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Features Are Worthless – A Case for New Case Management Software

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Office Management Leave a comment

PCLaw. TABS3. PracticeMaster. Amicus Attorney. Needles. Time Matters. Timeslips.

Most attorneys will have heard of at least a few of these solutions as they have been the main contenders for decades. The problem is that they have turned into massive and immobile pieces of bloatware. What is bloatware? From wikipedia: “In long-lived software, perceived bloat can occur from the software servicing a large, diverse marketplace with many differing requirements. Most end users will feel they only need some limited subset of the available functions and will regard the others as unnecessary bloat, even if people with different requirements do use them.”

The problem with adding on every feature request for 5, 10, 15 years or more is that features, when you are not able to easily access them, become worthless. The software becomes so intimidating and non-inviting to the user that it simply goes unused. You see, if you and your staff are not both comfortable and confident with a solution, it is not going to be used.

I know many firms who had been using TABS3, PracticeMaster or PCLaw. However, they continued to track time on an excel sheet, which they would then send to their Office Manager once a week to manually enter. I have also heard from clients, who are making the switch from PC to Mac, that although they own one of these archaic pieces of bloatware, they rarely use them, if at all.

Another very common problem I see for these massive companies, especially those that have been around forever, is that they are very slow in moving to the cloud. If they do decide to move, they simply copy what they currently have, add a new pretty coat of paint and then offer it to their clientele. The problem here is that none of the weight is shed. This causes the migration to the cloud to be both slow and unexciting.

The Cloud

The new cloud-based management solutions have made gigantic strides in reinventing the software to what it should have been in the first place. They are lean, simple to use, easy to deploy and have great educational content to help the new users ease into it.

The older big name management solutions mentioned above often cost thousands of dollars to get up and running, thousands of dollars to maintain, and require expensive servers on-site, which in turn create expensive IT bills to properly manage and keep up to date. The new cloud-based solutions are turn-key, without massive initial fees to get up and running. They can easily scale and contract with the needs of your firm, making the process very easy to budget, since you will also know exactly what a new user will cost to add on. They also offer may ways to learn the software, so that when you bring on a new attorney, they can learn though self-paced methods such as pre-recorded videos on specific topics, live webinars, and easy to search and use online support portals. In comparison, most of the older software will have a 300 page PDF manual, which no one ever cracks into.

One of the biggest features is that ‘modern’, reinvented solutions also can integrate with many of the solutions your firm currently uses. Services like File sharing, like ShareFile, Dropbox for Business, Box, Quickbooks Online, Xero (accounting software), payment gateways, and more can seamlessly integrate and talk with these case management software solutions. These integrations will make working easier for your staff and will remove many of the tedious steps that are currently being manually performed by someone in your office.

If you feel your firm is currently using one of these ‘bloatware’ case management systems, I highly recommend taking a look at Clio and Rocket Matter. These are the two most popular ‘modern’ case management systems that our firm implements for our clients. The easier the interface of your case management solution is, the easier it will be for your staff to begin using it. The more they use it, the more productive they will be. And, whammy! You’ve just increased the profitability of your firm.

Provided as an educational service by Tom Lambotte, President of GlobalMac IT

GlobalMac IT was founded by Tom Lambotte – renowned nationwide as an author, speaker, trusted IT advisor, and cutting edge, successful provider of the #1 complete end-to-end IT solution for Mac-Based Law Firms in the world. Private firms from throughout North America – and as far reaching as American Samoa – running with a staff of 5-50 – have relied on his expertise to help them put their IT headaches behind once and for all.

Using his real world experience, where results rule and dollars can’t be wasted on negligent computer consultants, he wanted to help managing partners and office managers of Mac-based law firms to put an end to wasting their time and money on IT support that does not work and rescue them from the frustration.

Our unique “TotalCare” approach integrates classic IT support with proven proactive support that truly converts IT from something to be dealt with, into a tool that truly increases law firm profits, increases staff productivity, and provides piece of mind that firm and client data is secure and that their security is never at risk. You can reach GlobalMac IT at (440) 941-1622 to request more information.

