It's About Time

Exercise While You Work...continued

I periodically come across an innovative idea or piece of equipment that makes it easier to work and exercise at the same time.  Exercise always seems to gobble up so much time.  Time spent on the mindless, hamster-like routine of walking or running on a treadmill could be better spent in so many other ways.  Now Steelcase has come up with the Walkstation...a combination monitor, keyboard and treadmill, so now you can do it all.  

Goodbye FolderShare...Hello Dropbox

For years I used Microsoft's free product, FolderShare, which is now being replaced with Windows Live Mesh.  I was a big fan since I have computers in both Chicago and Boca Raton and like to keep the infomation identical on both computers.  When traveling back and forth between locations, there is no need to copy or transfer files.  Files were always synchronized within seconds.  It was always assumed that Microsoft would eventually start charging for this "free" service.  That hasn't happened yet.  What's worse is they replaced the FolderShare product with Windows Live Mesh, which requires Windows 7!  Because I support a number of legacy software products, it is necessary for me to keep at least one computer loaded with XP. 

I was very sad to see this happen, however  I found a great alternative...Dropbox.  Dropbox not only syncs my computers, but also stores my files "in the cloud".  It's free for up to 2GB of data.  You get 50GB for about $100 a year.  I gladly paid for the extra space.  It gives me additional peace of mind knowing that I can access all my documents on line as well.  In addition, it also keeps the deleted files and allows you to share folders.  Best of all, Dropbox doesn't care if I'm syncing with a Mac, Windows 7 or Windows XP. 

Find and Open Windows Files FAST!

I have been using QuickJump for several months now and find it an indispensable tool.  QuickJump is brought to you by TechHit, the same people who publish the SimplyFile product for Outlook.  

If you are like me, you have thousands of folders with many more subfolders under those.  Finding and opening a file requires going through several levels:  My Documents; Clients; Client Name; Client Subfolder.  That's a lot of mouse clicking and scrolling.  With QuickJump, you just press CTRL+SHIFT+J.  A window opens where you can start typing the name of the Subfolder you want to go to.  A list of possible folders appear so you can choose something different than the top choice.  So now, to open a folder, you just press CTRL+SHIFT+J, type the first letters of folder until you see the correct one appear and Enter.  Presto!  you are in the correct subfolder without a lot of scrolling and clicking.  It's much, much faster.  They have a free 30-day trial available if you just want to give it a try.  The cost to purchase is just $29.95...well worth it!

Help with Electronic Billing for Law Firms in the U.K. as well as the U.S.

We can now provide assistance to Timeslips users in the U.K. as well as the U.S. with our flexible hours and remote, on-line support options. 

More and more of your clients are requiring you to submit your bills electronically using the LEDES or one of several other electronic billing formats.  It's as simple as purchasing the electronic billing option for Timeslips.  Let Compu-Aid help you with the set up and transmission.  Call (561) 416-9288 or email me at joanh@compuaid-inc.com.

What's Happening to the Billable Hour?

Many firms have opted out of, or greatly reduced the number of clients that are being billed an hourly rate and are now offering "Alternate Fee Arrangements" for services.  Does this mean that you no longer need to track your hours for AFA's?  What's the use of tracking those hours when your fee is already set?

Even if you are receiving a flat rate for services, you will still want to track your hours for one or more of the following reasons:

• Was the flat fee profitable?  Without tracking your hours, it will be hard to tell
• What firm members are most productive and have produced the most profit?
• What do you show your clients when they want to see how you spent time on their case?

If you would like to read more, their is an excellent article by Ted Gerstein in the Smart Web Parts blog.

How to Compete with LegalZoom

If you are a solo or small law firm, your practice has undoubtedly been affected by LegalZoom.  How can you compete with this service? 

You might want to take a look at DirectLaw.  This service could put you back in the competition. 

Save Money - Enter Your Time Daily

Did you know that people that enter their timesheets once a month spend more than twice as much time on the process as those diligent souls that enter their time every day?  Not to mention the loss of accuracy when entering time just once a month. 

Timeslips has the TS Timer option that allows you to "start the clock" instantaneously from the system tray on your desktop. Use the TS Timer if you want to capture more billable time as well as save time on data entry.  

If you are interested in reading more about timesheet entry statistics, click here

Can Law Firms do Business without a File Server?

Can you move your business to the "cloud"?  I just read an interesting article written by Seth Rowland for Technolawyer.  He gives a good overview of cloud computing and how it might impact your practice.  I'm going to try to give you a synopsis of what he had to say.

File Server Costs

When you look at the total cost of ownership, you need to include ongoing operational expenses, maintenance and support agreements.  Factor in the costs of software along with the installation, configuration and training.  The average costs breakdown something like this:

• $8000.00 - Server Hardware
• $6000.00 - Server and Network Configuration
• $3000.00 to $8000.00 - Software for 5 users
• $17000.00 to $22000.00 Total initial costs

• $1000.00 - $3000.00 - Annual Software maintenance
• $2000.00 - $4000.00 - Server Maintenance

• $3000.00 - $7000.00 Annual Recurring total

These fees do not include the intangibles such as security, administration, daily backups, test restores, application of updates and patches and a host of other tasks.

Alternatives

Practice Management:  There are currently four good hosted options:  AdvologixPM, RocketMatter, Clio and HoudiniESQ.  You can try these for free and then pay a monthly fee for each user.  The prices range from $50 to $100 per user per month.

Online Backup:  You have consumer products like Carbonite, Mozy and IDrive.  Business-level software includes JungleDisk, Barracuda Backup Service, Iron Mountain and Rackspace Backup.

There are also hosted options for online document management as well as hosted Exchange server with Blackberry and SharePoint.

So what's the downside?  Security is one of the big concerns everyone has about moving to online data storage.  The reality is that most service providers provide secured encryption data transfer.  The security of a cloud provider is far greater than the network security found in most small law firms when it comes to protection from hackers and intruders.

Data ownership is the other issue.  Your agreement with your service provider specifies your rights to data ownership.  You should read this carefully.  Most provide a mechanism for local backup.

Access Risk:  What if the Internet goes down or the service provider is offline?  The reality is that if the Internet goes down, you will have difficulty conducting business, since so much is done via email.  If your server goes down you could be out of business for hours or days; if your server hard drive fails and you can't recover your backups, you've lost a lot more than just time.  It can take several days for a retrieval service to recover data from a crashed hard drive and there is no guarantee that they will restore everything.  

On the other hand, cloud service providers have up-time commitments that range from 99.9 to 99.999%.  Some even support off-line mode if you are in transit without an Internet connection.  Remote access to the cloud is generally far superior to remote server access.  

CONCLUSION

Cloud computing isn't for everyone, however there are very real benefits:  freedom of movement; pay only for the processing power and storage you need; add up to 100 users; grant secure access to clients via custom portals; there is no need for disaster recovery in the event of a fire or other natural disaster. 

I think most firms will start by trying one or two applications and gradually move more and more of their operations to the cloud.  I encourage you to try out one of the free trials that are offered. 

The Geek's Vacation Checklist

This checklist is good for anyone that travels with electronic equipment.  There are also some good tips on how to pack your clothes. 

Planning a vacation can be stressful enough without adding technology to the mix. Take the stress out of your summer travel plans with a geek-oriented vacation checklist.

via lifehacker.com

Group Buying Power for Law Firms

GroupEsq offers discounted deals on legal products and services.  You can buy things like CLE courses, contract lawyers, process servers, etc.  Sign up is free