If your firm is like most others, email is becoming a larger challenge every day. Most firms find that 80% or more of their communications are via email. Yet email is rarely managed; leaving firms in a situation where the bulk of their valuable data is handled on a haphazard “per user” basis.
Most of the firms we work with have at least one (and sometimes more) partner who has an enormous inbox. Our current record holder had something on the order of 18,000 mail messages in their inbox! Microsoft’s official stance on this type of thing is very negative and there are numerous tech notes and articles describing the problems with large single folders in Outlook.
The primary problem with a single large folder is performance. Outlook is slow when you have a huge inbox, and user complaints are nearly constant. These same users however are often not willing to do anything about the situation, insisting they need this very large inbox to work efficiently. The second issue is corruption. Larger mailboxes have a much higher likelihood of corruption which can result in either downtime while the corruption is repaired, or worse, data loss.
The user feels the need to keep a large inbox in order to find mail messages easily. So what they do is to locate a message from a particular sender, then hit the “sort” button to arrange all mail in order of sender. Once this is accomplished, the user can then move up and down through the messages to find the one they want. As the mailbox grows, these sorts are slower and slower. The movement within messages also slows so the user becomes more and more frustrated.
The answer to these problems is rarely system based, but many firms go out and buy the biggest, nastiest email server they can fine and expect it to fix a desktop problem. This is not to say that an old or overburdened server cannot be responsible for performance issues, but more often the problem is user habits.
The key to solving the problem however involves a combination of both solution and policy decisions. The policy decisions are much harder for firms to deal with so whatever the firm chooses as its solution to the email dilemma it has to be easier for the user and not harder. At Afinety we are always looking for products and solutions that make it “easier to do the right thing.” This leads to universal adoption, better performance and user satisfaction.
There are some very good answers available however, and at our upcoming seminars we will present some of the solutions to the email monster. We look forward to showing you how you can not only tame the monster but more importantly, leverage the single most valuable communication tool in your firm.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Getting Equipped: Technology for Lawyers
Lawyers face a daunting challenge in the world of technology. Choosing the right technology to fit a firm or individual’s practice is not only crucial but also complex. The reason for this is simple; most attorneys must run a wide range of products, all of which have to work together, to fulfill their daily needs. Unlike other industries, where one or two main applications solve 90% of the firm’s needs, law firms might need 10 or even 20 diverse applications.
Once the attorney or law firm has chosen the applications required, then the other parts of technology such as desktop computers, network servers, printers and handheld devices follow suit. The important thing to consider here is that the software determines the hardware and not the other way around.
Examples of the types of applications an attorney might need are shown below:
There are two basic approaches to selecting your application suite, both starting with the type of practice you have. For example a Family Law attorney would use a different suite than a Business Litigation attorney. While there are some overlapping applications, the two in this example quickly diverge in their needs.
The first approach is to find and All-In-One software suite that fulfills most or all of the firm’s needs. Examples of these types of packages would be Prolaw (www.elite.com/ProLaw), AbacusLaw Gold (www.abacuslaw.com), Perfect Law (www.perfectlaw.com), TABS with Practice Master (www.tabs3.com) and Lexis Total Practice Advantage (www.lexisnexis.com/.../practice.../total-practice-advantage.aspx). In this case, a high premium is placed on full integration. The value of this is significant in terms of work flow and collaboration.
In an integrated package a client and matter are entered a single time and then can be accessed from any part of the application. If a case is headed for trial, the important dates can automatically be generated, linked to the matter and then communicated to the concerned attorneys and staff. Thus a single entry creates multiple access points and cases can be viewed from a number of different angles all within the same consistent application. Starting at the client level an attorney could examine all matters, a specific matter, correspondence, dates, trail notes and even email correspondence.
This type of integrated package is thus highly valuable due to its single point of entry and multiple points of access. There are however drawbacks to this approach. Much like a sports team, you can draft players who fit well together and often have a very good team. Other teams might choose the “best available player” for any particular need and then try to fit things around their stars. The same concept applies to an All-In-One package.
Prolaw for example shines on the front end in terms of navigating a case, its calendar-centric approach and accessibility of information. It is also extremely complex on the back end where time entry and accounting take place and many find it cumbersome in this area. AbacusLaw is very simple and intuitive but lacks features for fairly common time and billing needs, and has only rudimentary court rules embedded in its calendar.
The trade off for an All-In-One is that not all parts are as strong as a firm might like them to be. So a choice is made to either live with the way it works and reap the benefits of a single integrated package, or to choose the best player in each area and integrate those as much as possible. The second is the more common approach because most firms or individuals make decisions one at a time, rather than examining the larger picture. Of course some firms simply make the choice to get the best of each application and this is certainly not a bad thing.