IT Insurance – 007 at Your Service

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Office Management, Office Resources, Software, Technology 1 Comment

The following Guest Post is provided as an educational service by Tom Lambotte, President of GlobalMacIT:

The s 007 enior partner of a firm had just called our emergency line and told us his laptop and iPhone were stolen just minutes ago from a small café in Paris, France (not to be confused with Paris, TX). I couldn’t help slightly grinning, knowing all of his client data was both completely secure and backed up, thanks to the tools and best practices we had in place, and having complete certainty that he would be fully operational and back to work within a few minutes. Rare moments like these, where we get to use the full capability of our tools, makes everyone on our team feel a bit like 007.

We had him enroll his wife’s iPhone into our Mobile Device Management solution, and tapped into the magical powers of our IT solutions with the click of a few buttons on our end. POW! Within less than 5 minutes, our client had full access to his email, contacts, calendars, case management system and firm files. The work he had been working on minutes before the event, were all backed up and he picked up right where he left off. Best of all, this was all accomplished with very little effort on our end and done in a calm and collected manner. This last part is key, as we know what it’s like to receive stressed out, unconfident support on the other end of the line. This allowed our client to remain calm and comfortable through the process, as we put our tools to use from the other side of the globe. He went back to work and enjoyed the rest of his work-ation; our clients’ trip was shaken a bit, but not stirred.

Disasters happen. Unplanned events. “Acts of God.” This is why we carry at least half a dozen types of insurance. We do so to have peace of mind and certainty in times of chaos. You see, when something happens, your reaction should be calm and collected, “Well, that sucks, but I have a plan for this in place.” For example, if you lost your phone or dropped your laptop, what would happen? Well, there’s the financial hit of the loss of hardware, but the data you’ve most recently worked on is, in most cases, irreplaceable. In addition, the risk of a data breach is not to be taken lightly. When you’ve got the right IT Best Practices, support and solutions in place, your response should be something like this: “Oh snap, I lost the hardware, but the “stuff” is secure, backed up AND I have solutions in place to get back up and running with minimal effort.”

In this scenario GlobalMac IT was able to save the day. We calmly and confidently explained to our client that:

All of his firm and client data on his laptop and iPhone was completely secure and there was zero risk of a data breach.
Everything he had been working on all the way up to the fateful restroom break was backed up to our cloud file system and backup solution.
He would be back up and running in a matter of minutes.

The role of IT insurance in most small to medium law firms is often not taken seriously enough; for example, we see far too many firms using one of Amazon’s most highly rated and inexpensive, residential router or an Apple Extreme Base Station, to protect their firm’s network. We commonly see people doing their own IT or receiving support from their neighbor’s son living at home. You cannot expect someone whom you pay hourly and only in dire situations to implement pro-active solutions. Everyone has come across a legal case in which had they called you 6 months earlier, their case would have been much easier to take on and win. It’s the exact same with IT.

I challenge you to question the role of IT in your firm and how it is currently being approached. Is it a reactive model? Ignore-it-and-hope-everything-is-fine-model? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model? – (with 7 year old XP machines that are both a security risk and a massive loss leader in productivity in your firm). If you had been the one traveling in Paris and had your laptop and iPhone stolen with all your firm data on it, how would you have reacted and how quickly would you have been back up and running? James Bond did not make or guess which tools he would need on his missions, Q always provided them ahead of time.

Tom Lambotte is the CEO of GlobalMacIT, the only company in the world that specializes in providing IT support to Mac-based law firms. His methods are based on close to a decade of research, testing and real-world refinement of Best Practices, working directly with Mac-based law firms and firms switching from PC to Mac, across the country and around the world. Tom is the author of Hassle Free Mac IT Support for Law Firms and a highly sought after speaker at national events such as the ABA Techshow and MILOfest, a Mac Lovin’ Lawyers Event. Learn more about Tom and GlobalMac IT at www.globalmacit.com. GlobalMac IT, 95 Executive Pkwy, Suite 700, Hudson, OH 44236, 440-941-1622

“The Pillars of Digital Security” for Lawyers

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Security, Technology Leave a comment

I believe that attorneys can never learn too much about ethics, technology, or the intersection of the two. If you follow this subject closely, you will know that there is not a consensus of opinion when it comes to topics like Dropbox, Evernote, iCloud, Facebook, email, smartphones, and iPads.

Philippe Doyle Gray, a Barrister in New South Wales, Australia, and frequent speaker at the ABA TECHSHOW, has written a paper, “The Pillars of Digital Security“, which he says synthesizes disparate sources from around the world into a statement of principles that reflect an international consensus amongst lawyers and computer scientists about fundamental safeguards for lawyers’ use of technology.

