Travelogue – Thar She Blows

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Sleeping at the base of an active volcano would seem to be a hair- raising experience only for the foolhardy and strong of heart. After spending three days at Arenal Volcano i can safely say it is certainly one for the strong of heart.  In this place only the fit survive. Every walk, even the short walk involves a steep climb or even a precipitous descent. What leads down (and most interesting paths to visit waterfalls do) must eventually lead back up. After 3 days, we certainly felt it.

And so, we came to appreciate the  agua calientes or hot springs at our hotel. Behind the dining hall, previously pictured, there are a series of pools, descending from the mountain in decreasing temperature. As you climbed through a lush garden path there were semi-private pools of hit mineral water. The temperature decreases as the water exits from the hottest point on the top and descends to the next pool. The final pool is the coolest, followed by a clear water pool for swimming.

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Travelogue – En Route to Arena – The Search for perfect cup of Java (Final)

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We touched down in El Salvador at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning.   The flight, despite the auspicious beginning (lines at 2 AM in JFK), was pleasant and uneventful, except for one thing … the early morning cup of coffee.  I never dreamed that coffee could be SO BAD! The airline coffee, which is usually mediocre at best, was actually toxic.  One would expect a little jolt, but the TACA Airlines (note the Central American origin) coffee, after an initial sip was left un-drunk.  Rose nearly spit the coffee out on her lap, gasping for air.  The omelets were tasty, but that coffee. …

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ActionStep – First Looks

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In the past few years there have been a number of entrants into the area of Cloud-based practice management.  These companies offer the promise of practice management Nirvana — run your practice on any device, from anywhere with no software installation, no server, and even no network.  ActionStep, which has an installed base in New Zealand and Australia, has adapted its practice management system for the U.S. law market.  I am going through their training curriculum this summer and will be releasing a formal review on TechnoLawyer’s SmallLaw newsletter in September.  For now, here are a few highlights.

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HotDocs-Amicus Master Component Eases Integration

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At the last Amicus Consultant’s Conference I demonstrated some innovative ways of improving the way HotDocs and Amicus interact.  A recent post on the LinkedIn user’s group, Amicus Wizards, has prompted me to post some pictures from that demo.  The question was asked why is the HotDocs interview generated automatically by Amicus so long with so many dialogs.  The answer is that the automatically generated interview DOES NOT HAVE any dialogs, it is merely a list of variables that are used in the template in the order that they appear in the document.

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Ever Wondered Who BASHA Was?

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If you have ever wondered who Basha was, there is a story to tell. In 1996, when I was packing up my office then at Kalkines, Arky & Bernstein LLP, and leaving for the “great unknown”, I knew I wanted to do something with “software”.  I didn’t know what.  And so I wanted a name that met two criteria: (1) Flexibility, and (2) Near the top of the Alphabet, but not so obvious.  I also wanted something unique.

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SQL Adventures – Navigating PCLaw Billing Preferences From HotDocs

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The answer to the question is “MatterInfoSpareLong2”.  After several hours of searching, calls to former PCLaw product managers and tech support directors, I got the answer I was searching for.  My odyssey had started with a simple request: “Produce a report that combines File details in Amicus Attorney with billing and receivables details in PCLaw.  Having presented a seminar on integrating Amicus Attorney and HotDocs, I thought it a simple matter to integrate HotDocs and PCLaw.

On the surface, it was easy.  In PCLaw there is a MattInf table that stores the Matter information.  You can use the MatterID from within HotDocs to query the SQL database and get file information.  On the MattInf table there is a ClientID that links to information on the primary client, allowing you to pull in client data. For current statistics, there is a MattBal that contains data on each file regarding account balance, receivables, billings etc.

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Practice Management in the Clouds; How About a Meal?

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Would you believe this; someone wanted to dine in the clouds.  If you really want to, there is a restaurant that caters to this.  Check out Yahoo!!.

Law Firm Practice Management in the Cloud is certainly a goal. For that, there are programs like Advologix, FirmManager, ActionStep, Houdini, Clio and Rockmatter, and coming soon Amicus Cloud.  If you are moving your servers to the cloud, why not move yourself and have a good meal while you are at it.

Bon Appetit!!

The Document Butler – The Meaning of Document Management

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The “Value-Add” in Document Management goes well beyond storage and backup.  Steve Best, in an article in Law Practice Today (“Document Management: Finding it in the Cloud“) captures the essence of what distinguishes a document management system from mere cloud storage when he uses the term, “The Document Butler”.

I can picture The Butler scurrying around to make sure everything is in its proper place.  I can envision the document appearing by “automagically” as my fingers reach for it, courtesy of my butler.  It is always the RIGHT document that I need at the exact moment I reach for it.  And more importantly, when I am finished with the document, it automagically gets filed in the right place where others can find it.

So what is this Butler worth to you?  Is it worth $38/month to have him (or her) at your beck and call 24 hours a day?  That rate is equivalent to 1/10 of an hour of an attorney’s time a month or 1/3 of an hour of a paralegal’s time.  Just on document search and retrieval, many multiples of that amount are wasted each month.

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The New Basha Systems Support

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Basha Systems uses a variety of tools to support its clients. We have standardized on the GoTo … suite of products.  This includes GoToAssist for remote support, GoToMeetings for client sessions, and GoToWebinar for training.  We also use GoToMeeting to remotely access our own internal computers and those of select clients who are not setup for unattended support with GoToAssist.

Click Now

We have recently restructured our website navigation to make it easier for you to get the prompt and thorough support our clients have come to expect of Basha Systems.  This includes a big SUPPORT button on the top of every page.  Be sure to call us first to ask for your “Support Key”; in moments we will be on your desktop, inside your computer, giving you the guidance you need.

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TheFormTool Pro 2.0 – Document Assembly Lite

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Matthew Berg recently reviewed TheFormTool Pro in the BigLaw newsletter distributed by TechnoLawyer.  Having read the review and the videos of TheFormTool website, I applaud some the technology used by the developers of FormToolPro.  It seems to make the “simple things” easy, and gives you somewhat more functionality than Merge Fields.  The support for conditional fields and live variable edits is more than what you would expect from a cheap utility. It may be adequate for some of your needs; but not for all of your automation needs.

Don’t be deceived.  Document assembly tools like HotDocs, XpressDox, DealBuilder and Exari offer a wealth more features.  Handling of REPEATS or COLLECTIONS; seamless integration with databases, and support for nested levels of conditional logic are assumed in these systems.  Check out the tool of course, but you will soon want to take automation to the next level of efficiency.