Harford County Bar Association
February 9, 2005
Technology to Start and
Run a Law Practice
Presented by:
Robert S. McNeill, J.D.
The McNeill Group, Ltd.
Bob@McNeillGroup.org
301-502-7209
Technology to Start and
Run
a Solo Practice
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What do you need to practice law as efficiently and
productively as possible, while providing the highest
possibly quality legal services to your clients?
The perfect law practice management system for you
depends on your needs, the available technology, and
your budget.
A law practice management system is the sum total of
your personnel, procedures, computer equipment, and
software programs; the integration between them; and
how well they are run in real life.
Issues to Consider
(Needs Analysis):
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What type of law will you be practicing, e.g., does your practice
require generating form documents or will you prepare mostly
customized documents?
How much do you know about technology (and how much do you
want to learn), i.e, how much do you want to leverage technology
to do your work; do you want to do it yourself or outsource it?
What programs are you comfortable with now?
What equipment and programs do you currently have?
Will you be sharing an office with an existing system you can use?
How mobile do you want to be?
What is your budget?
“What do you want to be able to do?” will dictate what you need to
do it.
Lawyers Need to:
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Communicate with clients and others:
– Phone, documents, fax, e-mail.
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Create documents:
– Letters, pleadings, etc.
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Track time and bill clients.
– No one pays without a bill.
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Manage their practices (juggling all of the balls):
– Meet deadlines, avoid malpractice.
– Work efficiently.
– Avoid working themselves to death.
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Manage their finances:
– Write checks, keep accounting records, generate financial
reports to determine if you are earning what you want or need.
Communications
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Evolving to the point where you can communicate
with anyone at anytime from anywhere. (Whether
this is a good thing or not is another issue.)
– Mobile phones.
– E-mail ubiquity.
– Send/receive faxes by e-mail.
– Hand-held devices that are part phone, part computer,
part Web appliance.
– How much communication do you want and need?
– Can you market yourself as the “available lawyer”?
Communications
so that you can return every call within 24 hours
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Office telephone system:
– How many people will be using a telephone line at the
same time = minimum number of lines.
– Use telephone company services instead of answering
machine to avoid busy signals; provide voice mail,
conferencing, call forwarding, caller ID, and call waiting
(ugh!); and avoid up-front capital costs.
– Digital Subscriber Line for both voice and data available
in your area?
– Telephone with good quality speaker and headset jack.
– Cordless phones: security issues.
Mobile phone with voice mail and pager, integrated with
office system (call forwarding).
– E-mail and Web access now available on mobile phones.
Faxing
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Unless you receive few faxes, you need a fax machine even if you have fax
capability on your computer to fax documents that are not stored on your
computer and to keep incoming junk faxes off your computer.
Must be plain paper.
If you are sharing space, make certain the fax machine can have your
signature. If not, get your own machine.
For light duty environments, consider an all-in-one
printer/fax/scanner/copier.
– Recommend laser instead of ink jet for print quality.
– High quality output is needed more in a law office than color.
Photocopiers
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“Personal copiers” available for under $500, but the real cost includes the time it
takes to make the copies (page per minute and document handling capabilities).
Copier designed for office use will have a longer life, and may be less expensive in the
long run.
Get the maintenance agreement so you can call in the experts when it doesn’t work.
Avoid copiers that do not offer maintenance and loaner equipment (how much will it
cost you to get it fixed in time and money?)
Recommend a document feeder to save time, and collating if need to create many
sets of documents.
Outsource big jobs, and know the location of the nearest 24-hour Kinko’s for
emergencies.
Law Practice
Management System
Programs
No other businesses require such a diverse range of
applications
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Office productivity suite with word processor.
– Document assembly.
– Document management.
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Time and billing.
Accounting.
Contact manager/”Rolodex®”.
Case/Matter management.
Calendar, diary, and docket control.
E-mail.
Web browser.
Substantive law.
Office Productivity Suites
Microsoft Office 2003.
 Corel WordPerfect Office 12.
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Office Productivity Suites
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Microsoft Office 2003
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Word word processor.
Excel spreadsheet.
Power Point presentations.
Access database (not in all packages).
Best selling (not necessarily the best or the best for you).
Most clients will have Word for easy document exchange.
Poor conversion from/to WordPerfect.
Office Productivity Suites
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Corel WordPerfect Office 12.
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WordPerfect word processor.
Quattro Pro spreadsheet.
Presentations (presentations).
Paradox database (not in all packages).
– packages).
– Traditionally used by lawyers (70%?); Law Office Computing award;
many lawyers will have for less problems sharing documents.