Philippe’s paper provides a vocabulary for lawyers who know little about technology, and it aims to provide a universal approach to issues of ethics and malpractice, regardless of the operating system, device, or particular technology. His formulation links (1) key terms of the American Bar Association’s model rules of professional conduct, (2) the way in which computing devices work, and (3) the way in which lawyers practice their profession.

You can read more about Philippe’s thought on this subject in his article and/or download his paper here. Thanks to Philippe for his work in writing this paper, alerting me to it, and allowing me to share it with my readers.

Source: “The Pillars of Digital Security” by Philippe Doyle Gray.

Do You Know “The Cost of Slow”?

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Did You Know?, Guest Posts, Office Management, Other Operating Systems, Software, Technology Leave a comment

“Time is money.” We’ve all heard that old adage, but have you ever thought about it from the perspective of how moving slowly can actually hurt your practice? The following Guest Post from Tom Lambotte addresses some of the ways that lawyers and law firms lose time and money without even knowing it:

The Cost of Slow

A very strange thing occurred to us in October 2014. A prospective client signed up for our services, wrote us a big check (which we cashed), then disappeared. When he came to us, he had been reading our materials for some time and was ready to move forward. He definitely had a need and was keenly aware that his IT situation was out of whack. Being a Mac guy himself, he had been trying to make the move from PCs to Macs for some time. He had accepted that he wouldn’t be able to do it himself, saw the value in our services and we had a signed agreement overnight. We charged his card and started our in-depth onboarding process. Then…he disappeared. Completely. Not a peep. We couldn’t get a call back and were unable to connect via calls or email. We eventually gave up, and were left scratching our heads as to what happened.

Fast-forward three months later, and out of the blue, I received an email from him saying he was ready to get started. We were happy to have his business, but I was more concerned about what had happened in the first place. I had to clear the air and be confident he would prove to be a good, responsive client for us to work with. Our service depends on having a quality two-way relationship with our clients.

He explained to me that after we spoke his father had convinced him that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ and that since the computers were still running, why upgrade them? These were old PCs running Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. Well, after that decision, two systems went down, one of them actually went down twice, and one never came back up at all. This left their users unable to work for multiple days at a time and one of his employees was literally left without a computer to work on. So he was now more ready to move forward than ever before, especially since they were tax attorneys heading into the busiest season of the year. We picked things up and since then have switched his office to Macs and everyone is now thrilled.

In terms of technology, the old adage, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is a completely flawed belief system. There exists a perception that the longer you keep computers, the better ‘bang for your buck’ you are getting. Technically that is true, however, the unrealized cost of this is massive. Today, I’m going to dive into this topic through 2 primary arguments. First, I am going to challenge the ‘perception of savings,’ helping you see the real cost of slowness. Second, we’re going to dive into the value of your time.

Cost of slow

Based upon a 2007 survey, the U.S. Census Bureau report shows that the legal services industry has the 3rd highest payroll costs, coming in at 45.03%. If you can increase your firm’s productivity, you can increase your profitability. That sounds like my money in your pocket. Ok, so how do we impact productivity using technology?

In its most basic method, I always start by first looking at bottlenecks that can be removed and then determine ways to increase productivity through training and having the proper tools and solutions in place. Without getting too geeky (this is not the place), today’s fastest consumer CPU (processor) is over 3x as fast as the fastest consumer CPU that was available 5 years ago. In the mean time, we also moved from DDR2 to DDR3 memory, and SSDs are slowly becoming the norm over HDDs. The experience of a new high-end PC today is definitely a whole lot different than five years ago.

That time spent waiting for Internet Explorer to startup, or the time it takes for a computer to startup and log in? You’re paying for that. A lot more than you realize. If a modern computer saves someone just 10 minutes a day, that comes out to 2,400 minutes per year, or 40 hours. On average, what is the fully burdened cost of one week of payroll? Let’s take $40/hr as a very conservative example, which adds up to $1,600 per year, per computer. This isn’t even taking anything else into account, such as having an easier User Interface, to work with, as you get with a Mac, additional training that can be provided to your staff, or rolling out solutions that make it easier for your staff to achieve the things they do dozens of time every day.

