Tracking Legal Technology

I just returned from a three day certification class in Worldox GX3, the latest version of World Software’s powerful document management system. The class, taught by Rob Nagy who runs Professional Services, was excellent and thorough, as always. What impressed me is the commitment that World Software is making to the consultant channel. President Ray Zwiefelhofer opened the first session with a presentation on the state of the company and a look at plans for the near future. World Software is a privately held company that plans to stay privately held, in order to keep control of its offerings. It prides itself on careful rollouts of new offerings and upgrades, and has stellar technical support.

With Worldox GX3, World Software is addressing the need for access to documents from anywhere, whether in the office, at home, or while traveling. The Worldox GX3 product line includes Professional, the traditional networked version; Cloud, hosted by World Software, with access anywhere; and Enterprise, similar in architecture to Cloud, but hosted on the law firm servers. Worldox GX3 Enterprise and Cloud will look and feel like Worldox GX3 Professional, with nothing being sacrificed or changed from a user perspective to work as a web-based application. Enterprise and Cloud will address firms of all sizes, allowing World Software to compete for large firms. We saw Enterprise in action at the class and it was just like working in the familiar Professional version.

The company will continue to offer the convenient Web/Mobile product with its free iPad app, either hosted on law firm servers, or hosted by World Software.

Worldox GX3 Professional was released in March to new installations, and GX3 upgrades will be released on a staggered basis to existing installations. There are several important improvements in GX3. First, the company has included ISIS 9 as an option for text indexing large document stores for sites with more than 1 million documents. There are overall speed improvements in GX3. There is a new enhanced navigation panel that makes it very easy to share projects, view bookmarks, and profile groups. A new Favorite Matters option in the navigation panel shows the list of the 20 most recently accessed client/matters. This list is automatically created by Worldox without a user having to tag the matters. The toolbar button bar can now be customized by individual users. Unneeded functions can be hidden, providing a customized user interface aimed at reducing keystrokes and increasing productivity.

Again, the advantages of a powerful document management system were on display: full text indexing of emails and of attachments to emails, enforced saving to the document management system, and fast, easy saving of emails in Outlook. With Worldox GX3, World Software continues to offer a reliable, affordable and powerful document management system, with a spectrum of offerings from Professional through Cloud.

In case you missed it last week, LexisNexis released a very interesting White Paper titled When It Comes to Legal Malpractice, an Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Lot More Than a Pound of Cure.

In this well-reasoned article, LexisNexis reveals some surprising facts:

· Lawyers establishing a new practice can expect at least three claims to be filed against them over the course of their careers.

· According to a 2007 study by the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Liability, attorneys who were in practice between 11-20 years had the largest share of actions brought against them.

· Lists the most common reasons attorneys are sued

We recommend this paper to you and provide a link to download and study it. Click here to download the free paper. After all, an ounce of prevention….

Best wishes from your consultants at Eastern Legal Systems,

Karen Easton

Michael Gaines

Haig Hovaness

Andrea Prigot

Dana Riel

Jack Schaller

Steve Schaller

BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device”) is becoming an increasingly prevalent mantra in the small business – small law workplace today. Smartphones, tablets, personal notebooks – some or all of these devices are personally owned by many “consumers” today, and increasingly, these “consumers” are preferring to use their own devices in the workplace, where they function not as “consumers” but as “employees”.

As an employer, this offers a mixed blessing. Certainly tech-savvy users, armed and comfortable with their own devices, can be more productive at work and reduce their learning curve with technology. Think of the plumber or other tradesman who brings his own set of tools to the job every day. These electronic mobile devices can be considered the “tools” of the modern information worker.

On the other hand, company data flowing back and forth between business networks and personal devices can compromise confidential or proprietary information, and it can be difficult to “shut off” the employee’s use of personal apps during business hours if that personal device is also used for business. The employer of the tool-toting tradesman doesn’t face the same problem (although materials can – and do – walk off the job from time to time).

“Back in the day” (circa the 1990’s) the big issue for corporate IT was whether or not to allow Palms and other PDA’s into the workplace. With the explosion of consumer-driven devices that can also be productive workplace tools, running business apps, this issue has become immensely more complicated. And with data increasingly moving to “the cloud” from on-premises servers, it has become so much easier to provide 24/7 access to documents, billing records, calendars, etc. from multiple portable devices. “Yeah, there’s an app for that….”

Virtually all of the products that we support, for time billing, practice management, and document management, have published apps that facilitate the easy and seamless flow of company data from servers to remote devices, and back in the other direction as well.  We believe that this is a good thing. But like all good things, it can be done correctly or incorrectly, and thus requires a bit of thoughtful planning and a good grasp of the underlying technology to harness this mobile capability without also putting your company’s information at risk.

