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Review of Abacus Private Cloud Plus Local Search Ranking Factors

By Kathryn Hughes | Friday, October 9, 2015

Coming today to SmallLaw:Virtual desktops seem to offer the best of both worlds. Your law firm gets out of the business of buying and managing servers, but you can still use client/server software. Abacus Private Cloud has become a major player in this area so who better to review it than New Jersey lawyer Edward Zohn who witnessed the birth of the PC firsthand at IBM in the 1980s? In this issue of SmallLaw, Ed walks you through set up, evaluates the major features, discusses the price, and renders his verdict in the form of a TechnoScore. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for the latest local search ranking factors for lawyers.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Networking/Operating Systems | SmallLaw

Better Results From Dragon; Reviews of Symphony Suite, Family Law Software; How Can You Convert a Scan Into Word Format?

By Kathryn Hughes | Thursday, October 8, 2015

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Donald Lowrey, Tips for Better Results From Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Henry Murphy, Review: Symphony Suite With Worldox

Nancy Chausow Shafer, Review: Family Law Software

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Dictation/OCR/Speech Recognition | Document Management | TL Answers | Transactional Practice Areas

LitigationWorld: Trial by iPad Plus 51 More Must-Reads

By Kathryn Hughes | Thursday, October 8, 2015

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 52 articles from the past two weeks worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week.

Where the Litigation Money Goes

Tips on Organizing Your Table of Contents

A Trial Lawyer's Review of Page Vault

Justice Roberts' First Ten Years

Congratulations to Carolyn Elefant of My Shingle on winning our LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award: Trial by iPad: 10 Days, Three Six-Figure Verdicts

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. You'll also receive in-depth litigation product reviews as well as links to the most noteworthy articles in other online litigation publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

TrustBooks: Read Our Exclusive Report

By Neil J. Squillante | Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud application for trust accounting designed to prevent career-ending ethics mistakes (see article below), Microsoft's spiffy new hybrid laptops, and an iOS time-tracking and billing app. Don't miss the next issue.

TRUST ACCOUNTING YOU CAN BANK ON

Trust accounting is a misnomer because many lawyers don't necessarily trust their trust accounting and hope they don't get audited. Commonly used tools such as Excel and QuickBooks don't have lawyers top of mind. Some practice management systems offer trust accounting, but what if you want a standalone app?

TrustBooks … in One Sentence

Launched recently, TrustBooks is a cloud application that exclusively focuses on managing trust accounts.

The Killer Feature

TrustBooks contains various controls to save you from making a career-ending mistake. For example, many law firms create one bank account for all their trust accounts. For this reason, many states require three-way reconciliation of trust accounts. This involves reconciling each bank statement against each matter's trust ledger while ensuring that nothing leaks into ledgers for other matters. TrustBooks makes this process feel like traditional two-way reconciliation.

When plenty of cash resides in the bank but not in a trust account your bank can't warn you about an overdraft. However, TrustBooks prevents you from paying yourself or a vendor from a matter's trust account with insufficient funds even if the associated bank account has enough funds. When a trust account is sufficiently solvent to cover a bill, TrustBooks includes information on checks that some states require.

"We created TrustBooks as easy-to-use software focused on helping attorneys manage their trust accounts and stay in compliance with their state bar," TrustBooks CEO Tom Boyle tells us. "Our goal has been to take the complexity out of the trust accounting process. We want small law firms and solo practitioners to gain greater confidence around managing their trust accounts by using TrustBooks."

Other Notable Features

TrustBooks presents you with a dashboard when you login. This page lists the balance of all trust accounts, recent deposits and payments, and one-click access to key tools. From this page, you can create a trust account for a new matter, add payees, enter deposits and payments, print checks, start a reconciliation, and generate reports.

From the dashboard, you can drill down to a Matter Info page for an overview of each trust account and then further drill down to the View Trust Account page for a granular look at that trust account's ledger. TrustBooks offers several reports, including statements for clients that you can export in PDF format.

Printing a check to yourself seems silly nowadays. TrustBooks enables you to record an ACH or other permitted electronic funds transfer from a trust account to your firm's account.

What Else Should You Know?

TrustBooks works in all major desktop and mobile web browsers. It costs $25 per user per month or $199 per user per year. Learn more about TrustBooks.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | TL NewsWire

A Lawyer Reviews the New iPhone 6S Plus 64 More Must-Reads

By Kathryn Hughes | Monday, October 5, 2015

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 65 articles from the past week worthy of your attention. Below you'll find a sample article from each section of today's issue, including our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week.

Free Office 2016 Quick Start Guides

Review: Adonit Jot Dash

Review: Logitech K380 Keyboard

Why Do Lawyers Resist Document Assembly?

Congratulations to Jeff Richardson of iPhone J.D. on winning our BlawgWorld Pick of the Week award: A Lawyer Reviews the New iPhone 6S

How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of both legal technology and mainstream technology of interest to the legal profession (e.g., monitors, smartphones, scanners, the iPad, and more). But not the only coverage. BlawgWorld enables you to stay on top of all the noteworthy legal and mainstream technology articles (and podcasts and videos) published elsewhere without having to hire a research assistant. Even when you're busy, you won't want to miss each issue's Pick of the Week. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Automation/Document Assembly/Macros | BlawgWorld Newsletter | Business Productivity/Word Processing | Coming Attractions | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | Technology Industry/Legal Profession

Reviews of Wunderlist, Huawei Mate 2; iPhone Tax; Young Lawyers and Technology; How Do You Manage Tasks?