You see, slow is expensive and in most cases our computers are the bottlenecks in our workflow, when we are waiting on them to finish. Waiting for programs to open, for large PDFs to be OCR’d after they are scanned (you do scan all your files, right?), or waiting for a file to be saved. When working on a slow machine, most people don’t notice it, since it’s all they know and they have become accustomed to it. Your role is to make sure your staff has the best tools available to them so they can be as productive as possible. Their job is not to tell you their computers are old and slow and need to be replaced.

Spend money where you spend your time

Once you’ve saved money, where should you spend it in order to maximize the usefulness of your money spent—or even your happiness? To answer that, just look at what you spend your day doing, proportionally, and allocate money accordingly. Let’s call this the comfort principle.

Simply calculate how much of your day is spent using a certain item. Let’s say we get our recommended 8 hours of sleep per night, leaving us with 16 hours. If we spend 8 hours of our day on or at our computers, we’ve spent 50% of our days on our computers. Let’s get some actual numbers instead of abstract numbers, as this tends to be easier to grasp. In being (very) conservative I am going to use a 40 hour work week, and we’ll say an attorney spends 30 hours of that time on their computers. Over 52 weeks, this comes out to 1,560 hours. Our company cycles all of our clients’ hardware on a 3 year cycle, as we have found this to be the optimal schedule. Going with that, you will spend 4,680 hours on your computer over 3 years. Wouldn’t it make sense to invest a few extra dollars there? Can you see how working on an old machine, simply because it still runs, is not a good idea?

Seeing how much time you actually spend working on your computer, wouldn’t it be worth it to spend a little more up front to make sure you have a great computer? If your computer takes 10 seconds to open an app and you can shave it down to 2 by upgrading to a newer computer, that’s a worthwhile purchase when you factor in frustration and time saved. If your computer locks up frequently because you don’t have enough RAM or if it’s just too slow, it’s in your own interest to upgrade or get a new computer. If you and your staff can get through your day with as little aggravation, frustration and discomfort as possible, everyone will be much more relaxed, which benefits you and everyone around you. And preventing stress is much better than having to spend money later on to alleviate stress. A new client recently told us they had lost an Office Manager the year prior due to issues with her slow computer that were never addressed.

The sad truth is that most people don’t ‘get’ this concept. Time and time again, I have found myself talking to some clients with older systems, quite often the managing partner, trying to convince them to upgrade to a newer one. When the day comes and they finally upgrade, I ALWAYS get raving “thank yous” and “I wish I had done this sooner.” The same goes for laptop users finally getting a big monitor to work on, but that’s a topic for another month.

I challenge you to look at the hardware that you and your staff are working on. Do they have the right tools to complete their work done in an efficient manner or are their systems acting as bottlenecks in their workflow? Is your firms’ hardware over 3 years old? If so, while it may feel good to not be writing a check for the computer hardware, you are, in fact, writing the check, it’s just going to another line item, your payroll. I challenge you to question the way you look towards IT. Is it an expense you dread putting any money towards? Or is it a measurable investment you should be making into smart investments into. Remember, the legal services industry has the 3rd highest payroll cost, 45.03%! Every boost in productivity for your staff raises your revenue and your overall profitability.

About the Author: Tom Lambotte is CEO of GlobalMac IT, the only company in the world that specializes in providing IT support to Mac-based law firms. His methods are based on close to a decade of research, testing and real-world refinement of Best Practices, working directly with Mac-based law firms and firms switching from PC to Mac, across the country and around the world. Tom is the author of Hassle Free Mac IT Support for Law Firms and a highly sought after speaker at national events such as the ABA Techshow and MILOfest, a Mac Lovin’ Lawyers Event. Learn more about Tom and GlobalMac IT at www.globalmacit.com, and readers of The Mac Lawyer can obtain a free copy of Tom’s book, Hassle Free Mac IT Support for Law Firms, at this link.

How TrialPad and Scannable Can Work Together for Lawyers

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Guest Posts, iPad, Office Management, Software Leave a comment

The following Guest Post is provided exclusively to The Mac Lawyer by my buddy, Ware Cornell, a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer and 2015 Super Lawyer, who practices in Florida. Ware has been a long time reader of this blog, and he has provided several other great Guest Posts over the years which you can view and read here. He asked last week if I thought my readers would be interested in learning how he uses TrialPad and Scannable together to maximize his efficiency, and I’m pleased to present his article below. I hope it’s helpful to you and your practice.

