the Best Fit PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

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20 A R I Z O N A A T T O R N E Y O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 w w w . a z b a r. o r g / A Z A t t o r n e y

O F F I C E T E C H

Choosing

the Best Fit

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

SUSAN L. TRAYLOR, Owner/Consultant of AZ Law Practice Management, LLC, has been helping Arizona lawyers for 14 years, teaching techniques and tools for running a law practice more efficiently and ethically. She works with lawyers setting up practices, improving general office management, trust account recordkeeping, developing

efficient office systems, with a particular emphasis on selecting and utilizing practice management software. For more information see www.az-lawpracticemanagement.com or

contact Susan at [email protected] or (602) 753-7591.

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n many ways, choosing the law practice management software (“PMS”) that’s right for your firm is similar to looking for a house. You want it to have the necessary basic features just as a house would have basics such as a living room, kitchen and so forth, and distin-guishing features such as a walk-in closet and detached workshop. You also want it to be aesthetically appealing, and it should have a place for you to put all the infor-mation (stuff) you need to

store.

If you make the right choice, you will benefit from being comfortable and efficient in your new “home,” and you will have a good base from which you and your staff may thrive in your work. And, if you use and maintain your PMS properly over time, you will make a good return on your investment. Many of us know quite a bit about houses because we have lived in them throughout our lives. We also have researched houses, compared housing options,

financed houses, moved into one or two, and modified them. In the same way, in choosing the best law PMS to fit our situ-ation, we need to know:

•

What is law PMS?

•

What basic features should I expect

from good law PMS?

•

What are some of the features that set

one product apart from another?

•

What are the products/options

available?

Historically referred to as “case man-agement software,” PMS is a category of

software designed to manage a firm’s day-to-day client/matter information—that is, appointments, deadlines, communica-tions, notes, billable time, documents, accounts and trust accounts, as well as general office management information (such as attorney professional develop-ment dates and deadlines, associations and other non-client related matters). For a more detailed listing of basic features of law PMS, see Figure 1.

A major distinction is that it is case-centric, rather than contact-centric like many of the nonlegal-specific contact manager or CRM software. Lawyers work on cases (or matters or files). Although the client (a contact) may continue on for years, it is the case that has a beginning, middle and end. PMS is a “relational data-base” starting with the client’s contact information, then adding a case/matter for that client, and “relating” (or linking) all contacts, phone calls, time tracked, cal-endar items, email, documents, etc., to the case/matter.

Desktop PMS vs. Cloud PMS

About 20 or 25 years ago, PMS software, “desktop or on-premise” type, entered the legal market and it continues to be a good option for many firms today.

In that situation, the firm purchases the software, which it installs on the firm’s net-work and computers. The firm owns the software and is responsible for maintaining it along with the computers on which it is installed. In some cases, the software

should be upgraded every two or three years, but in other situations, the firm is able to use the same version for several years without upgrading. The decision to upgrade depends on whether the firm’s PMS is still compatible with the firm’s other software, as well as whether the vendor has terminated technical support for the older PMS version.

Examples of traditional desktop law PMS are Abacus Law, Aderant (formerly Client Profiles), Amicus Small Firm, Amicus Premium, LegalFiles, Needles, LexisNexis Time Matters, Practice Master, Perfect Office, ProLaw by Elite, Daylite (Mac), Law-stream (Mac) and HoudiniEsq (Mac or Windows).

Approximately six years ago, new prod-ucts in law PMS entered the market in the form of SaaS (Software as a Service) PMS, aka “Cloud” PMS. SaaS simply means that the vendor designs and develops the soft-ware, installs it on its own server, then leas-es or rents use of the software to the cus-tomer on a monthly basis. The cuscus-tomer is provided with a user name and login pass-word that is used to access their cloud PMS

M AE TI SA © S HU TT ER ST O CK .C O M

“I don’t know how a lawyer, in today’s law firm, can practice law without

using practice management software,”

says a Phoenix litigation and criminal defense sole practitioner, June 2013.

“I wish I had the practice management software I used when I had my own firm,”

says a seasoned large firm attorney, 2009.

I

Contacts

Clients, Attorneys, Parties, People

Assemble Document Document Manager Phone Calls Appointments

Track time Reminders

Organize web research Calendaring/Docketing

Matters/Cases

Word or WordPerfect

Email organization

Smartphones/Tablets

Remote access

PMS

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

SOFTWARE FIGURE 1

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from the office, home, court, or anywhere else (provided the customer has an Internet connection). The law firm does not need to invest in and maintain high-end servers and computers to run the PMS. The PMS vendor maintains the PMS software and the computers on which it is installed.

Examples of cloud law PMS are

AdvoLogix, Amicus Cloud, Clio,

LexisNexis Firm Manager, My Case and Rocket Matter.

PMS Desktop and the Cloud

Front Office/Back Office

Many of the traditional desktop PMS separate the financial functions (billing, payments, accounting, trust accounts) into separate modules, or applications. These are referred to as “back office.” This leaves the matters/files/cases, calendaring, com-munications, documents and time tracking to be termed “front office” functions.

Traditional desktop PMS found it nec-essary to separate front office from back office because many law firms already used and were committed to their preferred back office software. In fact, to accommo-date those situations even better, the law PMS vendors developed “links” from the PMS front office to the firm’s preferred back office software to minimize the need for double entry of data. Examples of these third-party software providers are Tabs 3, Timeslips, PCLaw, Quickbooks and Juris.

On the other hand, most of the SaaS PMS products developed today include front office and partial back office func-tions—time/billing and trust accounting. The firm must use another software to per-form general ledger accounting functions (e.g., trial balance sheets, profit/loss state-ments) or do it manually. In response to this, many of the cloud PMS products have designed “links” to third-party software such as QuickBooks.

Automated Calendaring

Automated calendaring is a feature unique to legal-specific PMS that allows the firm to create calendar events (appointments or tasks) that are dependent on each other according to predetermined day intervals. If one of the dates is modified, the depend-ent dates recalculate automatically. This feature is particularly helpful to litigation practices. For example:

•

File Complaint = master event >

•

Service of Process Due is calendared

120 after the complaint is filed >

•

Answer Due is calendared 20 days

after the Service of Process.

In that example, if you file the com-plaint today, the service of process is auto-matically calendared 120 after today. Then, when the complaint is finally served, you merely change the date on the Service of Process to the actual date served, which, in turn, calculates the Answer Due in 20 days after that. Lawyers have found this feature useful for other practice areas, as well. For example:

•

Initial consult > run conflicts check >

intake date > fee agreement signed > (hearing date) > etc.