– Easier to use for long-time WordPerfect users (reveal codes,
keyboard short-cuts, and compatibility with documents created in
older versions, e.g., forms bank).
– Good conversion from/to with Word.
Document Assembly
Will you be doing most of the document
creation?
 How well do you type?
 What type of documents do you need to
prepare?
 Type entire document every time?
 “Manual” or traditional document assembly:
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– “Cut and paste” from existing documents.
– Organize into forms folders.
More Efficient
Document Assembly
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Automate the replacement of “variables,” e.g., client’s
name, with a merge program:
– Word or WordPerfect merge.
– HotDocs document assembly program and Word or
WordPerfect – www.capsoft.com.
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Automate the insertion of clauses with rules, e.g., “if client
is female, make pronoun gender feminine.”
Eliminate entry of variables that are already in the system,
e.g., client’s name is already in the billing program.
Automate creation of document based on rules, e.g., “when
enter new client in billing system create a retainer
agreement.”
Make document assembly system voice-enabled.
Methods listed above are in increasing order of complexity
and efficiency: the more routine a document is the more
efficient you should be in creating it, e.g., retainer
agreement is prepared for every client, should be a nobrainer to create it.
Document Management
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How to store and retrieve documents.
– Client documents.
– Form documents.
– Administrative documents.
– Document security in multi-user environment.
Recommend \docs\client\matter\long_file_name naming
convention similar to paper file organization.
 For multi-user collaborative practices, consider
document management program that integrates
with your word processor.
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Time and
Billing
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Track time, costs, and payments for billing,
accounting, and self-defense purposes.
Prepare bills.
Generate management and productivity
reports, e.g., compare effective rates (fees
actually received divided by number of hours
worked) of different types of cases so you
know what is profitable and what is not.
Time and Billing
Programs
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Legal-specific:
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PCLaw – www.pclaw.com.
STI Tabs3 – www.stilegal.com.
Time Matters/Billing Matters Plus –www.timematters.com.
Timeslips – www.timeslips.com.
Non-legal specific:
– QuickBooks – www.intuit.com.
» (QB is a good non-legal-specific accounting program; the time
tracking and billing program is not legal specific and therefore not
recommended.
Accounting
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Your accounting system should enable you
to:
Write checks.
Enter deposits.
Allocate expenses to categories for management and income tax purposes, and between tax-deductible
and non-tax-deductible (e.g., client costs advanced) expenses.
Allocate income to fees (taxable) and repayment of client costs advances (not taxable).
Maintain checking account balances.
Maintain separate trust accounting by bank account and client trust account.
Generate financial reports on demand to determine if you are earning the income you want and need.
Reduce your reliance on (and cost of) an accountant.
Non-Legal Specific
Accounting Programs
QuickBooks
 MYOB
 Peachtree
 DAC
 Others
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Integrated Time, Billing,
and Accounting
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Try to integrate functions and programs as
much as possible.
Avoid duplication of effort, e.g., entering cost
advanced check into accounting system and
again into billing system.
Learn one program instead of many
programs.
Integrated time, billing, and accounting
programs:
– PCLaw Jr. - www.pclaw.com.
– STI Tabs3 Jr. Suite – www.tabs3.com.
– Time Matters/Billing Matters Plus –
Law Practice Management
Programs
The “holy grail” of law office software
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All law office functions in one program.
All functions integrate with each other.
One program to purchase and learn.
Contact manager/”Rolodex®”.
Case management: files, notes, pleadings.
Calendar, diary, and docket control.
Document assembly
Document management.
E-mail management.
Web site browsing management.
Legal research management.
Law Practice Management
Programs
Return on Investment Calculus
How much time do you and your staff spend:
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Looking for files?
Looking up phone numbers?
Checking case status?
Cutting and pasting documents?
Retyping the same information into different programs?
Law Practice Management
Programs
Return on Investment Calculus
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If your law practice management software saves you 15
minutes per day, five days per week, 50 weeks per year,
Then you save 62.5 hours per year, which
At $150 per hour is $9,375 per attorney, and
At $20 per hour is $1,250 per staff member.
Computer Equipment
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Universal Serial Bus (USB) port – standard equipment.
CD ROM (standard equipment) or DVD.
CD-R - re-writeable CD ROM drive recommended for high capacity portable
storage, instead of:
USB drive.
Modem: v. 90 – standard equipment.
Uninterruptible power supply – optional, depending on chances of power loss
or brown-outs in your area.
Law Practice Management
Programs
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Synchronize with time and billing programs, other computers, and Palm OS devices.
“Portablize” your entire practice; work from anywhere.
Program cost is $150-$350 per user.
Greatest cost component is learning curve and re-tooling office procedures – GIGO problem.
