I Heart Tech

Romancing Practice Management Systems

I know, I know...my blogging rights should be revoked. I have truly neglected my blog and you - and all three of you - my loyal readers. The past three months have been super, super  busy but THANKFULLY there is downtime in my future. I suppose it's the holiday effect and maybe you'll feel it too. I'm kicking off the holidays with a trip to South America to visit family. I'm going to Uruguay - not a place you might peg as a technology metropolis. Of course, I have all the hope in the world that there will be a wireless cloud spread above the ENTIRE country (it's a pretty small place really). 

Anyway, let's talk tech - practice/case management programs is today's topic. How do you find the perfect tech soul mate for your practice?

A few weeks back I participated in the Pacific Legal Tech Conference (some of the session papers can be found here) where I sat in on a session that really brought to light how many attorneys don't even know where to start when it comes to courting case management programs. Not unlike finding Ms. or Mr. Right, it can certainly seem like a daunting task. And just like that one, this is one decision you want to make once. A tech-divorce from your CMS can be insanely painful and certainly something you want to avoid. So you must go about choosing a CMS with the utmost care and diligence. Generally, here are the things that CMS's allege to help with:

• managing client contact/info
• keeping track of time/work
• keeping track of files/document management, searching and storing document
• conflict checking
• document creation/assembly
• integrated accounting and financial management
• remembering The Wife's birthday and their anniversary (hey - a CMS can even help with that!)

All sounds good, right? But where do by you start? Here: expectations. I remember the days of daydreaming about Perfect Man - I just KNEW he was out there. He would find me and forever be romantic and thoughtful and he would never leave socks on the floor or cabinet doors open, he would feed my dogs and tolerate my OCD, he would take out the trash without being asked, he would bring me flowers just because... HAHAHAHAHAHA -who was I kidding??? Now that's not to say there aren't great men out there (you know who you are) but I realized that I was totally dreaming and unless I became a lesbian would forever be disappointed in a partner. SO what I needed to do was not lower my expectations but rather adjust them for reality. Same goes for technology in general and in our case today, CMS's - THERE IS NO PERFECT CMS. You will have to give a little here and there and what you must give the most of is time and effort up front. Just like dating. You'll need to find time for those things that you normally don't have time for: research (dating), implementation (committing) and of course TRAINING (couples counseling). If you think some CMS is going to waltz into your office and whisk you away to a luxurious life of just practicing law. HAHAHAHAHAHA - who are YOU kidding?  Yes, you can certainly hire a consultant (technology therapist) to help you but in the end you and your people have to be committed to learning and using the thing.

Last week, I had the pleasure of a face-to-face meeting with one of several attorneys from the Vancouver area that contacted me after the conference. Harry was vacationing here in Florida and made some time to meet with me to talk about his move from a big firm to a solo practice. He's hired me to help him "shepherd" (hehehe, I like how he says that) his search for and decisions in legal technology. For the CMS side of his needs I hooked him up with Debbie Foster of InTouch Legal. Debbie's a good friend, a certified expert on several case management systems and also happens to live in Florida. He visited her office and she showed him around PCLaw, Amicus and Time Matters. There are many other popular CMS's out there - and there are new one's all the time. Here are some great resources that you should check into to learn more about selecting a solution:

• ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
  • Practice Management Software Comparison
  • Time and Billing Software Comparison
• Andy Adkins of the Legal Technology Institute at UF has some GREAT resources (as is he a GREAT resource and consultant)
  • Selecting Your Practice Management System
  • Implementing Your Practice Management System

ILTA - Will you be there?

Today kicks off another great legal tech conference. I couldn't be happier that it's right here in Orlando this year and I will be bopping around the halls. There look to be some great sessions led by very knowledgeable folks. Drop me a note if you are here/plan to be here or be sure to stop me in the hall.

Some Basics about Law Office Technology

I just got off the phone with a new client (I hope!). The flow of the conversation was familiar.  They are a small office and want to start using technology better. Of course, I had a million ideas, comments, and questions - here is a breakdown of the kinds of things we chatted about (this list, now revised, was originally published as part of a column for TechnoLawyer).

