Law Office Technology

Fujitsu ScanSnap

Its a scanner with a small imprint that duplexes (double sided scanning) at 18 pages per minute.  I used to recommend the Visioneer Documate Series which actually had a faster scan time.  What makes the ScanSnap so good is that it scans directly into Adobe Acrobat unlike the Documate which goes into paperport and then allows you to save the document as a pdf.  When you scan your documents in the ScanSnap, it will open them up in Adobe for you to review.  Anyone who uses Timematters or Worldox can appreciate how this helps create a paperless office, because most document and practice management programs hook directly into Adobe.  What is even better is that the ScanSnap comes with Adobe Standard which would cost you an additional $299.00 if you were to purchase it new . The scanner also comes with ScanSnap Organizer which OCRs the pdfs so they are text searchable.  You always want to make your documents text searchable, so they are easier to find.  If you have not been using OCR, wait to my post in a couple of days about ABBYY Recognition Server.  The ScanSnap also comes with ABBYY FineReader which allows you to scan directly into Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.  The S500 is out right now and you can get of for 479.99 from CDW.  I know they have a version that can be powered directly by two usb cables which makes this scanner ideal for road warriors.  You can scan under 200 dpi which is required for some e-filing.  We hope to get one soon to start doing demos with it.

ABATECH SHOW 2007

I got back from the ABA TECH SHOW in Chicago on Sunday and I am still trying to recover.  Besides working Gavel and Gown's Amicus Booth and hanging out with LexisNexis, especially the PCLaw people, I got a chance to look at a lot of other products.  I will probably write about one a day until I am finished.

Here is a partial or maybe a complete list.

Fujitsu ScanSnap

Newsgator (Feed Demon)

Abbyy Recognition Server

CaseLogistixs

CMS Backup Systems

Compulaw

HotDocs and Groove

As I wait in the airport to fly to ABA Tech show I thought I would write about a great new collaborative product I discovered a couple of days ago.  Our firm uses HotDocs to generate all of our documents.  That includes proposals, engagement letters,  fax cover sheets, and technology audits.  I am the HotDocs CIC in our office, so it is my job to create and maintain these templates which our consultants keep on their laptops in the field and also desktops in the office.  The big problem we had in the past is that as I update the templates, they rarely get pushed out to all of our consultants and pretty soon everyone had different template sets. 

I just got a copy of Microsoft Groove which has solved this problem and made us way more efficient.  Basically I install Groove on everyone's laptops, desktops and our file server.  On my computer I choose to share certain files and folders.  Whenever I am connected to the internet, Groove automatically syncs my files with all of my other teammates so everyone has the same templates.

Another good example on how our office has gotten more productive is that every Tuesday our firm has a weekly meeting.  We have an agenda that we used to email around the prior week to come up with topics to discuss.  Now everyone can just edit the agenda on their workstations and it will update the changes to everyone else.  Groove really brings collaboration to another level.

Turn Off User Account Control when Install Amicus in Vista

If you do not shut off User Account Control when installing Amicus V in Vista, you will get this message.  Once the install is complete you can turn it back on.  Also, remember not to install to the Program Files.

Backup MyBusiness Retention Policy

BackupMyBusiness sent me this email after my previous post on their wonderful product.

If a file is in the backup selection and deleted from the computer it is retained for 90 days on the data center.  This is to prevent accidental deletions.   

If a file is still on the computer and the user decides he no longer wants to back it up and removes it from the backup selection the file is retained for 7 days.

In addition the 10 most recent versions (at a minimum) of every file are retained in the last 90 days.  So if you have a file changing on a monthly basis you would have 3 or 4 versions of the file available to retrieve.  If you were changing a file daily you would have at a minimum the last 10 days available.  This can be very useful when you accidentally save a file with the same name (meant to do a Save As instead of a Save) and later need to get the old version back.  Another scenario would be a file that becomes corrupted and you need find a good working version.

In the example you gave the file would be retained for 90 days rather than 7.

Contingency using the Contingency Calculator

In the matter manager you can go into Quoted Type on the billing tab and change it to Contingency.  This is not necessary for billing but it just a helpful reminder when creating a bill. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When creating the bill, click on Contingency button. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Contingency Calculator will appear.  It is very easy to type in the settlement amount and the percent of fees you will collect.  PCLaw will make all the necessary adjustments.  Once you are finished hit okay and the billing tab will come up.  It might be helpful to have created a specific bill template for contingency.

Dual Monitor Help

My productivity has gone up a lot since moving to three monitors, but some things are hard to do.  For Example, getting my wallpaper to stretch correctly has been a problem.   

One of the sites that has been helping me out is: http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/faq.asp

They have some great articles on working with different programs. 

This site recommends a program called UltraMon, which is fantastic.  It is basically written for people who use multiple monitors.  Here are some of its features:

• efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop 
• manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar 
• control application positioning with UltraMon Shortcuts 
• multi-monitor support for desktop wallpapers and screen savers 
• mirror your main monitor to secondary monitors for a presentation

A single license costs $39.95.  I can now extend the Task Bar across all three screens which is great because I usually have 15 programs open at once.

St. Patrick's Day Bash

If you are in the Baton Rouge area and are heading to the St. Patrick's Day Parade, feel free to stop by my house.  It is located right off the parade route @ 3108 S Eugene St.  We have 200 pounds of Crawfish and 3 Kegs.  People usually show right after the parade at 12pm.

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

If you have workstations running Office 2007 in your office, it would be a good idea to download the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack.  It will allow users of Office 2000, 2002, and 2003 products to open up 2007's xml format.  I have started to install it on all client computers because users will start be receiving .docx from clients and other attorneys. 

Online Backups, Best Practices

I have setup online backups for many clients.  Our company has partnered with BackupmyBusiness to setup these backup services.  BackupmyBusiness is pretty reliable and it works.  The best backup  scenario would be to use Backup My Business and also tape/usb hard drives to protect your data.  The USB drives can keep multiple backup copies.  This is particularly good if a user deletes a file, and does not realize it until five days later.  We can then pull that day's backup and restore it.  I did some inquiring and found out that Backup My Business will keep a file that was deleted for 7 days.  So, if Joe deletes a file on Tuesday, and 6 backups have run since then, we should still be able to restore it Monday night.  After Monday, the file will be purged from Backup My Business and we will be left to rely on the USB/Tape Hard drives. 

To be totally protected, you need to have determine how many backups your USB/Tape Drives can hold.  I try to get about 2 weeks work and then archive the last backup and start all over again.