Law Office Technology

Advice for using Hosted Exchange

I have been getting a lot of questions about Hosted Exchange recently.  Law Office Technology has been using it for over a year and selling and setting it for client sites for the past 6 months.  If you are going to use hosted exchange, I recommend buying it from a company that does not force you to enter in your email password every time you open up Outlook.  I had a client that purchased hosted exchange that did that, and every time they opened Amicus, it would crash outlook.  Fortunately the hosted exchange that we resell does not ask you for the username or password when you log into outlook.  If you are linking ay product with outlook, whether it be PCLaw, Amicus, TimeMatters, Worldox, ect, you must make sure that you do not have to enter in your password every time. 

Come Celebrate the Launch of Schedulist & Jodia Oct 7th

We’ve been busy readying the 4th floor expansion of Launch Pad, and amid all the commotion we realized we forgot to do something very important… throw a grand opening party!

So, its finally time to do it, we’re throwing a party and YOU are invited.

One of our missions is to celebrate product launches and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing. We’ll be celebrating the launch of Schedulist, an app being launched by Launch Pad member Chris Laibe, and Jodia, an app being launched by Carrollton Technology Partners.

• Who: Carrolton Technology Partners, Schedulist, and Launch Pad
• What: Launch Party and Grand Opening of Launch Pad 4th Floor Expansion
  
• When: Wednesday, Oct 7th – 6:00-8:00 pm
• Where: Launch Pad – 643 Magazine St. New Orleans
• Cost: FREE – Open to the public – RSVP below

Schedulist is the world’s first workforce scheduling program designed specifically to improve workforce retention.  The healthcare system in the US alone spends $60 Billion per year in turnover of the nursing staff with other industries facing similar costs. Schedulist’s patented algorithm and unique interactive tools make the facility “sticky”, enabling business leaders to address potential issues before they result in the departure of a key employee.

Jodia, a creole word meaning ‘Today’ is a web-based client management tool.  Covering far more than just time and billing, Jodia is a comprehensive way for small businesses and freelancers to manage their client relationships.  Jodia keeps track of important client-related files, notes, projects and integrates with major packages like Quickbooks and Peachtree for accounting.  Jodia also prints out and mails invoices to your clients for you in addition to e-mail options.  Jodia is the first product release for Carrollton Technology Partners.

Launch Pad opens its expansion to the 4^th floor of the IP on October 1^st, 2009.  With 11 new offices, an expanded co-working space, and a new film studio in partnership with Deltree, Launch Pad is building on its success attracting entrepreneurs, freelancers, and creative professionals to its shared workspace with a strong community environment.  Launch Pad is now the largest tenant in the IP.

ABA Techshow on the Road in Oxford, MS

ABA TechShow Road Show

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Oxford Conference Center

102 Ed Perry Blvd.|Oxford, MS 38665

The Mississippi Bar and the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association will sponsor an ABA TECHSHOW Road Show at the Oxford Conference Center October 27. This program will offer the latest technology information for practitioners in the state. Nationally recognized speakers will present program topics including: Small Firm Technology, PDFs, Outlook, Case Management Tips and Social Networking. Space is limited so register now!

Program

8:00 am-Noon Registration Desk Open

8:25-8:30 am Opening Remarks

8:30-9:30 am Essential Small Firm Tech

Improve law office efficiency and increase profits by implementing low-cost technology, on-line resources, and better procedures. Join our panelists as they discuss software solutions including cloud services like email, document storage and collaboration, online backups and VOIP. On the hardware side, the panel will discuss and give live demonstrations of laptops and Tablet PCs. Our faculty will also briefly explore and explain threats to your electronic data, and we will show you proactive, affordable ways to reduce or eliminate these threats, and the damage that they can do to your business.

Craig Bayer

9:35-10:45 am PDF-ing for Lawyers

PDF files are firmly entrenched as the format of choice when exchanging documents with clients, other lawyers, and the courts. Most federal courts now require that all pleadings be filed in PDF format, and many state courts prefer PDF filings, too. In this session youll learn about the key features of Adobe Acrobat 8 that lawyers can really use, such as metadata removal, redaction, Bates stamping, PDF packages, and more. Well show you how to keep PDF file sizes small, apply document security and digital signatures, scan documents to PDF, and archive your e-mail.

Adriana Linares

10:4511:00 am Break

11:00am-Noon Practice Management Technology Tools and Tips

Learn about various technologies and take away tips that will help you effectively use technology to improve the delivery of legal services to your client, boost your bottom line, and also improve the quality of your work life. Whether you're a transactional lawyer or a litigator, you'll learn about technology that will let you practice with ease throughout the day.

Adriana Linares, Tom OConnor

Noon1:00 pm Lunch - Open Question & Answer session with the Speakers Panel

1:15-2:30 pm The Lawyers Guide to Managing Client and Case Information with Outlook

Look around your officecount the yellow pads, sticky notes, random scribbles and While You Were Out slips. It doesnt have to be this way! Microsoft Outlook can help keep you become better organized with your client, contact and case information, including e-mail, phone calls, dates, to dos and other miscellaneous notes, all at your fingertips. It can also help you to work more effectively which, in turn, will improve client service. Attend this session to learn how todays most popular information management tool can take you to a new level of organization and client service.

Adriana Linares, Craig Bayer

2:30-2:45 pm Break

2:45-4:00 pm Social Networking for Lawyers

Lawyers are discovering that new Web tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the hot new tools to market a law practice, at no or very low cost. New Internet social media tools represent tremendous opportunities for lawyers to develop a greater web presence, reach out and connect with clients, reach out to potential clients, colleagues, and more. But such tools must be used carefully, or lawyers risk running afoul of their state's ethics rules. This session will provide an introduction to using these tools for marketing, and how to do so within the rules.

