II. SOFTWARE
Software makes hardware come to life. Most of us base software purchases
on products with which we are most comfortable. My recommendations:
A. WORD PROCESSING
I love WordPerfect, and have since version 4.1.
I can't imagine not having the "reveal codes" function. However, many of
my clients and other law firms use Word. So I have both on my system. Most
law firms will need only one, and likely will have one already. Many new
computers come with Microsoft Office preinstalled.
Regardless of the program you use, I have a system that works well for getting
documents out the door: (1) I dictate letter; (2) my secretary types the
letter and saves it in a directory/folder on her computer called "Proof";
(3) I pull up the document on my laptop, correct it, and save it in a directory/folder
called "Ready"; (4) my secretary prints the letter and places it in a red
folder on her desk; (5) I walk by and sign the letter; (6) my secretary
copies it, prints postage from http://www.stamps.com,
and drops it in the mailbox. This workflow saves time, trees, and money.
The WordPerfect Office 2002 and Microsoft Office XP upgrade cost about $200
each.
Cost: $200
B. CASE MANAGEMENT
Case management is a very personal decision, and I suggest you look at different
programs before deciding which one best suits your practice. The leading
programs seem to be Amicus Attorney http://www.amicusattorney.com,
AbacusLaw http://www.abacuslaw.com
, Time Matters http://www.timematters.com,
and Needles http://www.needpins.com.
Once you make a decision, it can be tough to convert data to a new program.
The programs vary in price, from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
Evaluate as many of the programs as you can. Ask the companies for demo
disks and users in your area. Visit other firms to see what they use and
if they're satisfied. Because these programs become the heart of your office,
don't base your decision solely on price.
There's more expense than the program's cost. There's training time for
you and staff, time to input your case information, technical support costs,
etc. Do your homework before you invest. Look at past issues of ATLA's Trial
(Paul Bernstein has written some wonderful articles on case management),
Law Office Computing, and the forthcoming TechnoLawyer Archive for reviews.
Don't buy a "techie" program if your staff prefers manual typewriters.
I use Amicus Attorney, so I'll let you know what it can do. I like its ease
of use and intuitive interface. Most staff can use it after a couple of
hours of training, and can handle advanced tasks within a couple of days.
Amicus Attorney is central to my office. It organizes files, contact information,
calendar, phone calls, documents, time sheets, and notes within an electronic
"file" for each case. I can instantly tell what's going on in a case, what
last happened, what deadlines are approaching, and what's next. If an adjuster
calls me and says I never responded to his last offer, I know from looking
at Amicus Attorney that I left him a phone message last Thursday rejecting
the offer, and made a counteroffer.
I also can look at my notes of past phone calls with the adjuster in other
cases to know that when she says she has no more authority, she'll go 10%
higher.
Many lawyers remain hooked on their paper DayTimer and tickler systems.
They work fine, but programs like Amicus allow you to see more of your practice
information at a glance, take that information with you, and track deadlines
more effectively. The programs also allow staff to send you electronic phone
messages (no more phone slips!), see your calendar, make appointments, and
tell clients their next court date.
 With
Amicus, you also can set up "precedents," in which you use deadlines from
a prior case for new cases (like send out discovery 10 days after answer
received, notice first deposition within 30 days, prepare Pre-Trial Order
30 days before trial date). Saves lots of time. Most case management programs,
including the newest version of Amicus, allow remote access by telephone,
so you can work at home. Some (including Amicus) allow you to telephone
your computer, and the program will e-mail you unreturned phone messages.
Even without remote access, you can work with Amicus and your practice information
when you're not hooked onto the network. When you next log on, the program
will automatically update your changes.
On the downside, I've been frustrated with Amicus' tech support. It costs
too much, and the support people often don't know the program very well.
Amicus seems to look at tech support as a profit center to subsidize the
initial relatively low cost of the program, rather than as a necessary service
to customers. Regardless of what you choose, I can't stress enough how important
it is to have some sort of case management software. If nothing else, buy
it to sleep at night, secure that (if you or your staff put them in the
computer) you haven't missed deadlines.
Cost: $700 (two users)
C. DOCUMENT GENERATION
Here's how most offices draft a Power of Attorney: (1) pull up a past POA;
(2) find all the places with names, addresses, phone numbers and dates;
(3) delete the old information; (4) type in the new information; and (5)
check the document to make sure you caught all the stuff you were supposed
to change. Total time: about five minutes.