Background

When I started practicing law, my first assignment relative to the courtroom was to lug in a couple of “trial bags” and organize the file on counsel table for my boss. By organizing and understanding the file in order to anticipate what would be needed and when it would be needed, I was taking an invaluable step on the road to becoming an actual trial lawyer myself.

Forty years later, I am still analyzing documentary evidence and organizing it for presentation. The forty pound trial bag is gone. When I go to trial these days, I take a notebook with hard copies of exhibits to be admitted, one legal pad, and my iPad Air 2.

I am still engaged in organizing evidence, examining witnesses, preparing instructions, and making opening and closing statements. But what replaces the forty pound trial bag? What functions as well as two paralegals and four file cabinets which were brought into the courtroom by a BigLaw opponent?

There are two principal apps that I use: (1) TrialPad from Lit Software and (2) Scannable from Evernote. I start using them at the beginning of the case and all throughout discovery. There are a few other apps that help me along, namely WD MyCloud which connects directly to the MyBook Live Duo, a network-attached storage device, which functions as our office network and storage center. Using the My Cloud app, I can retrieve any document from the office and view and save it on my iPad. So if an issue comes up in the trial over a discovery motion that is not already saved on TrialPad, I can quickly retrieve it.

TrialPad

TrialPad is my organizer. It forces me to think about the elements of my case and how I am going to present it. It also allows me to put documents in a central folder and in the witness folders for introduction or cross examination. Once in a folder my case looks like this:

As you see, I use green internal folders with a Pi sign for the Plaintiff’s case and red folders with Delta embossed for the Defendant’s case. Normally I would have folders with significant orders, the pleadings, jury instructions, opening statement and closing argument. This particular case was a short arbitration and closing argument was submitted post hearing in writing.

TrialPad is very flexible and it is easy to add documents to witness folders for cross examination or to the argument folder for handy reference. As to closing argument TrialPad has an output feature where exhibits, powerpoint, and even video can be presented to the jury by projector or video link.

Scannable

Now what is Scannable and why do I put it in the same pantheon as TrialPad. Scannable is an Evernote app that uses the camera on an iPhone or iPad to capture a document and create a pdf file. Unlike other apps, the Scannable “finds” the four corners of a document and automatically snaps it. This means you do not have to focus or press the button to take a picture.

I use it in depositions extensively. As most trial lawyers of a certain age know, the days of making speaking objections or generally misbehaving are over. When your client is being deposed, you pretty much have to sit there, objecting only to the form and without the ability, except in areas of privilege to instruct a client not to answer. This is, for me anyway, a very boring time, listening to a client tell a story I heard on intake and in depo prep.

In order to avoid taking home lots of paper exhibits of which I probably already have copies I began to use Scannable to preserve the exhibit as a pdf. But then what, I needed to put exhibit numbers on each document. Then I remembered a TrialPad feature. TrialPad allows you to attach exhibit stickers to any document. Further more it numbers them consecutively (even if exhibits are alphabetically marked).

Scannable automatically saves to Evernote, and then asked if you are do or want to “Share Again”. Sharing again enables you to save to other apps including TrialPad. In the case folder in TrialPad I will create a deposition exhibit holder and export my Scannable pdf to it. I then add an exhibit sticker to the document and rename if necessary.

Scannable is a free app but Evernote will sell you two feature packed versions for $29.99 and $49.99 annually, TrialPad is expensive at $129.99. It is well worth the price.

About the Author: G. Ware Cornell, Jr. is a 2015 Super Lawyer and Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer in Weston, Florida. Ware graduated from Emory University and the University of Georgia School of Law. He served as a federal law clerk in the Southern District of Florida. Ware is AV®-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a 2014 Super Lawyer in the field of Employment and Labor Law, and a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. His interest in computers began in 1984 when he saw a commercial during the Super Bowl. He immediately bought the original 128kb Macintosh. He has reviewed computers, software, and gadgets of all kinds in addition to books as an Amazon top reviewer.

Rocket Matter Automates Its Client Intake Process for Lawyers

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Software Leave a comment

Rocket Matter, the leading cloud-based legal software program, recently announced the launch of Rocket Matter Intake. This new process connects a law firm’s website to Rocket Matter’s practice management and time and billing software to automate the process of gathering new client information.