As technology proliferates in the small business – small law environment, the need for technology advice grows accordingly. Very few small companies can afford the luxury of an in-house IT person, and thus must rely on external resources. We at Eastern Legal Systems believe that there is an emerging role for us as fee-based technology advisors, not unlike the fee-based financial advisors and accountants which virtually all businesses employ today. We think that we can fill this role for many of our clients, providing impartial, comprehensive, and forward-looking advice on how best to deploy specific elements of technology in your firm, to maximize productivity and minimize business risk.

Give us a call if you are interested in exploring how we can fill this role for your firm.

A client sent this request in to us this week: “We read your article on keeping up with Accounts Receivableand we do that here at our firm. But it’s all on paper – how can we use Timeslips to monitor who we’ve contacted about our account and what they’ve promised?”

Here is where one of Timeslips’ powerful features can come into play – Custom Client Fields. Beginning with Timeslips Version 2011, the maximum number of custom fields you can add to client records jumped from 30 to 90. And there are more field types as well.

To answer this client’s question, let’s begin by adding a Custom Client Field. To do this, go to the Setup menu, and select Custom Fields…

1. Click on the New button to create a new field. The type of field will be List

 2. Let’s call the field A/R Tracking

3. Within this window, click on the New button to set up choices for this drop-down list. Some sample choices may be:

a. First Call to Customer

b. Second Call to Customer

c. Customer Promised Payment

d. Forwarded Account to Collections

4. Click OK to save your list and close the List Type Custom Field Attributes window

5. Click OK to save your new field and close the Custom Fields window

Now you have the ability to go in to a client’s record and track and update the status of the client’s account. You may also set up a user-defined client report listing your clients, and their statuses.

The consultants at Eastern Legal Systems are here to help clients find solutions for their administrative issues, and to insure they get the most from their software applications. What we suggest here can also be done in the other billing and practice management programs we support – Amicus Attorney, Billing Matters, PCLaw, and Time Matters. Do you have a “challenge”? Call us at 1-877-ELS-0555 for assistance.

Spring is upon us, and the news is full of spring training and “season-opening” news for major league baseball teams. Professional baseball players rely heavily on this spring “ritual” as an important time to hone skills, meet new team players and staff, and work to blend together as a coherent team once the season goes into full swing..

This example extends to businesses as well. What challenges do you face as you gear up for a new season? Are there new players on your team? Do they have the skills and experience needed to assist you and further your goals? Who needs to switch positions and learn a new skill set? More often than not, this is what we hear:

• “I’ve been ‘promoted’ to a new position – that means I have to work with an application I’ve never seen before.”
• “We hired new employees who said they knew the application cold – but they don’t know nearly enough to do what I need done.”
• “We’ve merged with another firm, and they want all these new reports we’ve never used before!”
• “I’ve taken over from someone else, and can’t find anything in this office. How can I get organized to do this new job?”

What is your biggest software challenge? Let us know and we can help you with it. The consultants at Eastern Legal Systems work with firms and individuals at all skill levels. We help people better understand what their software applications do, in order to get the most out of them. Our clients frequently come to us for training to prepare for the next step on their career ladder, or to get assistance with completing critical projects. We can do the same for you.

When you purchase a software application, you own 100% of it. Yet many firms readily admit they only use 10-20% of its many features. We provide process analysis, implementation assistance, customization and configuration advice, features training, and general support on the following programs (in alphabetical order):

• Amicus Attorney
• Billing Matters
• Clio
• NetDocuments
• PCLaw
• Peachtree
• QuickBooks
• Time Matters/LexisNexis Total Practice Advantage
• Timeslips
• Worldox

Call us at 1-877-ELS-0555 and let us be your “coach” to take your team through a great year.

During a break in one of our training classes, an attorney proudly showed me his firm’s Aged Accounts Receivable report. “Look at this!” he exclaimed, “Seven pages and we’re up to $1.7 million –isn’t that great!” I smiled politely, but thought to myself, “Get that down to half a page and I’ll be really impressed.”

The cold, hard fact is this: Receivables that are 0 – 30 days have a 90% chance of being collected. Receivables that are 31-60 days have an 80% chance of being collected. Receivables that are 61-90 days have a 45% chance of being collected. Did you note the drop off? And as for receivables over 90 days? Let’s just say that Vegas wouldn’t take those odds.

A business organization cannot operate without money. Therefore, in order for an organization to efficiently operate, it is as important to collect what is owed to you as it is to generate the receivables in the first place.

In a recent report, Dun & Bradstreet listed some tips on how to keep your Accounts Receivable, or “A/R” balances from drifting into the red zone of becoming too old to collect:

· Stay organized and consistent – Every individual or business entity with whom you do business should be the recipient of a contract or agreement. The contract or agreement should state your terms and if you charge interest or late fees under certain conditions. Enforce these policies. Follow up with late invoices in a timely manner to resolve any issues or resend invoices your clients claim have been lost.

