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Free Webinar: How to Avoid Growing Pains in Your Mac-Based Law Firm With Proven Processes

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Technology Leave a comment

My friend and business colleague Tom Lambotte, CEO of GlobalMac IT has recently developed a true breakthrough in managing Apple technology for growing law firms to help them increase efficiency and allow them to scale their firms fearlessly.

If your law firm is using Macs and you’ve ever wished there was a better way to manage them, this is something you most definitely need to know about. As the co-author of Macs in Law: The Definitive Guide for the Mac-Curious, Windows-Using Attorney, Tom knows what he’s talking about.

Tom is going to introduce this revolutionary new process in a free webinar for Managing Partners and Office Managers on Thursday, April 26^th at 1pm EST (10am PST). This free webinar is sponsored by Rocket Matter, and you can get the full details (and save your spot) by clicking here.

Webinar: You Can Practice Law on a Mac – Here’s How!

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Mac vs. PC, Online Resources, Switching to Macs, Technology Leave a comment

On July 27, 2016, 1-2:30 PM ET, Tom Lambotte, CEO of GlobalMac IT (our firm’s I.T. company) is participating along with Mark Metzger in the American Bar Association webinar, “The Mac Lawyer: You Can Practice Law on a Mac – Here’s How!” The session qualifies for 1.50 General CLE Credit Hours*, so I thought this would be of interest to my readers.

Have iPhones or iPads peaked your interest to practicing on a Mac computer? Tune in to hear how Apple has moved into the legal industry making it easier than ever to practice law on a Mac! This program will cover:

the steps Apple has taken to move in to the legal profession
the best Apple hardware and software options for practicing law
how to share files with your clients or colleagues who use Windows.

As a member of the faculty Tom has been able to extend a 10% off your registration rate when you enter this discount code CE15CPDWEBVIP at check-out. To learn more about and register for this program, click here.

This webinar is part of the Law Practice Institute: Essential Skills for Lawyers designed for young lawyers, law students, and solo/small firm attorneys to provide them with the essential skills to make their practices efficient, ethical, and profitable. To learn more about and register for the series, click here.

*Unfortunately, the ABA will not seek credit for this program in Virginia, Texas, Indiana, or North Carolina due to rules and procedures in these states restricting credit for the topics covered in this program, so you’re out of luck in terms of the CLE credits here.

Rocket Matter Launches Numerous New Features

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews, Software Leave a comment

As my readers know, my firm has used Rocket Matter since its launch in early 2008, and we absolutely love it. 2016 has already been a busy year for them, as they introduced QuickBooks Online integration and Rocket Matter Payments in February, followed in March byMatter Templates and Rocket Matter Atlas, a complete, modern redesign of the its user interface.

Never ones to rest on their laurels, Rocket Matter released their Atlas 1.1 update a few days ago, which includes numerous new additions to help make law firms be even more productive and increase their revenue. These new features include new tax functionality, multiple timers, an improved onboarding experience with gamification, and customizable dashboards.

Larry Port, Rocket Matter’s CEO and founder says:

“Let’s be honest: Taxes are not enjoyable to talk about in any way, and they’re even less fun to tally up on an invoice. Rocket Matter now takes care of this task for you. We rolled out some exciting stuff, too – a compelling gaming system for our new customers that makes learning Rocket Matter entertaining, along with some cool new features our customers have been asking us to add.”

Because my firm is on a pre-release program, we have been using many of these features for several weeks, and I can easily say that my favorite is the customizable dashboards and calendars, which now allow users to customize their personal Dashboards to be either “task-centric” or “calendar centric.” Everyone works in different ways, so this additional flexibility allows users to choose the one most helpful to them. In our office, the attorneys lean toward the “calendar centric” view, while our support staff prefer the “task-centric” view.

