TechnoLawyer

Coming February 10, 2006 to Fat Friday:  J.W. Leighty shares his hand tremor solution (it doesn't involve a trackball), Britt Knuttgen, a one-time paralegal turned tech consultant, weighs in on the ongoing technology and training debate, David Hudgens reviews the HP LaserJet 3380mfp, Steven Schwaber reviews ActiveWords, and Lynne Harrison reviews Trend Micro's PC-cillin anti-virus software. 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 February 7, 2006 to TechnoFeature: What do you think about Google? How about Microsoft? Even though you may not know anyone who works at these companies, you have a perception of the culture within. Every organization has a culture, including your firm. In this article, legal management consultant Wendy Werner explains how to assess your firm's culture and address problems ranging from merging two firms with different cultures to combatting false perceptions when recruiting associates.

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 February 9, 2006 to Answers to Questions: Business Development Manger for Adobe Legal Rick Borstein offers up redaction solutions using Acrobat, David Wolowitz reviews CaseMap and TimeMap, George Tanguay reviews CaseMap and CaseLogistix, Christopher Palestro reviews GoToMyPC and Windows Remote Desktop, and Larry Vollintine provides step-by-step instructions for synchronizing Outlook 2002 with Outlook 2003. In addition, this issue features links to 16 additional Posts in the TechnoLawyer Archive. 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 issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covers a free toolbar for fast, easy legal research, software that can map your entire network and help you manage desktop application licenses, and a service that enables you to create unique e-mail addresses on the fly to prevent spam. Don't miss the next issue.

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

Raising the Bar for Legal Research
By Jill Bauerle
Knowing shortcuts when you search LexisNexis can save you time. Now you can save even more time with the new LexisNexis Toolbar, the first toolbar designed specifically for online legal research. The LexisNexis Toolbar integrates with your Web browser for immediate gratification when you must find information, fast. To this end, it provides several options for searching. As you might expect, you can type your terms into the search box, select your source, and click "Search." However, you can also conduct searches by highlighting keywords on Web pages. The LexisNexis Toolbar also supports most favorite LexisNexis command searches. In addition to searching various LexisNexis sources, you can also use the LexisNexis Toolbar to Shepardize and pull up citations. It can even run Google and MSN searches. However you use it, the LexisNexis Toolbar saves you from continuously logging onto the LexisNexis home page and clicking through multiple screens. You can download the LexisNexis Toolbar for free. To use it, you'll need Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. Learn more about LexisNexis Toolbar.

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.

Thomas Daly, Remote Desktop Mythbusters (Static IP Address)

TechnoLawyer Benjamin Edwards asks:
"I am interested in accessing my computer when I am away from the office. I have tried various programs for that purpose, including LapLink, but none seems to work. Are there any suggestions?"

Caren Schwartz responded:
"In response to Mr. Edwards I would suggest GoToMYPC...."

Howard Raab wrote:
"The Remote Desktop Access program built into Windows XP (both Professional and Home) has worked very well for me, with no fee at all...."

Andrew Willinger responded:
"There are two significant problems with using Windows XP's built-in Remote Desktop Access over an Internet connection.... The cost of a static IP address from most ISPs is not minimal in most cases. In fact, many large DSL and Cable providers — especially those at the low end of the price range — do not offer a static IP at all...."

I respectfully point out in response to Mr. Willinger's comments about Remote Desktop concerning a static IP address, that you can use a free redirection service that gives you a static IP address even if you have a dynamic IP address. I use www.No-IP.com and it has worked very well. No-IP.com gives me a static address which I use for Remote Desktop.

Also, I have never used GoToMyPC and do not know about its effectiveness, but you can print remotely and transfer files with Remote Desktop by setting the level of control of the host machine before activating Remote Desktop. I transfer files and print remotely all the time.

Attorney Thomas J. Daly
North Haven, CT

About Answers to Questions
Posts like the one above appear exclusively in Answers to Questions, 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. You can subscribe here.

Elise Nolan, Review: Microsoft's Redaction Tool for Word (Plus PDF Resource)

TechnoLawyer member Barbara A. DiFranza asks:
"I scanned documents for client A in Adobe 7 as a graphic. A few years later, these documents became of interest to client B's counsel and I sent them to her after redacting Client A's name. I used a text box and made A's name and identifying information totally black and opaque. I then put a security setting on the document so that it could not be changed. I e-mailed it to Counsel for B thinking I had whipped the problem. Alas, Counsel B was able to print the document free of my little black boxes because, under the "Comments and Forms" drop down menu in the Print Dialog box, she simply chose "Document" as opposed to "Documents and Markups." Luckily, Counsel B manually redacted the documents before making use of them.

"I've searched the Adobe manual and Carl Young's Adobe Acrobat 6.0 for a solution. Unfortunately, I cannot find a solution. I was unable to mark up a document in Adobe and print to Adobe in order to eliminate the underlying document. If any of you has a solution short of printing, manually blacking out and re-scanning, I will be most appreciative."

My firm has recently begun using Microsoft's free redaction tool for Word. It's extremely easy to use and you can either print to .pdf or save your document as a protected file so that the redactions cannot be removed. The add-in can be downloaded here.

I don't have experience with redacting documents that are already in .pdf form, but you could try some of the suggestions in this article from Planet PDF.

E. Nolan
Cohen & Grigsby, P.C.

About Answers to Questions
Posts like the one above appear exclusively in Answers to Questions, 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. You can subscribe here.

Coming February 3, 2006 to Fat Friday: Stephen Hayes reviews his Fujitsu Tablet PC, Todd Hill sets forth the bare minimum technology tools that every law firm should have, David Leffler reviews his experience with HP LaserJets and discusses Epson's first laser printer, Kent Davis compares PCLaw to QuickBooks for law firms and explains what software developers could learn from a program like Amicus Attorney, and Mark Klarich shares how his firm could easily survive a Katrina-like event. 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 February 2, 2006 to Answers to Questions: John Starkweather reviews Client Profiles, Jeff Lisson reviews CaseMap and how it differs from Summation, Jeffrey Franklin offers up redaction plugin resources for Acrobat and Word, Jennifer Little explains how to transfer Outlook to a new PC, and Bruce Brightwell reviews his upgrade to Time Matters 7.0. In addition, this issue features links to 17 additional Posts in the TechnoLawyer Archive. 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 January 31, 2006 to TechnoFeature: A well-designed ToDo system brings order to the chaos of a busy office. But weaknesses plague most electronic and paper systems. Drawing on the principles of David Allen's Getting Things Done and other effectiveness trailblazers, technology consultant Wells Anderson explains how ToDo Lists in Time Matters enable you to triage growing workloads and delegate with control. Learn how to keep yourself and others up-to-date on deadlines and focused on important tasks.

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 January 30, 2006 to IP Memes: You'll learn how Google once again fought the law and won, who has a trademark infringement beef with grocery chain Kroger, why you should check out Google Video, what the "new AT&T" says about brand value and innovation as well as what its new tagline says about the "old AT&T."

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Mondays, IP Memes is a biweekly newsletter that explores emerging technology-related intellectual property issues — or "memes" as we call them. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.