Need to also do a Health Care Power of Attorney, living will, and simple
will? Repeat steps 1-4 for each document. Total time: about 15 minutes.
Here's how it's done in my office: (1) click on "Estate Documents" in HotDocs;
(2) answer about 8 questions from HotDocs; (3) hit "OK" and print. Total
time: about 45 seconds for all four documents. It even generates a personalized
letter to the client explaining what the documents mean and what to do with
them.
By using this single program, I cut out more than 14 minutes of my or my
secretary's time for each set of documents. Multiply that by two sets of
documents a month, that's a savings of more than five hours a year, just
for the estate documents! If you do the same thing for retainer agreements,
medical authorizations, and similar documents -- you can save days of your
time and staff time.
HotDocs http://www.hotdocs.com
and similar programs allow you to take a document you've drafted, such as
a Power of Attorney, and use "variables" for the information that will change.
For example, I used "Name" where the name of the person who's giving the
POA will go. Since the person's name appears several times in the document,
so does the variable.
You can use the same variable in multiple documents. The person's name will
be the same in the POA, Health Care POA, living will, and will. I type the
name once, and HotDocs fills inserts the name about 15 times, with appropriate
capitalization, underlining, etc.
Want to do more advanced work? A domestic complaint may have multiple claims:
child custody, child support, post-separation support, alimony, equitable
distribution, and TRO to prevent waste of assets. Why dictate new pleadings
each time, or have a secretary cut and paste claims from other documents?
In HotDocs, you set up a master document which includes all the claims.
When the next case comes in, you tell the program which claims to include.
HotDocs asks appropriate questions to fill in the blanks, and produces a
final document with all the information filled in and stating only the claims
you wanted -- complete with Verification!
Have Amicus Attorney or a case-management program that links to HotDocs?
HotDocs can "grab" the information from your case-management system and
put it into your document, only asking for extra information it needs.
It does take time to set the documents up, and a willingness to delve into
the program. But the time savings is worth it. Word and WordPerfect have
their own merge functions, but neither is as complete or easy to use as
HotDocs.
Other programs can do the same thing, but HotDocs is the one I know, and
it has a great reputation. It also was included free in the WordPerfect
8 Legal Edition.
Ease of use and time savings more than justify the cost of this program
and the time it takes to set up your documents.
Cost: $230
D. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge management software is relatively new to the legal realm, at least
for small offices.
Don't know what it is? Sure you do. You do it all the time. You take notes
on yellow pads and stick them in a file. When the time comes for deposition,
you review your notes to figure out what to ask. Time for trial? You take
a look at hundreds of pages of notes, scores of memos, and dozens of deposition
transcripts. But who was it that was standing on the corner and said the
light was red? What was that guy's name? Where did he work? Who else said
the light was red?
Dissatisfied with the legal-pad system, tech-savvy lawyers began setting
up databases to handle this stuff. But databases can be hard to design and
implement, and even harder to modify once created.
Enter CaseMap. This program has revolutionized how I prepare cases and keep
track of information.
CaseMap is made by CaseSoft http://www.casesoft.com,
which also makes two other programs I love: NoteMap and TimeMap (see below).
The company makes quality software, listens to its customers, and has the
best tech support I've ever found. They give free personal initial training
on CaseMap, and support all their products through toll-free numbers.
CaseMap is like a database on steroids, specifically designed for litigators.
It replaces your yellow pads, deposition summaries, and memos. It puts all
your information in one place, linked to the source, the issues in your
case, your evaluation of the information, whether it's disputed, the date,
and anything else you want to include. You can add documents, Bates numbers,
witness employers and addresses, phone numbers, etc. CaseMap becomes the
central repository for your case data.
What sets CaseMap apart from other databases, though, is its Data Refinery.
Need to know everyone who said the light was red? Can do. Want to find everyone
who said the light was red and was standing on the southeast corner, which
is not disputed by the other side? Can do. Want to see everyone who said
the light was green in a deposition and was standing on the southeast corner,
listing the page and line where they said it? Can do. Every fact and witness
linked to the damages issues? Can do.
You can be up and running with CaseMap immediately, though its advanced
features can take time to learn. It takes discipline to force yourself to
review and input documents, depositions, and notes. But it's worth it. It
makes motions, responses to Summary Judgment, and trial easier. It also
forces you to think critically about your case.
CaseSoft has the most progressive license of any software company I've found.
It allows all its products to be installed on multiple computers with just
one license, so long as only one copy of the program is open at a time.
