Working smart with technology.

ATLA attorneys--mostly small-office practitioners--share their thoughts about the software and other products they use to run their offices.

Computers have made it feasible to almost single-handedly run a practice that once would have required an army of support staff. But to keep up with Jones, Jones & Jones, attorneys must stay abreast of technology.

The small-office practitioner doesn't have the advantage of employing an information systems manager--or often even an office manager--to research and run operations. The recommendations of other attorneys can be invaluable when small-firm lawyers find themselves facing an overwhelming array of choices about automating a law practice.

Recently, TRIAL surveyed a number of ATLA members about the types of software and technology they use. Twenty-five lawyers contributed answers. Most are sole practitioners or members of small firms, and many are members of ATLA's Small Office Practice Section or belong to the Law Office Technology discussion group on ATLA NET (http://www.atlanet.org).

These lawyers were asked about the software they use for specific tasks: case management, docket management, litigation support, financial management and time and billing, spreadsheets, graphics and form production, and word processing or desktop publishing. They were also questioned about other office technology, such as CD-ROMs, scanners, and fax machines. The influence of the Internet was pervasive; nearly all use it for research and e-mail, but most do not have Web sites.

TRIAL and ATLA do not endorse any of the products mentioned here. Information has been provided by survey respondents.

Case management

Most respondents had some sort of case-management system in place, whether using a word-processing program with customized forms or software specifically designed for this purpose. The favorite program was Amicus Attorney (Gavel & Gown Software, Inc., [phone]; http://www. amicus.ca).

Some said they customized their own case-management systems using a variety of time and billing and document-management programs. "To the extent that we do case management at all, we are using Abacus to deal with this function," said Michael Freilich, whose Towson, Md., firm has two attorneys. (Abacus Data Systems, Inc., [phone]; http://www.abacuslaw. com.) He linked the program to Timeslips for time and billing functions (Sage USA, Inc., [phone]; http://www. timeslips.com) and HotDocs for document production (Capsoft Development, [phone]; http://www.capsoft.com).

"I believe with the upgrade to Abacus, we may be able to employ user-defined screens so as to have basic information on several basic types of cases at our fingertips, something which has been missing in our practice for a while. I think this can be built into a powerful tool," he said.

Other case-management programs that are popular with respondents include Goldmine (Goldmine Software Corp., [phone]; http://www.goldminesw.com), Law Manager (Law Manager, Inc., [phone]; http://www.lmi.com), Jr. Partner (Legaledge Software, [phone]; http://www.legaledge.com), and Needles (Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd., [phone]; http://www.needpins.com).

Jr. Partner "performs adequately," said Bill Bannon, who practices in an office of two lawyers in Willmar, Minn. "The DOS version occasionally crashes on Windows. Tech support charges $25 an hour to walk us through fixing it (usually five minutes and entering a code number) as opposed to $1,400 to purchase a file that will allow it to interface with Windows."

"I initially used Jr. Partner but found that we couldn't get the document production feature to work with our software (WordPerfect 6.1)," said Elliott Beresen, who practices with five other lawyers in Framingham, Mass. "The company has not been able to get it working. Since document production is so important to us, we decided to go with Needles, largely because they have a large, enthusiastic client base.

"Document production seems like it will be a strong point. Certainly the company's after-sale support has been exceptional. The product is somewhat proprietary, and it is difficult to write user-defined reports. But support staff will readily try to walk you through this, and the software gives a large number of predefined reports."

Needles is "a very useful, full-featured case-management software," said Karl Truman, a sole practitioner in Jeffersonville, Ind. "The technical support is excellent. I have never been left hanging in a computer receptionist maze.

"This software has been particularly useful since I have several support staff who may all be involved in a file and can quickly review the information on screen. The customizable, standardized checklists ensure certain activities are timely completed for each file, and upgrades are based on `wish lists' submitted by the users."

Docket management and litigation support

There was no clear preference for docket management and litigation support software. Abacus, Goldmine, Summation (Legal Technologies, Inc., [phone]; http://www.summation.com) , Amicus, Outlook (Microsoft Corp., [phone]; http://www.microsoft.com), and Time Matters (DATA.TXT Corp., [phone]; http://timematters.com) were all selected by more than one respondent.

"I don't use Abacus myself. One secretary does all of the calendaring. We haven't missed a court appointment yet, so it must work," said Terence Geoghegan, who practices in Ventura, Cal.

"I have three support staff, and we all share a common Goldmine database containing names and addresses and phone numbers for clients, attorneys, physicians, hospitals, police departments, insurance adjusters, claims managers, etc.," said Thomas Skilken, a sole practitioner in Dayton, Ohio. "All relevant contacts are linked to the client. Goldmine handles the calendar, case data, merge forms, witnesses, records requests and tracking, and documents organization."