· Keep track of your accounts receivable – The products we support – Amicus Attorney Accounting, Billing Matters, PCLaw, Peachtree, QuickBooks and Timeslips – all have an Aged Accounts Receivable Report. Print it out and look at it at least once a month, or per billing cycle, whichever comes first. Many of these programs have an option for that report that can also list: Date of Last Payment, Amount of Last Payment, and the client’s Main Phone Number. Include that information on the report for follow up, if needed.

· Communicate with your clients – Don’t forget to accentuate the positive! State the terms and your collection policies right on your invoice. Let your clients know you appreciate their business and timely payments. Acknowledge partial payments and remind clients of the remaining balance due. Remind clients of the terms under which you are performing services, if needed.

· Exercise caution – If a client returns a contract or agreement with too many edits, treat that as a “red flag” – do you really want to do business with them? If you are going to undertake a large case, matter or project with a significant initial outlay of expenses, you may wish to require a deposit before you begin work.

Many service-based organizations are so intent on billing that they forget about collecting. Receivables = cash for your organization. By monitoring your receivables through your software program, you will be able to spot potential problems and keep the cash flowing to keep your operations going.

The staff of Eastern Legal Systems can show you the reports in your billing software to make this happen! Call us at 1-877-ELS-0555 to discuss how we can help you keep your business in the black.

As new cloud-based systems are announced each day, law firms are balancing the responsibility to keep client data secure with the need to make documents and other information accessible remotely.

In this article, we will show that the choice is not always as simple as either moving entirely to the cloud or choosing to forego remote access. Here are two sample pairings of traditional server-based systems with cloud add-ons.

Document Management Software

• Local: Worldox document management
• Cloud: Worldox web mobile hosted by World Software

Time & Billing Software

• Local: Timeslips time and billing system
• Cloud: Sage e-Center for Timeslips (or iSlips for Timeslips)

Worldox GX3 is a well-established document management system that is installed in a typical client/server environment. World Software launched its WebMobile service a few years ago, in response to the common need to read, draft, correct and email documents while out of the office. To run Worldox WebMobile locally, however, Internet Information Services (IIS) must be enabled on the server, and some firms feared exposing the firm’s data if IIS is not configured correctly.

World Software now offers the WebMobile service hosted through Worldox, at a cost of $25 per user per month. The pricing is based on the users who want to use WebMobile, and not the entire number of users at the firm. The WebMobile iPad app is available for free. Any device with a browser, including Macs and smartphones, can access the Worldox document store through WebMobile.

Turning to time and billing software, Timeslips also offers a hybrid server and remote solution for firms who wish to provide access to time and expense entry from anywhere, while maintaining control of their data on a traditional server environment. The Sage Timeslips e-Center allows users to enter time and expense slips from any device that has a browser. The office administrator can “pull down” the time entries as needed into the main billing database. E-Center is a subscription service, priced at $19.95 per month.

For those looking to pay a one-time fee for a similar capability, there is iSlips by Brain Freeze Software, which for $64.99 allows entry of time from an iPhone or an iPad. which is then synced, either wirelessly or via USB cable, to the billing computer where Timeslips is installed. This can be a good choice for a sole practitioner who is often not in the office, and who enjoys using an iPad for emails and document drafting.

So with the right selection of products plucked from the ever-growing array of choices, it is possible for a law firm to “stick its toe (head?)” – tentatively – into cloud computing, while still keeping its “feet” firmly planted on the client/server environment with which most of us are more familiar.

Thinking about putting your head in the cloud? Give us a call at 877-357-0555 to discuss your needs (and your apprehensions) and we can help you make wise choices for your practice.

There are times when a client accidentally overpays a bill. Or, the client makes a large retainer payment and there is money left over at the end of a case or matter. This White Paper lists the steps to be taken when this occurs and a firm wishes to return the overpayment to a client.

Please Note: These instructions relate to a retainer overpayment and the excess relates to a General Bank account, NOT an overpayment or remainder of funds in a Trust Bank account.

Step #1: Write a check from the General Bank account.

· Make it payable to the client (or their designated representative).

· In the bottom portion of the check, choose the appropriate Matter

· This will have the effect of reducing the amount of money in the general bank account AND creating an Unbilled Disbursement for that Matter

Step #2: Create and post a final bill for the Client for this Matter

· Because Step #1 created an unbilled disbursement, we need to complete the process by billing it.

· At the very least, the bill should show the Matter has a credit balance, a check was written for that credit balance and the final balance is zero.

· PCLaw will not use the retainer balance until you perform this step.

Step #3: Run the Client Ledger report to confirm the General Retainer Balance does not appear for that matter (because it is zero).