Let’s look at an actual boutique Family Law Practice. This particular firm handles well known clients needs and so they not only have to handle the client carefully and professionally but must often work against firms who may have more size or resources. This firm uses the following suite of software:
Let’s look at a larger firm with a Litigation based practice. This firm has two offices and a diverse practice in 4 basic areas of law. Primarily it is a business litigation firm.
This firm requires, within each practice area, a high degree of collaboration. So it is clear why they need things like document management and case management, allowing them multiple points of access to centralized matter information.
In both cases the firms are faced with integration of a number of disparate packages and thus the choice of desktops, handhelds, servers and peripherals must fit the application needs.
Before moving on from this topic it is important to note Timeslips. This is a small firm or individual time and billing software package that is as robust as anything on the market. Timeslips ONLY does time and billing so you need an accounting package, a calendar etc. to go with it and while it can integrate with other things it basically stands alone. We see Timeslips in small, medium and even larger firms and despite its drawbacks it is extremely capable in time tracking. For attorneys starting out on their own, it is the de-facto standard in the industry and thus worth a mention.
For an individual user, an attorney would commonly have either a desktop with single or dual monitors or just as often a laptop, docking station combination with a full sized monitor, keyboard and mouse. The best selling of these are the HP and Dell lines and it is our opinion that only business class computers are acceptable for a professional.
In the case of the desktop a common configuration would be as follows:
For a laptop, the most common selection is as follows:
The Droid, iPhone, Palm Pre and other handhelds can also be supported via a firm’s network but with less security. With these devices integration is done directly with the firm’s email server but the device is essentially just a client and cannot be manipulated from the main office. A user’s email could be disabled, but the device would retain contact information for example. Thus while these type handhelds might be more aesthetically pleasing, they are not nearly as desirable for a security conscious law firm.
Most attorneys go to extraordinary lengths to service their clients. This means that they must be able to work remotely as well as within the office. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but for the remote user all that is required is a home or laptop PC. The basic types of remote access are:
A sole practitioner may be alone, or have an assistant but in either case certain services must be provided that would otherwise be part of a larger firm’s IT department. Two examples of this would be an email system and a backup process.
A typical sole practitioner, with one assistant might look like this:
Software
To summarize, there are a myriad of choices for law firm technology but all of them boil down to a few simple needs. The challenges is to get things in the right order (software first) and to make wise choices on each part. Keep in mind when you select hardware and software that an application such as Timeslips with thousands of users will be better supported and offer more features than a very small company’s software. For hardware, get business class machines from major manufacturers so you have a good warranty and support when you need it. Don’t take chances to save a few dollars because in the end, it is your time that is paramount. If you keep that simple fact in mind, your technology choices will nearly make themselves.
Once the attorney or law firm has chosen the applications required, then the other parts of technology such as desktop computers, network servers, printers and handheld devices follow suit. The important thing to consider here is that the software determines the hardware and not the other way around.
Examples of the types of applications an attorney might need are shown below:
- Time & Billing
- Calendar & Docketing
- Case Management
- Client and Contact Management
- Document Management
- Court Forms
- Jury Instructions
- Deposition Transcript
- Table of Authorities
- Citation Checking
- Legal Research
- Family Law
- Macros and Template
There are two basic approaches to selecting your application suite, both starting with the type of practice you have. For example a Family Law attorney would use a different suite than a Business Litigation attorney. While there are some overlapping applications, the two in this example quickly diverge in their needs.
The first approach is to find and All-In-One software suite that fulfills most or all of the firm’s needs. Examples of these types of packages would be Prolaw (www.elite.com/ProLaw), AbacusLaw Gold (www.abacuslaw.com), Perfect Law (www.perfectlaw.com), TABS with Practice Master (www.tabs3.com) and Lexis Total Practice Advantage (www.lexisnexis.com/.../practice.../total-practice-advantage.aspx). In this case, a high premium is placed on full integration. The value of this is significant in terms of work flow and collaboration.
In an integrated package a client and matter are entered a single time and then can be accessed from any part of the application. If a case is headed for trial, the important dates can automatically be generated, linked to the matter and then communicated to the concerned attorneys and staff. Thus a single entry creates multiple access points and cases can be viewed from a number of different angles all within the same consistent application. Starting at the client level an attorney could examine all matters, a specific matter, correspondence, dates, trail notes and even email correspondence.
This type of integrated package is thus highly valuable due to its single point of entry and multiple points of access. There are however drawbacks to this approach. Much like a sports team, you can draft players who fit well together and often have a very good team. Other teams might choose the “best available player” for any particular need and then try to fit things around their stars. The same concept applies to an All-In-One package.
