Lawn Maintenance and Spring Cleaning (document assembly revisited)

by

The key to a successful implementation of document assembly is an intelligent markup. The key to an intelligent markup is a solid understanding of the subject matter which is being marked up; as well as an awareness of what “can be done” with document assembly.

Of Forests and Trees

The old “saw” goes, “can’t see the forest for the trees”. And the converse is “can’t find the trees, all I see is forest”. In document assembly, you need both the “helicopter view” and the “hiker’s view”. You need to see the overall lay of the land, where the document is going, how it’s flowing. And then, you need to get down on the ground and start sorting and culling.

Lawn maintenance

With the coming of spring, lawn maintenance is something on my mind. The sytems I built need a spring cleaning and refresh. Over the winter of use these systems can become stale. Like a lawn, you can let everything grow will. Better to run the law mower once a week. When cut to 2 inches height, weeds and grass look a like. You can rip up the whole lawn, an reseed with fresh kentucky bluegrass. Or, you can apply fertilizer and selectively apply weedkiller to find those troublesome patches.

In document assembly, you need to do a bit of everything.

Regular Mowing Like the lawnmower, you need to sweep through the document, getting all the obvious issues and gaps. Run assemblies (if you have done partial automating) and identify what is missing.

Apply Fertilizer: Go through you document on a regular basis and apply enhancements. Each time a new issues arises look where you could have addressed an issue better, applied more nuances.

Remove the Weeds: There are portions of your document that will just not work. You try to tweak the code, a little here and little there. But there are some blocks of code that just don’t work. They create eyesores that you are constantly deleting in the finished document. Remove these items, from the document, from the interview.

Reseeding a Patch: Sometimes, an Article in a Contract just needs to be rewritten. The language is stale. There are too many codes in the paragraph for one to figure what the hell you ever meant. In these circumstances, it is better to start from scratch.

Extending the Lawn: Look at your current systems. Did you go far enough. You are gathering data on a lease, but how come you haven’t created a term sheet generator or an abstract generator. Take the next step and build on what you created. What is the next logical document to automate. There are economies of scale in document assembly, and there is the “marginal cost of production”. The marginal cost of building the next document in a practice set is much less than the initial document cost.

Planting Garden Lawns are well and good. They are fun for croquet and games of catch. But gardens are what bring “fruits and vegetables” to the dinner table or “flowers” that bring value to the house. Consider taking what you have built and planting a garden. Let your clients know what you have done with these systems so they will want to give you more work and refer you to their clients as a lawyer who “gets it.”

A Tool To Consider – DealBuilder

I have written extensively about HotDocs and GhostFill, but not said too much about DealBuilder. DealBuilder, as a webhosted platform, which ships with a product called DealBuilder Author and DealBuilder Express.

These are the authoring environments for the DealBuilder Server. Until DealBuilder or one of its resellers offers DealBuilder on an ASP model, you will need to get a full license to DealBuilder Server and have the infrastructure and IT department to support it. Once you do, you will find that DealBuilder lets you do your infrastructure redesign right in the template. The Author engine validates the document, and renders conditional scripted dialogs on the basis of the nesting and scripting in the template. It also offers you the ability to “drop in” a data dictionary of terms, so that variables can be easilly reused across templates. As we evaluate DealBuilder more closely, we will post further information in the DealBuilder section (http://www.bashasys.com/dealbuilder/index.html) of Basha System’s main site.

An Interview with the DocGuru (by himself)

by

No one was calling me for juicy quotes. Some of you have started visiting the blog. I was getting tired of the lack of interaction in a blog (too much lecturing). So I thought I would do something fun, I would interview myself.

Related Link: the guru’s document assembly page

The DocGuru: Where does document assembly make the most sense?
Himself: Well everywhere! Anything you write, anything you type, any form you fill is a candidate for document assembly.

The DocGuru: Be real. Coding a template takes time. Should we really do everything?
Himself: Why not. It’s fun. It challenges the mind. It beats billing time.

The DocGuru: Yes. You caught it: “billing time.” Shouldn’t we spend our time doing billable work?
Himself: Well for me, document assembly is billable work . But for you, I get the point, and the answer is NO!

The DocGuru: Who is going to pay for the office overhead? We can’t hole up in a dark corner with a laptop and code.
Himself: I don’t do it in a dark corner, I beg your pardon. I take the laptop out to the garden, and watch the Daffodils pushing up, hear the birds chirp. Spring is beautiful.