This client intake process can be utilized by law firms in many different ways. For instance, when a new client comes into the office, the receptionist could hand him/her an iPad instead of a piece of paper to collect the typical name, address, and other necessary information. Not only does this reduce errors and save staff time because it’s being entered by the client, but it also enables the firm to then use that data to create engagement letters, wills, motions, or any number of documents with just a few clicks.

Larry Port, CEO of Rocket Matter, explained it best:

“Rocket Matter Intake is all about growing firm profitability and making lawyers’ lives easier. Collecting information through online forms for client intake removes errors and saves time. Then, when Rocket Matter auto-populates that same data into legal forms, we’re removing hours of wasted time from the legal workflow. That creates more opportunity for actual lawyering.”

As the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words (and a video may therefore be worth a million), so I urge you to spend just over one minute and watch the video below to see this powerful new feature in action.

To learn more about Rocket Matter or its new Intake Forms, click here.

Superb Computer Security Guide for Attorneys

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Security, Technology 1 Comment

Is your computer secure? Seriously, just between us, is it really secure? Secure enough that your clients would sleep soundly if they knew all the details? If pressed, would the powers-that-be conclude that you met your ethical obligations set forth in the Rules of Professional Conduct?

If you had to pause (even for a moment) to think about the answer to any of those questions, I have both good news and bad news for you. The “good” news is that you are like many other lawyers – who generally lag behind the technology curve. Far too many law firms would earn a “D” (at best) if they were graded on their computer security. The bad news is that saying “I didn’t know” isn’t a sufficient response – to a client, a malpractice claim, or an ethical complaint.

Rule 1.6(c) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct states: “A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to the representation of a client.” Pay close attention to the verb, as it states shall, not should. This is a requirement – and yes it extends to the information on your computer. Most attorneys are overworked, stressed out, and reluctant to change. These factors are not conducive to staying up to date on the latest technology, and even then, security is often one of the last items to be considered.

However, the “real” good news is that there is help available, today – for only $10. Sam Glover, Editor in Chief of Lawyerist.com, has written a short, simple, easy to follow guide that he claims “will take you from a D- to a solid B on computer security.” I have reviewed his 4-Step Computer Security Upgrade, and I agree with Sam and wholeheartedly recommend you buy it.

This computer security guide is a combination of concrete steps and best practices for such important topics as encryption, wi-fi security, two factor authentication, and secure passwords. Best of all, it includes step-by-step instructions for implementation (for both Macs and PCs) that anyone (even a non-tech savvy lawyer) can follow. It does all of this in a mere 35 pages and for only $10. What more could a busy, stressed, time-starved attorney possibly want?

Seriously, do yourself a favor and get this guide today – before it’s too late! Click here to learn more about this guide or to purchase a copy.

Great Resource About Dropbox for Lawyers

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Office Management, Technology 1 Comment

Dropbox is one of the most often discussed pieces of legal technology for lawyers, and their uses of and opinions about it vary wides. When I give presentations on cloud computing, it’s always among the most frequently asked questions. Some trust it completely and use it daily, some use it with overlays (like Viivo or Boxcryptor), while others take a wide birth or only use it for limited purposes.

What is Dropbox (and its companion Dropbox for Business)? Simply put, it’s a cloud-based service that allows you to save files on one or device and then access them from anywhere. In other words, you can save a file on your desktop computer, have it synch (virtually in real time) to your laptop, your assistant’s computer, your iPhone/iPad, etc. A copy of your files is also served on Dropbox’s server, so you have a backup there too, and you can log into and access your files from any computer anywhere.

Tim Baran recently published at article at the Legal Productivity blog about Dropbox for lawyers, in which he listed some of the leading tech gurus’ thoughts about Dropbox. My comments in his article were:

My firm has not had a physical server since 2009. Instead, we’ve relied on Dropbox to act as our firm’s “virtual” server, which has made us incredibly more productive. Having our documents stored in the cloud makes them accessible from anywhere and its smartphone apps enable us to literally have all of our files with us all the time. Knowing that a copy of our documents is stored offsite also provides peace of mind in case the unthinkable happens. Dropbox also has many built-in features, such as versioning, sharing, and searching and its integration with numerous other apps, all of which make it invaluable to us. Suffice it to say that we love Dropbox and it’s one of those tools that we can’t imagine practicing without.

