Law Office Technology

Tracking Sick Time and Vacation Time In PCLaw

A client asked me the other day what is the best way to track Sick Time and Vacation Time in PCLaw.  I use a two tier approach.  First, I create two task codes (Lists –> Task Codes –> Add) one for vacation and one for sick time.  Make sure the category is non billable.

 

Second, I create a Sick Time Matter and a Vacation Matter.  I make sure the default task codes for these files is either the vacation or sick time task code.

If an employee is sick or on vacation, simply enter that time into PCLaw.  When you choose that employee’s vacation or sick time matter, it should automatically default to the new task code.

If you go to Reports –> Productivity –> Time Listing Summary  you can get some detailed information on how much sick time and vacation time each employee has used for a specific time period.

Converting Amicus V to Amicus Premium (SQL Editions) 57%

Just a little FYI when you run the conversion.  Amicus seems to get stuck at 57%.  Just ride it out, it will keep moving again.

Issues with Expense Recoveries getting Labeled to a Random GL Account

I had a client call up the other day with an interesting problem.  They had been doing a lot of expense recoveries and and when they started running reports in PCLaw, they noticed that some of these expense recoveries were being coded to an account that the client had setup to track HMO Payments.  I logged into the system and verified that this happened, but only when a GL Account was not specified when creating the expense recovery.  When I looked at the Clients GL Accounts List, this became obvious.  (By obvious I mean after I called PCLaw Techsupport and Jason told me the answer)

If we look at the client gl accounts we can see that about 5 accounts that are expenses accounts are given numbers below 5000.  Out of the Box, the First GL Account in Expense is 5000 and NO ACCOUNTS THAT ARE EXPENSES SHOULD BE LABELED BELOW 5000. 

 

When a GL account is not specified in Expense Recovery, PCLaw automatically defaults to the first Expense Account, which should always be 5000.  Since the client created an expense account below 5000, it started to it instead.  The fix for the client is to renumber those 5 accounts something greater then 5000.

We are Twittering

Heard too much at Legal Tech about Twitter not to start using it for Law Office Technology.  I have been using Twitter personally for awhile, mainly to track what bars my friends are going to while I work on projects at the office.  Hopefully this will be a little more informative and a little less depressing (for me!). 

http://www.twitter.com/lawot

USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO MODERNIZE YOUR PRACTICE

February 4, 2009 (Pensacola, FL) - Law Office Technology, LLC (www.lawot.com) and the Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Association (www.esrba.com) announce the 2nd in a series of our Law Office Technology Seminars at 12 Noon on Wednesday, February 25th at Portobello Market (400 S. Jefferson Street, Pensacola, FL 32502.) Entitled, “USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO MODERNIZE YOUR PRACTICE”, the Lunch and Learn presentation is approved for 2.0 hours of Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit and is aimed at exposing attorneys, paralegals and legal secretaries to practical applications, hardware and online technologies that enhance office productivity and profitability.

http://www.lawot.com/Press%20Release/ESRBA%20Seminar.pdf

A Review of Legal Tech

I was at LegalTech this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and have several observations: 

• E-Discovery is in trouble.  Most legal shows that I got to, 60-75% of the vendors are E-Discovery firm.  This did some to be the case this year.   I get the sense that a lot of these E-Discovery firms are either going under or getting acquired by larger firms. 
• Mobile if a hot topic.  I worked the Amicus Booth while I was out the show and most people who came up were interested in Amicus Mobile which runs on Blackberry and Windows Mobile.
• Attendance was down around 15% which probably good with this economy.  In my take besides Corporate Law,  most other types of practices are doing well.  Most of the attorneys I met were with firms 50 or less.
• Kobe can shoot.  I got to watch him score 61 points at Madison Square Guardian which is the most points a single player has scored there.
• Twitter is becoming more popular.  I heard a lot of people talking about twitter.  I think that I am going to have to start using twitter more.
• Amicus Accounting has come a long way.  I have not had much experience with the product.  Frankly Law Office Technology has been so busy that we have not had a lot of time to learn new products.  I got to see Amicus Accounting manager George Alves demo the product and I definaltely will start making a more considered effort to become an expert at the product.
• Timeslips does not have a booth at LegalTech.  That is pretty telling to me.  Dump TimeSlips and use PCLaw or Amicus Accounting. 
• Everyone loved my tablet.  Why is there no booth with Tablet PCs.  Tom O’Conner and I were talking about how it is very interesting on that Tablet’s have never taking off in the legal industry.  I will be speaking at the LSBA Solo and Small Firm Conference with James the Tablet Attorney.  Maybe he can shed some light on the subject.
• JetBlue is the best airlines ever.  They arrived a half hour going and coming, have a great selection of snacks, and I got to watch DirectTV.  However I am ticked off that they do not have ABC on DirectTV.  I was planning on watching Lost on my way home.