By Kathryn Hughes | Friday, October 2, 2015

Today's issue of TL Serendipity contains these articles:

Neil Squillante, First Look at Wunderlist

Burton Bruggeman, Review: Huawei Mate 2; iPhone Tax

Jed Berliner, Young Lawyers Ignore Technology Because They Can

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive TL Serendipity
Our most serendipitous offering (hence its name), TL Serendipity consists of contributions by TechnoLawyer members who have important information to share. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The TL Serendipity newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Collaboration/Knowledge Management | Coming Attractions | Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets | Technology Industry/Legal Profession | TL Serendipity

Five Hidden Gems in Microsoft Outlook Plus Website Redesign Tips

By Kathryn Hughes | Friday, October 2, 2015

Coming today to SmallLaw: Microsoft Outlook has tons of time-saving features, but they're well hidden. Fortunately, the SmallLaw team excels (pun intended) at finding hidden gems. Let word processing guru Deborah Savadra show you how to silence Outlook except for critically important notifications, better organize your messages, delegate tasks with one click, automatically send routine messages, and more. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for tips on how to redesign your website without losing your Google rankings.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Email/Messaging/Telephony | SmallLaw

Six Words Every Litigator Should Use Plus PDF Bates Stamping Guide

By Kathryn Hughes | Thursday, October 1, 2015

Coming today to LitigationWorld: Legal writing experts often instruct you to cut or warn you about words not to use. How about something positive for a change? In this issue of LitigationWorld, Kiko Korn discusses six powerful words to make your writing more persuasive. For each word, she provides an example from a recently filed brief in a high profile Ninth Circuit case. She also lists alternative words you can use as well as those to avoid. Also, don't miss the LitigationWorld Pick of the Week for the definitive guide to Bates stamping PDF documents.

How to Receive LitigationWorld
All practice areas evolve, but none faster than litigation. Written by successful litigators and other litigation experts, LitigationWorld provides you with practical tips related to electronic discovery, depositions, litigation strategy, litigation technology, and trial presentations. LitigationWorld also features in-depth litigation product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings, as well as links to the most noteworthy litigation articles in other publications so that you'll never miss anything. The LitigationWorld newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Coming Attractions | Litigation/Discovery/Trials | LitigationWorld

How to Archive Client Email and Find It Later; Omit the Small Stuff From Your Bills; Best PCLaw Resource

By Kathryn Hughes | Thursday, October 1, 2015

Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:

Bill Onwusah, How to Archive Client Email and Find It Later

Roger Boyell, Omit the Small Stuff When Billing Clients

Joe Bahgat, The "Best" PCLaw Resource

Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.

How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Accounting/Billing/Time Capture | Coming Attractions | Consultants/Services/Training | Email/Messaging/Telephony | Practice Management/Calendars | TL Answers

CaseMap 12: Read Our Exclusive Report

By Neil J. Squillante | Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Read our latest coverage of CaseMap here.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a popular case analysis application that now also handles discovery document review and production (see article below), a smartpen that can recording your handwriting and any accompanying audio, a cloud practice management system with desktop-like windowing, and an Android smartphone without any junkware. Don't miss the next issue.

Case Analysis Meets Ediscovery

Many litigation matters involve fewer than 50,000 discovery documents. Using a dedicated document review platform for such cases may prove too costly or cumbersome. Meanwhile, PDF software typically contains only rudimentary tools. It's a classic betwixt and between problem ripe for a solution.

CaseMap 12 … in One Sentence

Launching this week, CaseMap 12 is a popular case analysis program that now has light document review and production capabilities for ediscovery.

The Killer Feature

CaseMap 12 offers three core features for discovery document review — redaction, coding, and production. The Redact tool enables you to choose a reason for the redaction (e.g., privileged) from a customizable list. Unlike PDF software, you can change or remove redactions anytime prior to production.

The Document Detail button on the CaseMap toolbar enables you to code each document in your collection by adding and modifying metadata — author, recipients, issues, deposition exhibit number, etc. The Basic option lists the most common coding fields while the Extended option lists all of them. You can also create a custom set of the fields you need.

The Document Production Wizard walks you through the process of producing documents. Options include creating a filter to exclude certain documents from the production, applying Bates stamps, creating a file naming convention, inserting placeholders for omitted documents, choosing from color or black and white, and making images searchable via the built-in OCR software. Bates stamping options include prefix, starting number, length, typeface, location, and shrink-to-fit.

"The new capabilities built into CaseMap 12 allow litigation teams to conduct light document review, coding, and production," LexisNexis vice president of litigation solutions Steve Ashbacher tells us. "They can do more within a single tool and therefore save hours of valuable time."

Other Notable Features

The case chronology spreadsheet remains the core of CaseMap. It contains facts, issues, people, documents, and objects (legal research, questions, etc.). CaseMap automatically enters the redactions and coding from your document review into the case chronology, and links the relevant documents. This eliminates double entry, gives you an even more comprehensive overview of the case, and enables you to incorporate your document review work into reports.

Speaking of reports, CaseMap comes equipped with reports such as Privilege Log and Summary Judgment. You can create your own custom reports, and export them in a Report Book in PDF format. Other features include the new interface and user experience unveiled in CaseMap 11 earlier this year, team collaboration, global search, and document annotations.

What Else Should You Know?

CaseMap 12 integrates with Lexis.com and Lexis Advance, enabling you to add research materials to your cases with one click, and then access these materials later from within CaseMap. Learn more about CaseMap 12.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Topics: Litigation/Discovery/Trials | TL NewsWire
 
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