One of the other great new features is the ability to view the firm-wide calendar in either of two view settings. Users who prefer to view their calendar in one clear, elegant-looking size, “fit events to view” provides a “more” link if the number of events on any given day exceeds the available space. On the other hand, “show all events” will stretch the size of the page to show all events on each day without having to click on the “more” link. I prefer the latter, but I can see why some would rather have the option for the same size “box” for each day.

People who tend to work on multiple tasks at once will love the new multiple timers feature (shown at right). This allows Rocket Matter users to run a timer, pause it when they get interrupted, start another one for a different matter, and then come back to the original timer later. Billable time gets tracked on each timer and, in turn, seamlessly appears on an invoice. For those with many things going on at one time, this can be a life saver (and help capture time that might otherwise be lost and thus unbillable.

If you haven’t already checked out Rocket Matter Atlas, you can view this informative overview video. We are extremely choosy with regard to which program we entrust our calendaring, task management, contacts, and time and billing (among other important function), and the fact that we have been with Rocket Matter for almost 8.5 years is a testament to the strength of their product. In the decade before we started using it, we easily went through 7 or 8 other products trying to find the “right” solution. For us, that’s Rocket Matter, and we applaud their never-ending desire to constantly improve their product in an effort to make the work lives of their users more efficient and more profitable.

Free Security Webinar

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources, Security, Technology Leave a comment

Are you a Mac-using attorney? Do you know about all the new threats to your data? Do firewalls and antivirus software merely give you a false sense of security? Are you or your firm a “sitting duck” at risk of losing everything in your bank account in an instant… not to mention the insult to injury of government fines and penalties for non-compliance to data breach laws.

Does that get your attention? Well, the good news is that there are some simple protections and precautions you can put in place to drastically reduce your chances of being a victim. Tech expert Tom Lambotte of GlobalMacIT will present a free security webinar, “7 Critical IT Security Protections EVERY Mac-Based Law Firm Must Have In Place NOW To Avoid Cyber-Attacks, Data Breach Lawsuits, Bank Fraud and Compliance Penalties” on Thursday, April 28, 2016, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST.

You can get more details and register for this webinar here. I hope to see you there.

Podcast Recommendation: The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Podcasts Leave a comment

Time is the one thing that I (like most busy attorneys) simply don’t have enough of. I enjoy learning, and podcasts are a great way to do so. Even though I enjoy them, but I am very discerning in selecting the ones that make the cut and find their way onto my playlist (in Overcast, which, by the way, is awesome).

I wanted to write this post to highlight a new addition to the few selected podcasts I follow – The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra. Neil is an attorney who owns his own firm and has been practicing in Maryland (just outside of DC) since 2004. The stated goal of his podcast is to address “what they didn’t teach us about running a business in law school” – because that’s one of the areas that most law schools fall woefully short.

Neil’s podcast covers topics that help his listeners understand the many complexities of owning your own law firm, especially solos and those in small firms. Let’s face it, being an entrepreneur is not easy; being a successful attorney is not easy; and combing the two is not for the faint of heart. One thing Neil does that I love is he offers transparency by discussing some of the mistakes he made in his own firm along the way – which I think is wonderful and wish more people were willing to do.

Even though I graduated with honors with an undergraduate degree in financial management with a minor in accounting, I freely acknowledge that there were so many things that I didn’t know about running a firm when I left my old firm to open my own one in 1996. As with most things in life, I learned many things “the hard way”, but those missteps were very educational to me. In fact, that is one of the reasons that I teach so many CLE classes, because I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned with others.

The Law Entrepreneur podcast features interviews with successful attorneys (both solos and those from small firms), along with other bright and successful entrepreneurs who aren’t necessarily in the practice of law, to educate his listeners about creating, running, and managing a successful business in the internet era. Each episode is around 30 minutes, which is ideal for most people because they can listen to it while commuting to/from work (which I do during my 10-15 minute drive).

One of Neil’s best episodes to date is the one with my buddy, Victor Medina from New Jersey, who discusses how he successfully transitioned his law practice from educational law into estate planning & elder law, while managing to grow his practice and branch out into financial services along the way. Big changes executed masterfully over a short period of time with great results – what more could you want?