Financial management and time and billing

Quicken, Quickbooks, and Quickbooks Pro, all from Intuit (Intuit Software, Inc., [phone], http://www.intuit.com) were the hands-down favorites for managing law office finances. PCLaw Jr. (Alumni Computer Group, [phone]; http:// www.pclaw.com) also had some fans. For time and billing purposes, many preferred Timeslips, "a solid time and billing software," said Truman. Other favorites included Amicus Attorney and Quickbooks.

"All firm accounting is done in Quicken, and all accounts payable checks are written in Quicken. Quicken prepares financial reports and exports to MacinTax for [tax return] preparation," said Max Manshel, a sole practitioner in West Orange, N.J.

Some chose a program because of its universality. "I don't like doing financial management," said Freilich. "The reason I use Quickbooks is that it seems relatively easy to find part-time bookkeepers who are familiar with it. Since our accountant is seen regularly once a quarter or sometimes semiannually and is familiar with Quickbooks, it seems to be the right software to use."

"PCLaw Jr. is a good solid financial package. I have been using it for nearly 10 years," said Bannon.

Geoghegan also uses PCLaw Jr. "Our office manager runs this one. She has had problems with this product since day one, mostly having to do with flaws in the bank records reconciliation functions. It got to the point where the company made her a beta tester--their way of saying, `You are the quality control department!' Other than that, I guess it works," he said.

Spreadsheets

Because Excel from Microsoft came bundled with programs they already used, nearly everyone who reported using spreadsheets chose this program. For the very same reason, a few use Quattro Pro (Corel Corp., [phone]; http://www. corel.com).

Freilich said, "We use Quattro Pro as part of WordPerfect Suite 8. This seems to work for us for illustrations for court and for other spreadsheet functions."

One of four dissenters, Paul Rheingold, who practices law with six other attorneys in New York City, uses the Paradox program by Borland. "It's excellent because it's searchable," he said. "But sometimes it's hard to export/import data and print good reports."

Graphics and form production

For graphics, most respondents preferred Microsoft's PowerPoint or programs found in Microsoft Office.

"Presentations [from Corel] is not as good as PowerPoint, but it came with the suite and is adequate for our needs," said Bannon.

Respondents generate forms using a number of simple programs, most frequently a word-processing program (Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft Word) and sometimes HotDocs, or they use forms available from their state trial lawyer associations on CD-ROM.

"Amicus works with WordPerfect 8 through document generation. It comes with some forms, and we have customized our own. After generating a document, Amicus inputs the appropriate information and logs the document," said Bonnie Smith from David Ransin's office in Springfield, Mo.

Geoghegan uses Legal Solutions Plus 1.5. "This is a manufacturer that really doesn't have a clue as to what a GUI [graphical user interface] is all about," he said. "But this half-baked, warmed-over DOS product works just fine, on the level that lawyers have been trained to expect from software."

Word processing

Almost twice as many use WordPerfect as use Word, and only three attorneys use any other word-processing software. Some offices are still puttering along with WordPerfect version 3.5 and some are cutting-edge with Corel's WordPerfect Suite 8 Legal Edition. Word is used in versions 3.5 through 7.

"We use WordPerfect and have been using it for many, many years. It seems to be the standard in the legal industry," said Freilich. "Periodically we look at Word but have yet to make the switch."

"I have used WordPerfect since version 4.0 back in the early '80s," said Bannon. "For simple word processing, the earlier versions were easier to use, and they took much less space. But I guess as hard drives get bigger, we will just have to have more bells and whistles."

"I have WordPerfect 8.0 Legal but have not installed it yet," said Mary Alice McLarty, a sole practitioner in Dallas. "I use Microsoft Word."

Other law office technology

In addition to time and billing and case-management software, most respondents have a calendaring program and/or a personal information manager (PIM). Fax machines are standard office equipment, and most respondents own at least one optical character recognition (OCR) scanner. CD-ROM drives and Internet browsers are also becoming necessary equipment.

The PIMs and electronic calendar programs that respondents use include PalmPilot, E-Rolodex, Info Genie, Quick Dex, and bundled products such as Lotus Organizer. Many rely on paper calendars as manual backups.

It seems a law office cannot operate without at least one fax machine. Respondents use a variety of freestanding machines and computer programs (most use WinFax) to handle fax transmissions.

McLarty's response to this question was typical: "We use WinFax to fax directly out of the computer, but we also have the standard paper faxes at the office and at my home office."

Scanners, too, were deemed a necessity --whether first-generation equipment or the newest models. They are used for scanning incoming discovery requests, such as interrogatories, and for managing document loads. Popular options include PaperPort Visioneer, VistaMax, and Adobe Capture.