Cost: $495
E. OUTLINER
Word and WordPerfect have built-in outliners so why buy one? Because Word
and WordPerfect's outliners are pains in the rear. They're limited in what
they can do. Consistent formatting is virtually impossible. Moving notes
around is difficult. For those of us who like to outline arguments, examinations,
and trial strategy, the word processors are woefully deficient.
Enter CaseSoft and NoteMap. The company developed this program after users
on the CaseMap online forum bemoaned the lack of a true outliner program.
CaseSoft did it right. NoteMap links with CaseMap, so you can exchange information
from the outline into the database. Formatting is a breeze. You can "hoist"
portions of an outline to work solely on a small part, or "fold" (hide)
parts with which you're not currently working. You can link documents and
images to your outline. You can "lock" portions of an outline so they can't
be edited. You also can insert "comments" within the outline. It's easy
to move parts of an outline, change levels, or even merge outline portions.
You don't need NoteMap. But if you do a lot of outlines, as I do, it's worth
the money.
Cost: $99
F. TIME LINES
Have you ever wanted to show a judge or jury the order in which things happened?
You could list them by date and time, but that's ponderous and doesn't give
a sense of the distribution of actions over time. You could try to do your
own time graphic. Problem is, it's tough to be accurate with the spacing
between acts, yet still be able to add and delete items.
Once again, CaseSoft came to the rescue with TimeMap. Just click to make
a new entry, fill in the date and time, and enter the text for the box.
That's it -- you're done. TimeMap automatically resizes the time line and
places the box in the proper place. You can insert a "break" in the time
line, skipping months or years. Charts can be up to 20 pages wide. With
a color printer, you can use different colors for actions by different parties.
There's no better way to show a jury how the defendant sold 10,000 widgets,
when it received reports of defects, how it continued to sell more widgets,
when the first complaints were filed, and when your client was injured.
Cost: $199
G. ACCOUNTING/TIME-BILLING
Even if you don't bill, it's a good idea to keep track of your time. It
helps justify fees, if necessary, and shows you where your time goes.
I dictate my time to my secretary to enter into Amicus Attorney. Amicus
and most case-management programs allow you to track time. But if you do
any billing, you need third-party software to compile and track bills and
receivables.
I like PCLaw http://www.pclaw.com.
TimeSlips http://www.timeslips.com
is the industry leader, but I've read too many complaints about problems
with support and its latest upgrade.
PCLaw has been very responsive when I've called. Though it's not as intuitive
as I'd like (I've actually had to look at the online help), it's not bad.
Simple billing and receivables is $195 for two timekeepers. For more money,
you can add network support, past-due modules, payroll, and deposit slips.
There is no limit to the number of cases you can have. Avoid programs that
charge you by the number of cases.
For accounting, try Quicken or QuickBooks http://www.quickbooks.com.
With check software, you can write checks in Quicken or QuickBooks and print
them out on checks you print yourself. Why pay a check printer?
Cost: $250
H. PRESENTATIONS
For static presentations in which all you want to do is run through the
same "slides" over and over, Microsoft's PowerPoint (included in MS Office)
works fine. You can easily put documents, photos, sound, and video into
slides which will advance just like in a slide projector.
But PowerPoint is of limited use for dynamic presentations; that is, if
you want to take a document and enlarge portions, compare documents, or
highlight portions on the fly. For that, I recommend Sanction from Verdict
Systems http://www.verdictsystems.com.
Sanction costs hundreds or thousands of dollars less than similar software.
After scanning in a document, you can easily enlarge the most important
paragraph, have an expert insert an arrow pointing to the break in your
client's bone, or highlight the president's marginalia. With another click,
you can save the new document, with the original unchanged. Add a projector
or big-screen television, and you can easily move between documents or photos
in a presentation to a jury.
Sanction enables you to track which exhibits have been entered into evidence,
save parts of documents on which witnesses or experts have written, and
print those documents for the record. You can even scroll a deposition transcript
alongside a video of the deponent. The Department of Justice purchased Sanction
for all of its U.S. Attorney offices for trial presentations.
Cost: $395 for Sanction I; more for Sanction II.
I. SCANNER SOFTWARE.
I like PaperPort, sold by ScanSoft http://www.scansoft.com.
It uses a folder system, similar to Windows Explorer. It's easy to scan,
annotate, and manipulate documents.