Adriana Linares, Tom OConnor

4:00pm Adjourn

Location
The Oxford Conference Center at 102 Ed Perry Blvd., Oxford, MS 38665. For directions please go to their website at http://www.oxfordcvb.com/occ.html

Lunch
A complimentary luncheon buffet will be served for all attendees.

Terrorism could have wiped out all the TimeMatters and PCLaw Consultants in the country

I was in Dallas this week for the LexisNexis Practice Management Conference.  On Thursday, a suspected Terrorist drove a 2001 Ford Explorer into the basement of the Fountain Place building with a bomb inside similar to the one used in Oklahoma city.  He then left the building and dialed a cell phone which he hoped would blow up the bomb. 

Meanwhile most of the PCLaw and TimeMatters consultants were getting certified for the products new versions in the South Tower of the Fairmont Hotel, including yours truly.  Luckily for us,  the FBI had the suspected terrorist in their sites,  and they sold him a fake bomb, kind of like Doc Brown from Back to the Future. 

If not for that hard work of the FBI, who would be able to do verify data integrity anymore? 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092409dnmetbombarrest.1b177db8b.html

TrueCrypt

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Free open source Hard Drive encryption. 

New Great way to schedule meetings

http://tungle.me/craigbayer

Added this to my signature line.  If someone outside of my office wants to know if I am available, it is very easy for them to find out.  

Bar Briefs: The Weekly Email Newsletter Of The Mississippi Bar

Technology Tip Software as a Service

Software as a Service or SaaS as it is known is becoming a force in the legal world.  The concept of SaaS is that you pay a company a small monthly fee to use their service instead of a huge upfront investment to install software at your office.  You also only need a computer with internet access to use it and therefore do not have to purchase servers to run the software.  Most SaaS companies have their data in multiple locations, so if there is a natural disaster or hardware failure data is not lost and service is only temporally interrupted.   These companies also escrow their data with other companies, so if they happen to go out of business, your data is still available.  For Practice Management, check out Clio, http://www.goclio.com/,  for document management, checkout http://www.netdocuments.com/.   Hosted Exchange is also another great SaaS service which gives you the power of Outlook and Microsoft Exchange at a low monthly price. This tip is courtesy of Craig Bayer, Law Office Technology http://www.lawot.com/

Lexis is Combining Client Development and U.S. Practice Management businesses

LexisNexis Combines Units to Service The Business of Law

LexisNexis is bringing its Client Development and U.S. Practice Management businesses together under a single leader, Phil Livingston. As you may know, Phil joined LexisNexis in May as Senior Vice President and head of our Practice Management business. Combining the teams under Phil’s leadership will enable us to better understand and address the business needs of our customers – the “Business of Law”. It will also allow us to create a center of excellence for the development of software within the LexisNexis organization.

“This combination of businesses demonstrates LexisNexis’s commitment to help solve the business challenges of law firms,” said Phil Livingston. “Customers want their problems to be solved in a holistic way and this move better positions us to do this by leveraging our market leading assets in each area. On the Client Development side, our Lawyers.com business is a leader in marketing services, website construction and lead generation for small law. In the Practice Management portfolio, PCLaw™ is the market leader in legal, accounting and billing applications.”

The Practice Management business will continue to serve its customer base and work with the CIC channel, with no changes to its management team. Our vision remains unchanged – to transform the business of law. By taking the headache out of the business of law, LexisNexis helps legal professionals focus practicing law. Customers are at the core of our strategy.  We are focused on gaining a deep understanding of customer needs and workflows and building world class products to address those needs in addition to continually developing products like PCLaw™, the award-winning, number one legal billing and accounting solution in North America, and Time Matters^®, our Client & Matter Management software which has won Legal Technology Awards year after year.
We look forward to continuing to work with you, our valued partners, in serving the needs of our mutual customers.

I do not have a lot of clients using PCLaw to track what aspects of their marketing is most effective, so maybe there will be some improvements in this area.  I will probably learn more as I head to Dallas on Monday for the LexisNexis Practice Management Conference.

Alice, the New Online Wal-Mart

Just started using Alice today.  They can describe what they do, better then I can. 

Alice provides you a better way to manage all of your household essentials online. You tell Alice what you buy—choosing from great deals on 1000’s of products—and Alice goes to work. We organize all of your products, find coupons and deals for you, remind you when you might be running low, and help you order just the items you need so you can avoid that trip to the corner drugstore or the big-box store. And all this convenience comes direct to your door with free shipping included.

I am now ordering everything except food from Alice.  Since I try to drive as little as possible, this is very helpful.  If this is successful, I bet Wal-Mart will eventually buy them.

Is my Internet connection down? Or, Is the site freaking out?

Yesterday, I was interested in a Law.com article that was cited in a LinkedIn post from a LegalIT Group.  Wanting to read the rest of it today, I tried to follow the same link, but after 4 or 5 attempts in several browses (IE, FIrefox and, yes Chrome) neither the page nor the root website would load.  (It seemed I could access everything else on the internet except this article. hmmpf!)  So,  I Google’d,  “how to know if a website is down” and I get: http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com

 It worked perfectly. Give it a try next time a website is acting strange or will not seem to load.

Garrett P. LaBorde, jd
Attorney at Law & Legal Technology Consultant

Law Office Technology

glaborde@lawot.com

Direct: 866-263-2376