Some of the other attorneys interviewed were Jeff Richardson, Lee Rosen, Tom Mighell, Jeffrey Lewis, Martha Sperry, and Scott Grossberg, and as mentioned above their opinions on Dropbox varied widely, with many different viewpoints offered on the issue of security. Is Dropbox right for you or your firm? Only you can answer that question, but even after surveying the other products and services available today, we still believe Dropbox for Business an invaluable tool in our arsenal and something that enables us to provide high quality legal services to our clients no matter where we are.

Source: “How Lawyers Use Dropbox” by Tim Baran, published at Legal Productivity.

The Hidden Costs of Attorneys Handling Their Own IT Needs

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Office Management, Technology 2 Comments

I am providing this post to advise my fellow family law attorneys of a huge mistake I made for the first two decades of my legal career – handling most of my firm’s IT needs myself. For instance, when one of our computers had a problem (and when we used PCs there were many), I thought the best course of action was to try to solve it myself instead of having a professional do so – as it would “save money.”

All of that changed late last year when we (finally) realized that the best course of action was outsource certain functions in order to allow us to spend more time doing what we do best – handling family law cases. We started using GlobalMac IT for our computer and network needs, and we are beyond pleased with the results. The following article from Tom Lambotte addresses many of these misconceptions that could be costing your firm more money than you ever imagined:

The hidden costs of wearing the IT hat.

Are you wearing the IT hat? Know someone who is? If so, I’d like you to consider this article an intervention, an attempt to compel you or that someone to get help. I define “one who wears the IT hat” as the person who is the primary go-to person for IT issues in their firm. This individual deals with the bulk of IT issues and prides themselves on the cost savings in doing it themselves. They often have an hourly IT person to call in dire needs.

The hidden problem is that the costs of taking care of IT yourself for your firm, far outweigh the perceived benefits. In most cases, this is in fact costing your firms tens of thousands of dollars per year. Most people calculate the perceived savings by simply looking at their P&L and seeing close to nothing on the line for IT services. This overly simplistic way overlooks the soft costs which quickly eclipse the cost of paying for proper IT services.

There are four primary concepts that need to be understood in order to help overcome and break down the limiting belief that doing IT yourself saves money. The first is an analysis of time spent by the one wearing the IT hat. The second attempts to quantify the hidden issues lurking in the shadows and their overall impact on employee productivity. The third relates to what I call the hobbyist principle. And the final one is the far-reaching impact of time spent (or not spent) on the highest ROI activities for the firm.

Time Analysis

The time analysis takes two parts into consideration. The first is simply the time spent per month dealing with IT related tasks. In most cases, the one wearing the IT hat is a senior partner or founder of the firm, since they set things up from the start and are the only one that understands how everything is setup. The time he spends dealing with IT primarily consists of running software updates (Adobe, Microsoft Office, Java, Flash, Apple/Windows software updates and security updates, etc.) and basic, daily troubleshooting. Based on many years of supporting law firms, this is an average of 1-2 hours per computer, per month. For a firm with a staff of 5, that is 5-10 hours per month.

The second part of the time analysis is the impact of interruptions. Because everyone in the firm is dependent on this person when there is an issue, they are forced to interrupt that person to get their issue resolved. Some are quick, easy ones (5-15 minutes), some take more time ‘Googling’ around (15-45 minutes) and others take hours before eventually being given up on, at which point the IT person is reached out to (and is hopefully able to help in a timely manner). All these little interruptions add up. Let’s whip out our calculators here to properly comprehend the impact. Research shows that when interrupted, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back to the previous task. Let’s be ultra-conservative and use 15 minutes and one interruption per day, which adds up to 300 minutes, or 5 hours per month.

Adding up the two parts of the time analysis above shows us that the person handling the IT in a small firm with a staff of 5, is actually spending about 10-15 hours per month on IT. With a conservative rate of $300 per hour, that is a loss in billable wages of $3,000- 4,500. One more point about time, viewing it form a different angles touches on work/life balance. You see, in most cases I have come across, the person wearing the IT hat cannot justify doing the updates and system management during prime daytime hours, so they end up doing it in the evenings or on the weekend, either way, they are taking away irreplaceable personal and family time.

“We’ll just deal with it.”