The DocGuru: You are avoiding the question
Himself: All right. Here is why you should “stop billing”. Do an hour of billable work and you make money for an hour of billable work. There is no multiple; no extra reward for the effort, no return on investment. Yes, you make more than the typical wage laborer …. (have you talk to your plumber recently?) But say you make $400 and hour … you need to work a lot of hours to get real rich. And then, you have to constantly justify your time. What is the “value” of your labor … What is the value of your “workproduct”

The DocGuru: But that is what lawyers do, they bill
Himself: I disagree. You don’t come to a lawyer for a few hours of his time …. Yes he may bill you for a few hours. You come for advice; you come for help out of a jam; but more often you come for a “document”. It is the document you want, not the time; you want to take home a piece of paper, whether it be a partnership agreement, a lease, or a will; you want to know that it is well written and will survive the test of time.

The DocGuru: What does that have to do with document assembly?
Himself: Document assembly is all about documents; it is all about the creation of quality documents; it is all about the delivery of services. It is about workproduct. Invest 100 hours in template coding, and the return is equal to a thousand hours of billing. It allows you to bill for the document; not for the time. It is all about multiples; all about service; all about competition.

The DocGuru: You seem convinced about this? You have been doing document assembly for nearly a decade. It is easy for you; but not everyone can code.
Himself: Exactly my point; but all of you can markup documents. You markup documents day in and day out. Why not mark up your documents and send them to me to code. It will take less of your billable time to get the project done; and bring you closer to your the time you can reap the multiples from your investment.

The DocGuru: Aren’t you being a little direct? This seems to be a sales pitch.
Himself: Think what you wish. Feel free to come back; I give away advice for free and tip. You will find me posting (uncompensated) on the HotDocs list and GhostFill list. Many of you have received a private email or a call when you got into sticky trouble. But I do make my money consulting and love my work. Did I mention my new document assembly and case management sections on my website?

The DocGuru: The DocuGuru: You are a hypocrite. Don’t you bill by the hour?
Himself: Have you called me? You ask me to troubleshoot a template and give you “help” writ large; of course I bill by the hour. But, if you come to me with a set of documents, all marked up, and ask what will it take to turn them into a system, I will more than likely give you a fixed fee quote or a range. The quote will be based on a combination of the value of the documents to you, the complexity, and an estimate of the time it would take a typical coder to automate the documents.

The DocGuru: Well, our readers thank you for your candid comments and this opportunity to talk with you. Keep up the good work. Keep blogging.

Taking Case Management to the Next Level

by

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.

Within ten seconds of a client inquiry, you will have the answer you need to their question (or the question that you wanted the client to answer).

You Want Some Reasons?

Here are some reasons to have a case management system like Time Matters…

Care and Feeding of Existing Clients

What better reason than because your clients demand it. You may not realize, but most client believe (hell they know) that they are the center of the universe and that you are merely there to serve them. Because of this, they expect that when they call, when the e-mail, page or instant message, you can get back to them with the answer or status of their case. What an electronic file (like Time Matters) can do, is give you the ability to satisfy them. Within 2 click, you have the complete case history, another click, you can open any related document, another click and you can post a reply email and pop in a clipboard of data from their file answering their questions. Keep you clients well fed with information and services and they will give you more work.

Effective Prospecting of New Clients

At some point you will to gain more clients.  Even if you are working full-out, you need to grow and have protection if that anchor client leaves you, a need to diversify.  That is where case management software really helps.  Every contact with your firm, whether via email, phone, snail mail or encounter is logged.  Then, when you have a break from “real work” you have a list of prospects that you can “call”.  Or you can prepare a newsletter, and in a few clicks have an “email list” to send it out, or for the more traditional, generate a set of mailing labels to put on a printed newsledtter.

Consolidation of All Matter Information

Case management is sometimes called Matter Management …. because the matter is one of the central features of the case management system.  In the old days, the secretary would open a file – a physical file folder with several subfolders for pleadings, correspondence, contracts, notes, reasearch etc.  The file would sit in your office, or by your secretaries desk, and every piece of paper, note, call etc. would be placed into the file.  Now, several peices never got into that file.  And other pieces would get pulled out of that file, never to be found again.  The solution is the “electronic file,” a central feature to any case management system.  From a “Matter Record” in Time Matters, with a single click you can see a complete timeline of all related files, or see all calls and their contents in a powerview, or view the billing history and status, or just check for the return dates for motions.