Neil and Victor’s discussion was fascinating, and you can access it here if you want a preview (which you can access ). To find out more about The Law Entrepreneur click here, or to subscribe via iTunes click here. I am confident that you will be glad you did – and Neil, keep up the great work!

Rocket Matter Introduces QuickBooks Online Integration and Slick New Payments

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews, Technology 1 Comment

Today the fine folks at Rocket Matter rolled out an integration with QuickBooks Online, making the best online legal time and billing software even better (click here to watch a short video). In addition, they announced Rocket Matter Payments, which the painful task of invoicing and collecting easier than ever.

Rocket Matter QuickBooks Online Integration:

QuickBooks desktop is one of those things that forces a Mac law firm to keep a copy of Windows running. The Mac version of QuickBooks just isn’t that great, so most of our tribe is stuck running Parallels or VMWare or *gasp* has a server running Windows on it somewhere (which is probably the only machine in the firm that gets viruses).

The online version of QuickBooks seems to be where Intuit is placing more and more of its emphasis. They are starting to drop developer support for some of their desktop API access and are encouraging more adoption of the cloud-based product. It’s enough to make one wonder if Intuit will one day sunset the desktop product completely.

Rocket Matter’s QuickBooks Online integration, according to their announcement, “continues in the company’s tradition of easy-to-use, visually appealing software. Rocket Matter users will be able to tie together detailed information between the two systems, including invoices, expenses, trust account credits and debits, as well as sync all current clients with Rocket Matter.”

The other Rocket Matter announcement that will affect small law firm business is the introduction of Rocket Matter Payments. Basically, this feature allows you to email your client invoices with a secure payment link. You’re then able to tell if your clients opened the email or not. When a client pays, your Rocket Matter ledgers are updated automatically, which then can be seamlessly integrated with – you guess it – QuickBooks Online.

Watch an overview of Rocket Matter Payments:

2015 Apple at Law User Survey

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Mac vs. PC, Office Management, Online Resources, Software, Switching to Macs, Technology Leave a comment

The following Guest Post was written by Tom Lambotte of GlobalMac IT and is reprinted here with his permission:

Attorney at Work recently collaborated with MILOfest to conduct the “2015 Apple at Law Users Survey,” aimed at getting a snapshot of how law firms are using Apple products. Tom Lambotte, CEO of GlobalMac IT and one of the MILOfest conference and survey organizers, reviews the results and points out the highlights. Be sure to download the full highlights report PDF, too.

This year’s Apple at Law User Survey revives the annual tradition begun with Clio’s “Apple in Law Offices” survey, conducted from 2010 to 2013. The 2015 Attorney at Work survey drew 339 respondents from firms of all sizes, and the results show some interesting statistics.

Apple Ascending

It’s no surprise that use of Apple products in the legal market continues, but it is amazing to see the continual growth.

Of the individuals responding to the survey, 27 percent were solos, 44 percent had between 2 to 10 employees on staff, 18 percent had between 11 to 50 employees, 6 percent employed 51 to 200, and another 5 percent were in large firms of more than 200. The spread among these numbers confirms that Apple products are being used in larger firms — not just in solo and small law offices.

All Mac or a Mix?

Almost one-third (29 percent) of the respondents were 100 percent on Macs in their law firms, which is not shocking considering the dramatic advancements made possible by cloud-based platforms and software-as-a-service (SaaS). This is a major shift from five years ago when the Apple platform had very limited options in areas such as case management, document assembly, and time and billing software.

Now, with more and more software becoming platform agnostic (meaning it will run on any operating system), I predict we will continue to see the number of all-Mac offices continually increase, year after year.

A full 22 percent of respondents reported using a mix of PCs and Macs, further confirming my point. One of the biggest benefits of SaaS is that firms can give their employees a choice of which platform they would like to use. It also makes it possible to test out a couple of Macs in the office before eventually making the full switch. Often, we encounter a managing partner wanting a MacBook Air, testing it out, falling in love, and then pushing the full migration to Macs in the office.