Automated calendaring has been a basic feature of desktop or on-premise PMS soft-ware for many years as lawyers of non-litiga-tion practice areas have found it a very help-ful feature. However, many cloud PMS have yet to develop this feature. The alternative to designing automated calendaring inside the cloud PMS is to look for a third-party serv-ice to perform automated calendaring. Some examples are Compulaw and Deadlines.

Synchronization With Mobile Devices

When a PMS product claims it will synchronize with “mobile devices,” you should take time to understand what this means and how it will work for that partic-ular product. Because you need only an Internet connection, user name and pass-word to log into your SaaS PMS, those products are accessible by desktop, laptop, Smartphone or tablet. The SaaS PMS also typically have a “Mobile Device” interface for their PMS, making it easy to read on a small screen.

On the other hand, when a desktop or on-premise PMS claims to have synchro-nization with mobile devices, you need to know: (1) Synchronization means only “contacts, appointments and to-dos” (see next section regarding emails); and (2) To set up the synchronization “link,” you may need any one of, or combination of, the following: Microsoft Outlook, Google apps or Gmail account, third-party software like CompanionLink and/or DejaOffice, iCloud or Exchange service.

Email Integration

Know that handling your email on your mobile device, then saving those emails in your PMS is called “integration,” not “syn-chronization.” Most PMS products merely “link” emails in the PMS either as a com-munication record or a document record. Some PMS allow you to work from third-party applications like Outlook, linking the emails back to the PMS.

Practice-Specific PMS

If you are practicing in a specific area of law, there may be software designed specifically for the area. That is not to say that the generic, out-of-the box software as refer-enced above cannot be customized to accommodate these specific practice areas (and some even offer practice-specific modules at an additional charge). It simply means that if you are practicing in one specific area, and that area only, it may be a good idea for you to start by researching those software options first.

Keep in mind that some of these prac-tice-specific solutions may not include all of the basic features of the out-of-the-box traditional PMS. Examples of practice-specific software are ImmPro, LawLogix, INSZoom and e-Immigration (immigra-tion); BestCase (Bankruptcy); Needles and TrialWorks (personal injury); Courtview and Justware (public law); and Serengeti (corporate legal).

Distinguishing Features or Integrations

Just about every individual PMS product, whether it is desktop/on-premise or SaaS, offers some unique, special feature or

inte-22 A R I Z O N A A T T O R N E Y O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 w w w . a z b a r. o r g / A Z A t t o r n e y

If you are

practicing in a

specific area of

law, there may

be software

designed

specifically for

the area.

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gration with a third-party product. Rocket Matter integrates with Skype, Dropbox and Evernote. Amicus Small Firm and Amicus Premium offer Amicus TimeTracker, a Smartphone app that allows you to enter billable time or expenses that automatically synchronize with the Amicus database. You can log calls from your cell phone and bill for time automatically (AdvoLogix) via client and/or co-counsel portals (Advo-Logix, Clio, MyCase, Total Attorneys), or post a Client Intake Form on your website that, when filled out by the client, can be downloaded to automatically upload into your PMS (AbacusLaw, AdvoLogix). Others may have a seamless integration with their own rules-based automated calendaring (AbacusLaw and Aderant).

If you prepare a lot of forms, you might find AbacusLaw’s .pdf Form (fill) helpful; you can set up a group of .pdf forms with merge fields, select a Matter, then select

“Do the Group” and AbacusLaw will pull data from the matter and merge it into all of the forms in the group, in seconds. Uptime Cloud for Law Firms (third-party host for AbacusLaw) offers a slightly differ-ent approach to PMS, which is a menu of law firm cloud services, including cloud voice/phone service. And MyCase offers a special integration with social media.

Varying Definitions

of Cloud PMS

When a legal-specific PMS vendor claims to have a “cloud” option, make sure you clarify their definition of “cloud.”

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Another name for cloud is SaaS (Software as a Service). Some of the first SaaS PMS on the market were brand-new vendors such as Clio and Rocket Matter. Because these products never existed as a desktop or on-premise version, they were free to design

their product without meeting any particu-lar user expectation. When traditional desk-top PMS, such as LexisNexis Time Matters and Amicus Attorney, developed cloud versions (LexisNexis Firm Manager and Amicus Cloud), there was the expectation that their SaaS versions would be identical to their desktop versions, but just in the cloud.

Of course, that wasn’t true. It is not possible to replicate the same user inter-face (appearance and navigation) of an on-premise version of the PMS into the SaaS version. (To use the “house” metaphor, even though you may be building a house with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and living room, the building materials are different.) Some of the other consequences of this difference in “building materials” are, on the downside, that the cloud ver-sion may not have all of the same basic features as the desktop version and is often less customizable than the desktop version.

These days, one of the most frequently asked questions about law PMS is, “Should we move to the cloud or stay with desktop (on-premise) law PMS?” In other words, “Should we buy or should we lease/rent the house?”

If you are new to PMS, getting up and running in a SaaS is a snap. But here are the considerations for moving your PMS to the cloud:

•

Do I feel it is imperative that my firm’s data be stored on my computer/server, in my firm?

•

If the answer is no,

know your ethical responsibilities for

using/storing client data in the cloud. Call the State Bar’s Ethics Hotline (602.340.7284) or view Ethics Opinions here:

www.azbar.org/ethics/ethicsopinions/

•

Is your firm’s Internet connectivity fast

and reliable? How about your home’s or the court’s Internet connection?

•

Then you must decide on whether you

want SaaS, third-party hosting of your firm’s applications, a suite of cloud services, or a combination of those.

•

What other software does your firm

use? Must you continue to use it? Will it integrate with the PMS?

•

How does the PMS work with your

mobile devices?

•

If you have been using a traditional

desktop/on-premises PMS, you need to find out if and/or how much of your legacy data can be migrated to the SaaS PMS. Always ask your PMS vendor first if they offer a “cloud” or “cloud-like” version or option before looking to a new vendor.

•

How does the email integration work?

Are emails saved in the PMS? What is the process for saving incoming/out-going emails? How does this work with

your Smartphone?

•

How accessible is the technical support?

Do they provide free training videos on their website? Do they offer paid training classes? Are there local consultants available for training?

•

Where is the SaaS data stored? (Some

ven-dors are not in the United States, but they do store the data in the U.S.).