Better Work Product

When the case management system is integrated with document automation, either document assembly or merge templates, the work product that comes out meets minimum standards of quality often far greater than the average workproduct from scratch.  Not only is the quality better, but the product takes just seconds (or minutes) to create.  Link Time Matters with HotDocs, and you can just print money.

Organization of All Critical Documents

Whether the case management system is integrated with a free-standing document management system (like Worldox or iManage) or whether you use the built in document profiling schema, your document are now tied to your electronic file.  From the Time Matters document profile, in a single click you can see all documents linked to the matter or just the drafts of agreements, or just correspondence or just memos to file.

Take Your Information on the Go

With all this power, you don’t want to leave it at your office.  Time Matters lets you take what you need with you to the court room, to your client site, into the deposition.  With laptop synchronization and PocketPC synchronization, you can have what you need at your fingertips, whereever and whenever.

Law Practice Management -The Business Plan

by

Practice management is different from case management; any good business plan should include a strategy for processing leadsPractice management is different from case management. Case management begins once the client is signed up and the case is opened. Law Practice Management begins with at the door, at the web portal, as the auro that surrounds you in your everyday interaction. It is part of everything you do.

Just as you would invest in a product like Time Matters to manage your cases so that you can better serve your clients, get the necessary Time Matters training, retain the requisite Time Matters consultant, so you would wish to invest in growing your practice.

How many of you have written a business plan for your law practice? How many of you have sat down and laid out a P&L for your practice, identifying those areas where you would get the most return on investment.

I know these actions seem to be a thankless task. When you are already plugging away for 60 hours a week and trying to make ends meet, to have so “guru” tell you to take another 10 hours to develop a business plan.

But that is what I am doing. For if you look at your law practice with a critical “business eye” you will see that some of your activities are more “profitable”. You may decide that other activities are more fun (and less profitable), so that you should budget time for those activities.

Any good business plan should include a strategy for processing leads … a formal marketing plan that identifies where those leads are likely to come, and how to best turn those leads into paying (and profitable clients). One area, often overlooked in these plans, which call for fancy web sites, expensive “glossy pamplets” and strategic print adds, is the phone and email. Because the phone and email are perceived as “cheap” they are undervalued as a source of leads by many attorneys.

The phone call

Use Time Matters to log “every phone call”. This will give you a wealth of information and a baseline to determine which phone calls get converted into paying clients. Every call that comes in should be logged, and every called profiled as a contact. If you haven’t check, phone calls are now practically free with unlimited calling time phone plans. And if you get the person on the phone, they will listen for a minute or two.

The email

This mechanism has been most over-rated. The V&*#iag#$ra ads and other tonic sellers have destroyed this as an effective mass marking approach. But if you build up e-Newsletters and have subscribers, you can create an awareness among clients and potential clients of your capabilities. Give them content and they will read. Time Matters lets you track the results of your newsletter campaigns. Take a field and convert it to a check box and label it Newsletter. You can then export a list to a mass emailer (or use a Time Matters groups for the mailing).

Is HELP text necessary?

by

A well designed document assembly system NEEDS NO HELP text. Each prompt is group logically and clear.  It states its purpose and can be understood by users.  Why would anyone ever need help text?

Because it is not so simple.  In building systems, a polished dialog is a balance between information and data entry in an environment where space is limited.  The term “limited real estate” means the amount of information that can be seen in a standard window WITHOUT scrolling.  That is the real estate you are dealing with, because more often than not, the user will forget to Scroll before proceeding to the next dialog.

Now why do I care?

I care because I want all my questions answered so that the assembled document will be complete. To this end, I use headers and short prompts to fit as much relevant information in a single window.

What about the help text?

The help text is optional.  The first time you run a template assembly with HotDocs or GhostFill or Dealbuilder, you want all the help in the world, until you figure out what the author of the system means.  However, on the second, third and fourth time, you get it … and now that detailed on screen prompt is weighing you don.

The solution – tiered help systems

Our approach is a tiered help system.

  • Careful naming of prompts, headers and dialog titles
  • optional on-screen help
  • drafting tips that spawn dialogs
  • buttons that launch web pages
  • integrated resource help

This approach lets you get the help you need, when you need it, but otherwise doesn’t clutter up the real estate.

Law Practice Management-The Business Plan

by

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

 

Practice management is different from case management.  Case management begins once the client is signed up and the case is opened.  Law Practice Management begins with at the door, at the web portal, as the auro that surrounds you in your everyday interaction.  It is part of everything you do.

Just as you would invest in a product like Time Matters to manage your cases so that you can better serve your clients, get the necessary Time Matters training, retain the requisite Time Matters consultant, so you would wish to invest in growing your practice.