Another 27 people (8 percent) reported being the only Mac users in their firm. I foresee these trailblazers — along with the mixed PCs and Macs firms — playing a big role in the coming adoption of all-Mac law offices. In fact, we just signed a client with a 15-person firm, where it started with one attorney bringing in his Mac a couple of years ago. They gradually converted and are now on Apple 100 percent.

A Spike in New Users

It’s interesting to compare some of the results from the last Clio survey to the 2015 numbers. Clio’s 2013 Apple in Law Offices Survey reported that 44 percent of respondents had been using Macs for more than three years, while 2015 survey results came in at 50 percent. The biggest difference is new users: In 2013, only 9 percent of respondents had been using Macs for less than a year. That number almost tripled among respondents to the 2015 survey, at 26 percent, pointing to a big spike in increased Mac usage in law firms.

Tablets in Law Offices

Shifting to tablets, 84 percent of the respondents currently use iPads, compared with 75 percent in 2013 and 70 percent in 2012. In 2011, only 15 percent of those surveyed owned an iPad, up from only 10 percent in 2010. Remember that the iPad made its debut in 2010, so those 10 percent were early adopters. In just three years, the iPad had widely penetrated the legal market.

As for the specific iPad model in use, 45 percent say they use either an iPad Air or the iPad Air2. The brand new iPad Pro, just released on November 10, came in at 5 percent. Keep in mind, this survey closed on November 23, so a 5 percent adoption rate in the first two weeks is quite impressive! The older models are still heavily in use, with a third (34 percent) of respondents using an iPad2 or older. This speaks highly to the long, usable life span of the iPads.

Popular Desktop and Laptops

Moving into desktop computer use, the iMac was the most popular desktop model among respondents, with 62 percent of the Mac desktop share. It is hard to beat the all-in-one lines of the iMac. The other two options were the Mac minis at 23 percent and the Mac Pros at 14 percent.

I had expected the Mac mini’s use to be higher and to see less of the Mac Pros. These results may be swayed by the respondents since the survey asked what kind of Mac the respondent was using — not the overall number and types of Macs used firmwide. We frequently see attorneys using iMacs while support staff use Mac minis. The Mac minis are a great option for firms switching from PCs that already have newer monitors and keyboards and mice.

As for laptops, I expected to see a higher percentage of MacBook Airs. (I love my 11-inch Air). A third of the respondents reported using MacBook Airs (32 percent), with over half (58 percent) using MacBook Pros.

While I personally believe the MacBook Pros are overkill for most lawyers, no other laptops had retina screens up until the recent introduction of the new MacBook. I think that was a big reason for the high percentage of these. I forecast an increase in MacBooks and MacBook Airs over the next year.

Talking again about the early adopters, the new MacBook was released on April 10, 2015, and 9 percent reported using these devices — consistent with that 10 percent early adoption rate for other devices.

Apple’s new market item, the Apple Watch (not the iWatch), again hit that 10 percent early adopter mark, coming in at 11 percent. Looking back at the introduction of the iPods, iPhones and iPads, the first year’s sales tend to be a bit slow, with adoption rate striking up tremendously in years to follow. I’m excited to see where this number will be in next year’s survey!

Why Mac?

We also polled users about why they chose to use Macs. The top two reasons, both chosen by more than 70 percent of respondents, were usability and reliability. The third most popular reason was security, followed by aesthetics and familiarity.

Usability (73 percent)
Reliability (70 percent)
Security (44 percent)
Aesthetics/Design (37 percent)
Familiarity (Used at Home) (35 percent)

“Usability” typically refers to ease of use and the user interface (UI). For the most part, Apple and Windows operating systems have the same features. It’s the UI that makes all the difference in the world. If you don’t know how to access or use a feature, you won’t use it. If you are not comfortable and confident in doing a certain task, you won’t do it.