•

Are you able to export your data from the

SaaS PMS? How much of your data can be exported and in what format? This is impor-tant to know should you decide to termi-nate your subscription to the SaaS PMS, not to mention you should be able to peri-odically download (backup) your data to your local network.

•

Research the software options available

to you (see table of Practice Management Software on page 30) and ask for a demo from the vendor. Use this article as a check-list of questions to ask (e.g., How do the basic features work? Which, if any, distin-guishing features to you want or need?)

•

Request a free 30-day trial of the software.

It is important that you test-drive the PMS before committing to it.

•

Cost Comparison: There is no shortcut here. You must sit down and crunch the

Should Your Firm Go to the Cloud?

O F F I C E T E C H

Practice Management

Software

is like a

Should I move

to the cloud?

Choosing the Best Fit

M AM AG IO © S HU TT ER ST O CK .C O M

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On the upside, however, the SaaS version is accessible from anywhere you have an Internet connection; it works like a brows-er (if you have browsed the Intbrows-ernet, so you will know how to navigate a SaaS PMS.

Third-Party Host

Some of the traditional desktop versions of PMS opted to take a slightly different route to the cloud. Rather than develop a SaaS version of their PMS, they arranged with a third-party vendor to “host” their PMS, allowing the PMS users to log onto their computer each day. But instead of logging onto the firm’s local network to access their PMS and other applications, the user is logging onto the third-party vendor’s server/network. An example is Abacus Sky.

Alternatively, if a firm wishes to make arrangements with the third-party host of their own choosing to host all of their firm’s applications and PMS, they may do

so. An example of that approach is Legal WorkSpace.

Browser-Based

The PMS software is installed on your server/computer and your PMS data is stored on-premises, but users of the PMS log into the PMS using their browser. This makes your data available from the office, home, court or anywhere with an Internet connection. Your firm must still maintain the hardware resources and do installations and maintenance, but you have mobility with access to your PMS data and 24/7 control of your data. Examples are Amicus Premium with Amicus Anywhere and HoudiniEsq.

Cloud Hybrid

If you are married to using Microsoft Outlook and wish to store your PMS data on-premises but share it via the web, consider a hybrid called Credenza. While many desktop PMS have tight integrations with Outlook, Credenza is the only one that relies only on Outlook. It installs as a plug-in to Outlook, and turns your Outlook into a PMS.

numbers. When calculating the cost of desktop software, calculate it first for a 10-year time period (this may translate to three upgrades). Include the purchase price of the software for number of users, the price of annual technical support for the same number of users for 10 years, the cost of buying or upgrading servers, computers, storage, cost of consultants or IT depart-ment manpower to install, configure, and maintain the software on the firm’s net-work. Then calculate the cost of monthly subscriptions to the cloud PMS, for the same number of users, for 10 years. PMS cloud vendors that have ROI and cloud-desktop cost comparison tables or calc-ulators on the websites are Amicus Attorney ROI calculator, Clio white paper, TrialWorks and a LexisNexis Firm Manager white paper.

The decision to use a traditional desk-top/on-premise version of a PMS or a cloud version is unique to each law firm. The more you educate yourself about this category of software and all the options available to you, the better fit you will make when deciding to go to the cloud or with desktop/on-premise PMS.

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Vendors that offer various

combinations of the above

Some PMS vendors have opted to offer a menu of options: Desktop/on-Premises, SaaS, third-party hosting, and/or browser-based versions of their PMS. Examples of these vendors are AbacusLaw, Amicus Attorney, completeLaw, HoudiniEsq., Law Base, LegalFiles, and LexisNexis (Time Matters, Firm Manager).

Suite of Cloud Services

Some of the PMS cloud vendors offer a menu of law practice-specific SaaS products under the category of PMS (practice man-agement software). These services range from third-party hosting of desktop PMS, online phone service, expanded document management, MSExchange service, man-aged web hosting, outsourced associate and paralegal support services, and virtual receptionist. Examples are Uptime Cloud for Law Firms and Total Attorneys.

For more on your decision to use cloud-based services, see the sidebar on the facing

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Basic Record Types

Basic Features

Matter, Case or File Records Case type i.e. Family Law, PI, Bankruptcy, etc.

Contact Records Clients’, attorneys’ names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses; links to the Matter

Calendar Records Appointments, tasks, rolling list of to-dos, deadlines, reminders; links to the Matter or Contact

Phone Records Incoming/Outgoing phone calls, to/from whom, showing date, time, description, has a timer, and can link to the Matter or Contact

Email Records Incoming/Outgoing emails, to/from whom, showing date, time, description, has a timer, and can link to the Matter or Contact

Document Records A profile record for each document related to the Matter; this is basic “document management”; documents are easily saved/retrieved, can be searched using keywords

Note Records Where a calendar, phone, email or document record is not appropriate, the Note record can be used; can link to the Matter or Contact

Time Records Can create time records either in timesheet center or automatically from appointment records, phone records, email records, document records, etc.

Document Assembly Merging your data into templates and/or forms for easy document generation i.e., with Word, WordPerfect or HotDoc templates

Conflicts Checking Perform a name search through specific record types

Contacts Classification Contacts can be classified in more than one way, e.g., client, attorney, friend

Automated Calendaring Create an appointment or to-do/deadline (events) that, when created, will automatically create dependent events. When the master event is changed, all the dependent events will recalculate to new dates

Date Calculator For example: “20 days from today = _” or “3 months after 10/15/14 = ___”

Alerts/Reminders Automatically generated reminders or alerts of inactivity or deadlines

Multiple Viewing Options For example: Calendar view (day/week/month); Case view, Contact view; Dashboard view; workflow view

Customizable Fields Allows the program to be modified to fit the specific needs of the firm

Audit Trail Shows changes made to a record

Reporting Can pull, filter and sort data to generate Matter reports, Calendar reports, Time reports for firm management, and address lists, mailing labels, etc.