Prolaw for example shines on the front end in terms of navigating a case, its calendar-centric approach and accessibility of information. It is also extremely complex on the back end where time entry and accounting take place and many find it cumbersome in this area. AbacusLaw is very simple and intuitive but lacks features for fairly common time and billing needs, and has only rudimentary court rules embedded in its calendar.
The trade off for an All-In-One is that not all parts are as strong as a firm might like them to be. So a choice is made to either live with the way it works and reap the benefits of a single integrated package, or to choose the best player in each area and integrate those as much as possible. The second is the more common approach because most firms or individuals make decisions one at a time, rather than examining the larger picture. Of course some firms simply make the choice to get the best of each application and this is certainly not a bad thing.
Let’s look at an actual boutique Family Law Practice. This particular firm handles well known clients needs and so they not only have to handle the client carefully and professionally but must often work against firms who may have more size or resources. This firm uses the following suite of software:
- Dissomaster – Dissolution of Assets and Support calculation
- MS Office – Outlook Email
- WordPerfect – Word processing
- PC Law – Time, Billing and Calendaring
- Legal Solutions Court Forms
- LiveNote – Depositions
- Adobe Acrobat Professional – Transmittal of documents and Court filings
- Paperport for Scanning
Let’s look at a larger firm with a Litigation based practice. This firm has two offices and a diverse practice in 4 basic areas of law. Primarily it is a business litigation firm.
- Microsoft Office – Word processing, email
- iManage – Document and email management
- TABSIII and Practice Master – Integrated Time, Billing and Case Management
- TimeMatters – Calendaring and Case Management
- Jury Instruction Selector – Jury Instructions
- HotDocs – Document Assembly
- Legal Solutions – Court Forms
- Equitrac – Cost RecoveryBlackberry Enterprise Server
This firm requires, within each practice area, a high degree of collaboration. So it is clear why they need things like document management and case management, allowing them multiple points of access to centralized matter information.
In both cases the firms are faced with integration of a number of disparate packages and thus the choice of desktops, handhelds, servers and peripherals must fit the application needs.
Before moving on from this topic it is important to note Timeslips. This is a small firm or individual time and billing software package that is as robust as anything on the market. Timeslips ONLY does time and billing so you need an accounting package, a calendar etc. to go with it and while it can integrate with other things it basically stands alone. We see Timeslips in small, medium and even larger firms and despite its drawbacks it is extremely capable in time tracking. For attorneys starting out on their own, it is the de-facto standard in the industry and thus worth a mention.
For an individual user, an attorney would commonly have either a desktop with single or dual monitors or just as often a laptop, docking station combination with a full sized monitor, keyboard and mouse. The best selling of these are the HP and Dell lines and it is our opinion that only business class computers are acceptable for a professional.
In the case of the desktop a common configuration would be as follows:
- HP 6000 Pro Desktop
- Core 2 Duo processor
- 4GB of RAM
- 160GB or larger hard drive
- DVD-Writer (although rarely used)
- 22” flat panel wide screen monitor or dual 19” square monitors
For a laptop, the most common selection is as follows:
- HP Elitebook 6930p
- Core 2 Duo processor
- 4GB of RAM
- 160GB or larger hard drive
- DVD-Writer (although rarely used)
- Docking Station with full sized keyboard and mouse
- 22” flat panel wide screen monitor or dual 19” square monitors
Probably just as important or perhaps more important in today’s mobile world is a handheld. There are two very basic choices and then a huge variety in those categories. The first is the venerable Blackberry from RIM. There are a few different models of the Blackberry but they all share some common traits. The first thing you notice about a Blackberry is how sturdy the device is and the standard models can really take a beating.
The differentiator with a Blackberry is that it is built for the corporate world. When a law firm supplies Blackberry devices to its attorneys they generally support them through what is known as BlackBerry Enterprise Server. This is a software package that resides on a server at the main office. It pushes out email, contact and calendar updates to the firm’s Blackberries.
The thing that law firms love about the Blackberry Enterprise / Blackberry solution is the security aspect. If a Blackberry is lost or a user departs the firm, the unit can be wiped remotely via the Blackberry Enterprise Server administrator. Thus potential sensitive information such as client lists emails and other firm data can quickly and easily be removed without having the device in hand.The differentiator with a Blackberry is that it is built for the corporate world. When a law firm supplies Blackberry devices to its attorneys they generally support them through what is known as BlackBerry Enterprise Server. This is a software package that resides on a server at the main office. It pushes out email, contact and calendar updates to the firm’s Blackberries.
