By Peter LaSorsa
I constantly get mail, unsolicited calls and emails from software vendors who want to sell law office software designed to track all sorts of things. I utilize Timeslips as my billing, conflict and client information repository software and as a Solo, it does quite well. However, for tracking different types of cases, along with how profitable each type of case is, I utilize a simple software program that most attorneys already have — Microsoft Excel. Excel is an excellent and powerful tool.
One great feature is the ability to sort by any field and total the columns. My practice is employment law on the Plaintiffs side. I do occasional personal injury cases, as well, and it’s interesting to track which types of cases are the most valuable.
I set up about nine fields, client name, county, type of case, date filed, date settled, opposing attorney, how I got the client (advertising), amount case settled for and my fee. Once I start sorting I can find out which advertising gives the most bang for the buck. I can also see trends with other firms I am on the opposite side with. If you are not familiar with Excel, you can take a tutorial, or the ISBA Committee on Legal Technology has a yearly boot camp in which Excel is covered, check the ISBA website under CLE.
I also use an Excel spreadsheet to track the status of cases, and have a spreadsheet for accounts payable. Sometimes small programs work best and I believe Excel is a program more attorneys should take a look at.
The best thing about Excel? You probably already own it.
Legal Tech
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June 10, 2010 |
Practice News
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June 3, 2010 |
Practice News
[caption id="attachment_11918" align="alignright" width="160" caption="scanR turns a camera-equipped smartphone into a scanner, fax and copier."][/caption] By Shamla Naidoo Have you ever needed a copier on the fly? Needed to fax a document while on the road? Needed a family record or other document, but your client is loath to let his only copy out the door? All of these have happened to me more times than I care to remember. Recently I found a handy service - scanR - that turns a camera-equipped smartphone into a scanner, fax and copier.* I installed the scanR application on my Blackberry, a process that took less than 10 minutes. Now, by simply running the scanR application, I can: 1. Take photos of a document with my phone, and convert it to a PDF 2. Email or fax the document to myself or anyone else. The software can run on your Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Nokia S60. The quality of the scanned and faxed documents, while generally good, depends on the resolution of the camera on your phone. You can install the software for a free trial using only your Internet enabled phone. Since you can install and use the application on your phone without access to a computer, this is a great emergency tool. The production service costs about $5 for a combination of 50 scans or faxes. *Note: I have no affiliation with RIM or scanR, other than as a regular paying customer.
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May 27, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa I often have attorneys ask what type of printer they should purchase. Many seem to think they need a color printer. The first question I always ask is how many color prints will you actually print per month. Go back and look at the last three months and give an honest assessment. Color printers cost more and the ink costs more so if you really don’t need a color printer, why purchase one? As an alternative to a color printer I suggest purchasing a black and white and sending your color printing needs to Kinko’s. You can upload the file online and pick the printing up at your leisure. Even if you printed in color in the last three months, did you really have to? Very few items have to be printed in color. In fact, if you are printing pictures, Kinko’s does a better job than your printer will and the paper stock they utilize will be better. In the long run, purchasing a black and white four-in-one printer/copier/fax/scanner will save money and do a good job. I utilize a Brother DCP 7020 and it sells for around $100. The replacement cartridges are fairly cost effective and the machine is a workhorse. It has never let me down and for a solo does a great job. If you have multiple attorneys it may be less expensive to purchase each attorney their own four-in-one black and white printer.
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May 20, 2010 |
Practice News
By Shamla Naidoo You’ve heard about the issues with metadata—lawyers can inadvertently share privileged information, even with opposing counsel. You may also have reviewed the ethics rules on how to react when opposing counsel accidentally sends us a document containing metadata. Wouldn’t it be better to avoid sending the metadata in the first place? Lawyers review the content of legal documents before sharing them. However, metadata is part of the content of the electronic document - but it is not obvious, not on the face of the document - and may be easily overlooked. Careful review of metadata reduces the ethics burden created for other lawyers; increases client confidence in how sensitive matters are handled; and demonstrates competence to operate in the electronic age. There are expensive tools and services to help you manage your metadata; however, you can simply use the available features of your existing word processing software to do this for free. I use Office 2007 so the metadata management discussed here is limited to Word 2007 before converting them to PDF. First, you should clear any existing metadata from new documents since these may include default information. If you use templates or reuse documents, the name of the author of the template or source document may be embedded within your work product. To clear this information, click on the Office button (in the top-left corner of the Word window), select “Prepare”, select “Inspect Document”, and press the “Inspect” button. In the next screen, Word will display all locations where metadata was detected, including document properties, headers, footers, watermarks, etc.