Integrates with Popular Can automatically send Matter, Contact and Time records to programs such as QuickBooks,

Time/Billing and PCLaw, Juris, Tabs3, Timeslips (unless it has its own time/billing and accounting module)

Accounting Software

Integrates With Popular Document Can automatically link documents from popular software such as Worldox, Autonomy (iManage),

Management Software OpenDocs, NetDocuments

Smart Phone/Tablet Integration Ability to exchange Calendar and Contact data with popular Smartphones, i.e., iPhone, Android O/S, Blackberry and iPads, and Android O/S tablets

Microsoft Outlook Integration Ability to exchange Calendar and Contact data with Microsoft Outlook

Import/Export Data Ability to transfer data to/from another database, e.g., in ascii or .csv or Excel format

Security Ability to set passwords and/or restrict/grant access to specific people in the firm

Training and Technical Support Offers initial and ongoing training either through certified consultants, webinars, online videos, or individualized web-based sessions; electronic help guides; reliable, responsive technical support; what are the hours of tech support availability?

Remote Access Capability Ability to access your database either through browser, VPN, third-party software such as GoToMyPC or LogMeIn

Basic features are those you should expect to find in any good practice management software.

BASIC FEATURES OF GOOD PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

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Features

Research & Resource Records A specialized type of document management of legal research, web research, firm resources, whether online or on the firm computer network

Integration with LexisNexis Ability to seamlessly search for and save research, track related fees, charge to the Matter

or Westlaw

Specialty Screens/Matters Ability to purchase Matter records for specific practice areas i.e. Family Law, Bankruptcy, Personal Injury, Litigation, Wills & Estates, Workers Compensation, etc.

Custom Records Ability to create your own record types, when the Basic record types do not accommodate your needs

Time/Billing & Accounting Vendor offers its own separate time/billing accounting software which integrates seamlessly

from Same Vendor with the PMS

Built-in Time/Billing/Accounting Vendor offers its own, built-in, time/billing & accounting functionality

Rules-Based Automated Calendaring More sophisticated type of automated calendaring that references the rules for a given jurisdiction and court

Integration with 3rd

party Rules- Can synchronize a third party, automated calendaring software specializing in creating rules

Based Automated Calendaring for a given jurisdiction and court

Extensive Customization Above average ability to customize the PMS to suite the firm’s needs

Word, WordPerfect, Excel, PDF Can work in Word, WordPerfect, Excel, Adobe, Outlook, and from a button on the toolbar, save

Plug-in/Add-on your document back to the PMS, or perform some other function relating the record to the PMS

PDF Form Fill Can modify .pdf documents, save them as templates in the PMS, then merge data from the PMS into the .pdf form

Document Generation Back-Fill When performing a document merge, can fill in variable data, and simultaneously update the PMS database with that data

Email Merge Templates Can create templates in your email for merging of data from the PMS

Integrated Electronic Filing Integration with online electronic filing service to streamline the electronic filing of documents with the courts

Client/Server or Browser- Is available in either a traditional client/server version (desktop) or a browser/cloud version

Based options

3rd

Party Hosted Service PMS vendor’s “Cloud” version means the their client/server (desktop) version of the PMS soft-ware, along with all other applications used by the firm, are installed, maintained aka “hosted” by a third party; you simply pay a monthly subscription and login

Mobile Device Interfaces Can access the PMS from your Smartphone or tablet and the interface has been modified to adapt to the small screen

Specialty Mobile Device Functions Can perform limited functions, i.e., Contacts, Matters, Appointments, To-dos, Time Entries, Expenses, etc. from your mobile device, and have the data synchronize with the PMS database

Firm Website Integration Can pull data from the interactive forms on the firm’s website, download that data and backfill the PMS database

Client Web Portal Clients can login and access their documents and calendar information

Contact Photos Can save a photo with the Contact Record

Scheduled Backups Can schedule particular time of day and number of backups

Instant Messaging within PMS Can create Instant Message through the PMS to other PMS users

Google Integration* Ability to exchange Calendar and Contact data with Google. *This feature is quickly becoming a standard/basic feature with many PMS

Integration with Social Media Has records or features that seamlessly interact with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter

Distinguishing features are those that are not “standard” but may be available in one or more good practice

management software. As a PMS develops over the years, some of the following features may become standard features in all good PMS.

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T A B L E O F S O F T W A R E

Software

Name, Phone and URL

Description

(according to vendor website)

Price

AbacusLaw (800) 726-3339 www.abacuslaw.com

Configure to your specific needs. Your own screens, fields, tabs, or entirely new databases? Easy. Your own reports, calendar rules, workflows or forms? Easy. You can configure everything in AbacusLaw at any time, without a programmer. 14 specialty versions, including Personal Injury, Family Law, Criminal Defense, Bankruptcy, and more, that have been pre-configured using the same revolutionary technology that’s built into every copy of AbacusLaw. For litigators and non-litigators.

Court Rules available Custom practice areas Abacus Mobile (Smartphone) Abacus Sync

See vendor website for price quote

Abacus Sky (800) 726-3339 www.abacuslaw.com

(Hosted Service for AbacusLaw)

Abacus Sky is not just web-based AbacusLaw. Unlike all other software, Abacus Sky gives you all of the benefits of AbacusLaw, plus everything on your entire desktop. You can run all of your software, not just AbacusLaw, from anywhere, on any device.

Same options and features as with AbacusLaw (above)

See vendor website for price quote

ABC Legal Case Management by Intuit (781) 370-4438 http://quickbase.intuit. com/web-based-soft-ware/legal-software

(SaaS – Software as a Service)

Legal software from QuickBase (by Intuit) is the flexible and affordable alternative to costly and cumbersome law software. Benefits include legal contract management, billing, document management, support multi-party litigation.

Starts at $299/1st user $10 each add’l user (Team)

Aderant Total Office (Formerly Client Profiles) (770) 640-0300 www.aderant.com

“Total Office is a single solution specially designed for law offices. Whether you are a high volume litigation law firm, business transaction practice, corporate legal department, insurance company, or government entity, this legal software is built to fit your needs and improve organizational performance. Built directly into Microsoft Office and Outlook.”

Advologix Legal Suite (888) 898-2386 www.advologix.com

(SaaS – Software as a Service)

Working closely with our customers, partners, and legal industry advisors, Advologix has devel-oped a innovative solution for law firms to solve these issues and more. By combining collabora-tive web-based application delivery with industry leading legal practices, your law firm can now experience a renaissance in legal practice management.

See Vendor Website See Vendor Website

completeLAW (877) 283-9035 www.completelaw.com

Desktop

“From case management, client files, contacts, and calendars to time tracking, billing and account-ing … integrates all major functions … syncs with Outlook … server or web-based document management. Law Web in the cloud. Also available for Workers Comp … Personal Injury”

See Vendor Website

Client Profiles (Case Management)

See Aderant (above)

Amicus Attorney (800) 472-2289 www.amicusattorney.com

Credenza

www.credenzasoft.com

(Hybrid: Microsoft Outlook Add-on)

“Turns Outlook into a professional practice management system … organize client, matter … emails, contacts, appointments, tasks and notes … keep time entries … organize documents … make notes of phone calls … practice management utilities and reports”

Monthly Subscription Rate FREE = Basic Edition $24.95/user = Pro Edition

(Desktop, SaaS, Browser-based options)

“Amicus Attorney is designed to help legal professionals improve the efficiency and profitability of their firms and to help them get the most out of the time they spend practicing law.” ”Designed by lawyers for lawyers, this world leading software provides a comfortable, familiar environment” ”Manage every aspect of your practice from Files, to Contacts, to Calendaring, to Time Tracking, E-mail to Phone Calls, Documents to Research”

Small Firm Classic

(<10 users) $499/1st user, $399/each add’l user

Premium Edition(>10 users) includes Amicus Anywhere (browser version) $999/1st user, $599/each add’l user

Amicus Cloud $34.95-$44.95/mo per user subscription

Clio

(888) 858-2546 www.goclio.com

SaaS (Software as a Service)

“Completely web-based, Clio is a practice management system that is specifically designed for solo practitioners and small law firms. Your important client data is securely accessible anywhere—from your PC, your Mac, and even your iPhone.”

Monthly Subscription Fee $49/mo per attorney $25/mo per support staff

completeLAW–Web or completeLaw–Hybrid (877) 283-9035 www.completelaw.com

Set up a Virtual Office. Office without walls. All persons stay connected with each other from anywhere. Manage tasks, appointment, court appearances, billings, and documents from one place. Check-in check-out/version control, know who has document now! Create and Manage email.

Monthly Subscription

completeLAW–Web: Starts at $49 for solos; lease plans for 2-100 persons

completeLAW–Hybrid

(SaaS & client/server) $79 lease plan or purchase

CourtView (585) 218-0420 www.damion.com

“For State and Local Courts … Prosecuting and Defending Attorneys … Justice Administrators and Public Safety Managers”

“CourtView CMS is our general case management system (CMS). For general jurisdictions we provide JusticeMAX”

See Vendor Website

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Software

Name, Phone and URL

Description

LexisNexis TIME MATTERS (800) 219-3679 www.timematters.com 32 A R I Z O N A A T T O R N E Y O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 w w w . a z b a r. o r g / A Z A t t o r n e y T A B L E O F S O F T W A R E

Price

Daylite Productivity Suite www.marketcircle. com/daylite/

(Not a Legal-Specific Software, but does have legal professionals template.)

(Desktop for Mac, iPhone & iPad) “This database template is designed to help attorneys and other legal professionals understand how Daylite can organize information and manage business processes more effectively. You can completely customize this template and enrich the content by adding information relevant to your practice. Law on the Mac = productivity.”

Single License/$279.99 and up Or $29.95/user/month pay as you go

HoudiniEsq (888) 366-2260 www.houdiniesq.com

(SaaS or On-Premise options) (Mac or Windows)

Anywhere, Any Device … Manage your Legal Practice from anywhere. Our web-based product can be installed locally (On Premise) or you can sign up for a on-line account (Cloud). Both options are web accessible. The only difference is where your data will be stored. Your own computer, or ours.

SaaS/Cloud – 1 user $64/mo On-Premise account $192/yr See website for free, fully function-ing downloads for solos

JustWare (New Dawn Technologies) (877) 587-8927 www.justware.com

(Desktop or SaaS options)

“Government Case Management … The unique design and flexibility of our JustWare | Solution Suite programs offer standalone or combined case management and workflow solutions that can be used individually by your courts, prosecutors, probation and parole, pretrial services and public defender agencies.”

See Vendor Website

LawStream (250) 247-9999 www.lawstream.com (for Mac and Windows/Vista)

$800 per 1st user

(package pricing for more users)

LawBase

Synaptec Software (800) 569-3377 www.lawbase.com

(Desktop or SaaS options)

“LawBase is a computerized Case and Matter Management System designed to increase the productivity and profitability of your office. LawBase is currently being used by thousands of law office personnel across the country, from solo practitioners to law firms with 750-plus attorneys to the legal departments of Fortune 500 companies to governmental agencies … Case Notes, Smart Folders, Docketing, Document Assembly, Contacts, Conflicts, Workflow”

See Vendor Website

LegalEdge (610) 975-5888 www.legaledge.com

“Since its inception in 1989, LegalEdge has been providing legal case management software to law firms, Corporate Legal Departments, Prosecutors (including adult and juvenile), Public Defenders, Juvenile, Attorneys General, City and County Attorneys and State and Local Government agencies … knowledge management … Cross-Platform suite of Case Management Web Applications.”

See Vendor Website

MyCase (800) 571-8062 www.mycaseinc.com

SaaS (Software as a Service) “MyCase takes all of your critical practice challenges – contacts, calendars, client communication, cases, documents, and billing – and organizes them in a way that is incredibly straightforward and intuitive. MyCase is law practice management for attorneys who hate practice management … social media integration”

$39/mo per attorney $29/mo per support staff

Legal Track (800) 307-1260 www.casemanage-software.com

SaaS (Software as a Service) or client/server

“Legal Track is more than a case management system that’s integrated with Outlook. Our soft-ware is built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform. Stores data on robust SQL servers and inte-grates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint (document management) and Microsoft Office Suite. No matter what your issue is, Legal Track can handle it. Legal Track caters to serious minded law firms and legal departments looking for a serious solution.”

See Vendor Website

(Enterprise solution for 5+ user firms)

LexisNexis PC LAW (800)-552-0919 www.pclaw.com

“All-in-one, Matter, Billing and Accounting management … easily manage matters; track time, expenses, calendar appointments and tasks; bill and collect payment from clients; pay vendors; reconcile bank statements; and manage trust accounts—all from a single source … 24/7 remote & mobile connectivity”

1st user = $985 includes first year annual maintenance

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

(as of July 26, 2013) —continued

“… integrated computer program for managing time, money, contacts, and other information in law offices” (New Web Platform)

LegalFiles (800) 500-0537 www.legalfiles.com

See Vendor Website

(Desktop or Web-Browser options)

“Full-featured case and matter management system lets you organize all your contacts, docu-ments, deadlines and data within a proven, flexible set of practice-specific windows and Workflow that can be easily customized to your office. Our premier legal software offers exclusive, seamless two-way integrations with Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise, so you can save all your file related emails, calendars and tasks in one place, Insurance, Public Sector, Legal Departments, Universities, Law Firms, Legal Aid, Contract Management.”