The Droid, iPhone, Palm Pre and other handhelds can also be supported via a firm’s network but with less security. With these devices integration is done directly with the firm’s email server but the device is essentially just a client and cannot be manipulated from the main office. A user’s email could be disabled, but the device would retain contact information for example. Thus while these type handhelds might be more aesthetically pleasing, they are not nearly as desirable for a security conscious law firm.
Most attorneys go to extraordinary lengths to service their clients. This means that they must be able to work remotely as well as within the office. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but for the remote user all that is required is a home or laptop PC. The basic types of remote access are:
- VPN – in this case the user logs in to a network from a remote computer, accessing shared drives, but using locally installed software to perform tasks.
- Remote Control – examples of this are GoToMyPC, VNC and LogMeIn. The remote computer simply remote controls an office computer so that on the remote PC only screens and keystrokes are passed and all data remains in the main office.
- Terminal Server or Citrix Server – this is similar to the solution above except it is hosted by a server at an office location. This is generally the fastest and most secure of the remote computing choices.
A sole practitioner may be alone, or have an assistant but in either case certain services must be provided that would otherwise be part of a larger firm’s IT department. Two examples of this would be an email system and a backup process.
A typical sole practitioner, with one assistant might look like this:
Software
- Timeslips – Time and Billing
- Quickbooks – Accounting
- U.S. Court Forms – Online court forms
- Microsoft Office – Word Processing and Email interface
- Carbonite – Online Backup System
- Google Apps (Gmail) with Outlook Integration – Email, calendar, contacts
- Desktop Computer for Assistant
- Laptop Computer for attorney with docking station, mouse, keyboard and monitor
- All-in-One Printer, Fax, Scanner, Copier
- Ether switch to connect all components
- Handhelds for both attorney and assistant Infrastructure
- Internet Connection (DSL, Cable, T1, other)
- Phone System
- Voice Mail
Most of the items above are relatively low cost and it is important to note that hosted applications like email, backup and even voicemail can offer a big savings while providing excellent results.
Often we see small firms start out with a system such as the one described above. If the attorney is successful, the firm can grow rapidly and quickly a system like this can be outgrown. Once a firm reaches about 5 attorneys and staff, it is generally time to add a main file server. This will then provide some of the services that are hosted online above, improving the way things work, speed and provide for all users as well as providing shared drives and potentially collaboration tools.To summarize, there are a myriad of choices for law firm technology but all of them boil down to a few simple needs. The challenges is to get things in the right order (software first) and to make wise choices on each part. Keep in mind when you select hardware and software that an application such as Timeslips with thousands of users will be better supported and offer more features than a very small company’s software. For hardware, get business class machines from major manufacturers so you have a good warranty and support when you need it. Don’t take chances to save a few dollars because in the end, it is your time that is paramount. If you keep that simple fact in mind, your technology choices will nearly make themselves.
TECH TIP: Outlook 2007
Quick Parts
When in an e-mail, you can build a library of "quick parts" (formerly "auto text") that are accessible only when you are in an e-mail.
Merely type in the e-mail the phrase or sentences you want to have as a "quick part," highlight the words and click the Insert ribbon tab, then Quick Parts, then Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery. You can name it whatever shortcut name you wish.
When you want to use the Quick Part in an e-mail, merely type the shortcut name and press F3.
Quick Access Toolbar
You may have noticed the tiny toolbar at the top of your e-mail window. This is called the "Quick Access Toolbar." It only has a few icons on it to begin with. If you click the very tiny arrow to the right side of the toolbar, you can see some popular items that can be added to the toolbar.
Merely click on the ones you'd like to add. You might also want to "Show Below the Ribbon," as the buttons are more visible there.
Above is a picture of the quick access toolbar with a few icons added and showing "below the ribbon."
When in an e-mail, you can build a library of "quick parts" (formerly "auto text") that are accessible only when you are in an e-mail.
Merely type in the e-mail the phrase or sentences you want to have as a "quick part," highlight the words and click the Insert ribbon tab, then Quick Parts, then Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery. You can name it whatever shortcut name you wish.
When you want to use the Quick Part in an e-mail, merely type the shortcut name and press F3.
Quick Access Toolbar
You may have noticed the tiny toolbar at the top of your e-mail window. This is called the "Quick Access Toolbar." It only has a few icons on it to begin with. If you click the very tiny arrow to the right side of the toolbar, you can see some popular items that can be added to the toolbar.
Merely click on the ones you'd like to add. You might also want to "Show Below the Ribbon," as the buttons are more visible there.
Above is a picture of the quick access toolbar with a few icons added and showing "below the ribbon."
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