Without fail, every firm we have supported where someone has been wearing the IT hat internally, there are always a laundry list of problems that have been unreported and eventually surface. Potentially masking issues that can develop into bigger, more impactful problems and could easily be avoided with proper maintenance. Not once have I come across a firm where people sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for something to do. The support staff and other attorneys are well aware that the person running the firm and, in this example also wearing the IT hat, has both important and urgent items that needs be addressed that take precedence over dealing with IT issues. This develops an “I’ll just deal with it” mentality; if they can find a workaround to the IT issues, they will seldom report it and just deal with it. Because of this, when we take over IT support, we are very proactive in coaching and teaching everyone in the firm to tell us about every issue, big or small. As this coaching process is repeated on our end, people always step forward with things that have bothered them for years. Small, medium and big issues that have just been dealt with.

A client in Texas recently told us they had a Secretary quit because of IT issues that could never be addressed. Let’s whip out those calculators again and calculate the cost of the impact to your staff’s productivity has on your firm’s bottom line. Payroll is, for most firms, the biggest cost by far. If people are wasting 10 minutes a day due to bugs in the setup, inefficiencies with the server, calendar, email, printers, etc; things they have just found workarounds with, that adds up to 200 minutes a month per person. With 5 people, that is 1,000 minutes, or 17 hours per month. What is your firms’ average fully burdened cost for a staff member? At a very conservative cost of $50 per hour, that is $850 a month. Over the year, that is $10,200.

The hobbyist.

Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. As cliché as this is, it is so true. When an attorney is taking care of IT themselves, unless it is the thing they do the most, they will always be a hobbyist and hence, never develop mastery. In most cases, how do things work out when your clients try to represent themselves and practice ‘Google” law? I’ll go out on a limb and assume these often end up being major ‘cleanup jobs,’ where it could have taken only 1/10th of the effort if you had taken on the case from the beginning. Why is that? Because you have developed mastery in your domain over the years, which allows you to assimilate all the details and think of the majority of possible angles. A ‘greener’ associate does not have the insight and experience as a seasoned attorney. Developing this mastery takes years and thousands of hours of focus. You will never be able to develop mastery in IT, when it is one of the many things on your laundry list of responsibilities.

The cost of being a hobbyist with your IT can be massive. The things you don’t know you don’t know will be far too long. For example, it could end up costing you your license, by not being able to convince a board of ethics that you took the proper preventative measures in securing your client’s data. It can cause hours or days of downtime for your firm with an issue that could have easily been prevented with proactive maintenance. It can cost you all of your client files and data because you setup a backup yourself that was ‘automatic’ 9 months ago, but did not realize the drive became disconnected 5 months prior.

Hobbies are fun, but I would not choose to be a hobbyist with something that has a huge financial impact on my business and personal life. Most people use a tax accountant because they are up to date with the current tax law, know what questions to ask and how to maximize their deductions. TurboTax cannot provide me with these insights. I do not want a tax hobbyist taking care of my taxes, nor attempt doing them on my own. I want someone who has developed a mastery in tax law, and that I can count on when I need guidance with a tax related question or event. I surround myself with experts and have built a team of superstar advisors, because I understand the value that can be added to me and my business using this approach. If you want a hobby, pick up cooking, fishing or golf, but leave the things that have a big impact on your firms to experts.

ROI in IT

What activities within your law firm generate the highest ROI? Driving the vision, focus and direction of the company? Working on the most profitable cases and clients? Or is it interrupting time spent on the above to running a software update or fix an email problem someone in your firm is experiencing? This last and final cost, the opportunity cost, is rarely reflected upon. The cost taking care of IT yourself is far, far greater than just the fact that you are spending 10-15 hours per month on IT. If you invested these newly freed up 10-15 hours per month on your highest ROI generating activities, what impact would that have on the bottom line of your practice?

In closing, I hope this intervention has been successful in helping you question previously limiting beliefs you or someone you know may be holding onto, by doing the IT for their firm themselves. Having an expert IT company with developed best practices for your firm can shift the role of IT from just something that has to be dealt with, to something that adds value to your firm. Through a holistic approach, the right IT firm can provide proactive support and implement solutions that can impact your bottom line and free up you and your staff’s time. Through a two-prong approach, they can first seek out, then address the root cause of the primary bottlenecks in your operations, help hidden issues surface to the top and address security concerns and implement better procedures. Then they can look at your firm as a whole and then work on implementing solutions that increase everyone’s productivity.

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Posted on January 28, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Did You Know?, Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews Leave a comment

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