I think this is why the “halo effect” is so dominant with Apple products. The first time someone uses an iPhone or an iPad, they often have that “aha” moment, where they react with: “Wow, this is SO easy.” When someone experiences this they eventually wonder, “Can this happen on my computer, too?” So they buy more Apple products, and, in time, move towards switching their firms to Macs.

What Software and Apps Do Mac-based Lawyers Use?

The survey also asked lawyers whether they use software and apps in these categories: practice management, document management, time and billing, accounting, and project management, as well as what particular products they use.

Practice management. Among those who identified a practice management application, Clio was the most popular, with Rocket Matter and MyCase tying for second. After these, Amicus Attorney, CaseManager and Daylite all had around 5 percent of users. The “other” option turned up an interesting range of products in use, from custom systems to workarounds for PC-based systems to those using general business apps like Google and Evernote. Time Matters was among the most popular “write-ins.”

However, 36 percent — one out of three respondents — don’t use any type of practice management software at all. Based on my experience with Mac-based law firms, this sounds about right, and these results reinforce my belief that many firms are still not properly leveraging the tools available to maximize their practice.

Document management and file storage. A whopping 60 percent of respondents reported using Dropbox. After Dropbox, Google Drive was a distant second at 27 percent. Still, this was much higher than I anticipated. Based on my experience, not one of our Mac-based law firm clients use Google Drive. In third place was Box.

As a side note, if your law firm is classified as a “business associate” under HIPAA rules and you are using a Dropbox Pro or Business account, you are not HIPAA compliant. Until recently, Dropbox would not sign a BAA. On December 2, 2015, they introduced Dropbox Enterprise, an additional higher-level tier — and the only tier where they will sign a BAA. Google will sign a BAA, as will Box, but also only on the Box Enterprise plan, which has been out for two years.

Document drafting and production. Microsoft continues to lead the way with 91 percent of respondents using Microsoft Office apps. Of those, 22 percent are already using the 2016 version, which mirrors the recent uptick seen elsewhere in the adoption of Office 365. Apple’s Pages, in the iWork suite, was in use by 17 percent of respondents. For working with PDFs, Acrobat continues to lead with 55 percent of users; 12 percent use PDFpen, and 10 percent use Apple’s built-in Preview application. An unsuspected contender was WordPerfect coming in at 1.4 percent.

For those running Windows on their Macs, the most popular applications were Microsoft Office, HotDocs, Quickbooks and Adobe Acrobat.

(For a deeper look into the software results, download the full survey highlights report.)

Best Part of Running a Mac-Based Practice?

The survey asked the open-ended question, “What do you feel is the best part about running a Mac-based practice?” Here are a few of their answers:

“Reliability and usability. I feel my productivity is much greater on my Mac.”
“Legal apps/tools are starting to catch up on Mac platform.”
“Ease of use and integration with the Mac-iOS ecosystem.”
“Clarity of retina screens for significant hours of reading and writing online, plus track record of virus protection security.”
“Macs are simpler to use, more reliable by far, and my MacBook Air is so much faster than our Dell desktops that I use it whenever I can in place of ‘high-end’ Dells.”
“Reliability. When we ran PCs the computer repair person was a regular visitor.”
“Mac is such a fluid operating system. It makes the programs work seamlessly and improves interaction and communication. The Apple products increase the value of whatever programs or application we might use because they work better on Apple devices!”
“Never having to worry. A former partner had all PCs in her office. It felt like half of her time was spent acting as tech support.”

I find that people usually make decisions based on emotion, then justify those decisions with logic. Chances are, if you own an Apple product, you’ve already had good experiences with Macs. Perhaps you’ve been holding off switching your law firm over to Macs because you felt it couldn’t be done, or maybe you still think Macs are just for graphic designers and photographers. As you can see in this survey, plenty of law offices are using Apple computers.