• New Equipment At the heart of your performance must sit a healthy and strong computer. Don’t wait any longer to buy that new PC and make sure you are running newest operating systems (in most cases Windows XP) and office suite (Microsoft Office 2003 or Word Perfect Office 12). The practice of law does not require a mega-performing machine. A new desktop (and flat screen monitor) can cost you less than $1,000. I just bought this great Windows Media PC with 250 gigs for $515.

• Email Matters As a professional service provider your email address should reflect who you are and the name of your law firm. It should be easy to remember and easy to spell. If you are Able, partner at Clued, Inn and Able, P.A. then your email address should be something like JAble@cialaw.com. An AOL, Yahoo or Hotmail address is not very professional and should be reserved for use by friends and family, not your clients. Securing a domain name (www.cialaw.com) and the email addresses that come with it can cost you less than $25 per year at! I always use GoDaddy to register domain names for myself and for clients. I've never had an issue with them.

Check Out InTouch Legal

I had not met Debbie Foster of InTouch Legal until joining the ABA TECHSHOW Planning Board. It's funny because we only live an hour apart and have been running in the same circles. I now believe the Nothing-But-Trouble-Together Forces had been in cahoots with the They're-Sure -To-Start-A-Fire-Together Forces and keeping us apart. Anyway, Debbie is an incredibly knowledgeable and engaging legal tech consultant. Her company has a great blog and be sure to sign up for their newsletters as they are full of great tech tips. This month's issue has some great Word tips!

NOLA Tech Revival...Be There!

Less than two weeks away from what's shaping up to be a REALLY great and certainly educational technology conference for Louisiana attorneys on May 22nd and 23rd. New Orleans is rolling out the red carpet for legal tech's royalty. It's been amazing to watch the generosity of those involved. 

Tom O'Connor and Gayle O'Connor have been working so hard on this. They really deserve a major round of applause, pat on the back, hug, Long Island Ice Tea...

The speakers include the likes of Jim Calloway, Craig Ball, Tom Mighell, Andy Adkins, Tom Collins, Monica Bay and Natalie Kelly of the GA State Bar (not even a pregnancy is stopping her!). I'm telling you, this is one star-studded line up. Of course, New Orleans own Ambassador, Ernie the Attorney will be holding court AND doing an Outlook session with Yours Truly. No paid speakers, no honorariums dished out - they've agreed to come on their own dime. Unreal. I guess we just want to be there to help, to share and of course, to help support the city and state. I hear they have deposit stations up and down Bourbon Street.

The sessions cover PowerPoint, tech essentials, trial prep with tech, Outlook, Summation...so much good stuff. The sponsors have been incredibly generous with ALLL kinds of donations. Attendees are going to walk away armed and ready to get their practice OFF the road to recovery and onto the information highway! 

Be sure you've registered if you want to attend and be sure to stop me and say hello. Hope to see you there.

Techshow Report

If you aren't here and you're a lawyer - you don't know what you're missing! This has been a GREAT show, as it is every year. I've attended several very informative and USEFUL sessions. But really, my favorite part about all this is, of course, the people I meet and see. There are so many interesting and INTERESTED people. I think the best part about the show is being approached and feeling totally comfortable in approaching anyone to ask a question or just chat. 
Yesterday, I gave a presentation with Nancy Grekin on Word annoyances. I had the highest of hopes but I wasn't sure how a "training" session would  be attended; I had a feeling it would be popular but you never know considering all the other good sessions people had to choose from. Well, we had 100 people in the room! It was really cool - I'm telling you people, training can cure so many tech ailments. I truly believe that everyone left with AT LEAST 3 or 4 useful tips about Word. (I'll upload our materials for you next post).

I'll tell you the coolest kind of people I've met so far - the young lawyers here representing and looking to help propel their firms into a tech affair. Every firm needs a lawyer who gets it. I think this is a great space for a new or young lawyer who is interested in law, in tech and in helping their firm. If that's you - and you know who YOU are - get a move on it! Start small, with one technology that is easy to adopt and  train (something simple like thumb drives). Throw a tip or two out via email in a "hey-look-what-I-just-figured-out!" kind of way. You don't want to scare them away (easy to do with lawyers and technology) - so you just sort of sneak it up on them. Small successes lead to bigger opportunities. So many firms invest in practice-specific software to have just one or two people end up using it and then only using about 10% of it. This is another great opportunity for an enthusiastic new member of a firm to take a resource already available and make it shine - along with yourself. Of course, coming to an event like Techshow is the perfect place to learn about all the tools, solutions and softwares available - so start planning this year to attend next year. I'll be there!

