of modern Web technologies.

First, GlobalCite now offers a pop-up box within the document you are viewing that summarizes the GlobalCite results and provides links to the types of sources that you want to explore further. The pop-up box arranges the results by category. For example, you can view all sources, cases only, statutes only, treatises only, or other documents only. GlobalCite also displays the number of links within each category. You can click directly in the pop-up box to move to exactly the set of results you want, saving an extra step or two and valuable time. If no citations exist, you'll also know that at a glance without having to click further.

Second, GlobalCite enables you to search directly within your set of citations. With this feature, you can narrow your search quickly, thus eliminating the all-too-common problem of "noise" or "clutter" of unrelated documents. You can conduct full Boolean searches within this pool of citations. For example, you might search for a statutory section, case name, "reversed" or other terms, or keywords. Lawyers have become comfortable with this search within a search paradigm thanks to Web search engines.

As an added benefit, subscribers get the full text of every document they find via GlobalCite at no additional charge no matter what their subscription level. GlobalCite works across Loislaw's entire collection. GlobalCite is included with the purchase of any Loislaw package that includes primary law. Learn more about GlobalCite.

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.

You don't have time to track 100 business and technology magazines and blogs. We do. Below you'll find our latest discoveries.

Review: Two Weeks With An iPhone

Defending Avvo’s Right to Provide Information and Guidance to Consumers

Ball 6 on EDD: Six Articles on Electronic Data Discovery

Autonomy Buys Zantaz

Juris Joins LexisNexis

What's In Your Printer?

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.

"I've Got Blisters On My Fingers"

No, I didn't just finish playing drums on "Helter Skelter" and I actually don't have blisters on my fingers, but my traditional keyboard is doing a number on my right wrist these days.

So I decided the time had finally come for an ergonomic split keyboard. I placed an order, but haven't received it yet. However, I thought I'd share my research with you to save you time. I'll eventually post a review of the keyboard I bought.

Split keyboards enable you to keep your hands and arms in a straight line. They also take into account the fact that at rest your arms and hands tilt thumb's up, not flat. Traditional keyboards require you to position your hands at an angle to your arms, and tilt your hands thumb's down.

Microsoft dominates this product category thanks to its quality products at relatively low prices — and marketing muscle. I nearly bought the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, which sells for about $50.

I ultimately decided against it because the keyboard is fixed in place so you cannot adjust the position of the two halves of the keyboard. It has received good reviews from many consumers and from publications such as CNET.

Surprisingly, the Microsoft keyboard is Mac compatible and received high marks from Apple Matters, an Australian enthusiast publication.

KeyOvation sells a line of split keyboards under the Goldtouch brand name. You can adjust both the horizontal splay and the vertical pronation. This keyboard looks very nice and comes in black or white, but apparently the number keypad, a separate module that I consider essential, is not compatible with Intel-based Macs. Too bad.

Eventually, I stumbled across Kinesis' Freestyle keyboard ($99), which I ordered with the "Incline" attachment ($40), and a numeric keypad ($60). That's a lot of money for a keyboard, but having beaten carpel tunnel syndrome once before by buying a better desk and chair, this purchase is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

The Freestyle keyboard received a good review by Gene Koo, a lawyer.

I chose the Freestyle because with the Incline attachment it functions like Microsoft's keyboard and adjusts horizontally and vertically like the Goldtouch. I also like its small footprint, built-in palm rests, and the fact it doesn't need a driver.

I don't like the black color, the hotkeys (because they don't work on a Mac), and the traditional placement of the caps lock key (my current keyboard wisely places it in a location less prone to errant keystrokes). However, no product is perfect plus it comes with a 60 day money-back guarantee. Time will tell if it lives up to my expectations.

Do you have any keyboard recommendations?

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 July 24, 2007 to TechnoFeature: Blogs may serve as your daily dose of entertainment, news, or information — but have you ever thought of what the blogger gets in return? In this article, attorney Dean Kirby explains why he decided to enter the crowded field of legal blogs (or "blawgs") in addition to maintaining his firm's official Web site. He discusses how to select a blog platform and use your RSS feed beyond your blawg, and also shares his tips for attracting an audience. In short, Dean explains how he uses his blog as a modern marketing tool — and how you could do the same.

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 27, 2007 to Fat Friday: Edward Poll discusses the dangers involved with trust accounting and how to avoid them, David Herdman shares his thoughts on technology standards legislation as well as why backwards compatible software doesn't make sense, Beverly Katz explain how she handled age discrimination regarding in-house counsel jobs, Matt Baker adds an overlooked point to a recent TechnoFeature article about HDTV, and Steve Loewy comments on Dennis Kennedy's annual technology predictions. 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 26, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Stephen Lambeth explains why he would want to see a Microsoft branded PC, Sanjay Singh explains how QuickFile 4 Outlook works and why, Pam Rolph suggests a quick solution for anyone who can't print a large PDF file (use at your own risk), Daniel Fennick claims to have the answer that will end the Word v. WordPerfect debate, and Ernest Marquez explains how to set up and use multiple monitors. 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.