I use PaperPort and its FormTyper function to scan in discovery I have to
answer. I drop the document into FormTyper and type my answers to discovery
directly onto a scanned image of the original. Saves my staff from retyping
interrogatories. If there's not enough room to answer, I just attach a sheet
(as the Rules allow).
Most scanners will come with document-management software. If you don't
get PaperPort and want it, you can usually pay a modest price to switch.
For OCR, I use a program from a Russian company, Abbyy, called FineReader
http://www.abbyy.com . FineReader
has the best OCR accuracy of any program I've found (OCR takes an uneditable
scanned image, like a page of discovery, and turns it into a document which
you can edit in your word processor). One of the best things about the program
is it can export OCR'd documents into Word or WordPerfect and save all the
formatting.
However, I don't do a lot of OCR. I find OCR unnecessary and a waste of
resources. If I need to be able to search for a document, I save the image
and use PaperPort's ability to list keywords to identify a document.
Cost: $198 (for both programs)
J. MISCELLANEOUS
1. DtSearch
This little gem will create an index of words in a list of documents, directories,
or drives you specify. You can then conduct Boolean and "fuzzy" searches
to find that one document you need. It will search across document types,
and displays results in context.
DtSearch can even create an index of deposition transcripts or your summaries.
You can then search for "car w/5 red light w/3 corner" to find which witness
was standing on the corner and saw the red light. Or, it will find the Complaint
in which you alleged fraud, unfair trade practice, breach of contract, and
punitive damages. Can't remember which Complaint had a claim for abuse of
process? DtSearch will find it. Works better and faster than the Windows
Explorer or WordPerfect's find functions. If you look closely, you'll find
that many programs use DtSearch's engine to power their own search functions.
Cost: $199
2. Internet Explorer 5.5; Outlook Express; AdPurger
Why use these programs? They came with my computer, and they're all I need.
They work well, so I'm not going to upgrade unless I have to do so. And
they're free.
I use AT&T as my dial-up provider. It costs $20/month for unlimited access.
I have a host for my Web site, also at a cost of $20/month. Ask for recommendations
for a Web hosting ISP. I use adSight.com
because their Webmaster was the quickest to answer my questions when I sent
e-mail to several Web hosting services. I like good service.
Want to speed up your Internet access, eliminate pop-up ads, and reduce
other tricks by advertisers that slow down your pages from loading? Try
AdPurger, http://www.adpurger.com.
This great little program costs about $13.
Cost: $13, plus $40/month ($480 a year)
3. Legal Research
Surprise, you're not limited to LexisNexis or Westlaw!
For North Carolina statutes and case law, as well as the U.S. Code, I use
West Group's CDs. I want the disks so I can take them with me on the road
and to court. I often conduct legal research during trial breaks, or at
counsel's table when arguing a point of evidence.
For federal cases and for states other than North Carolina, I use VersusLaw,
http://www.versuslaw.com
. For $9/month (yes, nine dollars per month), I get unlimited access to
every state and federal appellate court. The drawbacks? The search engine
is limited, there are no hyperlinks between cases, and you have to return
to the search results list to get to the next case. But you can't beat the
price.
Cost: About $600 per year
Total Cost For Software: $2,978,
plus $1,080 per year.
Total Cost For Hardware: $4,630,
plus $1,080 per year.
Total Hardware And Software: $7,608,
plus $1,080 per year.
Thus, the total initial outlay for hardware and software for one lawyer
and secretary is $8,688 for the first year, with about $1,080 per year in
recurring costs for Internet access, Web hosting, and legal research. You
should budget $500 to $750 per year additionally for software and hardware
upgrades, including the replacement of computers every two to three years.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeffrey S. Lisson is a 1985 graduate
of Austin (TX) College, and a 1992 graduate of Wake Forest Law School.
He is a solo practitioner in Winston-Salem, specializing in criminal
defense, personal injury, product liability, and federal statutory
causes of action. He is licensed in both North Carolina and Texas.
Before law school, Jeffrey was a newspaper reporter for five years.
You can contact Jeffrey via e-mail (jlisson@lissonlaw.com)
This article originated in TechnoLawyer, a popular legal technology and
practice management resource that consists of a network of free,
critically-acclaimed e-mail newsletters, and a searchable Web-based
repository of all TechnoLawyer content since January 1997. To join, search,
or learn more about TechnoLawyer, visit the following Web site: www.technolawyer.com
Copyright 2002 Jeffrey S. Lisson. All
rights reserved.
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