How many of you have written a business plan for your law practice? How many of you have sat down and laid out a P&L for your practice, identifying those areas where you would get the most return on investment.

I know these actions seem to be a thankless task.  When you are already plugging away for 60 hours a week and trying to make ends meet, to have so “guru” tell you to take another 10 hours to develop a business plan.

But that is what I am doing.  For if you look at your law practice with a critical “business eye” you will see that some of your activities are more “profitable”.  You may decide that other activities are more fun (and less profitable), so that you should budget time for those activities.

Any good business plan should include a strategy for processing leads … a formal marketing plan that identifies where those leads are likely to come, and how to best turn those leads into paying (and profitable clients).  One area, often overlooked in these plans, which call for fancy web sites, expensive “glossy pamplets” and strategic print adds, is the phone and email.  Because the phone and email are perceived as “cheap” they are undervalued as a source of leads by many attorneys.

The phone call

Use Time Matters to log “every phone call”.  This will give you a wealth of information and a baseline to determine which phone calls get converted into paying clients.  Every call that comes in should be logged, and every called profiled as a contact.  If you haven’t check, phone calls are now practically free with unlimited calling time phone plans.  And if you get the person on the phone, they will listen for a minute or two.

The email

This mechanism has been most over-rated.  The V&*#iag#$ra ads and other tonic sellers have destroyed this as an effective mass marking approach.  But if you build up e-Newsletters and have subscribers, you can create an awareness among clients and potential clients of your capabilities.  Give them content and they will read.  Time Matters lets you track the results of your newsletter campaigns.  Take a field and convert it to a check box and label it Newsletter.  You can then export a list to a mass emailer (or use a Time Matters groups for the mailing).

What does “integrated” mean?

by

What does “integrated” mean?

A good lawyer defines his/her terms, hence a technology expert should define the term “integration” and the levels thereof. Case Management and Practice Management programs talk about “integration” with other programs, whether they be email programs, document management programs, or billing and accounting programs. A good lawyer defines his/her terms. “Integration” is a feature. And yet, not all integrations are equal. Some are better than others. Even in the same firm, integration can have different meanings.

Read moreWhat does “integrated” mean?

Do what I say … not what I do

by

Document assembly anecdotes anyone?  Today I was called on to draft a consulting agreement for a new project. I had sent the client a Term Sheet in an excel file which laid out the documents to be automated, the terms of the project, the price for the software, and the phases of delivery. We had reached an agreement. Now, it was just a matter of formalizing the arrangement.

Now I had designed a Master Agreement and project schedule template in GhostFill to handle this very document type. The interview had a range of variants. The output came close to what was required. However, the result came short of “assemble and deliver”. It required another hour to polish and clarify the terms. Now this is where I fell down.

I tell my clients, go back to the master template, make your revisions there, and reassemble. That way the system continually improves to meet new issues. Of course, I was in a rush to get the document out, and didn’t take that wise step of “do what I say”. The result is that I am doomed to repeat the same corrections for the next agreement.

Luckily, I have another project about to go to contract. If I am less rushed, I will tackle improving the template, rather than repeat my mistakes.

The Death of the Software Manual

by

Reminiscing on the days of software manuals….whatever happened to those things anyway?

It used to be that there was “money” to be made in writing a software manual.  That was in the old days when:

  • Computers were new
  • There weren’t too many programs
  • Those programs didn’t have too many features
  • Program version upgrade cycle was every three years (not every six months)Program version upgrade cycle was every three years (not every six months)Program version upgrade cycle was every three years (not every six months)
  • People would curl up with a book readPeople would curl up with a book readPeople would curl up with a book readPeople would curl up with a book read
  • Writers cared

Today, programs change too fast. By the time a manual is properly written, the pictures and illustrations are obsolete. It used to be that writers would get a beta copy of the new software months before its release and use it for the manual. Now, software is released as .0 version for sale when it is really still in beta.

And when you look at the programs, there are so MANY features, that manuals turn into feature catalogues, rather than something that one could actually use to learn a program. At the other end, manuals have become collections of tutorials (often on topics that are irrelevant to your intended use).

The best manuals I have found are the “Mere Mortals” series: “SQL Querries for Mere Mortals”, “Database Design for Mere Mortals”. These manuals set out the fundamental principals on which these programs are based. From there, an intelligent developer can “ask the right questions” when going through the online help and knowledge bases.

All are welcome to add comments for thought.