Law Office Technology

LSBA Tech Tip: Microsoft Office 2007 Files

As seen in Louisiana Bar Today - Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tech Tip: Microsoft Office 2007 Files
Craig Bayer with Law Office Technology offers advice on Microsoft Office 2007 files. With the introduction of Office 2007, Microsoft introduced a new file format (.docx). A Word document before 2007 would be saved as .doc. Users with Office 2003 or lower cannot open this new .docx format unless a converter is first downloaded (free converter available at http://tinyurl.com/y4eeye). “Two years later, law firms are still running into problems with this new format. Clients and other attorneys seem unwilling or unsure how to download this free converter,” Bayer said. To save time and hassle, Bayer recommends firms using Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) change their settings so they save all their documents in the .doc format in the 97-2003 format. In Word, go to Options >Save >Save Files in this Format and change the format to Word 97-2003. Follow the steps in Excel and PowerPoint as well. For more information, go to Law Office Technology’s Web site, http://www.lawot.com.

Amicus and PCLaw 10 Link issues

PCLaw 10 is out and the good folks at Gavel and Gown have updated 2 possible issues with the link.  This should be a  moot point for Lawot clients, because we always wait 3 months to after a new version comes out, right?

Issue #21166: Upon initialization of the link, some Billing Rate Values for Amicus Timekeepers mapped to PCLaw Lawyers will not synchronize from Amicus to PCLaw. Note: This issue does not occur for Rate Categories that ship by default with PCLaw.

Issue #21167: Upon initialization of the link, Rate Values for any Amicus Activity Codes and Task-Based Billing Task Codes mapped to PCLaw Task Codes will not synchronize from Amicus to PCLaw. This issue also occurs when adding a new Amicus Billing Rate to PCLaw (as a Rate Category) via the link wizard.

Law Office Technology's New Digs

Two weeks ago, I went with my friend Tom O’Connor to visit Ernie Svenson’s new office.  After Lunch at Lucy’s I was chopping at the bit to move Lawot into the technology equivalent of El Dorado.  We are now located in Launchpad which is in the The IP Building, right next to the US Fifth Circuit and a stone’s throw away from the Louisiana State Bar Association.  Launchpad is basically a collaborative office space full of technology minded people.  Ernie’s desk is right next to me,  Tom and Techy Becky, works in front of me and  another brilliant tech attorney, Al Robert, is ten feet away to the right.  We now have access to state of the art conference rooms,  training centers, VOIP Phones, and super fast internet.

This is the future and Law Office Technology is proud and humbled to be part of it.  Gone are the days of googling for a couple of hours to find an answer.  I just take off my head phones and ask aloud if anyone knows how to “Insert Obscure Legal Tech Question” and I get an answer.  I am surrounded by people that work very long hours and love every minute of it.

Obviously Launchpad is no secret as the following articles from the New York Times, New Orleans City Business, and WWL can attest. 

FYI, I still have more monitors then anyone there. 

New Practice Management Implementation Sheet

Created this Practice Management Implementation Sheet, that should be could for anyone implementing some practice management software, weather it is TimeMatters, Clio, Practicemaster, Amicus or anything else.

 

https://www.box.net/shared/static/9h06y5vhjc.pdf

New Video on how to use our support portal

http://www.lawot.com/screencast/Support%20Portal/Support%20Internet_demo.htm