In today's special "best friends" issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a document comparison, security, and review tool that integrates with Word, an Outlook add-on that makes it easy to schedule meetings, and a voicemail-to-text service that integrates with any cell phone or smartphone. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Microsoft Office's Best Friend
By Dennis Kennedy

Your documents have rich and interesting lives with fascinating stories to tell. Documents are created, revised, shared, printed, filed, archived, etc. Some of these stories you want told and others you don't.

As a result, management of documents throughout the entire lifecycle has become an important priority. The new Workshare Professional 5 delivers an integrated approach to document lifecycle management, providing control and reducing risks of information leaks during document review and other document usage without changing the tools you use today (i.e., Word, Outlook, your document management system, extranet, etc.).

In short, Workshare has significantly beefed up its comparison, security, and document review functionality. Regarding document comparison, accuracy is critical, especially when you work with complex tables, intricate paragraph numbering, or complex formatting. Workshare Professional's improved document comparison engine should be able to handle anything you throw at it.

Among the notable new features is a tabbed view within documents similar to the tabs in modern Web browsers. With its "One-to-Many" technology you can now compare multiple document versions inside this tabbed view, which makes it easy to accept or reject changes across all document versions in one place.

As you work on documents, Workshare Professional maintains the entire history of all changes and proposed changes. You now have the ability to eliminate the risk that inadvertent formatting changes, new styles, template changes, or file corruption will, for lack of a better word, screw up your documents.

Workshare Professional also provides a platform for managing collaboration and review of documents. You can exchange documents by email or SharePoint extranets and never have to worry about juggling multiple document versions or losing track of the master. Workshare Professional manages all of the review copies and ensures that you always work on the correct master document, whether it is stored in a document management system, a network drive or a local file system.

Once you finalize a document, Workshare Professional goes beyond metadata management with "content risk discovery and remediation" prior to PDF conversion. It then helps you safely publish your document in a secure PDF format without the need for additional software. With the ability to create and impose business policies for PDF creation and distribution you can now enforce PDF security across your firm. You can also create PDFs from any application, not just Office.

This latest iteration of Workshare Professional is not only compatible with Microsoft Office 2007 and earlier versions, it actually integrates into the Office 2007 Ribbon and task panes. Another nice touch is its support for SharePoint Server 2007's collaborative workspaces and Live Meeting for "real-time collaboration."

Workshare Professional also comes with out of the box integration options for document management systems. Metadata links allow you to leverage your document management system to track matters across documents when sent for review from and to anywhere. It even retains a full audit trail of review and sharing activities. Learn more about Workshare Professional 5.

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.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a document comparison, security, and review tool that integrates with Word, an Outlook add-on that makes it easy to schedule meetings, and a voicemail-to-text service that integrates with any cell phone or smartphone. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Your Calendar's Best Friend
By Dennis Kennedy

The day-to-day practice of law often looks like a series of meetings and conference calls. Some suggest that the effort of scheduling these calls and meetings — playing phone tag, exchanging email, looking for available dates and times, and re-scheduling — might average seven separate exchanges per meeting and 25 minutes per working day over the course of a year. Finding a way to automate some of that scheduling process would save time and money — not to mention your sanity.

iPolipo is a Web-based service with a Windows software component that integrates with Outlook to assist in automating your schedule by securely sharing your calendar with those who want to meet with you. The key lies in the way that iPolipo lets you selectively share portions of your calendar with others.

iPolipo adds a toolbar to Outlook with all of its functions just a click away. Your contacts need only use a browser to schedule meetings with you and do not have to subscribe to iPolipo.

You can make your Outlook calendar available on a 24/7 basis with as many of your Outlook contacts as you choose. You can also insert a link to your calendar into your email messages with a single click of your mouse. iPolipo automatically synchronizes with Outlook in real time and automatically handles time zone conversions for you.

Only the contacts that you invite will have access to your calendar and their view is limited only to your available time slots. You can categorize your contacts and offer available time slots based on group membership, limiting client access to regular office hours and keeping evenings and weekends free for friends and family.

No one can see any information about your other scheduled meetings. You can also share your calendar for a limited time period and make meeting slots available only for a limited time.

iPolipo comes in two versions — Basic ($99/year) and Premium ($149/year). The Basic version enables you to share your calendar and offer limited-time meeting invitations for a 3 weeks period. The Premium version doubles this window to 6 weeks. Learn more about iPolipo.

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 20, 2007 to Fat Friday: Matt Baker reviews LogMeIn for secure remote access, Brett Thompson challenges Word lovers with a list of gripes, Carroll Straus reviews her experience with Dell customer service and tech support, David Caracappa responds to Dennis Kennedy's prediction that many lawyers will move to Mac notebooks this year, and Colleen Appleton praises one TechnoLawyer's kind-hearted Post about what he would do if he won the lottery. 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 19, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Mark Deal discusses the costs involved in switching from Windows to Linux, Stephen Taylor offers a solution for GroupWise notification problems and explains why his firm continues to chose GroupWise over Outlook, Rick Borstein explains how to enable the Typewriter tool in Acrobat Reader, Kristin LaMont reviews her experience using Time Matters over the past 11 years, and Celia Elwell shares her thoughts on which word processor today's law students should use. 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.