Document Assembly & Case Management Blog

Rose Rowland, Developer and Trainer for Basha Systems adds her thoughts on customer service in an interconnected world.

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 have recently noticed a number of attorneys and software vendors getting “Twitter” personas ... see www.twitter.com. So I got one for myself.  I can be reached via @bashasys.  I had a long drive up to Montreal with time to kill on my new Blackberry Storm (Rose was driving).  And so I enrolled in Twitter and began to Twit (yes… that is a new verb that I cannot claim credit for). And here are some of my thoughts after a week of Twittering.

“I’m not a gambling man.  So when I make a bet, I am just earning money” ... Me.

Over the past few years, I have been following the evolution of the “Web” and thinking about the purpose of corporate and law firm websites.  What role does and should the website play in the business of a law firm or a professional organization.  At Basha Systems, we have built Bashasys.com, a marketing website to explain the services we offer and our products.  To that website we have added vertical market specific subdomains: Estateplanning.bashasys.com, a place for Estate Planning and Elderlaw attorneys, probateforms.bashasys.com, http://forum.nebar.com/EE/, a website for Nebraska probate attorneys, to support our Probate Systems V, bashasys.info, hotdocstips.bashasys.info, a blog of tips, techniques and tricks for HotDocs users, and bashasys.org, an automated support site.  We are in the process of reorganizing and restructuring these sites to (1) make them easier to navigate, (2) easier to maintain, and (3) more current. We are adopting Web 2.0 technology to turn these websites into dynamic community resources

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.

AS PUBLISHED IN TECHNOLAWYER : With the recent state of the economy, many companies are tightening their belt — and law firms are no exception. But sometimes you have to spend money to make money. According to legal technology consultant Seth Rowland, now is the time to redouble legal document automation initiatives. In this comprehensive two-part series, Seth explores document automation, first from a technology perspective, and then from a business case perspective. This week, Seth explains how to get started, constructing a bridge between mere templates to a full automation system. This article contains 1,684 words.

AS PUBLISHED IN TECHNOLAWYER: With the recent state of the economy, many companies are tightening their belt — and law firms are no exception. But sometimes you have to spend money to make money. According to legal technology consultant Seth Rowland, now is the time to redouble legal document automation initiatives. In this comprehensive two-part series, Seth explores document automation, first from a technology perspective, and then from a business case perspective. Published on November 25, 2008, Part 1 explained how to get started. Today in Part 2, Seth returns to discuss the Return on Investment ("ROI") for document automation initiatives. This article contains 1,929 words.

Last week I stubbed my thumb ... And while this may not have seemed like a major injury, I came to realize the cost on my productivity.

Lawyers deal with risk every day.  Whether responding to a summons and complaint, drafting an estate plan, or structuring a limited partnership, lawyers are called on to identify the areas of risk and resolve them.  Because most lawyers lack formal actuarial training, few lawyers can quantify the actual level of risk in a given situation, or the exact degree to which their actions and advice reduce that level of risk.  And yet, “risk reduction” is the main reason businesses and individuals hire lawyers. This articles explores the nature of risk, how lawyers assess risk, and how they can profit from doing a proper risk assessment.