1st user = $985 includes first year annual maintenance “Client, Case and Document Management Software … Leverage flexible practice management

software to foster collaboration on matters, streamline internal processes and fuel growth through increased billable hours and profitability … 24/7 remote and mobile connectivity

LexisNexis FIRM MANAGER (800) 328-2898 www.myfirmmanager.com

1st user $44.99/user/month Add’l users $29.99/user/month

FREE– sign-up as Beta Tester and use until March 2014!

“Made for solos and small firms … newly admitted attorneys, family law, personal injury, criminal defense, business law, litigation attorneys … share files securely … calendaring & to-dos … reduce conflicts of interest … go mobile, stay connected … task management … drag & drop your documents … capture time and expenses”

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Software

Name, Phone and URL

Description

Price

Needles

(410) 363-1976 www.needleslaw.com

“Customizable Case Management Software for law firms. Whether your law office consists of a solo practitioner or is a large law firm, Needles provides you with the tools necessary to manage matters efficiently, thus decreasing delays and increasing accountability and productivity. Needles Case Management Software handles all case types, including Personal Injury, Workers Comp, Social Security, Family Law and Defense.”

Priced by number of concurrent users; price includes support and training

See vendor website for calculator by number of users

Orion

(800) 305-5867 www.orionlaw.com

“Orion is the only solution your law firm will need to centralize your Financial Management, Firm Management, and Practice Management … Complete with powerful features such as e-Billing, Cost and Fee Recovery, and Document Imaging, Orion offers you turnkey law firm management and reporting. You’ll know exactly where you’ve been and where you’re going.”

See Vendor Website

PracticeMaster (402) 423-1440 www.tabs3.com

“Award-winning practice management software that helps you find case, client and contact information and find it fast. PracticeMaster includes a firm-wide calendar, and tracking for online research, e-mail and phone calls … easily converts appointments, email, phone calls and research into time entries in Tabs3 Billing Software so you don’t need to remember to record them … also integrates with other valuable programs, such as Outlook, and Smartphones (via Outlook).”

Solos: 1st user $415/1st year; $127/2nd year; $127/3rd year 2+ attorney firms:

1st user/$600 Each add’l user/$280 Platinum pricing: see website

ProLaw (Elite)

(800) 977-6529 www.elite.com/prolaw/

“The ProLaw software suite is designed to automate the practice and manage the business of law. Comprehensive features simplify, streamline and coordinate the work of attorneys and staff in small and mid-size law firms, corporate legal departments and government agencies. Front office, back office. ProLaw Mobile

See Vendor Website

Rocket Matter www.rocketmatter.com

SaaS (Software as a Service)

“Rocket Matter is a web-based, practice management and time & billing solution designed exclusively for the legal industry.”

Monthly Subscription Fee: $59.99/mo/user

$53.99/mo/user – Quarterly $50.99/mo/user – Annually $47.99/mo/user – 2 year term

Time Net Law www.TimeNetLaw.com

(Mac)

Manage your law firm on Mac. Complete case management, time tracking, accounting and reporting. Build a system that works for you by adding only the modules you need.

1st user/$249.99 Each add’l user/$229.99 1 License Solo Bundle/$449.99 See website for more pricing options

TrialWorks (800) 377-5844 www.lawex.com

“Solutions are designed to help law offices, government agencies, and insurance companies in managing data… SQL version ... integrates with Quickbooks, Juris, PCLaw, Sanction, Summation … Hybrid … hosted … mobile”

See Vendor Website “Plaintiff ’s Attorney Software – Accounting and Case Management … integrates with

QuickBooks … case management, document management, accounting, time and billing … calendar … forms”

See Vendor Website

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

(as of July 26, 2013) —continued

The Plaintiff

(877) 202-0235 ext. 101

www.theplaintiff.com

“Case Management solutions for law firms, social security, veterans representatives and more. Fully relational legal management database … time and costs tracking … automatic document generation and tracking … integrated calendar and task list”

See Vendor Website

Prevail (866) 974-3946 www.prevail.net

“District Attorneys, County Attorneys, Criminal Prosecutors, States Attorneys, Commonwealth Attorneys and other prosecutors performing criminal and civil case management”

$1,100 per PC

Prosecutor II (800) 237-0723 www.microfirm.com

“Saga is a case management & document assembly software package for lawyers practicing in all areas of law, including but not limited to Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, General Negligence, Litigation, Subrogation, Real Estate, Matrimonial, Business Transactions, Criminal, and Collections … a holding of Aderant.”

See Vendor Website

Saga Practice Manager (800) 222-3066 www.sagasys.com

Legal’s smartest suite of tools…leading practice management suite delivers tools built for the 21st century law practice. The fully-featured cloud based platform, allows you to work faster, smarter and more securely. Access your calendar, documents, client matters and contacts from any computer or device.

See Vendor Website

Total Attorneys Practice Management www.totalattorneys.com

(SaaS & Hosted Service Options)

Complete Law Office in the Cloud … a modular suite of cloud services for law firms … work from anywhere. Select the services your firm needs: from hosting of your existing legal software, to document management (LegalWorks) & practice management (AbacusLaw), to email (MSExchange service) and phone service … documents … voice.

Abacus Sky Cloud Server $165; AbacusLaw $30/mo/user AbacusGold $50/mo/user LegalWorks in Beta til Fall 2013: LegalWorks Express $35/mo/user LegalWorks Prof ’l $55/mo/user See vendor website for pricing on other menu options

Uptime Cloud for Law Firms

(888) 878-4632 www.uptimesystems.net

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Description

Software

Name, Phone and URL

Price

AbacusLaw Accounting www.abacuslaw.com

Legal software pulls together all the features you need – legal calendaring, contact manage-ment, case managemanage-ment, document handling, conflict checks, phone messaging, time capture, billing and accounting … trust accounting – so you can do anything and retrieve anything from one location

Amicus Accounting Gavel & Gown www.amicusattorney.com

“Complete time, billing & accounting program developed specifically for law firms.” (Links with Amicus Small Firm Edition or available as a stand-alone product)

$499 1st user license/$399 each add’l license

TIME/BILLING AND TRUST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE USED BY LAW FIRMS

(as of July 26, 2013)

Contact vendor for price quote

(Abacus Accounting must be used with AbacusLaw Front ffice)

Amicus Premium Billing Gavel & Gown www.amicusattorney.com

“Amicus Premium Billing adds billing, collections and trust to Amicus Attorney. It makes Amicus a complete practice management solution that manages both the professional and business sides of your practice.”

Amicus Cloud Gavel & Gown www.amicusattorney.com

(SaaS)

“Amicus Cloud works on any platform with a modern browser. PC’s and Macs of course. And it has been optimized for tablets like the iPad.” … front office case management as well as “… Time entries, expense tracking, integrated Billing (or the ability to work with most desktop billing systems) and Trust management.”

Monthly Subscription $34.95* per user license or $44.95** per user license ____________________

*Requires that you have your own MS Exchange or MS Hosted Exchange, or

**You may subscribe to Amicus Exchange

$199 1st user license/$199 each add’l license

(Amicus Premium Billing must be used with Amicus Attorney Premium)

Bill4Time – Legal Bill4Time

www.Bill4Time.com

(SaaS)

“Web-based time and billing software … Improve the way you run your business. Enter time and expenses on the go using your mobile phone, earn more money by tracking more time with accurate detail, and look professional and modern by sending invoices and getting paid electronically. Simple to use, easy to access.”

Legal Solo

$19.99/$9.99 1 add’l user Up to 20 clients and 30 projects

Legal Pro

$39.99/$19.99 ea. add’l user Unlimited clients/projects/storage Legal Enterprise $99 Unlimited clients/projects/storage Credenza Pro CredenzaSoft www.credenzasoft.com

(SaaS Hybrid – Outlook Plug-In)

“Turns Outlook into a professional practice management tool” … a true multi-user practice management and billing system … lets you send out invoices right from Outlook … record expenses, create draft bills, send invoices, track payments, monitor work-in-progress”

Monthly Subscription $24.95 per user license

Easy TimeBill Easysoft (800) 905-7638 www.easysoft-usa.com

(Desktop or SaaS)

Easy TimeBill is desktop legal billing software to track and enter billable time, generate invoices, receive payments and perform bank accounting. Users can issue checks, make deposits and perform bank reconciliation while also tracking billable personnel and billable activities.

Permanent License:

1st user license $558 Each add’l license $238

One Year License:

1st user $279; each add’l $238 (includes support)

SaaS: 1 user $34/mo (includes support)

Easy Trust Easysoft (800) 905-7638 www.easysoft-usa.com

(Use only for Trust Account)

“A fully integrated Trust Accounting program to manage client funds. Print checks and generate client ledger balances and bank reconciliation reports … seamless integration with Easy TimeBill (above)”

Permanent License:

1st user license $558 Each add’l license $238

One Year License:

1st user $279; each add’l $238 (includes support)

SaaS: 1 user $29/mo (includes support)

Legal Billing from Chaos www.chaossoftware.com $39.95/user Juris LexisNexis (800) 328-2898 www.juris.com

“Juris is the leading billing and accounting solution for mid-size law firms in the United States. It’s a powerful tool that gives you the insight to increase both profitability and partner income. Juris can help improve your firm’s financial performance with streamlined billing, accounting, advanced reporting and on-demand performance intelligence that are vital to making informed business decisions. Juris allows your firm to make better business decisions.”

PC Law LexisNexis www.pclaw.com

“… Client, Matter, Billing and Accounting Management Software … easily manage matters; track time, expenses, calendar appointments and tasks; bill and collect payment from clients; pay vendors; reconcile bank statements; and manage trust accounts—all from a single source … 24/7 remote & mobile connectivity.”

1st new user license $985*

*Includes annual maintenance plan “… for busy lawyers and other professionals. It tracks billable time, expenses, and payments as well

as offering reports and basic client statements … can work by itself as a simple billing package, but can also be used in combination with one of our contact management programs.”

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Software

Name, Phone and URL

Anne E.

Aikman-Scalese

Lewis and Roca LLP

Browser technology

and mobile delivery

have significantly

affected the trademark search and prosecution

process. There are now more ways than ever to discover common law marks in use in the U.S. and worldwide via the Internet. This can help reduce the risk of adopting and registering marks, but the downside is that some clients will call you

and tell you they have “cleared” their trademark because they “looked it up on the Internet” and didn’t see anything they considered a conflict.

Daniel Jurkowitz

Pima County Attorney’s Office

I think the most recent technology change to have a positive impact

on the practice of law is the advent of the Smartphone. The functionality of these

devices is so astounding, that it’s like having a computer, a research library, and a legal staff in your pocket. Pleadings, contracts and other documents can be edited on the fly. Searching statutes, reviewing rules and looking up cases is a breeze. Docu-ment images can be captured with a scan-ning app. Siri or an app can take dicta-tion. Meetings can be attended by Skype, GoToMeeting or WebEx. PowerPoint presentations can be streamed to a projector. Let’s not forget that they are also phones, calculators, timers, cameras, calendars, contact books, music and video

Price

Description

QuickBooks Pro or Premier Intuit

www.Intuit.com

(SaaS or Desktop) (Windows or Mac)

Generic small business accounting software; does have Professional Services version which gives the option to set up QuickBooks Pro for a legal-specific environment (and earlier versions).

Call AZ Law Practice Management, LLC for trust account setup instructions.

RTG

RTG Data Systems www.rtgsoftware.com

(SaaS or Desktop) “Get a full-featured timekeeping and client billing system for only $95. Designed for attorneys, RTG Bills easily handles multiple rates, trust accounting, split bills, contingent fees, late charges, taxes, many timekeepers, concurrent users, and more.”

TIME/BILLING AND TRUST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE USED BY LAW FIRMS

(as of July 26, 2013)

Pro: Windows

From $249.95/single user Premier: Windows From $399.95/single user Mac: $249.95/single user Online: from $12.95/mo

Sage TimeSlips www.timeslips.com

“… efficiently manage the time and billing cycle. Sage Timeslips is easy to learn and use, and helps professionals capture time quickly and accurately for greater productivity and increased profitability. It integrates with popular accounting software like Sage 50 Accounting US and QuickBooks, key practice management solutions like Time Matters and Amicus Attorney, as well as Microsoft Office solutions.”