High Marks for MILOfest

Many Mac-using attorneys don’t even know of its existence, but there is a legal technology conference specifically designed for Mac-users. MILOfest (Macs-In-Law-Offices) and has taken place at Walt Disney World in Orlando since 2010. Of the 2015 Apple at Law survey respondents who had previously attended MILOfest, 74 percent rated it an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10. For more details on MILOfest 2016, go visit the MILOfest.com site.

More Apple at Law Survey Results

Attorney at Work’s report on the survey highlights is available for download here.

About the Author: Tom Lambotte is CEO of GlobalMacIT, a company specializing in providing IT support to Mac-based law firms. Tom is the author of “Hassle Free Mac IT Support for Law Firms” and “Legal Boost: Big Profits Through an IT Transformation.” He is a popular speaker at national events such as the ABA TECHSHOW and MILOfest, a Mac Lovin’ Lawyers Event. Follow Tom on Twitter @LegalMacIT.

Legal Industry Predictions for 2016

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources, Technology Leave a comment

Every December, the Business of Law Blog asks thought leaders from across the legal technology spectrum to contribute to its legal industry predictions for the upcoming new year. I was asked to participate again this year, and I said

“The Apple Watch will continue to gain traction as attorneys learn new and varied ways to integrate them into their practices. For instance, have you considered the ability to have your associate subtly send messages to your watch from counsel table while you’re examining a witness? The built-in health app should also be a great reminder of how active (or inactive) you’ve been during the day, and the included reminders to ‘get up and move’ are also a great idea.”

What do the other experts believe that 2016 hold in store? You can read the whole list here, but in the meantime, here’s a sampling:

Lee Rosen of Divorce Discourse expects more lawyers to take advantage of the many benefits of live streaming.
Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog foresees further convergence of online and offline business development.
Sam Glover of Lawyerist.com believes that lawyers who take tech competence seriously could overtake those who don’t.
Similarly, Jim Calloway of Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog believes that lawyers who embrace technology will increasingly separate themselves from those who continue to resist change.
Jared D. Correia of Mass LOMAP expects the “of counsel” role to continue to be expanded and include more young lawyers.

Source: “Beautiful Minds: 41 Legal Industry Predictions for 2016” by Frank Strong, published at the Business of Law Blog.

Learn More About MILOfest 2015

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources, Presentations Leave a comment

Are you an attorney that uses Macs, or would you like to be one? Ether way, you’re in luck. MILOfest is a legal technology conference for Mac-using lawyers, and it offers practical and substantive tips on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. It will be held this year from November 12-14, 2015 at the Disney’s Yacht Club Resort in Orlando, FL.

I am honored to be part of this year’s faculty, along with numerous other Mac illuminati. If you have been debating whether to attend (hint: do it!), you’re invited to attend a free Executive Teleseminar on Monday, September 21st, 2015, which will discuss:

How MILOfest can keep you up to date on the latest tips and how to use Macs in your law office, for only a few billable hours
The risks of falling behind technologically – and why MILOfest is the single best conference that experts both attend and contribute to so they can ensure this does not happen to them
How to leverage technology to reduce bottlenecks in your firm and increase productivity; making a measurable financial impact on your profits
The #1 business reason why the most well known and respected Mac-using attorneys come back to MILOfest, year after year
Why running a firm on Macs without leveraging the best tools available gives you a false sense of IT productivity

Join Victor Medina, Mark Metzger, and me on Monday at 1:00pm (eastern) for this free Executive Teleseminar to learn more about MILOfest 2015. Click here to register or get more information.

Which Mac Should You Buy?

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Hardware, Mac vs. PC, Online Resources, Switching to Macs Leave a comment

If you’re in the market for buying a Mac, whether to make the switch from PCs or to upgrade an existing one, you may be wondering which Mac should you buy? Fear not, as Macworld recently published an article to help you choose the right Mac for you. This guide provides an overview of all the models currently available, what each model is best suited for, and a full in-depth review of each for those who want to know more.

The Buying Guide features information on the following models: