Document Assembly & Case Management Blog

There is not much to write at the present time, but rather, a heads-up of something coming down the pike.  Bob Butler, former CEO of DataTXT (aka Time Matters Software) has gone public with a new venture called BestThinking.com.  The website has been in development for a while and has just been launched.  It promises a blending of the best social networking in Linked-In and Facebook, along with the social ranking in Diggs, and the collaboratively edited content of Wikipedia.

I recently engaged in a long conversation with Larry Port of Rocket Matter about the state of software design, and the common disconnect between programmers, marketeers and end users.  It turns out Larry was a specialist in “usability studies” - the new buzz word in software design. He pointed me to TED.  At that time I recalled a series of ABA Techshow and other presentations I made back in 2001 on how legal software should be evaluated. I reproduce my unedited article from 2001 below, with the caveat it is not Web 2.0 aware .... But will in the future revisit some of theses ideas, particularly in a forthcoming review in Technolawyer of RocketMatter.

By this point, most law firms and businesses have automated to some degree. Few offices still depend on the typewriter and the paper calendar. Word Processors, MS Outlook and some form of billing program can be found in most, if not all, offices.

Lawyers, paralegals and businesses are ready to move to the next level. The most important thing to determine, of course, is which is the most efficient and cost effective move to make.

For the past few years, the world of document assembly and practice management as be S.O. (or same old ...).  There have been a number of interesting upgrades to existing products.  There have been some exits (notably GhostFill).  There have been a few acquisitions (Lexis’s purchase of PCLaw and Juris, to name a few).  Into this “void” there are 3 new players who I will be examiniing: Zunesoft (maker of WordFusion, a document assembly platform), RocketMatter (www.rocketmatter.com) - a cloud-based legal practice management system- and Clio (www.goclio.com) - another cloud-based practice management system.

The old saw goes: “You don’t appreciate me.  All you do is gripe and complain ... But you’ll miss me when I am gone.  That will be my revenge.” During a recent server rebuild, combined with fresh rebuilds of several PC’s that saw came true.  You see, once with got Windows Small Business Server and Windows XP Pro up on the machines, the fun began… Nothing would be complete until “Time Matters” or LNFOPBTM was back up.

If Santa had a practice management system ... what would he do?  As the population grows, Santa’s elves have been hard-pressed to keep up with “the List” (you know the one ...of who is naughty and who is nice) and provide fast and accurate responses.  The elves have been working overtime (they always do) as the big day approaches. But the List is just too long.  Keeping the list current is a gargantuan task.  Just finding all the parchment and ink requires daily shipments for Ink from India and parchment from Sri Lanka (Yes ... Santa is part of the global economy). So ... what if we gave Santa a practice management system?  As a non-profit, Santa might even be eligible for software discounts or a NFR license to LNFOPBTM.

Special Feature by Rose Rowland, Basha System LLC on plain english, manuals, and verbal brutality towards Basha staff

Case Management is more than just a “piece of software” like a word processor; it is meant to be integral to the way you practice your trade.  A well designed system is like a good Porche - zero to 100 in ten seconds flat.

Practice management is different from case management; any good business plan should include a strategy for processing leads

A good lawyer defines his/her terms, hence a technology expert should define the term “integration” and the levels thereof.