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May 13, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa You have a trip planned for the Caribbean and you want to be able to stay in touch with the home office and clients—can you with your cell phone? The answer depends on the cell phone carrier and your cell phone. There isn’t enough space to write about all cell phone carriers or cell phones and pda’s so I will write about what I use. I travel to the Caribbean five or six times a year and I have the same access in the Caribbean as I have in Chicago. I have the Blackberry 9550 Smart phone through Verizon, which has UMTS (3G DATA) in over 85 countries. It also has access through various networks in over 200 countries. Check with your carrier for details but the following steps will apply to any cell phone carrier - only the details will change. There are some steps to take before you travel to ensure you have a smooth cell phone experience. First, make sure your cell phone subscription includes a global plan. Many do and if yours does not, you can sign up and cancel when you return. Additionally, you can rent a global satellite phone from Verizon for the period of travel. If you do have a global plan, make sure your SIM card is installed. If you purchased your phone at a store they did this for you. Lastly, with Verizon dial #228 and press send to get an updated preferred roaming list. There will be two different types of networks when traveling, GSM and CDMA. I don’t have enough space to provide details of each but when making a call outside of the U.S. you can tell you are in the GSM network because there will be a GSM or GPRS icon in the top right.
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May 6, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa Google recently rewrote its browser-based word processing and spreadsheet software. There isn’t much difference on the outward appearance but the internal changes are significant and worth mentioning. The new changes include allowing documents imported from Microsoft Word to retain their layout, and a new ruler for adjusting margins. But the real change is in the collaborative editing. Under the old version, a 15-second delay was the norm for two or more people working on the same spreadsheet or document. With the new version, changes are instantaneous. On the down side, Google’s new applications do not allow work while offline. This will only affect people sitting on airplanes or in some remote location where Internet access is not available. To digress, cloud computing is Internet based computing, where shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand. In other words, the word processing or spreadsheet software does not reside on the individual computer. One big advantage of cloud computing is that people with three or four computers don’t have to purchase the same software for all three or four computers. And with cloud computing you have the ability to work on documents no matter what computer you have in front of you as long as you can connect to the Internet. For those attorney’s who have a need to collaborate on documents with multiple people in various locations, the new revised Google docs and spreadsheet are worth a try. This link will answer any additional questions and get you started.
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August 17, 2009 |
Practice News
Naperville lawyer, ISBA member, tech expert, and Solo and Small Firm Conference presenter Bryan Sims (aka The Connected Lawyer) says there are four must-have tools for sole practitioners: a smart phone, a laptop, a scanner, and a good backup system. “Unless you’re going to be tied to your office, you should have some sort of smart phone,” such as an iPhone, a BlackBerry, or a PalmPre, Sims told Helen Gunnarsson in an interview for the yet-to-be-released September Illinois Bar Journal. “You need something that will allow you to get your e-mail, look at documents, and otherwise get some work done when you’re out of the office.” As for laptops, Simms recommends buying a business class model directly from the manufacturer instead of the cheapest thing available. “If you’re using your computer for your law practice, you can’t afford to have it out of operation for a week,” he says. A scanner will help you create a paperless and a portable office. “I recommend that you keep all of your documents in .pdf format. If you want to keep the hard copy too, fine, but scan everything,” Sims says. Scanned documents are easy to manage and disseminate. Finally, you need a good backup system.
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June 23, 2009
State
Chicago area
- Cops gets probation for beating bartender, Chicago Tribune
- Wrongful death suit filed against Dunkin' Donuts, Chicago Tribune
Southern Illinois
- New judge assigned in Coleman triple-murder case, Belleville News-Democrat
Nation
- Student loan relief on the way for law grads, ABA Journal
Legal tech
- 5 ways lawyers can utilize the Kindle e-book, Wisconsin Law Journal