Chicago! It's My Kinda Town

And the ABA TECHSHOW is my kinda gig. Of all the tradeshows, conferences and meetings I attend and participate in - this is my favorite. I'll be there as a speaker and an eager participant. Will you be there? Stop me if you see me buzzing around - if you can catch me that is!  I have two presentations with two very cool and very good co-presenters on MS Word. So come on in ~~

Thursday, April 20 -- 1:00-2:00

Managing Microsoft: Word Challenges (and Solutions for Them)

Word is the most popular word processing application for lawyers, but let’s face it: sometimes it can be darned difficult to use. Vent your frustrations at this session, where you’ll learn how to handle Word’s annoyances with ease, including formatting, using styles, tables, columns, and the mysterious Normal.Dot file. Co-presenter:  Nancy Grekin

Saturday, April 21 -- 8:30-9:30am  (somebody please bring the  Bloody  Mary's!)

Advanced Word Processing Skills for Support Staff (& Lawyers too)

From the simplest e-mail, to a complex pleading or agreement, we all spend hours every day  pounding on a keyboard to crank documents out. Come to this session to take your word processing skills to the next level. Learn to thrive in a Word world, even if you were born and raised on WordPerfect. Co-presenter: Paul Unger

I'll have my secretary send you that document...

I don't know if it's my imagination or what - but it seems to me that there are an alarming number of attorneys (status doesn't seem to matter) that still have their secretaries do simple things like email a document to a client, print a document (you know, the old "ppfm") or enter contact info into their address books.

Yes, I expect lawyers to use their knowledge and experience to practice law. I also expect them to have some basic tech skills. I'm not talking creating TOA's or chronologies here. What I'm talking about are simple and basic technology achievements - no, wait - what I'm describing are general BUSINESS functions that even my mother can perform today (she has no college degree, English is her second language and she's still not sure what the Internet is). As far as I'm concerned these are the things that every single attorney should know how to do these days and let me tell you, your clients expect the same.

1. Look up contact information
2. Add, edit or delete contact information (including crappy email addresses)
3. Use said contact info to address an email
4. Open, find, add attachments
5. Convert things to PDF (and understand why)
6. Make minor edits to documents (a 3 year old can cut, copy and paste these days)
7. Save as new version, new document then send or print documents
8. Create a simple letter or memo
9. Add digital signatures (then #5, #3)
10. Manage a calendar without a pencil and red diary (I could CRY about this one)

Let me know if you see anything unreasonable in that list. Also, let me know what you think I missed. It's almost sad that I list these basic skills as massive deficiencies in the legal profession. If you don't agree with me, take it up with my attorney. He is certainly one that appreciates how technology can and has enhanced the way he  practices law while helping him better serve his clients.

From A Lawyers Lips...

A few posts back I wrote about a cool calendaring tool called Trumba. And as you may know or guess this blog is about helping other people - in particular, lawyers - enhance their lives and businesses through technology. Well I got a nice note from a nice guy (a lawyer nonetheless!) about how useful Trumba has become for him. Geoff Sharp is a blogger and mediator in New Zealand, check out how he's using Trumba to keep his practice lean and virtual.

New Orleans, New Law: Community Revival with Technology

I'm excited to be a part of a great technology conference in May being organized by Tom O'Connor along with the LSBA and the ABA. These technology super sessions are designed to help the legal community of LA that was impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Read what New Orleans legal technology ambassador, Ernie the Attorney, has to say about it here. The rest of you - spread the word!

Click here to get more information from the official site and here for the press release.

If you're a lawyer in Louisiana don't miss out - it's free and it's going to rock! Registration is simple, click here to send an email with your contact information.

We're out here with arms wide-open looking for sponsors and donations to help underwrite the cost of this worthy cause. If you're a technology company looking for some exposure and looking to help we need your sponsorship! If you're just a company or a law firm with a big heart and want to donate some funds please click here to send an email to Tom O'Connor.