Legal Technology

Acrobat 9 balances new with tried-and-true

Adobe thrilled the legal world when it released Acrobat 8, with built-in tools for redaction and Bates stamping. Consultant Brett Burney reviews the newly released version 9, and finds that while there isn't much brand new, there are noteworthy improvements for the legal community.

Client relationship management is the only game in town

Practicing lawyers have clients. If you find that principle is true for your law practice, then you should take it seriously and embrace it with software that helps manage client relationships.

OK. So you have a matter-management application. Well, quite often those applications forget that they are really CLIENT-matter management applications. After all, the client has the matter. And sometimes we are so focused on the matter that we forget we have a client. And that client may have recurring needs from the current matter, other needs, and perhaps friends and colleagues with legal needs. That's right, opportunities are knocking with every single client. So don't close the door on them unless you are a probate lawyer.

If you have never looked at customer or client relationship management applications, or you have done so in the past but shied away from what appeared to be a complex implementation, or you implemented a CRM, unsuccessfully, now might be a good time to visit or revisit CRM. After all, where would we be without clients? Right, but not all of us can teach or be the president of the U.S.

Client Profiles is now delivering CRM4Legal, Version 4.0, the client relationship management software application based on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. The beauty of this application is that it works inside tools that we use daily, namely MS-Office and Outlook.

CRM4Legal aims to provide a client relationship management solution for law firms with everything your firm needs to create and maintain a clear picture of your clients in the office or on the road from mobile devices. It includes modules for business development, marketing, and matter management and provides information for conflicts management. The new version 4.0 comes a new licensing and pricing model based on end-user characteristics from attorney to light user to power user and now offers includes:

• new audit and roll-back functionality;
• enhanced relationship intelligence;
• improved duplicate detection
• field-level security to protect private data;
• automation tools to contribute to client relationships;
• new international capabilities;
• improved integration tools for case and financial management; and
• new workflow technology based on Windows Workflow Foundation.

When you look at CRM, it's important to note that implementing it is like any other long-term investment, e.g., a mutual fund or a marriage. It is one to cultivate and grow and not one to point and shoot at from time to time. CRM gives you a different view of your clients and lets you cultivate long-term relationships with them to grow your law practice.

IT gets a view of e-discovery from PSS Systems

A new module for PSS Systems' Atlas LCC and ERM gives IT a view of the legal obligations on data management and information processing. The new module, Policy Atlas for IT, amounts to a legal governance portal for IT that provides a self-service station for IT to determine current legal obligations on data, e.g., legal holds, retention schedules, and discovery requests. IT can view the information through filters by system, data class, and employee.

Policy Atlas for IT aims to make technical support more self-sufficient in processing legal holds and e-discovery requests. The new module aims to provide IT with an efficient source of discovery, privacy, and retention rules to:

• look up legal holds and collections by system;
• view legal holds on departing employees for proper asset disposition;
• report collection requests and workload management;
• catalog IT assets by their preservation, privacy, and discovery capabilities;
• summarize IT's collection workloads;
• see open discovery requests and volume;
• check retention schedules, privacy and data protection procedures by system and data classes

Policy Atlas for IT is available with Atlas LCC and Atlas ERM.

New web-based, SaaS practice management tool

I have a lot of news in the rear-view mirror that I will be catching up on in the next few days. But I will start with the most recent first.

Themis Solutions recently released Clio, a secure, web-based practice management application aimed at solo practitioners and small firms. Clio's practice management platform is delivered in a software-as-a-service model, like Rocket Matter, so it can be accessed from any computer running a supported web browser. Clio supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and 3.0, Safari 3.0, and Google Chrome. It can also be had from the iPhone.

Clio provides:

• case-matter, contact, and document management;
• time tracking, billing and reporting;
• task scheduling;
• trust accounting; and
• performance metrics for business benchmark reporting.

Since Clio is software as a service, there is no software to install and maintain. An Internet connection and a supported web browser will give you a secure socket layer connection (256-bit encryption) to Clio's practice management suite. If you have multiple people in the firm that need access to practice management, Clio has rights-managed security to restrict access to data based on a user's identity, or login.

As for your data, Themis Solutions takes it seriously. It promises to back up your data, daily, in a secure, off-site data center and conduct daily security audits from a third party to insure data security. What's more, you can export your data from Clio at any time.

Clio is not going to empty your wallet. It appears affordable priced, with a monthly subscription rate of $49 per month for lawyers and $25 per month per support staff member. This cost includes all technical support, maintenance and upgrades. That's more than your money's worth for a practice management solution with performance metrics to make business decisions for your practice.