Cost of implementation recouped in short period of time because of increased efficiency.
Enables “value billing,” e.g., creating a will using a good practice management system takes a fraction of
the time that “cutting and pasting” would take, yet the fee should be the same by charging a flat rather
than an hourly rate. The client receives higher quality product because cutting and pasting mistakes
are avoided and the turn-around time is much quicker.
Law Practice Management
Programs
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Abacus Law – www.abacuslaw.com.
Amicus Attorney – www.amicusattorney.com.
STI PracticeMaster - www.tabs3.com.
Time Matters – www.timematters.com
E-Mail
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Register a domain name so your e-mail address is,
e.g., bob@mcneill-law.com.
E-mail is replacing regular mail in many contexts.
– Can reduce turn-around from minimum of one week to one
minute.
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Accessibility is what many clients want.
Some clients take e-mail for granted, and think their
lawyers should have it, too.
Lawyers still need to treat important e-mail like
important hard copy mail. See practice management
systems, supra.
Microsoft Outlook/Express and Netscape
Communicator are standards, but Eudora, Pegasus,
E-Mail
Web Browsing
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Reserve a domain name, e.g, mcneill-law.com, even if
you don’t plan to set up a Web site in the near future.
Wealth of information available for “free” on the
Internet.
Accuracy?
Evaluate search engines, pick one, and get good at it.
Computerized legal research without the hassle of CD
ROMs.
Manage your Web research on a case-by-case so you
don’t lose sites that are productive. See practice
management systems, supra.
Substantive Legal
Applications
Examples
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Domestic relations programs calculate child
support guidelines, generate financial
statements and child support guidelines,
what-if alimony projections with after-tax
effects, etc.:
– Floridom.
– FinPlan.
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Bankruptcy forms:
– Don’t have to calculate and recalculate.
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Estate tax return programs.
Litigation Support
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CaseMap www.casesoft.com
Utilities
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Active Words www.activewords.com
automates repetitive actions like going
to a particular web site, opening a
particular file, or entering text.
Remote Dictation
Continuing Law Practice
Management Education
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Join the MSBA Law Practice Management Section, and its listserv.
E-mail your questions to Pat Yevics. (Sorry, Pat.)
Join the ABA LPMS.
– Or at least subscribe to Law Practice Management magazine.
– ABA listserves on a variety of subjects.
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ABA LPMS publications, especially Jay Foonberg’s How to Start and
Manage a Law Practice, www.abanet.org/ lsd/pubs/5110293.html.
Talk to your colleagues; be proactive and start sole practitioner
management “brown bag” lunches or breakfasts with your local bar
association.
Before buying software you are trusting your legal life to, check out the
tech support, get references, test it yourself, find out who to go to if the
“stuff” hits the fan and you are up the creek without a calendar.
Know ahead of time where you will get equipment serviced.
Training, Training, Training
Hardware, software, and underware.
 Training pays off.
 Try to find trainers with law firm
experience.
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Computer Equipment
Desktop computers
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Almost a commodity now.
– Hard to make a bad choice (but can be done).
– Don’t buy the least expensive from a swap meet.
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Local computer super store vs. mail order unless you are unfamiliar with computers and
need a local vendor for one-on-one support.
“Sweet spot” of performance vs. price changes frequently.
Price stays about the same over time; performance increases.
Law office applications do not require high-performance computers, except for speech
recognition; however, loading many programs at once uses lots of RAM.
Computer Equipment
Notebook computers
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Cost:benefit decision.
Cost: about two to three times that of a desktop computer, with parts and service proportionately as
expensive; smaller screen, keyboard, and pointing device (although can be used with desktop monitor,
keyboard, and mouse).
Benefits: work anywhere, anytime: home (ugh!), vacation (triple ugh!!!), client’s office or hospital
room, deposition, courthouse. Possible to have every factum and document associated with the
pending case on a notebook computer, giving you instant access to pleadings, discovery, business
records, etc. See practice management systems, supra.
Wide variation in cost, features, size, and weight.
If only need extra computer for home use, consider two desktop computers instead of the additional
cost of and having to lug around a notebook computer, and synchronize data on both.
Computer Equipment
Personal Digital Assistants
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Some functions of a desktop or notebook computer in a much smaller size for
much less cost.
Choices:
– Palm (the original manufacturer of hand-helds).
– Pocket PC (mini-Windows operating system).
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Palm OS synchronizes with more legal applications.
Talk to lawyers you see using them, and ask their opinions regarding
usefulness.
Computer Equipment
Personal Digital Assistants
Computer Equipment
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CPU: Intel Pentium IV-class.
CPU speed: 1,000 MHz and greater.