· Access this by going to the Reports menu à Client à Ledger

· By generating and posting a bill, PCLaw reduces the amount of the client’s retainer to zero for that Matter

· It also clears out the client disbursements account

· If fees were involved, a credit (or reduction) in the fees account would be posted

Accurately keeping your accounts is important in PCLaw and many users wait until it is too late to correct mistakes, hoping “they will go away”. We can help! Be sure to call Dana Riel or Andrea Prigot at 1-877-ELS-0555 for assistance in cleaning up accounts, general questions or setting up customized features in PCLaw.

Have you ever wished you could store more information in one database program than appears to be possible? You may want to enter billing information into your practice management program, or you might even want to use your billing program to store additional data about your clients, matters, and timekeepers than what is strictly needed for everyday billing purposes.

Many programs will allow you to create custom fields for this purpose. In Timeslips, for example, choosing “Legal” when you create your initial database during installation will pre-populate your Custom Client Field list with some fields that you may or may not find useful:

Example of Timeslips custom fields

Note that these fields can represent several different data types. Need to keep track of responsibilities within the firm? Use one of the fields that will allow you to choose from a list of Timekeepers, rename one of the existing ones, or create your own.

Many firms find that the Opened and Closed date-type fields are useful when they want to know how many cases were opened during a certain time period. It’s also possible to create text fields, money (currency) fields, hours, numeric data, percentages, and “List” fields where the firm can determine what choices appear in a drop-down list.

Using a field such as “Referred by” to keep track of how your clients found you will allow you to periodically examine your client list to see which web listing produces the most leads, or find out who is referring the most clients to you so that you can appropriately thank them.

It is also possible to use Custom Fields to track information about timekeepers (such as in some electronic billing interfaces) and activities, but these are used less often.

Data that you take the time to set up and enter into a database is only as valuable as what you can learn from it. Even with the basic fields that are automatically installed, you can learn a lot about your clients. If you run a Client Nickname Listing report with filters for Case Type = Transactional, Open is between 1/1/11 and 12/31/11, and Referred by = Firm’s Web Site will give you a useful snapshot.

The Custom Fields for clients, timekeepers and activities are in turn divided into groups. This capability is invaluable for firms that do a lot of electronic bill submission. Firms dealing with several different vendors and bill formats can create a group for each bill format so that the fields for the correct format can be populated whenever a new matter is set up, and the rest ignored.

The next time you set up a new matter, try clicking on the Custom tab after filling in the name and address information. Take a look at your custom fields and think about what else you might like to track. Then proceed to the Setup menu, choose Custom Fields, and add or modify the fields to make them work for your practice.

One of the most valuable by-products of custom fields is the ability to use them as “filters” and sort values for virtually any report that pulls client data from the Timeslips database. If you cannot create the report you need, organized the way you need it, you may be a prime candidate for some custom field creation.

Need help designing a set of custom fields that are right for your practice? Give us a call at

877-357-0555, so we can put our experience with Timeslips to work for you.

After months of anticipation (and a lot of beta testing), LexisNexis is pleased to announce that Time Matters Version 11.1 (as opposed to Service Release 1, which has been available for some time now)  is now ready for their customers.

 So what’s in this new version and why is it so important?

•  The biggest feature – Integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
• Time Matters users can now synchronize their individual Time Matters calendars and contacts with Microsoft Outlook, via their Exchange Server, for anytime access on their desktops or mobile phones.  This enables firms to take advantage of the latest Exchange Server enhancements from Microsoft. As new servers get rolled out,  this will become increasingly important.
•  Other benefits
• Support for Recurring events in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – It was so frustrating to set up a recurring Event in Outlook only to have to manually re-enter or update multiple Events in Time Matters.   No more!  Now when a recurring event is created or changed in Microsoft Outlook, it is recognized as such in Time Matters.
• Import Calendar Events and Contacts from Previous TM and Exchange Server 2003 & 2007 Integrations – This new feature reduces the time and costs involved with upgrading to Exchange Server 2010.
• View More Information in TM Mobility Calendar Events – Now TM Mobility users can include AND view the location and Attending Contact when looking at calendar events on their Web-enabled smartphones or other mobile devices.  Please Note: To do this, customers must previously have installed the latest version of the TM Mobility Access Manager and be currently subscribed to a Time Matters Annual Maintenance Plan.
• Improvements to features based on Customer Requests – Addresses issues reported by customers to improve performance.

Time Matters 11.1 is available for download for all active subscribers.  The Time Matters Support Center contains instructions on how to upgrade to Version 11.1. A detailed list of the improvements included in this service release can be found in the Time Matters v11.1 Release Notes.

We advise customers to check with the Lexis Time Matters technical support department if they have any questions about the effects of the upgrade, particularly if they use Time Matters linked to any and all third-party programs. 

Our clients are always welcome to contact us at 1-877-ELS-0555 to discuss implementation of this Time Matters update, or to ask any other questions you may have regarding this or any other legal technology products.