Time59

Business Data Designs www.time59.com

(Saas) “Web-based time and billing software for solo lawyers … with it’s ease of use and low cost Time59 is ideal for solo practitioners, but it’s also in use at many multi-lawyer practices. These firms take advantage of features like no extra cost for multiple concurrent users and unlimited billing rates per client.”

$95.00 software + $15/timer license or SaaS

$15.95-$48.95 per month per user (from 1 to 9 users, respectively) subscription

Tabs3 Billing; Tabs3 Financial www.tabs3.com

“Tabs3 Billing … Track your time, create statements, allocate payments, and run client status reports with just a few clicks … Tabs3 Financial Software integrates with Tabs3 Billing Software to manage your law firm’s finances and save you hours of data entry. Financial programs include General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Trust Accounting.”

Contact vendor for price quote Tabs3 Billing and Tabs 3 Financial software are sold as separate modules Special pricing for Solo & Small Firms

TimeSolvLegal www.TimeSolv.com

(SaaS) (PC and Mac) “Secure Web-based Time, Billing, and Project Management Software for law firms … UTBMS … Conflicts Management … LEDES … Reports … outsourced billing available” (includes trust accounting.) (Outsourced Legal Billing available.)

Contact vendor for price quote $99.95 per year

Tussman

www.tussman.com

“It tracks all your time and costs then automatically generates bill … can automatically create client costs from checks and charges (with the optional Accounting module.) … started by a practicing attorney, specializing only in billing, accounting and calendaring software for law firms since 1985; Our software is suitable for any type of practice, including insurance defense, intellectual property, bankruptcy, immigration and family law.”

O F F I C E T E C H

Voices From the Law Office: The Tech Challenge Ahead

We invited a few attorneys who serve on technology-related State Bar committees and Sections (specifically the E-Commerce and Technology Law Section and the Technology Committee) to tell us what areas of tech will most occupy lawyers in the coming years. Here’s what a few of them had to say.

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players, etc. All of this allows a lawyer to maximize productivity wherever and when-ever necessary.

Samuel Saks

Cantelme & Brown PLC

In my view, document automation technolo-gy has had the most

significant impact on the practice of law, and will continue to do so as it becomes more prevalent. Far beyond traditional “fill in the blank” forms, document automation allows complex documents or sets of docu-ments to be assembled quickly and accu-rately based on predetermined logical rules and data sets. For example, a complicated contract can be constructed using a series of simple text fields and yes/no check-boxes. Subject-verb agreement, conditional clauses, and optional terms are all account-ed for and modifiaccount-ed on the fly. As an inter-esting byproduct of the automation, thou-sands of contracts can be analyzed to deter-mine most commonly used (or disputed) clauses. For litigators like myself, this tech-nology reduces errors and saves a signifi-cant amount of time in drafting pleadings.

Laura Rogal

Jaburg & Wilk PC

In general, lawyers have not been early adopters of technology, which puts us at a dis-advantage for being able to serve our clients. Technology pro-vides a number of critical functions in our practice, and if they are not utilized we as practitioners are missing out. Every time I see an attorney bring a tablet to court instead of a Red Well folder, I am ecstatic, but those attorneys are still few and far between. Mobile technology is poised to bring the lawyer, the client and the judiciary together to make our processes more streamlined and cost-effective. Better edu-cation of attorneys on devices that are avail-able to them, the applications which can be utilized, and the usability of the mobile technology will be critical over the next few years to help facilitate a more widespread

use of this technology. I encourage attor-neys of all ages and practice areas to attend a CLE on mobile technology this year – I hear the E-Commerce and Technology Section will have some great ones.

As an aside, most of our courts now offer Wi-Fi access, which I’m not sure enough lawyers are aware of.

Michael R.

Arkfeld

Arkfeld and Associates, author and eDiscovery educator

Today, electronic discovery is a vital part of litigation. Attorneys are faced with a chang-ing format of evidence – evidence created and stored electronically. Now, emails, meta-data, text messaging, word-processing doc-uments, spreadsheets and other electronic files are the “smoking guns” of evidence. The ability to request and/or produce electronic evidence, including issuing a legal hold, can mean the difference between win-ning and losing your next case, and avoiding court-imposed sanctions and disciplinary actions.

Despite the critical nature of e-discov-ery, in-house and outside counsel as well as practice support professionals frequently find themselves unprepared to successfully handle the myriad issues surrounding the discovery of “electronically stored informa-tion” (ESI). Many of your clients may be unaware of their preservation obligations regarding ESI and the necessity to issue a litigation hold and suspend their document retention policies once the duty to preserve arises.

It is essential that legal professionals become aware and have a working knowl-edge of essential legal and technical issues surrounding electronic discovery.

Mark E. Lassiter

The Lassiter Law Firm PC

The two biggest

changes to law practice arise from the Cloud and the move toward

software as a service (“SAAS”). These two changes have dramatically lowered lawyers’ “up front” technology capital and operat-ing costs and allowed lawyers to be more mobile (and thus “untethered” to tradi-tional “brick and mortar” law firms with their attendant higher overhead costs).

Law firm cybersecurity is now man-dated by government regulation. The HITECH provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) made major revisions to the

Health Insurance Portability and

Accountability Act (HIPAA). Until law firms can prove themselves otherwise, they should assume that they are subject to the new privacy, security and/or breach-notification requirements of the new HIPAA rules and become compliant by September 23, 2013 (when Health and Human Services will start civilly enforcing these provisions). Violations may include monetary penalties of $100 to $50,000 per violation and up to $1.5 million per year for violations of identical provisions. Noncompliant law firms are likely to have multiple violations.

The “Bring Your Own Device” (“BYOD”) to work phenomenon is becoming a major IT problem and will only get worse with the new HIPAA laws and regulations. Some corporate clients are even firing law firms that don’t rein in lawyers who “just want to use my iPad

without my law firm restricting how I use it,” but are unaware of the security and

regulatory dangers this poses.

Finally, there’s a lot of buzz right now about lawyer marketing on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., and a whole cot-tage industry of legal marketing “consul-tants” and CLE providers has emerged in recent years to hype it and charge lawyers to implement it. Personally, I don’t think social media really materially helps lawyers’ marketing efforts (although it doesn’t hurt). Social media may have been helpful for the “early adopters” that exploited it when it was first available, but now even the most technophobic of lawyers have joined the fray, making social media so ubiquitous as to be worthless. (When was the last time you looked beyond the first-page results of a Google search?)

O F F I C E T E C H

Voices From the Law Office: The Tech Challenge Ahead

AZ AT