RAM: 256 Mb. and higher.
Hard disk storage: 40 Gb. minimum.
– Office suites consume 400 Mb. to 800 Mb. all by themselves.
– Consider that scanned images take up more space than word processing documents take.
Computer Equipment
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Universal Serial Bus (USB) port – standard equipment.
CD ROM (standard equipment) or DVD.
CD-R - re-writeable CD ROM drive recommended for high capacity portable
storage, instead of:
USB drive.
Modem: v. 90 – standard equipment.
Uninterruptible power supply – optional, depending on chances of power loss
or brown-outs in your area.
Networking
Makes everyone more efficient and increases collaboration.
 Peer-to-peer network is built into Windows operating system.
 Dedicated server network for more than five to 10 users, depending
on level of concurrent access to common files.
 Avoid wireless networks if possible: security and speed problems.
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Backup, Backup, Backup
Computer Equipment
Disaster Recovery Plan
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Tape drive recommended:
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DAT is best and more expensive; Travan is less reliable and less expensive.
Capacity sufficient to backup entire hard disk drive with one tape.
Software to schedule backups automatically and restore operating system as well as files.
Use rotation of at least 10 tapes to span several months in case error goes undetected for weeks or months or
you discover an important file was deleted.
– Last line of defense against loss of all data due to:
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Equipment failure.
Theft.
Operator error.
Intentional deletion of data.
– Inability to quickly restore your programs and data will cost you thousands of dollars, possible loss of clients,
potential malpractice claims, and plenty of grey hairs.
– All computer equipment will fail eventually, and Murphy’s Law dictates it will be at the worst possible time.
Computer Equipment
Disaster Recovery Plan
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Resist temptation to use other storage media with less capacity than entire hard
drive, e.g., CD ROM.
Time required to restore from partial backups negates the initial cost savings of
a less expensive system.
Disaster Recovery® feature of backup software restores operating system and
backup software from CD ROM.
Keep all programs and manuals in a safe place.
Computer Equipment
Virus Protection
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Included with most computers, but don’t assume it works automatically.
Configure it properly, and keep it updated.
– Ineffective against new viruses, needs the latest virus signature file (like the flu vaccine is changed
every year) downloaded from the vendor’s Web site.
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Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee Virus Scan, and Trend PC-cillin are popular.
Need to protect all access points:
– Floppy and CD drives.
– Internet e-mail.
– Internet file downloads.
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Especially important if you use Word or Outlook.
Computer Equipment
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Monitor: 17-inch recommended, bigger if you need or can afford it; for smaller
footprint, thin panel monitor prices have dropped.
Printer: Depends on needs:
– Small office, low volume: all-in-one (printer, copier, scanner, and fax) will probably suffice, but get
the laser not the color.
– Hewlett-Packard is the industry standard: reputation for quality, reliability, and support; prices
are competitive.
– Key features: single bin, multiple bin, manual feed for envelopes, dedicated envelope feeder,
speed, resolution, laser (black only, but recommended) vs. inkjet (color, but not used widely in law
office documents).
Computer Equipment
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Scanner and OCR (optional, depending on your needs):
– Scanner converts documents into image files (collection of dots).
– Optical Character Recognition software converts the dots into letters, lines, etc. Minimum acceptable
accuracy is 99 percent. Too much error correction requires extensive editing and nullifies time savings.
– Scan other party’s interrogatories to avoid retyping the questions when you prepare answers.
– Scan (but don’t OCR) documents you want to have in your PMS for quick access and portability.
– Sheet feed scanner has smallest footprint.
– HP CapShare hand-held scanner.
– Most scanners today designed for photos.
– Higher dot per inch (dpi) the better.
– Upgrade to the standard version of the OCR software that comes with the scanner.
– Recommend Caere OmniPage or Abbey Fine Reader OCR software, and PaperPort image management
software (TWAIN compliant).
Sole Practitioner Basic Law
Office Technology Budget
Office telephone:
 Desktop computer:
or
 Notebook computer:
 Copier/printer/fax/scanner
 Tape drive and tapes:
 Office suite programs:
 Time/billing/accounting program:
 Cell phone:
 UPS
 Personal Digital Assistant:
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$ 50 - 200
500 - 1,500
800 - 3,500
600
500
0 - 450
450 - 1,100
0 - 150
75
250
The End
The McNeill Group, Ltd.
Robert S. McNeill, J.D.
Bob@McNeillGroup.org
301-502-7209 1-877-862-5277
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Over a decade helping law firms
increase efficiency, productivity, and
profitability:
– Work flow analysis.
– Systems design.
– Implementation.
– Training.
– Support.