Geoghegan, who uses an older-model flatbed scanner with Visioneer and OCR software, said, "Buy the `Pro' versions, as the speed and accuracy are both far higher than with the `Lite' versions that come bundled with hardware."

For speedy legal research, most respondents rely on the CD-ROM. What was once a curiosity is now standard issue in most offices. "We use CDs for graphics, storage of files, legal research, and ATLA materials," said Linda Miller Atkinson, who practices with six other attorneys in Channing, Mich.

"We are using 21 dedicated CD-ROM drives for legal research available to all attorneys and law clerks at their desktops," said Robert Neuberger, who practices in a firm of 18 attorneys in Portland, Or.

"We are looking into Read/Write CDs to place medical records on and use CD-ROMS for exhibits in the courtroom," said Smith.

"I can't imagine not being connected on the Internet and not using CD-ROM research tools," said Kathleen Sternenberg, who practices with another attorney in Manchester, N.H., and has CD-ROM drives on all of the law office's computers used to research Vermont and New Hampshire case law and Social Security law.

Internet

The Internet presents the biggest law office technology change that most respondents have to deal with. Many are still feeling their way onto the information superhighway, but most already use it for communication and research. Web sites, however, are a time-consuming and untested curiosity.

"We have a Web site," said Freilich. "We are probably going to get rid of it. We do not have the time to supervise it or to maintain it. And as far as we can tell, it does not produce business."

"We pay a hosting service for server space, and the designer does our updates," said Rheingold. Five other respondents also outsource all their Web page work.

Most respondents browse the Internet for information using Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer, or an Internet service provider such as America Online to link to legal services on the Web.

"I now use LEXIS on the Internet for legal research," said Truman. "The interface is much nicer to use than the LEXIS research software. It is also much easier to copy and paste text to a Word document, and it is much more attractive when printed. I need access to two states, and the LEXIS flat-rate program was much less expensive than West. Since it is on the Internet, I can easily access it from other locations by using my Web browser."

E-mail has revolutionized communications for everyone who has tried it. "E-mail networking, e-mail consultation with experts, and e-mail of files and exhibits and attachments make life a little more manageable," said Atkinson, echoing the sentiments of many others.

"I have found the e-mail listservs invaluable to my practice," said Sternenberg. "They give me the opportunity to learn from other practitioners and to discuss problems with others. In a small practice, this tool opens doors because of convenience and time saving."

"More attorneys should use e-mail. It is faster, easier, and cheaper than using so much letterhead, and you can get a quicker response. Discovery requests, such as interrogatories, can be sent as file attachments," said Truman.

Wish lists

On respondents' wish lists for current software were cost saving and technical support.

Cost saving was a priority for many respondents. Combined with technical support from the manufacturers, it was a major reason to choose and stick with a particular type of software. Users may upgrade within a brand, but few jumped from software to software or purchased expensive new programs.

"We have found we can perform quite well on slightly less than cutting-edge technology," said Bannon. "Instead of buying the latest 400 MHz computer with 128 MB of RAM and 12 gigabytes on the hard drive, you can save at least $1,000 a unit by going with a 200- or 266-MHz machine. Get at least 64 MB of RAM, though, and at least a 2-gigabyte hard drive."

Skilken chose Goldmine software because it is fully supported and helps him save money. "Designed originally as sales and contact management software, Goldmine has a large list of third-party software and consulting service providers that are reasonably priced," he said. "Having a local person able to come to my office to solve software/hardware problems (at a reasonable hourly rate) is an advantage. Goldmine also provides excellent support through its Web site."

Skilken said he also relies on programs' ability to work together. "I use PaperPort by Visioneer to scan documents to Faxport. Both Faxport and Goldmine come with Microsoft Word macros that permit faxing directly. Copies of the documents faxed are linked to the client record in Goldmine.

"PaperPort also has links to Goldmine that permit scanning documents directly to a Goldmine contact record. For a case with a very limited number of documents, this can serve as a document management tool."

In the not-too-distant future, many survey respondents would like to see effective voice recognition technology. (See Paul Bernstein, Speaking to your computer, naturally, at p. 96.)

"There have been monumental changes in speech recognition. We are now using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and find it a little rough, but a great boon. We have purchased expensive microphones and top-of-the-line sound cards," said Freilich. "It is still a little rough, but it seems to be getting much better. It is still difficult to dictate cites. However, since a good chunk of our brief writing is cutting and pasting from another electronic source, this has become less of a problem."

"If you like voice dictation, you can't beat the new Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 with Dragon bundled, for cheap," said Geoghegan.

Rebecca Porter is an associate editor of TRIAL.